Good morning! It’s Jonathan here with a STORY RECAP for the November 2022 event, IMPRINT BY DESIGN ®. The goal of these Story Recap posts is to help fill in the blanks for those that might have missed an important mod, been at NPC camp, sleeping, or simply were not able to attend the game. These are major points of continuity that might be important throughout the season, and I hope this will help with the FOMO feels or answer some questions you had about what happened.
Photo credits in this post are from Max Pohlmeier, Lainey Weiss, Francine Ilac, Crystal Louise Remy, and Noah Goodman.
This was our second ST Overarc of the season, led by the very talented Brett Pittman. This was a smaller, more intimate event coming off the gargantuan story of the National Event the month previous. The focus of this event was on Roleplay and allowed players to explore the miracle of a STRAIN CHANGE. This event was kicked off by a questionnaire that players could fill out to opt into the dramatic changes to their character, but players that showed up later were able to participate as well. We also teased a bit of this story at the end of our National Event when the main NPC of this game showed up on Sunday to talk about some exciting new research.
The lead-up to this event also featured a deep dive into a few mechanics:
The Strain change process required players to undergo a Roleplay Burden, a unique DR:TX rule found on our Local Mechanics page. We introduced this concept during VALLEY OF FEAR, but this was a different take on a similar mechanic.
We also dug into the rules for Lineages and Strains in a Rules Ramble before the event.
You can also find our other game recaps from this season here:
So once you’ve been caught up, let’s refresh our memories about the premise behind the event…
Premise of Imprint By Design ®
Grandfather Nichols has breathed his last, and that black heart pumped out the last of his ichor-like vitality upon the shores of Lake Bravado. But in the wake of his final death, the impact of his Grand Finale is still being felt across the San Saba. Dr. I.E. Esgrove, a visitor to Bravado that was shocked by the ravages of the Necrophage, has been spurred to pursue funding from one Felicity Redfield regarding a new revelation. Esgrove has found the waste of the Necrophage and its cure clinging to the Infection of individuals across the San Saba, and realized the new potential it can offer for change and restoration.
With the new blessing of the RRC, Dr. Esgrove has been working around the clock delving deep into the Facility underneath Bravado to fuel their machine, a device he calls the T.I.T.A.N Processor. Escrow has declared the next trade to be the great unveiling of his creation, and there is a call out to the wastes for the brightest, driven, and best – gearheads, scientists, and tinkerers alike to come and join in the culmination. Miss Felicity Redfield has even graciously volunteered to display her trust in Bravado and Esgrove by being the first test subject.
The T.I.T.A.N. Processor has been set up on the edge of the Facility, just a short trek from Downtown Bravado, for all to come see the flash of great brilliance when the switches are thrown. Come one, come all, to witness a new miracle of science!
An Exodus from Waking
Over the past several months, the capital of Waking Prime has been experiencing problems that are either catastrophic or very minor irritations depending on which person you talk to. This floating city is a wonder of oldcestor technology, kept afloat by the mysterious Capacity Engine and the constant tinkering of the RRC’s brightest minds. While some of the muckrakers and opponents of the opulence of the floating city have suggested that they are simply delaying an inevitable doom, others still have sought out additional resources and support for aiding the ailing airship’s engines.
Near the end of the Burning Season, a sudden loss of altitude caused by a failed surface engine caused the city to tilt off course and damaged several key structures built on top of the capital ship. When those buildings were damaged, it inspired several scientists in the city to either pursue a career in a safer environment, or perhaps even some were left go from contracts as funding dried up. Regardless of the truth of the danger to Waking, none can deny that the population of the city continues to shrink as the challenges to the city grow more dire.
One such brilliant mind that had left the city of Waking Prime to seek out his prospects elsewhere was a scientist by the name of I.E. Esgrove. When the city’s problems began, it activated a clause in his contract with Waking and left him in Bravado at the end of the Necrophage crisis as a free agent. He had been hired on originally as part of Research & Development, a sub-sect of the RRC, and had been a man of science since he was old enough to understand it.
Esgrove saw the devastation wrought at the hands of Nichols and vowed to help, being rapidly recruited by Felicity Redfield, the CEO of the RRC. The scientists’ specialty was in math, advanced harmonics, and electrical manipulation of radiation. He was a brilliant man, but he was driven to help others in a way he had been unable to during his tenure in Waking. After discovering that Bravado seemed to be ground zero for Nichol’s machinations and the site of his last stand, he realized he needed a direct connection with the people of the town to continue his research.
Shortly before Esgrove’s exodus from Waking, he had stumbled into a unique side effect of the deadly Necrophage disease that had been spread in the past few weeks. Each of those affected by the disease had a unique marker in their blood and biomass that had mutated the very building blocks of their IMPRINT into a state of instability. While radiation often provoked mutations in Strains, this unstable condition could be manipulated with the right application of science and electricity. The very blueprint of what made a Strain a Strain had become… mutable.
A Mutated Imprint
While this new condition of IMPRINT DISSONANCE might eventually be repaired over time, the symptoms of the condition were spreading. Some of the earliest affected had started reporting strange quirks of behavior and temporary mutations that resembled those of other Strains. A pacifist Unborn might suddenly seem to distance themselves from their Gravemind worship and fall into a rage of the Tainted strain. A rambunctious Diesel Jock might suddenly manifest the signs of an Accensorite accension, or a Baywalker might find themselves suddenly glowing red as if they were an Iron. A friendly Remnant might suddenly grow fangs and begin to thirst for the blood of the living, or a Pureblood might suddenly have become the black sheep of the family when they gained the rot of a Retrograde.
Like oldcestor diseases before it, it seemed like the Necrophage would have serious long term effects for some of its victims, but it also presented a unique opportunity. If the Imprint itself was mutable, then it might be possible to realize one of Esgrove’s dreams — the mutation of a Strain into a completely different Strain.
There had some limited successes before, to be fair. Juliet Butcher, the Butcher of Killhouse, had successfully pioneered a process she called Project Lurid to convert a strain into an Unstable. She had performed the procedure on herself, but she had also transmogrified the psychotic killer known as Eyeless Jack from his former Quiet Folk strain. However, while the Butcher’s process seemed to embrace the chaotic instability to force someone into a permanent Unstable mutation, it seemed to work only one way. A scientist from Hayven named Mica Snow had also pioneered a procedure to “cure” Bad Brain by converting a victim into what became known more commonly as the Tainted. Like the Butcher’s process, this was also limited to a one-way change.
There had of course been the strangeness from after the Hiway War when a number of folks had spontaneously changed their Strains, but that was widely considered to be part of the instability that had occurred when the long dead returned to life and the Grave Mind seemed to regurgitate those that had been lost. However, this phenomenon was short-lived and ended almost 4 years ago and no one had successfully replicated what had happened.
The taint of the Necrophage could be a catalyst that could be used to achieve the unthinkable, but it would need a significant power source to enact Esgrove’s experiment.
The TITAN Processor
Esgrove’s masterpiece was a massive machine filled with wires, electrodes, aether tubing, capacitors, and transformer-generators. Dubbed the TITAN Processor, Esgrove claimed this machine was capable of the Transfer of Imprint, Thoughts, And Neuropathways between two patients. By the use of carefully targeted blasts of radiation, alteration of harmonic frequencies, and the unique instability of the Imprint created by the Necrophage, Esgrove was sure he could create a stable Strain change thanks to his research. The machine could even effectively “copy” the unique signatures of one person to another, provided both hosts were willing and similar enough in Strain and Lineage. If someone had transformed into a different Strain, it would be capable of returning them to their original Strain or stabilizing the Imprint to make their new Strain permanent.
While he had been able to smuggle most of the resources out of Waking with his new benefactor’s help, one thing that Felicity could not help Esgrove immediately obtain was a stable power supply. While the city of Waking was a technological marvel in itself, the presence of the lightning storm generators and the Capacity Engine meant that scientists never wanted for lack of electricity or power for projects. In order to power the TITAN Processor, they would need a replacement for the extreme power demands of the conversion process.
Felicity Redfield once again came through with a solution. Underneath the town of Bravado lurked a massive oldcestor complex, known to some as C.R.A.D.L.E. but to most simply as the “Facility” — a source of metal, wiring, and artifacts that drove delvers and fortune seekers to the tiny town off the Oxline. The deepest parts of the facility sometimes still held dormant devices that brimmed with power, and they could tap into the Facility itself as a source for the TITAN Processor. With Felicity’s help and the RRC’s resources, they would be able to complete the first test of the device.
Calling his fellow scientists of R&D and the brightest minds of the San Saba to Bravado, Esgrove hoped to show off the power of his new device and provide a tangible way for the citizens of the area to recover from the Imprint-warping effects of the Necrophage. For once, he would be able to do some good with his creations, and help those that were either suffering from a lost Strain or those who sought a change to what they desired to become.
the First Test
Early Friday evening, I.E. Esgrove arrived back in Bravado with the first candidate of the TITAN Process, the CEO of the Railroad Conglomerate: Felicity Redfield. As part of her agreement to fund Esgrove’s project, Felicity was to be the first focus of the new experiment. A sitting board member on the San Saba Board and the executive leader of the RRC being willing to be a guinea pig was a major vote of confidence in Esgrove’s project.
As Esgrove finished the last-minute calculations, Felicity assured those gathered to watch the experiment of her confidence in the TITAN Process and how they would use the machine to help those that needed it. The Strain changes were still spreading, and more townsfolk were exhibiting changes. For some, Strain was a part of their identity, and they were eager to return back to the form they were most comfortable in. Some embraced the change, hoping that the TITAN Process could help them become this new form of what they were meant to be. And others still were still on the fence, clearly not completely satisfied with the change but reluctant to make such a big decision without time and contemplation.
Esgrove had large cables and wiring running into an exposed hatch that led into one of the sub-levels of the Facility near the Maw. According to Felicity, the area was a redundant system that could be used to power the device and it should have no ill effect on the town. While most of the Facility lacked power, those isolated pockets that retained some form of energy could be tapped into with the RRC’s patented electrical converters. Lights lit up the night around the TITAN Processor, makeshift engines whirred to life, and fluid processors bubbled with kinetic energy as the machine was turned towards its first test.
Felicity Redfield stepped into one of the Titan chambers, eager to prove her investment successful, trusting that she was perfect as is and needed no major changes from the device. Instead, for this first test they would just be solidifying her Imprint and preventing the decay that was affecting other Strains. If this worked, they could proceed to a more robust plan of altering Strains on a purposeful and profitable basis. It could allow them to sell an elective strain change to any that wanted to invest in the project, offering a future where they could truly offer an Imprint by Design ® service.
With a click and a hum, the machine was spun up, and the TITAN Process began.
Sweat broke out on Esgrove’s face as a sudden strange ticking and beeping came from the device. Smoke poured from the machine as he frantically moved levers and knobs across his device from within his control booth. As he calibrated and adjusted the machine in the way that only he had mastered, it was clear something was wrong.
A failed Experiment
Esgrove began a system shutdown, hoping that Felicity had not been injured or even killed by the device. The TITAN Processor screeched and hissed as if complaining about the aborted procedure, lights flaring and sirens buzzing in protest. Esgrove moved with a fever, trying his best to contain the sudden release of energy from the device. The process had been halted, but the TITAN machine had stored too much power to stop so abruptly. With a reluctant switch, he forced the power flow back into the Facility to avoid a critical failure.
The emergency protocols locked into place, the great whirring sounds of the TITAN Processor slowed and came to a jarring halt. With a giant blast of steam and the peculiar buzzing in the night of ionized air escaping from vents, the chamber opened once more.
Felicity emerged cautiously, still unaware of the problems that Esgrove was trying to contain. As she asked for a mirror, she was horrified. Instead of the face she expected to see in the mirror, she had been transformed. Felicity now had strange psionic growths emerging from all over her body. A ridge of crystals across her face dimly glowed in the moonlight, and at any place where the skin was tougher like a knee or elbow had suddenly grew crystalline formations. However, despite the dramatic and obvious change, she was still alive!
After a quick check over by Esgrove with the help of the town’s doctors, it became clear that while something had changed, she had survived a dose of lethal radiation that should have killed her. The reason why Felicity was still alive was surprising to most of the town — Felicity was not a Pureblood as folks had assumed, but she was secretly a Remnant!
Had the machine worked as intended during the abrupt stop, Esgrove explained, it would have likely melted her to a pool of biomass and radioactive sludge. The lie that Felicity had maintained for so long had worked in her favor. Her bright red curly hair was simply a wig, and carefully concealed beneath her finery she normally had rough patches of skin and the scaly hide of the Mutant lineage. Felicity had always wanted to be able to claim the birthright of the Elitariats and be accepted amongst her peers in the RRC and Waking, and something as simple as being the wrong Strain wasn’t something that would prevent her from her rise to power in the RRC.
The device had worked, but it had supercharged her Remnant strain. The new mutations were clearly a side effect of the math of the process being unbalanced and incomplete, but in some ways, it was still a successful result. Felicity had stayed a Remnant. Esgrove would need to run some more tests, but it should still be possible to successfully change the Strain of someone suffering from the strange Imprint Dissonance. Despite the first test failing, it was simply a matter of balancing the equation and discovering the right combination of factors to control the TITAN process.
But a sudden rumble beneath their feet brought an end to the relief of Felicity’s survival…
THE WEEPING
It had been quiet so far in the evening, almost eerily so. Few zed and raiders had made it past patrols, and it seemed as if the night was holding its breath for something to happen. The town’s population was focused on the reveal of Esgrove’s machine, so it was immediately obvious that something was wrong so close to the Maw.
A rumble under the ground grew and grew as it built into an earthquake. The ground rent open in places, and in some holes were opened up into places deeper underground. The ionic charge in the air sparked in the night, resembling a thunderstorm building as ball lightning danced across the sky. Areas near the lake collapsed into dangerous quicksand pits, and chasms opened up across the town.
The power rerouted back into the Facility had done something. Some previously unknown section of the Facility must have been affected by the power draw of the TITAN Processor. And deep in the tunnels below Bravado, something answered.
The town had long dealt with the peculiar undead threats of the Facility. Previous explorers had discovered several rooms full of Semper Mort patients, dead in cryogenic tubes and rotting in their prisons separated from the Grave Mind. This half-death led to the things known as BLOOD GHASTS becoming a threat. If the tubes were broken, the things that escaped resembled undead Semper Morts with a hunger for flesh borne of a millennium of starvation. They were dangerous enough enemies, but their numbers were rarely more than a handful released at once.
But now an earthquake inside the Facility had changed all that.
Bloodghasts could feed on survivors and mutate at an accelerated rate, advancing into more and more dangerous forms of the undead. The Bloodghasts had always been unstable creatures, and even the dangerous Bloodghast Alphas were nothing compared to a new threat that emerged from below - the WEEPING.
The first encounters with the Weeping happened as a swarm of the Bloodghasts escaped from a cavernous rent in the group in the forest. First named for the black ichor dripping from their eyes that appeared to be hideous tears, the Weeping were dangerous. Somehow impacted by the radiation of the TITAN Processor, the creatures had evolved even past what was thought possible for a Bloodghast, but they were just as feral, vicious, and HUNGRY. They had become stronger, smarter, more deadly, and possessed new and dangerous abilities to cause immense pain and agony in a target with a strike or to even hyper adapt a defense to those that tried to kill them.
The Weeping would adapt to whatever threat they faced, growing rock-like scales in a moment to resist the crushing blow of a hammer, bone-like plating that reflected bullets, or strange crystalline growths that resisted the strongest psionic flame. The adaptation was quick and rendered them nearly immune to repeated forms of the same attacks. A clever survivor took advantage of the response to make one of the Weeping immune to his gunfire while his friends hacked it to pieces up close.
It was possible to kill the Weeping, but one shuddered to think of a horde of the creatures. It took an entire organized group of the Fallow Hope to put down one of the creatures, much less an entire wave of the things. Whatever was causing this new form of Bloodghast to evolve in the depths of the Facility needed to be dealt with quickly.
Restless Dreams
After a harrowing night evading attacks from Bloodghasts and the Weeping, some of the Strain changes were worsening. The mutation was evolving at a rapid pace for some, and the changes were becoming more dangerous. A person might suddenly mutate through multiple Accensorite ascensions, or the hunger for meat might drive a new Lascarian to kill. Without a lifetime of living as that Strain, minor inconveniences that others had learned to live with became crippling hindrances in the newly changed.
Esgrove returned in the morning, haggard and restless, having spent the previous night trying to understand the mistakes that had been made the night before. He was full of ideas and looking for research assistants to help him fix the TITAN Processor, hoping to bring some relief to those that were undergoing the growing pains of their new Strain. With their help, they could research new equations to balance the chemical mutations of the machine and restore functionality to the process.
The TITAN machine was built around two large chambers, originally powered by a tap into the primary power systems of the Facility. Esgrove’s vision was that the first chamber would collect data from the background radiation of the world to offer a clear and untainted blueprint of that subject. From there, they could apply that template to a subject in the second chamber to force a similar mutation to match, or to stabilize the Imprint in the subject back to its original form.
When Esgrove had performed the procedure on Felicity, they had done so without a donor on the other end, so the effect on her Imprint had been random and not deliberate. If the equation was balanced, it might be possible to predict and manipulate how that mutation of the Imprint resolved. With these variables uncovered, they would simply need to account for the various specific quirks of the Imprint in various subjects of all Strains. Simple blood tests and math could help isolate these genetic differences between the Strains so they could adapt the compounds used in the machine to match.
In addition to finding a new equation for his process, Esgrove identified a way to safely power the machine by using subsystems in the Facility instead. The first attempt had attempted to tap into a main line, and it overloaded the process or perhaps whatever system it had been connected to. The recent earthquakes and release of the Weeping were likely related to that system, so they could not risk further damage by using the same source of power as before.
However, the surge of energy from the machine had activated new mechanical readouts and gauges that had not worked for generations and opened doors and chambers that had yet to be explored. A map of sorts was now lit within one of the hub rooms of the facility, offering new insight into how the Facility was organized. They now had more information into the mysterious function of the Facility than they had ever had before, and Felicity’s delvers were already planning eager expeditions into newly unlocked tunnels.
Esgrove’s theory was that if they could tap into a smaller system instead, they could drain the batteries of that system and keep the process contained. It would disable the subsystem they used, but it would provide enough power to keep the TITAN Processor active for hours at a time. With some coordination and a bit of luck, they could process dozens of patients at once and offer a cure to the Imprint Dissonance plaguing the town.
The RRC scientist had located eight sub systems that he believed could “safely” supply power to the machine, but they would have unknowable effects on the Facility itself when they were disabled. He would need the town to help make a decision about what systems to use to power the TITAN engine, as they would deal with the consequences in the future.
Powering the TITAN Processor
Deciphering the archaic text of the Facility was no easy task, but the researchers believed they had identified functions of several eligible subsystems. By cannibalizing power, they could help solve the problem facing Bravado, but each risked causing long term complications. Without more info, even the information they could find was simply a guess. Any systems that remained could perhaps even be accessed later, and would be a resource they could use in the future once the crisis passed.
There were eight systems that had enough power to function for the TITAN Processor’s needs:
Life Support
This gargantuan, pythonic coil of rubber and insulation extended down deep into The Facility. Of the subsystems, this one easily carried the most power and disseminated it the furthest. Water, electricity, and a kind of osseous and generic slurry that resembled something between hot cereal and cement, flowed through those isolated rivers of caloric density and power deep into the fathomless depths of the Facility. Whatever was being fueled by the water and slurry of Life Support would be left to die once the system lost power, lost to a makeshift tomb in the tunnels below.
Hydroponics Bay
The electricity required to keep the artificial sunlight on in rooms so deep underground they have never seen the real thing, was laughably negligible. Still, it was enough to get the job done. The surprising readout on this system was that this section of the Facility had never lost power. It is very possible, in fact, that whatever biome survived inside the Hydroponics Bay could represent one of the last contained, uninfluenced ecosystems, since the Fall. Untouched, the RRC could perhaps even discover new herbs, medicines, and plants from before the Fall if they could access the chamber.
Containment Maglocks
The complicated and ancient mechanical blueprint of the Facility that was their reference indicated the existence of magnetically locking doors throughout its deep structures. These doors were currently powered and sealed. Unlocking the Containment Maglocks would mean access to the titanic amounts of electricity that kept them shut, but whatever the doors contained might be released. With the recent release of the Weeping, one shuddered to think what might still lurk below.
Resonance Lab
When they first spliced into the wires that were labeled [RESONANCE LAB], the material inside them appeared at first fiber optic, possessing a crystalline structure and the ability to transmit light along its length purely by being exposed to it. The makeshift voltage tester they used clearly indicated a strong current moving through the substance and it would easily function as the power source they required. Still, when one survivor wrapped his palm around the wires, he felt a vaguely unpleasant tingle in his arm, almost like a very sour electrocution. The power here in the Resonance Lab could be more easily tapped for later use if they didn’t use it to power the TITAN machine. A readily accessible electrical source in the Facility would be a boon to future exploration below Bravado.
Virology
This thick bundle of wires terminated in a fuse box not far beneath the San Saba Soil labeled Virology. The complicated mechanisms being powered in this system ranged from “decontamination” to what appeared to be a weekly cycle of radiation that was applied beyond the bounds of the read-out’s date calculation. Despite the wear and tear of millennia, protection from the elements had mostly kept this system up and running since the Fall. Whatever viral samples kept suspended in the subsystem would risk new plagues and outbreaks to rival that of the Necrophage, but could offer new insight into the diseases of the wastelands.
Water Treatment
The pile of tubing and purification infrastructure known as Water Treatment was powered by an enormous cable that reached up and towards Lake Bravado like a tentacle of some insidious beast. This seemed to be connected to the monolith of stone in the lake that was first revealed in the explosion that destroyed Old Bravo years ago. The treatment system matched the edifice of white stone and black metal that had first drawn the RRC to Bravado to delve into the mysteries of the Facility. It had power, though it seemed the system was hardly functional after eons of exposure. It would be a useful tool to process the tainted lake water, if they could keep it operational.
Acoustic Dampers
These heavy-duty power cables seemed attached directly to a series of enormous underground plates at the very bottom of the Facility core, if the schematics were to be believed. With cable shielding made of lead, or some similar substance, the best guess was that this system was crucial to make underground tectonic platters tilt and shift according to some ancient design. The Acoustic Dampers required an enormous amount of energy, second only to Life Support. If they disabled these systems, it would likely aggravate and accelerate the tectonic activity that had occurred when the TITAN machine first turned on the night before.
The Stitch
This cable was singular, and kept inside a plexiglass tube for its entire, unfathomable length. Bright orange, though faded with the eons, it read [THE STITCH] in red letters outlined in black. Whenever this place was built, the designer took pains to keep this particular system completely isolated from the rest of the Facility’s inner workings. It was not listed on any blueprints and was omitted from the mechanical maps they had uncovered. But it was clear that The Stitch was routed through every section of the Facility to its deepest, most chasmic and charnel laboratories.
Each of the subsystems represented a dangerous choice, but the town needed to bring the TITAN Processor back online if they hoped to find some cure to the Imprint Dissonance.
The TITAN Process Restored
Once the TITAN Processor was ready, Esgrove was ready to try the first mass test of the machine. With the help of a fellow operator, Esgrove could lead a group of survivors into the test chambers and help them prepare for the transformation. He had built an elaborate mechanism for the machine that would only respond to him, to keep potential martyrs in the town from trying anything catastrophic.
Esgrove was slightly more harried and was struggling. The effort to reconfigure the machine was no easy task, and he had barely slept the night before. By his best calculations they would have enough power to try several times, but he had no idea how long the energy surge that powered the Facility below would last, so they had to act quickly. It was an endeavor to wrangle the townsfolk of Bravado, but they found their first test subjects willing to risk the process to either lock in their transformation or return their Imprint to its original state.
The key to the process would be having the correct donor and recipient. The previous mistake had been trying to convert Felicity alone. If they could provide the machine with another person to stand in as a source of the Imprint, he could effectively “copy” the Imprint onto the other patient, returning them to a stable condition, free of the Imprint Dissonance. As long as the patients were close to the desired Strain, they would have a chance. It would still be dangerous and exhausting, and if they survived, they would need immediate medical attention.
The town split into several groups. The size of the machine limited access to a few dozen patients at a time, and they would need a second assistant to help Esgrove outside, as well as doctors to assist. Moreover, they would need to make sure they had compatible pairs of patients to fix the condition. It was a logistical nightmare, but it would be worth the risk.
With a now-familiar whir, the TITAN Processor was brought online for the first successful test.
Correcting the Imprint
From the outside, the process seemed mostly mundane. A lot of smoke, lights, sounds, and such, but it was effectively watching Esgrove move back and forth flipping switches inside the operations chamber he used to monitor the process. It was somewhat anticlimactic for onlookers, but Esgrove assured them that this time it would work. He had routed power from the Water Treatment subsystem for their first attempt, hoping that the system’s supply of electricity would be enough.
The chambers were bathed with a soft glow, and a sweet-smelling gas was piped into the chambers. Those inside drifted into a dreamless sleep, cradled in the oblong depressions in the chamber. Once conscious faded, what the survivors experienced inside was entirely different.
They awoke to a pseudo-landscape of Bravado, an eerily familiar forest without the gargantuan machinery of the TITAN machine where they stood, but something else. The fog of sleep gave way to the cool mist of the forest floor.
Out of that primordial fog stumbled a smoked-glass reflection of the Imprint they were not saddled with but had chosen. Each of the survivors seemed to be connected to them and could hear their thoughts as your own. Each heartbeat in time with their IMPRINT-SHADE, their doppelgänger face resembling the donor in the other chamber, but almost as if someone else was wrapped up in their skin too.
It seemed like the sleepless realm was something close to the Near Death. This couldn’t be though, as it would be impossible to be that deep in the Mortis. In fact, above them they could see the sky filtering through the Amaranthine-like sunlight layer. The Imprints around them seemed malleable, and impermanent. How easy it would be for all of this to go terribly wrong.
At the edge of their vision, they could each perceive a Threshold, almost as if a glowing doorway was beckoning them across. But in their way stood the Imprint-Shade, mirroring each of their movements and preventing them from drawing closer. One by one, each patient attempted to escape the strange dreamscape, but each time they were confronted by the Shade. Some described the Shade asking questions, while others described quick and cutting blows seeking their flesh.
Frustrated, the first of survivors simply pushed their way not past the Shade, but instead THROUGH it. It was a struggle, almost as if they were slipping into a compressed tube, squeezing themselves in an impossible way to fit into the reflection of what they desired to be. The words of ancient Barogue filtered through their head — “Imprint is Matter, and Matter is Imprint”. The machine was simply a catalyst for the choice ahead. It would be their belief that made a change reality and permanent, not the pseudo-science of the TITAN Process.
Esgrove had simply opened a door across the threshold and made the change possible. They would still need to walk through, if they could.
It was a deeply personal experience for each. The challenge of the Imprint-Shade was only a task they could complete if they were willing. It was not something to be fought against, but rather accepted. As they each stepped into the shadow of the Imprint as if it was their own shadow, they felt fire in their blood and a blinding light as they crossed the Threshold back into reality.
group processing
After about an hour in the strange machine, the survivors emerged from the TITAN Processor. Bleeding and coughing, covered in a strange byproduct of fluid and biomass, they each emerged liked newborns into the chill afternoon. Smiles and thanks were quick to follow, as each of the patients discovered that they had emerged changed by the experience. For those matched with the donor of their original Strain, the Dissonance had faded back into their former Strains. For those that found the change something they actively sought instead, they found themselves in new bodies, transmogrified by the TITAN Process into the Strain that matched their desired outcome.
The first group had been a success, so all that remained was to organize the rest of the town and have folks decided how they would choose to resolve the Imprint Dissonance.
Each successive group chose a new subsystem to cannibalize for the process. While the first group has disabled the easiest system, Water Purification, the others were left with more difficult choices. The second group settled on disabling the Acoustic Dampers, fueling the machine once more to complete the harrowing transformation of the TITAN Process. No one felt comfortable disabling the ominous system marked only as the Stitch, fearing some terrible threat from beyond death.
Throughout the afternoon, the symptoms plaguing the town grew worse. The assaults of Bloodghasts and the Weeping threatened survivors across Bravado, as new crevices and chasms opened into the Facility below. Early delving teams from the RRC reported radioactive water flowing once more from the Facility back into the lake, a consequence of the failed Water Purification system. The earthquakes and quicksand pits continued as well, provoked by the loss of the Acoustic Dampers.
Esgrove worked with a stoic and focused determination through each group, despite the danger. Each time a new group was ready, he would descend into the tunnels of the Facility to complete the final connections to the power supplies inside. Each time, he emerged more worn and haggard, sometimes beaten and bloody by the treacherous descent. One by one, the town disabled the Hydroponics Lab and Life Support and rushed to find anyone that was willing to endure the process to stabilize their Imprint. Travelers from nearby Essex had arrived throughout the afternoon, seeking out the opportunity to embrace a new life, change by the life-altering powers of Esgrove’s masterpiece. Hours stretched by as dozens of those inflicted by Imprint Dissonance chose to brave the TITAN machine under Esgrove’s careful operation.
While the town was dealing with the struggle of powering the TITAN Processor for what might be its final process, they discovered that two of the powered subsystems had been shut down during the early evening - the Containment Maglocks and the Resonance Lab. Why the Facility suddenly lost power is unknown, but the timing was very suspicious. Thankfully, the power loss did not affect the The Stitch, but it still forced a harder decision on the town. It’s possible that someone could have tampered with the connections, but who would have had the knowledge and equipment to do such sabotage?
The Final Price
When Esgrove emerged from the Facility after completing the next connection, he reported back on what they had feared. This would be the last time the TITAN Process would have enough power to operate. The Facility was becoming more dangerous and the power overload was reaching a critical point. If they kept pushing and cannibalizing the systems of the Facility, they could risk a colossal failure of every system still active in the Facility. It wasn’t something Esgrove was willing to do, no matter the cost. But another complication made sure this was to be the last song of the TITAN machine.
Esgrove was dying.
The constant descents into the Facility to connected exposed wiring, or perhaps the flood of radiation from countless procedures that bathed the unshield control bay of the machine with lethal doses had been too much. There was no way to save him at this point. He had given his all to try to leave a lasting legacy of his invention. With skin flaking off, his hair shedding, and his muscles literally eating themselves, he steeled himself for the final task at hand. He would spend his dying breath making sure that his dream was made reality.
Perhaps his notes would be enough for the RRC to replicate the process in the future. Some of the townsfolk had refused the treatment, choosing instead to find alternate ways to cure the Imprint Dissonance. Some simply couldn’t make such a monumental decision in a night, no matter the risk of death they faced. Even his patron had made a choice.
Despite the years of lies, the manuevering and dreams of a life as a Pureblood, Felicity Redfield had entered the chambers of the TITAN machine with a soft smile for Esgrove and a determination in her stride that had made her famously successful. At her side was another Remnant, a purposeful choice to keep her original Strain intact instead of pursuing the life she had pretended to want. She was perfect as she was, after all, just like she had said that first night. It had been only with the help of the townsfolk, and the example of Esgrove’s sacrifice that she had realized the truth.
The final TITAN Process went as flawlessly as his first attempt that afternoon. The survivors emerged, either returned or transformed, the perfect result of the process that Esgrove had perfected at the cost of his own life.
As the light faded, and the starry Lonestar skies shone above, the town sat in contemplation, mourning the loss of the strange scientist. While Imprint by Design ® might have been his goal, the echoes of the decisions made by Bravado would carry them into a hopeful future.
Threads of Note from IMPRINT BY DESIGN ®
Fear Eaters - On Friday night, a strange creature was spotted in Bravado. It seemed to be some kind of psionic Raider, already a rarity in the familiar threat to the wastelands. Strange geometric crystals were growing from its eyes and body, similar to the creatures that were first encountered in the vaulted halls of lost Barogue. Is it possible that the Resonant raiders have escaped the lost city and spread throughout the San Saba, or were these raiders coming from somewhere else?
All of My Sins Remembered - A familiar face of the Reckoners of the Grave Council, Solomon was rescued from the morgue thanks to the efforts of the Vados. The skull-faced Retrograde had been targeted by someone called the “Memory Thief” and had lost several crucial memories of his past and was heavily fractured after his trip through the Mortis Amaranthine. With the town’s help, they delved into the story of Solomon’s past and his unique connection with Grandfather Nichols and helped him deal with the lost memories.
The Accountant - An official from the Railroad Conglomerate came into Bravado offering a unique service to exchange currencies from around the wastes. You could trade in your smaller Brass notes to trade up to easier-to-carry Lead or Tin. You could even purchase other currencies that were in the Accountant’s binder for a direct 1:1 exchange. Many survivors make a collection of the various currencies used around the wasteland, and this was an excellent opportunity to add some rare choices to their collection. Unfortunately, the Accountant’s trip was cut short when a group of thieves activated a personal Shredder Bomb that wiped out the thieves and the collection in an explosive blast. Ooof!
Wrap Up
That’s it for today Vados! We still have one more recap to go to finish up our story for the first half of Season 4. We will be ramping up our production for the next episode, CRISIS OF FAITH, very soon. Regular content will resume the week of January 18th, but we have a pretty neat side project with an online game series we are calling “Lonestar Skies Virtual Events”.
These one-day stories will feature some areas of the San Saba we can’t explore directly and will offer a unique online DR:TX experience. Our first Lonestar Skies Event is called IN THE WOODS and will be run by the peerless Shan on Saturday, January 21st.