Hello, folks. Coming to you is the very last Fates Weekly from Delaware. The papers are signed, the boxes are… kind of packed, and the travel plans are laid out. It has been fun, but the time has come for me to return to the frigid midwest and start back over from there. I’m hoping to have internet up and running by this time next week, but there is a possibility that our next weekly update will be either early (while I am still at the hotel) or late (when I has the interwebs).

RA: Hope update: I… hate… video editing. I hate it more than anyone here can possibly imagine. I’ve logged 30+ hours in the last week trying to make it good. Almost all of my writing time was devoted to trying to understand the program and make everything work. Honestly, I’m not very happy with the result. The result of the video, that is. The game I’m finally very proud of. I was going to share it with you all so you could laugh at me, but it is still trying to render. So since it is still driving me towards a mental breakdown, here’s a CG that shows in it!

Writing: So we enter the final part of our explanations of what lead up to the lack of discipline and loyalty on the Nimross. For those of you who have not played Rising Angels: Reborn and wish to avoid spoilers, now would be a good time to stop reading and I will see you next week.

When we start RA: Reborn, the important thing to note is that Natalie Puccile is an outsider. In a land of mini-fiefdoms, Natalie is entering as a complete outsider who comes from an organization that has run afoul with the current shipmaster, Vice Commander Rasoona. As she eagerly tells Natalie, she did not hold this rank that long ago. No, she was once in charge of a small task force as a Commander of the Wings before one of our routes in Fates, Anton Rogers, lead to her transfer and demotion. That’s a lot of rank to lose, especially for someone who used to be a fast-burner up the ranks. Right from the start, Natalie has one person who is very begrudgingly working with her and secretly wants her to fail. Her bitterness is what forces Natalie to disobey the orders running directly against her mission. If things would have been different with Rasoona, Natalie wouldn’t have been forced to take over command.

One of the most common culprits brought up for lack of discipline is Kika. Kika Starr is another person who wants to hold proud her heritage and get to the top (where she tells you she deserves). With privilege, a brash personality, and drive, Kika easily rubs people the wrong way. This means she has to work harder, which keeps the cycle going. You advance in the KDF with results, not humility. This leads her to disobey orders and ignore the chain of command in favor of what she thinks gets better results.

Faye… Faye is naive and a fair bit lazy. Since her mission reports to Research & Development, not the space sector, she doesn’t need to get involved in ship politics. She might have gotten more involved with the actions of the crew, but her previous relationship with the executive officer, Sol Hackett, is still rocky to this day. In doing what she thinks is right for them both, Faye stays away from him and the rest of the leadership aboard the Nimross. Her lack of presence means that a potential voice of reason has been removed from the equation. The same thing applies to Alphonse Tenzin, the other major on-board the Nimross. As he has worked with Sol before and knows of his dislike of non-humans, he takes a laissez-faire leadership and does not call out Sol or Natalie when the situation calls for his input. With his own mission hiding in the background, another leader who might have brought the Nimross to order is removed from the picture.

The two biggest culprits for the lack of control on the Nimross are the other two deck-grade officers, Sol Hackett and Stan Nelson. Out of all the characters, Sol is the one trying the hardest to keep things in line and functional. Even when things looked their worst, he attempted to keep everything running smoothly. No matter what you think of him personally, Sol is an effective second-in-command and devoted to his cause. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? Sol grinds the gears of his crew the wrong way and his occasional speciest remarks turn people against him, despite him never acting on any of them. With no support, even from his own childhood best friend, Sol is unable to stop the chaos from consuming his crew.

Stan is an easy one to figure out. He is intentionally sowing discord among the ranks. Though fairly new to the Nimross, he quickly used the easier influenced members of the ship to erode the leadership of Sol by highlighting his racism and Rasoona by having her focus on Sol and Natalie instead of what he was doing. With a hand of friendship, he swung Kylie to his side and made Zuri focus on her squabbles with Sol. Kylie isn’t going to argue, she is one of those fast burners who skipped a lot and has virtually no life experience. With Sol unable to gain control of the crew and support him in stopping the colonel’s corrupting influence, Stan had free reign to solidify his regime. One thing to note is that Stan is veeeeeeeery obvious in what he was doing. One of the most common things I hear is that he was too obvious a villain. Yes, he was. Intentionally so. Almost like he wanted Natalie to focus on him. I might be overthinking it though…

Zuri… I wish I could talk more about Zuri without getting into Fates spoilers. All I can say is this. Zuri openly tells you that her last post was as a security forces officer and that she was demoted. There could be a correlation between her overwhelming desire to be a strong warrior and events that transpired in her past.

Rank had no effect on the Nimross’s failure. It was the natural born conspiracy between no strong leadership and too many people with different personal and professional agendas. Everyone had a different stake in the results of the Nimross and forced it to fall apart. One of those things I’ve always hear in the various training sessions I’ve gone through is that laissez-faire leadership will destroy a mission. With everyone playing against each other and nobody putting boots to heads, Natalie was doomed to fail. The biggest question going into Fates is can Natalie take control of her group now that she has direct control. She’s going up against Anton Rogers and his SITO team. They’re well-trained, cohesive, and though Name would like to disagree sometimes, completely under his direction. Zuri, Kika, Alexi, Akurel, and Sol… Natalie still has her work cut out for her.

That’s all for this week and the end of the three part lore special. I really hope it was educational for you all! Until next time, Chief out!

The video o’ the post is the best contrast between Natalie and her foes…