The Rise of PULSAR

Chapter 5: Captain Vaga

(A/N: This is a very tricky section. I normally wouldn’t have included it since removed content isn’t generally considered canon, but this is a special case. Whereas most removed story content is generally because it doesn’t fit with the current story anymore, Captain Vaga was removed because, in Nexon’s own words from their Maple Memo, “…some features in this content may cause some technical conflict with our future updates.”

Putting aside speculation that Captain Vaga was also removed because of how difficult and tiring the story mechanics were, the main thing to note is that it wasn’t removed because of any story contradictions. This isn’t to say that Captain Vaga is definitely canon or non-canon, but since it was meant to be a direct prequel to Stellar Detectives and there’s currently nothing in the story that contradicts anything from it, I personally feel that there’s value in covering it within this guide. In the future, if there’s new lore added that contradicts the events of this storyline, I’ll be sure to remove it and archive this section to somewhere else for posterity.

There’s another major problem with this section, however, because there’s no complete video for Captain Vaga out there. It makes me upset because it feels like between Crimsonwood Keep PQ (which was removed for a revamped version that never came), the entire Beast Tamer storyline, and now Captain Vaga, overseas content has a much higher rate of story removal than the main storyline, which is frustrating because it gets referenced later on and it’s lost to people, similar to how Kerning Tower and Mushroom Castle reference Kerning Square and Mushroom Kingdom, with newer players having no idea what the backstory to them are.

My personal grievances aside, the only complete record of Captain Vaga that currently exists is on MapleWiki. I debated about doing this for a long time, but I decided to just copy the contents from the wiki directly into this section. This was definitely a last resort option because I really wanted to personally cover everything in this guide myself, both for completionism’s sake and because I feel like I’m plagiarizing someone else’s content, even in spite of getting PirateIzzy’s (the author of the article’s) permission and heavily disclaiming that I didn’t write this section.

However, I ultimately came to the conclusion that this section is pretty integral to the overall story and it wouldn’t do to just briefly summarize it. Because of that, I’m choosing to copy over PirateIzzy’s writeup and just making minor changes like switching to past tense for consistency. Once again, I’d like to emphasize that not a single word here is mine, with all credit going to PirateIzzy.)

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 landed on their planet looking for new recruits.

The duo, realizing that the corporation would have a lot of money, attempted 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 played along and waited in line, only to learn from another candidate in line that they could get paid by the organization and travel the galaxy. Duster was enticed by the prospect and convinced Lapis to apply, seeing an opportunity to escape planet XB-22.

The application required candidates to defeat the organization's lowest-ranked member in combat. Duster was selected first and easily won the fight, with Lapis winning shortly after. As they received an assignment to wipe out local lifeforms attacking one of the company's outposts, Lapis remained skeptical about the organization, while Duster was relieved to be leaving XB-22.

The duo soon completed their first assignment of wiping out giant bugs and received payment, only to learn that their payment needed be spent towards upgrading and maintaining their mission equipment, rather than spending it on luxuries. While off to a rocky start, Duster rose up in the ranks very quickly and took on enhanced and larger bugs, while Lapis took up a new role as a mission operator after getting injured during an offense mission.

(A/N: Some of these enhanced bugs are Elite Flying Bugs and Red Flying Bugs, which are stronger versions of Flying Bugs. The Flying Bugs are basically identical to the Krakian Flying Bugs from Masteria and were likely recycled assets, rather than being hints at PULSAR having a hand in creating some of Masteria’s life forms.)

Duster soon met some of the higher-ranking officers, including Miro, the daughter of one of the organization's captains, who gave Duster a hard time by having him perform extra missions with no compensation. As Duster gathered research samples for Miro, he came across a document within a laboratory that laid out a plan to fight giant bugs as part of an experiment.

Duster was surprised by it, but pretended not to have noticed it, lest he drew Miro’s ire. As Duster reached the Elite rank, the highest rank available in the organization, he was asked to meet with the organization's Space Pirate Commander, who promptly filled him in on their true mission while revealing that the organization was actually PULSAR, which worried Duster. (A/N: This is revealed in Stellar Detectives, but PULSAR is an acronym that stands for the pirate code of conduct: Pillage, Unnerve, Loot, Shoot, Argue, and Repeat.)

The giant bugs were also revealed to have been created by PULSAR, which had escaped from their laboratories. Instead of seeking and destroying the bugs, the organization had hired recruits to defeat the bugs, while their scientists would discreetly monitor the evolution and development of the bugs, resulting in countless sacrifices.

Having been contracted to create bio-replicant weapons – life forms that could easily be cloned for combat – PULSAR decided to apply their research on more powerful creatures that would be captured from Maple World, with their penultimate goal being to capture a creature they knew as Shinsoo, hoping to use her power for those weapons, as well as for their other purposes. (A/N: I have no idea whether they’ll follow up on this again in future content, although it’s definitely an interesting premise.)

Duster later met with Lapis and revealed the truth to him. Remorseful for helping PULSAR in their goals of taking over the galaxy, Duster planned a mutiny during his promotion ceremony, in which he would reveal the truth to the other mercenaries in his fleet and take over PULSAR. Though he did reveal the truth during his promotion speech, things didn’t go as planned, as Milo overheard the speech and unleashed a swarm of giant bugs on the group.

Duster, Dima, and Lapis led a group towards the escape shuttles, but found themselves outnumbered. Lapis offered to sacrifice himself by bringing down the blast door, much to Duster's sorrow and regret. Duster hesitated to let Lapis sacrifice his life, but Lapis left 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 remembered Lapis’ words as he made his way toward the escape shuttle, setting course for the free spaceport of Libertaria. While on the shuttle, Dima suggested that Duster change his name so that PULSAR would not look for him, and so Duster chose to call himself Captain Vaga. As Dima left to notify the crew of this, Vaga promised to honor Lapis' memory by destroying PULSAR. Later on, he ended up buying his own planet and naming it Lapis.