Looks really interesting! Glad you chose the Holy Vanerran Empire. As I was catching up with this AAR and read their backstory, I was going to change my vote. Now, forward into the stars and carve a glorious future!
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odd. Are they working for everyone else? can the rest of you see them?
But yes, they have much work ahead of them.
well the entire galaxy part from primitive races and event spawned stuff is custom-made races, but most are just regular Empires that can engage in diplomacy and stuff although there are a couple of fanatical purifiers lurking around.
glad you like them, and indeed that is the mission. Forward for the goddess!
No problems with the pictures my end, and it is on my work computer which normally has issues with pictures...
Really? All I can see are blue boxes saying 'imagebb.com image not found'
Nevermind, seems like it was fixed.
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Oh, this feels like its going to be an epic story that will create heroes and inspire legends. I can't wait for more!
The talk of thinking machines reminds me of Dune. Some of the general aesthetic as well.
Well I wasn't the one to makeep spiritualist ethos and AI clash in the game code.
All similarities to Sci fi media I have not read/consumed (such as Dune) ate either accidental or a shout out In the game design.
All similarities to Sci fi media I have not read/consumed (such as Dune) ate either accidental or a shout out In the game design.
Chapter 0a - The Forni Shipyards [Lore/Worldbuilding]
Production Note said:
The following is an excerpt from the transcript of a documentary released in Vanerran Holo-Theaters in 11.21.2199 entitled "Forni Shipyards: The Forgotten Story", featuring pop historian and planetary heartthrob Caton Vall.
<CLOSE UP of the Forni Shipyards through the viewport of the shuttle as they approach the station. The Station is massive, but with its outer wings showing signs of disuse, no power and utter disrepair, at best. Only the core, central areas appear active, in good repair and powered, and the exterior of the station is busy with small freighters and intrasystem vessels going too and fro, while the three (comparatively) massive corvettes of the Cohybin Fleet are loom at the outer edges of the view.>
CATON VALL (V.O.): It may be a surprise to look at it now, but once, the Forni Shipyards were home to about 3 million people, and not just Psilons - people from all over the Second Empire lived and worked on the station. Vanerra was a Sector Capital in those days, so a great deal of trade moved here - either on its way to various planets in the then-Carelas Sector, or leaving the sector for other parts of the Empire. So in addition to the millions that lived on the station itself, hundreds of thousands or more would be coming and going at any given time.
Of course, back then, the entire station was in use - there were hanger bays for space superiority fighters, more docks for traders to arrive, even an office of the Imperial Stock Market. Today, only the heart of the station, the Shipyards and one of the trader docks, remains in active use, and even those areas are a relative ghost town compared to what they once were - a census in 2195 showed that only 97,361 people lived there, and while that number has increased with the construction of the Cohybin Fleet and the God-Empresses new initiative to explore the stabilizing Hyperlanes, we're still only talking 120,000 or so at most.
<Camera shifts back to Caton. Caton is a light-purple skinned Psilon, with large, expressive eyes and a figure that is obviously well-muscled, but lithely so under his casual clothes. By Psilon standards of male attractiveness, from his slender, long fingers to his eyes to his build and the length and quality of the sensory tendrils on the sides of his head, Caton Vall is very much considered a looker.>
CATON VALL: Of course, with so much empty space, expeditions into the remainder of the station are not uncommon. The risks, of course, are extensive - with minimal power in those areas, many have no oxygen at all, and others have air that's been there for centuries or more. But they continue to happen - legally and illegally, academics and salvagers go out into the outer portions of the station on a regular, if infrequent, basis, sometimes returning with artifacts and useful historical data, and sometimes returning empty handed. If at all.
----------------------
Excerpt from Chapter 12 of "A History of Modern Vanerra, 1750-2175, 7th Edition", the standard textbook on the subject in most Vanerran High Schools during the late 2190s and early 2200s.
... but it wasn't until the early 1820s when exploitation of the Asteroid Belt where Forni II ought to be really got started once more that the Forni Shipyards really became relevant again. Though they had remained occupied and even in extremely limited use the entire time since the collapse of all semblances Imperial Authority in the system, the population had dwindled to a mere 6,000 souls by 1817. Enough that even the limited hydroponics facilities on the station could provide the inhabitants - descendents of those who had lived and worked on the station during the Imperial days, mostly - with enough food for themselves, needing few imports from Vanerra except as luxury items.
But with the mineral demands on Vanerra growing, and with the Asteroid belt largely unexploited during the Imperial days, anyone who could put a crew on an old intrasystem ship they might still have realized there was a real opportunity. A boom economy quickly rose up in the Belt - small enclosed mining stations were created, but they were the bare essentials, and often puttogether in extremely slapdash and jury-rigged manners in the early days. Dangerous and volatile, they could hardly provide all the needs to the miners and their survey and extraction ships But it was obvious there was really only once place to go to repair vessels, restock on essential supplies and other needs - the Forni Shipyards weren't even that far from the asteroid belt. Closer than Vanerra itself, certainly.
And the Shipyards had another advantage - enough space that could be reconverted into ore processing facilities. For a hundred years, the Shipyards were where mining interests brought their ore to be processed into a useable form before it was (usually) shipped back to Vanerra for planetary use.
In 1828, an incident between two miners on a furlough and a local resident of Forni Station, however, exposed some of the risks of this wildcatting and uncontrolled behavior. With Vanerra still caught up in chaos as the House of Tychos fought to protect its newly established rule, there was little law and order this far from the planet.
Davos and Mero Khal, drunk on local moonshine, cornered and raped a Hydroponics worker on her way home after a long day at work, Kisrae Nor. Kisrae was able to escape before they could kill her to cover up their crime, but when she reported it to the proper authorities, the Khal brothers had already fled onto their patron's ship and were on their way back to the company-station that served as their home while they mined.
Kisrae, popular and well liked, came to be held up as a symbol for all the residents of the Shipyards - she hadn't been the first victim of rape or assault by miners or other visitors brought by the Asteroid Boom, but her case was the one that brought the entire issue to the fore. In protest of the Khal brothers escaping justice - and being protected by the wealthy mining magnate that employed them -, Barl Kade, the most powerful telepath on the station and thus its ruling Archon, ordered the Shipyards closed off to all miners - whatever magnate they worked for, whatever their connection to the Khal brothers. A total strike of all mineral processing, furlough visits, and even repair and construction of ships and shuttles and equipment.
The standoff lasted for three months, and brought the fledgling economy in the Astroid Belt to a screeching halt, but finally, the Magnates agreed to abide by a number of rules of conduct in regards to behavior of ships in space, as laid down by Barl Kade and his Advisory Assembly, turn over anyone accused of a crime on the station for trial on the station, and to pay a duty fee for all docking on the station - it was a small one, but it provided a real stream of revenue for the Shipyards, which was immediately poured into expanding the cramped living spaces, as the residents of the Shipyards had been forced into less and less space as more infrastructure on the station had failed.
The Khal Brothers, of course, were also turned over, and sentenced to twenty years hard labor in the engineering underlevels of the station. Davos died seven years into his sentence after an accident with a power transfer station, but Mero would serve his time and actually go on to be a respected citizen of the Shipyards, a reformed and redeemed man.
The agreement, known today as the Treaty of the Startrawler, named for the ship it was signed on, marked the first time in centuries there was any sort of rule of law in the space of the Forni system...
----------------------
Selected data from the 2202 Census of the Forni Shipyards
- Population: 127,541.
- Average Age: 28
- Unemployment: 3%
- Largest Employer (Public Sector): The Imperial Naval Yards - 15,312
- Largest Employer (Private Sector): Dockworkers Guild - 4,189
- Gross Station Product: 171,231,000,000 Imperial Thalers*
Author's Note said:
I enjoyed this little bit of worldbuilding - really helps make this feel more alive and realistic.
Chapter 1a: The First Voyage of the ISS Nerdyn (2200-2208)
Chapter 1a: The First Voyage of the ISS Nerdyn (2200-2208)
On 1.1.2200, the ISS Nerdyn, under the command of High Explorator Ezo Caes, departed from the Forni system. It's mission - to explore every system that had a hyperlane connection to the Forni system. All available hyperstellar data suggested that those six systems could be navigated in a great almost-circle, going south and then clockwise around until returning back to the Forni System. It wasn't clear how long it would take, but it wasn't expected they'd be completely out of resupply range - even as the Nerdyn left the system, hyper-capable cargo ships were being built to be able to resupply the Nerdyn if need be, and of course, the Navy was on standby to respond to any threats to the science team.
On 2.28.2200, the Nerdyn arrived in a system that was quickly identified as the Napuqiunohn system, based on old star chart data, stretching back to even before the First Empire. Over a year was spent scanning the several planets and asteroids and moons in the system, but there was little to show for it, on a pragmatic scale. The scientific community on Vanerra would go frenzy over the data found in the system, yes, but Ezo and his team knew they needed to find resources or planets or something useful, to justify this mission to the God-Empress, to aid their greater mission.
Each member of the crew was devout, like almost all Vanerrans. The science staff were far looser in their interpretations of scripture, as was common among scientists, especially those on the cutting edge like them, but each of them believed in Tychea, and in the House of Tychos's divine mission.
Which meant the failures in Napuqiunohn were frustrating, despite its utility to astronomers, planetary research specialists and other, very obscure academic disciplines. The Empire needed resources to fuel its expansion, and apart from limited stellar energy bleed that could be collected from the system's star, there was little to make the system of use.
But when the Nerdyn then moved on to the Saentheng system, once a frontier system in the First Empire, based on their old charts, they found something very different. Coasting into the system immediately picked up two habitable worlds. One, Saentheng I, was an Ocean world* not much unlike Vanerra itself. It was smaller, but could easily be settled and inhabited by Psilons.
Production Note said:
The other, however, was a Gaia world. It's said that Chief Archeologist Terra Aque, the only one who initially realized what they were looking at, when they scanned Saentheng III further, dropped to her knees in prayer as they scanned the planet.
Saentheng III was brought up on the holo-display. It was a world even smaller than Saentheng I, but still, it seemed habitable - plenty of water, the atmosphere was free of any detectable concerns, the climate appeared to be quite reasonable across the world.
"There's something in orbit over the north pole," Murrok pointed out, gesturing to the display, and Ezo followed his gaze. Sure enough, there was a small - relatively speaking - metal object orbiting over the north pole.
"Can we get a better read on that?" One of his aides directed one of the survey-drones to move in closer to the object. Out of the corner of his eye, Ezo say Terra's eyes widen, her face pale, and then she let out a low, reverent whisper:
"Goddess,". She looked at her tablet again, then back at the holo display. "It's a Gaia World. They're real."
What? No. That - that was just a story.
"Gaia? That's a myth, a grandmother's tale," Pell rejected immediately, shaking his head. "A story that came out of the Second Empire. The magical paradise world where everyone could always be happy and get all they needed for no work."
"That story is a load of utter hock, yes, but that's not what Gaia is, you uncultured vatraig*!" Terra snapped at the Physicist. Everyone on the Bridge turned to stare at her, and Terra swallowed a little, realizing just how many sets of eyes were looking.
"Terra, that was uncalled for, and you know it."
"Sorry," She muttered, then, "The Gaia Initiative was a real project undertaken by the First Empire. The only question has ever been if the success of Gaia itself was replicated. Since this isn't the Rhea system - the star is giving out all the wrong energy waves, if I'm looking at these comparisons correctly, then this is proof they did replicate Gaia."
"You are correct about the system, obviously." Ezo agreed, pulling up the limited data they had on the Rhea system and comparing it to the readouts of Saentheng's star, just to double-check. The old stellar charts said nothing about 'Gaia' though. "Clearly we're missing something, so why don't you enlighten us, Terra?" Ezo's tendrils shook a little, and he could taste the light embarrassment and shame of Terra quickly shift into confidence once more. Terra was always quick to change emotion. It was sometimes enough to make your head spin.
"In the days before the First Empire, before the War in Heaven, the old Empires, the Ancient Ones, were able to create perfect worlds - Gaia worlds, human explorers would later call them. Perfect worlds - at every level of habitation, every knowns species could find plenty of room where they'd be absolutely comfortable, without needing to worry about specific climactic or geographical concerns. They were like standard Continental worlds in that respect, but... perfect. In every sense. No inclement weather, no... anything bad. At all. The First Empire tried to replicate that technology in the Gaia Initiative. It took a long time, but the result was the Gaia Seed. Unfortunately, even at its height, the First Empire could not rival the technology of those Ancient Empires, even if they had departed after the War in Heaven."
"Gaia Seed? How could that possibly work?"
"Do I look like a terraforming or habitability expert to you?" Terra snarked at Arta. "I don't know, but it did. The considered opinion of the entire historical community back on Vanerra is that a barren world in the Rhea system was selected as the test case for the first Gaia Seed. The problem is... Gaia Seeds, thanks to their lesser technology... took nearly a hundred years to work. It was such a success that after completion the Empire ordered dozens more Gaia Seeds made and distributed to barren worlds in strategically located systems across the Empire. But that success... it took place in -2714." She stopped at the mention of the date, looking around, searching for recognition.
Even someone with only a High-School education in history could realize what she meant.
In -2710 the Skreeth unleashed the Ravening. In -2710, the fall of the First Empire began.
"High Explorator, data is coming in from the survey drone at the object in orbit," his aide said, and zoomed the display in on the object in question. It was a half-mile long, hollow shell, like a starship that had been cracked open and scooped out. But the display rotated slightly, Ezo saw the words, written clear as day in Imperial Common, capital letters shouting out what the ship had been.
ISS GAIA SEED #21, IMPERIAL GAIA INITIATIVE
"Hock, you're right. Gaia... Gaia is real." Ezo shook his head. "Or at least... we have to be sure." He turned to Terra, "Do you think there's any chance that could-"
Terra shook her head, cutting him off. "Not a chance. That's just a shell. The Gaia Seed itself is spent. It's been thousands of years. But... this world. It's perfect, the perfect world to be colonized. There's so much historical information the shell could provide. We have to salvage it, study it. Study this world. Goddess... that the hyperlanes would give us a Gaia world, so close to Forni..."
She made the sign of the goddess - an inverted triangle drawn from upper right corner counter clockwise - before her.
"It is a sign, and a blessing. It must be."
"There's something in orbit over the north pole," Murrok pointed out, gesturing to the display, and Ezo followed his gaze. Sure enough, there was a small - relatively speaking - metal object orbiting over the north pole.
"Can we get a better read on that?" One of his aides directed one of the survey-drones to move in closer to the object. Out of the corner of his eye, Ezo say Terra's eyes widen, her face pale, and then she let out a low, reverent whisper:
"Goddess,". She looked at her tablet again, then back at the holo display. "It's a Gaia World. They're real."
What? No. That - that was just a story.
"Gaia? That's a myth, a grandmother's tale," Pell rejected immediately, shaking his head. "A story that came out of the Second Empire. The magical paradise world where everyone could always be happy and get all they needed for no work."
"That story is a load of utter hock, yes, but that's not what Gaia is, you uncultured vatraig*!" Terra snapped at the Physicist. Everyone on the Bridge turned to stare at her, and Terra swallowed a little, realizing just how many sets of eyes were looking.
"Terra, that was uncalled for, and you know it."
"Sorry," She muttered, then, "The Gaia Initiative was a real project undertaken by the First Empire. The only question has ever been if the success of Gaia itself was replicated. Since this isn't the Rhea system - the star is giving out all the wrong energy waves, if I'm looking at these comparisons correctly, then this is proof they did replicate Gaia."
"You are correct about the system, obviously." Ezo agreed, pulling up the limited data they had on the Rhea system and comparing it to the readouts of Saentheng's star, just to double-check. The old stellar charts said nothing about 'Gaia' though. "Clearly we're missing something, so why don't you enlighten us, Terra?" Ezo's tendrils shook a little, and he could taste the light embarrassment and shame of Terra quickly shift into confidence once more. Terra was always quick to change emotion. It was sometimes enough to make your head spin.
"In the days before the First Empire, before the War in Heaven, the old Empires, the Ancient Ones, were able to create perfect worlds - Gaia worlds, human explorers would later call them. Perfect worlds - at every level of habitation, every knowns species could find plenty of room where they'd be absolutely comfortable, without needing to worry about specific climactic or geographical concerns. They were like standard Continental worlds in that respect, but... perfect. In every sense. No inclement weather, no... anything bad. At all. The First Empire tried to replicate that technology in the Gaia Initiative. It took a long time, but the result was the Gaia Seed. Unfortunately, even at its height, the First Empire could not rival the technology of those Ancient Empires, even if they had departed after the War in Heaven."
"Gaia Seed? How could that possibly work?"
"Do I look like a terraforming or habitability expert to you?" Terra snarked at Arta. "I don't know, but it did. The considered opinion of the entire historical community back on Vanerra is that a barren world in the Rhea system was selected as the test case for the first Gaia Seed. The problem is... Gaia Seeds, thanks to their lesser technology... took nearly a hundred years to work. It was such a success that after completion the Empire ordered dozens more Gaia Seeds made and distributed to barren worlds in strategically located systems across the Empire. But that success... it took place in -2714." She stopped at the mention of the date, looking around, searching for recognition.
Even someone with only a High-School education in history could realize what she meant.
In -2710 the Skreeth unleashed the Ravening. In -2710, the fall of the First Empire began.
"High Explorator, data is coming in from the survey drone at the object in orbit," his aide said, and zoomed the display in on the object in question. It was a half-mile long, hollow shell, like a starship that had been cracked open and scooped out. But the display rotated slightly, Ezo saw the words, written clear as day in Imperial Common, capital letters shouting out what the ship had been.
ISS GAIA SEED #21, IMPERIAL GAIA INITIATIVE
"Hock, you're right. Gaia... Gaia is real." Ezo shook his head. "Or at least... we have to be sure." He turned to Terra, "Do you think there's any chance that could-"
Terra shook her head, cutting him off. "Not a chance. That's just a shell. The Gaia Seed itself is spent. It's been thousands of years. But... this world. It's perfect, the perfect world to be colonized. There's so much historical information the shell could provide. We have to salvage it, study it. Study this world. Goddess... that the hyperlanes would give us a Gaia world, so close to Forni..."
She made the sign of the goddess - an inverted triangle drawn from upper right corner counter clockwise - before her.
"It is a sign, and a blessing. It must be."
Author's note said:
The discovery of a Gaia world would send religious scholars, historians, planetary habitability scientists and biologists into a tizzy that would not be resolved for well over a decade, as the ramifications of it - and the fact that Gaia itself, the old legendary world that had sent millions searching on wild katizyi chases during the Second Empire, was real.
It spurred a whole series of books, holo-vision shows and movies over the next decade fictionalizing the rediscovery of Gaia - and usually featured Vanerrans saving the technologically regressed - and usually baseline human - inhabitants from some menace or another. The most famous here was the (in hindsight) alarmingly precinct choice to use renegade Gynoids as the villains in the movie "Synthetic Sunset Over Gaia".
It was a cultural phenomenon.
The rest of the Saentheng System was found to have useful energy reserves and some minerals that could be used to fuel and fund the colonization efforts of Saentheng III and, presumably later Saentheng I. Even after all the terrforming (normal terraforming) of the First and Second Empires, habitable worlds were uncommon. Finding two, ideal and nearly ideal such worlds so close to the Forni system was taken as yet another sign the truly were blessed.
The Ethiuq system, reached in 3.13.2203 proved to be of little interest, though it's neutron star gave off potentially interesting waveforms that Pell Impos suggested could be of interest to his former employers (Karis Energy Solutions Inc.) and indeed, all energy companies.
The Kabenin system, reached in 5.8.2204, was more interesting. Scans would show significant energy reserves in the system that could be used to help finance the Empire's continued expansion, as well as a rought, high-gravity world. Kabenin III was the kind of world that a Durgonian would love, but to a Psilon, it was too cold, too dry, and far too geologically rough.
But the world still produced some interesting survey data that was supplemented by a brief planetside mission - the planet possessed an invasive exofungus that even Chief Biologist Arta Zeln could not identify the origin of - it was not from Kabenin III, but it was slowly overtaking more and more of the planet. Samples taken did provide some useful anti-amino peptides that the Medical establishment later made use of to develop a series of medications and vaccines.
Two Ocean worlds, both larger than Vanerra, were next found in the Cipollan system, reached in 4.28.2205. Cipollan III and Cipollan IV. Cipollan IV was even found to possess explosive motes in extensive caverns just barely detected on planetary surveys. These particles were the key to a great deal of higher industry, and as of yet, Vanerra had yet to develop - or, redevelop - a cost-effective way to mass produce them synthetically, making Cipollan IV a high-priority target for colonization after Saentheng III.
Both worlds showed signs that they had had largish settlements (population between the two worlds totalling some few hundred million) during the First Empire, but that the settlements withered on the vine or were evacuated during the great wars that consumed the First Empire. The infrastructure was also completely decayed and rusted, and would serve little use to future colonists but an obstacle to be torn down.
After detecting unusual structures on Cipollan VI from orbit, a several month space and planetary survey found something interesting - a First Empire amusement park. Though Cipollan VI was without breathable atmosphere now, it had once been a planet frequented by visitors from across the then Kotob Sector, numbering in the millions over the course of a year. Taking advantage of the planet's lower gravity, the rides at "Weightless World" had been of impressive height and could take great risks most amusement parks could not.
The survey was able to discover a lot of the construction techniques used, including the artificial gravity generation used in the living areas, and also further details of the history of the place. In -2518, after the Cipollan system was cut off from the rest of the galaxy by war and shifting hyperlanes, the local humans tried to adapt some old terraforming equipment to improve their power generation to help them synthesize the resources they would need to survive, cut off from tourism as they were.
Unfortunately, they failed miserably, and the explosion of the terraforming equipment would begin to thin the planet's atmosphere - within a year, it had become utterly unliveable, and some 150,000 humans died, lacking any ships they could use to escape even to the Ocean worlds all but next door. It was an inevitable death made even worse by continued food shortages and indeed, a shortage of almost every kind of essential good.
The tragic tale would later be immortalized in the docudrama series "One Year of Air", drawing on the still-intact electronic journals left behind by the lost residents of Cipollan VI to construct a narrative that managed to be quite historically accurate while also a compelling work of fiction.
After completing the extensive survey in 10.2.2206, the Nerdyn moved on to the Lishval system. There, they found a First Empire mineral survey marker, a planet that had been found to have rich veins of minerals, but the First Empire had never gotten around to extracting it.
But it was on 8.1.2207 that perhaps the greatest discovery of the first voyage of the ISS Nerdyn was made:
Pell looked at the data readings they were picking up off the moon of Lishval I. They were unusual, suggesting some sort of beacon of some sort, but it was proving difficult to turn the data into useful information.
"Are you getting anywhere?" If they could figure out where the beacon was coming from, they could send a team down to take a closer look, but so far, the goddess-damned signal was proving to be maddeningly hard to...
"I think so..." One of his staff suggested, then, "yes. I think... Pell, tell me I'm looking at this data wrong." She sent the data to his tablet with a single swipe, and then Pell looked at the readings.
They looked familiar... like language. Mathematical language, but -
Hock.
He recognized that language. Pell was, ultimately, a computational physicist, ahd had spent most of his career in computer science. And any computer scientist recognized Cybrex. So much of the computer systems of the Children of Earth were based on reverse-engineered Cybrex artifacts found by the United Nations of Earth millennia ago, during its earliest days of exploration.
Cybrex artifacts were only infrequently found since, but each one had led to leaps and bounds in computational science. The secrets of true AI were currently lost to Vanerra, but it had been Cybrex artifacts that had been used to create the Gynoids. It had always struck Pell as a terrible idea, given that what little was known of the Cybrex beyond their technology suggested they'd tried to exterminate all organic life before being pushed back to their still unfound home system, Cybrex Alpha...
But then, the Gynoids did save the galaxy from the Kishrath, so perhaps it had worked out.
But still...
On the one hand, Pell was elated. Whatever was at the other hand of the beacon could be vital to the computational science of the Empire, and perhaps could (one could dream) point to still other Cybrex artifacts...
On the other hand... well, once the High Cleric got wind of this discovery.
"Terra?" Pell called over to the historian, who was working on the other side of the bridge. "I'm going to send you some data. Please tell I'm somehow not seeing what I think I'm seeing."
"I'll try," Terra said. They'd long since gotten over their dispute in the Saentheng system, and even regularly played Chess - Jolnar rules. Terra looked at the data, at the Cybrex language, and muttered several obvious curses. He watched her show the data to her staff, check information in the archives, then shake her head five minutes later.
"Everything checks out. It's Cybrex."
"Hock," Pell repeated, this time aloud, his tone heav with a snarl.
"Why are you so upset? You should be thrilled. Imagine what this could mean." Terra - and all his and her staff - were visibly cringing at the anger-frustration cocktail he had to be giving off right now.
"Right now, I'm imagining the conniption fit the High Cleric will get into when she gets wind of this. She's only gotten more insufferable since the God-Empress started to build that massive Cathedral for her a few months ago."
"Oh fuuuck," Terra murmured as she realized he was right. "Cybrex artifacts, this close to the Throneworld? She'll want the whole moon bombarded from orbit."
"I don't think her Divine Majesty will agree, but she'll have to throw that primitivist bitch a bone of some kind," Pell theorized. "I can't imagine what it will be."
"Still. We have to go down and get them. Think of what we could learn - goddess knows there's almost nothing we know about what the Cybrex did, beyond the vaguest of outlines. And I know you want to go down there too."
"Yes... but..." Pell nodded. "I do. Goddess, I really really do. But I am just dreading what will come next."
The discovery of Cybrex artifacts did in fact send then High Cleric Acin Nars into what could be politely called a conniption fit, but it would also lead to the launch of a second scientific mission to the southeast in pursuit of more Cybrex artifacts when the ISS Nerdyn went north on its second Voyage in 2209.
The Lishval System, would turn out to be perhaps the third most valuable of the six systems scanned - Saenthen and Cipollan were of greater use, yes, but the minerals on Lishval III as well as the rare waveforms coming off the systems star would be quite useful to the Empire in the coming years.
On 7.3.2208, the Nerdyn returned to the Forni System to great fanfare, the date declared a national day of celebration - almost all nonessential government offices were closed, as were many businesses, and a number of impromtu fairs and festivals and parties were held to celebrate the return of the much-celebrated scientists and surveyors.
Ezo Caes and his crew, for their part, were eager to leave again, and immediately began restocking as they met with the God-Empress and her inner council, as well as the Assembly of Higher Minds and various leaders in Academia over the next few months.
The First Voyage of the ISS Nerdyn had made some impressive discoveries, but there was still so much more left to find in the stabilized hyperlanes.
The State of the Empire and of Explored Space when the Nerdyn returned to the Forni system
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and there we go. The first official gameplay update. I was actually somewhat annoyed by the lack of fun anomalies as things progressed during the game, until finally in the last system I found that Cybrex anomaly. Fingers crossed I'll be able to find (and actually colonize) Cybrex Alpha. Last time I found it in a game, it was so far away from me and behind a series of hostile stellar wildlife I'd only barely gotten by science-ship past that I never got around to claiming it before quitting that particular game.
Chapter 1b, covering the domestic side of things, will probably be much, much shorter and probably not have any narrative bits. Nothing super interesting happened on the home front this time, so there's not much to turn into a good solid bit of short narrative fiction, instead of the standard 'historical record' styling.
we will see a few excerpts from some in-universe speeches and primary source documents, however, to spice things up.
Chapter 1b, covering the domestic side of things, will probably be much, much shorter and probably not have any narrative bits. Nothing super interesting happened on the home front this time, so there's not much to turn into a good solid bit of short narrative fiction, instead of the standard 'historical record' styling.
we will see a few excerpts from some in-universe speeches and primary source documents, however, to spice things up.
Lucky for all of us, there's been an update to prevent incidents like that little nightmare scenario. I'm quite intrigued that you rolled the Cybrex precursor. The question of "if or when they come into play" always nags at me whenever I encounter their remains.
You might not have considered them "fun" anomalies, but I really like how you have integrated them into the wider story and backstory. I especially liked the tidbit about the Gaia project. I love seeing how other people approach to the task of weaving the more mundane happenings of a PDS game into a history/narrative AAR.
It is the details, and you are making your details add up into a brilliant whole thus far.
Thank you.
I can say with some surety that Gaia itself will be showing up at some point.
But it's this sort of thing that really draws me to Stellaris to begin with I mean anomalies are in some ways the best part of the game especially when combined with the crises and the fallen Empires the lore and Mythos of the Galaxy is fascinating. Turning the tiny tidbits and clues into a coherent singular narrative is extremely interesting from awriting and storytelling standpoint. And it's what makes a good AAR good. Anyone can write yet another story about this or that Empire taking over the Galaxy but a really good AAR I think really explores the Mythos and world-building and lore either of the Empire itself or over the broader Galaxy.
Really good start so far! And a good roll on the Cybrex as well, one of my favourite pre-cursors.