PULSAR
PULSAR is an intergalactic research organization that branched off from the Galactic Collaborative Research Institute to pursue a more dangerous approach towards conducting research. PULSAR can be described as a group of independently-operating fleets working under a common command, travelling throughout various galaxies and kidnapping sentient beings (animals, humanoids, and more) to steal their power and mutate them, with a goal of creating a massive army.
Duster and Lapis were life-long friends and vagabonds who would eventually end up settling on a desolate planet named XB-22. While Duster dreamed of being able to travel into space and find something better, Lapis was content with their situation, offering to support Duster along the way. Eventually, a spaceship from a big research corporation (later revealed to be PULSAR) lands on their planet looking for new recruits. The duo, realizing that the corporation would have a lot of money, attempt to rob the ship, only to be spotted and mistaken for potential recruits by an officer named Dima. Not wanting to draw any unwanted attention, they play along and wait on line, only to learn from another candidate on line that they can get paid at this organization and travel the galaxy. Duster is enticed by this and convinces Lapis to apply, seeing an opportunity to escape planet XB-22.
The application requires candidates to defeat the organization's lowest-ranked member in combat. Duster is selected first, and easily wins the fight, and Lapis wins shortly after. As they receive an assignment to wipe out local lifeforms attacking one of the company's outposts, Lapis remains skeptical about the organization, while Duster is relieved to be leaving XB-22. The duo soon completes their first assignment of wiping out giant bugs and receives payment, only to learn that their payment must be spent towards upgrading and maintaining their mission equipment, rather than spending it on luxuries.
While off to a rocky start, Duster rises up in the ranks very quickly and takes on enhanced and larger bugs, as Lapis takes up a new role as a mission operator after getting injured during an offense mission. Duster meets some of the higher ranking officers, including Miro, the daughter of one of the organization's captains, who gives Duster a hard time by having him perform extra missions with no compensation. As Duster gathers research samples for Miro, he comes across a document within a laboratory that lays out a plan to fight giant bugs as part of an experiment. Duster is surprised by it, but pretends not to have noticed it lest he draw the ire of Miro.
As Duster reaches the Elite rank, the highest rank available at the organization, he is asked to meet with the organization's Commander, who promptly fills him in on their true mission while revealing that the organization is actually PULSAR, which worries Duster. The giant bugs are also revealed to have been created by PULSAR, which escaped from their laboratories; instead of seeking and destroying the bugs, the organization hired recruits to defeat the bugs as the scientists would discreetly monitor the evolution and development of the bugs, resulting in countless sacrifices. Having been contracted to create bio-replicant weapons (lifeforms that can easily be cloned for combat), PULSAR decided to apply the research on more powerful creatures that would be captured from Maple World, with their penultimate goal being to capture a creature they known as Shinsoo and use her power for these weapons, as well as for their own purposes.
Duster later meets with Lapis and reveals the truth to him, and Duster, remorseful for helping PULSAR in their goals of taking over the galaxy, plans a mutiny during his promotion ceremony where he would reveal the truth to the other mercenaries in his fleet and take over. He does this during his speech at the ceremony, but things don't go as planned as Miro overhears the speech and unleashes a swarm of giant bugs on the group. Duster, Dima, and Lapis lead a group towards the escape shuttles, but are outnumbered. Lapis offers to bring down the blast door and sacrifice himself, to Duster's sorrow and regret. Duster hesitates to let Lapis do this, but Lapis leaves him with words of encouragement:
“Our comrades have already lost so much. They need you to lead them, and you need to understand their pain. We are at our best when we overcome our pain.”
Duster remembers this as he makes his way toward the escape shuttle, setting course for free spaceport of Libertaria. While on the shuttle, Dima suggests that Duster change his name so that PULSAR does not look for him, and Duster chooses to be called Captain Vaga. As Dima leaves to notify the crew of this, Duster promises to honor Lapis's memory by destroying PULSAR, and afterwards buying his own planet and naming it Lapis.
The player character finds an old blank diary in their bag, and pays Grendel the Really Old a visit to inquire if he can find out anything about it. Grendel discovers the diary to be enchanted and says that the player can re-experience the events laid out in the diary.
The diary begins from Chase's perspective, showing that an enchanted frog named Tutu was kidnapped by people with strange armor from her hometown of Arboren, as she is requested by the villagers to find him. Chase heads towards Victoria Island and meets with the player character in Henesys, where they place fliers and ask the local residents for any information. Chase investigates nearby monsters, discovering tiny jewels poking out from their bodies. She learns from the residents that two people were searching for a missing turtle, and that someone is selling animals in Perion. Chase soon meets Hayato and Kanna, who are searching for a mystical turtle named Nenne, which was kidnapped under Hayato's watch. The group, now working together, deduces that the animals were kidnapped because of their special powers, heading to Perion to search for the animal merchant.
The group finds a suspicious individual in Perion and interrogate her, only to learn that her name is Jett and that she is actually a bounty hunter attempting to lure the animal thieves, a group of pirates from deep space named PULSAR that deals in kidnapping and contraband of people and special animals. Chase offers Jett to join their group and help them track down PULSAR, but Jett initially refuses, wanting to claim the PULSAR bounty for herself. The trio gathers some valuable loot to bribe Jett into joining them, and after requesting for them to gather more loot for her informant within PULSAR, she agrees to help, and they all head to Ellinia.
While in Ellinia, the group meets another individual, the Dragon Warrior Zen, who is searching for a stolen tiger named Lingling. Zen eagerly joins their group and they set off on Lingling's trail, while Chase re-brands the group the "Stellar Detectives." The group find the PULSAR spaceship, the ISS Pillager, hidden within the forests of Ellinia. They face off with a group of mutated frogs and turtles, learning that they were clones of Tutu and Nenne, and eventually have to fight the original Tutu and Nenne. They manage to rescue the two animals and encounter Lingling. After allowing Zen to talk with Lingling one last time, Lingling dies after being subject to PULSAR's torture and suffering.
The team manages to subdue the soldiers of PULSAR, with Jett interrogating them about who their leader is before sending them to the Galactic Authority. They claim to have never met the leaders of PULSAR, but were ordered to capture animals with a large quantity of mana, which would be drained and used to make clones of the animals to form an army. Jett sends the subdued soldiers off to prison, and as the team discusses their future plans for tracking PULSAR, the Space Pirate Commander appears, wiping their memories after telling them "'His' army will continue to grow". It is at this point that the player, having read and re-experienced the story through Chase's magical diary, regains their memories. The rest of the team starts to remember what happened as well, and make it their goal to stop PULSAR once at for all.
The player receives a letter from an old woman detailing the disappearance of her granddaughter, as well as several other people in the valley. The old woman also writes about the creatures of the forest growing strange and vicious following the disappearances. As a result of the fear and loss, the people of the valley would distrust each other, and she requests your help in facing the challenges ahead for the people in the Abrup Basin. The player sets up shelter at a camp above the valley, but is then awoken by Aruhi, angrily shouting towards the valley, which causes the player to notice a town engulfed in flames below. The player rushes down the mountain while defeating mutated hectors and werewolves, and notices a large monstrous shadow, but is then interrupted by a scream further down the mountain. The player rescues a girl named Ullan and eventually reaches the burning town of Kaptafel, where the player rescues several villagers and members of Afinas, a group who were dispatched to the area, from mutated monsters.
Afterwards, the player assists the villagers in gathering supplies to evacuate to the next village nearby, Svarti, to escape from an incoming blizzard. The player learns that most of the villagers had their family members mysteriously disappear, including Aruhi, who became an alcoholic after his wife and daughter were taken. Aruhi mentions that he also saw the monstrous shadow, as well as the people who stole the missing villagers, describing them as a group of people in white rock-hard armor taking the missing people to a giant dish in the forest and disappearing. The other villagers brush him off, believing that he rambles and creates stories to cope with his loss of his family.
The group builds a caravan and eventually reaches Svarti, and Alika travels into the forest with the player and Pete, a pet shrelephant owned by the caravan. They find an Eyeful floating about and decide to follow it, ending up in a secret treasure vault and learning that the Eyefuls were responsible for stealing valuables from the villagers and stashing them away into treasure vaults. When they leave the vault, they find pink plants (which they name "Jellyrashes") that are responsible for driving the monsters into a frenzy. They traverse the forest, destroying any Jellyrashes they see, which lures a large tentacled monster with the same shape as the monstrous shadow. The monster chases them throughout the forest, but escape with Pete's help, though the player falls unconscious.
The player wakes up to find the group heading towards the next village over, Skuas, a fortress more equipped for battle, as a preemptive measure. There, the player meets Sanaan, the old woman who sent the letter, as well as Einar, whose sister Julieta was also kidnapped. The local store owner Elva relays information from one of her customers to the player, mentioning that said customer also saw the people who took the villagers. As the group prepares for the oncoming onslaught of monsters, the player travels into the forest with Gunardson, chief of Svarti, and Slaka, archer of Kaptafel. The group discovers another Eyeful floating around, and the player tells the group to chase it. They find another treasure vault, where the player discovers a PULSAR helmet lying among the other treasure. The player brings it back to Skuas and shows it to Aruhi, proving that he was correct the whole time.
As the group faces off with the army of monsters, the player takes on the tentacled monster and defeats it. The monster disappears, leaving behind a girl with pink hair, revealed to be Einar's sister Julieta, who soon disappears as well. Einar is left distraught, and the player bids farewell to the people of Abrup, as they realize that PULSAR were the culprits behind the missing villagers. The player promises to help Alika rescue the other missing villagers once they have a new lead.
Known Members
 .png) Space Pirate Commander |
 Miro |
 Unknown Guard(s) |
Former Members
 Duster |
.png) Lapis |
 Dima |
 Jace |
Trivia
- PULSAR is known as APORD in CMS, TMS and JMS, which means "curtain of the night" according to Jett.
- PULSAR is an acronym standing for the pirate codes of conduct: Pillage, Unnerve, Loot, Shoot, Argue, Repeat.