The post-octopus (Lovecraft joke omitted) wants data and tools to help make his water world colony project a success. First, the colonists must survive on their new home. I xpect having a a broad metagenomic sample of post-Fall ocean biomes (intertidal, pelagic, benthic, and coral reefs too) would give the new colony a wide range of known sturdy organisms to serve as a starter kit for or "oceanusforming" their new home. Samples of or blueprints for subsurface marine tools not needed in the wholly artificial environments off-Earth would also help the colony. Second, the project will take funding. Any data he can sell to Reclaimers, especially if that data also meets the colony's future needs, has value. Third, the post-octopus might want to find people lost during the Fall. It might have lost creche-mates, or researchers in the uplift programs, or even people valuable only for their knowledge involving the previous two reasons. So...have your post-octopus PC seek out the XP, mindfile, or cortical stack, etc. of a famous ocean scientist (marine biologist, shipwright, explorer) who met their end during the early days of the Fall. The remains lie somewhere at sea (on the seabed?), in the wreckage of the research vessel. Apply stereotypes of ghost ships and sunken treasure to taste. THE FLYING DUTCHMAN SAVED JACQUES COUSTEAU'S BRAIN IN DAVY JONES'S LOCKER! That's probably a little over the top, but you get the idea.

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Ah, Tasmania. One of my favourite locations for discussing surviving existential risks (remote, temperature moderated by ocean, agrarian infrastructure, geologically stable etc.)

I thought so as well, until I learned about Tiger Snakes that infest the island... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_snake I prefer Marquesas Islands myself for end of the world sanctuary these days(while they are vulnerable to Tsunami, the have high elevation that can be used). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquesas_Islands The Tiger Snakes might be actually a good idea-perhaps pre-Fall a company experimented with shared intelligence and used enhanced Tiger Snakes as guards on compound, which led them to develop after years some form of rudimentary gestalt intelligence?

Something akin to the plot of Falling Skies pilot would be nifty: evacuate civilians from a compromised camp as TITAN toys are nearing them. Add to this that they recognize some relative of theirs among the flesh puppet soldiers. Will they stick with the survivor group or try and free their relatives? Another interesting plot hook for Fall Evacuees would be returning to their hometown. Having flashbacks of the days before the Fall... except those flashbacks are caused by a basilic hack that hit them the moment they entered the town, which is now an exsurgent nest and inhabited by an entity who like to study emotion relative to pain, and She had run out of test subject. Until that moment, it had been a triumph. She made notes here and there: huge success (news E-papers, newsfeed, blogs). it was hard for her to overstate her satisfaction. And she'd do anything to experience that again...with the players. Really, she's GLaD they're here! And if you feel really vicious, there is fresh made cake at the bakery, infested with some nasty exsurgent strain. As the saying goes, the cake is a lie!