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The Secrets' Crusade

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[x] The yellow sun at the heart of this system was somehow twisted off axis by some monumental stellar event. Three major planetary bodies.

Sounds like something interesting happened there
 
[x] A white dwarf at the centre of a scoured system. A single planet remains.

Snowfire said:
This vote was something I struggled with, however one of my beta's came up with a suggestion that I ran with that would also work within the data restrictions you're operating under. So you get to pick which system you head to first, within the limits of what Insight was able to gather and the Uninvolved were able to tell you. You couldn't find anything more, but it's at least something. To be very clear, there are no wrong options in this vote, it just picks which section of the story I tell first. I'm really excited for what's ahead of you now that you've finally gotten out of Sol - sorry about how long that took, by the way. Many thanks to @Killer_Whale for checking this for me whilst my other betas were busy or asleep, and I hope you enjoy both the update and the vote we came up with for it.
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Just to be clear, these are the five "systems of interest" the Uninvolved told us about? And we're voting on which of them to scout first?
 
Simon_Jester said:
Just to be clear, these are the five "systems of interest" the Uninvolved told us about? And we're voting on which of them to scout first?
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Yes indeed. There have been...oddities when trying to examine those systems with Project Insight, and those don't go away when using the enormous telescopic array that humanity has access to now - Tahkel warned you this would be the case. So this is all the information you've got to make the choice.
 
[X] A dying red supergiant, still flanked by the remains of its coterie.

The oldest place may have the best information on the ancient stuff?
 
[X] The star of this system is notably smaller and dimmer than it should be, yet appears to still be stable.

Despite knowing what's ahead, I'm actually not sure which option is which. I'm sure this will be fun, though.
 
Simon_Jester said:
How do we know the red supergiant is chronologically the oldest?
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Astronomy and star life-cycle points to it or the white dwarf being the oldest - however the Shiplords have this penchant for blowing up stars, which also leaves behind a white dwarf. So in that regard it's a little bit difficult to place bets between them
 
Snowfire said:
Astronomy and star life-cycle points to it or the white dwarf being the oldest - however the Shiplords have this penchant for blowing up stars, which also leaves behind a white dwarf. So in that regard it's a little bit difficult to place bets between them
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For that matter, for all we know the Shiplords have other, entirely unknown and appalling, things they can do to stars. I don't trust stars the Shiplords pay special attention to to have had cheerful, happy evolutionary lives that chug merrily along the main sequence.

Because the Shiplords' idea of a party seems to be to take this cute little guy and make him cry. :(

 
Snowfire said:
They look most fluffy and huggable.
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Star plushies are fluffy and huggable.

Planet plushies are more like ordinary plushies, without the fluff. Still huggable though.

But seriously, some type of stellar phenom similar to a star is left behind. Just, y'know...not anything that can sustain life.
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Well yes, it's mostly just that given how long the Shiplords have been around and how much Weird Shit they have presumably destroyed and/or fought and/or unleashed on their enemies...

I don't assume that the Shiplords always leave behind the same kind of stellar wreckage, basically.
 
Simon_Jester said:
Well yes, it's mostly just that given how long the Shiplords have been around and how much Weird Shit they have presumably destroyed and/or fought and/or unleashed on their enemies...

I don't assume that the Shiplords always leave behind the same kind of stellar wreckage, basically.
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An interesting point. As far as Tahkel has explained it, the Shiplords default to star destruction more rarely than was implied by Project Insight. They'll obliterate any race that breaks their directives, but they don't appear to like destroying life-bearing worlds unless they have to. Nanoplagues, kinetic impactors, that sort of thing - they trend away from pure bioweapons, however. As for more esoteric effects, well, they're certainly assumed to be capable of it. If they've ever used such capability is a different matter.
 
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Snowfire said:
An interesting point. As far as Tahkel has explained it, the Shiplords default to star destruction more rarely than was implied by Project Insight. They'll obliterate any race that breaks their directives, but they don't appear to like destroying life-bearing worlds unless they have to. Nanoplagues, kinetic impactors, that sort of thing - they trend away from pure bioweapons, however. As for more esoteric effects, well, they're certainly assumed to be capable of it. If they've every used such capability is a different matter.
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True. On the other hand, in the modern galaxy and within the living memory of everyone involved (including the Uninvolved), the Shiplords have basically been "keeping the grass mowed-" engaged in a routine and systematized practice* of routine genocide, destruction of noncompliant species, and eventual pigeonholding of compliant species into traumatized and thus nonthreatening Uninvolved, who then die of senescence and leave the Shiplords' past and (presumed) weaknesses secret and safe.

But the Shiplords themselves appear to believe that hey are solving some kind of problem. They are "keeping the grass mowed" for a reason. And that reason probably involved actions more violent and desperate than the relatively ceremonial and stylized form of war they now wage.

So who knows what they might have busted out, in the systems that became their pilgrimage destinations? Or, for that matter, had used against them.

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(Small-p practice, assuming no mystic shenanigans)
 
[x] The yellow sun at the heart of this system was somehow twisted off axis by some monumental stellar event. Three major planetary bodies.
 
Let's have a look at where people are interested. That's a serious lead for the white dwarf...
Adhoc vote count started by Snowfire on May 15, 2020 at 9:43 AM, finished with 29 posts and 13 votes.
  • [X] A white dwarf at the centre of a scoured system. A single planet remains.
    [x] The yellow sun at the heart of this system was somehow twisted off axis by some monumental stellar event. Three major planetary bodies.
    [X] A red giant surrounded by a graveyard of shattered worlds.
    [X] A dying red supergiant, still flanked by the remains of its coterie.
    [X] The star of this system is notably smaller and dimmer than it should be, yet appears to still be stable.
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[X] A white dwarf at the centre of a scoured system. A single planet remains.

Because if Alistair Reynold's Galactic North has taught me anything interesting things hide around strange stars.
 
[X] A dying red supergiant, still flanked by the remains of its coterie.


I feel like this is the most boring option, and therefore the safest. Totally without basis, maybe, but there you go.
 
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