Not Quite "Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge"
May. 4th, 2020 02:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
general_radixSo, there was this Marathon scenario called Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge. It's probably the most well-known scenario not set in the Marathon universe, but in terms of accessibility, there are problems: Aleph One can't run the latest version, there are no complete playthroughs as of this writing (Cynon's looks like it covers a fair bit of ground, but the first six vids are missing), and the site's only accessible via Wayback Machine.
None of this stopped me from adding onto the cast, because that's what I do. :U Eventually I decided to try and spin them off into something that's in between EMR and Marathon rather than try to work them into EMR's actual plot (which I suspect is at least 50% Errand Boy Syndrome anyway); the following are my notes on the setting, characters, etc.
It's 2811, and the United Earth Federation rules supreme; the pride of their fleet is the UEF Kronos, upon which serve the cyborg Knights of the Round. A few years ago, the crew had an unfortunate encounter with pirates from the Pfhor Empire, as well as a group of free S'pht; Kronos commander Merlin and Sir Arcturus ultimately pulled through the conflict, and it seemed that all would be well.
Come mid-2811, when the Pfhor attack the Kronos in greater numbers than before; despite the best efforts of the Knights, the ship is chased far from its intended port and eventually comes to a stop within orbit of a mysterious Earth-like planet. Only then do the Pfhor cease their assault and retreat to the planet's surface, leading Merlin to suspect that they purposefully led the Kronos here. Following debate and debriefing, Arcturus gathers up the knights closest to him along with the ship's four AIs and heads down to the surface, hoping to prevent the Pfhor from accomplishing whatever it was they set out to do.
They get a hint of things to come when, not long into their trek, the Knights are set upon by a woman calling herself Morgana; she trounces the lot of them with what can only be described as supernatural powers, and challenges the Knights--and Merlin in particular--to follow her across Phaeton and discover its secrets, before warping out. Arcturus can't help but feel that this, too, is a set-up, but they don't have much choice.
--
Cast:
* Sir Arcturus: the main character. Leader of the Knights of the Round; he's a very serious-minded individual who tends to keep to himself. Arcturus is also mute, and while he (and by extension, the Kngihts) knows ASL, he usually lets Merlin speak for him.
* Sir Gawain: second-in-command, and Arcturus's best human friend. Formidable and courteous, he's often considered a model Knight; Gawain is also one of the few Knights to be born and raised on Earth.
* Dame Ancelote "Celo" du Lac: a lovely blue-haired Knight who's the third member of Arc's and Gawain's trio. She and her now-lost replicant brother initially joined the Kronos looking for adventure.
* Dame Bedivere: shy trans female Knight who's trying to get closer to Arc in more than the physical sense. She tries to avoid violence and focuses on recon.
* Dame Percival: the group's "heavy". A very dour, cynical woman, in contrast to her brother.
* Sir Lamorak: Perci's tomgirl brother who specializes in chucking explosives. He customized his uniform to suit his tastes.
* Sir Lancelot: missing in action. Celo's brother.
* Guinevere: one of the UEF Kronos's three "bridge bunnies" and Celo's wife. She's in charge of communications between the ship and the Knights during the Phaeton campaign.
* Galahad: Guin's and Celo's replicant son, aged around 14. Rankles at not being allowed to follow the Knights planet-side.
* Anna: bridge bunny and Arc's half-sister.
* Isolde: extremely gloomy bridge bunny.
* Merlin: Command AI/android of the UEF Kronos. Undoubtedly wise, but sometimes the group doubts his decision-making abilities; Merlin's origins are unknown, which is probably why the UEF keeps such a close eye on him.
* Ceridwen: Sci/Eng. She's the one who monitors the ship's pattern buffers and dream-reading equipment, and has sensory issues that force her to wear a blindfold at all times.
* Pridwen: Navigation. They're fairly laid-back and keep physical logs and maps of every world the Kronos has stopped by.
* Caliburn: Operations. A young punk who's concerned by how similar Phaeton is to certain recurring dreams of his.
* Morgana: the primary villain. A deadly sorceress who is one of the few humans to ingratiate themselves with High Command.
--
Scattered bits:
* As implied by the presence of the actual Pfhor and S'pht, I'm treating this as an alternate Marathon timeline where the point of focus is Excalibur rather than Durandal.
* The previous game, "Devil in a Blue Dress", made a big deal about using different names for everything, but it doesn't matter how many times you call the Pfhor "Diablo pirates" or the S'pht "Galaxans"--they read like Pfhor and S'pht, so they're just Pfhor and S'pht here. (The pirates in EMR do have unique sprites, at least.)
* Phaeton has a lilac sky, lots of forests and plains with suspicious stone structures, and not a lot of people--at least, not until Arc and co. stumble across the domain of Nimue and the humans under her protection.
* There are still time-travel elements, though I'd like to restrict them to eras or moments that are actually relevant to the main plot/its themes.
* Morgana's primary soldier is the Black Knight; no one's sure what he looks like under that sinister-looking helmet, but he always seems to fight more ferociously against Arc and Gawain, and never against Celo. Hm...
* hoo boy I should not have tried to write this when it's getting close to my current nightwalker-hours bedtime
None of this stopped me from adding onto the cast, because that's what I do. :U Eventually I decided to try and spin them off into something that's in between EMR and Marathon rather than try to work them into EMR's actual plot (which I suspect is at least 50% Errand Boy Syndrome anyway); the following are my notes on the setting, characters, etc.
It's 2811, and the United Earth Federation rules supreme; the pride of their fleet is the UEF Kronos, upon which serve the cyborg Knights of the Round. A few years ago, the crew had an unfortunate encounter with pirates from the Pfhor Empire, as well as a group of free S'pht; Kronos commander Merlin and Sir Arcturus ultimately pulled through the conflict, and it seemed that all would be well.
Come mid-2811, when the Pfhor attack the Kronos in greater numbers than before; despite the best efforts of the Knights, the ship is chased far from its intended port and eventually comes to a stop within orbit of a mysterious Earth-like planet. Only then do the Pfhor cease their assault and retreat to the planet's surface, leading Merlin to suspect that they purposefully led the Kronos here. Following debate and debriefing, Arcturus gathers up the knights closest to him along with the ship's four AIs and heads down to the surface, hoping to prevent the Pfhor from accomplishing whatever it was they set out to do.
They get a hint of things to come when, not long into their trek, the Knights are set upon by a woman calling herself Morgana; she trounces the lot of them with what can only be described as supernatural powers, and challenges the Knights--and Merlin in particular--to follow her across Phaeton and discover its secrets, before warping out. Arcturus can't help but feel that this, too, is a set-up, but they don't have much choice.
--
Cast:
* Sir Arcturus: the main character. Leader of the Knights of the Round; he's a very serious-minded individual who tends to keep to himself. Arcturus is also mute, and while he (and by extension, the Kngihts) knows ASL, he usually lets Merlin speak for him.
* Sir Gawain: second-in-command, and Arcturus's best human friend. Formidable and courteous, he's often considered a model Knight; Gawain is also one of the few Knights to be born and raised on Earth.
* Dame Ancelote "Celo" du Lac: a lovely blue-haired Knight who's the third member of Arc's and Gawain's trio. She and her now-lost replicant brother initially joined the Kronos looking for adventure.
* Dame Bedivere: shy trans female Knight who's trying to get closer to Arc in more than the physical sense. She tries to avoid violence and focuses on recon.
* Dame Percival: the group's "heavy". A very dour, cynical woman, in contrast to her brother.
* Sir Lamorak: Perci's tomgirl brother who specializes in chucking explosives. He customized his uniform to suit his tastes.
* Sir Lancelot: missing in action. Celo's brother.
* Guinevere: one of the UEF Kronos's three "bridge bunnies" and Celo's wife. She's in charge of communications between the ship and the Knights during the Phaeton campaign.
* Galahad: Guin's and Celo's replicant son, aged around 14. Rankles at not being allowed to follow the Knights planet-side.
* Anna: bridge bunny and Arc's half-sister.
* Isolde: extremely gloomy bridge bunny.
* Merlin: Command AI/android of the UEF Kronos. Undoubtedly wise, but sometimes the group doubts his decision-making abilities; Merlin's origins are unknown, which is probably why the UEF keeps such a close eye on him.
* Ceridwen: Sci/Eng. She's the one who monitors the ship's pattern buffers and dream-reading equipment, and has sensory issues that force her to wear a blindfold at all times.
* Pridwen: Navigation. They're fairly laid-back and keep physical logs and maps of every world the Kronos has stopped by.
* Caliburn: Operations. A young punk who's concerned by how similar Phaeton is to certain recurring dreams of his.
* Morgana: the primary villain. A deadly sorceress who is one of the few humans to ingratiate themselves with High Command.
--
Scattered bits:
* As implied by the presence of the actual Pfhor and S'pht, I'm treating this as an alternate Marathon timeline where the point of focus is Excalibur rather than Durandal.
* The previous game, "Devil in a Blue Dress", made a big deal about using different names for everything, but it doesn't matter how many times you call the Pfhor "Diablo pirates" or the S'pht "Galaxans"--they read like Pfhor and S'pht, so they're just Pfhor and S'pht here. (The pirates in EMR do have unique sprites, at least.)
* Phaeton has a lilac sky, lots of forests and plains with suspicious stone structures, and not a lot of people--at least, not until Arc and co. stumble across the domain of Nimue and the humans under her protection.
* There are still time-travel elements, though I'd like to restrict them to eras or moments that are actually relevant to the main plot/its themes.
* Morgana's primary soldier is the Black Knight; no one's sure what he looks like under that sinister-looking helmet, but he always seems to fight more ferociously against Arc and Gawain, and never against Celo. Hm...
* hoo boy I should not have tried to write this when it's getting close to my current nightwalker-hours bedtime
