The Old Ones have sensed the approaching of an impending doom that threatens not only their empire, but the entire galaxy, if not existence itself. They've set out to stop this future from coming true with the Great Plan. It's up to players to decide what that actually entails.
Architects of the Great Plan - Warhammer Fantasy Old One Quest
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Introduction - Planetary Modification
===
Introduction - Planetary Modification
===
The Old Ones ruled an empire that spread across the breadth and width of the galaxy. Creatures of incredible power and knowledge that magic blended with every faucet of their society. The science of astronomy was synonymous with the art of astrology, for to study the stars was to study their futures. Their ships of silver metal sailed the space between the stars while a grand network of portals linked every world in their empire, so that they could travel the vast space of the cosmos in the blink of an eye. They could shape worlds on a whim to suit inscrutable whims meant to play out over centuries. Life itself was clay that they could mold. The future was as known to them as the present and past. The greatest among them recording the outcome of plans ages before the first step was ever taken.
Though frog-like creatures of flesh and blood, their souls were vast wellsprings of magical power that cast shadows into the Aethyr, the realm of magic and infinite possibilities. They could shape it with a mere thought and left palatable wakes across the realm with their very presence, an imprint like the gods once did in eons past. Their very names could be invoked in spells to call upon a fraction of their awesome strength. The Old Ones had long since outgrown the gods that guided their ancient ancestors, and now they had exceeded them, like they were gods unto themselves.
It shook their vast empire to its core when the seer's vision became clouded. The future became clouded with growing storm clouds that consumed everything in their path. The seers warned of an impending doom. Their all seeing farsight was blocked by an unperceivable fog that grew darker with every passing day. Their minds ached brushing against the shadows in the future. The god-like beings hurt for the first time in centuries when flexing their awesome powers. The Old Ones came to a grim conclusion.
It was the end of time.
The Old Ones were certain of it. Nothing could possibly exist beyond it. Their immense magical might was of no avail to discern the cause of the impending doom. It was amorphous, ever shifting, and those that gazed upon it would recoil in unease. It was tens of thousands of years away, yet for the Old Ones it was far too close. The portents returned with the same result every time they were cast: death. The thought that perhaps their abilities failed never entered their minds. There was no room for doubt or questioning for gods.
They searched the cosmos for insights into the nature of the distant threat. The Old Ones' seers distrusted their once infallible abilities to search for an answer by scrying the galaxy across time and space. They assembled great fleets of silver ships to ply the space between stars once more as they had eons ago before the creation of the warp gate network. By their side were their ever faithful servants, the Slann. For years upon years they scoured endless worlds for any possible clue that could aid them in deciphering the impending darkness. The stars that had once laid the future and past bare were seemingly closed to them. Their light still shined in the skies but it held no answers.
It was then chance that in a system of several rocky planets that one fleet stumbled across a world with great potential. The portents answered the Old Ones with a sense of bloodied hope tinged with death. It was a good sign. Those that first laid eyes upon it touched its surface with their minds and told immediately it was stepped in magic. It roiled beneath the surface of the planet in slow steady waves, ebbing and flowing with the natural cycles of the world in a never ending thrum that all orbiting the planet could feel in their very souls. The Old Ones responded as all empires did as their minds soon turned to violence. The planet could provide the perfect conditions and high grade raw feedstock for the Old Ones to shape life into weapons of their empire. It was dubbed The Fated World.
The world was an ice ball with a narrow strip of habitable space around the equator. A dim, cold world, life somehow thrived despite the circumstances. A plethora of species roamed its surface and swam in its ocean, some reaching incomprehensible size and strength. Great leviathans and behemoths battled for territory and food in the narrow stretches of lush vegetable and prey. Much of the single continent's interior was a single vast desert pocketed with oases that sustained small but thriving ecosystems. The edges were filled with numerous species sustained by coastal winds and rivers fed by mountain freezes.
Upon its surface too was intelligent life. The Old Ones felt their weak souls after a more thorough examination. They were small meager things that lacked much will or power, yet they eked out spaces for themselves upon the world. Ultimately all pathetic, if tenacious things, unworthy of the Old Ones' acknowledgement.
In the marshes of the world stalked tall lizard creatures with a single eye and beaked mouths. The edges of the great ice caps that covered the world created vast wetlands for them to live in. Their long legs aiding them in traveling through the shallow waters with little difficulty, and their villages were often built on elevated platforms. Their shamans chanted mystical words to cast rudimentary spells that drew upon the planet's deep reserves. They were lacking compared to the power offered by the realm of magic, whose winds did not reach the world. They sought out knowledge in futile attempts to gleam the secrets of the world by searching beneath the pebbles of a riverside.
Along the mountains and coasts strode draconic four legged brutes that warred with each other for the power of the sky. They fed off the lightning provided by the gigantic hurricanes generated by the world's singular ocean, alongside hunting the herds of megafauna that roamed the tallest peaks in the world. They grew with age until death, though the eldest often died proving themselves in combat. Their minds were dulled by rage and single minded thoughts of conquest against rival tribes.
In the forests fed by clouds captured by the mountains roamed tribes of insect creatures, six limbs with two long forearms, bulbous eyes, and fanciful colours. Vibrant to a sickening degree, they played at war without fighting, showboating to settle disputes with flamboyant displays of garish colours and accessories. Their eggs were noxious to predators, creating stinking spawning pools every year when their young were laid and hatched. Their societies were insular, well guarded, and hidden in the groves of the few forests that existed in the world.
Scattered across the lands were strange bipedal apes with fine thin hairs and dark complexions. They were creatures of modest height with thick bones, long limbs, and lithe features that wandered the lands with the seasons. They had few true permanent settlements, living a transitional existence on the edges of the world, weaker than all other intelligent life. The steppes and tundras that skirted along the edge of the frozen poles were their homes, carried on by nothing more than stone tools and the hides of creatures they fell.
From high above the planet the Old Ones watched the world. The seers could scry its surface and read its past, learning all that they could of it. The intelligent species often warred and traded with each other in equal parts, fragmented societies of nomads and seasonal settlements. None could compare to the ancient ancestors of the Old Ones, whose might and knowledge surpassed their gods before traveling the stars. Their petty faith had generated no true deity worthy of the Old Ones respect, only primitive spirits worshiped by soothsayers and shamans. Invoking their names provided a mere inkling of divine power that paled in comparison to the Old Ones themselves.
There was only one species worthy of acknowledgement, one that stood above the rest. The mighty kings of the sky whose eldest grew to the size of mountains and had the strength to shatter them: dragons! The gigantic beasts that roamed the world bowed in submission when shadows passed overhead, heralding the passing of the titans of the sky. So great were dragons' egos that when they passed they refused to be eaten by lesser creatures by flying themselves to an expansive graveyard deep in the continent. Helmed in on all sides by impassable mountains, the plains of bones held the bodies of specimens that staggered belief.
It was them that recognized the Old Ones as travelers of the stars. The oldest and largest among them took it upon themselves to greet the Old Ones, the only ones able to withstand meeting god-like beings and remained unbowed. They told them only that they held no animosity to the newcomers, so long as their hunting grounds were undisturbed. The dragons lacked a true society, only gathering in small family units or short lived social packs before breaking up. They knew that change was on the horizon with the arrival of more silver ships in the sky, so they made clear that they would continue their ways no matter what the Old Ones did.
And so the Old Ones focused their attention on the world. There were a few whispers of uncertainty within the halls of power. What purpose was a weapon if they didn't know what they were fighting? Would they find the threat on their road to prevent it? These voices were silenced. Hesitation was unacceptable. Their mastery over the future meant self fulfill prophecies had long since stopped being a problem, a gordian knot identified and cut the moment it appeared. Even though their farsight failed them now their confidence in their abilities never once faltered. There was no room for doubt in the mind of the empire. Already the seers felt a glimmer of comprehension of the future threat. It would make the world below them the focus of its attention. The world was thus a bastion for the Old Ones weapons and a baited trap. It would be shaped for them to prepare it for coming doom, so that it may win and prevent the end of time, all with the Old Ones' guidance.
The Great Plan would commence. The only matter was what it would entail. Among them an overseer was chosen who would act as a first among equals with the power to decide the course of the Great Plan, one known for their cold blooded impassivity: Tlazcolt. He was an Old One of unshaken conviction in the empire, utterly unmoved by the costs he knew the Great Plan would inflict. It was a price he would readily pay in blood without hesitation, even if it meant marching to his doom. He could bear the burden of leadership without the usual certainty that seers once had. The future was unknown for the first time in eons. Tlazcolt accepted it with grim-faced stoicism.
The committee was formed with a singular goal: shape the world to create species capable of fighting the impending threat. Nothing else mattered.
===
Warp Gates
The first task to tackle was the placement of the warp gates. They connected to the Aethyr to allow instantaneous transportation across the galaxy by traveling through the realm. It would ease the burden of logistics to run the operations in orbit around the planet as massive fleets of cargo ships could reach the world in mere moments. It would also serve as a source of power, tapping into the realm to allow magic to flow over the world in a safe controlled fashion, like a dam controlling a river. Every world in the Old Ones' empire possessed multiple warp gates, indeed even small ones were utilized for personal transport across continents. It was reasonable then that the Fated World would have them too.
The question was where to place them.
[ ] Poles
The Poles granted instant access to the planet from other worlds in the empire. Ships could readily transit from one planet to another while barely needing to break the atmosphere. It would allow the winds of magic to flow across the world to wrap it in their power, easily fueling the arcane devices necessary for the Great Plan to succeed. The gates would act like both spouts and dams, tapping into the Aethyr while controlling its flow without any chance of risk.
[ ] Moon
The Fated World has a single moon that was fairly large. It was tidally locked to the world, meaning it was always facing the surface. It'd be an excellent staging planet for the Old Ones work by giving them an unparalleled view of the world. Transit would be easy for ships using the gates. It would be terraformed to make it suitable for life with the construction of great temple complexes across it, all powered by magic siphoned off from the gates. It'll be a home base for the slann aiding the Old Ones on the project. The winds of magic will still reach the world, barely diminished in strength, allowing great works to take place on the Fated World.
[ ] Lagrange Points
Lagrange Points 4 and 5 leading and following the orbit of the world respectively. The Warp Gates will be the centers of great stations in space as transit hubs to and from the Fated World. The strength of the winds will be faded by the time they reach the planet, necessitating temple complexes on the moon to channel concentrated magic towards the planet. It will be strong enough for their projects though. Magic will softly radiate outwards across the solar system from the Warp Gates, like harmless solar rays to be absorbed by the rest of the planets.
[ ] None
There are a scant few that have allowed paranoia to consume their thoughts. They fear connecting the world to the empire's network, believing it will inevitably bring doom upon their heads. The Fated World must remain isolated. The Great Plan will be supplied solely by ships. Any works on the planet must rely on its own innate but weak magic, in addition to the strength of the Old Ones and their servants. It also means shifting the orbit of the planet and rearranging the continents will be impossible. Remain Where It Is and Pangea must be taken.
===
Planet's Orbit
The planet is in an unfortunate state of existence. It is close enough to the sun that life-giving liquid water may flow, but far enough away that much of its surface is covered in ice. The massive ice caps cover over two thirds of the planet, crushing the continents beneath their immense weight. The seasons are marked by deep freezes during the winter, brief spring thaws, and cool summers with only the equator experiencing year round warmth. The climate was far too chilly in the Old Ones' opinions, unsuitable for life to live, much less thrive. The sad state of the native species only served to confirm their beliefs.
Thus its orbit has to be moved. The arcane might of the Old Ones, aided by the Warp Gates, would be channeled across vast temple complexes to drag the planet whichever way they so desired. Without the Warp Gates the orbit can't be changed.
[ ] Further Away
The native life has little place in the Great Plan except as feedstock to be shaped into better creatures. The rest are useless filler taking up precious space on the planet. It must be wiped clean, so why not have the ice sheets do it. The last third of the planet will be scraped clean of life beneath the crushing weight of miles of ice. The ocean will be suffocated by the lack of sunlight and air, choking out the ecosystem. After a few thousand years its orbit may be shifted once more so work can begin. There will be a follow up vote on where to move the orbit afterwards.
[ ] Remain Where It Is
The planet has already spawned a menagerie of gruesome lifeforms with only so little land available. There's no need to spend time or energy shifting its orbit when it appears to be suitable enough as is. It will limit where species created can be placed as much of the planet will remain covered in ice sheets. It's considered less than ideal. The slag should not mix with the pure ore.
[ ] Closer
It must be moved to a more suitable location. The ice caps will melt away except for the poles and mountain tops, exposing much of the planet's surface and ocean. The variety of climates will increase as more moisture enters the atmosphere and average temperatures warm up. The existing jungles, forests, and grasslands will expand further than they could before while hardy mosses colonize the barren newly exposed landscape to make it suitable for future plants.
[ ] The Sauna
Life requires warmth to survive, so why leave any ice at all? The Fated World will be moved closer to the sun while still being habitable for life. The climates will shift to jungles, wetlands, deserts, savannas, and grasslands as even more moisture and heat is put into the atmosphere. Hurricanes will become more frequent. There will be die offs from native species unable to adapt to the increased temperature, but for cold blooded species it will be perfect. It reminds the Old Ones of their ancestral home.
===
The Continents
The Fated World has a single supercontinent across its surface. The coastline receives much of the rainfall from the world ocean making the interior very dry outside of oases and glacial fed rivers. The world ocean is mostly trapped under ice outside of the equator. What portions that are exposed creates super hurricanes that funnel towards the coastline by air and ocean currents. Migrating creatures may cross the supercontinent multiple times during their lifetime in the unending search for food and shelter. It's a messy existence that limits the amount of liveable space on the planet. The committee believes that it must be changed.
Much like shifting the Fated World's orbit, moving its supercontinent to speed up the tectonic process requires the power of the Warp Gates. Without them then the continents can not be shifted.
[ ] Pangea
The supercontinent will remain as it is. The world is defined by a single great landmass and a single great ocean. If the ice caps are melted then it will naturally have more habitable space and larger hurricanes, otherwise the Old Ones must contend themselves with the modest third of the planet to work with, if that much. It will also mean the species created by the Old Ones will be able to easily intermingle with each other and native species.
[ ] Two Pairs
The supercontinent will be broken up into two smaller supercontinents. The seers' knowledge of the future may be limited, but they can still see the present clear as day and picked out the locations of the faultlines dividing the tectonic plates. The supercontinent will be split across lengthwise, allowing one half to shift northwards to rest across the relatively cooler northern hemisphere (Laurasia), while the other half will sit along and south of the equator all the all to the southern pole (Gondwana). Between them a new ocean will be born and numerous small seas will eke out their existence in the shifted edges of the world as ocean currents adjust.
[ ] Unpeeled Orange
The world must be made vast and diverse to better incubate the creations of the Old Ones. The supercontinent will be broken up into its constituent pieces to shuffle them across the world. New oceans will fill the gaps between land masses while new mountain chains will be birthed by the slow but violent collision between continents. The migration patterns of the native species will be broken up though that is of little concern. It will make it easier to keep created species far away from each other, if so desired.
===
Please vote by plan.
===
Note:
So I had the rough idea for this quest a couple years ago when I did some delving into Warhammer Fantasy lore reading about the Old Ones. I wondered what species were around before the Old Ones brutally reshaped the world. The overall setting came first with them added in, since it was a play on Tolkien fantasy and medieval history. However taken in-universe, the Old Ones kind of fucked around and found out. It felt like an interesting premise for a quest if players were given control of the process of creating new species to seed across the world. After finishing other projects and much procrastinating on my part, I finally got around to putting pen to paper to write it.
You, the players, will have an unspecified amount of time to shape the world and populate it with new life before a Great Catastrophe befalls the Old Ones. The main turn order will revolve around species and culture creation after the world has been modified to suit your needs, then showing the effects of that on the world. The Committee may also make certain demands of Tlazcolt during the quest, like requesting certain traits be included in a species. The Lizardmen do not currently exist outside of the slann, so the creation of a servant species will be the first species creation vote in a couple updates.
Introduction - Planetary Modification
===
The Old Ones ruled an empire that spread across the breadth and width of the galaxy. Creatures of incredible power and knowledge that magic blended with every faucet of their society. The science of astronomy was synonymous with the art of astrology, for to study the stars was to study their futures. Their ships of silver metal sailed the space between the stars while a grand network of portals linked every world in their empire, so that they could travel the vast space of the cosmos in the blink of an eye. They could shape worlds on a whim to suit inscrutable whims meant to play out over centuries. Life itself was clay that they could mold. The future was as known to them as the present and past. The greatest among them recording the outcome of plans ages before the first step was ever taken.
Though frog-like creatures of flesh and blood, their souls were vast wellsprings of magical power that cast shadows into the Aethyr, the realm of magic and infinite possibilities. They could shape it with a mere thought and left palatable wakes across the realm with their very presence, an imprint like the gods once did in eons past. Their very names could be invoked in spells to call upon a fraction of their awesome strength. The Old Ones had long since outgrown the gods that guided their ancient ancestors, and now they had exceeded them, like they were gods unto themselves.
It shook their vast empire to its core when the seer's vision became clouded. The future became clouded with growing storm clouds that consumed everything in their path. The seers warned of an impending doom. Their all seeing farsight was blocked by an unperceivable fog that grew darker with every passing day. Their minds ached brushing against the shadows in the future. The god-like beings hurt for the first time in centuries when flexing their awesome powers. The Old Ones came to a grim conclusion.
It was the end of time.
The Old Ones were certain of it. Nothing could possibly exist beyond it. Their immense magical might was of no avail to discern the cause of the impending doom. It was amorphous, ever shifting, and those that gazed upon it would recoil in unease. It was tens of thousands of years away, yet for the Old Ones it was far too close. The portents returned with the same result every time they were cast: death. The thought that perhaps their abilities failed never entered their minds. There was no room for doubt or questioning for gods.
They searched the cosmos for insights into the nature of the distant threat. The Old Ones' seers distrusted their once infallible abilities to search for an answer by scrying the galaxy across time and space. They assembled great fleets of silver ships to ply the space between stars once more as they had eons ago before the creation of the warp gate network. By their side were their ever faithful servants, the Slann. For years upon years they scoured endless worlds for any possible clue that could aid them in deciphering the impending darkness. The stars that had once laid the future and past bare were seemingly closed to them. Their light still shined in the skies but it held no answers.
It was then chance that in a system of several rocky planets that one fleet stumbled across a world with great potential. The portents answered the Old Ones with a sense of bloodied hope tinged with death. It was a good sign. Those that first laid eyes upon it touched its surface with their minds and told immediately it was stepped in magic. It roiled beneath the surface of the planet in slow steady waves, ebbing and flowing with the natural cycles of the world in a never ending thrum that all orbiting the planet could feel in their very souls. The Old Ones responded as all empires did as their minds soon turned to violence. The planet could provide the perfect conditions and high grade raw feedstock for the Old Ones to shape life into weapons of their empire. It was dubbed The Fated World.
The world was an ice ball with a narrow strip of habitable space around the equator. A dim, cold world, life somehow thrived despite the circumstances. A plethora of species roamed its surface and swam in its ocean, some reaching incomprehensible size and strength. Great leviathans and behemoths battled for territory and food in the narrow stretches of lush vegetable and prey. Much of the single continent's interior was a single vast desert pocketed with oases that sustained small but thriving ecosystems. The edges were filled with numerous species sustained by coastal winds and rivers fed by mountain freezes.
Upon its surface too was intelligent life. The Old Ones felt their weak souls after a more thorough examination. They were small meager things that lacked much will or power, yet they eked out spaces for themselves upon the world. Ultimately all pathetic, if tenacious things, unworthy of the Old Ones' acknowledgement.
In the marshes of the world stalked tall lizard creatures with a single eye and beaked mouths. The edges of the great ice caps that covered the world created vast wetlands for them to live in. Their long legs aiding them in traveling through the shallow waters with little difficulty, and their villages were often built on elevated platforms. Their shamans chanted mystical words to cast rudimentary spells that drew upon the planet's deep reserves. They were lacking compared to the power offered by the realm of magic, whose winds did not reach the world. They sought out knowledge in futile attempts to gleam the secrets of the world by searching beneath the pebbles of a riverside.
Along the mountains and coasts strode draconic four legged brutes that warred with each other for the power of the sky. They fed off the lightning provided by the gigantic hurricanes generated by the world's singular ocean, alongside hunting the herds of megafauna that roamed the tallest peaks in the world. They grew with age until death, though the eldest often died proving themselves in combat. Their minds were dulled by rage and single minded thoughts of conquest against rival tribes.
In the forests fed by clouds captured by the mountains roamed tribes of insect creatures, six limbs with two long forearms, bulbous eyes, and fanciful colours. Vibrant to a sickening degree, they played at war without fighting, showboating to settle disputes with flamboyant displays of garish colours and accessories. Their eggs were noxious to predators, creating stinking spawning pools every year when their young were laid and hatched. Their societies were insular, well guarded, and hidden in the groves of the few forests that existed in the world.
Scattered across the lands were strange bipedal apes with fine thin hairs and dark complexions. They were creatures of modest height with thick bones, long limbs, and lithe features that wandered the lands with the seasons. They had few true permanent settlements, living a transitional existence on the edges of the world, weaker than all other intelligent life. The steppes and tundras that skirted along the edge of the frozen poles were their homes, carried on by nothing more than stone tools and the hides of creatures they fell.
From high above the planet the Old Ones watched the world. The seers could scry its surface and read its past, learning all that they could of it. The intelligent species often warred and traded with each other in equal parts, fragmented societies of nomads and seasonal settlements. None could compare to the ancient ancestors of the Old Ones, whose might and knowledge surpassed their gods before traveling the stars. Their petty faith had generated no true deity worthy of the Old Ones respect, only primitive spirits worshiped by soothsayers and shamans. Invoking their names provided a mere inkling of divine power that paled in comparison to the Old Ones themselves.
There was only one species worthy of acknowledgement, one that stood above the rest. The mighty kings of the sky whose eldest grew to the size of mountains and had the strength to shatter them: dragons! The gigantic beasts that roamed the world bowed in submission when shadows passed overhead, heralding the passing of the titans of the sky. So great were dragons' egos that when they passed they refused to be eaten by lesser creatures by flying themselves to an expansive graveyard deep in the continent. Helmed in on all sides by impassable mountains, the plains of bones held the bodies of specimens that staggered belief.
It was them that recognized the Old Ones as travelers of the stars. The oldest and largest among them took it upon themselves to greet the Old Ones, the only ones able to withstand meeting god-like beings and remained unbowed. They told them only that they held no animosity to the newcomers, so long as their hunting grounds were undisturbed. The dragons lacked a true society, only gathering in small family units or short lived social packs before breaking up. They knew that change was on the horizon with the arrival of more silver ships in the sky, so they made clear that they would continue their ways no matter what the Old Ones did.
And so the Old Ones focused their attention on the world. There were a few whispers of uncertainty within the halls of power. What purpose was a weapon if they didn't know what they were fighting? Would they find the threat on their road to prevent it? These voices were silenced. Hesitation was unacceptable. Their mastery over the future meant self fulfill prophecies had long since stopped being a problem, a gordian knot identified and cut the moment it appeared. Even though their farsight failed them now their confidence in their abilities never once faltered. There was no room for doubt in the mind of the empire. Already the seers felt a glimmer of comprehension of the future threat. It would make the world below them the focus of its attention. The world was thus a bastion for the Old Ones weapons and a baited trap. It would be shaped for them to prepare it for coming doom, so that it may win and prevent the end of time, all with the Old Ones' guidance.
The Great Plan would commence. The only matter was what it would entail. Among them an overseer was chosen who would act as a first among equals with the power to decide the course of the Great Plan, one known for their cold blooded impassivity: Tlazcolt. He was an Old One of unshaken conviction in the empire, utterly unmoved by the costs he knew the Great Plan would inflict. It was a price he would readily pay in blood without hesitation, even if it meant marching to his doom. He could bear the burden of leadership without the usual certainty that seers once had. The future was unknown for the first time in eons. Tlazcolt accepted it with grim-faced stoicism.
The committee was formed with a singular goal: shape the world to create species capable of fighting the impending threat. Nothing else mattered.
===
Warp Gates
The first task to tackle was the placement of the warp gates. They connected to the Aethyr to allow instantaneous transportation across the galaxy by traveling through the realm. It would ease the burden of logistics to run the operations in orbit around the planet as massive fleets of cargo ships could reach the world in mere moments. It would also serve as a source of power, tapping into the realm to allow magic to flow over the world in a safe controlled fashion, like a dam controlling a river. Every world in the Old Ones' empire possessed multiple warp gates, indeed even small ones were utilized for personal transport across continents. It was reasonable then that the Fated World would have them too.
The question was where to place them.
[ ] Poles
The Poles granted instant access to the planet from other worlds in the empire. Ships could readily transit from one planet to another while barely needing to break the atmosphere. It would allow the winds of magic to flow across the world to wrap it in their power, easily fueling the arcane devices necessary for the Great Plan to succeed. The gates would act like both spouts and dams, tapping into the Aethyr while controlling its flow without any chance of risk.
[ ] Moon
The Fated World has a single moon that was fairly large. It was tidally locked to the world, meaning it was always facing the surface. It'd be an excellent staging planet for the Old Ones work by giving them an unparalleled view of the world. Transit would be easy for ships using the gates. It would be terraformed to make it suitable for life with the construction of great temple complexes across it, all powered by magic siphoned off from the gates. It'll be a home base for the slann aiding the Old Ones on the project. The winds of magic will still reach the world, barely diminished in strength, allowing great works to take place on the Fated World.
[ ] Lagrange Points
Lagrange Points 4 and 5 leading and following the orbit of the world respectively. The Warp Gates will be the centers of great stations in space as transit hubs to and from the Fated World. The strength of the winds will be faded by the time they reach the planet, necessitating temple complexes on the moon to channel concentrated magic towards the planet. It will be strong enough for their projects though. Magic will softly radiate outwards across the solar system from the Warp Gates, like harmless solar rays to be absorbed by the rest of the planets.
[ ] None
There are a scant few that have allowed paranoia to consume their thoughts. They fear connecting the world to the empire's network, believing it will inevitably bring doom upon their heads. The Fated World must remain isolated. The Great Plan will be supplied solely by ships. Any works on the planet must rely on its own innate but weak magic, in addition to the strength of the Old Ones and their servants. It also means shifting the orbit of the planet and rearranging the continents will be impossible. Remain Where It Is and Pangea must be taken.
===
Planet's Orbit
The planet is in an unfortunate state of existence. It is close enough to the sun that life-giving liquid water may flow, but far enough away that much of its surface is covered in ice. The massive ice caps cover over two thirds of the planet, crushing the continents beneath their immense weight. The seasons are marked by deep freezes during the winter, brief spring thaws, and cool summers with only the equator experiencing year round warmth. The climate was far too chilly in the Old Ones' opinions, unsuitable for life to live, much less thrive. The sad state of the native species only served to confirm their beliefs.
Thus its orbit has to be moved. The arcane might of the Old Ones, aided by the Warp Gates, would be channeled across vast temple complexes to drag the planet whichever way they so desired. Without the Warp Gates the orbit can't be changed.
[ ] Further Away
The native life has little place in the Great Plan except as feedstock to be shaped into better creatures. The rest are useless filler taking up precious space on the planet. It must be wiped clean, so why not have the ice sheets do it. The last third of the planet will be scraped clean of life beneath the crushing weight of miles of ice. The ocean will be suffocated by the lack of sunlight and air, choking out the ecosystem. After a few thousand years its orbit may be shifted once more so work can begin. There will be a follow up vote on where to move the orbit afterwards.
[ ] Remain Where It Is
The planet has already spawned a menagerie of gruesome lifeforms with only so little land available. There's no need to spend time or energy shifting its orbit when it appears to be suitable enough as is. It will limit where species created can be placed as much of the planet will remain covered in ice sheets. It's considered less than ideal. The slag should not mix with the pure ore.
[ ] Closer
It must be moved to a more suitable location. The ice caps will melt away except for the poles and mountain tops, exposing much of the planet's surface and ocean. The variety of climates will increase as more moisture enters the atmosphere and average temperatures warm up. The existing jungles, forests, and grasslands will expand further than they could before while hardy mosses colonize the barren newly exposed landscape to make it suitable for future plants.
[ ] The Sauna
Life requires warmth to survive, so why leave any ice at all? The Fated World will be moved closer to the sun while still being habitable for life. The climates will shift to jungles, wetlands, deserts, savannas, and grasslands as even more moisture and heat is put into the atmosphere. Hurricanes will become more frequent. There will be die offs from native species unable to adapt to the increased temperature, but for cold blooded species it will be perfect. It reminds the Old Ones of their ancestral home.
===
The Continents
The Fated World has a single supercontinent across its surface. The coastline receives much of the rainfall from the world ocean making the interior very dry outside of oases and glacial fed rivers. The world ocean is mostly trapped under ice outside of the equator. What portions that are exposed creates super hurricanes that funnel towards the coastline by air and ocean currents. Migrating creatures may cross the supercontinent multiple times during their lifetime in the unending search for food and shelter. It's a messy existence that limits the amount of liveable space on the planet. The committee believes that it must be changed.
Much like shifting the Fated World's orbit, moving its supercontinent to speed up the tectonic process requires the power of the Warp Gates. Without them then the continents can not be shifted.
[ ] Pangea
The supercontinent will remain as it is. The world is defined by a single great landmass and a single great ocean. If the ice caps are melted then it will naturally have more habitable space and larger hurricanes, otherwise the Old Ones must contend themselves with the modest third of the planet to work with, if that much. It will also mean the species created by the Old Ones will be able to easily intermingle with each other and native species.
[ ] Two Pairs
The supercontinent will be broken up into two smaller supercontinents. The seers' knowledge of the future may be limited, but they can still see the present clear as day and picked out the locations of the faultlines dividing the tectonic plates. The supercontinent will be split across lengthwise, allowing one half to shift northwards to rest across the relatively cooler northern hemisphere (Laurasia), while the other half will sit along and south of the equator all the all to the southern pole (Gondwana). Between them a new ocean will be born and numerous small seas will eke out their existence in the shifted edges of the world as ocean currents adjust.
[ ] Unpeeled Orange
The world must be made vast and diverse to better incubate the creations of the Old Ones. The supercontinent will be broken up into its constituent pieces to shuffle them across the world. New oceans will fill the gaps between land masses while new mountain chains will be birthed by the slow but violent collision between continents. The migration patterns of the native species will be broken up though that is of little concern. It will make it easier to keep created species far away from each other, if so desired.
===
Please vote by plan.
===
Note:
So I had the rough idea for this quest a couple years ago when I did some delving into Warhammer Fantasy lore reading about the Old Ones. I wondered what species were around before the Old Ones brutally reshaped the world. The overall setting came first with them added in, since it was a play on Tolkien fantasy and medieval history. However taken in-universe, the Old Ones kind of fucked around and found out. It felt like an interesting premise for a quest if players were given control of the process of creating new species to seed across the world. After finishing other projects and much procrastinating on my part, I finally got around to putting pen to paper to write it.
You, the players, will have an unspecified amount of time to shape the world and populate it with new life before a Great Catastrophe befalls the Old Ones. The main turn order will revolve around species and culture creation after the world has been modified to suit your needs, then showing the effects of that on the world. The Committee may also make certain demands of Tlazcolt during the quest, like requesting certain traits be included in a species. The Lizardmen do not currently exist outside of the slann, so the creation of a servant species will be the first species creation vote in a couple updates.
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[] Poles
This gives us the most room to do magical shenanigans move continent around, create cool shit ect
[] Closer
Gets us more room for the habitable zone so more room for our created species to do stuff in
[] Unpeeled Orange
this seems like the option that creates the best opportunity for a lot of diversity in stuff and for cool stuff to happen. Also makes sure everything is not clumped together
Yes this is basically otl warhammer world so far but the old ones had the right idea here imo
edit:
[X] Plan: Scattered and Poles
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
This gives us the most room to do magical shenanigans move continent around, create cool shit ect
[] Closer
Gets us more room for the habitable zone so more room for our created species to do stuff in
[] Unpeeled Orange
this seems like the option that creates the best opportunity for a lot of diversity in stuff and for cool stuff to happen. Also makes sure everything is not clumped together
Yes this is basically otl warhammer world so far but the old ones had the right idea here imo
edit:
[X] Plan: Scattered and Poles
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
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[X] Plan: Scattered and Moon
-[X] Moon
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
I personally think having a giant temple complex on the moon is cooler than having one at the Poles.
-[X] Moon
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
I personally think having a giant temple complex on the moon is cooler than having one at the Poles.
- Location
- ireland
[X] Plan: Scattered and Poles
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
Yeah, and it will make it much more difficult for the Four (if they still invade in the future) to bring demons on the planet.
[X] Plan: Scattered and Moon
-[X] Moon
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
- Location
- New York
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan; Extreme Divergence
-[X] Lagrange Points
-[X] The Sauna
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
I wanna go wild.
-[X] Lagrange Points
-[X] The Sauna
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
I wanna go wild.
Astra Myst
Do you want a wish?
- Location
- Milky Way Galaxy
- Pronouns
- Femhon/Boymoder
[X] Plan: Scattered and Moon
K von Carstein
Likes to go for a walk
- Location
- Belgium
- Pronouns
- He
Honestly I would be fine with most options, as long as the portals are in another lace than in canon. I wanna see something different.
- Location
- the Republic
- Pronouns
- He/They
[X] Plan: Scattered and Moon
-[X] Moon
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
-[X] Moon
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
- Location
- England
[X] Plan: Scattered and Moon
[X] Plan: Goodbye Moonmen
- Location
- Your pantry
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan: Scattered and Poles
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[X] Plan: Scattered and Poles
- Location
- Tampa, FL.
[X] Plan: Scattered and Poles
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
- Location
- Te Ika-a-Māui
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan: United and Moon
-[X] Moon
-[X] Closer
-[X] Pangaea
-[X] Moon
-[X] Closer
-[X] Pangaea
[X] Plan: Scattered and Poles
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
Theaxofwar
Definitely not a Bunny Cat in disguise.
- Location
- Standing right behind you
[X] Plan: Scattered and Poles
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange
-[X] Poles
-[X] Closer
-[X] Unpeeled Orange