Campaign Timeline¶
This timeline tracks character backstory events and campaign milestones. For setting history, see Timeline.
Campaign start: early 2375.
Pre-Campaign Events¶
2371: Fleet Basic Training¶
Azure Armstrong, Victoria McKinley, and Kai Le Gerrac went through Fleet Basic Training together. This is where Kai and Azure deepened their friendship after meeting at a concert before enlisting.
2372: The Boarding Incident¶
The UEF Vigilant, a beta-class military vessel on a routine Luna-Ceres patrol, responded to what appeared to be a distress call. It was a trap — pirates boarded the ship, killing many of the crew in the breaching action. They cut off the cockpit from the rest of the vessel, intending to seize the ship. A fully-armed Fleet beta-class would be an incredible prize, worth taking to the outer system to harass corporate shipping lanes.
Azure Armstrong, serving as copilot, interposed himself between the boarders and Splishy-Splashy, who could not effectively defend himself. What happened next was Azure's Talent Explosion — the sudden stress of life-or-death combat triggering his latent Talent as a Prime. His telepathy let him read the first combatant's intentions, allowing him to prevail — but he had established a deep link with that pirate, and when the pirate died, Azure experienced the moment of death alongside him. He then amplified and projected that experience with overwhelming force, killing most of the remaining pirates.
Kai Le Gerrac, stationed in engineering, was the first to reach the cockpit afterward. Azure was found in a state that would become catatonic. He received a medical discharge (no penalty) and was transferred to Ceres Medical Center for rehabilitation.
2372-2373: Ceres Period¶
Multiple PCs were on Ceres during an overlapping window:
- Azure Armstrong: Rehabilitation after the boarding incident (arrived catatonic, gradually recovered)
- Kai Le Gerrac: Accompanied Azure; helped get him to Ceres
- Rin Jeong: Also in rehabilitation (Mispahk survivor)
- Victoria McKinley: Stationed on Ceres for medical work and teaching
During this period:
- Azure, Kai, and Rin met during rehabilitation
- Victoria and Rin became acquainted
- Victoria was called in by UEF to examine the Tiamat cylinder — she was selected because she had the right expertise and was already on site. She signed an NDA forbidding discussion "with anyone who does not already know about it"
2373: Travel to Luna¶
Victoria's Ceres posting ended. Rin Jeong had completed initial rehabilitation and was heading to Luna for coursework. They traveled on the same vessel and became close friends during the voyage. Victoria learned the real story of Mispahk.
2373-2375: Recovery and Development¶
Azure Armstrong: Traditional therapy failed to fully address his trauma — in part because no one initially recognized the Talent Burnout component. Splishy-Splashy put him in contact with Silence Before Dawn — an orca researcher at the University of Mare Serenitatis and an old friend of Splishy's. Working together at UMS's Center for Talent Research and Development, Azure and Silence developed the Goetic therapeutic technique. Their collaboration evolved from researcher/subject to mentor/student to something approaching equals. They co-authored a paper on the technique. Mycroft Holmes was present as more than just a computer system during the work — Azure had known Mike since childhood in Armstrong Warren.
Rin Jeong: Took coursework at University of Mare Serenitatis (security focus, sensors minor). Deepened her friendship with Kai Le Gerrac during this period.
Victoria McKinley: Served as guest lecturer at UMS during this period.
2374: UMS Carl Sagan Commissioned¶
The University of Mare Serenitatis commissions the Carl Sagan as the flagship of their research fleet.
2375: Mission Assignment¶
The crew is assembled for the Mars Archaeological Survey aboard the UMS Carl Sagan — a relatively new ship, barely a year old.
- Splishy-Splashy, having left Fleet to pilot for the University of Mare Serenitatis, was recruited by Professor Leonidas for the mission
- Splishy recommended Azure as copilot
- Kai Le Gerrac was promoted to Chief Engineer specifically for this mission
- Captain Iyer and Splishy-Splashy have worked together before
This is the first mission for this crew configuration.
2375: Pre-Launch (Session Zero)¶
Session One will begin with the Sagan departing Lunar orbit — the PCs' first day aboard.
- Professor Leonidas introduced the crew and briefed them on mission objectives (target: Jezero Crater)
- Kai learned of his promotion to Chief Engineer
- The four PCs went out to celebrate Kai's promotion
- Azure telepathically contacted Rin and Kai: "There's more going on here than we're being told, and it might come back to bite us if we're not careful." Rin suggested bringing Victoria into the conversation, given their friendship.
Campaign Events¶
Session One — Departure (Day 1 - 1.5)¶
The Carl Sagan departs Lunar orbit, bound for Mars. Transit time: approximately 3.5 days.
| Event | Details |
|---|---|
| Departure from Luna | Sagan begins 1g acceleration toward Mars |
| The lunch meeting | PCs gather and share secrets telepathically while maintaining verbal cover conversation |
| Rin reveals the Mispahk cylinder | The crew learns about the Tiamat artifact recovered from the Belt, with alien script |
| Rin reveals Leonidas's artifact | Leonidas has his own piece of evidence — not as definitive as Mispahk, but real |
| Victoria released from NDA | With the crew now aware of the Tiamat remains, Victoria shares her psychometric vision and dream journal |
| Kai flags the power conduit | Engineering instincts identify a materials weakness in the main power conduit |
| Rin finds the encryption system | An extra encryption system in the comms suite that shouldn't be there; suspicions toward Kyle Chen |
| The Book Club formed | A "book club" established as cover for regular telepathic strategy sessions |
| Azure evaluates Chen | Psychology assessment: career Fleet, open and curious, doesn't sit with his back to a door — and noticed Azure watching him |
| Tanaka and Kai collaborate | Dr. Tanaka independently identified the conduit weakness; she and Kai begin redesigning the system |
| Conduit failure at turnover | The power conduit fails during midpoint turnover; Kai and Tanaka's preparation means they're ready |
Session Two — Day One Post-Turnover (Days 1.5-3.5)¶
The Sagan is decelerating toward Phobos. The crew repairs damage from the conduit failure and secrets continue to surface.
| Event | Details |
|---|---|
| Intercom repaired | Chen installs backup system on the bridge; Kai discovers multiple systems designed for aesthetics over function (SPOFs) |
| Medical baselines | Victoria scans the crew; Azure is normal post-Talent use; Kyle evades, eventually reveals he has a gene mod (enhanced reflexes/strength) |
| Kai designs backup conduit | Five successes; build takes the rest of the trip, installation at Phobos |
| Kyle confesses to Azure | During a ship exterior inspection EVA, Kyle reveals he's Fleet Intelligence; Azure reveals the Book Club's true purpose |
| Kyle-Azure deal | Azure will help Kyle train lowering his telepathic shield; Kyle will help the Book Club improve their Double-Talk |
| Rin's boot | Azure tells Rin about Kyle; she sends Kyle a message: "Consider this a boot to your head" |
| Kai's kinesis manifests | Anger about the ship's construction causes lights to flicker; Azure tests him by throwing an object; Kai catches it kinetically |
| Victoria and Leonidas advise Kai | Victoria offers microkinetic training; Leonidas offers macro exercises and Rule One ("never reach into someone's body"); Kai decides to train on both |
| Tanaka revealed as precog | Dr. Tanaka gives Azure a verifiable prediction, then consents to telepathic contact; Azure witnesses a vision of two malevolent presences, a third neutral/waiting presence, and something enormous on the horizon |
| Arrival at Phobos | Sagan enters parking orbit around Phobos; crew plans to shuttle to the station at 0900 LST |
Session Three — Potato Moon, Part 1 (Day 4)¶
The Sagan crew arrives at Phobos Station and walks into a political landscape nobody briefed them for. One day on the station. One day is enough.
| Event | Details |
|---|---|
| Shuttle to Phobos | Crew takes the Tycho Brahe down; Sagan remains in parking orbit for maintenance |
| Kamaka Hygiea greets the crew | Station CSO meets them instead of Yenni; practical orientation, Belter hand sign with Rin (Support Hygiea) |
| Yenni and the scrubber crisis | CO2 scrubbers at 94% with the crew's arrival; Kai fixes the broken printer, Marcus fabricates new elements on the Sagan |
| Observer meeting | Yaw demonstrates authority, blocks Rin's empathic read (Ob 4); first confirmation he's Talented |
| Victoria/Rin private exchange | Real-time note passing: threat assessment, counter-strategy, Mars independence, alternative funding, "talk to Iyer" |
| Azure and Splishy — the whales | Azure shares Tanaka's precog vision telepathically; the whales listen through Splishy and are very interested |
| Rin contacts Cristina | One-time pad to the Belt: not asking for investors — asking the Belt to stake a claim on Mars (Circles Ob 5, 3 successes) |
| Dinner with Vance | Vance's philosophy, corporate idealism, asks to visit the surface; Kyle goes off with Vance afterward ("doing his job") |
| Telepathic conference | PCs plan to scan Yenni for telepathic manipulation and find legal exploits in observer agreements |
| Night terrors | Azure: chains dream, nosebleed, momentary awareness of every mind on Phobos. Victoria: the new dream has direction. Kai: waking stress about what Talent means |
Session Four — Authority (Days 5-7)¶
The crew learns they're not guests on someone else's mission. They're in charge. Then they act like it.
| Event | Details |
|---|---|
| Victoria's message to Kai | Three registers (physician, doctor, friend); Kai seeks Azure for therapy/friendship |
| Book Club: Double-Talk training | Kyle teaches Double-Talk (Ob 6 effective); Azure rolls 8 successes, Talent Explosion — bleeding from eyes |
| Splishy intervenes | Reaches through station walls to protect linked minds; Tanaka has PTSD flashback |
| Rin reaches Tanaka empathically | 6 successes on 4 dice — first caring mental touch Tanaka has felt in years |
| Lunch with Captain Iyer | Iyer's authority speech: "This mission belongs to UMS. Your decisions on the ground are yours." |
| Azure reaches Kai (Phobos→Sagan) | Deep Mind Wise to box up range limits; Ob 8 reduced to 4, seven successes. Constellation of minds. |
| Victoria/Rin observer takedown | Hard copies of agreements and violations; Vance concedes gracefully, Yaw absorbs and waits |
| Yenni atmosphere expedition | Azure, Yenni, Noor, Kai fly into Martian atmosphere; Azure scans Yenni (clean); she puts in for transfer |
| Rin and Kamaka spar | 4 vs 8 successes; Belt bonding, Yaw surveilling, Kamaka's legendary exit line |
| Vance trades rover for surface ride | The Spice Road arrives; Vance offers a rover in exchange for passage down. Wagered the Spice Road on his behavior. |
| Mission planning | Victoria recognizes crater from dream (Ob 5, 6 successes); crew solves Leonidas/Noor tension with second rover + shuttle |
| Victoria's whale vision | Deep Dream fragment — artifact in Earth's deep ocean; the whales' invitation: "when your time to rest comes, visit us" |
| Kai and the reactor | Sleepwalks, hand on reactor, kinesis Ob 8, 4 successes — not yet. Electrocuted. Victoria sedates him. |
| Azure reaches Luna | Contacts Silence Before Dawn from Mars orbit. Passes out. Neural monitor recording. The limits are artificial. |
Session Five — Boots on Mars (Days 8-9)¶
The crew lands on Mars. Not where they planned. Everything changes.
| Event | Details |
|---|---|
| Silence contacts Victoria | Telepathic knock — confirms Azure's reach, reveals "the idea that Talent has an inborn limit is... self-imposed" |
| Neural monitors deployed | Victoria scans Rin (Ob 4, 4 successes), fits monitors on Rin and herself, plans one for Kai |
| Kai orders capacitor | Resources Ob 6, 4 Fate. Shipping from Saturn lab, 8-12 days transit. |
| Shuttle theorizing | Crew deduces: Azure broke limits by pushing, Rin by sustained operation; Victoria hypothesizes category limits may also be self-imposed. "This could start a war." |
| Controlled crash at crater rim | Azure rolls straight 1s on atmospheric piloting. Shuttle comes down hard near the crater rim — not where planned |
| Kai teleports | Falling debris, failed Agility, instinctive Kinesis — 7 successes on 3 Grey dice. Teleports past the debris. Doesn't notice. Only Rin sees. |
| Victoria opens the Tiamat door | Kinesis to find the mechanism — 6 successes on 5 dice. The sealed facility opens for the first time in millions of years |
| The crystals | Victoria receives emotional symphony (Talent expands); Rin reads security officer's crystal (Talent expands); Kai finds crystalline circuitry; Victoria finds neural structures |
| Linked vision | Four Talents link to read crystals together — receive the full Tiamat message. Flashes of the seventeen, solar system map with Deimos, the Demons in the dark |
| The gathering place | Seventeen skeletons huddled in love. Precog who never spoke. Final message to Victoria: Live. Tears at the table. |
| Azure eulogizes the Tiamat | "You did not shout into the silence. Your voice was heard. Your enemies have more to fear than they did yesterday." |
| OPSEC | Facility hidden, shelter built as cover. Read in Splishy and Iyer only. Azure contacts Iyer telepathically — full disclosure. |
| Iyer's decision | "This is above my paygrade" / "Who else can I trust?" — plans to take everything to Mycroft |
Session Six — Now You Know (Days 9-11)¶
The crew goes to Deimos, performs the first Merge, reads twelve million years of history, and comes home to find Leonidas has been activated as a pseudo-zerker.
| Event | Details |
|---|---|
| Transit to Deimos | Crew processes handouts (Clarus, Arif, Webb, Cristina). Victoria deduces Kai's teleportation from converging data. |
| Deimos — the stripped station | Cleaned 12-16 months ago. Corporate. ARC. Kai reconstructs relief-carved artwork of Earth, proto-whales, and a Tiamat. |
| Splishy's recognition | "They knew about us. They cared about us." |
| The First Merge | Azure initiates, Victoria focuses. 25 successes on Psychometry. Twelve million years of Deimos history. |
| The vision: ARC | Four-person team, ARC logo, professional removal of everything. 13 months ago. Leader received comms, left in a rush. |
| The vision: the last Tiamat | Crashed the Earth-observation satellites into the oceans. Lay down with a locket. Waited. |
| Leonidas activated | Pseudo-zerker personality triggered by tablet signal. Trashed his lab, destroyed artifacts and files, threatened Noor. |
| Rin's pursuit | Five simultaneous operations. Kamaka secured the tablet. Identified the zerker activation pattern. |
| Azure's rescue | Entered Leonidas's Deep Mind. Helped real-Leo crush the alter. Showed him the Mars memories. Saved them as an ice crystal. |
| Sagan collision course | Alter used Leonidas's codes. Chen and Rin broke the navigation lock. |
| Aftermath | Implantation predates departure from Luna. Activation signal was local, untraceable. "Six civil war starting sparks." Rin: "Seven." |
Session Seven — Recovery (Days 11-12)¶
The crew receives Mycroft's full response, makes strategic decisions, reads in allies, and begins putting the next phase in motion.
| Event | Details |
|---|---|
| Mycroft's full response | 47 historical anomalies, 11 sealed files, Deimos shipping gap (14 months), cetacean question, "He's not breaking. He's growing." |
| Azure: "The growth is already arriving" | Gentle correction — telling Mycroft he's growing faster than Mycroft expected. |
| Kyle resigns | Walks through options with Iyer: all paths back to Fleet end badly. "Resign, before we fully read you in." |
| Strategic decisions | Go public with Tiamat via Leonidas. Read in Vance and Yaw. Stay on Mars for now. Don't chase ARC yet. |
| Zerker signal identified | Sarah flagged anomalous transmission to Leonidas. Kamaka reported to Rin. Rin and Kamaka working the tablet. |
| Kyle's first telepathic contact | Shield training with Azure, Ob 5 managed. The spy learning trust by opening his mind. |
| Yaw reveals his Talent | Asks Azure for mind-to-mind contact to prove his ethical code. "If you have concerns about anyone else, I would like to know." |
| Azure reads in Yaw | Full telepathic reconstruction of the Mars facility, Deimos, ARC. Everything except precognition and Talent expansion. |
| Victoria's research begins | Extended roll: 2 successes. Discovers Azure's divergence from human norms and Kai's Gestalt harmonic signature. |
| Kai's Talent growth | First conscious kinesis — deliberate Gestalt with taser, 7 successes. Kinetic growth: an inward focusing, the fulcrum shifting. |
| Grandmother Hana's letter | Talent tensions rising on Earth. Jinho outed. "Everyone was polite and nobody was honest." Pattern from before the war. |
| Noor transferred to Sagan | Azure arranges safer environment. Iyer restructures mission: Leonidas and Noor as parallel, not subordinate. |