[OOC] Rough Draft Plot Line
* AU starts seven years after the first Bloody Valentine War. It will not come up in the plot, but the war was caused when a hyperresonance destroyed Hod. The explosion was blamed on the Naturals who were experimenting with high-fonic weapons (essentially bombs) at that time, but the people behind the attack were actually from a group of Coordinator extremists who were using the Auldranti Forces to cover up their experiments.
* Daath space colony Akzeriuth is attacked by the Order of Lorelei. They manage to obtain 4 of 5 Auldranti Forces secret weapons. Nephry attempts to pilot the 5th and fails. She is rescued by a young man named Luke, but during the scuffle, Luke comes face to face with his best friend - one of the first people he has been able to remember prior to his arrival in Akzeriuth - only Guy is working for the Order.
* Luke helps defend Akzeriuth in the Nebilim. Cantabile takes charge of the Tartarus and its remaining crew members.
* Nephry takes over as captain and orders Luke and his friends aboard. Dist tries to capture the Nebilim and sends Guy out to retrieve it. Guy also plans to confirm that Luke is its pilot. Akzeriuth crumbles.
* First lifeboat found by the Tartarus is the one carrying Anise Tatlin and other survivors from the battle in Akzeriuth. They head for Kaitzur, despite Luke's complaints. And are pursued by The Order of Lorelei
* Jade and a reluctant Luke take on the Albiore, but the Nebilim runs out of power. Guy takes the opportunity the grab the Nebilim, but Luke is able to free himself.
* Held captive on Kaitzur. Ion manages to use the Evenos to neutralize the barrier around it. The Tartarus manages escape.
* Crew find themselves in the Hod ruins which trigger more of Luke's memories. They hold a memorial. While looking for ice, Luke retrieves a lifepod.
* The lifepod holds Tear Grants, sister of Chairman Van Grants. Tear's arrival causes tension onboard, and she ends up bickering with Luke. Word comes that the 8th Fleet is looking to rescue the Tartarus and are on their way.
* 8th Fleet escort ships attacked by Dist's group. Anise's father is killed and she then uses Tear to make Albiore withdraw.
* Luke, who has witnessed far too much death, killing, and still knows little about himself is "comforted" by Tear, returns her to Guy, declines offer to switch sides.
* Dist attacks again now that they have Tear - Luke's berserker mode awakened.
* Anise, and then Luke's friends enlist after being given option to leave.
* Dist attacks again as Tartarus and 8th Fleet approach Auldrant, 8th Fleet wiped out entirely, Sync destroys spacecraft Luke had rescued
* Tartarus rescues Luke who was stuck in Auldrant's atmosphere, but they land in Lorelei-controlled desert as opposed to Keterburg as they had intended
* Luke starts having nightmares, is comforted by Anise and Noelle
* Tartarus attacked by A-802 BuCUE, and is fighting against Arietta when a desert group comes to their aid
* Dark Wings resistance group (led by Astor) fighting Arietta and the (Lesseps ship); Luke re-meets Natalia; hometown (Chesedonia) attacked but evacuated first (under orders from Sync)
* Dark Wings launches failed attack
* Luke and Natalia are sent into Zao-Feres (aka Zao Ruins are no longer ruins, but a flourishing city; paired with Isle of Feres) for supplies with Cantabile and Astor; caught in Oracle Knights attack, end up saving Arietta by accident, and discover what she knows. Meanwhile Anise meets up with Mohs and concedes to working as his spy, offering him information on the group.
* Asch and Ion given reprieve; Asch visits Tear; Lorelei Supreme Council debates "Operation Spitbreak"
* Lesseps vs Dark Wings; Luke vs Desert Liger; forced to kill Arietta and her TMF/A-803 LaGOWE
* Tartarus crew crosses into neutral Daath territory; Luke talks to Natalia about reasons for fighting; Anise jealous at the group for trusting her so easily; attacked by Loreleian underwater machines
* Luke stopped by Iemon from helping Jade and Natalia, Natalia shot down, shoots down Asch's plane, stranded in Inista Marsh; later rescued
* Tartarus attacked by Guy Team; escape into Daath; Guy Team kept on outside but still suspicious and so sneak in
* Luke is asked by Cathy to help with Daathic mobile weapons' OS to allow them to be piloted by Naturals and is told about SEED factor
* Others given chance to meet their parents; Luke stays behind to work on the MBF-M1 Astrays (AU!Luke suffers from partial amnesia, he can remember the things he would have learned in school, but anything before studing in Akzeriuth comes up a blank). Ingobert, speaking with the others, hints that there's a connection between Natalia and "Luke", hints at Badac's true identity Mieu runs off, and Luke trails him only to come face-to-face with Guy; they part pretending not to know each other but Asch spots Luke and alerts the others
* Tartarus minus Natalia leaves for Keterburg; the waiting Guy Team attacks them; Luke and Asch engage in battle, Cecille (aboard a land machine) steps in to protect Asch and is accidentally killed; Jade and Peony offer support via the Skygraspers
* Guy Team makes another attempt to stop Tartarus; Frings goes out in the Skygrasper and is struck down by Guy as revenge for Cecille's death. Stricken by grief over their respective comrade's deaths, they attack each other.
* Tartarus grieves for Luke and Fring's "deaths". Natalia searches for Luke but finds Guy instead. He is taken prisoner aboard the Tartarus where he breaks down.
* Tartarus reaches Keterburg; Noelle attacks Guy but ends up saving him when Anise comes into the room for the same reason. Luke wakes up to find Tear. Natalia, meanwhile, runs into Asch - Asch reveals that he and Natalia were supposed to have been betrothed many years ago, before Ingobert took over Daath and quit supporting the Sephiroth, siding with neither the Order or Auldrant. Now instead he is engaged to Tear.
* Members aboard the Tartarus are heavily questioned in Keterburg. Teodoro tells Luke that at one point the Fabre family had two "sons", but that the younger of the two was sent away to Akzeriuth and that he believes that Luke and Asch may be twin brothers. Luke buckles under the stress of trying to kill his best friend and his quest to discover who he is and the meaning of war. He is comforted by Tear who tells him that his identity doesn't matter, what matters is what he plans to do with his life. Anise sneaks off to report to Mohs again.
* Anise, Jade, and Cantabile are transferred off the Tartarus. Jade suspects something is wrong at the Roneal base (in Keterburg), and goes back. Anise is kidnapped by Dist. Van escapes Baticul after it is discovered that he funded forbidden fomicry research. Luke resolves to continue fighting and cuts his hair as proof of his resolve and that he won't continue to worry about the past, but to focus on what he can do now. Teodoro and Tear entrust Luke with the Freedom.
* Van finds out that Tear and Teodoro gave Luke the Freedom. After consulting Crimson, they break off the engagement between Asch and Tear and plan Tear and Teodoro's arrest. Van is now working under his own motives (ie. he wants to get revenge on both sides for the Bloody Valentine War and the destruction of Hod, and to create an ultimate race of replicas).
* "Operation Spitbreak" in Keterburg with both sides believing they have upper hand, in actuality a cyclops beneath the base is set to detonate and contaminate the area with fonic radiation, effectively destroying the passage ring beneath the base. The Tartarus crew is abandoned, but Luke returns to save them.
* Tear, now considered a traitor, confronts/is confronted by Asch. She tells him she left the Freedom in Luke's hands; when he expresses disbelief and turns a gun on her, she explains her reasoning and asks him what he's fighting for. Asch is ordered to pilot the Justice to search for the Freedom and destroy it and all who have seen it if necessary.
* Tartarus returns to Daath where they reevaluate their motives. The Order of Lorelei destroys the St. Binah Mass Driver as retaliation for Keterburg. Cathy reveals the fixed Nebilim which Jade will now pilot.
* Mohs (he supports a "pure and blue world that closely follows the written Score, thus a world without Coordinators) tells Daath it must join the Auldranti Alliance Forces or else it will be considered an ally of the Order of Lorelei. What it really wants is the Daath Mass Driver. Nephry decides they will support Daath. Mohs (Oracle Knights) attacks them with (Auldranti Alliance's) three new mobile suits.
* The fighting in the Rugnica Plains is long and hard. Luke and Guy make up after he is freed and allowed to retrieve the Gardios. Asch also arrives and teams up with the Freedom. They manage to run off the three machines after their pilots begin quarreling. Asch alerts the members of the Tartarus as to Van's true plans. He decides to disobey his father's orders and aid the others temporarily in order to stop both Van and Mohs.
* Ingobert stays behind within Daath, ordering Natalia to leave, giving her a locket with a picture of her real parents and assuring her that now she can be with her real father, Badac. The Daathic leaders that stay behind then destroy Daath's mass driver and other facilities so that they cannot be used by the Oracle Knights, sacrificing themselves in the process. The Tartarus and the Princess Natalia head into outer space.
* The fight against the three Auldranti mobile suits continues with Luke, Asch, and Guy all working together against them. Meanwhile Dist uses fomicry to allow Anise's doll to move about and grow to gargantuan size and tells her that he knows she has been leaking information to Mohs. Anise is befriended by Ion.
* Natalia shares with Asch, Luke, and Guy what she has discovered about herself, still overcome with grief. Luke and Guy leave Asch to console Natalia while they discuss what actions to take next with the rest of the crew. Meanwhile, Tear is still on the run, and is travelling from place to place trying to gain support through brief broadcasts meant to counter Van's own. She continues to search for clues about the remaining Yulian hymns. Teodoro, refusing to assist Van, is killed by his soldiers.
* Asch returns to the PLANTs to try to gain Crimson's support and convince him to stop following Van, but Crimson refuses to back down and the two are interrupted by Van who demands to know what happened to the Freedom and the Justice. Asch refuses to talk and Van has him arrested. Anise, meanwhile, learns the truth about Sync and Ion, that they are both replicas (clones) in addition to being Coordinators. Her hatred for Coordinators are rekindled and she retreats to her room.
* Tear has joined forces with Ginji, Pere, and Spinoza, and together they and other members of the socalled "Yulia Faction" rescue Asch and help him aboard the Uniceros. They speed towards the Tartarus and the Princess Natalia to grant them aid.
* The "Three Ships Alliance" dock at the abandoned Engeve colony, but are discovered by both the Order (Dist) and the Auldranti Forces' [Dominion], now captained by Cantabile. The Auldranti Forces attack in an attempt to capture one of the two Loreleian machines.
* [Dominion] retreats. Jade and Guy enter the Engeve colony to retrieve supplies. Jade is confronted by Dist, while Guy runs into Ion. Luke comes to Jade's rescue, only to find himself in a strange and oddly familiar building.
* Jade and Luke follow Dist into the Replica factory, where he reveals that both he and Jade experimented with fomicry research funded by Van in an attempt to create the ultimate human being - Luke is the child of that project, replicated from Asch while he was still a child and then granted enhanced abilities. Luke is overcome by this realization, even though Jade tries to shake him out of it. Guy and Ion discuss what it is they're really fighting against, with Ion informing Guy that Dist has taken Anise and that they should try to return her to her friends aboard the Tartarus. The Auldranti Forces attack once again, forcing the battle to continue. Dist sends Anise back to the Auldranti Forces (Cantabile).
* Anise is rescued by Cantabile and the Auldranti pilots, despite Luke's attempts at rescuing her. She reports to Mohs and gives him the disc containing the specs on the Loreleian machines and their passage ring operating technology.
* Equipped with this new information, the Auldranti forces go all out in an attempt to destroy the Sephiroth. The Meggiora military asteroid is taken out by high-fonic weapons with their next target being the Sephiroth themselves. Luke and Asch return in time to block the attacks. Tear tries to use her songs to influence the spirits of those stuck in this battle, to limited success. Van orders the use and firing of ELDRANT, a huge fonon-ray laser.
* The ELDRANT wipes out over half of the Auldranti Forces but requires time to recharge. The others regroup. Tear begs Luke to come back to her after everything is over and he agrees to that promise.
* The ELDRANT takes out a significant number of the Auldranti Forces' reinforcements as well as their Lunar base. The Three Ships Alliance protects the Sephiroth from another wave of high-fonic weapons. Jade fights Dist in the [Providence], while Dist tries to convince him to rejoin him and continue fomicry research. Luke and Asch fight the three Auldranti machines. On the [Dominion], Cantabile ignores orders, realizing that Mohs is just spilling nonsense and lets the ship be overtaken by the Tartarus after those on board are allowed to escape. Jade sacrifices himself protecting the Tartarus.
* The pod carrying the escaped is retrieved by the Tartarus only after Ion in the Evenos jumps in to save it. Ion's spirit visits Anise where the two attempt apologies and he pleads with Anise to aid her true friends. The three Auldranti machines are finally taken down.
* Van sets the ELDRANT to fire at Earth and is shot down by Crimson. Asch hurries towards ELDRANT and plans to self-destruct his machine. Natalia follows him despite his orders to turn back. [The promise from Abyss goes here.] Asch and Natalia escape the blast aboard the Strike Eagle. Luke, meanwhile, takes down Dist.
* Mieu floats out into space and finds the drifting Luke. He is retrieved by Asch and Natalia and taken back aboard the Tartarus.