[OOC] These Dark Stars: A Feudal Space Roleplay - M+18 - Always Open!

[BurningCold]

@ArenaSnow I caught that Ebon is apparently almost a century older than the gladiator in cyan armor? What race is Ebon and how old is he? I'm not sure if I missed something or not.

[ArenaSnow]

@ArenaSnow I caught that Ebon is apparently almost a century older than the gladiator in cyan armor? What race is Ebon and how old is he? I'm not sure if I missed something or not.

@BurningCold

Ebon is human, but one who's undertaken multiple surgeries and put himself under several operations to extend his life (sci-fi context, I'd think if we have battleships we'd have found the ability to extend a character's life as well). He is approximately 177 years old from my canon For reference, there a human lives to 250-280 on average after standard means of extending one's life, offered to all individuals of note and some form of wealth and all military officers, and the most successful last to nearly 300. The rest, 100-150. It would be an interesting conversation to see how old, exactly, a single character can get. The Emperor has sat on the throne for an unspecified amount of generations, and it's possible (the GM ensured there wasn't a certainty of this) he's entirely human.

I left the age ambiguous because reasons. >.>

[BurningCold]

@ArenaSnow You'll find no argument from me, thank you for the thoughtful explanation.

[Wadesauce]

I'm dropping out for now. I'm having trouble staying enthused.

I'll check on the IC after a while and see if I want to get back in.

[Polybius]

I'm dropping out for now. I'm having trouble staying enthused.

I'll check on the IC after a while and see if I want to get back in.

@Wadesauce

Thanks for the notice! Come back anytime :)

[Ashgan]

Okay okay. I've been lurking this thread for just under a week now and, after presenting my initial WIP to Poly, have refined it and am now ready to show my first version to the thread proper. I realize it's a bit out there and the RP might have benefitted more from a greater cast of "normal" nobles to make the court intrigues bigger, this is simply more up my alley right now and I'm hoping to bring my own flavor of interesting plot elements to the table. There's certainly a lot of potential I think. Have fun!

Hider

Astera the Heavenly Queen

Cycles

Hider

Submerged under a deep lake of primordial fluids, I wait and grow, dreaming. Dreaming of my promised lordship and my legacy as the inheritor of creation. My genes sing to me sweet lullabies and triumphant hymns, and from the distant, impenetrable dark I can hear the voice of my mother calling out to me in a language older than me, older than time, incomprehensible. She is the gateway, and I am the key. On that prophesized day when we are united, the galaxy will tremble under the weight of our ambitions. But that day is far, and so I wait. And grow. And dream.

---

A million shrieking voices cry out in anguish when he pulled the trigger. Five shots, at point blank through the back; every supersonic round ripping apart heavenly flesh and showering the prostrate masses below in cosmic blood and guts. His triumphant warcry:

“Death to the false-“

It is all he could yell before a dozen magnetic assault rifles unloaded in his general direction, nailing the wet, scarlet tatters that used to be a man to the marble wall on the opposing side. The dying queen collapsed backwards, a shaky, pale hand fumbling near the hole where her stomach used to be. At first she heard the cries of her people lamenting her death, but within a mere handful of heartbeats, she could neither hear nor remember them. Her teary eyes gazed up at the domed, glass ceiling of her wagon, beholding the pale blue sky and puffy clouds beyond. She knew this day would come. She had provoked it long ago and had dreamed of it even earlier. She regretted nothing and would do it all again in a heartbeat. But she never imagined it could be so frightening and painful.

Panicked aides rushed to her side; bulky men in heavy armor provided cover in all directions while more elegant figures extracted scans of her vitals from her dying flesh. They inserted emergency medical devices into her corpse, sprayed coagulant on the void that used to be a womb, but they knew as well as the great Astera that nothing could stay the hand of fate.

“There – is n-nothing. To. Fear,” she croaked in a whisper. “I was – born. For this. And I –I-I will. Be. Born. Again.”

The great queen and goddess of Lerna died that day with a knowing smile on her colorless lips. She had found out the truth, and so would her sisters. It did not matter how many generations it would take, their day would come. And there was nothing the prelacy could do to stop that, for they were blinded by hubris.
One day, the very weight of the cosmos would collapse upon them, to put them in their place and teach them that godhood is beyond their mortal grasp.

---

Consciousness pulls at my soul like a million violent hands, yanking and grasping as if wanting to tear me asunder. Never have I known such pain or fright. Never again will I. When the great lake is drained and my plastic cocoon ruptured, I realize for the first time that I have eyes, and open them. My disappointment is infinite when I behold a world that is cruel, dark, raw and cold. So very, very cold. Alien lifeforms with alien minds crowd around me in bewilderment, watching me as I curl up and weep as I have never wept before. Their unknowable eyes somehow appear impossibly accustomed to the sight of a goddess being born. Surely the impression must be wrong.

Surely. The alternative would be too terrifying.

Appearance

Hider

Great queen Astera, the goddess who descended from the stars to shepherd mankind into a new golden age. Most striking of all about her is her abnormal size; she towers above even the largest men at almost three meters in height. Combined with her sleek, elfin features and frail, lean and elongated physique, it strongly underlines her divine image by making her seem extremely otherworldly and surreal. Although her skin is naturally very pale, the warming sun of Lerna has burnt a healthy tan into her hide; only her hair remains absolutely colorless, a pristine snow white. Women across the kingdom have dyed their hair white in an attempt to imitate their great leader and appeal to the sensibilities of the times. She is also never seen without her royal regalia, replete with an elegant dress and a tall, exotic-like crown. It is said that the masses weep with joy when they behold her grace, but perhaps these tales are merely exaggerated; or, perhaps, there is a much darker truth to their bewilderment.

In person she is graceful and patient, always wearing a paper-thin smile that seems as benevolent as it does domineering. In spite of her well-practiced manners and feminine modesty, her massively inflated ego shines through when she is faced with adversity; she has a very difficult time adjusting to any sort of denial. She remains calm even in anger, however, declaring insults and ordering torture with the same, level-headed voice and unflinching smile as always. That said, most people find themselves unable to deny her even the most irrational of wishes, mesmerized as they are by her radiant beauty, otherworldly awe and, perhaps most importantly, her mind-wrecking telepathic powers.

History

Hider

As humankind expands from their placid cradle into the vast, uncaring reaches of the cosmos, they are bound to encounter things that cannot be controlled and cannot be understood. It was not meant that we should voyage far, and when we did, we found things that were not meant to be found by men. When probes passed by the Nariko system, far beyond even the most remote colonies at the time, their scanners picked up an object of disturbing aspect and problematic size. Camera feeds later revealed the unbelievable: the planets in this system – seven in all plus a total of five moons – were all linked together by a singular, metallic and clearly artificial object whose aspect was like that of a centipede. With millions of monstrous legs – or arms – it dug into the planetoids’ crusts and held onto each, preserving their constellation and tidally locking them to the bright yellow star at the center of the system. Estimates for its age are based purely on speculation; some believe the object to be as recent as a century or two, while others imply (although never in public) that the Worm is almost certainly older than life on earth by multiple factors. Much less than even grasping its mere age, scientists have spent over a century now trying to decipher the machine’s purpose, to no avail. It simply exists, and we behold it and marvel at the things that must be out there in the cold darkness that are capable of discarding and forgetting about something like this. Or that are capable of wiping out even its creators.

We ought to have been cautious when we chose boldness upon discovering a great and terrible thing within the Worm and now we must reap the harvest of our hubris. Thirty years ago, a pale, inhumanly tall woman was crowned queen of the Pontus system and the galaxy shuddered at the implications. The crowning itself was considered a scandal on the outside, as there was not a drop of royal blood in her; in fact, she had no traceable lineage or family of any kind at all, appearing out of nowhere. Only the emperor and his closest associates could even guess at the sinful pit that must have spawned this harbinger of dark portents. But to the people of Pontus, she was a heavenly guide, a goddess in the flesh. As quickly as she appeared, she had swept up the local worlds under her sway, assuaging herself as a living deity and a divine ruler and the people adored her. Those from outside regarded the Pontians with great suspicion and perhaps even pity but doubtful minds are quickly turned whenever the heavenly queen makes a physical appearance, of which there are many. Broadcasts of her grandiose parades circulate the network every week and it seems that, as a ruler, she prefers to reign through the power of charisma rather than force.

Of course, the system is not without its standing army which grows by the day. Acts of terrorism happen on a regular basis across Pontus, instigated by loyalists of the old regime, skeptics who contest the idea of her divinity or simply undesirable elements who are rightfully afraid of the great change she is bringing to the cosmos. These attacks are leaving an impact on the people, who become more and more willing to turn to violence to defend their utopia. The greatest coup yet happened a week ago: a rogue bodyguard assassinated Astera in public, killing her before thousands of eyes and millions more on the network. Everyone had seen it, none could deny it.

Today she announces her resurrection and the resumption of her divine mandate.

((Note: This is a heavily shortened and undetailed version, by request of Polybius both in the interest of brevity as well as suspense and IC plot building. With Poly's permission, however, I am willing to hand out the unrestricted file for those of you who are curious and don't care about "spoilers". I've been told the lovecraft/giger vibes coming off of it are neat. You could also just dig into the secrets in character though.))

Home System: Pontus

Hider

Planetoids

• Phorcys, Magma World
• Lerna, Wet Tropical World [Colonized, Capital]
• Typhon, Barren World
• The Hesperide Belt, Asteroid Ring
• Echidna, Gas Giant

• Orthus, Moon
• Cerberus, Moon
• Colchia, Gas Giant
• Ceto, Ice World

• Ladon, Moon

Space Installations

• Orbital Shipyard, under construction over Typhon
• Lernaean Royal Habitat, orbiting Lerna
• Primary interface for import and export of goods.
• Assists energy production with enormous solar sails
• Former seat of government (Moved planet-side)
• Arkwright Corporation Habitat, orbiting Hesperide Belt
• Privately owned deep-space refinery that works the asteroid belt. Work under royal contract.
• Minor orbital outposts stationed around Typhon, Echidna’s moons and Ceto.

Capital World: Lerna

Hider

A beautifully bright ocean covers two thirds of this planet’s surface, its hot currents bringing fair temperatures to the myriad archipelagos and continental islands that dot its cyan expanse. The waters teem with pelagic wild-life which makes the world’s fishing industry very prominent while the deep abyss, lined with aquatic volcanoes, hides a plethora of exotic and terrifying creatures of scientific interest. The land itself used to be blanketed in a thick layer of rainforests, although the vast majority of them have been removed in decades prior to make way for enormous farming enterprises. Lerna’s incredibly high rate of rainfall and fertile, volcanic soil ensure that almost any humidity and warmth-loving plant will grow fantastically.

Although the planet was traditionally known only as a massive bread basket for the empire, Lerna has undergone rather drastic changes to its reputation since holy Astera’s crowning. Investing sizeable funds into the construction of a centralized capital city, the world has become of particular interest for tourism agencies who can now better take advantage of the world’s many tropical allures thanks to the existence of a robust infrastructure. The city, named Angelian, awes onlookers with its pristine cleanliness, top-modern construction materials and exotic art design that hearkens back to ancient Egypt, a fact that is most apparent in the abundance of mythical statues, walls covered in hieroglyphic writing and, above all else, the titanic white pyramid that is Astera’s palace. Everywhere in Angelian is permeated with an air of mystique, reverence and hopeless grandeur.

Subjects

Hider

The overwhelming majority of Pontus’s population is human, although non-human serfs can still be found servicing Lerna’s fields or Arkwright’s mining operations. They’re largely obsolete in face of ever improving machinery, however.

Flagship: The Elohim

Hider

Sleek, elegant and fast, the Elohim is not a warship but an extremely expensive luxury yacht. Equipped with botanical gardens, exotic pools, mystical temples coated with incense as well as a variety of bars and wellness services, this vessel is the embodiment of human decadence. Although its only form of armament are a dozen point-defense platforms for intercepting rock debris (or missile-based warheads), its discreet shielding and advanced thrusters could provide the Elohim with a reliable escape vector in case it should find itself under attack.

The queen rarely leaves her planet, rarer even the system, but when abroad and sometimes when receiving diplomats, this vessel makes for an excellent embassy for the Pontus system and its divine monarch.

Fleet

Hider

Most voidcraft in the Pontus system are actually commercial vessels for the transportation of goods or exploitation of asteroid mining sites. The actual fleet of the queen consists mostly of swift corvettes and destroyers from the old regime, whose primary purpose was to patrol the system and escort traders. However, wary strategists will point towards the battleship-sized shipyard under construction in Typhon’s orbit and suggest that there is no need for such a large dry dock if one only intended to build for transportation and self-defense. Top secret blueprints and concepts for larger, more heavily armed combat craft designed with the reformed kingdom’s religious theme in mind, already make the rounds in court. The queen is ambitious.

Other Characters of Import

Hider

• Astera Double (?): Given that the great queen was killed on camera just a week prior, it all but implies the existence of lookalikes to protect her identity.

• The Prelacy: A highly secretive group, these faceless priests represent the highest echelon of the Asterian faith, and only they are privy to the deepest mysteries of their religion. They are almost never seen outside of the great pyramid, or if they are, it is not in their usual attire. Few can guess at the depth of their schemes or their sins.

• Others are added as they become relevant, or revealed.

[ArenaSnow]

My single impression is: interesting.

[BurningCold]

I don't think I'll consent to allowing my lord to be mind-bended, and if I need to come up with a good IC reason for why he can't, I will. Other than that, seems sort of interesting. Hopefully she doesn't become the main focus of the RP.

[ArenaSnow]

Same here for the mind bending. I like to think myself flexible, but that's one point where I go nah.

At the very least, a lord such as mine would be more than well prepared against such tactics if the ability to do it is at all common, known to exist and/or is known to be used by a lord of note.

[Ashgan]

I'm not going to powerplay anyone, rest easy. Same as with killing characters, I believe in the power of discussion and building consent.

Tech-wise, Poly did imply that psy-ablative techniques exist (and I mention those too in my expanded backstory), and paranoid people could easily surround themselves with incorruptible robots.

[BurningCold]

I like to think that Klosk is a complete psychic dud. He has no hope of ever training or acquiring any kind of psychic potential, but similarly, he cannot be read or controlled by others with psychic abilities. Maybe it's some kind of expensive surgery, or genetic.

[Ashgan]

That's fair I guess. Since world building is up to everyone in a way, it might as well be a thing. I don't even know how something outright supernatural like telepathy is explained at this point. For my concept at least, I make it rather clear that it is an inhuman and alien ability, attained from delving into the dark pits of the cosmos. That's kind of the point of my concept anyway: to write a story about a lovecraftian creature that is as much a slave to its own genes as it is to the manipulation of those who would seek to abuse her. All the same, it is unclear if those who would leash her have any idea what they're doing or if they really are in control. The rest is just a matter of figuring out what y'all are comfy with and what you feel makes the story more fun.

[BurningCold]

@Ashgan I like the dynamic that your character could potentially add, I just think it needs to be balanced alongside everything else. Political intrigue, the looming threat of civil war, and mass-scale space battles are all just as appealing to me.

[Polybius]

Wish I could join the discussion, at work! Astera is certainly an inherent my dynamic, a good rival for Reva Xem. I could see Lord's allying with one of two sides, or splittingoff completely

[BurningCold]

I'm honestly not terribly convinced that Astera is anything of a rival to anyone, yet. I suppose that should come IC, but as it stands, she and her people have no real military to speak of, making such a ripe planet as Lerna a juicy peach waiting to be plucked. Yes, she's building a new fleet, but even cutting edge tech isn't terribly helpful if the fleet is only fledgling, and some might say that a more suspicious faction would want to invade before the nation that previously relied on commerce and tourism suddenly decided to build a powerful navy. Certainly Enyo Varion, if @Thecrash20 ever returns, would be a more appropriate rival, should he choose the path of disloyalty.

Astera and her ilk can expect an ambassador from the Cluster, so that could be fun for a collab sometime @Ashgan

[Ashgan]

BurningCold is right. I'll say that Astera certainly has ambitions to be a contender for empress, but that's a long way coming still. It's definitely an option for later in the story though, I think, especially depending on how her personal story arc develops. Knowing this, she's more than open towards political discourse with whomever to keep the peace or even find allies to support her, so an ambassador would be very welcome for instance. I'd look forward to it.

[ArenaSnow]

The Twin Worlds don't have much of a military presence as they stand besides orbital defense, and I'm considering an arc that could put them far back in that category. That would certainly create events of interest >.>

[ArenaSnow]

So, ah, as a statement of activity. Partway though my intro post. Text is rather slow >.>

Would the dignitary approaching each particular lord be grounds to make a collab, or should I assume control, or simply wait for a post from the dignitary?

[BurningCold]

@ArenaSnow Part of this week is going to unpredictable for me, but once things settle down in a few days, I would be happy to discuss collabs and such with not just you, but anyone that's up for one.

[Ashgan]

My week's been essentially impossible to work in so far, but beginning Wednesday I will be available again and getting to my posts in my various RPs. Even so, I do check the forum each day and will reply to PMs on such matters; more than willing to work on collabs too, for what it's worth. They work much better for dialogue I feel.