The first was a young scholar, equally curious and tenacious, who had spent their whole youth enthralled in the mysteries of these ancient worlds. It could be either luck or fate that she lived not in that old era, where the fascination and collection of such forbidden information was enough to permit good people to disappear in the dead of night. Instead, the fruits of her obsession was just now starting to take form. Her words of a newfound expedition had spread around the underbellies of Ayenee's Capital, and their own night of fate had come. Every captain needs a crew, and those who were willing to meet in the earliest hour of morning could soon find themselves in a position of money, knowledge, perhaps even fame.

Be they curious, seeking glory, or just plain desperate.
- Intro Poem, Prologue: Downrider

Arcadia Complex is a forum-based roleplaying plot hosted by Pancakei that follows the adventures of Dahlia Morgan and her crew of mercenaries, lost souls, and scholars chasing down the legends of Arcadia aboard the ISS Downrider.

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OOC Thread.

Current Episode: 3: Defile

Plot Terminology Glossary

More to come as the plot continues!

After years of planning and dozens of connections being drawn, Dahlia Morgan is ready to step up from her role as technician of a defunct adventuring coop and step into the life of a full-on Expedition Captain. But every captain needs a crew, and it was at the Downrider Inn that they would finally meet. What could possibly go wrong?

Following a quiet lead by an informant, Dahlia and the rest of the Downrider crew plunge into the forests of Loinia- a highly fertile but otherwise undesirable planet chock full of unhealthy radiation and overgrowth. The crew quickly found their way to their target- an undocumented stone and metal building that had been partly taken by the advances of time.

The investigation went off without a hitch, until the crew restored power to the dormant AI that resided within- by the name OSC-01. After falling under involuntary control of a malicious virus, the Overseer was damaged and rendered inert. Soon after, the true- and strangely brazen intelligence in charge of the buildings units came back to consciousness.

With the success of their finds on Loinia, the crew travels to the far-flung mining colony of Bivona. The lakeside city made its profits by mining away the surrounding mountains for valuable ore and materials, but nothing gets in or out without notice of the Vigali- a quietly seeded crime syndicate operating around the sector. With the captain gone to credit an informant for their valuable lead, all sorts of shenanigans break loose aboard the Downrider.

The crew is braced for their next venture, but before they can leave Bivona, a surprisingly close beacon calls them back. The crew follows OSC-01's heading north of Bivona, to an eerily frigid waste barely touched by man. There, they find a previously abandoned structure built ages ago by the Nepherians, the enemy of Arcadia- Alipier Observatory. However, there's more inside the nave halls than anyone would have guessed.

The egocentric Captain Bryce Arvero and his cronies have launched an expedition of his own making with motives unclear, under the heading of the Arcandum Union. The supposedly nomadic restoration group turns hostile when the Downrider crew poke too far into their operation, leading to the detainment of Ferrus, a former friend of the Overseer in a narrow escape into the Bivona wilderness.

Hot off the heels of what could be considered a complete failure in Northern Bivona, the gang heads south in search of safety and rest. The gang is almost ready for new horizons, but Dahlia is looking for a return from her deal with OSC-01 first. Generations of once forbidden knowledge is passed on to the crew in the virtual landscape of the Zen Codex, but their rest is cut short as headhunters and past acquaintances of Romulus Aurum catch the crew off-guard.

From the frozen wastes of Bivona to the sunscorched rock of Trayll II, the Downrider crew searches high and low for signals originating from more operational Oakland units detected by OSC-01.

This episode is ongoing.

Forgot a name? Here is a listing of the growing number of Plot NPCs for your convenience (including their current relevance in the plot). ¹⁾

This page was originally created by Pancakei on Wed 17-01-18.