Into that Vast and Unrelenting Darkness (40K Xeno Civilization Quest)

[X] Plan: Preparing for the Unknown

Captain Picard said:

Helm. Warp 1. Engage!

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Captains Log, 4029.0921

We find outselves surveying Meeklak for our first tour, and I must say, the planet is a spectacular sight. A bright and vivid orange and blue, surrounded by a massive ring of ice rotating around the planet. Of course, while pretty, the rings aren't particularly scientifically notable: our scans confirmed what we already knew about them consisting of frozen water and debris.

The atmosphere consists of mostly of extremely rare caustic chemicals and gasses: harmless to machinery, but capable of causing extreme burns to unprotected explorers, though the crushing pressure caused by the increased gravity and the thick, almost liquid atmosphere would perhaps be far worse. It's caused several of our attempts at deep probes to be...Well, crushed. We're working on solutions to that problem, but it will very likely be slow going.

Curiously, there are some remnants of ships that have crashlanded in Meeklaks atmosphere: too deep for our vehicles to reach but still, apparently, intact. Some have theorized that they might perhaps be the remains of Destroyer ship technology, but we likely won't be able to confirm for some time. I'm going to put in my suggestion in to the Directorate for a permanent facility to be erected: more long term infrastructure is likely going to need to be erected to extract and explore the ships in any reasonable timeframe, considering their sheer size.

We could probably also find some use for the gas.

Meeklak explored! Its thick, heavy atmosphere consists of caustic gasses, its rings consist of mostly water, and it has several foreign masses crashlanded in its lower-middle atmosphere, too deep for your vehicles to venture at this moment!


TKK Endeavor: The pinnacle of Tekketi engineering, the Endeavor is the first real space ship constructed in the aftermath of the Destroyer War, incorporating a variety of technologies to enable it to perform its mission. A hypermodular vessel build from grey dyed ferroplastic bloks, its design consists of a wide, thick disc connected via finned spine to two large nacelles. The majority of the crew and work decks, alongside the main Ship-Shrine, are housed in the disc structure, alongside most civilian installations, wheras the Nacelles each contain sub-engineering decks, redundant systems, and storage. Lightly armed with only fusion torpedos and comm-jammers, the Endeavor is not intended to win a stand up fight: it's purpose is purely exploratory. It also comes equipped with an experimental Warp Drive, allowing it to enter, at great risk, a dimension that allows for faster than light transportation. In order to offset the risks of the Warp Drive, the Endeavor has recently been expanded, upgraded with both an Academy attachment providing a great deal of technical support and scientific expertise alongside a Mystek Deck where the ships occultists performed protective rituals and strengthening rites alongside esoteric lore to be used at the Captain's behest.

TKK Accomplishment: The second pride of the fleet, the Accomplishment was designed around much of the same principles as the Endeavor, for much of the same purpose. In many ways, it was essentially a second Endeavor in its entirety, though that was still an accomplishment in and of itself, though it lacked a number of upgrades the Endeavor currently had such as its warp drive, a sign of its increasing age.


[-] Survey Luna: Luna was already fully surveyed. SCAN LEVEL: MAX

[ ] Survey Naklis: The planet closest to the sun, and Teklias closest neighbor. It had two major features: an ocean comprised of churning molten ore, and a handful of mountains and floating landmasses atop said ocean. A number of useful minerals had been discovered in the Molten Sea and geological surveys of the mountain indicated that it had deposits of liquid metal. SCAN LEVEL: 1

[-] Survey Tacchis: In ancient Tekketi history, Tacchis was considered a dark omen by astrologers and mystics. These days, the iceball was mostly known for the massive amount of diamonds probes had found: the planet's crust was mostly carbon and water. It also had several subterranean ancient ruins belonging to the Destroyers servants. SCAN LEVEL: MAX

[ ] Survey Mongus: The largest gas giant in your system, Mongus has a green atmosphere, the result of several rare-teklia gases according to probe and scan data, alongside a great deal of hydrogen, methane, and electrical storms. SCAN LEVEL: 1

[ ] Survey Meeklak: The second largest gas giant, but the one with the largest ring (consisting of ice, mostly), Meeklak was too far for casual probe use, and had proven annoyingly resistant to even advanced probe and exploration due to its crushing atmosphere (comprised of caustic chemicals and gasses of, admittedly, extreme rarity) capable of popping your vehicles like aluminum cans. Deep below, several ships are crashlanded, still intact, floating in the hyperdense sea of liquid gas. SCAN LEVEL: MAX.

[ ] Erichtheo: Named after an old goddess from Classical Myth, Erichtheo, a moon of Mongus, is host to a number of creatures that exist primarily in its subcontinental abyssal zone, some of which can grow to titanic size, and in the magmafields, home to a number of extremophile sea-life and valuable minerals. SCAN LEVEL: 3. COOLDOWN: 3 Turns.

[ ] Spraa'ng: The furthest planet in your solar system, very little is known about Spraa'ng due to its absurd distance. You're unlikely to find anything interesting before requiring a return trip, but it would certainly be a good way to test your engines.

[ ] Drydock: With the construction of the Shipyard, the Endeavor could finally come in for repairs, maintenance, and upgrades. Upgrades ships with all existing Compartments and Components.

The following require a Warp capable ship. Note that travel to them is not without risk, either during the journey or at the destination: your world is ringed in by many warp storms.

[ ] Explore Galactic North: It was time for Tekket to begin exploring the galaxy! This direction had been where the Destroyers had emerged from: with luck, perhaps you would finally get awnsers. The closest Sky-Storm in this direction was the Mawket Voidstar, which was a great distance away. Requires Warp Capable Ship.

[ ] Explore Galactic South: In this direction lie the Grimket Astrolabe, a Sky-Storm that was only rarely visible on Teklia. It was also the direction of a variety of smaller systems as seen by your sky-mapping programs, some of which had shown some stellar oddities that led to many believing that there existed in this direction potential alien civilizations that weren't destroyers.

[ ] Explore Galactic West: In this direction was the Infernaket Blazestorm, the new closest Sky-Storm to Teklia: it had seemed small in the sky next to the Malket Configuration, but it was, according to astronomers, likely several orders of magnitude larger. Whether it was a particularly large Sky-Storm or the Malket Configuration was a small sky-storm likely would require more sky-searching. Otherwise, the major thing of note in this direction was a large group of stars on the verge of becoming red giants.

[ ] Explore Galactic East: The direction facing the galactic edge. The Sky-Storm in this direction was the Horizons End, a colorless scar that bled silver, and a small nebula that existed slightly before the hole in the sky.

((((()))))

It was an era of urbanization, not on Teklia, but in space. Orbital City One. Consisting of thirteen CityBloks designed for Zero G habitation, attached to the Orbital Shipyard, this small space city would become a thriving center of transport, travel, and tourism, attracting engineers, scientists, explorers, families of Directorate Fleet members, and all the necessary infrastructure to support them.

And as Orbital City One was erected, so was Luna City, another metropolis, this one somewhat different in scope and size: a single CityBlok, constructed atop the site of the original lunar colony. A great deal of debris needed to be moved to take room, and from the outside Luna City One almost looked as if it was being overtaken by a vast sea of trash, the space garbage easily reaching to just below the roof of the CityBlok...

...Proving to be of very little consequence to the inhabitants, many of whom didn't have windows anyways unless they were lucky enough to have housing on the edge of the CityBlok. Still, despite its small size, the CityBlok would effectively triple the space the Directorate had, leading to expanded salvage operations to meet expanded industrial requirements, including the begining of an AutoRecycler to attempt to get under control the vast amounts of scrap on the moon.

Perhaps none too soon, as these developments and the continued growth of the Directorate fueled by the Earth Auto-Recycler may be coming to an end: vast swathes of Teklia have steadily been erased of salvage and detritus, leaving many to suspect that the planet is likely to hit peak uranium and begin running out of easily acquirable sources of nuclear material to manufacture Perpetunite with.

Existing stores would be maintained, of course, but it would likely cripple Tekket expansion going forward. The most charitable timeframe gives over a century before this occurs. The most pessimistic, five or six decades.


Available Planets and Special Infrastructure:

Teklia: Teklia, oh Teklia. The second planet from your star, and your homeworld. A variety of mostly hospitable climates of variable comfortability, it is covered in what can only be described as space garbage: the ecosystem has largely adapted to it and millenia of exploitation has done much to clear it away, but its undeniably a very garbage covered planet. The past century had seen incredibly VAST amounts of garbage cleared away, however, and a complete revitalization of the Teklian biosphere and explosions in biological diversity as the Autorecyclers turn ecosystem choking garbage into useable materials, freeing large amounts of space for habitation, agriculture, parks and forests, the material repurposed into into the Teklian orbital space, its off world colonies, and the Arcolocubes, giant cubic self contained ecofriendly metropolis.

Luna: A trash filled wreck, unlike Teklia Luna didn't have pesky things like an atmosphere or ecology to degrade its debris, meaning it had very well preserved trash. It was also the site of a modest metropolis consisting of a single CityBlok supplied by lunar spire allowing a high amount of traffic too and from the lunar city and the beginnings of an autorecycler.

Orbital City One: An Orbital Metropolis, this space station consisted primarily of its orbital docks and a handful of city-bloks, making it a vibrant and bustling mid-point between Teklia, the Moon, and the rest of Directorate Space.

Deep Space Monitoring System: A Fleet initiative that utilizes a great deal of surplus processing power to scan the sky both to map it out as well as detect incoming threats before they arrive, giving early warning to the Directorate against hostile threats. It had recently detected a large supernova several thousands of lightyears away: interesting from an astronomical perspective but of limited importance considering the explosion happened thousands of years ago.

EXPansion Points (EXP Points): 28
Nuclear Material: 2

Construct Endeavor Class Ship: It was time to begin assembling the third Endeavor. Much like the first and second, it would be a exploratory vessel first and foremost, allowing for quicker survey of the local solar system and, should the worst come to pass, another thing between you and the Destroyers if they return. 0/20, cost 1 Nuclear Material, gain an Endeavor equipped with all unlocked Compartments and Ship upgrades as well as a variable amount of Perpetunite Nuclear Weapons depending on the size of your stockpiles.

Construct Valiant Class Ship: Another proposed idea was for a ship designed for actual combat: the Valiant. For obvious reasons, it would be larger in order to add space for redundant systems and weapon platforms, but at the size you were making it, you'd also be able to install fusion cannons as a shortrange but powerful laser weapon. 0/40, costs 2 nuclear material, gain a Valiant equipped with all non-Civilian Compartments and upgrades as well as a variable amount of nuclear weapons and powerful but short-range Fusion Cannons.

Orbital Defense Arrays: It might not save you, but it would buy time: an array of satellites armed with fusion cannons located in geosynchronous orbit with various of strategic importance, starting with major population centers. 0/10, costs 1 Nuclear Material, construct Orbital Defense Satellites. Repeatable.

Asteroid Harvesting Facilities: You still had a century or so before Teklia was depleted of salvage and easily accessible nuclear resources, but it was never too early to begin preparing for the eventuality. With that in mind, some of your industrial technicians had proposed creating the beginnings of asteroid harvesting operations by creating a series of specialized shuttle to gather and process space junk into useable materials. 0/20, generates EXP, grants 1 Nuclear Material.

Living Metal Farming: A number of people on the Moon had taken to starting 'living metal' gardens, growing the smart-matter in lieu of plants. After all, Living Metal didn't require atmosphere or even water: just energy, and could be used to construct all sorts of Bloks. Some lunar colonists had proposed using some of the freshly cleared land to set up facilities expressly for the purpose of metal farming, which would help expand the production of the substance and provide a nice surplus of the material. 0/20, grants 1 Living Metal

Perpetunite Production Facility: It would require dipping into your Living Metal stocks, but a fairly popular ballot was to create expanded Perpetunite manufacturing facilities on the Moon in order to meet expanding demands for nuclear materials in Directorate space: because of its position, there were little concerns about radiation like there would be for planet-side facilities. 0/20, grants 5 Nuclear Material, costs 1 Living Metal.

Orbital Forests: A frustrating side-effect of Arcolocubes and space living was it was harder and harder to experience nature. Some had suggested creating orbital habitats that could be used to expand the public parks system, and a number of individuals in the Academy believed it would be a great way to collect enviromental data. 0/15, generates CUL.

CityShrines: Some had suggested installing into each CityBlok its own regional Shrine: a place where locals can pay tribute and honor to the spirits of their district and priests and mysteks could conduct ceremonial offerings to the CityBloks anima mechanica. This would likely have a beneficial effect on local spirits. 0/10, generates FTH and CUL, strengthens urban machine spirits.

Construct Pioneer Class Ship: The Pioneer Class was intended to be used to set up small settlements on other worlds: the same size as an Endeavor class, but the internals were all things that could be reconfigured into setting up a sustainable, small settlement of a few hundred on any world. 0/20, costs 1 Nuclear Material. When constructed, select a world with at least one Scan Level: create a small settlement on that world.

Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Stockpiles: It was a very distasteful idea: nuclear weapons were ultimately a remnant of a darker, more divided age, and the current design for Heavy Perpetunite Warheads were a terrible thing indeed: for almost an hour they could unleash energy, vaporizing cities. And yet, they were the strongest weapon you had against the Destroyers. 0/1, Grants Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Weapon Stockpile. Can be taken multiple times. Can be used as Shipscale Weaponry in the form of Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Torpedos. Costs one Nuclear Material.

Deep Space Monitors: One day, the Destroyers would return. It was a fear many, many of you held. To that end, some of you wanted to expand the deep space monitoring project in order to ensure that they would not take you by surprise. 0/2, repeatable, costs 1 Network. Each completion gives more robust deep space scanning.

Lunar Monasteries: A number of monks and holy men wanted to establish pan-religious monasteries on the Moon, believing that the Overview Effect and lunar silence would be conducive towards theological research and meditation. There existed a few good sites, mostly in the Lunar Craters. 0/10, Construct Lunar Monasteries, generating FTH.

Hypermodular Power Bay: A proposed idea by Toxel: make the power bays on ships even more modular in order to allow power to be easily divertable to the various subsystems as needed. This would require investing in producing a great deal many more PowerBloks, but it would both increase power efficiency and versatility in the field. 0/15, unlocks Hypermodular Power Bay upgrade for ships, improving performance and adaptability, costs 1 Nuclear Materla.

Lunar AutoRecycler: There existed more than enough material on the moon to fuel several AutoRecyclers, but for now, only one was needed to fully meet the colonies native need for industrial capacity: the rest could be put towards expanding the Directorate industrial capacity. 2/10, Construct Lunar AutoRecyclers, generating EXP, generates one Nuclear Material.

Lunar MegaHub: Instead of singular individual data hubs, some suggested taking advantage of low lunar gravity to construct a titanic city sized MegaHub to both meet all current and future needs for data for the burgeoning Lunar Colony. This would be grotesquely expensive in terms of power, however. 0/40, costs 2 Nuclear Material, generates 5 Network.

Perpetunite Recyclers: With the advent of Perpetunite, a regenerating radioactive isotope used for creating reactors that never require refueling, some had advocated for installing perpetual motion energy generators in the AutoRecyclers: the vast and infinite amounts of energy could be used to process additional nuclear material as well as increase general production. 0/20, generates 1 Nuclear Material, upgrades AutoRecyclers.

Comm-Net: The network must be expanded to meet the needs of the growing network. A proposed solution was a series of Q-Blok and Perpetunite Reactor powered communications satellites acting in tandem. This would reduce Teklia-Orbital-Lunar latency and increase processing power to allow for further data expansion, and the best part was, it could all be made groundside! 0/10, generates 1 Network.

((((()))))

At the heart of the Endeavor there was a shrine. Not in the engines, not in the primary reactor deck or near engineering, not by the weapons or bridge. Instead it lie at the heart of the Crew Deck, in the ships apartment complex, where the Ensigns and Commanders and even on occasion the Captain would walk by, many stopping to leave their respects and thanks to the ship itself, if not the occasional offering. Surrounding it, a wall, listing the name of every Bond-Spirit and Tekket that had served or lived upon the vessel, a holographic registry.

From the moment it was installed, rarely a day would pass without it being piled high by superstitious ensigns and engineers, gifts of Bloks and food and, said by many a veteran to be the ships favorite, alien rocks, a preference the spirit of the Endeavor copied from her first captain, one that saw the ships spirit pleased most of all claimed many that believed themselves knowledgeable from their decades of service. Occasionally, the ships Shrine-Keepers or the Mystek Attache would gather, performing all manner of ritual of protection or invocation or ceremony: on these days, many said, the Ships soul becomes every so slightly more awake, granting additional performance from all subsystems, especially the scanners and analysis subsystems.

Of course, there existed many a smaller shrine in the ship, dedicated to the lesser spirits of the decks and zones they were situated on, but none were quite as important as that shrine in particular, quite as subject to offerings and gifts and host to as many ceremonies.


Culture Points (CUL Points): 14

Orbital Pioneer Initiative: Space was big and had lots of space, something anyone who knew what words meant understood. A ballot had been proposed to take advantage of this and your growing orbital infrastructure: fund the development of shuttle-houses that could be used as 'orbital houseboats' by Tekket wanting to move to space, allowing for decentralized orbital communities to form with minimal investment by the government. 0/15, generates EXP.

Wonderpark Fungineering Guild: A collective of engineers, technicians, and entertainers that either are or previously were studying or working at Wonderpark, the Guild, of which the current captain of the Endeavor was a member of, had requested a glut of materials to expand Wonderpark with expanded engineering workshops to build rides and test out zero-gravity technology both for general use in the Directorate and, of course, in Wonderpark. 0/20, orbital amusement park is upgraded to Wonderpark, a Society that grands CUL and EXP and further improves orbital engineering.

Super Battleball League: Battleball consisted of a game played in Lunar Gravity. It was the closest the Directorate came to a contact sport: several members of each team were housed in the cockpit of a small blokbot vehicle, with the goal of the game to beat the absolute snot out of your enemies vehicle and take the battleball from them. Some had proposed an expanded version of the sport, using the Mammoth Class Blokbots as a basis. It would...certainly be very impressive, and a number of people in the military especially were interested in the possibility of using it as a method to test out Battlebot MekTek. 0/20, establishes the Super Battleball League, a Society that allows for the deployment of Battlebots, heavy vehicles that can be utilized for combat.

VR Simulators: With access to Mind-Machine Interface technology, Virtual Reality technology had taken off for both entertainment and educational purposes. A number of Tekket wanted to go further and develop the first hyperrealistic VR Simulator, turning cyberspace from something that only existed on a screen to something that could be touched and interacted with. 0/10, grants ACD and unlocks SimTek.

Compulsory Secondary Education: It wasn't...strictly needed, since most Tekket pursued secondary education anyways. Still, by making it mandatory and spending resources to expand the Academy, you could effectively ensure 100% of your population was considered skilled. 0/10, grants the Compulsory Secondary Education, increasing ACD Points, costs 1 Network.

Sacred Livestock: Some priests and mysteks had taken to rearing livestock such as Swamp Cattle and Bighorn Lizards specifically for use in rituals: while animal abuse was forbidden, it was not considered illegal to slaughter animals so long as it was done ethically and humanely, though not all Mysteks outright sacrificed their livestock, instead merely using them as reusable sources of lifeforce. Some animal rights groups had proposed proposed promoting the latter practice in order to secure an ethical source of essence and reduce the incentive of raising individual livestock for slaughter by funding the creation of Sacred Herds, large, communally owned livestock held in common by the Mysteks. 0/20, grants Sacred Livestock tradition, increasing EXP and granting 1 Warp

Ritual Livestock: Others instead believed that the Directorates efforts would be better spent meeting lifeforce needs and thus minimizing the amount of cattle that were slaughtered via artificial selection programs to develop breeds of livestock that could quickly generate high amounts of lifeforce. 0/20, grants Ritual Livestock tradition, increasing FTH and granting 1 Warp

Sacrificial Livestock: And yet others claimed that the harvest of animals wasn't a problem in the first place: morally it was no different from eating them and there already existed plentiful rules to govern the humane consumption of animals that could simply be expanded to include humane religious consumption. Instead, if anything, facilities to rear these sacrifices should be expanded considerably: lifeforce was a strategic resource and could potentially give the Directorate an edge enough to survive the destroyers. 0/20, grants 3 Warp.

Zoological Educational Facilities: A number of animal enthusiasts had proposed expanding the park system to include special open air zoos: attendees would learn about animals and get to view them safely in accurate recreations of their natural habitats via specialized heavy grav-trams and auto-rovers. It could also be used for research and helping promote endangered species. 0/10, grants Open Air Zoos tradition.

Lunar Salvage Cabals: Some Tekket had taken advantage of easier lunar travel to establish archaeological digs to acquire samples of PrecursorTek. A number of Directorate Citizens wanted to formalize this organization in order to streamline the acquisition of material to reverse engineer. 0/10, unlocks Salvage Cabals, a Society that generates ACD and grants one ART.

Frontier Explorer Compartment: A proposed expansion to Directorate Fleets would be a civilian compartment: essentially turning every ship into a mobile city of sorts and allowing for easy establishment of colonies on various worlds visited by the Fleet as well as providing a wealth of civilian expertise for the Fleet. 8/20, Fleet upgraded with Frontier Town compartment, providing a variety of civilian skills and services to ships alongside a steady stream of internal recruits. Requires Orbital Shipyard and a turn in dock to take effect.

Blood for Art: A number of TekArtists had begun sacrificing quantities of their lifeforce to strengthen their art, believing that it enables them to awaken with the spirit of the piece. It does certainly result in more striking pieces, and the machine spirits of TekArt did typically grow faster than other machine spirits. Some Mystek factions wanted to provide these artists with more support, developing tools so that the artists can find easily find volunteers to help them strengthen their TekArt. 0/10, significantly increases CUL, costs 1 Warp

Secondary ShipShrines: While the ShipSoul was the greatest aboard the vessel, it was not the only one: every major component and compartment had their own powerful spirits. Perhaps by redesigning your ships so that each of these spirits have their own shrines they can receive offerings at, you could further improve your ships performance by strengthening these SubSpirits. 0/15, improves the performance of all ship subsystems and components.

((((()))))

Elsewhere on the Endeavor, attached to the top of its disc, towards the back edge, a squat cylinder containing the Mystek Attachment. Cloistered and seperated from the rest of the ship, the Mysteks lived in dimly lit, stone lined halls illuminated only by torches, giving the structure, from the inside, the appearance of forboding and dark catacombs from antiquity, connecting a variety of living quarters, arcane ritual chambers and alchemtek research facilities, libraries of esoteric mystical lore, and at its heart, a Mag-Tek Altar, used to conduct daily rituals and rites and, when a spirit of the ship grew strong enough, transfer its spirit into a Bond-Drone or even Bond-Machina, merging the latters vessel with the ships structure, though only but a handful of such incidents would occur over the decade and change the facility had been installed.

All this, but the most vital function the facility would serve would be the daily ceremony held by its inhabitants, rites of protection and warding against evil. Because just below the Mag-Tek Altar, on the deck underneath the compartment was the Warp Drive.


Faith Points (FTH Points): 19
ART: 1
Warp (WP): 1

An Unending Appetite: Sphere 001 spoke of an endless hunger: when its followers had approached it, it had refrained from draining them, telling them instead to bring it livestock and healthy and hale plants, opening up, seemless surface parting like a maw filled with razor sharp teeth as it devoured these live offerings whole. It seemed to prefer a more...direct way of obtaining life force, it seemed, and preferred to glut itself on lesser feed instead of consuming the rich lifeforce of Tekket. Many believed that by crafting facilities designed to raise livestock enmass for feeding to the God-Machine, the Directorate could help it sate its hunger, or at least earn some of its favor. 0/10, generates Living Metal, establishes Court of Hungers

A Discerning Wisdom: Mother spoke of a discerning taste: her hungers were not prodigious, but they were refined. Encoded into the lifeforce of Tekket were hints and whispers of their memories, mere tastes of their experiences. She had carefully savored each and every one of her adherants essence, sipping from them the same way one might sip at a glass of wine. In exchange for plentiful flavors to sip from, she might be convinced to part with knowledge. 0/10, generates Warp, establishes Court of Whispers

A Harsh Bargain: YALDABOATH had simple terms: a great deal of lifeforce only once. He had drained them near dry, and then allowed them to rest in specially arranged personal quarters, where they were attended to by the Tomb Guardians that served the god machine, providing the Demiurgic cults food, water, and assistance with their hygiene should they be unable to move. Many of his cults wished to create infrastructure such that this tithe could be repeated (to a...less extreme degree, of course) without pilgrimage to the Pillar, and no doubt Yaldaboath would be appreciative. 0/10, generates an Artefact, establishes Court of Bargains

Great Conclave: A proposed pan-religious body meant to allow for cross-faith communication, theological research, debate, discussion, and mediation, as well as giving the various faiths of the Directorate the ability to more efficiently coordinate research and information. It would take a great deal of wrangling in order to get the organization functioning, however. 12/25, Set up Great Conclave, generating FTH and providing a neutral mediating body for religious disputes between various spiritualities.

GodTek Emulator: A proposed idea by the Calculators was using a GodTek artifact to design an AI Emulation Drive using occult principles capable of serving as a vessel for one of their deities. This would, if it worked like the Calculators though, allow for them to receive direct communication from their gods. 0/15, establishes GodTek Emulator 0 - The Path, generating CUL, 5 Network and accelerating Calculator Research. Cost 1 Artefact.

The Heart of The Assembly: The Assembly wanted to create a massive MagTek Altar and glut it on copious, copious amounts of life-force to create what can only be described as a ritual reactor, capable of generating its own energy from the Bond-Spirit housed inside the Heart. If it worked, they promised to allot some of the energy to meet Teklia's growing needs. 0/15, establishes the Heart of the Assembly, generating EXP, 5 Nuclear Material and accelerating Assembly Research. Cost 1 Warp.

Temple of the Lanternkeeper: The Lanternkeeper was famous as a symbol of light struggling to survive in darkness. Many wanted to build a temple in one of the gods Holy Places to the Emberlight Firekeeper where they could give their respects and offerings, and where they could erect a Great Sacred Lantern in the gods honor. 0/10, establishes Lanternkeeper Temple, a Holy Site that grants your people increased resistance to despair and hopelessness.

Temple of the Huntsmaster: The Huntsmaster was storied as paragon of craftiness and cunning, felling their foes not through brute force, but through ingenuity, preparation, skill, and exquisitely crafted tools. Many wanted to build a temple in one of the gods holy places to the slayer of beasts and forger of weapons where the disciples of the huntsmaster could give offering and prepare their own weapons for the day monsters returned once more to Teklia. 0/10, establishes Huntsmasters Temple, a Holy Site that generates Huntsmasters, monster slayers specializing in custom engineered weapons.

Temple of the Old One: The Old One was historied as a lord of knowledge and mysteries. Many wanted to build a temple to the god in the abyssals of the sea where its monks, few in number but each of them powerful Mysteks, could assemble a great library where they could delve into the secrets of the cosmos, dedicated to the pelagic lords honor. 0/10, establishes Old Ones Temple, a Holy Site that increases the power of your Rites.

Temple of the Toy Maker: The Toy Maker was fabled as the patron of children and faeries both. Many wanted to build a temple to the whimsical god in Wonderpark of all places, a complex where the Toy Maker could be brought the offerings and wishes of kits and where rites meant to appease and invoke the fair court of the Toy Maker could be performed. 0/10, establishes Toy Makers Temple, a Holy Site that grants your children protection against malign influence.

Nuclear Ritual Engines: Mag-Tek Altars had proven an effective way of amplifying the effects of Mystek Rites. Some theorized that they could be improved further via nuclear reactor bloks, providing the Altar spirit with additional surges of power to channel into occult motion: to that end, they wanted to apply Mystek principles to nuclear design. 0/20, Mag-Tek Altars upgraded with Nuclear Ritual Engines, unknown effects, costs 2 Nuclear Material.

WarpTek Altar: Warp-Space, according to your discoveries, was extremely rich in arcane energies. By redesigning your MagTek Altars, perhaps they could be upgraded to siphon power from Warp-Space and catalyze Mystek Rituals. 0/20, MagTek Altars upgraded to draw energy from Warp-Space, increasing Warp by 1.

Rite of War: A proposed rite that would allow for the enchantment of various ship weaponry in order to generate short term bursts of high performance, allowing for increased reactivity in combat situations. It would likely require a great deal of lifeforce, however, both to perfect and be easily utilizable in the field. 0/20, Mystek Ritual Compartment upgraded with Rite of War, very slightly increasing the damage of all weapons and in combat situations allowing one weapon system an additional increase of performance. Costs 1 Warp.

Rite of Soul: You can make the spirits more awake. Could you increase the shine of their soul? A heady proposition: some believed that by experimenting with God-Machine technology, more advanced versions of the Rite of Anima could be developed. No one was entirely sure what the results of this would be, however. 0/20, unlocks Rite of Soul, increasing EXP and FTH, Costs 1 ART.

Rite of Communion: Others had suggested an idea: the Rite of Anima required a form of Communion between a Bond-Spirit and a lesser machine spirit. Could the same rite be adapted to let this dance take place between Tekket and Bond-Spirit instead? Such a thing would be monumental, certainly. 0/20, unlocks Rite of Communion, increasing FTH and CUL, Costs 1 ART

Shrine-Talismans: A common offering to the spirits of the Shrine were talismen crafted from handfolded origamic covered in prayers written in classical Tekket calligraphy: they had, strangely, proven a very effective offering. Perhaps by supplying the Shrine-Keepers with the necessary tools, they could expand their knowledge on the construction of Talismans. 0/10, upgrades TekShrines with Shrine-Talismen, increasing EXP.

Shrine-Rites: This was an era of Mystek ascension. Give the Shrine-Keepers access to plentiful lifeforce to study: allow them to develop their understanding of the potent energy that the God-Machines had given access to and allow them to use it to develop rituals to further increase the potency of the TekShrines. 0/25, upgrades TekShrines with Rite of Motive Offering, increasing EXP given by TekShrines by two, cost 1 warp.

Advanced TekShrines: A proposed way to further improve TekShrines was to utilize God-Tek to increase the overall efficiency of Shrines as well as increase the power they generated. A bold proposal, but one the Shrine-Keepers themselves believed would work wonders as a way to empower the spirits they served. 0/25, upgrades TekShrines with GodTek Generators, increasing EXP given by TekShrines by two, costs 1 artefact.

Gremlin.EXE: Gremlins. Lesser spirits of mischief that cropped up from time to time from the darkest corners of the Network or Teklia's shadowy underbelly, they would possess machine spirits, infecting them like a virus. Some times, this relationship was beneficial: the machine spirit would grow stronger or be given strange powers, adding the Gremlins power to their own in exchange for giving the Gremlin an occasional vessel. Most of the time, this turned out terribly, as the Gremlin provoked the machine spirit to malfunction and glitch, taking delight as havok was created, forcing a Teksorcist to perform long, time consuming rituals that left the unfortunate machine with long lasting damage. With the development of the TekGrimoires, some OcculTeks sought to imprison the minor troublemakers in order to prevent this, forcing them into empty DroneTek bodies layered inside and out with occultek binding. 0/20, develop Gremlin-Drones, created by taming mischievous data-spirits.

Familiars: Many naturalists theorized about natural spirits of the wilderness. Some druids and neo-pagans had experimented, finding that certain beasts and plants did in fact have some spiritual presence. Some Mysteks wished to explore the possibility of transfering the spirit to a Drone-Class vessel: after all, if you can do it to a toaster, why shouldn't it work on an equally old tree or turtle? 0/20, develop Wyld-Drones, Drone class automata formed not from ascended machine spirits but the souls of beasts and plants of sufficient soul strength.

WyldShrines: If nature spirits existed, then should they not also be venerated with shrines of their own? It was a proposal by a number of your naturalists, suggesting the establishment of TekShrines in the wilderness and parks in order to appease the various native spirits of Teklia. If it worked, if a method to appease these wyld-spirits was found, it could serve a number of potential applications in Tekket expansion. 0/10, establish Wyld-Shrines, reducing hostility from wildlife and promoting healthy wilderness, generating EXP.

Bond-Technomata: No Bond-Spirit was nearly mature enough to achieve a third metamorphosis yet, but potentially this process could be accelerated with sufficient amounts of Life-Force, and many Mysteks were salivating over the possibility: Bond-Machina had the ability to generate energy far in excess of their power systems and the ability to use that energy to strengthen and manipulate machinery. Who knows what powers their evolution would have? 0/40, create Bond-Technomata, advanced psyker machine spirits. Cost 1 Warp.

Delve into the Tomb: The complex where the God-Machines were located was, according to the expedition that found the God-Machines, impossibly vast. A select number of Monks wished to establish a temple atop it. It's purpose? To plumb the depths and obtain ancient technology. 0/10, Establish Tombdelver Order, a Society which generates Artifacts (ART).

Cthonic Lifeofferings: A number of Mysteks with interests in the macabe had begun donating small amounts of Life-Force to the TekMausoleums, believing it a method to perhaps appease the spirits interred there. It was an interesting proposal, certainly: by organizing volunteers to donate, perhaps the merit of the idea could be tested. 0/10, TekMausoleums receive regular donations of lifeforce. Unknown effects. Cost 1 Warp.

Mystek Protective Wards: The dimension that the Warp Drive seemed to connect to was deeply terrifying and very obviously dangerous, and a number of Mysteks had wanted resources to put into the development of Occultek wards to drive out malign influences in the hopes that the general safety of Warp-Jumps could be increased. 0/40, Mystek Compartment upgraded with Exceptionally Crude Protective Wards, costs 1 Warp.

ShipMind Shrine: A proposed method of improving your Ship Shrines even further was the addition of GodTek derived computers in order to create a sort of centralized AI core to house at least part of the ships oversoul: in essence, granting your shipspirits a degree of intelligence and willfullness. 0/20, Ships upgraded to include ShipMind, somewhat increasing performance. Cost 1 Artefact.

ShipBrain: Others suggested that instead of simply improving performance across the board by studying them, the Directorate could instead utilize GodTek as components to create a singular, relic grade GodTek supercomputer to serve as a vessel for the ships spirit, which would likely accelerate the shipsouls growth considerably. 0/20, select one Fleet to receive a ShipBrain, a relic class AI core that moderately improves ship performance that will automatically be upgraded when new technology is developed.

NeuroChoirs: A proposed theological application of the Mind-Machine Interface, the NeuroChoir would help coordinate and amplify prayer and spiritual meditation and, more importantly, allow for far easier donation of life energy for ritual purposes. 0/15, increases FTH, religious orders gain NeuroChoir artifact, costs 1 ART.

((((()))))

And at the same time, the Directorate studied the Destroyers Warp Drive, carefully unravelling its secrets on the moon. Some of its researchers would go insane, mind bent into a pretzel from studying its design. Others would go quietly mad, retiring from the project as their work silently unraveled their sanity and caused them to hallucinate strange, unholy things.

A failed activation would cause a wave of radiation to pass through the complex on occasion, the strange energy not stopped by any amount of ShieldTek. Those exposed would suffer from minor mutations and maladies until it was discovered that the effects of the Warp Drive could be contained by holy iconography and certain Mystek rituals.

Eventually, its secrets were unwound entirely, and the Directorate produced their own prototype warp drive, slapping the test-device on a ship known as the TKH Taavi, a cargohauler nearing the end of its life, and performing an activation hundreds of miles away from the moon and Teklia both. The vessel and its crew dissappeared for fifteen minutes. When they came back, they were bruised and terrified: the drive had transported them to a realm of of terror, where reality didn't seem to work and the laws of physics were mere suggestions. For fifteen minutes, it was if they had existed in a realm of darkness and chaos.

Worse, they said the darkness was full of sharp things. Hungry things. Had they stayed under any longer, they would have been devoured, picked clean like a body that finds itself submerged in the abyss. Eventually, an insight to this was discovered: the Destroyers, according to what records could be found and examinations performed on the ship, had utilized a sort of particle field generator. An attempt to replicate the system would prove moderately effective, but the warp-shields merely transformed the journey from "mortally terrifying" to merely "nightmarish and dangerous", requiring months of therapy and treatment after each and every jump.

And yet, the results spoke for themselves: the test fire of the first official Explorer Grade Warp Engine had turned the journey of the Taavi to Erichtheo from something that would take several years to several minutes. The rewards outweighed the risk, the Directorate agreed, especially since their efforts HAD lowered the trauma caused by warp jumps to mostly treatable levels.

This would lead to a complication.

[ ] Space Madness: Characterized by a deterioration in cognitive processes and severe irrationality and, eventually, delusions of grandeur, Space Madness was seen mostly in those subject to a number of warp jumps over their career: while therapy had proven at reducing their numbers, the problem with Space Madness was that it was ultimately caused by cumulative exposure: the only perfect treatment is avoiding Warp-Jumps for a long time. Gain -2 CUL and FTH to spend this turn. Fleets will gradually take morale damage every Warp-Jump: resets if given a turn in drydock.

[ ] Ghost Sickness: Radiation poisoning was a specter you had beaten long ago thanks to ShieldTek and medicine. Ghost Sickness was its grim successor: any time a Warp Drive activates, it lets out a broad spectrum of radiation. That radiation sometimes does nothing. Sometimes it makes you vomit. Sometimes it gives you an extra pinky toe. And sometimes it gave you Ghost Sickness, leaving you in horrific pain and weakness, mimicking all the symptoms of acute radiation sickness: not enough to kill you, but enough to make sure you spent years in the infirmary. And there was no way to predict who would be affected like this. Gain -2 EXP and ACD to spend this turn. Fleets will gradually take crew damage every Warp-Jump: resets if given a turn in dry dock.

[ ] The Booug: Antianima. The darkest, most unholy sort of spirit your society recognized, formed directly from the nightmares of Tekketi gods. Predators of soul that caused misery and death. The Booug was one such Antianima, representing the violent destruction of machinery: it was a demon of scrapyards and forbidden demolition derbies, created when the God of Transit, the Roadguide, dreamed of evil Tekket forcing their vehicles to destroy each other or murdering machines to harvest their parts, birthing these demonic wreckers which in legend were famed for their violence and gluttony. And now, they walked the halls of your starships, causing various amounts of damage with each and every warp-jump. Gain -1 EXP and -1 FTH to spend this turn. Fleets will gradually take structural damage every Warp-Jump: resets if given a turn in dry dock.


Academy Points (ACD Points): 18
Living Metal: 0
Network: 2


Particle Field Generator: It was clear that Warp-Space was dangerous, but perhaps by improving the quality of the Particle Field used in the process it could be rendered at least somewhat safer, making travel more reliable and less damaging. To do this, the Directorate had authorized extensive access to lifeforce. 0/20, gain Crude Warp-Shield Technology, slightly increasing the safety of warp travel.

Warp-Drive Refinement: Of course, others instead wanted to focus on efficiency by developing more sophisticated Warp-Drive manufacturing techniques, allowing for faster speeds and thus exploration of space. This would be a considerable undertaking, but it would pay dividends. 0/20, gain Basic Warp-Drive, increasing ship speed and ability to respond to crisis. Cost 1 Warp.

Extremely Advanced NukeTek: Perpetunite weaponry was dangerous, but it could be so much worse with the application of advanced particle technology to further increase the damage caused: longer range on fusion cannons to create fusion lances, more explosive torpedos, fusion rockets powerful enough to be called pocket nukes. There was no such thing as overkill. 0/45, Unlocks Advanced NukeTek. Allows for the creation of medium-range, re-useable shipscale weaponry in the form of Fusion Lances and further improvement to all existing NukeTek weaponry. Can spend 1 ART to halve cost.

HoloTek: With technology becoming more and more sophisticated, a number of optical researchers had proposed funding more research into their field of study to create advanced HoloBriks that could be used in conjunction with Mind Machine interfaces to create sophisticated 3D simulator pods. 0/25, unlocks Crude HoloDeck Technology, increasing CUL.

What Even Is Lifeforce?: A number of scientists had assembled to finally awnser a question that's been plaguing them for generations: what exactly was lifeforce? The mysterious energy revealed to you by the God-Machines had a variety of uses and seemed to use blood as a medium, but clearly it wasn't needed going by the God-Machines. Could study be used to augment the Rite of Lifeblood and develop more efficient versions? Enterprising occult scientists wanted to know. 0/25, upgrades Rite of Lifeblood, increasing the efficiency of a variety of technologies. Costs 1 Warp.

NukeTek Ultra Miniaturization: It would perhaps be considered gross overkill to develop infantry-scale weaponry utilizing Perpetunite Reactors. However, much like your schools, your military didn't know the meaning of overkill: Fusion Shotguns, Fusion Blasters, Fusion Micro-Rockets, and Fusion Grenades. A lot of efficiency would be lost at the sizes you were aiming for, but it'd be a great way to give your forces some real teeth. 0/25, heavy infantry benefits from PowerBlok technology, costs 2 Nuclear Material

Perpetual Engines: Next generation engines that use Perpetunite reactors to generate thrust, these Engines would allow for far quicker and efficient traversal in system, permitting more involved research as your ships would be able to quickly return for re-supply and cover more ground quicker, as well as letting your ships change course in a crisis with more efficiency. 0/25, increases the Scan Level of worlds you visit by an additional +1, allows for quicker course corrections in combat and crisis by ships, cost 1 Nuclear Material

Q-Band Compression: A novel form of quantum technology that should allow for more efficient transfer of data and higher levels of compression, freeing up network and reducing overall latency over long distances, something that would be useful both in the civilian sector and for managing the Fleet's communication. 0/25, +1 Network, +CUL, unlock Q-Band Compression.

Engineering Improvization Doctrine: Toxel advocated that victory could be assured best by teaching Engineers how to improvise solutions in the field quickly and under fire: he wanted to expand the Academies curriculum for Fleet Engineers by including a variety of semi-randomized open ended simulations of increasing difficulty that would test their ability to come up with novel solutions to issues. 0/20, establishes Toxel Doctrine, improving your Engineers ability to develop novel technical solutions under fire.

The Teeth: A number of military scientists believed that by using GodTek and recent advances in NukeTek they could create a hyperadvanced, long range fusion cannon capable of causing significant damage. An intriguing idea, and it would give at least one of your fleets some actual teeth. 0/15, can upgrade a single fleet with the Teeth, a powerful medium range relic grade heavy fusion cannon that will automatically upgrade to incorporate newly developed technology. Will automatically upgrade to a long range when Extremely Advanced Nuke-Tek is completed. Costs 1 Artefact.

Revelation Class Scanner: Another proposed use of GodTek would be reverse engineering its sensory components to try and improve existing scanner technology. Eager young scientists believe that they should be able to potentially double if not triple the effective range, allowing your Deep Space Monitoring facilities to detect potential threats earlier AND allowing your ships to scan vast swathes of space quickly, effectively revolutionizing your ability to explore. 0/20, cost 1 Artefact, unlocks Revelation Class Scanner component, improving the effects of Deep Space Monitoring and upgrading your ship scanners to grant adjacent planets to the one visited +1 Scan Level. If taken with Perpetunite Engines, reach next Scan Tier (System).

Repair Protocol: Living metal is definitely a form of smart matter. If a way could be discovered to control it's growth, you could upgrade your blocks from merely regenerating to replicating if fed with sufficient energy. In essence, bloks that can create more bloks, allowing for your machinery to literally heal from injuries. 0/20, unlock Crude Repair Protocol, giving your machinery the ability to regenerate from light damage. Costs one living metal.

Gestalt Protocol: Another route to improving the strength of Machine Spirits, some of your scientists belonging to the Grand Reconfiguration Committee theorized that synthetic souls were just as modular as their form: they believed that there might exist some manner to merge machine spirits in order to radically accelerate their growth, creating Gestalt-Drones. They would no doubt be very, very different from typical Bond-Drones, however. 0/15, develop Gestalt-Drones, advanced automata created from a multitude of fused together synthetic souls instead of singular awoken machine spirits.

MagTek Reassembly Protocol: An alternate proposed idea to Blok Repair Protocols was MagTek: a number of engineers proposed a sort of reassembly protocol that would caused damaged structures to attempt to replace lost bloks by snapping loose ones to themselves. You would only be able to repair structural damage, not replicate any complicated machinery in the structure, but that would still be invaluable for defensive purposes. 0/10, Buildings and Fortifications gain MagTek Reassembly Protocol, repairing structural damage.

Academy Fleet Compartment High Energy Lab: A proposed improvement to the Academy Compartments was giving them their own High Energy Labs and self-contained power systems: this would allow them to further meet the fleets technical needs as well as provide, in all likelyhood, a great deal of surplus power for your ships to use. 0/20, Academy Fleet Compartment upgraded with High Energy Lab, increasing available power and efficiency of all advanced subsystems. Costs 1 Nuclear Material.

Academy Fleet Network Lab: Another idea would be adding additional information technology in the form of expanded computer labs and data hubs. This would reduce ship-to-Teklia latency, provide additional processing power for things like targetting and navigation, and in a pinch could probably be used to upgrade the Comm-Jammers. 0/20, Academy Fleet Compartment upgraded with Network Lab, improving efficiency of all E-War and computer systems.

Quartzbug Anatomy: A number of xenobiologists were deeply interested in the semi-silica based lifeforms found in the precursor temples. They wanted to perform an in-depth study of the creatures and their physiology. 0/20, grants 1 Biodata, a CUL resource used to domesticate, alter, and utilize alien organisms. Permits additional Quartzbug projects.

Temple Expedition: It would take a military escort, a great many BlockBots, and probably heavy artillery, but the Fleet believe that it should be possible to push past the Quartzbugs and do an in-depth exploration of the Quartz Temple and unravel its secrets. 0/15, grants information

ShipShieldTek: With the advent of Perpetunite technology, some in the Academy wanted to work on upscaling the technology such that it could be installed on both your space stations and on ships. This would fortify your space assets and forces against laser and radiation based weaponry, making you all that much harder to hurt. 18/20, upgrades ShieldTek to apply to space fortifications and ships.

Gnome Class Blok-Bots: Minibots that could be deployed to perform a variety of extremely small tasks, Gnome Class BlokBots are automatically programmed to use loose Bloks unassigned to any task to improve themselves, including the remains of other Blokbots, eventually assembling enough Bloks to 'evolve' into a Golem-Class. 0/15, creates Gnome Class Blok-Bots, generating EXP.

ZwergBot Disassembly Protocol: A proposed subsystem that would allow for BlokBots to continue operation even after being blown apart via configuring themselves into lesser classes. This would be very, very useful for your security bots, as it would mean they would have to be very thoroughly dismantled to stop them. 0/15, Security Bots will automatically when dismantled reform into smaller classes of BlokBot.

DestroyerKin Physiology: Servile Ones and Red Priests were different casts of the same species, one that seemed related to the DestroyerKin: an engineered labour caste? Destroyer Young? You didn't know what connection they had and you probably wouldn't until you met the Destroyers on the field of war again. But now you had access to several DestroyerKin corpses, incredibly well preserved, including a potential third species of DestroyerKin: your scientists were immediately demanding a full autopsy to take place. 0/10, unlocks DestroyerKin Physiology, providing you insight into their biological makeup.

((((()))))

Moratorium for two hours, like usual.