Fantasy Colony Quest

So far it's looking like it's a split between Adgreck and Alex. In the meantime, let's look at the Factions and their agenda, and more importantly, how they will likely interact with yours.

The Utopians

The Utopians' agenda can be summed as making a Utopia on Planet. They come with newfangled and untested ideas of socialism, democracy, and so forth. With an idealistic view towards their population, they tend to have more Talents - Or in-quest, the well-off citizens. As Alex, this also means that the Utopians will have a generally outsized political weight in discussions. As Adgreck or Luthais, well, population is power. Among the factions, the Utopians don't really have any particular weaknesses.

The Hive

The Hive's agenda can be summed up as 'The Empire, but actually working properly'. They have a vision of a corruption-free ordered civilization, every person alive knowing their place in life and living it so accordingly. Their superior planning and organization leads to a regimented population/industrial growth, but this stifling order is pretty awful for research or accumulating mana reserves. As Alex, the Hive will be a major part of the Colony's industrial activities, giving them substantial political say. As Adgreck or Luthais, well.. The Hive has population AND production.

The Druids

The Druid's agenda can be summed up as 'We already fucked up one world, let's not fuck up another'. The have a vision of a civilization living in sustainable harmony with the world, and certainly not despoiling it. This attunement and care for the world extends to the point where they can natively capture/tame the wildlife of the planet already. As Alex, the Druids will be a major part of the colony's agriculture and everything-wildlife activity, making them a pretty huge political deal. As Adgreck or Luthais, The Druids will have a terrifying nontraditional army of wildlife native and not.

The University

Your agenda, whichever character you select, is the advancement of knowledge. As Adgreck, this is largely based on your own research. As Luthais, this is more collaborative with the other factions. As Alex, this is more charting out research as entwined into politics and managing the 7+++ different directions the factions would rather research towards (or don't want researched, for that matter). Obviously, being the primary researchers gives you quite a bit of political influence.

In-character, your codes (basically the Scientist's Code of Honor as presented in GURPS Alpha Centauri) roughly obligate you to:

Never lie or falsify results.
Never permit your personal desires from blinding you to the truth.
Always argue with logic and evidence as opposed to appeals to authority.
Share your knowledge freely, and respect those with knowledge to share.

The Traders

The Traders have a pretty straightforward agenda. Cashing in on Planet! They plan to do so ahead of everyone else, of course. Their outlook is that of 'wealth is power', and are pretty adept at accumulating wealth quite rapidly. Wealth, in this case, translates directly to either research (more stuff means you can do more experiments) or mana reserves. As Alex, their monopolization of key industries means they're a major political factor always. As Adgreck or Luthais, well, mana reserves can be used to rapidly build things or fund episonage. Industrial episonage.

The Nobles

The Nobles are in this for the GLORY. They're the disaffected elite warrior caste of the Empire, after all. They value strength and power, and are naturally pretty good at outputting elite soldiers. As Alex, the Nobles are one of the two major military forces in the colony, competing with the Believers. As Adgreck or Luthais, the Nobles are pretty strongly incenvised to use their much better military to well just bully people for stuff. Including, potentially, you.

The Believers

The Believers are here for their faith. The Old Empire lost their way, but they're here to do things properly and set wrongs to right. Planet has been given over to them from on high, and they will not waste what providence has granted to them.

You.. okay, you're pretty much guaranteed to conflict with the Believers no matter what. As Alex, a good deal of your research is going to twig heresy buttons (consider this proposal: research the underlying mechanism of a sacred artifact that heals people who drink from it), among other stuff. As Adgreck or Luthais, not only are the Believers ideologically opposed to you, they're set up to exploit your big weakness (episonage). And are militaristic in attitude. So that'll be fun.

Colony Turn 1: Research Choices

"I hope you know what you're doing, Alex." Your mentor, Archmage Adgreck says. He had not approved of your plan for a joint colony alongside the other factions, claiming that history showed such a state of affairs as inherently unstable and prone to fracturing. You had managed to argue the economical side of your plan, pointing out that more resources would allow for greater amounts of research. Right now, you were faced with the consequences of success. Resources and research possibilities both in abundance.

Of course, each other faction had their own preferences for what topics you ought to be researching.. or shouldn't be researching, as the case may be. Professor Luthais had prepared notes on them for you in preparation for the discussion with the other factions on the colonial council.

Colonial Physiology

"In the olden days, landing upon new shores and meeting new cultures saw great exchanges - One of which was disease. Our physiology is likely ill-adapted to whatever diseases this new planet has in store for us, and it would be wise to compile what we know of the various species who have made planetfall."

• Improved Colony medical capabilities.
• The Utopians like this.

Colonial Psychology

"Ever since arriving to Planet, a statistically anomalous percentage of individuals in the colony have reported unusual dreams and unusual mental states. An investigation into this matter may yield insights to research pathways hereto unconsidered."

• Unlocks Psionics Research.

Colonial Sociology (Utopian)

"The experience of Planetfall has many exciting implications for the study of social dynamics. The Utopians believes that using the insights so garnered, it should be possible to develop building and city planning methods more conducive to the livelihood of their inhabitants.

• Improves livelihood of colonists.
• The Utopians likes this. The Hive dislikes this.

Colonial Sociology (Hive)

"The experience of Planetfall has many exciting implications for the study of social dynamics. The Hive believes that using the insights so garnered, it should be possible to develop building and city planning methods more conducive to an orderly and productive society.

• Improves colony's productivity.
• The Hive likes this. The Utopians dislikes this.

Ecology Studies (Empire)

"According to some botanical notes, it seems Planet is super-habitable for much of the flora and fauna brought from the Old Empire. With some research, we could seed Planet with them, potentially quickly reshaping Planet to be more like home."

• The Believers like this. The Druids dislike this.
• Begins terraforming of Planet's ecology to be more similar to the Old Empire's. Effects short and long term are unknown.

Ecology Studies (Planet)

"Naturally, the Druids would like to begin a direct investigation into the ecology and ecosystems of Planet itself. Presumably, a deeper understanding of the ecosystems of the new world will yield sustainable methods of exploiting it. Presumably."

• Moderately improves the colony's resource gains.
• The Druids like this.

Ecology Studies (Exploitation)

"Much of the flora and fauna of this planet has fascinating properties which likely make them suitable for great variety of uses. With a dedicated research focus, we could discover the most optimal uses for Planet's native wildlife."

• Greatly improves resource extraction of local terrain. Directly improves the prosperity of the colony.
• Incentives a more rapid growth and exploitation of Planet.
• The Traders and Believers like this. The Druids dislike this.

Colonial Industry (Mass)

"When we left the Old Empire, we also left behind, well, a lot of infrastructure. While we can still get quite some material through the Portal, right now the Colony is in a position where it's entire infrastructure can be decided from the ground-up. In this, we could structure our investigations into 'mass production' methods as espoused by the Hive."

• Aligns the colony onto a mass production-oriented style of economics (suitable for faster growth of the colony in general). Improves the Hive's political strength and power.
• Will make 'mass production' type armies more preferable. (The Hive and The Believers both prefer such types of armies.)
• The Traders dislike this. The Hive likes this.

Colonial Industry (Artisinal)

"When we left the Old Empire, we also left behind, well, a lot of infrastructure. While we can still get quite some material through the Portal, right now the Colony is in a position where it's entire infrastructure can be decided from the ground-up. In this, we could structure our investigations into 'artisinal' methods as espoused by The Traders."

• Aligns the colony onto a more artisinal-style of economics (suitable for improving the mana-economics of the colony in general). Improves the Trader's political strength and power.
• Will make 'elite' type armies more preferable. (The Traders and Nobles prefer such types of armies.)
• The Hive dislike this. The Traders like this.

Wildlife Behavior Analysis

"The strange magical wildlife on this planet has already drawn the attention of the Druids. They want to investigate, and they want our help with it. All kinds of fascinating phenomena await us, though I hesitate at the possibility that the Druids might actually be able to recruit them.

• Improves the Druids' power and political strength.
• The Colony will have more incentive to treat the planet with care.
• The Druids like this. Everyone else probably will not.

Applied Manacraft (Magitech)

"As you know, I'm quite the expert in magitechnology. With some work, weaponizing this for deadly magical golems and like shouldn't be too far off. Of course, nobody else will like this increase in our capabilities."

• Improves University power and political strength.
• The Traders and Utopians are neutral; Everyone else is negative on this for various reasons.

Applied Manacraft (Artifice Replication)

"Although in the past we've never gotten the opportunity to study the ancient artifacts of yore, the Nobles of this colony are quite a bit more flexible. In fact, they'd like for us to study their ancient weapons and armor in order for them to be replicated."

• Improves Nobles power and political strength. Obviously, the Nobles like this.
• The Traders are neutral. Everyone else is negative on this for various reasons.

===

Quest Mechanics: At the start of each turn, the players will vote for THREE (3) research topics for The University to focus their efforts on. Afterwards, we'll head to see the results of those research actions, colony events, wildlife attacks, notable actions by the other factions, proposals by each of those factions and so forth. These mechanics are tentative and subject to change based on how well it actually performs for this quest (and my writing).

Please vote by PLAN, like so

[] Plan This Is The Best Idea Ever
-[] Applied Manacraft (Magitech)
-[] Wildlife Behavior Analysis
-[] Ecology Studies (Exploitation)

QM's Note: As always, questions are always welcome. Research suggestions are also welcome.