World Event: Mavros Contagion

Prelude

Starting in the adventure B18. The Faceless it became apparent that the Pentastar Alignment had set in motion a series of events that would drastically affect Nigita. In that mission, the heroes discovered that operatives of that First Order remnant had delivered something to the planet, something requiring life support, and freezing conditions, delivered by a large speeder. They attempted to cover their true actions by attacking an ardanium prospector and attempting to steal the rare mineral.

Lockdown Begins

The crash of a CorpSec airspeeder at the opening of B19. The Puppet Masters signalled the start of the horrors. Victims in the crash revealed the presence of a toxic infection, one that spread by vicious black lesions and seemingly targeted Force Users more aggressively, inflicting seizures on them. The first infected force user was Avvar Mavros who gave the contagion its name. The heroes tracked the contagion to the prior day's meteor showers. Some of the meteors were, in fact, weapons of the Vyjand, an extragalactic alien species that is the focus of the Vigil Compact (Republic) and their containment activity.

In State of Shock, the office of Gov. Edward Hothden, Esq. orders the lockdown, and more importantly the enforcement of it. The heroes are torn between compassion for the infected and the knowledge that the contagion cannot leave the planet.

In Fever Pitch, the contagion's first effects in the varied animal population of Nigita rear their head. Massive infected wasps rage through Tier One, some as large as speeders. The heroes race to corral the creatures and destroy their hive, resorting to ship based weaponry to smoke them out.

While the contagion rages, Pentastar is not content to sit and watch. In Radio Silence they have taken a CorpSec agriculture research station and kidnapped the animals and scientists. The heroes hunt them down, but are too late to stop the horrible hybridization experiments performed. This also reveals that the Pentastar forces on Nigita have been surgically altered to be immune.

Persistent Doc Wagon introduced one of the unintended consequences of the contagion. A large medical droid, overwhelmed by the surge in patients, decides to start kidnapping people off the streets in order to prevent infection. The heroes find a way to pull the droid back from the edge and get him help.

The heroes get clearance to escort in medical supplies from Kestra and the Illip Kajidic in Persistent Medical (Parts 1 & 2). They defend the supplies from pirates, profiteers, the Black Sun, and Dathomiri saboteurs, all for the chance to simply save more of the infected on planet.

Final Events

As the contagion reaches its peak, the Pentastar forces on world step up their campaign to sow as much chaos as possible to achieve their true objectives. In Seeds of Order their saboteurs strike out across the hub, setting fires, bombing clinics, and knocking out power. This is all in an effort to conceal their real objective, that of scanning and then destroying The Tree of the central Harmonium Nexus. The heroes fight a desperate and pitched battle to save the ancient site.

Finally, in B20. The Purge, the Vigil arrives, but not to aid. When their attempted countersignal fails, they give the heroes 24 hours to use the facilities on world to build and test a new jamming signal or the world will be reduced to cinders to stop the contagion. The Vigil will not risk a world gate being constructed to bring more Vyjand into the galaxy.

The heroes make a deal with Persistent Memory to provide raw compute power by linking droids in a massive parallel computer while probes scour the planet sampling the ultra low frquencies the Vyjand use to control the contagion. They then track down the Pentastar control base to stop the sabotage and warn the teams at the Tree. Racing to the Starport, the heroes rally to defend Persistent Memory from the Vyjand and their puppet infected.

As the final moments reach the teams at the Tree, the defenders of the Starport succeed in buying time for the droids to transmit the new frequency solutions to the ships in orbit. The Countersignal is successful and the puppets are stopped. While some of the Vyjand flee, most are cut down by defenders. Within hours the infection retreats, leaving only spidery scars where the lesions once blossomed.

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Impact to Nigita

Relief teams (Vigil, Mercy Corps, descend to the planet after the lockdown is lifted, restoring the infrastructure where possible, destroying unstable buildings, clearing rubble and debris where not possible. Additional hospital ships are en route to help in restoring services to the planet.

Player Faction Bases are returned to operational status. Any craft destroyed during the event are replaced with stock equivalents.

The Republic has classified the nature of the alien incursion. Knowing that there is a species capable of converting populations in weeks would send the galaxy into a panic that it might not recover from in its weakened state.

Persistent Memory has begun negotiations with the Governor's office to participate in the ruling council. Their sacrifice in building the analysis network to combat the alien control signal will not be overlooked. Characters are pursuing a backup network for the droids so they can survive destruction.

The Vigil Compact (Republic) has placed a number of assets in orbit (jamming satellites to counter the alien signals) as well as teams on the ground (Series 7 Droid platoons and officers) to hunt down remaining alien operatives and head off seeding of new control organisms. Additionally, they have offered two Nebulon-V Refit frigates (heavily armored variants of the Nebulon-B) to the Governor's Ministry of Defense (he's still looking to appoint someone.) They are currently awaiting new captains, but have Droid crews.

Casualties

The initial vectors of the contagion were blunted, and the combination of efforts by players and allies pulling together reduced to overall lethality of the crisis. However, between the contagion and the final attack on The Hub by Pentastar and the Vyjand ("Enemy" in the Vigil's native language) the casualties were significant.

Infected

13,750 cases
(165 Force Users)
Original Estimate was 19,250 cases
(248 Force Users)

Victims who developed the black alien lesions. Those who recover see the lesions retreat but they leave telltale spider web like scars near the temples and spine.

Converted

688 cases
(8 Force Users)
Original Estimate was 1,925 cases
(25 Force Users)

Those converted by the alien pathogen lose all autonomy. They persist in a catatonic state. If led, they will follow and perform simple tasks, but they are largely puppets whose will is supplanted by the alien control. Only the continual countersignal prevents them from acting according to the alien will.

Dead

5,500 victims
(66 Force Users)
Original Estimate was 9,625 victims
(124 Force Users)

Those fallen during the contagion, shot down while trying to escape, or those converted then injured or killed in the final riots.

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Event Participation Reward

World Event Missions

• B19. The Puppet Masters (8/20)
• State of Shock (8/23)
• Fever Pitch (8/23)
• Radio Silence (8/23)
• Persistent Doc Wagon (8/24)
• Persistent Medical pt.1 (8/25)
• Persistent Medical pt.2 (8/26)
• Seeds of Order (8/27)
• B20. The Purge (8/27)

Story Event

THE MAVROS CONTAGION

Under the cover a meteor shower, an alien pathogen is brought to NIGITA by the forces of the PENTASTAR ALIGNMENT.

This vast conspiracy seeks to use Nigita as a lab to see if the alien plague can convert the population of the planet. Hopefully to produce solutions the enemy will use to protect itself.

The heroes must rally to minimize the spread and race towards a solution before the world is lost.

World Event Participants

• Arza Gonsu (Chris H.)
• Bantarra Koss (John A.)
• Butterfly (Katie M.)
• Fausto (Roger P.)
• FR3-ND0 (Chris H.)
• Hustrik (Roger P.)
• Lexro Ghell (John A.)
• Nola Zur (Roger P.)
• Sabbath Rune (Jack L.)
• Seru Palas (Slater B.)
• Sola Ardelion (Rob R.)
• Syatt Walker (Scott R.)
• Theta Omicron (Tony N.)
• Tia O'Mandalorio (Laurie M.)
• Captain Zechs (Jodi.)