Infernal Devices WIP (Steampunk Magitech Spacefaring)

[Humabout]

Ten points for the lattermost picture!

...ehem...

If warpships require a huge amount of capital, I could see the exact opposite of what you describe happenning, too.  A large interstellar corporation or cartel might pool its resources to create a fleet of enormous warp ferries, a la Dune, to transport intrastellar ships from one system to another.  It creates a huge political player and could possibly be interesting.

As for smaller cargo sloops go, these might well not exist because tramp freighters are only able to survive when regular transportation lines do not exist in an area.  They make their money by charging extra to carry smaller loads to odd places.  As soon as someone gets the idea to take advantage of economies of scale and start regular service with larger vessels, they can drop their prices and drive tramp freighters, like Serenity, out of business.  This is just the breaks, assuming larger ships are possible.  Of course, nothing says that they are!

So another question:  Are there Reavers?!  I can totally picture crews possessed by or driven mad by demons roaming the space lanes killing and defiling anything they encounter.  Slaughtering settlers, raping and pillaging and reraping frontier settlements and colonies.  Occassionally gathering independently like moths to a flame to strike out en mass against local militias or sector defenses.  BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!  SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

...ehem...

So yeah, awesome stuff still, man!  You are totally my hero for coming up with this setting right now.

[Xathan]

I...I keep trying to come up with more questions in regards to the demons. But it's too much awesome, I can't come up with more than "yay" for that. I can't even pick out  a particular part I love. Just....you just win at Demons.

Wow thanks!

Just calls it like I sees it.

ARE THERE PIRATES!?

YES!

In fact, I can very easily see renegades, outlaws, and pirates trying to make their way at the edge of space in run-down ships as being among the protagonists of this world.  Such people would be in somewhat more danger, as they would have to avoid not only the hazards of aetherspace and the Warp, but also have to dodge some tyrannical authorities.

AWESOME

That actually transitions into another question, then: what is government like? Why would one need to become an outlaw? How would such a figure survive - especially if they didn't want to go full out pirate?

So, instead, something semi-demon related: ships. How big are they? How expensive? What do they look like? Who owns them? Are they mostly military? Are they like sailing ships of old? Can a rogue individual afford their own ship? Who crafts them? Is there a monopoly or do corporations vie to make the best? What do they use as weapons between each other?

OK!  Let's see.  There are a lot of questions here, so I will do my best.  MOST ships would be as small as you could manage, while still incorporating life-support systems, and an adequate store of food and water (or alcohol).  So, think more "sloop" than "galleon."  The empires would have some bigger warships, but these would be few and far between.  The most expensive part of a ship will be the warp crystal, due to the extreme rarity of the material and the large size the crystals require.   Not being sure on the economy of this world, I cannot give you any numbers, but ships are definitely expensive.  It's not that "rogue individuals" can't afford their own ships, but it would be a HUGE investment for such people.

Makes sense, but why do they try to go as small as possible? Is it a restriction of how powerful the warp crystal is? Just to save resources? And I figured exact numbers wouldn't be possible, and as a non-expert myself, telling me it costs 1 million credits or whatever wouldn't mean anything anyway. :P From what I'm getting from this, I'm getting the picture that owning your own aethership is like owning your own plane or yacht in the real world - a big status symbol and a mostly unneeded luxury. If that's the case, how do outlaws get their own ships - or is it just the obvious theft?

Numerically speaking most ships are either military or short-range trade ships.  But even most military aethercraft would not contain a long-range Warp Crystal.  Perhaps an array of much smaller and less powerful demonstones that are used in concert to power the ship, but make travel outside their immediate system virtually impossible.

Cool - I like that most ships can't just Warp away. Are there "carrier" ships that really just contain a skeleton crew, a long-range Warp Crystal, and places for other ships to clamp in - ships used to get military vessels outside the system?  

There would be a handful of companies that produce these ships.  Not too many.  The contract for all the ships of the navy of the Kestric Imperium would likely be held by a single company, but a separate country might make the trade ships that supply the planets within the Imperium.  It is possible there might be a third company that produces ships for private consumers (mostly of the VERY WELL OFF variety), but these might also be handled by one of the previous two companies.  The other empires would have their own companies.  There all also chop shops, and some bizarre frankenships made up of salvaged parts from multiple designs.

I like this - it keeps the 'Punk' from getting overwhelming. And the idea of frankenships from chop shops fills me with an odd glee.

Also, without re quoting all the different pictures - love the aesthetic of firefly too, and those are some really, really cool selections. Especially the space gunboat. :D

[Seraph]

So, there are some points for me to consider in these past 2 responses.  I will ponder them and respond more fully.  To the question "Are there Reavers?" That is essentially what The Legion was intended to be.  They mix the Reavers from Firefly, with the cybernetic qualities of the Borg from Star Trek. 

[Humabout]

They mix the Reavers from Firefly, with the cybernetic qualities of the Borg from Star Trek. 

I'd just like to say....

[spoiler]
HELL YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
[/spoiler]

[Seraph]

To the question "how do outlaws get their own ships" there are a few possibilities:

1) The aforementioned "obvious theft."  Outlaws can steal ships from the richy-riches who can afford their own, or commandeer a trade ship.

2) Salvage.  They can find ruined and derelict scrapped ships, and fix them up to make them spaceworthy.  This can include the "frankenship" concept of a ship cobbled together from junk parts of several different ships.

3) Buy them.  Yes they are ridiculously expensive, but if they are constantly on the run, with no other home than their ship,  it becomes more of a necessity than a luxury, and some might be able to save up whatever they earn long enough to buy their "ticket to freedom."

There could be other ways as well, but these are a few possibilities.

[Seraph]

Ok, so some thoughts about ship size.  In part it is a "meta-setting" decision to make sure that the options for the PCs remain broad.  Since huge freighters would drive small cargo-ships out of business, as Humabout said, then that would generally be something that PCs wouldn't be able to do.  Of course, they could still smuggle smaller amounts of black-market & contraband goods that one wouldn't want to deliver through normal channels. 

MOST military ships would be short range.  I intend for there to be operatives of the Imperium with Warp Ships that could track down and pursue threats beyond a system.  For other purposes, BOLOs could be sent from one system to the next, notifying the fleet there to intercept an enemy.   

I may work out a means by which large battlecruisers can warp across aetherspace to join their fleets, but it seems unlikely to be something that PCs would encounter in Infernal Devices.

[Xathan]

Sounds like a pretty good solution to me. Can't wait for more - this is one of my favorite new settings here. :)

[Seraph]

At the moment I am working on a One-Shot for the mini-Con.  Will post that when it is ready.

[Seraph]

Ok, Monday or Tuesday I should be able to put something up.

[Steerpike]

Shiny!

[Xathan]

WELL!? Where is it!? (As my favorite setting on the CBG that has emerged since my last return, I want MOAR)

[Seraph]

WELL!? Where is it!? (As my favorite setting on the CBG that has emerged since my last return, I want MOAR)

HERE IT IS

[Seraph]

Found this pic on DevArt, and thought it captured the feel of The Legion rather well.  Especially the two middle ones and the bottom left.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Xathan]

Love the pics! And will read over game thread ASAP...hope tomorrow is slow day at work. :P

[Seraph]

Ygg'O
The Ygg'O (eeg-OH) is a symbiotic fungal parasite which bonds with a mortal host to survive.  It was first encountered on Mali II (known as Yggthoth), where it had predominantly bonded with a species of cnidarians and been mistaken for alien plant life.  Cuttings taken and ingested were found to have intense psychotropic effects, which served as the first indication to humans of the telepathic abilities of the Ygg'O, and the fist clue that they were more than they appeared.  Properly, the term "Ygg'O" refers to the bonded pair of fungus and host.  On its own, the creature resembles an oversize, segmented leech, covered in crusty protrusions, and is called simply an "Ygg."  Bonding is achieved through time after the Ygg has attached itself to the host's brain stem. 

Dependent on the will of the Host, the Ygg may exert partial or even full control over the host.   The Ygg'O are mildly telepathic, able to communicate with each other across short distances, and with a bonded host.  They seem content to gorge themselves on excess neuro-electrical signals of the host, which has a helpful side-effect of a sense of clearheadedness in the host.  There are often times when the Ygg seems content to allow the carrier to operate independently & virtually unimpeded, only to reassert dominance later.  Their motivations are unknown.  They are also capable of sensing fluctuations of Warp Energy, making them able to detect demons, rifts, Ley Lines, emissions as from a voidship's Warp Jump, and the lingering traces thereof, and these abilities are conferred upon the host.  With sufficient honing of their talents they may also become capable of a psychic assault upon a target's mind. 

Over time, the fungus spreads over the surface of the host body.  These fungal growths are crusty and firm, and serve to protect the host body.  The longer the Ygg remains attached to its host, the more these spread, and the more they harden.  Should the host be slain, the Ygg will break itself away—a painful and injurious process which sometimes results in the Ygg's death—and seek a new host.  Failure to locate a new host body will eventually result in the Ygg's death, but they have adapted to enter a hibernation state if there are no living creatures with which the Ygg can bond.  If the Ygg survives the detachment, this hibernation extends its life for an almost indefinite period.