Archie
Not even my final form
For decades, humans have been listening to radio frequencies in space. Mathematically, there should be millions of intelligent species, some of which must have existed billions of years ago based on the age of the Milky Way. Why, then, have we heard nothing?
That question was answered for us when humans launched our first inter-solar expeditions using Warp Drives. Landing on diverse planets identified by scientists to be potential sources of intelligent life, humans found hell. Species suffering from horrible diseases that ravaged the flesh. Cities destroyed by weapons, the destructive power of which was incomprehensible to us. Entire planets blown to bits, we suspected by antimatter. Wars being waged over high-tech ruins by primitive tribes - both of humans and machines - with sticks and stones.
We had discovered our answer. We had discovered the Galactic Cycle. In a galaxy filled with trillions of species that had existed over billions of years, there existed literal tens of trillions of organic diseases. There had also existed millions of civilizations of sentient machines, and billions of computer viruses that had affected them. Many of these afflictions, both for organic and artificial life, were created in labs by advanced and now extinct civilizations whose level of genetic and computer engineering had far exceeded our own. Worse, antimatter weapons, plasma shields, war-bots, and genetically engineered warrior and slave races had been a recipe for constant war. The universe did have millions of intelligent species. The second they discovered the galaxy's dark history, they too became part of it - nearly every intelligent civilization we found had entered a Dark Age. Perhaps they still had technology, but all of them, without exception, were mired in suffering and conflict.
Despite our best efforts, the diseases made their way back to us. A metamorphic (self-editing) computer virus jumped to one of our ships, taking it and millions of biological diseases back to Earth. 99% of humanity's population, and most of our machines, were wiped out by the outbreak of organic and computer viruses. We tried to keep the diseases out, and failed. We tried to bring the weaponry in, and succeded. Human governments responded to this unprecedented wave of catastrophes by adopting all manners of alien robotics, android, and cloning technology to replenish the population. Using enhanced alien warp drives, we colonized hundreds of worlds. Using self-replicating solar array construction bots, we multiplied our energy output by building arrays around thousands of suns. Finally, using advanced alien weapons, two coalitions of human countries, led by China and the US, fought wars with each other, destroying entire planets with antimatter including Earth. Until the year 2162, countries whose names reflected geographic entities that no longer existed continued waging conflict, as they always had, over the scraps of civilization. Finally, that year, one of the sides, which now called itself the United Directorate of Mankind, triumphed. The Directorate soon directed humanity's attentions away from internal conflict by pursuing conflict against other races, subjugating them, genetically engineering some to be perfect forced labor, and driving others into extinction.
We thought we had triumphed. We thought that we alone were the exception. We were naive.
Humans weren't the only race to overcome disease with cloning, to overcome division by focusing the population on war against aliens. As soon as we became the "big fish" in our corner of the galaxy, the other big fish took notice. The Directorate was thrust into a complex world of galactic politics which it did not fully understand. The dominant powers of the galaxy - the 11, a race of sentient machines, and the Ixralids, an insectoid race capable of great feats of bio-engineering through the use of radioactive evolution vats - had a level of power that greatly exceeded our own.
The Directorate, knowing its survival was in danger, raced to establish as many solar arrays as possible. Cloning, building machines, and building weapons - all these things took electricity. However, fallen as most of the species of the galaxy were - some constantly diseased, others stuck in a Medieval mindset where they worshipped their own ancient technology like the creations of a God, others having lost all knowledge of the past - most still had access to some kind of spaceflight, and could easily destroy our solar arrays.
To expand our output, the Directorate created a fleet of Venture Ships, with the mission of establishing contact with the many fallen peoples in our quarter of the Galaxy, solving their disputes and problems if need be, and convincing them to join a "Federation", which in practice entailed giving the Directorate rights to their star.
An autocratic government, run by a "Standing Committee" whose brains were linked in a neural interface, the Directorate was exceptionally paranoid and rarely ever gave its fleet officers any autonomy. The crews of the Venture Ships were different - they had to solve problems creatively, and on their own. This led to the ships becoming incubators for anti-government feelings. Already, two Venture Ships were torpedoed by their own navy for suspected "treason against the Standing Committee", and DNS Venture, the first ship of the class, has gone rogue.
We are the crew of the DNS Lightbringer, the newest of the Venture ships, sent into the Pegasus Wing, a part of galaxy disputed between our own civilization and that of the Makers, a reclusive ancient race who live on bunkers to avoid disease, and who claim to have engineered both the 11 and the Ixralids - a claim that can't be verified as neither society has a concept of history. Our mission is to convince the local planets to join the Federation, gain access to their star systems, and if possible organize the locals to fight against the Makers.
Let me know if y'all are interested in this and/or have suggestions! This is basically "Dark Trek". The human government is terrible, the Galaxy is worse, the mission is cynical, and yet the crew of the Lightbringer have the ability to make the lives of the diverse species of the Pegasus Wing much better (or not). It will involve a lot of difficult situations (no conflict is without reasons, and both sides might be motivated by something good), a lot of moral dilemmas and a lot of creative freedom.
I'm looking for players as well as possibly a few co-GMs, especially people willing to help worldbuild and design a large number of the races.
Some guidelines:
1. My main requirement is posting frequency - I hate RPs that die soon because people aren't getting out enough posts. 2 paragraphs is good enough, but please make sure you can post at least once every 3-4 days.
2. You can play any race that's part of the Directorate (there are hundreds), but keep in mind that almost all of them are second class citizens at best.
3. The crew has a lot of people - beyond just military personnel, scientists, students who are doing research projects on alien life and society (the Directorate doesn't really care about "putting civilians in danger" since the tragic history of the past 200 years is one where there are no true civilians)
That question was answered for us when humans launched our first inter-solar expeditions using Warp Drives. Landing on diverse planets identified by scientists to be potential sources of intelligent life, humans found hell. Species suffering from horrible diseases that ravaged the flesh. Cities destroyed by weapons, the destructive power of which was incomprehensible to us. Entire planets blown to bits, we suspected by antimatter. Wars being waged over high-tech ruins by primitive tribes - both of humans and machines - with sticks and stones.
We thought we had triumphed. We thought that we alone were the exception. We were naive.
The Directorate, knowing its survival was in danger, raced to establish as many solar arrays as possible. Cloning, building machines, and building weapons - all these things took electricity. However, fallen as most of the species of the galaxy were - some constantly diseased, others stuck in a Medieval mindset where they worshipped their own ancient technology like the creations of a God, others having lost all knowledge of the past - most still had access to some kind of spaceflight, and could easily destroy our solar arrays.
To expand our output, the Directorate created a fleet of Venture Ships, with the mission of establishing contact with the many fallen peoples in our quarter of the Galaxy, solving their disputes and problems if need be, and convincing them to join a "Federation", which in practice entailed giving the Directorate rights to their star.
An autocratic government, run by a "Standing Committee" whose brains were linked in a neural interface, the Directorate was exceptionally paranoid and rarely ever gave its fleet officers any autonomy. The crews of the Venture Ships were different - they had to solve problems creatively, and on their own. This led to the ships becoming incubators for anti-government feelings. Already, two Venture Ships were torpedoed by their own navy for suspected "treason against the Standing Committee", and DNS Venture, the first ship of the class, has gone rogue.
We are the crew of the DNS Lightbringer, the newest of the Venture ships, sent into the Pegasus Wing, a part of galaxy disputed between our own civilization and that of the Makers, a reclusive ancient race who live on bunkers to avoid disease, and who claim to have engineered both the 11 and the Ixralids - a claim that can't be verified as neither society has a concept of history. Our mission is to convince the local planets to join the Federation, gain access to their star systems, and if possible organize the locals to fight against the Makers.
Let me know if y'all are interested in this and/or have suggestions! This is basically "Dark Trek". The human government is terrible, the Galaxy is worse, the mission is cynical, and yet the crew of the Lightbringer have the ability to make the lives of the diverse species of the Pegasus Wing much better (or not). It will involve a lot of difficult situations (no conflict is without reasons, and both sides might be motivated by something good), a lot of moral dilemmas and a lot of creative freedom.
I'm looking for players as well as possibly a few co-GMs, especially people willing to help worldbuild and design a large number of the races.
Some guidelines:
1. My main requirement is posting frequency - I hate RPs that die soon because people aren't getting out enough posts. 2 paragraphs is good enough, but please make sure you can post at least once every 3-4 days.
2. You can play any race that's part of the Directorate (there are hundreds), but keep in mind that almost all of them are second class citizens at best.
3. The crew has a lot of people - beyond just military personnel, scientists, students who are doing research projects on alien life and society (the Directorate doesn't really care about "putting civilians in danger" since the tragic history of the past 200 years is one where there are no true civilians)
