SysNES 1: A Murky Pool of Light

[Kentharu]

Seon, I await your reply to my PM. Please tell me now if you are just going to ignore it.

 

[Seon]

Giving up now wouldn't be fun.

 

[Kentharu]

Apparently I uploaded the wrong thing. The image from before was just the Insignia. This is the flag.

Yes one wouldn't be able to see a flag on ship or an insignia on a ship and it wouldn't matter, I just thought it would add a little more depth to the NES. I'd love to see what you guys can come up with for flags.

 

[Kraznaya]

Apparently I uploaded the wrong thing. The image from before was just the Insignia. This is the flag.

Yes one wouldn't be able to see a flag on ship or an insignia on a ship and it wouldn't matter, I just thought it would add a little more depth to the NES. I'd love to see what you guys can come up with for flags.

Aren't you guys supposed to be Muslim?

My (very late) take on this!

Gardeners
The Tree of Life, representing the Gardener appreciation of all life and particularly Terra-like biospheres which are capable of supporting such trees, is flanked by two eyes (the space in between the branches and the roots neatly form the "face") of the wise owl, representing Gardener ambition in the sciences and their forward approach to knowledge. That the eyes can be perceived as looking at the tree as well fits considering that the Gardeners' thirst for knowledge is a means to the end of ecological flowering.

'Al
Like Thlayli said, inward facing eyes. The closed nature of the symbol represents the nearly complete self imposed isolation of the 'Al, who seek knowledge in and of themselves. The elongated nature of the 'Al face formed by the eyes, akin to prestellar myths of the "Greys," represents the peculiarities of the 'Al aesthete and appreciation for aspects of human beauty that clash with the rest of known humanity.

There doesn't seem to be a better explanation for the six pointed symbol enclosing symbol than reference to the Jewish exodus and the Star of David. The six pointed symbol encloses the 'Al as the exodus has put a severe hampering on the 'Al competing with the other cultures in the Hydra Tuft.

Ik
The many crescents and star a reference to the old Ottoman symbol of the crescent and star. Flown by one of the most territorially ambitious of Muslim empires, the Ik aping of that symbol represents both their Muslim roots and their vision of inspiration that comes from the many previous battles won by empires flying the same crescent and star.

However, the crescents in the symbol have multiplied because of Ik ambitions that extend beyond that home planet of Taik (a first crescent being a planet, and thus many crescents representing a farflung empire of moons upon planet), to Saik and Arrakis and beyond!

Shame about the Battle of Vienna... er, Arrakis II.

Ugh... the pinyin here will be very approximate because my Chinese sucks.

Lantians
'
The ideogram is "ji" from the Chinese phrase "ji zhong," which loosely means "come together." The "ji" in this context would be the verb, or the actual verb or act of "gathering" together. The ideogram thus represents the Lantian coalescence in all its forms: all the Asian cultures, the harmonization thereof, and the continual seamless integration and gathering of Lantian society, harmony, and togetherness (screw the individual! This! Is! Asian! Values!). The Lantian style of imposing the ideogram is comparitively modern (in the "mecha" style) due to their Homo Superior forward way of advancement in science (theoretically, anyway).

Esani

One of the most important Bantu symbols is the sun symbol or Ankh. But the Esani are of Sino-Bantu stock, so the Bantu ankh is morphed into something more universal: a visual representation of the sun, which befits the Esani's biopoet nature.

The Chinese ideogram within the sun represents the ideal of Esani culture and what the sun provides for civilization: "he" of the chinese phrase "he ping" which directly translates to peace, or harmony. This is what the Esani hope to achieve in all things, aided by the light of their civilization and the sun.

The black shape to the right of the character "he" is in the shape of Chinese seal, traditionally used to sign documents. However, this seal is completely filled in, not letting the viewer see who has actually signed, representing the anonymous nature of the Grand Inquisitor, the Magistratum, and the shadow clique that work the puppet strings behind Esani civilization.

Vazan

The Diamond Network encloses the horizontal lines commonly found on the physical surfaces of computer chips, displaying the cyberorganized nature of the Vazan. The two shapes in the middle are 1 and 0 : binary, clinching the digitized deal that is this society.

Kations

Instead of the purely cyborganized symbology of the Vazan, the Diamond Network symbol of the Kations encloses a cadeucus, a display of the medical morphology that goes with the Kation biotechnologists and their extremophile nature and willingness to adapt their bodies, both organically and technologically, to the rigors of space.

Soulon

The chevrons of the symbol represent the cold military origins of the league. The six small spheres represent their previous dominion over small rocky worlds of economic import, which sadly no longer bears weight...

Akresians

A rather chaotic logo of strife displays all the traits of the Akresians' Homo Tyrannous biology: the vicious curved lines portruding from the inner spheres representing their innate aggression while the lack of any geometric pattern or indeed, any straight lines, represent the bubbling organic bestial power of the Akresians, which lack any organization at all, as opposed to the geometric nature of the Diamond Network logos.

SPACE PIRATES

Ironically, the only two civilizations which have clear historical precedents are the Liberes and the Ik. Like the Ik, the Liberes takes an old favorite symbol of pirates: the skull and bones, and multiplies it to show, uh, just how serious they are about, erm, killing, raping, looting, and pillaging. The skulls face in all directions, denoting the possibility of the SPACE PIRATES' capacity for betrayal and short attention span seeking to attack all targets at once.

Priors

A bullseye! Maybe they were the targets of evil SPACE MONSTERS.

Alternatively the spheres of the Priors represent the most harmonious shape in nature, and the overriding shape of the universe: from the stars to the planets to the moons to the precious ansibyl pearls.

 

[alex994]

IC:

Having reached a 50/50 division agreement with the Soulon People and Her Representatives for the Planetary Systems of Terebellum and Yshakaron (if and when the Soulon People also choose to settle there), the Republic of Lantian extends an official offer of protection to the Soulon People for the next two years (until the end of Turn 22).

If the Soulon People agree to our extended offer, the Republic of Lantian will take an assault upon the Soulon People to be an assault upon the Republic.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Kraz scores the highest of any so far with 17/30 (the out of thirty is just for the human fractions, I'm not scoring you guys on the alien). For the record he got the Esani one entirely correct, there is no significance to there being 17 rays unless Kraz wants to make something up .

 

[Matt0088]

IC:

Having reached a 50/50 division agreement with the Soulon People and Her Representatives for the Planetary Systems of Terebellum and Yshakaron (if and when the Soulon People also choose to settle there), the Republic of Lantian extends an official offer of protection to the Soulon People for the next two years (until the end of Turn 22).

If the Soulon People agree to our extended offer, the Republic of Lantian will take an assault upon the Soulon People to be an assault upon the Republic.

The Soulon League and Peoples do accept and thank the Republic of Lantian for their offer of protection.

 

[Kraznaya]

Kraz scores the highest of any so far with 17/30 (the out of thirty is just for the human fractions, I'm not scoring you guys on the alien). For the record he got the Esani one entirely correct, there is no significance to there being 17 rays unless Kraz wants to make something up .

Arghh can I get at least one lucky roll for getting my own house right? >__>

And can you please answer my questions, both PMed and that one on the farms.

 

[Thlayli]

Still waiting on a response to that lost Cutter question.

I'd like to request that the Fleet/Army map actually show the real-time location of each civilization's Ansibyl Pearls, because if they're located on a ship that ship could presumably be destroyed and looted, and if they're on a planet the same. At the moment they're just abstracted across a fleet or a system, but that's not right is it?

I was considering this because of the recent engagement at Arrakis II, presumably one of the 2 Qi ships had an Ansibyl Pearl on board, and I assume that the one that escaped was the one holding the Pearl, but I have no way of knowing, do I? But in-game, the Liberes should be able to pinpoint the ship it's on using the resonance, right? If that were the case, naturally they'd try to kill the one with the Pearl on board first.

Actually marking Pearl locations also introduces a new mechanic for capital ships, that being the necessity of protecting the communications center around the Pearl.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Nah you can't get the resolution at IP distances to determine where each one is, its like trying to see something on your nose, also doing it in combat timescales is also silly.. Assuming its always on the last ship/position in the system is somehting you have to do for gameplay so that precision strikes can't knock out player controls.

Also assuming its on one of the ships is a bit dumb - its obviously kept planetside as the core of the Ik system wide communication net, then evacuated by shuttle when the Ik fleets pegged it.

 

[Thlayli]

Alright I guess I'll buy that. I still think military actions should occasionally yield Pearls, though.

 

[Disenfrancised]

You destroy all the opponents fleets then you get their pearls after sifting through the wreckage.

 

[Disenfrancised]

Missing Esani, Libere, and Akresian orders...

 

[Thlayli]

Orders will be sent in the next 5 minutes.

 

[alex994]

OOC: No mercy for late order senders!

 

[Disenfrancised]

All orders in, this one will probably take a while.

 

[Matt0088]

It'll be worth the extended wait then.

 

[Kraznaya]

So is this NES continuing, or is the mod embarking full speed on consciousness merging with the essence of DaftNES?

 

[Milarqui]

So is this NES continuing, or is the mod embarking full speed on consciousness merging with the essence of DaftNES?

Looks like it. Kentharu's trying to force Dis to actually update this NES, but it seems that he isn't exactly willing to follow on the petition.

 

[Kal'thzar]

I wouldn't worry too much about it; updates have been slower with larger amounts of military action; this one has a huge amount.