MissingAxis

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@Icepick "absorbs certain bandwidths of broadband waves" does not equal thermally invisible. Plasma itself is incredibly hot. If you look at the main article linked in that subheader, you'll see that plasma stealth is proposed to use to reduce the radar cross-section of a craft, not for use as blanket invisibility against all forms of sensors. You're welcome to use it to reduce your radar cross-section, but by no means does it work as visual or even thermal invisibility.

Regarding your neural network, if it's only working in the one star system, I have no issues with that.

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@Icepick Something in your sheet escaped my notice until just now. Other than the fact that it's pointless to have your ship hidden from visual and thermal scanners when using FTL (the scanners won't be able to pick you up while you're in FTL regardless of any cloaking tech), it sounds like your neural network functions at FTL speeds as well, allowing information to be transferred between star systems without any need for an FTL drive. The cloaking and ansible-like neural net are the only two things I have particular issues with, with the ansible network being my main hangup.

EDIT: ninja'd

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

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@Dragonruby

Al-Insun flips a few switches on her computer, and it begins to awaken. As it whirs to life, she reaches up and begins to remove some of the plating on her helmet. Large worms begin to wriggle, now clearly in view of the Admiral. What appeared to be thick muscle fibers or fleshy cords wriggles free of the top segment of the helmet, revealing many nightmarish eel faces, with all their eyes and mouths pointing towards the xeno. The worms begin to gurgle and quietly shriek, but only for a few moments before they go silent. The admiral might realize now that the black circles dotted around the priest's and warriors' armor were camera lenses, microphones, and speakers, rather than decorative items.

Al-Insun's heads split their attention, with several turning towards the computer she's now operating one-handed, and the rest making eye contact with the xeno. A few minutes pass, and then a rod extends upwards from the crate. On it, a roughly spheroid device with a lens pointed toward the table the xeno stood at. It swivels a moment, and a blurry image projects onto the xeno's table, coming into focus slowly as the projection lens whirs softly. It is writing, accompanied by a rough silhouette of the Ophisian priest holding her palms together and baring her neck. Al-Insun mimics the image, all heads pointing upwards as she makes a guttural vocalization. In that stance, she waits.

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[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@ClocktowerEchos Just for the sake of being able to make edits myself instead of waiting for you to be online. If you can just PM me the layers individually, I can put them together.

@Palamon No worries. @REDSHEILD and @Riemann have been busy with the holidays as well, so I don't imagine the RP will make too much progress until a little after Christmas.

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@ClocktowerEchos Having the potential players PM their nation sheets is just to keep WIPs from flooding the OOC, and so I can give it a cursory look over and tentative approval before the peer review. Applications PM'd to me aren't going to be accepted outright.

Would you mind sending me a copy of that map with the layers un-merged?

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

@ClocktowerEchos Oh, y'know what, I messed up the coordinates for everyone when I put them on the map. I just realized I've been doing (Y,X) instead of (X,Y) for some reason. Give me a few minutes to correct that. Nevermind, it's just way easier to read the way I already have it. Go ahead and send me your new coordinates or mark your spot on the map, and I'll update it.

@Lauder
@Hostile
@The Spectre
@edinburger
@Monkeypants
As I've told others in the thread, you are welcome to PM your nation sheet to me. The RP is not totally open, so acceptance is on a case-by-case basis.

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

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@Dragonruby

The shuttle maneuvers toward the hull outside the bay slowly, extending the magnetic clamps further to connect to the hull. The Ophisian warriors are pleased to see a catwalk leading into the bay. The first warrior takes a tentative step, making sure his magnetic boots connect with the catwalk before moving any further. As the boarding party offloads from the shuttle, the catwalk shakes slightly. The sheer mass of the beings moving along it is barely within the structural limits it was designed for. Both warriors enter the bay first, shields and firearms raised cautiously as they position themselves near the center of the bay's outboard half. Finally, the priest enters the bay behind them, being careful to stay behind the cover the warriors are providing, as well as a decent distance back.

The priest notes the sensation of gravity pulling her toward the floor, but opts for keeping her magboots active for the time being. She made no greeting to the xenos, knowing the vacuum still surrounded them. Instead, she rumbled into her radio, instructing the warriors to lower their firearms for the time being. They did as she bid, though they still held a battle-ready posture, both because the situation could turn fatal quickly and because the ceiling was far too low to accommodate a relaxed upright posture.

She stepped forward, riskily placing herself between the two warriors. She towed behind her a large case, shielded from ambient radiation but giving off only faint thermal emissions itself. She slowly and deliberately positioned the case in front of her and off to the side, unlatching it and lifting the top open to reveal what appeared to be a large computer, about three feet tall and four feet wide. She left it dormant and waited.

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[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

<Snipped quote by MissingAxis>

I'm actually wondering if there would be any opportunity for the Ouroboros to already know of the Aztrovan Lineages due to the Mon'hali. Maybe that the Ouroboros were another race the Mon'hali fought or something? I'd assume that they would know of the Ivrah due to having some knowledge of the Mon'hali, curious to think of what the Oros think of the sucessors to the Mon'hali.

Oh, this offer is also extended to others as well.

@ClocktowerEchos

That's possible, though knowledge of the Mon'hali's existence would be limited and few would know about them, due to the cycles of destruction the Ouroboros go through. I can make it a point that some members of the Church have record of the Mon'hali, if you'd like to establish a plot hook based on that.

[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

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@Dragonruby

There was little point in replying to the gibberish the xenos sent, but Amenmesh ordered his command crew to reply regardless.

"Xenos, you have entered Ouroboros space. Power down your weapons and prepare to be boarded. Do not attempt to flee. Any retreating vessels will be fired upon."

With the message sent, a boarding party was deployed. The shuttle contained only three Ophisians, two warriors and a priest. It made a careful, slow burn toward the nearest of the xeno escorts, slowing down and matching velocities with some hundreds of meters to spare. There, the shuttle lingered, awaiting orders from Lord Amenmesh and some indication that the xenos would accept the boarding party.

The shuttle itself is a simple affair, a skeleton with no pressure bulkheads. The propellant tanks are obvious, a pair of spherical tanks mounted just forward of the engines. The boarding party and shuttle crew appear as dull metallic statues, their hardsuits composed of angular plates and gently curving joints. The two warriors are the only ones obviously armed, carrying great metal shields and bulky firearms. The priest and shuttle crews appear totally unarmed, and are just under three-fourths the size of the warriors.

The claws on the forward end of the shuttle are stowed but still obvious, peeled back to be almost inline with the rest of the shuttle body. Deployed in their place are electromagnetic clamps, their magnetic pads black and matte, held forward on two stalks.

"Allow the shuttle party aboard or they will enter by force."

Amenmesh doubted they would get a reply, but hoped the shuttle itself would bring enough meaning to the message.

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[SCI-FI] The Stars Above

If anyone would like to set up some kind of First Contact scenario with the Ouroboros, just shoot me a PM. I'm open to anything.