I'm glad I managed to post before leaving for vacation tomorrow. @6slyboy6 I will be away for two weeks. I will try to keep up with other people's posts (mostly because I'm very curious) but most likely wont have time to post anything myself. How long will it take to move to the next turn?
The sun was slowly rising above the mountains on the far horizon and the tribe members were waking up, moving around to warm up their blood and bodies. One male R’Bani stood at the side of the raft, finding himself unable to take his eyes off the scenery. The thick fog over the water was slowly dissipating - normally that would mean to him that the weather would be good this day, the sun will shine and no storms and heavy rains will threaten the raft. But today, there was something else, something deeper that he couldn’t really explain, that kept him almost frozen.
A sudden impulse made him pick up a large leaf and, dipping his fingers into warm lake water, draw a few lines on it. Just one straight long line and two smaller above it, forming a small triangle. After a short look at the horizon, he added a small circle peeking from behind the triangle. “G’Arr!” he exclaimed, a previously unknown but very pleasant feeling filling him. But as he looked at the leaf again, he noticed that the lines he made were slowly disappearing, water drying up under the first rays of the morning sun.
“G’ARR!” he yelled again, angrily. He liked that sound, felt like it is his own sound, like it describes him. At first he wanted to throw the leaf away, but a sudden idea came to his mind. Carefully laying the leaf on the ground, he jumped from the edge of the raft and swam to the lake floor, grabbing a load of mud. When he climbed back on the raft, he retraced the lines on the leaf, this time using mud instead of water.
A female came to him, curious about what he was doing. At first, it seemed to her like a result of mud battles the young ones tended to have from time to time. But then she raised her head to look at the horizon and opened her mouth in surprise, realizing that the long straight line is the lake, the triangle is the mountain above it, and the circle looks like the sun. “G’Arr,” she whispered in awe.
The male jumped angrily. That was his sound, his own, and others should not use it. “G’Arr,” he croaked at her, pointing at his chest.
She nodded, pointing at him, feeling a bit envious that he has his own sound. Now she wanted one too. She admired the painting on the leaf for a while and then picked up another leaf. Maybe she could make one too? But there was something else that caught her attention, she realized that the sun is not shining on her. Of course she knew that leaves provided shadow that was useful in merciless summer heat, so that her skin wouldn’t dry up, cracking painfully. But what if she used these leaves to actually create a protected place, instead of just hoping to find one when she needed it?
Soon she was deeply concentrated on trying to arrange the leaves into the shape that came to her mind. As the leaves wouldn’t stand on their own, she used some twigs as a support and mud to glue it together. She also found out that long straws of waterweed could be used to tie things together. It took her a while, but eventually she was satisfied with the results - a small hut supported by longer branches tied together, covered by leaves and mud. “Reea!” she clapped her hands excitedly, comparing her old den, merely a hole between the twigs, and this new thing she just invented.
Her old den was small and empty, no one else lived there. A sudden pain in her chest surprised her. Was she ill? Or injured? But the pain did not seem to have a physical cause. The feeling that came with it was very unpleasant and brought tears to her eyes. Her den was empty, yes, but it hasn’t always been that way, has it? She used to have a mate, a strong male that always brought the best food. Before. And now she doesn’t have him, after a huge predatory fish came unusually close to the shore and dragged him away. That was some days ago, she couldn’t even tell how many, because the thought of past and present never crossed her mind before. But there will also be tomorrow and more days in the future, perhaps she could find a new mate? Especially now that she has a new comfortable place to live in.
The thought of past and future occupied her mind. There were several tadpoles swimming around the raft, who will soon sprout legs and arms and climb from the water to join the tribe. That was always the time for both happiness but also great hunger for everyone, because there were suddenly so many mouths to feed. The R’Bani only gathered as much food as they could eat that day, but what if they brought a little bit extra every day and put it aside? That way the young ones would have something to eat before they learn to hunt and gather their own food.
“Reea,” she smiled and turned to the others who were already admiring her hut. It will be hard to communicate this complicated thought to the others, but she knew she could do it. After all, she managed to create her own sound. She wasn’t just one female R’Bani anymore. She was Reea now.
The R’Bani became self-aware, realizing their individualities
They discovered simple art
Started building primitive huts from materials found around them
They started assigning themselves simple sounds as names
They realized the concept of time - the past, future and the present
RACE NAME: R'Bani RACE PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The R'Bani are rather short (only about 4-5 feet) species who resemble frogs. They are amphibian and can breathe both outside and under water. They are cold-blooded and prefer warmer climates, in cold their metabolism slows to a point where they go to hibernation. They cannot survive in salt water. Their lifespan is rather short, only about 30-40 years. The females lay several eggs, attaching them to the bottom side of the floating settlements. Multiple males dive to the eggs and attempt to fertilize them. Even in ideal conditions only around two thirds of the eggs hatch, releasing tadpoles into water, where they live for several months. They are not very strong physically, but have other defensive mechanisms. While in danger, their skin emits a poison that is strongly hallucinogenic to other species, some smaller predators can even be killed by coming into contact with it. POPULATION: 12 RACE BEHAVIOUR: The R'Bani are peaceful people, deeply focused on family. If a danger arises, they prefer to run rather than fight, and use their brains to solve problems rather than brute force. Unlike other cold-blooded species they actually care for their young, protecting them until they are ready to climb out of the water. The species lives on various debree floating in the lake - most of the time it is pieces of wood or plants intertwined with eatch other to form simple rafts. On these rafts they build primitive dens using plants and mud. HISTORY: CULTURE: TECHNOLOGIES:
@Odin Exactly. And while there might be an Anna alive, who would genetically be an ideal partner for Bob, she lives a few hundred miles away, and even if Bob knew she existed, he doesnt have time to go to her, because he has to work on his farm otherwise he will starve to death. And yes, that is what I had in mind, only it is not grounded to the lake floor, but rather floating around.
@Odin Honestly I came across it in a random article, I think it was this one. There are some Harvard studies mentioned here that estimate the number as high as 14 000. It very much depends on the situation - if you take an exctinction type event that destroys most of the population on Earth, than you have a problem even with the 14 000, since people who survived are probably scattered around the globe and will have problems finding mating partners. Also if the infrastructure isnt in place, your people's lifespan will be much shorter (which of the people today really know how to make antibiotics out of nothing or how to take out person's appendix without killing them). The space pioneers mission calculations are much lower because people will be handpicked with needed specializations (and according to other aspects like age, fertility, hereditary diseases, etc.) and they will have all the tools and knowledge and technology available.
@6slyboy6 Ok, I have no problem with taking the spears out, that was just an immediate wild idea. And by the huts I meant something similar to the bird nests - if you have some twigs and branches intertwined, you will have some space between them, so you just stuff some things in there to make a "den", maybe that would be a better word to use for it?
@Raylah Maybe so, but every human alive right now comes from the womb of a single mother, our ancestral "Eve". So give or take 3-4 mates (('m just compeltely guessing) for said human ancestor, that's about 5 people whose genetic codes we share to one extent. And at leats one of them is an incredibly prominent one as it was the only female gene in that. Honestly, 12 people should be more than enough for a wide variety of genetic materials, as long as you doN't shy away from poligamy
I dont want to get into meaningless debates, but this is actually not true. It is true that all life on Earth does have origin in Africa, and it has been proven by genetic tests that it originates from one migration wave. But that was a wave of many people, not just one couple, or even one woman with multiple partners. Also it has been calculated (for space colonization purposes), that a minimal amount of people to start a healthy population is around 160. With strict social engineering you could get to about 80, but not lower. But it doesnt really matter, since we have ant people and moth people, I think it is safe to omit this part of science xD.
What I wanted to ask about is how long the turns are going to be? Because if the turn took lets say one year (I think you said somewhere there should not be any two-year journeys in one turn, so I am just guessing), it would still take dozens of turns to pass several generations. Even if the species had shorter lifespans and matured at a very young age, it would take a long time to grow the population enough to be able to utilize new technologies.
Also while I like the idea of the blind map, I think in this particular case it might cause some problems. Lets say I have a race of frog people who live on floating lilipads and I pick a spot in the lake for them. And you tell me "yea that lake is in super high altitude, so it is actually frozen most of the year and also there are some poisonous elements in the water thanks to a nearby volcano". That just wouldnt work. At this point in history, the enviroment shapes the life, not the other way around, and if the species is not able to survive in their enviroment, they either die out or move somewhere else, if such location exists. If I understand the premise correctly, the species didnt just magically suddenly appeared there, they evolved in that spot.
All that saying, I would love to join, so here are my frog people living on floating lilipads :D.
RACE NAME: R'Bani RACE PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The R'Bani are rather short (only about 4-5 feet) species who resemble frogs. They are amphibian and can breathe both outside and under water. They are cold-blooded and prefer warmer climates, in cold their metabolism slows to a point where they go to hibernation. They cannot survive in salt water. Their lifespan is rather short, only about 30-40 years. The females lay several eggs, attaching them to the bottom side of the floating settlements. Multiple males dive to the eggs and attempt to fertilize them. Even in ideal conditions only around two thirds of the eggs hatch, releasing tadpoles into water, where they live for several months. They are not very strong physically, but have other defensive mechanisms. While in danger, their skin emits a poison that is strongly hallucinogenic to other species, some smaller predators can even be killed by coming into contact with it. POPULATION: 12 RACE BEHAVIOUR: The R'Bani are peaceful people, deeply focused on family. If a danger arises, they prefer to run rather than fight, and use their brains to solve problems rather than brute force. Unlike other cold-blooded species they actually care for their young, protecting them until they are ready to climb out of the water. The species lives on various debree floating in the lake - most of the time it is pieces of wood or plants intertwined with eatch other to form simple rafts. On these rafts they build primitive dens using plants and mud. HISTORY: CULTURE: TECHNOLOGIES:
GM: Let your imagination go wild! Make whatever you want!
Literally everyone: makes an anthropomorphic race
You did say it is supposed to be a humanoid race, soooo what were you expecting? :) How long are the turns going to take? Are we all starting with just 12 "people"? It is not very much to build a viable and genetically diverse population, but since it is big part fantasy, I assume we dont have to stick to this level of realism.
Posting my WIP just in case someone wants to debate over the solar system history part - I can change pretty much anything if it collides with other people's sheets.
Name of Nation: The Icy Frontier Collective Location: The Frontier Base on Ganymede (Jupiter’s moon) Summary-in-a-Sentence: Newly formed nation focused on industry Government Description: Authoritarian socialism Surviving in harsh conditions has never been easy, it requires people to be united towards common goals. Democracy, even at its best days, has always caused friction and infighting, a luxury one cannot afford when trying to build a nation in such a remote and hostile part of the solar system.
The main ruling body of the Collective is the Council - seven people who decide over everything and anything important. Originally, all seven were the leaders of the revolution, but some were replaced over the last two decades due to old age or (‘natural’) death.
The peace is kept by the Sheriffs, a police force tasked with both upholding the laws and solving crimes and also with tracking down enemies of the state.
The Bureau is taking care of all the bureaucracy, from citizen evidence through all the production to trade and other offworld activities. It makes sure that everyone has a job, enough food and an assigned place to live.
Economic Overview: The vital part of the Collective’s economy is industry and trade. As the base is located in a thick layer of ice above an enormous subsurface ocean, a large system of pumps and tubes is in place to extract the water and deliver it to the refineries located in upper levels of the base, close to the surface. The water is used to create oxygen, pumped into barrels after being purified into drinkable quality and most importantly used to synthesize rocket fuel.
Until the revolution the Far Reach Corpotation handled all traffic to and off the planet, as well as all the trade with manufactured goods. When the independence was declared, one of the first obstacles for the Council to overcome was to create alternative delivery routes for both import and export, hire cargo ships and crews and find customers for their goods. The latter showed to be an easy task, as the demand for oxygen and fuel was always high this far from Earth. In time, the Icy Frontier Collective was able to assemble a smaller fleet of cargo ships and secured trading with multiple trade stations and colonies.
Military Overview: Cultural Overview: History: The Frontier Base was established at the beginning of the 22nd century when humanity started to expand into further into the solar system and required a refueling and resupply station to be placed behind the asteroid belt. The Far Reach Corporation, at the time the technological leader in the area of space travel and inhabitation, was tasked to construct a small space station positioned in a safe distance from Jupiter’s deadly magnetosphere to which ships could safely fly and refuel without having to land, and a base positioned on one of the planet’s moons, capable of retrieving water from surface or below and manufacturing oxygen and fuel.
The Far Reach employed the best scientists and tasked them to solve seemingly impossible problem - how to put a human habitat on an icy rock in space, that is continuously bathed in deadly radiation, surface temperatures are around -200°C at most times, and Jupiter’s large gravity well draws all kinds of asteroids, which then often hit its moons. But there was water present, and when you have water, you can make oxygen and you can make fuel, which, coincidentally, also means that you can make a fortune. And when there is money involved, no problem is unsolvable.
Eventually the plans were completed and several ships filled with building materials and automated machinery headed towards Ganymede, the biggest of Jupiter's moons. The first part of the base construction had to have been fully automated - the base would be buried deep in the planet’s ice crust to protect the habitat from radiation on the surface, but it took several years to build before it was ready to accept its first human inhabitants.
The pioneers arrived to the base in 2128. They were all experts in their respective fields - builders and architects with experiences from constructing colonies on Luna, Mars or Venus, technicians to maintain the generators and life support systems, doctors, scientists in various fields like geology, chemistry or astronomy. Their goal was simple - to determine the best ways to extract water either from the planet’s surface or from the enormous subsurface ocean, refine it into fuel and then safely dispatch it to the new space station. There were 74 people in the original group, but before the base was declared fully operational in 2144 that number grew to over 2.500. The habitat was expanded greatly to accommodate the rising population, adding not only new utility areas, but also places to have fun and relax, including large biodomes simulating the natural environment on Earth (except for the gravity, which was approximately on the same level as on Luna). Incidentally, this rise in ‘luxury’ also caused another spike in population, as the company employees were allowed to bring families and fully relocate to Ganymede.
At the end of the 22nd century, the Frontier Base was fully self-sufficient in the most important areas such as energy, air, water or food, but a lot of things still had to have been imported - mainly building materials and ores from various mining stations throughout the solar system. And, of course, anything that was considered ‘luxurious’ on Ganymede came from Earth - things as simple as organic fabrics (especially wool, as the sheep and llamas don’t do well in low gravity environments), certain fruits or vegetables, or more complicated like specialized tools or medicines. At that time a second generation of Frontierans was born, people who have never been to Earth or other places and considered Ganymede to be their home planet. The result was a spike in nationalism and growing discontent with the Far Reach Corporation who continued to receive all the profits created by the base, giving only a small portion back via supplies, wages and necessary repairs to the infrastructure.
By the year of 2228 the population stabilized at around 4.500 people and after two severe accidents regarding the outdated life support systems, people started openly protesting against Far Reach. The first protests were peaceful, but after the company tried to suppress them with force, more and more people started joining in, all leading to an open revolution in 2232. During three days of blood and violence all of the Corporation security forces were defeated and the rebels officially declared independence from any outer powers. Anyone who wouldn’t pledge allegiance to the newly formed nation was either imprisoned and forced to work or executed.
The Far Reach tried to retake the base several times, but the hostile surface provided perfect protection, all the citizens had to do was to cut off all the entry points and defend them for a couple of days, before the invaders had to give up. The Corporation tried to avoid damaging the base in hopes of reclaiming it and resuming operations, but when they haven’t been successful, they decided that if they can’t have the base, no one will have it. The decision has been made to bombard the surface from orbit, destroying the settlement and everything in it. Fortunately other corporations, nations and colonies from the region stepped in and prevented the attack, as Frontier Base was one of the main fuel suppliers in the area and the war for independence has already created a shortage on local markets. Far Reach was forced to back out and without its main source of income it soon went bankrupt.
Meanwhile, the new nation was formed, finding its place in the system’s economy and diplomacy, forming its own laws, regulations and necessary bureaucracy, attempting to start building their own battle fleet, just in case someone else comes to take their home.
Well if you have water and energy then making food is simple as well - you have hydroponics, with sizable human population you would also have a lot of natural fertilizer, plus most of artificial fertilizers are based on nitrogen which I assume isnt so hard to come by in space either.
What is the technology level in the energy area? Do we assume that nuclear fusion is functional and accessible enough to be used in such distant colonies and harsh environments? Or do we stick with solar, geothermal (where applicable) or regular nuclear reactors? What about spaceships, what fuel do they use? Do we stick with the current system of hydrogen-oxygen reaction, which would mean the ships would have to stop and refuel or do we go with something more "star-trekie" like and kinda blackbox it into "well there is the engine that moves us through space, it works and doesnt really need anything".
I am trying to figure out what would the nations trade amongst each other - if the fuel system was in place, I assume the colonies occupying frozen worlds such as Jupiter moons (which was my first thought at a nation) and other ice-comprized bodies could become big fuel refineries, trading it for other things less accessible on their worlds, such as metals, which would be mined from asteroids.
I would really love to get into some good NRP. I am already going through some nation ideas, but have some questions. How realistic is the setting expected to be? You mention that the oxygen is hard to come by, so I assume we will have to justify how our people survive on other celestial bodies, but there are other problems than just getting oxygen and water, namely some moons have huge tidal forces and heating, magnetic storms and other fun things. So if we choose some planet or a moon to inhabit, do we have to be super realistic about its enviroment? What about humans? I assume that in the year given the technology will be more advanced, so various implants, modifications or extensions to human body would be somewhat normal? What about longterm effects of living in lower (or higher) gravity environments. How big nations are we talking about approximately?
Member
Heckno12
