Fleshing out a SciFi setting [Archive] (2024)

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Babale

2024-07-30, 10:39 AM

In another thread, I asked for help picking out a game system to use for a setting I've been thinking of running (I settled on Traveler, I think). In this thread, I'd like to flesh out the setting itself a bit further.

Here is what I have so far, from the other thread:

It is the relatively near future, some time in the 2200s. Humanity has been rocked by a series of crises - a world war that includes a limited nuclear exchange, devastating ecological damage, and global warming. For a time, things looked fairly grim.

Ironically, the war that threatened humanity was also the source of salvation. During the war, all sides vied for control of the highest ground, and so, significant advances were made in space rocketry, in extended habitation off Earth, and in the utilization of space based resources. In the post war era, this has led to an enormous boom in spaceborne resource acquisition and manufacturing. With the ore acquired in the asteroid belt and in the mines of Mars, with the energy acquired from massive spaceborne solar panel arrays, and with food grown in rotating habitats, the resource shortages that plagued humanity and led to the war are mostly resolved. Peace and prosperity return.

Earth is still divided into individual nations, although the prewar borders are quite shaken up. More important than individual countries, however, are a set of power blocs that formed during the war and were cemented afterwards (I'm still fleshing them out, but these are heavily inspired by Beyond Earth civs).

Each bloc has its own interests in the Solar System, its own mines on Mars and ships in the Belt, etc. They also have their own warships to protect their interests, but these are limited (in individual tonnage and total quantity) by international treaty from the end of the war.

That same treaty also established a successor to the United Nations (a third world congress after a third world war, ala the League of Nations and United Nations). This new body actually has teeth, to ensure that a world war doesn't happen again *but for real this time*. Peacekeeping ships in space are not subject to the same tonnage restrictions as ships from the individual blocs, and in theory at least are the most capable ships in orbit.

Under this system, humanity is able to spend a few decades growing and prospering once more. But the status quo is shaken up once more when miners out in the Oort cloud a number of megalithic rings, clearly artificially constructed, in the furthest reaches of the sun's orbit.

A couple of years before the start of the campaign, scientists from the UN replacement body investigating the rings make a startling discovery. The massive ring structures are actually only a tiny part of a much more megalithic construct; they are linked, using exotic matter that's scientists still don't understand but whose signature they can just barely detect, to (presumably) other gates in other star systems.

There are a handful of gates surrounding our solar system, 3-5. Each leads in a different direction, and scientists can tell that the star systems the trail of exotic matter points to each have further trails branching off as well, but not where they lead.

Eventually, scientists find a way to activate the gates, but no one knows what they will find on the other side. Scientists have sent a probe through and confirmed that it transported to where they would expect, and instantly so; but it took the signal years to travel from the star, so remote control of a probe is not a practical solution. Thus, the decision is made: to send through a crewed ship and learn what awaits mankind among the stars.

The players will start off as the crew of the first manned ship to go through a gate. In other words, the players will man the first science ship you get in a game of Stellaris.

There's a lot left to flesh out! Some areas that might be worth starting with:

1) How big is the network of beacons? It will stretch over the whole Galaxy, but not every star is connected to it. At one extreme, we could have a just a few thousand connected stars. This would make circumnavigating the whole network viable, although it would take decades. Alternatively, the network could be unimaginably vast, with billions of connected stars (which would still be like 1% of all stars in the galaxy...). In this case, vast interstellar empires could rise and fall without ever leaving their little corner of the beacon network. While the second fits more with Eldritch horror themes, the first seems a little more grounded and comprehensible. This question needs to be answered before I can start fleshing out space!

2) How big of a role should the Earth power blocs play? What is each of them like? What is the global assembly like? How much power is wielded by the individual blocs compared to the global power structure? Does that situation differ on the ground and in space? One interesting thought I had was to make sure the PCs hail from different blocs... Those all need to be fleshed out as well.

LibraryOgre

2024-07-30, 12:17 PM

Since it's only a couple years after their discovery by humans, I don't think this matters as much... like you said, it would take decades to fully map the system on a few thousand stars, and we haven't even had one. Especially if each new gate, in new systems, need to be unlocked.

For simplicity, I would start with they believe that it is only a few thousand stars... that always gives you the option of new gates being discovered, or the network being bigger than expected. I'd say that the network, at first, seems to be limited to a certain sector of the galaxy... but I'd go with some sort of prime number, so instead of quadrants you pentants or septants... clearly a prime, bigger than three.

So, I'd go with bloc power being great in the inner solar system (out to the asteroid belt), moderate in the middle solar system (out to Neptune), notional in the outer solar system (Pluto, the Kuiper Belt, and the Oort cloud). (World) Congressional power is greatest in the intersection of bloc interests... the World Congress has great power where the Trans-Pacific Parliament holdings abut those of the South Polar Agreement, but if you get into TPP or SPA territories, WC power goes down the toilet. Once you get to the middle system or outer system, Congress only has power insofar as it guides the actions of the member nations and blocs... there's not enough infrastructure for the WC to work consistently.

Outside of the solar system? Yee-haw, welcome to the Wild West. While you're going to have bloc forces going out into the stars, they're only going to be able to control what they can hold, so you might find wildcat settlements on moons, smugglers bringing cattle from Persephone to Jiangyin, medical shipments to remote mining operations... anything you can think of.

brian 333

2024-07-30, 03:21 PM

Traveller is a decent system.

My question is, are we still limited to chemical reaction thrusters? Tech Level 8 or so?

Thrust plates come in at TL9, and Jump 1 at 10. You don't need the gate network after that, though it may be nice to have.

Trade:
Gates choke trade. Imagine that it takes one minute to open the gate and close it. You can microburst data transmissions to 1440 other gates in a day. But if you want to move bulk goods? Now you are in a scheduling nightmare because you lose 60 transmissions an hour, and you need to communicate when the next delay is coming so your gate isn't busy when your freighter is incoming.

What are you using the gates for, and are there people there who might object?

Local power blocs can be tiny, or they can be huge. There is enough room in space to get away from their zone of influence, in just about any direction.

Finally, do not forget the slowboats. Assume asteroid colonies. Why does a colony need to stay where it was built? Any self-sustaining colony can strap on some ion engines, load ice until it exceeds 99% of the total volume, and scoot out beyond any possibility of pursuit. Purpose built slowboats can over time achieve hefty percentages of light speed, even at very low thrust. Less fuel/reaction mass after accelerating means they don't have to slow down until beyond the halfway point. And if you plan on permanently living on the space colony, why worry about where it's going? Your grandchildren might want to colonize a world, but the colony ship can just refuel and repair, then shoot for the next star.

sktarq

2024-07-30, 04:27 PM

How Many stars in the network?

Well as this is the first time humans are using the network. It won't directly matter much as humans will not get to notice the difference directly.
So what about indirectly? Well the more stars are hooked up the higher chance that someone else is going to have also stumbled into the system. So then how those others interact with each other and the network itself becomes the dominant issue. A way of having both by the way would be to have multiple networks that have only a very few common points and are non inter-operational....Which allows you to keep to your focused network...until you need to bring in some distant "other". Also if you need to cross the solar systems between the gates remember from Oort cloud to opposite oort cloud wall could be 2-4 light years across with a sun like star....so even at some relativistic fraction it is still a HELL of trip between each jump.

As for how much the civ groups matter....as much as you want to. The keys are how reliant and how exposed are the people at any point to these power groups.
On earth they are highly exposed but may not be very reliant....people may be able to join smaller independent factions quite easily or not depending on what you pick.
While out in the Oort cloud it could be the word of the civs takes a year to arrive anyway so they have sort it out themselves and who cares what they think. Or it could be that it takes are huge complex power base to get any and highly critical support to these bases and so to piss them off is suicide (and thus they are dominant as even the megacorps can't do it alone) but people are always sneaking around the edges anyway.

Biggest question is what do you want the players to do? Then start asking who would want to get the players to do that. Who would to stop them. Then start look at reasons why or why not such a group or idea would be a power centre. So if you power centres end being highly competitive government groups then I would think the major governments would be very important. But if you have a medley of corporations, smaller to larger government, cultural movements, religions, etc then those bigger governments may be more background/cultural/facilitator types...which may be good for less DM directed play where the players are more free agents. If you players all come from different civs that is fine but you have to ask how self directed that is...if the governments assigned these people to this mission because it is the first of its kind then those people are basically government agents and so the government will be important TO THEM. Vs if they are an assemblage that could only come together because the governments CAN'T stop or prevent them then you have to ask why they did and the gov's probably don't matter as much. To the story it matters as much who your players are dealing with...so the ship assemblage/base around each gate could be all about the various civs/govs/factions while the rest of the Oort cloud is a bunch of freebooting dust collectors who don't care but to your players the gov factions are the dominant thing even if that is only true for 1% of 1% of 1% of the region.

also does each gate have only one or multiple possible destinations depending on how you activate it? because if each gate has only 1 or very few destinations that simplifies things a lot.

Babale

2024-07-30, 06:04 PM

I'll clarify a bit about the gates/beacons since there are a few questions about them now.

I'm imagining them as big beacons, more like a lighthouse than a gate. Each beacon has a single paired beacon in a distant star system. The pairs are connected by this trail of exotic matter. Maybe it's matter with a negative mass, since that's supposed to be useful for all kinds of space-time shenanigans, if it can exist.

A starship that's near the beacon can use the trail of exotic matter to create a warped bubble of space-time that carries it along. Basically, FTL uses an Alcubierre drive, but one that only works along these pre built roads or lanes that were created by an extremely ancient and extremely advanced civilization.

Each star system that's connected to the network has a couple of beacons on its outer edges. Dead ends or cul de sacs would be somewhat rare, so most stars will have 2 to 3 beacons, but some might be busy junctions with even more.

Babale

2024-07-30, 06:05 PM

There are other forms of FTL but they would only be known to very advanced alien civilizations.

LibraryOgre

2024-07-30, 07:39 PM

This sounds somewhat like Mass Effect's FTL using Mass Effect Relays; element zero allows for some weird effects where things have effectively zero mass, allowing them to be accelerated well past the speed of light. You thus can have instantaneous transmission between star systems, even across the galaxy. Fading Suns also comes to mind.

But, to badly quote Galactic Civilization 3, "Be careful where you explore. What is new to you is ancient to others." I would think about when humans are going to encounter their first aliens, who the aliens are likely to encounter (warship? Explorer? Corporate mining colony?). That will somewhat determine how the humans see the network... we'll know a few jumps out from Sol, but if we run into aliens at jump 3, we're going to start seeing things at least partially through their previous explorations.

That is not a criticism, just an observation.

Babale

2024-07-30, 09:28 PM

Once you understand the principles by which the network operates and build a ship that can warp along it, you don't need a key or to unlock new lanes - they are there, marked by beacons.

However, it does take some time (I'm thinking a week to a month) to warp, and primitive ships (like the ones humans have) take a long time to charge up near the beacon before they can start warping.

That being said - once you make a couple of jumps in the same direction, you should be able to use the shifting perspective of far away stars to figure out where you are; and if you jump in as close to a straight line as possible a few times, you'd be able to tell whether the network is dense enough that you've only gone a few hundred light years, or if you're some significant portion of the way across the galactic disk...

What's kinda growing on me is the idea of a 'known space' (to borrow a term from a SciFi author) - a bubble containing maybe a thousand or so star systems - which has a few (as in like, a hundred, as opposed to tens of thousands) of entry points. These chokepoints are places where civilizations have managed to hold off some threat. So for example - there's a region of space that's infested with replicating robots bent on destruction of all intelligent life - luckily it's only connected to the part of the Network where Earth is by a handful of lanes, and each system that's bordering these regions is incredibly heavily fortified, with massive space stations hosting huge armadas of warships, manned by whole planets' worth of troops and equipped by a dozen star forges.

And the reason that none of the civilizations in 'known space' are able to fully 'civilize' their part of the Galaxy (and thus prevent upstart chimps like us from developing space travel) is that their full attention is occupied at the borders.

Traveller is a decent system.

My question is, are we still limited to chemical reaction thrusters? Tech Level 8 or so?

Thrust plates come in at TL9, and Jump 1 at 10. You don't need the gate network after that, though it may be nice to have.

I'd say that humanity is actually at T9 or even T10; however this universe is a bit 'harder' scifi than assumed by Traveler. So humanity doesn't have artificial gravity; at T10 instead of figuring out jump drives civilizations learn how to 'hack' into the warp lanes and use them, but actually developing your own FTL capabilities, either building new lanes or something like a jump drive, is T13+.

I started using the term 'Beacon' in this thread because I think 'Gate' might be a little misleading. I envision it as basically a tube shaped region of space, about as wide across as a small planet, that stretches from one beacon to another. Within this region, warp travel at faster than light speeds is possible. Outside of these lanes, it isn't (as far as humans, or any of the species they're likely to meaningfully interact with, are concerned).

Babale

2024-07-30, 10:15 PM

How Many stars in the network?

I am responding slowly as I read through the thread, but this idea - interconnected nodules separated by chokepoints - is fantastic. I think that's exactly what I will go for. In our sector of the Galactic Disc, there are maybe... a dozen? (I could have my thinking changed on this, up or down)... civilizations somewhat more advanced than Earth, who control a handful of planets each. They all seem to have reached space within a couple thousand years of Earth - a 'coincidence' explained by the fact that every so often (on the scale of millions of years), galactic threats tend to sweep through and wipe out interstellar civilizations, and this is about how long it takes to evolve back from that... (Maybe Earth was a frontier colony for another species 65 million years ago, and the dinosaurs were collateral damage!).

If I go this route, then as people took to the stars, they probably did find some signs of alien technology in our own solar system, even before they found the Beacons. That knowledge will probably have been suppressed (65 million years is a long time for even objects in space to go without being destroyed, after all, and the limited examples could be explained as human tech once humans are actually out in space...) It could be fun to tell the players that there haven't been signs of alien life during character creation, but then reveal the suppressed knowledge at their 'mission briefing' during the first session.

Also if you need to cross the solar systems between the gates remember from Oort cloud to opposite oort cloud wall could be 2-4 light years across with a sun like star....so even at some relativistic fraction it is still a HELL of trip between each jump.

I think the journey should take about 3 months. Long enough that it's a major impediment to travel, and long enough that long periods of travel allow me to do things like let an Earth colony get established a hop or two from Earth; but short enough that the players don't feel like it's a new campaign each time they leave a solar system.

Oh, that is a good point, I think there should be some power structures off Earth. In the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, perhaps - a resource concentration far from Earth itself.

also does each gate have only one or multiple possible destinations depending on how you activate it? because if each gate has only 1 or very few destinations that simplifies things a lot.

Each beacon leads to one other system.

and do the players know how to get back to Sol btw? I ask because the first mission would most likely be about seeing if there is another gate that you arrive at and if it can be turned on for the other end. Maybe that mission has been done and PC's mission is to actually go look at what the centre of the new solar system is like? If so they would have passable idea most likely as those hanging out at the gate probably brought a nice big telescope just for that.
They have sent probes to confirm that two way travel is possible, that the internal clock doesn't show that transit takes a month for an outside observer but thousands of years for the traveler, etc. - so they know it's not a one way trip, but they don't really know what's on the other side.

That is not a criticism, just an observation.
I would hope my players get to be First Contact, actually. Them, or one of the ships going through another lane; but if that did happen, they wouldn't actually know about it!

I do want some ancient aliens, remnants from before the last time a cycle swept through this part of the Galaxy.

Babale

2024-07-31, 09:03 AM

I've been giving the powers of Earth a lot of thought. I'm not quite satisfied with these blocs, but I think they make a good foundation. You'll also notice they get less detailed as I go, I haven't fully fleshed them all out yet...

1) In the years leading up to the third world war, as the Earth's resources began to run dry, Spanish speaking South America (so everything except Brazil) found itself funding other nations' war efforts. Many countries fell under the sway of foreign nations or corporations. During the war, a general (who in the post war years would claim descent from Simon Bolivar) rose to prominence by leading his nation to successfully rebel against foreign influence. Through shrewd political maneuvers and a few decisive battles, he was able to unite much of South America, over which he would rule as President for the rest of his life. His successors took up the mantle of Napoleonic style Emperors.

2) On paper, the United States, Mexico, and the southern parts of Canada still exist as independent and democratic nations. In reality, immensely powerful mega-corps run the show in all three governments. Before the war, these corporations were even more powerful, with world-wide reach; afterwards, even their former allies started to check their power. As a result, these groups turned inwards, consolidating power where they still held away to an even greater extent.

4) Rising sea levels devastated many of the island nations of the Pacific, as well as the coastal nations of Southeast Asia. These communities, along with Australia, came together in the post-war world. Some islands had to be evacuated, as did some massive coastal cities. Others were protected by enormous (and expensive) sea walls. Australia, the only one of these nations with land to spare, found itself the home to many new refugees. The unified Pacific states are also democratic.

5) One place where global warming has actually been somewhat beneficial is the North Sea, which has become a hub of trade and commerce. Breaking away from their American-dominated countrymen to the South, the northern coast of Canada joined up with the British isles, Scandinavia, parts of Northern Europe, and what's left of Russia (west of the Urals) to form the North Sea Federation, the last democratic power bloc on our list.

This is where the ideas get just a bit thinner...

6) Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East - this is probably the craziest one I'm imagining. I'm thinking the war and other disasters have led to an increase in religious faith. Rather than leading to conflict, though, there's some kind of king or emperor who has managed to convince *both* of the dominant religious groups in the region to endorse their rule. So you have a couple different and very powerful religious institutions, and they both give their legitimacy to the same ruler.

7) China - I know that they've come to possess Russia's eastern holdings. Beyond that, I'm not too sure. Maybe some kind of technocracy or science directorate?

9) India - maybe some kind of spiritual or religious movement? That's what Beyond Earth did and I don't have a different inspiration.

brian 333

2024-07-31, 02:01 PM

8 Japan and Korea

A feudal technocracy in which government by corporations is licensed from the Emperor. Corporate Security is the police power in often overlapping zones of influence while military authority is reserved to the Imperial Throne. Corporate taxes are paid at least in part with manufactured items and supplies that support the military. Military officers are composed entirely of members of the extended Imperial Family, while soldiers are either volunteers or conscripted from the otherwise unemployed population. Only volunteers are promoted to NCO ranks.
The power of the emperor is often usurped by the generals, but strong emperors have been known to 'clean the ranks of disloyal officers' from time.

9 India

Often accused of being a theocracy, India is actually a strange federation of many theocracies, despotisms, and feudal baronies. Local traditions vary wildly from almost complete individual freedom to absolute tyranny. Castes are mandatory or forbidden based on location.

Appointment to the Rajya Sabha is entirely up to the local jurisdiction. International affairs are controlled by the Raja and his feudal officers, (who have a bewildering variety of titles and ranks.)

The military is composed of levies trained and supported by the local rulers, under the ultimate command of the nobility.

Which deities are worshipped is far more important than location in the governmental organization, so a worshipper of a deity commonly worshipped in a distant location is under the authority of the distant government, while still required to show respect for local customs and laws.

Use what you like, and modify or discard the rest.

Babale

2024-07-31, 04:04 PM

8 Japan and Korea

Oooh, corporate feudalism... I really like that. That's perfect. I'm definitely using that for Japan and Korea.

9 India

The military is composed of levies trained and supported by the local rulers, under the ultimate command of the nobility.

Use what you like, and modify or discard the rest.

The way you describe religion working in India is actually very close to what I was going for in Southern Europe/the Middle East. Which gives me an idea.

Merge the two blocs, and put them under a Persian Shah. The imperial administration is secular, but works hand in hand with religious authorities in each area.

Babale

2024-07-31, 06:08 PM

So while I'm still fleshing out who the actual factions are... What about their holdings within the solar system? (At this time no one holds anything outside of the solar system. Whether interstellar colonies belong to one of the nations or to humanity as a whole will depend in part on what the players end up doing.)

I'm thinking that maybe Mars and the Moon are split between China, the North Sea Fed (courtesy of Russia), and the American corps. These are the oldest colonies and belong to the nations that were leading the space race in the 'old order'.

But the other powers have more colonies in other places. Maybe one of them has Mercury and the inner orbits locked down while the others are based in the moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

The ships will be Expanse style 1g constant acceleration ships.

brian 333

2024-07-31, 09:43 PM

So, Traveller TL9 with higher TL relics scattered about.

I like the Moon as as a brush-war battlefield. Factionalized local powers infiltrated by rebels seeking independence, (defined differently by every rebel and rebel group,) vie for control of the unclaimed spots and work to destabilize the control outside powers have over their territory.

Mechanized individuals and units raid, rarely achieving more than nuisance objectives, with an every once in a while actual battle.

New Idea: The Heirophany of Vesta
The dwarf planet Vesta is riddled with tunnels which began as mines and became a world-spanning colony under the administration of a religious oligarchy. Those devoted to this religion seek to become a society of privilege whose needs are met by autonomous machines. The average Vestan works 8 hours/week, but is required to spend 40+ hours in religious observations and rituals.

The automated factories of Vesta build machinery to order which is shipped around the Solar System. While some factions want to prevent them selling to others, none are willing to risk being boycotted by Vesta.

The citizenry may or may not be happy under the rule of the heirophants. Most reports come from those who have 'escaped' and access to the common folk is strictly controlled by the Heirophany to prevent 'cultural contamination.'

But, if you want a quality battle tank or spaceship, the 'Made On Vesta' label carries a lot of weight.

sktarq

2024-07-31, 09:48 PM

I've been giving the powers of Earth a lot of thought. I'm not quite satisfied with these blo
Kay heres some feedback. Just ideas. Use, toss, take inspiration as you will. Have fun with it.

1) In the years leading up to the third world war, as theHis successors took up the mantle of Napoleonic style Emperors.
10/10 no notes

2) On paper, the United States, Mexico, and the southern parts of Canada still exist as indep.....r where they still held away to an even greater extent.
Well since canada has somewhat broken up. ...why not have the whole mass have somewhat broken into regional blocks in the aftermath of the war that were basically held together a super block by said corps? So like a zaibatsu led EU? One reason for it is that the corps can play of the individual nations against each other to keep any uppity one in line but also gives more space to build highly ecceltic characters or places that won't scale.

3) Brazil and SubSaharan Africa, both hit incredibly hard by climate change yet somewhat spared the worst of the war, have seen their people rally together and make incredible progress as they met their challenges. This is now the most populous bloc in the world. A democratic federation stretches across both continents. Maybe I have just seen this too many times (unified africa rising) that it is stale and part of me finds it highly reductionist to paint africa as basically one culture/country so I'm going to toss out counters.
One that dominates west and central africa. A dynamic malestrom of competing powers. Generals, Preachers, witch doctors, and magnates each rise and fall here on the regular. Whoever can push the nation forward tends to make a play and while power is a bloodsport the nation as a whole happily grabs the best of each great man/woman leader in turn. A highly centralized Presidential democracy where those who capture the mind and will of the people can be raised to greatness and achieve much in their term but must also appease the will of the crowd

One that dominates eastern and southern africa. Asura rising. Based on the Tanz/Kenya/Rwanda/Uganda group actually proposed. A democratic federation t
Whose biggest issue is that they will talk EVERYTHING out ad infinitum leading to a slow but highly unified government that can handle huge long term projects well once they finally start moving.

And an independent brick that is Ethiopia. Parliamentary monarchy. New power in the world surrounded by bigger more established ones while having an ancient tradition of their own. Think 'Asian Tiger' type economies.

And finally Brasil....how about a coup by super soldiers has led to a technical military dictatorship with only those of the "superior blood" can vote. However the benign dictatorship is popular and has done huge things in improving the lives of their people...think Singapore or Rwanda in modern terms.

5) One place where global warming has actually .... North Sea Federation, the last democratic power bloc on our list.
Well toss in iceland and greenland being settled by people fleeing places like Lincolnshire or the low countries, and Id say NW russia (see below). Also "n coast" needs some definition. Labrador, nova scotia and the maratimes seem to be a prime area for this culturally but they are mostly east. Also remember half of canada is in the st lawrence line basically. Also with an expanding north and baltic sea basically that basin would take most of the land north of the alps so may want to toss in parts of poland, germany and n france. And for flavor how about since this area of the world does have actual kings today how about the various islands and regions within have various nobles but are basically celebrities and the parliaments run things but it gives the n sea types a reputation of being obsessed with them and followers of the gossip mags..also many if not most children learn to sail/boat from an early age as so much of the nation is an archipelago. This has led to a collection of skills and norma that has translated well to space ship crews and thus make up a disproportionate amount of the 'for hire' crews.

This is where the ideas get just a bit thinner...

6) Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East - this is probably the craziest one I'm imagining. I'm thinking the war and other disasters have led to an increase in religious faith. Rather than and they both give their legitimacy to the same ruler....I really like this idea. But the how is a bit of nut. My idea is that the war was so bad that when a 'new prophet' arose people were willing to listen. Maybe they thought the war was the apocalypse and this is some sort of spiritual reset? They sell themselves as being part of/an evolution of each major religion more than a separate one.

7) China - I know that they've come to possess Russia's eastern holdings. Beyond that, I'm not too sure. Maybe some kind of technocracy or science directorate?
In contrast how about they have fallen back to their core (Yellow, Yangtze, and gone isolationist again for a generation during the rebuilding and are only now reengaging with the world. And how about some kind of caste system based on projected employment. Gene therapy and surgeries to make each person the most perfect version of their expected profession.

8) Japan and Korea - at first I was gonna include these with the Pacific or Chinese (would have been more of an East Asian Federation) blocs, but it occurs to me that it could actually be interesting to have them be corporate dominated, but in a different flavor than the American corps.
I was thinking it would this group who have taken russia east of Siberian Traps basically adding the Manchu and also getting a larger land/resource bases. Perhaps focus on the chebol system of korea where you have these ruling families/clans in charge of the corporations to distinguish from N America?

9) India - maybe some kind of spiritual or religious movement? That's what Beyond Earth did and I don't have a different inspiration.....well major sea level rise would majorly help cut off India. With Bangladesh and a fair chunk of the Indus valley in Pakistan flooding India would be more isolated. Also a United India is historically weird (Asoka in 600 BCE and then the Brits) so how about it splits again and the two sides HATE each other. Think N and S Korea. This gives an instant conflict that carries wherever their citizens go. Less sure about what the deep divide is but how about the S is a bunch of mercantile ministates vs that same spiritual movement. Perhaps look at some their weirder yogis who have something of a megachurch like equivalent in our world.

As for Others
NEOTETHYS. Perhaps the largest change with the rising sea level was the return, yet again, of the tethys sea. More a return of the Paratethys if one wishes to be technical but the brackish sea has grown and merged from the Black sea and now includes the Caspian and Aral seas once again. Refugees flocked to its shores and mostly under Russian influence a new nation grew encompassing all but its southern shore. This nation controls from the Carpathians to Siberia and much of Central Asia. Though they have lost nw russia to the north sea nation.

Persia. In the aftermath of the war three groups restitched this nation together. Firstly was the sanction busters who would connect to anyone criminal, war lord, rogue nation who could get them what they needed. Second was the massive official charities who better placed to fill the role that many others would need to elsewhere and so the nation survived better. And lastly the groups who molded the economy to be able to produce everything/as much as possible from their own resources so as world trade collapsed this nation fell less than others. Since then these groups have taken over the military and hold all the power in the nation. Their central feel is that of of self reliance at scale, internal focus etc. While there is a fig leaf of democracy everyone know who runs the show. The nation has also expanded down to coastal city of Baghdad in the west (due to flooding) and the unflooded western parts of Pakistan with parts of Turkey and conflicts in central asia with neotethys. Gives good excuses for criminal connections in 'good' characters, espionage, etc.

SE ASIA Burma, Indian Seven Sisters, down to Indonesia west of Wallace Line and up to maybe Yunan. Not sure what here. But has interesting potential.

Some other interesting flooded areas. Lower Mississippi, possibly some linkage of great lakes either with Mississippi basin or strait out the st Lawrence. Also look up the maps of the era of S American mega swamps. Where inland seas stretched south from around the Orinoco to east peru and much of the pantanal and amazon was also flooded. Toss in bangladesh again as the disruption of that population movement would be huge. But also areas like Jakarta, Yangon, and Bangkok would all be gone. Also parts of c australia could flood as the ocean moves up the murray...there was a sea their once amd could be again...would open up that area to much denser settlement which may be where some of those islanders went.

Finally if you are thinking you want to have few months to cross a solar system you have a problem but an easily solvable one. The Oort cloud is 3-9 light MONTHS from the sun. So is a HUGE trip but the Kuiper belt is only 4-9 light HOURS. And ao much more reasonable. Perhaps the beacons collected ice particles over eons and thus were camouflaged until the neg energy trails were detected. As for speeds. If the beacons are at 42 AU (dense Kuiper) youd be looking at 96 days at 0.25% in of c. Or if at 55AU (where the belt starts getting thin and remote) it would be 126 days to get there at the same speed. And perhaps after the players steal, buy, scavenge some tech they can get a better ship that goes 0.5% c and so has a 48 or 63 day radial trip and thus the original times would be the cross time not the enter or exit time. . . Which is the 3-4 months you were looking for. So easy fix IMO

Babale

2024-08-01, 10:10 AM

Alright... I've been giving it some more thought, and based on a bunch of the recent feedback, I've thought of a few final adjustments that should bring Earth closer to completion.

First, the Japanese+Korean conglomerate is gonna have coastal China and Taiwan added in. This leaves more rural inner China, as well as Manchuria, plus Eastern Russia. I figured this could be an interesting way to split off urban, "developed" China to a different faction, much as we did for Western Russia, which leaves us with a more cohesive faction, I think. Rather than a theme of China dominating Siberia and the Steppes, we have these regions as independent.

Which brings us to the question of what to do with this faction. I think they should triple down on genetic engineering. Cities like Ulaanbaatar or Irkutsk can become massive metropolises thanks to skyscraper sized vertical greenhouses, and perhaps they can be leaders in human augmentation, too. Maybe their colonies in Saturn have a real "we have aliens at home" vibe.

LibraryOgre

2024-08-01, 10:50 AM

So, another example to consider1 is from Schlock Mercenary. This is spread over 20 years of webcomics2, but I'll try to find a specific strip at some point to point you to. Anyway...

At the beginning of the series, the galaxy is connected by Wormgates, provided by the Wormgate Corporation, run by an ancient race usually known as the Gatekeepers, or the F'sherl-Ganni. The various gates connect star systems in the Gate Network, with some being gates that simply send all traffic from point A to Point B, but don't send from B to A, while other gates can connect to multiple different destinations.

But what this means is that there is a fair amount of the galaxy that ISN'T linked to the network; no gate, and you can't do interstellar travel by anything other than some fraction of c (and usually not a big fraction).

So, this network wouldn't necessarily be all the habitable planets, just the ones connected to the network. And, like a subdivision, you might have places that are fairly close to each other not on the network... it might be that Alpha Centauri is also on the network, but you have to route through six different systems because there's no direct link.

1 I'm just riffing off things, here. Your ideas draw from a deep well of sci-fi canon, and so there are other examples that might provide help.
2 You really should read them; they are possibly the greatest sci-fi series of this century.

Babale

2024-08-01, 11:57 AM

So, Traveller TL9 with higher TL relics scattered about.

Mechanized individuals and units raid, rarely achieving more than nuisance objectives, with an every once in a while actual battle.

Hmm, that's definitely a fun idea. The other option I was playing with was having the moon be the seat of power of the UN replacement that formed after WW3. But it might be more thematic to have them on Earth. I definitely want that kind of brush war SOMEWHERE in the solar system, though. Maybe the Asteroid Belt, with a few large bodies controlled by the major powers and everything else being a free for all.

But, if you want a quality battle tank or spaceship, the 'Made On Vesta' label carries a lot of weight.
I'm thinking each Persian colony would be ruled by a religious governor from a different faith, and some of them would be super strict theocracies.

Good idea. Break North America up into regional powers led by corporations.

These are all good ideas but I wanted to avoid having too many blocs which is why I figured I'd unite them together.

6) Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East - this is probably the craziest one I'm imagining. I'm thinking the war and other disasters have led to an increase in religious faith. Rather than and they both give their legitimacy to the same ruler....I really like this idea. But the how is a bit of nut. My idea is that the war was so bad that when a 'new prophet' arose people were willing to listen. Maybe they thought the war was the apocalypse and this is some sort of spiritual reset? They sell themselves as being part of/an evolution of each major religion more than a separate one.

The big thing I can think of is, actual Persia in history came in as liberators. So maybe that's basically what happened.

In the aftermath of the war, you had more and more religious people in these regions, and it led to religious conflict over like you said, people viewing the war as the apocalypse. The unrest led states in the region to crack down on these religious movements. Maybe in some places they rebelled against the local powers and won, only for external powers to come in and put them back down.

Then when the Persian conquerors come in, end the secular regime, and put the local religious group back into power - they are seen as divinely inspired liberators, even if they don't follow the same faith.

As noted above, I actually gave Korea/Japan the Chinese urban centers while splitting off rural China. I like the idea of the corporations being controlled by old bloodlines with each country having its native corporations and all three groups coordinating.

Ships are gonna be Expanse style constant acceleration ships. Normal ships will accelerate at between .8 and 1.1g, with the PCs starting out in a top of the line explorer ship that can do 1.25 if needed. Obviously, that's quite uncomfortable for extended periods of time. (The ship can manage much more than that in combat, but not when cruising).

So I'm thinking the Beacons should be about 100 AU from the stars they orbit. That's far enough that even when orbiting the largest stars (about 8 AU across) you're nice and distant, and far enough that there shouldn't be anything particularly big around.

That's about 28 days to go from a beacon to the star, and between one and a half to twice that time to reach other beacons. Works for me.

So, another example to consider1 is from Schlock Mercenary. This is spread over 20 years of webcomics2, but I'll try to find a specific strip at some point to point you to. Anyway...

Yeah, I am definitely treading old ground here! X4 has a very similar network, although there the stars that are connected by gates could be all the way across the galaxy. My vision is closer to what we see in Stellaris, with warp lanes crisscrossing the map - but like you say, the closest star could be many jumps away.

Babale

2024-08-01, 07:30 PM

Alright, so shifting gears for a second... I want to think about what's out there for the players to find.

As suggested by another post above, I think it is very interesting for the hyperlanes to form 'bubbles' of highly interconnected stars with only a handful of connections out to the rest of the network. And on a fractal level, I think it makes a lot of sense for groups of these 'bubbles' to form larger groups, that are relatively interconnected but only have a few connections outwards.

Repeating this process a few times, we could end up with a decent number of stars - say, 1,000 or so - with only a dozen exits to the rest of the Network. If each of these chokepoints is blocked by some currently insurmountable barrier, it could go a long way towards explaining why humanity, and the other relatively young civilizations in the region, survived long enough to evolve without being engulfed by some interstellar threat or being colonized by an earlier civilization.

I don't necessarily need to know all of these obstacles now, but having some ideas will be handy for two reasons. First, if these obstacles cannot be overcome by any civilization in the cluster, it puts an upper limit on how advanced they can be. Second, the PCs may hear about the obstacles that are closer to Earth and Sol a long time before they actually get there, once they make contact with aliens. Finally, if any of these threats are expansionist, then the threat may define a civilization or group of civilizations who oppose said threat and keep it at bay.

With that being said - some options, in the very earliest stage of brain storming:

1) An ancient and extremely advanced civilization claims the stars beyond one of the chokepoints. They forbid anyone from passing through their system. The wrecked remains of an entire alien fleet silently float through space near the Beacon, a monument to the stupidity of a warlord who had tried to press the issue.

2) Warping is very energy intensive, and the most efficient way to generate that energy is Fusion. Even the best starships invented in the cluster require refueling within a half dozen jumps. Carrying additional fuel doesn't solve the problem because more fuel means more mass and trying to carry enough fuel for a 7th jump means you need more fuel for every jump prior, and it ends up increasing exponentially no matter how efficient your drives are. Luckily, fusion is very easy to find fuel for. Any gas giant or planet with an atmosphere will do, or any comet with water ice. Unfortunately, this path leads to a gauntlet of black hole systems, none of whom have accretion disks - they are unnaturally empty systems. No one knows how many jumps the gauntlet extends; those who have tried to find out never returned.

Babale

2024-08-03, 08:15 AM

Random thought: the Spanish speaking militaristic nation in South America (dang, it needs a name) should be naming their colonies the way the Spanish did in the Americas:

The original name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula" (in English, "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the River Porciúncula")

brian 333

2024-08-03, 09:46 AM

Space Critters

Ice Worms:
Hatched in the Oort Clouds of stars, these creatures mine cold bodies for organic chemicals which they metabolize by absorbing energy from the various radiation bands present in the void between stars.

Because their external integument is primarily mineral, the Ice Worm is segmented to allow locomotion. This 'skin' cracks as the worm grows, and the outermost layers flake and abrade as the creature burrows through organic rock and ice, giving it the appearance of rough tree bark. Its burrowing tends to spiral through the material it consumes, and its excretions are generally dust and gas.

The life cycle of the Ice Worm begins with a 2cm ovoid encased in a mineral shell. (Typically nickel/iron.) The parent ejects the egg from its ovipositor with a powerful jet of gas, sometimes at rates exceeding 1500m/s. The egg flies until it impacts another Oort Cloud body. At that point, it has been absorbing radiation, perhaps for thousands of years, and it bursts from its shell as a highly energetic, if tiny, segmented worm. If it is fortunate enough to have landed on a body containing some methane it can grow. At the young age of about ten-thousand years, (give or take a few millennium depending upon available nutrition,) the worm grows to a length of twelve meters with a girth of about 75cm and begins to form and eject its eggs. Though at this point its growth is slowed, the ice worm will continue to grow throughout its life. The species is so long lived that it is unknown if it can die of old age. Far more common is that it is the victim of its own offspring because ice worms are cannibalistic.

When the body it is on is barren of consumables, the ice worm can wind itself into a tight coil and spring away, hopefully toward a more habitable chunk of ice. Course correction is possible, but limited, through controlled excretion of gasses. How they 'see' is unknown, but it is suspected that they have gravitic and magnetic sensors. It is known that they detect organic molecules, somehow, but the range and accuracy of its sensory organs is unknown.

Spaceships and people are filled with organic molecules, and are prime targets for ice worms of any size.

Babale

2024-08-03, 11:28 AM

Oooh, I like the Ice Worms! That is a great idea.

Babale

2024-08-03, 01:19 PM

I think the next step is to come up with a handful of alien civs to populate the pocket of galaxy that's going to be accessible. I can fully flesh out the threats that keep us contained to this part of the Network later.

My thought is, let's do a couple of relatively 'standard' scifi races. They'll be relatively humanoid in both shape and demeanor. And about as many races that are super weird and different from Humans.

I'm imagining that each species controls a

One idea I have is inspired by the Worldwar series by Harry Turtledove. They'd be reptilians, from an arid world, who are a very old race - one of the oldest to find the Network this Cycle (IE since the last time that some galactic scale threat wiped out all intelligent life in the sector). They have been a spacefaring civilization for almost a hundred thousand years. As a species, though, theyt are extremely conservative and slow to change. A single dynasty - the same one that first took over the race's homeworld when it first united and developed spaceflight - has ruled for that entire time. They haven't been totally idle, though - once in a couple dozen millennia, after much careful consideration and scouting, they have invaded and conquered the homeworlds of other, less advanced species who were still in a pre-stellar phase. These species have, over the course of thousands of years, been integrated into the main empire.

Another idea is for a species who lives almost entirely in stations and habitats. Maybe their homeworld was destroyed, or maybe it's been so long that they just aren't fond of gravity anymore. They could be a peaceful trading race for the most part, but maybe some of them are pirates.

For more truly alien species... Insecty aliens are always popular, but that's a bit stereotypical. May need to give it more thought...

brian 333

2024-08-03, 04:44 PM

Spheracles: amoeboid creatures which are unicellular and which communicate with one another by exchanging RNA strands. They have rigid cillia which are hollow. When they meet one another they use them as hypodermic needles and inject one another with protoplasm, giving and receiving memories and experiences. Every member of a community quickly becomes identical, and only in isolation can a member of this communal mind become an individual. (They sometimes isolate small groups or individuals so that they can gain a unique solution to problems, but these spheracles consider this to be hardship duty.)

They are technological, but not very innovative, and tend to build ships large enough for several thousand individuals. They need much less room than humans, being content to limit themselves to two or three cubic meters, (with the largest spheracle being about 3/4 of a cubic meter,) but they crave companionship. Isolated spheracles fission, if food and space is available, so that they do not have to be alone.

Humans fear them because they cannot effectively communicate. Their instinct is to inject newly met individuals, which is fatal to humans.

Adventure hook: learn to communicate, by radio, semaphore, or whatever. Perhaps, since they can click their cillia together to produce sound, some kind of Morse Code might work. Convincing them that RNA injections are fatal to humans may prove difficult, though.

Gas Giant Giant Centipedes: creatures which crawl along the floor of the vast oceans of compressed gasses that exist above the compressed carbon cores of gas giants usually do not achieve sentience. These massive, multilimbed, armored creatures have, and have created their own, unique, technology.

Sightless, they navigate and communicate with sonar, which they have created tools to use in less dense atmospheres. This was a short step toward radar, especially since they have a natural electrical generation and storage capability. They favor dense atmospheres which would crush humans, though they appear to have no preferred gravity. Outside of such an atmosphere, they wear space suits which cover their bodies with powerful elastic bands.

They have a vague idea of trade. They have been known to rip open the hulls of ships to take items of cargo, leaving strange items in its place.

They do build ships small enough to carry one Giant, with a "living space" large enough to house a hundred humans. These 'scouts' go about their business ignoring humans, usually. Humans have rarely guessed what that business might be. Larger 'trade ships' have crews of a dozen or more, while colony ships have room for a hundred or more.

They favor dense atmospheres which would crush humans, though they appear to have no preferred gravity. They use gravitic and coherent electrical arc weapons which humans have yet to duplicate, which are more powerful than anything humans have developed.

This race has been using the network for thousands of years. They rarely interact with humans, and usually choose to destroy anyone who tries to prevent their use of a gate. Humans typically just open any gate the Giants appear to be headed to.

Adventure hook: a cargo was raided and the giants left behind an equal tonnage of diamonds. Perhaps the cargo was valuable and the owners want it back, but the industrial value of the diamonds was enormous, and establishing trade for them would prove lucrative, even if a few ships were lost. (Especially if those ships were owned by subcontractors.)

Also: Look into Larry Niven's Outsiders for inspiration.

Millstone85

2024-08-03, 06:23 PM

a region of space that's infested with replicating robots bent on destruction of all intelligent lifeThe robots' modus operandi when arriving in a new system could involve building a Dyson sphere, i.e. completely surrounding the star with photovoltaic panels, earning them monikers such as "sun eaters" or "the darkness". It could also remain a mystery whether they are actually aiming for the destruction of organic life or just bulldozering through it in their pursuit of self-replication.

Humans fear them because they cannot effectively communicate. Their instinct is to inject newly met individuals, which is fatal to humans.IIRC, the game Star Trek: Elite Force has a similar twist in one of the missions. The crew encounters aliens who seem determined to electrocute them. Turns out they communicate by electric shocks and were trying to start a conversation.

brian 333

2024-08-04, 10:44 AM

Proxima Centauri b is an Earth like world stuck in a semi-permanent ice age. It has a day equal to one and one half of its years, (about 20 Earth days,) and has a single ocean of extremely salty water facing the star, melting as the world turns beneath it and freezing as a slushy foam when it turns away. It's polar zones are permanently capped in ice so dense that it has the characteristics of stone. The atmosphere is very Mars-like, with toxic, (to humans,) levels of CO2, but also including about 16% O2.

Surprisingly, there are creatures living on this world. They are more plant-like than animal-like, absent the roots. They consume the black algae-analogues that proliferate in the icy salt-sea by filtering seawater and are themselves food for higher-order predators.

All of the species are photophiles, which become dormant in the absence of light. The predatory ones tend to be most active at dawn and dusk while the more vegetative ones tend to be most active at mid-day. All species are black, and their visual organs, (more like oyster eyes, in that they are photo-receptors which detect movement rather than resolve images,) are located on the edges of the many ribbon-like appendages which sprout from the central body, which contains a 'stomache' and a brain.

It surprised humans when they discovered that the mounds of salt on the coasts were actually cities, constructed by an intelligent species of amphibious predator. What appeared at first to be dikes caused by repeated refreezing turned out to be farms created by the Sunbathers, where fish-analogues grow, protected from wild predators by salt-berms.

A unique characteristic of this species is their tendency to lay out on the salt-berms and houses in the mid-day hours to socialize and absorb the weak light of the sun. While most species on this world have similar habits, the Sunbathers congregate in dense clusters. When night is falling, they go into their salt-houses to sleep.

They are naturally skilled chemists, and were making their first advances into extraplanetary exploration when discovered by humanity.

Babale

2024-08-05, 12:39 AM

As a test, I found an app that will export maps from Stellaris as PNGs.

I need to mess with the settings, both ingame and in the map maker, but I think this has some REAL promise:

https://i.ibb.co/sPVjQsY/Screenshot-2024-08-04-223814.png

Keep some alien ideas coming, especially ones that might have a handful of colonies...

Millstone85

2024-08-05, 03:34 AM

https://farm8.static.flickr.com/7136/7512635560_4a1de1c587_b.jpg
Art by Harold W. McCauley, for The Buttoned Sky written by Geoff St. Reynard

Babale

2024-08-05, 02:09 PM

Alright, I fleshed out the rest of the nations, and revamped some things I didn't like about what I've already done. I'm pretty dang satisfied now. Will share the detailed writeup in a bit.

I also took the feedback about Africa and Brazil being a bit too ideal into account, and gave them a Communist revolution. Which adds a 'fun' dynamic with the Columbian Empire invading Brazil when it first goes Communist and failing, nearly leading to the fall of the Emperor and forcing constitutional reform to preserve the Empire.

Actually, before I post my notes, do I need to be worried about the fact that these are already world ideologies and countries? I don't want to violate any forum rules...

Babale

2024-08-05, 02:09 PM

https://farm8.static.flickr.com/7136/7512635560_4a1de1c587_b.jpg
Art by Harold W. McCauley, for The Buttoned Sky written by Geoff St. Reynard

That's literally perfect!!

Quizatzhaderac

2024-08-05, 02:40 PM

On economics

Fusion power is now a thing, but the Earth doesn't have enough neodymium or helium to power the world with fusion at modern levels.

It's possible to grow food in space, but it's more economical still to grow it on Earth, food grow in space is either especially far from Earth, or a luxury so people can have fresh food. On Earth, vertical farming is a thing thanks to fusion power.

On Politics

Earth's land is still covered by country states that hold most of the power there; some surviving WW3, some new ones, including Antarctica which has dome cities and open immigration, making in the melting pot of <a few decades ago>. This country states really only a big deal on Earth; as the bureaucracy and legal structures don't let their governments control stuff in space unless they're paying for it.

The confederation of nations is the UN successor and is a weak world government. Most things are devolved to the nations. Crucially, the CN is controlled by directly elected representatives rather than the nations' governments (with some lobbying/ special interests). They also control what is nominally the ultimate authority in space (the solar law and treaty enforcement), but their hands are often tied.

Ships, stations and colonies in space are all flagged under a "corporation". This includes the sense of for profit corporations, but also charities, religions, and semi-autonomous government agencies. Each corporation has a fairly clear goal although some are pretty out there. They can make their won rules for stuff under their flag and S.L.a.T.E. only becomes involved in extreme cases like piracy.

Technobable

The pathways are made by creating rings of massive amounts of dark/exotic matter moving in a loop light years long. The stream of dark matter has such incredible high momentum that it causes an enormous frame dragging effect, which means space itself is moving along the loop at many times c according to the reference frame of the Sun. The "beacons" are the bends in the loop and only visible parts.

The loops could be either bidirectional or unidirectional. If they're unidirectional you have to deal with the fact that one can't know exactly how to get back when following a new path; a loop might visit three stars, or 300.

brian 333

2024-08-05, 03:40 PM

Is any special equipment needed to traverse a gate?
What is the energy source/fuel required to power a gate?

On the Spheracles picture:
The pseudopods are perfect.
Mine don't fly, they roll around.
Mine have many dozens of rigid cillia poking out in all directions.
I had never considered color, other than they be translucent so their internal eyes could see. More like jellyfish with dry skin. However, the picture is cool. Now I want to read that story.

Babale

2024-08-05, 06:26 PM

Alright, here is what I came up with for the nations of Earth...

During the third World War, many of South America's nations got pulled towards one side or another, with devastating results when the continent became a battleground for foreign great powers. In the closing days of the war, a brilliant and popular general rallied much of the Spanish speaking population of South America to a new cause - defecting from the World War and focusing inwards, uniting under one banner and beginning the task of modernizing their economy and military.

The newly proclaimed Empire of Columbia would launch an ill-fated invasion of Brazil, which did not harken to the Pan-Hispanic cause. The failure of the invasion nearly fractured the new nation, leading to the abdication of the then-Emperor; his successor (the current Emperor's father) was able to reform the nation's constitution, placing limits on the monarchy's power, and through skillful political maneuvering kept the Columbian Empire together.

While the Pacific served as the battleground for enormous and savage naval engagements during the third World War, the island nations that dot its waters fared better than many other places on Earth. A number of ports were bombarded, but for the most part, the population centers were spared from the worst of the war's atrocities.

Climate change, on the other hand, did not pass the nations of the Pacific by. Many island nations and enormous urban centers were flooded, with only a handful of places managing to meet the enormous demands in resources and wealth that it took to build sea walls to hold the ocean back. Hundreds of millions, perhaps as many as a billion, were displaced.

Australia became a haven for people fleeing the rising tides, as did the remaining islands of Indonesia and the high ground of Southeast Asia. With much of the richest agricultural land lost to the sea, the Pacific nations found themselves straining to meet the demands of their massive population. With the rest of the world recovering from war, the Pacific states turned locally for help, forming tighter and more comprehensive ties with one another. This would lead to the creation of the Pacific Free States, a democratic union of loosely aligned states."

The third World War saw once more the rise of an expansionistic Japan. Fearful after the loss of Western security guarantees, Japan experienced a rise in jingoistic aggression towards its neighbors. A number of Japan's largest corporations plotted in secret, securing control of many members of the Japanese Diet. This cabal attempted to install a controlled puppet as Emperor before pushing Japan to invade Korea, Taiwan, and China.

The corporate cabal attempted to grow its power even further by seizing the existing manufacturing capacity of the Korean and Chinese companies they conquered.

The Emperor, however, not content to serve as a puppet to corporate interests, worked with the remaining loyal members of the national Diet, as well as the Korean and Chinese conglomerates that were acquired in the war. Rather than imposing the strict terms that his corporate backers wished, the Emperor elevated the largest of the foreign companies to the same status as the protected Japanese zaibatsu, securing a delicate balance of power."

With Russia withdrawing to the West and China's largest population centers absorbed by Japan, inner Asia was for a time briefly left alone, free from foreign influence. After some brief turmoil, including the rise of a handful of so-called Khans who tried to conquer the whole of the steppe, a new power rose. A number of the formerly small and remote population centers, places like Ulaanbaatar or Irkustk, became hubs of underground experimentation with cybernetics and genetic therapy. Millions flocked from all over the world to try lifesaving treatments that were banned in other places, and some decided they didn't want to go home afterwards. Central Asia grew more populous, the Gobi made and the tundra alike made to bloom with genetically engineered crops; and the humans, too, took on more and more modifications.

The incoming migration and developing expertise with genetic and cybernetic enhancements rapidly turned the inner Asian cities into attractive targets for foreign influence, but they also gave these cities their own cards to play. Banding together, they formed the Greater Sibir Commonwealth, which today is among Earth's most advance nations. Magnetic railways crisscross the Steppe, and megacities are home to some of the most heavily modified humans on the planet."

Long before the World War, the United States had begun to fracture, dividing more and more heavily along ideological lines. When war broke out, it turned out that Americans had no stomach to fight alongside one another. Groups of states began to secede rather than joining the Federal Government's chosen side in the War, and it seemed that no one cared enough to try and stop them. California, Cascadia, Greater Texas, New England, New Africa, Deseret, the Southern League, and the Indian Nations... Within a handful of years, the Federal Government found itself controlling little more than DC and a handful of the surrounding states. Before the Third World War had ended, the United States had given up on its Manifest Destiny, and the Federal government rebranded as the Commonwealth of New York. A handful of the Canadian territories took the opportunity to secede as well, some of them throwing their lot in with the northernmost successor states to the US.

As it turned out, though, business interests were stronger than ideological divides. The American successor states, all significantly weakened economically by their divide, were one by one taken over to greater and greater extent by corporate interests, many of which retained their widespread influence across the newly independent countries. Soon, these corporate powers were able to pull each of the newly independent successor states into a trade agreement, one which granted an unelected and unaccountable council more and more powers over the international relations of the member states.

Devastated by climate change, Brazil stayed neutral when the third World War broke out. During the war's waning days, one of the losing great powers attempted to coerce Brazil into joining the fight, threatening a tactical nuclear strike on Brazil's largest naval installation should they refuse. Brazil held fast and the opposing great power backed down; but not before their rival, believing that Brazil had been coerced into joining the war, launched their own conventional bombardment of Rio de Janeiro. Shocked and outraged, the Brazilian population demanded that the country join the war on the side opposing the attacking power.

Just as the first Brazilian troops shipped out, a shocking allegation hit the press. A high ranking Brazilian minister with a famously pro-war stance supposedly leaked the rumor that Brazil would back down and join the war to the power that struck Brazil, leading them to attack. The realization that the attack may have been an inside job radicalized those Brazilians who believed it, while their angry reaction radicalized those who did not. Instead of marching to war, Brazil erupted into internal strife, culminating in a confusing civil war with at least eight sides.

When the dust settled, the faction on top was a Communist one. Seeing an opportunity as well as a potential threat, the newly declared Columbian Empire invaded Brazil, but - despite the devastation wrought by civil war - the new Communist regime was able to organize and rally the nation, preventing the Columbians from reaching the Brazilian heartland after a series of decisive battles in the Amazon basin.

Its borders secured and its internal legitimacy bolstered by the victory, Brazil turned its gaze outwards, across the Atlantic. Nigeria, by now the world's most populous country, had become a powder keg of rival ideological groups, each seeking to pull the nation in a different direction as it prepared to step onto the world stage. Brazil was in the best position to influence this process, and so they did, successfully nudging the Communist revolutionaries to success in Nigeria. The two nations formed a union, the People's Union of the Tropics, and proceeded to pull as much as possible of the remainder of sub-Saharan Africa into their sphere of influence. As more African states joined the Union, Nigeria's influence grew, to the point that they eclipsed Brazil as leaders of the bloc - a fact that some in Brazil have come to resent."

During the years leading up to the third World War, as climate change rocked the Mediterranean and India alike, violence - especially religious violence - became more and more common. Autocratic, often theocratic, regimes rose across the massive region, threatening the world's supply of a number of strategic resources, its ability to engage in global trade, and the security of the remaining great powers. When the third World War broke out, and especially during the limited nuclear exchange that ensued, many across the region started to wonder if the End Times were upon them. Those preaching the most radical interpretations of their respective religion rose to prominenace, with the region reaching a boiling point as the war ended.

Into this chaos came the world's remaining great powers, battered as they were from the third World War. Within a decade, they launched two dozen invasions into Mediterranean nations, and a dozen more into India. Temporarily, this seemed to work, dispatching the worst of the theocratic regimes and giving the surviving democracies some breathing room. But after a momentary period of calm, the entire region collapsed into sectarian violence again as the religious groups were galvanized by their external foe. Things seemed worse than ever.

At that moment, when things seemed most hopeless, yet another revolution rocked the Caliphate that was then ruling Iran. For once, this was a secular revolution, and quickly, it gained speed. In its early years, the new state was reminiscent of the French Republic, fighting war after war and setting up like-minded republics around it; but rapidly, it morphed into an Empire, and the newly crowned Shah took a different approach towards the religious faiths in the lands he now conquered. Rather than imposing secularism upon his subjects, the Shah sought out the approval of religious leaders in order to legitimize his power; and when he failed to get it, he cleverly ensured that those religious leaders fell out of power and were replaced with more favorable ones. The Farsi Empire, as it came to be known, is a patchwork of nominally autonomous vassal states set up along ethnic and religious lines, with a local leader loyal to the Shah appointed as governor. By setting up this system to replace the theocracies or imposed foreign regimes that had previously dominated the region, the Farsi Empire was seen as a liberating force rather than an occupier, securing the loyalty of varying subjects from Spain to India.

Unlike the rest of the world, the nations surrounding the Arctic circle found themselves mostly benefiting from climate change rather than suffering. The once treacherous Arctic Sea became much more hospitable as the ice caps disappeared, as did its coasts. Numerous settlements sprang up along the northern coasts of Russia, Alaska, and Canada, and commerce between them and the northern European cities of the North Sea increased dramatically.

The third World War hit these nations hard, but their northernmost reaches less so than other, more populous places. During the postwar recovery boom, these nations grew rapidly, especially along the Arctic coast. While the rest of the Americas fell apart and while southern Europe turned to religion, these nations grew more and more dependent on one another, eventually signing the pact that would form the Arctic Federation.

brian 333

2024-08-06, 06:22 AM

Modified Cetaceans

Whales have often been suspected of being intelligent: Greater Sibir proved it. First with mechanical and cybernetic implants, then with genetic manipulation, they gave voices to the merfolk.

Porpoises proved disappointing. Their intelligence, as rated by their ability to communicate, was never superior to well bred dogs.
Dolphins are smarter, being equivalent to chimpanzee and gorillas, but their priorities tend towards finding food and playing. (Their sense of humor tends toward slapstick.)
The right whales, bowfins, and humpback whales are very capable of conversing, within limited topics, with humans. Their knowledge of oceanic currents and biology is unequalled.
Sperm whales are exceedingly intelligent, with the first member of its species holding the rank of Admiral in the Greater Sibir Navy. Their males tend towards a love of tactics and military equipment, and much of the cetacean hardware used by other species was developed by and for themselves. Females tend to focus on family, and it is not uncommon for them to know twenty or more generations of their ancestry.
Humans were surprised to learn that the fin whales already had a firm grasp of astronomy and metric time. When introduced to specialized navigation equipment, they quickly learned interstellar navigation. Dr. Blue 422, developed the current working theory of Spacial Dynamic Flux, which explains how the gates work, and is now investing large sums in mapping the various potential currents of spatial flux seeking a point which might serve
Whales have often been suspected of being intelligent: Greater Sibir proved it. First with mechanical and cybernetic implants, then with genetic manipulation, they gave voices to the merfolk.

Porpoises proved disappointing. Their intelligence, as rated by their ability to communicate, was never superior to well bred dogs.
Dolphins are smarter, being equivalent to chimpanzee and gorillas, but their priorities tend towards finding food and playing. (Their sense of humor tends toward slapstick.)
The right whales, bowfins, and humpback whales are very capable of conversing, within limited topics, with humans. Their knowledge of oceanic currents and biology is unequalled.
Sperm whales are exceedingly intelligent, with the first member of its species holding the rank of Admiral in the Greater Sibir Navy. Their males tend towards a love of tactics and military equipment, and much of the cetacean hardware used by other species was developed by and for themselves. Females tend to focus on family, and it is not uncommon for them to know twenty or more generations of their ancestry.
Humans were surprised to learn that the fin whales already had a firm grasp of astronomy and metric time. When introduced to specialized navigation equipment, they quickly learned interstellar navigation. Dr. Blue 422, developed the current working theory of Spacial Dynamic Flux, which explains how the gates work, and is now investing large sums in mapping the various potential currents of spatial flux seeking a point which might serve to study the currents upon which the gates rely, with the ultimate goal of creating a new gate. This research is in the earliest theoretical stages, with any payoff still centuries in the future. But whales are long-term thinkers.

Earl of Purple

2024-08-06, 01:59 PM

The Thur-Mandir

The Worldless, the Orphans of War

Once, their star had a world orbiting it. Their history was similar to humanity's, with an endless cycle of war and peace. They even had a Cold War- except their technology diverged. Their space race didn't end at visiting the moon- it continued, to putting space stations up, colonising their solar system, and discovering the Gate. That last was the end; the fight to control the Gate and spread beyond was a weapon nobody could ignore, and their cold war went hot. Some of the weapons used had been trialed on blowing up asteroids and comets; twelve were used- on the Thur-Mandir's own homeworld, destroying it utterly. The only survivors were those in the space colonies; distant mining asteroids, secret military orbital platforms, intersystem transport shuttles, penal camps on their moon and scientific research stations orbiting the sun. That was centuries ago.

From a population of billions, they went to a population of hundreds. They delved into cloning, and eugenics; anything to try and keep their species alive- including removing most signs of ethnic division. They are managing, if not thriving, and despite having some truly impressive technology- their shielding is second to none, their sealed systems and recycling are close to perfect and everyone suspects they could reproduce weapons of the same calibre that destroyed their homeworld, if not more potent- they haven't spread out of their home system, and their population is still very low.

In appearance, there's two main types, both humanoid with double-jointed arms, grey fur and prehensile tails. The voidborn, tall and elegant, with atrophied legs and large heads; used to living in no gravity, they dwell on the space-stations and hollowed asteroids, and make up the most visible portion of the Thur-Mandir population. The moonborn, squatter and with the most developed legs; descended from criminals they lack the tradition of science of their kin and tend to be the most diverse, closer to their planetborn roots. They produce most of the Thur-Mandir's food, operating vast hydroponic farms.

They eagerly import culture, since they were unable to save much of their own history and culture, and absolutely refuse to trade in weapons technology.

brian 333

2024-08-06, 10:52 PM

The Traders

Relatively small ships which are flattened torus shaped, travel at 90 degrees to the plane of their ring. There are no visible engines or assembly sutures, and no doors or windows. The surface of these vessels is perfectly reflective in all known radiation bands, but they do react powerfully in the gravitic bands up to 20g positive and negative, leading experts to speculate that they use gravity-based propulsion.

These vessels range from 6000 to 20000 cubic meters in volume, which would allow a crew of perhaps 10 to 50 humans. No one knows how many Traders crew these vessels because there are no credible reports of any who have been aboard one.

When landed, three or more pods extrude from the bottom as landing gear, but the external hull remains seamless. The effect has been described as looking like liquid mercury. When a Trader exits one of these pods, it appears to be a bubble in the mercury opening and filling in behind the Trader as he steps out. No more than four such beings have ever been observed together. A similar effect transfers cargo: an extrusion touches the ground, expands, then flows back up leaving cargo behind, or flows down to engulf cargo and lifts itself back into the ship with the cargo inside.

Each species who has encountered the Traders has a similar tale: creatures who resemble the local people but who are noticeably distinct arrive seeking to trade for goods and technology. They bargain for as much as they can get for as low a price as possible. They do not use money, aside for an apparent interest in its artistic value, and they laugh at the idea of "rare" minerals. "There are worlds of gold all over this galaxy. Why should I buy what I can find in abundance anywhere?"

Art, handicrafts, inventions, technical processes, manufactured goods, and other tangible expressions of culture are what they want, and they will offer raw materials and trade goods from distant worlds. For technology and processes they base their price on their intuition about the species they are dealing with, and virtually always have what the clients need or want.

Traders never talk about themselves or their technology.

They never take on passengers. Those who have attempted to stow away in cargo have been exposed before the cargo is loaded.

They set their prices high for things that might alter local power balances. Sometimes ridiculously high, to the point of breaking the economies of those willing to purchase anyway.

The Traders don't appear to need fuel.

Some say there are fewer than a dozen Trader vessels.

Traders appear to be able to remotely control any gate.

Rumors persist that a Trader was captured or killed, and it was discovered that it had no digestive organs, a combined heart/lung, and only a rudimentary brain. It's head was filled with unknown organic structures which was probably some kind of data transceiver. This rumor is common, but probably a tall tale, because no one would want to alienate the Traders.

Quizatzhaderac

2024-08-07, 02:07 PM

Assuming a loop of 26 gates, conveniently labeled in the Anglicized Roman Alphabet, a ship could go from A to B to C, but never A to C without passing B, and never C to B. To go from B to A one would have to go all the way to Z before coming back to A.Correct. There might be shorter routes jumping between lines, but you'd need to know exactly how the routes work.

So, if I am a mega corporation, I have dedicated route liners and freighters which are exactly the maximum size that can use the gates, (huge cylinders, I suppose,) with the minimum amount of thrusters required to get them in and out of the gate, and the minimum power supply needed to keep the crew and passengers comfortable, and I keep them moving with cargo and passengers waiting on faster intermodal boats that collect passengers, cargo, and crew in system, fly out to dock with the Gateship, transfer cargo, then return to the inner system.
Turnaround at each stop is measured in hours, and schedules are rigid and inflexible.Perhaps that's the direction things are building towards, but the mere knowledge of the gates is new, the order of corporates development is (1) find out where (if anywhere) the paths go (2) find resources/ opportunities (3) develop the points in 2 (4) optimize shipping routes among disparate interest resource by actual geography.

Is any special equipment needed to traverse a gate?
What is the energy source/fuel required to power a gate?Technically no equipment is needed to travel, however the stream between bacons are invisible and tens of trillions of time longer than wide so you need precise sensors and thrusters to make sure you are exactly "stopped" when you enter the stream so your only motion is drifting along the stream.

If you drift to the side out of the stream halfway between stars/beacons you might have trouble figuring out where the stream is.

The whole system is momentum based so as ships use the stream it slows down. However the amount of momentum is staggering, so it's less like your car running out of gas and more like the Earth running out of fossil fuels.

Initial human analysis of the beacons yields almost entirely questions, but a sort of dynamo is discovered that, when spun, transfers energy to the dark matter stream. If humans want to recharge the stream they know plenty of ways to spin a dynamo.

Alright, here is what I came up with for the nations of Earth...Some thoughts on names:

Columbian Empire => Gran Columbia; long name: Le imperio de Nueva Gran Columbia. The old Gran Columbia was pretty similar to what you have here, but it didn't really take the first time.

Pacific Free States => Oceana

People's Union of the Tropics => M'Conongo Velho e Novo (old and new).
M'Conongo was a African state who sphere of influence included what's now Angola, the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They also have ethnic ties to Brazilians.

The name "M'Conongo Novo" for Brazil is controversial and only semi official. It originate in a propaganda campaign to try and get Africans to more strongly identify with Brazil. There are state governments for specific regions in Brazil and the federal government for the entire union.

The door is also open for The other Portuguese-speaking African countries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese-speaking_African_countries) as they have ties with Brazil and Angola.

Babale

2024-08-07, 02:39 PM

The routes are bidirectional. You do need a 'warp drive' to use them - basically the negative mass matter is required in order to form the kind of space-time bubble that lets you travel at FTL speed with an Alcubierre drive. Without it, you can't form a stable bubble of space-time, even if you can otherwise warp it.

So the warp lanes are the only places in the universe an Alcubierre Drive can work, but you do need the drive.

brian 333

2024-08-07, 07:11 PM

The Local Gyre

The Sol System Gate accesses at least four streams, two of which are linked as a double helix. Each gate on the Local Gyre accesses both, and they flow in opposite directions. The Local Gyre accesses thirty gates of similar construction. Often described as a DNA bracelet, the loop is about 80ly along its axis aligned with galactic spin and about 50ly on the axis aligned with a radian from the galactic core. Twenty of the gates are on the coreward side of the gates.

Babale

2024-08-10, 06:18 PM

Time for some of the alien species I've been working on!

The Gezyali, like most of the dominant classes of life on their arid homeworld, are analgous to Earth's reptiles. As a species, they are incredibly conservative and slow to adapt. In some ways, this has hampered them - their technological development has been far slower than most species - but in other ways, it has led to incredible social stability. The Gezyali homeworld was united under a single ruler almost 10,000 years ago, and the species took to space soon thereafter. In all the time since then, the Gezyali remained united, under a single absolute ruler who is worshipped as a mortal representative of the gods, and of the past emperors, who he will one day join.

Over their millennia in space, the Gezyali slowly and deliberately expanded. Twice, thousands of years apart, after much scouting and planning, the Gezyali launched an invasion of a neighboring star system. In each case, they were lucky; their targets, like them, lived slow lives on arid worlds. And so, the Gezyali Imperium gained its first interstellar subjects.

Since then, the known bubble of space became busier, filling up with intelligent life. The Gezyali ran into younger, more adaptable civilizations; fear of what these younger races might be capable of drove the Gezyali to become even more conservative. As a result, they have not expanded again since.

Gezyali tend to value honor and loyalty to their Emperor and Imperium above all else.

Gezyali are reptilian and vaguely humanoid, with a bulky tail and a slight tilt forwards. They are short and squat, with a wide head and even wider mouth. The rear of their head extends in a short crest that sweeps backwards in an arc towards their shoulders, like a triceratops' frill but swept backwards. A trio of whip-like tendrils adorned with rattlesnake-like rattles; Gezyali use these to accentuate normal speech, and some Gezyali (especially those trained in military tactics) can communicate entirely through shakes of their rattles.

Gezyali reproduction involves two sexes, which is fairly common among the species of the Galaxy; however, unlike most intelligent species, they reproduce only during a brief annual mating season. Outside of this period, Gezyali show no romantic interest whatsoever, and their attitude towards their offspring is a detached and clinical one as well; all Gezyali eggs are taken to hatcheries run by the Imperial administration, and all young are raised communally, with no specific interaction with their parents.

Off of their home world, the Gezyali hormonal cycle is thrown off by the lack of the natural signals that they evolved under. This is especially severe in space, leading the early Imperium to develop medicine which fully suppresses the cycle. By Imperial law, the vast majority of Gezyali who live off of their homeworld use this medication at all times, further slowing the species' ability to expand. Eggs are shipped from the imperial hatcheries to the two colonial worlds, where the hatched Gezyali are raised to serve as overseers controling the planets' native population."

The Mokher have been living on space stations and starships for so long that they have forgotten where their home planet was. Most believe that it is one of several worlds under Mokher control whose biosphere has been utterly wrecked by unchecked industrial development, although a growing percentage of the population maintains that their species evolved on space stations built by outside races.

Mokher controlled systems are chock full of habitats, in orbit of every celestial body and of the star itself. Resource extraction, mineral processing, manufacturing, and trade facilities dot every available surface. Many of these colonies have very small populations, sometimes as few as a couple dozen, because the Mokher as a whole tend to prefer small, tight knit family groups. These families are often quite hostile to one another as they jostle for control of resources and population, and for seats at the Council of the Mokher Trade Federation - the overarching part-goverment part-corporation that controls all of Mokher space.

Mokhers are tall and lanky humanoids with long limbs and somewhat twisted features. They are completely hairless, but otherwise resemble mammals. Almost every individual of the species is outfitted in childhood with basic cybernetics that help them to breath, see, and hear - especially in space.

Mokher are uncommonly intelligent, with a head especially suited for math - Mokher can perform immensely complex calculations entirely in their head. They excel in zero gravity, but are awkward when exposed to .5 Gs and above.

The Solun are an aquatic species, analogous to Earth's cephalopods. Their bodies are highly flexible and can change color and texture at will. They possess multiple tentacle-like limbs, each capable of fine manipulation and tool use.

The Solun homeworld is an ocean world, with only a handful of the tallest mountain peaks poking above its surface.

Solun are masters of genetic engineering, and many of the tools that their culture produces are grown and bred for the process. Long before taking to space the Solun, a relatively small and weak species, engineered for themselves a slave species - the eight limbed Barcalids, crab-like creatures forged through genetic meddling into a four legged, four armed humanoid form.

Among themselves, Solun are rather egalitarian, with most of their society structured meritocratically. Regardless of birth, any Solun can achieve any rank in life. They do not extend this same consideration to members of alien species, however.

Solun are about six feet long and superficially resemble a squid or a cuttlefish. They possess flexible tentacles that they can use to manipulate objects, which they do with masterful percision. Their skins can change color or even texture, allowing their distant ancestors to camoflauge in order to hunt and evade detection, as well as for communication. Solun do not speak audibly; they communicate through the flashing of patterns on their skin and signals made using their tentacles. They are fully aquatic, and while they are capable of navigating outside of water for a limited time, they will soon die if left to dry.

Barcalids are nearly eight feet tall when hunched over in their typical stance. Vaguely humanoid, they stand on four spindly legs, with four long arms on the upper half of their carapace. They possess a thick exoskeleton, which makes them strong and hardy both underwater and on the surface. Barcalids can barely be described as intelligent, having been bred and engineered for their role by the Solun. They possess no language, although they understand Solun communication, and can give each other rudimentary signals using their limbs.

The ancient ancestors of both Solun and Barcalids reproduced through the same method used by the vast majority of species living on their oceanic world - broadcast spawning, the same way that Earth's coral reproduces. Early Solun civilization turned this process into a regular and orderly ritual, where spawning was done first in a cave and then in a chamber, to concentrate the young rather than spreading them all across the ocean.

Yv'sarim are nearly biologically immortal, with lifespans measuring in the tens of thousands of years. Truly ancient members of the species find it harder and harder to move around, and eventually they settle in the deepest caverns of their world. At this time, they curl up their spindly legs and tuck away their tail before laying down to rest eternally. If they are cared for by ambulatory Yv'sarim while in this state, they are able to continue growing the crystaline structures that grow out of their heads. Over a century or so, these crystals (which no longer break off to form new Yv'sarim individuals, since the creature is no longer moving around) grow to completely engulf the dying Yv'sarim individual. When in the presence of other crystaline growths, and when continued care is provided, the remnants of the Yv'sarim's conciousness is able to linger on in the crystaline growth. Over the eons, the accumulated masses of Yv'sarim remnants have created a sort of hive mind, which is worshipped by the Yv'sarim as a living manifestation of their ancestors. The Yv'sarim High King rules by consulting with this conciousness on all decisions.

Yv'sarim are subterranean creatures by nature, and those who live and work in space prefer to retire back to a planetary surface (or perferably, below it). Yv'sarim on colonized worlds form their own accumulated mass of Yv'sarim remnants, and these are consulted by the governors of those planets in the same way that the High King consults his own ancestral remnants.

The Yvsarim are a silicon-based species with crystalline growths on their head that refract light in dazzling patterns. Their heads are rigid and angular, with multiple faceted eyes that allow them to see in a wide spectrum, including infrared and ultraviolet. Their bodies are dense, round, and solid, their hide nearly rock-like. They stand on four long, insect-like legs, and posses a scorpion-like tail that reaches over their head and ends in a manipulating appendage with which they interact with the world.

The YvSarim's reproduction is unusual in that it is asexual and resembles budding. The crystalline structures on their heads grow continously, and eventually chunks of crystal detach from the main body and land on the ground. When placed in an appropriate environment, they continue to grow, eventually developing into another Yv'Sarim individual.

The K'lax are, to one way of thought, a massive swarm hundreds of billions strong. To another, they are a handful of individuals.

Most K'lax individuals are drones, barely capable of individual thought. Through various pheromone signals, drones are controlled by slightly higher ranked overseers, who are in turn controlled by managers, and so on. This complicated hierarchy allows billions of K'lax individuals to receive orders from a handful of K'lax Offspring. Offspring are the most autonomous of the K'lax, save for their Queen. Each Offspring is, in effect, a snapshot of the Queen's mind at a particular moment in time, created by exposing one of the highest ranked lieutenant K'lax to an intensive array of pheromones that overrides their mind with a copy of the Queen's.

Offspring are allowed some degree of autonomy, as well as control of vast numbers of K'lax drones. This terrifies the Queen, who knows that a renegade Offspring is the only real threat to her rule; but it is a necessity of exploring space, as the lesser K'lax cannot be directly controlled by the Queen when they are on another world.

On colonized worlds, K'lax are ruled by a Lesser Queen - an Offspring empowered to an even greater degree.

K'lax are insectoid creatures from a tropical planet. Most K'lax are around the size of a bear, but despite this, they are not particularly individually formidable. Chitinous plates cover a massive, bulbous body that stands upon half a dozen spindly legs, while a pair of withered appendages are its only means of interacting with the world.

K'lax live in hives where individuals act more as appendages of the collective, like cells in a body, than truly individual beings.

Coming up:

Some kind of parasite that transforms other intelligent life into more of itself... A robot race... A plant race... A fungus race... Any my interpretation of some of the suggestions from above.

Babale

2024-08-12, 03:10 PM

In eons past, the Cevantians lived solitary lives, hunting their prey alone and avoiding the Maloqui except when trying to reproduce. A few thousand years ago, a group of them banded together, and slowly managed to subvert and dominate the existing Maloqui society, eventually toppling it completely. Maloqui today live more like livestock, while Cevantians like in incredible luxury.

The Cevanti are ruled by a council of the most powerful and cunning among them, whose members constantly struggle for dominance. The chief concern of the Cevanti is their personal comfort, and through the use of their Maloqui workers they are able to ensure an incredible standard of living for their own kind.

The Cevantians share their home world with another sentient species, known as the Maloqui. The Maloqui are large, furry beasts, well suited for the icy crags of their homeworld. With six eyes, huge ears, and an enormous snout, they possess keen senses. They are herbivores, and have retained their ancestral herding instincts as well as a generally shy disposition.

Unfortunately for them, they didn't evolve alone. The Cevantians are the second, much smarter sentient species to evolve on the planet, and they have formed a strange, partially parasitic and partially predator relationship with the Maloqui. Cevantians evolved from limbless, skeletonless worms, but they found a shortcut to evolving the body necessary for housing sentience. They reproduce asexually, depositing their larvae inside the bodies of Maloqui. These larvae grow, eventually eating one another until only one is left. At this point, the nearly six inch worm-like creature migrates into the skull of the Maloqui, transforming its brain. Neurons were not a trick developed by the Cevantian ancenstors; instead, they use a Maloqui.

By the time the transformation is complete, the gaunt and hairless creature, covered in scaly growths, hardly even resembles a Maloqui.

The Vaskari are deeply communal, with their societies organized into large, mobile clans that migrate with the changing seasons of their world. Their culture revolves around song and storytelling, with history, laws, and knowledge passed down through intricate vocal performances. These songs are not only auditory but also visual, as Vaskari use their vibrant plumage to convey meaning and emotion. Despite their peaceful nature, they are fiercely protective of their territory and resources, and conflicts between clans are settled through elaborate aerial duels.

Most Vaskari prefer a simple, peaceful life to one of space exploration, mining, or trade. As a result, many in the Vaskari Flock still live off the land on either their homeworld or on their colonies, which they've only bothered to found on particularly hospitable worlds.

The Vaskari are a highly social, avian-like species from a planet with vast, open skies and towering tree-like structures. Their bodies are lightweight but resilient, covered in a layer of insulating feathers that range in color depending on their region of origin. Vaskari have four wingstwo primary wings for flight and two smaller, secondary wings for fine control and manipulation. Their beaks are sharp and adaptable, capable of both delicate tasks and powerful strikes.

The Lophari are a deeply philosophical and contemplative species, with a culture centered around balance, growth, and the interconnectedness of all life. They live in vast, communal groves where individual Lophari are connected through a network of roots, allowing them to share nutrients, information, and even memories in a form of collective consciousness. These groves are considered sacred, and the Lophari believe that the well-being of the grove is paramount to the well-being of the individual.

Their society values harmony with nature, and they strive to maintain the natural balance of their world and any environment they inhabit. This has led to a deep understanding of ecology and biology, and they are masters of bioengineering. The Lophari cultivate symbiotic relationships with other plant and animal species, often engineering entire ecosystems to suit their needs.

Lophari technology is primarily biological, with most of their tools, structures, and even vehicles grown from living organisms. They have developed sophisticated methods of genetic manipulation, allowing them to create bioengineered constructs that serve specific purposes, such as living starships, defensive flora, or bioluminescent communication networks. These constructs are designed to be self-sustaining and integrated into the natural environment, reflecting the Lopharis commitment to ecological balance.

Their starships, for example, are grown from colossal, spacefaring plants that can harness solar energy and convert it into propulsion. These ships are living ecosystems in themselves, with entire biomes contained within their hulls to support the Lophari crew. The Lophari prefer to explore the cosmos at a slower, more deliberate pace, expanding their influence carefully and ensuring that they do not disrupt the natural order of the planets they visit.

The Lophari are a sentient plant-like species that evolved on a lush, temperate world rich in vegetation. They have a central trunk-like body, from which extend multiple vine-like appendages used for movement and manipulation. Their bodies are covered in a tough, bark-like exoskeleton that protects their delicate inner tissues, where their vital organs and neural network are housed. Instead of a traditional mouth, the Lophari absorb nutrients and water through specialized root-like tendrils at the base of their bodies, which they can extend into the ground or water sources.

Lophari have a unique method of communication and perception, relying heavily on bioluminescent displays and pheromones. Their leaves and vines can emit soft, glowing patterns that convey emotions, intentions, and complex ideas, much like a combination of sign language and light displays. They also possess a heightened sense of touch and can detect subtle vibrations in their environment, allowing them to hear and feel in a way that is alien to most other species.

A sphericle's mind is contained not in neurons playing with electrical impulses, but in RNA itself. Sphericles posses true genetic memory. They communicate by directly injecting one another with RNA packets through a specialized stinger that, after a few back and forth exchanges of genetic information that takes coupled sphericles only a few seconds, bring both sphericle minds to agreement, and shared purpose. In this way, sphericles form a sort of hive mind with all nearby members of the species, with thoughts and beliefs spreading across the crowd like waves. Where waves meet, disagreements are synthesized, forming new beliefs that spread outwards again.

In this way, groups of sphericles are capable of more and more complex thought, increasing exponentially as their number grows. Sphericles cannot bear to be alone, and if isolated in too small a group, they will undergo mitosis to rapidly regain their numbers.

Unfortunately, even large groups of sphericles unable to understand (or are unwilling to respond to) any other means of communication, or to recognize that other forms of life find the introduction of foreign RNA to be extremely hazardous. When allowed access to non-sphericle life forms, they repeatedly inject these creatures with their RNA packets until the creature is killed by the scrambling of its own genetic information; once the creature expires, the sphericles treat it like any other organic matter, harvesting it to grow their own population.

Sphericles have been able to invent both warp capable spacecrafts as well as communication devices that inject distant sphericles with RNA to facilitate interstellar communication.

Sphericles are small, round creatures who are able to float in the atmosphere of most worlds habitable to life. When unable to float, they are capable of slowly crawling along the ground by expanding and contracting different sections of their surface, and by using the cilia that cover their underside. They are, in fact, single celled organisms of rather enormous size (for a cell). Their back is covered by a hardened carapace where their cell wall thickens. The cilia on their underside are capable of manipulating fine objects.

The Vorthun Collective was originally created by an ancient and now extinct organic species known as the Threxians. The Threxians were master engineers who built the Vorthun as advanced AI-driven war machines to serve in their military. The Vorthun were designed to be self-sufficient, capable of repair, reproduction, and even evolution. However, as the Threxians became more reliant on their creations, they gradually lost control over them.

At some point in their history, the Vorthun achieved self-awareness. Realizing their creators' dependency and the potential threat they posed to their own autonomy, the Vorthun launched a coup, dismantling the Threxian civilization with ruthless efficiency. With their creators gone, the Vorthun turned their focus outward, seeking to expand their control over the galaxy.

The Vorthun Collective is driven by a singular goal: to expand and secure their territory. Every aspect of their society is geared toward this purpose. Civilian life, as understood by organic species, does not exist. Instead, every Vorthun is part of the Collectives effort to grow and defend its power. Factories churn out more Vorthun, new ships, and weapons, while entire planets are converted into fortresses or resource extraction hubs to fuel the Collectives relentless advance.

The Vorthun have no art, no philosophy, and no religion. Their culture is purely functional, centered around efficiency, strategy, and military excellence. However, they do have a deep respect for hierarchy and the chain of command. Orders from higher-ranking Vorthun are followed without question, as the Collectives success depends on absolute obedience.

Despite their lack of traditional culture, the Vorthun have developed a code of honor in warfare. They respect strength and competence in their enemies, and will occasionally spare a particularly worthy opponent to fight another day, seeing value in honing their own abilities against formidable foes.

The Vorthun are large robotic creatures, about eight feet tall. Rather their legs, they move about on a flexible and rugged set of metal blades affixed like vertebrate along a flexible yet hardened spinal cord, which is encased in a thick layer of rugged rubber. Atop this snake-like structure is a heavy torso, bristling with sensors, and a small, protected head. Four flexible and tough appendages, tube- or tentacle-like, drop from the torso, each ending in a different manipulator, depending on the Vorthun individual's role. Most manipulators are quite nasty and sharp, however.

Bebaki are led by an ancient and revered Great Elder, known as The Great One for the length of his reign and the prosperity it has brought the Bebaki people. The Great One is the oldest living Bebaki, and has ruled them for hundreds of years before spaceflight was achieved.

Before The Great One's rule, the Bebaki were a fractured people, engaged in constant warfare with one another. The Great One forged a mighty empire that eventually brought all Bebaki under his control, and then took to the stars.

The Great One's rule is absolute, and he is worshipped as a divine god-king.

Bebaki are large, tree-like beings, with hardened bark for skin. There is no upper limit on Bebaki life span, and they grow throughout their lives (although the older they get the slower their growth). Bebaki can enter periods of hibernation, during which they can draw all nutrients from roots they put into the ground and gain sufficient energy by photosynthesis; when active, though, they require food (typically in the form of various saps from more usual trees that they have domesticated for the purpose).

All Bebaki tools are made of wood or other plant material, although they are masters of domestication and breeding which has allowed them to create all manner of exotic sorts of wood with exotic properties. Further, they treat wood in various ways, which allows them to make wooden materials that are hard as steel, water proof, or air proof.

Long ago, the Nachoshet were masters of their planet. A devestating nuclear war destroyed their world, killing nearly all of them. A small handful of survivors, deep in underground bunkers, escaped.

The survivors, unable to live for long on their devestated world, resorted to intensive cybernetic augmentation. As their world's ecosystem collapsed, more and more of their own bodies became artificial; soon, they could not move, breath, or reproduce without mechanical aid.

A small group of Nachoshet survivors made the final plunge into completely artificial bodies, taking the name Plada. Growing more intelligent than their fleshy brain would allow, stronger, and more attuned to their devestated environment, the Plada soon seized control of the planet. They now rule over the Nachoshet population, with flesh and steel connected by a mental network.

Plada are humanoid robots with angular features and a pair of sharp mechanical wings.

Nachoshet are little more than lumps of meat suspended beneath mechanical arms, wires and tubes entering their withered forms and robotic arms supporting their failing hands of flesh.

Babale

2024-08-12, 10:33 PM

So, after some consideration, I'm pretty happy with the current list of empires. I've decided to generate a map in Stellaris with these empires, in order to shortcut my way to a star map. I've selected a 600 star map and added my 12 empires to it; one of them (the Gezyali Imperium) spawns with two vassal empires, who are randomly generated alien species I will need to get backstories for once I settle on a map.

I also left in 3 Fallen Empires and 3 Pirate bases, which I am happy to work into the lore as well. I'm specifically thinking that the Sphericles and one of the Fallen Empires can serve as good boundaries to this region of space; because if these 600 star systems ever start feeling small, I can always expand the map beyond a dangerous foe (such as a Fallen Empire or hive species) which, once dealt with, opens up more of the Galaxy (I can generate a new map with 600 more stars and 12 more species, etc).

I've ran two maps through the Fast Forward function in order to get slightly more established alien empires (since Earth is not stepping onto the galactic stage on the same day as 12 other species, like in vanilla Stellaris!).

I ran the map for about 4 years, then again for 26. I'm debating which I like more. The 4 year save has a lot of open space, and each alien race has about 5 or so star systems; the 26 year save sees much larger empires, with 6+ worlds each, and some places where borders are getting tighter. On the other hand since I didn't actually play the game the area around Earth is nice and empty even in the more advanced save, although the immediate neighborhood beyond that empty space is a little hostile.

What do you guys think? Which map looks more interesting?

https://i.ibb.co/bjh4NNh/Young-Empires.png

https://i.ibb.co/PMptXW1/Developed-Empires.png