The Last Stars - OOC/Signups (Closed)

by **Harkback Union** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 9:57 am

The Last Stars
A Space Strategy-Roleplay

Soundtrack

- OOC -

Wormhole to IC
Wormhole to Tech Thread
Starmap

THE STORY SO FAR...

The Universe is dying...

Countless eons have passed since mankind's escape from earth, and its cosmic diaspora. Countless stars were born and extinguished since their first radio contact with alien intelligence... With space being so vast and rich in resources, they foolishly believed that peaceful coexistence would be self evident... one could not be further from the truth.

The first alien broadcasts decoded warned of an impending danger. It explained on repeat that supernovas and black holes are not a natural phenomena, but the ultimate weapons of mass destruction which are used relentlessly to sterilize all other forms of life by malovelent beings. The universe turned out to be already teeming with intelligent life, engaged in endless cosmic wars spanning several galaxies. It would not be long before humanity is caught in the crossfire.

Other signals from remote corners of the sky offered a wealth of knowledge, revealing serious errors in human science, but The rules of relativity stood firm. As Humans and Xenos traveled across the stars at near light speed velocities, the universe around them came to life. Distant galaxies whirled at breathtaking speeds as years turned into seconds while stars were born and destroyed all around them.

Often, a merchant or explorer returning to their homeworld would find nothing but the ashes of their civilization, that is if the planet was still in one piece. These unfortunate travelers would have become nomads, wandering around the universe in search of a new home. But as they would soon find out, the world around them aged much faster then anticipated.

As the intergalactic wars continued their escalation, a new weapon of mass destruction was discovered. The Hypernova. Shattering blackholes at the galactic center using antimatter caused massive tides of gravitational waves and γ radiation. These explosions reduced everything in their path to cosmic dust, and hastened the expansion of the universe by several orders of magnitude.

Those few who survived the final cataclysm searched the the sky for stable stars within reach, their numbers diminishing rapidly and accelerating away from each other. The night sky became dimmer and dimmer... Soon, there would be nothing left.

Amidst the chaos however, a single cluster of stars remained bound together by an unknown force. The bright pulsar at its edge visible from millions of lightyears away. The "Omega Cluster" contained several dozen star systems of various size, with possibly hundreds of planets and moons. Some might even support life, the survivors hoped as they set course to the cluster. As they would soon find out, they were not alone...

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SPACETIME CONTINUUM

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STARS, PLANETS AND MOONS

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EXPLORATION

-

RESOURCES

-

COLONIZATION

-

STATIONS

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SPACECRAFT

WARFARE

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TECHNOLOGY

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LEADERSHIP

-

ALIEN CONTACT

SOCIETY

by **Harkback Union** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 9:58 am

SPECIES CREATION

Open for applications, can accept 6 - 12 Players!

Code: Select all: [i]SPECIES[/i] [b]Name[/b]: [b]Homeworld[/b]: [b]Description[/b]: [b]History[/b]: [i]FACTION[/i] [b]Name[/b]: [b]Ideology[/b]: [b]Background[/b]: [b]History[/b]: [b]Leader[/b]:

HELP

SPECIES
Name: Name of your species
Homeworld: What your species know about their homeworld (optional).
Description: What your species looks, sounds and smells like, their biology, culture and society. If their ancestors are Humans, what changed (if anything).
History: Any important events your species remember (optional).
Genetic Traits removed until further notice.

FACTION
Name: The name of your faction.
Ideology: See ideology part of mechanics (optional).
Background: See Backgrounds Below.
History: How your faction came to be outside of their background. If you think your faction's history cannot work with any backgrounds available, TG me and I'll see what I can do (optional).
Leader: General information about your 1st character of importance (optional).

FACTION LIST

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THE ARCHITECTS
Cosmic Refugees

G-Tech Corporation wrote:SPECIES
Name: Voidborn (Homo erectus superior tenebrae)
Homeworld: The Mainframe
Description: The Voidborn, the Sons of the Last Home, are physically identical to the ubiquitous vermin of the galaxy, mankind. Their own records are unclear about exactly how this happened, because they pre-date Humanity's leap to the stars by several millenia, but their myths and legends speak of their forebearers being chosen by the vanished Makers from indigenous populations to be groomed to adopt their legacy. No longer creatures of blood and bone, the Voidborn have walked strange paths on their journey across the stars, now abiotic echoes of the species that once was once was and the men and women who lived in the free air, amalgamations of eldritch technology and the horrors of the space between stars that masquerade as the living.
History: Will reveal ICly.

FACTION
Name: The Architects
Ideology: Builders and artisans of ambition far outsize to their ability for centuries, the Architects are the heirs to the legacy of their Makers, and value the fabrication of civilization and survival in the face of adversity above all. There is no problem, to their eyes, that cannot be resolved with iron will and ceaseless industry. Reason, Creation (Competition).
Background: Cosmic Refugees - Once they were the caretakers of the Mainframe, a constructed world around the rim of a singularity of untrammeled size, a refuge constructed for the worthy by their Makers who sought to escape the death of the universe around them. But a lifeboat, no matter how vast - though it was large enough to hold the population of uncounted systems - is eventually of finite size. As the endless waves of desperate organics, warlords, governments, and apocalypse descended on the Mainframe, order broke down slowly but surely, until the grand experiment of empathy and posterity was destroyed in a spasm of conflict and death on an unimaginable scale that lasted for generations. The Architects, bearing only fragments of the power and knowledge that was lost in the apocalypse, fled toward the last remaining hope for their way of life, leaving the burning hulk of their Makers behind as it drowned in blood.
History: ^
Leader: Arch-Fabricator Second of Ivory

-

MEMORY OF YULUK
Remnant Armada

The Last Dream

Star sky of Yuluk, bright did you light the future, upon your earthen stone, your murmurs coo the children asleep

SPECIES
Name: Bal'ahkai "Dreaming Ones" (Gazrok, or "Melting Men" as their enemies knew them, now used sardonically by themselves)
Homeworld: Yuluk - an arid planet with liquid surface and ground water. Host to both flora and fauna, Yuluk was more than capable of sustaining evolving life. Of its many features, gentle vibrations emitted from the core as well as a long axial rotation are the most remembered by the Bal'ahkai. It is presumed to be long gone, and its loss is a matter of deep grief and longing.
Description: The Bal'ahkai can best be described as, at least in appearance, a near liquid-based lifeform. Originally thought of as forms of living metal by the first alien species to encounter them, later revelations on phenotypic variation (and biological research) proved this firmly to not be the case. Instead, their amorphous bodies began as a result of life on Yuluk gaining complexity and suited firmly a subterranean lifestyle. As their sapience grew, so too did their resilience and their final and most recent evolutionary step allowed them to venture out into the warmth of Yuluk's G-type star, though they retained habitation of caverns as shelter even into the space age.

Possessing exceptionally soft and fluid bodies, the Bal'ahkai can restructure themselves to suite many shapes, though this has severe restrictions for them. Once exploring the cosmos, they often attempted to match the general shape of whatever species they were interacting with, though their "true" forms are surprisingly not too far in shape from humanoid species, albeit lacking most features or refined form from a human standpoint. Whatever advantages they may have gained from versatile shape was off-set by fragility. To provide themselves with more stable structure, the species evolved the ability to incorporate plates of rock with their bodies, creating a kind of clothing and outward skeleton, but locking their shape until completely removed. Phenotypes among the species see their luminous skin colored from deep black, to a silvery metallic, to a translucent kind of white. This, paired with the use of many kinds of stone clothing, leads to a relatively colorful array of individual appearance. The species is formed from two sexes for sexual reproduction, though extremely obvious sexual dimorphism is absent outside of form mimicking.

The Bal'akhai are very long lived, typically in the area of centuries, but slow at reproducing, with low fertility rates. Yuluk provided their evolutionary ancestors with ample space for an omnivorous diet but it was competition with many powerful predator species that lead them from sentience to sapience. Members of the species can communicate through touch, and as a social species, this is the preferred method among themselves. They are, however, more than capable of advanced vocal linguistics and to others their speech may sound modulating, rhythmic, and electronic. Two types of body language is found and practiced among them -- firstly, they are able to vibrate softly, much like their homeworld, and this can be a voluntary or involuntary response. Secondly, a release of hormonal pigments can temporarily change the tint of their bodies in response to stimuli. Both of these biological communicators feature heavily in their art and culture.
History: The Bal'ahkai did not come upon cosmic travel in their own. They were, instead, one of the fortunate (or unfortunate) recipients of alien encounter. Though the details of the original event are mostly forgotten and mythologized, it is dubbed the "awakening". While not original space travelers in their own right, the intellectual ability of the species would have seen it reach that point eventually, if not reluctantly, and they adapted quite well to rapid scientific advancement and revelation.

Unfortunately exploring the stars meant interaction with others doing so, and the Bal'ahkai were not taught by their benefactors for no reason. Indeed, they would find themselves unwilling party to the galactic conflicts already raging around them and their participation and scale would only grow with the time. This war, known now as the "breaking", would eventually lead to their undoing.

FACTION
Name: Memory of Yuluk
Ideology: Faith and Liberty
Background: Defeated Space Armada - How many eons have passed since the Breaking? How many stars? How many dreams?
What is presumably the last of the Bal'akhai now floats in the remains of a battered fleet. It was only a matter of time before their numerous and overwhelming enemies defeated them. Their allies had fled or been destroyed themselves, the very ones who involved them in the infernal conflict. Now All that remains is a skeleton, the Gazrok, the ones who fled. Yuluk, the rest of their people, their dreams...have now vanished. After warping out, the last of the Dreaming Ones moves quietly towards the end of their long journey, towards the last bright light of a dimming universe -- the Omega Cluster.
History: See Background. More to be revealed ICly
Leader: Kamaka - "the Black Man", is one of the few remaining Gazrok to have been born and raised on Yuluk. This, paired with his extremely advanced age, lends him the most authority in the remaining fleet. Enigmatic, Mystical, and with a long memory, the Black Man was once a religious figure before the Breaking. Now, he leads what remains of the Dreamers towards the last horizon.

Additional Leaders -
Harakpa - "Gypsum Man", another of the few who can recall Yuluk. He was a magistrate before the breaking and now works as Kamaka's second-in-command.

Yesulai - "Ocean Woman", she was a girl when she left Yuluk for a colony. Originally an architect and later ambassador, she is Harakpa's mate and one of the more capable among the remaining Gazrok, earning her third in the chain of command.

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THE ARMADA OF THE FORGOTTEN
Lost Expedition

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THE ONES WHO HID
Fungal Consciousness

SPECIES
Name: Called by themselves, the "Double Ones", namely for their unique biological structure of having a fully mobile fungus and a stationary mycelial body.
Homeworld: Their homeworld exists without a name, a remnant memory that is missed but not yearned for too deeply. It's only defining feature was deep topsoil, extending far below the surface and having plentiful space for many of the Double Ones.
Description: As stated above, the Double Ones have two separate pieces to their organism. What is first formed is the mycelial body, splitting off from another mature body, which then forms a fungal body, which can move around and manipulate it's environment. The mycelial body is stationary for the most part, moving slowly through a substrate and digesting nutrients in the substrate. When enough materials are present, a fungal body is formed above ground. This has the purpose of acquiring more nutrients for the mycelial body to digest. In modern times, the bodies are put into more mobile containers which have a linking port for forming and maintaining the fungal body. The Double Ones also share a conscious mind through a surprisingly long range telepathy, although it cannot cross interstellar distances. The mind itself is somewhat split, having two separate personalities with a lot of overlap.
History: The origins of the Double Ones are strange to be sure. Having split bodies that share a goal is strange enough in the universe, but a shared mind across far distances is even stranger. While they don't remember how they came about, their religion does seem to focus on a mixed savior/destroyer deity. One who tore up the Earth, tore them in twain, but then reunited them despite physical distance.

FACTION
Name: The Ones who Hid
Ideology: Faith and Planning - The Ones who Hid are a very collectivized society who rely heavily on faith, although not necessarily for social control. Their collective minds are fragile, and at risk of separating whenever resources are scarce, the fungal body goes too far, or when many beings are present in an area. Through heavy planning and a collective responsibility, these risks can be carefully mitigated. In addition, their worship of the savior/destroyer helps to ease the tensions of their mind for some reason.
Background: Cosmic Refugees
History: While they forget their origins, they do remember their escape. They remember how, like their savior/destroyer, beings came to turn up their precious soils. However these entities didn't offer them a boon in return, simply stealing all they could get their hands on, slaughtering their peoples along the way. Many factions formed here, perhaps others survived, but The Ones who Hid only know for certain of their own survival. Organizing themselves to the fullest, the fungal bodies moved their mycelial counterparts to the invader's spaceships, hiding among the precious soils in their cargo holds. By then sacrificing their fungal bodies and turning it into nutrients, they could then rebuild and ambush those onboard the ships. In doing so, they secured a great amount of them while traveling. However, by the time they had regained control, their homeworld was far gone and they only had the most basic knowledge of how to operate the invader's technology. Unsure of how to turn back, they moved forwards to where the invaders were surely going, the Omega Cluster. While a risk, they couldn't sustain themselves forever onboard these barely united colony ships.
Leader: The One who United - While originally without many leaders, those that have started to emerge are those that led the operations to capture the invader's ships. The One who United is the one who both took over a ship and united the other ships to form the colony ship. While many in this species are uncomfortable acting as leaders, directing a group of split minds is difficult, The One who United is more comfortable than most, and so took charge of this situation.

Finally done writing that

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CHURCH OF THE OLD GOD
Fallen Hive Mind

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THE DIRECTORATE
Scientific Expedition

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THE REMNANT
Defeated Armada

by **Taganian Unfied States** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 12:07 pm

Tag for later. Looks pretty interesting.

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 12:11 pm

Mm. I’m salivating.

by **Yuzhou** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 12:38 pm

Reporting for duty!

Presumably we'll need to wait until the genetics and backgrounds are done before filling out the application?

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 1:08 pm

SPECIES
Name: Voidborn (Homo erectus superior tenebrae)
Homeworld: The Mainframe
Description: The Voidborn, the Sons of the Last Home, are physically identical to the ubiquitous vermin of the galaxy, mankind. Their own records are unclear about exactly how this happened, because they pre-date Humanity's leap to the stars by several millenia, but their myths and legends speak of their forebearers being chosen by the vanished Makers from indigenous populations to be groomed to adopt their legacy. No longer creatures of blood and bone, the Voidborn have walked strange paths on their journey across the stars, now abiotic echoes of the species that once was once was and the men and women who lived in the free air, amalgamations of eldritch technology and the horrors of the space between stars that masquerade as the living.
History: Will reveal ICly.

FACTION
Name: The Architects
Ideology: Builders and artisans of ambition far outsize to their ability for centuries, the Architects are the heirs to the legacy of their Makers, and value the fabrication of civilization and survival in the face of adversity above all. There is no problem, to their eyes, that cannot be resolved with iron will and ceaseless industry. Reason, Creation (Competition).
Background: Cosmic Refugees - Once they were the caretakers of the Mainframe, a constructed world around the rim of a singularity of untrammeled size, a refuge constructed for the worthy by their Makers who sought to escape the death of the universe around them. But a lifeboat, no matter how vast - though it was large enough to hold the population of uncounted systems - is eventually of finite size. As the endless waves of desperate organics, warlords, governments, and apocalypse descended on the Mainframe, order broke down slowly but surely, until the grand experiment of empathy and posterity was destroyed in a spasm of conflict and death on an unimaginable scale that lasted for generations. The Architects, bearing only fragments of the power and knowledge that was lost in the apocalypse, fled toward the last remaining hope for their way of life, leaving the burning hulk of their Makers behind as it drowned in blood.
History: ^
Leader: Arch-Fabricator Second of Ivory

by **Utceforp** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 1:35 pm

Definitely looks interesting.

by **Lunas Legion** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 2:23 pm

For once I'm not actually late so yey.

by **The Empire of Tau** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 3:26 pm

Oh hey, you're not dead.

by **The GAmeTopians** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 4:39 pm

As promised, here I am.

by **Harkback Union** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 5:05 pm

Yuzhou wrote:Reporting for duty!

Presumably we'll need to wait until the genetics and backgrounds are done before filling out the application?

I'm going to fix those up ASAP.
You can still think of a species in the meantime. It might even inspire me to add a new type of trait.

by **The Empire of Tau** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:50 pm

Can I be a eldritch horror that controls them humans?

by **Harkback Union** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:56 pm

The Empire of Tau wrote:Can I be a eldritch horror that controls them humans?

I've added broken hive mind, that should be the closest choice.

by **The Orson Empire** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 6:57 pm

Looks intriguing. I'll see about getting an app up.

by **Harkback Union** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 7:04 pm

ATTENTION ALL APPLICANTS!

Genetics have been temporarily suspended. Its hard enough having to balance backgrounds, without having each species have different habitability or game-breaking abilities. Just ignore them alltogether.

Backgrounds list is ready!
Starting worlds are going to be balanced to contain 3 Eden type continents with a few extra ones for resources. Natives get a boost to their starting planet but are behind on technology. Some starts get ahead in technology but lose a turn or 2 before they find the their habitable world and have only 1 starting colony.

by **G-Tech Corporation** » Sat Mar 14, 2020 8:31 pm

G-Tech Corporation wrote:
SPECIES
Name: Voidborn (Homo erectus superior tenebrae)
Homeworld: The Mainframe
Description: The Voidborn, the Sons of the Last Home, are physically identical to the ubiquitous vermin of the galaxy, mankind. Their own records are unclear about exactly how this happened, because they pre-date Humanity's leap to the stars by several millenia, but their myths and legends speak of their forebearers being chosen by the vanished Makers from indigenous populations to be groomed to adopt their legacy. No longer creatures of blood and bone, the Voidborn have walked strange paths on their journey across the stars, now abiotic echoes of the species that once was once was and the men and women who lived in the free air, amalgamations of eldritch technology and the horrors of the space between stars that masquerade as the living.
History: Will reveal ICly.

FACTION
Name: The Architects
Ideology: Builders and artisans of ambition far outsize to their ability for centuries, the Architects are the heirs to the legacy of their Makers, and value the fabrication of civilization and survival in the face of adversity above all. There is no problem, to their eyes, that cannot be resolved with iron will and ceaseless industry.
Background: Cosmic Refugees - Once they were the caretakers of the Mainframe, a constructed world around the rim of a singularity of untrammeled size, a refuge constructed for the worthy by their Makers who sought to escape the death of the universe around them. But a lifeboat, no matter how vast - though it was large enough to hold the population of uncounted systems - is eventually of finite size. As the endless waves of desperate organics, warlords, governments, and apocalypse descended on the Mainframe, order broke down slowly but surely, until the grand experiment of empathy and posterity was destroyed in a spasm of conflict and death on an unimaginable scale that lasted for generations. The Architects, bearing only fragments of the power and knowledge that was lost in the holocaust, fled toward the last remaining hope for their way of life, leaving the burning hulk of their Makers behind as it drowned in blood.
History: ^
Leader: Arch-Fabricator Second of Ivory

by **Yuzhou** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 1:32 am

The Last Dream

Star sky of Yuluk, bright did you light the future, upon your earthen stone, your murmurs coo the children asleep

SPECIES
Name: Bal'ahkai "Dreaming Ones" (Gazrok, or "Melting Men" as their enemies knew them, now used sardonically by themselves)
Homeworld: Yuluk - an arid planet with liquid surface and ground water. Host to both flora and fauna, Yuluk was more than capable of sustaining evolving life. Of its many features, gentle vibrations emitted from the core as well as a long axial rotation are the most remembered by the Bal'ahkai. It is presumed to be long gone, and its loss is a matter of deep grief and longing.
Description:
The Bal'ahkai can best be described as, at least in appearance, a near liquid-based lifeform. Originally thought of as forms of living metal by the first alien species to encounter them, later revelations on phenotypic variation (and biological research) proved this firmly to not be the case. Instead, their amorphous bodies began as a result of life on Yuluk gaining complexity and suited firmly a subterranean lifestyle. As their sapience grew, so too did their resilience and their final and most recent evolutionary step allowed them to venture out into the warmth of Yuluk's G-type star, though they retained habitation of caverns as shelter even into the space age.

Possessing exceptionally soft and fluid bodies, the Bal'ahkai can restructure themselves to suite many shapes, though this has severe restrictions for them. Once exploring the cosmos, they often attempted to match the general shape of whatever species they were interacting with, though their "true" forms are surprisingly not too far in shape from humanoid species, albeit lacking most features or refined form from a human standpoint. Whatever advantages they may have gained from versatile shape was off-set by fragility. To provide themselves with more stable structure, the species evolved the ability to incorporate plates of rock with their bodies, creating a kind of clothing and outward skeleton, but locking their shape until completely removed. Phenotypes among the species see their luminous skin colored from deep black, to a silvery metallic, to a translucent kind of white. This, paired with the use of many kinds of stone clothing, leads to a relatively colorful array of individual appearance. The species is formed from two sexes for sexual reproduction, though extremely obvious sexual dimorphism is absent outside of form mimicking.

The Bal'akhai are very long lived, typically in the area of centuries, but slow at reproducing, with low fertility rates. Yuluk provided their evolutionary ancestors with ample space for an omnivorous diet but it was competition with many powerful predator species that lead them from sentience to sapience. Members of the species can communicate through touch, and as a social species, this is the preferred method among themselves. They are, however, more than capable of advanced vocal linguistics and to others their speech may sound modulating, rhythmic, and electronic. Two types of body language is found and practiced among them -- firstly, they are able to vibrate softly, much like their homeworld, and this can be a voluntary or involuntary response. Secondly, a release of hormonal pigments can temporarily change the tint of their bodies in response to stimuli. Both of these biological communicators feature heavily in their art and culture.

History: The Bal'ahkai did not come upon cosmic travel in their own. They were, instead, one of the fortunate (or unfortunate) recipients of alien encounter. Though the details of the original event are mostly forgotten and mythologized, it is dubbed the "awakening". While not original space travelers in their own right, the intellectual ability of the species would have seen it reach that point eventually, if not reluctantly, and they adapted quite well to rapid scientific advancement and revelation.

Unfortunately exploring the stars meant interaction with others doing so, and the Bal'ahkai were not taught by their benefactors for no reason. Indeed, they would find themselves unwilling party to the galactic conflicts already raging around them and their participation and scale would only grow with the time. This war, known now as the "breaking", would eventually lead to their undoing.

FACTION
Name: Memory of Yuluk
Ideology: Faith and Liberty
Background: Defeated Space Armada - How many eons have passed since the Breaking? How many stars? How many dreams?
What is presumably the last of the Bal'akhai now floats in the remains of a battered fleet. It was only a matter of time before their numerous and overwhelming enemies defeated them. Their allies had fled or been destroyed themselves, the very ones who involved them in the infernal conflict. Now All that remains is a skeleton, the Gazrok, the ones who fled. Yuluk, the rest of their people, their dreams...have now vanished. After warping out, the last of the Dreaming Ones moves quietly towards the end of their long journey, towards the last bright light of a dimming universe -- the Omega Cluster.
History: See Background. More to be revealed ICly
Leader: Kamaka - "the Black Man", is one of the few remaining Gazrok to have been born and raised on Yuluk. This, paired with his extremely advanced age, lends him the most authority in the remaining fleet. Enigmatic, Mystical, and with a long memory, the Black Man was once a religious figure before the Breaking. Now, he leads what remains of the Dreamers towards the last horizon.

Additional Leaders -
Harakpa - "Gypsum Man", another of the few who can recall Yuluk. He was a magistrate before the breaking and now works as Kamaka's second-in-command.

Yesulai - "Ocean Woman", she was a girl when she left Yuluk for a colony. Originally an architect and later ambassador, she is Harakpa's mate and one of the more capable among the remaining Gazrok, earning her third in the chain of command.

by **Harkback Union** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 4:27 am

G-Tech Corporation wrote:
G-Tech Corporation wrote:
SPECIES
Name: Voidborn (Homo erectus superior tenebrae)
Homeworld: The Mainframe
Description: The Voidborn, the Sons of the Last Home, are physically identical to the ubiquitous vermin of the galaxy, mankind. Their own records are unclear about exactly how this happened, because they pre-date Humanity's leap to the stars by several millenia, but their myths and legends speak of their forebearers being chosen by the vanished Makers from indigenous populations to be groomed to adopt their legacy. No longer creatures of blood and bone, the Voidborn have walked strange paths on their journey across the stars, now abiotic echoes of the species that once was once was and the men and women who lived in the free air, amalgamations of eldritch technology and the horrors of the space between stars that masquerade as the living.
History: Will reveal ICly.

FACTION
Name: The Architects
Ideology: Builders and artisans of ambition far outsize to their ability for centuries, the Architects are the heirs to the legacy of their Makers, and value the fabrication of civilization and survival in the face of adversity above all. There is no problem, to their eyes, that cannot be resolved with iron will and ceaseless industry.
Background: Cosmic Refugees - Once they were the caretakers of the Mainframe, a constructed world around the rim of a singularity of untrammeled size, a refuge constructed for the worthy by their Makers who sought to escape the death of the universe around them. But a lifeboat, no matter how vast - though it was large enough to hold the population of uncounted systems - is eventually of finite size. As the endless waves of desperate organics, warlords, governments, and apocalypse descended on the Mainframe, order broke down slowly but surely, until the grand experiment of empathy and posterity was destroyed in a spasm of conflict and death on an unimaginable scale that lasted for generations. The Architects, bearing only fragments of the power and knowledge that was lost in the holocaust, fled toward the last remaining hope for their way of life, leaving the burning hulk of their Makers behind as it drowned in blood.
History: ^
Leader: Arch-Fabricator Second of Ivory

Artificial worlds are definitely part of the tech tree :lol:

by **Harkback Union** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 4:28 am

Yuzhou wrote:
SPECIES
Name: Bal'ahkai "Dreaming Ones" (Gazrok, or "Melting Men" as their enemies knew them, now used sardonically by themselves)
Homeworld: Yuluk - an arid planet with liquid surface and ground water. Host to both flora and fauna, Yuluk was more than capable of sustaining evolving life. Of its many features, gentle vibrations emitted from the core as well as a long axial rotation are the most remembered by the Bal'ahkai. It is presumed to be long gone, and its loss is a matter of deep grief and longing.
Description: The Bal'ahkai can best be described as, at least in appearance, a near liquid-based lifeform. Originally thought of as forms of living metal by the first alien species to encounter them, later revelations on phenotypic variation (and biological research) proved this firmly to not be the case. Instead, their amorphous bodies began as a result of life on Yuluk gaining complexity and suited firmly a subterranean lifestyle. As their sapience grew, so too did their resilience and their final and most recent evolutionary step allowed them to venture out into the warmth of Yuluk's G-type star, though they retained habitation of caverns as shelter even into the space age.

Possessing exceptionally soft and fluid bodies, the Bal'ahkai can restructure themselves to suite many shapes, though this has severe restrictions for them. Once exploring the cosmos, they often attempted to match the general shape of whatever species they were interacting with, though their "true" forms are surprisingly not too far in shape from humanoid species, albeit lacking most features or refined form from a human standpoint. Whatever advantages they may have gained from versatile shape was off-set by fragility. To provide themselves with more stable structure, the species evolved the ability to incorporate plates of rock with their bodies, creating a kind of clothing and outward skeleton, but locking their shape until completely removed. Phenotypes among the species see their luminous skin colored from deep black, to a silvery metallic, to a translucent kind of white. This, paired with the use of many kinds of stone clothing, leads to a relatively colorful array of individual appearance. The species is formed from two sexes for sexual reproduction, though extremely obvious sexual dimorphism is absent outside of form mimicking.

The Bal'akhai are very long lived, typically in the area of centuries, but slow at reproducing, with low fertility rates. Yuluk provided their evolutionary ancestors with ample space for an omnivorous diet but it was competition with many powerful predator species that lead them from sentience to sapience. Members of the species can communicate through touch, and as a social species, this is the preferred method among themselves. They are, however, more than capable of advanced vocal linguistics and to others their speech may sound modulating, rhythmic, and electronic. Two types of body language is found and practiced among them -- firstly, they are able to vibrate softly, much like their homeworld, and this can be a voluntary or involuntary response. Secondly, a release of hormonal pigments can temporarily change the tint of their bodies in response to stimuli. Both of these biological communicators feature heavily in their art and culture.
History:

FACTION
Name:
Ideology:
Background: Defeated Space Armada -
History:
Leader:

I like where this is going

by **Harkback Union** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 4:36 am

Some clarification added to resources:

TRADE

By default, each planet is on its own and must produce evertything it needs.
Resources can be sent off-world from a planet so that it may be used anywhere else or traded with other factions.
- Space ports allow C to be sent off-world.
- Space Elevators allow all types resources except Energy and population to be sent off-world.
- Trade pacts and Alliances allow exchanging off-world resources with other factions.

Keep in mind that only C and population builds up over time. The surplus of anything else is wasted.

One new background added:

Shipwrecked Starliner - Medium
[i]You were on a grand tour of the universe. They would show you everything. Even wormholes.
The dimensional rift broke your ship in half. You then crash-landed on a mysterious world. Now you are stuck here, and something's wrong about this place.
- Your starting planet is habitable but desolate (no edens), but also has hidden features that will reveal themselves over time.
- 3 Starting Tier 1 Technologies of your choice.
- 2 Colony ships crash landed anywhere on the planet. (They can build a colony here, but can no longer move anywhere else)

by **Lunas Legion** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 6:46 am

SPECIES
Name: They don't remember their name, so they call themselves As'kaqa; in what they remember of their language, it roughly means 'to be forgotten' or 'to forget'.
Homeworld: They don't remember their homeworld, and every As'kaqa seems to have a contradictory description of it. Some call it a vast desert, blasted by winds, some say they lived underground, some say they lived in endless green forests, others still say they lived in cramped passages of iron and steel, endless worlds of metal and glass. The name is forgotten, like much else about their history.
Description: The As'kaqa are reptilians, but other than that vary greatly in size. Some are barely three to four feet tall, small and lithe but intelligent, others stand almost six foot and are well-muscled while another group stand almost 8 foot tall as mountains of muscle but as dumb as bricks. They believe that the three strains are part of a historical eugenics program to create specifically bred castes, but have no proof.
History: The As'kaqa do not know their history. They awoke from cryogenic stasis, with a course pre-set, with technologies that they understood despite having no memory of ever encountering them before. Everything else is a mystery.

FACTION
Name: The Armada of the Forgotten
Ideology: Planning, Obedience
Background: Scientific Expedition - Not that they know this.
History: The Armada of the Forgotten is the name given to the small fleet of unknown purpose that the As'kaqa awoke in. They do not know how they got here, why they are here, but their pre-set course is coming to an end and deeply buried memories of desperation, fear and survival flutter to the surface among their smarter members as they look for... Whatever they were sent here for. That feeling of purpose, the drive to hunt all of them possess. And for some, it is not desperation or fear, but curiosity that they feel...
Leader: Adral

by **Plzen** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 7:13 am

Tag!

Between New Civilisations, multiplayer video games I promised to show up to, building my own RP on the works, and my off-line obligations, I probably won't have time for this, but I'll keep on eye on this nonetheless just in case my schedule unexpectedly clears in the near future.

by **Lunas Legion** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 7:39 am

Uh, Hark, but in theory isn't it impossible for Defeated Armadas and Expeditions to colonise since a colony requires 5 C but they don't have any way of generating C?

by **Harkback Union** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 7:53 am

Lunas Legion wrote:Uh, Hark, but in theory isn't it impossible for Defeated Armadas and Expeditions to colonise since a colony requires 5 C but they don't have any way of generating C?

Ah, but colony ships spawn a basic colony when landing.
In addition, your leader can genrate 2 money per turn for building colonies.

by **Seno Zhou Varada** » Sun Mar 15, 2020 8:11 am

SPECIES
Name: Called by themselves, the "Double Ones", namely for their unique biological structure of having a fully mobile fungus and a stationary mycelial body.
Homeworld: Their homeworld exists without a name, a remnant memory that is missed but not yearned for too deeply. It's only defining feature was deep topsoil, extending far below the surface and having plentiful space for many of the Double Ones.
Description: As stated above, the Double Ones have two separate pieces to their organism. What is first formed is the mycelial body, splitting off from another mature body, which then forms a fungal body, which can move around and manipulate it's environment. The mycelial body is stationary for the most part, moving slowly through a substrate and digesting nutrients in the substrate. When enough materials are present, a fungal body is formed above ground. This has the purpose of acquiring more nutrients for the mycelial body to digest. In modern times, the bodies are put into more mobile containers which have a linking port for forming and maintaining the fungal body. The Double Ones also share a conscious mind through a surprisingly long range telepathy, although it cannot cross interstellar distances. The mind itself is somewhat split, having two separate personalities with a lot of overlap.
History: The origins of the Double Ones are strange to be sure. Having split bodies that share a goal is strange enough in the universe, but a shared mind across far distances is even stranger. While they don't remember how they came about, their religion does seem to focus on a mixed savior/destroyer deity. One who tore up the Earth, tore them in twain, but then reunited them despite physical distance.

FACTION
Name: The Ones who Hid
Ideology: Faith and Planning - The Ones who Hid are a very collectivized society who rely heavily on faith, although not necessarily for social control. Their collective minds are fragile, and at risk of separating whenever resources are scarce, the fungal body goes too far, or when many beings are present in an area. Through heavy planning and a collective responsibility, these risks can be carefully mitigated. In addition, their worship of the savior/destroyer helps to ease the tensions of their mind for some reason.
Background: Cosmic Refugees
History: While they forget their origins, they do remember their escape. They remember how, like their savior/destroyer, beings came to turn up their precious soils. However these entities didn't offer them a boon in return, simply stealing all they could get their hands on, slaughtering their peoples along the way. Many factions formed here, perhaps others survived, but The Ones who Hid only know for certain of their own survival. Organizing themselves to the fullest, the fungal bodies moved their mycelial counterparts to the invader's spaceships, hiding among the precious soils in their cargo holds. By then sacrificing their fungal bodies and turning it into nutrients, they could then rebuild and ambush those onboard the ships. In doing so, they secured a great amount of them while traveling. However, by the time they had regained control, their homeworld was far gone and they only had the most basic knowledge of how to operate the invader's technology. Unsure of how to turn back, they moved forwards to where the invaders were surely going, the Omega Cluster. While a risk, they couldn't sustain themselves forever onboard these barely united colony ships.
Leader: The One who United - While originally without many leaders, those that have started to emerge are those that led the operations to capture the invader's ships. The One who United is the one who both took over a ship and united the other ships to form the colony ship. While many in this species are uncomfortable acting as leaders, directing a group of split minds is difficult, The One who United is more comfortable than most, and so took charge of this situation.

Finally done writing that

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