The Chaos Colony: A riot-quest about carving out your own place in the cosmos

Welp, high noon
Scheduled vote count started by Donald Darf on Aug 31, 2024 at 11:04 PM, finished with 23 posts and 5 votes.

  • [X] Costrus
    [X] Plan Cowboy
    -[X] A Mighty Warband
    --[X] BEHOLD! The Gunslingers Of Makeesh! Incredible with aiming a lazer pistol, your folks could fry the wings off a fly if you felt like it, particularly disliked by most "Civilized" sectors for ancient Earth Wildwest-Style vigilantism
    [X] Gokoir 12
    [X] Hikoni Henshin Shokuminchika Kantai
    - [X] Researchers
    -- [X] Write-In: Why just build, pilot and maintain wonderful modular mechs right out of ancient tokusatsu? Why not also use some of that wonderful hardware to improve ourselves and make us like the heroes and monsters of those series? We are niche researchers on the cutting edge of robotics, and some genetics, seeking to build, plan, and operate advanced combining mechs (with dangerously radioactive power cores); advanced cutting edge power armor that's less potent due to their size (but at least not as radioactive) with similarly modular components; biological and cybernetic augmentations to enhance the human body to their limits... And beyond even that too. Why? Just because. We're all in this together, whatever path we choose for humanity in our Mecha and Armor!
    [X] Layella
    [X] Echoes of Joy
    -[X] Refugees
    --[X] You fear the Pleasure Pyramid, your homeworld has been ravaged by the calculated hedonism of a powerful AI, which has used mankinds desire for dopamine against them, you all barely escaped, but the Pyramid's false joy still beckons
    [X] Why is Everything Wrong Here?
    -[X] Refugees
    --[X] You fear the Grand Magi Korssico, a powerful psychic that came to your medieval world, declared themselves Wizard King, took over, then you guys, the royals and everyone in the capital, flew off in a weird old metal boat left underneath the castle
    [X] Relaxing Rhythm Retreat Ignore the Screaming
    -[X] A Company Town
    --[X] Greetings from Moonlight Records! A record company that likes to help struggling musical artists start off their careers and produce wonderful sounds fo the galaxy (Also our equipment may be haunted by the psychic remnants of dead aliens)
    [X] Self-Actualization in Brainsplatter Robes
    -[X] Cultists
    --[X] You praise The Path Of Ascendant Thought, y'all believe that if you gain enough psychic power, one may Ascend to the Higher Spheres, eventually all the universe will hold hands as a grand Pantheon
    [X] Fostru
    [X] Echoes of Joy
 
Why not also plain old horses and cows? And gene-modded horses and cows? And robotic horses and cows? And gene-modded scifi equivalents of horses and cows? And robotic scifi equivalents of horses and cows?
 
Actions 1
Riding through the deserts of Makeesh on some sandworms, a group of energy gun wielding travellers were making their way through the sands, cheering as they dragged a haul of Higher Sphere aligned minerals over the dunes in a crate tied to their biggest worm
As they celebrated finally being able to leave this barren rock for greener pastures, to live with their loved ones in a better place, they were stopped before a blockade set up by some other folks

The Gunslingers were the most well known warband in the sector, mainly operating near this moon, with a strict code of conduct that they abide by, they rarely ever did a wrong or pull the trigger without someone else trying to do so first, and they could incinerate the contents of your skull faster then you'd realize they're aiming at you, a skill honed from years of fighting off worm-stealers and the like, they defended the worm-ranches of their families for decades
Few would dare to face them head on, and most have nightmares of the warband making the first move

Like they were doing with the blockade
A aging woman with tanned skin and dusty grey hair sauntered forwards from the blockade of old crates that landed on Makeesh years ago from crashed ships, her boys ready with their blasters, could barely read but they knew damn well how to work a firearm
She stood before the caravan, they were cautious of every movement she made, and she said "Most call us The Gunslingers of Makeesh for a reason, not many can measure up to our aim, what makes you think you're gonna get away with taking our people's find? We know you dug it up, but it was found and located within our territory, so please... don't make us do this"

The caravan started internally panicking as one of their own stepped off their worm to face the woman "A lot of folks get desperate when they hear that there is something worth enough money to get a whole towns worth of folks off this moon, a 1 in a billion chance, I see you guys aren't exempt from this, but I love my people as much as you probably do, enough to face death itself, even if my chances are shit"
He puts his hand on his gun, the rest of The Gunslingers in the blockade are sweating bullets, they're used to killing murderers, rapists, scumbags who wouldn't leave people alone

This... it hurts to think they might have to go through with this, most of these guys have the looks of folks that barely ever used those guns on their hips
The old Gunslinger looked at the rest of the caravan on their worms, her blockade also hoping, maybe they'll run, maybe this could be avoided, no one would have to... or at least not too many would have to go down for a lump of rock connected to a eldritch force of nature
Maybe they could walk out of this as heroes still

But only 2 caravan members rode away, the rest shakily reached for their blasters, most of the Gunslingers paused in hesitation, the ones that didn't were more then enough to do the job
The worms of the caravan scattered into the dunes out of fear, their masters laying on the ground with burning holes in their craniums, they at least didn't feel any of the pain

Solemnly the Gunslingers took the ore and made their way to a spaceport to trade it for a ship, they got what they wanted and took it home to the worm ranches, their families ran over, hugging them and giving congrats for a job well done on finding the ore
That week was spent packing up all their property onto the vessel for the trip, getting the worms to feel comfortable in the loading bay, and checking the news for any newly discovered systems along the Starway that looked good

They heard of this world that looked beautiful from space and made their way there, their scrappy vessel becoming another of many blurs across the Starway, it took a couple weeks of navigating, which was pretty good for a rookie Starship crew, and finally came across their new home in the light of a yellow sun

There was more blue and green on that world than the Makeesh-born ever saw in their lives, some began to ugly cry from the sight of it, especially when the ginormous glass flower the size of a continent came into view, each petal reflecting an array of colours that stars would be jealous of
A wonderful sight with a horrid cost

The old Gunslinger woman felt something latch onto her as she looked out the windows of the vessel at the world below, she turned to see her grandson hugger her, he said "Thank you Grammy! I wanna be just like you when I grow up!"

She flinched at that, she kneeled down and said "I... I don't think you will, you'll... be even better now that we got a safe place to stay, no need to worry about bandits while you're training if there ain't no one else on the planet!" She said, trying to best to hide the hint of shame in her voice
Her grandson hugged her even tighter, she sighed and hugged him back

She hoped fighting for those she loved was a good enough reason to toss away her morals that day, damn did she hope so



You have landed on one of the continents near the glass flower (Cause settling the glass flower itself is a dumb idea, that shit is barren, beautiful, but barren) and your folks have set up the beginnings of a settlement

Each of you choose a course of action

[] Start looking for any edible looking plants on Costrus that can be used as food

[] Have the Gunslingers patrol Costrus on the Cheap Starship to see what the place is like

[] A worm-rancher hits their head against a building while drunk, hoping to get psychic powers

[] Write-In
Subject to rewrite or veto
 
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[X] Have the Gunslingers patrol Costrus on the Cheap Starship to see what the place is like
 
[X] A worm-rancher hits their head against a building while drunk, hoping to get psychic powers
 
[X] Start looking for any edible looking plants on Costrus that be used as food

We kinda have to eat.
 
Yes, which is why I'm glad multiple people are voting for that. I'd also say that we should explore, whether locally or in general, to judge the potential threats (and other sources of food) we'll have to deal with on this world. But yeah.
 
[X] Make sure the Makeesh Sandworms are settling in properly. This environment is completely different from the one they're from, what if they get like... too much moisture sickness or something?
 
Fair enough, if you want any help. (Or at least some pics of sci-fi stuff we think is fitting and worth looking at). Just let us know.
 
Admittedly some of these are more aquatic/icy than purely crystalline, but I feel like they're relevant in some ways.

Here's some scenes in a desert,

Now for some things I feel focus on Western elements with characters

And for the lulz, worms.
 

Scheduled vote count started by Donald Darf on Sep 2, 2024 at 1:57 AM, finished with 14 posts and 6 votes.

  • [X] Start looking for any edible looking plants on Costrus that be used as food
    [X] Have the Gunslingers patrol Costrus on the Cheap Starship to see what the place is like
    [X] A worm-rancher hits their head against a building while drunk, hoping to get psychic powers
    [X] Scout out the surrounding area and sea what the local wildlife is like.
    [X] Make sure the Makeesh Sandworms are settling in properly. This environment is completely different from the one they're from, what if they get like... too much moisture sickness or something?
 
Results 1
Start looking for any edible looking plants on Costrus that can be used as food + 1
Rolled a 66 + 5 = 71

The Worm-Ranchers pack up a little, with 2 Gunslingers coming along as back-up, going for a hike through a forest covered in purple stripes to find any potential crops they can grow, which had some hiccups due to unforeseen incidents
Like those berries that made a guy really itchy, the incident when one of the expedition members ended up having to fistfight with a local primate (Don't worry, she only lost most of her teeth), and both Gunslingers figured out they had a pollen allergy

But soon they discovered a wild field of plants with fist sized purple bulbs growing on the branches of some straight-standing stalks, when the bulbs are peeled, it reveals a layered juicy insides like an onion, which is edible and has a strong tangy taste alongside a powerful sour smell to scare off herbivores
Too bad you're weird ass alien omnivores, the expedition member that found the plants even named them something dumb as if they knew about me mocking the plants and joined in, Bulbmrutt

The expedition brought some Bulbmrutt back, experimenting with various different recipes in the kitchin of the one of the expedition members, they discovered a neat recipe
Peel the bulb, cut a deep hole through the top and into the middle, light core sitting alongside the seeds, dump some sauces and spices in there, then plug it
(Keep the bulb suspended above a bowl too)

The core pops, the bulb blooms, with the layers separating and forming dry crispy petals covered in some sauce (The juice was expelled after the core's destruction, it will land in the bowl for easy clean-up, it can be also used to scare off local Costrus vermin), you can pick off the layer-petals and eat them like chips
I also recommend some salt and paper shaken above the finished product, really finishes it off

Now the Colony has crops, which some of the Ranchers and Gunslingers have to try really hard to stop themselves from eating

Bulbmrutt
- A species of alien plant native to Costrus, resembling tall stalks from which a multitude of purple fist sized bulbs grow, with juicy layered insides akin to a onion
- As a defense mechanism the bulbs have a strong tangy taste and a powerful sour smell, both of which are to scare off vermin
- It spreads its seeds by having the bulb grow so big and thick the protective layer of skin peels off naturally, then it becomes too heavy and snaps off the stem, it most likely rolls off, the core inside pops, blasting the seeds a bit apart from eachother for room to grow, while juice from the layers drains out fast into the grow, soaking the dirt with the defensive sour scent

Bulbmrutt Supply
- A bunch of Bulbmrutt bulbs and seeds saved by the colony as food

Bulbmrutt Juice
- Has a strong sour smell that scares off most Costrus vermin

Have the Gunslingers patrol Costrus on the Cheap Starship to see what the place is like
Rolled a 23 + 10 = 33

The expedition was cut short when the Cheap Starship flew close to one of the petals of the Glass Flower, apparently those rumours of a Higher Sphere aligned material being in the asteroid that hit this world may be true
It was difficult to tell which Sphere affected it, but multiple shards reflected a strange light that almost made some of the Gunslingers almost walk out of the ship in a attempt to touch them (Which would've had them land on pieces of sharp glass), forcing the marksmen with their free will intact to hold back their allies and return to Ranchville quick so their friends could get some good rest till their minds were better
Which did happen, took awhile, but it happened

The Glass Flower
- A desert continent that was hit by a Higher-Sphere aligned asteroid many many centuries ago, glassing the place and turning it into a giant beautiful landmass of glass
- Shards of it have some sort of hypnotic effect

Mesmerising Shards
- Highly reflective shards from the Glass Flower on Costrus
- Resonating with a Higher-Sphere, have a hypnotic effect on weak-willed individuals that look into the beautiful lights they reflect, luckily not that strong as long as you're 5 feet away

A worm-rancher hits their head against a building while drunk, hoping to get psychic powers
Rolled a 84 - 15 = 69 (nice)

Britzy was sloshed as hell off some of her signature worm-moisture mixed with alcohol, a little celebratory sip after finishing with making her house in Ranchville
She began ranting about psychics again so everyone just decided to ignore her, which is why they didn't know about her coming to the conclusion to just hit her head against her house to knock her brain bits into the right position for Resonance with a higher cosmic force

The weird thing was that it worked, she started screaming and writhing as a tear in reality temporarily resonated with her grey matter, some othere ran over to help her, but one had their finger fall off as it was sliced by somethign flying out of Britzy's mouth, causing them to fall over hissing in pain
Sharp things began to pierce the area around her, making the townsfolk reluctantly stay back as their neighbor kept having her psychic awakening

Eventually she ceased screaming, no new sharp stuff appeared, she got up, barely able to stand thanks to the combo of the pain and the awakening, but then she said "Hey! Hey guys! Look at this cool shit!"
As she said that, a blade appear in her hand, and she started to flip it around with her fingers "Neat trick right?"

Britzy
- A worm-rancher, also dabbles in making alcohol
- Likes to get drunk and do reckless stuff,
- Has become a Resonant, and gained the psychic ability to manipulate the physics around soundwaves produced by her body, converting those soundwaves into incredibly sharp blades made of solid noise

Scout out the surrounding area and see what the local wildlife is like.
Rolled a 89 = 89

After the fantastic results of the first expedition, a second one took place to simply see what the local wildlife is doing without any real focus, just some townsfolk, the newly appointed town Resonant, Britzy, with her beer taken away, and some Gunslingers too

Together they all catalogued a lot of the interesting fauna and flora of Costrus, observing their appearances, behaviors, capabilities

Some of the 3 most notable were

Tanzerwood trees
A species of tree native to Costrus, not that remarkable aside from the white rectangular leaves and bark covered in purple stripes
Can store heat pretty well, a worm-rancher breathed into one of the little nooks in the tree, and the warmth of their breath could still be felt a minute later inside

Hzznits
A species of tripedal vermin, they're fuzzy things small enough to fit in the palm of ones hand, and mainly sense things around them by detecting scents with their hairs, they eat stuff by splitting open, scooping their meal up, then digesting it inside their body

The Wubbles, named by Britzy
A species of tall humanoid cepholopod-like creatures, with 3 eyes, a long head, a mouth covered by a veil of tendrils, and a mass of tentacles at their shoulders where their arms should be, it was difficult to tell their exact sapience, since they lacked tools, clothing, anything resembling a language, and one rubbed feces all over the back of one of the Gunslingers when they weren't paying attention
But they have also been seen gathering around a mass of pretty partially melted glass with moss growing around the edges, with a lesser version of the Mesmerizing Shard effect, most likely a piece blasted over here a long time ago during the asteroid's glassing
The Wubbles keep giving the glass fruits and berries, which of course keep getting eaten by Hzznits
Also, another neat fact, the Wubbles arms can morph into 3 shapes, the multi-tasking tentacles are just 1 form, the other 2 are a 7 fingered claw with great speed, and a pulsing tumorous club strong enough to break a Tanzerwood with a good swing

The Wubbles also observed the expedition from afar, copying some of their movements, like crouching in bushes, pretending to hold binoculars while looking back at the expedition, and one cut little squiggles on a leaf to match the note taking of a worm-rancher
It was a neat experience, but soon the expeditioners had to return home, and Ranchville was watched from afar by the Wubbles once the trip was over

Their glassy trio black eyes reflecting the light of the starry sky as they took shelter in the woods

Tanzerwood
- Trees with white rectangular leaves, the most common type of tree on Costrus
- Red with purple stripes
- Can store heat well

Hzznits
- A common form of vermin on Costrus, a fuzzy little thing
- Tripedal, can't see but can detect scents through their hair
- Splits open to scoop up and eat small objects

Wubbles
- A species of tall humanoid cepholopods native to Costrus
- Have skin coloured like tanned leather, long head with 3 eyes, and a mouth covered by a veil of tendrils
- Their arms can morph into 3 shapes, the first is a mass of tentacles capable of some good multi-tasking, a fast 7 fingered claw, and a large tumour-covered club with great strength
- Like shiny stuff

Make sure the Makeesh Sandworms are settling in properly. This environment is completely different from the one they're from, what if they get like... too much moisture sickness or something?
No roll needed

The sandworms seemed to be doing fine, they're producing slightly more moisture from their glands then usual, but it just means some extra worm-water for everyone
But it does taste slightly different now, probably cause of the different make-up of the soil, the microscopic minerals in there are probably different to the ones on Makeesh

Still though, nothing the worm-ranchers see as worrying, but if the taste thing still bothers folks, they could just feed these worms different types of dirt
 
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Random Events 1
Amount of events
1D6 rolled a 5

Event Types
1 - Politics
2 - Business
3 - Combat
4 - Religion
5 - Crime
6 - Civilization
7 - Nature
8 - Science
9 - Higher-Spheres
10 - Other (Roll twice, mix results)


(Other categories I may have missed can be suggested for the list)
1D10 rolled a 6/8/8/3/3

First
Some folks in bulky spacesuits with very polygonal helmets of red glass landed on Costrus in a boxy but small starship, they're examining the planet for resources that may be good for developing a home for themselves here
They call themselves The Siblinghood Of Toil, people descended from a group of incredibly dedicated asteroid miners that were so loyal to their jobs they continued mining fuck tons of minerals from an asteroid even after some radioactive clouds of energy blocking the Starway routes separated their people from the rest of mankind for a couple generations
After reconnecting with the rest of the universe, some of them decided to move out and do something new, like mine on a bigger rock in space, like a planet

Siblinghood Of Toil
- Primarily wear bulky mining spacesuits with polygonal helmets of red glass
- Descended from asteroid miners that got separated from humanity for a couple generations
- Idolize working yourself to the absolute limit and beyond, good miners with lots of knowledge about ores, also can navigate zero gravity well

Second
Some biotech drones have arrived on Costrus, they constructed a large temple resembling the shell of a immense sea creature, which they live in, they have begun surveying all life on the planet including the folks of Ranchville, sometimes getting quite invasive
Like when one of the Gunslingers was having their first shower in a bathroom without limited clean-up time and a biotech drone burst in asking questions like
"Whatisyourinstinctivereflexspeed?Exactmeasurementsofeachmuscleinyourbody?Skeletaldensity?"
A regular theme among the questions is determining the exact combat capabilities of every creature on the planet

The kids of Ranchville decided to call these creatures, the Shelleys, since the hovering biotech construct covered in glowing spots and comprising their "head" resembles a shell
It is difficult to tell what they want with this combat info

Shelleys
- Biotech research drones with great skill at analyzing the combat capabilites of various creatures
- Have floating shells in covered glowing spots which allow them to hover, their "lower body" is actually a pink toddler sized four pointed sensory organ, it just hangs limply from the shell when it is interacting with research subjects, vaguely resembling a human body, and the 2 points closest to the shell stick to stuff to pick it up like hands
- Can survive in space

The Shelleys
- Bunch of Shelleys trying to find info about strong creatures
- Know tons about combat statistics, biology, and biotech

Torna
- The moon of Costrus

The Shell Temple
- Territory of The Shelleys
- Giant glorious biotech shell with the interior being habitable for human life
- Has tons of strength measuring equipment and some combat arenas

Third
While watching from afar, the Gunslingers heard the Siblinghood Of Toil thing a catchy mining song, which in fact contained tons of knowledge about about proper mining techniques and minerals in the lyrics
Which your Gunslingers noted down quickly

Song Of The Siblinghood
- Notes about a traditional Siblinghood Of Toil song containing tips about mining and info on various minerals

Fourth
Some jagged and darkly coloured ships with bright orange windows resembling eyes crash landed on Costrus, damaged from battle and with the crew completely dead, it appears to be the property of a warband called Damnation, with Resonants Aligned to the Intimidation-Sphere, mutants, and technology themed after the demonic myths of ancient Earth
Bunch of Damnation's weapons and other cool loot could still be in there

Damnation Warship Crash Site
- Heavily damaged Starship made for combat and with a demonic theme to it's design
- Full of dead members of the warband called Damnation, alongside tons of valuable weapons and equipment

Fifth
Britzy accidentally started a fight club among the Worm-Ranchers, she is very sorry (Not really, she won a ton of favours from the bets)

Ranchville Fight-Club Members
- Some normal worm-ranchers
- But they also know how to tussle, sorta, and how to show off to a crowd while doing so
 
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