WWLXX: At the Prison of Ice - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Legate of Amon Lanc · 11-23-2009, 07:58 AM

Expedition Journal - Prologue

As it has been said, the expedition I have been assigned to was heading to regions of the far Arctic. I attended it on behalf of my good friend, sir Michael Bishop, who spent part of his company's earnings to fund projects such as this. This expedition has been a part of a research project organised by a group of people from several countries, aiming at large-scale ecological and climatological studies of a specific area between North Latitude 78°-86°. Our team consisted of several esteemed experts in the fields ranging widely from meteorology to polar biology, representing some high-ranking universities and institutes. Our plan in short was to leave at the end of the summer season from well-known arctic port in Barrow, Alaska and head west of the Chukchi Sea to collect meteorological and oceanographic data in the open sea. Then we will turn to the archipelagos of the Old World to make further observations of terrestrial flora and fauna, with a brief visit and exchange of information with the personnel of the Russian NP drifting ice station. By the middle of autumn we would reach Schmidt Island and deploy several buoys north of the Kara Sea to monitor and collect data, and at last we would head to one of the nearby polar stations to winter.

The start of the expedition was accompanied by several complications, as if something already marked its ill-omened course, or as if some other power wished to mercifully prevent us from attending it. Our very departure from Barrow was delayed by a week and three days due to an unexpected malfunction of the ship's engine, which was subsequently repaired, however after twenty days of sail we were forced once again to head for emergency docking in Dikson, Krasnoyarsk to perform another necessary repair. It was at this point when we started to worry about the fate of our expedition, as our aims were to avoid spending the peak of the winter season aboard the icebreaker. Our Russian colleagues have advised us to speed up our journey, and so it came that by autumn equinox we have managed to finish our observations in the Laptev Sea and at the beginning of November we found ourselves in waters close to 82°N 79°E, past Ushakov Island. The sea was already full of pack ice, yet our icebreaker moved smoothly enough for a long time until the unfortunate accident.

***

This is the game thread. No posting here yet until the game begins. For rules and for asking questions, see the admin thread.

Legate of Amon Lanc · 11-28-2009, 03:44 PM

Approximately at 0:45 AM on November 29th sudden crash awoke me from sleep in my cabin. When I ran out into the corridor outside, I encountered our palaeoclimatologist and his mathematician colleague rushing from the stern where our "common room" was situated. Apparently they have been awake, yet even they could not tell what happened. When we rushed on the upper deck, we encountered the rest of our crew, and also saw the deck covered with shards of ice. Our mechanic went away and came back with the confirmation of our fears: the ship had apparently crushed into a vast mass of ice, a thickened ridge which it was unable to penetrate, and even though its hull was only partially damaged, it seemed that the propellers might have received some damage, possibly by debris of ice getting into the propeller shafts. We could not get a proper account of these events, however, as apparently only our captain had been on the deck when it happened, yet we could not find any trace of him. Some speculated that possibly he was on the deck when it happened and the impact had somehow swept him overboard, yet why would he be on the deck? Simultaneously, we noticed that the data transmitter in the cabin was broken, possibly as the crash damaged its subtle mechanism. That effectively dismissed our hopes for further advancement with the ship for the time being, even if it was still movable. We needed constant updates on our ice drift charts if we were to find a way out of here.

Fortunately, our survival expert took lead at that point. Our expedition had such one - although even many of the others were skilled specialists who have spent more than one season on the ice (one of them being a veteran of the Antarctic expedition to Mt. Mallis). Our survival expert presented us with a plan: she would take half of us to the ice back in our own trail and look for the missing captain, and half of us would stay on the ship and try to assess the damage we have suffered. In the worst case, if the ship proved immovable and irreparable for us, we will send a distress call. Repeatedly, our survival expert asked us to remain calm and not to get stressed.

LIVING MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION:

Inziladun - meteorologist
Mnemosyne - field medic
Boromir88 - senior assistant to a professor of glaciology
Eomer of the Rohirrim - sea pilot
Loslote - rich funder's spoiled daughter
Morsul - federal grants lawyer
Brinn - polar bear biologist
Pitchwife - marine biologist
Nienna - navigator
Nogrod - old palaeoecologist with is own theory of climate change
Macalaure - palaeomathematician
sally - the original initiator of the expedition
Thinlómien - whale expert
Nerwen - mechanic
Roa - survival guide
Bes - room/store manager
Shasta - sled-dog handler
wilwa - crewmember
Greenie - senior assitant to important scientists in the company
tromkehra - cook/bartender

It is now Night 1. PMs with your roles are being sent to everybody now. As soon as you get your roles, Werewolves may PM each other. Ranger and Hunter may PM each other. Others, remain asleep. No posting on this thread until Day 1 starts. Everybody don't forget to turn yourselves invisible. (in your User CP => edit options, tick the box and save at the bottom of the page)

Legate of Amon Lanc · 11-29-2009, 03:00 PM

The reconnaisance team returned at about 3:30 AM with no news about the missing man, yet the only logical explanation was that he indeed went overboard and fell into the rift created by the ship, and sunk. This realisation shook us, but that was only the beginning of the horrors which were about to unfold. The reconnaisance team also informed us that they have spotted what they thought was either an iceberg or a small island rock not very far to the southwest from our trail. We did not know yet the significance which this landmark will take for us in the following days. For now, all our thoughts were occupied with the damaged ship: it seemed, our chief engineer had stated, that we will be able to move, he only wanted to be sure that there is no damage which would prove critical later on and wanted to thoroughly check the ship himself. We left him with the repairs and went to sleep, as many of us had not slept at all that night.

If we only have not listened to our calm leader and sent a pan-pan call right at the moment, things might have taken a very different course. But nothing could have stopped what was happening when we woke up and found the communication, navigation and electrical control devices smashed hopelessly beyond repair. Horrified, we rushed below, only to find the lead engineer's motionless body entangled in a knot of power cables in the underdeck. His face was pallid, his eyes wide open, staring into the ceiling. Most of us shuddered in horror upon seeing his expression. What happened here? That was the mutual question, and we felt reluctant to answer it. And when at last few brave ones examined the body, our fears have been confirmed. This could not have been a suicide, our field medic stated. Somebody strangled that poor man. We stood there, eyeing each other, not knowing what to do, but then again our meteorologist roused us into action. His words were sharp and fast, but we felt he was right – it was necessary to make clear who was responsible for this and why he or she did it.

LIVING MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION:

Inziladun - meteorologist
Mnemosyne - field medic
Boromir88 - senior assistant to a professor of glaciology
Eomer of the Rohirrim - sea pilot
Loslote - rich funder's spoiled daughter
Morsul - federal grants lawyer
Brinn - polar bear biologist
Pitchwife - marine biologist
Nienna - navigator
Nogrod - old palaeoecologist with is own theory of climate change
Macalaure - palaeomathematician
sally - the original initiator of the expedition
Thinlómien - whale expert
Nerwen - mechanic
Roa - survival guide
Bes - room/store manager
Shasta - sled-dog handler
wilwa - crewmember
Greenie - senior assitant to important scientists in the company
tromkehra - cook/bartender

Day 1 begins. Werewolves, Hunter and Ranger, stop PMing. Everyone, you may start posting here.

Mnemosyne · 11-29-2009, 03:06 PM

Okay, who here is secretly funded by Evil Rich Corporations Who Want To Make Money At The Cost of Destroying The Environment?

...I've been watching too much Captain Planet lately...

On a more serious note, let's not be too eager to look for Grand Conspiracy Theories when there could be more simple motives at hand. Did anyone have something against our engineer?

*thinks more*

On the other hand, considering that we need our engineer to get out of here...

Does anyone have something against all of us?

Aside from the whole showering issue, of course.

Nogrod · 11-29-2009, 04:23 PM

We could apply my theory of "radical contingency and non-linear anticipation of quantumlevel events" I made a paper for the Royal Society on May 23th 2003 - and combine it with some fractal-analysis and the interesting pieces of hitherto unknown Mayan myths on predestination I have quite recently published a book about? ("Is the time-space continuum a trick by God to test our faith? - The early medieval Mayan metaphysical escathology approached from a modern scientific angle", Oxford University Press 2008)

For the question sure is which unlikely events are unlikely for real and which are unlikely only when predicted on the basis of bad old-fashioned mechanistic theories that should be thrown to the same grave with the most honourable sir Isaac (esq.)?

I mean you medics are always so down to earth and I appreciate it when you're stiching a wound or mending a broken collarbone, but you know, we have lots to learn from balancing our chakras first. Awakening the kundalini-energies would be releasing such an infinite reserve of untapped power we could run the whole planet on western living-standards without a single milligramme of emissions!

So let's not forget that the world is not as it looks like it is. Only brave and bold science not chained by everyday trivia and perceptual commonplaces can reveal the hidden truth of the universe - and thence of our fate as well.

Now please excuse me, I have some lab-work to do as my latest set of experiments requires my full attention rather immediately.

Mnemosyne · 11-29-2009, 04:35 PM

Nogrod, my friend, I have three words for you:

Peer.

Reviewed.

Journals.

I may not be familiar with your field, but I know a pedant when I see one, and let me tell you I don't trust any theory until it's been verified multiple times by multiple parties, and published in multiple journals, preferably with different interests (aside from the noble interest in Scientific Veracity) in mind to show that their minds haven't been swayed by anticipation of the results. That's why they like doing double blind tests in my field--though I haven't done much work on that sort of experimental stuff since my days in med school.

As for your chakra theories (though I do appreciate your appreciation for actual medical science), this is the best thing I can say in response.

Inziladun · 11-29-2009, 05:17 PM

Well, the local weather is not as bad as it might be. Based upon barometric, thermometric, and cloud observations, I don't think we'll see any precipitation for the next few days. However, with the destruction caused to our electronics, I no longer have access to radar and satellite information. As many of you are no doubt aware, temperature variations in this area can be considerable, due to low-presssure cyclonic activity moving in from the North Atlantic. It is most important that power to the ship be maintained.
Now, to the business that troubles us most. While I am a servant of empiricism by trade, my mind has always been rather imaginative. Certainly it seems the disppearance of the captain, and subsequent murder of the one best equipped to aid us in returning to habitable lands, are related. Why? I don't believe in such coincidences. But why would one of our own, whose fate is bound with ours at this juncture, wish to commit such acts? Could there be any explanation or motive that does not involve one of us?

11-23-2009, 07:58 AM	#1
Legate of Amon Lanc A Voice That Gainsayeth Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: In that far land beyond the Sea Posts: 7,431	WWLXX: At the Prison of Ice Expedition Journal - Prologue As it has been said, the expedition I have been assigned to was heading to regions of the far Arctic. I attended it on behalf of my good friend, sir Michael Bishop, who spent part of his company's earnings to fund projects such as this. This expedition has been a part of a research project organised by a group of people from several countries, aiming at large-scale ecological and climatological studies of a specific area between North Latitude 78°-86°. Our team consisted of several esteemed experts in the fields ranging widely from meteorology to polar biology, representing some high-ranking universities and institutes. Our plan in short was to leave at the end of the summer season from well-known arctic port in Barrow, Alaska and head west of the Chukchi Sea to collect meteorological and oceanographic data in the open sea. Then we will turn to the archipelagos of the Old World to make further observations of terrestrial flora and fauna, with a brief visit and exchange of information with the personnel of the Russian NP drifting ice station. By the middle of autumn we would reach Schmidt Island and deploy several buoys north of the Kara Sea to monitor and collect data, and at last we would head to one of the nearby polar stations to winter. The start of the expedition was accompanied by several complications, as if something already marked its ill-omened course, or as if some other power wished to mercifully prevent us from attending it. Our very departure from Barrow was delayed by a week and three days due to an unexpected malfunction of the ship's engine, which was subsequently repaired, however after twenty days of sail we were forced once again to head for emergency docking in Dikson, Krasnoyarsk to perform another necessary repair. It was at this point when we started to worry about the fate of our expedition, as our aims were to avoid spending the peak of the winter season aboard the icebreaker. Our Russian colleagues have advised us to speed up our journey, and so it came that by autumn equinox we have managed to finish our observations in the Laptev Sea and at the beginning of November we found ourselves in waters close to 82°N 79°E, past Ushakov Island. The sea was already full of pack ice, yet our icebreaker moved smoothly enough for a long time until the unfortunate accident. * This is the game thread. No posting here yet until the game begins.** For rules and for asking questions, see the admin thread. __________________ "Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories

11-28-2009, 03:44 PM	#2
Legate of Amon Lanc A Voice That Gainsayeth Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: In that far land beyond the Sea Posts: 7,431	Expedition Journal - Night 1 Entry Approximately at 0:45 AM on November 29th sudden crash awoke me from sleep in my cabin. When I ran out into the corridor outside, I encountered our palaeoclimatologist and his mathematician colleague rushing from the stern where our "common room" was situated. Apparently they have been awake, yet even they could not tell what happened. When we rushed on the upper deck, we encountered the rest of our crew, and also saw the deck covered with shards of ice. Our mechanic went away and came back with the confirmation of our fears: the ship had apparently crushed into a vast mass of ice, a thickened ridge which it was unable to penetrate, and even though its hull was only partially damaged, it seemed that the propellers might have received some damage, possibly by debris of ice getting into the propeller shafts. We could not get a proper account of these events, however, as apparently only our captain had been on the deck when it happened, yet we could not find any trace of him. Some speculated that possibly he was on the deck when it happened and the impact had somehow swept him overboard, yet why would he be on the deck? Simultaneously, we noticed that the data transmitter in the cabin was broken, possibly as the crash damaged its subtle mechanism. That effectively dismissed our hopes for further advancement with the ship for the time being, even if it was still movable. We needed constant updates on our ice drift charts if we were to find a way out of here. Fortunately, our survival expert took lead at that point. Our expedition had such one - although even many of the others were skilled specialists who have spent more than one season on the ice (one of them being a veteran of the Antarctic expedition to Mt. Mallis). Our survival expert presented us with a plan: she would take half of us to the ice back in our own trail and look for the missing captain, and half of us would stay on the ship and try to assess the damage we have suffered. In the worst case, if the ship proved immovable and irreparable for us, we will send a distress call. Repeatedly, our survival expert asked us to remain calm and not to get stressed. LIVING MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION: Inziladun - meteorologist Mnemosyne - field medic Boromir88 - senior assistant to a professor of glaciology Eomer of the Rohirrim - sea pilot Loslote - rich funder's spoiled daughter Morsul - federal grants lawyer Brinn - polar bear biologist Pitchwife - marine biologist Nienna - navigator Nogrod - old palaeoecologist with is own theory of climate change Macalaure - palaeomathematician sally - the original initiator of the expedition Thinlómien - whale expert Nerwen - mechanic Roa - survival guide Bes - room/store manager Shasta - sled-dog handler wilwa - crewmember Greenie - senior assitant to important scientists in the company tromkehra - cook/bartender It is now Night 1. PMs with your roles are being sent to everybody now. As soon as you get your roles, Werewolves may PM each other. Ranger and Hunter may PM each other. Others, remain asleep. No posting on this thread until Day 1 starts. Everybody don't forget to turn yourselves invisible. (in your User CP => edit options, tick the box and save at the bottom of the page) __________________ "Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories Last edited by Legate of Amon Lanc; 11-29-2009 at 06:44 AM.

11-29-2009, 03:00 PM	#3
Legate of Amon Lanc A Voice That Gainsayeth Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: In that far land beyond the Sea Posts: 7,431	Expedition Journal - Day 1 Entry The reconnaisance team returned at about 3:30 AM with no news about the missing man, yet the only logical explanation was that he indeed went overboard and fell into the rift created by the ship, and sunk. This realisation shook us, but that was only the beginning of the horrors which were about to unfold. The reconnaisance team also informed us that they have spotted what they thought was either an iceberg or a small island rock not very far to the southwest from our trail. We did not know yet the significance which this landmark will take for us in the following days. For now, all our thoughts were occupied with the damaged ship: it seemed, our chief engineer had stated, that we will be able to move, he only wanted to be sure that there is no damage which would prove critical later on and wanted to thoroughly check the ship himself. We left him with the repairs and went to sleep, as many of us had not slept at all that night. If we only have not listened to our calm leader and sent a pan-pan call right at the moment, things might have taken a very different course. But nothing could have stopped what was happening when we woke up and found the communication, navigation and electrical control devices smashed hopelessly beyond repair. Horrified, we rushed below, only to find the lead engineer's motionless body entangled in a knot of power cables in the underdeck. His face was pallid, his eyes wide open, staring into the ceiling. Most of us shuddered in horror upon seeing his expression. What happened here? That was the mutual question, and we felt reluctant to answer it. And when at last few brave ones examined the body, our fears have been confirmed. This could not have been a suicide, our field medic stated. Somebody strangled that poor man. We stood there, eyeing each other, not knowing what to do, but then again our meteorologist roused us into action. His words were sharp and fast, but we felt he was right – it was necessary to make clear who was responsible for this and why he or she did it. LIVING MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION: Inziladun - meteorologist Mnemosyne - field medic Boromir88 - senior assistant to a professor of glaciology Eomer of the Rohirrim - sea pilot Loslote - rich funder's spoiled daughter Morsul - federal grants lawyer Brinn - polar bear biologist Pitchwife - marine biologist Nienna - navigator Nogrod - old palaeoecologist with is own theory of climate change Macalaure - palaeomathematician sally - the original initiator of the expedition Thinlómien - whale expert Nerwen - mechanic Roa - survival guide Bes - room/store manager Shasta - sled-dog handler wilwa - crewmember Greenie - senior assitant to important scientists in the company tromkehra - cook/bartender Day 1 begins. Werewolves, Hunter and Ranger, stop PMing. Everyone, you may start posting here. __________________ "Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories

11-29-2009, 03:06 PM	#4
Mnemosyne Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Between the past and the future Posts: 1,159	First Post! Okay, who here is secretly funded by Evil Rich Corporations Who Want To Make Money At The Cost of Destroying The Environment? ...I've been watching too much Captain Planet lately... On a more serious note, let's not be too eager to look for Grand Conspiracy Theories when there could be more simple motives at hand. Did anyone have something against our engineer? thinks more On the other hand, considering that we need our engineer to get out of here... Does anyone have something against all of us? Aside from the whole showering issue, of course. __________________ Got corsets?

11-29-2009, 04:23 PM	#5
Nogrod Flame of the Ainulindalë Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves Posts: 9,308	We could apply my theory of "radical contingency and non-linear anticipation of quantumlevel events" I made a paper for the Royal Society on May 23th 2003 - and combine it with some fractal-analysis and the interesting pieces of hitherto unknown Mayan myths on predestination I have quite recently published a book about? ("Is the time-space continuum a trick by God to test our faith? - The early medieval Mayan metaphysical escathology approached from a modern scientific angle", Oxford University Press 2008) For the question sure is which unlikely events are unlikely for real and which are unlikely only when predicted on the basis of bad old-fashioned mechanistic theories that should be thrown to the same grave with the most honourable sir Isaac (esq.)? I mean you medics are always so down to earth and I appreciate it when you're stiching a wound or mending a broken collarbone, but you know, we have lots to learn from balancing our chakras first. Awakening the kundalini-energies would be releasing such an infinite reserve of untapped power we could run the whole planet on western living-standards without a single milligramme of emissions! So let's not forget that the world is not as it looks like it is. Only brave and bold science not chained by everyday trivia and perceptual commonplaces can reveal the hidden truth of the universe - and thence of our fate as well. Now please excuse me, I have some lab-work to do as my latest set of experiments requires my full attention rather immediately. __________________ Upon the hearth the fire is red Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet...

11-29-2009, 04:35 PM	#6
Mnemosyne Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Between the past and the future Posts: 1,159	Nogrod, my friend, I have three words for you: Peer. Reviewed. Journals. I may not be familiar with your field, but I know a pedant when I see one, and let me tell you I don't trust any theory until it's been verified multiple times by multiple parties, and published in multiple journals, preferably with different interests (aside from the noble interest in Scientific Veracity) in mind to show that their minds haven't been swayed by anticipation of the results. That's why they like doing double blind tests in my field--though I haven't done much work on that sort of experimental stuff since my days in med school. As for your chakra theories (though I do appreciate your appreciation for actual medical science), this is the best thing I can say in response. __________________ Got corsets?

11-29-2009, 05:17 PM	#7
Inziladun Gruesome Spectre Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Heaven's doorstep Posts: 8,037	Well, the local weather is not as bad as it might be. Based upon barometric, thermometric, and cloud observations, I don't think we'll see any precipitation for the next few days. However, with the destruction caused to our electronics, I no longer have access to radar and satellite information. As many of you are no doubt aware, temperature variations in this area can be considerable, due to low-presssure cyclonic activity moving in from the North Atlantic. It is most important that power to the ship be maintained. Now, to the business that troubles us most. While I am a servant of empiricism by trade, my mind has always been rather imaginative. Certainly it seems the disppearance of the captain, and subsequent murder of the one best equipped to aid us in returning to habitable lands, are related. Why? I don't believe in such coincidences. But why would one of our own, whose fate is bound with ours at this juncture, wish to commit such acts? Could there be any explanation or motive that does not involve one of us? __________________ Music alone proves the existence of God.