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The Stars Above

Started by Elven Doritos, March 15, 2006, 09:27:57 PM

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Lmns Crn

So, space drow, eh? Might want to change the wording in the Light Blindness ability; it actually says drow.

I like their history. It sets up the race quite well, and it gives us a little more on the Blood War thing, which seems almost as if it were specifically designed to be adapted for space. I do feel bad about the Numarans, though. Poor little guys.

The variable number of fingers is a really nice detail. Makes me wonder what that arconium does to a person, anyway. (Come to that, what does it do? What is it used for, and why is it so valuable?}

I keep reading "pah-rho-trahn" in case it means something obvious when you say it out loud, but I'm at a loss.
I move quick: I'm gonna try my trick one last time--
you know it's possible to vaguely define my outline
when dust move in the sunshine

Elven Doritos

Quote from: Luminous CrayonSo, space drow, eh? Might want to change the wording in the Light Blindness ability; it actually says drow.

I like their history. It sets up the race quite well, and it gives us a little more on the Blood War thing, which seems almost as if it were specifically designed to be adapted for space. I do feel bad about the Numarans, though. Poor little guys.

Yeah, the Blood War works amazingly well on the galactic model. I was surprised by the visual imagery I got from it.

And those poor Numaran buggers have the distinction of being the first extinct sentient race revealed thus far! That's... well, still not a good legacy.

QuoteThe variable number of fingers is a really nice detail. Makes me wonder what that arconium does to a person, anyway. (Come to that, what does it do? What is it used for, and why is it so valuable?}
I keep reading "pah-rho-trahn" in case it means something obvious when you say it out loud, but I'm at a loss.[/quote]


Pah-rho-trahn. That's what it means. ;)

~Elven Doritos
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Oh, how we danced away all of the lights
We've always been out of our minds
-Tom Waits, Rain Dogs

Lmns Crn

QuoteI'm hammering out the details. But to be vague, arconium absorbs magic energy and can, if properly attuned, be used to redirect it.
a la[/i] mithral, adamantium, and those things. I assume arconium armor might bestow spell resistance due to magic absorbing properties, but I'm at a loss as to what arconium weapons might do.

Question: If the Vorians developed such an ingrained hatred for both Surian kin and their own predecessors so early on in their enslavement, why did they elevate Voras himself to mythic status and name themselves after him in the first place? Were they perhaps being ironic and self-pitying by naming themselves for someone they hated?

The whole Vorian existence is ironic. They exist only because of an attempt at charity toward the Numarans, which not only failed to help them but indirectly rendered them entirely extinct. I guess no good deed goes unpunished.
I move quick: I'm gonna try my trick one last time--
you know it's possible to vaguely define my outline
when dust move in the sunshine

Elven Doritos

Quote from: Luminous Crayon
QuoteI'm hammering out the details. But to be vague, arconium absorbs magic energy and can, if properly attuned, be used to redirect it.

Arconium, unrefined, certainly has mutagenic effects and is, alongside the Baatezu genetic engineering and natural evolution, was responsible for some of the larger quirks in there anatomy, yes.

QuoteI wonder if arconium is meant to be used as a special weapon/armor material a la mithral, adamantium, and those things. I assume arconium armor might bestow spell resistance due to magic absorbing properties, but I'm at a loss as to what arconium weapons might do.
spell storing[/i] weapon?

QuoteQuestion: If the Vorians developed such an ingrained hatred for both Surian kin and their own predecessors so early on in their enslavement, why did they elevate Voras himself to mythic status and name themselves after him in the first place? Were they perhaps being ironic and self-pitying by naming themselves for someone they hated?
The whole Vorian existence is ironic. They exist only because of an attempt at charity toward the Numarans, which not only failed to help them but indirectly rendered them entirely extinct. I guess no good deed goes unpunished.

Exactly. It's a vicious cycle, and the name of the Vorians is, as you stated, another layer atop that irony.

Hope I came up with some satisfactory answers!

~Elven Doritos
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Oh, how we danced away all of the lights
We've always been out of our minds
-Tom Waits, Rain Dogs

Xathan

I think my favorite part is the Blood War, and your take on it. I would like to know more about it, and how it influences humanoid civilization. (I often thought of putting fiends in a future setting in a similar manner. Have you seen Event Horizon? It might give you some ideas.)
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CYMRO

Vorians look damn spiffy!
 :cool:

Brilliant racial history.

I look forward to seeing an indepth on arconium!

Xeviat

ElDo, definately do not scrap magic. I believe I've discussed with you the subtle difference between Fantasy and Science Fiction; if you want this setting to feel more like traditional Science Fiction, then the theme of the setting should be focused on how all of these new things (new races, new energy, new technology, new enemies) are changing humanity, and how society is dealing with it. These things would be assumed in a Fantasy setting, because a fantasy setting's theme is focused primarily upon the struggles of its heroes.

By those definitions, though, Star Wars is entirely Fantasy and Star Trek is somewhere in between. But there is a reason the two genres are so closely tied.

Keep the race info coming; the setting seems to write itself once you have racial descriptions.
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Lmns Crn

QuoteKeep the race info coming; the setting seems to write itself once you have racial descriptions.
More and more, I am convinced that this is a pretty near universal law of setting writing.
I move quick: I'm gonna try my trick one last time--
you know it's possible to vaguely define my outline
when dust move in the sunshine

Elven Doritos

Admiral Janssen sat on the edge of his seat as he stared blankly at a flickering hologram depicting a raging battle between two massive fleets of starships. His scuffed boots clicked against his desk as he absentmindedly tapped his foot repeatedly even as nearly three hundred tiny images darted back and forth across his office, locked in a heated battle.

   The engagement was one of many that had been fought over the past few months. The Vorians had expanded into Alliance territory in an attempt to seize large arconium deposits and had brought a fleet of warships along with them. The war had spread rapidly and now seemed to engulf nearly every planet on the frontier with borders that were redrawn as quickly as orders were given to redeploy ships. To make matters worse, several Ororeth clans had exploited the raging conflict and piracy, raids, and resource-draining incursions were on the rise.

   But none of this seemed to matter to the preoccupied Admiral at the moment. More important to the aging officer was that in this particular battle his son, recently commissioned as an officer of the Interplanetary Alliance Space Corps, was at the helm of the IAS Valencia, a small attack ship that was at the forefront of the fleet. Admiral Janssen had gone to every effort to ensure that the Valencia was properly armed and armored before deployment, but fears about how the battle was going and the fast-paced combat prevented him from gaining a very accurate fix on the progress of the Valencia.

   After waging a costly counter-offensive, though, the Alliance fleet began to regroup in a nearby asteroid belt, securing a defensive position even as the Vorian fleet began to reorganize elsewhere in the system. Issuing a quiet sigh, he reached towards a wall-mounted screen and tapped it gently. His voice was hushed as he commanded, â,¬Å"Captain Donell, IAS Crimson.â,¬Â After a short pause, the visage of a calm, gray-haired man appeared on the screen.

   Ã¢,¬Å"Admiral Janssen,â,¬Â the gray-haired man began, â,¬Å"We believe another offensive across the left wing of the Vorian fleet will secure an Alliance victory.â,¬Â

   After a long pause, the absent-minded admiral nodded. â,¬Å"Good, good... What of the Valencia?â,¬Â

   The captain paused. â,¬Å"Sir?â,¬Â

   Janssen looked to him, his icy blue eyes locked on the captainâ,¬,,¢s. â,¬Å"The Valencia. Did she survive the primary assault?â,¬Â

   Captain Donell looked to his superior officer inquisitively before checking a console. â,¬Å"The Valencia is....â,¬Â

   Suddenly, the transmission became garbled, Donellâ,¬,,¢s words made nearly incomprehensible. â,¬Å"Wha--? fzzzt I.... Oh, God.... Itâ,¬,,¢s....â,¬Â

   Janssen whirled around, watching with horror as, one by one, each of the holographic representations blinked out of existence in a spectacular explosion of light. The admiral stared in complete confusion; there were no Vorian or Ororeth ships in the holographic transmission and no other visible threat to the fleet! The ships began to break formation even as Janssen thought he saw, silhouetted in the bursts of light, a strange-looking shape--- not a cloaked ship, it looked as though it had wings, horns, and a bizarrely reptilian body. And then, suddenly, the holographic transmission ceased.

   Admiral Janssen, still staring at the spot, pressed firmly against the screen. â,¬Å"Prime Minister Dulvan Mergranusâ,¬,,¢ office, Emergency Code 511X-Janssen.â,¬Â As he waited for the transmission to patch through, he softly murmured, â,¬Å"The Vorians might just be the least of our problems.â,¬Â
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Oh, how we danced away all of the lights
We've always been out of our minds
-Tom Waits, Rain Dogs

SDragon

i havent read all the way through yet, but i do have one question.

the term 'savant' generally means that theres an abnormally large innate mental capacity for something. where one pianist may have to take lessons under many teachers, and study musical theory, the other can just sit and hit a few keys to get the proper idea. my question is, if the savant class is rumored to be the next evolutionary step, then did it establish its name from an earlier belief?
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Before you accept advice from this post, remember that the poster has 0 ranks in knowledge (the hell I'm talking about)

Elven Doritos

[spoiler=Information]The Myrath are effectively the Stars Above equivalent of the true dragons. Lesser dragons are also termed "Myrath" by those who don't know the difference, but the interspecial collective is intended to represent only chromatic and metallic dragons.

The "younger" Myrath mentioned in this post are represented by Wyrmlings to Adults. All older categories are biologically driven to the Great Sleep.[/spoiler]

There are few species that can survive the empty darkness of space, a vacuum bereft of atmopshere and constantly bombarded by radiation, cosmic energy, and even the occasional magical phenomenon. The rawest elements can be found in space, whether it is the metallic asteroids that surround many systems or the superheated gasses of stars. Those that can survive such hostile conditions are extremely resilient organisms, fueled by pure energy and able to survive in almost any environment indefinitely.

Thus is true of the Myrath.

The Myrath, known throughout almost every culture in the galaxy, are not so much a single race but a collective of various species. Spoken of in whispers even by space captains and hardened pirates, the Myrath are the stuff of legend: powerful, sleek reptillian beasts who wield untold power, both arcane and energy-based. Those who encounter them claim they are more brilliant than a thousand Surian scientists, stronger than a million Ororeths, and posess hides thicker than the hulls of most battle cruisers. The Myrath have been blamed for everything from fleets disappearing to stars going supernova unexpectedly, as well as countless other impossible feats.

All of these claims have some truth to them, though not to the degree that most people are aware. As a whole, the Myrath are not significantly more dangerous or threatening than many other species, and many of the species of Myrath are neither hostile nor interested in humanoid affairs. Most Myrath species are content to live in isolated regions, and will typically avoid any approaching ship. The few Myrath that have been captured and dissected have bolstered scientific claims that there is no inherent danger in the normally reclusive and shy beings.

The specimens that science has encountered do not represent the entirety of the Myrath, however. In the final few stages of Myrath life, normally not obtained by most due to a high mortality rate during the previous stages, the otherwise undeveloped energy-based and arcane powers begin to blossom. Not only does this metamorphsis transform the otherwise docile creatures into powerful beings as big as small starships, but it causes them to go into a state of hibernation; at this stage in life, most species of Myrath become little more than living batteries, constantly absorbing and discharging the energy around it. If disturbed, a final-stage Myrath is often violent and extremely intelligent, using every tactic and advantage at its disposal.

It is speculated by the few scholars who believe in this higher form of Myrath existence that in ages past, this state of natural hibernation was not part of the Myrath life cycle. Terming the current Myrath behavior the "Great Sleep", these scholars propose that the Myrath were once an active race that interfered with various worlds; on Earth, the example of the omnipresent dragon mythos of most ancient cultures has been used to justify this.

If these greater Myrath have truly been forced into a "Great Sleep", how many millenia have passed since this biological shutdown began? What could have possibly triggered this response? Was there a natural evolution to this stage of life, or is there some magical curse that has been placed by some unknown enemy of the Myrath?

The answers to these questions are, as of yet, unknown to the people of the galaxy, and even to the Myrath themselves. As exploration into many unexplored regions continues, however, more of the elder Myrath are awakening from the Great Sleep.

Should they rally their bretheren and their heirs, whatever force responsible for their current state would be wise not to make their presence known, lest they face the wrath of the great dragon gods.
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Oh, how we danced away all of the lights
We've always been out of our minds
-Tom Waits, Rain Dogs

SilvercatMoonpaw

All I write is my opinion.

Orcs are vicious a vicious military race.  Drow are "not nice" (read "evil").  I just felt like getting that ever-present grievence out of the way.

So with your "fission/fusion, energy manipulation" concept are you trying to explain magic using current scientific principles?  I think your gnomes (or are they halflings?) have some pluses over your dwarves in being more of a unique build, but I do like how your dwarves aren't isolationist.
I'm a muck-levelist, I like to see things from the bottom.

"No matter where you go, you will find stupid people."

Elven Doritos

Quote from: SilvercatMoonpawAll I write is my opinion.
Orcs are vicious a vicious military race.  Drow are "not nice" (read "evil").  I just felt like getting that ever-present grievence out of the way.[/quote]So with your "fission/fusion, energy manipulation" concept are you trying to explain magic using current scientific principles?[/quote]I think your gnomes (or are they halflings?) have some pluses over your dwarves in being more of a unique build, but I do like how your dwarves aren't isolationist.[/quote]

They're the gnome-equivalent. I'm glad you like the Rovigans.

Thanks for the feedback!

~ElDo
Oh, how we danced and we swallowed the night
For it was all ripe for dreaming
Oh, how we danced away all of the lights
We've always been out of our minds
-Tom Waits, Rain Dogs