Task Name: Exploring the Outer Rim
Tier: T1
NPC or PC: PC
Location: Occulto's Outer Rim
Crew, Team, or Personal: Personal
Description:

Primarily an introductory task. Its sole purpose is to dictate Qi's arrival on the island and his thoughts while he explores it. It'll also give a glimpse into the outer rim's population, way of life, and how the factions are able to get to and from the island without conflict.

Enemy Details: 0
Boss: No

The people of Zou lived a traditional, honest lifestyle. They were all trained warriors, loyal to their country and loyal to their allies. This mindset was so ingrained into who they were as a people that they would put their very lives on the line to protect those they were loyal to. It was a sense of duty that went beyond just a job or an ideal, but was almost a primal instinct in potency. It was admirable, to say the least, but there were few on the island that couldn't live up to the same standards as the majority of their kind. Jiang Qi was one such mink that, for years, struggled as he attempted to wrap his head around any possible reason that the other minks would go as far as they would for others, and in the end he wasn't able to find an answer before he made the judgement call to truly break away from the traditional ideals of Zou rather than live day-by-day faking as if he did.

Loyalty was the key principle of Zou. There was no arguing that it was an important principle to hold, and Qi never thought that not having loyalty was the solution, but he did, however, find that what the people of Zou lay their loyalty on was the true root of the problem. Rather than being loyal to the country and loyal to their allies, Qi was loyal to wealth; wealth of all kinds. Whether it be monetary wealth or intellectual wealth, a wealth of power... Wealth was what would bring a person success, and that success in turn would trickle down to those that person was, to an extent, loyal to. This was an idea that was profoundly important to the mink, and the essence of what turned him into the man that he would become, but most didn't see it through the same rose-colored glasses. Most others would see both a deep, almost childish wonder in finding out the secrets of the world... and a deep, deep greed.

Breaking away from the traditional ideals meant that Qi was forced to find a new way to feed himself, and in that greed is where he found his destined career path. He was young, but picking pockets came naturally. Years of practice and a growing greed lead to more fruitful heists with bigger scores and badder adversaries. These jobs were never on Zou, though. "You don't shit where you eat," was a phrase of major importance. But leaving Zou, even minimally, was enough for the world's sweet scent to waft over Qi's nose and truly entice him into wanting more. Seeing the people outside his homeland, their ways of life and the things that they created... It was spectacular. Because of this, he fell into a crazed thirst for information on the world around him, eventually leading to him making the decision to leave the island permanently.

Every time he left the island, he always did so with the intent to return. Stepping off to see the world was committing himself to an entirely new lifestyle of exploration, information, and any hardships that may come his way. But it was a decision that Qi, as a dedicated to his decisions as he was, couldn't be talked out of. Leaving the island meant he needed a destination though, and for him, there was only one that made the cut for his first real exploration of the world outside Zou.... Occulto.

Notes:

Leaving Zou meant starting over, meaning that Jiang Qi was leaving everything behind with the exception of what he could carry on his person and a very old, very trustworthy rowboat. It was this rowboat the was the real MVP of his entire mission to see the world. It was the type of little rowboat that had a big demeanor, with a history the demanded respect. It had ridden waves that towered above the ocean so high and crashed with such force that they could sink fleets of battleships and deafen survivors, yet it was small enough to squeeze through the writhing bodies of battling sea kings without so much as a scratch - even then, it was big enough to allow those within to sleep on its wooden bottom in peaceful comfort.

It was a heroic rowboat, and through a series of undisclosed (yet truly awe-inspiring and entertaining) circumstances and situations, managed to sail - or row - from Zou in the New World to Occulto in Paradise. Unfortunately, the little rowboat that could wasn't given the attention it deserved by its owner, Jiang Qi, as Occulto came into view. A foot on her stern was rough after the perilous journey, but like the trooper she was, the poor rowboat acted as if she couldn't feel a thing.

Qi's mind was filled with nothing about the journey that lay behind him and only of the island that lay before him. All he could do was compare what he had learned from reference books and newspapers to what he could see before him. He knew that from his current perspective, he wouldn't be able to see the holy city that was said to be so bathed in pure white that it almost seemed as if it could be glowing in the dead of night, but even knowing this he couldn't help but be disappointed. This disappointment was quickly washed over with more over-excitement as he could see the outer rim of the city from where he was. The several different types of ships that lined the port, to the people that buzzed around like ants, all was abundantly interesting to the mink that had thought of nothing but this exact moment for the last [insert undisclosed amount of travel time] of his journey.

With every bob of the rowboat, Qi's heart beat harder. Floating closer and closer to the docks was almost making him sick to his stomach, and when the small boat bumped into one of the dock supports, he had a small heart attack rooted in the sheer amount of his expectations. As he tied his boat to the dock he did nothing but look down, saving his first look at the grand island for after what needed to be done was dealt with.

But when the moment finally came for him to tilt his chin up and witness the port town, it was all well worth it.

Notes:

Qi had spent his entire rowboat trip imagining what Occulto would look like to his own eyes, from the outer rim to the holy city, but what he finally was allowed to lay his eyes on wasn't something he could have dreamed of. The amount of people bustling through the streets gave the island an air of energy that stoked Qi's excitement like a fire. The ships of the visitors dotted the docks in such a volume that they faded out of sight in the same way that the distant coast did. His first few moments staring at the town he landed in were overwhelming, forcing him to rub his eyes. Unfortunately for Qi, rubbing his eyes broke the rose-colored glasses that he was wearing, and lifting his head once again greeted him with the truth of the town before him.

The holy city was rumored to be the purest white town that the world had ever seen. As a monument of religious faith, it was kept clean and pure, but that rumor didn't stretch to the neighboring towns that made up the outer rim of the island - and that fact was ever more prevalent the deeper one looked. The roads were paved, the shops were maintained, and the people within looked fed and happy, but it wasn't the city that Qi was expecting. Even though the roads were paved, the stones that paved them were misaligned and jagged. The shops were maintained, but a lot of the windows were barred and there were marine guards stationed at various points along the street. The people were fed and happy, but Qi couldn't find one person among those that looked like citizens that could be considered wealthy. As a port town that collected the interest of pirates and marines alike, it didn't look as vibrant as he had hoped it would be.

Remaining on the rowboat, Jiang Qi took a seat on the uncomfortable bench, thinking about what was in front of him. The town looked busy, but it wasn't a calm place of potential connections. None of what he saw would be anything that could ruin his stay in the outer rim. He was happy being on the island and away from Zou, close enough to the holy city that he desired so much to visit and learn about, but the outer rim was taking a bit of that desire for itself at the moment. Even though he would be happy enough staying there, he wanted to understand what was going on that made it so high strung.

And that was it... The town was high strung. Lining up his thoughts in his head, he finally realized that Occulto was the neutral island where all the factions could gather, but that was the law of the island and not a set agreement between the factions. The island was exempt from military action, and thus the pirates that docked couldn't be targeted by the marines on, or within a few miles of, the island. Even so, the marines could stand guard for the shops that dotted the towns of their own, personal volition without creating issues with the island authority. As long as the pirates stayed within legal boundaries while they were within Occulto territory, the marines couldn't touch them, and since they were two opposing factions, they were careful around each other for the duration of their stay.

It was easy to confuse the town's high tension with energy without viewing the scene from another angle. And understanding this, Qi moved on to thinking about why the town looked almost dingy to a certain extent, but he quickly came to the assumption that most of the profits went to keeping the holy city maintained. As a town only run to maintain relations with the outside world, he could understand why it would only be maintained with the bare minimum, especially with opposing, high tension factions were visiting at the same time, some of them being famous criminals. Fights and robberies were bound to happen, so it was a method of maintaining the important part of the island - that being the holy city - while minimizing the losses that they sustained at the same time.

Notes: