CONTEST: Character Design for Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar

[Enigma]

Character Name: Δ-3 (Delta-3)

Race: Yor

Backstory:
Roughly 80,000 years before the development of Hyper Drive, Delta-3 was the pilot of a large Yorian trading ship designed to carry goods between Yor populated worlds. The ship was a prototype, intended to be able to use the star gates to send massive amounts of goods and information in a relatively quick amount of time as opposed to using conventional propulsion. Unfortunately, the ship's transit through the star gate became unstable, ultimately leaving the ship in an unknown section of the galaxy. With only minimal conventional thrusters and no familiar star patterns for reference, the ship drifted for many millenia.

During this time Delta-3 looked through the information stored in the countless repositories in the ship's cargo hold. There he found almost every piece of information known to the inhabitants of the world he was sent from, including sufficient information on Yorian synthetic biology to re-engineer himself to remove his dependence on food for power, as well as make several other modifications to improve his efficiency at understanding and implementing the knowledge he gained. Eventually, he was able to independently develop new knowledge gained from a synthesis of previous knowledge as well as observation and, in whatever extent he had the capability to do so, experimentation with the materials he had available.

After roughly 15,000 years of being adrift in space, the ship's navigational computer finally discovers the star-pattern of a known region of space, allowing it to extrapolate the ship's location and providing a direction to travel. Unfortunately, the closest known friendly Yorian planet was several million years away at the ship's current maximum speed. Delta-3 then, with a new sense of purpose, attempted to find ways to speed his journey. Over the next few millenia he used the stored knowledge of the star gates on his ship to develop theories of propulsion that were later independently discovered by humans and developed into hyper drive. With the power constraints required to make the jump to a friendly world, Delta-3 leveraged the only thing he had plenty of, time, by creating an energy buffer that slowly stored up the energy required. Very slowly but surely the buffer charged for over 60,000 years until it had the required energy to make the first hyper drive jump.

Over this period, the sheer amounts of time, the isolation, the quirks in Delta-3's self-modifications were taking their toll on Delta-3, leaving him on the verge of insanity. Delta-3 eventually spent his time plotting the Yorian rise to dominancy in nearly every possible state of galactic affairs that Delta-3 could concieve of being the case when he returned. Delta-3 determined ways to leverage the tendency of the organics to war on each other, weakening each other, attempting to ensure the downfall of all the others. He even modified himself further to be better able to control other Yorians should they not see the wisdom in his plans.

When the buffer had sufficient energy to make the jump, the ship arrived at the designated planet. Delta-3 was recovered and debriefed. After some deliberation, Delta-3 was deemed unstable, both due to his self-modifications and psychological state, and was thus sentenced for termination. Delta-3 escaped his fate by using his modifications to control those who were sent to apprehend him. He eventually controlled an army through these methods, and only under threat of planetary bombardment did Delta-3 and his new followers go into exile. Nobody knows where Delta-3 currently resides, but more and more often do various government officials and generals recieve emissaries from Delta-3, freely offering the most destructive of weaponry to deal with their current enemies. When they are asked about the price of such weapons, the emissaries reply that only their enemy bears the cost.

In some sense this is true, but people find it difficult to realize that such things work both ways.

Game Effect:
The emissaries of Delta-3 will approach those who are losing a long-standing conflict with an enemy and offer to provide them with such help. Accepting their help grants you several powerful ships capable of wiping out starbases, sterilizing planets, and eliminating enemy fleets. Do keep in mind, that the enemy will be given a similar offer if profoundly weakened by your attacks.

The more such "offers" that are accepted, and the weaker the military strength of the galaxy is overall, the more likely it is that Delta-3 will appear on a Yorian or unoccupied world with a massive armada under Delta-3's control, either taking over the Yorian government or, if the Yorians are gone, establishing a new government, hostile to all others. The new government automatically gains any technological advance made by any other government before its appearence/takeover.

 

[Bjens]

Well, having played Gal Civ2 for a grand total of.. well not at all actually^^ Ive only skimmed through the tutorials. I'm not much for default missions and so on in these kinda games unless it's the only option which means the default campaign is very rich containing elements which you can't find if you play online/lan or skirmish battles. Though, this being a turn based strategy game I expect it to be much like Smac, which Ive enjoyed lots over time^^ even after most people would consider it dead due to old age heh.. well anyway, I discovered this contest as I had hit the last tutorial part and found the custom race feature, so I came here looking for some neat logo or anything to add to a my new race. And here is my go.

Basics...
Name: Michael/Mike Tanner
Race: human
Allegiance: none would seem apparent as there are no ties to any known party.

Background...
Tanner is a brilliant military commander currently in service of a "lost" human faction dating back to the first discovery of hyperspeed capable engines. They are not known by any specific name. But after their apperance in the Dark Avatar "crisis"? other factions came to call them "The Guardians" or just Guardians.. (as in "Guardian Battleship", "Guardian Freighter", "Guardian Interceptor" etc)

When suddendly the universe was open and ready to be colonized and explored, a group of brilliant scientists, high ranking military leaders and ordinary gentle-men, and women.. or ladypersons if you prefer^^ decided that this being a technology which probably would do good in the universe, there was always the danger someone would exploit it to do bad. Thus a few great men, and a woman created the original "Guardian" faction on earth. These persons were Professor Frank Howard who specialized in developing alternative fuels to hyperdrive engines. The wealthy industrialist Erwin Benz, who's the ceo of a huge starship parts manufacturer. Admiral Forester, a leading authority on starship warfare, who in turn recruited Bruce Tanner, the first in the line of Tanner's who fought for the Guardians. The last founder, and considered the "mother" of the Guardians is Doc Patricia Winters. She was a brilliant theoretical physicist who won the nobel prize after being part of the team who first came up with the concept of hyperspeed travel.

The Guardians developed their faction in secret, and after having gathered a strong support within all the branches with any influence on spacetravel and colonization(Military, Industry and Research), they launched their own Colony Ship in secret from the first human military starbase ever made(I'm sorry I dont know this one>_< or if there even is "one special" in the gal civ universe because of reasons explained above) And after finding a suitable planet in a remote outer rim solar system, they started building, researching and expanding their knowledge of the other races in the universe. So that they might one day give their aid in a fight against tyranny in space!

As I just got the game I dont know the "timeline" of how long it has taken from humans first discovered hyperdrive to the Dark Avatar campaign etc, but I just see my character Mike Tanner as one of a long line of great military commanders for "the guardians", dating back to the first one recruited by one of the faction founders.

With the Guardians focusing on having "the edge" when it comes to space travel/espionage and warfare. Their technology is in these fields extremely advanced compared to other the other races. And in Dark Avatar I would like to see Tanner as the commander of a fleet of Guardian ships, which sometimes in the campaign aid the player race in the fight against the Koranth fellas.

The idea is taken from various games which Ive played before where these "3rd" parties who help the player usually are just typically invulnerable, or having infinite wisdom and so on. Before something might happend which shows you, your enemy is even stronger than you thought.. and so the story takes a unexpected turn etc.. ^^ Like the Bentusi in Homeworld, or from Starlancer which Ive kinda borrowed a name or two from^^

I just want this Guardian fleet to approach the player during a "crisis" mission or something similar, and just completely wreck havoc and in general total doom on the enemy, and then maybe you must help them sometime afterwards and you recieve technology, a ship or resources... or nothing for that matter as thanks.. and maybe in the end or a later mission they are there as saving angels when there is a great need for help again.

I like characters like these who suddendly appear in games and give you kind of a feeling your not fighting on your own, and at the same time these characters appear cool and strong, with little flaws.

Short bio...
Mike Tanner is of course a soldier, so hes a cool customer, not ever losing his calm and resolve.
The Guardians are also less bound by religion or ethics etc conserned with research on the human body, so even if they are a breakout faction from the humans. Research on mind/machine integration has left them appearing more like a light version of star trek borgs.. though in no way as bound to this flesh being inferior to metal way of thinking. The human mind is still intact, even though most bodily functions are augmented to increase efficiency.
This is also a weakness of course if the event that the machinery integrated with the human body shuts down, it's going to cripple a guardian completely. Guardians can also be directly hurt if their ship is damaged or partially destroyed. This is because their mind and body is partially integrated with ship functions when traveling in space.


Ok.. hope it is understandable I'm not much of a fanfiction or roleplayer person even though Ive played alot of mmogs, and read alot of the stories people write about either the game or their characters, so it's my entry then.

edit: and yes, it's my first post so.. hi and hello^^

 

[Perfection]

Because everyone is doing stupid human intelligence officers I'm gonna make the best one yet!

Name: Natasha (or any other Eastern-European cliche spy names, last name is unimportant)
Race: Human
Most important attribute: LARGE CGI BREASTS
Personality: Sassy

Story:
Typical sad childhood thingy, Drengins came in took over and killed everyone she loved. She survived by hiding in something, maybe in a large container of universal human condiment (basicly ketchup with a dash of salt). She managed to join some resistance movement that killed off all the beasts. Of course, she's still POed about the whole thing and joins this human intelligence thing so she can fight Dregins from the inside. She's the one who figures out about the whole Koranth thing and manages to become a sort of expert on the nasty buggers. The Drengin leader demanding the best intelligence information source from the humans end up with her (and she had to be coaxed pretty damn hard by the human intelligence agency to do this).

So now we have a sort of sitcom type situation. These two folk have to work together despite mutual hatred. The Drengin dude is always belittling her and her race and refering to her as "impudent human female". She's a quick witted one too and constantly plays on those little insecurities Drengins hate, like thier paranoia of thier feet shape.

In the end they both grow on each other and learn to like each other.

Or not.

 

[Shane Maness]

Entry for the Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar Character Design Contest.

Attached is a quick passage which updates two major characters from GalCiv2, and introduces a new one for Dark Avatar. Hopefully it will be entertaining as well.


View attachment Modified_DA_Character_Contest_Entry.pdf

Cheers,

Shane

EDIT: 21 Sept 2006: Added character history and cleaned up a few spelling errors which somehow survived proof-readings (for some reason, nothing can so clearly point you towards a mispelled word as posting the document for the world to see). Added plot events. Added other character information. -S.

 

[skydragon20xx]

Name= Jack Aurai
Race= Human

Jack is a pilot/general on a planet called Sanera. The Sanerians are a race of humans seperate from the actual earth government. The colony was created as an experiment by an advanced alien race in the year 1985. The colony broke free of it's creators and stole most of their technology thanks to one of Jack's ancestors who led the rebellion.

He has been assigned to defeat the Koranth before they get strong enough to conquer Sanera.

 

[ToV]

General 15N-128t37
Yor Collective

Bio:
General 15N-128t37 is on of the most well known tacticians in the Yor Army, and is one of the chief military advisors to NX-1. The general was the first you to think of joining the Yor Collective with the Drengin Empire in an alliance of convenience. However, NX-1 did not follow the original plan. The Yor Collective is in a much closer alliance than General 15N-128t37 originally intended. The General understands NX-1 fully intends to break off the alliance at the right moment; however, the general believes that the Drengin Empire has become far too strong.

Then it sees the Korath: a group of beings, which wish to wipe out almost all intelligent life. This is perfect! General 15N-128t37 could not ask for a better situation. It came up with a plan to secretly aid both sides of the war, in the hope that they will kill each other off. However, NX-1 wishes to wait and see what develops. The General does not want to wait. The opportunity will slip away, never to be seen again. General 15N-128t37 has taken upon itself to carry forth his plan. Without the knowledge of NX-1, it has been secretly aiding the Korath with ships, technology, and information.

Important: The General is not presenting this aid directly. To hide involvement, it is providing aid through a Korx operative: an operative bribed to keep his mouth shut. General 15N-128t37 appears to be on the Drengin’s side.

Effects in Game:
In the beginning of the game, General 15N-128t37 gives some aid to the Drengin. However, The Drengin discover that the Korath are receiving aid, and hunts down the operative. Despite his bribe, the Korx lead the Drengin straight to General 15N-128t37. The general must be stopped.

 

[Arilias]

Name: James Solon Locke
Species: Human
The son of Captain Brian Locke of the TAS Phoenix, James Locke was taught from birth to serve his nation and his homeworld. He attended the prestigious Alpha Centauri Military Academy, and while he performed poorly in the physical exercises, he excelled in tactics and psychology. Unable to properly induct him into the military, the ACMA instructors instead sent him to the Terran Intelligence Agency.

Locke showed great promise at the TIA, and, in early 2223, was assigned the post of Chief-of-Station (Korath), acting as master spy for TIA operations in Korath-controlled space. He posed as an executive for Galactic Engineering, using the cargo ships carrying construct supplies to the Korath homeworld to smuggle information and refugees on and off the planet.

In 2225, however, that all changed, when the Phoenix was destroyed by a Drengin battleship at the battle of Ixith. Upon learning that his father had been killed, the TIA ordered Locke to return to Earth, fearing that his judgment might have been affected.

It had. Locke officially resigned from the TIA, fled Korath space, and made for Drengi, hellbent on avenging his father. It is unclear exactly what he intended, though his plan seems to have been to kill Lord Kona, the Drengin Empire's de facto head of state. Regardless, he was unable to complete this suicide mission, as his ship was attacked by space pirates en route.

After various misadventures on the outskirts of known space, Locke was able to return to his mission. However, by the time he reached Drengi, the war was over. Earth was sealed behind an impenetrable shield. He had nothing now but his vengeance.

As it happened, his first target was the leader of the Drengin clan assigned to deal with the renegade Korath. Locke was captured in the attempt, and given a choice - serve the Drengin, or die.

Locke's years as Chief-of-Station(Korath) has given him detailed knowledge of Korath ship designs and tactics. He has chosen to act as an advisor to the Drengin clan lord in the fight against the Korath, believing them to be a larger threat than the Drengin themselves, and he has the confirmation of the remaining TIA officers, though perhaps not their trust.

Locke is conniving, manipulative, and cunning. He has good reason to hate the Drengin, and has severed all his official links to Earth, save the TIA's tacit approval of his current operation. He has only one goal - the complete and total destruction of the Drengin race, starting with the Korath.

It remains to be seen if he will be convinced otherwise.

EDIT:
Effects in Game:
Locke acts as an advisor and "briefing guy" for the player, informing them of the locations of known bases (not many) as well as some tactics the AI is likely to try on that mission. His information may also be the cause of some missions (for example, to shut down a major Korath construction facility). Eventually, he will betray the player and either become a rogue agent or return to the Terran Alliance.

 

[Phalangite]

Name - Akraz Talxar
Race - Korx

Background -
Akraz has enjoyed a meteoric rise to power in the ranks of the Korx. Now the 7th wealthiest Korx in the Galaxy, he gained his first real wealth as part of the fleet that invaded the Altarians at the behest of the Drath, who had given them hyperdrive in exchange. It was in this theatre that Alkraz's qualities began to be seen - the ability to see a profit in nearly everything. As captain of a small scouting party, he rapidly amassed a large personal fortune by selling discarded weaponry (Korx and Altarian), captives as slaves (once again, Korx and Altarian) and Altarian technology (it was Akraz who sold the previously Altarian only high yield farming techniques known simply as 'intensive farming' to the galaxy). All these transactions helped Akraz develop close contacts with most of the pirates and criminal fringes operating, so that if needed Akraz can quickly raise a large fleet of well armed, fast pirate vessels. This contact with the criminal fringe has lead him to be somewhat of a troublemaker in the eyes of the leadership lead by Kralax although his detractors often state the conspiricy theory that in fact Akraz is a useful ally for them in that they can use him (pay him. well)to eliminate their opponents while denying any links with him.

In the game - I would like to see Akraz in the campaign in the form a defence mission. Early in the campaign, as the Drengin clan leader, you find yourself facing an overwhelming force of Korath with little or no ships. You only have a few planets, which are fortunately fairly well fortified against invasion, but will not stand for long. However, luckily (or is it just fortune???) Akraz and his mercenary fleet happen to be in the area. By raising a certain amount of money (perhaps helped with covert funds from the humans), you gain Akraz and his fleet as an ally, helping to beat off the Korath force. Whether he stays for the rest of the campaign or not I cannot say, as I guess it depends on what direction the storyline takes as well as the mission dynamics and what they entail. But he can resurface now and then.

 

[M.B.M.]

Hey, I'm back and with an Arcean this time. We can't leave them out now can we, those poor guys their empire all invaded and such. It's a long one, but it was fun to write, so enjoy. Still more to come!


Dark Avatar: Character Idea 4

Name: Vandar Len
Race: Arcean

History
Vandar was just a guard at one of the largest starports in all of Arcea situated in the very same city as the Great Hall, the home of Lord Vega Himself. It was a relatively quiet day, when an explosion rocked the station terminal behind him. He turned around to see a large section of the building, reduced to a smoking pile of rubble. Explosions rocked the whole city for miles around Alarms rang out signaling a planetary emergency. The Great Hall lay in ruins in the distance. Vandar ran to the security bunker to man his station but stopped in awe at the unmistakable sight of Drengin war transports. Hundreds of them descended upon the city in a startling fury. Drengin shock troops poured out of the ships ready to kill all resisters and take the rest as slaves. Vandar made it to the Bunker just as the bombardment began once more. Inside their captain explained the situation, and the news was grim. Scattered reports from all over the empire had come in minutes before. The whole empire had been hit. The beleaguered captain went on to give them what they all believed to be their final orders. They were to setup a perimeter around the last surviving launch building and hold it for as long as possible. Lord Vega had survived the initial attack and was on his way. They needed to protect the building until Lord Vega could escape.

The guards and soldiers in the bunker split into two groups one of which was to be led by the captain. Vandar was chosen to fight along side him. The first group was to set up and makeshift barrier around the entrance and fight the Drengin from there. Their group was to ready the small ship for launch and immediate jump to Earth. They would also serve as a last line of defense in case their first line fell. They cringed when they heard the battle raging out side. Battle cries and screams of pain rang in the high ceilings in an ungodly chorus. Out of nowhere a gaping hole was blown in the front wall through which a large armored hovertank barreled through bearing the charred but unmistakable insignia of the Arceans. Stopping, its turret swung around and closed the hole with another blast to the wall, sealing it with rubble. Out from the tank came several Arcean high guard followed by Lord Vega himself. Vandar locked eyes with him as he passed. They no longer reflected those of their proud and honorable leader, but of one who was despairing and defeated. As Vega and his guard entered the ship Drengin soldiers burst through the wall. An all out battle ensued inside the launch building with the Arceans doing their best to keep them away from the ship as the launch doors above opened. The hovertank and the remaining soldiers held them at bay but a well placed rocket crippled worn the metal beast leaving it for scrap, clearing the way for more Drengin. The captain fighting by his side fell as the Drengin poured in. Vandar rushed to him, but there was little he could do. the would was fatal. With the last of his energy the captain transferred his rank to Vandar. Among the Arceans the transfer of rank from one to another was a ritual of great honor. Vandar returned to the fight with a new sense of purpose. As the Drengin marched in they realized that they had been too late. The ship carrying Lord Vega was away and had made the successful jump to hyperspace. The brave defenders fought on knowing that they could now die with honor, now that their leader was safe, the Drengin broke off their incursion, leaving the remaining guards with a mix of relief and worry. The next thing they heard was the sound of the building crashing around them as the bombardment began anew.

Vandar woke up some time later feeling battered and bruised. It took some time to lift himself out from under the rubble but he did it. Being of the physically toughest race in the galaxy had its advantages. Looking around, the light from the two Arcean moons high above in the sky made the city look almost as it did before the invasion, but this was but an illusion. The city lay in ruins with few buildings still standing. The whole scene was eerily silent. He turned as something else stirred under the rubble. Several others began to emerge from below. Vandar helped them up. Before long they had recovered who they could and made the long trek to the remains of the Great Hall. Searching through the ruins they found an entrance to the much rumored about underground bunkers and tunnels beneath the hall. They used the intact bunker as a base of operations to fight against the Drengin occupation with Vandar now as captain. Together they worked to fight the Drengin and free captives from their infamous slave camps. Soon though, the Drengin tactics began to change. Instead of forcing the sturdy Arcean people into forced labor, they killed them without discretion. Only certain of the Drengin committed the atrocious acts calling themselves the Korath, but they were far more numerous than the rest. Soon skirmishes broke out between the two groups. In a bold Gambit Vandar approached one of the Drengin captains with a proposed cooperation agreement to fight the Korath. The captain, still loyal to Lord Kona despised the Arceans but knew the threat of the Korath was much greater, but refused, because any alliance with inferiors would mean being labeled a traitor. Vandar persisted in his efforts, but Arcea had become a major Korath stronghold. He only hopes the planet will be liberated before all of his people are wiped out.

In Game Role
Vandar&#8217;s role in the game would be to try and get any one he can to help liberate his planet from the Korath before his people wiped out, even if it means allying with the loyal Drengin to do it. Vandar and his group could sabotage key buildings on the planet before a possible Drengin invasion. Since Arcea as well as other planets in nearby sectors are now major Korath stronghold capturing it would put a major dent in their power base. He could also provide the Drengin with information about Korath activities on planet.

 

[NIGHT HAWK]

Name: Lok'tar/Ik'tar O'dak

Race: Drengin

Story: Lok'tar was born on the drengin colony of Vizzard in 2181. His mother was sent to the death furnaces and his father was executed for lord kona's veiwing pleasure. He vowed revenge for his parent's death. He found an opportunity with the humans...

At the time somewhere light years away, Earth was desperate.It needed information from the inside of the drengin empire. It couldn't compete with drengin technology. The humans needed someone from the inside. And they would find someon with that application soon...

Lok'tar/Ik'tar joined up with the Terran Alliance only eight months after the Xendar war. He was put in human intelligence. He was given top priority training with the humans for ten years(right through 2226). It was more then enough. Average drengin were stronger , smarter and faster then humans. They were a whole lot more advanced 90,000 years before the humans were in the ice age(thats 110,000 years ago) both technologically and evolutionarilly(evolutionarilly campared with us today). Maybe even before that. And Lok'tar/Ik'tar was no different. Right after the dread lord war he was sent into the drengin empire to gather information about drengin technology and drengin ship movement and make sure it leaks back to earth. He would be the king of spies with a little extra to motivate him. He refused the idea of drengin victory. Not as long as he draws breath(or whatever drengin do).


Role in Game: He would be a super sabotaur. If you would be playing as drengin then your difficulty goes up cause whenever you research something it leaks to the human player in a few turns i.e. 5 turns for each tech leak. It would also add to importance of intelligence in the campaign and stuff. And after a number of turns from game start or Lok'tar/Ik'tar release into the drengin difficulty goes up again as the humans start learning the position of your ships even if not in their line of sight i.e. After x turns from game start or Lok'tar/Ik'tar release ship positions start seeing all your ships but one by one( if drengin have 10 ships after 10 turns they will see all your ships.if you produce new ship then after one turn its position will be updated to the humans each turn). But ships don't leak info on anything except the ship itself, its stats and nothing else. If ship is in orbit of planet then planetary information does not leak, only ship class , its stats, position, planet name and nothing else. When you catch him with your own agents, which should be hard, techs and ship position will stop leaking. Ships inside unexplored areas(to the player who controls Lok'tar/Ik'tar) will not show or would if the devs like.


In the contest description it said to create sabotaurs for the korath(I know they are koranth but koranth sounds so dorky and stupid). Then you can just do a little editing to it and et voila(Example of story mod: wants revenge on sub-drengin, firm believer in sub-drengin inferiority, believes that the korath actions are right and non-believer drengin i.e. non korath drengin
must be put aside while the greater task is being completed.


My story is omnious that wiith a little editing it can be made to fit any race(and i say that quite humbly ), even the drengin(which could make room for other difficulties).

 

[Aristos]

Separated from the Humans centuries ago, the Ghandians managed to survive despite their radical anti-war and anti-weapons convictions. But they did it not on their own, but under the umbrella of their fellow brothers, the Humans and Altarians, who covered the ghandian lack of military with their forces.

But the ghandians are not defenseless. Their vision of a peaceful galaxy, even though seemingly out of time in the middle of the present turmoil, has produced the most skilful race in the galaxy in terms of Diplomacy. The ghandian diplomatic fame reaches the corners of the galaxy; there is a tiny planet in the outskirts of the Dralax system, where mothers say of their most stubborn children "she has to be a ghandian", when the child get what she wants.

Such a trait can be of use in the present galactic situation. The only way to stop the Drengins now is to exploit their core weakness: internal divisions among their faction leaders. The question is: are brute force, or subtle agressive operations, the only means to divide and conquer the Drengins?

What if a diplomatic effort has a chance? Wouldn't that possibility make the Ghandians a key player in the galaxy? What if the best ghandian diplomat achieves what the best spies, infiltrators or fleet can not?

Meet Naville Shub. Centuries ago, an ancestor of Mr. Shub, Sir Naville Chamberlain, became famous with his Apeasement Policy in his dealings with a long forgotten evil leader that put the Old Continent on fire for 6 years. Sir Chamberlain was a pacifist, and he was convinced that there is no human being that does not love peace. Sir Chamberlain acted acording to his convictions, but he was ahead of his time. War folowed, and history was harsh with Naville Chamberlain.

Mr Shub took the lessons of his ancestor, and put his views into action. He is known as the best diplomat in the entire galaxy, and there is no leader, no race, that hasn't bow to any of his requests (the ghandians do not demand, they convince).

Mr Shub has been called by the Terran Alliance. The goal: a secret mission.

Race Background:
There is a lack of pacifisim right now in the galaxy. The Ghandians cover that hole. They can't build warships by definition (their Constitution prohibits it), but in exchange, they have a huge bonus in diplomatic actions. Their influence is also growing. Allied to the Terrans and the Altarians, Ghandians use their protection to survive the ongoing drengin campaign.

Mission of the Ghandians:
To unite the remains of the free Galaxy to defeat the Drengin menace. The key objective is to bring some, or all of the unhappy drengin factions to the Alliance. This is Mr. Shub's main mission.

 

[MooColony13]

I know you are allowed to do characterson races that all ready exist but can you do characters based on fictional major and minor races, hybrid races, or revise an old character to give him or her a new look.

 

[amarok]

The Knights of Alt’ra – Earth’s Last Defense

RACE: Human
NAME: Theillard Tallis
of the Order of the Alt’ra


GROUP AND PERSONAL HISTORY


Tallis is the last in a long line of devout religious warriors, long forgotten by most of Terra. His order was thrown into chaos by the violent era following Earth’s first contact with the galaxy. His parents, Kor and Nalen, were killed by a splinter group within the Drengin while traveling to Altaria on pilgrimage. Tallis himself was mysteriously saved, and then raised by Altarians. Tallis feels burdened by a legacy he neither understands, nor is sure he can measure up to.

His ancestors had once fought in the Crusades and defended Malta from the Ottomans. Over time the once militaristic order had morphed into community of monks that practiced violence only as a last resort. Their sense of purpose and their military tradition suffered through centuries of peace. Tallis feels at home in the safety of four cloistered walls, and believes his true calling is peace. Only the direst of need could shake him from the path of tranquility and meditation he feels is his calling.


THE ‘REVELATION’ OF THE STARS


When Tallis came of age and was able to finish the pilgrimage planned by his parents, he discovered an ancient Altarian manuscript that claimed the Order of Alt’ra would be needed once again. Order legend had always spoken of their Altarian visitors as mysterious ‘commanding angels’ who had commanded the groups founding millennia before; and instructed them in their role as ‘the last defense of humanity’.

The Altarians role in the founding and shaping of the order remains mysterious. But it was an Altarian who delivered the prophecy to Tallis’s ancestor and instructed them to create and maintain (in secret) a fleet. Under Altarian influence the Knights set about mastering technologies and abilities relevant to the looming conflict. As such Order ships are a hybrid of the best of Human and Altarian technology.

This Altarian Prophecy, the so called: ‘Revelation of the Stars’ spoke of a growing evil, intent on destroying all life in the galaxy, and of the need for Humans to stand with their Altarian brothers in this darkest hour. At the time many, even within the Order, doubted the validity ‘The Revelation’. However with the recent rise of the Drengin threat the Terran alliance is faced with just the desperate situation ‘The Revelation’ foretold!

The Knights of Alt’ra are Earth's last defense, an elite force that fights with great zeal. Their passionate faith and belief in their prophetic role give them tremendous courage, and little regard for the loss of their own lives. Their ships have almost no defense, but a high attack value can be multiplied if they choose kamikaze attacks and can get close enough to ram enemy ships directly!



GAME EFFECTS


As Earth's last defense, the Knights can only be activated when the Terran capital (home world) is attacked or when it is the last Human planet is under siege (large enemy fleet within the home quadrant).

If the defense is a success each turn there is an increasing chance the Order will destabilize and suffer attrition. Having fulfilled their sacred mission, their lives will suddenly be without purpose or meaning.

In this state of chaos they will slowly lose their attack stats and their ships will start to decay.
(This is to prevent them from becoming too potent a force; one that you would be tempted to use in anything but a last resort). Their core leadership, Tallis himself, his flagship and a portion of their fleet will remain active however, though only within a limited range around the Terran homeworld they were called upon to protect.

So a potent force, but you only have their full number for a limited time. So make the most of your second chance!

Basically, they're an equalizer. If you're about to go out, (and all humanity with you!) you deserve one last shot.

Use the Knights of Alt’ra to get yourself back in the game (as such they should be a significant, yet not overwhelming military force), but just don't count on having them around for too long!

 

[SkywardShadow]

Name: Kurai

Race: Human

Of obvious Japanese origin, Kurai was one of the brilliant minds that helped erect Earth's "impenetrable forcefield". While fleeing a battle, her ship and escorts were intercepted by Koranth agents and believed destroyed.

In reality, the mastermind of the Koranth clan has held her as a prisoner and assistant, as she apparently willingly parts with confidential information that could lead to Earth's forcefield becoming compromised. Very few are aware of her existence, as should the mastermind's actions become uncovered, his own clan-mates would likely depose him for not destroying the unworthy and useless human.

Has she turned traitor to save her own life, or does she feed the Koranth just enough to remain alive... and useful to others as she learns more about the true galactic threat?

 

[SkywardShadow]

Name: Kelainos

Race: Drengin

Kel comes from quite the prestigious family line of grunts. His father, his father's father, and his father's father's father lived and died as grunts. The family men were prone to fathering some children, and then heading off to find glory as frontline foot soldiers. This situation suited the females and their military death reparation incomes quite well.

Kel was fine with the thought of dying gloriously while taking as many ugly, hairy, waterbags as he could with him. When he received his first orders, however, he was quite shocked to learn that he would be targeting a Drengin installation! Despite the shock, he was a grunt, and a grunt followed orders. He ended up the only survivor in a troop that laid waste to an important Koranth outpost.

Kel seems to be breaking his family tradition. Despite the 4% survival rate of grunts in each mission, he keeps coming back alive, and his superiors seem to regard him as a lucky charm for their top-priority missions.

New orders. They want to give Kel his own men, and a mission objective! Kel, with his very own grunts? He just hoped he wouldn't get an earful from his mate for the lack of reparation...

 

[Master_Chief]

My third an last post

Race: Human
Name: Sarah Prime

Sarah was born on a distant Human colony wich was attacked my the Drengin when she was 14 years old. She and a her classmates where on a school journey to the asteroid belts around the colony when the attack came. They could only watch how the Drengin used planetery bombardement and core detonation on the colony and completly wiping out all traces of human life. They managed too flee to Earth using the teachers ultra fast space ship. On earth the class sworn revenge upon the Drengin for killing their parents and friends.

Seven years later Sarah was a rank of sergent of the Terran Space Marines and had special training in infiltration and espionage. She had been assigned a mission to spy on the drengin and met up with her earlier classmates to see if anyone would join. Some would but the biggest contribution came from Dirk Dooley (the smart one in the class), he had been working on a cloaking device that when placed on a ship would make it invisible to others. The technology werent perfected yet and would take years to do so but it was usable. The Cloaking device is very large in size so the ship cant bring lots of weapons. And bigger ships need a bigger module to successfully cloak the ship. Also it uses too much power to be used simultaniously with weapons, so it cant be cloaked during combat, however you could get an attack advantage by suddenly appearing from empty space and fireing a supprise attack.

Sarah and her group will at first get a scout ship equipped with a cloaking device. In the game Sarah and her spies would be able to go into orbit around a enemy planet and check the planet for tiles for buildings and bonuses. This will take time and a planetery checkup will cost some turns. You could also make Sarah try to steal and or bribing unfaithful scientist for techs the from the enemy, this will take more turns depending of the tech and cost some money. If bribing alot of money, but you get the tech instantly. Other missions Sarah could be used for can i.e. be doubling or tripling the rate of espionage you get from the foreign relations menu. In a area of high human influence she can try to revolt foreign planets. And in the vicinity of a human military base she could make a bonus to human fleets combating enemy fleets by cloaking, sneaking upon and sabotaging or attaching a "bug" that helps us make counter tactics to the enemy tactics.

Sarahs scout ship can be upgraded and can also be upgraded from a tiny hull to a small and small to medium and so on, but bigger ship means bigger cloaking module, there will be space for more weapons or life support and faster propulsion, but not too much (its a spy ship not attack). The hitpoints will increase tough.

You could implent an espionage tech and thereby giving a chance to decrease the cloaking module and increasing how many of Sarahs ships you could build, maybe through a new improvement like Sarahs Spytraining Center (you get two plus).

Well thats my last try, make it happen i want cloaked ships.

 

[Airwreck]

BACKGROUND

Steven was the younger son by two years of the governor of Phobos, a relatively large Human colony on the outer rim. Father had assumed the position just one year after marrying mother and somehow held the position for the next three decades. Many knew the previous office holder had died under mysterious circumstances.

Steven displayed an uncanny understanding for all things military at an early age. That ability and his brother&#8217;s own warranted that both attend the Terran Military Academy back on Earth. While there, the eldest Eric quickly excelled. Steven did not. He enjoyed exposure, but found the overall atmosphere too confining to his own liking. Rather than participate in verbal jousts at dinner banquets, he preferred playing dice with the servers. This was not to say Steven was not an excellent student. That would be too far from the truth. All his instructors saw the potential blocked behind an apparent wall of indifference. After their graduation, both returned home. Eric soon joined the planetary fleet while Steven enjoyed living off the family estate and carousing with the &#8216;less stuffy&#8217; side of society.

One fateful night almost a year later, Steven received an urgent video call from his brother warning him to go to the nearest bomb shelter. Planetary intelligence had determined Drengin forces were slowly massing on the dark side of the third Phobos moon. Father&#8217;s decision had been to send the entire defensive force to destroy them before they could fully assembled their armada and have his eldest son personally lead this secret attack. Steven could bitterly understand why father hadn&#8217;t bothered to warn him. Ever since he could remember, Eric had served more as a father figure while their own had been too busy with the dealings of his office.

Steven went back to sleep. The next morning Drengin ground forces were landing unopposed on the planet surface while their ships hovered over every major city. The entire Phobos fleet was completely destroyed. Father quickly made an official announcement that the Drengin were not to be opposed since the planet was effectively helpless to stop them and he would continue his rule for the sake of normalcy. Later that day, Steven discovered a new encrypted text message left on his PDA using an old code the brothers had created while as children. Eric had quickly realized it was a trap: Classis Carthage gambit. They would be die, but not without a fight. How could the Drengin have set the perfect trap though? They must have had inside help.

The military would not have betrayed its own. The only person alive who knew of the preemptive strike was their father. Almost everyone who would have opposed a peaceful surrender was now conveniently dead.

Steven wanted father to feel a pain greater than the one overwhelming him. However, he knew it would now be impossible to directly kill him given the occupation. The next best thing: a proxy war against the Drengin to make them regret ever coming to an agreement.

A month later, constant resistance attacks began almost 24/7 followed by Drengin reprisals and countermeasures. The entire planet and surrounding space were a battlefield. Steven&#8217;s years of associating with the rougher elements of society and previous military training proved a lethal combination. He advocated an armed struggle where it was better to die free than live with someone&#8217;s boot slowly crushing your windpipe when in reality it was all about simple revenge. After the first year, the feared Commander Drak-Korin was ordered by the Drengin high command to personally end this uprising. It still took another six months before Steven was finally captured.

During Drak-Korin&#8217;s time, he had come to appreciate the truth behind Steven&#8217;s revolution. He admired the strategies that had been used against his own race. Was there a path to harness such focused ruthless to the empire&#8217;s advantage. Using his discretion, an offer was made and accepted. Later that same evening an execution took place and Phobos had a new acting governor.

Rather than immediately leave, Drak-Korin stayed. Something about Steven intrigued him. Within a month, Steven started becoming like a son while Drak-Korin played more a true father&#8217;s role. Their common bond was a love for warfare. Logistics, control and command organizations. It was all discussed until the late hours. Drengin and Human objectives were fundamentally different regarding their own troop&#8217;s welfare. These great differences provided unique advantages and challenges on and off the battlefield that neither had truly appreciated.

News arrived that the Koranth were gaining influence back home. Drak-Korin opposed their policies and realized he needed to return. His death occurred within 48 hours after leaving Phobos when his personal battle cruiser apparently self destructed.

Steven now realized that this supposed Koranth threat was likely very real. At the same time, his Drengin masters would never listen to a Human occupation governor. If he was to save himself and honor Drak-Korin&#8217;s memory, the only sound military choice: mobilize and organize the remaining non-Drengin forces. The first challenge would be convincing his own planet he wasn&#8217;t a species traitor though.

OBJECTIVE

Regain the trust of his fellow humans and other races to build a military force.
Establish an alliance with the Drengin.
Defeat the Koranth.

 

[#:)]

Race name; the Observers.
Home planet; ?
Empire; ?
Population; ?
Wealth; ?
Technology level; ?
Social structure; ?

Only one monument is ever found indicating this race. It was found on an asteriod in the vastness of space and it was camouflaged and fiercly defended by precursor technology. When they finaly destroyed the defenders they found no technology no wealth and only one tablet was found with the folowing text;

‘Behold we had the galaxy in our hands, we had the total destruction and creation at our desposal. And we sacrificed it all!
That’s all folks, in the end we decided our only goal was to observe, nothing more or less’.

Just remember our goal; ‘To observe and never, ever interfere, but never knock on our door because you never know if we will open it’. The Observers

After ten years of study nothing of interest was found on the asteroid or tablet. In the end they destroyed the the asteroid and the tablet disapeared to the storageroom of a museum. Where it was stolen by a thief who was found dead soon afterwards.

The tablet is still missing and it’s wearabouts remains a mystery.

Conclusion: The only thing know about this race is we know absolutly notting. They remain an enigma and some races call them a joke or a prank. Some call them a spacelegend. Some are scared but don’t know why, some ignore them and some laugh.

Fact remains they inspired a lot of fools, hero’s and crooks to find any information about the Observers.

The hero could be any one who will find ‘the tablet’ or a ‘new asteroid’ or any other information over ‘the Observers’.

But in the end will it be worthwile or even sane to try to find a race who doesn’t want to be found. Only time will tell.

Game mechanics, speculation

The goal of the game is the normal gameplay of Galciv2.
The extra bit of gameplay is to find or to halt the finding of the Observers. To knock on the door so to say. Or deny others to do this.

It’s an extra bit of strategy you never know what you will find once the door is open. It could be an ally or your worst nightmare. It’s the box of pandora.

It could be fun or a game killer.

 

[WyldRage]

Name: Eementrena (AKA Emily Smith, XH-21)
Race: Drengin (by birth only)

Born of a lowly worker stock, third girl on a rock where death by mining accidents, second only to gang warfare, have thrown the sex ratio to 2 females for 1 male, Eementrena was born with no future. Barely a child, her family sold her to a passing government official, rounding up childs with like prospects to "Serve the Drengin Empire".

Taken to a secret laboratory in an asteroid belt, they received education and military training. As each child approached puberty, they were removed from the rest of the class, never to return with them. As Eementrena reached this stage, she learned why: the scientists had perfected a way to change a Drengin's race, down to the molecular level, to serve as spies, a job too low for most Drengin. Since the process was extremly painful, only 1 in 5 survived. Eementrena was one of the "lucky" ones.

As a Human, she received training in all aspects of human culture, as well as the callsign XH-21 (eXperimental Human number 21). Years later she was inserted in a border human world, Valley VIII, to find a way to disable the shield protecting the human homeworlds. She found a small government job and tried uncover their secrets. Unsuccesful for three years, chance put her between a Koranth infiltration force and their target.

Through her training, she was able to stall them until the local police was able to neutralize them. This action brought her the attention of the Human counter-intelligence agency, and she took up their offer as an operative.

In her new post, she was able to learn many human industrial and intelligence secrets, including basic theory on the human shields. However, the risk of being uncovered by her own co-workers kept her from communicating this with the Drengin Empire, though she did keep sending status reports, when possible. The Drengin knew of her worth, but couldn't extract her anymore: the border world where she was posted was no longer near the Drengin border. At the start of the war, that sector was the propriety of the Koranth clan.

Now, the Drengin military has learned of an imminent Koranth strike on her world. They can't spare the strength to take on a whole human sub-sector between them and Eementrena, and wouldn't want to anyway: they serve as a useful buffer against the Koranth. So they send a war leader to go through the human worlds, still hostile to the Drengin, and take over Valley VII, as fast of possible and without invading the other human worlds, to extract a single Drengin spy.

Not a pleasant mission for a Drengin war leader.

 

[RoguePhalanx]

Name: Commodore Xorax

Race: Drengin

Background: Commodore Xorax is known to the galaxy as the leader of a ruthless mercenary fleet. Specializing in a variety of operations, from convoy attacks to minor planetary assaults, he is revered for his tactical brilliance, resulting in countless victories snatched from the jaws of defeat. Xorax is also infamous for the outrageous prices his services command; his multi-species mercenary coalition will do anything for cold, hard, cash. He has also been known to make a few assaults on Drengin military objectives, leading the Drengin clans to officially place a blood-price on his head, dating from before the main Drengin-Terran conflict. Reasonable beings may ask why the Drengin clans don't hire Xorax themselves, instead of publicly calling for his gruesome death. Well, Drengin don't tend to be reasonable - and the pride of the Drengin clans, its military, very much has the attitude of "Why pay someone else to do the killing that you can easily do yourselves?" It's a matter of honour, and therefore the only course of action available to the Drengin is to eliminate Xorax, preventing other galactic powers from using him against the Drengin. Right?

Well, that's what the galaxy thinks. And that's exactly what the Drengin clans - in particular, your clan (where you are the protagonist of the Dark Avatar campaign) - want the rest of the galaxy to think. The truth is actually known to only a few highly-ranked members of your clan, among them yourself and select members of your clan intelligence cadre. And if the truth is that Xorax is actually a highly-skilled intelligence operative, utterly loyal to your clan, using his mercenary fleet to accomplish objectives that aren't officially sanctioned by your clan - well, that truth practically begs for some explanation.

Like any other hot-blooded male born into your clan, Xorax (not his real name, of course) had dreams of rising through the ranks, victories in glorious battle, and enslaving other aliens. He did graduate near the top of his class at the space academy, and subsequently served a few tours of duty on...anti-piracy task forces? Xorax seethed at the thought of less able former classmates taking posts on the huge Drengin battleships, carving out chunks from neighbouring alien empires for the clans to expand into, while he was stuck on two-bit corvettes and frigates, chasing cowardly pirates around! But he bit his tongue (surprisingly even-tempered for a Drengin), and performed his duties to the best of his abilities.

The reason for Xorax's unappealing first posting was simple, in hindsight: he had caught the eye of a few intelligence officers from your clan as he had advanced through the academy. In fact, Xorax could have easily graduated at the top of his class, if not for racking up a substantial number of demerits for "undisciplined actions". Drengin military culture tends to be highly rigid, and very closed to innovation from the lower ranks; Xorax's "undisciplined actions", in the eyes of your intel operatives, were instead indicative of a remarkably adaptive tactical mind, unafraid to think of unconventional strategies at a moment's whim. Ironically, some of these "undisciplined actions" were in fact the result of cool thinking under fire, instead of being ruled by the battle-lust that clouds most Drengins' minds - only on Drengi, huh. So your clan arranged for Xorax's posting to test the extent of his abilities - although fighting pirates was far less honourable than enslaving alien scum, few opponents were more unpredictable or elusive on the battlefield.

Xorax excelled, but was passed over for promotion time and time again. Less deserving officers were promoted ahead of him, until one from the rival Korath clan became Xorax's commanding officer. Xorax's new commander realized how brilliant Xorax was, and hated him for it. Eager to become commander in fact as well as in name, he plotted Xorax's death with the help of several corrupt intelligence officers. These intelligence officers, of course, were not corrupt; they were unfailingly loyal to your clan, and staged Xorax's death in order to bring him into the fold, so to speak. They explained to Xorax why he had received such an unfavourable posting - your clan wished to monitor him, in order to test their hypothesis that he could be the greatest intelligence asset the Drengin clans had ever produced. He had passed with flying colours, and now Xorax was to undertake his first mission as a member of your clan's intelligence unit: to infiltrate the pirates, rise to the top of their hierarchy, and to reform that fighting force into a mercenary fleet - one that would appear to sell its services to the highest bidder, but in reality would at the same time work towards the best interests and ambitions of your clan.

This process moved more quickly than your clan's wildest dreams - the legend of Commodore Xorax grew by leaps and bounds, although Xorax himself cared nothing for wealth. He was loyal to your clan, and even bore the weight of the blood-price without complaint (it did help that one of the acts that led to the levelling of the blood-price involved the destruction of the Korath commander's destroyer squadron, which coincidentally had few members of your clan on board). Xorax's fleet advanced your clan's objectives, increasing your stature in the overall Drengin command structure. As the galaxy bloomed into open war against the Terran Alliance and her allies, his fleet was instrumental at capturing key worlds that came to be occupied by your clan's troops, leaving poorer quality slave-worlds for the other clans. At last, the Terran Alliance was in shambles, and on the brink of defeat...

...until the current Korath problem developed. Why are they suddenly adopting a "take no prisoners" philosophy that opposes the very nature of slavery? And why are they starting to look different? Naturally, the decision was made to assign your best intelligence resource, Commodore Xorax, to tackle this problem. He was to offer his fleet's services to the Korath, in secret, and for free; great pains were made to convince the Korath that Xorax had "reformed" his mercenary ways, and had become a true believer in the Korath's newfound genocidal philosophy. (For example, a well-publicized event that was staged had the galaxy abuzz about Xorax's mercenary fleet ruthlessly wiping out every last Arcean on a far-flung colony world.) The Korath took the bait, and accepted Xorax's offer with zealous pleasure - finding like-minded brethren was even enough to overcome the impulse to do away with Xorax for the blood-price.

Xorax in Dark Avatar: In the beginning stages of the campaign, Xorax supplies sporadic intelligence on Korath fleet movements, infrastructure, and motivations to the player. At the same time, Xorax's fleet may be encountered accomplishing distasteful tasks on behalf of the Korath - in order to keep his cover intact, Xorax must prove himself, although he does take great pains to avoid outright extermination of aliens if it can be avoided (not for any humanitarian reasons, of course, but instead because those aliens are better off enslaved under your rule). Xorax's intelligence is of little use at the beginning, but as he gains more trust in Korath circles, the quality of his intelligence increases.

In the middle stages of the campaign, intelligence updates from Xorax abruptly cease. Fearing the worst, your other intelligence operatives scramble to formulate back-up plans for finding out what the Korath are up to, as the prevalent thought is that Xorax has been killed, or worse. From this point towards the end of the campaign, several possibilities present themselves:

1. A report that Xorax is being held prisoner on a nearby planet is received. Elements of his mercenary fleet are also detected in several nearby systems; you must decide whether it's worth it to mount a rescue operation, and if so, how to deal with the ensuing Korath ambush that's sure to take place. The mercenary fleet is still loyal to Xorax, unless they have been directly commandeered by the Korath.

2. Intelligence updates from Xorax resume, just when it seems that all hope has been lost of contacting him again.

a. Xorax starts feeding you disinformation, as it turns out that the Korath have penetrated his cover and have "reconditioned" him. Just in case you don't realize that Xorax has turned on your clan, a few weeks later elements of his mercenary fleet start attacking your positions. You may then try to eliminate Xorax, and ironically claim the blood-price that the clans were manipulated into putting on his head, or​

b. Apparently the reason why Xorax was out of contact for so long was because he took part on a top-secret Korath mission (under a strict communications blackout) that finally clarifies some of the darkest motivations behind how the Korath have changed. Sensitive data has been physically encoded into datacubes, and such data cannot be sent over an encrypted comm line to your clan without the Korath immediately discovering Xorax's duplicity (before any appreciable fraction of the data reaches you). Xorax proposes a physical rendezvous to transfer the data. As you set out for the rendezvous, long-range sensors detect a massive Korath fleet encircling Xorax's fleet, and you must provide enough of a distraction against superior Korath forces to ensure that Xorax's flagship survives to rendezvous with your flagship.​

3. (not necessarily mutually exclusive with 2a. above) At the final confrontation between the Drengin and the Korath, Xorax manages to defeat his "reconditioning" to strike a final blow at the Korath, resulting in significant damage to the Korath in some way (e.g. destruction of a communications array, military base, etc.) as well as Xorax's suitably heroic death.

4. I could go on, but this is long enough already Just want to note that this character is flexible enough for other possibilities from those given above, and even those can be tweaked in some small way. For example, in 2b. Xorax could have been reconditioned, and the proposed physical rendezvous could be a trap for your fleet, and so on.