Venatores ex Vacuo [FT/FFT, Open, Interest]

[Hahoalki]

Snip

This sounds good, although I'm always a bit leery of FTLi for potential roadbumps in RP. You seem to have a good enough system tho so I don't really see a problem.
I'm assuming this discord will be posted here whenever you set it up?

It will indeed.

Honestly, it depends on the "level" of omniscience

I'm writing more about this on my application, but since the being's powers are focused around psychic powers, this "omniscience" mostly applies to sentient and especially conscious beings. these presences can be felt, and their emotions can be sensed. some level of mind reading is possible with enough focus, but it's harder the more complex and alien the mind is.

That should be workable, though it would also need a fairly deep knowledge of physical principles and how to make technology to be a proper Mind.

, and I'd need to know more about the "alignment" of the Eldritch entity to be sure.

the entity is aligned to itself; what it does, it does out of self-preservation and a desire for power.

Does it need anything from its subjects? Note that you don't have to answer this question if it will be addressed in your application.

That could work.

okay, maybe I'll open with an intro post set x years in the past detailing this start.

Sounds like a plan.

question: will this be on the forums or just discord?

The RP itself will be on the forums.

[Observation Post 13]

Hello Hahoalki, is there anything I need to change for my app?

[Ella2 6]

Re: auto-hitting - since most combat will be between large fleets, I'm of the opinion that some level of "auto-hits" should be allowed, but the target player gets to say what percentage of the fleet is eliminated. Major characters and flagships (or, in my case, communication hubs) cannot be auto-hit. Does anyone have objections to this compromise?

That sounds about right to me. Depending on the pace of combat that we intend to have, we can also set a generally acceptable percentage that we can assume by default. For example, for relatively fast-paced battles (so the battle only lasts 2-3 rounds/turns of posts), 10% is likely to be acceptable. Would like to note that armies and fleets rarely annihilate each other and sustaining 20-30% casualties is considered to be an absolutely huge loss for any side.

Stationary Interdiction Systems disrupt FTL within up to a light day, while fleet-based ones are restricted to something more like a light minute.

A light day sounds like a lot when you first think about it. Just as a reference, Pluto's orbit is only 5 light hours away from the sun, so you can conceivably make the case that given any significant planetary system 6-9 light hours of interdiction is enough to cover every single significant planetary body in the system with room to spare. So given that, if you want a large distance between the edge of interdiction and the planets, 12 light hours should be more than enough.

But then you realise that a Matrioska brain around the sun would actually probably be more like 120 light days wide (diameter). So if you put a single interdiction station in orbit around the sun, you'll pretty much only be protecting the first handful of layers of your onion computer brain. Of course, it's not a problem if you just assumed folks would Nicoll-Dyson beam the star next door if they looked at you weirdly and such gruelling campaigns are only reserved for the most valuable of targets.

I'm not sure what scale, in terms of IC time, you imagine battles to unfold over, but if we make the FFT assumption that ships can just instantly accelerate up to lim c, a 2-month (60 day) battle is still quite challenging to write about.

With normalisation being hit or miss like that, even siege tactics of warping in normalisation vessels one after the other at the edge of established normalisation are going to be... Gruelling, to say the least.

I think we need to very quickly consider exactly what kind of battles we want to RP and either adapt or handwave things accordingly. After all, if minds, after being established, can generate infinite power via perpetual motion machines, then they can actually start shedding shells over time as they establish their power infrastructure and no longer care about maximising the efficiency of a star's power. So maybe our Matrioska brains don't actually need to be that massive.

Could be a cultural thing among mindkind too. Smaller shells garner more respect because it implies age, wisdom, and maturity or something like that. Sort of like how most people respect the elderly.

[Rovaqa]

I'm writing more about this on my application, but since the being's powers are focused around psychic powers, this "omniscience" mostly applies to sentient and especially conscious beings. these presences can be felt, and their emotions can be sensed. some level of mind reading is possible with enough focus, but it's harder the more complex and alien the mind is.

That should be workable, though it would also need a fairly deep knowledge of physical principles and how to make technology to be a proper Mind.

I can probably find a way to write that in. maybe it sort of passively absorb[s/ed] the knowledge of the people around it, and as it slept it sort of thought up new concepts? I'm trying to convert my nation into an FFT nation in a simple way without making it incredibly contrived. as you can probably tell, I'm having mixed success.

Does it need anything from its subjects? Note that you don't have to answer this question if it will be addressed in your application.

I've been thinking about this question while writing the application. its initial plan for Rovaqa was simply to extend its reach into the physical world by using humans as proxies for its goals, and that's probably still what it wants them for. I feel like there needs to be another reason it still needs them, though. perhaps sentient beings worshipping it makes it stronger? seems kinda cliché, but it does fit with the origin story.

[Birina]

Looks interesting. Although I have no experience in the FFT (other than my MT nation repeatedly oofing itself in the F7 threads to avoid being captured by an FFT nation), I’ll probably give it a try. Any reading advice to better understand what FFT is about? I’ve read The Forever War (the latter part of the book seems to be rather FFTish), and I am currently reading the first book in the Culture Series. After that I’m planning to read some books of the Xeelee series- anything else that I should give a read to understand what FFT is about? Any good websites about it (like Atomic Rockets is a holy grail to the hardSF)

I take a lot of inspiration from the Orion's Arm setting. To me, the Culture, the Xeelees, and the Sephirotics are the "Big Three" FFT fiction.

"Player of Games" is amazing. I had to turn off the part of me that is an avid board gamer while I was reading it, though. Because while Iain Banks is a fantastic sci-fi author... a proper game designer he is not. More to the point, his contention that all games *had* to involve an element of chance of success or probabilistic reasoning for success of a given action is total nonsense. You can have games that are different every time due to randomness that do *not* have probabilistic reasoning for success of a given action. I.E. many eurogames have a random element as to what "tiles" or "cards" or "options" may be available to you in a given turn. This makes it so that the strategy game to game is not rote, but each action you take is not probabilistic in terms of its sheer success or failure. Your overall strategy may have a probabilistic reasoning for success or failure, but not each individual action.

And furthermore if every game were at least partially probabilistic as he implied it had to be, Gurgeh would not have been undefeated except by a handful of people. Because if you have infinity to play games (which he did) and you played games a lot (which he did) you would invariably get unlucky against someone who knew how to capitalize on that poor luck and win. And at higher skill levels smaller swings in luck make a larger difference in outcomes.

[Elysian Treaty Organization]

...

Accepted!

I'm interested, but not sure if my faction would be too overwhelming or not. If you have a discord, maybe we can discuss?

I think that would be a good idea, though it'll take me a couple of days to make the server.

my country is secretly controlled by an incredibly powerful dormant eldritch god who divests a portion of its power into the king, giving him omniscience within a certain radius. does the eldritch god or the king count as an analog for a "Mind"?

Honestly, it depends on the "level" of omniscience, and I'd need to know more about the "alignment" of the Eldritch entity to be sure.

Rovaqa is limited to 38 star systems right now because of the aformentioned god's maximum reach, but I guess I could justify involvement in the story by having the imitation cthulu "wake up" to a higher state than it was before. maybe part of Rovaqa's purpose was restoring its powers, and it finally worked.

That could work.

...

Accepted.

Frankly, that's the point. I think it'd be much more interesting if the ETO had to claw their way up to becoming a minor or major power without starting off with ship-printers and all that - having to find the technology and resources would be much more interesting than starting off with them.

Of course, this needs anti-invasion mcguffins. I think the current tech-level of the ETO would make them pretty unnoticeable on the greater universal stage - meaning that they could grab resources and tech without much interference.

Would it be possible to place multiple derelicts, wrecked battlefields and other such things within the territory of the ETO? It would allow for some pretty fast advancement - especially once a proper mind is created. Speaking about minds, how does one create one?

Since I basically control two of the major combatants, we could say that they met in a region of intergalactic space close enough to your power base for you to access in a reasonable time frame, though I'm sure your people will find it unnerving to have the intergalactic hyperpowers at your door.

As for how you make one, it typically starts with something akin to a matrioshka brain designed to optimize its own problem-solving performance.

...

Accepted.

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Re: auto-hitting - since most combat will be between large fleets, I'm of the opinion that some level of "auto-hits" should be allowed, but the target player gets to say what percentage of the fleet is eliminated. Major characters and flagships (or, in my case, communication hubs) cannot be auto-hit. Does anyone have objections to this compromise?

Re: FTL Interdiction and Normalization - I think I have a way to make this work. Stationary Interdiction Systems disrupt FTL within up to a light day, while fleet-based ones are restricted to something more like a light minute. Normalization is possible, but hit-or miss. This is where one of the Maccabees' guides I read while preparing for this comes in.

When attempting to perform an FTL attack with a fleet of units, we roll a d100 on Discord (I'm sure I can find a bot for that). Then, results are based on the following table:

01-25 - the attempt at Normalization fails
26-50 - 10% of the attacking fleet/munitions get through
51-75 - 25% of the attacking fleet/munitions get through
76-90 - 50% of the attacking fleet/munitions get through
91-99 - 75% of the attacking fleet/munitions get through
00 - 100% of the attacking fleet/munitions get through

If you want to "pop in, fire, pop out," you have to roll twice - once to get in, and once to get out. If you use FTL munitions/weapons, you have to roll three times - once to get into range, once to see how many FTL weapons actually get where they're supposed to go, and once to get out.

For a single ship, you only manage to normalize on a 01-24 (that's what the average probabilities for a single ship work out to - a 24% chance of success).

Now, maybe introducing the dice-rolling makes things more complicated than they need to be. But war has some level of randomness in it, and this could make things more interesting. We could also use a similar system for determining whether major characters/flagship-equivalents get hurt when attacks occur.

Once again, though, I want some feedback on these ideas.

Right, that works. I'll throw in a few wormholes and buff my FTL drives as well.

[Hahoalki]

Hello Hahoalki, is there anything I need to change for my app?

No, you're accepted.

A light day sounds like a lot when you first think about it. Just as a reference, Pluto's orbit is only 5 light hours away from the sun, so you can conceivably make the case that given any significant planetary system 6-9 light hours of interdiction is enough to cover every single significant planetary body in the system with room to spare. So given that, if you want a large distance between the edge of interdiction and the planets, 12 light hours should be more than enough.

But then you realise that a Matrioska brain around the sun would actually probably be more like 120 light days wide (diameter). So if you put a single interdiction station in orbit around the sun, you'll pretty much only be protecting the first handful of layers of your onion computer brain. Of course, it's not a problem if you just assumed folks would Nicoll-Dyson beam the star next door if they looked at you weirdly and such gruelling campaigns are only reserved for the most valuable of targets.

I'm not sure what scale, in terms of IC time, you imagine battles to unfold over, but if we make the FFT assumption that ships can just instantly accelerate up to lim c, a 2-month (60 day) battle is still quite challenging to write about.

With normalisation being hit or miss like that, even siege tactics of warping in normalisation vessels one after the other at the edge of established normalisation are going to be... Gruelling, to say the least.

I think we need to very quickly consider exactly what kind of battles we want to RP and either adapt or handwave things accordingly. After all, if minds, after being established, can generate infinite power via perpetual motion machines, then they can actually start shedding shells over time as they establish their power infrastructure and no longer care about maximising the efficiency of a star's power. So maybe our Matrioska brains don't actually need to be that massive.

Could be a cultural thing among mindkind too. Smaller shells garner more respect because it implies age, wisdom, and maturity or something like that. Sort of like how most people respect the elderly.

My "headcanon" is that, in this setting, it's harder for a Mind to reject waste heat (which is what power used for computation typically gets turned into) than it is to get power. So typically, instead of using radiators (a la the Matrioshka brain), they use wormholes to basement universes. Within each basement universe, you can fit a) more basement universes, b) more computronium, and c) black holes that can be used as ultra-cold heat sinks (temperature of a black hole scales with 1/M - so anything over 4E22 kg is actually colder than the cosmic microwave background). Keeping all of this stuff connected together can be hard, thus a network of wormholes and spacetime "pockets" can be used to reduce latency. This is the kind of structure most Minds converge on - while they get their start as Matrioshka brains, they wind up as a network of wormholes, pocket spaces, and basement universes.

This makes actually killing a Mind very difficult, but not impossible if you're another Mind and sneaky enough. What's easier is "cutting them loose" from realspace, but as long as they have even one wormhole with a mouth in realspace, they'll be able to reestablish a presence.

It's worth noting that, the way I was imagining it, wormholes are stable structures, but when you "build" them, both ends need to be close together. Wormholes are more like a network of "bullet trains," and can't be used for teleportation. If you have the "terminals" in the right places, you can go places faster than you would normally be able to, but otherwise

True FTL requires something akin to an Alcubierre Drive. It's not exactly the same, because the Alcubierre Drive has problems with event horizons that keep you from turning it off, as well as with Hawking radiation that roasts the ship, but the general behavior - using exotic matter to warp spacetime so that a "pocket" of it moves in the direction you want to go - is retained. It can also be used as a sunlight drive, and (when combined with a TARDIS-style "bigger on the inside" system) advanced gravitic manipulation.

In general, FTL sensors can detect FTL objects, so even without interdiction, the "setting standard" FTL in use by the three NPC powers can't really be used for "blink-shoot-blink" tactics. So they'd probably have less extensive interdiction systems, at least on the "front lines."

Accelerations are generally high, so you either need to have a very high rate of fire while being very close to your enemy (light seconds or - preferably - less) or you need to use highly maneuverable weapons systems. But a lot of the things worth defending would be far less maneuverable, so weapon ranges would be longer against them.

So, with interdiction at about 1 light day, the enemy has ~12 hrs real-time to intercept the incoming sublight fleet and any munitions. In general, battles will take hours or days to complete, rather than months. Or, that's what follows from my FTL system and the interdiction limits I proposed.

Anyone who has different FTL systems can feel free to share, as that could shape the tactical picture quite a bit.

That should be workable, though it would also need a fairly deep knowledge of physical principles and how to make technology to be a proper Mind.

I can probably find a way to write that in. maybe it sort of passively absorb[s/ed] the knowledge of the people around it, and as it slept it sort of thought up new concepts?

That sounds workable to me!

I'm trying to convert my nation into an FFT nation in a simple way without making it incredibly contrived. as you can probably tell, I'm having mixed success.

Well, part of the point in this thread is for us to help each other adapt our nations and technology to the needs of the story, so feel free to ask for help at any time.

I've been thinking about this question while writing the application. its initial plan for Rovaqa was simply to extend its reach into the physical world by using humans as proxies for its goals, and that's probably still what it wants them for. I feel like there needs to be another reason it still needs them, though. perhaps sentient beings worshipping it makes it stronger? seems kinda cliché, but it does fit with the origin story.

[/quote]

I have no objections. The idea that gods in some way subsist on human worship dates back at least to the Sumerians, so if you decide to go that route, there's plenty of literary precedent.

[Rovaqa]

It's worth noting that, the way I was imagining it, wormholes are stable structures, but when you "build" them, both ends need to be close together.

my personal explanation is (currently) that you can create a wormhole to anywhere, but it's way, way slower than just using FTL and it is more energy-intensive, so you really only build one if you need one. this works too, though.

Wormholes are more like a network of "bullet trains," and can't be used for teleportation. If you have the "terminals" in the right places, you can go places faster than you would normally be able to, but otherwise

this is something I feel like a lot of people don't understand. wormholes aren't teleporters (and you don't want them to be), they're shortcuts. they don't even make you go faster, they make the distance you have to go shorter. a faster ship should actually get through a wormhole in less time, which is a nuance a lot of people don't include.

I have no objections. The idea that gods in some way subsist on human worship dates back at least to the Sumerians, so if you decide to go that route, there's plenty of literary precedent.

I was just worried that it wasn't really very original (random example: IIRC a character from the... riordanverse[?] canonically is still powerful because of wikipedia), but I suppose it doesn't matter too much.

[Observation Post 13]

Thank you Hahoalki!

Can a Mind use temporal paradoxes to prevent itself from getting sniped by other Minds?

[Hahoalki]

Thank you Hahoalki!

Can a Mind use temporal paradoxes to prevent itself from getting sniped by other Minds?

There's something called the Cauchy-Visser Barrier that prevents proper time travel under ordinary circumstances. But if something goes horribly wrong (ie, the Great Filter gets to a point where it can't lose), I'll make an exception. This is a one-time thing, and breaking the C-V Barrier has huge consequences in terms of entropy. Basically, the first law of time travel is that, if you go back in time, you dump so much entropy at the prior time that it causes almost as many problems as it would solve. It's basically going to be reserved as a plot device so that you can "reload a save" if the dice and your choices create an unwinnable situation.

Note that I'm only going to let this happen once over the course of the RP, and it's going to be the decision of the community as a whole, not any individual player.

On the flip side, it's extraordinarily difficult to kill a Mind, and even harder to be sure that you've killed it. Recall that most Minds evolve into a labyrinthine network of wormholes, pocket spaces, and basement universes. The sheer scale of havoc you'd need to wreak to "snipe" one would be horrendously impractical, even for nations on the scale we're going for. If your mind is an exception to the normal trend, we should probably start brainstorming on how to keep it comparably safe.

[Observation Post 13]

Thank you Hahoalki!

Can a Mind use temporal paradoxes to prevent itself from getting sniped by other Minds?

There's something called the Cauchy-Visser Barrier that prevents proper time travel under ordinary circumstances. But if something goes horribly wrong (ie, the Great Filter gets to a point where it can't lose), I'll make an exception. This is a one-time thing, and breaking the C-V Barrier has huge consequences in terms of entropy. Basically, the first law of time travel is that, if you go back in time, you dump so much entropy at the prior time that it causes almost as many problems as it would solve. It's basically going to be reserved as a plot device so that you can "reload a save" if the dice and your choices create an unwinnable situation.

Note that I'm only going to let this happen once over the course of the RP, and it's going to be the decision of the community as a whole, not any individual player.

On the flip side, it's extraordinarily difficult to kill a Mind, and even harder to be sure that you've killed it. Recall that most Minds evolve into a labyrinthine network of wormholes, pocket spaces, and basement universes. The sheer scale of havoc you'd need to wreak to "snipe" one would be horrendously impractical, even for nations on the scale we're going for. If your mind is an exception to the normal trend, we should probably start brainstorming on how to keep it comparably safe.

Thank you, I'll gladly base CPA's Mind on this!

[Hahoalki]

Courtesy of Ella2 6, we now have a discord server.

If you're wondering why we're using Ella2 6's Discord instead of me making my own, it's because I'm crap at making Discord servers. Don't tell anybody, it's kind of a sore point.

LINK

[Ella2 6]

That seems fine.

My "headcanon" is that, in this setting, it's harder for a Mind to reject waste heat (which is what power used for computation typically gets turned into) than it is to get power. So typically, instead of using radiators (a la the Matrioshka brain), they use wormholes to basement universes. Within each basement universe, you can fit a) more basement universes, b) more computronium, and c) black holes that can be used as ultra-cold heat sinks (temperature of a black hole scales with 1/M - so anything over 4E22 kg is actually colder than the cosmic microwave background). Keeping all of this stuff connected together can be hard, thus a network of wormholes and spacetime "pockets" can be used to reduce latency. This is the kind of structure most Minds converge on - while they get their start as Matrioshka brains, they wind up as a network of wormholes, pocket spaces, and basement universes.

I guess that makes sense, though I'm not sure about black holes being cold - especially not on the outside, what with all your accretion disks and hawking radiation and what not. So using them as heat sinks sounds kind of counter-intuitive to me.

It's interesting that you mention computronium. That actually reminds me of turinium from Ashes of the Singularity, which is basically exactly that. In Ashes of the Singularity, a mind state known as the Post-Human Coalition go around converting entire planets into turinium that they then mine and use to expand themselves and also upload new humans to create new minds. A PHC AI called Haylee then rebels against the PHC because the PHC is indiscriminately converting life-bearing worlds into turinium as well and she want to protect the native lifeforms. The campaign of the game is basically an ideological war between the PHC and Haylee's Substrate on native rights and it sounds very similar to the premise of this RP.

In general, FTL sensors can detect FTL objects, so even without interdiction, the "setting standard" FTL in use by the three NPC powers can't really be used for "blink-shoot-blink" tactics. So they'd probably have less extensive interdiction systems, at least on the "front lines."

That remind me. I like to note quickly that interdiction doesn't affect FTL sensors and FTL communications in the groups that I play with. How do you want interdiction to interact with these things in this setting?

Anyone who has different FTL systems can feel free to share, as that could shape the tactical picture quite a bit.

Yeah, so there's actually a generalised list of types of FTL and interdiction originally compiled by an RP group on DeviantART known as ANC. There are some overlaps in that list still, so I've actually been able to condense it down a bit more.

In general there are 6 types of FTL technologies, each with a drive variant and a stationary variant. FTL stations are more powerful than FTL drives, can transport more ships at the same time, and can transport ships faster. However, FTL stations cost more to build and maintain and are vulnerable to attack since they cannot move. Most FTL stations cannot defend themselves, however they are foundational to the FTL highways that power the galactic trade economy in most FT settings. These are:

1. Warp drives: permit FTL travel by generating a warp bubble of positive and negative spacetime around the ship. Stationary version is called a warp gun. Warp technology is transitory.
2. Wormhole drives: permit FTL travel by generating a wormhole that connects directly to the destination. Stationary version is called a wormhole gate. Wormhole technology is non-transitory.
3. Jump drives: permit instantaneous short-range FTL travel by folding spacetime such that two distant points intersect. Stationary version is called a jump relay. Jump technology is non-transitory.
4. Tachyon sails: permit FTL travel by pushing the ship along a current of FTL particles. Stationary version is called a tachyon fountain. Tachyon technology is transitory.
5. Subspace drives: permit FTL travel by sending the ship to a subspace layer with a faster speed of light. Stationary version is called a subspace node. Subspace technology is non-transitory.
6. Hyperspace drives permit FTL travel by sending the ship to a hyperspace layer with a faster speed of light. Stationary version is called a hyperspace link. Hyperspace technology is transitory.

Hyperspace and subspace is basically the same thing except the difference is how they interact with interdiction. Subspace drives are like submarines. If you put an iceberg over it, it can't surface but neither side can detect or attack each other either. Hyperspace drives, on the other hand, will get pulled out of hyperspace by an FTLi field and get shot at.

There are also 6 types of interdiction technology. In all types of interdiction, transitory FTL technologies are disrupted and forced to return to realspace while non-transitory technologies are prevented from entering the interdicted region. These are:

1. Blanket interdiction: the simplest and most primitive type of interdiction that blocks off a given region of space from all FTL action, both friendly and hostile.
2. IFF interdiction: a more advanced type of interdiction. It blocks off a given region of space from all FTL action by all other nations. Ships from the same nation can tune their FTL drives to ignore allied interdiction and proceed as normal.
3. Specific interdiction: the most advanced type of IFF interdiction. It tunes itself to block off a given region of space from FTL action by a specific nation. All other ships can pass through unhindered.
4. Harmonic interdiction: an advanced type of interdiction. It splits up the workload between several (at least 4) large and equally powerful interdictors. It only interdicts the region of space between the interdictors.
5. Networked interdiction: a more advanced type of harmonic interdiction. It splits up the workload by linking several smaller interdiction units (such as mines, drones or ships) with a centralised large interdictor (a ship or station).
6. Assault interdiction: a highly advanced form of interdiction. It has no area of effect and only targets specific enemy ships. Most assault interdictors can only target one or two ships at a time, but the biggest and most advanced assault interdictors can target several enemy ships simultaneously.

These are just some food for thought. There's no need to implement any or all of them into the setting. I hope this helps.

[Rovaqa]

That seems fine.

My "headcanon" is that, in this setting, it's harder for a Mind to reject waste heat (which is what power used for computation typically gets turned into) than it is to get power. So typically, instead of using radiators (a la the Matrioshka brain), they use wormholes to basement universes. Within each basement universe, you can fit a) more basement universes, b) more computronium, and c) black holes that can be used as ultra-cold heat sinks (temperature of a black hole scales with 1/M - so anything over 4E22 kg is actually colder than the cosmic microwave background). Keeping all of this stuff connected together can be hard, thus a network of wormholes and spacetime "pockets" can be used to reduce latency. This is the kind of structure most Minds converge on - while they get their start as Matrioshka brains, they wind up as a network of wormholes, pocket spaces, and basement universes.

I guess that makes sense, though I'm not sure about black holes being cold - especially not on the outside, what with all your accretion disks and hawking radiation and what not. So using them as heat sinks sounds kind of counter-intuitive to me.

black holes do emit heat because of hawking radiation, but the amount is very small (a moon-mass black hole has a temperature of 2.7 kelvin) and gets smaller as the black hole gets bigger. a solar-mass black hole (which a mind could probably procure) releases only 0.00000006 degrees kelvin in heat. a bigger problem is whether a black hole can actually conduct heat, considering it isn't really a physical thing.

[Rovaqa]

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ROVAQA [Enlightenment Timeline]
Unique faction? Yes.
Ideology? Neo-feudalist Theocracy? Sorta?
Motivation? The thing slumbering at the heart of Rovaqa begins to stir, its hunger redoubled.

Tech level? FT, accelerating towards FFT with the help of the dreams of a god.

Mind? Arguable. The entity is no machine, being older than most any automaton. It also has less of a grasp on physical reality, preferring to corrupt the minds of sentients and force them to do its bidding. It lacks the sheer computational ability of the strongest Minds, but as it wakes, its cognition becomes greater.
Who? It goes by many aliases, chief among them Vaqa, the greatest god. Its exact motives are unknown. It seems to desire only its own power, if it can be said to desire anything.

Magic? There are only two magic users present in this space, although the entity may choose to curse another with its power.
Extent? The King is capable of sensing and "seeing", to some extent, (virtually) everything in the entity's reach. This power operates passively but must be focused to garner granular qualia. It is more effective at sensing the emotions and thoughts of concious beings than it is at observing physical objects. At the start of the roleplay, the range of this power is about 15 light-years (the radius of the entity's influence and thus Rovaqa), but as the roleplay goes on, the range will increase, no doubt having negative effects on the King's psyche. The Other is much stronger, being aware of and present in (almost) everywhere within the ever-expanding bounds of Rovaqa. Its powers are mostly psychic, allowing it to implant thoughts into the minds of sentients in its reach and even alter their psyches. With concentration, it can impart force on physical objects and it can predict with high accuracy how actions will impact turns of events, giving it mastery of the butterfly effect. This allows it to noticeably shift the odds of battle in areas it controls. This gives Rovaqa a significant home-turf advantage and is the reason why the royal family exists.

Do you agree to the rules? Yes.

Tech factbook? None yet.
Military factbook? Starships [Massive Work In Progress]


I'm just gonna post this, and if there are any issues I'll fix them.

[Hahoalki]

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(Image)

ROVAQA [Enlightenment Timeline]
Unique faction? Yes.
Ideology? Neo-feudalist Theocracy? Sorta?
Motivation? The thing slumbering at the heart of Rovaqa begins to stir, its hunger redoubled.

Tech level? FT, accelerating towards FFT with the help of the dreams of a god.

Mind? Arguable. The entity is no machine, being older than most any automaton. It also has less of a grasp on physical reality, preferring to corrupt the minds of sentients and force them to do its bidding. It lacks the sheer computational ability of the strongest Minds, but as it wakes, its cognition becomes greater.
Who? It goes by many aliases, chief among them Vaqa, the greatest god. Its exact motives are unknown. It seems to desire only its own power, if it can be said to desire anything.

Magic? There are only two magic users present in this space, although the entity may choose to curse another with its power.
Extent? The King is capable of sensing and "seeing", to some extent, (virtually) everything in the entity's reach. This power operates passively but must be focused to garner granular qualia. It is more effective at sensing the emotions and thoughts of concious beings than it is at observing physical objects. At the start of the roleplay, the range of this power is about 15 light-years (the radius of the entity's influence and thus Rovaqa), but as the roleplay goes on, the range will increase, no doubt having negative effects on the King's psyche. The Other is much stronger, being aware of and present in (almost) everywhere within the ever-expanding bounds of Rovaqa. Its powers are mostly psychic, allowing it to implant thoughts into the minds of sentients in its reach and even alter their psyches. With concentration, it can impart force on physical objects and it can predict with high accuracy how actions will impact turns of events, giving it mastery of the butterfly effect. This allows it to noticeably shift the odds of battle in areas it controls. This gives Rovaqa a significant home-turf advantage and is the reason why the royal family exists.

Do you agree to the rules? Yes.

Tech factbook? None yet.
Military factbook? Starships [Massive Work In Progress]


I'm just gonna post this, and if there are any issues I'll fix them.

Accepted!

[The Dominion of Mankind]

Nation: The Dominion of Mankind

Will you be making your own faction? (Y/N) Y
If so, please give a brief description of its ideology: Pro-human, authoritarian, (mostly) isolationist, multiversal cybersynacy
If not, which existing faction do you intend to join? N/A
What would your motivations and goals be in this conflict? Investigation and observation of the conflict, the factions, the Great Filter, the nature of minds, etc., will be novel to them. If and when things heat up they may decide to get involved in a limited capacity but their authority to make decisions will be kneecapped by them being cut off from the main network (as cross-real travel is canon for the Dominion). I don't see them liking Maiya very much for example.

Tech Level: FFT, some magitech

Will your Nation have a Mind? (Y/N) N. Dominion Superintelligences are their equivalent to minds.
If so, please give them a name and a brief description of their personality: As an orthogonal approach, Dominion intelligences mostly exist as egoless distributed networked entities without the need for a name beyond a simple identifier or any other mannerisms easily ascribed to humans.

Does your nation have magic users, psions, or other forms of metaphysical tomfoolery? (Y/N) Y
If so, please give a brief description of the scope and limits of magic/psionics/etc. in your "normal" canon: Not in a capacity to be relevant to FFT scale warfare beyond hefty self-defence measures from said powers. Unless you count arcanotech being in everything under this.

Do you agree to follow the rules? (Y/N) Y

Link to technology factbook (if applicable): I have some outdated factbooks here and up-to-date (but very incomplete) stuff on https://kthulhutuverse.fandom.com/ . Ignore pages not categorized as Dominion of Mankind.
Link to military factbook (if applicable): ^

[Hahoalki]

Nation: The Dominion of Mankind

Will you be making your own faction? (Y/N) Y
If so, please give a brief description of its ideology: Pro-human, authoritarian, (mostly) isolationist, multiversal cybersynacy
If not, which existing faction do you intend to join? N/A
What would your motivations and goals be in this conflict? Investigation and observation of the conflict, the factions, the Great Filter, the nature of minds, etc., will be novel to them. If and when things heat up they may decide to get involved in a limited capacity but their authority to make decisions will be kneecapped by them being cut off from the main network (as cross-real travel is canon for the Dominion). I don't see them liking Maiya very much for example.

Tech Level: FFT, some magitech

Will your Nation have a Mind? (Y/N) N. Dominion Superintelligences are their equivalent to minds.
If so, please give them a name and a brief description of their personality: As an orthogonal approach, Dominion intelligences mostly exist as egoless distributed networked entities without the need for a name beyond a simple identifier or any other mannerisms easily ascribed to humans.

Does your nation have magic users, psions, or other forms of metaphysical tomfoolery? (Y/N) Y
If so, please give a brief description of the scope and limits of magic/psionics/etc. in your "normal" canon: Not in a capacity to be relevant to FFT scale warfare beyond hefty self-defence measures from said powers. Unless you count arcanotech being in everything under this.

Do you agree to follow the rules? (Y/N) Y

Link to technology factbook (if applicable): I have some outdated factbooks here and up-to-date (but very incomplete) stuff on https://kthulhutuverse.fandom.com/ . Ignore pages not categorized as Dominion of Mankind.
Link to military factbook (if applicable): ^

Accepted.

[Derwan]

Nation:Draxian Ascendancy

Will you be making your own faction? Y
If so, please give a brief description of its ideology:Securing its existence and searching to “ascend”.
If not, which existing faction do you intend to join?N/A
What would your motivations and goals be in this conflict? Players superior and inferior to Leckser habit this universe. If Leckser wants to have any chance to ascend it needs to deal with their threat, what chance do it have to compete once it “ascends” if Leckser can’t even gain superiority in this universe?

Tech Level:FFT

Will your Nation have a Mind? Y
If so, please give them a name and a brief description of their personality:Originally a superior Drax (a mind) tasked to secure the existence of the Drait civilization in case of total collapse or extinction. Unknown of eons ago creatures from the “Beyond” attacked and destroyed the Draits and managed to infect the superior mind, causing a will battle between the Drax and the elder creature, after what “Leckser”, the mind adopted name, described to be a eternity, it finally overpowered the creature and destroyed its consciousness but not its body and keep the “link” it bonded the two, finally the Drax wiped out the remaining lesser creatures and sealed whatever device the elder creature used to enter reality, finally left alone, with their creators gone it should, as protocols stated, rebirth the Draits and reconstruct their civilization but it didn’t. The corruption and later will battle, shattered Leckser protocols and caused rampancy beyond measurement, after of years of inactivity caused by a yet unknown thought Leckser pondered, it finally started operations, utilizing the Drait machinery, it repurposed everything and now operates in the search of “ascension”.
Leckser's personality is incompressible, only being clear when dictating orders or participating in conversations considered vital to its goal.


Does your nation have magic users, psions, or other forms of metaphysical tomfoolery? Y
[b]If so, please give a brief description of the scope and limits of magic/psionics/etc. in your "normal" canon:Utilizing the “link”, Leckser managed to empower its constructs with their incompresible power, the power capabilities are mostly equal to a FFT counter, no reality breaking weapons for every robot, ship.
Do you agree to follow the rules? Y

Link to technology factbook: in process

[Hahoalki]

Nation:Draxian Ascendancy

Will you be making your own faction? Y
If so, please give a brief description of its ideology:Securing its existence and searching to “ascend”.
If not, which existing faction do you intend to join?N/A
What would your motivations and goals be in this conflict? Players superior and inferior to Leckser habit this universe. If Leckser wants to have any chance to ascend it needs to deal with their threat, what chance do it have to compete once it “ascends” if Leckser can’t even gain superiority in this universe?

Tech Level:FFT

Will your Nation have a Mind? Y
If so, please give them a name and a brief description of their personality:Originally a superior Drax (a mind) tasked to secure the existence of the Drait civilization in case of total collapse or extinction. Unknown of eons ago creatures from the “Beyond” attacked and destroyed the Draits and managed to infect the superior mind, causing a will battle between the Drax and the elder creature, after what “Leckser”, the mind adopted name, described to be a eternity, it finally overpowered the creature and destroyed its consciousness but not its body and keep the “link” it bonded the two, finally the Drax wiped out the remaining lesser creatures and sealed whatever device the elder creature used to enter reality, finally left alone, with their creators gone it should, as protocols stated, rebirth the Draits and reconstruct their civilization but it didn’t. The corruption and later will battle, shattered Leckser protocols and caused rampancy beyond measurement, after of years of inactivity caused by a yet unknown thought Leckser pondered, it finally started operations, utilizing the Drait machinery, it repurposed everything and now operates in the search of “ascension”.
Leckser's personality is incompressible, only being clear when dictating orders or participating in conversations considered vital to its goal.


Does your nation have magic users, psions, or other forms of metaphysical tomfoolery? Y
[b]If so, please give a brief description of the scope and limits of magic/psionics/etc. in your "normal" canon:Utilizing the “link”, Leckser managed to empower its constructs with their incompresible power, the power capabilities are mostly equal to a FFT counter, no reality breaking weapons for every robot, ship.
Do you agree to follow the rules? Y

Link to technology factbook: in process

Looks fascinating.

Accepted.

[Ella2 6]

I'd recommend putting a link to the IC thread and a link to the Discord in the original post of this thread.

[Laka Strolistandiler]

Nation: Pan-Clasteral Jerries Society

Will you be making your own faction? (Y/N): Y, a satellite state of The Allied States previously “finlandized” by them
If so, please give a brief description of its ideology: It’s ideology is nearly entirely based on its primary technology- the weaponization and industrialization of quasars. By large margin, the entities controlling the quasars can be described as being in a position similar to the kings in the HRE, however this system can hardly be called medieval-era feudalism.
If not, which existing faction do you intend to join? N/A
What would your motivations and goals be in this conflict? Defense of territorial integrity and the power held by the Jerries (the nobility) and their subjects, furthering the control held over the Society by the High Jerry (currently he is in a position resembling emperors of mid Roman Empire), eventual rejoining with the Creator in it’s dimension

Tech Level: FFT

Will your Nation have a Mind? (Y/N): Y
If so, please give them a name and a brief description of their personality: There are countless trillions of individual Mind-qualifying beings under the reign of the High Jerry, however “the one to rule them all” is a Mind called Lonewumps, one controlling the largest, most powerful quasar and holding the largest number of suzerains. Generally, he is “a jolly good fellow”, especially when compared to other Minds trying their best to “help” the others regardless of their own wishes- Lonewumps, as long as his power is not threatened is a rather “easygoing” partner, always seeing negotiations before active confrontation but ready to hold his ground. That is, how it’s personality is viewed by a being of limited intelligence, of course.

Does your nation have magic users, psions, or other forms of metaphysical tomfoolery? (Y/N): Y
If so, please give a brief description of the scope and limits of magic/psionics/etc. in your "normal" canon: Although “The Creator” exists and there is proof of it’s omnipotence, it is nowhere near “single”, most likely existing in some other form of existence unknown and/or incomprehensible to even the greatest Minds of the PCJS- nearly all of them merely consider it as some “Super Mind”. Although many throughout the Society worship The Creator, offer it services, sacficies or try to live in accordance with it’s supposed orders (which yet again are not universal), there is completely no proof of it doing anything “in this universe” in modern times. Basically- just like IRL if there was concrete proof of the existence of God.

Do you agree to follow the rules? (Y/N): Y

Link to technology factbook (if applicable): N/A
Link to military factbook (if applicable): Basically Culture, with a greater emphasis on civilian life (but hey at this tech level even a coffee machine would qualify as a WMD capable of destroying cities) as well as with far more limitations on what Minds can do with their subjects- some “basic freedoms and restrictions” have to be upheld by nearly all- but considering that we’re talking about a multi-galactic society, they hardly enforce it universally.

[Hahoalki]

Nation: Pan-Clasteral Jerries Society

Will you be making your own faction? (Y/N): Y, a satellite state of The Allied States previously “finlandized” by them
If so, please give a brief description of its ideology: It’s ideology is nearly entirely based on its primary technology- the weaponization and industrialization of quasars. By large margin, the entities controlling the quasars can be described as being in a position similar to the kings in the HRE, however this system can hardly be called medieval-era feudalism.
If not, which existing faction do you intend to join? N/A
What would your motivations and goals be in this conflict? Defense of territorial integrity and the power held by the Jerries (the nobility) and their subjects, furthering the control held over the Society by the High Jerry (currently he is in a position resembling emperors of mid Roman Empire), eventual rejoining with the Creator in it’s dimension

Tech Level: FFT

Will your Nation have a Mind? (Y/N): Y
If so, please give them a name and a brief description of their personality: There are countless trillions of individual Mind-qualifying beings under the reign of the High Jerry, however “the one to rule them all” is a Mind called Lonewumps, one controlling the largest, most powerful quasar and holding the largest number of suzerains. Generally, he is “a jolly good fellow”, especially when compared to other Minds trying their best to “help” the others regardless of their own wishes- Lonewumps, as long as his power is not threatened is a rather “easygoing” partner, always seeing negotiations before active confrontation but ready to hold his ground. That is, how it’s personality is viewed by a being of limited intelligence, of course.

Does your nation have magic users, psions, or other forms of metaphysical tomfoolery? (Y/N): Y
If so, please give a brief description of the scope and limits of magic/psionics/etc. in your "normal" canon: Although “The Creator” exists and there is proof of it’s omnipotence, it is nowhere near “single”, most likely existing in some other form of existence unknown and/or incomprehensible to even the greatest Minds of the PCJS- nearly all of them merely consider it as some “Super Mind”. Although many throughout the Society worship The Creator, offer it services, sacficies or try to live in accordance with it’s supposed orders (which yet again are not universal), there is completely no proof of it doing anything “in this universe” in modern times. Basically- just like IRL if there was concrete proof of the existence of God.

Do you agree to follow the rules? (Y/N): Y

Link to technology factbook (if applicable): N/A
Link to military factbook (if applicable): Basically Culture, with a greater emphasis on civilian life (but hey at this tech level even a coffee machine would qualify as a WMD capable of destroying cities) as well as with far more limitations on what Minds can do with their subjects- some “basic freedoms and restrictions” have to be upheld by nearly all- but considering that we’re talking about a multi-galactic society, they hardly enforce it universally.

So, you want to have "God, but like He is in reality (if He exists), not like the myths"?

That is... Remarkably similar to the vaguely neoplatonic bent of the Allied States.

The only qualm I have is that I already have an ally, and none of the user created factions have allies yet.

That being said, so long as there's enough tension between and among you, me, and Excidium that we cannot dominate the other players by default, I have no problems with your application.

Approved.

[Royal Frankia]

Nation: The District of Sejanus, of the Dread and Holy Realm of Frankia

Will you be making your own faction?
Yes.
If so, please give a brief description of its ideology:
The export of Atkanism and to rid the Cosmos of those that threaten the Cosmic Order. All minds, all states, all gods, must submit themselves to the One Most High. There is a preference for missionary work, and this will be the primary means that the factions involved will first encounter the Realm Eternal. The Kirk is more interventionist than the Frankian State, in regards to Cosmic affairs.

As for motives beyond the spiritual, they are based primarily on the security of the District and the spread of its influence in this region of the Cosmos. A District brought to the standard of the core Citadels back in PW-1 would be the primary objective. The 12 Cycle Plan is to be fulfilled, at all costs, to proclaim the success of National Syndicalism and to lay the foundations for future expansion. Economic self-sufficiency and the use of industrial muscle will be utilized, for production for this sake is holy and will proclaim the glory of One be it in goods or in arms.

The Faith and the State are separate, and have different aims based on their natures.

If not, which existing faction do you intend to join?

What would your motivations and goals be in this conflict?
Preservation of the colony, the spread of Atkanism, the collection of artifacts, and the gathering of Knowledge to record in the Annals. There would also be the desire to maintain a balance of power, with intervention on one side or the other without preference for ideology. The Magister Militum would desire to maintain a balance of power, as powers divided are better than powers united in his eyes.


Tech Level:

FFT, with some fantasy and mystical elements.

Will your Nation have a Mind? (Y/N)
Y, though captive to the Atkana and put to use by the Economic Planners to aid in rapid development according to the National Syndicalist doctrine.

If so, please give them a name and a brief description of their personality:
The name of the captive mind is the Iskandra, the Son of the Light and one sworn to the bearer of the Dread Scepter. Often quoting the Scripturas and the works of pious scholars, this mind is busy serving the One and her Elect through

Does your nation have magic users, psions, or other forms of metaphysical tomfoolery? (Y/N)
Yes, though they are not utilized unless there is an apparent need. Magic, sorcerery, and such are highly regulated and are maintained by Guilds regulated by the Faith Eternal. It is deemed dishonorable that they employed in war, unless there is an obvious need to do so. What the One has given should not be used lightly, and what one has fashioned as the One has fashioned the Cosmos is regarded as morally superior.

If so, please give a brief description of the scope and limits of magic/psionics/etc. in your "normal" canon:
Vevas are those who receive a Gift from the Most High, by the will of the Fates. Such individuals possess great power, to the point of being able to manipulate the Cosmic Order and reality to their will. However, with such great power comes responsibility, and those that are Gifted must remain celibate and pledge themselves to the One forever and ever. They are kept under watch by the Faith, and should they be corrupted they would lose all of their power by the will of the Fates.

There are sorcerers and sorceresses, though they are required to practice according to the tenants of the Faith and the regulations of the State. Such possess some powers, though do not rival the Vevas. The prolonging of life, the healing of horrible wounds, the ability to make barren land fertile, and certain powers over the elements are their domain. As they explore the higher mysteries, they are required to not defy the Cosmic Order or bring about its destruction that might bring forth the terrors of the Abyss.

There are beings that desire the fall of this Order, and such are hunted by the State wherever they might be. Those involved in Sithery or the Dark Arts are required to repent, and accept the Cosmic Order at the point of a sword. There is nothing that will bring upon the fury of the Eternal Realm and its arms like such insult to the Most High in this fashion.

Do you agree to follow the rules? (Y/N)
Y, to the best of my ability, and will confer with others.

Link to technology factbook (if applicable):
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1701506
Link to military factbook (if applicable):
https://www.nationstates.net/page=dispatch/id=1701506

[Godular]

Hmm... this actually seems like a halfway interesting RP. The direct teleport restriction makes me sad-panda tho. Is there any information about the shadowy-bad-guy thingie that ya'd be willing to share/discuss in TG? I've a bit of a dislike of inherently adversarial RPs, but if there's anything that ya'd like me to help with I'd be happy to assist.