Philosophical views

[Anonymous]

Hey, I'm just as interested as teh rest of us. And although I said that this was a philosophy thread, there is nothing more philosophical than the imagination. Please add more if you want to. We are all here to learn.

[Anonymous]

Cool.  In that case, I suppose I'll expand on a few things in my game.

For convenience, since I don't have a name for that ancient race, I'll call them the Xelototh after an Eternal Darkness elder god (damn that was a great game).

The Devourer kept on expanding, spreading across the universe, eating it from the inside out.  The Xelototh saw something had to be done, so they returned from the edge of the universe to oppose the horror they had awakened.

They realized they had to seal it away, at least temporarily, but they didn't have the means to create such a seal.  They did, however, have a means to create the means to create such a seal.  Through a tremendous effort, they combined their minds into a race-wide super-gestalt, a concert of raw mental energy, which they used to alter the fabric of reality.  This took a harsh toll, as more than three-fourths of them were wiped out from the incredible strain, blasted out of existence itself.  

The effort and sacrifice were worth it.  The Xelototh had created something which mankind would call the Reality Elastic (or RE) Gradient.  

The RE Gradient is a "field" which extends across space-time.  The principle is thus: a large population located in an area of space, believing in a system of manipulating reality over a long enough time will wear into the RE Gradient, effectively allowing their beliefs to become reality.  For example, if a planet-wide population believes magic (practiced in a certain, consistent manner) exists and can alter reality, over a long enough time the RE Gradient in the space around the planet will change, allowing their system of magic to become reality, an authentic way to manipulate reality.  Note that the level of the RE Gradient indicates how easily reality can be manipulated.  The method of manipulation can't be read with sensors.

Naturally, the Xelototh, being the creators of the RE Gradient, could make far more use of it than man ever would.  They used this to twist space and time, sealing the Devourer and its children with a fragment of space-time from before the Devourer was even freed.  It's like a band-aid for space-time, taken from an age before the Devourer was released.

The seal would hold for eons, but not forever.  The toll for such an act was enormous.  In order to achieve such a work, they sacrificed their longevity.  They were dying.  Yet they wanted to give the life forms that would follow a fighting chance against the Devourer, when it eventually escaped.

The Xelototh used their final few centuries of life traveling the universe, altering destiny in planetary systems yet to be formed, creating the faint possibility of life and intelligence.  They looked into future timelines, found planets that had the highest chance of housing life, and sent through time artifacts that would help defend and nurture these creatures.

These relics came in pairs: the Anima and Animus relics.  Their forms shifted, always different depending on the observer, yet each held the soul of a Xelototh mystic.  

The Animus Relics were offensive in nature, meant to counter-act the Terror, should they come to the system.  They radiate Anti-Logic fields, which break down probability.  This is actually just another utilization of the RE Gradient, a very similar energy to what the Terror use to destroy life in the star systems they visit.  Armed with Anti-Logic projection, the Animus Relics can counter an Anti-Logic wave released by the Terror with a Anti-Logic wave of their own.  Additionally, it is hoped that focusing such energy at one of the Terror after it has entered the system's star would destroy it completely, or at least cause it to enter a stasis.

The Anima Relics are charged with the purpose of changing species which come in contact with it.  The change is meant to increase the creatures' potential a thousand-fold, and possibly give them a means in which they could fight or survive the Devourer.

Well, that's all for tonight.  Yet to come: the creation and purpose of the Crystallinus Vesperas (Void Spiders) and the Megaterra Borealis (a spacial form of whale, ancestors to whales on Earth and other planets).

[Anonymous]

Cat hands down that is one great hot ass roleplay good job bro

[Anonymous]

Thanks.  Took me forever to gather the ideas together, though.  


Continuing on...  

Eons passed.  Life began to spring up across billions of  worlds throughout the universe.  Most of these species died, either through cataclysmic planet-killing disasters, through biological extinction, or through warfare.  Of the few thousand which remained, some grew incredibly intelligent, and made contact with the Relics on their worlds.  Within the Anima Relics these species were changed, augmented, made more than the sum of their parts.  All who underwent transformation knew of the Terror, and the horror which lurked even behind them.  Thus, most who were changed chose new forms for battle, for survival, in hopes of doing battle, and maybe even repulsing the threat to come.  Some were able to breach the fabric of the universe itself, escaping into some unknown dimension.  Others, overcome by the horror they and their descendants faced, simply willed themselves out of existence.
   Two species on twin worlds, however, knew better.  They knew this involved Life as a whole, not one individual world, not one individual race.  These beings entered the Relic with a plan in mind...and thus the ancestors to the Megaterra Borealis and the Crystallinus Vesperas (Void Spiders) were born.

The Megaterra appear as a spatial species of whale, and began to gather asteroids and meteors throughout the star system and gather them together in a spherical pattern around the system's inner planets.  The Void Spiders traveled to this new asteroid belt, and began weaving threads of a complex form of plasma between the asteroids, creating a shimmering sphere-shaped web.  The plasma forming the base of their webbing is elastic in nature, able to stretch very very far.  Its state is such that it traps any Terror which tries to bypass it.  Once trapped, the Void Spiders pounce on their prey, and metabolize it.  The webbing is invisible to the human eye, and can only be detected by advanced sensors.  The two species left their star system, traveling from system to system repeating the process, in hopes of creating havens where life could flourish without fear of destruction.  Of course, they visited planets as well, leaving their own offspring, which would mutate and adapt to these new worlds.  Thus, spider and whale-like species can be found on many planets throughout our galaxy.

[Anonymous]

Here is the entry for Void Spiders in the OC (Orion Combine) database.


Void Spiders (crystallinus vesperas)

   Void Spiders were first discovered in the Corrin system of the Teterach sector, a binary star system with three asteroid belts.  The spiders can range from 50 to 100 meters in length.  They extend into at least two other dimensions, and are hard to scan using current technology.  They are spatial, and make their habitat in asteroid belts in solar systems.  It is not known how they travel from system to system, and some scientists suspect their transportation method may be similar to that of the Megaterra Borealis.  All Void Spiders are albino and semi-transparent.
   Void Spiders weave webs between asteroids.  The webbing is quite elastic in nature, and can stretch quite a ways before snapping.  The webbing itself is made out of a semi-solid plasma form of Alconite crystal, and it is suspected that Void Spiders are the source of all Alconite crystal.  The webs are too big for trapping skrill, and species of Megaterra have not been known to frequent asteroid belts, so the prey of the Void Spiders is yet unknown.  It may be some kind of creature which does not exist in our dimension.

[Anonymous]

Here is the entry for Megaterra Borealis in the OC (Orion Combine) database.


Megaterra Borealis

A spatial lifeform resembling a large whale.  These were the first spatial beings discovered by humans.  They can survive in vacuum, and seem to swim through vacuum as their counterparts do in the ocean.  The presence of whale-like animals on other planets, and the widespread sightings of Megaterra throughout the OC suggests that their species are all interrelated.  Upon formation of the OC, Megaterra hunting was outlawed, yet Megaterra skin, meat, and eyes continue to fetch a high price in the black market.  Megaterra prey on skrill, spatial shrimp-like creatures which draw their energy from the sun and dust particles in space.  Megaterra don't seem to be alarmed by passing ships, and often ride the energy wake left in their trail.  They have been seen traveling in pods or alone, though pod population usually tends to be 6 or less.  It is unknown how Megaterra are able to travel between star systems.  This mystery is augmented by the fact that tagged Megaterra have been observed at different star systems within a short period of time, suggesting they are capable of FTL travel.  However, no one has ever seen Megaterra exceed sublight speed, and no Megaterra have ever been found outside of star systems.


Skrill

Spatial shrimp like creatures which draw their energy from solar and ambient radiation, as well as spatial dust.  They sometimes attach themselves to ships which get too close, slowly metabolizing the hull.  To prevent this phenomenon, which could lead to hull breaches, OC ships polarize their hulls upon spatial entry.

[Anonymous]

Here is the entry for Alconite Crystal in the OC (Orion Combine) database.


Alconite Crystal

The main energy source used by the OC.  It is transluscent purple, with black at its center.  It continually pulses purple, and low-current purple electricity shimmers just beneath its surface every few seconds.  Alconite curiously appears to be a natural crystal found on many planets throughout the OC.  Indeed, it does seem to grow, expand itself.  However, in one of his exploration missions Cygnus (one of the four first AI constructs) discovered Void Spiders, a spatial lifeform which appear to be giant spiders which can somehow survive in a vacuum.  They make their home in asteroid fields, and their "webs" were found to be a semi-solid plasma version of Alconite.  Over time, these webs collapse, and deposit themselves across asteroids in the field.  Over time, they solidify to Alconite crystal.  This evidence suggests that everywhere Alconite has been discovered, Void Spiders have once inhabited the system.  Indeed, heavy concentrations of Alconite crystal were discovered in the Gaian asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

[Anonymous]

That's enough for tonight.  Next time (provided nobody complains), I'll go over the creation of true AI (The Chronos Incident), the discovery and harnessing of the RE Gradient (resulting in psychocreative ability (PCR)), and the nature of artificial intelligence.

[Anonymous]

Cool man, you seem very dedicated to your works.  And this is a role-play?  That is a massive role-play.

[Anonymous]

I wanted to put a lot of thought and back story into this.  I drew from my own ideas, from ideas from books I've read, movies I've watched, anime I've seen, dreams I've had, etc.  I put all of that into a big box and shook it up, and started arranging what I pulled out.  

It actually started when a friend of mine suggested she wanted to participate in an RPG....something combining fantasy and science fiction.  I have some D&D experience.  I had started a game last year with lots of detail, so I decided to start forming the concept of the new game by drawing on the strengths of the old.  Over time (I've had months to think about this), I kept coming up with new cool ideas, and refining old ones.  I finally decided D&D wouldn't be able to contain this, so I researched some other RPG systems.  GURPS was cool, but too complex for some of the new players, so I decided to go with D20 Modern, and add on my own rules.  I'm still in the process of creating an effective rule system for psychocreativity and types of arcane manipulation, as well as an intense martial arts system.

Of course, the one rule I stick with throughout the sessions we've had is "if it gets in the way of having fun, I'll just ignore it."  Some rules just get in the way at the time, and my primary goal is for the players to have fun and engage themselves in the story.  Some sessions we don't even roll a single die.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a lot of fun, I really need to do something like that over here.  Tyshale was going to start one like that but I don't know where he is now.  He hasn't been active for a long time now.

[Anonymous]

I hope he gets that going.  I'll be done with this quarter in just a week or two, and everything I've seen from him makes me think it's going to be great.

By the way, if anybody wants to draw from these ideas, to incorporate or modify for their own RPG or whatever, feel free.  Most of my ideas came from mixing and matching cool ideas I came across, so I figure it's my turn to contribute.