Introduction to the Hive

[Kody]

Still trying to figure out how to describe the hive in a roleplay way.

"Security Pass", the guard challenged.

"It's okay, I invited this one", said a young man walking into view.

The guard stiffened for a second before seeing who it was. He then adopted a more relaxed posture and stood aside.

"I'm Kody", the young man said as he stepped forward. "I've heard you might be interested in joining the Hive." He gave a wry smile that seemed almost sheepish.

They've sent some lowly official. Although this one was dressed casually in a grey shirt and trousers. No medals or ornaments either, which is unusual for an official. Maybe this guy is just a tour guide.

"I'm considering my opinions first", tumbles out the reply.

Kody nodded solemnly, before leading the way to the lift. "The Hive is very security conscious", he says launching into a monologue. "It is easier to defend and that is one of the main reasons we live underground. We’re currently descending down the main shaft. There are several smaller shafts and each shaft is surrounded by a perimeter defence…”

Outside the concrete of the shaft streaks by and as the lift descends the shaft lights blinks through the scratched windows. In the air is the smell of industrial chemicals, and grease. It seems that the interior of the lift hasn't been washed anytime recently and the technology used is last generation.

"Our power isn't in our technology or our spit and polish", Kody interrupted as if reading your thoughts. "It's in our industry and our people. People like you perhaps."

The lift grinds to a stop and the door opens to an lavishly decorated hallway. Kody leads the way past several pairs of guards swiping his card past the checkpoints. At the final door the hallway opens up to an office with furnishing that is reminiscent of the late 20th century. Numerous books line a bookshelf that occupies one side of the room. A grandfather clock, fireplace, oak desk and a leather armchair can be seen at the far end of the room.

There is a soft click as the door shuts.

"Forgive Kody for leaving so arruptly. He dislikes the trappings of power." A man stands up beside the fireplace. "I am Chairman Voltaire."

***** Let Voltaire do the rest *******

[Vev]

Or...

A female corporal dressed in tidy uniform lead the newcomer in a maze of white-washed passageways to a nondescript looking door. She turned the handle and opened the door inviting to the person to enther.

"Please proceed to Room 103. You will be guided back into your quarters when the interview has finished."

The room was lit with fluoroscent lights casting an eerie glow on the near pure white walls. The only object was a single chair. There was another door in front.

A voice crackled over a speaker,
"Please proceed to the room in front."

The room opened into darkness and when a step was taken inside, consciousness soon fade rapidly.

[i] ... running along the tunnels of the Hive, each sections nearly identical to the next. The patter of the footsteps echoed softly down the endless tunnels...

The air in passage way begin to have a sickly sweet scent. There were other noises too, besides the heavy breathing and footsteps. The faint hurried running of incoming footsteps. A male corporeal appeared in view and began to spoke while gasping for breath.

"Sir, mindworm attacks have breached perimeter 37-A. We have only a handful of soldiers left and cannot hold them off and evacuate the people. We are losing ground fast. We need backup!"

The passageway in front changes into a scene of nightmares. Mindworms everywhere coming from all crevices and holes. Mindworms pouring in and falling onto the floor forming a wriggling pink mass. Factory workers were running away in panic, a horde of people running and crushing over each other as they all attempted to leave by the main exit. The air was filled with hysterical screaming and people driven into primal instinct of survial by fear they are encountering.

Some brave soldiers were defiantly fighting back with flamers, but they could not save everyone.

A busload of children overturned when the driver attempted to serve around to avoid the mindworm pile. The driver was unconscious and the exit door crushed underneath the bus ...

"Sir! What are your orders? There is a whole community trapped in sector 37. We need to do something!"

Some of the quicker survivors begin to trickle through the tunnel bulkhead but as for the rest, the mindworms are too fast. Another community will fall if this bulkhead was breached.

"Seal the bulkheads."

"Sir?"

"Seal it NOW!"

"Sir!"

Klaxons wailed as the giant metal doors behind to slide into position. Horror filled into the eyes as the people of sector 37 realised they are to be trapped with the mindworms. The doors locked into place and hissed as they are hermatically sealed. Soon after, faint thumps of fist pounding on the doors but they quickly ceased.

Consciousness regained, the eyes open to reveal the same white room entered before. A uniformed male corporeal entered the room.

"Sorry we kept you waiting. Congratulations operative. Welcome to Hive Utopia."

[Kody]

I still haven't seen anything I really like yet. Need to ponder this over some more.

[Vev]

You were the first amongst your class. There were many who wished to join the exalted position of a Hive Operative. Many failed and they paid the ultimate price. The inner workings of Hive Intelligence are not meant for the eyes of normal people. The truth that binds the Hive together will destroy it if unleashed.

Many subversive forces threats the Hive from within and without. But you are not without help. The Crimson Guard police will aid you in dealing local affairs along with many other loyal citizen. However, for every loyal agent, there traitors adminst them. Go crush them Danno!

[Kody]

Contents
* Introduction to the Hive
* How the Hive Game is Run
. . . .Roleplay
. . . .Government
. . . .Strategy

---

Introduction to the Hive
"You have potential, which is why we're making this offer", Kody says.

You stare through the grimy plexiglass of the lift as it descends. Thinking about the past and what the future might hold for you. The concrete of the shaft streaks by and as the lift descends the shaft lights blinks through the scratched windows. In the air is the smell of industrial chemicals, and grease. It seems that the interior of the lift hasn't been washed anytime recently and the technology used is last generation.

"This place isn’t much to look at", you think out loud.

"It never was much more than a hole in the ground", Kody agrees. "It was always our people that made the difference. It would be a mistake to ever forget that."

There was an awkward silence filled with only the mechanical sounds of the lift and nearby machinery.

"We cannot force you to join the Hive", Kody finally says. ''That is your decision."

You keep your silence as you are still not yet certain of what you really want. Here, deep in the heart of the Hive you are going to meet the powerful chairman Voltaire, a man rarely seen outside the underground fortresses of his faction. Your decision could decide your destiny.

The lift shudders to a stop and the door opens to a pristine white hallway that is in stark contrast to the grimy neglected feel of the rest of the Hive. This hall is lined with red cloaked crimson guards and at the far end of the hall is a wooden door. Steeling yourself you step forward.

”Wait”, Kody says, stopping you from going further. He pauses as he tries to gather together the right words. "The chairman will offer you power, and political influence. If you really want to be caught up in the political struggles within the Party I won’t stop you, but there is more than just the Party."

“I don’t understand”, you reply. You have heard very little of the internal politics of the Hive.

“Their gaze does not extend past the edge of their privileged world", Kody says staring at you intently. "Don't make the same mistake.”

Kody steps back into the lift and the door closes behind him. Shaking away uncertainty, you turn and being walking towards the wooden door.

---

How the Hive Game is Run
The Hive is a very active faction, both in strategy and in roleplay. In a roleplay sense we have a very structured government. However, this does not translate to how the faction is actually run and our greatest weakness is in coordination.

Roleplay
The majority of the hive's members spend most of their time engaged in roleplay. The main projects underway are the roleplay story, one sentence story and the newspaper Pravda. The emphasis for both of these is to have fun rather than producing high quality writing. We believe that setting harsh criteria for submitted writing would be detrimental to number of people able to participate.

The one sentence story and Pravda are mainly places to exercise a sense of humour, although several serious articles have been submitted to Pravda. For a new member that wishes to not get deeply involved, the one sentence story is an ideal place to post every now and again. At present there is no official Pravda editor, which has lead to recent declines in the release rate of new Pravda editions. So if a new member enjoys writing and compiling newspapers the position is currently open.

The roleplaying stories are generally serious in nature and there is an unspoken understanding we won't insert silly jokes. Each person is allowed to create as many of his or her own characters as required and can add in their own thread to the story as long as it does not purposefully contradict what has already happened. Plot twists and future plot plans are usually discussed in the story discussion thread. There is no one person organising the direction the story is taking rather it's a group effort. Characters phase in and out of the story depending on whether their writers are busy or not. This allows for high flexibility in participation.

A new project was suggested that involved an interfaction roleplaying story. The idea was to spread some of our roleplaying to other factions and allow them to participate via private messages. The idea was the plot line would be interesting to other factions as factions would only be given some of the details and they would have to interact and make decisions to find out what is going on. However, someone with some free time is needed to organise this project and provide some of the writing.

Government
While our decision making process isn't highly structured we are satisfied with the results. The focus is mainly on decisions made early or fast. Decisions of minor importance are generally made among whoever is available. Generally this is vote among 2-4 people.

More important decisions have information threads posted and members are requested to give their opinions. If there appears to be some disagreement with the chosen course of action, members that haven't responded are contacted for their opinion too. A poll is then made together with an information post that states all the ideas and opinions that have been gathered from the forum and from MSN conversations between the members. When there is a deadlock between opinions and it becomes clear that further discourse is unlikely to break the deadlock. Then the chairman is asked to make a veto decision.

Information on the precise moves is posted before the turn. Usually the precise moves are ready several days before the turn arrives. This allows for problems to be found by members, and allows further optimisations to occur. Rough moves are usually planned 5 turns into the future, and the effects are predicted 10 turns into the future.

When the move arrives the turn player plays the turn while accompanied by at least one other member on MSN. New developments are discussed and any issues caused by other factions or random events are resolved between the people present.

After the turn has been completed the turn chat, details of new developments and a screenshot of the current state of the game are posted.

Strategy
While the hive actually lacks in experience compared to the other factions the members have made up for this deficiency in other ways. Large amounts of time are spent researching new ideas and precision in every single turn is paramount.

Consequently, a new member can contribute more as all ideas are considered important. Also a new member can learn more as when a new idea pans out it is explained in depth to the other members.

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Back to Contents Page

[Snowflake]

Brainstorming, no time to write it up, just an idea for the roleplaying part

Your best friend Andy went to visit the Hive for he heard that Claire Forlani was there. But he never came back. You were so worried for him for you have heard so much stories about the Hive, such as people going into the recycling tanks, and severe side effects of nerve stapling. You decide to risk your own life so that you could find out what happened to your dearest friend.

You went to the Hive and was led to the 7th floor to wait for the Chairman's authorization to get in. You were served with xenodoughnuts. You didn't want to eat it but it was too tempting so you tried it and it was actually very delicious. You looked around. You see a couple books, one is the red book - quotations from the chairman, another is collection of the Hive haikus. Not interested, you picked up a Pravda that was laying on the floor. You read it. You saw advertisement about free secretly produced artificial meats and stories about how deputy chairman works hard for the party's ten child policy. You looked out of the door, you saw an allegator chasing comrade Micha, and Comrade Kody busily running around, giving out command. Comrade Vev wanders by, gave you a glass of xenorum, and chatted with you about how the hive has a job for everyone. You asked why everybody was not doing anything while comrade Kody was running about, and got a lecture on the Hive's gov structure and Hive's effeciency.

That's about it what I have so far.

[Vev]

"It's time for Tonight Hive, hosted by Comrade Kostya Lettermen."

"Yes Kostya Lettermen here, tonight is the big night when we select one lucky comrade to have lunch with our beloved Chairmen. There has been an inprecidented number of application. Our mailing staff are buried by the number of online applications. Seems like the Hive's population never ceases."

"Although you have been waiting for this for one whole year, and soon our l-ovely Comrade Claire Forlani will draw our lucky entry. Of course all done under the supervision of those big well-armed secret police. Druuum roll! Over to you Comrade Claire."

"Thank you Kostya, and the winner is ... Lucinda Zakharov! She is a diligent scientist that just recently began working with the Hive Progressive Scientific Academy at the base of Edinstvo-Unity. Back to you Kostya."

"Well we finally have our winner here. So tonight we pick you up in a state rover and you will then fly state class to The Hive to have lunch with our beloved Chairman."

"Over to our camera crews ready outside the Hive Progressive Scientific Academy Laboratory where Lucinda is still working long into the night. Remember she does know we are coming."

"We just entered the foyer
... proceeding to the biological section
... okay we are just outside the gene laboratory.
... alright here we go."

"Hmm the door seems to be locked. Give it a harder push. Okay, it's opened."

"Congratulations Comrade Lucinda Zakharov. You have won an all expense paid trip to The Hive to have lunch with the Chairman. You look flustered, must have been all this excitement."

"Ahh, yes. Er, thank you. It was an unexpected surprise. I wasn't expecting anyone to visit me or my retr- ... genome research. I am honoured to visit our Chairman. I have been waiting a long time to ki- meet him."

"Alright gear your gear ready, we are leaving tonight!"

"Just give me a moment to store my vic- samples in the cyrofreezer."

Be ready for Part 2

[Kody]

Okay posting the Hive IC intro. There's still room for any pieces that other people might be working on so if you're nearly finished please paste what you have here and I'll see if I can work it in too.