FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

[Introduction cutscene: Insert character creation screen here, should that be a feature.]

In pitch darkness, the flushing of liquid down a large drain can be heard. It bubbles audibly as the chamber is gradually emptied. Blackness fades from your view, preceding the panic that swiftly settles in. A light beams through the blue-tinted window of the strange and tiny room, to which the player finds themselves fused. A mask covers your face and various tubes run from a hub above the head, reaching down like the tendrils of sinister flora. The claustrophobic chamber is eerily silent. Upon banging on the chamber door, a shadow moves by the window, a large but formless blob startling you.

"Where am I?! What is this place?!" You scream into the mask over your face.

A bright light abruptly pierces the tinted window, a hazy coating preventing adequate view. A mechanical humming and faint vibration gain your attention, only for a trickle of light to flood the chamber. The oblong crescent of warm rays becomes a blinding sheet of white. A brief fade prevents view. As your eyes adjust, you find yourself gazing upon a most unusual and frightening sight. A large, biomechanical contraption stands before you.

"What's going on?!" You demand.

The oblong being, like an egg tipped over and the top pointing toward you, remains stationary. The body is wide and bulbous, covered in a thick hide with a sickly green hue. A bronzed, metallic stalk of a neck holds a head, like that of an insectoid. (I imagined a praying mantis, but anything predatory would do.) It cocks its head quite curiously, the whirring of small hydraulics audible as it moves. The bright light comes from a lamp built into a cheek. The irises of its many robotic eyes adjust, the insides of which glow in an unsettling bright green hue. It moves on (devs choice of a pair of trapezoidal treads or powerful bird-like legs with thick haunches and H-shaped, four-toed feet), mechanical in nature but fused seamlessly with the flesh of the oblong body of the beast. The creature reaches out with bronzed arms, the wide claws padded as they ensnare your body.

"Initiating." A gruff voice speaks in a dry monotone, emanating from a speaker in the metallic chest-piece of the creature.

Two more arms, smaller and more articulate than the first, emerge from the creature's back. With a loud whirring, the biomechanoid's more mobile appendages remove your mask and pull the lines from your body as it frees you from the chamber. The shock leaves you frozen as much as the icy cold air. You're helpless as it turns and carries you down a long corridor. You only see the being's twisted visage, and rows upon rows of unopened chambers along one wall. Regaining control of your body, your eyes scan your surroundings as you take in all that you can. A hallway of metal catwalks, a wall lined with piping, all of it bronzed or black and covered with the dust of ages. A hazy window smeared with grime seems to show the outside world, but all you can make out is darkness speckled with tiny dots of light.

"What is this place?! Who are you?!"

"Pelai-3, containment hall, deck C-2... I am Atima-46371... Welcome, subject number triple-zero nine-four-one..." The biomechanoid speaks again as it ceases to move.

The whooshing of an automatic door echoes in the vacant hall, catching your attention. You see it out of the corner of your eye, rolling sideways, like the cover stone of a high-tech tomb. Inside is a tiny room with a padded bed built into the wall, an opening approximately at head level. After turning you around in its claws, the hybrid of flesh and machine places your dripping and cold body into the padded chamber, pressing your body against the bed and shoving your face firmly into the opening at the head of the bed.

"Prepare." It warns.

You feel its claws and mechanical hands moving away from you as the door rolls closed. It's soft padding rubs against your back, keeping you locked into place. Darkness envelopes you like a shroud.

[Alternatively, insert character creation screen here.]

The deathly silence is brief, as inside of the tiny space where you're forced to stare, you hear a faint hum. The humming becomes a vibration and a purple/violet light with waves of cyan begins to glow. Is that a face you see in the distance?!

"I am 'Valika', central processing unit for 'Pelai-3'. Initiating neural link." A soft, feminine voice speaks to you, seemingly inside of your head.

The purple/violet and cyan light washes over your face, flashing seemingly random numbers and coded letters. The light intensifies, and as the screen fades to white you hear Valika's voice. (Brief, still images or a video might accompany the following intro monologue.)

"Long ago, your world was vibrant and beautiful. You thrived for many millennia, but it came at a cost. Abundance was replaced by scarcity, and after centuries of war, a series of cataclysmic events forced your kind to band together. You were forced to take shelter in the 'Arai', a subterranean complex spanning a sizable portion of your world. In the Arai, you were sustained, your needs provided by powerful machines and for many millennia, your kind remained, waiting until your world had healed enough to reclaim it...

However, this security also came at a cost. Without room to grow, your people stagnated, technologically and culturally, and as your kind remained hidden away in the Arai, slowly withering, beings developed on another world. This primitive planet, the third in this solar system, developed rapidly, as did the native inhabitants, and it wasn't long before they made the same mistakes. As your kind remained within the Arai, these 'humans' sought a new world to call their own...

Fleeing the ruins of their 'earth', they arrived in ships, destined to terraform your damaged world, thereby making it habitable for the human refugees. Their work caused many changes to the planet, unknowingly damaging the Arai. Forced to reveal yourselves, emissaries were sent, only for the humans to panic and destroy them. Fearing your own extinction, a war ensued. Resources were dwindled in a ceaseless battle with the humans, whose weaponry managed to damage your world even more than your kind already had, and it too began to wither...

It became clear that continued war would only spell doom for all. Finally ready to make peace, the humans agreed to a truce and work began, to repair this world and live in harmony. However, not all were so trusting. Small skirmishes continued to take place as rogue humans, and your kind as well, fought for supremacy. Realizing that the potential for extinction was great, the 'Avacapai', an emergency council of your elders and the human leaders, sought to build emergency ships...

Along with the 'Onriyam', human-influenced technologies constructed by your people, the Pelai, biomechanical ships of this nature, were constructed. A copy of the Arai's artificially intelligent database was implanted as the central processing unit in each vessel. Just as the original Valika served the Arai, in your absence I controlled the fully autonomous Pelai. Special chambers were crafted to preserve your kind in stasis as you ventured away from danger, until the situation could be resolved...

Many were left behind, to gather resources for your inevitable return but a substantial time passed without communication from the planet. The preservation of your people has always been my priority, but without instructions, I chose to wait, until your safety could be guaranteed. A meteor storm preceded a substantial solar flare, both of which damaged the Pelai. While altering course prevent the complete destruction of every vessel, some were lost, as was the crew of this Pelai, who succumbed to radiation...

My programming would not allow for such failure. Utilizing the workshops, the Atima were constructed using only 2.9801% of the stowed resources; improvisation allowed for enhanced efficiency. The stasis chambers were repurposed and genetic samples from the lost crew allowed for reconstruction; you're the first of your kind to be replicated. We may now resume the mission..."

(It's not immediately stated but the biomechanical drones are the twisted and preserved remains of the deceased crew, who are also the source of the DNA for the cloned crew, of which the player is a member.)

[Completed introduction; proper gameplay commences]

The white light fades to black, your head aching from the knowledge uploaded into your mind. Your mission is clear. The door behind you rolls open, the noise now as familiar as if it'd been heard your entire life. Moving away from the chamber, you find yourself gazing inside, two cubes of purple/violet and cyan light approximately level with your eyes floating in the space where your face had been. The biomechanoid drone stands nearby, awaiting your instruction, whilst another can be seen a distance away, preparing another chamber for opening. Rows upon rows of chambers line the corridor, which stretches as far as the eye can see.

"Due to damage to my systems, some data has become corrupted. I am unsure exactly how much time has elapsed since departure, and star charts needed for navigation beyond your home world have been lost. There may still be survivors left, and it is possible you may encounter them, as well as the separatist factions, as you carry out your mission. Course has been set automatically, upon the first awakening. I have done all that I can to preserve life, but it is you who must decide the future of your race..." Valika's voice speaks as if from the ship itself.

[The player is now allowed to choose their starting conditions: Return to mars as an independent/freelance player, a Martian supremacist, a human sympathizer, or a member of the Kuttani, a group of humans and Martians who have banded together to preserve Mars as a home for both races in the hopes of living in harmony.]