Prologue

The dust had barely settled. The Clan limped home, considering themselves more than lucky to be alive. The battle had not treated them well, and their forces were nigh on decimated in the sheer intensity of the fight. How had they come to be so unprepared? Plans were already underway, preparations that would steel them against the next onslaught of the enemy. Military weapons and ships were but one piece of the puzzle—the rebuilding of the summit but another. Shadow, Empress of the Imperial Clan, stared down at the datapad and the proposal it contained.

Mune stood, head held high, before his Empress. His expression gave away nothing. The feeling she held regarding their showing was buried deep enough that they were only known to him. He would happily keep it that way.

“A training exercise,” Shadow queried softly, a brow arched curiously. “We are still reeling from the altercation with the Collective, is now the time for a ‘training exercise’?

“That is the point, Shadow… Empress,” the Shistavanen frowned. “Next time, we need to be prepared. Fancy toys alone are not going to get the job done. We, the people of the clan, need to better ourselves if we are to continue forward and survive the next wave.”

The Sephi-hybrid’s eyes narrowed, a nail tapped the surface of her desk slowly, rhythmically, as her thoughts rolled around. She trusted the ex-proconsul; she had no reason not to; his words certainly hit close to home. Placing the datapad flat upon her desk, she brought her gold eyes up to meet the ruby ones of the vulpine figure before her. Mune’s ears were angled forward, and his tail held still behind him. She could tell nothing from his body language. “I approve.”

Mune gave a firm nod and made to turn but stopped at a clearing of the woman’s throat. He turned his gaze back on his Empress.

“I approve, but you will be responsible,” she added firmly.

“Understood.”

Prompt

You’ve been invited to a training exercise intended for Novitiates, Journeymen and Equites alike. Together, with your clanmates, you will be put through training exercises to test the limits of your abilities, expand your knowledge, and develop teamwork. It has been made clear by your Empress that the clan did not fare well in the recent war against the Collective. We will not be caught resting on our laurels again. The transport to the Nethal Archipelago embarks at 0600.

Participants will be writing their characters and/or alt(NPCs) as taking part in a clan training exercise. The exercise will test their tactical abilities, mental prowess and all manner of skills in searching out and obtaining a stand-in for an artifact. Participants will be split into two teams, Alpha and Omega. This will be explained further below. This will be an exercise in character development (as part of the CDW) and practice in group run-on writing. Humour is both welcome and encouraged.

• Both teams’ goal is the artifact.
• Alpha Team is aware that they may have spies among them but not whom these spies are, and that if Omega Team captures the artifact, Alpha Team loses.
• Omega Team are the spies among the Alpha Team and must not be discovered. Their mission is to obtain the artifact in place of the Alpha team.
• Participants will be split up in private by the organizer as the run-on begins. Omega Team members will be aware of each other, but should not let on their status as Omega Team members. Infiltrate, manipulate and blend in.

The organizer (myself) will participate; however, it is only the rest of you that qualify for placement!

Rules/Guidelines

• All posts must be made within the run-on thread.
• Minimum of 2 posts required to qualify for participation.
• Minimum 500 words per post to qualify.
• Maximum of 1500 words per post.
• Participants cannot make consecutive posts. (No posting twice in a row.)
• A Snapshot must be submitted for any character in use for the Run-on. This can be done by doing the following: Administration > Possessions and Loadouts > Snapshots > Create Snapshot or the following for Alts/NPCs: Additional Character Slots and NPCs > Manage > Loadouts > Snapshots > Create Snapshot.
• Next post may be called via telegram or a planning document; however, that hold must be honoured within 48 hours, it is void, and someone else may post. This is to maintain a positive experience for everyone and to keep things from getting delayed.

Grading

• Grading will make use of the Run-on Grading Rubric

• Posts to be made in the Discourse Thread