Interest Check: Sci-Fi Space Opera with Medieval overtones.

[Levis]

Having only just been accepted as a Lord, I'm keen to put my best foot forward and kick off with a good RP.  This is an idea I've been working up for some time, drawing influence from multiple sources.  I don't have a name for it yet though.


In a galaxy where mankind is subject to racial bias, as it was originally created as a biological weapon, the descendants of Earth, having integrated themselves into galactic civilisation, struggle to overcome the negative racial view and prove themselves to the universe.  The plot centres around a small group of men and women from all walks of life, brought together as passengers on a transport freighter - unbeknownst to them, a smuggler vessel using their fares as a legitimate cover for their less legal business.  When the transport is intercepted by a patrol, they take refuge in a nearby asteroid belt.  Within the depths of this belt, on the rim of charted space, they discover an ancient secret, the key to redeeming their race in the eyes of the galaxy...

Or dooming it.



Races - Human
A biological weapon created by a small, independent empire from the DNA of the Ra'Nahu, the dominant galactic race at the time.  Mankind was designed to follow the same pattern as a virus, but on a galaxy-wide scale: Infect, spread, consume, reproduce, repeat.  While physically similar to Ra'Nahu, Humans genetically resemble them only superficially.

Twenty years following the demise of their creators as a free race, small yet numerous pockets of Humanity across conquered words began to reach maturity and breed with the local Ra'Nahu, the offspring proving pure Human despite their genetic material.  Within a century, the Human movement announced independence, seizing a large portion of space centred on the conquered worlds of their forebears.  Within another century, these same worlds lay barren, the race having stripped them of all resources, left them to rot, and moved further into the galaxy, seizing habited and uninhabitable planets alike.

In one thousand short years, the Human movement controlled almost one quarter of the entire galaxy.

Led by the Ra'Nahu, desperate to cleanse the universe of what they considered at best their bastard offspring, the free races of the galaxy at last entered into a desperate plan to end human subjugation of the galaxy.  By this point, the race was indomitable in battle, having the sheer force of numbers on their side, and having innovated new and effective means of destruction, far beyond those designed by more advanced species, building on the knowledge they had usurped.  The alliance of free races willingly began sacrificing planets, completely obliterating all worlds within the standard operating range of known Human vessels, essentially creating a buffer zone - without the technology to travel further or faster, and without the resources to engineer it, Humanity collapsed upon itself, worlds declaring war on one another as supply began to dwindle.  In time, the great scourge starved itself to death as a result of it's own actions.

In later years, the centuries of warfare against humankind, alongside the last-hope plan that defeated them, came to be referred to collectively as 'The Purge'.  Not the name mankind would have chosen, but history is, after all, written by the victors.  The quarter of the galaxy they had occupied, left empty and lifeless, was termed 'Barren Space', and the giant asteroid belt surrounding it, the testament to the sacrifice of the homes of countless species, was named 'Victory'.


Races - Human (Earth)
In recent years, immigrants have been arriving in cryosleep-equipped vessels from Barren Space, claiming to be colonists from a planet known as 'Earth'.  They are genetically identical to the dreaded Human scourge that ravaged the galaxy some time ago, though seem to have experienced stunted development: the race has taken over two thousand years to attain rudimentary spaceflight, wheras detached Human colonies achieved the same result in just under two hundred.  They appear to be loyal to a code of conduct centring around the central ideas of 'good' or 'bad' - abstracts in which the intent of an action is used to classify it towards serving a planetwide consensus of the 'greater' good, or failing this, it's counterpart.  Many researchers have deemed this 'morality' the race has created for itself to be responsible not only for their stunted progress, but also a factor separating this particular group from the aggressive, short-sighted expansion we have come to expect of mankind.  This group is non-hostile, and appear to be exactly what they claim: Refugees, oblivious to the actions of their kind.  For this reason, their presence is tolerated, and they are offered minimal aid, but the Purge is still fresh in the minds of the galaxy's people, and a lingering anti-human bias has proven pervasive through almost all levels of society.


Technology - Mass and Melee
The Human Race was as adept at the creation of weapons as their creators, and upon seizing technology from across the galaxy during the Purge, they designed numerous devices that still remain in widespread use.  The most prominent of these is the Spatial Mass Field Generator.  Adapting technology originally intended for FTL travel, mankind designed a device which 'folds' the space around a ship back upon itself.  This device renders ranged weapons, be they Mass Drivers, beam-based weaponry, or warheads, completely ineffective, as it is impossible to chart a trajectory through folded space which will result in a successful hit: Any ranged weapons fired at a ship equipped with a Spatial Mass Field Generator will seem to veer off course on impossible angles when nearing impact, when in truth, they have actually been travelling in a direct line within folded space.

However, being designed to stop ranged weaponry, these generators do have a weakness.  Insertion of a physical object that has enough mass to bridge the folded space will cause a Newtonian paradox which will result in the failure of the SMFG.  For this reason, most modern ships are equipped not only with ranged, but also melee weaponry: Rams, blades, spike drivers, ect.  Use of any of these will not only cause the SMFG to fail, but will disable it until repairs can be conducted, in addition to any physical damage the weapon does itself.

Interpersonal SMFG's, while complex, difficult to manufacture, and valuable, have also seen widespread use, resulting in the reintroduction of new, improved designs of archaic weapons such as swords, axes, and hammers.  General strategy when dealing with an enemy equipped with a personal SMFG is to wound the target and disable their generator with a melee attack, before retreating to a safe distance to finish them from afar whilst they are defenceless.

Like most human tech, the SMFG is designed as a short-term solution, and little to no tests have been conducted on the long-term effects on space itself of their use.  Many theorise that whenever an SMFG collapses, the space within it is lost, and so the universe is constantly shrinking whilst they are in use.  Recent orbital drift charts provide anomalous readings which support this theory.





Updating with more info as I write.  This is still in the concept/development stage, so any ideas, input, or suggestions will be weighed and considered carefully.  I've a little idea of the overall political state of the galaxy, and some ideas for interesting races, but there's a lot of blank space yet to fill.  Also, as previously mentioned, I'm new, and would welcome any and all advice/tips/pointers on running my own Elliquiy RP, and where it may differ from other, similar things I've done.

[Primarch]

I've got this bookmarked, will keep an eye on it.

[Oreida Wesker]

Oh, damn straight and ditto! -bookmarks- Got a wily alien engineer right here and ready to report.

[Oreida Wesker]

And since you take suggestions, I got just a few to be helpful since I waffle you oh so much and I'm trying really hard not to find the Rachet and Clank meets Dragon Age in all this. ^_^ [Favorite game, it's a compliment somehow, trust me.]

As a race name,how about Ra'Nahu? [ Pronouncation and anagram from Race Name Human or Ray Neigh-Hue]

Also the Interpersonal SMFG [ISMFG?] is installed in a powersuit or can it be worn like backpack or chest gaurd, or is it smaller like the size of a belt pouch?

Speaking of which, if your up close and personal with someone wearing a ISMFG and you have like a 'quantum laser axe' to hack into the generator to destroy it, why would someone run away to attack the person from long range would they could finish them off up close with your awesome space axe?

I figure a ship would pull back after ramming the other ship or sending a 'suicide naut' over to disable the Opponent Ships' SMFG so they could blow that fucker up, but, hehe..

I love the backstory of hte technology that's slowly shrinking an expanding universe/galaxy and sorry if I jump the gun, but what would be the meat of this story? The humans using this found technology to try and win their place back into the galaxy? Someoen makes a large enough SMFG designed to protect a planet and it it turns out hte planet's biggest weakness. If it's destoryed, it could cause like, a black hole and endanger al the life and planets around it? Destory the planet if it folds back onto the world?  -rubs her chin- Heavy..

[Levis]

Actually, the sci-fi components are mostly inspired by Farscape, a TV show.  It was a little campy and star-trekkish, but it had some creative concepts I liked.  That'll be a little more obvious when the group discovers the 'it' in the asteroid belt.  The medieval stuff, however, is gonna draw pretty heavily on Dark Souls and Game of Thrones, both recent series I found impossible to put down once started.

Ra'Nahu?  I like it.  Done.  Particularly since I was wanting to incorporate some sort of divine reference in there, linking the race and human mythology.  Ra being the sun god, it fits perfectly.

Think I'm gonna need to come up with some slang for the SMFG.  Let's call 'em 'Bubbles' for now.  And the size of the device itself would depend on the manufacturer.  It's become fairly standard technology, and been reverse engineered and rebuilt by multiple groups.  Human-Built (Original) bubbles and cheap ones tend to be large and bulky, wheras the Ra'Nahu design is sleek and streamlined.  We can pretty much invent a manufacturer for any variant or size the situation demands.

The tactical advice is intended for use by commanders, captains: the people giving the orders.  The assumption being they have more then one person/ship under their command.  I'll have to clarify that part.

I quite like your ideas, but the real meat and potatoes is the 'it' located in the asteroid belt.  Spoiler, so I'll keep it's exact nature to myself for now.  I will give you some information, though.

-'It' is ancient, and is much older then Humanity, the Ra'Nahu, and any other living species.
-'It' requires a female member of the group to 'use' it.
-'It' has the potential for creation and destruction, depending on the one directing that potential.

The storyline is fairly open after that initial discovery, left more or less to the players to decide what to do and how to proceed, although 'It' will play a major part in almost any decision.  Of course, it's all up to the players.  They could decide to sell 'It' and buy a condo on the Ra'Nahu home-planet with the proceeds.  Though, given the amount of work I've put into it, I seriously hope they don't do that.

[Oreida Wesker]

AH, yeah, I remember that show, didn't see a lot of it.. Can't say I've seen Dark or Thrones either, but i'll stick with my R&C as it's the only sci-fi game I liked and birthed my idea for Oreida 'Clang' Wesker. Ah, and yay! I contributed!

Heh, Bubbles. I like that. Hmm.. Ancient, needs a female, and can have an impact upon everything. THe first three thoughts that came to my head was a world creator like in Titan A.E., an insemination device for mass race production, and that glittering crystal ball from the Conan movie that only women could touch. Third idea seems less likely... >.>

Forgive me, it's 6 in the morning, and I got so much zangy crap laying rainbows and pop tarts in my head.  And yeah, if it holds a lot of power to change the world, hell knows Clang would want to be put to good use as a pacifist. Oh, that reminds me:

[Prolly something to be known through playing, feel free not to answer this one. It's just food for thought.]
Does the race [alien, Ra'Nahu, Human, etc] of the female matter to this technology?
Will this devise hurt a man if they try to use it or will it merely not work?

Actual Non-spoiler Questions:
Is the journey to find this item before someone else? Pirates, Merc Company, someone that never wants it found?
WIll this lost item in the Barren Space be a rumor, one too dangerous due to the asteriod belt to actually delve in and see. Even if they have a Bubble on ship. [Figure an asteriod might count as a projectile, though it can't deflect a massive stone, i'm guessing. It could ram the ship haul and burst the bubble ~ says the inner mechanic]

[Kate]

Can each player control a few ships ? be part of a larger group ? or all on board the same ship ?

[Levis]

Can each player control a few ships ? be part of a larger group ? or all on board the same ship ?

Technically speaking, each player controls a single character, so as long as it's conceivable for a single character to control multiple ships simultaneously, sure.  Some kinda mind-pilot interface'd be necessary though, seeing as you can't be in two ships at once.  Well, technically you can, if you use a Bubble in a certain way, but that's not important right now.

It's generally slated to have a 'small group against the galaxy' kinda feel, but like I said earlier, once the intro's concluded, it's pretty much up to you guys from there out.

[Caitlin]

First of all, congratulations with your membership!

Like most human tech, the SMFG is designed as a short-term solution, and little to no tests have been conducted on the long-term effects on space itself of their use.  Many theorise that whenever an SMFG collapses, the space within it is lost, and so the universe is constantly shrinking whilst they are in use.  Recent orbital drift charts provide anomalous readings which support this theory.

When folding space, in theory, you can't lose the space itself when such a device collapses, though I'd imagine it would get replaced to elsewhere, making it seem that space at a local level is shrinking, while it's merely replaced elsewhere.

In the past scientists used to think that the matter swallowed by singularities (black holes) was lost as well, but quite the opposite is true. The matter is still there and expelled again, which (eventually) results in the birth of new stars.

Maybe during the duration you could add something that it's discovered that the folding is so complex that the 'lost' space is added on the otherside of the galaxy? Naturally it'd take them a while to figure that one out.
Additionally it'd still represent a threat to local space, though considering space is such vast you'd have to enfold entire solar systems for it to ever become somewhat of a threat and even then it'd still be not too dangerous for the galaxy, considering the amount of solar systems there are.


Overall I must say you came up with a very interesting story! It has a lot of potential in my opinion and I really enjoyed reading it. I'm locked up in 2 group games and a 1x1 already though, so I won't be able to join this one, but I do want to wish you luck with your game. ^_^

[orderNchaos]

Definitely shows signs of being an interesting story and RP.  Please keep us informed of how things develop.  I'd like to get involved if possible.

[Nom De Plume]

Space ships. With giant swords.

SPACE SHIPS WITH GIANT SWORDS.

RAMMING SPEEEEEEEED

So bookmarking this.

E: I want to design a large unmanned ship covered in spikes and filled with explosives. I shall call it... The Shuttlefucker.

AND IT SHALL BE GLORIOUS

[Oreida Wesker]

LoL, shutterfucker. Classy. Just giving a friendly bump so interest is still here.

[Etah dna Evol]

This has a very outlaw star feel to it. I will be watching this thread.

I am thinking about a Pre Op Transsexual Pirate Captain.

[Nom De Plume]

By the way, if you're looking to make this a systems game, I'd suggest Mongoose's Traveller. At the very least it's a pretty awesome read.