Phase Q/Crossings

In the vol surrounding the crossing point, many things happen.

This, of course, is where it all begins. And ends.

And by dint of its importance, it attracts nearly endless crowds of onlookers, wannabes, and new recruits.

The stream continues around the clock. Basically nothing will stop it. They’ve tried.

At first, the Trad forces fought against foreign infiltrations the classic way, killing them off.

Then, when a sort of makeshift truce arose around the opening, the Trad forces accepted a stalemate, and enforce strict entry and exit requirements on the side they controlled.

On the other side, the original Fyuchee side, the entryway to the opening was more or less on a come or go as you please policy.

So, within sight, within mere inches even, two different sides of the opening had vastly different policies, with vastly different effects.

On the Trad side, the strict enforcement of rules meant that most people could not, and thus did not bother to, cross the threshold.

Therefore, only a small number of Trads – those on official duty, those with holobucks to blow, those seeking adventure – bothered to cross the threshold.

Most Traddies stayed home. Giving the impression that Traddies were often relatively go-getting, since it’s the go-getter who go to the opening.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the Fyuchee side, anyone and everyone came. It became a center of festivities. Whole ontographs of Fyuchess followed one another up to the opening. Some set up camp.

An economy arose outside the opening. Much of the daily traffic happened on the free-flowing Fyuchee side. Much of the bigger trade happened on the Trad side.

After a while, a large part of the economy refocuses itself on serving the entryway economy itself. Fyucheez and Trads cross into each other’s area, often bringing forbidden items.

Of course, even still, it would take a different level of valor to bring something into the opening itself.

The opening becomes a source of fascination. Reports in the Trad interior describe the dangerous situation in the vol all around the opening, often inaccurately. Rumors fly among Fyuchee nodes.

Distinctions grow much blurrier at the entryway, too. Many of the Fyucheez there grow to resemble their Trad counterparts, and vice versa.

After some time, like an ancient biological system, the entryway becomes its own zone.

Through whatever unconscious forces, the Trads and Fyuchees around the entryway learn to live with each other, they blend together into each other, and they carry on as a distinct entity, neither fully Trad nor fully Fyuchy.

With contraband flowing freely, Fyucheez use their position at the entryway to fuel their ongoing efforts, both for the resistance and to establish a foothold in Phase Q.

Trads too benefit from the hive of activity. They, however, pour their funds into the development of their Forces, which operate domineeringly in multiple zones.

A Fyuchy sequester crosses into the entryway, carrying an enclosed container.

Phase Q: An interactive adventure.