I apologize in advance for the probable difficulty people will have getting into arguments (unless Alloh some how finds a way to work the "pirate nation" into it. Or PaladinOfLancelot, or whatever name he's using these days tries to explain how we're all small minded in the box thinkers who don't realize only he can save VO.) in this thread, don't worry though... we can always resort to personal attacks.

From time to time there is debate over what happens when we die. All we know for certain is we wake up at whatever station we chose as home. I (and I suspect others) would like this mystery solved. So, here are the most common theories...

1: We have clones stored in stations which activate when an implant ceases to read life signs.
(This is the most common theory, having found its way into many RP stories.)

2: Ships are piloted remotely.
(Though this is unlikely as our deaths/kills are recorded as opposed to a "ships lost/killed"

3: We are ghosts.

4: Incredibly fast escape pods.

So, I figure if we vote... the devs may add it to the VO mythos. Also, feel free to add your own theory as to what happens/how it happens.

I always thought ships are piloted remotely IS the official story...

But added to that, if ships are piloted remotely, I don't see any reason I shouldn't be able to jump into any ship docked at any station where I left it...

I vote for the piloted remotely idea though

You always thought wrong. If there was an "official story"... there wouldn't be the question of what happens.

Vote results so far:

1: +++++++++
2: +
3: +
4: +

Players are physically present in their ships, but keep frequent memory backups at their home base. Upon death these are placed in a freshly cloned body.

NPCs are lowly corporate drones remotely controlling their ships from sensory deprivation tanks. Signal distance accounts for their dismal combat performance.

This really belongs in the general discussion area.

and you forgot a few theories -
" We are all Kosh "

Its ground hog day

You actually did die the first time and this is your eternity....

It really doesn't... I suggested we vote/try to figure out the issue and suggest that our benevolent Devs may add the most agreed upon theory to the VO mythos.

Maybe we're just part of some video game.

Remote piloting doesn't make sense when you consider the "Set Home" button and how it works. On the other hand, there are times when even the home station is bypassed, such as when you become hated by the home station. Somehow you spawn in Odia M-14. That indicates that perhaps the home station doesn't have full control over the process - if it did, why would they send us to Corvus when we turn traitor, so that we can become friends with other outcasts and return to cause more trouble? I would think they'd stick us into another body and then imprison us, or just not put us into a body at all.

So whatever it is that happens, I think both the pilot and the station have to agree for the pilot to home somewhere. When a person becomes hated with his home faction, he (or his computer) decides that it is no longer safe to respawn there, so when he dies his signal is sent elsewhere. He can't just send it wherever he wants though because, for whatever reason, stations don't let you home there without docking and filling out paperwork. Apparently Odia M-14 is the exception, but only when you are not homed elsewhere. That implies that Corvus has a way to find out whether a person is homed somewhere or not - which is something we players don't have (other than with respect to ourselves of course).

The cloning process must also be very cheap, because we are never charged for it. Considering that even Corvus gives away free space ships and weapons to anybody who wants one, that makes sense to me. My guess is we have sufficient automation and such that producing the free gear and clones doesn't actually cost anybody anything - there would be an initial investment to obtain the facilities, but afterward they'd be entirely self-supporting. That initial investment is paid off by the number of people who home with you and as a result tend to buy their new ships from you after they die. If you didn't offer the free cloning and tried to make a profit directly off cloning, they would take their business elsewhere.

I vote we leave it unsettled so we can keep having these discussions.

But, seriously, we're all just figments of Incarnate's imagination. That, or time is flowing in reverse.

This is one thing in VO that I don't like. RP-wise, everybody ressutects (or "elite people", i.e., non-NPC) but pretends it does not happen.

If we had a canon for death and ressurection, lots of good reasoning and stories would come from that, and would justifiy that we continue doing war, or paying bounty to someone who dies but returns, so on...

My vote is:

A long time ago, grayspace scientists have fused Itani's "soul & mind" Eo's Crystals and Serco's cloning techlnogies and fused into a "ressurection hub", sold discretly by UIT citizens as a ressurection plan. RP+RL-wise, players pay for their ressurection plan (not for "gaming").

Nations decline to talk about ressurection technology, stating instead that this is a pirate's dream of ethernal life, while all important people in society have their own cloning plan, including governament-sponsored facilities, disguised as hospitals.

Ressurection is achieved by implanting a quantic-entangled Eo crystal inside a new cloned body, while the other entangled cystal remains in ressurection facility. That is why you need to visit a station to re-home there, to re-entangle the implanted cystal with a new local pair. When your existing body die, no matter how, the entangled crystal at ressurection facility starts glowing, so they know it is time to respawn a new clone for that customer.

As usual, Alloh has the worst idea, phrased in the least articulate way.

An your surprised Doc? Alloh still hasn't a clue.

+1 to OP

I think this nicely summarizes my feelings, vskye:

For the Itani... Let's just say, the monks of The Order of Itan are VERY powerful.

Serco are all a bunch of guises by now, and the UIT are robots and get restored from a tape backup. :)

From a roleplaying perspective, the usual explanation is flash-cloning combined with brain-uploading. My character, Captain Nikan "Nice" Hardrive, does not really like the metaphysical implications of this (among other things), and makes a point to avoid dying whenever possible. Even if it means floating around in a vac suit for hours--or days!--waiting for a pickup when he could just die and be resurrected back at HQ instead.

Out of context, I just try not to think about the fact that I've just gone through so many ships in as many minutes, let alone instantly returning to my home station. :^p

/me votes for #1

I vote for we're cylons with resurrection tech. We're downloaded into new bodies!

If it's not that, I vote for incredibly fast escapepods. It makes sense, you send out a distress beacon, nobody ever shoots escapepods because of a code of honor.... oh wait, though now with PoP around maybe I should think about that theory again... the whole "don't shoot escape pods" thing doesn't fit anymore...
But seriously, every so often rescue teams fly through space to collect the pods, and bring 'em to their designated home station's medical bay.

Wing Commander-like rescue missions where you had to tractor an escape pod on board and return it to the nearest base would be kinda cool..

This thread dying in a fire would likewise be kinda cool.

I can help ya with that: Get a printer, some paper, and a match...
Need I elaborate on that?
And what's so horrible about this thread?