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

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, as well as several AutoRecyclers absorbing large quantities of material. It would likely take many, many lifetimes to clean Luna of trash, but the AutoRecyclers had already begun to pay off thanks to the massive amount of material Luna and its colonists now had to play with. Recently devestated by Mt. Wander and Quartzbug attacks.

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, frequented by a variety of residents, travellers looking to visit Wonderpark or the Orbital Parks, and asteroid miners looking to deposit their hauls and get some well deserved shore leave.

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. They had noticed concerning activity from the edge of the Expanse: stars that weren't scheduled to go Red Giant for another few thousand years according to predictions seemed to be exhibiting a number of concerning phenomena. Whatever had happened there was likely hundreds of years passed, but it opened a concerning possibility: what if the state of the expanse is more recent than thought?

Nuclear Stockpiles: The defensive nuclear warhead stockpile, consisting of heavy perpetunite warheads, weapons capable of releasing a devastating nuclear reaction capable of lasting up to twenty minutes. Most were assigned to homeworld defense, but a few had seen their way onto the ships of the Directorate and even the educational system.

Naklis: Home to a mining operation in the Geode Canyons near the poles, this firey planet had a single city: a massive Spire that doubled as a space elevator and Comm-Hub, host to several hundred thousand residents, primarily mining and industrial engineers, who produced vast quantities of material, primarily Rare-Teklian-Minerals and nuclear materials.

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.

Megaparks: Fundamentally the biggest limitation when it came to orbital engineering was "how much were you willing to invest" and a number of your people wanted more put into the orbital parks. Much more. They wanted to construct Megaparks, vast super-domes the size of an Arcolocube. 0/20, generates CUL.

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. 17/20, 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.

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. 2/20. When constructed, select a world with at least one Scan Level: create a small settlement on that world.

Construct Dreamer Class Ship: The next generation of Colony Ship! The Dreamer was in the same size category as the Valiant, having greatly expanded systems compared to the Pioneer, including expanded defensive arsenal, expanded resource and Blok stockpiles, and of course, stasis pods meant to slow Tekket aging down to a crawl. It would allow you to send your people to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, perhaps further, but once they were sent out, it would be likely that the volunteers would never be seen again in this lifetime. 0/40, 1 Network. When constructed, pick a cardinal direction: a Dreamer Class will be sent in that direction, eventually (assuming it survives) establishing Tekket presence in a distant part of the galaxy. Can be repeated. First Dreamer created will upgrade War Against Extinction.

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.

MegaArt Galleries: A number of more artistically minded wanted more resources to be funneled into public art. Very, very big public art. Specifically, Zero-G galleries meant to allow for the creation and display of MegaArt, TekArt too large to be constructed on Teklia itself or housed in a regular art exhibit. 0/10, Orbital City One gains MegaArt Galleries, increasing CUL.

ShrineDistricts: A proposed method of expanding the CityShrine system would be the creation of specialized Shrine-Districts meant to serve as the central shrine-complex of an Arcolocube, where the metroplexes priests and holy men could perform shrine ceremonies meant to honor the spirits of the entire city and train up large amounts of Shrine-Keepers. 0/10, establishes Shrine-Districts on every Arcolocube, increasing FTH.

ShrineCity: Another idea some had: why not a planetary TekShrine complex? The effect would be grotesquely diluted, but it would still serve as a very culturally powerful holy site for those interested in Shrine-Keeping and central complex they could utilize for research and ceremonies. 0/20, establishes ShrineCity, a Holy Site that increases FTH by an elevated amount.

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 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 help somewhat with latency and lag from Naklis. 0/10, generates 1 Network.

Herdtemples: Lifeforce was always at a premium, and one proposed method of meeting that demand had been put forward by a pan-religious agricollective who believed that they could meet that demand with orbital Herdtemples designed to rear vast amounts of livestock for use in venerable rituals. 0/15, establishes Herdtemples, providing FTH and 1 Warp.

Geode Canyon Extraction Operation: The Great Geode Canyon was the largest in the region, and your people hadn't even begun to scratch at the vast quantities of rare minerals it had just waiting to be extracted. By expanding the crew quarters and funnelling resources into expanding mining operations, the rate of extraction could potentially be doubled! 0/10, generates EXP, generates 1 Nuclear Material.

Naklis Solar Satellites: A proposed way to further benefit from Naklis: it was closer to the Sun than Teklia. Perhaps by expanding the orbital part of the Spire with a power generation sub-district, it would allow for Naklis to massively expand its power grid, potentially allowing for an additional Spire to be constructed! 0/15, generates EXP, unlocks additional SolarTek.

Naklis Mega-Harvester: Large and substantive deposits of living metal had been found deep in the crust of the floating mountains: the only question was how to reach it. Proposal: instead of attempting to design another Spire, the Directorate could instead create a super-harvester machine capable of serving as a moving city in its own right, designed to tunnel deep beneath the crust of the continent and through the lava seas to locate and harvest living metal. 0/10, generates 2 Living Metal.

Naklis Elemental Shrines: Some Mysteks wanted to establish, deep in the crust of the Geode Canyons, floating on the molten sea, atop the peaks of the highest volcanic, ash spewing mountain, and the deep in the red hot caverns of the floating continent shrines the the powerful elemental spirits of Naklis Wilderness, in order to appease them. 0/15, generates FTH.

Naklis Heatpump: A proposed method of terraforming the volcanic planet was creating a massive heat pump in the molten sea designed to bleed out the temperature. Such an undertaking would take genuine millennia to see fruit, but it could eventually allow for the greenification of Naklis. Until then, well, it'd be enough geothermal power to fuel another spire, and the magma could be sifted for useful materials. 0/15, generates EXP.

Spire Expansion: The Spire was big, but perhaps it could be bigger: right now, it ONLY stretched into the low atmosphere, and transit to orbit was handled via mag-lifts with limited capacity. The idea was simple: higher spire for more occupancy, and more Mag-Lifts to increase delivery capacity. 0/25, generates EXP.

Comm-District: As Naklis grew, it would need more network capacity. Further, more could be done to reduce interplanetary lag: the proposed idea was an expansion of the orbital part of the Spire to include a district meant to serve as a secondary Comm-Hub. This would also have the benefit of providing Naklis and near-orbit installations near it to benefit from increased network capacity. 0/25, generates ACD, generates 1 Network.

Specialist Electronics Production: With the influx of rare Teklian minerals, it was possible to massively expand the production of high performance specialist electronics and quantum computers for use throughout the directorate. Doing so would require expanded production facilities. 0/10, grants Specialist Electronics technology, generating ACD, generates 1 Network, costs 1 Nuclear Material.

Geode Reactor Enrichment: With the rare minerals of Naklis, the Directorate had the oppurtunity to once again overhaul its energy generation technology significantly: experts believed that they could use a number of the materials to enrich reactors to increase not only their energy output, but stability as well. Expected yields estimated a potential 22% improvement across the board! 0/15, costs 3 Nuclear Material, grants Reactor Enrichment Technology, providing elevated EXP.

Wonderpark Naklis: A number of Wonderparkers wanted to expand to Naklis by opening a second park there, on the coast of the floating continent. Mineworld, they called it, a Naklis themed version of Wonderpark designed to utilize its unique geothermal properties for entertainment and educational purposes. It would, of course, also serve as a fully functional resource extraction facility for both the Directorate and Wonderpark. 0/15, Wonderpark upgraded with Mineworld holding, generating EXP.

Void-Train Orbital Transit Network: A technology developed by the Fungineering Guild was the Void-Train, a sort of space vessel that travelled along magnetically accelerating 'tracks' connected by special relays in space. Some wanted to expand Naklis and Teklian orbital and post-orbital infrastructure with a local void-train network near both planets. 0/15, gain Void Train Special Infrastructure, generating EXP.

Great Space Express: A monumental undertaking, but one that would massively simplify transit between both planets as well as any other colonies you developed in your home system: a massive, massive, space crossing Void-Track network. This would require constructing thousands of extremely large magnetic relays, no easy undertaking, but it would revolutionize travel. 0/100, construct Great Space Express Line, generating very considerable amounts of EXP.

Lunar Fortifications: Mt. Wander had shown that Luna fundamentally was deeply unprepared for any serious attack: a single moving mountain had caused massive devastation and nothing you had was capable of stopping it. What would happen if it had been an actual army, or gods forbid the Destroyers, well, it wouldn't be pretty. To that end, the Fleet had proposed erecting a series of installations across Luna that could serve both as military bases, fortifications against attack, and locations you could evacuate citizens to in case of attack. 0/10, construct Lunar Forts. Required for further military development of the Moon.

Compulsory Education: One of the things that helped the Directorate flourish was mandatory education starting years 3 to 21. Every citizen received lessons in science, engineering, mathematics, language, history, ethics, and nuclear physics and engineering. Provides an extra ACD Point

High Energy Research Labs Jr: Your children grow up playing with particle accelerators and build it yourself protonic reactors. Many other species might consider this insane beyond belief, but your children certainly benefitted from the intellectual stimulation, even if Schools now had to be bomb-proof. Provides +2 ACD and 1 EXP point and two network. An improvement to Nuclear Engineering For Kits.

Wonderpark Fungineering Guild: An organization headquartered at Wonderpark that specializes in novel engineering for entertainment purposes, they had helped massively expand Wonderpark by developing new rides and attractions utilizing all manner of whimsical technology to help delight guests and residents alike. +2 CUL, +1 EXP, Orbital Engineering improved.

Wargames: Every year Directorate Fleet's science division puts out a handful of strategy games that they promote via professional leagues and events in order to encourage developing strategic management skills and, more importantly, get people to join the Fleet. Improved strategic skill and survivability for all troops and increased Fleet recruitment, increasing the size of crew complements.

War Against Extinction: A harsh lesson learned during the Destroyer War: there existed powers in the cosmos far more powerful than your species that wished you harm. It was a grim calculus, but if the day came when your soldiers and explorers had to sacrifice themselves in order to take down an enemy that would threaten your people, they would, without hesitation. Slight bonus for all forces against superior opponents, can designate forces as Extinctionist, increasing how much damage they do to foes but moderately reducing survivability.

Moneyless Society: Currency was an outdated concept when you produced enough food and material to more than meet peoples needs. Resistance to subversion increased.

Advanced Promoted Therapy: Trauma was a major enemy to the health and wellbeing of many Tekket. To combat it, your society had an extensive network of therapists, psychiatrists and social workers, including an entire division of the Academy dedicated to the industry. Moderately increased mental resilience for all Tekket.

Meditation: The product of countless therapists and religious and spiritual leaders working to promote the practice as a method of spiritual and mental wellness maintenance, Meditation had taken off in Tekket society, both group, private, and virtual mediation. It was no replacement for actual therapy, but it served as a valuable religion agnostic tool for mental health.

HobbyBots: In this modern era, BlokBots were used for more than just manual labour: they had also found a niche in the consumer entertainment market as pets, in games, as toys, and even sports and competitions, and with increased popularity came more casual robotics hobbiests. +1 EXP, BlokBots are slightly better designed.

Zero G Sports Team: All throughout the Directorate, citizens enjoyed watching and playing Z-G sports, to the point where Wonderpark had several mega-stadiums specifically dedicated to the watching the antigravity games played professionally by the Wonderpark Sports League and most CityBloks came installed with at least one Grav-Suite for amateur or local teams and leagues. +1 Cul, improves physical fitness.

Blood For Art: Tekket TekArtists had taken to the useage of lifeforce in order to improve the quality of their works, sacrificing their lifeblood in the hopes of awakening the TekArts machine spirit in order to increase the overall quality of their works through any means possible. It had certainly driven interest in the art scene, at least. +5 CUL.

Frontier Explorer Compartment: A universal compartment for ships designed to hold a volunteer corp of civilians dedicated to exploring the universe. Provides a number of useful civilian services and allows for small outposts to be constructed wherever your exploratory vessels travel. Fleet upgraded with Frontier Town compartment, providing a variety of civilian skills and services to ships alongside a steady stream of internal recruits.

Lunar Salvage Cabals: A society consisting of trash-trawlers hunting for intact samples of lunar technology, the Cabals work is dangerous owing to the vast amounts of hostile alien wildlife, but they so far have managed to collect a great many minor artefacts of note, making the risk more than worth it. +1 ART

Sacred Livestock: Your people held in religious veneration the animals you harvested lifeforce from, having large, communally owned herds that were used by priests and mysteks alike in their rituals and rites, the animals donating a small portion of their vital energies once per year in exchange for peerless care. They also produced a variety of products such as sacred honey, milk, wax, and horns. +1 Warp, +1 EXP

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. 4/10, generates EXP.

Wonderpark Space Docks: The Guild was always looking to expand Wonderpark: their biggest idea had been to construct a dock district that could be used by the Park to both serve as a logistics hub and, more importantly, allow them to run their own asteroid mining operation, allowing for regular expansion of the Park. It would also allow them to create their own space vessels, of course: apparently, the Guild hoped to start running cruises. 0/15, Wonderpark gains Docking District, increasing EXP. Allows for construction of CUL Ships.

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.

Ritual Livestock: Even with the Sacred Herds, many believed that more effort could be put towards reducing the amount of livestock slaughtered while expanding lifeforce harvesting with artificial selection programs designed to breed livestock with higher capacity for lifeforce. 0/20, grants Ritual Livestock tradition, increasing FTH and granting 1 Warp

Shrine-Herds: A proposal to increase the potency of Shrines once more, some priests wanted to provide major shrines facilities to house small sacred herds that could be used to increase the flow of lifeforce to the spirits: living offerings of a sort that legally would be owned not by the Tekket, but by the spirits of the Shrines. 0/10, Shrines upgraded with Shrine-Herds, increasing EXP and Shrine Effects substantially. Costs 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.

Cabal Exterminator Corp: The problem with Lunar Extraction was the Quartzbugs, who would swarm claims and trawlers en mass if you disturbed their nests. Some in the Salvage Cabals had proposed assembling an exterminator division specifically to clear out nests ahead of time: this would make artefact collection far safer. 0/15, Lunar Salvage Cabals gain Exterminator Corp, reducing any attack bonus of alien wildlife based on sheer numbers by 1, to a minimum of 0.

Heavy Trawlers: Another faction in the Salvage Cabals had begun creating massive fortress ships to sail the garbage sea. These heavy trawlers served as mobile bases, trade centers, and to some extent townships. Some had proposed standardizing the design and upgrading the schematic for use in non-lunar enviroments. 0/20, Lunar Salvage Cabals upgraded to provide access to Heavy Trawlers, amphibious heavy vehicles that generate EXP and can be used as mobile land and sea fortifications by your ground forces.

Mobile Shrines: If machines had spirits, and nature had spirits, why couldn't the moon? A question asked by many a Salvage Cabal Shrine-Keeper, who wished to establish specialized mobile shrines mounted on heavy lunar rovers that they could use to sooth and empower the moon-spirits of the garbage sea in the hopes that it would make it easier to sort through garbage. 0/20, Lunar Salvage Cabals upgraded with Mobile Shrines, providing FTH and EXP.

Cabal Research Outpost: The Cabals had put forth a ballot requesting for expanded resources in order to establish a research facility the Cabal could use to study precursor technology and develop tools and technology for more efficient garbage sifting. 0/20, Lunar Salvage Cabals upgraded with Cabal Research Facility, granting ACD.

Frontier Hospital: A proposed expansion to the Frontier Compartment was expanded medical facilities. Ultimately disease was predicted to be one of the more common hazards on ships, and even a minor cold spreading could seriously impact crew performance, let alone any exotic diseases that might crop up. By providing more robust medical care, perhaps this issue could be pre-empted. 0/20, ships upgraded with Frontier Hospital, increasing resistance to disease and providing additional medical care to the crew.

Ship Barracks: Not everyone needed their own personal quarters. By adding a module to your Frontier Explorer Compartment consisting of communal sleeping quarters that utilize individual pods instead of entire rooms or apartments, you could increase the crew capacity on ships dramatically, both Frontier Society and Fleet Crew. 0/20, Ships gain greatly expanded crew quarters and will create larger outposts when visiting planets.

Muse: The recent spate of blood offerings to the spirits of TekArt had resulted in many pieces having particularly active Machine Spirits. A number of artists believed that by giving these machine spirits their own independent forms, they could serve as muses and curators of Tekket culture and artistry. 0/10, unlocks Muses, intelligent automata that grant elevated CUL and 1 ART.

Elder Art: GodTek. Perhaps studying it for use in TekArt was a waste, but a number of creatives believed that by adapting the technological principles found in GodTek to more creative purposes, utilizing its near reality bending properties even in a much cruder form, they could evolve Tekket artwork even more. 0/20, grants significant CUL, costs 1 ART.

DazzleCubes: A fairly recent invention by the artists of Teklia, DazzleCubes consisted of holoprojectors utilizing special algorithms to produce imagery designed to strongly capture attention. A number of Directorate Fleet officers thought this might be weaponizeable, and had suggested giving the TekArtists more funding to see if they could develop better DazzleCubes. 0/15, grants Crude DazzleCube technology, a infantry scale non-lethal weapon that can be used to distract clusters of enemies.

Sleepwalk Brew: Based on the vision-quests of ancient Teklia, the Sleepwalk Brew transported the mind of the imbiber to the dreamlands, the shadowy supposedly between the waking world and the world of sleep, where they could walk among the dead of Teklia and the old gods of the world, though in reality the Brew was actually just a blend of narcotics and hallucinogenic mushrooms mixed with a variety of anti-anxiety hormone producing drugs. Many artists, priests, and scientists had begun using the hallucinogenic potion as a means to acquire inspiration or divine insight, with several of them becoming sick as a result of bad potion batches: as such, there had been many who had pushed for development of a standardized version of the Brew that could be used safely for ceremonial or recreational practices. 0/20, grants ACD, CUL, and FTH as the Directorate gains access to the Sleepwalk Potion for use in recreation, art, and religious ceremonies.

Antianima Translator Matrix: The Booug had been observed several times conversing amongst themselves mid-rampage, meaning they were, hopefully, intelligent. However, their language consisted of what your translators seemed to think was pure gibberish. Some Xenotheorists believe that the Booug use a type of hyper-dense high-complexity language that likely requires an extremely complex decryption program to understand: if they could find a way to communicate with the Booug, perhaps there was hope for diplomacy yet, especially since you seemed to have a common foe in the Bloodballs. 0/10, grants Crude Antianima Translator Matrix, allowing for communication with the Booug.

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.

Machine Spirits: Discovered via ancient texts from long gone precursors, the Tekket have a healthy reverence for machine spirits, viewing them as invisible partners and allies. So long as the vessel is maintained and proper respect is given, the Tekket find the spirits of their technology extremely reliable, with a handful of rites and rituals existing in order to allow the Tekket to commune with the ghosts in the machine. Improved reliability for all technology.

Rite of Anima: A series of TekAgnostic Mystek rituals designed to help Machine Spirits achieve an awareness of self, strengthening them to the point they can be transferred into Bond-Drone vessels, where they can be used as companions, assistants, helpers, and pets. +3 EXP.

MagTek Altars: Occult Supercomputers housing mature Bond-Spirits connected to MagTek Assemblers and a variety of other additions that vary both Altar by Altar and Mystek Order by Mystek Order, these artefacts act as ritual accelerators, allowing for more efficient and power Anima Rite practices. Grants 2 ACD, improves effects of Mystek Rites.

TekMasoleum: Massive crypts interred with vast amounts of cryopreserved Tekket remains in vast Crypt-Complexes, guarded by wandering Bond-Drones and housing cthonic Bond-Machinas fed on the brainscans and stories of the dead, acting as storytellers and guides for those seeking knowledge of the dead. +3 CUL.

TekGrimoires: Occult aids consisting of HoloTek BlokBooks containing a variety of occultek lore and esoterica collated from various traditions combined with automated program-rituals designed to perform complex mathematical rites and calculations at speeds and precisions the organic brain cannot. +1 FTH

Greater Rite of Lifeblood: Not so much a rite as a plug and play modular rite component, this technique had been provided by Sphere 001 as a method to empower rituals and occultek ceremonies by donating lifeforce. It had proven...frightfully effective, making the Rite of Anima and other rituals far more effective, even if technically it was a form of blood magic. Recently, as more understanding of how lifeforce functions has developed, more efficient methods of performing this sub-rite have been developed. +5 FTH, gain 1 Warp, 1 Artefact

God-Machine Cults: A collection of cults organized into Demiurgic Circles, each swearing to one of the three God-Machines. The God-Machines seem to have allowed their support, taking from them tithes of life-force in exchange for audiences and secrets.

Folk-Religions: A variety of religions supporting various dieties and pantheons, the Folk-Religions of Teklia had grown greatly in the past few years, and it wasn't unusual for Arcolocubes to have the occasional festival or ceremony held by the congregants of said religions.

The Assembly: The Assembly believed that no gods existed yet, but that they could be made, shaped by mantras, given breath by lifeforce, and given shape by living metal.

Church of the Great Calculator: The Calculators believed that if the gods existed, no vessel had sufficient processing power to manifest them, no programming language the complexity to describe them, and no vessel strong enough to contain them.

TekShrines: Shrines established on every ship, every CityBlok, alongside countless minor Shrines, to honor local machine spirits, the larger and more expansive the shrine, the larger its area of coverage. They had a slight effect, the power they invested into the mechanica anima being so widely distributed, but this slight effect was vastly more broad in scope compared to more powerful artefacts and rituals used for strengthening machine spirits. Recently, with the creation of the Talisman-Maker Society, these Shrines had gained increased performance. +2 EXP, increased ship performance.

WyldShrines: Shrines located in places of great natural significance dedicated to the spirits of nature and the soul of the wild itself. It is said that in places where these druidic shrines are erected, nature breathes more verdantly. +1 EXP, reduced hostility from wildlife.

Toy Makers Temple: A temple erected to the god of children and faerie, the Toy Makers holy site is located at Wonderpark, where its priests and the followers of the God make pilgrimage, its attendants performing rites to honor the Toy Maker and his court as well as constructing handmade sacred toys to give to visitors. This Holy Site provides your children minor protection against malign influence.

Huntsmasters Temple: A temple erected to the god of monster slayers, the Huntsmasters Temple is located on Luna, above a patch of the garbage sea suspended via Mag-Lev system, where it trains a variety of monster hunters in the arts of ending and equips those hunters with them with custom tailored gear. Produces Huntsmasters, high performance monster slayers with custom engineered weaponry.

Mystek Ritual Compartment: A recent addition to your vessels was a universal Mystek Ritual Compartment, consisting of at least one MagTek Altar, sleeping quarters for the Mysteks, and a variety of facilities required for them to conduct rituals, rites, and occult research. Provides access to greatly improved esoteric and occult expertise to all vessels and easy access to most rites and rituals, improving general ship performance.

The Great Conclave: A pan-religious body tasked with mediation and communication as theological research and coordination. Located in a special district in Orbital City One, the Great Conclave has proven of variable efficacy so far for the latter, having mostly standardized a handful of rites for ease of use, though the former purpose it had had so far served well enough. +1 FTH.

Lunar Festival: A yearly ritual designed to appease the spirits of the moon, the Festival consisted of an entire month of offerings, rituals, rites, and ceremonies designed to satiate the spirits. It had proven of dubious effectiveness, largely only reducing Quartzbug attacks, the actual effectiveness of the Festival fading over the year until it had to be performed again. Still, it was progress. +1 FTH, +1 CUL

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. 1/10, 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

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. While they lacked the Artefact, they had opted to move forward regardless, even if the AI Emulation Drive they would produce will likely be of more questionable quality. 2/15, 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. Many had opted to pool their resources to create a number of Sacred Herds they were using to move forward, but without investment by the Directorate as a whole, the final product would likely be severely inferior. 2/15, 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.

Huntek Workshop: A proposed expansion to the Temple of the Huntsmaster was an expanded workshop where the Hunteks of the order could research and develop higher quality technology and more easily manufacture the tools of the hunt, allowing for the average Huntsmasters equipment to improve dramatically. 0/10, establishes Huntek Workshop, increasing ACD and improving the gear of the Huntsmasters.

Hunters Shrine: An older practice among the Huntsmasters was the taking of trophies from their prey as offering to the Huntsmaster. Skulls, hearts, spines, processing cores. The practice still continued, with most Huntsmasters using Wyld-Shrines for the purpose. Some wanted to expand the Temple and create a shrine dedicated to the Huntsmaster attached to his temple for the express purpose of sacrificing trophies of slain prey to the god of hunters. 0/10, establishes Hunters Shrine, increasing FTH.

Rites of the Huntsmaster: Lifeforce. The Huntsmasters wanted a ration of it. A large ration. They wanted to attempt to develop rites and rituals to more efficiently invoke their patron diety, in the hopes that the blessing of the Huntsmaster might allow them to content with the fiercest monsters of all. 0/40, grants Least Divine Rites of the Huntsmaster. Unknown Effects. Can be reduced to 0/10 by spending 1 Warp.

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.

Toy Makers Workshop: The Toy Maker was fabled as the patron of children and faeries both. His temple and its sacred toys had been observed to reduce feelings of unease and terror during Warp-Jumps: some wanted to expand his temple by providing it with additional facilities and resources to train priests and manufacture sacred toys. 0/15, upgrades Toy Makers Temple to Toy Makers Workshop, a Holy Site that grants your children additional protection against malign influence.

Faerie Shrine: The Fae Folk. Spirits of the Dreamland, many of them swore themselves to the Toy Maker, according to your lore. Perhaps by establishing a major shrine dedicated to them at the Toy Makers Temple, priests of the Toymaker could invoke them to ward the dreams of the Directorate. 0/15, upgrades Toy Makers Temple with Faerie Shrine. Unknown effects.

Toy Makers Rites: Some priests of the Toy Maker had requested access to a great deal of occult resources and research: they wanted to develop rites to allow them to directly invoke the Toy Maker more efficiently and call upon his blessings. It would be a massive undertaking, but with the advent of bloodless lifeforce offerings it was somewhat less daunting. 0/40, grants Least Divine Rites of the Toymaker. Unknown effects. Can be reduced to 0/10 by spending 1 Warp.

Temple of the Dancer: An old Tekket art goddess, the Dancer had seen increased attention as of late, with many a TekArtist calling on them for inspiration for their works. Some had proposed constructing a temple for them where artists could make direct pilgrimage and ask the Dancer directly for their blessing, as well as serve as a sort of art-school for aspiring creative Tekket. 0/10, establishes Dancer Temple, a Holy Site that increases CUL.

Temple of the Roadguide: A Tekket god of travel and vehicles, the Roadguide was said to protect wanderers and explorers, mechanics and pilots. For obvious reasons this was more relevant than ever, especially as the Booug menacing your ships were the dream-spawn of the Roadguide: perhaps by invoking his favor via orbital temple-shipyard, your vessels could receive some degree of protection. 0/10, establishes Roadguide Temple, a Holy Site providing ships with slightly increased resistance against malign influences.

Temple of the Peerless Immortal Functionary: A secular god of bureaucracy born of mortal stock, the Peerless Immortal Functionary serves as the overseer, according to his followers, to the celestial bureaucracy, elevated by the gods to their rank in order to organize the myriad minor spirits of the world in order to ensure the realm functioned correctly. The followers of the Peerless Immortal Functionary had requested the formation of a secular temple dedicated to the Peerless Immortal Functionary capable of serving as a headquarters for his followers, a collection of bureaucrats and form fillers looking to optimize the Directorate via the Functionaries teachings. 0/10, establishes Temple of the Peerless Immortal Functionary, increasing EXP.

Enshrined Spirits: An old custom from long before the Destroyer War, ancient shrines occasionally served as more than simply places where the spirits of the region could be given offering to. Occasionally, they were said to contain specific machine souls enshrined within, serving as sort of guardian spirits that could ward against malign influences. A number of Shrine-Keepers want to see if they could recreate the process, develop a means by which every Shrine of note could house a Guardian Spirit. 0/10, upgrades Shrines with Guardian Machine Spirits, providing protection against supernatural phenomenon.

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.

Name of the Booug: The Booug were, ultimately, spirits. According to Occultek lore, spirits each had their own names that could be used to gain control over them: through research they theorized they might be able to divine the true name of the Booug in order to help drive them off. They would start with part of the Name of Influence, used to weaken and repel and strengthen and control. 0/10, TekGrimoires upgraded with First Name of Influence of the Booug, allowing them a very limited degree of power over the Booug beyond what their rituals might allow.

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

Occult-Talismans: Shrine-Talismans weren't only good offerings, they could also be used to strengthen certain rituals. A number of Occulteks believed that by developing specialized ritual Talismans that they could reduce the need for blood offerings by providing an alternative. 0/10, Occulteks gain Occult-Talismans, increasing FTH and providing 1 Warp.

Holy-Talismen: Talismans could also be used as a form of protection, especially when dedicated to a holy diety: some priests wanted to form their own Talisman Maker orders so as to manufacture these hallowed trinkets and study how best to invoke the divine using said talismans. 0/10, provides FTH and slight protection against malign influences. Strengthens most religious orders.

Hallowed Shrine: Another proposal had been to spend resources to develop a more advanced, theologically oriented shrine and accompanying rites to fully dedicate the Shrines and their offerings to specific gods. While these shrines wouldn't benefit the machine spirits of an area, they would likely very much please whatever deities they were connected to. 0/20, Shrines upgraded to provide FTH.

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.

Lifeforce Batteries: With more advanced understanding of lifeforce came the proposal to develop a method of actually storing lifeforce. This would likely be a difficult undertaking, but it would allow for much more novel methods of using Lifeforce and allow for it to be stockpiled for use. It would also mean less overall reliance on blood sacrifice. 0/10, develop Lifeforce Batteries Artefact, generating 1 Warp and EXP.

Lifeforce Healing: Lifeforce had strong correlations with vitality and energy: so far it had been sacrificed to fuel your spirits and rituals, but what if it could be transferred from Tekket to Tekket? Potentially, this could allow for improvement to the already excellent healthcare system utilized in the Directorate, but to what degree was sadly unknown for now. 0/25, develop Rite of Lifes Breath, increasing EXP and FTH, costing 1 Warp.

Sanguine Catalyst: With the understanding that blood was no longer required as a medium, some had proposed attempting to learn how to use it as a catalyst instead, improving the quality of the lifeforce they offered and making it more potent as a way to further improve on Tekket understanding of the supernatural energy. 0/50, develop Tekket Blood Magic, increasing points in all categories and generating 3 Warp.

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.

Lunar MegaShrine: A proposed manner to quell the wrath of the Lunar Spirits was a singular great shrine in their honor, one that would be fed obscene quantities of lifeforce and attended to by countless druids and priests in a constant ritual of appeasement. So long as nothing else is done to provoke them, this should help obtain a degree of peace. 0/20, establishes Lunar MegaShrine, increasing FTH and EXP and reducing Quartzbug aggression. Cost 1 Warp.

WyldTek Totems: A number of druids wanted to study GodTek in order to create a device that would collect lifeforce and redistribute it, enriching ecosystems and allowing for even healthier, verdant enviroments, both artificial and natural. It would also help appease the spirits, of course. 0/10, grants the WyldTek Totems Artefact, promoting healthy nature and improving relations with wildlife even further, increasing the EXP bonus of WyldShrines considerably. Costs 1 Artefact.

Rite of Natures Harmony: Proposed by some Mysteks, they wanted resources to be used to develop a rite utilizing Mag-Tek Altars that could be used in a pinch to appease angry wildlife. 0/10, grants Rites of Natures Harmony, reducing the aggression of wildlife and the hostility of flora and fauna, increasing 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. 15/40, 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.

Shrine of Keeping Mt. Wander The F!@#$ Asleep: If Mt. Wander woke up again you were probably boned. As such, a number of priests had advocated erecting a shrine on Mt. Wander and developing special rites specifically tailored to keep the living mountain dormant and appeased, with the understanding that if it woke up, your current nuclear stockpile was DEEPLY ineffective. 0/25, Mt. Wander stays the F!@#$% Asleep

Directorate Academy: The Directorate required a vast number of skilled professionals to operate, even in this era of increasing automation. To meet this need, the Directorate Academy was established, growing steadily until its reach encompassed the globe. The Academy effectively WAS the place to get an advanced education. Thankfully, it provided online courses for free, though there were a number of lucky students who received invitations to attend directly: those were the ones who would get drafted into the Academies own personal labs. Provides 5 ACD Points.

Bond-Drone Technology: Some machine spirits are particularly lively and strong, given power through generations of veneration, extreme age, or, in rare cases, through the love and care of their owner. These awoken machine spirits are typically given new vessels to inhabit, thus birthing Bond-Drones, ensouled, somewhat intelligent automata that serve as warrior, protector, and even family. Provides 1 EXP Point.

Bond-Machina: Advanced psychoactive Bond Machine-Spirits who through ritual and sufficient processing power have evolved into more advanced, powerful forms, capable of generating energy as if from nowhere and using it to influence and empower other machinery as well as provide power to rituals. They served as guardian, guide, and friend. Provides 1 EXP Point and 1 FTH Point.

Mind-Machine Interface: A implantless technology that allows for wireless interface between Tekket mind and machine mind, allowing for easier control of technology and communication with machine spirits. +1 FTH Point and +1 ACD Point.

BlokTek: Hypermodular tek designed to be plug and play, BlokTek was the basis of most TekketTek. Every component could be, if you knew the schematic, used for a different machine. The same components that would be used to make a blaster could also be used to build a microwave: the battery as the power source, the optical lens to irradiate the thing, all you needed was a few bloks to make a box. Provides ultimate lego technology: all parts interchangeable and universal. Provides 2 EXP Points.

Living Metal: GodTek, or something derived from it: the Destroyers had managed to occasionally lightly injure the God-Machines, leaving small samples of an advanced proto-metal around. Researching it produced a room temperature regenerative semi-conductor. Another cornerstone of your tek: it meant that components could essentially be infinitely reused. Maintenance costs reduced to zero.

ShieldBloks: A countermeasure developed to reduce the effectiveness of Destroyer Laser Weapons, ShieldTek generators could power energy barriers around fortifications, hardening positions against lasfire. Recent advances had managed to produce ShieldBloks, which applies BlokTek principles to the technology, creating a modular barrier generator that could be freely installed in vehicles, satellites, and inside buildings. Vehicles and fortifications effectiveness against LasFire increased.

Golem Class BlokBots: BotTek had advanced to the point a variety of simple menial tasks and labours can be automated. Golem Class BlokBots come in a variety of forms with a variety of peripherals, from childcare assistant nannybots to industrial digbots to food-crate hauling cargobots. Increase EXP by 1.

MagTek Assemblers: Specialized MagTek pads that, when paired with a computer or tablet to act as a design station, could be used to instantly snap together bloks to assemble whole machines and devices once a suitable schematic was chosen, simplying the process to just a push of a button. Increase EXP by 1.

MagTek Binding Fields: Electromagnetic fields that help hold together Bloks, increasing whole machines ability to resist kinetic force, improving their overall structural durability, and increasing the conditions your machines could operate under. BlokTek is more damage resistant.

Q-Blok Processors: Small mass produced Quantum Computers, Q-Bloks are generally a few feet in size, containing complex tek that allows for processing power formerly reserved for rare government held supercomputers to be used for every day use both in religious practices, entertainment, Sythetic Intelligence useage, and industrial tasks. +1 CUL and +1 ACD

OmniWrench Manipulator: MagTek installed on specialized OmniWrenches to allow for magnetic lifting and movement of Bloks in order to allow for easier on site building of simple structures and vehicles: all an engineer has to do is wave their wrench to get things done. +1 EXP

Deep Crust Scanner: A new-model Ship Scanner that gives more detailed and precise readings far quicker than older models at the cost of requiring a great deal of processing power to utilize. It should allow your ships to locate deep crust anomalies and oddities and bypass simple forms of jamming. Gain 2 Scan Levels when scanning planets.

PowerBlok: Miniaturized nuclear reactors, PowerBloks are intended for use in vehicles and weaponry, allowing them to utilize increased amounts of power in order to allow for both larger size, more space for other components, or more powerful components that previously required larger vehicle reactors to run. They were also a component of Fusion Weaponry, typically used as artillery or on vehicles. Increased Vehicle performance. Can deploy Perpetunite Fusion Rockets and Fusion Cannons as vehicle and artillery scale weapons.

Academy Fleet Compartments: Modular and standardized Academy facilities that could be quickly added to ships, they provided a wealth of scientific expertise to captains and allowed for exiting field research opportunities. +1 ACD, improves Fleet technical ability and providing access to advanced scientific tools.

Mammoth Class BlokBots: Vehicle sized BlokBots meant to handle heavy manual labour. In a pinch, they could also be used to support golem class security bots. +1 EXP.

NukeTek Technology: Perpetunite based weaponry had evolved: more energetic reactors meant bigger, more powerful, and longer lasting releases of energy. Warheads, rockets, cannons, they had all been made far more efficient and destructive in the pursuit of tools capable of decisively turning the tide of battle. All fission and fusion based weaponry improved in effectiveness.

Crude Warp Drive: The basic principle seemed to involve shunting you to another dimension and using that to traverse real space at faster than light speeds. Distance in that other dimension didn't seem to work the same, it seemed. Combined with a crude particle barrier, the trip was...safe-ish. Can perform Warp-Travel.

MagTek Reassembly Protocol: A modification to buildingbloks in Tekket space that allowed them to utilize loose bloks to repair automatically structural damage via magnetically snapping them to locations the building required support or structural repairs to. Buildings and fortifications automatically repairing light structural damage.

Crude Particle Barrier: Warp space bad. Real space good. To that end, your ships came installed with particle barrier technology to keep as much Warp Space out as possible. The technology was extremely crude, meaning it slurped up obscene amounts of power for minor protection, but it was so far the best you had. Slightly reduces danger of Warp-Exploration.

AutoTurrets: Automated light security turrets designed to harden your fortifications and make them more dangerous to assault...as well as provide defense against hostile wildlife. Improved static defenses.

Basic Particle Field Generator: It was clear that Warp-Space was dangerous, and while the particle barrier had proven somewhat effective, it could still be improved. To do this, the Directorate had authorized extensive access to lifeforce and GodTek. 0/30, gain Crude Warp-Shield Technology, slightly increasing the safety of warp travel. Cost 1 Artefact.

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. 0/20, 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.

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.

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. 0/15, 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. 0/20, 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

Anti-Mutation Medication: With the disasterous warp jump of the Endeavor, its current captain was advocating the research and development of medication meant to help reduce the chances of obtaining unwanted and potentially deleterious mutations. The interaction of warp-space and pharmacology was an uncharted space, so the first generation of medication for mutation would likely be extremely crude and likely more preventative in nature. 0/15, grants Crude Anti-Mutation Medication.

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.

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

HoloShield Tek: A proposed upgrade to the shields was developing experimental supplementary hard light generators that could be used as a upgrade component for ShieldBloks to allow for a degree of shielding against kinetic threats. These HoloShields would draw a bit more power and provide fairly limited protection, but it would still be an impressive improvement to your defensive arsenal. 0/15, ShieldTek upgraded with HoloShields, providing weak kinetic resistance to Shield technology.

TurretBots: A proposed way to improve turrets was by merging them with BlokBots: provide a rudimentary synthetic intelligence to make tactical decisions and coordinate with peer platforms, a mag-lev system to allow them to reposition themselves, and a network hookup to tell them where to recharge from and what places need reinforcements, and you could greatly increase the fluidity of your static defences. 0/15, develop TurretBots, improving static defenses.

Commander Class Machina Platform: A number of more martially inclined Bond-Machina were frustrated with the fact that their bodies were ultimately static, meaning they could only assist their comrades from afar. However, with Naklis providing a store of valuable minerals to help develop systems, engineers believed they could engineer a mobile platform the Bond-Machina could use to participate in combat directly with, a bipedial mammoth-bot the size of a Destroyer sized chassis with advanced power generation and computational subsystems armed with vehicle grade weaponry. 0/10, Machina class spirits gain access to the Commander Combat Platform, allowing them to directly aid your forces as superheavy infantry.

ShieldTek Minaturization: The smallest ShieldTek was still a fairly large implement, something you'd mount on a cargo-hauler in the back of a workshop. Perhaps it was time to go through another round of miniaturization and develop ShieldTek small enough to be mounted on medium and Mammoth-Class BlokBots. 0/20, more vehicles and machines gain access to ShieldTek, which becomes easier to use.

Living Metal Rounds: The Booug and Quartzbugs both had proven infuriatingly resistant to conventional laser blasters, the former more than the latter. The Booug were ridiculously hardy and required sustained blasterfire, fusion weaponry which for obvious reasons wasn't feasible on a ship, or extreme amounts of kinetic force. Quartzbugs meanwhile diffused the heat of the laser across their body with annoying efficiency. A proposal had been made for alternate infantry weapons to use living metal as a form of regenerating ammunition and MagTek to accelerate these regenerating rounds at extremely high speeds. In essence, you'd be bringing back the ballistic weapon, redesigned for a new age. 0/20, costs 1 Living Metal, develops Ferroblaster Technology, next generation magnetic weaponry with regenerating ammunition designed for infantry use.

Gravity Engine: With recent black hole study data, engineers had postulated a number of improvements they could make to the gravity engines used in Tekket space that allow for artificial gravity generation. This would allow for improved maneuverability, resistance against gravity effecting phenomenon, and it would allow for closer black hole study. 0/20, improves Gravity Engine technology, increasing ship maneuverability and resistance to gravity altering effects. Black Hole Study Duty can provide 5 points of discount to this technology.

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.

Improved MagTek Repair Protocol: A more sophisticated version of the MagTek Repair Protocol, this update to the firmware would allow for simple machines and systems to repair themselves. You wouldn't be able to repair a reactor without an engineer, but it could at least hook back up to the wiring systems and recreate lighting. 0/20, MagTek Reassembly Protocol upgraded to lightly repair systems damage in buildings and fortifications.

MagTek Blasters: While magnetic weaponry wasn't unheard of, MagPulse Blasters were mostly a novelty: instead of firing any actual round, they functioned by firing a beam of magnetically generated kinetic energy capable of knocking machines into constituent bloks. Wonderpark had done a great deal to optimize the design, however, and some in the fleet believed with some improvements, they could be fielded as anti-vehicle weaponry by your infantry and mechanized forces. 0/15, develop MagTek Blasters, specialized Kineto-Magnetic weapons.

ShipTek Reassembly Protocol: This would probably not stop the Booug, but it would slow them down and allow for your ships to repair most of the damage they could cause, though only for short jumps. And once the Booug were handled, it would certainly prove useful in combat and crisis situations by ruggedizing your ships a bit. 0/40, MagTek Reassembly Protocol modified to work on ships.

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.

Mt. Wander: Mt. Wander was, unfortunately, still alive, just dormant: detonating a nuke inside it had only served to knock the creature unconscious and make it bleed vast amounts of unknown substance. It seems that being hit with an entire solar system (and likely beyond) of lifeforce had been sufficient to permanently animate it. Scientists wanted to study the living mountain in order to understand its physiology and what effects its bleeding will have on the Lunar Ecosystem. 0/20, ???.

Animatron Class BlokBots: A proposed model of BlokBot with higher intelligence and slightly more robust engineering than the average Golem, designed more for the purposes of entertainment and socialization, Animatrons had been proposed by Wonderpark as a way to artificially expand their workforce. 0/15, unlock Animatron Bots, generating CUL.

Orkoid Xenobiology: The species you had found was deeply fascinating and many wanted to study it further. While direct contact wasn't allowed, dissection of ethically acquired corpses would be, allowing you a great deal of insight into how the species functioned. It would require the help of a Warp-capable ship in order to acquire specimens, however. 0/15, unlocks Orkoid Physiology, giving you insight to the greenskin biological makeup. Requires an Endeavor Class to construct a Xenoobservation outpost.

Orkoid Culture: Many Xenoanthropologists wanted to study the culture of the natives of Green Giant. While the Prime Directive meant that they couldn't contact them, it would at least allow the Directorate to understand the civilization better, meaning that should they make their way to the stars, conducting diplomacy with them should be less fraught with misunderstandings. 0/10, unlocks Orkoid Kultural Studies, providing a slight bonus to diplomacy and tactics with and against Orkoid factions. Requires an Endeavor Class to construct a Xenoobservation Outpost.