PROJECT LORICA

[prof]

The Missing Year
2130 AD. Six university students are living in the bustling city of Grand Island, Maine. One day, they looked up to see a bizarre phenomenon above, with mysterious ripples spreading across the backdrop of the sky itself. Then, everything went black.

When they awoke, it wasn't to the same world that they left behind. As they were filled in over the passing days, a whole year had passed since that day, and humanity was now fighting a war against an alien force known as The Symphony. With barely enough time to understand what had happened to them, they learned that they had been chosen to pilot machines that now stand as humanity's last line of defense.

Project Lorica is a mecha action campaign in an original setting, drawing inspiration from Pacific Rim, Darling in the FRANXX, RahXephon and Neon Genesis Evangelion. Characters will pilot mechs in pairs to face an alien menace beyond human understanding, while piecing together a plot both complex and massive in scope as the setting slowly unfurls around them.

The Symphony
An alien species that began to attack humanity, with the apparent goal of the erradication of our species. The first of their forces appeared suddenly and without warning, and all attempts to communicate or reason with them failed. Their strange powers are far beyond human understanding, and the almost none our technology is capable of harming them. It is this unknown enemy that you are tasked with destroying.

There are two known types of entities within the Symphony. The first is the Choir, or Voices individually - these are smaller, less powerful, and can sometimes even be destroyed via ordinary means. However, their numbers are immense, forcing most battles against them to be at an extreme disadvantage in terms of numbers. The second is the Conductors - incredibly dangerous and massive entities that seem to exist outside of most conventional laws of physics. The Choir increases in frequency and intensity of attacks before one appears, and their abilities vary wildly, from terrifying weaponry to powers beyond our ability to comprehend. If at all possible, avoid engaging a Conductor until we've been able to figure out what it can do.

The Lorica Project
The Symphony possess a power far beyond human limitations, but Project Lorica has granted us a weapon capable of fighting back against them. A Lorica Unit is a humanoid combat unit, about 30 meters in height, which requires two pilots to operate. Their power is drawn not from a built-in power source, nor from the pilots, but from the space between the pilots. The stronger their relationship, regardless of its nature, the more powerful the Lorica Unit becomes.

Each Lorica Unit is identical in its unpowered state, but is capable of anything, depending on its pilots. When activated, its form and capabilities change based on the personalities and relationship of its pilots. One pilot acts as the Lead pilot, inducing the physical shape of the Lorica Unit and enduring the psychic feedback of attacks made against it. The other acts as the Support pilot, providing additional weaponry for it and enhancing the abilities of the Lead. If the Lead's psychic hold on the Lorica becomes too unstable, the two can switch positions, giving the Lead time to recover while the Support takes point. Regardless of positions, the Lorica Unit's movements are controlled by a combination of the wills of both pilots.

The technology behind Project Lorica is understood only by a select few, but we know the following about these machines:

• A Lorica Unit cannot operate without two pilots.
• If the pilots are total strangers, the Lorica Unit will not move.
• Performance seems to vary both based on the relationship between the pilots and the identities of the individual pilots.
• When a Lorica Unit is active, any of the Symphony attacking the city will change priorities and move to attack it instead.
• It is highly dangerous to allow either pilot to lose consciousness.
• It is highly dangerous to pilot a Lorica Unit continuously for longer than one hour.
• There has been one incident of a scout encountering a feral Lorica Unit in the wild.

Rules
This will be, as usual, a Valor game, but with some very special rules. Instead of fighting alone, you'll be piloting Lorica Units in pairs - and the closer your bonds become, so do your mecha become more powerful. The full extra rules can be found here.

Signups Open
As of now, I'm opening signups for this, but won't be choosing a final party for some time. I'm hoping to get six players - all skill levels are welcome. Expected start time is late 2019 or early 2020. If you're interested:

1. What's your name and plurk?
2. What times during the week are most consistently free for you?
3. Do you have any questions about the setting that I might be able to answer without spoiling something?
4. Do you have any concepts for characters?

Characters will, initially, be ordinary college students. The important points of consideration are:

• What kind of person are they?
• Is there anything unusual about how they connect to others?
• How might they be connected to other pilots?
• What kind of strong memories tie them to the past?
• Why would they accept a dangerous role as part of humanity's last line of defense?
• What kind of weapons or abilities does their psyche grant to a Lorica Unit?

Comments

[xioff]

- Hannah lastbastion
- Saturdays and Sundays are best for me, I've got games on Saturdays at 9 am PST and 4 pm PST but you run one of those games so those won't overlap anyway. Thursdays after 1 PM and tuesdays after 5 PM are also good for me.
- no questions right now
- i know i want to play an immobile sniper build, just go all in on the 'delete enemies with super ranged moves'. so my initial thought is a gifted young girl who skipped a couple grades to get there who is a Super Perfectionist and has 0 self-confidence. she believes anything less than 100% is a failure and she's terrified of not being good enough for others to care about or love, so she's very eager to please and help. she's currently fucked up about the idea of missing a year- she was asleep that entire time? what the fuck happened to her during that year? but she's throwing herself into mecha combat to be Useful to people.