RPG: Starscape

[Canis Lycaon]

IC: Carus [system 58]

Ma Heen Gun stood in front of the crowd. They were all bustling in excitment. What would happen today would be the first of many advancements to come. Great advancements. A change that would revolutionize the world for ever and completely change the Carus society.

 

They would contact another intelligent species. The closest species to them were actually rather far from them. They were called the Apocritox and resembled some of the insects that lived on Canavar.

 

Ma Heen Gun connected to to the Ultranet, the Carus's advanced Internet that all Carus could connect to with their minds. The Highest Prophet searched through the channels of the Ultranet, and found the Official LCC Hyperwaves use.

 

He opened it up, and thought, "Hello. My name is Ma Heen Gun, and I am the representative of the closest intelligent species to you, the Carus. We extend our paw in friendship." The message would be translated into the Apocritox language thanks to the nature of the Ultranet.

 

OOC:

Zytrix, up for some interaction?

[Xomeron]

IC: System 34

The ship was odd in construction; thirteen bulbous, oblong pods each about three hundred meters long and a hundred or so meters wide at the center. The thirteen pods were clustered around a tube of a deep indigo metal; a spiral of spikes ran down the inner surface of the tube, and white metallic pods were anchored at one end of the tube. At the same end of the tube, a ring of eight near-invisible monomolecular shrouds extended from the tip of the ship to a gigantic, utterly massive mirror; the simplest of scans would reveal the mirror was a metal mesh held in an octagonal Stasis Field nine hundred and thirty seven kilometers from corner to corner.

After a few minutes of silently receiving messages, the outsiders responded, in the same code they had been transmitted to. "Hello. Do you trade?"

Edited April 20, 2013 by Xomeron

[Alex Humva]

IC:

 

A Natsirt captain looked over her shoulder, looking at the Colonel. Her uniform showed her as the chief AI expert. "That took them shorter than expected, but we were practically beaming a dictionary at them."

 

"Pilot!" The colonel glanced at at another officer, scanning a number of screens set up. "How far out are we from the fleet?"

 

"Approximately five point five light hours, sir."

 

"Then I need to play merchant." The colonel sighed. "Relay this message via the diplomat AI."A moment later, the Outsider ship received a message from the AI. "We do indeed trade, however, we have little to trade with."

[Xomeron]

Outsiders: System 34

 

"Do your other ships have more to trade with?" Came the simple response. Obviously they were a rather single minded crew

[Toast of Awesomeness]

IC: The Great All had discovered something startling.Connections had been severed with the trees in a small area of the planet. After a time, they had been reconnected. The flood of memories that had been absorbed confirmed that the separated trees had developed their own, primitive intelligence, no more than an uncontrolled Carrier. But still. This proved that trees could be separated from the Great All without negative effects. They would develop their own mind, but that mind could be quickly reabsorbed into the whole, perhaps even through the natural radio receptors.Hmm. Perhaps it was worth looking into the design of First World's now nonexistent flying creatures.

[Kothra]

IC(Vikren ×α, System 13):

The Vikren scout craft had been in the system for a while now. The crew had mapped out most of the features in the system, and were now preparing to return to their homeworld. One particular feature that stood out among the rest was one of the inner planets. It was a large rocky planet, but that's not what was interesting about it; planet had abnormally high readings of background radiation. In response to the report that the crew had sent back to Kalaras, it was hinted that an exploration mission to that planet would be organised in short order.

 

With their first mission complete, the crew of the Alpha Vikren were noticeably more relaxed than they had been when they first warped into the system. The starship began to accelerate out, in the direction of the Czion star system. Once the crew had completed the FTL safety checks, the warp tunnel drive was activated and the ship was off on its way.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

IC: The Great All was perplexed.There was much space beyond the sky to be conquered. However, the tallest of the trees barely brushed the edge of the sky, and became a drain on those surrounding it because of its needed protection. Flight was the only way, but the wingspan required to lift even a single tree would be enormous. There was surely another method of reaching the sky.Perhaps the two could be combined. One of the trees could be grown tall enough to where the new construct could leave the sky with ease. Such growth would take time, however. Well, time was one thing the Great All had plenty of.OOC: Construction begun on a "Space Elevator", 5 Money, 1 CHON, 5 days.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Toast of Awesomeness

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: A thought occurs - for a pure biotech race, wouldn't CHON more or less take the place of money for constructions like, say, a space elevator?

 

Also, to account for the time it would take for the new probe to reach the heliopause under STL propulsion, retconning profile to clarify that the old probe was launched a century prior to the launch of this one, not a century prior to this probe reaching the heliopause.

 

Note: For my own convenience, I am using Earth-based temporal units in my calculations. When I need to do math, a year is 365.25 days composed of 24 hours composed of 3,600 seconds, and that's all there is to it.

 

IC(Deep Space, Outside of System 8): In a century, the ancient, pockmarked probe now cruising through interstellar space at over sixty thousand kilometers per hour had traveled over three hundred and sixty astronomical units - less than a hundredth of a light year, but nonetheless a monumental achievement for an artificial probe. It had, by the standards of a spacer, narrowly dodged solar flares, been battered by micrometeoroids, and still it had remained functional, and was, even now, beaming images of the universe back home.

 

The ancient probe had taken more than a century to travel three hundred and sixty astronomical units.

 

Its successor, riding on a white-hot jet of fusion exhaust, had crossed the first hundred in a quarter of a century.

 

The rest of the distance had been crossed in less than a day, thanks to the near-miraculous hyperdrive.

 

Some careful maneuvering and firing of the forward thrusters to moderate velocity, and the Cylell-1 was keeping pace bare kilometers from its ancestor, the two probes floating through space on parallel courses, one using every sensor it possessed to send a clear picture back to nostalgic scientists, the other, amusingly, flagging its descendant as an anomalous reading.

 

Once the historic pictures were beamed back, the Cylell-1 carefully maneuvered away from the ancient probe, leaving it to drift onward and outward forever while its successor continued its mission, and plotted a course for the nearest star.

 

OOC: The data for the speed of the older probe was based on the speed of the Voyager probes.

[Alex Humva]

IC:

 

"No, they do not have anything to trade either." The diplomatic AI attempted to convey some amount of apology. "We have little supplies and practically nothing is available to trade."

[Xomeron]

OOC: Rover, you still need heavy elements; phosphates, metals, and the like.

 

Though it occurs to me that since a Space Elevator is mostly Carbon Nanotubes, it should have a significant CHON cost as well.

 

Outsiders: System 34

 

"We do not simply speak of goods. We also seek knowledge, legends, and stories. Surely they must have those." The Outsider Language program was monotone, so it didn't convey the slight tone of disbelief the words were accompanied by.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

OOC: I'm really not sure... You're probably right, Rover, but I figure things are just simpler this way. :PIC: Designs were being made- once the tree reached the edge of the sky, perhaps a construct with photosynthetic "wings" could propel itself into the airless void. However, a method of converting the absorbed energy into momentum within nothingness had yet to be thought up. Still, a start had been made.

[Alex Humva]

IC:

 

"We have complete history banks of our species, if that is what you desire. What would you give us in return, however?"

[Xomeron]

Outsiders: System 34

 

"We sell knowledge, ideas, and trinkets. Would you be permitting of us to approach your flotilla? We would prefer to do business there."

[Alex Humva]

IC [To Xom]:

 

The colonel rubbed his temples, pondering the situation. On one hand, the ship didn't appear to be armed. On the other, if he was wrong, one misstep and the whole of the Natsirt could be destroyed. That was a risk he simply couldn't take... but these aliens could have something vital.

 

"That will be fine," the diplomatic AI communicated, "under the condition that your vessel maintains a minimum distance from the fleet equal to half the orbit of the world the fleet is currently orbiting in relation to its sun."

[Xomeron]

Outsiders: System 34From the white pods near the tip of the tube, hydrogen flowed; it steamed down the tube, crushed together by magnetic pressure, and streamed out; rather than pour straight out of the tube, the jet of plasma curved at a sharp angle, ponderously facing the ship towards the fleet, after the turn was completed, a metal cased object seemed to fall off it. A blinding flash of light, and a nuclear explosion had the ship going on its way. The plasma jet arced again, spinning the ship and beginning a deceleration burn to counter the vast momentum from the explosion

Edited April 21, 2013 by Xomeron

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: While traveling around the blue world, the Shei-Al scout ship picked up an odd read-out on their scanners. It was as though there were some sort of reflective zone on the planet bouncing everything back at them. That was...interesting. Some sort of civilisation? No, far to small for something with technology that advanced. Current knowledge suggested there was no natural phenomena that could deflect all the scanners like that. Conclusions? A colony of some other society outreaching like they were, or a small remaining conclave of a pre-existing settlement that had been destroyed. They would have to examine it later, when they had the power to...discourage any attacks from either an expanding empire or a crumbled one.

A suggestion. Further examination of the cluster outside their solar system might answer the previous conundrum. A civilisation capable of colonising planets would no doubt be visible in other systems. And if any other reflection fields were found patterns of location might indicate if they were hand-made or natural.

The scout ship flew away from the terrestrial world so the gravity would not interfere with their drives, and activated the Skip Drive they had spent so long theorising about. It was a successful test drive, much to their approval, and wound them up in a whole new solar system

 

OOC: Lets see, I think my closest neighbours are Rover and Toast. Either one of you want a visit?

[Zulu Yankee Kilo Echo]

OOC: Sorry for the absence; went on a snowboarding trip this weekend.IC:<<We are...we are receiving a transmission.>>The scout ship's technician brushed her claws against her eyes as the zeroes and ones were printed out on a holographic screen.<<Our computers are interpreting it as a form of binary code. It does not translate into anything comprehensible in our language, but it could only have been sent by something intelligent.>>The captain paused for a moment, milling this development over.<<Send back a response,>> he said once the moment had passed, <<let them know that we're listening.>>The cigar-shaped spacecraft oriented itself in the direction from which it had received the signal and sent out a similar--yet fundamentally different--code.It took a while, but eventually, Ma Heen Goon received a reply."Hello, Ma Heen Goon," came the computerized response, "I am Ambassador Skop-Nyk of the Federalist Hive of Interstellar Colonization. I would be more than willing to accept your offer; however, I do not have the authority to do so. Perhaps we could arrange a more formal meeting?"

Edited April 21, 2013 by The Zytrix

[Toast of Awesomeness]

OOC: Sure Power, come on. Both of the game!s hive kinds.

[Canis Lycaon]

IC: Carus [system 58]

After a while of waiting, the reply came back to the Carus. Ma Heen Gun smiled. The Carus had actually managed to do it. They had contacted intelligent life. No one actually knew what the Apocritox were like in their dealings with other life forms. They could only hope that they were friendly.

 

Ma Heen Gun prepared his response and choice of words very carefully. The last thing he would like to do in this sort of situation would be offend the Apocritox.

 

"I would like to organize a formal meeting. Our species live on a planet orbiting the nearest magenta sun to your own magenta sun. Between us is a giant red star. May I suggest we meet on a planet in that system?"

[Silvan Haven]

System 33

 

IC: There was a delay of almost an hour before the Apocritox ship got an answer. During this time, the newly created branch of the government named Homeworld Defense had gone into overdrive, another eight AI were retasked to help figure out the series of hyperwave pulses they had gotten in return. People on the day side of the planet received calls while the important ones on the other side were roused from their slumber and flown to their workplaces.

 

By the time the hour was up, the AI believed they had gained enough of an understanding of the programing language that they could send simple text messages. Although without access to the language of the new aliens it would be of limited usefulness.

 

Another message was sent to the ship, this time containing both an alphabet and dictionary. With it was a message.

 

Greetings, we are the Kohzan. Who are you?

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

OOC: Sure Power, come on. Both of the game!s hive kinds.

OOC: Mind describing your system so I know what I've arrived in then?

[Toast of Awesomeness]

OOC: There's an orangey-red giant star, followed by an airless world, a pressure cooker, First World, which is a lush forested planet with small scattered lakes and green and gold foliage, a reduced atmosphere world, an asteroid belt. another pressure cooker, a protostar, and a gas giant.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: As soon as the Skip Drive had successfully deposited the scout ship in the new solar system, the started scanning.e star was different to theirs. A red giant. Older. Perhaps that meant the system had had longer to advance? Remained to be seen. A quick scan of the planets revealed two like their own. But for now they were out of range. There was another of the blue worlds though. It might have another of the reflective fields on it. It bore investigation...

[Silvan Haven]

System 33

 

IC: A command was sent to the scoutship, telling it to change course and head to a different star system. Exploration had been prioritized over having a face to face meeting with their neighbors. Due to the nature of hyperwaves, it would take a few days for the ship to receive the orders.

[Canis Lycaon]

OOC:

Now that the Latrans I am building isn't a huge drain on my resources, I am going to build something else.

 

IC: Carus [system 58]

The engineers sat about, wondering how they had so over calculated the cost of the Latrans that had been built. It would cost much less, in reality. They could build something else with their resources. The Council had ordered them to do so, in fact.

 

But what to build? A Dirus, several Lycaon or an Aureus? They thought long and hard, until one of them pointed out a vital fact. The Latrans was useless without an accompanying Aureus.

 

This was what they needed to build.

 

OOC:

Work begun on an Aureus, to be completed May 3rd.

[Xomeron]

Setting: System 8

 

The Cylell-1, and those watching, would be rather interested to notice a perfectly reflective globe streaking through the system at around a fifth of lightspeed, streaking through system 8 and almost directly towards System 14.

[Toast of Awesomeness]

IC: The Great All's new projection continued to grow rapidly, rising ever higher above its brother trees. For now, though, the foreign vessel would go undetected. It was simply too far.

[BenLuke]

IC:

 

The perfection of the Skip Drive had sent the Dominions government into overdrive, working to construct a vehicle to begin interstellar colonization.

 

OOC: Construction began on Colony Wheel; Will be completed on May 9th.

Edited April 24, 2013 by Javert

[Zulu Yankee Kilo Echo]

IC:

 

With the very crude understanding of the Khozan language that they gained from the transmission, the crew of the Apocritox ship sent back a single word: Apocritox, Along with an image of their King. If giant wasps could grimace, every single one of the crew would be doing so.

 

Once again, it took a moment, but the diplomat replied.

"Not likely. Red star may give off harmful radiation. Suggestion: this yellow dwarf."

That particular Yellow Dwarf happened to be system 46.

 

Finally, it was complete. The very first Drex-Class transport, humbly titled Dzir-Vey's Majesty, was currently being loaded with supplies and crew to operate and sustain it. Soon, it would be headed for system 46, provided Ma Heen Goon agreed to meet there.

Edited April 25, 2013 by The Zytrix

[Silvan Haven]

System 33

 

IC: The AI were able to translate the coding that made up the image, bringing it up onto the screens for their flesh and blood counterparts. The assembled group of scientists from a dozen different professions were gathered around several different holographic screens. At the sight of the picture, the quiet murmur of speculation that had filled the room died away, only to come back louder then ever seconds later orders were shouted to technicians and the groups split up, everybody heading back to their stations while writing down notes or starting calculations.

 

It took another hour before a decision was reached by the Monarch, who had been brought in by now and had spent most of the time being briefed on the situation. The AI, who now had a firmer handle on the basics of the foreign programming code, sent a picture of the high council seated in a circle with the Monarch on a raised platform behind them. Along with it was sent a dictionary and and alphabet, in both text and audio form.

 

OOC: 4/25 reached- Space Elevator finished.

 

Construction on second elevator started. Done on 5/5

Edited April 25, 2013 by Silvan Haven

[Canis Lycaon]

IC: Carus [system 58]

Ma Heen Gun was surprised. The system that had been suggested was a sizable distance from both the Carus and the Apocitrix's systems. Ma Heen Gun connected to the Ultranet and said a simple message: "We are preparing to meet you, however, there is one small problem that we see."

 

"The system you suggested is quite far from both our systems, and it is farther for us. May I suggest a closer system with a yellow star?" The system he had sent was System 52, a mutually closer system.

 

The crew began to load up their small ship with food, technology and supplies. They would try to trade some of their technology, such as their Mecha designs, Superlight drive schematics, or the technology used to create the Ultranet. They didn't know what the Apocitrix had, but they wanted to advance.

[Kothra]

IC(Kalaras, system 7):

 

It was a day of celebration. The construction of the world's first space elevator had just been completed. On top of that, the government announced the success of a manned expedition to the nearest star system and back. Also announced were plans to explore one of the planets of Terath, the nearby system.

 

Prior to the completion of the space elevator, the Federation government launched a campaign to get businesses and corporations to invest in more space-based enterprises, particularly mining and tourism. There were plans to eventually put colonies on other planets in the Czion system, so transport firms were also enticed to invest in spacecraft. Out of this grew a civilian spacecraft industry, taking tips from some limited information released by the government on their own ships. Meanwhile, to enforce future order in the system, as well as conduct further exploration, the government ordered the construction of two more spacecraft based on the design of the Vikren cross-alpha. The new designs were for the most part identical, though with some changes to streamline and cheapen the production process. This new class of ship was designated Vikren ×1 (cross-one), and would serve as the basis for a planned fleet of ten or so ships.

 

Not long after, one of the civilian starship manufacturers was contracted to build a colonisation vessel to establish a Kalarii foothold on the next planet out in the system. The target world was an airless one, but it was looked at as the easiest target for such action.

 

After some weeks of R&R, the crew of the Alpha Vikren was ordered out again. They were going back to the abnormal world they had discovered in the Terath system, but this time they would be escorting a team of explorers and scientists aboard the FCS Telakra. A team of newly trained soldiers were assigned to each of the ships. These new soldiers were trained to fight aboard spaceships and in foreign environments. They were intended to be both the vanguard of exploration parties and at the same time the actual acting arm of the Federation's new space police. There was still work being done on organising a command structure, but plans were to integrate them into the new Federation Celestial Navy.

Edited April 26, 2013 by Kothra

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: The latest creation of the Shei-Al was up and running. Not actually running mind as it lacked legs and was in orbit so couldn't have used them if it didn't. But enough of those technicalities. The War Egg was in low orbit around their homeworld. A metaphorical sword to defend their colonies and interests in other systems.

Once they had them at least.

Which was rather the point of this new construction. A ship designed to finally spread their influence off-world, to another planet. Expansion, the true goal of every living thing.

 

 

Knowing that the War Egg was ready to aid if needed, the scout ship decided to descend a little lower over this blue planet. The mystery boxes intrigued the Shei-Al, they wanted to know if there were more, and if they would become more explainable

 

OOC: One Settle Shuttle. Ready 6th May.

Also, that planet they're looking at is you Toast, in case it wasn;t clear or you'd forgotten

Edited April 26, 2013 by Lord of Adders Black

[Toast of Awesomeness]

IC: The tree now reached past the sky. Synapses fired as its sensors activated, sending a torrent of data down to the Great All.Extraordinary.The void was far larger than previously thought. Incalculably so. Other suns were far away, while the first sun burned bright, somewhat closer. Other objects were seen- other worlds perhaps? They, like first world, orbited the sun.But look here- something moving, irregularly. So, the void had its own creatures too. Hmm. The Great All waited the creature's approach, a discharger preparing, in case it proves hostile.OOC: Space elevator complete.Discharger= laser.TPTI, imagine a gigantic organic bronze and silver metal tower. That's why it looks like.

[Alex Humva]

IC [@Xom]:

 

"Sir, I think they're about to-" The spaceman ripped his headphones off as a massive screech went through them; a programmer obviously didn't account for nuclear explosions in his code. When the enlisted man recovered he looked at his readings, and the mood on the deck went to an understandably tense setting. "Sir, they've activated a nuclear explosion. Some sort of propulsion system from the looks of it."

 

"The inertia on them... either they have no bones or they have artificial gravity." The colonel looked hestitantly at his screen. "Set in the warp coordinates and prepare a conference with the generals. We should have some time before they arrive."

[Xomeron]

OutsidersThe ship beamed a message to the Natsirt ship; "We require details of the environment of which you are accustomed so that we may select an emissary and salesman."However the Outsiders had learned about the Natsirt Language, their vocabulary was clearly more complete than their grammar

Edited April 28, 2013 by Xomeron

[Silvan Haven]

System 33

 

IC:Now that they knew for certain that there was alien life among the stars, the Kohzan Monarch decided to take a proactive stance towards something that had been kicked around for ever since space flight had been accomplished.

 

OOC: Construction started an on Lecht x1. Done on 5/12

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: Now this was interesting. This was the entire reason they'd ventured to the void in the first place. A planet where the metal wasn't confined to the world below but actually grew from the ground.

It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing they could imagine.

 

The scout ship started putting out a signal. A beat of a slow beep, then two fast beeps, followed by another slow beep and a pause until the chain started up. Something so regular it couldn't be an accident, but irregular enough that it couldn't be natural

[Toast of Awesomeness]

IC: The Great All heard.This wasn't the sound waves created by some animal.... This was intentional. A signal. The kind the Great All's natural radiolepathy was able to pick up on.Inconceivable.Could these creatures of the void speak as the Great All did? It was possibly... There was no atmosphere to carry a sound wave. Perhaps this was how the animals communicated among each other.A nagging suspicion grew in the back of the Great All's mind, however. Perhaps this creature....No. Impossibly. Still though, perhaps a reply would be in order. Tentatively, the Great All sent a signal back, in a similar fashion, but a a different order.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: So. Something out there. But what? Living civilisation or forgotten relic? Its intelligence needed to be tested. They sent out a code again, but in a different series of beeps.

 

Beep. Beep. Beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep.

 

They repeated it another time then, on the third time transmitting it stopped at the two beeps. If the answering signal could finish the chain they'd know it was inteligent and try to make better contact