Messages from Callisto

It is 1993. The European Union is formally established. The flaw in Hubble’s primary mirror was corrected by shuttle mission STS-61. Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You becomes the longest-running number 1 single of all time. Seventy-six people die in the siege at Waco, Texas. Buckingham Palace opens to the public. Jurassic Park is released. The first high-speed train travels from England to France via the Channel Tunnel.  NASA loses signal with the Mars Observer spacecraft three days before it is due to enter orbit around Mars. X-Files debuts. PC video game Doom is released.

Welcome to this quarter’s United Nations Extra-terrestrial Taskforce (UNET) meeting, this time held in London.

Extraterrestrials

Nearly ten years ago, Humanity learned that extra-terrestrial intelligences (ETIs) had been hiding amongst them. ETIs were quickly blamed for society’s faults, leading to several instances of civil unrest.

UNET

United Nations Extra-terrestrial Taskforce (UNET) was formed in 1984 as an international response to dealing with extra-terrestrial matters. All ETIs must register with UNET.

Arcadia

Classified images from Voyager showed a regular, pyramid-shaped structure on the surface of Callisto. The structure looked too regular to be natural, and in 1983, the US government sent a follow-up mission, Arcadia, to Callisto to learn more.

Now, the first signals from Arcadia have arrived, and UNET is meeting in London to discuss Callisto along with several other issues that have all come to a head at once.

Messages from Callisto is a science-based first-contact freeform set in an alternate timeline where aliens have been on   Earth for decades. Decisions made during the game will affect future games – and maybe even the future of humanity itself!

Cast of characters (probably - some characters may change depending on previous games)

• Ash of the Cuculus: Ash has striking, golden eyes.
• Dr Bakker: American scientist working on advanced weapons technology.
• Dr Chén: Senior administrator in the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.
• Colonel Draper: US military, assigned to the Pentagon.
• Janssen: Australian billionaire industrialist.
• McDonald: UNET President, nearing retirement. American.
• Dr Norris: American UNET xenobiology director.
• Pollard: Symbiote Leadership Cluster and UNET science adviser. Before being revealed as an alien, they were a US Navy admiral.
• Saito: Hosata Manufacturing director. Japanese. The Consciousness’ representative. 
• Lt Sartori: Italian UNET Cuculus intelligence officer.
• Dr Trattner: UNET representative. German.
• Dr Vostok: Director at the Russian Academy of Sciences.
• Dr Wescott: EU science director. British.

Messages from Callisto is a 3-hour freeform larp for 13 players by Steve Hatherley.