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| "Final War" Universe Reference Thread | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 28 2007, 06:18 PM (628 Views) | |
| Specialist290 | Feb 28 2007, 06:18 PM Post #1 |
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Admin-type Guy
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Basically this thread is going to be a combination of an encyclopedia, glossary, timeline, Emperor list, and (if I decide to put that much effort into it) star atlas. It'll also serve as a sort of "backstory" to my main Final War chronicle. Hope you enjoy it once I get a couple of articles up
ARTICLE LIST None at present--watch this space TIMELINE *CRD = "Common Reckoning Date"; zero-point is the establishment of the First United Empire of Mankind *PCRD = "Pre-Common Reckoning Date" 1 CRD--Establishment of the First United Empire of Mankind 17759 CRD--Beginning of the Final War 17792 CRD--The Collapse; beginning of the Nox Aeterna 20361 CRD--The Reunification signals the end of the Nox Aeterna; Second United Empire of Mankind established 20957 CRD--Complete History of the Final War compiled |
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| Bob 121 | Feb 28 2007, 08:26 PM Post #2 |
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Librarium Adept
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KEWL DUDE! |
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| Specialist290 | Apr 9 2007, 07:44 PM Post #3 |
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Admin-type Guy
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First article! OOC notes are in yellow The United Empire of Mankind - Also often referred to as the Terran Empire or the United Terrans; also sometimes called by its citizens simply The Empire. Established 1 CRD. Dissolved approx. 17770 CRD. --History-- Origins Nearly ten thousand years after mankind first ventured forth into the wastes of interstellar space, its descendants had grown and multiplied to fill nearly the entirety of the current Palaeoterran and Trevallian Sectors. However, with this rapid expansion came divisions on a scale that had not been seen since ancient times,* before the unification of Terra. The Solar Confederation, once the dominant power of all Known Space, had contracted almost to its core after losing its increasingly more distant and unmanageable colonies; this sudden freedom produced, among the most developed and prosperous of the former colony worlds, a pioneering spirit that would not be rivalled until the development of the hyperdrive. During this Age of Exploration, the borders of humanity's sphere of influence began to grow--as did the number of factions within that border. The sudden Warp Collapse of 1178 PCRD struck an even deeper blow to human unity, shattering the still-fragile Solar Confederation and numerous other multisystem empires that had formed during the Age of Exploration. For the next thousand years, intersystem travel slowed to a crawl, with most nations being limited to at best two or three nearby systems, except in fairly dense star clusters. However, with the development of hyperdrive in 564 PCRD and its pairing with the theremite crystal power source some 200 years later, the Archonian Federation stood poised to reunify the scattered fragments of humanity, absorbing its neighbors using a combination of military force and economic subjugation. Finally, after a lightning campaign against the last remnants of the Solar Confederation and the surrender of Terra in 21 PCRD, Commandant Kalvan Gered of Archonis declared the task complete. He did not enjoy his accomplishment long, however, being assassinated in an attempted coup. The coup failed, but it plunged the Archonian hegemony into a fierce civil war and power struggle, with several groups fighting for control and ultimately aligning with either the Loyalist faction, headed by Kalvan's nephew and heir Morrow, or the faction, led by Kalvan's former confidante High Admiral Elias Kiersen. In the end, Kiersen defeated the Loyalists in a battle above the very surface of Archonis itself, capturing the young Archon and forcing him to abdicate. Shortly thereafter, Kiersen rather pretentiously took upon himself the title of Emperor, thus inaugurating the United Empire of Mankind. * The civilization of the future as portrayed in this work is, in a relative sense, about as far-removed from us as we are from Sumeria or Egypt's Old Kingdom, if not even further. As such, they tend to look upon non-space-capable single-planet civilizations, whether industrialized or not, as "primitive" or "barbaric." The era we now consider the "Nuclear Age" or the "Information Age" has been, as time and technology advance, been lumped together into that all-inclusive category of "ancient history." The First Houses (More To Come) |
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| Bob 121 | Apr 9 2007, 08:09 PM Post #4 |
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Librarium Adept
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Sweet! It's begun again! |
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| Specialist290 | Apr 9 2007, 08:40 PM Post #5 |
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Admin-type Guy
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Yep
I'll probably just edit more into the post to complete that article, but each new article (or group of smaller ones) should have its own post. |
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| Bob 121 | Apr 9 2007, 09:41 PM Post #6 |
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Librarium Adept
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Yeah, that'd make it easier and more organized. (On my thread it was a nightmare getting all that crap to stay organized) |
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| Specialist290 | Jun 2 2007, 12:55 AM Post #7 |
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Admin-type Guy
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Hyperspace Disappearance Mystery - Although the hyperdrive is the fastest means of propulsion in Known Space, capable of crossing entire sectors of the galaxy in a matter of mere weeks, even it has its practical limitations. One of these limitations, and perhaps the greatest unsolved mystery plaguing the Empire, is the "Hyperspace Disappearance Mystery"; above a certain threshold, the crews and passengers, and indeed any living organism aboard a vessel, will simply disappear, although the ship itself and all non-organic components remain intact. The first (and most prominent) recorded incident that can be directly linked to this phenomenon is the "Imperator Tar'Adaan Disappearance," named for the merchant vessel which dropped out of space in the Colchis system in 13462 CRD. After attempting to hail the vessel without result, local Imperial Space Patrol units dispatched boarding teams to investigate the ship. They found the Imperator Tar'Adaan to be in perfect working order, but the vessel seemed completely deserted. There were no signs of any hasty evacuation or an onboard mutiny (or other massacre)--indeed, the ship still had its full complement of escape pods. A pirate attack was also ruled out, as the ship had suffered no recent battle damage, and its cargo remained almost entirely intact (minus a small complement of livestock which had also presumably disappeared). By all appearances, the crew of the Tar'Adaan had simply vanished. The ship's log, retrieved from its onboard computer, was able to tell part of the story--the captain had attempted to push his hyperdrive to speeds well above the recommended "safety threshold." A quick check of the captain's personal records revealed some interesting information--several reports for late deliveries had been filed by previous customers, and his corporate sponsors had issued several warnings, including multiple threats of job suspension. The most likely scenario, therefore, is that, realizing he was on the verge of making another late delivery that would potentially cost him his career, the captain decided to redline his hyperdrive in the hopes that it would complete the trip without failing or catastrophically destroying his ship. He and his crew evidently vanished some time during the trip. While this is the most famous account of people disappearing in hyperspace, it is by no means the only one. Perhaps most puzzling of all, there seems to be no concrete limit which separates safety from danger in this case: Many crews have disappeared on vessels that were travelling at relatively slow speeds (although still somewhat above the safety threshold), while in exceedingly rare cases ships have safely completed jumps at extremely high speeds without any loss of crew or passengers (although some travelers have reported surreal experiences they encountered during these trips). In all reported cases, however, the disappearance rate has been total; there are no accounts of "partial" disappearances in which a portion of the ship's occupants vanished while the rest completed the jump safely. However, such disappearances are rare, and there have been no reported cases that involved a vessel traveling within the recommended safety threshold. |
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| Bob 121 | Jun 2 2007, 01:11 AM Post #8 |
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Librarium Adept
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Dude, this is one of the most interesting concepts I've heard in a long while. Pretty sweet stuff.
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| Specialist290 | Jun 2 2007, 01:16 AM Post #9 |
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Admin-type Guy
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Thanks!
This is just one of those ideas that my mind seemed to grab a hold of and run with, to the point where I just had to write it down before I forgot it. Unfortunately, most of the time when that happens, I'm either distracted or unable to find something to write on / with However, I've been bouncing this one around in my head all night.
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| Specialist290 | Jun 28 2007, 02:49 AM Post #10 |
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Admin-type Guy
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An idea that's been bouncing around in my head for a bit... ---------- Imperial Librarians - The vast wealth of data contained in the public-access infobanks located across the Empire presents a unique challenge--any ordinary sentient, or even a very large team of workers, would find processing, categorizing, sorting, and indexing the sheer volume of information an impossible task to complete within their lifetime, but the secondary tasks of a librarian--to take and interpret complex contextual requests from another sentient and refer them to exactly what they need or are looking for--is equally impossible for any automated system yet designed. The Empire has answered this challenge by developing its own unique cadre of Imperial Librarians, an intriguing caste of its mysterious "special talents." Like all other talents, most Imperial Librarians are typically identified and separated from the general population at birth or in early infancy. Those talent-initiates who possess certain ideal qualities--hyperphotographic memories, excellent memory recall, and the possibility of developing tele-empathic abilities, to name but a few--are further prepared for a life as an Imperial Librarian. In addition to the standard psionic training regimen (and a few specialized courses specifically focusing on memory enhancement), Librarian-Initiates are also subjected to subtle genetic "tweaks" to further enhance their abilities, and many also receive an augmetic positronic processor to assist them further (although particularly arrogant or confident Librarian-Initiates, or those who are predisposed against cybernetic enhancement, have the option to forego this). The job of an Imperial Librarian is to maintain the infobanks it is assigned and to assist those wishing to use them in whatever way possible. Again, this would be a daunting task for most individuals (or even an army of non-psykers), but the enhanced memory and thought-processing abilities of the Librarian allow it to function in this role efficiently, permitting it to wade through vast virtual reams of data in order to find a specific piece of information. Even when separated from their infobanks, Librarians may still find their particular skills to be useful in many other situations, as their enhanced cognitive powers allow them to memorize maps, plans, schematics, etc. in almost-perfect detail. Many are capable of remembering specific incidents in their life in astonishing detail for several years, often for most of their lifespan. Unsurprisingly, many Imperial Librarians develop a love for reading, although most prefer to take it in digitally, finding the act of reading through hardcopy to be "too slow" for their highly-developed minds. A large number of Librarians also develop eccentric or even unstable personalities; this is thought to be a side-effect of the incredible amounts of data that their minds are required to process in order to perform their tasks. The suicide rate among Librarians is very high, even compared to the special talent population as a whole. Most also exhibit some form of obsessive-compulsive behavior, generally to greater lengths than most non-talents. Talents - The term "Special Talent" is the official generic label given to a unique category of sentients who show remarkable mental abilities, the class that is typically referred to as "psykers" or "psychics" by the general population. These qualities are generally very rare among most sentients and require some form of intense conditioning to manifest themselves, although they do appear to be affected by heredity; an unidentified talent may go through his entire life without ever being aware of his "gifts," although he may unconsciously employ them in very subtle ways. There are, of course, reports of "rogue talents" who suddenly become aware of their talents, but most of these are identified fairly quickly and, if deemed to be a potential threat, quietly neutralized. The vast majority of talents, however, are typically identified at a very early age and separated from their families into a special training program. Most families do receive some sort of compensation for their loss, although few are even happy to find themselves having to give up their children. The talent-initiates, as young, untrained talents are called, are then put through a rigorous enhancement program; through a regimented lifestyle, special psionic training, and subtle genetic manipulation, their abilities are identified and enhanced. After a certain period, the talent-initiates are further sorted and prepared for specialized roles in society. A fully-trained talent may exhibit some considerable abilites and generally continues to improve and refine them throughout his lifetime. Many veteran telekinetics are able to move and place immense, heavy objects with an amazing degree of precision, and some tele-empaths have been known to be able to alter an individual's subconscious thoughts and project false memories into their minds (although such abilities generally require a great deal of concentration). Most talents, however, are not quite so powerful as this, as it takes many years and an intense focus on self-discipline to develop their abilities to such lengths. The Empire employs talents in many fields, from administration and law enforcement to industrial work and even military work. A talent's mental abilities generally ensure that they are only employed for the most daunting or sensitive tasks, as most object quite strongly at being used for routine work while their controllers tend to not want to waste the abilities of a valuable talent. Anti-psyker prejudice also figures into the equation; most citizens tend to trust another non-talent more than an individual with psionic abilities, whom they may regard as unusual or even a potential danger. Due to the intense amount of stress and pressure that most talents undergo, both in their early training and their careers, it is not surprising that many suffer from some kind of mental instability. Some suffer from extreme depression or anxiety, and the suicide rate among talents is much higher than among the general population. Much less common (although more well-known) is for a talent to "go berserk," losing all control of its powers and lashing out at anyone or anything that finds itself in his path. In most cases these breakdowns are handled quickly by dispatching another talent to subdue or eliminate them. However, few talents tend to go to these extremes; most simply develop some sort of lesser disorder, such as schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive behavior. Almost all talents have some sort of eccentric behavioral quirk that non-talents tend to regard as off-putting, and few talents ever develop any sort of meaningful or lasting relationship with a non-talent, although, as always, there have been a few notable exceptions. |
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| Bob 121 | Jun 28 2007, 07:33 PM Post #11 |
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Librarium Adept
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Interesting. |
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| Specialist290 | Jun 29 2007, 02:38 AM Post #12 |
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Admin-type Guy
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I do have to admit that I stole the basic concept of a "psychic librarian" from the Warhammer 40K universe
However, I tried to add a little of my own spin to it. A lot of my ideas are like that; they borrow their basic concepts from other genres, but I try to put my own signature on everything so as not to be actually plagiarizing them
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| Bob 121 | Jun 29 2007, 05:22 PM Post #13 |
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Librarium Adept
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I get the same problem. I've had numerous amazing ideas that I wanted to put into Proditio but then I realized that they essentially stemmed from either Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, or 40K so I did away with them. It was sad, but in the end I think it'll make Prodito better and much more original. |
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| Specialist290 | Jun 29 2007, 07:22 PM Post #14 |
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Admin-type Guy
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Yeah, unfortunately scifi has a lot of conventions that are hard to break free of. Then again, I suppose the same is true w/ any genre. |
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However, I've been bouncing this one around in my head all night.
However, I tried to add a little of my own spin to it.
10:51 AM Jul 11