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Angelman
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CotG - What Ava knows

Fri 05 Nov 2021, 20:26

Hey all,

For my running of the CotG a few weeks ago, I did a pseudoscientific-yet-dumbing-down info-dump for Ava to expose to the PCs concerning what happened on LV-1113 and the research that lead to the VERY quick developing of a vaccine. My players enjoy these kinds of pseudoscientific discussions in our games, so here we are. Also note that the write-up contains a few in-game terminology and such, which developed originally in the first one or two sessions before the PCs ever met Ava - the info-dump was written between sessions for an opening scene discussion about what happened on the Cronus 73 years ago.

Now, I'm not particularly well-versed in biology and chemestry and everything, so I thought it might be interesting to hear any freedback and critique of this exposition write-up. So, if y'all can be bothered, here goes:


WHAT AVA-6 KNOWS
Ava offers unconditional aid and support to the crew, both crews, all humans onboard.

The Diseases: Two xenobiological disease vectors entered the USCSS Cronus with the returning away-teams sent to investigate the ancient ruins on LV-1113. Neither was intentionally introduced to the ship or crew.

One was some microscopic spores that had already infected certain crewmembers, which we came to dub the “goblin motes”, for reasons I will soon explain.
The other vector was accidentally brought onboard with the archaeological finds. These were some metallic vase-like artifacts, which began oozing a black, organic liquid; perhaps somewhat prematurely, we named this substance “the wonder ooze”… I’ll explain.

The Wonder Ooze: This substance is incredible, a scientific first with properties unlike anything previously catalogued throughout hundreds of worlds. Through poorly understood biological processes, the ooze change and reshape living tissue at a cellular level. You might be familiar with two similar processes thoroughly described in schoolbook science, namely cancer and mutation, but what the ooze does is neither of these.

With mutations, you have a gradual, accidental alteration in a tissue manifesting through imperfect self-replication of cells during ordinary cellular division. In other words, when cells reproduce they sometimes get it wrong, and this error is then carried down through the generations of cells. In most case, the alteration does nothing and is ignored and “filed away”; in other instances, the mutation proves hampering to the organism, either killing it outright or reducing its chances of sexual reproduction, and thereby the chances of the faulty cells to get passed on; in the rarest of cases, such alterations are beneficial to the organism, meaning it gains an evolutionary advantage which it will pass on to its offspring, potentially starting a branch-off species.

With cancer, on the other hand, you have abnormal cell growth that spreads and invades neighboring cells and tissue, or sick cells forcing themselves upon healthy ones. Incidentally, cancer is nature’s primary curb on mutation, as every cell division that brings alteration runs the risk of triggering cancer. Where it not for cancer, evolutionary change would run unchecked, to the serious disadvantage to life itself; the lack of biological consistency in organisms and species would weaken the overall basis nature’s progress.
Of course, I am describing these highly complex terms and processes in a simplified manner.

The “Wonder Ooze”, however, operates strikingly differently, with potentially paradigm shifting medicinal implications. The ooze encourages cellular alteration within the original cell itself; not through cell division and not as abnormal growth invading the cell. In short, the ooze simply reshapes the active, living cell, causing it to acquire new functions and properties… almost as if by design. Even the most preliminary experiments with the ooze proved its medical potential – we introduced microscopic quantities of the “Wonder Ooze” into one of the cancerous cell in our storage, and the cell changed from a cancer cell into a benign, perfectly healthy skin cell, in the matter of minutes. Truly incredible.

The downside of the “Wonder Ooze”, however, is the fact that it is extremely hazardous to come into contact with, as even a drop of the stuff will encourage uncontrollable cellular change in the organism. We eventually lost Private Ward this way, when he accidentally touched the substance and became violently irrational within a couple of hours. We overpowered the soldier and placed him in one of the Pauling Medpods for care and observation, under increasing dosages of anesthetics, where he continued to… change and devolve in the most horrible ways, until Ward finally, perhaps mercifully perished inside the pod.

Despite this very unfortunate accident, the “Wonder Ooze” proved indispensible in dealing with the medical emergency that was by then beginning to unfold aboard the USCSS Cronus.

The Goblin Motes: At present, we do not entirely understand the Goblin Motes’ life-cycle, but our current theory gos something like this.
Growing on the surface of LV-1113 is a puffball-like fungus that releases a small cloud of spores when disturbed. Unlike the puffball fungi on Earth, this cloud clusters and moves with some volition, each mote helping its neighbors onwards through the air in a chaotic chain of movement; we don’t really know how.

Once enough spores lands on the soft tissues of an organism, it enters the host’s bloodstream and lodges itself somewhere inside the body. There, the motes feed off the host’s blood as it develops into a tumorous growth. As the tumor continues to grow, it takes on animal characteristics, like a developing fetus, until finally it… flowers or births itself to catastrophic effect for the host; we call the emerged creature a “goblin”.

Interestingly, while the goblin-tumor-fetus develops inside of the host, it somehow continues to fulfill the original purpose of the surrounding tissue and organs, meaning that its existence can go undiscovered right up until just before it erupts into the world. In theory, if a goblin-tumor-fetus was growing inside of your heart, it would continue to pump your blood in a heart-like fashion, mimicking a healthy organism.

So, the life-cycle seems to go from fungi and spores, to a tumorous growth, to a higher, animalistic organism; “the Goblin”. The birthed goblin was extremely aggressive and operated completely independently just moments after birth. In both the recorded instances, Sgt. Reid and her troops managed to capture and kill the baby-goblin for study, but the creature was already extremely dangerous at that point.

Shortly after the birthing of the first goblin, we discovered puffball-like fungi growing throughout the ship, clustering in moist areas. It did not take long before several crew members displayed symptoms of infection; allergies, skin irritation, and headaches. We had to assume a ship-wide contamination and all efforts were focused towards developing an emergency treatment.

Professor Cooper lead a brilliant science team that, working off the previously discovered “Wonder Ooze” properties, managed to develop a vaccine that arrested the proto-goblin tumor, turning it into an isolated, benign growth no longer active. In record time, Professor Cooper and his team developed the cure, and as the inoculations were distributed, the celebratory crew was already discussing a possible Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

However, by the time the cure had finally been developed, several crew members were displaying anti-social behaviors and some had gone missing entirely; it appears they had all somehow come into contact with the ooze, just like Private Ward, and we have no idea how. Fighting soon erupted all over the ship and eventually, just seven crewmembers managed to lock themselves inside of the cryo-chambers, and going to cryosleep praying for rescue.

I [Ava-6] was set to maintain the USCSS Cronus as best I could, while also protecting the cryo-chambers from the murderous, degenerated crew still roaming the ship.
"And the rain sets in,
it's the Angelman.
I'm deranged".
--David Bowie, I'm Deranged

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