History Roleplay / AsteroidQuest

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''[=AsteroidQuest=]'' is an imageboard-based RPG styled as a [[ChooseYourOwnAdventure text adventure]], created and DM'ed by Lagotrope on Website/{{Questden}} since December 2011.

Asteroid Quest is a somewhat episodic tale about the exploits of a cutthroat trade organization in a technologically advanced world, blending [[FilmNoir Noir]] crime drama with a ScienceFiction background.

The titular asteroid exerts a powerful gravitational effect that sucks in nearby ships and prevents escape. Over time, many people have accumulated on the asteroid, many of them criminals and fugitives. Some prefer the seclusion and anarchic setting, while others are searching for a way off the rock. A SwitchingPOV follows various members and employees of a trade hub on jobs around the asteroid. Complications always ensue.

Interspersed with Asteroid Quest is "Polo Quest", a story about a HumanoidAlien SuperSoldier who, on a routine hunting mission, ends up fighting for her life as she gets wrapped up in a colossal conspiracy involving the enemies of her species, long thought dead. Despite being considered an Asteroid Quest derivative, [[EnsembleDarkhorse Polo Quest has more than double the number of threads and frequently outpaces its mother quest in popularity]].

Read it [[https://www.questden.org/wiki/AsteroidQuest here]] -- although beware of NSFW things. The quest itself is tame, but fanart is less so.

Notable for making extensive use of "Inside the Quest", a thread on Questden where posters can have Q&A sessions with quest characters. Setting information and character minutiae abound, and Asteroid Quest characters eventually became so popular that [[http://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html separate]] [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/85202.html threads]] [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/96269.html had]] to be created to give other quest characters room. In late 2015, one character [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/96269.html#96274 celebrated]] her 100th ITQ appearance.

Has also spawned a [[http://www.questden.org/wiki/Polokoa_Quest fan-quest]] by Jukashi, of ''Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation'' fame (who also appears to have participated in the worldbuilding, if some ITQ answers are any indication).

See also Roleplay/FenQuest, a fantasy quest by the same author, and Roleplay/UnnaturalSelection, which is confirmed to be in the same {{Verse}} since Polo Quest thread 6.
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!!Examples of tropes appearing in the Asteroidverse:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Asteroid Quest]]
%%* ActionGirl: [[TheDreaded Rokoa]], [[{{Cyborg}} Sharpa]], and [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Pilon's daughters]].
* AIIsACrapshoot: Compilation [=AIs=], though not necessarily evil, have a tendency to be deranged, chaotic, and unreliable due to being {{Mind Hive}}s. This is a commentary on [[Website/{{Questden}} the site's readers]] in general, as [=CAIs=] are a metaphor for them.
* AllThereInTheManual: There's a ''lot'' of character and setting information in the discussion thread and Inside the Quest. Most of it isn't relevant to the plot, but it does answer a lot of lingering questions many readers have.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Parts 3 and 4 center on a different organization than the trade hub, and follow a single protagonist for the entire ride, a departure from the prior SwitchingPOV format.
* ArmCannon: Among other implants, Sharpa has an [[GrenadeLauncher explosive gel launcher]] in her arm.
* {{Asexuality}}:
** Hok. It's unclear if this is just because he's currently sexless or if it's a general preference.
** Mikliks in general tend towards this due to their weird reproductive system (they don't grow genitals unless they want or need them, and it takes months, so it's not like they can decide on a whim).
* AudienceSurrogate: The compilation AI ''is'' the audience in the first thread; however, it was DemotedToExtra in following chapters and now simply serves as an AffectionateParody of Questden in general.
%%* BeastMan: Neumono (dogs), belenos (sheep), pomi (fish), and heef (birds).
* TheBerserker: Rokoa is on the edge of this. She is still capable of functioning on a normal level, but her empathy is "broken", causing her to feel constant battle-lust.
* BizarreAlienBiology:
** Neumono have a decentralized nervous system, multiple hearts, and abnormal diets and growth rates due to their HealingFactor.
** Mikliks are just ''weird''. They're ''plant-based'', for starters, with a bizarre reproductive system involving seed-like eggs and genitals that can be grown and discarded at will. They have an incredible rate of mutation[[labelnote:*]]Not genetic mutation, that would lead to reproductive problems; they're "growth" mutations instead, where their body takes some liberties when building itself[[/labelnote]], resulting in a wide (and bizarre) variance of traits, such as multiple skin layers.
** {{Discussed}} at some points, especially in the Inside the Quest posts. The variety of alien allergens and toxins has given the culinary and medicinal fields no end of grief. Some restaurants explicitly serve only certain species, others carefully prune their menus to accommodate everyone.
** Yich eaters have three genders -- males, females, and "carriers" that serve as incubators during pregnancy. Their genes are not passed on to the child they are incubating, so they gain no evolutionary benefit from this, a fact that was boggled at and discussed in Inside the Quest. They also seem to lack eyelids, which leads them to "blink" by using their long tongue to lick their own eye.
%%* BloodKnight: Rokoa.
* BoobsOfSteel: Averted; well-endowed neumono soldiers frequently cut off their breasts to enable easier movement.
* BoomHeadshot: Neumono are immune to this; many can even survive ''[[OffWithHisHead decapitations]]'' if treated immediately. This is frequently used on other, less resilient characters however.
* BornLucky: Hok, possibly. He has an amazing tendency to both get in and get out of extremely dangerous situations.
* CerebusSyndrome: Things take a turn to the dramatic at the end of thread 2, with threads 3 and 4 dedicated to preventing this from happening. Thread 5 switches back to a happier tone.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Neumono biology has shades of this: their empathy can actually cause physical mutations in others based on expectations or beliefs. This is why kings/queens are generally bigger and tougher than normal neumono; everyone expects them to be.
* CombatMedic: ITQ mentions "Sniper Q", a sniper/surgeon with more than two thousand confirmed kills and three thousand other enemy casualties. Rumor has it he's got about as much lifesaving medical interventions under his belt.
* CoolShades: [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/src/135054917893.png Lukratsa rozu Steelnaut,]] the main actor of the ShowWithinAShow based on the events of ''Polo Quest'', features them. However, she doesn't mind [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#76319 taking them off at request.]]
* CoupDeGrace:
** In the first thread, a wounded Lakkat tells Hok he'll keep pursuing him until one of them is dead, prompting Hok to finish him off.
** After [[spoiler:Red]] is beaten within an inch of his life, Jessica delivers the killing blow.
%%* CurbStompBattle: Rokoa versus [[spoiler:Red]] in part 4.
%%* {{Cyborg}}: Sharpa.
* DamselInDistress: Jessica in part 3 and 4. [[spoiler:She does, however, take a somewhat active role in her "rescue" by creating an EngineeredPublicConfession for Red and performing the CoupDeGrace on him after Rokoa's attack.]]
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: The "needle trick", performed by impaling a certain nerve cluster in neumono. It temporarily shuts off empathy, allowing for stealth and combat advantages against other neumono, but is a fast track to insanity. Rokoa is fond of it.
* DeadlyUpgrade: Even with the right species, bio-armor will kill you from the strain if you aren't resilient enough. However, a "30% mortality" bio-armor doesn't mean it kills 30% of those who try it on: it merely means that the weakest 30-40% of the population know better than try.
* {{Determinator}}: Rokoa. [[MeaningfulName Even her name essentially means this]].
* TheDreaded: Rokoa. Not only is she a nigh-unstoppable tank of a soldier, neumono say her empathy is "broken", radiating constant bloodlust and a desire for battle.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first thread has a lot of this going on.
** The use of the CAI as a viewpoint character. This placed more of a focus on resource management of the base (as opposed to the characters' stories). This was scrapped in later threads for the more standard approach of following single protagonists.
** The tone is [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and grittier (and bloodier)]] than later threads, which are somewhat more madcap and lighthearted.
** Rokoa's statement that neumono {{Cyborg}}s are impossible due to their HealingFactor is explicitly {{Retcon}}ned four threads later. The in-story explanation is simply that technology has had nearly fifty years[[note]]Or a little less, we don't know exactly when Sharpa crash-landed[[/note]] to improve since Rokoa's warhive crash-landed on the asteroid.
* TheEmpath: All neumono broadcast their emotions and sense others', constantly. It's actually a biological signal that can be amplified, modified, and translated with various technologies, though it only applies to other neumono.
* EnemiesList: A lot of people in the asteroid seem to have a hit list, physical or not. Hok is on most of them, to the point of having an enemies ''book''.
* EngineeredPublicConfession: Jess starts playing a recording of what [[spoiler:Red]] said about Rokoa as she approaches. In [[spoiler:Red]]'s defense, he doesn't lose his arrogance when facing her in-person, and is fully willing to fight her and turn his boast into truth. [[spoiler:This turns out to be overconfidence on his part.]]
%%* EnsembleCast
* ExactWords: Father Zozu doesn't kill his sons. [[spoiler:But when they really cross the line, he can disown them first.]]
%%* FollowTheLeader: Using the compilation AI as the physical embodiment of /quest/ was a clear {{Expy}} of [[Roleplay/DiveQuest the Orb of Infinite Psyche]]. However, after thread 1, the story uses the more traditional approach of following single protagonists, [[DemotedToExtra with the CAI as a background character]].
* FragileSpeedster: Mikliks are highly agile with quick reflexes, but can't take many hits.
* FromASingleCell: Averted with the neumono's HealingFactor; there ''are'' body mass requirements of at least 50% or so. Beyond that, even they can't recover.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Frequently, most notably for [[CruelAndUnusualDeath the effect of the bio-armor on the police officer in the prologue]]. The majority of [[spoiler:Red]]'s NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and death is also out of frame.
* GreatOffscreenWar: The Ultrahive Wars. It was mentioned in ''Unnatural Selection'' that they're mostly over and in ITQ that they lasted at least five years, which helps pin them down on the timeline.
* GroinAttack: Rokoa's final blow against [[spoiler:Red]] is a ''full-body canonball'' centered on his pelvis.
* HealingFactor:
** Neumono. They can suvive incredibly grevious injuries -- including, if they're tough, lucky, and have access to immediate medical care, [[OffWithHisHead decapitations]]. [[FromASingleCell There are body mass]] [[AvertedTrope limitations, though]] -- they can't survive [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe being torn in half]] for instance.[[note]]Well, in average they can't. According to ITQ, the most extreme recorded (or theoretical?) example of regeneration had 47% of body mass left.[[/note]]
** Mikliks too can regenerate from any injury they survive, but since they lack the organ redundancy of neumono, they can survive much less.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: After foiling Nulba's attempted kidnapping of ill-chosen targets, Hok executes him partly [[YouHaveFailedMe for pissing Mimi off]] with such a boneheaded move, and partly because he could tell Waska that "Pip" is really Hok. It later proves a bit of a waste, as Mimi soon brokers peace between Hok and Waska.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Father Zozu, to the point where even Inside the Quest posts only show a picture of his clampers.
* HonorAmongThieves: Mimi cares for those who work for her, enough to call in a few favors to bail [[spoiler:Hok and Miss]] out of jail.
* HumanoidAliens: Every sapient except yich eaters and salikai, but even they mimic the body plans of Earth animals, keeping the spirit of the trope. Curiously, the author has said he has difficulty drawing actual humans (there's been a grand total of two so far, and one of them was wearing a helmet), and [[FurriesAreEasierToDraw prefers these stylized alien races instead]].
%%* HypercompetentSidekick: Mimi to Waska.
* IHaveAFamily: Itcher uses this as an excuse to get out of dangerous assignments from his Mafia bosses, claiming he has a wife and three kids. He's lying, unlike one of his colleagues.
* IHaveNoSon: Father Zozu announcing to Maklata that he crossed the line.
-->'''Father Zozu:''' Now.... as I have said, I do not kill my sons. But in light of your recent actions, you are no longer any son of mine. ''(Maklata gets dakka'd)''
* ImAHumanitarian:
** A semi-common practice among neumono due to their religious beliefs. Pre-contact, this was a big problem for rogues, who were sometimes ''eaten alive'' to be forcibly reintegrated into the hive.
** This is also done pragmatically; neumono ears are detachable precisely to provide an additional food source when resources are tight. Due to HealingFactor the ears can be regrown in times of plenty, allowing for a continuous cycle.
* ImplacableWoman: Rokoa. This is partially due to her neumono resilience, and partially [[{{Determinator}} just her]].
* ImprovisedWeapon: Hok tosses a neumono bioarmor at a heef police officer, killing him due to species incompatibility.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:Red, after spending two threads being an amoral, womanizing psychopath, is beaten within an inch of his life by a GroinAttack issued by Rokoa, a woman he claimed he had humilated in battle before. He is then finished off by Jessica, a woman he abused since his first appearance.]]
* KudzuPlot: Averted; the plot is fairly simple and straightforward. [[Roleplay/UnnaturalSelection This is highly unusual for Lagotrope]].
%%* LargeAndInCharge: Neumono hive queens and kings.
* LighterAndSofter: Later threads to thread 1, slightly. Thread 1 portrayed a gritty and cutthroat world with a lot of GreyAndGreyMorality, and had an alarmingly high body count. Later threads are more madcap in tone, characters display more compassion and companionship, and there are far fewer bloodbaths.
%%* LightningBruiser: Rokoa.
* LightspeedLeapfrog: The humans' first interstellar SleeperStarship, in what is now known as "the galaxy's biggest practical joke". After discovering FTL they did send a fast ship to pick up the slow one, but couldn't find it because it had veered off-course from its initial flight plan. It reached its destination roughly on time anyway, finding a big human colony there.
%%* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Within Waska's gang, almost everyone but him knew "Pip" was actually Hok, against whom he had a grudge.
* LoveableRogue:
** Hok deviates a bit from the norm in that he's willing to kill, but all his victims so far were either trying to kill him, or kidnapping hostages. Regardless, he stays loyal to the trade hub and his friends though thick and thin.
** Miss has many similarities to Hok, with the major difference of being extremely flirty.
* MadScientist: Downplayed by Ben, who, though eccentric and brusque, is sane enough to provide useful and practical services to the trade hub (and to provide a wealth of scientific information to curious readers in ITQ).
* MakeSureHesDead: [[spoiler:Red]] is chopped to pieces to make sure he can't regenerate enough to survive; he's just that dangerous a threat.
* {{Matriarchy}}: Neumono are slightly tilted towards this, with female rulers being more common than male ones and females being seen as slightly more dominant. They're largely egalitarian, however.
* MightyGlacier: Neumono are strong and nigh-unkillable, but their decentralized nervous system means they have the poorest reaction time out of all the alien species.
* MindHive: Compilation [=AIs=] are [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin conglomerations of countless sentient AIs]]. This gives them incredible processing power, but [[AIIsACrapshoot can also make them mentally unstable and unreliable]].
* NamedAfterTheirPlanet: Belenos/Belenosians (the terms are used interchangeably). Their dystopian society ended up bombing itself back to the stone age, so they had forgotten both their planet and their own species' names. When humans came, they named their star after a Celtic sun-god, numbered the planet after the star (as Belenos IV), and the sapient inhabitants after both.
* NonActionGuy: Kappi, though [[TrainingFromHell that may change now that Rokoa has taken an interest in him]].
* NotGoodWithRejection: Neumono hives towards "rogues" (those who leave them), developing murderous hatred towards them because of reflected and amplified feelings of rejection. Pre-contact, it went to the point of holding an unlucky rogue down to eat them alive.
* NumberedHomeworld: Humans use the "star name and planet number" convention, at least on worlds that haven't been officially named by their inhabitants.
* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:Father Zozu to Maklata]] at the end of the Zozu arc.
* OffWithHerHead:
** Karri decapitates Jessica in the thread 2 BadEnd.
** {{Discussed}} in Inside the Quest [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#69824 by a neumono,]] as neumono are theoretically capable of surviving this if they're lucky.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Neumono can live for over two centuries [[StrongerWithAge without visibly aging]], so this is inevitable. Rokoa and Pilon, in particular, are well over a century old.
* PlayerCharacter: The compilation AI in thread 1. Later chapters follow other characters in a SwitchingPOV format.
* PowerArmor:
** Bio-armor, especially for neumono, which augments their already-impressive physical capabilities even further. [[LudicrousGibs Don't try on one made for another species than yours, though]].
** Ordinary power armor also exists, though since they're heavier, they're mostly used by larger neumono and voklits.
* PrehensileTail: Both mikliks and pomi can manipulate stuff with their tail, and it's noted pomi can be pretty strong with it.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Red is the only villain so far whose aggression is sexual in nature, and much of the drama of threads 3 and 4 involve him trying to rape Jessica. He's also by far the most monstrous villain in the main AQ story.
* {{Retcon}}:
** The BadEnd in part 2. Part 3 starts at an earlier point in time, and posters took different actions that led to a better result. The new ending became canon for the larger storyline.
** In the {{Pilot}}, Rokoa says that mechanical augmentations for neumono are impossible due to their HealingFactor. Part 5 introduces a {{Cyborg}} neumono with little fanfare; the author says he simply changed his mind.
* ShowWithinAShow: Kappi and Rokoa watch one that's based on [[spoiler:the events of ''Polo Quest'']]. It contains a hidden message from [[spoiler:Polo]] to Rokoa requesting a rematch. This will likely motivate Rokoa in the future, but the rematch plotline hasn't started yet.
* SlasherSmile: Rokoa. Her actress in the ShowWithinAShow, Tammi, has become [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html#84899 quite good at portraying it.]]
* StrongerWithAge: Neumono do not visibly age; they tend to only get bigger and stronger, if anything. It's later [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/96269.html#97430 explained]] that sometime after their second century, they do start visibly aging and die within ten years. Doesn't happen much though, because it's been less than a neumono lifetime since the tribal days, in which few neumono lived long enough to die of old age.
* SwitchingPOV: Usually in effect; protagonists tend to switch every thread at least. Averted in [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent parts 3 and 4]], which followed a single protagonist for the entire journey. The story returned to SwitchingPOV in part 5, however.
* WasItAllALie: Asked by Itcher to the "obvious HoneyTrap" whom he let seduce him anyway.
-->'''Itcher:''' How much of it was a lie?\\
'''[[spoiler:Whiskers]]:''' Surprisingly little!
%%* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: As an interactive medium, this is pretty much inevitable. It occasionally leads to continuity snarls and {{Retcon}}s.
* YouWakeUpInARoom: Hok begins the quest inside a sealed container.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Polo Quest]]
This includes both the "[=AsteroidQuest=] Intermission" and Polo Quest proper.
%%* ActionGirl: Polo, Rokoa, Rakae, Marra, and Rokann.
* ActionHero: Polo may be a {{deconstruction}}. She is incredibly good at what she does, but it's ''all'' she can do; [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#72715 she has no hobbies and finds the concept of functioning in peacetime difficult to contemplate.]] The fact that her personality has little description outside of "soldier" is {{discussed}}, and [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#80271 the resident psychologist character even points out]] how subsuming her personality into her role is a dangerous psychological risk.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent:
** The Three Stripes intermission, a lighthearted interlude involving Three Stripes' training to become a neumono therapist.
** Polo Quest 4 is also from the perspective of Biles instead of Polo.
** Polo Quest 6 switches perspective to Penn, a completely new character who becomes involved in the salikai's machinations.
* ArtShift: When [[WhamEpisode things get serious]], [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questarch/src/133511516181.png pictures are shaded using hard shadows,]] producing {{Chiaroscuro}}-like images.
* BadassAdorable: Pilon has giant puppy eyes and ''enormous'' fluffy ears. He's also an elite soldier.
* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler:Polo has one with a Rokoa clone]] after being injected with a brain dart in Polo Quest. The actual battle takes place during parts 3 and 5.
* BloodKnight: Rokoa is obsessed with fighting Polo. [[spoiler:She cooperates with Polo towards a greater goal only on the condition that they fight a rematch at a later date.]]
%%* BoisterousBruiser: Az, ultraking of the Tree.
%%* TheCavalry: The second wave of reinforcements, sent by the Tree.
* CavalryBetrayal: The hive sent by [[spoiler:the Coalition]] as reinforcements turn out to be entirely compromised by mind-control bugs. Fortunately, [[ProperlyParanoid Polo anticipated it enough to escape]].
* ChestOfMedals: Polo was awarded [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/50332.html#61579 a bunch of medals]] between the end of the Intermission and the start of Polo Quest. They add up to [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questarch/src/135438029892.png five full rows of service ribbons]].
%%* CloneByConversion: This is how the Rokoa clones are created.
* ColdSniper: Played with. Polo is extremely [[TheStoic stoic]] and goal-oriented, but she frequently displays compassion and sympathy for her friends when they need her.
* TheComicallySerious: Polo in Inside the Quest, when posters try to bait her with silly questions.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: The farm Penn visits in part 6. There are far more kids than adults, and everyone is exceptionally hospitable and accommodating... except for some visiting neumono, who are extremely aggressive and even abusive towards their own hivemates. [[spoiler:Penn discovers that some scientists are using a predator to forcefully rewrite every neumono's personality to suit their needs, usually making them extremely subservient to the crime bosses and visiting hivemates. This includes forcing them to feel happy even if their aggressive hivemates decide to abuse them.]]
* DarkerAndEdgier:
** To mainstream Asteroid Quest. While things can get serious in Asteroid Quest, overall the tone is more lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek. Polo Quest has a tighter and more serious plot with higher stakes, and doesn't shy away from the more disturbing aspects of the {{Verse}} such as BodyHorror and MindControl.
** Polo Quest 6 is particularly dark even by the rest of the quest's standards, thanks to having a [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent squishy civilian for a protagonist]] and a plot that focuses on incredibly disturbing and unethical experiments. The prologue involves the protagonist helping a criminal bury the bodies from a twisted experiment gone wrong, and only goes downhill from there.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Biles in Polo Quest, who is possibly the only soldier in Polo's group who is anywhere near her level of competency. Thread 4 even centers around him.
* DoomedHometown: Rokoa and Ohidi claim that [[spoiler:Polo's]] hive was nuked. Subverted in that the inhabitants were later revealed to have escaped, so the location may be gone but [[spoiler:Polo's]] family and friends are still alive.
* TheDreaded: Polo gains a reputation as "The Ghost" for her empathy invisibility, an unusual power that makes her strange and dangerous. Taking down [[spoiler:a group of maniacal salikai]] and [[spoiler:a powerful warhive]] almost single-handedly probably earned her some points too.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Some of the setting information provided in the intermission (especially about neumono empathy) is at odds with later chapters and supplemental materials.
* EmotionControl: Creatures known only as "neumono predators" are capable of this by broadcasting false empathy that overwrites a victim's and turns them into a mindless slave. Rikek briefly falls under the sway of one early on.
* EnemyMine:
** In the intermission, many of the salikai, normally feared as an enemy of the neumono species, are willing to ally with Polo to take out Rokoa. [[spoiler:Subverted in that most of them at least were planning to backstab her, as they were pulling the strings in Rokoa's hive to begin with.]]
** Also in the intermission, [[spoiler:Rokoa and Polo join forces to assault the salikai-controlled warhive.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Well, not really "evil", but Rokoa had numerous children she cared about very much, even in her BloodKnight state.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Rokoa's sniper clone whenever she appears on ITQ. Same goes for the NCO [[{{Mooks}} Arkot]] or the Smartest [[FesteringFungus Fufa]].
* FakingTheDead: After the intermission, [[spoiler:Polo]] is officially stated to be dead by the authorities.
* FateWorseThanDeath:
** Rokoa's sniper [[BodySnatcher "clone"]] documents her transformation, mind-control and slavery to the Salikai as this.
** Averted for wild predators, whose victims merely suffer mental death over about a month of oblivious bliss. As a soldier from Rokoa's warhive points out, there are some ''much'' worse ways to die (or live through) out there.
* {{Foil}}: Rokoa to Polo. Rokoa is a giant, emotional ProudWarriorRaceGuy obsessed with battle who grew up pre-contact; she is also disillusioned with her hive and in danger of going rogue. Polo is a dwarfish stoic who uses stealth, knowledge, and sniping to win her battles; she also grew up post-contact and has an obsessive sense of duty to her role and hive. Both are skilled warriors with a strong sense of honor and duty.
* GenderEqualEnsemble: [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters It's difficult to be certain]], but Polo Quest mostly fits this. All of the villains being male does tip the scales a bit, however.
* GentleGiant: Three Stripes, like all Predators, is huge compared to neumono, but he's one of the most compassionate creatures around. Katzati is comparable in size to Rokoa but is her polar opposite.
* GuiltFreeExterminationWar: Between neumono and salikai. The latter's actions tend to protect anyone killing them from guilt, and themselves seem [[TheSociopath incapable of feeling it]].
* HeroicSacrifice: Likol blowing himself up in the salikai's faces, right before they could nuke everyone, saving countless neumono lives. Given his involvement in ''Unnatural Selection'', it's possible he was also looking for redemption.
* TheHighKing: The title of ultraking/ultraqueen is pretty much this for ultrahives, which are alliances of neumono hives.
* InMediasRes: The intermission starts during the training mission, "scale the mountain and bring back a moton egg".
* IronicEchoCut: The second variant is exhibited during [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html#82019 a set of answers]] in Inside the Quest:
-->'''Poirin:''' [The Coalition is] far from perfect, even we must admit that, but it's working out well and it's improving every day. It's far better I think than the insanity of the Tree.\\
'''Az:''' The Tree is ''awesome'' and I'm going to tell you why.
* IWantThemAlive: When Polo learns just how widespread the salikai's mind-control conspiracy is, she notes that they had [[IfIWantedYouDead lots of opportunities to give her an "accident"]]; an escaped science hiver tells her the salikai are obsessed with capturing her alive. Documents mention plans to use her for creating a "psi-bomb".[[note]]It is not specified what it's supposed to do, but speculation from the name lean towards either killing lots of (or ''all'') neumono psychically, or permanently destroying their empathic link.[[/note]]
* LighterAndSofter: The Three Stripes intermission, in stark contrast with the salikai experiments.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Not as much as in [=UnSe=], but still a lot of named main characters (from various neumono hives, the salikai, a pair of voklit) and a few others only known by some nickname.
* LotusEaterMachine: The salikai's hallucinogenic gas seems to partially work like this, though this may be because of neumono empathy.
* MadScientist: The salikai family, to the point of enslaving a neumono science hive.
* TheManBehindTheMan: In the intermission, [[spoiler:the salikai turn out to be manipulating Rokoa's warhive]]. They take a more direct approach in the intermission's last thread, [[spoiler:taking control of the warhive's ship to try and nuke the entire area; it takes Likol's Heroic Sacrifice to stop them]].
* MetaphoricallyTrue: [[spoiler:Polo's]] hive ''was'' nuked -- Ohidi just left out the critical information that the inhabitants managed to evacuate in time.
%%* MindControl: The salikai bugs.
* NobleDemon: Three Stripes can probably be seen this way from a neumono perspective; he's a member of a species specifically evolved to hunt neumono, but he is very gentle and compassionate towards them.
%%* NonActionGuy: Rikek, Lucera, and Kort.
* NonMaliciousMonster: There are a lot of monstrous creatures on the neumono homeworld, that are only trying to eat: Windbeasts, motons, needleballs and even predators, which have been proven to need neumono flesh to stay healthy. Three Stripes does note however that Four Stripes is a jerk.
* NoSell: Giant is totally immune to predator EmotionControl.
* NotSoStoic: Polo does not take [[spoiler:the total destruction of her hive]] well. [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questarch/res/399207.html#403265 At all.]]
* OffingTheOffspring: While viewing [[spoiler:Rokoa]]'s false memories, one of the corruptions involves her mother killing her.
* OffWithHerHead: [[spoiler:Rokoa's mother]] kills [[spoiler:Rokoa]] this way in her false memories.
* OriginsIssue:
** The beginning of part 5 of the intermission is one for Polo, as [[spoiler:the hallucinogenic gas]] causes her to revisit her childhood memories.
** Polo Quest 3 and 5 are this for Rokoa. [[spoiler:During the BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, Polo goes through all of Rokoa's early memories, so we see her early life and how she became TheBerserker.]]
* PintsizedPowerhouse: Played with in regards to Polo. She is actually rather poor at hand-to-hand combat, but she is incredibly skilled with {{Sniper Rifle}}s and can silence her empathy, giving her numerous combat advantages. All of this allows her to routinely defeat enemies twice her size.
%%* {{Prequel}}
* ProperlyParanoid: Polo. Given she's up against {{Mad Scientist}}s with hallucinogens, MindControl, and a MindRape creature on their side, this is understandable (and she is often proven right).
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy:
** Rokoa [[BloodKnight loves to fight]], comes from a militaristic hive, and tends to adhere pretty strictly to principles of honorable combat. However, in a subversion, she is AxCrazy even by her hive's standards, so her BloodKnight tendencies cannot be attributed to her culture alone.
** The Tree is, itself, a Proud Warrior Race. [[BoisterousBruiser Ultraking Az]] particularly exemplifies the mentality.
* ReluctantMadScientist: The science hivers living under the salikai's boot.
* TheReveal: In [[OriginsIssue Polo Quest 5]], the reason for Rokoa's broken empathy is revealed: [[spoiler:during her TrainingFromHell, she accidentally triggered the "needle trick", shifting her baseline empathy to the battle high she felt at the time and erasing her memory of the event.]]
* TheRival: A dark version; Polo is quickly possessed by a murderous obsession with Rokoa, [[{{Foil}} perhaps because she sees herself in her]]. [[spoiler:This eventually subsides and they [[EnemyMine work together]] for the FinalBattle of the intermission, but Polo still feels an enmity toward Rokoa for a long time afterwards.]]
* SanitySlippage:
** Averted. Polo is frequently thrown into harrowing, stressful situations, but even [[spoiler:having her memories and personality attacked by an implanted Rokoa clone]] has had little effect on her mental health outside of making her ProperlyParanoid. [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/res/498405.html#499037 Some suggestions are trying to play this trope straight, however.]]
** Implied to happen to Polo's ''enemies'' on the other hand: Some of the salikai BigBad's underlings complain that his hatred of her has reached dangerously obsessive levels.
** In part 6, Penn starts experiencing hallucinations as her guilt and fear for her friends' safety spirals out of control. Fortunately, she can keep it under control by removing her contacts and becoming an EmotionlessGirl.
%%* ScienceHero: Korli.
%%* SleepCute:
%%** Three Stripes and his neumono buddies, brainwashed or not.
%%** Or ''any'' group of neumono.
* SniperRifle: Polo's WeaponOfChoice.
* SpottingTheThread: Rakae notices the reports "from Polo" feel off, prompting her ultrahive to intervene.
* TheStoic: Polo. There have been some theories that this contributed to her silencing ability.
* SuperSoldier: Polo. She can turn her empathy off at will, a feat managed only by a few others who were in the same training program as her. This allows her to perform stealth missions (normally all but impossible for neumono) and gives her an advantage in combat, as opponents cannot predict her moves.
* TrainingFromHell:
** [[spoiler:Rokoa]] suffered this at the hands of her mother in order to survive in her ruthless hive.
** Biles's survival training -- especially the "final exam" part -- was also quite brutal, but wasn't nearly as bad psychologically.
* WhamShot: Two in the same update, at the end of Polo Quest 6. First [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/143426967418.png we see what Penn looks like without her contacts,]] (accompanied with a noticeable shift in narration style), then we see her through the eyes of everyone else, discovering the database's title for her: "[[spoiler:biological reincarnation of the Sapphire Emperor]]".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Polokoa Quest]]
* AbhorrentAdmirer: Dastrika's boyfriends in her college years were primarily interested in her because of [[ImAHumanitarian creepy]] [[MindControl fetishes]] that she was emphatically ''not'' interested in.
* ActionPrologue: And in a somewhat unusual use of the trope, the momentum of the fast-paced opening is mostly retained throughout the entire quest. BackStory and character details are either explained on the fly or relegated to [[AllThereInTheManual Inside the Quest]].
* AllThereInTheManual: Possibly has it even worse than Asteroid Quest. Pretty much the entirety of characters' backstories, as well as the mechanics of the AlternateUniverse, are completely relegated to Inside the Quest.
* AlternateUniverse:
** The Polokoaverse is a whole multiverse of alternate timelines, each with its own ''Polo Quest'' and ''Unnatural Selection''. Asteroidverse!Polo vehemently denies their existence.
** The main plotline diverged at some point around [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questarch/res/456418.html#457897 here]] -- Rokoa and Polo were both badly damaged in the explosion, and the only way to make them survive was to [[BodyHorror stitch the remaining body mass together into a single being]]. This created Polokoa.
** The ''Unnatural Selection'' CAI's identity as [[spoiler:the CAI in the Salikai base from ''Polo Quest'']], was considered canon in the Polokoaverse years before it was confirmed in the Asteroidverse: In all universes where Polokoa exists, it invariably becomes her personal CAI, holding her BiologicalMashup body together.
** The multiple-worlds interpretation is apparently canon, going by Inside the Quest; the mechanics of alternate universes are frequently discussed. "Rokolo", an EvilTwin of Polokoa from another universe, has featured prominently in supplemental materials.
* AprilFools: Polokoa Quest started as this, on April 1st 2013. [[SubvertedTrope It has been running for over two years since, and has spiraled into a much more detailed and serious story.]]
* ArtShift: The first TransformationSequence and the rap battle are in full color, and after the second TransformationSequence, ''everything'' from Polokoa's perspective is in full color.
* AscendedMeme:
** Polokoa herself; the concept originally started as a joke on the discussion boards. Jukashi took the idea and ran with it.
** Rokolo originated similarly (a poster hypothesized possible other names for Polokoa immediately before she appeared), though it's possible [[JustAsPlanned Jukashi had her planned from the start]].
* AutoCannibalism: Much less disturbing than most examples; [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#80271 Dastrika does this in her sleep,]] which she suspects is a psychological thing. According to her, [[ITasteDelicious she tastes delicious]].
* BadFuture: [[EvilTwin Rokolo]] comes from an AlternateUniverse where Polo [[spoiler:killed Rokoa after their duel]], resulting in a much darker ending to the intermission that basically amounted to [[KillEmAll wholesale slaughter]].
* BladeOnAStick: Polokoa's WeaponOfChoice after her second TransformationSequence.
* BloodFromTheMouth: Exhibited by Polokoa after her second TransformationSequence to show how [[DeadlyUpgrade it's overclocking her]].
* BoobsOfSteel: {{Hand Wave}}d. Though the physical drawbacks of them are {{discussed}}, Rokolo gets to exhibit this trope anyway due to AppliedPhlebotinum, [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html#83775 much to her satisfaction.]]
* TheCameo:
** Saulanna, the protagonist of Jukashi's ''Lunar Quest'', can be seen in the crowd in [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/137272976427.png this shot.]]
** [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/138352772921.png This guy]] looks an awful lot like [[Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation Misho]], but that could just be Jukashi's art style.
* ChekhovsGag: In March of 2015, Jukashi posted [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/src/142566397588.png this]] ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' parody comic with Rokoa as Dracula and Polo as a Belmont. It seemed like a one-off gag... until [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/res/590364.html#650178 Vampire Rokoa showed up in the quest proper,]] revealing that it was actually {{Foreshadowing}}.
* CoolShades:
** Polokoa, though they [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/138682454825.png change]] into a [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/138682500605.png transparent visor]] after her second TransformationSequence.
** Rokolo has them as well, though she [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/141014247892.png drops them]] almost immediately after she appears in the quest.
* {{Cyborg}}: Polokoa, though it's out of necessity. Without her cybernetic enhancements she'd be a blind, twitching blob on the floor.
* DeadlyUpgrade: Polokoa's second TransformationSequence makes her powerful enough to take on [[spoiler:an asteroid-sized EldritchAbomination]], but incapacitates all neumono in the area and slowly kills her.
* TheDreaded: Polokoa. [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/res/503053.html#503086 Parodied.]]
-->'''Polokoa:''' Once I go anywhere with neumono, the alert will go up that I'm in the area. I'd like to go silent, but the last interstellar treaty says I have to give civilians a chance to run away.
* EldritchAbomination: Late in the story, there are references to an "External Force" that exists outside of normal reality. Rokolo has apparently been agitating it, and the time cops are highly concerned. In certain fringe universes, it bonds to certain individuals in a symbiotic relationship, giving them magical powers in exchange for furthering its goals. This allows for {{Fantasy}} elements in a ScienceFiction story.
%%** [[spoiler:The asteroid.]]
* ElectronicEyes: Polokoa has these as part of the {{Cyborg}} package; eyes were too fragile and complex to survive her "birth", so she had to get new ones.
* EvilTwin: Rokolo, an AlternateUniverse Polokoa appearing in Inside the Quest. [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#75783 She comments on the trope.]]
* FanFiction: However, Lagotrope does help out as a consultant, so some details can be considered canon.
* FusionDance: Polokoa is a Composite, constructed by stitching giblets of Polo and Rokoa together. This also appears to be a MentalFusion.
* GenderBender: Rokolo's Chief was originally male as in ''Roleplay/UnnaturalSelection'', but decided to switch to a female appearance sometime before they appear in the story.
* GenderFlip: Chief is female in Rokolo's CAI, while in [[Roleplay/UnnaturalSelection the story they originate from]], he is male. In a subversion, she reveals that she was originally male as well, but Rokolo's CAI [[GenderBender played around with body modifications a lot]], and she eventually decided she preferred a female appearance.
* {{Gunblade}}: [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/res/503053.html#551629 Polokoa's glaive.]]
* HalfHumanHybrid: Dastrika is a predator-neumono (or "predamono") hybrid. This gives her more powerful empathy abilities at the price of some physiological and psychological complications.
* {{Hallucinations}}: Discussed and invoked by the mentally unstable Rokolo and her CAI. Afterwards, images of Polo and Rokoa show up whenever the [[HearingVoices personality fragments]] speak.
-->'''CAI:''' [[AC:You know, Rokolo, a lot of the symptoms of insanity are actually coping mechanisms. Maybe if you let yourself think of the fragments as separate voices in your head, just temporarily, it’d be easier to deal with them? We can help it along right easy by jiggering a few neurons.]]\\
'''Rokolo:''' Ugh. I have enough trouble with these girls in my dreams. Alright, [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/res/590364.html#622445 bring on the hallucinations.]]
* HearingVoices: Rokolo, though it's not standard schizophrenia. She absorbed the brains of Polos and Rokoas from various {{Alternate Universe}}s, and some personality fragments stuck around in her psyche. When it gets really bad, this can result in TalkingToThemself.
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen: Averted with Father Zozu. He exhibits this trope in his first appearance, but is clearly seen in his second.
* HiddenDepths:
** The quest itself. Who knew an absurdly over-the-top AprilFools parody of Asteroid Quest would contain thoughtful commentary about societies, leadership, racism, and genocide?
** Dastrika. She barely appears in the quest itself, but Inside the Quest reveals a lot about her, from her scientific background to her political opinions. She was also important in helping Polokoa recover from the trauma of her "birth".
** Polokoa herself. In the quest she seems like a cocksure, unstoppable warrior, but [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#78437 Inside the Quest]] reveals her to be a barely-living BodyHorror who had to go through years of intensive physical therapy and surgery just to become functional. [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#76927 Then there are her political opinions...]]
* HybridPower:
** Polokoa. She has both Rokoa's and Polo's abilities while being stronger in general. This applies mentally, too; she has Rokoa's unstoppable willpower and determination reigned in by Polo's stoicism and intelligence, giving her both of their personality strengths while canceling out their flaws. Granted, she does have [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#78437 other]] [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html#82613 complications]] by virtue of being a hybrid in the first place.
** Averted with Dastrika, despite her creators' hopes. Her empathy abilities aren't nearly as impressive as a predator's on their own, and she requires technological augments to do the really impressive stuff. She's also quite frail physically due to her organs not working perfectly. Possibly played straight ''mentally'', as she has the social/communicative skills of a neumono while retaining the tactical/multitasking intelligences of a predator.
* AnIcePerson: Vampiresque Rokoa and her mother had magical powers over ice.
* InMediasRes: The story begins with Polokoa crash-landing on the asteroid, with her mission unknown to the readers until the end of the introduction.
* IronicHell: Of a sort. The personality fragments absorbed by Rokolo are imprisoned by their own specialties within her mindscape -- for instance, a Rokoa with [[AnIcePerson magical ice powers]] is imprisoned in a block of ice, while a Polo who studied structural engineering is buried under rubble and construction materials.
* LighterAndSofter: Is much more comedic, optimistic, and madcap than Asteroid Quest.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Averted. There are only a few original characters, and most of the cast is reduced to playing bit parts in the ship section. (Polo Quest's characters are also markedly absent.)
* MadScientist: Rokolo, though she [[InsistentTerminology insists]] she's a mad ''[[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/85202.html#86558 engineer]]''.
* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Polokoa downplays the damage her DeadlyUpgrade causes her, though her CAI helpers [[SubvertedTrope enjoy undermining her aloofness]].
-->'''Polokoa:''' I'm fine.\\
'''CAI:''' [[AC:Hey, now that we have a moment, we can vent your lungs a bit.]]\\
'''Polokoa:''' ''[[BloodFromTheMouth Huaghk!]]'' [[LampshadeHanging Argh. What have I told you about humorously undercutting me?]]
* MismatchedEyes: Polokoa and Rokolo, once TheGlassesComeOff. One is pink and one is red, a reflection of Polo's and [[RedEyesTakeWarning Rokoa]]'s eye colors. Interestingly, [[EvilTwin Rokolo]]'s colors are mirrored.
* MostCommonSuperpower: Rokolo lampshades this in [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/src/137799076128.png her]] [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/src/138022952344.png shirt]] [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/src/139797843919.png choices.]]
* PaintingTheMedium: After the RashomonStyle split, certain panels [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152183460.png contain]] [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152165441.png differences]] between the [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152190003.png two]] [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152168229.png versions.]] It's theorized that this reflects the differences between the narrators' personal perceptions and reality.
* PowerArmor: Polokoa's neurosuit, which is bio-armor taken UpToEleven.
%%* PowerGlows: Polokoa's neurosuit.
* RashomonStyle: For the semifinal act, the story is split into two threads; one continues to follow Polokoa as the viewpoint character, while the other follows [[spoiler:Rokolo]]. The two were updated simultaneously, allowing readers to pick one side or see both viewpoints on the story develop simultaneously. There are a few [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152183460.png subtle]] [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152165441.png differences]] between the two as well.
%%* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Polokoa sees herself as this. Father Zozu disagrees.
* RedOniBlueOni: Pokoloa is the blue, Rokolo is the red. Ironically, Rokolo is the ScienceHero while Polokoa is the GuileHero, reversing the normal tendencies of this trope.
* ScienceHero: [[MadScientist Rokolo]] can be interpreted as this if you take a sympathetic reading of her. She's definitely of the AntiHero variety, however.
* SplashOfColor: Inverted; as in ''Roleplay/UnnaturalSelection'', characters are black-and-white while most background elements are in color. Played straight with Vampire Rokoa (who is fully colored) and the eyes of Rokoa and Polo fragments in [[spoiler:Rokolo's mindscape]].
* SuperMode: Polokoa's second TransformationSequence makes her ''incredibly'' powerful, [[DeadlyUpgrade but it comes at the cost of incapacitating all the neumono in the area and slowly killing her]].
* TalkingToThemself: The first indication that Rokolo is less stable than she claims to be. In a subversion, it's not a symptom of wholesale insanity, but rather the side-effects of her MadScientist experiments and her BizarreAlienBiology. It's still not a good sign, of course.
-->'''Rokolo (from Polokoa's perspective):''' Fuck, ‘[[HearingVoices they]]’ don’t even really exist! It’s just parts of my mind being a bit delusional. That’s a- ''Shut UP [[spoiler:Polo]] you’re an aerospace engineer you don’t know SHIT about neurobiology OR psychiatry!!''
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted; Dastrika's one, and she helped Polokoa through a lot of trauma in the {{Backstory}}.
%%* TransformationSequence: Polokoa's neurosuit has ''two''.
* UpToEleven: Yes. In addition to everything else, it currently holds the record for [[https://questden.org/kusaba/quest/res/503053.html#551594 the largest quest update ever.]]
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: [[spoiler:Rokolo]]'s reasoning. A bit better than most examples, as her ultimate goal is to perfect TimeTravel such that she can correct every tragedy in the timeline, including her own villainous actions.
-->'''[[spoiler:Rokolo]]:''' But it doesn’t matter how much trouble I cause. Once I’ve fixed everything in my timeline, I’ll be free, and I’ll have the time and the power to pay back any karmic tab you could ever put my name to.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler:Rokolo]] does terrible things, but her motives are just: she wants to create a perfect timeline where she can avert her BadFuture.
%%* WomanInWhite: Polokoa after her TransformationSequence.
* YourMom: Rokolo says the [[SpearCounterpart gender-flipped version]] in [[https://questden.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#75587 her first appearance.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Christmasverse]]
An AlternateUniverse featuring Polo and Rokoa in a BuddyCopShow. Currently contains two stories, "The First Neumono Christmas" and "The First Neumono Valentine" (the latter of which contains NSFW elements).
* AirVentPassageway: DoubleSubverted: Rokoa mentions that these days no one builds air vents big enough for people anymore... ''except'' those with arkots on their payroll (which is pretty much only salikai).
* BluffTheEavesdropper: Jules knows his house is bugged, and uses sign language to give information to Polo.
* ChekhovsGun: Midway through, the possibility of empathically-powered weapons are brought up only to be dismissed as impossible. Naturally, a ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' parody under the control of the BigBad immediately shows up wielding said weapon. [[spoiler:Easily dismissed as a one-off gag, but in fact, the BigBad's plan involves a similar superweapon, powered by the collective sadness the neumono race will experience upon discovering that Christmas has been ruined.]]
* ChristmasSpecial: Started on Christmas Eve 2014. It went a little long, though, ending in May of 2015. It also has shades of parody -- this is the first time neumono are trying out the experience, so everyone is rather awkward and confused about the whole thing. The villain is also literally called "TheGrinch" by everyone who doesn't know their true identity, and provides an absurdly over-the-top FinalBattle.
* FatalFamilyPhoto: Lampshaded by Polo, who immediately asks Rokoa if she's going to also tell her she's [[{{Retirony}} two days from retirement]].
* HowTheCharacterStoleChristmas: Subverted and spoofed. ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas'' is explicitly referenced, and the BigBad's plan is [[spoiler:to use the resultant sadness of the neumono race to power his superweapon. However, these being neumono, they instead react with ''anger'', foiling his plans and causing a huge mess for the police to clean up.]]
* ImpostorExposingTest: The fake Rokoa cuts herself to prove she can bleed, but the drop of blood refuses to completely detach from her, exposing her as a fufa.
* MallSanta: Pilon works as one, much to Polo's denial and horror (because it means she'll have to pass as a child, and she ''hates'' when that happens).
* MythologyGag: In ''Roleplay/UnnaturalSelection'', there was a one-off gag in a discussion thread about Alison being a cruel crime boss in cycle #1700. Here, while Polo's ultrahive's CAI uses [[Roleplay/UnnaturalSelection Alison]] as a spokesperson, the Grinch's CAI has mafia!Alison.
* NativeAmericanCasino: Lots of such places in Voklit territory.
* RevealingCoverup: Jamming communications ends up warning Polo of the incoming attack.
* RunningGag: Polo's denial of alternate universes extends to the cop version of her.
* SavingChristmas: The gifts have been stolen! It's up to Polo and Rokoa to get them back.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Heroic example. Many players asked this upon seeing [[spoiler:the BigBad try to make his getaway within range of Polo's guns]]. [[SubvertedTrope Polo obliges]], ending the FinalBattle somewhat anticlimactically.
[[/folder]]
----

''[=AsteroidQuest=]'' is an imageboard-based RPG styled as a [[ChooseYourOwnAdventure text adventure]], created and DM'ed by Lagotrope on Website/TGChan. Started in December 2011, and seems to have been abandoned as of April 2019.

Interspersed with Asteroid Quest is "Polo Quest", a story about a HumanoidAlien SuperSoldier who, on a routine hunting mission, ends up fighting for her life as she gets wrapped up in a colossal conspiracy involving the enemies of her species, long thought dead. Despite being considered an Asteroid Quest derivative on tgchan.org/wiki/, [[EnsembleDarkhorse Polo Quest has more than double the number of threads and frequently outpaces its mother quest in popularity]].

Read it [[http://www3.tgchan.org/wiki/AsteroidQuest here]] -- although, this being [[ImageBoards tgchan]], beware of NSFW things. The quest itself is tame, but fanart is less so.

Notable for making extensive use of "Inside the Quest", a thread on tgchan where posters can have Q&A sessions with quest characters. Setting information and character minutiae abound, and Asteroid Quest characters eventually became so popular that [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html separate]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/85202.html threads]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/96269.html had]] to be created to give other quest characters room. In late 2015, one character [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/96269.html#96274 celebrated]] her 100th ITQ appearance.

Has also spawned a [[http://www3.tgchan.org/wiki/Polokoa_Quest fan-quest]] by Jukashi, of ''Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation'' fame (who also appears to have participated in the worldbuilding, if some ITQ answers are any indication).

* AIIsACrapshoot: Compilation [=AIs=], though not necessarily evil, have a tendency to be deranged, chaotic, and unreliable due to being {{Mind Hive}}s. This is a commentary on [[ImageBoards tgchan]] in general, as [=CAIs=] are a metaphor for them.

* AudienceSurrogate: The compilation AI ''is'' the audience in the first thread; however, it was DemotedToExtra in following chapters and now simply serves as an AffectionateParody of tgchan in general.

* CoolShades: [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/src/135054917893.png Lukratsa rozu Steelnaut,]] the main actor of the ShowWithinAShow based on the events of ''Polo Quest'', features them. However, she doesn't mind [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#76319 taking them off at request.]]

** {{Discussed}} in Inside the Quest [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#69824 by a neumono,]] as neumono are theoretically capable of surviving this if they're lucky.

* SlasherSmile: Rokoa. Her actress in the ShowWithinAShow, Tammi, has become [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html#84899 quite good at portraying it.]]
* StrongerWithAge: Neumono do not visibly age; they tend to only get bigger and stronger, if anything. It's later [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/96269.html#97430 explained]] that sometime after their second century, they do start visibly aging and die within ten years. Doesn't happen much though, because it's been less than a neumono lifetime since the tribal days, in which few neumono lived long enough to die of old age.

* ActionHero: Polo may be a {{deconstruction}}. She is incredibly good at what she does, but it's ''all'' she can do; [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#72715 she has no hobbies and finds the concept of functioning in peacetime difficult to contemplate.]] The fact that her personality has little description outside of "soldier" is {{discussed}}, and [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#80271 the resident psychologist character even points out]] how subsuming her personality into her role is a dangerous psychological risk.

* ArtShift: When [[WhamEpisode things get serious]], [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questarch/src/133511516181.png pictures are shaded using hard shadows,]] producing {{Chiaroscuro}}-like images.

* ChestOfMedals: Polo was awarded [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/50332.html#61579 a bunch of medals]] between the end of the Intermission and the start of Polo Quest. They add up to [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questarch/src/135438029892.png five full rows of service ribbons]].

* IronicEchoCut: The second variant is exhibited during [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html#82019 a set of answers]] in Inside the Quest:

* NotSoStoic: Polo does not take [[spoiler:the total destruction of her hive]] well. [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questarch/res/399207.html#403265 At all.]]

** Averted. Polo is frequently thrown into harrowing, stressful situations, but even [[spoiler:having her memories and personality attacked by an implanted Rokoa clone]] has had little effect on her mental health outside of making her ProperlyParanoid. [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/498405.html#499037 Some suggestions are trying to play this trope straight, however.]]

* WhamShot: Two in the same update, at the end of Polo Quest 6. First [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/143426967418.png we see what Penn looks like without her contacts,]] (accompanied with a noticeable shift in narration style), then we see her through the eyes of everyone else, discovering the database's title for her: "[[spoiler:biological reincarnation of the Sapphire Emperor]]".

** The main plotline diverged at some point around [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questarch/res/456418.html#457897 here]] -- Rokoa and Polo were both badly damaged in the explosion, and the only way to make them survive was to [[BodyHorror stitch the remaining body mass together into a single being]]. This created Polokoa.

* AutoCannibalism: Much less disturbing than most examples; [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#80271 Dastrika does this in her sleep,]] which she suspects is a psychological thing. According to her, [[ITasteDelicious she tastes delicious]].

* BoobsOfSteel: {{Hand Wave}}d. Though the physical drawbacks of them are {{discussed}}, Rokolo gets to exhibit this trope anyway due to AppliedPhlebotinum, [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html#83775 much to her satisfaction.]]

** Saulanna, the protagonist of Jukashi's ''Lunar Quest'', can be seen in the crowd in [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/137272976427.png this shot.]]
** [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/138352772921.png This guy]] looks an awful lot like [[Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation Misho]], but that could just be Jukashi's art style.
* ChekhovsGag: In March of 2015, Jukashi posted [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/src/142566397588.png this]] ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' parody comic with Rokoa as Dracula and Polo as a Belmont. It seemed like a one-off gag... until [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/590364.html#650178 Vampire Rokoa showed up in the quest proper,]] revealing that it was actually {{Foreshadowing}}.

** Polokoa, though they [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/138682454825.png change]] into a [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/138682500605.png transparent visor]] after her second TransformationSequence.
** Rokolo has them as well, though she [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141014247892.png drops them]] almost immediately after she appears in the quest.

* TheDreaded: Polokoa. [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/503053.html#503086 Parodied.]]

* EvilTwin: Rokolo, an AlternateUniverse Polokoa appearing in Inside the Quest. [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#75783 She comments on the trope.]]

* {{Gunblade}}: [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/503053.html#551629 Polokoa's glaive.]]

'''Rokolo:''' Ugh. I have enough trouble with these girls in my dreams. Alright, [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/590364.html#622445 bring on the hallucinations.]]

** Polokoa herself. In the quest she seems like a cocksure, unstoppable warrior, but [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#78437 Inside the Quest]] reveals her to be a barely-living BodyHorror who had to go through years of intensive physical therapy and surgery just to become functional. [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#76927 Then there are her political opinions...]]

** Polokoa. She has both Rokoa's and Polo's abilities while being stronger in general. This applies mentally, too; she has Rokoa's unstoppable willpower and determination reigned in by Polo's stoicism and intelligence, giving her both of their personality strengths while canceling out their flaws. Granted, she does have [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/76582.html#78437 other]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/49496.html#82613 complications]] by virtue of being a hybrid in the first place.

* MadScientist: Rokolo, though she [[InsistentTerminology insists]] she's a mad ''[[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/85202.html#86558 engineer]]''.

* MostCommonSuperpower: Rokolo lampshades this in [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/src/137799076128.png her]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/src/138022952344.png shirt]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/src/139797843919.png choices.]]
* PaintingTheMedium: After the RashomonStyle split, certain panels [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152183460.png contain]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152165441.png differences]] between the [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152190003.png two]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152168229.png versions.]] It's theorized that this reflects the differences between the narrators' personal perceptions and reality.

* RashomonStyle: For the semifinal act, the story is split into two threads; one continues to follow Polokoa as the viewpoint character, while the other follows [[spoiler:Rokolo]]. The two were updated simultaneously, allowing readers to pick one side or see both viewpoints on the story develop simultaneously. There are a few [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152183460.png subtle]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152165441.png differences]] between the two as well.

* UpToEleven: Yes. In addition to everything else, it currently holds the record for [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/503053.html#551594 the largest quest update ever.]]

* YourMom: Rokolo says the [[SpearCounterpart gender-flipped version]] in [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/68983.html#75587 her first appearance.]]

An imageboard-based RPG styled as a [[ChooseYourOwnAdventure text adventure]], created and DM'ed by Lagotrope on Website/TGChan. Started in December 2011, currently ongoing.

* ActionGirl: [[TheDreaded Rokoa]], [[{{Cyborg}} Sharpa]], and [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Pilon's daughters]].
* {{Asexuality}}:
** Hok. It's unclear if this is just because he's currently sexless or if it's a general preference.
** Mikliks in general tend towards this due to their weird reproductive system (they don't grow genitals unless they want or need them, and it takes months, so it's not like they can decide on a whim).

* BeastMan: Neumono (dogs), belenos (sheep), pomi (fish), and heef (birds).

** {{Discussed}} at some points, especially in the Inside the Quest posts. The variety of alien allergens and toxins has given the culinary and medicinal fields no end of grief. Some restaurants explicitly serve only certain species, others carefully prune their menus to accomodate everyone.

* BloodKnight: Rokoa.

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Neumono biology has shades of this: Their empathy can actually cause physical mutations in others based on expectations or beliefs. This is why kings/queens are generally bigger and tougher than normal neumono; everyone expects them to be.
* CombatMedic: ITQ mentions "Sniper Q", a sniper/surgeon with more that two thousand confirmed kills and three thousand other enemy casualties. Rumor has it he has around as many lifesaving medical interventions under his belt.

* CurbStompBattle: Rokoa versus [[spoiler:Red]] in part 4.
* {{Cyborg}}: Sharpa.

* DeadlyUpgrade: Even with the right species, bio-armor will kill you from the strain if you aren't resilient enough. However, a "30% mortality" bio-armor doesn't mean it kills 30% of those who try it on: It merely means that the weakest 30-40% of the population know better than try.

* EnsembleCast

* FollowTheLeader: Using the compilation AI as the physical embodiment of /quest/ was a clear {{Expy}} of [[Roleplay/DiveQuest the Orb of Infinite Psyche]]. However, after thread 1, the story uses the more traditional approach of following single protagonists, [[DemotedToExtra with the CAI as a background character]].

* GoryDiscretionShot: Frequently, most notably for [[CruelAndUnusualDeath the effect of the bio-armor on the police officer in the prologue]]. The majority of [[spoiler:Red]]'s NoHoldsBarredBeatdown and death is also out of frame.

* HumanoidAliens: Every sapient except yich eaters and salikai, but even they mimic the body plans of Earth animals, keeping the spirit of the trope. Curiously, [[WordOfGod the author]] has said he has difficulty drawing actual humans (there's been a grand total of two so far, and one of them was wearing a helmet), and [[FurriesAreEasierToDraw prefers these stylized alien races instead]].
* HypercompetentSidekick: Mimi to Waska.

* [[ImplacableMan Implacable Woman]]: Rokoa. This is partially due to her neumono resilience, and partially [[{{Determinator}} just her]].

* LargeAndInCharge: Neumono hive queens and kings, see ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve above.

* LightningBruiser: Rokoa.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* MakeSureHesDead: [[spoiler:Red]] is chopped to pieces to make sure [[spoiler:he can't regenerate enough]] to survive; he's just that dangerous a threat.

* OffingTheOffspring: [[spoiler:Father Zozu to Maklata at the end of the Zozu arc.]]
* [[OffWithHisHead Off With Her Head]]: Karri does this to Jessica in the thread 2 BadEnd.

* PowerArmor: Bio-armor, especially for neumono, which augments their already-impressive physical capabilities even further. [[LudicrousGibs Don't try on one made for another species than yours, though]].

** In the {{Pilot}}, Rokoa says that mechanical augmentations for neumono are impossible due to their HealingFactor. Part 5 introduces a {{Cyborg}} neumono with little fanfare; WordOfGod says he simply changed his mind.

-->'''Itcher:''' How much of it was a lie?
-->'''[[spoiler:Whiskers]]:''' [[spoiler:Surprisingly little!]]
* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: As an interactive medium, this is pretty much inevitable. It occasionally leads to continuity snarls and {{Retcon}}s such as those mentioned in EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, above.

* ActionGirl: Polo, Rokoa, Rakae, Marra, and Rokann.

* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler:Polo has one with a Rokoa clone after being injected with a brain dart in Polo Quest. The actual battle takes place during parts 3 and 5.]]

* BoisterousBruiser: Az, ultraking of the Tree.
* TheCavalry: The second wave of reinforcements, sent by the Tree.

* CloneByConversion: This is how the Rokoa clones are created.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: The farm Penn visits in part 6. There are far more kids than adults, and everyone is exceptionally hospitable and accommodating... except for some visiting neumono, who are extremely aggressive and even abusive towards their own hivemates. [[spoiler:Penn discovers that some scientists are using a predator to forcefully rewrite every neumono's personality to suit their needs, usually making them extremely subservient to the crime bosses and visiting hivemates. This includes forcing them to feel happy even if their aggressive hivemates decide to abuse them.]]

* DoomedHometown: [[spoiler:Rokoa and Ohidi claim that Polo's hive was nuked. Subverted in that the inhabitants were later revealed to have escaped, so the location may be gone but Polo's family and friends are still alive.]]
* TheDreaded: Polo gains a reputation as "The Ghost" for her empathy invisibility, an unusal power that makes her strange and dangerous. Taking down [[spoiler:a group of maniacal salikai]] and [[spoiler:a powerful warhive]] almost single-handedly probably earned her some points too.

* EnemyMine: In the intermission, many of the salikai, normally feared as an enemy of the neumono species, are willing to ally with Polo to take out Rokoa. [[spoiler:Subverted in that most of them at least were planning to backstab her, as they were pulling the strings in Rokoa's hive to begin with.]]

* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:After the intermission, Polo is officially stated to be dead by the authorities.]]
* FateWorseThanDeath: Rokoa's sniper [[BodySnatcher "clone"]] documents her transformation, mind-control and slavery to the Salikai as this.

* GentleGiant: Three Stripes, like all Predators, is huge compared to neumono, but he's one of the most compassionate creatures around. Katzati comparable in size to Rokoa but her polar opposite.

* IWantThemAlive / IfIWantedYouDead: When Polo learns just how widespread the salikai's mind-control conspiracy is, she notes that they had lots of opportunities to give her an "accident"; an escaped science hiver tells her the salikai are obsessed with capturing her alive. Documents mention plans to use her for creating a "psi-bomb".[[note]]It is not specified what it's supposed to do, but speculation from the name lean towards either killing lots of (or ''all'') neumono psychically, or permanently destroying their empathic link.[[/note]]

* MetaphoricallyTrue: [[spoiler:Polo's hive ''was'' nuked -- Ohidi just left out the critical information that the inhabitants managed to evacuate in time.]]
* MindControl: The salikai bugs.
* MindRape / EmotionControl: Creatures known only as "neumono predators" are capable of this by broadcasting false empathy that overwrites a victim's and turns them into a mindless slave. Rikek briefly falls under the sway of one early on.

* NonMaliciousMonster: There are a lot of monstrous creatures on the neumono homeworld, that are only trying to eat: Windbeasts, motons, needleballs and even predators, which have been proven to need neumono flesh to stay healthy.
** Three Stripes does note however that Four Stripes is a jerk.
* NonActionGuy: Rikek, Lucera, and Kort.

* [[OffWithHisHead Off With Her Head]]: [[spoiler:Rokoa's mother]] kills [[spoiler:Rokoa]] this way in [[spoiler:Rokoa]]'s false memories.

* PintsizedPowerhouse: Played with with Polo. She is actually rather poor at hand-to-hand combat, but she is incredibly skilled with {{Sniper Rifle}}s and can silence her empathy, giving her numerous combat advantages. All of this allows her to routinely defeat enemies twice her size.
* [[spoiler:{{Prequel}}]]

* ScienceHero: Korli.
* SleepCute: Three Stripes and his neumono buddies, brainwashed or not.
** Or ''any'' group of neumono.

** NotSoStoic: She does not take [[spoiler:the total destruction of her hive]] well. [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questarch/res/399207.html#403265 At all.]]

* AlternateUniverse: The Polokoaverse is a whole multiverse of alternate timelines, each with its own ''Polo Quest'' and ''Unnatural Selection''. Asteroidverse!Polo vehemently denies their existence.

* AnIcePerson: Vampiresque Rokoa and her mother had magical powers over ice.

* BloodFromTheMouth and TearsOfBlood: Exhibited by Polokoa after her second TransformationSequence to show how [[DeadlyUpgrade it's overclocking her]].

* EldritchAbomination:
** [[spoiler:The asteroid.]]
** Late in the story, there are references to an "External Force" that exists outside of normal reality. Rokolo has apparently been agitating it, and the time cops are highly concerned. In certain fringe universes, it bonds to certain individuals in a symbiotic relationship, giving them magical powers in exchange for furthering its goals. This allows for {{Fantasy}} elements in a ScienceFiction story.

* GenderBender: Rokolo's Chief was originally male as in Roleplay/UnnaturalSelection, but decided to switch to a female appearance sometime before they appear in the story.

* [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Neumono Hybrid]]: Dastrika is a predator-neumono (or "[[FanNickname predamono]]") hybrid. This gives her more powerful empathy abilities at the price of some physiological and psychological complications.

* PaintingTheMedium: After the RashomonStyle split, certain panels [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152183460.png contain]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152165441.png differences]] between the [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152190003.png two]] [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/src/141152168229.png versions.]] [[WildMassGuessing It's theorized]] that this reflects the differences between the narrators' personal perceptions and reality.

* PowerGlows: Polokoa's neurosuit.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Polokoa sees herself as this. Father Zozu disagrees.

* TransformationSequence: Polokoa's neurosuit has ''two''.
* UpToEleven / RuleOfCool: Yes. In addition to everything else, it currently holds the record for [[http://tgchan.org/kusaba/quest/res/503053.html#551594 the largest quest update ever.]]

* WomanInWhite: Polokoa after her TransformationSequence.

* ChekhovsGun: Midway through, the possibility of empathically-powered weapons are brought up only to be dismissed as impossible. Naturally, a PowerRangers parody under the control of the BigBad immediately shows up wielding said weapon. [[spoiler:Easily dismissed as a one-off gag, but in fact, the BigBad's plan involves a similar superweapon, powered by the collective sadness the neumono race will experience upon discovering that Christmas has been ruined.]]

* ImpostorExposingTest: The fake Rokoa cuts herself to prove she can bleed, but the drop of blood refuses to completely detach from her, exposing her as a fufa.

* SavingChristmas: The gifts have been stolen! It's up to Polo and Rokoa to get them back.

* [[NativeAmericanCasino Voklit Casino]]: Lots of such places in Voklit territory.

* PettingZooPeople: Neumono (dogs), belenos (sheep), pomi (fish), and heef (birds).

* NamedAfterTheirPlanet: Belenos/Belenosians (the terms are used interchangeably) had bombed themselves back to the stone age, so they had forgotten both their planet and their own species' names. When humans came, they named their star after a Celtic sun-god, numbered the planet after the star (as Belenos IV), and the sapient inhabitants after both.

* IHaveAFamily: Itcher uses this as an excuse to get out of dangerous assignments from his Mafia bosses. He's lying, unlike one of his colleagues.

-->'''Father Zozu:''' Now.... as I have said, I do not kill my sons. But in light of your recent actions, you are no longer any son of mine. ''(Marklata gets dakka'd)''

An AlternateUniverse featuring Polo and Rokoa in a BuddyCopShow. Currently contains two stories, "The First Neumono Christmas" and "The First Neumono Valentine".

Has also spawned a [[http://www3.tgchan.org/wiki/Polokoa_Quest fan-quest]] by Jukashi, of ''Webcomic/KeychainOfCreation'' fame (who also appears to have participated in the worldbuilding, if some ITQ answers are any indication). See also Roleplay/UnnaturalSelection, which is confirmed to be in the same {{Verse}} since Polo Quest thread 6.