Idea: The Wave of Humanity

[Zack]

Considering how much this dives into the settings backstory, having a setting bible with all major events and themes written down somewhere might be a good idea.

 

[SentientRace]

Hopefully not for the players' eyes. That would kinda ruin the suspense.

 

[Wes]

Considering how much this dives into the settings backstory, having a setting bible with all major events and themes written down somewhere might be a good idea.

That's what the wiki is for.

 

[Zack]

The wiki doesn't contain much information about the setting's pre-history and is usually only IC infromation (leaving out a lot of things like faction theme or how the idea for the faction came into being).

 

[Nashoba]

Well in some places it wouldn't hurt to flesh out some of the various factions history. It helps when making a character to have a good idea of some of the significant events that may have taken place during their life.

 

[SentientRace]

More specifically a lot of fleshing out the time between this and the time where Yamatai was born. Also, fleshing out the actual organization and all that.

 

[Ira]

This is not a bad idea really. But perhaps it could tie into more then just "human based" aliens for NPCs.

It could serve as a tool to give game masters a tool to devise more interesting things for the players to interact with. (By interact I mean kill, as most of the Rp on the forum is indeed combat.)

 

[phacon]

The difference here being that in Warhammer 40k, the Emperor unified the humans back into an Imperium. In SARP, this doesn't happen (or, at least, not yet~). The result is a spread out population of independent, developing human (or pseudo-humans, depending on the local circumstances) colonies which eventually grow into huge space empires (ex. Yamatai, Nepleslia) or not so huge (ex. Iromakuanhe, Abwehrans, Elysians) or maybe even just continue being nomads (ex. Freespacers). The colonies we're discussing haven't even neared that stage yet, and were probably refugee ships of very few, under-educated (or perhaps simply not having the knowledge of how to recreate the weapons and vehicles of their time) individuals which grew across the span of a planet.

To conclude, I guess I like the idea of having stranded human colonies if it's to further historical insight of the setting, and to rectify and understand further the similarities between pseudo-human and human races to the point of providing a clear reason why they are similar and how they wound up where they did.

Currently, I really have not had a chance to complete look at this concept, so right now I have very mixed feelings.


On one hand, I am worried about things are not well defined with new broader colonies they can easily getting out of hand become another setting issue that point of contention or conflict between players in SARP such like brand "new dr system" or "nanotechnology".

On the other hand, I am a known person who wanted to really explore SARPs historical roots as like an actual plot theme. Kind something Indian Jonesish crossed with The Pillars of the Earth at a bare minimum.

Summary so far.
______________
While I am being slightly hyperbolic(*), I do so re-emphasize the point that we need to have moderation or *concrete spelled out rules* of thing we will not do with this these races.

Some of the things have suggested as rules are:
[*]The actual colonies be NPC races that
[*]The actual colonies have an presupposition that they can never become factions
[*]The actual colonies be based on Nepleslian or Freespacer races, since we already have them
[*]The actual colonies NOT be exactly Nepleslian faction even if they are the Nepleslian race. The could be later faction or another faction though or form a kind of Alliance government between them.
[*]The actual colonies not be fleeing due to the NMX. Maybe they are feeling due to a different enemy or a different reason like wars during pre-SARP history
[*]If the actual colonies have earth like custums or words they do not make specific reference to earth or earth's location.
[*]The actual colonies by PC races that cannot leave the system once they have settled it. This limit
[*]The actual colonies be PC/NPC races that explore SARP's history an help create tangible links between the races.
[*]The plot behind the actual colonies should not 100% be a rehash of Star Trek.

Did a miss a point that someone made? I tried to include as many opinions as I did above but I could have missed something?

*In reality, "The Wave of Humanity" probably won't be as contentious as people debate on "nanotechnology", but well it seems like an issue for people in at least in current abstract form. Thus

 

[MissingNo]

Phacon, the first, fifth, and seventh points don't have periods and the first and seventh sound like they were cut off in the middle of a sentence. The same goes for your last sentence in that post.

"The actual colonies be NPC races that"...what?

"The actual colonies by PC races that cannot leave the system once they have settled it. This limit"...does/is/has what?

"...it seems like an issue for people in at least in current abstract form [sic]. Thus"...what?

 

[SSharp]

Phacon, the first, fifth, and seventh points don't have periods and the first and seventh sound like they were cut off in the middle of a sentence. The same goes for your last sentence in that post.

"The actual colonies be NPC races that"...what?

"The actual colonies by PC races that cannot leave the system once they have settled it. This limit"...does/is/has what?

"...it seems like an issue for people in at least in current abstract form [sic]. Thus"...what?

He's trying to say: Run your posts through a word processor. One of the things expected across SARP is the effort put into making a good post that doesn't have distracting mistakes.

Anyway...

I don't like the idea. It simply doesn't make sense.

Factions have been exploring and colonizing for years now in the setting, and all of a sudden people magically appear? Or start pouring in from who-knows-where?

If a GM needs a human settlement on an unclaimed/explored planet, have them bring it up in the NTSE or the GM Forum -- which has always been what was done in the past.

 

[Soresu]

I'm not too sure on how I feel about this. On one hand it maybe great to see humans fleeing the NMX like rats from a sinking ship. On another Fred raised some valid questions/concerns. What if instead of just coming out with such a thing you make it a slower process of discovering 'some' of this happening so a GM can widen the narrow view that instead of this being a few piecemeal planets it is a huge exodus.

Then again I have to ask myself. "Who is going to discover these worlds. Will they be brought into the fold of the discovering nations." These sorts of things come to mind and somewhat bother me. No one really has any purchase "Down South" save for Yamatai. And between the rest of us and there we have a few dozen worlds crawling with squids and massive fleets as well as battles likely going on. So it's like trying to cross a belt of death to get at something that we maybe turned away from "Claimed Worlds" with platforms or markers in orbit.

What prevents these occurrences from happening again especially considering the YSE is fighting a war in which suspicion and paranoia are mounting due to infestation and the duplicitous nature of these people that comes of it. I'd be shying away from down there mostly to avoid possible NMX patrols and NMX/YSE skirmishes.

I also would like to point out that the potential of this means that humanity has spread much further. But the question comes up. "Why not aliens instead of humanity?"

Maybe it would be a good idea to just leave these things in the hands of the GM's to discover for suspension's sake?

 

[Wes]

So if I'm reading this right, the consensus is:

- Wave of humanity REJECTED
- Giving GM's the okay to create human colonies as desire for plots: OK
- Alien aliens: Also desired (NTSE approval needed)
- Wrinkly forehead aliens: Not desired (?)

 

[Ira]

I support more NPC aliens, because aliens can be much more interesting. The real problem is not so much creating NPC races, but if you want to fight them and it to be challenging would be developing technology for them.

So we could make a list of generic technology pieces that could be used by pretty much anybody. Of course there would have to be a descriptive spin, and this also does not take into account if the aliens are primitive, or even use the same type of technology we use.

But a standard should be set.

 

[Cy83r K0rp53]

So if I'm reading this right, the consensus is:

- Wave of humanity REJECTED
- Giving GM's the okay to create human colonies as desire for plots: OK
- Alien aliens: Also desired (NTSE approval needed)
- Wrinkly forehead aliens: Not desired (?)

Agreed with the following addition

- Alien aliens as NPC antagonists and/or allies (Mishhu only half-count)

 

[Ametheliana]

I'm really happy this didn't end up coming to fruition and can't say anything good about bringing this kind of activity into the sector, as Fred said. I'm happy with the things did (or didn't) turn out!

 

[Wes]

Well as for the Qaktoro, aka the Hidden Sun Clan, yes at present they are an NPC faction, but kept to a single star system presently. I have always maintained that I would like someday for them to become a PC faction. Its one of the reasons I have worked so hard to detail them. While I have had a few people ask about them, there has not been enough interest to launch a plot.

I'm glad Nashoba made this dream happen! Now the HSC faction is thriving.

I'm really happy this didn't end up coming to fruition and can't say anything good about bringing this kind of activity into the sector, as Fred said. I'm happy with the things did (or didn't) turn out!

We had to settle for a small wave of Rixxikor instead!

Seriously, though: a key point this thread highlights is the need for a better history of the universe. Stuff before YE 01 is just incredibly murky and unknown at this point.

 

[Wes]

I support more NPC aliens, because aliens can be much more interesting. The real problem is not so much creating NPC races, but if you want to fight them and it to be challenging would be developing technology for them.

So we could make a list of generic technology pieces that could be used by pretty much anybody. Of course there would have to be a descriptive spin, and this also does not take into account if the aliens are primitive, or even use the same type of technology we use.

But a standard should be set.

I was going through old threads while updating some forum links on the wiki and I resdiscovered this particular post and I think it's genius and would solve a lot of the stress and burnout that comes from making a new faction. We've seen that getting things approved in the Setting Submissions Forum is a stressful process no matter how nice we try to make it so cutting down on the amount of crap that people need to submit to make a new faction would be huge.

 

[Soban]

I think we should make a namespace for generic technical items and then faction specific things in the faction space. So like aether in the generic and then Zezuaimum in Yamatai specific as it is limited to Yamatai.

 

[Wes]

Zesuaium is actually already in the materials: namespace and it's not strictly limited to Yamatai. The Kuvexians are using it too.

Recently we added an items: namespace for actual objects. I figure generic stuff would either go there or in technology: if it's a general technology like fusion reactors or hyperspace drives.

 

[Toshiro]

What generic things might we start with, then? I could also see such things being added to salvage lists without a problem.