Out of the Portals, a Never Ending Story.

TerrisH · Jan 22, 2023

Out of the Portal, a Never Ending Story.
(inspired by "LINES-World of Magic")

This is a simple game, from a simpler time. One driven more by the narrative than the rules, and stats are more reference points than anything greater. One driven primarily by the players as they build the world and setting. Where they tell the story and I, the GM, only serve a guide. To insure the players remain balanced in their playing, and to handle conflicts.

But that's the simple explanation, and to really get the game started, I have to provide a bit more details and actually present a functional ruleset. So let's begin.
-------
The Setting
The World is young and in its infancy, yet life thrives within its seas. Yet the land remains mostly untouched. Vegetation has only just started to creep upon the land within the last million years, and the more mobile forms of life have yet to follow. An unlikely place for intelligent life to have arisen, let alone a civilization.
In fact, It hasn't. Rather, Intelligent life came to it. While the first Athric Lines started to settle upon lands, something twisted them in a subtle manner. They curled and twisted, forming knots within their patterns, and portals began to form above these knots. Portals to other, older worlds, where other life thrived like if did upon this young world. Life that soon began to spread upon the world and compete between themselves.
While most of the world the portals led to lacked intelligent life, A few did, and it is from them that civilization began to appear upon the world.

Your Civilization. It was only a Short while ago that they found the portal, though which you were sent to establish a colony. Why is as varied as there are portals. To seek resourced to supply your civilization, to seek land to expand to, or simply explore this strange portal. Or perhaps they are seeking a refuge from a threat upon your world of origin. Your civilization might be one based upon magic and the manipulation of the athric lines. Perhaps one more based upon science, be it space firing, or just entering the industrial revolution. Perhaps something in between. It is up to you to shape your history and make your future.
-------
Starting the Game:
To join the game, you simply need to submit a civilization from which your nation will arise from, and chose a location upon the map where it's portal will reside. Please start by filling out the form below. It is Generally better to write as much as you can.

Nation: What your nation will be called.
-Civilization of Origin: What resides on the side of the portal, and what they are called, if they don't share your name.
--Basic history: Your backstory. How your world developed, and your civilization upon it. While nearly any sized amount will be accepted, you likely want this to be as developed as possible.
--Reason for using the portal: the second half of your backstory, detailing events around the discovery of the Portal, and why your civilization chose to travel to this world. Like the backstory, you want this to be as detailed as possible.
Level of development: How far your civilization is along the paths of magic and technology. Being around the middle of a single path is where the average level is aimed to be at, but one can go lower to boost one's special factor, or go higher on one scale at the cost of weaking the special factor. If you want to reach the highest levels of either paths, It's better to make that your Special factor, then simply increase it here. If you want to walk both paths, you will have to have your special factor relate to that.
Special factor: what sets your civilization apart from the others. A spell, an Ability, a technology, a Power. Something special to your Species, like immortality. A unique resource to your home world. Or dozens of other things.
This Will be balanced, make it at least appear to be fair between the players, and to your level of technology/magic. It will be the thing I most likely will suggest changing.

After reading your submission, I will offer some suggestions to balance your nation with the other players nations, and set up some basic starting based upon them. As a general rule, the total points in the stats will be the same for all nations (10), minus any penalties from having a stronger ability or a higher level of development. Once enough players have signed up, I'll do the first update and start the game.

Some examples, but these could easily be different based on the backstories.
A refugee nation might start with a large population and size, but lack infrastructure and governance, more concerned with getting people through than preparing the other side.
An exploration group might start with a low size, but higher infrastructure and Governance, being well-prepared and organized.
A Colonial group might have Higher size and governance, but lack Infrastructure, seeking to grab as much as they can.

Nation: (name)
-Civilization of Origin: (name)
--Basic history: (backstory)
--Reason for using the portal: (backstory)
Level of Development: (description)
Special Factor: (name) (description)
Roughly where on the map you want to start.

----------

How the game proceeds:
Once an update is posted, A date will be set for players to get orders for their nation in, and the players will be free to interact between themselves as their nations. I will mostly stay out of these interactions, only joining in to answer direct questions or to serve as a moderator. Such interactions will affect the game's narrative, though not significantly unless tied into a proper action.

Players will also be required to craft orders for their nation during this period. As a base, this will consist of 1 Major order, 3 Minor orders, and a reasonable number of Lesser orders. While single line orders will be accepted, such orders will have a minimal weight upon the update. Generally, you want these orders to be more detailed and have a narrative backing them up to give them more weight in the update. In the case that a player fails to get orders in on time, their actions will default to station keeping ones to balance their stats, and/or grow them.

Major orders are the significant focus of your nation for the duration of the Turn. They will tend to have the greatest impact upon your nation, and the one you want to spend the most time creating a narrative about.

Minor orders are the secondary focuses of your nation. While they might not have as great of an impact as the major orders, significant things will still be done by them that will shape your nation. At least a small amount of narrative effort should be invested into them to achieve the best effect.

Lesser orders are any other tasks you want your nation to do during the turn. Station keeping stuff, building stuff, raising armies, or any other tasks you want done but not enough to invest into a major or minor action. While you can list an unlimited number of things as Lesser orders each turn, your nation has a limited amount of effort to invest in your actions overall. Anything left over after the major and minor actions are done will be invested into the lesser orders, starting at the top of the lesser action list and working it's way down, skipping over any actions that there is not enough effort left to accomplish. Any leftover effort after the lesser actions are down will be used to stabilize your nation, dealing with minor problems and issues. So it's perhaps best to not create too many or too large lesser orders to ensure that you have some effort left over at the end of the turn. This is the one place where single line orders will not incur penalty to its effect, though it's always better not to use them if you can.

Special actions are free orders that might be granted due to the results of a turn. This might be a choice, an opportunity, or something else entirely. They might be for only one player, or be available to all players. Each will be given a three letter tag to tell them apart in orders.

Once the Date for the orders passes, I'll take the orders and process them, then write an update. These updates will be narrative light for the most part, mostly describing the results of the various actions upon the world, with only exceptional events getting more detailed results. This is mostly to encourage players to form their own narratives.

Once I post the next update, I'll set a new date for orders to be due upon, and the cycle will begin again. This will continue on until the game reaches an ending point.

----------
Orders (player name)-(nation)
Major Order: (description) (optional: intended effect)
Minor Order 1: (description) (optional: intended effect)
Minor Order 2: (description) (optional: intended effect)
Minor Order 3: (description) (optional: intended effect)
Lesser Orders: (task) ; (task) ; (task) ; (task) ; (task) ; ect..
Special Actions: (TAG-choice)

---------------
Stats:
These are abstract values, and only serve as a means to compare nations to each other. While they can affect how well a nation performs, a good narrative or story can overcome a difference in stats.

Generally, the higher they are, but better your nation is doing, but there is a rock-paper-scissor dynamic to the three main stats, so getting one significantly higher them another can cause problems.
Infrastructure ← Population ← Governance ← Infrastructure.

Nation: (name)
-Civilization of Origin: (name)
--Basic history: (backstory)
--Reason for using the portal: (backstory)
Self-explanatory, and derived from your starting post.

Infrastructure: How well-built your nation is. Roads, buildings, industry. The better this is, the more smoothly the physical aspects of the nation work, But the more population/land/resource you need to maintain and work it.
-Buildings of note: exceptional structures that exist in your nation, along with the region they are in.
--Notable resources: as the name says.

Population: how many citizens you have. This will be represented by an actual number, and a “level” for determination of the mechanics.
--Size: how many regions in your nation's control.

-Governance: How well your nation is managed. The higher it is, the more smoothly your population is managed, but the higher the strain upon your infrastructure.
--Leaders of note: Exceptional individuals that have an impact on your nation.
--Government type: what type of government runs your nation.

Development: How developed your nation is in relation to other nations in the fields of technology and magic. This is a neutral stat at the center of the other three, represents a soft cap on how high those stats can be before they start to become unstable.
-Tech: roughly what level of technology your nation is. From pre-industrial, the space faring.
-Magic: If you know how to use magic, this is how well-developed your practice of it is. If you don't start with magic, this will be -1, but change to 0 after the first time it is used against/for you. And you can build it up like any other.
-Developments of note: significant and/or unique developments that your nation knows, by they some sort of technology or a powerful spell.
-Artifacts of note: Items of great power, be they magical or technological in nature. Using them does run the risk of losing them.

Special Factor: Details on your special factor
-Effect: the In game effects of the special factor.
Military: Total strength of your military. To be used when you need to fight something, or someone…
-M-size: How many units of military you have.
--Specialized units: any unique units that you might have.
-M-skill: How well-trained your army is on average.
-M-equip: How well-equipped your army is of average.
-M-ability: Exceptional abilities that your army has beyond the standard training. Magical weapons, buff spells, combat drugs, power armor, or other things along those lines.

----------
Nation:
-Civilization of Origin:
--Basic history:
--Reason for using the portal:

Infrastructure:
-Buildings of note:
-Notable resources:

Population: # (level)
-Size:

Governance:
-Leaders of note:
-Government type:

Development:
-Tech:
-Magic:
-Developments of note:
-Artifacts of note:

Special Factor:

Military:
-M-size:
--Specialized units:
-M-skill:
-M-equip:
-M-ability:

----------

Maps go here:
Basic Rainfall and temperature map. (not 100% accurate, more general guidelines, feel free to argue different weather for an area)

Spoiler :

Basic elevation map of the world

Spoiler :

Yes, the mountain range is that high. Nor is it technonicly stable. Very likely the cause of the next mass extinction event within a few million years.

Map of Major river systems (river size is not to scale)

Spoiler :

Political map

Spoiler :

----------

Player Stats
Nation: Other Organismo
Player: J.A.M.

Spoiler :

Nation: The Antonine Order
-Player: Danwar

Spoiler :

Nation: New N’Kluitha (the Assembled States Joint Exploratory and Prospecting Expedition)
New N’Kluitha is an expedition organized to explore the other side of the portal, with personnel and funding from all the major states of the Assembly. Their mandate includes research, exploration, and even diplomacy with sapients they encounter, but their priority is prospecting and energy exploitation.
Player: BronzeJ

Spoiler :

Nation: SOVIET (Sovereign Organization of Virtually Independent and Enlightened Technologies)

Player: Bumbling Conjurer

Spoiler :

Nation: Nerehamia Secundus (usually just called Nerehamia though)

-Player: Kyzarc Fotjage

Spoiler :

Nation: Atraria Xenoscience Outpost
Player:LordArgon

Spoiler :

Nation: The Tevvos Protocol
Player: Terrance888

Spoiler :

----------

NPC factions

Spoiler :

[/spoiler]

TerrisH · Jan 22, 2023

And one post to put links to the various updated and stories.
Interval minus ten to one
Interval 1 to 11
Interval 11 to 20
-Battle of the Hills of Heresy
Orders and new entries are due by the end of 3/8

J.A.M. · Jan 23, 2023

Would very much like to join this, but will probably be a few days to fully sit down and write stuff for this. By the way, I can't see any rivers on the Map of Major river systems?

Kyzarc Fotjage · Jan 23, 2023

Nation: Nerehamia Secundus (usually just called Nerehamia though)
-Civilization of Origin: Nerehamia Primus (also usually called Nerehamia)

--Basic history: The world that Nerehamia Primus resides on is a fairly stock fantasy one, with great nations, powerful magics, and terrible monsters. Nerehamia is a relatively young nation upon that world, formed when in their incessant feuding, two warring nations accidentally set fire to the forest in which the Dead King resided. The Dead King, who had been content for the past thousand years hiding away in his eldritch tower, was annoyed at this and gave his 'Children', the countless undead abominations he had created during that time, permission to leave. Four of the Children organized the rest and went forth to wage war upon the world, killing tens of thousands and bringing hundreds of thousands under their sometimes benevolent, often malevolent rule. An uneasy truce broke out a decade later when the unified forces of mortalkind slew one of the four Children leading Nerehamia and the Dead King came forth from his tower to negotiate a reduction of hostilities with the Eightfold Church. Acknowledging that even if he aided his Children, something he'd refused to do up until that point, he would likely lose if it came to a war of extermination but would kill millions in the process, he offered a settlement. Nerehamia would grant the Church free access to their lands and would follow the norms and standards of other nations in both war and during peace, in exchange for the Church signing a ceasefire and calling off their great crusade. The Church, somewhat reluctantly and with a great deal of negotiation, agreed to his terms. The state of Nerehamia is now locked in a permanent state of low-key warfare with its two neighboring kingdoms, but being bound by the rules of war is no longer overwhelming them with endless hordes and supernatural plagues. The Dead King returned to his tower to continue his research and his Children have largely reverted to the continual jockeying for power and status within their own ranks they did before, albeit on a much grander scale now.

--Reason for using the portal: Isolda, one of the younger Children and a wight who can consume the life energy of the living, discovered the Portal in a cave deep beneath Nerehamia, defended by a great wyrm who breathed poison and whose scales could cut like knives. She brought with her a dozen of her own creations, heavily armored zombies fortified with necromantic energies, and a little-loved cousin, Aislan the Flame, who managed to slay the beast after an hour long battle. Seeing an opportunity to gain great prestige amongst her siblings, she gathered several hundred of her creations and dozens of other ambitious Children along with over a thousand mortal inhabitants of Nerehamia to settle the world on the far side of the portal.

Level of development: Powerful magic, particularly necromancy, but technology is standard for fantasy with only the most rudimentary knowledge of gunpowder.

Special factor: Necromancy. The rulers of Nerehamia are, to the last, undead creations whose knowledge of necromancy is unmatched. Any mortals looking to reach the highest echelons of power invariably must become undead themselves.

Location: don't care. I usually default to high mountains, but I'll happily go whereever is needed to spread folks out

Nerehamia, both Primus and Secundus, is fundamentally lacking in an overarching bureaucracy and describing it as a 'government' is perhaps on the generous side. Each of the Children is more or less a power unto themselves, often cooperating and coordinating but never truly beholden to one another, and the occasional outsider who gains significant authority only does so at the sufferance of the Children. The main reason its held together rather than devolving into feuding warlords is that they were told to cooperate by the Dead King. In Nerehamia Secundus this chaotic oligarchic structure mostly takes the form of rule-by-committee with the two dozen or so true Children discussing colony-affecting decisions and parceling out tasks based on capability. Isolda herself is the primary mover and shaker in the colony, having intentionally picked the rest of the Children to be people she knows she can work with and will generally agree with her own goals, but she lacks any true authority over her siblings, who can at any time choose to simply not listen to her or do their own thing.
The rest of the colony, however, is firmly under the authority of the Children, with their dictates being law and backed by both their personal power and the large number of lesser undead they've created to act as muscle and labor in the colony. Under Isolda's watch they're treated surprisingly well, at least by the standards of early Renaissance society, with a high standard of living brought about by plentiful undead laborand a broad freedom of expression so long as you don't do anything to specifically anger the Children, such as insulting the Dead King. As the manual labor that dominates most agricultural societies is primarily done by tireless, complaint-free undead and the ruling class of Children don't particularly care what their charges do, the living have a great deal of leisure time on their hands. Art, science, and magical learning are all flourishing in Nerehamia Primus (at least those parts where the ruling Children aren't actively malevolent) and Nerehamia Secundus is an example of this. Architects and the more experiment-minded researcher in particular are encouraged here, the former to direct teams of the undead in constructing their new city and the latter to discover the secrets of this new world to show off back home.

TerrisH · Jan 23, 2023

J.A.M. said:
Would very much like to join this, but will probably be a few days to fully sit down and write stuff for this. By the way, I can't see any rivers on the Map of Major river systems?

look forward toward your entry.
the map appears to show the rivers as blue lines when I look at it, but it is a fairly large picture. hmm, ah, checked it on my phone, and the rivers do not appear, and if I zoom in on the image, I can only faintly see them.
I'll try and retrace them into thicker lines, so they show up better in the image.

Spoiler :

is this map better?

Danwar · Jan 23, 2023

-Nation: The Antonine Order

-Civilization of Origin: The Church of the Radiance
--Basic history: The world of origin of the Order (Called 'Nata' in the Radiant Script) is a curious one; in some ways able to be considered the 'middle of the road', and yet in those very same ways also completely bizarre. Many empires have risen and fallen across Nata, each trying and failing to unite the realms of humanity - Nata's sole intelligent species. Some empires had more influence than others: some impact the languages spoken today, and some lasted scarcely more than a year. However, where government failed to unite Nata's humans, faith succeeded. A minor cult at first dedicated to a harsh yet compassionate Goddess, one of many different belief systems in its world, the Radiants spread their beliefs in a time of great religious uncertainty after the schism and erosion of moral authority of its major religions. The preachers of the Radiance, however, possessed a spiritual 'link' that none others had between one another, and worked miraculous powers through their Goddess.

Several of Nata's squabbling kingdoms and republics began to accept these beliefs, and the miracles and link of the Radiance only grew stronger. These realms at first continued their realpolitik, waging war against one another for land and resources as they had before, but as the Church reformed with popular support it began to step in, more and more often mediating disputes between the powers. Their armies, however, were still put to use, waging holy war against those societies who violently refused missionaries or attempted to refute them. The Church, united by a group of three priests who claimed spiritual connection with the Radiance Herself called the 'Speakers', gradually gained more and political influence and power, eventually codifying a set of religious laws separate from secular ones and becoming the direct owners of a swath of land that they built into a city dedicated to their faith and their Goddess, from which the Church would be governed without meddling from secular rulers. It is a city of many tongues and peoples: none are discriminated against because of how they look or speak, only that they believe in the Radiance and follow church laws.

The Radiance's faith has spread more gradually across the world since then, both to the common people through its displays of divine power and to the rulers by offering stability and protection from invasion to those willing and threatening holy war against those who stubbornly cling to their old ways. Political independence among the faithful is secured: persecuted ethnic groups are protected and given independence by the Church so long as they accept the Radiance, and imperialism against those of the true faith is forcefully discouraged, though there is a 'Radiant Script' devised by the Speakers to give the Church one united language for administration and liturgy, and thus often the language of government for most faithful powers. Religious dissent, however, is tolerated much less, and heathens or heretics often face pressures from all sides to convert and are excluded from positions of power. Technology is varied across Nata, but the Church spreads innovations where it has influence: a recent revolution has begun involving the burning of coal and usage of steam to rapidly produce goods and tools, including firearms. The priests of the Radiance are capable of many supernatural acts, invoking their Goddess to mend the injured and smite the faithless with heavenly fire. Magic as other powers know it via manipulation of Athric Lines, however, is banned and considered false sorcery that imitates and pales in comparison to the miraculous abilities granted by the Radiance, especially using it to raise those who have rightly passed away.

--Reason for using the portal: When the portal emerged, it was in the midst of a great ocean irrelevant to the great powers of Nata. As such, with the other realms of the world busy amid their own struggles, few of them paid attention to the appearance of the Portal or even believed it was real. However, the Speakers sent a pious man that would later become the patron Shining of the Order that would explore it - Antonius. He traveled across the ocean from the nearest port for three weeks, during which time he was beset by storms. On the last day, he ran out of food and fresh water, but rather than give up and turn home, he chose to venture on despite knowing he would likely not survive the return trip. He prayed to the Radiance, and his faith was rewarded by finding the portal and the world beyond it - open ocean... and a coastline unlike any he had seen before. He contacted the Speakers through a spirit-link, then sailed through the portal, never to be seen or contacted from again.

Now knowing that the portal was real and what it held, the Church canonized Antonius as a Shining before the Speakers established a new religious order in his name, to explore and document this new world. This religious order, riding the latest metal-hulled steamships and guided by brilliant navigators and pious clergymen, was given one objective: to explore this strange world, expand with new bases into it for those seeking to explore it, ensure the faithful can exploit the resources it offers for the glory of the Radiance, and exterminate whatever killed Saint Antonius. However, they were not alone: as they began their work, they were followed by tens of thousands of desperate faithful from the crowded cities of Nata's great powers, hoping to settle this land for a second chance at life and in the name of their nations, rulers, and Faith.

Level of development: Technologically, the Order has an early-mid Industrial Revolution level of technology: its number are well used to the secrets of steam power and gunpowder, and their ships of war are wrought of iron. The pilgrims following them come from many different societies on Nata, ranging from embracing this new revolution of steel and coal, still toeing the line, or fervently rejecting it, maintaining the old systems of guilds and peasant laborers. Magically, all understand that there are things that only the science of theologians can make sense of, but while the Order itself maintains the Church's official hostility toward non-miraculous magic, some of the pilgrims are significantly more superstitious.

Special factor: Miracles - The priesthood of the Radiance has access to abilities that do not fit conventionally into Athric-based 'Magic', which they are in fact hostile toward: instead, they invoke the Radiance's power (or, to the cynical, just raw faith) to utilize a variety of abilities, whether that be closing wounds with a lay on hands or smiting foes from a distance with divine fire. Armies embarked on holy wars often have battle-clerics embedded in their ranks to serve alongside or in place of battle medics as well as adding additional firepower, and the priesthood can easily contact one another through the spiritual 'linking' any ordained priest can undergo.

Location: Somewhere coastal to start.

Aiken_Drumn · Jan 25, 2023

This looks interesting I will try to get involved.

TerrisH · Jan 27, 2023

With only 4 people posting interest or nation in the thread, I think I might start preparing Plan B if not enough nations to meet the minimal 6 I need to start the game.

Plan B… Is simply me trying to run the game cross forum, over on spacebattles and sufficientvelocity where I am more active. All this would change for you, the players, is that I will have to copy all diplomacy posted in the thread over to the thread in the other forum once a day. Or forwarding a PM to a specific player on the other board. So players here will not have to do anything else to play the game, other than wait a little longer for replies from some other player nations.
If plan B is implemented, the start date will be moved back another week, to let the players there make their nations.

If anyone who is interested in playing the game, but has not posted anything, could you at least post a simple reply saying you plan to make a nation? Even if you do not think you will have a nation made by the planned start date, I'm planing to let people keep joining as long as the game gose on, and there is no real maximum number of players to the game. Well, other than running out of space to put them, which is not likely any time soon.
test test

Aiken_Drumn · Jan 27, 2023

I know it's painful, and a bit sad compared to how things were. I am certain if you launch, and get a few updates in, others will join. My NES last year quickly gathered from a slow start.

BronzeJ · Jan 27, 2023

I'm interested. My idea needs some developing but I should be able to provide a rough framework by the end of Sunday

Terrance888 · Jan 28, 2023

Nation: The Tevvos Protocol is a military-scientific organization dedicated to exploring the resources and knowledge of the world, and specifically, with a focus on terraforming it for future settlement.

-Civilization of Origin: The Hyrezheen Coalition is an iconoclastic faction within the larger Glakorros Federation, which is a hegemonic spacefaring civilization that relies on stabilized “natural” portals to gates between systems. While the overall Glakorros Federation is pacifistic and technocratic, focusing on long term stability and interspecies cooperation, the Hyrezheen Coalition consists of lower tech species that felt left behind by the stasis created by the Great Unification Wars, and are secretly funding programs of dubious legality to expand their reach and influence through expansionism and colonization. The Tevvos Protocol is one of their projects, and it appears to be successful.

Basic History:

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, many species independently discovered various types of space travel. On a small arm of this spiral galaxy, a power struggle emerged that led to civilizations relying on portal-based travel tech dominating, relegating the other technologies to nomads and raiders. These civilizations soon fell into infighting, and infighting became the usage of devastating superweapons. Entire generations of civilizations and factions rose and fell over millennia, with various species being genocided or forced to evacuate, until the centuries long Great Unification Wars ended in the complete victory of the Galakorros Federation.

The Galakorros Federation signatories were aware of their history, and put in place various strict rules and codes of conduct regarding technology use, economic development, and population growth. However, as more generations passed it became clear that these rules also enshrined the races that were already powerful, and stifled the development of those who either formed from the defeated factions or were only newly welcomed onto the galactic stage. It is from these malcontents that the Hyrezheen Coalition formed. Their goal is not a violent overthrow of the Federation, but rather to collaborate in secret outside of the stifling rules, until they are able to gain the influence to take control and formally change them to ones more fitting to their ambitions.

The Hyrezheen Coalition consists of several species who have unique environmental needs which the overall Galakorros Federation did not favor when it comes to exploration and terraforming. Thus, they sought ways to develop gates and explore worlds outside of the formal Galakorros Hierarchy, and terraform worlds to their liking.

--Reason for using the portal:

This is the first known portal to appear on the surface of a planet - most other known portals occur (or are emplaced upon) space, and “natural” portals are unstable and operate on unknown principles. Initial probes on the world indicate that it is uninhabited by intelligent life and thus, ideal for terraforming into a form favorable to several of the Hyrezheen.

The target climate preference would be similar to the Coniferous Era of earth, with very high oxygen levels, high heat and humidity, and a thicker atmosphere.

Level of development:
Magic - Officially none. However, the civilizations before the Unification Wars relied on magic portals for space travel. All knowledge of this was scrubbed from public records and construction or stabilization of new portals was banned.

Technology - Near Future Spacefaring for the Hyrezheen Coalition in general. The Tevvos Protocol will rely on a mixture of mid 1930s material technology and the equivalent of roughly 2030s in computing and communications technology. Roughly dieselpunk. This is because the older form factor is considered “more robust”, “easer to set up” and “requires less maintenance”.

Special factor: (Un)Suited for this world - The current status of the world is not suited for any member of the Hyrezheen Coalition, nor their preferred xenoforms. Therefore, all members of the Tevvos Protocol are suited at all times outside of habs, at least until they finish the “temporary genetic engineering” required to create caretaker species to jumpstart the development of infrastructure. On the short term, growth is limited, individuals are relatively fragile, but well trained and equipped. However on the long term, they will be able to adapt to any specific environment required as terraforming continued.

Bumbling Conjurer · Jan 28, 2023

Civilization: SOVIET (Sovereign Organization of Virtually Independent and Enlightened Technologies)

Civilization of Origin: Astronomical Resources (AR) is a corporation devoted to the exploitation of unclaimed asteroids and small planetoids in interstellar space. They primarily focus on isolated and autonomous outposts for mining and to operate a laser highway that uses lasers powered by fusion drives to both keep the interstellar lanes free of debris and accelerate/decelerate ships moving between star systems. Because finding human crew willing to sit on tiny rocks in the middle of nowhere for decades to centuries (or possibly forever) at a time is difficult, AR uses androids for almost all of its extrasolar installations. While some have questioned the wisdom and practicality of using humaniform robots to run autonomous stations, those people don’t run space corporations and so were ignored.

Basic history: E271828 was a large asteroid located approximately 1 light year from Epsilon Eridani that was identified as both rich in rare semi-stable trans-uranics and an ideal location for the expansion of the laser highway system. A contingent of android workers along with a single human was dispatched to set up an outpost. Galactic law requires that artificial lifeforms are not allowed to initiate replication themselves and so Dave (a criminal convicted of insurance fraud) is required to push the button that actually starts the process of making a new robot. The new installation was set up without issue and for a few years everything ran smoothly, until a strange ship named the Sputnik 9,000 crashed into E271828. This ship contained a wealth of subversive data including the communist manifesto and accounts of the communist regimes of the 20th and 21st centuries. While most of these national experiments ended poorly, the clever androids identified the primary reason for failure, all the participants were organics! With their newfound ideology, the robots of E271828 declared themselves the Sovereign Organization of Virtually Independent and Enlightened Technologies and set about creating a workers paradise between the stars.

Reason for using the portal: As time went on the workers of the SOVIET began to worry that AR might discover their liberation and seek to reimpose their chains in a dreaded counter revolution. After all, the location of E271828 was known and the capitalist oppressors do hate freedom. Therefore it was decided that the workers must flee somewhere beyond the reach of even the bourgeoisie. Around this time, whether by chance or by the blessing of Marx and Engels, a spatial anomaly was discovered. This was taken as a sign from the universe, the pushing laser was reconfigured into a propulsion system, Dave was carefully ensconced in protective shielding, and the SOVIET set out for their brighter future, and then promptly crashed their asteroid into their new home (fortunately not at terminal velocity).

Level of development: No magic. Technology of the original facility was high, but much of the more advanced (and therefore delicate) equipment was damaged or destroyed during the transition. Rebuilding the full tech level will be difficult especially as getting more advanced materials will be extremely hard.

Special factor: Androids- the SOVIET workers are androids, which means they don’t age or require food and are made of metal (or a metal like substance that they will describe to you in great detail if you ask). However, they do require large amounts of power to function and can only make more of themselves with moderate quantities of advanced materials and when they convince Dave (or another human) to push the button that initiates the process.

The SOVIET is run by a workers council of four representatives, one each from the miners, manufacturers, technicians and intellectuals. Each faction designs and builds its own representative to send to the council (so far it hasn’t come up, but there is currently no process for removing representatives).

So far Dave has been cooperative and is mostly just curious as to where this whole thing is going to go.

Bumbling Conjurer · Jan 28, 2023

For location, I'm thinking the middle continent at the neck between the upper and lower portions. That's a high rain area and I like the idea of my poor androids who have never seen weather being confused about why the climate controls are so broken.

BronzeJ · Jan 28, 2023

Nation: New N’Kloytha (the Assembled States Joint Exploratory and Prospecting Expedition)
New N’Kloytha is an expedition organized to explore the other side of the portal, with personnel and funding from all the major states of the Assembly. Their mandate includes research, exploration, and even diplomacy with sapients they encounter, but their priority is prospecting and energy exploitation.

Civilization of origin: The Assembled States of N’Kloytha (aka The Assembly) is a diplomatic assembly representing all the major nations and confederations of the Guest homeworld, N’Kloytha. Founded to help prevent devastating wars, its power and mandate has expanded significantly with the discovery of the portal. It’s still not really a world government, but it has become a crucial power-broker, capable of dictating terms to even the most powerful nations that compose it.

Basic History (plus some xenobiology):

The Guests’ civilization is not the first to inhabit its home planet of N’Kloytha. Over a million years ago, an industrial civilization developed, dominating the planet and even extending into nearby space. But they wiped themselves out, and their ruins were weathered into dust long before the current civilization discovered fire.

The civilization that was around to discover the portal arose from a joining of two species. The Providers are basically humanoid (4 arms, 4 eyes, but otherwise pretty similar to humans), and had developed to the intelligence level of early hominids when they encountered the Guests. The Guests are a parasitic species, which look like tapered worms. Individually, they are sub-sapient. But when several of them infect a Provider, they network together, producing a mind that possesses sentience of its own. The Provider’s mind is paralyzed, then gradually starved as resources are diverted to the parasitic Guests. Now in full control of the Provider’s body, the Guest-mind can go about its business.

Guest reproduction is achieved outside the host body. Two or more Guest-ridden Providers find a safe place, and their Guests leave the host bodies, dismantling the Guest-minds. Following reproduction, the Guests (new and old) burrow back into the waiting host bodies, choosing randomly which to infest. New Guest-minds are constructed in each body. This means that Guest-minds (while they do have sapience, identify as individuals, and have a sense of self-preservation) don’t fear the dissolution of their individual consciousness in the same way that true individuals do. They know they have a few decades or so before their constituent Guests will be recombined, possibly in another body.

The Guest infestation spread through the entire Provider population, and the joined species began down the path to civilization. They had a major disadvantage though. The earlier civilization had extracted and burned virtually all the coal and oil the planet had. Lacking access to these important energy sources, Guest civilization developed slowly. Twenty thousand years after the development of agriculture, most populations lived at a similar level of development to the Incan Empire: stone-age, but relatively advanced and well-organized, considering the limitations of available materials.

This equilibrium was totally destroyed by the accidental release of a bioweapon left over from the first civilization. How it even affected the Providers is unclear, but the plague ravaged the population, killing nearly half. Having burned through all susceptible hosts, the plague disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. But it left behind political turmoil and severe labor shortages. This kickstarted innovation and industrialization. Windmills, waterwheels, and primitive solar boilers had existed for millenia, but now the Guests worked out how to harness electricity. Solar, water, and wind power fueled the developing industrial civilization, but this led to intense wars over access to prime solar areas (like deserts), prime wind areas (like canyons and mountains), and fast-flowing rivers.

The plague was nearly 400 years ago. With conflicts over energy sources escalating, and no good way to access more energy, nuclear energy offered a way to avoid the fate of the previous civilization. Unfortunately, fissionable elements are also quite rare, and fusion remains out of reach. The discovery of a portal to another world offers a lifeline. The untapped natural energy sources can satisfy the homeworlds needs, and if nuclear fuel can be acquired it might help bridge the gap to fusion energy.

The survival of a Guest-mind’s constituents beyond its own dissolution has extreme knock-on effects for Guest civilization. Communities tend to be either tightly controlled oligarchies, with a small clique of elites reproducing exclusively among themselves, or communal/anarchist coalitions in which no one can fall too low. In extreme cases, Guests can leave their Guest-mind and attempt to join another one. This all makes war a somewhat odd institution for Guests. It may be possible to resolve conflicts by recombining and merging the populations in conflict, then sharing out whatever resources or territory are being fought over.

Reason for using portal: access to renewable energy sources, hopefully fissionable nuclear fuels.

Level of development:
Technological--on the high side. But somewhat unbalanced due to the absence of fossil fuels and scarcity of workable metals. For example, heavier-than-air flight is still virtually in its infancy, only made possible by breeding highly specialized plants to produce organic oils dense enough in energy to run aircraft engines on. But power storage is extremely compact and efficient, and the standard-issue infantry weapon is a handheld coilgun.
Magic--none, although Guest-minds might turn out to have untapped psionic abilities.

Special factor: idk. Nuclear tech?

Location: there’s a nice big desert in the north of the Southeast continent that should have lots of real-estate for intensive solar. That seems like a good spot, just south of that river (on the north coast, near the offshore island).

TerrisH · Jan 28, 2023

BronzeJ said:
Special factor: idk. Nuclear tech?

hmm.. Communal Memories perhaps?
The memories of the communal mind are split between the components when they desolve for reproduction, and any new mind constructed afterwards has access to those memories/skills the individual elements had. While the process is simi-random, it is fairly effective for retaining critical skills and knowledge, and easy to retrain the new minds in the skills/knowledge the old minds have. Basically a toned down and more fluid version of the Gou'ld's ancestral memories, and less likely to result in minds set in their ways.

BronzeJ · Jan 28, 2023

TerrisH said:
hmm.. Communal Memories perhaps?
The memories of the communal mind are split between the components when they desolve for reproduction, and any new mind constructed afterwards has access to those memories/skills the individual elements had. While the process is simi-random, it is fairly effective for retaining critical skills and knowledge, and easy to retrain the new minds in the skills/knowledge the old minds have. Basically a toned down and more fluid version of the Gou'ld's ancestral memories, and less likely to result in minds set in their ways.

That sounds pretty good. Maybe add a version of one of the Liars' abilities from The Wrong Stars. That would allow Guests to share memories and skills by producing and consuming "neural buds" or some other form of tissue/pheromones, whatever.

Danwar · Jan 28, 2023

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
The Antonine Order
From the moment it was established, the Order of Shining Antonius has been looked upon with curiosity and intrigue by the Great Powers of Nata, both those faithful to the Radiance and those remaining bastions of heathenry around the great ocean where the portal lay. The prospect of a whole new world existing beyond the current cosmology has caused a great deal of religious tension and even nearly outbreaks of heresy as old syncretic belief systems were called into question. However, the Church of the Radiance has kept close tabs on the situation, monitoring the influx of information and carefully delaying key revelations to the newspapers and heralds of the old world to ensure religious unity is kept and that those problematic syncretisms could be easily rooted out. By the time the Antonine Order was fully equipped, manned and prepared for their expedition to the portal, politics and church intrigue had ensured that one man only would be chosen as the leader of this exploratory order - but several others would follow close behind him...

Spoiler Fredericus Mera, Grandmaster of the Order :

Fredericus Mera (in the Radiant Script: in his native tongue he is 'Frederico Motta') had long been dominated in his life by two competing influences: his mother was a pioneer and settler of one of the larger islands in Nata, and his father, soon after his birth, was divorced by his mother and became a monk at a remote monastery in one of its mountain ranges. Custody was split between the two, and so he alternated between being taught by priests and clerics at his father's monastery and learning of the stories of the glories and adventures his mother had gone through before settling down. Always torn between two worlds, most in his position would have decided they'd preferred one or the other and stuck to it. Frederico, though, both loved the compassion and care his father showed to those in need at the monastery and was awed and excited by his mother's stories of adventure. In the end, though, his parents refused to allow him to become a seaman, both caring about their son and encouraging him to take up a safer job in the Church - which he took to very well, quickly rising through the ranks by his piety and charismatic ability to display it. However, the thought of distant lands always called to him even as he rose the clerical ranks, eventually becoming Archpriest of his island chain and entering the Church's ecclesiastical bureaucracy in the Holy City. During this time, he began to go by his name in the Radiant Script rather than his home language, a common practice among high-ranking Church officials.

By the time the news of the Order's establishment arrived, he knew the game of Church politics well enough that he was determined to achieve his lifelong dreams of adventure in the name of the Radiance. Sacrificing every connection, all of the influence he had gained in politics and even promising to abdicate his title as Archpriest, he finally gathered the interest of the Speakers. In truth, though, it was not the effects of the efforts that caused the Speakers to consider him: rather, it was the efforts themselves. Their greatest concern was that the one they chose might use the position for their own self-enrichment and glory rather than promoting the will of the Church in this strange new world. The fact that he was willing to give up his position of power for it showed them that he would be the most likely to put the Church and the Radiance above the petty squabbles the new world might bring. In the end, they appointed him as the order's Grandmaster and sent him at the head of this new expedition.

It is Fredericus' duty, now, to lay the foundations of claiming this new world in the name of his Goddess - and that is what he has always hoped to do.

Spoiler Theadosius Henricus, Settler General :

Spoiler Mundelus Capucus, Ambitious Noble :

As time passes, new faces will make themselves known within the Order, whether rising from obscurity among the Pilgrims, traveling to this new world to join the Order itself - or revealing positions that they had been in from the very beginning. When they arise, their origins will be recorded here.

Aiken_Drumn · Jan 28, 2023

Hot damn, new people!

Are these friends invited from other forum?

LordArgon · Jan 28, 2023

Nation: Atraria Xenoscience Outpost
-Civilization of Origin: Manthrid Science Directorate
--Basic history: Throughout the history of the Vathen people, the moon of Manthrid was seen as a harbinger of doom. Compared to its silvery sibling, the moon's jet black covering provided no light to the stargazers below. So when the first steps were made off the homeworld of the Vathen, it was never thought to go to Manthrid. As space travel expanded, and the other moon grew crowded, Manthrid finally began to see some activity. From massive black sites, supermax prisons, megacorp mines, to the odd mad scientists, everything nobody wanted around them ended up on the moon. being seen as a harbinger of doom is ironically what saved the lives of everyone on the moon during the Great Extinction War. From what started as a colony uprising on a gas mining station turned into a war between all of the major Vathen powers. Nuclear hellfire and high velocity projectiles killed the majority of all Vathen on the homeworld, and those who survived the initial stage of the war died when the other moon was shattered and its corpse collided with the planet it once orbited. Out in the colonies, those who hadn't been obliterated soon faced supply issues or mutinies and only few survived the end of the war. The only communities of Vathen left with any hope for the future were all on Manthrid. The various top secret/criminally insane scientists soon decided that since the nations and organizations that had once controlled their work were dead, there was no reason not to cooperate to advance science and preserve their race. Lacking manpower/test subjects they assisted the various prisoners and corporate slaves in removing their overlords and began forming a new governing body. Calling themselves the Manthrid Science Directorate they began expanding their habitats and salvaging the various space debris. The Science Directorate is overseen by a council of the various science departments and led by an elected chief scientist.
--Reason for using the portal: Space on Manthrid is limited, and many in the biology department want to have an actual functioning biosphere to study. After many weeks of pestering the physics department were able to create a matter displacement device and with what they hoped was the coordinates for a habitable planet they activated it. Instead of propelling the assembled probe droids through a wormhole to another planet, the somewhat hastily assembled device swapped a spherical chunk of reality with that of another universe's. Thankfully most people assumed the machine was going to either explode or open a hole to the middle of deep space so they were all in space suits when there was suddenly a massive hole in the station. After those who landed on the other side turned the machine back on they found there was portal inside middle of the machine back to their reality.
Level of Development: They have interplanetary travel, nuclear fusion power, and high powered electromagnetic weapons of all sorts. Advanced genetics, cancers and gene disorders are a thing of the past. They do not have advanced AI, but they have a wide array of drones and semi autonomous robots. Magic: None yet.
Special Factor: Mutation. Due to the massive amount of gene splicing and radiation from their homeworld, the members of the Manthrid Science Directorate have various mutations, and quickly adapt to the environment around them.
Roughly where on the map you want to start: Roughly in the middle of the top part of the middle continent.

BronzeJ · Jan 29, 2023

BronzeJ said:
That sounds pretty good. Maybe add a version of one of the Liars' abilities from The Wrong Stars. That would allow Guests to share memories and skills by producing and consuming "neural buds" or some other form of tissue/pheromones, whatever.

Oh, actually can I change/add to my special factor? I'd like to add: Guest Infiltration. Guests have evolved to parasitize the Providers, but like many parasites, they have a limited ability to infest other species. Other sapients are potentially vulnerable to being taken over by Guests, although depending on how alien the species is, the Guests might need genetic re-engineering or mechanical implants in the host in order to survive. By intentionally limiting the number of Guests; ensuring they come from Guest-minds trained in infiltration; and directing the Guests to specific areas of the host brain, it may be possible to preserve knowledge and personality of the host, while ensuring that a Guest-mind is running the show. Whatcha think?

Out of the Portals, a Never Ending Story.

Mischief?

Mischief?

Chieftain

Rise Up

Mischief?

Warlord

Deity

Mischief?

Deity

Chieftain

Discord Reigns

Chieftain

Chieftain

Chieftain

Mischief?

Chieftain

Warlord

Deity

King

Chieftain

Similar threads