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When the submission for this eventually makes its way to the Setting forum:
- If the name is still "Black Star Alliance" that's going to be a problem, so please try to come up with another alliance name that sounds less generic and doesn't partially overlap with existing factions.
- I'm going to ask about the history - basically what is the IC reason for this thing to start, and how did it start? Is there any RP that supports it?
- Where is this alliance planned to be physically located?
I can answer all of that right now actually.
1. I don't know what the problem with Black Star Alliance is, given I have explained at least twice why they are calling it "Black Star Alliance"
2. History? Morioka talks with Khelena about doubling down and putting the Vekimen in the history books about being the founder of something larger than the VDTF. They talk, and Khelena asks for the Black Star Alliance to be the new name, which is made because the Vekimen worshiped the idea of a star that was black, but provided them the warmth to live. It is a metaphorical name founded in history of the Vekimen that has been on the Wiki since I made the Faction page.
3. It's starting is Gridsquare 1919, which is where the Vekimen are.
@Wes ping
EDIT: Given the Vekimens position hasn't been solidified on the map however, I would like to request a different square. Maybe one further G-North, maybe beside Gartega rather than under them. People are also working on making the system a better detailed system, but it may involve some edits to the system itself. Again, nothing that has been mentioned in RP will be changing.
1. I don't know what the problem with Black Star Alliance is, given I have explained at least twice why they are calling it "Black Star Alliance"
2. History? Morioka talks with Khelena about doubling down and putting the Vekimen in the history books about being the founder of something larger than the VDTF. They talk, and Khelena asks for the Black Star Alliance to be the new name, which is made because the Vekimen worshiped the idea of a star that was black, but provided them the warmth to live. It is a metaphorical name founded in history of the Vekimen that has been on the Wiki since I made the Faction page.
3. It's starting is Gridsquare 1919, which is where the Vekimen are.
@Wes ping
EDIT: Given the Vekimens position hasn't been solidified on the map however, I would like to request a different square. Maybe one further G-North, maybe beside Gartega rather than under them. People are also working on making the system a better detailed system, but it may involve some edits to the system itself. Again, nothing that has been mentioned in RP will be changing.
Legix
Inactive Member
Popping in to ask about Number 2: How do traitorous IPG fit into someone seeing a bunch of dangerous lizards and thinking to expand them? AFAIK, no RP was ever done to suggest that the loyalty of the Interregnum/your IPG crew wasn't to Nepleslia. I expect we'll get a reason for them to leave Nepleslia with your schism, but the Vekimen are a considerable threat. Any intelligence network member could tell you a rapidly reproducing, super mining, highly advanced, caustic-spittle lizard probably isn't a safe thing to heavily arm and support into a new sort of empire. I can't imagine, even with how the Interregnum did interact with them, this idea going over their heads. Unless this was some part of IPG where they were genuinely incapable of rational thought, it seems to defy the current linkage of what has happened IC and would be a realistic way to view them.
TLDR: It seems like the IPG are greatly out of place in this formation and even more so that anyone from Yamatai or even Nepleslia would consider a high-rate reproduction super-species (they are, their attributes greatly define this) as something safe to work with. Unless, of course, all aforementioned people are "mentally unchained"/irrational to a ridiculous fault that they make Dr. Wily from Megaman look smart. I apologize if this comes out harsh or rude, as it's not my intention. It is, as far as I can think of for the moment, the best way to explain the sort of childish and unbelievable levels of intelligence one would need to even do this. Not even mentioning betray their respective homeland (in the IPG's case), without any real sort of provocation/incident until the current thread.
Edit: I guess it has partially to do with what was mentioned in 2. The name bit makes sense, once you look at the Vekimen.
Man, don't tell me you're going to abandon Dr. Light and the Robert University of Technology and set up your own robotics factory just because your efforts are constantly overshadowed by your rivals!
I'd like to ask people to quit posting the images in this thread. I know it's hilarious and fun, but it's also sort of low-key trollage, and we're all to the point now, I think, where we're getting kind of tired of that.
In all seriousness, this is an interest check thread and a place to accumulate ideas and to discuss ideas. It's not a faction planning thread, yet, so if we could quit calling each other stupid that would be nice. I'm sure we can all agree the argument about whether or not it was the right thing to do to leave Nepleslia is a beaten, dead horse that we've already quit riding.
Late edit, small addition: As far as the name change goes, we're also considering "Ebon Sun" as a replacement for "Black Star".
Are either of these words, somehow, the domain of other factions, or objectionable for use?
In all seriousness, this is an interest check thread and a place to accumulate ideas and to discuss ideas. It's not a faction planning thread, yet, so if we could quit calling each other stupid that would be nice. I'm sure we can all agree the argument about whether or not it was the right thing to do to leave Nepleslia is a beaten, dead horse that we've already quit riding.
Late edit, small addition: As far as the name change goes, we're also considering "Ebon Sun" as a replacement for "Black Star".
Are either of these words, somehow, the domain of other factions, or objectionable for use?
My suggestion is that you Google, in quotes, the name you're considering and look and see if there's similar stuff already out there, and use that to see how original your name is. The easiest way to come up with something unique is to include a non-generic name. Like there's a lot of "Star Empires" out there but there's only one "Yamatai Star Empire" (okay, two, I found another RP site with one, lol, but we were first!).
We could make a wicked cool flag out of it.
Well, here's our path forward right now:
But the BSA/ESA has a dark secret at the core of it; one that will both unify the signatory clans and causes who may eventually join it, and one that we can spawn innumerable plots off of.
I encourage people to go support @CadetNewb as he launches a new plot within this continuity.
Well, here's our path forward right now:
- Bringing Scythe and Interregnum up to speed.
- My present understanding is that we're going to be moving Scythe at the end of Ch.2, to found this alliance along with Khelena. I'm in a JP right now where we're hashing this out, though I haven't had the time for it in the last few days.
- Ace & Edto tell me that they're intending to have the Interregnum defect, and that could bring with it its own can of worms that I, for one, am perfectly okay with. My understanding is that it will place them in Vekimen territory either by chance or design (there are vekimen onboard), and that Bhelith will be summoned to deal with them. They will end up switching to her banner.
- Forming the BSA in Roleplay
- The Morioka Clan will house itself within the Vekimen as its fourth Noble House, and Bhelith/Khelena will begin a council towards the stars under whatever name is decided. The Vekimen, though currently only (what is it, 200,000 strong?) would breed like the plague on planets due to their genealogy, and with the Morioka house providing know-how in space, hiring mercenaries and growing their influence, the BSA or ESA or w/e will officially launch into the setting.
But the BSA/ESA has a dark secret at the core of it; one that will both unify the signatory clans and causes who may eventually join it, and one that we can spawn innumerable plots off of.
I encourage people to go support @CadetNewb as he launches a new plot within this continuity.
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Let me just pitch this to you;
All stories have to have a beginning; all factions need to have a purpose for existing. For the Vekimen, and for the Morioka, the purpose is divine; a hunt for the lost gods of Geshrintall and the Vekimen. A fight against harsh space, meant to slay the living. The discovery and unification of all sentient, biological species, around the divine spark of their lost gods and belief systems which share common ground.
The Alliance of the Black Star/Alliance of the Ebon Sun etc. will, with their efforts, strike out among the stars in search of the divine sparks of their gods, whatever they should be. Though the major factions of the setting are largely atheist (Yamatai, Nepleslia), this faction allows religious or spiritual characters and should, in my opinion, encourage the exploration of those themes as a contrast. Whether the site's lore officially states that the gods are real, or not real, beings have existed in the setting before with god-like powers, and it's been hinted at repeatedly that there's technology out there that's so advanced that it defies even modern science.
Either way, it's heavy on adventure, with an intrigue (spoiler!) at its heart in the highest echelons of its politics. I'm a firm believer in telling an overall story with factions; it's why I'm so fond of the Miharu continuity that Fred created. The Junpu, Byakuren, and Miharu are all telling facets of the same story. Similarly I think we could do something similar on a Faction level with a good metaplot.
I'm not the only person contributing to this obviously, but if I get my way, we're going to fantasy the shit out of space. ;3
Thoughts? Ideas? Feedback?
The stars are broad and innumerable; they spread in the evening sky above our tiny worlds like a shell of black, transparent glass. It used to be said, a long time ago, that they were chips in some great dome where the light of the infinite would wink out at us mortals. To walk among the stars was magic, and the domain of our Gods.
It is magic no longer. And our Gods are silent.
All species who traverse the stars know the length and bredth of them. The Star Ocean is a broad place with no corners, no boundaries, and no directions save those we ourselves impose on it. Countless species roam out there, just as we have, ignorant or enlightened.
And yet, among these struggling shards of biology, these estranged but breathing life forms, there is a commonality; for the Vekimen, it is their Black Sun which, I am told, abandoned them. For me, it was my goddess, Irnirni, who fled my homeworld, pursued by the craft of man.
I often wonder where she went, the Goddess of the Sun, matron of the Stars, my divine Mother.
I wonder if she is out there, still.
It is magic no longer. And our Gods are silent.
All species who traverse the stars know the length and bredth of them. The Star Ocean is a broad place with no corners, no boundaries, and no directions save those we ourselves impose on it. Countless species roam out there, just as we have, ignorant or enlightened.
And yet, among these struggling shards of biology, these estranged but breathing life forms, there is a commonality; for the Vekimen, it is their Black Sun which, I am told, abandoned them. For me, it was my goddess, Irnirni, who fled my homeworld, pursued by the craft of man.
I often wonder where she went, the Goddess of the Sun, matron of the Stars, my divine Mother.
I wonder if she is out there, still.
- Thyva Bhelith Blackspear, The Song for Irnirni, Vol 1.
All stories have to have a beginning; all factions need to have a purpose for existing. For the Vekimen, and for the Morioka, the purpose is divine; a hunt for the lost gods of Geshrintall and the Vekimen. A fight against harsh space, meant to slay the living. The discovery and unification of all sentient, biological species, around the divine spark of their lost gods and belief systems which share common ground.
The Alliance of the Black Star/Alliance of the Ebon Sun etc. will, with their efforts, strike out among the stars in search of the divine sparks of their gods, whatever they should be. Though the major factions of the setting are largely atheist (Yamatai, Nepleslia), this faction allows religious or spiritual characters and should, in my opinion, encourage the exploration of those themes as a contrast. Whether the site's lore officially states that the gods are real, or not real, beings have existed in the setting before with god-like powers, and it's been hinted at repeatedly that there's technology out there that's so advanced that it defies even modern science.
Either way, it's heavy on adventure, with an intrigue (spoiler!) at its heart in the highest echelons of its politics. I'm a firm believer in telling an overall story with factions; it's why I'm so fond of the Miharu continuity that Fred created. The Junpu, Byakuren, and Miharu are all telling facets of the same story. Similarly I think we could do something similar on a Faction level with a good metaplot.
I'm not the only person contributing to this obviously, but if I get my way, we're going to fantasy the shit out of space. ;3
Thoughts? Ideas? Feedback?
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Cool guys. I wouldn't expect, "Go for the Gods, go for GOLD!" But that sounds p neat and special in a sci-fi setting. Not terribly commonplace, that is. Have fun with it as GM's and I hope your players have fun with it as the stars of the plots.
