[OOC] Ashes of Nabushan(Faction/Character RP)

[Sigma]

Alright everyone, I've now added an updated map with current faction holdings.

[GreivousKhan]

@Klomster You know, given Nova's A.I was a warship it was probably also linked to the MHCM. Though probably given protocols and programming that allowed it a bit more flexibility from the MHCM when in deep space voyages.

[Sigma]

@TemplarKnight07@Dynamo Frokane@FoxFire@GreivousKhan@TheSovereignGrave@babbysama@Darkspleen@Sovi3t@Dymion@Legion-114@BilboTheGreat@Monkeypants@Oraculum@Klomster
Attention everyone! I like to announce that the IC will start sometime either tonight or tomorrow. You're all welcome to post even if your Sheets are incomplete.

[TheSovereignGrave]

Delightful! I can't wait to start.

[Monkeypants]

Huzzah!

[Klomster]

Just realized that i have not decided my starting location.
So i'm gonna ask my esteemed fellow players where i should start.

So i have a few options.
1. Arrive at the base, or an outlying facility of one of the player factions. If you'd like to have a visit from MK IV you are free to suggest why your faction (or someone else) would create fun roleplay.

2. Be spotted by a neighbouring village to a major faction. This will create tension since the sighting of a massive war machine closeby will put people on edge.

3. Nobodies. I have the KR 112 roll up to some poor sods who live on their own. If they die there will be little to explain why, their tales will appear as mad ramblings instead of something based in truth. Going for more of a legendary presence.
This one is cool, but will have me basically playing on my own until someone seeks me out or the gm poses a problem which i must contact players to solve.

4. Have the GM decide. Kindly ask our esteemed GM to look at the map in a pre-war sense, plot out a suitable route between relays and just drop me down along the lines.
This one is fun since i will be forced to interact eventually. Since the GM can plot the courses through any territory he wants, and people who has "regular" visits from KR 112 could have a standing opinion of it.

I'd probably want the GM to plot this course anyway regardless of choice since i don't know the prewar map like the people who built the relays would.
We could also have this route secret, or just have it on the main map and just have people who should know it know it.

I suggest a square dotted line in Red, Pink or Green to represent to line. I prefer pink since it's nice.

[Oraculum]

Excellent, excellent. I shall admit I am somewhat busy for the moment, which condition is indeed causing the delay on my sheet progress, but should return to posting readiness within the week. By the bye, @Sigma, could you add a not-overly-large field somewhere on the border between the Ashlands and the wastes to represent the Disciples' holdings?

As for @Klomster's introduction, I suppose I shall leave it to those better qualified - that is, more concerned with technology in the setting, and perhaps in a more central position - to decide, though I would not be opposed if our factions eventually came into contact. As far as I am concerned, any option is acceptable.

[Klomster]

@Oraculum Just gonna ask, why would a faction that is technologically interested be the first i run into?
I think it would be cool to have people with little clue of technology try to comprehend the sheer amount of technological complexity that the entire KR 112 is.

Sure, i get if you feel like i should start somewhere else because of how you want to play. I'm after cool scenes and awesome action, i don't care much for being the "best nation" or "winning". By forging strong alliances early on to fight the most dangerous foe.
As far as my character goes, he's basically already lost. He couldn't save Nabushan, not even his brethren.
He's just surviving, if one can even call it that.

But i understand that you want to focus on figuring out your own character sheet, and i respect that. Those can be real head-scratchers at times, especially if it's a nation sheet.

[babbysama]

Sorry got mercilessly plowed by midterms for a few days, will get to work on my sheet

[GreivousKhan]

@Klomster I have an interesting idea actually that involves plots that could affect much of the wasteland. All, a part of an end goal by the A.I HS-Mark VII aboard the Nova. The two meeting alone should be fascinating enough. However, I'd rather wait a bit before then since I have a few things I want to do before then IC wise during the start.

@All Btw, we should totally have our own version of rad-storms or emissions. Maybe twisters of black burning ash storms? That give off bits of radiation.

[Oraculum]

@Klomster
My comment was mainly prompted by logistical concerns - given the size of the territory we are acting upon, the chances of a wandering agent spontaneously encountering a wasteland settlement would be comparatively slim (then again, probability could be nudged ever so slightly in the desired direction...). I figured it would be more plausible if the KR 112 were to perhaps be drawn, even "subconsciously", if you will, by some sort of trail or signal originating from someone's machinery, whether accidentally or not. As said, this was merely a thought of mine, quite possibly incorrect.
I suppose my entry was generally somewhat ambiguous due to being poorly worded (I blame haste and fatigue for this) - if no one were to have any more interesting suggestion to make, I would be most open to interacting with the KR 112, or, for that matter, anyone, at any point.
I hope this one is comprehensible enough, even though I presently am in an even less optimal state than when I wrote the previous one.

[Sigma]

@TemplarKnight07@Dynamo Frokane@FoxFire@GreivousKhan@TheSovereignGrave@babbysama@Darkspleen@Sovi3t@Dymion@Legion-114@BilboTheGreat@Monkeypants@Oraculum@Klomster
Alright everyone! IC is up! You're set to post.

And I have updated the map.

[GreivousKhan]

Will start on my IC. Also, I wonder how the long ago the last space hulk was found? As well as the major players in involved. I know the Cybran's would have taken part for sure.

[Sigma]

@GreivousKhan The last space hulk to be found was eleven years ago near the Eastern Mountain ranges. Yandras would most certainly have participated in the hunt/war for the space hulk.

[Oraculum]

Here is, finally, my completed faction sheet.

The Disciples of Yre-Keltha

Faction Name: The Disciples of Yre-Keltha

Faction Type: Theocratic tribal community

Capital: Vulkorrth, the Crepuscular Shrine

Holdings:
The Disciples make their home in a vast maze of subterranean caverns and tunnels whose main mouth is located near the Ashlands, and which extend to unfathomable deeps beneath the barren wastes. None has ever explored them in their entirety, and those who venture into the lower reaches often fail to return. Vague tales and rumours tell of impossibly vast chasms, black, boundless oceans which never saw the light of day and creatures strange even by the standards of the cavern-dwellers; yet none of them has ever been confirmed.
Aside from their main settlement in a number of large chambers below-grounds, the Disciples maintain a few outposts at a certain distance from the cavern mouth, both in the Ashlands and the wastes to the south-west. These spots serve as observation and guard points, as well as staging grounds for hunting or raiding expeditions.

Flag/Banner:



Leader: Elder Skotarch Alth-Vuul

Persons of Importance:

Skotarch Darr-Nrath

Handler-Master Koluun

Great Overseer Tramnos Vallin

Racial Demographics and Population:

Species Demographics

Ulthari - 52%
Humans - 41%
Other - 7%

Ulthari - The Ulthari are a roughly humanoid species originally hailing from a distant sector at the outskirts of the empire whose heart Nabushan once was. Following their integration, they spread throughout its territories, establishing communities on those planets which most abounded with native wildlife, and extensively interacting with select components of the latter. Presently the Disciples are probably the only Ulthari remaining on Nabushan, as said settlements seldom amounted to more than one per planet.
The Ulthari appear as robustly built, slightly hunched figures with thick grey-brown skin and heads tapering to many-eyes worm-like appendages, a large extension of which is effectively a four-jawed mouth with a toothed interior. Despite their anthropoid shape, they do not possess a spinal endoskeleton to support their frame, but a web-like structure of cartilaginous filaments which likewise functions as a lymphatic system. Their organisms, though naturally rather strong by human standards, are unfit for life in a desert environment. This factor prompted them to settle underground after the Calamity struck, and is likewise the reason for them only venturing outside at night.

Besides the Ulthari, a number of various individuals has joined the Disciples throughout the years, either by voluntary choice or through being born within their fold. These converts are prevalently human, but a few surviving aliens have likewise found their way to the Crepuscular Shrine, rendering the sect yet more demographically diverse. The Ulthari are largely indifferent to their fellows' species, with the only existing discriminatory restrictions being that no outsider may detain religious authority; indeed, the current Great Overseer is a human, which stands as a testament to the Way's hierarchical meritocracy.

Culture and Religion:
It would be impossible to speak of the Disciples' culture without mentioning their religion, and vice versa. The entire community's social structure is founded upon the Way of Yre-Keltha, a faith native to the Ulthari homeworld, and followed by virtually the entire species. This religion, monotheistic in nature, maintains that the cosmos is, in all its aspects, a physical manifestation of the power of the deity Yre-Keltha, and its existence is made necessary by the fact that it constitutes a necessary point of reference for the fathoming of an otherwise entirely abstract concept. Of Yre-Keltha itself there exists no exact description, as the only trait it ontologically shares with the universe, and therefore the only one comprehensible to its inhabitants, is its power. The basic tenet of the Disciples' faith consists in honouring this entity by fulfilling at the best of their ability its intent for the world - namely, by growing as powerful as possible to better reflect Yre-Keltha's divine potency.

Unlike the abstruse basis of their cosmology, the definition of "power" adopted by the worshippers of Yre-Keltha is almost surprisingly simplistic, as it is no more than elementary physical vigour and health. What their religion effectively dictates is that it is the duty of every individual devotee to strengthen their body through continuous exertions, and likewise demonstrate this strength by subjecting themselves to various ordeals and privations and being none the worse for it. Such a philosophy ensures that the Disciples' lifestyle remain nothing short of Spartan; it is common for them to sleep upon bare rock, subsist upon a monotonous diet of bland-tasting fungus and spend their days at work, with no recreational activity other than ceremonial functions being permitted and breaches of the sect's rigid discipline being severely punished. Emotional ties to anything else than the Way and the community itself are likewise regarded as a sign of weakness, and eradicated whenever they are discovered. There thus happen to be no families among the Disciples; while this is not an issue for the oviparous Ulthari, who do not possess distinct sexual characteristics and whose spawn are naturally disposed to being raised communally, it has resulted in many of their human fellows' psychology developing abnormally, and growing to resemble that of their alien "brethren" more than others of their own species.

A relevant part in the Disciples' society is played by Nabushan's fauna. Most Ulthari possess an innate aptitude at establishing rudimentary communication with, and eventually domesticating invertebrate animals - a most useful trait for the followers of the Way, whose lack and poor opinion of inorganic technology would otherwise have left at a severe disadvantage in a hostile environment. Trained beasts are commonly employed for all manner of tasks - from transport to the cultivation of edible fungus - and are widely regarded as a boon of Yre-Keltha for their usefulness, though this sentiment is seldom ever more than general. The only exception is formed by especially ancient, rare and impressive creatures, who are regarded as direct embodiments of the deity's power and venerated as a sort of totem animals.

While the Disciples have no particular interest in conflict, aggression, as well as being a source of necessary equipment, is regarded by them as a trial of strength as good as any other, and it is thus not uncommon for their outriders to assail inhabitants of the wastes, or even expeditions from major inhabited sites, for no reason whatsoever. While this does probably not create a positive image of them, they are unconcerned by such minutiae, and even the prospect of retaliatory action is seen as nothing more than a potential challenge to be overcome.

History:

The group which is now known as the Disciples of Yre-Keltha was once one of the many Ulthari enclaves which settled on numerous worlds worthy, in their view, of their attention. The purpose of these expeditions was to scout different ecosystems and try and discover such creatures as were presumably closest to the ideal of might glorified by their religion; Nabushan was an excellent candidate, given its abundance of diverse and redoubtable life-forms. The expedition had, indeed, encountered many an interesting specimen when the Calamity struck, destroying its headquarters and leaving many of its members dead in the chaos.

The surviving Ulthari managed to regroup and, after some wandering about the devastated landscape, eventually found shelter within a labyrinthine system of caverns and tunnels on the edge of what had become the Ashlands. Having lost all communication with the rest of their species and finding themselves woefully under-equipped to survive in the wastes, they fell back upon their religion, and drew from its somewhat nebulous cosmology a set of rigid, practical teachings to guide them in their struggle. Though the first times were all ut simple, the Ulthari firmly clung to their resolve, and gradually succeeded in rooting out weakness from among their ranks. Many perished in the attempt to adapt to this arduous new life, but those that remained were the fittest and strongest - those who most pleased Yre-Keltha, and who throve in the arid desolation.

After a while, rumours of this strange cult spread throughout the nearby territories, and several wastelanders began to seek it out, either curious concerning its doctrine, or willing to join it to improve their own chances of survival. The Ulthari found no issue with others desiring to follow the Way alongside them - provided they could prove they were apt to follow its teachings by undergoing a series of perilous trials. Such an order was found to be quite efficient, and remains in practice to this day - would-be adherents either bolster the Disciples' numbers or die in the attempt, but there seldom is any shortage of them.

Military:

The Disciples have no effective military force to speak of; that said, virtually all of them are fit for combat, and may organise raids and hunting parties on their own initiative. Due to a noticeable scarcity of resources, no standard armament exists, and everyone carries what they can find - be it stolen or looted firearms, armour, or even weapons fashioned from animal parts. A partial exception exists in the form of the Ulthari electrified weapons - the survivors managed to preserve a large stock of them, and many of the aliens possess either a basic shock-prod (which is also useful for herding unruly beasts) or a heavier electro-maul.

As in many aspects of the Disciples' life, they are aided in this field by their trained beasts. They are, for instance, unimpeded by their lack of motorised vehicles, as dunecrawlers and some breeds of sifter are an excellent surrogate; no group ever sets out without the support of a pack of ash locusts or tunnel stalkers, and on certain occasions even such strange creatures as pit bats or the dreaded sand worms can be mobilised.

Domesticated Animals:

Dunecrawler: These vaguely scorpion-like creatures can, despite their natural ferocity, be reduced to obedience by Ulthari handlers, and are often ridden by Disciple raiders in the stead of machines. Older dunecrawlers can grow large enough to accommodate several passengers, and are employed as mobile "artillery platforms" by outriders wielding rocket launchers or other heavy weapons.

Ash Locust: A type of insectoid native to the Ashlands, the locusts actually bear greater resemblance to a hybrid between a praying mantis and a beetle, and truly owe their name to their voracity and habit to move about in large packs. Their size is comparable to that of large dogs, and it has been recorded for even a small number of them to reduce a man to a skeleton within less than a minute.

Tunnel Stalker: Odd beasts found dwelling in the caverns inhabited by the Disciples, tunnels stalkers are peculiar in it that certain of their vital organs are naturally replaced with a vegetal symbiont. This renders them capable of digesting virtually any form of organic matter, as the symbiotic organisms secrete strikingly potent enzymes.

Sifters: Sifters, similarly to such species as termites (whom they in fact markedly resemble, albeit they are much larger), live in hive-like nests, though their collective mentality is far less strong than that of their counterparts. Given their sedentary nature, they are often trained to tend to the Disciples' cultures of edible fungus and lichens; however, certain types of them are likewise suitable to be employed as mounts. On rare occasions, a few sifter grubs are consumed during ritual meals, and, despite their repulsive taste, this alternative to the usual diet is greatly relished.

Pit Bats: In spite of their name, pit bats are not mammals, but a strange sort of amphibian capable of limited flight as well as swimming. If properly instructed, especially large specimens can be capable of carrying riders in surface flight across brief distances, though their poor resistance to heat renders them ill-suited for diurnal journeys.

Sand Worms: Veritable leviathans of the wastes, these burrowing monsters can, if regularly fed, grow to prodigious sizes. Their immense strength and ability to rapidly bore their way through expanses of sand have many a time given Disciple attack parties an advantage sufficient to accomplish such feats as level a wastelander settlement or even breach the defences of a small city; however, significant efforts increase the beasts' appetite, making them unsuited for smaller-scale expeditions.

[Klomster]

@Sigma Ah, another Miracle of sound fan.
A tip of the hat to you!

And a superbly fitting song for the setting! Might i guess right in that it spawned it to begin with? :)

Regardless, i should find a fitting song for MK IV as well.
Hmmm, Roll out is fun buuuuuut..... no. :P

I suggest Road rage for someone else. Great song, doesn't fit my char.
Some things never change is great, but not my choice.
For the esteemed Cybrans, Man and machine might be a choice.

But listening to the songs, this is my choice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvYi1MRvX_o
Simple, but suits the mood.

As for the murdered agent, i have my theory.

Theory

The presidents lady is not dead, but the ARC commando is. Murdered by her sister. To stage a political problem. Or disappear.
I don't really have a motive.

@GreivousKhan I totally agree, we have loads of potential awesome story, so it would be odd to just go at it directly. Since it fits better to build up to it.
Also, your area is silly small, little chance to randomly bump into it.

@Oraculum Creepy bug people. While others might be scared off, considering they were probably citizens before the fall MK IV would probably not care in the slightest about their strange appearance.
Unless the Ulthari were the cause of the destruction of the empire and fought against Nabushan. Then it could be a problem, however lacking orders from the MHCM it is unlikely MK IV would act unless provoked.
However it seems like the Ulthari aren't overly militaristic, and probably did not revolt so the empire collapsed.

I still don't really know where it would fit to start, if someone really thinks it would be cool to have the KR 112 rumble into their territory i'm all for doing it.
But at the moment i feel a bit lost, it's complicated to look at the map in a pre-war sense and figure out a good patrol route, or where relays would be.
That's something i guess only the GM can decide.
Or should i just plot a route, and roll with it? Focusing on mountains where the relays would come the furthest up from the ground?

[Sigma]

@Klomster Thanks, but credit for the song's selection goes entirely to @GreivousKhan, who had shown it to me :) Also, as for a starting point. Well, you could do your own thing and stumble upon a player territory or NPCs. There is also joining in on the Hulk event if you wish.

@Oraculum Excellent work! You're set to move it over to the character tab and start posting.

[Darkspleen]

@Klomster A very interesting theory. Monks and I already have the 2nd post done and are working on the third, so you won't have to wait too long before getting the next part of the story. You got any idea of what you want to do yourself?

[Klomster]

@Darkspleen I'm going for a "Spook some locals" i think.

Depending on where the hulk is, the matrix transponder could pick up its signal, thereby making MK IV get his hopes up and try to get there.
I guess i should plot out a patrol course with the different sites on a map, since i can't lure the GM to do so ;P

Ah, some poor sods are gonna be so freaked out by KR 112 :D

I think i'll end up further east than most others.

Also.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ecvLRxb3MU

[GreivousKhan]

Yup, I threw Sig the theme song after I found it was pretty perfect for this. :P

I"ve seen Miracles Of Sounds other hits too of course.

Btw, @Sigma maybe think about adding major roadways/highways to the map? Could help with planning routes for folks without the good fortune to find fully functioning planes.

@Oraculum Also it seems our religions share the same name there. The Way seems very popular these days. XD

@Klomster Also, dammit don't post that song!!! BAAAAAAAAHHAAAAAA!

Read my current post and guess way. :P

Also seems we both share the same music circles...