Now that we have your attention…

Project Rainfall is a long-term story arc that we have organized in order to bring some chaos back to the forums. As Mass Effect 4 remains in the preliminary stages, it thus falls to us, the player base, to generate high-quality content if we wish to keep these forums going strong. As such, this arc will (hopefully) spread conflict across the Mass Effect Universe, spreading good roleplay and inspiring all players to create their own original content.



Oh hey, a new STG story? Sweet! What’s it about this time?

Project Rainfall is a long-term story arc that aims to use several of the loose ends left hanging at Mass Effect 3’s end. It intends to draw them out for easier referral, to expound on the Retrospectives that transitioned us from Endgame to today, and to entwine them into a more coherent universe for us all to play in. It is also meant to draw out the unused factions from these Retrospectives, to breathe new life into them and to make them a coherent part of the Galaxy.

Those paying attention Rainfall’s beginning have already noticed oblique and overt references to the Salarian Retrospectives. While we hope that this story will let us expound on them, we hope more than they will give us more issues to discuss aside from the same tired old arguments.

Finally, Project Rainfall is at its heart a conspiracy. Expect red herrings, blatant lies, arguments, betrayal, and trying to outguess the author. Don’t trust anyone – especially the guy stringing you along.



Oh great, another STG story. What’d you guys do with Qoroq this time?

Nothing.

The Who Goes There storylines were great and encouraged a ton of discourse over this forum’s life. Relying on one threat, though, especially when we have goddamn Reapers fixing the Relays, just plain silly. Qoroq’s era is over, the author happily acknowledges this, and in any case, he’s not the one sitting in the captain’s chair.

(This doesn’t mean you can’t talk about it, of course, and hey, I might be lying to you! After all, what’d I say about trust? Can you really trust me not to bring eldritch horror into the universe again?)



So how will this go down?

Any way we can, really.

We already have half a dozen articles prepared, but a large amount of this is just going to be winging it. We cannot possibly account for all the crazy things players can do, and besides, do you really want to be railroaded through a plot after Mass Effect 3? If you write well and provocatively enough, you could turn this whole story on its head – and if you can make it convincing, I’ll love you for it.

We plan to run least one major RP a week, and will do what we can to include players who just want to talk about it without participating. Keep in mind that pretty much everyone on staff is a full-time worker or student, though – and as much as we’d like to, we can’t be everywhere at once.



And what about rules? Are we playing with--

Yes, we’re playing with Kittens Rules.



Aw, fuck.

Hear me out.

First, participation in Project Rainfall is strictly voluntary, and is by no means a requirement for posting in the forum. Neither I nor my assistants are interested in usurping attention from the forum, merely to add to it. In order to affect the events we set in motion, however, you must agree to play by our rules.

The #1 cause of forum death is stagnation. Over time, without stimulus, players will become set in their ways, will stop listening to feedback, and will let their writing (and in turn, the forum) decay with disuse. By agreeing that your participating characters may die, you are:

Imparting a great deal of trust in the DM

Giving yourself a vested reason to play intelligently,

Acknowledging that the antagonists are not to be trivialized, and

Willing to accept the consequences of your actions.

This last part is important, as it’s what separates a good character from a Mary Sue. Being willing to accept that your character is flawed – to understand that your actions will have unintended consequences and being prepared to deal with them – is a sign of maturity that I expect from my players, my authors, and myself. My own main character, Emon Spiza, is already playing by these rules; my lousy initial roll is the reason that he shattered his arm at the outset and failed in his mission. If I am willing to put my oldest, most favorite character in the same boat as you, please do not complain when I ask you to do the same.



But you have your own “Mary Sue” as the main character.

True.

He’s also friggin’ Emon Spiza, the unluckiest person in the universe.

Trust me, he’s never caught a break he didn’t earn, and he’s not about to start now. Besides, several forum veterans have also agreed to throw some very long-lived characters into the mix as well. You’re not alone in this; everybody’s risking their characters.



Okay, color me interested. What are you looking for right now?

8/21/13 - Right now, I’m looking for salarians. This story started with the Sur’kesh equivalent of 9/11, and we need people who are directly involved with it. The more military the better – and if they’ve dealt with STG, all the better. That doesn’t mean other players can’t join up, either. If you’re willing to play by the rules and have the skills and personality the missions require, go ahead and jump in. But if you want to branch out and play something new, you can’t go wrong with a salarian.

You know I'm in.

Putting my main character's ass on the line here, because that's just how I ROLL. Anytime an opportunity to potentially get a dude fucked up/dead shows up, I'll throw 'em in and let the dice fall where they may.

tl;dr count me in.

Fuckit, let's get some human would-be revolutionaries in here.

I plan to die early and often, since this cast of mines needs some trimming.

In. I'll probably be making a new character, but Ni and Chana are available if you have any use for them.

Would be lying if I said I wasn't hella nervous about tossing Sandy in here (my original and my longest running) but uh

probably would never forgive myself if I passed this up and besides; nothing gives conflict an extra bite like character mortality.

In if you'll have me.

I'm in, maybe as Albert, maybe as someone else, I'll see how it goes.

I have a few characters (A Humble Hanar, Greenhorn) that are just languishing in limbo with no purpose that I want to get rid of/find a use for. So I'll gladly throw them into the fray if need be and if I feel I can actually keep up this time.

Mandatory is also available if need be.

In.

In.

What're we waiting for?

I'm in, but I'm not sure what Sarah could do.

She's an Alliance military intelligence, but she's 'off' until the middle of next year.

In. I've got two characters I'm debating with, but I'll make up my mind and see where I can fit in.

Well, I'll throw Eril into the ring, so count a bucket as being in for this.

Count me in (though obviously not on this character), but I am way from Friday so I'll wait until I get back before I get involved.

I'm in as Titus if you'll have me. A little nervous that I might do something monumentally stupid and get him killed, but I would hate to miss participation in this because of that reservation.

Just for clarification, are all the outcomes of [b]all[/i] decisions decided on dice rolls?

Since Tshombesha doesn't appear to be going anywhere fast, I'll put ANN Reporting in for this. If you'll have me, of course.

Fuck it, let's put Pocahontas and the geth on the line

Due to extenuating circumstances, I'll going to be unavailable from Friday to Sunday, so if you try to contact me during that time I'm afraid I won't be able to answer.

Does that mean that Project Rainfall is on hold, though? Certainly not. Sur'kesh just got attacked. If anything, the rumor mill should be chugging like crazy, especially in the absence of Project activity.

If you're planning on introducing or using new characters for Rainfall, I suggest that you use this time to establish that character either through the RP or Main Forums. Get 'em primed up, so that when shit hits the fan you have 'em ready to go.

In.