Hold The Horde — Rescue Rules
Status. Proposal for one authored rescue, not an owner-approved global system. The brief requires survivors sent to an authored shipboard colony that provides understanding, upgrades and a reason to care. Rescue logistics, colony management and permanent loss remain undecided. This example uses Dorn and the proposed sealed section without settling station history.
The immediate goal and the bounded shelter
The goal is get Dorn from the sealed refuge through the ship airlock. Contact through a viewport or local radio establishes that he will leave after a route and breathable transfer are prepared. Consent and readiness are not sending.
The refuge's finite air sustains Dorn between expeditions without a hidden countdown. It produces no oxygen and cannot refill the astronaut. Its damaged personnel lock vents the room if opened, but a separate pressure-rated sleeve passes one object inward: the astronaut seals in a full canister; Dorn opens the inner hatch, takes it, connects his suit and confirms flow. Only then does the personnel door open. This bounded stable wait is not a general rule that survivors cannot worsen or die.
Preparation choices and costs
The canister occupies shared carrying capacity until the sleeve's outer hatch closes and commits it inside. The sleeve contains no oxygen source and is not a general delivery network. Dorn never occupies an inventory slot.
The player also visits the path and prepares a fallback vestibule immediately shipward of its exposed junction, sealing a separate reserve canister into its inward cradle. The breadcrumb records traversed passages but certifies neither safety, access nor exact oxygen cost. Two routes are credible:
- Short exposed route: leave a relay-family part in the feed to power the hoist and open the run Dorn sealed. It frees carrying capacity but is unavailable to the rig; the shortcut works only while power and the installed relay remain. As Rescue and Home proposes, the opened section joins that run's ordinary varying population and hazard state, but neither Dorn nor the player knows what was isolated or how severe it is. The choice still concerns his boundary under uncertainty; that category is not a guaranteed compensating punishment.
- Long sealed route: respect his preference and keep the relay. The vacuum route's jammed doors require the suit baseline cutter on visible retaining bolts, then a world-time manual cycle. It adds distance, trips and personal oxygen/canister capacity, but needs no undefined repressurisation tool.
Transfer sequence
| State | What establishes it | What each person can do next |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting | Contact and consent; refuge still sealed | Player postpones, explores or prepares. Dorn remains in the bounded shelter. |
| Prepared | Travel canister passed through the sleeve and connected; route traversed; shipward fallback visited and stocked with its own reserve; route equipment placed or carried | Player requests departure. Dorn confirms suit flow and restates his route preference. |
| In transfer | Dorn accepts; personnel door opens and the first refuge vents | Player leads the exposed segment and holds an ordinary horde. Dorn operates controls, crosses on the player's signal, enters the shipward vestibule and closes its stationward door behind himself. Either can call an abort. |
| Fallback | Transfer is interrupted before the ship | Dorn reaches that vestibule on his travel canister's emergency margin; its staged reserve sustains the bounded stable wait. The next attempt needs new travel air, a rechecked segment and another stocked fallback farther shipward. |
| Sent / colony | Dorn crosses the ship airlock and the lock closes | Dorn's authored interpretation and proposed carry-frame seal service become available aboard. Later astronaut death does not remove him. |
The short defence uses ordinary hordes. Preparation cannot promise an empty crossing. The astronaut chooses the route, movement signal, diversion and abort; Dorn states his preference, runs the controls and can call retreat when his air or the seal is threatened.
Failure and continuation rules
Sent means the ship airlock has closed behind Dorn. A request, accepted plan or crossing in progress is not completion.
| Outcome | Persistent local result | Player's next available choice |
|---|---|---|
| Postpone before departure | Refuge remains sealed; installed infrastructure and any canister not yet passed inward stay where left | Continue another objective, revise the route, or retrieve uncommitted equipment |
| Abort before refuge opens | Dorn remains waiting; shelter and air are not spent | Change loadout or route and request again |
| Interrupted after opening | Original pocket is vented; the travel emergency margin and staged fallback reserve are spent; Dorn is inside the shipward vestibule; installations and door changes persist under their own rules | Deliver new travel air, recheck the next segment and stock a new fallback farther shipward; recover a death cache; or defer |
| Astronaut dies before Sent | Carried items form the ordinary death cache. If departure has not begun, Dorn stays in the sealed refuge; during transfer, he reaches the prepared fallback. He is not retroactively aboard. | Choose between rescue, cache recovery and another objective on revival |
| Astronaut dies after Sent | Dorn remains a colony member; ordinary carried gear follows death rules | Re-equip with Dorn still aboard |
Local failure is reversible but costs the first shelter and both reserves, may leave a relay installed, and advances only to a prepared refuge. A retry needs another stocked fallback farther shipward. No trust penalty, injury or deterioration is inferred. This authored chain avoids a hidden timer here; it grants no immunity elsewhere and settles no global permanent-loss rule.
Credible alternative: full physical escort
The strongest alternative has Dorn accompany the astronaut throughout ordinary traversal. It makes protection visible and gives oxygen and hordes a direct human stake. The same canister rules apply without treating him as cargo.
Escort can preserve preference and reciprocal action, but pathfinding and repeated protection may still make Dorn feel like an escort object while discovery detours threaten reliability. Staged transfer concentrates cooperation at chosen pressure points. Reopen it if the crossing reads as automatic, Dorn's actions are unclear or the short defence cannot carry the human stake.
Self-check and dependencies
The five states are exclusive and give an explicit next action. The sleeve works without venting; the fallback is beyond the crossing, has one-use air and remains reachable after its stationward door closes. Evidence establishes location and air state, not motive or safety. Parts left or handed away are not still carried; breadcrumbs predict no unseen danger. Authored sleeves, fallbacks and survivor behavior add content/state cost. Nothing here establishes fun, emotional impact, balance, oxygen quantities, colony economy, survivor loss or campaign feasibility.