Lore:Cloud Strider Legacies

Cloud Strider Legacies is a Lore book added in Lightfall. Entries are unlocked through the Winterbite quest chain given by Quinn Laghari. It consists of transcripts of Neomuni childrens' show Capybara Corner discussing past Cloud Striders, mixed with first-hand records of the Cloud Striders in question.

The Stargazer
One, two, three! Eyes on me, niños!

It's Thursday, and you know what that means! That's right—it is Cloud Strider Day! What do the Cloud Striders do? Right again! They keep us all safe. And how do we tell them "Thank you?" By remembering them!

Today, we will learn about Stargazer. A stargazer is someone who looks into the sky and studies the stars. The Cloud Strider who picked Stargazer as their call sign was very smart.

Our planet, Neptune, is a hidden world. It is very large, but with our thick atmosphere and powerful magnetic field, it is very hard to see anything on the surface. This hides our city and keeps us safe, but it also hides the universe from us. We could see the stars but not study them.

Stargazer was the first person to learn how to use math to see the sky!

And Stargazer didn't just see stars. They also saw Earth. Do you know about Earth, children? That's right! Earth is a planet closer to the Sun, and it's where humans came from a long time ago. We thought there were no humans left on the Earth, and we could not see to check.

But when Stargazer looked to Earth, they saw more humans!

But Earth is a very dangerous place now. The people there do not go to school, and they do not go to market. Instead, they are bullied by the warlords, who force them to do things instead of asking nicely.

Stargazer worried what would happen if the warlords ever found Neptune. They might bully us, too! Our world is very hard to find, and the people of Earth had forgotten about our tiny colony ship. But on Earth, they have computers, too, and the warlords might learn of us just like we learn about the stars.

Stargazer traveled to Earth and used a special computer called a Warmind to make all the other computers on Earth forget about Neptune.

Today, we still watch Earth, and when the warlords are gone, we will go back and help the people there clean up their world. Just like when you help your parents clean up! And doesn't everyone like having a clean home?

That's all for today, niños. Three, two, one! Now, have fun! And remember: Thank you, Cloud Striders!

—Carlita Capybara, Capybara Corner, s43, ep19

Laminak Li
//SIGNAL DETECTED/PROTOCOL==TIGHTBEAM

//STATUS==PRIORITY

//ORIGIN RECOGNIZED==CR.STARGAZER

Decrypting…

//TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS

Excellent. Excellent. Boot sequence is go. System is yellow.

//AMBIENT: THUMPING

Oh, bother. That door is not going to last. No… nope, nope. Thought Golden Age Earth made things to last. Estimate… what, twelve minutes?

//AMBIENT: THUMPING

Seven minutes. Well, we've done more with less, right, Hernandez?

Hernandez?

Please, I really need you to sit up now. Nod? Josep, I need you to not die, not after Leung and Chabra and Hadayati. Cloud Striders are supposed to die, not everyone else. Not part of the arrangement.

Yes… okay. We will get back to this.

//AMBIENT: CHIME

Ah, Malahayati! I'm afraid your timing is awful. What to do now, what to do?

//AMBIENT: THUMPING, YELLING

I just need quiet, please.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Malahayati, access Information Strategic Operations, Global Scale. Permission IC-33922605-beta-beta-episilon. Standby for new operational parameters.

A little absurd, isn't it, Hernandez? These Earth survivors will kill each other over access to clean water, and we're going to teach them Chaucer? They'll debate Du Fu while dying of sepsis, I suppose?

//AMBIENT: THUMPING, YELLING, GUNFIRE

Whatever they can absorb in… five minutes, at least. Before Carnunta's inheritors break down that door. Shouldn't have shot him, I suppose.

Ooooooh, no no no. Nope. It is just dawning now that perhaps we don't want our vindictive little crowd of sycophants pushing all the red buttons in this bunker after avenging their fallen Lightwielder, hm? No, Hernandez, I don't think we do.

//AMBIENT: THUMPING

I SAID I NEED QUIET!

Quiet? Yes. Malahayati, access warsat network. What's overhead? Gamma projector. Quick. Clean. Neurons will be dead before they register any pain. Merciful. A good deal more merciful than this warband has been with their neighbors.

Not just one army, though, eh, Hernandez? No, no. So many people saw us come down here. Entire camp. Three… maybe four hundred. People talk. Warlords listen. Wide dispersal could clean them out. Painless.

//AMBIENT: THUMPING, GUNFIRE

No. No. You're right, Hernandez. Inappropriate. We didn't come to be judge and executioner, did we? No, we came to teach.

No, not teach. We came to preach. Bring the gospel of civilization, as only we knew it.

//AMBIENT: THUMPING

So then… how to keep the child from playing with the gun? Can't move the gun. Can't break the child's hand. So… destroy the gun?

Malahayati. Sunset Protocol: Initiate full system burn—

Wait.

Malahayati. Access global archive. Access Rasputin root IC-3392260695. Find-replace. Neptune equals null. Exodus Indigo equals null.

Back.

Engage Sunset Protocol.

//AMBIENT: EXPLOSION, UNIDENTIFIED SHOUTING

Hm. Well, Hernandez, now we find our own way home.

The Bluejay
One, two, three! Eyes on me, niños!

It's Thursday, and you know what that means! That's right—it is Cloud Strider Day! What do the Cloud Striders do? Right again! They keep us all safe. And how do we tell them "Thank you?" By remembering them!

Today, we will learn about Bluejay. The blue jay is a very clever bird. You might have seen one in the parklands. Some can even talk! The Cloud Strider who picked Bluejay as his call sign was very clever.

Many Cloud Striders are soldiers or engineers, but Bluejay was a game designer. Do you know what a game designer is, children?

That's right! A game designer makes vidgames! Maybe you have played a vidgame with your parents in the CloudArk. Bluejay was the very first person to make a vidgame in the CloudArk! Before that, we did not know it was a whole world. We could not use it to make art or visit friends. We just put things in it to save them for later, like the closet. And the closet seems scary at first, doesn't it, niños? But if you are brave, you can find lots of fun things inside!

So Bluejay helped us expand how we use the CloudArk—he made it a place we could play or even live, if we needed to. And when he made his game in there, he also learned that the Vex used the CloudArk, too. They could not get in, but the CloudArk was so strong they could use it to do their work for them even from outside, using the force of the Veil to turn their own machines, like when the wind turns a turbine.

Bluejay learned he could jump from the CloudArk to the Vex network, and he sabotaged their machines from the inside. The Vex were very confident and did not think he could find them, so they were careless. And so Bluejay scared them, and they ran away! And what we learned is that being careless with the CloudArk is dangerous, isn't it? That's why you always close your open ports and keep your passcode secret, because the Vex remember being scared, and they'll frighten you to get us back.

That's all for today, niños. Three, two, one! Now, have fun! And remember: Thank you, Cloud Striders!

—Carlita Capybara, Capybara Corner, s44, ep23

Conrad Jain
NEOMUNA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

CASE NO. PUBEND6067111-CJain-7

TRANSCRIPT | DO NOT DISTRIBUTE

COUNCILPERSON SANGHA: Sentencing case PUBEND 6067111-CJain -7, Councilwoman Martella Sangha presiding. The accused has been found guilty of trespassing in the civic data architecture colloquially known as the "Cloud Ark," illegal simulation, and public endangerment.

COUNCILPERSON BOUDAN: It has been a very long week, Mr. Jain, but again: This council will show you leniency if you assist us by disclosing your coconspirators.

CONRAD JAIN (ACCUSED): The only criminals I've worked with to date are the ones handing down this sentence.

C. BOUDAN: Mr. Jain, these charges are—

JAIN: They're generational trauma with pomp!

C. BOUDAN: Mr. Jain—

JAIN: We're the last of humanity, trapped in a bubble. Simulation is an entire frontier we can explore to re-define what it means to be human. And you outlaw it just because we fear others' bad experiences from hundreds of years ago!

C. SANGHA: Laws exist by the public consensus. It is not your decision alone when and how our society evolves.

C. BOUDAN: There are approved channels for simulation research.

JAIN: "Approved channels." Is that what's under all that red tape?

C. BOUDAN: Mr. Jain—

JAIN: The CloudArk is an nth dimensional paracausal fold, and we use it to store library books.

C. BOUDAN: We use it to support the public need. Not as some playground.

JAIN: Play?! You bastard, I lost friends shutting down the Vex Isometry! You wouldn't be sitting there i—

C. BOUDAN: That's enough, Conrad!

C. SANGHA: Your actions are on trial, not your results. Only one person in this city gets to make decisions that affect us all, and you would do well to learn from the Cloud Strider what a dire burden that is.

JAIN: Is it such a heavy burden to be this council's lapdog?

C. BOUDAN: Heavier than anything you've proven yourself capable of.

C. SANGHA: Let the record show the accused exhibits no remorse for his actions and displays a disregard for the public consensus. Considering the good you accomplished as part of your illegal research, we offer some small mercy: three years' house arrest and 4,000 hours of community service, to be served concurrently.

JAIN: I've never wanted anything but to protect this city and help it grow. You can't punish me to make me stop.

C. BOUDAN: Fortunately, some members of this council feel your arguments have merit. If you consent, you will be allowed to work off your debt to society by continuing your simulation research. Under "lap dog" oversight, as you called her.

TRANSCRIPT ENDS.

The Maelstrom
One, two, three! Eyes on me, niños!

It's Thursday, and you know what that means! That's right—it is Cloud Strider Day! What do the Cloud Striders do? Right again! They keep us all safe. And how do we tell them "Thank you?" By remembering them!

Today, we will learn about Maelstrom. That's a new word, isn't it? Do you know what it means?

A maelstrom is a big storm. A maelstrom is loud and scary, and it can cause a lot of damage. The Cloud Strider who picked Maelstrom as her call sign was also loud and scary. But she wasn't scary to us. She was scary to the Vex. She was a strong warrior who could fight as well as any of the Vex, but she was also a very smart leader who taught all the other people on Neptune how to defend ourselves.

And do you know what she did? She started a special school called the Assur Academy. And you can go there today, if you study hard and you want to learn to be a good leader like Maelstrom. They even train new Cloud Striders!

But, today, we mostly remember Maelstrom because she saved the whole city from the Uplift Coven. The Uplift Coven were humans, like you, but they were selfish and mean. Good people talk out their differences and find ways to fix their problems that help everyone. But the Uplift Coven hurt people and stole from people, and they all wanted to be Cloud Striders.

Why shouldn't more people be Cloud Striders?

That's right. Because the Cloud Strider sacrifices. A Cloud Strider must have affinity, awareness, and altruism. You cannot be a Cloud Strider if you demand things from other people.

Maelstrom made the Uplift Coven stop, and now we are very careful to teach everyone to be better citizens when they are young. Because good children grow up into good adults, and even good Cloud Striders!

That's all for today, niños. Three, two, one! Now, have fun! And remember: Thank you, Cloud Striders!

—Carlita Capybara, Capybara Corner, s44, ep2

Sedderik Assur
//NEOMUNA ARCHIVE SYSTEMS/RECOVERY PROTOCOL

//AUDIO LOG MAEL092751

//SECURITY==DELTA-DELTA

//FILE DELETED PF0476-10-16

Restoring…

//TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS

You're a good kid, Geist. Sorry for shooting you, but you gave me the business better than I expected. My fault for picking the best to be my protégé. Hope an audio apology's good enough.

You were all good kids. That's really the problem, wasn't it? Train twenty-two kids to be gods, and then only pick one as Cloud Strider. My stupidest idea in a lifetime of them. There's so much to learn about this new body. I thought we'd just train candidates up early in sim, screen out the ones who couldn't handle it. But damn if you kids didn't rise to every challenge. And I spent so much time talking about the danger and the thrill that I never shared the first lesson of being the Cloud Strider…

You don't die after ten years. You die the second you gulp your first breath with those new nanite-enhanced lungs.

You don't get to be human anymore. Not with this kind of power. You don't get foibles or fears or wants. You're an ideal.

You need to be the best things about this city—the kindness, the empathy, the courage—and you give up the luxury of weakness.

All of you were driven, talented. But, Geist, you were the only one who didn't need it. You were the one who'd help this city as a civvie or a Strider. And looks like I was right to not pick Ahpoor and Laghari and their little coven.

Ten terrorists with Cloud Strider training. No matter what the history books say, that's my legacy.

I know you wanted me to go soft on them. I did, too. But, like I said, we don't get the luxury of wants.

But I'm free, kid. My warranty's up. But I'm leaving you a present. Something my mentor left me: the kill codes for the Sidereal. Hit that switch, and you never have to doom another soul to this life. The rest of the city has to step up instead. Every regret I have, I can't bring myself to end it. Maybe you have what it takes.

You can even blame me. I won't tell.

The Strider
One, two, three! Eyes on me, niños!

It's Thursday, and you know what that means! That's right, it is Cloud Strider Day! What do the Cloud Striders do? Right again! They keep us all safe. And how do we tell them "Thank you?" By remembering them!

Today we will learn about the Strider. She was the very first Cloud Strider, and the one they named themselves after!

Before the Strider, we did not have a special protector for the city, and that meant we all had to fight every day. We had many weapons and implants to make ourselves strong, but not the special synthesis that makes the Cloud Striders special. And many more Neomuni had to be soldiers and transform their bodies to protect the city and get hurt.

The Strider saw us suffering. She worried that fighting so much would hurt our hearts, and she knew that one person can make all the difference. So, she took her courage and her wits and her strength and created the Sidereal.

Do you know what the Sidereal is, niños?

That's right! The Sidereal is a special place where one person gives up their normal life to become a Cloud Strider and live for us all!

The Strider gave us the Sidereal. The Cloud Strider fights so we can have peace so we could be more than just soldiers.

That's all for today, niños. Three, two, one! Now have fun! And remember: Thank you, Cloud Striders!

—Carlita Capybara, Capybara Corner, s45, ep51

Mikaela Julaha
NEOMUNA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

PATIENT ID. MLJULAHA00027.1395

DATED //ERROR/

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT | CONFIDENTIAL

AMMA JULAHA: Mom!

MIKAELA JULAHA: Hey, baby. Oof!

AMMA J.: We saw you on the feed. You were amazing! Does your arm hurt?

MIKAELA J.: This thing? Nah, Doc says this one should grow back. Maybe a couple of days.

DR. SOFIA GUO: Closer to twenty-four hours, actually. Your abnormal nanite colony seems to coordinate repairs better every cycle.

S. GUO: And I asked Nurse Chakwas to not let anyone in here.

MIKAELA J.: After seven years, you still haven't figured out no nurse can keep this girl out of anything?

S. GUO: Well, nice as it is to see you, Amma, please wait in the lounge. I'd like to speak to your mother alone.

MIKAELA J.: I want her here for this.

S. GUO: You're sure?

//INAUDIBLE

S. GUO: Mikaela, there's a lot we still don't understand after the accident. Your nanite colony and the cultures we've taken are all going strong. Your CloudArk nodes are still doing whatever it is they do. Even your original assistive socket is pristine, and we should be swapping that every five years.

MIKAELA J.: But?

S. GUO: But this is all a lot of strain for your organic parts. The human body was never meant to heal this fast or push this hard—

AMMA J.: No…

S. GUO: There's extensive microscarring across your liver, heart, kidneys, spleen, and brain—

MIKAELA J.: The big five.

S. GUO: If I can figure out how to suppress your nanite colony long enough to operate, we can start replacing—

MIKAELA J.: Assume you can't.

//INAUDIBLE

S. GUO: Eight months. Maybe ten if we keep you off the front lines.

AMMA J.: Mom, no.

MIKAELA J.: Hey, you come here, little one.

AMMA J.: You can't die.

MIKAELA J.: Dying's just the part of life everyone does. It's boring. I should have died a long time ago. But I got just a few more years to watch you grow up, and love your daddy, and, honey, I got to save people.

AMMA J.: I need you.

MIKAELA J.: You don't need me. You got a better mama inside you made from all those good memories. That mama will always be there when you need her.

AMMA J.: Can I—

AMMA J.: Can I just stay with you here a little while?

MIKAELA J.: I don't want anything else in the whole world, Babygirl.