Results 181 to 210 of 566
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2022-07-24, 08:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2008
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Gender
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Submitting a region for review.
Rumah Leluhur (Region 27)
Spoiler: GeographyRumah Leluhur (Region 27)
South of the regimented pleasure palaces of the sirens and the sprawling plantation-cities of their clients, the shrouded corals of Reumah Leluhur recall an earlier era of kucen development. Scattered tribal holds dot the striated coral hills, their colors growing increasingly clearer and brighter the further west one swims, as geothermal vents thin and the ocean floor rises closer to the elusive surface. It is a wild and dangerous stretch of sea, where the natural dangers of coral sharks and caravan-crackers are sometimes indiscernible from the war bands of kucen tribes, with the uninhabited spaces between tribal holds featuring some of the most spectacular coral forests, fed a unceasing supply of blood and bone. In these primeval battlegrounds, the coral serves as symbiotic home to a unique species of blooming fungus that leeches excess calcium carbonate to form hard-shelled discs that cast uncanny shadows.
Spoiler: PeopleTribal Kucen
When the first siren Indah rose in Senja Bersinar to unify the kucen tribes beneath her glistening talons, the conquest was not so total as the Lambent Syndicate’s histories recount. As Indah’s honeyed words and ruthless tactics brought tribe after tribe to heel, the kucen chiefs and warlords at the far edges of their dominion grew increasingly terrified of the shadow to the north. Indah’s power, coupled with her clear intent to demolish the old order, moved the traditionalist kucen leaders to lengths once thought unthinkable, and beneath a banner now resigned to ignominy they sacrificed their pride and the pride of their tribes…and made peace. When Indah’s grasp stretched out to the kucen marches, she found herself grappling a confederation united in hatred and fear of nothing so much as her. Warriors unnumbered in their defeat pressed south, only to be repulsed time and time again. Even Indah’s greatest servants, her siren daughters, proved incapable of swaying even the weakest of the local warlords to their cause, and after nearly ten years of bloody struggle the mother of the Lambent Syndicate chose to turn her gaze elsewhere. It was not a defeat, of course, for defeat would be unthinkable. But the tribes found their freedom tenuously secure. In the years that followed, Indah’s disappearance and the merciless press of time eroded the purpose that once united the tribes, and little by little they descended once more into internecine conflict. Fortunately for them, the same state of affairs had come to dominate the shadow politics of the Syndicate, and the tribes were left to their little wars.
For a time.
The explosive expansion of Lucent Mistress Adiratna’s power through the subjugation of Kemenangan Adiratna dealt a terrible blow to her rivals’ complacency. Where once the Syndicate’s gaze had only stretched to its traditional borders, an entire world was now opening, its fruits ripe for the taking if one were cunning and ruthless enough. But while most of the Syndicate’s leadership thought to find advantage among the other civilized peoples of the tropic seas, the youngest and least magnificent among them struck upon a different strategy. For years, the southern tribes had watched in mounting jealousy as their northern cousins grew fat and wealthy, the oppressive terror of Syndicate rule obscured behind currents of luxury and aggressive propaganda. Conflicts once fought for honor or territory had begun to take on a markedly more materialistic shade, as tribes raided their neighbors for luxuries rather than essentials. Into this crucible, the Auroran Mistress Intan came not with steel, but with pearls. Spreading her proportionately meager wealth among the leaders of the largest tribes, she spun a vision of a new and binding federation, her faction of the Syndicate serving as figurehead and voice for the southern tribes, each chief and warlord elevated as captains within the Syndicate, with all the wealth and prestige that office entailed. Though she was initially greeted with mistrust, Intan’s clear need of them cast new light on union with Senja Bersinar, and eventually the southern tribes acceded. At once, wealth beyond the measure of their forefathers began to flow into the region. And warriors beyond the ken of the Syndicate’s drug-fueled conscripts leapt like a spear into Intan’s hand.
Spoiler: ResourceHardplate Fungus
The unique fungal blooms that emerge from Rumah Leluhur’s ancient battlegrounds grow harder as they age, while retaining a great deal of supple flexibility. Long harvested by audacious hunters who brave the coral sharks, the fungus has served the local kucen tribes well as arms and armor for generations. Now possessed of the resources to protect industrial harvesting enterprises, the deep red calcifungus has begun to spread to the armies of other Mistresses and beyond.
Resource Requirement: Megafauna
Robbed of the constant warfare that once defined them, the tribes of Rumah Leluhur have petitioned Auroran Mistress Intan for a stopgap to retain their cultural distinctiveness from the soft peoples of Senja Bersinar. Her proposed solution, to import larger and more terrible beasts for the tribes’ chosen warriors to hunt, received early acclaim, though the longevity of the solution is far from decided.
Spoiler: FaithThe Fangs: Unlike the kucen of Senja Bersinar, the inhabitants of Rumah Leluhur have long shunned the Maw as a place of ill omen. However, two small tribes stand as noteworthy exceptions. Worshiping the eternal darkness found at the very heart of the Maw, these blind-seeker tribes have carved grim fortresses into a pair of jagged sea-monts that rise like teeth within sight of one another, dominating the northern and southern horizon line of their twins respectively. Long separate from the proper tribal relations of the region, the blind-seekers have yet to submit to Indah’s rule, their continued existence a strange mirror to the resistance offered against Indah by the southern tribes themselves.
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2022-07-24, 09:38 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
- Location
- Mt. Ebott
- Gender
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Region for review
Retret Ringan (Region 19)
Spoiler: Geography
Far beyond the desolate plains, crumbling ruin mountains, and dangerous wastes of Binar Fajar lays a relative utopia by Kucen standards. The water is calm, the land is soft and rolling, and the sea is a reliable mistress. The fish growing in Retret Ringan are colorful vibrant and pliable to a stern hand. Life is simple in the valleys, trenches, and sea caves that make up the vast majority of homesteads within the region. Instead of artificial constructs the denizens therein rely on making use of existing landscapes to support their architectural needs. Harvest fields stretching as wide as the eye can see, save for the blight of warcraft that has now formed a set of "teeth" on the region pointed outwardly towards the Maw. Ruts and small trenches have been carved through the land from the unwilling masses dragged to the battle lines in years past to feed the Lighthouse war effort.
Spoiler: People
Lamplighter Kucen
In storied myth lives the ancient Lamplighter. The shining warrior wielding a magic blade forged from the melted lamps of his whole clan, combining their light into a singular purpose. He had won a hundred battles and cleaved a thousand foes in search of his Goddesses enlightenment. At the end of his long campaign he took his sword and buried it in the sand, bending the material into a plowshare, and resigned his life to the simple agrarian lifestyle. The veracity of such a story is hotly debated amongst Kucen scholars, some attributing this warrior's existence to various Kosong who were noted Warlords or Cult Leaders, and none fully agreeing on the matter. Regardless the mythical folk hero legend persisted amongst the people, many of whom followed in a similar step to the fabled Lamplighter, and were the dissatisfied soldiers, hangers-on, or worst of all survivors of the constant War surrounding Binar Fajar. At the height of Binar Fajar's opulence, this land was little more than an oversized plantation for the cruel and exorbitant Mistresses who ruled the Aurora Dawn and so few of them paid heed to its existence when they fled back to Indah's Rise for a more sightly and fitting station to rule over. Some however saw the opportunity to escape the dangers of courtly life and took the chance, though deprived of the copious Siren Extract in their home and the disgruntled veteran population lead to a quick subdual of any hegemonic statecraft.
Many of the Kucen in the region light Lamps outside of their home to celebrate the ancient warrior they consider the "Founder" of their home and when the Lighthouse came to they did so again in defense. The Kosong reavers were repelled at first, the Vessel at their host gutted and turned into a Lamp of celebration, and then came the reinforcements. Legions of glowing warriors blotting out the light above buried the Lamplighter resistance the year after, farms were sacked, the people subjugated, and now fully assimilated into the Lighthouse's voracious beast. Now Lamplighter serves as a form of "Elite Soldier" terminology amongst the forces of the Lighthouse, who treat the region as an expensive training ground and resort.
Spoiler: Resource
Coralberries
The Coral in the region is unique in producing a special abundant berry that is sweet to taste and makes for a delicious wine. It requires long years of careful cultivation to make the sweetest berries, which only grow in the darkest and deepest places in the land. Now it is mostly used for warpaint and the occasional shamanic potion to send a warrior into a fevered state.
Resource Requirement: Precious Minerals
Though they are long separated many of the ancestors of the Lighthouse were the founders of Retret Ringan and their obsessive nature over shiny baubles and sources of light therein persists. Nowadays it only appears as an obsession with shiny precious minerals, rocks that also double as the necessary materials to harvest coralberries with, and in more recent history to bend plowshares into swords and set the tempo of the Lighthouse Imperial March.
Spoiler: Faith
Cult of the Lamplighter:
All throughout Retret Ringan persists the Cult of the Lamplighter, broken down into 3 sects that while generally agreeing on the storied myth of the Lamplighter harshly disagree on the focus and the continuation of the fable therein. Some worship the Lamplighter as a Fertility Symbol, seeing his historic move of "planting" his sword and sowing the seed of their people in this land. Others view him as a Deathly Figure, a Reaper of the past who eventually was Reaped himself, and now ushers on those souls too weary to persist in an uncaring world. Lastly and perhaps most audaciously (and in some eyes recently proved correct) there lives the Resurrectionists who believe that in their time of greatest need the Lamplighter would be reborn and return their people to their Warrior's Oath. None of these cults embrace the Radiance of the Reef as the true Will of the Seas and prove a constant disappointment and irritant for the Vessel and his host of Thugs.Last edited by Tychris1; 2022-07-24 at 09:42 PM.
“I’m a Terrorist not an idiot.” - Me
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2022-07-24, 09:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
- Location
- Mt. Ebott
- Gender
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Torv I'm gonna punch you in the face unless you become my Vassal.
Much love, Ty.“I’m a Terrorist not an idiot.” - Me
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2022-07-25, 07:33 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2010
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
I'm not sure where the discussion for miracle implementation goes, but I figure I'll just put it here and wait for the gm team to be done with their post-round opener relaxation break.
SpoilerThe Birth Of Avarice
Everything is set. The stars are aligned. The currents are in the right place. The rock nest is imbedded with wealth of the ages. None of these things has materialistic meaning, but remnants of teachings from the Tall Tales ascribe symbology itself meaning within stories woven. As was proven tonight, force of will from the collective consciousness can bring forth unto reality itself.
Mammos, Will Of The World, Avatar Of Avarice, Fly Queen, takes on a form almost wholly alien to any denizen of the underwater, purportedly descended from the Dries Above. Insectoid wings, several pairs like a seraph. Bizarre legs with stump like feet in place of fins unsuited to the water. Yet fins and feelers and gills exist on this creature too, and it moves throughout the Waters of the World with an angelic grace defying all laws of locomotion. It is said to unify the traits of Sky, Sea, and Soil.
(What is meant by those phrases is at best, guesses. Skies is probably in reference to the Dries Above, albeit a bizarre phrasing, and the little gleaned from magical rites says as much. But Soil? What does *that* mean? The obvious guess would be the ground underneath Medusa Roots, some reference to the deeper underworlds and depths, but that has been explicitly denied. Whatever vast reality Soil refers to, it is from a world *entirely* distant and alien, and yet we are assured it exists, *somewhere*.)
Greed binds us all, hive mind and isolate alike. The thinking of hiveminds that they are more unified within themselves is a good one to take, but it is just the first step. Isolates form bonds within themselves and with other isolate clusters and hive minds through economic ties. This basic principle of exchange, of force of beliefs through material will, is itself a unity of thought.
When you pay something for a service, you command it, you unify your intents for mutual growth. Through these bonds, even those with vastly different belief systems and populations can be brought into alignment. We are all, at the core of things, one entity, one being, fractured into an ever expanding variety of cognitive processors. Not just in number of processors, but in *kind* of processors, ever evolving and expanding. Shell is the one true language with which all processors speak.
Harpies, Herrings, Humans, they don’t share anything in common. Anatomy, language, location, size, locomotion. But the one thing we all have in common is a basic principle of currency. All processors do, once they advance to a sufficient degree. Within the waters this is certainly the case, both in our frozen home, and in the warmer waters beyond the borders.
(Harpies and Humans obviously refer to hypothetical denizens of these strange other worlds outside of our reach, from the ordering it is supposed that Harpies are from the Sky, and Humans are from the Soil. Very little is known about either of these other races, and what little is known may be entirely fictional, not even if they are even major facets of those other worlds. The Herrings are, as we know, not presently omnipresent within the waters of polar, let alone outside it.)
It is these principles that guide the teachings of Mammos. Everything, alive or otherwise, is all collectively a singular hive mind, fractured for efficiency. Or perhaps, if not *for* efficiency, then making the best of some long past cosmological event that splintered the unified whole. It really is hard to say, the origins of life have always been a mystery, even within religious belief.
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2022-07-25, 01:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2020
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
You are not the boss of me, I quit!
I probably need to learn to say no to work even if it's fun to do. On an unrelated note I'm looking increasingly busy the coming months and had been thinking of wrapping up FAY this round. Being punched in the face is even better. I'll skip the defence and stick around till round 11 to die properly. What even is an Empire game without using the Rebel Leader rules?
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2022-07-25, 02:00 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2008
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Gender
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
New tech for approval:
Death Commando Conditioning: +1 Battles
Slot: Logistics and Morale.
Resource Requirements: Siren Extract
Technology Requirements: Graduated Symbiosis
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2022-07-25, 02:20 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
- Location
- Mt. Ebott
- Gender
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Well in that case the Hym is looking pretty good…
“I’m a Terrorist not an idiot.” - Me
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2022-07-25, 03:03 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2018
- Location
- Belgium
- Gender
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett
"Magic can turn a frog into a prince. Science can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with." Terry Pratchett
"I will not yield to evil, unless she's cute."
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2022-07-25, 03:05 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2010
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- Mt. Ebott
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Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Just that I’m going to make the same declaration next round but to you.
The imperialism train has no brakes.“I’m a Terrorist not an idiot.” - Me
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2022-07-25, 03:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2018
- Location
- Belgium
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Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett
"Magic can turn a frog into a prince. Science can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with." Terry Pratchett
"I will not yield to evil, unless she's cute."
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2022-07-25, 07:04 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
- Location
- England
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Got...part of an artefact for people to look at and discuss. It's got a basic fluff outline and a rough idea of the mechanics, but I have little idea of what's balanced for it (or if the mechanical design is workable in the first place).
Spoiler: The Head of Arthan
In the stories of the journey that Arthan, the founder of the Flowing Way, there has always been a missing piece in his history. The years between him travelling Cyph-Arel and learning the stories of the Cyphiri, and returning with the truth of the Way, have always been a mystery, and so some followers of the Way have always searched for Arthan's Rest, as the place he must have stayed in during those years has become known. Now, they appear to have succeeded. In the northeast of Cyph-Arel, close to the point where toxicity makes it impossible to go further, a Cyphiri scout found a cave. Carved into the rock, covering every surface, were the stories of the Cyphiri of the time, along with some of the biological storage mediums of the time, but the real prize was what has now become known as the Head of Arthan (few people believe it's actually his head, of course, but the name given to it by that scout has been intriguing and evocative enough to stic).
While the Head does somewhat resemble a Cyphiri head, it is notable larger, particularly when it comes to the brain, and it has a system of organs similar to roots to draw nutrients from a substrate instead of a neck - it appeared to have gone into a dormant state over the years as the substrate in the cave ran dry, but a new supply of nutrients has been sufficient to wake it up again. The most notable thing about it, however, is that it speaks. Constantly. An endless stream of information and analysis, but one that is scrambled and random - perhaps a side effect of its time in the cave, perhaps just a limitation of what it is and what it knows. It does listen, and with experimentation the Cyphiri studying it have discovered that feeding it a stream of information about a particular location in the right way (the Cyphiri do it by telling the stories gathered from or about the area, but a more direct set of information would likely work) seems to focus its babbling into talking about that particular region. While much of it is still of little use, there are plenty of useful nuggets of information in there one can use in the field, including many deductions and predictions that an experienced follower of the Way may make when given the same information - something that has cemented the idea in the minds of most Cyphiri that this was a creation of Arthan, and as such a being with an understanding of his teachings deeper than any living Cyphiri. And a useful tool, of course.
Mechanics:
The rough idea I have is that you spend an action "focusing" it on a particular area (gathering enough information and having enough people working on getting the Head to accept said information), and then you get some kind of bonus to rolls targeting that region until you refocus it. Not sure how broad a bonus it can give though, even with the limitations, or if it should be simpler than this, or if things targeting a specific region like this are legit in the first place.
A thought I did have when thinking about what type of action the focusing action should be (besides just using Faith) was to allow the action to correspond to any of the five stats, but then the bonus it gives is focused in that area (to whatever degree of broadness/narrowness is required) - so if, say, you take a Military action the information your people fed it was slanted towards things an army would find useful and got similar stuff back? Like I said, don't really have a good eye on the mechanics side.
Last edited by Volthawk; 2022-07-25 at 08:06 PM. Reason: minor fluff tweaks
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2022-07-25, 09:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2016
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Seems like the answer is no, but is it too late to submit a region?
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2022-07-25, 10:09 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
GNU Terry Pratchett
Survived Total War: Mandate of Heaven as The Witch-Doctors
Thrived in Empire! 7 as the Sakura-Jin
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2022-07-26, 12:09 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2018
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- Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
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Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
I'd like to propose as an econ tech:
Filtration Grafts:
Allows crossing of toxic borders
Requires Composite Grafting and a Filter Feeders resource.Last edited by bc56; 2022-07-26 at 08:18 AM.
Awesome avatar (Kothar, paladin of Tlacua) by Linkele!
Originally Posted by William Shakespeare, King Lear, IV.i.46Originally Posted by Howard Tayler
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2022-07-26, 12:41 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2016
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2022-07-26, 03:19 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2018
- Location
- Czechia, Europe
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Submitting writeup (Edited to add the Silence):
Region 11 - Klau'ead Pyue'ea'oed
Spoiler: Geography
The region is part of the wider area nicknamed "the Blue North" by the Lojanese after the color of its waters, which is effected by the lack of contaminants and a seabed covered almost entirely by dead coral with a high albedo. The coral - dead and living - rather than rocks or the like, shapes the landscape, forming great sloping terraces.
The first few Lojanese expeditions trying establish a presence in region 11, although well-equipped, had been stymied and thrown into utter disorder by the near-impossibility of auditory communication. Having trained to communicate through alternate means and developed tools for measuring the distortion of sound, the explorers returned.
After exhaustive experiments that left more than a few members with tinnitus, they determined a clade of endemic plankton species to be the cause. The plankton absorbs the energy of sound with endothermic chemical reactions and uses the gathered energy for its movement and metabolism with exothermic reactions.
This phenomenon occurs in the entire region and is called the Silence by the locals - those among them who have visited other regions to be able to contrast it with normal conditions.
Spoiler: People
The colonies of the Lojanese and the Auros, respectively named Sau'eazhan and Kalo, are situated in the south, where a hospitable valley has enticed both peoples. Rivalry between the colonies has acquired a long-lasting character. Children pick fights with those from the other town, and adults have only harsh words for the neighbors. On the other hand, trade and cultural exchange has been inevitable, and the smaller, newer settlements are often populated diversely, without any enmity between the inhabitants.
Spoiler: Resource
Export: Sapcoral
The corals of the region consume many nutrients by filtering the water and slowly dissolving corpses and detritus that falls from above, in order to grow bulbs ranging in color from orange to purple filled with delicious nectar, by far the most accessible source of food in the region. However, about one-quarter of the bulbs, depending on the species, are filled with sticky sap instead, which rapidly expands due to the pressure inside the bulb and entraps any would-be feeder. The coral consumes the corpse to recoup the costs of growing the bulbs and the cycle continues. The two types of bulbs look identical until the membrane breaks. Which bulb contains what is determined by the shuffling of chromosomes in the one parent cell from which the bulb grows.
The probability of deadly bulbs is determined by evolution. Too great, and fish evolve not to try their luck. Too small, and the coral expends more energy than it consumes.
The sap is dyed a very bright, water-resistant color, but as it is extremely sticky, it must be mixed with some sort of powder or sand to weaken the glue if you ever want to remove the color.
Desired import: Fibers
Although the corals and the seafloor provide a cornucopia of food and building materials, there are scarce furred inhabitants or kelp from which fibers for tools could be extracted.
Spoiler: Faith
HS1: Ancient Hut
It is a small, approximately conical bamboo dwelling that has always been there. It is inhabited by the greatest of sages in Klau'ead Pyue'ea'oed. When the sage dies, another moves in. In exchange for being given porridge by the people, they spend all their time studying technology, learning magic and conversing with the gods in order to answer all questions asked.
Last edited by Corona; 2022-07-26 at 01:42 PM.
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2022-07-26, 03:35 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2016
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Crossposted from recruitment as I'm not sure I put it in the right place:
Faction Name The Magaramach
Spoiler: Summary
Leader: The Leviation
(Wait to roll until approved)
Diplomacy:
Military:
Economy:
Faith:
Intrigue:
(Link to the post containing your rolls.)
Capital Region: The Magaramachi Salination (outsiders), Home (internally) (ideally region 19, anything with brackish borders for preference)
Resources: Most Magaramachi aren't really able to understand the concept of trade but they do understand the concept of "if I do this, you do that" in the same way that a dog does. With a bit of effort and a fair amount of sweet, high-calorie foods, smaller Magaramachi can be lured and somewhat domesticated into a supply of Labour by more intelligent races. They can't handle complicated jobs and require constant oversight but their raw strength ad lack of need for sleep makes them equivalent to entire work crews when it comes to infrastructure projects and the like.
The sweet food is an essential part of that process though; the Magaramachi sweet tooth is all encompassing. Not to say the Magaramachi salination is free of such treats: theres a small silver and blue fish that they devour by the handful and a particular reddy green algae rewards those willing to travel to the surface. But there's not, and in fact can never be, enough Sweet Foods for the population's liking.
Holy Sites:
- Sharprock: Open.
Technically a particularly hard coral but sharper minds than the Magaramachi could be forgiven for thinking it was rock. This large reef towards the north of the Salination is deadly within seconds to anything large enough not to be able to avoid brushing up against it. It's easily sharp enough to penetrate Magaramachi scales or similar plating and strong enough to make removing parts to use a weopans dangerous. The Magaramachi give the area a wide berth and those intelligent enough to think such abstract thoughts view it as a place of death and terror, an eternal punishment for anyone smaller than them. - The Breeding Gyre: Open
At the confluence of several major currents, the water is whipped into unpredictable whirls and eddies and something about the ever changing touch of the waters drives the Magaramachi into a frenzy of reproduction and violence. This place is both the major source of Magaramachi young and the major check on their population as individuals make their way there to fight one another, feed from one another and do other things beginning with "F" to one another. They stay there in an orgy of violence and other things until dead or too weak to continue. While it may seem hellish, the smarter ones view it as their (eventual) eternal reward for being so incredible and large - though of course in their dim imagination they win every encounter and grow bigger and stronger with each one. - Leviathan's Home: Leviathan is the boss
An area of the salination. Not particularly salty but not particularly not-salty. Not overly blessed with food but not too barren. Not too this, but not totally un-this. It's sole distinguishing feature is its the area Leviathan has called her own. She half swims, have floats through this area, an occasional flick of her tail driving her towards the males she has domesticated over here or a passing shoal of fish over there. Periodically - weekly? on average? - a challenger not bright enough to recongise how large and fantastic she is enters the area to be destroyed in a brief but bloody encounter. Their half eaten corpse slowly sinks to the bottom to be devoured by the mudscum who are finding this area to be a nirvana.
Faction Support:
- Aristocratic: Self
- Clerical: Open
- Mercantile: Open
Starting tech: Choose one (or none) of:
- Supernatic Propagation - The surface of the water is a dangerous and often hostile place, making so-called 'dry' bioproductivity a risky proposition, but with the right tools and personnel, engineered life can flourish there too.
Spoiler: GeographyThe Magaramachi Salination is an unusually salty region of tropical waters containing the confluence of a few major ocean currents. It's a relatively shallow area with only a few rifts leading to deeper area, the majority of the region extends only a hundred or so feet down before one meets three or four feet of thick viscous mud. The bottom mud is the domain of the mudscum - semi-intelligent flat fish who live in packs and eat any flesh that makes it's way down there: their sharp teeth are effective at making sure that most things that come down are sufficiently dead to be eaten straight away regardless of how it landed but Magaramachi scales and similar carapaces need to be left to soften in the mildly corrosive mud for a few days.
Above that various shoals of fish, collectively known as deepfish, swim. Eating particulate matter and eventually dying and falling to feed the mudscum they are actually, though noone has noticed, the main driver of the region's enhanced salinity due to their highly saline skeletons eventually degrading.
Above that, the floating Magaramachi and various shoals of fish collectively called the highfish. Some of these are highly attractive to the Magaramachi and an unchecked explosion in Magaramachi numbers wuld likely lead to their extinction, with as yet unknown effects on the local ecosystem.
Above that, the surface. Clouds of colourful algae cover most of the surface gaining energy from the salts in the water and eventually dying and falling to be eaten by fish.
The algae covering most of the surface means there are few photosynthesising plants in the region as the waters are darker than one might expect given their depth.
Spoiler: People
Picture a crocodile. Remove those parts of its head that aren't mouth and make them mouth - a long body ending in powerful jaws. (The brain, should you care, goes backwards to near the stomach. The eyes are lost due to the darker waters, replace them with electrochemical sensors inside the mouth and a tongue sensitive to minute currents in the water. Nostrils are lost to gills shielded by slightly thinner scales). Now thicken the scales and up the musculature. You're picturing a Magaramachon.
They hatch from eggs at about a foot long and grow rapidly until about five feet, slower after that though rate of growtth is highly dependant on food availability. Magaramachi are biologically immortal and grow throughout their entire life, becoming stronger and more intelligent as they do, until they meet a violent end or, less commonly, succumb to starvation or disease. The bulk, those smaller than about six feet, are barely intelligent - smarter than a dumb dog, dumber than a smart one. Once they pass around six feet they start getting progressively smarter with no theoretical upper limit. The Magaramachi don't keep records themselves but records from their neighbours talk about one who reached thirty eight feet and was able to make substantial contributions to the world's knowledge - it's entirely possible that algae propogation was invented or at least substantially improved by them. Reaching such a size would have taken centuries though and as their body grows so does their food needs; Megaramachi of that size invariably starve to death.
Magaramachi society is entirely focused around size, and as size grows so does ego. Once one is large enough to have a concept of "myself" and "not myself" they inevitably come to the only sensible conclusion - that they are the greatest of all Magaramachi, that their smaller cousins are suitable only for training to bring them food and that their larger brethren (who attained such a size only through pure luck) must be brought down and eaten. The very largest, fifteen foot plus, are capable of understanding that not everything feels that way and acting as if they are not the greatest and most perfect of all things under the sea, but the fact that they can pretend not to think it doesn't mean they don't think it. Diplomacy is possible but goes much smoother if every so often the other party remarks on how large and incredible the Magaramachon is, how they are truly the greatest of all Magaramachi and how they will inevitably grow larger still.
Magaramachi females are perhaps slightly larger than males on average but not so much as to be an infallible guide. Magaramchi are hatched from eggs as they fall, those infants that don't hatch in time are eaten by mudscum as the eggs hit the bottom and the mother swims away unconcerned. Magaramchi fmales are capable of multiple simoultaneous pregnancies from multiple partners (or the same partner multiple times) - three or four concurrent pregnancies is common and seven or eight is a relatively routine occurance (akin to triplets in human society)
Magaramachon society, such as it is, is composed of several distinct groups under the leadership of the largest, the group being precisely as big as the leader can get away with. At any time the Salination is home to around twenty or thirty such groups in a constant state of war as each individual leader seeks to redress whatever cosmic wrong has happened to allow Magaramachi who aren't them to have any influence. Currently the largest, by quite some way, is the twenty three foot female who calls herself (or, more likely, allows others to call her) Leviathan - Magaramachi lrge enough to have names tend to have names like that: "Giant", "Huge", "Enormous", etc. The exception is those too cowed by a larger leader to have set up on their own who take/are given deprecating names like "Tiny" or "Small" which adds more fuel to their sullen plotting and scheming against their leader - until, of course, that breaks into a frenzy of teeth and claws when a challenge is made.
Algae plays a huge part in the diet of the smaller Magaramachi and smaller, non-intelligent, ones will instinctively "farm" the more desirable crops. Spreading clumps out for more growth, eating competing blooms etc. As one grows larger, this task becomes devolved to those smaller ones you've brought under your sway but becomes likewise more efficient with techniques such as crop splicing, crop rotation and selective breeding being widely known. These techniques have also been used on a species of large fish (called the "highest fish") that lives much of its life floating face down on the surface and, with much less success, on the mudscum below. Magaramachi are far more adept at farming the surface than the floor.
Spoiler: Faith
Each Magaramachi intelligent enough to consider the issue of faith follows a religion at once unique to itself and indistinguishable from every other Magaramachi. It can be broudly summed up as "<Insert name here> is the best" or "<Insert name here> is the biggest". Tenets are simple. <Insert name here> is the pinnacle of the Magaramachi race. Those it has cowed into following it have made the only sensible decision based on a) how tiny and insignifcent they are versus b) how huge and awesome he is.
Those larger are living on borrowed time until they are inevitably challenged and eaten, the calaries from their body feeding <Insert name here> and being another step on their eventual and utterly guaranteed path to becoming the size of the entire planet and then eating the planet. It's unclear what would happen after that.
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2022-07-26, 10:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
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- England
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
This round's temperate maps:
Spoiler: Political/Military
Spoiler: Economic
Spoiler: Faith
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2022-07-27, 12:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2017
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
No bubbles no troubles
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2022-07-27, 12:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2017
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
No bubbles no troubles
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2022-07-27, 12:38 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2017
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2022-07-27, 01:38 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2016
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Awesome! I'll do some rolls for stats tonight so they're ready to go when a region comes up. Thanks for having me.
Also, it turns out I'm considerably more of an idiot than I hoped and I actually wanted a region with briny borders, not brackish. So the lack of 19 ceases to be a problem. And it's not super important, it just felt like it made sense given I'd mentioned the high salinity of the regionLast edited by Kythia; 2022-07-27 at 01:42 PM.
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2022-07-27, 04:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2016
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Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Hey Kythia! Long time no see!
I believe we both agreed that the fertilizing seeds make sense as a substitute resource requirement for Supermarine Artillery, since they're capable of self-propelled flight, though it might be more similar to a cluster munition than a single guided projectile.Last edited by Minescratcher; 2022-07-27 at 05:56 PM.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
Ti Linnad in Empire! 4
Commonwealth of Zara in Empire! 5
The Bel-Dan-Ub in Empire! 6
The Ironkelp Order in Empire! 7
Currently Running Empire! 8
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2022-07-27, 04:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2016
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Hey Minescratcher. Long time indeed, quite surprised I'm remembered
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2022-07-27, 11:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2017
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
The new recruitment thread is up and available here!
No bubbles no troubles
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2022-07-28, 03:45 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2016
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
A rules question, apologies if this is covered - I did look but couldn't see it anywhere.
If you create a General or a Spy and nominate them as your heir, do they keep their assigned Military/Espionage value when they ascend to the throne (because that's the skills they already have) or do you reroll (perhaps becuase their skills were rather more specialised and it's a broader set that's needed to actually oversee a nation's efforts in that direction)
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2022-07-29, 10:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Would +1 faith on ruler turnover be a valid tier 1 tech?
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2022-07-31, 06:22 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
They do not keep their assigned Military/Espionage value, they reroll as normal, though since it would be almost required to be nondynastic, you could of course choose to place whatever they roll highest in their respective values.
Not just like that: That's effectively +1 to all Faith rolls until/unless your ruler is Faith 10; and as a tech, anyone can use it, which can really warp the intended pacing of the game as regards special actions in particular, particularly with the way non-dynastic inheritance works this game.
Some potential options that might work better:
- Dynastic inheritance bonuses are adjusted for Faith: Your new ruler receives a +1 bonus to Faith if their parent had a Faith score of X or higher, a +2 bonus to Faith if their parent had a Faith score of Y or higher, or a +3 bonus to Faith if their parent had a Faith score of Z or higher.
[X, Y, Z] might equal [3, 6, 9], [4, 8, 10], or some other combination the rest of the GM team finds suitable.
- Rulers [?who inherit nondynastically?] gain a +1 bonus to Faith if their predecessor had a Faith score of N or higher.
This could potentially be extended to all rulers if N is high enough, but if it was just nondynastic rulers, it could easily be as low as 6 or even 4.
All of this assumes a basis for the technology which makes sense to the GM team, of course - remember than even tier 1 technologies still require either another technology or a resource as a pre-requisite. Since you don't have any resources, I assume you'd want a technology as a pre-requisite, but at present you only have Graduated Symbiosis. For my part, I can't really see a clear path for such a technology (though I can see a path to certain _similar_ ones), especially since of course I'm certain you'd want it to be logically applicable to the somewhat different physiology of the rulers of the Riftlings Many.Sincerely,
Role P. Geek
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2022-07-31, 06:44 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2010
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
I'm pretty sure that the specific reason this question is being asked is that the Eternal Communion is either at, or very soon will be at the next benchmark of 20 holy sites, and the Tier Size 3 bonus for a Faith is a "Benefit equivalent to a Tier 1 Technology". Unless you meant to imply that the bonuses for faith based size bonuses that emulate techs would also have resource requirements this game.
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2022-07-31, 10:43 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Out-of-Character Thread (CWBG)
Epinephrine_Syn speaks true! This is for a Holy Site Bonus religiotech which I intend to assign this turn. I propose the following:
Echo Chamber: Adherents of the Eternal Communion, whether hivemind or isolate, embrace and emulate the undying nature of the unified existence of the Communion. Over the lifetimes of constituent parts or of generations seeking to obviate the borders of self, fervor compounds beyond the usual borders of zealotry.
Effect: Dynastic inheritance bonuses are adjusted for Faith: Your new ruler receives a +1 bonus to Faith if their parent had a Faith score of 3 or higher, a +2 bonus to Faith if their parent had a Faith score of 6 or higher, or a +3 bonus to Faith if their parent had a Faith score of 9 or higher.
Alternative Crunch: I took the most generous scores in Role's suggestion, but they may be found overgenerous. If these are found undesirably low, the alternatives of 3, 7, and 10 can replace the 3, 6, 9. (Reasoning: Normally it's +1 at 4 and +2 at 8, so I lowered both thresholds by one, and then the addition of 10 allows for the opening of new horizons)