Event: The Empire Strikes Back

[melodiesmods]

The Empire is going to attack Aqures Ixen from the 28th of July to the 03rd of August. The armies of Esdham will help Aqures Ixen and fierce battles will be waged for the entire week. Characters are going to be asked to help and depending on their occupations or lack thereof, they are going to be offered various things they can do. Characters in the military may be offered to lead battalions depending on their ranks, Airship Pilots may be asked to pilot a warship, characters with businesses in Aqures Ixen may be asked to take care of the remaining civilians, etc.

The result of the battle will depend entirely of you and your characters' actions. If the Heroes of Light do their best to defend the city and are successful, Aqures Ixen will be mostly fine by the end of the event. On the other hand, if they flee or fail to protect the city, Aqures Ixen will be burnt to the ground and only ruins will be left. In other words, the outcome of this event will radically change the game depending on your success or failure.

The event will be partly modded; we will indicates what happens and fully mod big parts of the event, but we will not be playing individual battles and the likes, these are for you to handle. Feel free to ask questions and use this post to plot! Start your own threads to say what your character is going to do or share ideas!



The NPCs are going to offer the characters quite a few things to do. Employments will play a big role in this battle, as characters will be able to use their connections to help. Characters with no employments can still participate as healers, fighters and the likes. Please reply to the appropriate thread below to request a role to play in the battle, so long as it fits with what employment (or lack thereof) your character has.

Ultima Weapon
Jessie has a plan that involves hijacking Ultima Weapon and using it against the Empire. This plan involves using the Black Crystal and the Crystallized Heroes to lure the Weapon to Aqures Ixen. A character equipped with the Hacker Job will then have to hack through Ultima Weapon's defenses, whereas a character equipped with the Magitek Knight Job will have to be waiting for it to be done, so as to pilot the Weapon. However, a fighting team should be ready to deal with Ultima Weapon should things go wrong or simply to protect Jessie, the Hacker and the Magitek Knight.

Because the Empire mustn't know about this plan, it means Jessie will begin luring Ultima Weapon on the 28th only. Should characters help her, Ultima Weapon will then appear on the 01st of August. This part of the event will be fully modded.

The Militaries
Because Esdham was successfully defended back in January, they have enough manpower to spare to send battalions and airships to assist Aqures Ixen. However, high-ranked officers will have to stay in Esdham to defend the city, as the Empire is expected to put pressure on them. It means that the characters in charge of the army will be the Heroes of Light part of it.

The highest ranked officer will be given command of the army, whereas the others will be able to take on roles such as commanding an Airship, a battalion or coordinating the troops and planning the tactics. Reply to the appropriate thread below to say what you would rather have your character do, roles will ICly be given during the meeting.

The Law Enforcement
While the Army will be busy attacking the imperial troops, the Law Enforcement of Aqures Ixen will be tasked with organizing the defense of the city. While Biggs will be overseeing the Military and Law Enforcement as a whole, the highest-ranking character amongst the Law Enforcement will be in charge of coordinating the officers throughout the city to maximize the defense. Other characters in the Law Enforcement will be given charge of defending specific districts or coordinating smaller units.

Reply to the appropriate thread below to say what you would rather have your character do, roles will ICly be given during the meeting.

Various Employments
Characters with employments or business in Aqures Ixen will be asked to help with protecting the remaining civilians and offer assistance to the Army and Law Enforcement. Airship Pilots with at least three months of experience will be offered to pilot a warship during the battle, employees will be able to use their connections to help, some may even organize civilians into improvised troops-- Who knows.

Mysterious Message
Characters who managed to come in contact with Kurma during the Imperial Parade back in February will receive a mysterious unsigned letter asking them to come next to a farm located on the Calm Plains. Maybe it is a trap. Should these characters go, they will meet Kurma-- Trap or not, this may be the occasion for them to get an advantage over the incoming Imperial Armies.

Defending The Civilians
Many civilians will still be in Aqures Ixen by the time this attack begins, and they're going to be right in the Empire's line of fire. Protecting them is one of the Heroes of Light's duty.

Melodies of Death
No matter what happens, Kalki will fulfill her promise and will be waiting for the Heroes of Light in the 03rd District, before the Crystal of Fire on August 03rd. However, their success or failure so far may modify what she has to say to them.




The details of the attack are yet unknown. However, there are a few certainties. The first wave should be comprised of no more than seven Airships and should be led by the Alexandria, it it to say Admiral Matsya's airship. Matsya is known to be a fearsome soldier who has no equal, at least in this world. At some point during the battle, a second wave will come, doubtlessly more massive than the first. This one will be led by the Bevelle, Kalki's Airship.

The 1st, 3rd and 7th District are key targets due to what they represent for Aqures Ixen as a whole. Should one these districts fall, the battle may be lost. Therefore, protecting them is of the utmost importance. However, due to their strong association with the Heroes of Light, the 4th, 5th, 11th and 14th District may be targeted to cripple moral.

Even so, it is unlikely the Empire will attack any of the mentioned Districts right away, as they'll expect them to be under very strong protection. It is likely the Empire will start by attacking one of the outer districts such as the 12th or 13th District to then use them as a base. Protecting the outer districts would be wise, but would then leave the aforementioned key districts without enough protection.

What is the best course of action? Well, that's for you to decide.



As part of Jessie's plan, at least one Hero of Light will have to use Hacker, an Advanced Job. Therefore, every single Hero of Light will receive a mail on the ten with a crystal containing these two new Jobs. For someone to be a Hacker, they need to equip both Engineer and Programmer at once.

ENGINEER Engineer is a Job found, restored and modified by Jessie. Originally it was a Job which sole purpose was to connect and tinker with Ancient's technology. It was modified so its users can vocally command a puppet. It can fight instead of them in battle and execute all sort of actions. The Puppet can use any of the Job skills their master has learnt and eventually, it can even sacrifice itself. Strengths: Engineers possess excellent defense and attack statistics, and they can use their puppet to fight in their stead or work alongside them. They are given a regular puppet to start with, but they can modify and improve it over time with their own personal skills. What their puppet can do is limited only by their skills and how much time they're willing to spend working on it. Weaknesses: Engineers suffer of a limited moveset and poor magic statistics. A lot depends on their Puppet in battle and should something happen to it, they are virtually useless. Because the Puppet is of Ancient design, modifying it will take a lot of time and work even for an expert.

Initial	Puppet Master	Gives control over a puppet of Ancient design.
One Month	Tools	Can use a multitude of working tools as weapons in battle.
Two Months	Leg Aim	Inflict damages to the legs of an enemy, preventing movement (40%).
Three Months	Arm Shot	Inflict damages to the arms, preventing weapon use and spell casting (25%).
Four Months	Repair	Allows to restore health to the damaged puppet.
Six Months	Seal Evil	Petrifies monsters of the dark element or belonging to the undead class.
Nine Months	Role Reversal	Switches the health of the puppet with that of its master.
One Year	Deus Ex Automata	The puppet will always take a killing blow instead of its master.

---

PROGRAMMER Programmer is a Job found, restored and modified by Jessie. Originally it was a Job which sole purpose was to connect and tinker with Ancient's technology. It was modified so its users can use their programming skills to actually attack in battle and be an asset to their teammates. Programmers use all kind of devices to fight: laptops, digital glasses or computers connected to their arm, etc. Strengths: The strength of programmers comes from their brains and their ability to make into a reality what they program into their devices. The default attack and healing programs are very basic, but exceptionally gifted programmers will be able to do wonders with them. The same holds true for their other skills such as the virtual shield. Deus Ex Ordinatra can only materialize simple and non-complicated things such as keys or tools, but is no less of an useful skill. Weaknesses: Without a computer or similar device at their disposal, they are the epitome of useless. Their statistics are all very low and it is imperative they always have a device at hand to be efficient.

Initial	Code Master	Visualizes coding line into concrete images.
One Month	Scan	Gets detailed files and data about enemies or people encountered.
Two Months	Attack Routine	Inputs a program that materializes and deals damages to the enemy.
Three Months	Healing Program	Inputs a program that materializes and moderately heals an ally.
Four Months	Screens	Allows to materialize a multitude of screen and control them by touch.
Six Months	Digitize	Converts weakened enemies into computer programs to store them away.
Nine Months	Virtual Shield	Programs a virtual shield protecting from enemy attacks.
One Year	Deus Ex Ordinatra	Allows to materialize small programs such as keys, tools etc.

---

HACKER || Engineer + Programmer Equipping the Engineer and Programmer Jobs together immediately gives access to the ability to hack Ancient technology. However, Hackers cannot translate Ancient texts. Users of this Advanced Job better either spend years working to learn the Ancient language or have a friend with Scholar mastered. By maxing the Engineer Job, Hackers will be able to create up to three digital copies of them or their puppet, nearly perfectly identical. Maxing the Programmer Job means Hackers will be able to cast holograms out of their devices, representing anything stored upon them: it may be a city, a monster, an item, a person or even the solar system. Holograms are not physical and slightly transparent, but they can be manipulated by touch control. Finally, with both Jobs maxed Hackers will be able to control their puppet and their devices with nothing more than their mind. All these screens and holograms, maxed Hackers will be able to get them moving just by thinking about what it is they want to do. Being able to program directly into a computer without typing on a keyboard and being able to control the puppet without talking offers a whole new dimension to the Engineer and Programmer Jobs.

Initial	Hacking	Makes it possible to hack into Ancient devices.
Engineer Maxed	Digital Copy	Creates up to three digital copies of you or your puppet.
Programmer Maxed	Holograms	Allows to create holograms of files.
Final	Deus Ex Machina	Allows to control your devices and your puppet with the mind.

Imperial soldiers are professionally trained and they're not paid to play: In a fight, they will go for the kill and won't bother discussing if characters try to reason with them. The Jobs they wield may be familiar and you can see what skills they each have here. There are also White Mages and Illusionists with them (unlisted), for support. They're used to team work and they're even more dangerous when coordinating their attacks and protecting each other. Every single imperial soldiers got their Jobs maxed: making them even more dangerous than previously encountered ones.


Common Enemies

IMPERIAL WARRIOR ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen Imperial soldiers trained with the Warrior Job. They can attack with any skills related to their Job. The army attacking Aqures Ixen is composed primarily of these warriors, and even though they are considered to be cannon-fodder, underestimating them could be fatal. With their vast array of skills they are dangerous and can protect the Black Mage and Gunners staying behind the lines: This way, those ranged fighters can take down their enemies without being bothered.

IMPERIAL BLACK MAGE ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen Imperial soldiers trained with the Black Mage Job. They can attack with any skills related to their Job. Black Mages remain behind the lines and cast devastating spells at their enemies while Warriors protect them. They coordinate their attacks with Gunners to inflict as much damage as possible to their enemies.

IMPERIAL GUNNER ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen Imperial soldiers trained with the Gunner Job. They can attack with any skills up to Burst Shot. Roughly a gunner out of ten has special bullets can kill Heroes of Light for real. Relatively balanced, Gunners remain behind the lines and fire at their enemies while Warriors protect them. They coordinate their attacks with Black Mage to inflict maximum damages on their enemies, all while protecting imperial white mages.

Uncommon Enemies

IMPERIAL DARK KNIGHT ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen Imperial soldiers trained with the Dark Knight Job. They can attack with any skills related to their Job and are reputed to use Sacrifice if they know they're about to die. Imperial Dark Knights serve both section commanders and regular soldiers in the army attacking Aqures Ixen. Defeating those in command may cause confusion in enemy troops.

IMPERIAL MAGITEK KNIGHT ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen Imperial soldiers trained with the Magitek Knight Job. They have access to all the Job's skills, but they do not have a Magitek Armor. For the most part, they work as section commanders and stay behind the lines.

IMPERIAL CHOCOBO KNIGHT ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen Imperial soldiers trained with the Chocobo Knight Job. They can attack with any skills related to their Jobs. Imperial Chocobo Knights serve as section commanders in the army attacking Aqures Ixen but they are amongst their troops and lead the charge. Defeating them may cause confusion in enemy troops.

Rare Enemies

YAT-99 ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen Deadly machines created by the Empire to cripple enemy troops from a distance. YAT-99s have ranged attacks that can decimate line of enemies from a safe distance. They can also attack buildings with their canons and if left alone for long, they'll bring down buildings and kill all those surrounding said building or worst, who were hiding inside.

MOOGLE KILLER ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen These small machines fly as quickly as Moogles and are programmed specifically to attack them. They are what attacked Moogles during the Night of the Thirteen Moogles, and they'll attack any Moogles trying to send letters during the attack. They can be attacked while they're attacking a Moogle or while they're at rest.

Boss-Like Enemies

RED SCORPION ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen A war machine created by the Heran Empire-- It is a brand new model created specifically for the assault on Aqures Ixen. It will counter attack with its tail and is equipped with a special beam that can kill Heroes of Light for real if used as the finishing blow. This alone makes of these machines one of the most dangerous enemy for all the Heroes of Light participating in the battle, caution is advised.

X-ATM110 ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen A war machine created by the Heran Empire-- Earlier models of this machine were involved in some of the most bloody fights that shook the Continent of Balance and one of them nearly took down the Presidential Palace of Esdham in the beginning of the year. This improved model is even deadlier. Not only does it possesses most of the same attacks as a Magitek Armor, it has more power and it self-repairs whenever it is defeated. It is weak against thunder attacks and guns, but it relentlessly hunts its targets and is incredibly resistant. Escape is the best solution.

MAGITEK KNIGHT ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Location: Aqures Ixen Imperial soldiers trained with the Magitek Knight Job. They have access to the entirety of the skills from the Magitek Knight Job on top of their Magitek Armor. With their Magitek Armors, they can attacks enemies with lasers, machine guns and even rays. Not only that, but the armor protects them and they can ram into their enemies. Troops generally surround them to protect the armor. The human controlling this armor makes of Magitek Knights some of the most dangerous of all enemies attacking Aqures Ixen and facing them will more often than not result in tragedy.

• Triple Exp
Anyone participating in this event will have triple experience for the month. Practically speaking, this means their equipped Jobs will progress of three months instead of one!

• New Jobs
Everyone will get the new Jobs, but characters participating in the event will get Programmer and Engineer with a three months bonus!

• Experience Orb
General Varaha from Esdham will give all characters participating in the event an Experience Orb. This will freeze their Jobs and make it impossible for them to level up. Instead, all the exp gained from this event will be transferred and stored into the Orb instead. Practically speaking, it means that after this event their equipped Job won't progress, but they will have 6 Months of Experience stored into the orb, which they'll be able to distribute among their stored Jobs at their leisure. Particularly useful for characters who want to equip their maxed Jobs without wasting exp.

The Orb will function only throughout July and August, afterward its effects will be gone.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[melodiesmods]

[her_rose_is_red]

Bartz is going into this event with the thief job mastered. What kinds of things would he be able to steal from the empires forces?

[line_piece]

I have a few questions about the new Jobs and how some of their abilities work, some of it pertinent to Chiaki's plans for this event and some of it just for general knowledge:

-The Engineer Job says the puppet can use any Job skills its master has learned. Is this: 1) limited only to skills from the Engineer Job itself, 2) limited to skills from either of the character's two currently equipped Jobs, or 3) any skills from any Job they've learned, including stored Jobs?

-For the Programmer's Code Master skill, is this basically just the ability to project simple images in the form of holograms, or is it more of the 'floating lines of code' projected screen sort of thing that just displays to everyone around whatever is on the Programmer's device?

-For Attack Routine and Healing Program, are these essentially static effects, or can they be customized somehow? The flavor text says gifted programmers can do wonders with them, so are they stronger in the hands of someone with the Job equipped who is also computer savvy on their own merit? What are the visual effects like?

-Screens mentions the ability to materialize several screens that are controlled by touch. Can these screens be running the Attack Routine and Healing Program skills, allowing them to be executed simultaneously? Or are these screens more for non-combat applications of just being able to display multiple images at once?

-By storing a monster away with Digitize, can it be called back out to attack later somehow? Perhaps as a specific application of Attack Routine? Basically, can this work like a digital form of the Beastmaster's ability to capture monsters and summon them later to fight on their side?

[shinrasfinest]

Ok now for an annoying-but-relevant question.

Not after exact numbers here either but roughly what is the size of the army/military force dispatched? Only as there are a lot of ideas being amalgamated and I'm fairly sure the military wouldn't be able to cover them all.

Any idea/hint towards the ratio of Esdham troops to Imperials? Or even just a predicted ratio I can assume Sephiroth knows going into this? (Judging from Biggs "5 ships" estimate before, presume it's been grossly underestimated?)

Re: QUESTIONS

[thegreatninja]

Question about the Ultima Weapon fight?

I know that Chiaki really wants to do the Hacking thing and I was going to volunteer Yuffie as well. I didn't know if it was one person or several that will be doing that part. I don't mind Yuffie not doing it and being a fighter but I wanted all interested to get a chance to say so and make sure that everyone was having fun and could do the things they want to do :D

Also I wanted to know if we needed to try and collect more fighters. Or anything like that.

MORE Question! Can we use steal to take Robots apart like in FFX? Or take control of them using Hacker?

Re: QUESTIONS

[aero_dienamic]

Can any of the IMperial enemies be captured in a sense.

Clearly not the human enemies, but the mechanical ones, either for Beastmaster use or for the Monster Arena (The X-ATM102 is listed as something that is probably going to be a monthly even later, but can the 110 or any of the others be caught for similar purposes?)

Semi-relatedly, what can be 'Stolen' by a Master Thief from the mechanical enemies? The human ones were covered above.

[red_planet_blues]

Hi there! How big is our law enforcement group? Would any other cities be willing to lend a hand if asked?

ULTIMA WEAPON PLAN

[melodiesmods]

Characters desiring to be help with Jessie's plan, please reply here!

<b>Name:</b> Your character's name <b>Position:</b> What will they do for this plan? Will they be a Hacker, a Magitek Knight or part of the Fighting Team?

slams face into this

[line_piece]

Name: Chiaki Nanami
Position: She is all over this Hacker idea

ULTIMA WEAPON PLAN

[thegreatninja]

Name: Yuffie
Position: She wants to be a Hacker or part of the Fighting Team if that's already taken. She's very interested in these new jobs.

[soldierofloveandbeauty]

Name: Minako Aino
Position: She would be apart of the Fighting Team most likely.

Re: ULTIMA WEAPON PLAN

[neverfirstclass]

Name: Cloud Strife
Position: Cloud had been planning to focus on helping with city defense, but since he's needed as a Magitek Knight he'll be there to help.

[no1]

Name: Ace
Position: Fighting Team...ish. He wouldn't be dealing direct hits, so I'd say more like caring about the safety of the operation.

Re: ULTIMA WEAPON PLAN

[unyieldingspirit]

Name: K'pandolu Tohka
Position: Interested in throwing her in for backup Hacker duty.

MILITARY

[melodiesmods]

Please reply to this thread with what you'd like your character to do if they're apart of the Military.

<b>Name:</b> Your character's name <b>Rank:</b> The rank they currently hold within the military <b>Position:</b> What would you like them to do during the attack? Lead a battalion, command an airship, stay behind the lines and plan tactics, etc?

[shinrasfinest]

Name: Sephiroth
Rank: Major [Ground]

Position: As the highest ranking- I presume he'll be the head of the command on the ground.

[Military Tactics Doc Link Here]

[jadethenecromancer]

Name: Jade Curtiss
Rank: Captain

Position: Going according to the above plan, Jade will be leading troops wherever the fighting is at its worst. As a maxed out Black Mage he has access to Ultima which, combined with Osmose from Sage, will make him very effective at wiping out a lot of enemies at once.

Re: MILITARY

[tacticallyminded]

Name: Robin
Rank: Sergeant

Position: Robin will command a battalion! She is going to move them about to act where necessary, similar to Jade; as per the document, they'll be doing hit-and-run tactics. Robin's focus will be on the airships.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

[melodiesmods]

Please reply to this thread with what you'd like your character to do if they're apart of the Law Enforcement.

<b>Name:</b> Your character's name <b>Rank:</b> The rank they currently hold within the law enforcement <b>Position:</b> What would you like them to do during the attack? Lead a small unit, protect a district, etc?

[dragonflame]

Name: Bloom
Rank: Captain

Position: Whatever would be best, she probably would however prefer to protect a distract.

[red_planet_blues]

Name: Sparks Nevada
Rank: Inspector

Position: I'm fairly certain Sparks is the highest-ranked officer among the PCs; if so he'll be commanding the troops in defending the city, leaving the military to handle the offense.

He'll also be switching his Job classes back to Magitek Knight & Paladin for this, so if there's no one else to pilot the Ultima Weapon, he might be able to jump in for that. He knows how to pilot a starship so this shouldn't be much different, right? 8]

OTHERS

[melodiesmods]

Please reply to this thread with what you'd like your character to do if they have an employment or not.

<b>Name:</b> Your character's name <b>Employment:</b> What they do, if anything <b>Position:</b> What would you like them to do during the attack?

Re: OTHERS

[greenmagick]

Name: Terra Branford
Employment: Owner: Flower shop- Jardin Verdoyant

Position: She's going to be helping people escape who haven't and defending those who are leaving late. She is staying for the job that Jessie gave her so if Jessie asks for her to be somewhere specific she'd go there.

[iscursednomore]

Name: Fai D. Flourite
Employment: Owner of Cuppa Kupo and occasional worker on the Chocobo farm.
Position: Protect civilians mostly and making sure they get to safer areas if needs be.

INITIATIVES

[melodiesmods]

If your character has a plan or will try something, let us know here! Likewise, feel free to start your own thread in this post to plot with everyone else.

General Plotting!

[goddessofthesky]

Zelda will be helping with the Ultima Weapon and then keeping an eye on the hero’s homes, observatory and crystalized heroes. This will stretch her thin and she will most likely get stuck doing only one of these things but her intentions will be to do everything. More likely she will go where there isn’t as many heroes.

Yuffie will be doing the Ultima Weapon and ultimately taking the new jobs. She knows tech even if she isn’t the best at it. She’s wants to be able to get into anywhere and she knows that systems are the next step.

Terra will be helping civilians, making sure they get away safely. She has managed to secure a safe place for her kittens and she will be setting up her shop so that she can leave it unattended. She’s going to also check the shops around her since those are people she’s most likely gotten close with. She will avoid fighting if she can but that doesn’t mean that she won’t fight.

AUYuna she’s planning to go with the airship but she’ll end up staying because she knows Fai is going to do something dangerous. She’s going to go where needed and honestly I don’t have many plans for her yet so if someone wants to plot something let me know. I’m hoping for her to get really hurt in some way if possible.

PS: I'm game for my characters getting hurt or whatever. Or having them get into trouble and someone saving them. Or having someone get hurt because of them so just let me know if there is something you wanna do but don't know how.

I might as well do something for moogles too.

Kopula: He's going to be the cutest little warrior! Assisting Zelda and trying to fight with his little blade. He wants to be a hero.
Mooshoo: He's an old moogle so he might be around Yuffie giving his 2 cents every now and again. He won't be fighting tho.
Tempest: She will be helping people leave and then will leave with them. She wanted to stay and watch the shop but Terra insisted that she go with the old lady who is looking after her cats to lend a hand.
Celes: He isn't going to be around and he's going to be very pissed at auYuna for not leaving the city later.