World Building What are some possible antagonists for a desert-based roleplay?

[cl0ud]

For a planet based in a science-fiction setting, what are some good and/or possible antagonists that a group of characters could face?

 

[Corrosion]

Generic Middle Eastern terrorists

Probably desert raiders or something.

 

[Saccharine Cyanide]

In a desert setting, there are going to be limited resources to go around. So, a group of characters will certainly face people who want to take whatever they have.

What the enemy looks like depends on what they want: maybe they're scavengers who want food, supplies, and water. They may be desperate enough to fight to the death for it.

Or, it could be people who want a person's most valuable commodity: their labor. There could be people who want to trick or force the characters into servitude, or into conscription, and others who can make a profit selling their labor to someone else.

If the characters are in a desert civilization rather than nomadic, the antagonists could be outside forces threatening to invade, or there could be internal power struggles between the people in power and would-be usurpers.

 

[anxietyrat]

-coughs-

 

[Teapot]

Take the situation with oil in the middle-east, switch to water and you got a pretty decent framework for organized crime in the setting, I think!

 

[cl0ud]

-coughs-

This is definitely getting included.

Take the situation with oil in the middle-east, switch to water and you got a pretty decent framework for organized crime in the setting, I think!

I really like the idea of a crime syndicate based around an illicit water trade which could also probably include narcotics and slave labor. I was writing in down in my notes and I was wondering if I should make them have a large presence on the entire planet or rather just be the puppet masters behind some rogue colony.

 

[cl0ud]

So here's what my notes look like so far:

• Piracy
• Aliens
• Some rare material
• Foreign planet
  • Desert Planet
• Primitive tribes
• Floating Cities
• Nation Building
• Giant Worms
• Mafia-Ran city/cities

Basically right now the bare-bones for some features I want the RP to include. I'll expand on my thoughts below and you guys can give any suggestions or share your opinions on them.

PIRACY
I really want to include piracy in this world because the setting is already so brutal. Now, of course there isn't a huge supply of water on a desert planet so they'll be using ships that get around utilizing a sort-of skiing property, where they skid through the sand using the power of the wind and/or incredibly powerful fans. And I was thinking of tier-ing it so characters have the ability to upgrade their barges with the high-end ships having repulsor engines that hover above the sand/rock and can allow the players to move swiftly throughout the hostile landscape.

ALIENS
I want aliens included, but I don't want them super prevalent. In my mind I'm sort-of imagining an FTL-like roleplay, where you can encounter varying species on your travels that have specific abilities that can benefit you and your crew as well as your ship. I'm just trying to brainstorm how to explain their presence on the planet since I want there to be a diverse group of aliens (5-6 different species) but I don't want there to be a large amount of them actually present.

SOME RARE MATERIAL
I want there to be some really coveted material (other than water) that's very versatile and used in a lot of stuff. I'm torn between making it a metal or a crystal at the moment. I feel like this would add an interesting element into the roleplay making the overall feel very competitive otherwise you could maybe get stuck in a sandstorm and be eaten alive by giant worms or something similar to hyenas.

FOREIGN PLANET
- DESERT PLANET
I know I didn't want the roleplay to be set on like Earth or something, so the idea I came up with is some human-based expeditionary force found this deserted desert planet ~100-200 years prior to the year that the roleplay occurs and for some reason it's drawn a lot of attraction from foreign alien species as well as humans but not enough that there's a huge presence in orbit around the planet and so there isn't a huge amount of cities/civilizations/etc. I know for a fact there will be moisture farms to be pay homage back to Tatooine, though.

PRIMITIVE TRIBES
I definitely want to include primitive tribes that the players could encounter during their travels in which they could either become friends with the tribe, completely demolish them and their culture and reap the spoils of war, or force them into slavery and sell them at the slave market in a nearby metropolis. I also want the tribes to conduct raids on settlement and cities to "exact revenge against the techies". Another idea I think I'd have fun playing around with is some sort of unifying "king" that manages to fuse all of the tribes together into a kingdom and wage war against anyone with technology, sort of like a Caesar from Fallout: New Vegas.

FLOATING CITIES
I don't know if this would make it into the final product or not yet. I want there to be this sort-of aristocratic faction that is much more technologically advanced than the rest of the planet who reside in sky-palaces and control cities/civilizations that remain on the planet's surface. I think this would serve as a good either goal or antagonist to the characters, where they can either strive to elevate themselves up to this rung of the ladder of society or make it their objective to free the planet from the evil grasp of Rich Uncle Pennybags.

I was also thinking that this could make an interesting political landscape for the planet where these aristocrats hire hundreds/thousands of mercenaries and use them to conquer cities, resource outposts, strongholds/bunkers, or depots, or even to fight other aristocrats and claim their assets.

NATION BUILDING
This is something I really want to include into the roleplay while at the same time making sure this isn't what the roleplay is based around. I feel like allowing the characters to gain infamy and love across the planet through their travels and just meeting with thousands of people would open up the character to slowly build a nation, whether it be a legitimate civilization that has civilized policies or a pirate/bandit nation that closer resembles a colossal gang, or even a slave empire or some corporation that becomes a large element on the planet.

I don't know, I just think that allowing characters to create something that they could really stamp their name on an leave a legacy is something that a lot of people enjoy and would actually work towards doing.

GIANT WORMS
Giant worms.

MAFIA-RAN CITY/CITIES
As Teapot mentioned, with the scarcity of resources (like water), that really encourages organized crime and control over the minds and resources of the people. My dilemma when it comes to this is should I just have a handful of cities controlled by a local mafia, or one large crime syndicate that controls a large amount of cities and a lot of smaller cities controlled by their own personal crimelords.

that's all I have right now. Please leave feedback and suggestions.

 

[Phadia]

My first thoughts were venmous insects. You know, scorpions, spiders, and the like. Though, if this is sci-fi based like you said, these could be taken to the extremes. Giant hordes of venomous ants or something.

Some sort of desert fever or plague would be interesting as well. Or maybe some poisonous plants? The characters could be running out of water, so they eat these plants, but then get sick?

Sandstorms.

Or you could have a magnetic field under the sand that screws with all their navigation devices?
Sorry if any of these were mentioned previously. Just a few suggestions! ^^

 

[cl0ud]

My first thoughts were venmous insects. You know, scorpions, spiders, and the like. Though, if this is sci-fi based like you said, these could be taken to the extremes. Giant hordes of venomous ants or something.

Some sort of desert fever or plague would be interesting as well. Or maybe some poisonous plants? The characters could be running out of water, so they eat these plants, but then get sick?

Sandstorms.

Or you could have a magnetic field under the sand that screws with all their navigation devices?
Sorry if any of these were mentioned previously. Just a few suggestions! ^^

Your suggestions are always welcome! And if I recall correctly, everything you suggested was unique.

I definitely plan on including native fauna and flora to the planet. I don't know if I'll include venomous plants yet, but I definitely believe that succulent plants, plants which store water in their stems, leaves, or roots, will make an appearance in the roleplay. They'll probably resemble cacti found on Earth, so it could definitely include some vegetation that has a poison in their spines or could have a toxic gel-like substance, like the one found in Aloe vera.

I'm going to have to do some more research on how climate-oriented weather patterns like sandstorms come to be, and if it's because of oceans or whatever (idk, I'm not a scientist). I don't know if I'll include a magnetic field under the sand because I feel like navigation is going to be key in this roleplay, seeing as how it's based on piracy and long periods of travel between destinations.

 

[cl0ud]

UPDATE

I did some research and was looking for some insight if life on a desert planet would be plausible, and I found this article. Definitely expect deep-surface wells attracting attention to create large population centers.

EDIT: In hindsight, the article mentioned above isn't referencing liquid water, so I'll probably have to do some more research on a feasible reason for having deep-surface wells, such as perhaps an aquifer or something of similar effect.

 

[cl0ud]

UPDATE

I've decided it'd be a good decision to create an index of some sort to help catalog the animals, plants, planets, spaceships, weapons, cities, etc., that'd appear in the roleplay. I've thought up some names for it, so I've added a poll to the original post for you guys to share your thoughts and opinions. Please let me know!

 

[Idea]

Have you considered an environmental antagonist? As in, the very conditions of the desert, the difficulties of finding the necessary supplies and side effects of the lack thereof, as well as any phenomena caused by the same conditions that cause the desert. For instance, if the desert was caused by proximity to the Star, maybe spontaneous fires during the day could be an interesting element to add

 

[cl0ud]

Have you considered an environmental antagonist? As in, the very conditions of the desert, the difficulties of finding the necessary supplies and side effects of the lack thereof, as well as any phenomena caused by the same conditions that cause the desert. For instance, if the desert was caused by proximity to the Star, maybe spontaneous fires during the day could be an interesting element to add

I have thought about an environmental antagonist, and Phadia piqued my interest when it came to sandstorms. Currently I'm doing more research to see what elements need to be in place for weather patterns such as sandstorms come to be. I haven't thought about the placement of the planet to the sun, though, which could be really interesting for the roleplay, I agree. Although, I'm pretty sure I want to have native flora and fauna as well as liquid water on the planet so I'm 50/50 on moving the planet outside of the Goldilocks zone.

After doing some research I discovered that it's possible for liquid water to be at the poles of the planet in the forms of small lakes and streams. This really excited me because I'm heavily considering having walled-off "Sanctuaries" that just encompass both of the poles, where there's actual vegetation and a more prosperous colony.

 

[Hailey]

A fire breathing camel cause why not

 

[cl0ud]

A fire breathing camel cause why not

Camelus dromedarius ventus

 

[cl0ud]

does this work

 

[cl0ud]

So after researching some more about weather stuff, I'm basically a meteorologist I've discovered that Mars has dust storms, so definitely look forward to seeing intense dust storms messing with equipment, harming players, etc. in the upcoming RP. Thanks Phadia for recommending this addition to me, and also thank everyone who's contributed for contributing. I really want my first RP on here to be quality and fun for everyone!

Don't forget to vote for the index name at the top of the post!

 

[Hailey]

That's great

 

[ExpertOfRoleplay]

My first thought would be some relatively isolated group of creatures that keep guard of lushes environments. Next, tribes that have flying villages that use up clouds to farm in the sky. Another, individual trying to convert all of the dessert planet into a giant sphere of glass(glass could be highly valued, hates the life, will bring light to other planets, etc). One more, lizards that use human bones as a way to scare off predators. Newly alive humans are being mistaken for dead ones, so humans are being constantly hunted by reptiles.

 

[cl0ud]

so i designed this as the icon for the rp. im not the best artist. pls gib feedback.

 

[cl0ud]

My first thought would be some relatively isolated group of creatures that keep guard of lushes environments. Next, tribes that have flying villages that use up clouds to farm in the sky. Another, individual trying to convert all of the dessert planet into a giant sphere of glass(glass could be highly valued, hates the life, will bring light to other planets, etc). One more, lizards that use human bones as a way to scare off predators. Newly alive humans are being mistaken for dead ones, so humans are being constantly hunted by reptiles.

• "...relatively isolated group of creatures that keep guard of [luscious] environments"
  I actually (mentally) played around with this idea after I discovered that there could be liquid water at the poles of a desert planet. I think I referenced it one of my previous posts where I had thought about creating walled-off areas where there was liquid which had prosperous colonies but were very selective in who they allowed to enter their colony and who not to, as well as having more advanced technology in those areas... but idk.
• "tribes that have flying villages that use up clouds to farm [moisture] in the sky"
  In my Notes post that I posted earlier, I talked about how I'd include flying cities dictated by the richest people of the planet instead of tribes. I also wrote how those in the sky-cities would interact with those who lived on the surface.
• "individual trying to convert all of the [desert] planet into a giant sphere of glass"
  Hm.
• "lizards that use human bones as a way to scare off predators."
  I really like this idea. Maybe a native sentient-yet-primitive species of lizard Mark Zuckerberg people that raid the settlements and stuff instead of having like just human inbreds attacking settlements.

Thank you for contributing, as always!

 

[ExpertOfRoleplay]

• "...relatively isolated group of creatures that keep guard of [luscious] environments"
  I actually (mentally) played around with this idea after I discovered that there could be liquid water at the poles of a desert planet. I think I referenced it one of my previous posts where I had thought about creating walled-off areas where there was liquid which had prosperous colonies but were very selective in who they allowed to enter their colony and who not to, as well as having more advanced technology in those areas... but idk.
• "tribes that have flying villages that use up clouds to farm [moisture] in the sky"
  In my Notes post that I posted earlier, I talked about how I'd include flying cities dictated by the richest people of the planet instead of tribes. I also wrote how those in the sky-cities would interact with those who lived on the surface.
• "individual trying to convert all of the [desert] planet into a giant sphere of glass"
  Hm.
• "lizards that use human bones as a way to scare off predators."
  I really like this idea. Maybe a native sentient-yet-primitive species of lizard Mark Zuckerberg people that raid the settlements and stuff instead of having like just human inbreds attacking settlements.

Thank you for contributing, as always!

Oooh one more, antagonist is being hunted down himself by some people after inheriting some bloody money. He then forces people onto the settlement of the dessert planet in order to burn through his money. Though he still is being chased down by some people-he becomes prideful and feels powerful through the forced settlement. He doesn't check up on them regularly. Though realizing they have become sefl-sufficient through his cuts of communication with them-he becomes jealous and begins lowering standards of living any way he can until settlements treat him as a deity.

 

[ExpertOfRoleplay]

Oh and he is also forcing settlements to bury valuable materials as he hates the greed of others. Forcing the settlements to also act as guardian to materials.