Disenfrancised
Beep Beep
This thread is for culture submissions and beta-testing of systems for the glorious SysNES2: Electic Bugaloo
Link to SysNES1: A Murky Pool of Light
First of all the new one won't be for months and months, but I want to play around with game systems and culture concepts long before actually starting.
Spoiler Universe Timeline Background :
Pre UC: Bizarre barbarian states like 'Chin', 'Amerika' and the 'Euu', form and develop space technologies, local planets of Old Sol explored via Rocket-canoe. Equivalent: Development of farming in Egypt and the Middle East, Shang China.
First Age
UC 0: Founding of the Solar Federation and the Universal Clock (~2230 AD). Solar Federation amalgamates all Earth states into overstructure to deal with climate concerns and space threats. Equivalent: Babylonia/Assyrian Empires
Early First Age (UC 0-300): Development of space transcending technologies, terraforming of Mars, Solar Federations creation of, war with, and evetual conquest conquest of the Jovian League. Equivalent: Trojan War, heroic age of Greek myth, Zhou/Warring States China.
Middle First Age (UC 300-600): Exploration of nearby systems with transcend drives, scattering of the peoples, Solar Feds ossification and secret societies, heroic campaigns by Sol Fed to control local colonies after several anarchist actions using antimatter threaten inhabited worlds. Equivalent: Alexander's conquests and Diodachi squabbles, Han Empire.
The War in Heaven/The Ravening/Close of the First Age (UC 600-800): Mass release of kinetic weapon factories, deconstructor swarms, antimatter weaponry, autowars. Destruction of life in Sol system, local colonies. Hider worlds cease electromagnetic transmissions, Line Worldships flee into deep space. Equivalent: biblical flood, Barbarian invasions of China, post-Rome dark ages.
Second Age
The New Dawn (UC 800-1700). Demons succumb to entropy. Line Worldships develop countermeasures to the demons, return to human space, cleanse worst infections, establish commercial and social protocols known as the Commonality. Equivalent: Migration Age, ancient myth, Hebrews being lead out of Egypt.
The Early Commonality Age (UC 1700-2100). Worldship Lines use unparalleled position to establish Root English, anti-super weapon phobia deep in all human cultures, find most Hider worlds and bring them into the main discourse. Line government model of very strong Technocratic executive with democratic trappings seen as optimal human government for survival. Equivalent: Greek/Roman republics.
The High Commonality Age (UC 2100-2400). Expansion further into unexplored space, first discovery of non-human artifacts, human space tied into tight economic web. Pretty nice time to be alive. Equivalent: Mythic medieval golden era of many cultures, chivalry, honour etc.
The New Empires Age (UC 2400-2673). Increasing power of planetary populations reduces then replaces Line influence, main players become multi-system polities bound by some ideology (religious, transhumanist, ecotopian, eudaimonic etc) and powerful fleets. Large scale wars over rare atom deposits, biospheres, or exotic alien finds occur, but still bound by Commonality codes to avoid excessive destruction. Equivalent: Carolingian Empire, Islamic Caliphates, Tang China
UC 2673+ : Exotic gravity pulse from smaller black hole merging with supermassive galactic centre black hole crosses human space, all technological artifacts based on metric transformation undergo complete mass to energy conversion. 99% of humanity expires, only some ships in deep space and backwards worlds survive.
Third Age
The Dark Age/Feudal Age (UC ~3000-4500). Backwards and raw worlds redevelop civilisation, often based on Commonality radio transmissions who originators had died centuries before in the Tumult. Starships stranded by the Tumult find worlds using sublight engines, either uplift the populace or establish themselves as a ruling caste. The edicts of the Commonality and some of the ideology of the New Empires take on a semi-religious aspect. The isolation and extreme environments cause several new human subspecies to emerge/create themselves. Equivalent: Faltering of the HRE in twelfth century, warring kingdoms period in china, barbarian migrations, Columbian exchange from the Amerindian point of view.
The Renaissance (UC 4500-4900). Redevelopment of interstellar signalling and ships kicks off a new wave of development as the scattered worlds of man find each other, and begin expanding into space once more. Equivalent: Duh.
The Age of Revelations (UC 4900-5100). The discovery of the ruins of the god-like Priors gives humanity something of an inferiority complex, even as the looting of Ansibyl Pearls causes an explosion in societal capabilities. Equivalent: Opium wars for china. Black ships for Japan.
This is the period SysNES2 occurs in
The High Third Age/Kingdom Age (UC 5100-5931). Faster than light communication allows a human interstellar culture not seen before, trade flourishes, but the new capabilities allow petty realms to extend themselves to the stars on quite low technological and social platforms compared to the Solar Federation or the Second Age Empires. This leads to orgies of petty wars over the loot of alien tombs. Many turn to Hiding from the main thrust of interstellar politics, or seek solace in the ancient religions of the Second or Earlier ages. In some worlds a zenith of excellence or nadir of barbarism is reach beyond anything from the earlier ages. With the new subspecies making waves, and weaker morality, many kingdoms engineer specialised forms of humanity. Equivalent: European opening of the world, Imperialism, new world slavery, your societies admit a direct link to this period but are slightly embarrassed by some actions done by their forefathers.
UC 5931+. A second gravity wave sweeps the human pollution from the sky, Due to a generally lower development level and density (though some regions have surpassed the Second Age), rather less proportional death results, only about 92%. Setting for SysNES1.
Note due to hibernation and time dilation due to starship travel your society may not have lived through every year of this timeline, but instead skipping 10-100 year chunks. The Universal Clock is calibrated via a bunch of distant pulsars, so you all have a rough idea what the year is (UC 4800, or 6930±50 AD).
First Age
UC 0: Founding of the Solar Federation and the Universal Clock (~2230 AD). Solar Federation amalgamates all Earth states into overstructure to deal with climate concerns and space threats. Equivalent: Babylonia/Assyrian Empires
Early First Age (UC 0-300): Development of space transcending technologies, terraforming of Mars, Solar Federations creation of, war with, and evetual conquest conquest of the Jovian League. Equivalent: Trojan War, heroic age of Greek myth, Zhou/Warring States China.
Middle First Age (UC 300-600): Exploration of nearby systems with transcend drives, scattering of the peoples, Solar Feds ossification and secret societies, heroic campaigns by Sol Fed to control local colonies after several anarchist actions using antimatter threaten inhabited worlds. Equivalent: Alexander's conquests and Diodachi squabbles, Han Empire.
The War in Heaven/The Ravening/Close of the First Age (UC 600-800): Mass release of kinetic weapon factories, deconstructor swarms, antimatter weaponry, autowars. Destruction of life in Sol system, local colonies. Hider worlds cease electromagnetic transmissions, Line Worldships flee into deep space. Equivalent: biblical flood, Barbarian invasions of China, post-Rome dark ages.
Second Age
The New Dawn (UC 800-1700). Demons succumb to entropy. Line Worldships develop countermeasures to the demons, return to human space, cleanse worst infections, establish commercial and social protocols known as the Commonality. Equivalent: Migration Age, ancient myth, Hebrews being lead out of Egypt.
The Early Commonality Age (UC 1700-2100). Worldship Lines use unparalleled position to establish Root English, anti-super weapon phobia deep in all human cultures, find most Hider worlds and bring them into the main discourse. Line government model of very strong Technocratic executive with democratic trappings seen as optimal human government for survival. Equivalent: Greek/Roman republics.
The High Commonality Age (UC 2100-2400). Expansion further into unexplored space, first discovery of non-human artifacts, human space tied into tight economic web. Pretty nice time to be alive. Equivalent: Mythic medieval golden era of many cultures, chivalry, honour etc.
The New Empires Age (UC 2400-2673). Increasing power of planetary populations reduces then replaces Line influence, main players become multi-system polities bound by some ideology (religious, transhumanist, ecotopian, eudaimonic etc) and powerful fleets. Large scale wars over rare atom deposits, biospheres, or exotic alien finds occur, but still bound by Commonality codes to avoid excessive destruction. Equivalent: Carolingian Empire, Islamic Caliphates, Tang China
UC 2673+ : Exotic gravity pulse from smaller black hole merging with supermassive galactic centre black hole crosses human space, all technological artifacts based on metric transformation undergo complete mass to energy conversion. 99% of humanity expires, only some ships in deep space and backwards worlds survive.
Third Age
The Dark Age/Feudal Age (UC ~3000-4500). Backwards and raw worlds redevelop civilisation, often based on Commonality radio transmissions who originators had died centuries before in the Tumult. Starships stranded by the Tumult find worlds using sublight engines, either uplift the populace or establish themselves as a ruling caste. The edicts of the Commonality and some of the ideology of the New Empires take on a semi-religious aspect. The isolation and extreme environments cause several new human subspecies to emerge/create themselves. Equivalent: Faltering of the HRE in twelfth century, warring kingdoms period in china, barbarian migrations, Columbian exchange from the Amerindian point of view.
The Renaissance (UC 4500-4900). Redevelopment of interstellar signalling and ships kicks off a new wave of development as the scattered worlds of man find each other, and begin expanding into space once more. Equivalent: Duh.
The Age of Revelations (UC 4900-5100). The discovery of the ruins of the god-like Priors gives humanity something of an inferiority complex, even as the looting of Ansibyl Pearls causes an explosion in societal capabilities. Equivalent: Opium wars for china. Black ships for Japan.
This is the period SysNES2 occurs in
The High Third Age/Kingdom Age (UC 5100-5931). Faster than light communication allows a human interstellar culture not seen before, trade flourishes, but the new capabilities allow petty realms to extend themselves to the stars on quite low technological and social platforms compared to the Solar Federation or the Second Age Empires. This leads to orgies of petty wars over the loot of alien tombs. Many turn to Hiding from the main thrust of interstellar politics, or seek solace in the ancient religions of the Second or Earlier ages. In some worlds a zenith of excellence or nadir of barbarism is reach beyond anything from the earlier ages. With the new subspecies making waves, and weaker morality, many kingdoms engineer specialised forms of humanity. Equivalent: European opening of the world, Imperialism, new world slavery, your societies admit a direct link to this period but are slightly embarrassed by some actions done by their forefathers.
UC 5931+. A second gravity wave sweeps the human pollution from the sky, Due to a generally lower development level and density (though some regions have surpassed the Second Age), rather less proportional death results, only about 92%. Setting for SysNES1.
Note due to hibernation and time dilation due to starship travel your society may not have lived through every year of this timeline, but instead skipping 10-100 year chunks. The Universal Clock is calibrated via a bunch of distant pulsars, so you all have a rough idea what the year is (UC 4800, or 6930±50 AD).
Spoiler Local Space Background :
The region of space immediately spinward of the Eighth Finger of the Flame Nebula has never been particularly of note beyond the scenic nebula itself, lacking even a name for the first three thousand years of human occupation. Characterised by the three young white giants known as the Triplets just emerged from the Nebula the worlds are low in heavy elements and contain only a smattering of radiation washed marginal biospheres.
The emergent superpower of the Apeilic Iris has given this region a name however Segmentum Alnitahium after the mighty blue triple supergiant Alnitah that shines so sharply in all the skys of the Segments worlds and makes the Flame nebula glow so bright. Though having only dust in orbit itself, the star is so bright and large than transcendent traverses can be made to it from thousands of light years away.
Such an important potential travel junction has made the Apeilic Iris, fresh from their destruction of their arch rivals and ancestors the Datha Commonwealth, claim the Segment as part of their hinterland. Whilst much to distant from the Iris itself to make resource extraction or trade with the scum of the region economically viable, the Apeilic Iris has chosen to enforce a semblance of interstellar order in the region (as if it had a bad reputation worldships might not chose to travel out this way, and exterminating the inhabitants also might be frowned on by high tech traders/the public back home) and placed a Consul and flagship in orbit of Alnitah itself*.
With this shroud of protection the bandits, hiders, and ideologes of the Segementum (for the flame nebula makes these worlds an excellent hiding place) have emerged from the nooks and crannies to build societies in the light of the suns, especially after the Consul indicated some level of competition and warring would be tolerated.
Thus there are three generations of societies out here:
1st: The Dark Age Hiders whove been here quietly for hundreds to thousands of years, and are probably a bit weird.
2nd: Refugees from the Apeilic-Dathic wars fleeing with the shirts off their backs, bandits, ex-warships and unsavoury characters abound.
3rd: Fringe elements from the worlds under the Iriss hegemony who reject the mainstream and want to go set up their own societies in the arse end of nowhere.
*Translation for the stupid: You are factions in Somalia/Wild West and the Apeilic Iris is the US Navy/Cavalry off the coast/back east, theyll intervene whenever things get too bad, but a lot of bad powergrabbing can still go down.
Datha of the Hundred Moons had been this sector of spaces premier cultural centre since the first glimmers of light in the post Tumult Dark Age. A delightful Gaian world attended by dozens of Ceres-sized world-housed satellites (most moved artificially, an expensive aesthetic choice to move such large bodies into position, but one which pays off in maintenance in the problem ages), by the time of its ending over a trillion individuals living within a bubble a few light seconds across. Its services, scenery and lifestyle made it an important stop on the Worldship routes (some even staying and adding a new moon to the sky). Hundreds of minor systems saw Dathic resource extraction operations and most of the other developed worlds of the sector had strong links with the system (indeed seeing much migration out). When sector wide coordination was needed, like halting the X|! Migration or putting down the pirate fleet of Krall the Magnificent it was inevitably orchestrated from a conference on Datha.
But in time Datha grew proud, though perfectly democratic and kind within itself, the sheer splendour of their home made it hard for the Dathics to conceive of those beyond its moons having a valid opinion. The resources volunteered by other high technology systems for the common defence were expropriated for Dathas ends and other systems grew resentful.
One such system was the Apeilic Iris home to the sectors most important military asset, the Iris itself. An annular plasma array a hundred light hours across, its multi-coloured aurora stripped the natural antimatter of a windy blue supergiants flow into its white dwarf partner. Founded by a consortium of corporations from many worlds (including Datha) its inhabitants had revolted and become independent some six hundred years ago, selling antimatter and their energy expertise to every planet in the sector competent enough to take advantage of it. The shining halo of wealthy habitats had but a few hundred million persons to stand against the Dathic billions.
The war, as every war did, began over a disagreement; a Dathic fleets tactless commander trying to get an Antimatter shipment for far below the market price leading to several veiled threats being offered, threats that panicking captains carried despite the commanders intent when the power of the Iris field itself was turned against their ships to drive them off, destroying a habitat, and seeing the fleet smashed in turn. Outrage in Datha lead to another fleet being dispatched and barely defeated (the Dathics however still taking care to avoid civilian causalities at this point), the Apeilic counterattack to destroy one of the Dathic battlemoons as a warning show of force failing to completely atomise it as they intended and the resultant fragments killing three hundred billion on the other moons, inevitably causing the declaration of Total War.
Every other high technology system in the sector lined up behind either Datha or the Iris, with the lower technology societies and world ship traders running for cover or being annihilated. After a long conflict the war ended with the incineration of Datha by a Apeilic induced solar flare, a crime that still has the Iris conflicted to this day, and domination of the sector by the Apeilics and their client worlds (which they have to rely on rather more than Datha did, and the need to keep them on side informs the Apeilic light but firm law and order approach).
First set of star system visualizations, unlike SysNES1 the game space will not be fully pairwise traversable instead of being able to jump from a system to every other system, gas clouds and other stars will occlude some of the linkages, creating some strategy and choke points, though stars on average will connect to at least half of the 35 odd stars in the game space. There are more systems but there will be a lower average world count per system:
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