FATE of the Liberation Union Strike Team

[WritesNaughtyStories]

The Liberation Union is still recruiting. We have sex and mechs and mech sex and nutrional paste shaped like cookies! Come, help us fight the Hive!!

[DreamsnThings]

  On 3/26/2025 at 12:21 PM, WritesNaughtyStories said:

@DreamsnThings, can you tell us about the first time you liberated a Hive BioFrame? And what is that BioFrame's name and what were they like? Does it have a pilot now?

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well, not entirely sure how detailed I need to get with this (or how this should necessarily look per say) but ill just make it up as I go along a little bit and work from there

...especially since I barely have a character let alone the little details lol...

im thinking that the way things lined up, all started with the accident that destroyed her Bioframes body and resulted in her being in a short coma... because Bioframes are... well, biological, the shrapnel that embedded itself in her body from her partner merged with her, leading to her... atypical appearance once she woke up, devastated from the loss of her partner she made herself busy working on the backend of things, her own reflection a reminder of her partner as she was slowly looking more and more like her frame.

she knew a little engineering from the maintenance she was doing on her own partner... or atleast the maintenance she used to do on them, so she threw herself into maintenance... helping other frames heal... feeling a fondness... a closeness she was not used to, with most of the frames. she chalked it up to the nostalgia she had for her partner, her frame who was gone... but she truely could feel what the frames needed, where they where hurt, what was wrong with them at a... fundamental level, an emotional level, wants, desires, and needs

she may not have ever understood why... if the hive did not raid the workshop she was operating at. suddenly multiple enforcers charged through the door, gunning down anyone and everyone who stood in their way. one of the enforcers bioframes was half destroyed, the pilot inside having died, she felt a calling from the mech, a cry of pain, muffled by something. running through the gunfire she approached the mech, her hands on autopilot well something was screaming at her to... Do something anything ... so she did, her altered body intigrating with the framework briefly as she physically bypassed the protective layers blocking her from the core of him... of the bioframe she was feeling her hand slipping through the metal like a scalpel cutting back the good flesh to reach the tumor that was killing her friend... not the frame, her friend, Granite. he was fascinated by stonework, his view always drawn to different materials as a fascination, an element of individuality that was suppressed. rapidly the metal in his framework was almost molting, a craggy exterior forming as plantlife sprung up through the cracks. looking closer to a golem than a mech, with a bonsai tree forming atop his spine he sprang to life, much slower than a normal frame but his blows carrying the force a magnitude stronger than before. her body sinking into the walls lining the cockpit, her form half embedded in the walls as almost was in a trance, seeing the fight from granites eyes... then from another set of eyes that almost lingered outside of her friend, adapting to her craggy ally... she saw an old friend, almost spectral in form rapidly reworking granites form to match what he wants. her partner, seeing her attention, her notice, gave a smile that she could never give back as a bioframe "took you long enough partner"

the fight turned in our favor, the hive soldiers needing to retreat with their own suppressed frames being taken with them. the development of a frame switching sides mid conflict developing into its own issue... once a moment of quiet happened. she was released from the wall... her snatch having been stretched wide by a phalic length of marble as she shudder and fell to the floor... a threeway was certainly fun, but she had her partner back~

granite found his, a girl by the name of flora, they seemed to resonate with his natural earthy vibe... and was all to eager to bond with one another. currently they work in a strike team that sometimes needs the extra potency granites fist give as a battering ram

[WickedCadrach]

A BioFrame using plant-life instead of animal features is a cool idea! Like you say, very golem-like

[WritesNaughtyStories]

Very cool. So your partner is really present for you, but it blurs the lines of where each of your personalities begins and ends. Do they remember their name, from before you were combined? What do the physical parts of them that are embedded in your body look like? Is it tissue, circuits some of both?

I think this story suggests you're twice as nice.

Are Granite and Flora part of this squad or was that long enough ago that you've been transferred? Do you ever wonder what Granite is doing now?

[WritesNaughtyStories]

@WickedCadrach, I'm really curious about this Lizzie Al-Azhar. I feel like she must not be from the Hive - their meds and compliant society certainly don't breed chainsaw guitars and growled vocals. So, is there some kind of broader civilian Liberation Union society?

I had thought there would be, but how extensive is it? Is Lizzie a professional musician who makes records that get sold at stores or are her and her band recording in an improvised studio after their shirt at the munitions plant?

[DreamsnThings]

  On 3/27/2025 at 3:49 AM, WritesNaughtyStories said:

Very cool. So your partner is really present for you, but it blurs the lines of where each of your personalities begins and ends. Do they remember their name, from before you were combined? What do the physical parts of them that are embedded in your body look like? Is it tissue, circuits some of both?

I think this story suggests you're twice as nice.

Are Granite and Flora part of this squad or was that long enough ago that you've been transferred? Do you ever wonder what Granite is doing now?

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As far as names go i haven't latched onto one frankly for either the frame or the girl, but they both still have their own "self" to a degree

Physically it was metal shards of their blackbox that got embedded in me from an explosion I suffered in battle. but well i was healing the natural nature of bioframes linked up with my own body, crossing circuits... physically she looks like... a mess frankly, different aspects of different animal and creatures cropping up that seem to vanish the next time you see her, she is... physically unstable, hence why she is able to form bonds with bioframes so quickly, even if those bonds are incredibly shallow.

Elaborate on twice as nice?

As for the npcs, i have no direct preference, i have them set as a raiding party that are able to smash through baracades dur to the raw, albeit slow power Granite brings to the table

[WickedCadrach]

  On 3/30/2025 at 2:58 AM, WritesNaughtyStories said:

I'm really curious about this Lizzie Al-Azhar. [...] is there some kind of broader civilian Liberation Union society?

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I hadn't really thought about LU having much established territory for stuff like that, and you're right that the Hive's control definitely stops anything but the most mundane and conformity promoting 'art' (if any art at all is still allowed).

In my head, Lizzie Al-Azhar and her band Scylla existed before the Hive took control. Their music is part of the remnant of old world art that the LU has managed to preserve and Emily just connected with it the most when she was detoxing from the emotion-blockers and started being shown 'everything we've lost' by her new LU compatriots. Just like Emily and the LU are fighting the Hive in the present, Lizzie and the protest artists of her day were trying to warn people and stop the Hive from gaining control in the first place. There may be a fragment of a record somewhere that shows Lizzie being arrested for an illegal garden—being used to circumvent the consumption of emotion-blockers in the food supply—or being rounded up during a protest turned riot when Hive policy started being enforced. 

Really, she's just a touchstone so I can let Emily be a bit of a furious metalhead when metal music has been illegal for a hundred years (or something; the timeline is vague and that's ok). 

[WritesNaughtyStories]

@DreamsnThings, twice as nice drives at you carrying a double personality. When the mechanic is in charge, she can invoke the aspect to get her old BioFrame to help her with something they'd be good at or understand (what does this injured/enraged/catatonic BioFrame want or need, maybe) but I can compel the aspect is there's something the mechanic is trying to do or wants that the BioFrame personality doesn't.

@WickedCadrach, thanks for clearing that up. Do the Liberation Union is  a ragtag band of rebels?

[WickedCadrach]

  On 3/31/2025 at 10:04 PM, WritesNaughtyStories said:

thanks for clearing that up. Do the Liberation Union is  a ragtag band of rebels?

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Yeah, I think A ragtag band of rebels is a fair aspect for the LU. We certainly seem ragged here, lol

[DreamsnThings]

well im not... entirely sure what to do now

[WickedCadrach]

  On 4/3/2025 at 6:14 PM, DreamsnThings said:

well im not... entirely sure what to do now

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Maybe I can help. We've been a bit fast and loose with the setup It looks to me like we just need to firm up a couple details then your character could leap into the RP thread to answer the trouble the captain's calling about, perhaps? (Or we can get you another avenue into the story). 

I'm going to link a char sheet that might help, too, but if you want to just put the details in a thread post, I'm sure it's fine:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_d7XxS4sNusmGSexJTXmmzsirDj6HhModBph3AMGZDc/edit?usp=sharing

So apart from basics like a name and appearance... to get started, you basically need 3 Aspects for your character and to pick Skills. 

1) The first Aspect is called your character's High Concept. If we were playing DnD this is where you'd say something like "Orc Barbarian with a chip on her shoulder" - @WritesNaughtyStories suggested "Mech Mechanic with a Heart of Gold" earlier. You can make up the phrasing as long as it's a brief and captures the main thing they're about. My character's high concept is Silicon-hearted Mech Hacker.

2) Your second Aspect is called Trouble. This is some flaw or part of your character that causes them trouble. Could be something like a drinking/gambling problem or a duty that frequently interferes with what they'd rather do. You floated the Aspect "Symbiotic Disharmony" earlier, and that sounds like a cool Trouble to me, because it's evocative to your character but also shows that the schism in their mind can cause imbalance and obstacles for them despite the ways its helpful. My character's Trouble is Staying alive, one pill at a time.

3) Your third Aspect comes from your character's history. It's typically from some event that can be thought of as their 'first adventure'. The Aspect WNS suggested, "Twice As Nice", could work here since it implies the positive side of your character's union with their BioFrame. Something like "Two Heads are Better than One" could also work because you get that embedded BioFrame's perspective just like yours. Anything you want to evoke in your character works, really. For mine, I went with, These scars spell, 'never again' to try and imply their vengeful and traumatized past as well as the sort of paranoid vigilance they carry with them. 

Once you're there, the first post on this thread has a skill list. 
- Pick 4 skills to get a +1 bonus
- Pick 3 skills to get a +2 bonus
- Pick 2 skills to get a +3 bonus
- Pick 1 skill to get a +4 bonus

For now, (if you're looking at the char sheet) don't worry about the fields that say Stunts, Extras, or Consequences (those can get filled in by play). The Second Adventure and Third Adventure Aspect lines can also be left blank for now. The Stress fields are FATE's version of hit points and we'll explain them if they become relevant. 

[DreamsnThings]

oooookay, let me see here. got more than I was expecting so let me try to word vomit out my thoughts for now....

1) seeing how the two concepts I had suggested so far ended up fitting more in the other categories, for now im thinking I should just veer a little from the adjacent mechanic angle and lean hard into the... honestly more interesting hijackbionics/Biojailbreak angle I ended up with in the story. (assuming I can somehow make that my focus) I like the Idea of basically playing the pilot/frame equivalent of a lesbian swingers couple that sometimes likes to bring in an extra frame for some fun, where mid fight Ill be trying to hijack a frame to both liberate it and have it help us... based on the description im thinking "social engineer with an open marriage" refering to her mechanical based job, her slightly manipulative personality, her friendliness, her "friendliness" ;3, the nature of her bond with her attached frame, and the concept of her hooking up with essentually two frames at once for a threesome kinda built in. 
...ps If I was making this a pilot "'Top' pilot with a frame 'sub'routine" could have been hilarious

2) short and sweet, symbiotic disharmony still works well IMO, could flesh out a little better once I know my own characters and her frames personalities better... or at all... still dont have a name for either of them...

3) I like the basic idea here that twice as nice has, but im not a fan of the current phrasing, im enjoying over thinking the word choices too much! for an example "duel processed ---" feels like a fun take combining the duel processers from normal computers possibly with dueling, as in sword combat or 1 on 1 fights... feels like it needs another word to really click, ideally a P word for aliteration with the P, but I cant find one word that clicks

skill wise im wanting to be a little optimized towards on foot and not in a mech, since I cant... really control when I will be able to hijack a mech, but I also want skills related to actually taking over a mech with a basic level of skill actually piloting them, since its going to be consistently her first time with any given third wheel frame... my highest priority will be the actual hijack/jailbreak portion since that is kinda the big thing for her...

...not sure how to translate... all that... to a sheet

[WickedCadrach]

  On 4/3/2025 at 8:43 PM, DreamsnThings said:

I like the Idea of basically playing the pilot/frame equivalent of a lesbian swingers couple that sometimes likes to bring in an extra frame for some fun,

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I also love this idea ❤

You're welcome to copy and use the GoogleSheet I linked earlier. Otherwise, I'd frame your char sheet something like this:

Name: ---
Fate Points: 3 / 3

High Concept: Social 'Engineer' with an Open Marriage
Trouble: Symbiotic Disharmony
1st Adventure: Duel Processed Deprogrammer 
2nd Adventure: 
3rd Adventure: 
Gear Aspect 1:  (Gear Aspects are were you can list qualities specific to your BioFrame - same style as your High Concept and Adventure Aspects)
Gear Aspect 2: 
Gear Aspect 3:
Gear Aspect 4: 

+4 Skills: (1 choice)
+3 Skills: (2 choices)
+2 Skills: (3 choices)
+1 Skills: (4 choices)

Empathy, Engineering, Pilot, and Sex sound like they might be priorities on your skill choices, but beyond that, I'd recommend looking at the list and mainly going on vibes. 

(Also, there has to be a pun in here somewhere about 'open source code' but I can't find it)

[WritesNaughtyStories]

While @WickedCadrach was replying, I came up with polyamorous partner processor. But duel processed deprogrammer is clearer to the character concept. My only concern with that is that it is very close to restating Social 'engineer' with an open marriage and symbiotic disharmony. I might suggest that duel processed deprogrammer become the high concept, leave symbiotic disharmony as the trouble and recast 1st Adventure as Lingering attachments suggesting that Granite and Rosa are especially close allies and maybe BioFrames are a little attached to their lesbian liberators.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

Oh, and @WickedCadrach, can I get you to make a quick piloting roll to navigate these shallows - I should have put it in my post, but I' the second or third shittiest GM on the planet.

[DreamsnThings]

oookay... first things first... no clue how gear aspects are going to work for someone who... fundamentally is not  using their own frame per say....

second, if sex can be used a a justified way to jailbreak a bioframe Ill probably max that out at 4 with empathy and pilot being a 3, engineer taking a backseat at 2 because... frankly the others feel more important... not sure what the other skills are off hand to pick some out

Duel processed Defragger inspired by duel processed deprogramer feels good as well, I just wanted to shave off a syllable well also giving it a mildly less cold feel.

as for open source code... "open whores code" was the best I could find sadly

 

love the aliteration @WritesNaughtyStories but I "think" I found a solid name for the concept (see above)... maybe dropping Social 'engineer' with an open marriage for electronic Empath for the adventure concept, since currently I think all my statements dont really touch on my interactions with others than my partner frame.. im not super interested in making granite or Rosa super relevant to my character components tbh, if anything my intention is for my gal to be unable to form any more lasting bonds with a frame without my symbiote frame getting jealous...

...as a side note im currently imagining a character somewhere between poison ivy aesthetically and venom functionally... where my frame almost has vines it can use both to help me fight... and to sexually stimulate myself or others when appropriate... since there are additional gear slots I hope this is doable

[WritesNaughtyStories]

  On 4/3/2025 at 10:14 PM, DreamsnThings said:

if anything my intention is for my gal to be unable to form any more lasting bonds with a frame without my symbiote frame getting jealous...

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That's exactly the point of lingering attachments, your partner can get jealous, even though they're always there. But those frames you jailbreak remember that first intimacy, the first kindness - and you two mean a lot to them, even if your partner doesn't really like it. It's kind of asymmetrical - they get attached to you, and that can be leveraged as aid, insight or a favor from BioFrame or pilot, but you and or your partner may not want to interact when they want or need something.

But, it's your character.

As for gear apects - it doesn't have to be just a frame. It can be virtually any object, including and the personality of an a BioFrame bits of whom are embedded in you. It really needs to be custom and unique and can absolutely emerge in play.

[DreamsnThings]

ok... I see where your going with it now, I was reading that as you suggesting I was still attached to them.  but playing it along those lines feels fine imo... maybe just rephrase it in a less... positive light? lingering fling? maybe frame it as less serious with something like "wanderlust" trying to represent the sluttyness of course but also the lack of commitment? frame it maybe as "faulty connections" where she is not against forming bonds but cant form them properly after merging with her frame?

I just really don't like the tag line for that one

if thats the case with gear, I think I would love to set my girl up in the way a lot of sci fi shows sometimes have that oooonnnee thing that is more fantasy than science (IE the force in star wars). thats... already kinda cropped up with her story beat, but I wanted to establish that a bit more firmly. well flavoring my exoframe as something nanobot adjacent, letting me integrate with other frames if I can access the "cock"pit, reshaping metal or possibly bioframes with extended contact with the bots, and repurposing the nanobots to be used as both armor and a weapon... probably being weaker than most bioframes, but being smaller and more agile...

no clue how to break that all up into gear aspects, but thats my wishlist for now or later

[WickedCadrach]

  On 4/3/2025 at 10:09 PM, WritesNaughtyStories said:

I should have put it in my post, but I' the second or third shittiest GM on the planet.

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Whaaaaat? lol, no. You're great! Love what you're doing here.