Czernobog's General Universe Ideas Thread

For 'verse proposals, random ideas, musings, and brainwaves.

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Czernobog's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Yeah, this my thread for universe ideas and random articles. If discussion happens on a universe idea, it will get its own thread. So, to start:


The Deus Bellum - Pride of the Roman Fleet

The ISNV Deus Bellum is the pride of the Imperial Stellar Navy, and consequently the Roman Empire. It is a dagger shaped ship, 20 miles long and 3 wide, its superstructure and armour covered in marble and engraved with sculptures of gods and heroes. The deities Minerva, goddess of strategy and intelligent war, and Mars, god of warfare, stand watch over it, personified by massive statues on the prow that are hundreds of feet high. There is also an equestrian statue of Admiral Marcus Brutus Augustus (the last name being a cognomen granted by the Emperor Flavius Julius Caesar), the ship's first Captain.

The actual crew of the Deus Bellum is restricted to bridge officials, Marines, and maintenance crew, as most of the work is done by semi-intelligent AIs, who are the ones that actually fire the weapons, operate the sensors, and run the engines in lieu of a human crew, the bridge officers giving instructions to the AIs like 'fire on this sector of the system' or 'change course and move to ramming speed', with human Marines providing security and technicians maintaining the systems. Even so, some tasks are completely automated, such as the firing of point-defence weapons and the launching of drone fighters.

The Deus Bellum has many weapons, such as plasma-cannons, ion projectors, and the ever-deadly hundred-strong swarms of Lucifer semi-intelligent thermo-atomic missiles. It also has an electronic warfare suit, including semi-sentient viruses that wreak havoc in enemy ships (detonating reactors, removing shields, etc.) and can break through practically any firewall or electronic defence, and active jammers to blind and confuse the enemy's augur-machines and FTL detectors. It also has many layers of force-fields and energy-shields to protect the ship from anything up to a micrometeorite to a 30-teraton warhead, as well as firewalls and triple-redundant systems to protect against electronic warfare.

It moves in space using a gravitic drive - essentially, it creates a minor gravity-well in front of the ship, moving it forward, although torch drive is also present if this fails. Such mastery of gravity also gives it a comfortable gravity level of 1 G throughout all sections of the vessel. It is powered by six massive cold-fusion reactors, giving it immense amounts of power. It has inertial damping systems, to enable it to move at high speeds.

It is not without its weaknesses. While it dominates any battle, its fame also leads roving pirate or techno-barbarian (or indeed, Midgardr) bands to attempt to capture or destroy it. Its size also makes it less manoeuvrable, and it has been badly damaged due to this on multiple occasions. But it has never been captured or destroyed, and thus the legend of its invincibility lives on.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Magister Militum »

Like everyone else said, a ship article does not a universe make. Give us something else about the setting other than giant warships that can resist teraton-level bombs.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Somes J »

It has some promising aspects. Space Romans could be interesting enough if done well, and as for the ship itself I do like the heavy level of automation and AI implied. It's a refreshing change from the way a lot of SF writers seem to feel the need to emulate WWII with huge crews. A huge ship with a small crew is pretty plausible and a neat change.

Now as for criticism:

This is something of a pet peeve but every time I hear words like "teraton" used to refer to space guns I gag a little, and when I hear about ships having "shields" that can shrug off that kind of firepower I gag some more.

The reason most sci fi uses shields is simply that fights with low-power weapons are dramatically and aesthetically better, but for some incomprehensible reason sci fi writers feel the need to have BFGs of ridiculous power. So we get what I like to call the self-nulling double bullshit effect: magic is invoked to allow space guns with ridiculous yields and then more magic is invoked so these ridiculous yields can look like small yields in actual fights.

Simply from a conservation of detail point of view (to say nothing of realism) I think it's better to just make your weapons as powerful as what they look like, instead of having bullshit rationalizations for why huge yield weaponry looks just like low-power weaponry.

Incidentally the nice thing about low-power weaponry is that a lot of the ridiculous stuff in soft SF starts to make more sense in a low-yield universe. Take your marble-covered spacecraft. In a universe where you need magic shields or armor that can tank teraton hits it's an absurd extravagance. But in a low-yield universe it starts to make a certain amount of sense if you squint at it right. One of the cheapest armors out there is just huge masses of rock. Take a random asteroid, carve a bunch of caverns in it, strap engines and weapons to it, and you have your warship. Now the interesting thing about marble is that it's highly reflective, meaning ... a large mass of it might actually have some utility as armor against visible-light lasers! Granted there are probably a bunch of better things you could use, and marble would probably be a touch expensive in space because it's not naturally occurring there (it's a kind of metamorphic rock), but it's something that seems vaguely clever if used as a rationalization for something somebody already wanted for different reasons (decadent dictatorship thinks a marble-clad space battleship would look cool).

The asteroid ship approach also explains its massive gigantism. Much of its mass and volume is an enormous mountain of rock that protects the sensitive interior components against enemy fire just by sheer mass!
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Map of my new project (based on a map by a poster on a forum I frequent, a similar map was used on one of my old projects). Note that the area depicted is basically 'Fantasy 1930's Europe', not the whole world.
Fantasyworld.png
Fantasyworld.png (104.31 KiB) Viewed 18303 times
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Yes, this is another 'verse idea. Basically, the premise is that the US goes totalitarian-fascist after a Central Powers victory in WW1. Here are the nations of this 'verse (tentatively titled 'The Stars and the Eagle' after the flag of said US)

The Invictianist[1] Bloc


The United States of North America (USNA)

One of the world's superpowers, the USNA stretches unbroken from the Aleutian Islands to the Isthmus of Panama. Having been ruled since the fateful elections of 1933 by the iron fist of the Eagle Party, its citizens and puppet-states kept in line through fear and the naked threat of force. It has the largest military on the planet, used primarily to keep its own population in line, as it is suffering economic troubles and civilian discontent. There are rumours of reform and internal power struggles, but as of 2010 they have not been corroborated.

The Republic of Japan

Controlling Korea, Taiwan and the Home Isles, the Republic of Japan is in truth a puppet to the USNA, asking only 'How high?' when it commands the Republic to jump. Dissent is growing against the USNA, however the Republic can do very little against the USNA, as it does not have nuclear weapons.

South China

South China is a pseudo-Invictianist state, not technically part of the Invictianist Bloc, yet still decidedly authoritarian, controlling Central and Southern China. It is an ally of the USNA, and has been in a ceasefire with North China since the 1950's.

The Comintern

The Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is a Trotskyist state with a firm commitment to socialism. It is rather liberal, and along with the states of Europe, is one of the best places to live in. However, it is under threat from Invictianist factions outside and within, and is thus forced to side with rather more authoritarian North China and India to defend itself.

North China

North China was forged by Mao Zedong, and is a psycho-totalitarian state (think North Korea in our own world). However, it is supported by the USSR, which sees it as a valuable ally.


The Worker's State of India

The Worker's State of India occupies a wide stretch of territory, from Tibet in the north to Travancore in the south. It is decidedly more authoritarian than the USSR, yet is still more sane than North China, being also a bitter rival of South China.


The League of European Nations

Germany

The German Empire has been the leading star of Europe ever since the Great War. It is a liberal nation, the Reichstag controlled primarily by liberal parties. The current Kaiser is named Ludwig II, and is largely a ceremonial monarch like the United Kingdom's.

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary is a federal state, with the Emperor retaining little actual power. It rules over large territories and various peoples, Serbia, Romania and Ruthenia[2] being puppets of it (See Mitteleuropa). It has nuclear weapons, as a result of its joint project with Germany.

Mitteleuropa

Mitteleuropa stretches from Finland to Serbia, a series of German and Austro-Hungarian puppets that include Poland, Ruthenia, and Romania.

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom controls the British Isles, and is a strong member of the League of European Nations.

[1] Invictianism is TTL's word for fascism.
[2] Another word for Ukraine
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

The Reality Engineers

Two things are impossibilities in all known universes. Those are faster-than-light drive and time travel. However, there are some things, that, although improbable, are not impossible. One of those things is travel between alternate universes, which shall hereafter be known as crosstime travel. The Mannstein-Vasilyev theorem, which goes under a dozen names depending on its discoverers and has not been discovered in all realities, allows for such events to occur. What nobody had done until 2012 was do it in practice. On December 21 of that year, in the time-line that we shall refer to as 1-Alpha, a particle physics experiment accidentally ruptured open a gateway to another universe. The event was witnessed by two qualified researchers, and was in the news within hours. The researchers later jointly received the Nobel Prize for Physics - the discovery was utterly earth-shaking.

1-Alpha's Earth rejoiced at the news, and promptly began working on ways to recreate the accident. In three years, it was done - it took enough energy to power New York for three days to open a one-mile wide, one-mile high opening, but it could be done. Colonisation efforts began, as no other sapient life was found on these alternate Earths, and the people of 1-Alpha assumed that they were alone in the multiverse, the only people to develop crosstime technology. They were wrong. Ten years after the discovery, a colony lost all contact with 1-Alpha for six months. The team sent to investigate the situation discovered forces in 21st-Century Wehrmacht Uniforms attacking a camp of 21st Century Confederate States of America forces.

1-Alpha was far from alone. In fact, it had just begun to stumble on a bigger world than it had ever suspected existed. They had stumbled on a battle in the Multiverse War, a wide-ranging conflict between the Imperium Romanum and the Greater German Kaiserreich.

Raiding a Roman database, 1-Alpha discovered that the twin combatants in the war had catalogued approximately 5,000 universes. Of these, 450 contained artefacts of a mysterious, 20 billion years-dead race known as the Reality Engineers, who had had the ability to create and sculpt universes to their liking, a power that put them on a level with Gods. 1500 were physically divergent - 1-Alpha discovered what this meant when it stumbled upon a world where magic and alchemy worked. So, the various nations of 1-Alpha began to colonise the worlds not claimed by the two big powers.

In the process, a whole lot of confusion happened, but that's for another time.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Just a new idea...

The Centre Cannot Hold

It has been seven years since the Revolution, and still it continues. The chaotic bout of civil war that Rhomanion fell into following the death of the Basileus has not ended in those years. Various factions still compete for control of the nation, various breeds of reactionaries, anarchists, fascists and worse warring for control. Foreign nations have their spheres of influence, but little in the way of control on the ground. As the civil war continues, hope dwindles, for the centre cannot hold...

What is this?

I've tried a new approach to worldbuilding and alternate history, inspired by the 'verse Shear Anarchy. For this universe takes place entirely within one country, under a variety of names depending on which government you ask, but only one internationally recognised - Rhomanion. This is intended as an alternate history of our own universe, with a clear point of divergence and other such things. Yet if you're scared of reading tons of dry historical facts don't worry, for this 'verse is firmly set in the here and now.

The where:

The where is Rhomanion, a multi-ethnic empire ruled from the city of Constantinople, covering a large swathe of the Balkans, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. In the years before the revolution that started all this mess, it was most similar to the late Russian Empire of our world - a state that ruled by brute force and execution, where the liberty the people demanded was crushed by the guns of the military. But then the war came, and exhausted, the whole rotten system just fell apart.

Warlords, nationalists, extremists, terrorists, criminals and others have taken over in Rhomanion. The royal family, once a symbol of the nation, has been almost wiped out. Communists control the capital, but can exert little power outside of it.

Other places:

There are several outside nations that play a part in the struggles of Rhomanion. First is the Empire of Austria-Bavaria, a more liberal state that is currently occupying with its military what in our world was once known as Yugoslavia, keeping a modicum of order there. Second is Velikorussia, a state that's encouraging Orthodox fundamentalism in the region to try and combat the Communist central government and militias. Third are the various nations of the League of Nations Intervention Taskforce, which are trying to restore order but failing. Then there are several nations that want teritory from Rhomanion - Persia, Arabia and Ethiopia amongst them.

That's all right now.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Factions in Rhomanion

The following is a list of political and military factions in Rhomanion. Factions are not ranked according to any particular criteria or scheme.

Orthodoxists

The official and majority religion in Rhomanion is Eastern Orthodoxy, the Christian sect that split off from Catholicism in the 11th Century. For most of its history since the Enlightenment, fundamentalists were few and far between and there remained a fairly strong barrier between Church and State. But in the early years of the 20th Century, a new type of Orthodoxy developed in Malorussia - Political or Radical Orthodoxy, also known as Orthodoxism. This Orthodoxism held that an 'Orthodox Autocracy' - in essence, an authoritarian state either supported by or dominated by the church - was a superior form of government. In 1936 this doctrine was put into action when the Orthodox Revolution took place in Malorussia, transforming it overnight into a theocracy with a puppet King.

When the Revolution came and Rhomanion shattered, Orthodoxists roso up too. They failed to take over, but Czar Vasiliy Andreievich Romanov of Velikorussia and his Prime Minister Andrei Ivanovich Shuisky saw an opportunity to ferment trouble in their southern neighbour. They provided arms, funding and military training to Orthodoxists in Abkhazia and Georgia, two highly troublesome former 'Themes' (provinces under military government, formerly common on the borders of Rhomanion) on Velikorussia's border with Rhomanion. Malorussia, now a virtual puppet of Velikorussia, also provided training, funding and arms to Orthodoxists in North-Eastern Anatolia, ships sailing monthly from Sevastopol to Trapezus and other ports.

Thus, the Orthodoxists were and still are supplied with what they need to fight against the ungodly. The fact that most of these ungodly are co-religionists largely escapes them, sadly.

Nationalists

Nationalists abounded in pre-Revolution Rhomanion, quite simply due to the fact that the state encompassed vast territories and as such included a lot of peoples. Before the Revolution, the Theme of Velikoslavia was particularly troublesome, and was essentially under permanent military occupation. With the army falling apart in the immediate wake of the Revolution, ethnic rivalries burst to the fore and everything collapsed, not just in Velikoslavia but in Mesopotamia, Armeniakon, Syracuse-Parthenope and Egypt-Nubia among others. The nationalists have largely created functioning governments in the aftermath of the Revolution, but such states are weak, poor and worst of all, unrecognised by the Great Powers of the world.

Autocrats

The Autocrats are essentially what remains of the pre-Revolution government. Rallying around the exiled aristocracy and the 20-year old Alexandros XI Palaiologos, they are the primary cause of the fact that the (Communist) central government remains legally unrecognised. They have little presence in Rhomanion, but have made deals with several warlords and fascist militias, giving them some degree of ground presence. Their cause however is detested by the general citizens of the nation, giving them little credibility.

Communists

The Communists are the central government that controls Constantinople, and several militias currently controlling Athems, Sparta and other Greek cities. They have little outside support, but have ennested themselves thoroughly in the areas they do control, fighting with valour and camaraderie against their many enemies. Being responsible for the Revolution means both that they have a good degree of support amongst the common people and that they are detested by outside powers.

Fascists

Fascism was never particularly popular in Rhomanion pre-Revolution - its populism was anathema to the aristocracy. Occasionally a member of one of the fascist parties would get elected to the Senate, but that was as far as it got. However, in the climate post-Revolution, the fascist paramilitaries rose in membership dramatically - the Eagle Army, one of the biggest, recieved 10,000 members in two months - and managed to take over several areas, The Fascists abide the Autocrats and the warlords, but hate Nationalists, Communists and Orthodoxists with equal vigour.

Warlords

The Warlords are what remains of Rhomanion's military, divided and scattered. Some still use the old insignias, symbols, mottoes and uniforms of the old military. Some have totally reinvented themselves. They are a fractious group, but if united they could perhaps take over. They have the best weapons, some having the codes for nuclear weapons. Some act as mercenaries, others rule with an iron fist, feudally, over their territory.

Pirates

In the chaos of the Revolution, many captains and crews in Rhomanion's navy found it easy to go pirate. Such pirates are a perennial threat in the Mediterranean, not least due to possessing actual military hardware. They typically ransom crews for money and supplies, also raiding oil tankers and merchant freighters near the Suez Canal. At least one actual Dreadnought is known to have gone pirate, but its name and whereabouts are unknown.

Foreigners

The attempted intervention four years after the Revolution by Austro-Bavarian forces, and their subsequent occupation of Velikoslavia, set a precedent, and since then League of Nations troops, while thin on the ground, have been trying unsuccessfully to keep the peace. However, not all nations agree with this. Persia wants Armeniakon and Mesopotamia - the Second Roman Republic demands Syracuse-Parthenope, and Ethiopia wants parts of Southern Egypt-Nubia. The situation is understandably chaotic, however the League of Nations says that these three nations, among others with irredentist claims, cannot under any circumstances have their militaries enter Rhomanion. This policy has caused a degree of unpopularity, however it remains standing. So foreign military presence in Rhomanion, aside from in Austro-Bavarian occupied Velikoslavia, is very low.

As a result of this, foreign presence is largely through Private Military Corporations and funded militias, as well as espionage and airpower. The Third Great War also greatly drained the manpower of many regional powers, forcing them to be thin on the ground.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Territorial Divisions of Rhomanion

1. The City of Constantinople

Constantinople was and still remains the capital of Rhomanion, but the hands controlling it have changed greatly. It is ruled by communists now, their blood-red banners hanging from Blachernae, from the buildings beside the Alexandros Boulevard, from the many churches and monasteries, now lying vacant, whose priests were slain in the first few days of the Revolution. The hammer-and-sickle symbol is visible everywhere, their banners hung over old Imperial and Orthodox symbols of power - the double-headed eagle, Palaiologos crest, the Chi-Rho and other symbols.the

2. Thrakia-Macedonia

Thrakia-Macedonia has experienced its fair share of strife, and is a warzone between Bulgarian nationalists from the north and east, Communists from Constantinople and Adrianople and Autocrats from Thessalia. The once-fertile land has been ravaged many times, and it is not clear whether it is still good for crops.

3. Bulgaria

Going into Bulgaria, they say, is like being a guest of Hell. The capital of the province, Sofia, was hit with a tactical nuclear weapon during the Revolution. It is not clear who did this, but the 25-kiloton atomic explosion tore the heart out of the city and rendered the rest of it uninhabitable, forcing close to a hundred thousand people to flee. Then uprisings of nationalists struck, and bandits and petty criminals rendered the highways and main roads too dangerous to use, making a bad situation worse. Aid workers attempt to act, but are delayed by a collapsing infrastructure and banditry.

4. Velikoslavia

Velikoslavia, otherwise known as the Northwestern Province or the Theme of South-Slavia, was under permanent military ccupation before the Revolution. It was one of Rhomanion's poorest provinces, under a military government determined to beat ideas of nationalism and seccession out of the largely Slavic population through pure brute force. Uprisings and riots were common, and most of the populace lived an agrarian existence. Eventually, when the Revolution came, nationalist movements forced the military out of the province. But they could not agree on whether to have one nation ('Velikoslavia') or multiple, and fell into war with each other. Then the Austro-Bavarians moved in during their attempted intervention.

They were forced to fall back to Velikoslavia, and eventually determined to soon annex it into Austria-Bavaria. However, they are still meeting stubborn and spirited resistance, and their forces are never safe outside of bases or convoys.

5. Dyrrachion

Dyrrachion, or Albania as the inhabitants call it, remains relatively safe, under a nationalist government. However, fascist elements from nearby Epirus are troublesome, Greeks displeased with lack of representation are constantly in open revolt, and the government is as of yet unrecognised by any power except Velikorussia, which seeks to keep its southern rival weak by encouraging nationalist and fundamentalist groups.

6. Epirus

Epirus is under the iron-fisted control of the Eagle Army, a fascist paramilitary group, and its headquarters are located in the provincial capital of Ioannina. The local warlords are allied with the Eagle Army, which hopes that if it gets enough support from the warlords, it will be able to march on Constantinople. Such beliefs are far-fetched at best, but they give the Eagle Army motivation and strength.


7. Thessalia

Thessalia is a stronghold of the Autocrats, who nevertheless rely on the support of the warlords. The area was once a key part of the Georgios Line, which together with the Ancyra Line in Boukellarion was intended to protect the heartland of Rhomanion. The Autocrats maintain the fortifications well, but there is always the niggling worry that they might fail.


8. Pellopenese

The Pellopenese is ruled by communists, who dominate in Athens and Sparta. However, they have trouble with Eagle Army incursions from the north-east, and have turned to a tougher brand of Communism than that practiced in Constantinople. The Pellopenese also covers Crete, the Aegean Islands and Cyprus, which are still in anarchy.

9.Samos

Samos contains Smyrna and Antalya, and is controlled by Anatolian nationalists and fought over by Orthodoxist guerrilas. Smyrna is very much a pirate town that is a haven for and dominated by vice, gambling and various other things formerly considered illegal by Rhomanion's government, similar to Port Royal in the 17th Century. Antalya is safer, but still has pirates in its harbour.

10. Boukellarion

Boukellarion is a vertical slice of central Anatolia that contains the Ancyra Line, which has rotted and fallen into disuse, defintely not enough to stop a foreign invasion in these treacherous times. It has been taken over by feudal warlords.

11. Chaldea

Chaldea has been pretty much taken over by Orthodoxists, who rule from their capital of Trapezus.

12. Georgia

Georgia is ruled by the gun. Warlords, Orthodoxists and nationalists fight for dominance, while in Crimea (considered part of the Theme) Orthodoxists funded by Malorussia have taken over, their rule unquestioned by the populace but still shaky. Most funding and weapons for various groups enters Rhomanion here, as this is where the now rather thin and porous border with Velikorussia is situated.

13. Assyria

Assyria has been taken over by nationalist Kurds, who have proclaimed Kurdistan - which only Velikorussia recognises. Greeks living in the area have been either driven out or brutally slaughtered, with many horror stories circulating from there. The Kurds have trouble - they are engaged in a conflict with the inhabitants of Armeniakon, and dissent rises about the manner of government.

14. Armeniakon

Armeniakon is a relatively safe place, but Kurd militias constantly penetrate the borders. The rulers dream of a greater Armenia encompassing most of eastern Anatolia, but they do not have the strength or foreign backing to make such dreams reality.


15. Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia was once a fertile area, but perennial conflicts have reduced it to desert. The native Arab population has formed a nationalist government, but it is weak and the area is profoundly chaotic. The Intervention Taskforce is here, to secure the vital oil wells, however its presence is detested by the Arab government and the local guerrilas.

16. Palestine-Transjordan

Palestine is a land of warring ethnicities and religions. The Jewish community, the Christians, and the Muslims are engaged in bitter rivalry. Jerusalem, the most holy city of all three religions, is a war-zone. There is little to no working government. Many times have people attempted to establish a lasting peace - every time, disappointment has been all that happened.

17. Egypt-Nubia

Egypt-Nubia is engaged in a civil war between Greeks and Egyptians, the bloody fighting continuing ceaselessly, in Alexandria and Memphis and many other cities as well as the countryside. Added to this is Cyrenaica seeking independence, as well as other troubles.

18. Syracuse-Parthenope

Syracuse-Parthenope is now run by Italian nationalists seeking union with the Second Roman Republic, however there is still a large Greek minority that makes its presence felt in riots and uprisings.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Maybe too derivative of Shear Anarchy since it's also going for a country gripped by civil war and strife, but this actually looks like it could be pretty good, you have a lot more detail on here than usual, and weaving the details of the background into situational specifics might get aroudn a lot of the problems your writing has had in the past.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Just a very random idea.

Godswar

Once, order reigned. The land was bountiful, the people reached heights of power that they had never before achieved. But then, something changed. The peace in the heavens that the land depended on was sundered, and the gods fought in the lands of men, their battles devastating the land and the face of the waters. The men fled to the gods they worshipped, making cities on the backs of them, leaving those behind who could not go.

The World

The world is divided, into the world Above and the World Below.

The World Above

The World Above is a world of air. Gods fly in it, carrying cities on their backs above the clouds, while islands float in the air at various heights, wrenched from the land in the various cataclysms that have befallen it since the beginning of the Godswar.

The World Below

The World Below is wrecked by uncountable strifes. The fires of heaven have devastated it, and at certain places the elements rage against each other, their wrath destroying order. The magical currents have become unbalanced, and the land itself screams in agony. A few civilisations still exist, but they are much less than what was before, and are liable to destruction due to both the armies of the gods and stray energies from their battles.

The Gods

If anything can be said about the gods, it is that they are titanic in both power and aspect. The immense forms they bear, flying in the sky, represent just a fraction of their power. When they fight with full power, the very earth is ripped asunder and the skies burn with fire, as stray energies alter the very landscape, breaking mountains and shattering coastlines with divine fury.

Godspawn

Less powerful but no less dangerous than the gods are their manifold spawn, the dreaded and powerful Godspawn. These can range from the mighty and gargantuan Hekatonkhires (this type tends to be singular) to whole races, originally created as servitors but now free of the restrictions once placed upon them; these races are collectively known as Nephilim.

Godbloods

Godbloods are humans with divine ancestry in their family tree, usually from a human possessed by a fraction of a god's power or a god's avatar disguised as a human. They often manifest strange powers, related to what their god's domain is, and can use High Magic more easily. The Aurelian Prophecy claims that a Godblood of Hyperion will one day find a way to permanently end the Godswar and relieve the suffering of those Below.

The Six High Gods

The Six High Gods are the six strongest gods, listed below.

Hyperion, the Titan of Light

Hyperion is a being of fire and light, the fury and raw power of the burning sun at midday. He attacks primarily with Sunfire, a fire that burns white and obliterates everything in its path, and does not stop burning for seven days, without even using air. The wrath of Hyperion is swiftly aroused and terrible indeed to witness, nevermind be at the receiving end of.

Czernobog, the Lord of Unutterable Night

Czernobog is Master of Death, Lord of the Underworld, and Lord of All Undead. He is all thought, cold intelligence mated to terrific power. It is he who keeps the underworld's gates bolted shut, and he who brings the night to the world. He typically uses Ghostflame in his attacks, a pale-green fire, burning both material and ethereal that his most powerful Godspawn, the dreaded Ghostflame Abominations, are made up of.

Quetzlcoatl, the Stormlord

Quetzlcoatl is the Heart of the Storm, master of wind and cloud and lightning. When he strikes, he does so with the fury of ten thousand thunderbolts. He commands storms, and his awareness is everywhere with air, making it virtually impossible to sneak up on him.

Mekhanon, The Great Deviser

Mekhanon was always a crippled god. Weakened in brute strength though, he developed a great degree of strength in making and planning, and it is thought by some that he is behind the entirety of the Godswar, from its beginning to the end he has already planned. One thing is certain though, he has a great degree of skill in the subtle art of making others dance like puppets to his tune.

Tiamat, the Dragon of the Sea

Tiamat is immense even by the standards of the other gods, a leviathan dwarfing even them. She is master of all waters save the rains of Quetzlcoatl, and has some degree of influence over even they. She is somewhat motherly towards those living on her, but like the other actors in the Godswar, wishes to win it and thus become sole ruler of the earth and the heavens.

Gaea, the Fount of Life

Gaea is the Queen of Earth, and has dominion over it and all the life that dwells upon or within it, while Quetzlcoatl rules over the birds of the air and Tiamat the beasts of the sea.

Ichor

Ichor is the blood of the gods, and has mystical qualities those who know how can use. Ichor also solidifies; solidified Ichor resembles a silvery metal, and can be used as armour or as weapons. Solidified ichor is one of the hardest metals known to mankind, surpassing almost all others.

Magic

Magic is divided into three Classes; Low Magic, High Magic and Elementalism.

Low Magic

Low Magic is the energy of the land, tapped at Leypoints and channeled through Ley-currents to form a worldwide network. At least, that was before the Godswar happened, and the system was disrupted through various cataclysms, leaving magic strong at various places and weak in others. In some places, the energy of the magic exploded, sundering the land and angering the Elementals. In others, magic inverted, creating areas where Low Magic does not function.

Low Magic is typically taught by rote'; in the old days, new spells were developed when needed, but now there is little time for those luxuries, and now few can explain precisely how it is done. However, they can tell who can do it - Low Magic is strangely open only to a rare few.

High Magic

High Magic works by directly tapping a god's power and authority, and as such any individual user of High Magic is more limited in what he can do than a Low Mage, but has much more power to call upon and can call upon more powerful effects. Users cannot tap more than one god; to do so would tear their very soul apart.

Elementalism

An Elementalist works by beseeching elementals, spirits of the elements and features that make up the world, for power; the elementals are fickle, and may grant little power, or none at all. A sufficiently strong elementalist can however, compel the elementals to give him mystical power, or maybe even to directly act on his behalf.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by speaker-to-trolls »

Well while I am sure that you were inspired by some of Vic's recent stuff to come up with this (which is fine but remember what he said in Fourth Sphere a while ago about hiding your sources), I quite like it. It reminds me of Sacrifice, if anyone else played that. I have to admit, though, that if the gods have more or less abandoned the world below then I'm not sure what Tiamat and Gaea can throw at their enemies. Tiamat would seem to me to be particularly out of her element up in the air.

Still as I said I like it, the magic system is simple and has clearly defined sources and differences between the different kinds of magic, the setting is unusual, especially for you since it doesn't have any kind of focus on empires or dynasties but rather on stranger conflicts, and the gods are, though not original as such, again at least a bit different and have a bit of character. Well, Mekhanos does anyway; Hephaestus as an embittered chessmaster, that's enough of a twist in the myth to make him unique, or at least individual.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Mobius 1 »

I actually dig this a whole lot- it's the sort of thing that impliesa giant, epic conclusion. One guys probably decides, Kratos style, that the time of the gods has passed and the age of man has begun - perhaps even one of the gods is supporting him, like Mekhaos, who started this whole thing so that the gods were weakened enough that man and godspawn had a chance to take over.

I'd like to actually see this developed a lot more, Kamin.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Map of the Godswar world, cannibalised from a map made by a forummer on a site I frequent called Xwarq. For the record, I was too lazy to delineate anything other than lakes, continents and seas (light blue water is explored; dark blue is unexplored).

The island in the middle surrounded by unexplored water is Mount Othrys, dwelling-place of the gods before the war between them began. To give an impression of the scale of the devastation, most of the water between the two continents was once land.
atlantises2 mg 1.PNG
atlantises2 mg 1.PNG (18.78 KiB) Viewed 18133 times
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

(Okay. After a lengthy discussion with 'Vic, decided to post this 'verse idea, inspired by a thread I saw once on another forum. This may not amount to anything, but the idea just needed to be posted.)

Galaxy Rising

The galaxy is divided. After a long galactic dark age after the fall of the legendary Terran Supremacy, two great powers war for the remnants of the Supremacy, its wondrous technology, and the right to rule all humanity. They are the Terran Union, trusting in its death-rays, star-dreadnoughts and determined stubbornness, and the Galactic Reich, trusting instead in superintelligent AI, genetic engineering and the power of transhumanism.

Technology

Terran Union

Space

The Terran Union trusts in its capital ships, swears by its particle-shields and doesn't go anywhere without its ancient star-charts. The starships of the Union epitomise 'bigger is better' - whereas their equivalents in the Reich are 1 kilometre long, the Union's ships are typically five times that. Computing is done mostly via vacuum-tubes and slide-rules, for the Union didn't develop computer technology that well and not many examples have survived the fall of the Supremacy and the one thousand years of barbarism that followed.

Weapons, in contrast to the tried-and-trusted gigaton-yield nukes and railgun volleys of the Reich, are more exotic - plasma rays, particle cannons, lasers and the rare Medusa Weapons. Since the Union can't fire weapons through its shields, it has to take them down for split-seconds, which is not good when you are facing millisecond-accurate artificial intelligences. Solutions for this problem have been found, but none are perfect.

Whilst the Reich uses hyperintelligent AIs to calculate the positions of distant stars judging by the light that reaches them, the Union relies on ancient star-charts for astrogation, which the Reich does not have access to.

Ground

The Union is evenly matched with the Reich on the ground. One man armed with a ray-gun may be worth a hundred Reich soldiers, but the Reich has a lot more soldiers where they came from, and can just overwhelm the Union's superior forces with sheer numbers.

Society

The Union has singularity reactors - one sufficient to power an entire planet - that it uses in both peace and war. Its aesthetic can be summarised as 'raygun gothic'. Computers are large and slow, very hardware-based and reliant on massive mainframes.

Galactic Reich

Space

The Reich's space assets consist of so many starships that counting them is beyond the power of anything except maybe its artificial intelligences. Unlike the Union, which gained its technology mostly from the old war-arsenals of the Terran Supremacy, the Reich had to arrive at faster-than-light drive over a hundred years of working from first principles. This means that by the time they had interstellar travel, they already had nanomachines, artificial intelligence, and genetic manipulation.

Railguns and gigaton-level atomic weapons are the Reich's preferred means of attack, and they throw them around in gigantic quantity in any space battle they fight. Split-second timing and endless swarms of drone fighters and missiles are preferred tactics as well.

Ground

On the ground, the Reich has trillions of gene-enhanced, power-armoured super-soldiers, endless brigades of tanks and batteries of nuclear artillery, and of course the unending armies of battle-robots to crush the Union's finest under sheer weight of numbers.

Society

Transhumanism is a given thing in the Reich; if one wants to be a cyborg or to recieve gene-mods, there's no reason why not. However, they are a far cry from the Lazarus Machines and other seemingly-godlike technologies of the old Terran Supremacy.

(More to come)
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

So, you might ask, what are the ingredients of this cocktail? Simple, half superhero comics and films, half alternate history, and finally a dash of total insanity. Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present...

SUPREMACY: THE REBOOT



First off, let's look at some newspaper headlines from this universe. Should whet your appetite, no?


AUGUST 1 1936

GERMANY UNVEILS "UBERMENSCH" AT BERLIN OLYMPICS
SEPTEMBER 1 1939
WAR IN EUROPE - GERMANY INVADES POLAND
AUGUST 3 1945
GERMANY SURRENDERS

BERLIN "OBLITERATED" BY NEW ATOM BOMB
JANUARY 1 1952
WORLD WAR THREE

DECEMBER 25 1952
PRESIDENT TO HONOR "AMERICAN EAGLE"
"WITHOUT HIS SACRIFICE, NEW YORK WOULD BE GONE"

JANUARY 6 1955

WAR OVER - VICTORY OVER COMMUNISM!
JULY 20 1969
MAN SETS FOOT ON MARS
AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC MISSION DELAYED TILL 1971

MARCH 28 1986

NEO-TSARISTS RISE IN RUSSIA - SHTERNBERG REGIME "COLLAPSING"
JANUARY 6 1991
NUCLEAR STANDOFF: TSAR AGAINST SHAH

JUNE 7 1992

PICKING UP THE PIECES: AFTER THE RUSSO-IRANIAN WAR

SEPTEMBER 11 2001
ATOMIC EXPLOSION, TSARITSYN: LUCIFER GROUP SUSPECTED
4 NOVEMBER 2008
JONES JUNIOR WINS IN LANDSLIDE - FIRST "METAHUMAN" PRESIDENT
MAY 23 2011
GERMANOTTA, ACTRESS, COMES OUT: "BORN THIS WAY"
What is this about? Simple, it's a reboot of one of my old ideas - a supers universe under my full creative control, where I could let loose my imagination without having to worry about all the years of (sometimes unwritten) canon that exists in Comix, or the prejudices and opinions of the other contributors. The first incarnation of Supremacy did not exactly pan out, as the alternate history did not make sense (the German Empire, while appealing to my Kaiserphilia, did not exactly make that much sense) and the supers portion was underdeveloped.

Of course, it would not be good to just start this thing off without listing my influences. So here they are. Primary influences - the old version of Supremacy, alternate history fiction, the recent Marvel films. Minor influences - H.P Lovecraft (particularly his idea of magic as science we just don't yet understand), Vagrant Orpheus' universe on this site Powered Dominion, and Comix. And of course I am recycling, mashing together and generally having fun with my old Comix ideas, particularly those that didn't exactly pan out (partially to see if I can make something decent out of their corpses, like some latter-day Frankenstein). And of course there is the mandatory reference to Lady Gaga.

So, let's get this show on the road!
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

The Titanomachy

The universe is full of wonders and horrors the men of Earth know barely anything of, and perhaps it is best that they remain in their ignorance right now. One of these great and terrible things in its past is an event known as the Great War, or the Titanomachy, a conflict that was fought from one end of Creation, the prize being rulership of the universe. So far is it in the past that barely any even among the Great Powers, those whose understanding is so advanced that science and magic are the very same thing, have even heard of it.

Its origins are unknown, but its fighting was a terrific battle that has become an archetype in the cultures of thousands of worlds in the night sky. The Chronokatoroi of the Panopticon could perhaps transcribe a history of it, if their sun had not been quenched and their planet reduced to drifting atoms during the fiercest phase of the fighting, when battles raged across whole galaxies and planes of existence, and throwing a sun at the enemy was a tactic used to commonly distract him.

The races wiped are many and uncounted - the Chronokatoroi, the Angels of Celestia, and so forth. For a billion years, no life could develop in the universe, so chaotic was the fighting. And so almost no records or memories survive from the main period of the Titanomachy - approximately two billion years.

What is known however, is its ending. The enemies of the Great Powers that won were cast into a prison dimension that would later be known as Tartarus, the Abyss, or the Pit of Lamentation. Only one gateway was built into Tartarus, and it was placed deep within the forming crust of a small, insignificant rocky planet, the third from its sun, in a spiral arm of an insignificant galaxy. When sentient life evolved on the planet 3.8 billion years later, they would see the Great Powers that came to the world to check on the Tartarus portal (and ocassionally fight over it) and weave them into their legends as gods and monsters. And the energy emitted by the portal would spike at sudden times, altering the DNA of the creatures and causing them to develop the potential to wield and manipulate the very forces of creation. Thus begin the ages of heroes.
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Some more backstory for Supremacy. The Icon were inspired by an old idea of Shroom's, and the term 'Cthonosphere' comes from the Fourth Sphere.

The Atlanteans and the Icon

16,000 years ago, civilisation existed upon the Earth, not the civilisation of Greece or Rome, but of a more savage time, the age of Atlantis. Great empires, all traces of their existence not in the pitch-black caverns of the Cthonosphere long-obliterated by the grinding ice of glacial periods, rose and fell, and barbarians rode upon the steppes of what is now Russia, but greatest, most lasting and glorious and mighty, was based upon the lost continent of Atlantis. The Atlanteans were mighty, but even they were primitive - until the Star-Phoenixes of Sirius came to them, and taught them sciences so advanced we now call them magic.

In less than a single generation Atlantis rose to a space-faring level, now so advanced over the petty empires and barbarian tribes that they were effortlessly forced to swear eternal fealty to the Atlantean Lord-Commanders and Magisters. The Atlanteans made treaties with the aliens dwelling upon Mars, and gained more knowledge. But even this would not sate them, and so the Magisters of Atlantis looked to the stars. In less than two centuries Atlantis perfected stardrive technology, and thus begun their Golden Age. For a thousand years the Atlanteans spread across the stars, to the point that they became the pre-eminent power in the Orion Arm. Across light-years, the Ourobouros Banner of Atlantis flew, proclaiming their supremacy and the eternal nature of their civilisation.

Such hubris was soon met with nemesis, which came in the form of the robotic, omnicidal Icon. From what part of space they came no-one knows, only that their arrival was sudden and unexpected. The disappearance of a few border-colonies marked the first engagements, but before long man and machine were pitted against each in a brutal, vicious war in which there could be only one winner. The Icon were numberless and terrible, wiping out whole worlds down to the last microbe, for what reason no-one knows.

The Atlanteans unleashed the full might of their arsenal, forbidden, dreadful weapons that shredded the very fabric of spacetime, but it was not enough. The Icon then lunged for a decapitating blow, right at the heart of the Atlantean Empire - Earth itself. But the Magisters of Atlantis had foreseen this, and activated the emergency dimensional shift - the whole continent of Atlantis vanished from our dimension into its own isolated pocket of space-time, linked to the main universe by seven gates.

Not that that stopped the Icon from bombarding Earth with enough ferocity to kick-start an ice age, they were just about to drop the Moon on Earth when a Great Power arrived, why is unknown. The Great Power laughed at the entirety of the Icon Fleet, and then in an instant disintegrated it all so thoroughly that no atom was connected to another. The Icon never entered the Orion Arm again.

But the Atlantean gates, all save one, had been destroyed in the bombardment, linking Atlantis' pocket dimension to our universe only tenuously. Atlantis, with all its glory and power, could not return. And what of the survivors of the Icon's terrible bombardment? They were reduced to the status of hunter-gatherers, and would take many millennia to rebuild civilisation to even a tiny fragment of what it had once been after the ice age begun by the Icon ended. And of the rest of the Atlantean star-empire, leaderless, its heart ripped out, it soon collapsed too into barbarism, and a long dark age descended upon the Orion Arm from which it has just begun to recover...
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Re: Kamin's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Eagle Group

Eagle Group are the most threatening and successful gang of meta-terrorists ever known. Although what information that exists on them is sketchy, the facts that are known paint them as a terrifying force. They exist in the shadows, moving in secret, maneuvreing, planning. The only time the group appeared in public was the 2005 Battle of Stuttgart, which was also the only public appearance of their leader, the shadowy War King.

Their base is believed to be on the uninhabited Bouvet Island in the Antarctic Circle, the most remote island on Earth. However, all attempts to definitively locate it have met with inexplicable failure. Regardless, the US navy has three cruisers assigned to keep watch over Bouvet, to find any sign of Eagle Group.

The group's known members are:

The War King, its founder, a genius Nazi scientist who founded Eagle Group in 1943 with the express blessing of the Fuhrer, after using a formula (which has never been replicated as he, fearful that an equal to him might be made, burned all his notes after imbibing it) to gain metahuman powers. He possesses a frightening charisma, is a scientific genius, and possesses powers that put him on equal footing with the leader of Eagle Force, the powerful Hyperion. Sees the governments of the world as hopelessly corrupt and plans to take over himself.

Hauptmann Krieg, formerly Hauptmann Deutschland, another survivor from WW2. At his peak he was a match for the formidable American Eagle, but his powers has since waned. Believes in a mad ideology of endless war for its own sake, and plans to turn the world into an apocalyptic, war-ridden wasteland, as opposed to the totalitarian hell it would become under the War King. This causes considerable friction within the group.

Frau Nacht, a sorceress now trapped in a cursed state between life and death after being trapped in her own spell. However, this state enhances her powers considerably, although it renders her vulnerable to fire and other such things. Has some dealings with the Great Power Czernobog.

Eisenkreuz a soldier with the ability to transmute his body to a living metal, becoming nigh-indestructible.He can also alter his form while in this state (for instance, turning hands into blades or guns), although any alterations revert upon transmutation back into flesh. Is devotedly loyal to the War King.
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Re: Czernobog's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

Hoping this gets commented on....*grumbles*

The Occult Wars

Magic came back on August 16th 2000 AD.

The world is at war. The war began in 2006. It is now 2012, and it shows no sign of relenting. In America, the relentless armies of New Atlantis fight the brave defenders of the United States. In Europe and Russia, the undead hordes of Koschei the Deathless ravage the land. The states of the Middle East have been ravaged by a war between angels and demons, while China is locked in a seemingly-hopeless war against the millions-strong Dragon Army. The Occult Wars are raging, and all men can do is endure in the hope that someday the madness will end...


Various Factions Related to Earth


New Atlantis
is a descendent of an unspeakably old and powerful Earthly civilisation now located in another dimension under the searing light of a blue sun, returning to our world to claim what it sees as its right, for, after all, weren't the Atlanteans there first? Its forces are terrible, from the Knights Ourobouros in their magic-powered power armour to the viruses that convert flesh to metal to even more terrible things.

Koschei the Deathless is a powerful sorceror from the Third Age of Magic (476 to 789 AD) whose speciality is necromancy. After he woke up, his undead hordes have begun to ravage Europe, razing most of the Ukraine and devastating Europe in general. Yes, people have tried to kill him, and he has always come back, mostly due to the fact that his soul is not actually anchored to his body, but to his immense fortress.

The Auphanim are...strange. Beings of light and fire from a realm of pure energy known as the Empyrean, they most resemble the Angels of Judaeo-Christian mythology, but apart from the basic shape (winged humanoid, and sometimes not even that) all resemblance ceases. The Auphanim do not think like humans, and generally see them as either collateral damage in their war with the horrors of the city of Dis, or if they attempt to fight against the Auphanim, nuisances to be eliminated. Whatever they tell you, if God exists (which they don’t know or care about) they are most definitively not associated with Him.

Dis (or to use its full title, The City That Is Dis) is a city-state in an alternate dimension ruled and populated by beings that inspired the Abrahamic myths of demons. The city’s whole purpose is as a launching ground for invasions of other worlds. The Auphanim do not like this idea, especially since the demons of Dis have invaded the Empyrean multiple times. The war between the two dimensions is fought on planets across the whole universe, but also on Earth, which is currently seen as a minor salient by both parties.

Faerie is a strange world. On it, everything is not only alive, but has a powerful spirit associated with it. This forms a massive world-spirit that the inhabitants, the Fae, can call upon to help them, giving them an unsurpassable home-field advantage. The Fae are curious about this new world that has supreme quantities of iron (the dead metal that Fae fear, for it weakens their magic and has no spirits associated with it) but have so far only dispatched small groups of observers. As the Occult Wars rage however, some Fae rulers have hatched a plan of conquest. Whether this works or not, considering the various other factions that want the Earth, not least the great masses of common humanity, remains to be seen...

The Ruined King is a being located in another dimension, the portal to which can be found in a ruined city located in the Antarctic. It is so powerful that it could potentially crack the Earth like an egg, has a psychology utterly bizarre and inhuman, and has hordes of cultists worshipping it. The catch is, the King needs massive amounts of magic to survive...far beyond what concentrations can be found in our universe. So it’s content to remain in its own, planning and plotting what schemes only it knows...

Elementals are beings that are sapient manifestations of elemental forces. There are elementals of practically everything – not just the four Classical or Five Harmonious Elements – (Time, Light, Plasma, Radiation, etc.), but the true elementals are too powerful, requiring massive amounts of magic and very good conditions, to easily manifest in our universe. So they send lesser extrusions of themselves, called Hands, into the material world. When an ‘elemental’ is ‘summoned’ what the practitioner is in fact doing is tearing a piece off of the greater elemental being, and forcing it into reality. This is painful, and the Elemental Hand thus created can only be controlled by various bindings.

And that’s enough factions for right now, don’t you think?

Basic Principles

Magic is the Fifth Fundamental Force of the universe. With it, all sorts of things can be achieved, and it's technically usable by anyone (the catch is, it requires great willpower and training to do it). The only (well, not the only one - see above) catch is that around Earth the magic level fluctuates wildly every few tens of thousands of years. 28,000 years ago, the local magic level dropped to nil – the great civilisation of Atlantis, founded entirely on its achievements, collapsed into complete savagery soon after. There were a few periods when magic rose in power after that – the Dark Ages and the Bronze Age among them – but these were short and the magic wasn’t that strong. Now, magic is high-powered again, which is attracting all sorts of things that used to live on Earth and want back badly. Good thing we developed technology in those 28,000 years...

The Metasphere is the local set of dimensions around and connected to our universe, consisting not only of various other realms but alternate histories, parallel universes, and all that fun stuff. The most important Realms of the Metasphere right now are New Atlantis (current location of the descendants of the Atlantean civilisation), the Night Land (dark, entropic mirror of our own world, full of horrible monsters), the Empyrean, Faerie and Dis (already discussed) and the Elemental Realm (full of manifestations of the Platonic Ideals of various elemental forces; extremely hard to navigate). And that’s only scratching the surface...
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Re: Czernobog's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Booted Vulture »

Hoping this gets commented on....*grumbles*
Sorry dude. But don't feel like you're getting singled out. No-one gets their stuff commented on.

Outside Comix's Mad Ideas, the CSW equivalent and Moby's mega-Acts of fiction. That is.
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Re: Czernobog's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Siege »

While the forum isn't as active as it could be, I have noticed a certain correspondence between the amount of time devoted to reading and commenting on the work of other contributors and the amount of feedback one gets on one's own creations.

Which in your case, Czernobog, isn't very promising at all. As, I would remind you, I've told you time and again.
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Re: Czernobog's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Heretic »

Yes, the forum seems to be on the snooze button lately (though it feels like life is getting busier) and it seems too hard lately to try and focus and respond to everything I read (despite it being summer vacation and I have all the time in the world).

But now, it's time to to change that.

With me being the front of HOPE and CHANGE.Okay, so Speaker-of-Trolls is currently the most active individual and commentator this summer, but now someone much more younger and awesomer shall enter the scene and take the spotlight....

me.

The world is at war. The war began in 2006. It is now 2012, and it shows no sign of relenting. In America, the relentless armies of New Atlantis fight the brave defenders of the United States. In Europe and Russia, the undead hordes of Koschei the Deathless ravage the land. The states of the Middle East have been ravaged by a war between angels and demons, while China is locked in a seemingly-hopeless war against the millions-strong Dragon Army. The Occult Wars are raging, and all men can do is endure in the hope that someday the madness will end...
It seems like each area has a sort of theme that goes with it. America got that big super civilization that seems to be so famous even in name (America!), Europe and Russia has some sort of Pseudo-Russian sorcerer, and the Middle East has religious beings fighting over the Holy Land. Of course, the Chinese have to fight something to due with a Dragon and alot of individuals (China!).

I love how you create magic as a fluctuating force that varies through eons, a force that isn't unleashed from artifacts or discovered by science, but a natural force that comes and goes. And the Metasphere reminds me of the TORG RPG, where universes collide and try to control Earth. Or I may be thinking too much and it's more of a D&D feel, with Planes and Elemental universes.
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
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Czernobog
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Re: Czernobog's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Czernobog »

...New article!

EDIT: Added the Atlantean Navy, for those so inclined.

THE ARMIES OF ATLANTIS


The forces of New Atlantis are legion. This article speaks over the weapons and organisation of the military forces of New Atlantis that have been sighted on Earth during the Occult Wars.

THE PHOENIX LEGION


The Phoenix Legion comprises the main military force of New Atlantis. In the early days of the War, due to the arrogance of the Atlantean commanders assuming that they were facing Iron Age technology at best, the forces that attacked were made up of the equivalent of lightly-armed militia. After this resulted in the defeat of their initial assaults, the Phoenix Legion forces were sent through in their full might, causing rather more damage.

Lances are the main weapons of the Phoenix Legion, firing crystal darts which trigger magical effects when they hit. Such effects can range from fireballs to blasts of cold, and sapped morale early on in the war against New Atlantis. However, most front-line soldiers and vehicles of the US Army are now equipped with anti-magic gear that allows troops to survive the main effect of the Lance, forcing Atlantean troops to focus on using it as a more conventional gun.

War Kings are the Atlantean equivalent of tanks, essentially ten-foot tall walking piloted craft armed with heavy Lance projectors. They are rather more impractical when compared to tanks, and are much harder for New Atlantis to reproduce when compared with Abrams Main Battle Tanks. However, they are also equipped with machines that psychically enhance the morale of Atlantean soldiers, making them have a morale effect that is not inconsiderable.

Cacophony Engines are Atlantean artillery weapons that function by essentially firing a laser of focused sound, strong enough to shatter concrete and blow holes through walls. The downside to this is that they are strictly line-of-sight weapons, which often results in them not getting a chance to even fire before they are destroyed.

THE EAGLE HOST

The Eagle Host is the Atlantean air force, comprising of various vehicles and magic-powered constructs. They do not have access to the great and terrible Sky-citadels of Old Atlantis, but make do with various skyships.

Leviathan-class Carriers

The Eagle Host makes heavy use of these airborne aircraft carriers for quick deployment. Each is a massive vehicle, its size on a par with the largest of the United States’ supercarriers. They draw the power to fly from the Earth’s inexhaustible natural magical energy supply, meaning they will fly forever unless given severe damage. Each has an artificial intelligence aboard, meaning there is no need for bridge crew.

Phoenix Fighter-Bombers

The mainstay of the Eagle Host’s fleet, a Phoenix fighter bomber is a metallic construct in the shape of an eagle, made of the same living metal as Forge-Dragons. They can project rays of deadly magical energy from their eyes, which can destroy the best of Earth’s fighters with ease. These death-rays can also be used as bomb-equivalents, and if all else fails the Phoenix can disintegrate itself in magical fire, creating an explosion that destroys everything nearby.

THE MAGEKNIGHT ORDERS


The Atlantean Mageknights are the elite soldiers of New Atlantis, the supreme champions of its soldiery. They come from old, venerable families, some even dating back to the Exodus 28,000 years ago. They are given the very best equipment and training, and are all trained in the arts of magic as well as typical soldiery. Thus, they are among the most dreaded forces of New Atlantis, particularly the most politically powerful and largest order, the Order of the Knights Ourobouros, all of whose 1500 members are currently on Earth.

The Shield is the armour of the Mageknight, crafted of Valyrium (a metal which is filled with magical energy) and magically resonant crystal to enhance their spellcasting. The Shield enhances strength and speed, and can be used to fire powerful bolts of energy – it is armour and weapon in one. Each one is tailored specifically to its user’s personality and specifications, and thus after he is dead no other can wear it. It takes decades of careful artifice to make one properly, yet it is said in the glory days of Atlantis dozens were made a day in vast manufactories now long-gone. However, the Shield does not bring invincibility – many Mageknights thought they were and paid the ultimate price for it.

The Sword is the Mageknight’s weapon, a literal sword made of crystal – not any mere gemstone, but magically active. It is this that allows Mageknight blades to literally cut through enchantments and ward off hostile magic, as well as through many materials. However, Mageknight weapons, unlike their armour, can be used by anyone, and some Mageknights have gained the capability by sheer skill to use any sword as if it were a Mageknight blade. However, for obvious reasons, these swords can only be used in close combat – many Mageknights in the early stages of the war found this out to their cost when they charged right into volleys of machine gun fire.

Mageknight Steeds are descendants of the wild horses that ran on the Dawnlight Fields of Old Atlantis, and have lost none of their ferocity after 28,000 years. However, in the midst of the Occult Wars, only new Mageknights ride into battle on these horses, primarily because they are not so heavily protected as themselves and tend to get shot from under them.

THE ARMAGEDDON ENGINES


The Armageddon Engines are New Atlantis’ superweapons – trump cards it has used in battle only under the direst of circumstances. After using them, and then shortly after discovering the ‘joys’ of being shot at with atomic weapons, it is general policy among Atlantean commanders that such weapons are not to be used, for three reasons – it invites retaliation; using them en masse would jeopardise the whole point of the Atlantean Reclamation; the enemy might figure out how to reverse-engineer them.

The Forge-Dragons are gigantic dragons made of a living metallic substance, about the size of a large passenger aircraft at the very least. The dragons are semi-sentient, but they have a burning rage and passion to destroy within them that can barely be kept in check by powerful mind control spells developed by the Arch-Magisters of New Atlantis. When control slips, the dragons literally destroy everything in sight – a common Atlantean tactic when they are deployed is to deliberately break control whenever enemies approach. A Forge-Dragon’s main weapon is its ability to project powerful beams of raw magical energy, which have the ability to destroy whole city blocks in an instant. Forge-Dragons also self-repair, which makes them hard to kill – the greatest can survive the force of a nearby nuclear blast, though this tends to leave them very badly damaged.

Mana-Bombs are the ultimate weapons of New Atlantis. They are essentially bombs which explode Valyrium, a metal not found on Earth which can store vast quantities of magical energy. The resulting explosion can devastate an area up to 15 miles wide. However, the detonation makes magic within a radius of about a hundred miles go haywire – spells suddenly fail or go out of control, enchanted things lose power or explode, and sometimes mages spontaneously combust or even explode. The effect lasts about a month with the highest-yield bombs, and shorter with lower-yield devices.

THE OUROBOUROS ARMADA

The Ourobouros Armada is the wet navy of New Atlantis, an immense fleet focused around troop transport and support, as there was little need for naval combat before the Reclamation was begun.

Arks are the flagships of the Armada, immense ships each the size of a small island, having taken centuries to construct. Their primary purpose is to transport hundreds of thousands of troops to a certain location, then to support the landings with their not-inconsiderable arsenal. Arks have hundreds of metres of magically-reinforced Valyrium armour and are utterly immense, making them hard to destroy, however the Ark Danaera's Fist, one of the only two Arks to be involved in the Atlantean invasion, has recently been destroyed by the Phaeton Orbital Attack Satellite sending a rather large railgun round right through it, resulting in a 50-kiloton explosion 50 metres under the vessel.

Leviathans dwell in the deepest, coldest, most lightless depths of the oceans of New Atlantis, and before that our world. Exposure to the sun drives them insane with rage and pain, and in this state the Atlantean Magisters can direct them toward opportune targets. Requiring massive amounts of magical energy to even move, the Leviathans however are devastating and hard to kill, as they adapted to extremes of pressure the surface has never known. They are each the size of skyscrapers, and were sent by the Atlanteans as the vanguard of their attack on the United States.
Last edited by Czernobog on Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
You have ruled this galaxy for ten thousand years.
You have little of account to show for your efforts.
Order. Unity. Obedience.
We taught the galaxy these things.

And we shall do so again.
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Heretic
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Re: Czernobog's General Universe Ideas Thread

Post by Heretic »

Looking at some of these superpowers, I know for sure this isn't World of Darkness stuff. Full blown wars and genocides here. Hell, I don't think Shadowrun can even match this scale. Maybe this is fluffier and happier Clthulhutech, with standard atomizing and butchering.
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
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