I have been writing as a hobby for longer than you have been alive. I have been a regular member and roleplayer of no less than fourteen different online forums during that time (including the old RPG), fivesix eight of which no longer exist.
I was previously a regular on the Homestuck forums, but I became so sick of thread turnover there that I asked around and eventually found the Guild. Since joining, I have exclusively only participated in Advanced RPs. Before Mahz gave NRPs their own subforum, I used to be an NRP regular in the Advanced Subforum. I am a Guildfall survivor, and know/regularly write with a few others.
If you ask anybody who has written with me in previous RPs, they should tell you that I have a generally open schedule, I post regularly and in a timely fashion, and I never drop an RP once I join unless the thread dies. Some of them may tell you that I have extensive expertise within the realms of Biology, Psychology, and Physics, which I will make no effort to validate since there is no way I can provide hard proof of aforementioned alleged expertise to anybody over the internet (though I am happy to try and answer any questions you send my way).
My favorite fandom is the Myst franchise, which seemingly nobody other than me has ever heard of.
I was a Contest Moderator for the Writing Contests Subforum for just a little bit over two years. I wrote the Moderation Policy for that subforum and I ran a contest called the Twelve Labours; you can still go there and see all of them and the entries people wrote for them in the Contests Section and the Victory Archives.
I have been quadruple secret banned from the guild discord. That is not a joke.
<Snipped quote by Terminal>I see. To be honest, given the actual scale of things here the map objects are just plain HUGE. In some cases I can understand this but the neutron star anomaly and supernovae are apparently spreading for tens of thousands of lightyears here. Not even Star Trek was so wacky with these things (although the reboot movies introduced an antimatter supernova which had chain reaction BS where everything it consumed added further fuel for it to propagate --- apparently).
I get that otherwise they'd be almost undetectable but I suggest scaling them down a little and show their actual territory with a point or circe within the graphic.
The Supernova Remnants and the Magnetars could probably stand to be smaller, yes. I'll see about trying to find replacement imagery for them, or else alter the preexisting images to a more appropriate size.
<Snipped quote by Terminal>Well, you may need to watch more Star Trek and popular sci-fi in general. Weird space creatures with abstract biology (if ou can even call it as such) and capabilities that match or even surpass starships are relatively common.
As for the area, I thought about it being their territory for hunting. Otherwise because we talk about creatures that can move (and perhaps may even capable of FTL) you can't really put down their location.
I was really bummed when they killed off the Crystalline Entity.
Fascinating as that was to the Federation though, and as dangerous as it was, the fact of the matter is that it was a footnote to a massive interstellar nation. You can include any number of such creatures as ambient background details (True Vacuum Shenanigans ho), localized events and dynamic incidents (it might keep popping in to say hello whenever you meet with Nation X or it might be harassing your border outposts) and within your own nation's territory, but they are not going to get actual map-space dedicated to them. Sorry.
In essence, 'Map Anomalies' is a category reserved exclusively for big wacky energy vortexes and similar anomalies of that nature. Think the Nexus for example (although I think we can agree that was definitely not canon).
EDIT:
Yep, that calculation is correct. Good to see people are interpreting the map correctly.
And yeah by the way, everyone feel free to go crazy and post now if you've been accepted (unless you're @Mihndar, who needs to place themselves on the map first).
@AmongHeroes and @SgtEasy are both accepted. Yours names will shortly be added to the OP and the map updated with your positions.
@Willy Vereb, while the space creature thing might normally be considered an anomaly, I'm afraid it's far too localized in nature. Our little cube of space has a volume of more than five-hundred and twelve trillion lightyears, and our nations have bigger things to fry and then eat. Anomalies, for the purposes of the RP, should be large enough to be noteworthy to everyone in the region.
Iteration The New Universe Legacy Territory Inner Boundary Senur System Planet Nualia
Something was wrong.
Had been wrong for a while now. Tien'diad had been an astronomer amongst his kind before the Ennedi has came. His homeworld, now scarred and wartorn, had left him bereft and constantly running in fear and terror for his life. Even now though, he did not need any of his old instruments to tell when every single star in the night sky was out of place. The Galaxy's arms were missing. Especially conspicuous was the absence of the Barrier Nebula, a massive cloud of stellar matter that was supposed to be less than three lightyears away from the system, which normally completely eclipsed the skyline every other night. He had not seen it for several cycles now, as if it had just vanished.
Tien'diad was a Domodet - a long serpentine creature, his skin a rubbery white texture when both his scales and fur were retracted. His six powerful limbs and thick body filled with coiled, wiry muscles had been in excellent shape. Running for your life through underbrush and across partially destroyed urban landscapes had a way of doing that, and thankfully food wasn't scarce. Yet. Most of his kind were not aware of the change yet - too busy running and dying from the invaders care. The invaders definitely knew though. Their 'Foreign Integration' centers had been relatively inactive since the change, and the fleet in orbit had suddenly started targeting structures that previously held little to no strategic value - observatories, parabolic receptors and sensor arrays, even stellar-optic panels. All structures capable of identifying specific celestial objects in the sky, if you didn't already know what you were looking at. The Ennedi did not want their victims to know that something was wrong the universe. Probably because they wanted to be perceived as the biggest concern present, vain and self-important creatures that they were. Maybe the Ennedi Legacy no longer existed, wiped away with only the few fleets stationed here over the planet remaining.
Tien'diad flicked at the air with his tongue experimentally as he gazed at the unfamiliar stars, trying to discern any kind of pattern. He did not know much about what was going on these days. But even he knew that the Ennedi were in big trouble now.
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Legacy Territory Outer Boundary Plasero System Nemt'urye Gas Giant
"...their movements seem much more cautionary as of late, it is for certain." Adlivun signed, their electroplaques flaring brightly in the otherwise dim confines of the Blendec stealth vessel. "Despite no longer being surrounded on all sides, they act as though they are under siege. Their fleet movements have been few in number, and their watch over their conquered prizes is close."
"Almost as if they are wary of further revolt...Along with the new stars, one might be forgiven for thinking that perhaps some of their forces went missing along with the rest of the universe." Eoanr signed back. The two Blendecs were obese, softly undulating balls of slick membrane, each with four long and slender tendrils supporting their frames - waving, shimmering through the air. "It will not last. For all our pretentions to the contrary, they are a cunning species...cunning and needful. Needful of glory and dominance to revel in, for the short time they have."
"Perhaps...we might waylay them yet?" Adlivun half asked, half suggested. In this new universe, what were the chances that only the Ennedi and their victims had been reduced to the only intelligent life present? If anybody was out there, warning them would be prudent. Especially if they could grant asylum to the survivors.
"No. Not yet." Eoanr signed back, appendages waving lazily and easily - not rushed, but certain and steady. "We would be as alien to them as they would be to us. Even if native to this universe, to them it would be as this entire region appeared as if from the void. They would also be too wary to assist us. No, we shall permit the Ennedi to stir the flames of their passions. Then, perhaps, they might help us. Nothing helps primitive species unite, quite so much as a mutual hatred.
"You imply that we are now a primitive species." Adlivun accused.
Eoanr continued to stare at the viewscreen, filled by the image of their burning homeworld, completely devastated. "Are we not?" He returned mildly.
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Legacy Territory Shen System Planet Machairodus
"This is a catastrophe." Hokkaido signed. Unlike the Blendecs, the Ennedi lacked electroplaques - their signage was simple and rudimentary gestures executed via their maxillae. The language required large, sweeping and looping gestures in order to be clearly interpreted by weak Ennedi compound eyes. Combined with their massive stature, the process of more than one Ennedi having a conversation entailed motions typically only observed during the demolishing of derelict buildings. "I do not even speak in regard of the issues with the foreign refuse, though that is not good by any means. Arbitrators have reported an increase in overt aberrant behavior. There have been thousands of internal sector conflicts due to uncertainties regarding policy in the wake of the transition. Individuals are becoming distracted by the external universe. Productivity is down across all systems."
"This issue is quite unusual in precedent." Marozi, one of the heads of the Industrial sector signed back. Actual, physical meetings between sector heads was a rare and largely unnecessary practice. Preparing to arraign before the Censors though, now was one of the rare occasions when it saved more time to physically sign to one another than to use the building's coenocyte circuitry. My predecessor made a recorded decision to leave the matter specifically to the Censors on account of not being sure how to proceed.
"Notation from their predecessors indicates the same. A display of confusion." An erratic swiping gesture accompanied by a clipped folding of the proximal maxillae conveyed Hokkaido's disapproval. "The correct procedure would have been to consult with the heads of the other sectors, and yet somehow both sectors independently reached the conclusion that the issue must be left to the censors. I received an inquiry for a rim sample from the Arbitrators in order to prove my lineage was free of defects.
"It seems aberrant that the Censors should have taken so longer to have finished their analysis of the situation..." Marozi signed, their maxillae fluttering faintly with untold accusations. "Though I suppose they might be forgiven for the magnitude of the problem. Have you spoken with Amarok yet?"
"Yes. They agree with the proposed implementations, and implied there has been internal dissent amongst the Armada...I suspect Command Arbitration has been quite busy with wetwork." Hokkaido replied. "We should be able to slip this particular piece past the Censors easily enough. It is a bold, but decisive response. They should only strike it down if there is evidence that the situation is deteriorating, which is unlikely even should the policy not have the intended effect."
"Contingency in all things. We do not know what revisions they will have decided are currently necessary. They may instruct Amarok to initiate a complete, systemic purge for all that we might predict of their decision." Marozi cautioned, a tense curling of their distal maxillae evident.
"While that would be most troubling, I feel even then that this new policy would retain its efficacy. Hokkaido signed in return, even as they lumbered away towards the Censor's rotunda. "Enough speculation. The time has come to declare our greatest victory."
@Mihndar, since you expressed a desire to place yourself on the map, have at it. Just be aware, you are not cleared to post until you have done so. Take your time.
Also be aware, I am accepting suggestions for anomalies to place on the map. Feel free to post them here.
The IC introductory post itself shall be up shortly.
Ok, got back late again tonight, but I decided that sleep was for the weak. I am now making the map and reviewing all the new posted nations sheets. Map and IC will be up before the sun rises.
How can they value life, when death is their destiny?
The Ennedi Legacy is an aristocratic oligarchy amongst a number of genetically distinct lineages amongst the Ennedi species, ruling over an innumerable collection of 'client' species whom the Ennedi rule over. The Ennedi themselves are a peculiar species noted for their unusually short lifespan, explosive maturation cycle, and productivity. As a species they are impressively advanced by any metric, but their widespread interstellar oligarchy suffers from widespread underdevelopment and neglect. In the False Vacuum universe, the Ennedi asserted their own intellectual and moral superiority over all other organic species, pursuing aggressive and intrusive brinksmanship against other nations and professing the role of the benign imperial power; ruling over lesser species and factions for their own betterment and protection. This saw the Ennedi embroiled in countless interstellar wars and conflicts with evidence suggesting they were actively pursuing widespread naval operations when the Metastability Event occurred. Taking advantage of the Legacy's sudden offset and loss of a great portion of its naval forces, many of the conquered Ennedi territories rebelled. Uncertain of charging headlong into the new unknown universe with diminished forces, the Ennedi have since turned their focus inward in order to stabilize their power base and restore the Legacy Armada. The current Ennedi Legacy is a constant flux-state of revolution and violent military suppression.
With a greatly diminished navy, the Legacy finds itself spread and exposed across too many systems, only able to keep hold due to a massive technological advantage and supremely adept naval and military tactics.
The Ennedi control thirty-six star systems scattered across a wider than wise region of space, most of the Legacy's territory is comprised of conquered alien colonies. Most of these systems are heavily war-scared, with partially obliterated or else heavily damaged industrial and civilian infrastructure, all containing different alien populations. A smaller number of systems appear to be regional hubs established by the Ennedi as Integration Zones, where individuals from surrounding conquered territories are gathered for cultural and societal reorientation - both with each other and for a future life of service to the Legacy. Within the center of the Legacy's territory is a more clustered collection of systems controlled exclusive by the Ennedi, which are much more heavily developed and intact than the surrounding conquered colonies. While the preexisting infrastructure in these areas is advanced and impressive, most of the strategic resources in these areas have been depleted, creating a dependence upon the surrounding, less developed territories for resources and materials.
Noteworthy Locations:
The Enned System: The home of the Ennedi species, the system is sparse with only three celestial bodies orbiting their parent star. The Ennedi homeworld is 100% urbanized, covered with sprawling industrial and civilian infrastructure and serving as the beating heart of Legacy Armada.
Nualia: Homeworld to the conquered Domodet species, located near the inner boundary of the conquered Ennedi territories. A highly aggressive species, the remaining Domodet factions have been engaged in constant guerrilla warfare with Legacy forces for some time now, their numbers seemingly inexhaustible. The entire planet is barely hospitable, with wide swathes that have been devastated by orbital bombardment leaving only a few livable landmasses intact. However, the planet's climate has been irrevocably affected by the widespread ecological effects of prior orbital bombardment, and is gearing up for an early ice age. Its atmosphere contains low concentrations of Oxygen, with high concentrations of Nitrogen and Ammonia. Nearly all urban centers are wartorn and in shambles, with the Domodets having returned to the use of primitive pre-spaceflight technologies for survival. The Legacy Armada is largely withdrawn from this system, with only a token force safeguarding the planet itself and a few others in the process of establishing permanent bases and ventures elsewhere in the system.
Integration Zone One: The first of the Legacy Integration Hubs, this well-developed colony lies just inside the first series of systems exterior the Legacy's core worlds. Host to nearly half a dozen different species undergoing reorientation, the IZO contains numerous naval bases and resource ventures and is home to a number of Legacy Armada fast-response fleets which can be deployed to any of the surrounding systems if needed to suppress revolts or for greeting uninvited guests. The multi-species population of the colony is rife with discontent and has served as a prime target for subversive propaganda and dissent by revolutionary forces. Thus far, the concentration and focus of Legacy naval forces in the system have quelled any hint of open revolt.
Integration Zone Two: Less developed than the IZO, the IZT acts as a Hub colony near the boundary of the exterior systems. Host to a much larger subset of species, the IZT is more akin to a penal colony than the 'integration zone' the Legacy would prefer. Lacking in the same widespread infrastructure with no major naval sites outside the the colony itself, the IZT nonetheless remains a highly active military zone with Legacy fleets constantly coming and going. Many naval and military exercises are held here using the resident alien populace as 'belligerent' practice targets and demonstrations.
Lerna: Homeworld to the conquered and now extinct Lernaean species, located near the periphery of the Legacy's conquered territory. A moon with a smooth, icy surface floating freely atop warm saltwater oceans heated by geothermal activity and radiation emitted by its parent gas giant. Its deep oceans and thin crust relative to the size of the mantle creates a relatively rare resource venture due to the ease of accessing the moon's mineral rich mantle and core, making the moon one of the Legacy's most promising potential sources of rare raw materials once sufficiently developed. Lerna has no atmosphere above its icy surface, and contains no remnant traces of the Lernaean species or their civlization. The moon itself is host to a concentrated force of the Legacy Armada, which has established a temporary shipyard upon the moon's surface and is preparing for the establishment and expansion of more permanent facilities. The system as a whole is unsecure despite the large concentration of warships around the moon.
Baceran Prime: The most recently conquered territory of the Legacy, the Icaroa system remains an active warzone as remnants of the Blendec navy contain to launch attacks of opportunity and attrition against stationed Legacy fleets. The planet itself is utterly barren, having been thoroughly irradiated and glassed by orbital bombardment to the point where the planet's atmosphere has been stripped away while its surface has devolved into a state of self-sustaining calefaction. Ennedi forces possess a single official staging point within the system in the form of a mobile resupply supercarrier vessel, with individual fleetgroups entering and leaving in staggered waves while scouring the system's gas giants for signs of the Blendec vessels still hiding within.
The Legacy government is an aristocratic oligarchy which is partially hereditary in nature; the nation is ruled by a narrow lineage of individual Ennedi divided between a number of organizations. As individuals in power die, they are typically replaced within hours by their offspring except on occasions when they would emerge possessing notable physical or mental defects, resulting in immediate cannibalization. The free spot is then filled by spare offspring from a neighboring Lineage (wherever available). Due to the brevity of the Ennedi lifespan, conventional politics do not exist within the Legacy government. There are no alliances, no philosophical blocs, and little oversight. Behavior and practice within the government is controlled through a mixture of cultural condition and expectations alongside chemical control and dependency, ensuring that the foremost concern of the individual is the accomplishment of their specific task. Conflict generated by opposing policies, rather than being resolved by any of the associated parties, are reported and handled entirely by third party mediators, leaving the government largely free of internal conflict.
The Legacy Government is divided into three sectors: Societal, Industrial, and Command. The Societal sector deals with affairs pertaining to the Ennedi populace itself and matters of concern to the species as a whole, including agricultural and sustenance concerns as well as what passes for standards of living amongst the Ennedi. Foremost, their responsibility is to maintain the Ennedi way of life, presenting and reinforcing the cultural conditioning that is widespread amongst the Ennedi populace which keeps it functioning as an efficient and productive machine. The Industrial sector deals with logistics, allocation, infrastructure, and scientific R&D. Functioning as a utility provider and troubleshooting sector, most they deal with new or potential problems where the Societal sector prevents them. Finally, Legacy Command is responsible for all military and strategic affairs.
While each sector is highly distinct in nature and operation, all three work in great conjunction with one another at all times across the entire nation, even amongst the Legacy Armada. In order to reduce conflicts, each sector possesses a sub-sector dedicated specifically to arbitration with the other two sectors, which operates on a joint basis. Wherever conflict would crop up due to aberrant behavior or genuinely conflicting policies, the arbitrators are expected to resolve the issue, absolving government officials from complications inherent to their responsibilities.
Each Sector is headed by fifteen Ennedi from randomly selected Ennedi lineages amongst those constituting the Ennedi Legacy's government sectors, as well as by three Censors selected on a similar basis. The fifteen heads are appointed with the task of drafting and issuing all official policy within the Legacy, while the Censors are responsible for recording internal policy conflicts as reported by sector arbitration. Censors have the authority to revise any policy that generates a certain degree of internal conflict within the Legacy sectors, providing oversight.
Pictured: A juvenile (lower) and adult (upper) of the Ennedi species, with a Human male on the right provided for spatial reference.
Pictured: A 'glutted' Ennedi that has reached the final possible stage of growth in the species.
The Ennedi are a species of carbon-based, sentient, amphibious crustaceans with a Bromine-dependent physiology, a single-stranded mono-molecular base genome, and an abnormal plasmodium neurology. They are known for their short lifespans, their explosive rate of growth, their gluttony, and their intellect.
No review of Ennedi biology is complete without an immediate address of their brevity. The natural, upper age limit of death via senescence amongst the species is a mere three-hundred and sixty hours (approximately fifteen days). The Ennedi begin their lifecycle as a microscopic egg which, permitting a specific set of allowances, may grow to a size in excess of fifty meters in length in less than two-hundred and forty hours. This explosive rate of growth also permits nigh-miraculous recovery from physical injuries and trauma, including partial destruction of the brain - but only as a function of growth. As shown in fully Glutted Ennedi, the species has no natural capacity for healing from injuries once they have stopped growing in size.
Every Ennedi individual is effectively female for the purposes of reproduction. Mature Ennedi will produce tens of thousands of microscopic eggs along an interior column running along the spine of their exo-skeletons. Upon death, an activator chemical is released from surrounding stiffened muscle groups that chemically inactivate a number of metabolic inhibitors. The eggs then begin to cannibalize both each other and the corpse while naturally being drawn downwards by the pull of gravity, into the main mass of the body. On average, anywhere between five to two of the eggs will survive to emerge from the corpse as an infantile Ennedi. This individual will be fully independent and capable of survival on its own upon its emergence, although its intelligence will be animal and primitive in nature.
The Ennedi are a gluttonous species, capable and willing to eat anything they can fit within their maw. They have keen thermal and vibratory senses that allow them to identify moving, organic beings. They possess four compound eyes, allowing immensely detailed near-sighted vision. Ennedi have extremely poor focal sight, and cannot see or sense anything beyond fifty meters. They have no form of hearing or taste, although there keen vibratory sense does permit them to perceive sounds and music as a 'reverberating' sensation within their own bodies. After emergence, Juvenile Ennedi will immediately seek out and consume any and all organic matter they can find, including the remnant carcass of their parent as well as any surviving siblings. If there is no organic matter within the vicinity to consume, the infantile Ennedi will enter a state of Torpor in order to conserve metabolic energy. Individual cells within the body will undergo gradual petrifaction the longer Torpor lasts, enabling Infantile Ennedi to remain with the state for years if necessary. Detection of heat and vibrations indicative of large organic life nearby will cause the (also gradual) release of lytic agents that will chemically substrate biomineralized tissue, causing the infantile Ennedi to emerge from the Torpor state. As most bodily and metabolic functions are suspended during Torpor, time spent therein is not considered a part of the Ennedi growth or life cycle. Furthermore, although the Torpor state is generally only ever induced in infantile Ennedi, the ability is retained by juveniles, adolescents, mature, and glutted Ennedi.
Ennedi metabolic physiology is remarkably efficient, able to convert as much as 30% of any digested mass into chemical energy. This extreme metabolism fuels the explosive Ennedi growth cycle, enabling extremely rapid growth for as long as the individual is able to continuously consume organic material. As many as seven in ten Ennedi are thought to have died of starvation in nature prior to the emergence of civilization amongst the species. However, only 40% of all nutrients and energy gained from their diet contributes to the growth of their body. Over half goes to the remarkably complex Ennedi brain. The Ennedi vascular system is open, and is tied directly into a complex gas-exchange and filtration system design to expel waste from the body as gaseous chemical waste. Fully Glutted Ennedi emit more than four different forms of compound molecular toxins as a waste product of both digestion and gas exchange, creating a signature musk in proximity to individuals or groups which serves as a tell-tale sign of their presence within the vicinity.
The Ennedi neurology is abnormal in its existence as a freely suspended plasmodium coenocyte structure. Functioning as a seamless electrochemical media, Ennedi neurology is enormously more efficient than conventional multicellular, neuron-oriented cognition. In addition to simple media advantages (faster chemical and electrical transfer of information and redundant structural components being chief), the coenocyte grows at a geometric rate as the individual grows, resulting in a parabolic growth of intellect relative to the size of the individual. This intelligence plateaus at a state referred to as 'glutted,' normally unachievable by Ennedi in nature but made more commonplace by modern agricultural practices. Fully Glutted Ennedi are considered to possess a logical intelligence subset on-par with that of conventional A.I. systems (and slightly lesser than that of a quantum-based A.I.). This reflects only the abstract logical abilities of the individual; and even fully Glutted Ennedi are capable of being deceived, mislead, and of making mistakes due to flawed reasoning. In computational terms, the raw processing power of the Ennedi coenocyte exceeds most parallel-and-serial oriented organic processing structures (as seen in Humans by way of example), allowing them to absorb, interpret, and analyze large amounts of data quickly, making them exceedingly talented in multiple knowledge-oriented roles such as mathematics and physics.
Ennedi society is highly class-oriented and stratified, placing great emphasize on social order and communal, societal roles. The individual, upon emergence, is assigned a life-role based upon the location of their emergence, which they are then trained and equipped for over several hours to fulfill in a specific capacity. Due to this cultural practice, all of Ennedi society is divided into genetically distinct Lineages defined by profession and locale.
The Ennedi place a great abstract value upon the notion of leaving behind a Legacy; to accomplish something that is left for future Ennedi to work upon and improve. To do so is considered a boon to the entirety of Ennedi society, and so individuals are conditioned to believe that no task is insignificant. Ennedi live the entirety of their short lives pursuing one task or job, and upon death their offspring are expected to replace them within hours. All of society is attributed with an overarching goal or task that it must reach, which is seen as a great Legacy as achieved by multiple individuals working in unison towards a greater goal. For this reason, Ennedi society is highly task and goal oriented - the individual is obsessed with completing their job, correctly and swiftly, wasting as little time as possible.
Behavior and cultural conditioning amongst the Ennedi is extremely rigid and self-reinforcing. Deviation is rare and generally a result of genetic defects or else contamination of the local food supply. Genuine aberrant behavior does occur, but in a population where a significant percentage of individuals are Glutted and expectations are labor-oriented, aberrant behavior is hard to conceal. As the Ennedi lifespan is short, a limited degree of aberrant behavior is tolerated in the long run since too much regulation to prevent it would be a literal waste of extremely limited time. However, as individuals can also be easily replaced, unacceptable degrees of aberrant behavior are typically resolved by execution and prompt cannibalization.
The only emotive form the individual is capable of experiencing of a comparable nature to joy is that experienced when eating. Most if not all Ennedi are fitted with feeder devices that, when hooked up to a pump-utility, allow for a constant stream of organic nutrition in the form of several molds on the order of several dozen tons every day. Most Ennedi therefore exist in a euphoric state that renders them highly pliable to suggestion. While this is exploited by the higher echelons in order to corral the larger populace, it can lead to misinformation and subversion within the ranks of society on occasion.
While the Ennedi legacy has no official religion, there is a widespread common belief that the Legacy is locked in an eternal, cosmic battle with an entity referred to in their language as 'The Nothing After Death.' The Ennedi believe that this alleged entity is the enemy of all life in the form of active intelligence and motive, creating impetus where previously there was none - and thus has an agenda to destroy all intelligent life with a level of effort proportional to their intelligence. Thus, the Ennedi perceive themselves as a species to be the natural nemesis of the entity, claiming that their short overall lifespan is due to the Nothing After Death seeing them as the greatest threat to it in the universe and is thus evidence of both their intellectual and moral superiority over other species. The Nothing After Death has several symbolic associations with physical laws and constraints such as Entropy, Time, and Radioactive Decay.
Legacy Arbitration: Three partially unified subsectors within the Legacy government, Arbitrators are tasked with resolving internal dispute caused by conflicting policies within the Legacy government, while also reporting trends and dialectics to the Censors. As an extension of this role and in accordance with Ennedi cultural roles, they also act as a Hunter-Killer group that tracks and eliminates aberrant behaviors and individuals. A significant percentage of internal Legacy dispute is generated by aberrant behavior, and thus, Arbitrators tend to be well-equipped for fighting other Ennedi (and smaller, squishier species as well) and are generally the best-armed and equipped individuals in the Ennedi Legacy. Since they are tasked with resolving disputes, their association with the Societal sector of the Legacy government means they are responsible for correcting problematic societal trends and behaviors within Ennedi culture as a whole, giving Arbitrators the right and inclination to produce propaganda, lace food supplies and rations with mood-altering compounds, and so forth. While relatively minor in the ultimate hierarchy of the Legacy government, they are the true movers and power within Ennedi society as a whole, as well as within cultures the Ennedi are in the process of integrating.
Foreign Integration: A subsector of the Societal Legacy sector, FI is seen on Ennedi hubworlds attempting to 'reorient' conquered alien species to a new life living and working with each other in service to the Ennedi Legacy. Externally they are a joke, capable only of using words and negotiation in order to manipulate and motivate conquered alien species. What makes them significant is their ability to assign Arbitration to assassinate troublesome individuals or to have Legacy Command initiate a violent purge or Urban Renewal. Possessing more similarities to a cult than to a genuine government branch, FI in particular espouses Ennedi intellectual and moral superiority to a degree which even Arbitration finds 'Almost unnecessary and aberrant in quality.'
External Powers and Suborning: The equivalent of a foreign diplomacy and intelligence agency, EPS is responsible for making open contact with alien powers and pursuing preliminary negotiations prior to integration with the Ennedi Legacy. Infamous for their aggressive pursuit of invasive brinksmanship, intimidation, and heavy-handed negotiation tactics. In instances where an alien society proves to be resistant to integration, EPS pursues 'coercion' tactics in an effort to undermine the target nation, both as an extension of regular diplomatic practice and as preparation for injunction by the Legacy Armada. EPS has been branded as a terrorist group by many previously conquered nations due to their violent and subversive tactics, as well as their blatant disregard for the sovereign authority of other nations.
Aberrant Associations and Practices: Not all aberrants in Ennedi society are cannibalized. Some, realizing their nature, will voluntarily present themselves to Arbitration for assignment to an industrial R&D subsector studying aberrant genetics and coenocytic physiology. Realizing that such individuals could never truly be purged from society, it was determined by the Legacy government that these individuals could still prove useful serving in a more individualistic capacity normally considered detrimental to regular society - and so sent a large number of aberrant out into space to 'make their own way, and to our benefit if at all convenient.' Essentially a rogue mercantile and mercenary agency, the AAP fulfills all external roles that normal individuals would fulfill in other alien societies. They pursue foreign trade, relief, research partnerships, and other 'alien' forms of cooperation and exchange which the Legacy Government otherwise considers to be abnormal. While nominally unaffiliated with the Legacy government, they are unofficially supported by the Legacy to a degree proportional to utility. While the organization as a whole works for the betterment of the Legacy, a large number of them are further divorced from the Legacy's ideals and more open to entertaining alien intrigue and shady dealing.
Under construction!
The Ennedi Legacy was devastated by the abrupt shift to the True Vacuum Universe. Innumerable military assets in the form of ships and outposts where instantaneously lost, all knowledge on the preexisting galactic landscape was lost, all of the alien territories they had been in the process of conquering have vanished, and the territory they have already conquered is on the verge of being lost due to perpetual revolt. The current accepted hypothesis for the Metastability Event itself is that an unknown power induced the event via artificial means with the deliberate intention of creating a stable vacuum that would not result is the instantaneous destruction of reality itself, completely precluding the existential threat of a future, naturally occuring Metastability Event. While this is seen as a good thing, the Legacy as a whole views the timing as inconvenient due to the ensuing issues that have cropped up. Within the upper echelons of power, the Legacy is wary that the faction responsible might still exist, and if so exists on an order of scale and power that the Legacy itself cannot match.
Technology:The Ennedi occupy a curious technological niche. When they first achieved faster than light technology, their technology mostly dealt with meteorlogical and atmospheric manipulation due to prior ecological crisis upon their homeworld, while military and spacefaring technology was comparatively primitive. However, their political stance quickly saw they embroiled in multiple wars with surrounding powers. Over time, the Ennedi acquired and reverse engineered several alien technologies which they then adopted and improved upon. As such, the Ennedi have an adaptable approach to technological constants, and possess no compunction about adopting the best examples of alien technology they encounter.
Areas where the Ennedi excel include Energy Projection and Sensor technology. Areas where they lag behind include industrial extraction and refining technology.
Every Ennedi vessel possesses a specially built containment chamber near their center of mass. When the time comes for faster-than-light travel, the chamber generates an artificial singularity with zero spin and charge. Using electromagnetic manipulation, a matrix of exotic matter with negative mass is used to interact with the singularity as mass and energy are injected inwards, causing the singularity’s event horizon to expand. By this process, the event horizon grows to cover the entirety of the ship, and the exotic matter matrix stabilizes the singularity in order to create a swarzchild wormhole. The vessel then ‘falls’ past the singularity at its core by having it spun via the exotic matter matrix, changing its own position relative to the wormhole (while remaining stationary relative to the singularity), and uses then uses the exotic matter matrix to pinch it shut after shutting off the injection systems. The vessel continues to fall through a corridor of maximally extended spacetime until arriving at its coordinate destination, where the vessel then contracts the event horizon, reverting the singularity to a white terminus and reemerging in space. During the reemergence, a bubble of spacetime surrounds the ship wherein nothing can enter its reciprocal event horizon, shoving away any and all obstructions at the destination point and obscuring the ship from any and all forms of attack. The bubble then dissipates, and the ship completes its transit.
Generating, sustaining, and manipulating the singularity is so energy intensive that each Ennedi vessel makes use of several capacitor rings to store power for the process. After each wormhole jump, a vessel much recharge its capacitors, which takes time depending upon the size of the ship and the output of its virtual antimatter rings.When the singularity’s event horizon expands to engulf a vessel, any and all objects caught in the event horizon are pulled through the jump along with the vessel.
Before power generation for the Ennedi is described, here is a brief primer on Quantum Physics.
According to quantum mechanics (and wave-particle duality in particular), energy can exist as both a particle and a wave. As an extension of this, energy only exists as a particle, in a particular point in spacetime, when explicitly observed as existing there. As an additional extension, by that logic an unobserved particle exists across the entirety of its wave function, and when detected (by interaction with matter for example) the potential particle most likely to interact with it, as described by that particle’s wave function, does so. This does not preclude potential particles with a lower wave function from interacting with matter however – just unlikely. As yet another extension off of that point, an unobserved particle behaving as a wave is considered to exist in all its possible configurations simultaneously until observed. If all of these points are true, then a number of very strange things become possible. For one, it becomes possible for a particle to exist in more than a single place at once, in different states and configurations simultaneously, and to interact with itself.
Because of the above points, this means that a particle, completely by chance (although the chance is very, very low) can act as a wave to bypass solid, otherwise impenetrable barriers (quantum tunneling), and can also potentially (with an even lower chance of happening) abruptly shift state and configuration dramatically without any extraordinary impetus. The EOA are masters of exploiting the lower-order physics of Quantum Mechanics and of using these laws to free energy systems which violate classical mechanics but are thermodynamically feasible and consistent with quantum mechanics.
As an example of this, Ennedi vessels use a varying number of particle accelerator rings per vessel for energy capture purposes. Each ring is preassembled independently and uses an initial power supply to generate a stream of accelerated neutrons. This stream is run through a series of calibrated electromagnetic arrays which precisely detect and influence the positioning and configuration of each accelerated particle. The Ennedi have thus managed to design an accelerator array enabling them to generate highly unlikely super-positioned particles in exceedingly unlikely configurations and states relative to their parent normal particle. By forcing the generation of, for all intents and purposes, imaginary anti-particles via tricked out observation of regular particles, and by having them annihilate and capturing the energy, the Ennedi have a system which seemingly generates free energy, only limited by their capacity to store it.
The only real downside to this system is the limited extent to which the Ennedi can harvest energy from antimatter annihilation relative to their capacity to store it. They only capture energy from antimatter annihilation in minute amounts, and so must carefully monitor their energy stores and conserve strategically. They have an endless power supply, but they can only draw so much power from it at once.
Most Ennedi warships possess a large parabolic structure mounted towards the front which doubles as a high-powered energy weapon and as a shielding system. By projecting a high-potential electromagnetic field across the arch of the parabolic dish, they create a high-energy relay at the apex of the dish as well as at its distal epicenter.
Whenever an energy munition or projectile (such as a pulsed or stream beam of accelerated particles, superheated plasma, or directed radiation) is fired at the front of the ship, it must pass the electromagnetic field, disrupting it in the process. This instantly creates a negative-potential discharge from the parabolic dish, which generates an electrical arc between itself and the breaching projectile, forming a circuit between it and the vessel. The energy projectile is then conducted directly into the ship's capacitors, with excess energy being vented from the ship as an energetic discharge if it the energy cannot be fully converted into the system.
In this way, the parabolic shielding system renders Ennedi vessels immune to energy-weapons fire directed at them from the front.
Rather than dump a whole ton of more in-depth information on Quantum mechanics involving imaginary particles and virtual eigenstates, I’m just going to link you to this wiki article, which succinctly (if not perfectly) describes what the Ennedi use for sublight propulsion.
The only qualifiers I would like to add are that, using a containment system operating on the same principles described up in the Power Generation section, each Ennedi vessel does not make use of actual thrusters. Instead they use multiple projection devices contained inside their hulls, which project the virtual propellant away from the outside of each ship. In this way, Ennedi vessels can typically accelerate, decelerate, turn, and spin in any conceivable fashion, since they are not limited by the placement of exterior jets or thrusters.
The Ennedi are capable of industrially synthesizing a mold-like organisms possessing an internal genome identical to their own, with a specific set of encoded knowledge-based information and a number of chemical factors that allow for their identification and integration. When eaten by an individual Ennedi, they will slowly gain the stored information over the course of several hours as the genetic information is relayed from their digestive tract into their coenocyte brain and deciphered.
Only abstract information (mathematics, inscriptions, codes). Practical means of allowing for the transmission of actual memories and sensations has proved a difficult hurdle within Ennedi bioengineering.
Not so much a weapon as a means of projecting energy, Differential Wave-Streaming incorporates targeting masers to create corridors of electromagnetic radiation which are acted upon by the Casimir Effect, enabling information and energy flowing through the targeting maser to move faster than light within the frame of reference of the differential corridors. The observed effect of a weapon designed this way would be for the targeting maser to proceed normally at near-lightspeed across space until it reached its target, upon which any energy beam or pulse weapon streamed through the corridor would move faster than light within that frame of reference. A target 300,000 kilometers away from the affected energy weapon in space, which would normally take one second for the weapon to hit, would be hit instantaneously by any shot fired by the weapon as though zero time was passing between the shot and impact. In essence, Differential Wave-Streaming just increases the effective weapons range (in terms of tohit ratio) of regular energy weapons, to a limited degree dependent upon the size and power available to the vessel making use of the system.
The Mind Ripper takes the form of an electron and neutrino emitter which flash-vaporizes solid and liquid matter while creating a structural blueprint of the destroyed structure. Similar in nature to conventional Neutrino scanners, Mind Ripping is capable of deciphering information contained within carbon based lifeforms possessing a phosphate-backbone base genome structure. Situated around the skull of the victim, the Mind Ripper destroys the entire head for the sole purpose of hitting and analyzing memory structures.
Mind Ripping as a technique needs to be specifically adapted to individual species which are vulnerable to it, largely in order to identify memory structures within the brain and to narrow down genetic code containing memory and information, and further analysis to decrypt individual species differences in coding. However, once developed, Mind Ripping can extract any form of abstract, knowledge-based information from the brain and store it as digital media which can then either by inscribed in code or else converted into Ennedi genetic information for coenocyte integration.
Military Structure: The Legacy Armada is composed of a number of Fleetgroups which operate under Legacy Command. Individual Fleetgroups are not specialized, existing as a self-contained and self-perpetuating entity with multiple fleets assigned to numerous, more specialized roles. Every fleetgroup is as much a naval force as much as it is a widely-dispersed nomadic civilian fleet. Each fleetgroup has high requirements for independent operation, and so are accompanied by several logistics and utility fleets, allowing each fleet group to resupply, retrofit, and otherwise freely operate anywhere in space without need to retreat back into the Legacy coreworlds.
The Command Structure amongst Fleets and Fleetgroups is practically nonexistent, with Ship Pilots exercising the only autonomy necessary for all field operations and engagements. Each Fleetgroup is accompanied by at least one fleet dedicated to C&C, containing multiple C&C vessels which hang back in remote locations during most affairs, directing operations from afar via direct FTL communication with groups of pilots. Tacticians and strategists within the C&C are entrusted to make critical military decisions on the fly when not in direct contact with Legacy Command, each Pod of individuals following a randomized schedule of communication and direction, preventing the formation of any kind of coterie between individuals.
Under Construction!
C&C: The Command and Communications section is the closest thing the Ennedi have to an assembly of commissioned officers. Individuals amongst this section are responsible for conveying all fleetgroup communiques, issuing and relaying all orders and movements, and the general macromanagement of entire fleetgroups. Something of an armchair group, they are known to hang back away from mainstay fleet operations, directing everything discretely via FTL communications. As they are in control of nearly everything and since they tend to be made up of the most knowledgeable individuals that can be assembled, there are a large number of contingency policie3s built into the sector in order to prevent treason.
BS&D: The Battlefield Superiority and Dominance section is a straightforward assault sector of the Legacy navy, utilizing fleet makeups with warships designed to obliterate opposition from extreme range without inviting retaliation.
M&BM: The Materiel and Ballistic Munitions section is responsible for the manufacture, handling, transportation, and projection of multi-drive, strategic-theater missile weapons. Largely acting in support of other sections, the M&MB is a compromise in order to accommodate ballistic-oriented tactics in naval warfare, a departure from standard Ennedi doctrine which emphasizes energy munitions. M&MB fleets usual perform distraction and mitigation roles for that reason, with more conventional assault fleets pursuing direct battlefield superiority.
I'm going to try and post either later tonight or tomorrow. Traction is going to be dumping her intel on Zelda (read: Nothing) and then telling everyone what her plan is.
I have been writing as a hobby for longer than you have been alive. I have been a regular member and roleplayer of no less than fourteen different online forums during that time (including the old RPG), [s]five[/s] [s]six[/s] eight of which no longer exist.
I was previously a regular on the Homestuck forums, but I became so sick of thread turnover there that I asked around and eventually found the Guild. Since joining, I have exclusively only participated in Advanced RPs. Before Mahz gave NRPs their own subforum, I used to be an NRP regular in the Advanced Subforum. I am a Guildfall survivor, and know/regularly write with a few others.
If you ask anybody who has written with me in previous RPs, they should tell you that I have a generally open schedule, I post regularly and in a timely fashion, and I never drop an RP once I join unless the thread dies. Some of them may tell you that I have extensive expertise within the realms of Biology, Psychology, and Physics, which I will make no effort to validate since there is no way I can provide hard proof of aforementioned alleged expertise to anybody over the internet (though I am happy to try and answer any questions you send my way).
My favorite fandom is the Myst franchise, which seemingly nobody other than me has ever heard of.
I was a Contest Moderator for the Writing Contests Subforum for just a little bit over two years. I wrote the Moderation Policy for that subforum and I ran a contest called the Twelve Labours; you can still go there and see all of them and the entries people wrote for them in the [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/forums/45-writing-contests]Contests Section[/url] and the [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/79562-the-twelve-labours-victory-archive/ooc]Victory Archives.[/url]
I have been quadruple secret banned from the guild discord. That is not a joke.
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;">I have been writing as a hobby for longer than you have been alive. I have been a regular member and roleplayer of no less than fourteen different online forums during that time (including the old RPG), <span class="bb-s">five</span> <span class="bb-s">six</span> eight of which no longer exist.<br><br>I was previously a regular on the Homestuck forums, but I became so sick of thread turnover there that I asked around and eventually found the Guild. Since joining, I have exclusively only participated in Advanced RPs. Before Mahz gave NRPs their own subforum, I used to be an NRP regular in the Advanced Subforum. I am a Guildfall survivor, and know/regularly write with a few others.<br><br>If you ask anybody who has written with me in previous RPs, they should tell you that I have a generally open schedule, I post regularly and in a timely fashion, and I never drop an RP once I join unless the thread dies. Some of them may tell you that I have extensive expertise within the realms of Biology, Psychology, and Physics, which I will make no effort to validate since there is no way I can provide hard proof of aforementioned alleged expertise to anybody over the internet (though I am happy to try and answer any questions you send my way).<br><br>My favorite fandom is the Myst franchise, which seemingly nobody other than me has ever heard of.<br><br>I was a Contest Moderator for the Writing Contests Subforum for just a little bit over two years. I wrote the Moderation Policy for that subforum and I ran a contest called the Twelve Labours; you can still go there and see all of them and the entries people wrote for them in the <a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/forums/45-writing-contests">Contests Section</a> and the <a href="https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/79562-the-twelve-labours-victory-archive/ooc">Victory Archives.</a><br><br>I have been quadruple secret banned from the guild discord. That is not a joke.</div>
KactusPunch
Crown Sage
MarshalSolgriev
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Zeroth
