Besides helping space travel, what exactly other powers to the Vacare have? I mean, are they going around shooting fireballs and stuff? Ranting about prophecies and Star Gods?
Star Gods ftw. Whatever it ends up being, I would suggest that we keep a lid on the power level, at least that we see on-screen. Seeing the Emperor in Empire Strikes Back all spooky and sorcerous is awesome. Seeing him shoot lightning out of his fingers...not so much...
@Flagg Am I understanding right that Petrichor can be used to awaken/activate psionic potential? Because then the Concordat would like a whole bunch of that.
awaken, activate and amplify psionic abilities, yep. Would love help fleshing out the lore on it- likely it's highly addictive, can lead to insanity or visions of the void, etc. It's also relatively rare, coming only from one planet.
The Magnificent, Venerable & Justly Celebrated Grand Duchy of Far Valyrius
Leading Figures & Ruling Body:
Ancelmo Mencius Helgarth von Kesselbrood, Grand Duke of Far Valyrius (senile and mostly incapacitated)
Katarine Valarious Hildegaard von Kesselbrood, Countess of Sarethi-on-Valyrius, Ducal Regent and de-facto ruler of House Kesselbrood's domains
Vermiculo Nox, Vizier to His Magnificence the Grand Duke, Archmaster of the Choir of the Subtle Voice
Govan Castamere, Lord Marshall of Ducal Armies and Navies
Veng III the Insatiable, King of the Nyrkin Hives (xenos client-monarch)
The Valyrian Diet: legislature/advisory body divided between the aristocratic House of Wisdom and the democratically elected House of Noise
Systems:
Valyrius (Capital System)
Far Valyrius: gas giant home to several suspended mega-cities, gas mining and naval facilities.
Xaxus Prime: terran moon of Far Valyrius, used as an agri-world by the Grand Duchy. Seat of the Grand Duke and the Valyrian Diet
Xaxus Secundus: moon of Far Valyrius overtaken by fungus-jungles thought to be the result of ancient, botched terra-forming attempts. A rural world full of hardy frontiersmen who are able to keep up the never-ending fight against the jungle.
Scarlet Reach
Y'Ghul
The Bitter End
Quire
Celestine V: Known as Shanji in the language of the native species of Nyrkin. Terran moon planet with vast subterranean cavern networks where Pertichor is cultivated by the Nyrkin. Celestine is also home to the largest Choirhouse of the Subtle Voice. Highly fortified
Nyrkada: dead world, original homeworld of the Nyrkin. Glassed by Imperial forces centuries ago
Primary Resource: Petrichor. Psycho-active secretion of the Tantalum fungus native to the caverns and hives of Celestine V.
Armed Forces:
General Overview
The Kesselbrood possess a fleet of antique war vessels of impeccable craftsmanship from the Imperial Age of Conquest, gifted to Kesselbrood centuries ago by Emperor Vymar III. These ships have seen centuries of service and have been continually modified and repaired but are nigh-irreplaceable. This antiquated but powerful backbone of naval power is heavily supplemented by pirate & xenos mercenaries, especially from the nearby outlaw sector of the Scarlet Reach.
On the ground Kesselbrood forces depend on shielded heavy walkers protected by xenos mercenaries, auxiliaries, and conscripted human cannon fodder. The House of Kesselbrood's neo-feudal system of governance makes mass mobilization and industrialization a challenge, making them mercenary-dependent and reliant on the xenos under their rule.
Note: Their dependence on xenos vassals makes House Kesselbrood virulent opponents of genocidal mono-humanist ideologies and movements, a near-constant source of unrest, revolution and terrorist activity among the human populations of their domains.
The Nyrkin
Sentient insectoids native to Celestine V, the Nyrkin have a symbiotic relationship with the tarantalum fungus. The Nyrkin are believed to have been part of a hive mind in ages past, but some ancient catastrophe shattered their collective consciousness. The residual trauma makes the Nyrkin highly susceptible to collectivist politics and ideologies. It is a constant concern of House Kesselbrood and the wizards of the Subtle Voice to prop up the client monarchy that rules over the restive xenos, on whom all their wealth depends. For without the Nyrkin, tarantalum could not be properly farmed to create a reliable source of refined petrichor.
House Kesselbrood use Nyrkin warrior-forms as auxiliary troops. Nyrkin hyper-fecudity leaves the species constantly overpopulated and gives House Kesselbrood an endless supply of malnourished, poorly equipped, acid-spitting swarms of man-sized insects on the frontline. With training and proper equipment Nyrkin warriors make excellent medium infantry, and there are many elite regiments to be found in the Ducal Armies.
Larvae, "puppies", roughly the size of a 10 year old human.
Mature Warrior
Mature Farmer
Gn'Mok A warlike species nearly exterminated by the expanding human Empire, which glassed their home world, the fleeing, tattered remnants of the Gn'Mok were offered asylum by House Kesselbrood in exchange for their service in the Ducal military, where they have served as elite heavy infantry for centuries. The Gn'Mok are few in number, their race divided by 13 tribal 'Legions' settled in lands given them by House Kesselbrood.
The Gn'Mok excel as heavy infantry, especially in boarding actions, utilizing wrist mounted energy shields, radiation-hammers and power lances in combat. The Grand Ducal Guard is made up of these formidable xenos. It is no secret that the Gn'Mok long for a world of their own, though they remain loyal to House Kesselbrood, which has been careful not to alienate their elite praetorians ever since the brutal murder of Grand Duke Radagast Xenos-Hater.
Trogg Reptilian natives of the fungal wilds of Xaxus Minor, many trogg have been 'domesticated' by their human overlords and are used as servants, serfs and auxiliary soldiers, where they excel as light infantry. 'Civilized' Introgg have become increasingly integrated into Duchy society, though they are at best third-class citizens.
Imperial Assessment
Majesty,
I write with the report you requested on the Valyrius Sector in advance of your approaching audience with the Grand Duke of that demesne. As you know, the House of Kesselbrood is a troublesome, reactionary brood: advocates of the aristocracy, employers of mercenaries, and ignobly tolerant of the xenos races which lives still in their holdings.
The Kesselbrood disgraced themselves centuries previous by backing the Seperatist Front in the War of Seven Suns. Only the clemency of your august predecessor Ghiomat IV the Forebearing spared them the usual fate of traitors and rebels. Politically, the Kesselbroods have kept low profiles since the time of that war, careful not to give the Bureaucracy any cause for punitive taxation, but their hostility to your Majesty's wise centralization measures is well known. They are strongly suspected of providing support and safe harbor to the pirates of the Scarlet Reach- and of employing same as mercenaries and proxies. It is well established that the xenophile sect known as the Subtle Voice is based in the Valyrian Sector and has significant influence on the House of Kesselbrood, though the common conjecture that the Grand Duke is a puppet of aliens and sorcerers likely goes too far.
The prime source of Kesselbrood wealth, of course, is Petrichor- a psychoactive substance valued by sorcerers, navigators, alchemists, and many others. Occurring only on a single, xenos-infested world, petrichor must be refined before consumption and the secrets of its cultivation and refinement are held closely by the Subtle Voice and their xenos wards.
Appended below, please find details of Kesselbrood military dispositions and risk assessments...
If you want, hit me up on the convo and we can work out some sort of shared history. Our houses are both old and are (or were at some point) considerably influential. It's not unlikely that we've crossed paths in the past
You will have to remember that the legitimacy of the Rankovs stem from their appointment to the Exarchate BY the Empire. Before they were only one of the many houses of Virezhir, and not even one of the largest ones. Over time they built up their power internally, but you've still got prestigious houses with links to their predecessors.
And just as the Rankovs are trying to loosen the Imperial yoke, some of their vassals wish to do the same for them.
Adds a great storyline if the Kesselbroods are backing/appealing to one of Rankov's restive vassals. Likewise the Kesselbroods need to deal with a parliament and aristocratic vassals, both of which contain strong pro-imperial parties.
So that's my faction idea. The plot arcs I have in mind for them mostly deal with internal power struggles among nobles and fighting threats on the "frontier". So, what do you guys think? Does it fit with the setting?
Love it. Our factions have overlapping motivations and ambitions, so I look forward to the House Kesselbrood/Rankov joint scheming and/or rivalry. The Kesselbroods will be sending out feelers to other Great Houses who might be interested in ending the Imperial experiment and returning to a patchwork confederation of Great Lords, so it'll be interesting to see how receptive the Rankovs are.
There seem to have been some drop outs, but I am told that some players are interested in continuing this and are comfortable with slow-burn world building over Discord. I just want to confirm that I'm still around though I dont have much time for Discord chatting except at odd hours. Keep doing what you're doing, and I will resume IC posting as soon as other players put up one or two more IC posts.
I meant that the brains would be needed to create the bridge? I like the idea of essentially cog engines being individually made and impossible to mass-manufacture because any number of attempts to make them will fail due to limits in machine/brain learning.
EDIT: there could also be a very different types of cog engines that function differently. Pure machine ones, ones that use brains, ones that eat up magical handwavium, etc, each with their own pluses and minuses, but the basic premise of 'expensive machine that navigates hyperlanes' remains the same.
