your plan use negative network you should change that
Into that Vast and Unrelenting Darkness (40K Xeno Civilization Quest)
- Thread starter The Bird
- Start date
- Mature Sci-Fi Fantasy
- Location
- Warsaw
- Location
- Home
Ah just checked yeah it is. Oh well it lost.
oh your right thought your plan was stilling wining or it was when I quoted you at least
Turn 4: To Discover Strange New Life...
The Bird
tEM IS GUD...RITER!
- Location
- In that den of villains and scum, OKLAHOMA
[X] Plan: Consolidate and Possible Colony
"Every living thing wants to survive." - Spock.
Deep below the frigid icy waves of Erichteo, the third moon of Mongus, Taavi sat alongside his away crew in a Submersible, assembled by Engineering in preparation for this mission. Staring out the viewport (in reality a holographic monitor: actual windows were an unacceptable structural weakness) lit by the crafts frontal lights, he watches as something long and shadowy slinked through the cameras field of vision, shuddering as the black and twitching tentacle, resembling something between a living shadow and mobile oilslick, retreated.
Erichtheo did in fact have life. Deeply unsettling life, at least in this regional zone, located on the underside of a near continent sized glacier, but life none the less. The science fiction authors had eventually turned out to be correct, though they had certainly gotten the details wrong. Stepping away from the viewport, Taavi moved to one of the consoles, letting the next member of his crew take watch.
Reading the data, he noted that whatever was attached to that tentacle was massive: sonar put it at seven miles in size. Once or twice, it had tried to grab the submersible, wrapping those oil slick tentacles around the miniscule in size by comparison BlokVehicle and trying to drag it closer: damaged the engines so bad the craft was currently stuck.
It wasn't trying to eat them, thankfully: there had been no way to control the camera, so no video was obtained on what the surface of the creature looked like. The best guess of Taavi, recalling the images of the 3D sonar, was that it was examining the the BlokVehicle. Once it had determined it wasn't edible, it had taken to-
The craft shook and rolled, and Taavi nearly lost his balance, the only thing preventing him and his crew from tumbling through the air their grav-harnesses and mag-boots. For a brief moment, they were upside down before the auto-stabilizers kicked in and forced the vehicle to more gently roll back into place.
Disoriented and still a little knocked around, Taavi quickly grabbed a stability rail. "Everybody brace yourself, it's bored again," He commanded his crew, who all gave a collective, frustrated groan, taking the momentary repreive to batten down the proverbial hatches.
Once the creature determined they weren't edible, it had decided instead to use them as a toy, a floaty bathball to bat around. The good news was, the team on the ship had already sent down a shuttle to rescue them, armed with a Mag-Link towline to haul them to the 'surface' camp they had erected on an underside hollow of the continental ice-shelf. The bad news was it couldn't approach until the beasts sleep cycle, which was in sixty eight hours.
Life discovered on Erichtheo! The vast majority discovered thus far seem to be oceanic organisms located in the sub-continental abyssal zone, some of which can grow to monumental size! The planet also features vast amounts of water and ice and plentiful geothermal energy.
TKK Endeavor: The pinnacle of Tekketi engineering, the Endeavor is the first real space ship constructed in the aftermath of the Destroyer War, incorporating a variety of technologies to enable it to perform its mission. A hypermodular vessel build from grey dyed ferroplastic bloks, its design consists of a wide, flat disc connected via finned spine to two large nacelles. The majority of the crew and work decks are housed in the disc structure, alongside most civilian installations, wheras the Nacelles each contain sub-engineering decks, redundant systems, and storage. Lightly armed with only fusion torpedos and comm-jammers, the Endeavor is not intended to win a stand up fight: it's purpose is purely exploratory.
[ ] Survey Luna: Some light surveying had been done, revealing the best scrap harvesting locations alongside some small remnants of PrecursorTek. Also concerningly a number of high EM anomalies that your people weren't entirely sure the cause of: attempts to get a visual had been inconclusive and the EM field was distorting scanners. Currently home to a small research base. SCAN LEVEL: 1
[-] Survey Naklis: The planet closest to the sun, and Teklias closest neighbor. It had two major features: an ocean comprised of churning molten ore, and a handful of mountains and floating landmasses atop said ocean. A number of useful minerals had been discovered in the Molten Sea and geological surveys of the mountain indicated that it had deposits of liquid metal. COOLDOWN: 2 Turns. SCAN LEVEL: 1
[ ] Survey Tacchis: In ancient Tekketi history, Tacchis was considered a dark omen by astrologers and mystics. These days, the iceball was mostly known for the massive amount of diamonds probes had found: the planet was mostly carbon and water. While gems had no material value since the abolition of currency outside their use in industry and decoration, the survey data would still be useful.
[ ] Survey Mongus: The largest gas giant in your system, Mongus has a green atmosphere, the result of several rare-teklia gases according to probe data. You wouldn't be able to do a ground exploration of the system: the atmospheric pressure would crush your strongest vehicle like aluminum. But you could certainly do atmospheric probes and expeditions.
[ ] Survey Meeklak: The second largest gas giant, but the one with the largest ring, Meeklak was too far for casual probe use, meaning it and its ring were largely unsurveyed.
[ ] Erichtheo: Named after an old goddess from Classical Myth, Erichtheo, a moon of Mongus, is host to a number of creatures that exist primarily in its subcontinental abyssal zone, some of which seem to be able to grow several miles in diameter. It also had extremely extensive sources of potential geothermal power. SCAN LEVEL: 1.
[ ] Spraa'ng: The furthest planet in your solar system, very little is known about Spraa'ng due to its absurd distance. You're unlikely to find anything interesting before requiring a return trip, but it would certainly be a good way to test your engines.
[ ] Mal'Ket Configuration: The closest Sky-Storm, and the only one you can realistically reach without adapting the Destroyers Warp Drive to suit your own purposes, being a mere 90 or so AU out. With the Broadcast going out, many were suggesting collecting scan and probe data before the opportunity was lost.
((((()))))
Elsewhere, something uncanny happened. All throughout Teklia, the machines...stopped. It was if every processor on the planet had stalled out. Grav-Trams came to a gentle halt, passengers stuck in their seats. Computers froze, frustrating gamers across the planet. BlokBots paused mid-task. Even Bond-Drones were taken with this phenomina, their eyes surging with an unearthly blue light.
Then, a message. CHILDREN OF THE FIFTH AGE, YOUR CHILDHOOD ENDS. THE MALKET FORMULATION IS FALLING: THE PATH AHEAD WILL BE CLEAR. WALK IT OR BE CONSUMED. YOU HAVE 40 SOLAR ROTATIONS.
Displayed on every device, on every screen, through every speaker, in every language still extant on Teklia. Then, all Machine-kind awakening, as if from a daze, no memory of what had occurred: from the perspective of the Bond-Drones and Synthetic Intelligences capable of speaking, it was as they had been skipped forward in time.
Afterwards, your historians, astronomers, scientists, and mystics burst in to action to attempt to figure out what just happened. Some things are awnsered easily, but open more questions: the Malket Configuration is a known figure in the Teklian night sky, being the sky-storm closest to your solar system, being located just beyond its edge. It is also, concerningly, the sky-storm that vomitted out the badly damaged Destroyer ship.
Some answers come late, and serve as no awnsers at all, such as when communications engineers manage to discern that the phenomenon was caused by a strange broadcast that somehow enveloped the entire planet at the same time, originating from everywhere and nowhere at once. It was if some sort of field immediately enveloped the world, taking control over the machines.
Some answers are more important for what they imply, such as when some Culteks ask the God-Machines, who deny involvement entirely, but share that they do know what sent the broadcast. The Heretic, they whisper softly. Architect of the Third Age. Rival and peer, warden and prisoner, friend and foe. A being that lie in the depths of the Tomb.
In the days after, one of the God-Machines would come down from their lairs with an offer.
[ ] MOTHER, Offering Guidance: Should you wish to survive the Malket Configurations fall, she says, you must be as fluid and shifting as my own form. With my guidance, I will help you grow into what you need to be to survive, but know that you may not like what you become. Gain 5 Free Floating points per turn that can be spent on any category. This bonus lasts two turns. However, MOTHER will get five points of her own to invest how she wants.
[ ] YALDABOATH, Offering A Seed: Should you wish to survive the Malket Configurations fall, he says, you must be crafty and spiritual. I will give you artifacts of soul and circuit, trinkets of my forge imbued with power. The price will have been great and you will perhaps think it too steep, but should you accept, it will have already been paid. Gain Three ART to allow you to develop advanced rites and technology. You will have always already paid a great price.
[ ] Sphere 001, Offering Strength: Should you wish to survive the Malket Configurations fall, it says, you must have strength enough to endure the worst sorts of horrors. I offer a Rite, I offer a Relic, and I offer a Schematic. Know that for this I demand a feast, a glut of your resources until the configuration falls to feed my hunger. Unlock Bond-Machina, the Rite of ???, and an unknown technology. It will cost you 2 points from every action category as Sphere 001 gorges itself on material.
((((())))
During that same decade, a Tekket was put on the moon. This was no longer an exceptional feet, of course: in the decades since the Endeavor had landed, it had become the site of a vast construction, handled by a team of engineers and automata assembling the first major off-world holding of the Directorate.
No, a single or even a handful of Tekket on the moon weren't exceptional. What was exceptional was that, a handful of years in, the first lunar colonists were put on the moon to staff said holding. Constructed in the middle of a crater on the sunward facing side, hemmed in on all sides by mile high sheer walls, Luna Base One consisted of a collection of cubic housing HabBloks, both communal and private, some research labs of various sizes, some Agri HabBloks, all build around a cargo shuttle pad for transporting colonists and supplies to and from Teklia, each building self contained and connected by SmartRover Transit Cars.
When it was first erected, the crew consisted of over several hundred Tekket and their families, primarily engineers and scientists as well as general staff. However, as time went on and the decades passed, more and more academics would apply for transfer to the facility, bringing with them their own families, even as the youths on Luna Base One grew up and started their own families: by the end of the next decade, several would have grown to nearly a thousand residents, with a variety of smaller buildings and enterprises opening up to meet the needs of the residents such as a school and even an AgriBlok.
Down below, similar expansion was occurring with the advent of the Quantum Q-Blok and the Continental SuperHubs. 12 in total, these mammoth constructions, large enough to be seen from space, worked to process and store obscene amounts of data. Thousands upon thousands of titanic quantum computers hooked up to each other with thousands upon thousands of machine spirits. And yet, none of it wasted, used to support their lunar colony, the newly established TekMausoleums, or research simulations.
EXPansion Points (EXP Points): 16
Nuclear Material: 2
Available Expansion Actions:
Orbital Shipyard: Currently, you had no real orbital shipyard of note. If you wanted to construct more ships, you should probably rectify that. The current plan was for it to be five miles: small, but it would allow for small vessels, probes, and easier maintenance of the Endeavor. 1/10, unlocks additional Orbital Actions.
Nuclear Stockpiles: It was a very distasteful idea: nuclear weapons were ultimately a remnant of a darker, more divided age, and they had been of limited effectiveness during the Destroyer War, but they were, at the moment, the only weapon you had that could hit hard enough to come even close to shaking their bunkers. Better to have them and not need them, you supposed. 0/1, Grants Nuclear Weapon Stockpile. Can be taken multiple times. Can be used as Shipscale Weaponry in the form of Nuclear Torpedos. Costs one Nuclear Material.
Deep Space Monitors: One day, the Destroyers would return. It was a fear many, many of you held. To that end, some of you wanted to expand the deep space monitoring project in order to ensure that they would not take you by surprise. 0/2, repeatable, costs 1 Network. Each completion gives more robust deep space scanning.
Lunar Spire: A proposed expansion to Luna Base, the Lunar Spire is a massive transport hub intended to allow for expanded transport of goods and people to the Lunar Surface. It wouldn't make the place any more self-sufficient, but it would mean it would be easier to ship in material to make it self-sufficient. 0/10, generates EXP, establishes Lunar Spire.
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.
Lunar AutoRecycler: There existed more than enough material on the moon to fuel several AutoRecyclers, but for now, only one was needed to fully meet the colonies native need for industrial capacity: the rest could be put towards expanding the Directorate industrial capacity. 0/10, Construct Lunar AutoRecyclers, generating EXP, generates one Nuclear Material.
Lunar MegaHub: Instead of singular individual data hubs, some suggested taking advantage of low lunar gravity to construct a titanic city sized MegaHub to both meet all current and future needs for data for the burgeoning Lunar Colony. This would be grotesquely expensive in terms of power, however. 0/40, costs 2 Nuclear Material, generates 5 Network.
High Energy Physics Lab: With more free power, some were suggesting expanding the Academy by adding a specialized high energy physics lab to help train engineers and researchers to properly take advantage of the energy now available to them. 0/10, costs 2 Nuclear Material, generates 2 Network and generates ACD.
BlokTek Arcologies: As planetary industry expanded so too did its need for housing and infrastructure: urbanification was inevitable without special measures. It wasn't immediate, but some wanted to embark on the construction of a series of low-environmental impact arcologies meant to house the vast majority of your species in order to pre-empt such a problem before it occurred. 4/20, generates EXP, pre-emptively prevents urbanification of Teklian wilderness.
((((()))))
Elsewhere, a young Tekket youth stood at a console next to a race track. Next to him were seven other Tekket, the other operators at their own consoles. On the track were the racers, wheeled and treaded and mag-lev'd: BlokBots, in various shapes and configurations. Across the way was a stadium, where the parents of the Youth sat, waving a sign of encouragement along with the friends and family of all the other racers.
"ON YOUR MARK!" Came the voice of the digital announcer, and the Youth quickly pressed a few bottons, causing his BlokBot, a thin runner shapped bot whose body consisted of a narrow and lanky configuration of bricks, to get in position, adopting a runners pose. "GET READY!" The Tekket began to sweat, finger hovering over the button that would signal his BlokBot to begin racing. "GO!" The tekket slammed the button, and SpindleBot began running, loping forward with their long legs even as the track began to rearrange itself, forming a cubic obstacle course filled with walls, pits, spinning things, and more.
It was the third ever BotRace the youths school had put on. He had spent all year designing SpindleBot in preparation, programming it and training it's machine spirit: he had even managed to download a copy of an Anima rite to help the process along. Working in tandem with the bot, he sent out commands from his console, directing it and guiding it through the course to the finishline, wincing when it's arm was smacked by one of the course hazards, scattering the component Bloks, cheering when it managed to perform a running leap over a chasm, and gritting his teeth in anticipation as it attempted to outrun its rivals.
When the youth went home that night, it was with a bright and shiny silver medal and eagerness for next years BotRace. SpindleBot 2.0 would be his best bot yet!
Culture Points (CUL Points): 9
Wargames: An idea proposed by those among Directorate Fleet Command, designing a series of games intended to act as training sims for things such as tactics, survival skills, piloting, etc. This would also serve to help drive interest in the Fleet, increasing recruitment. 0/5, grants the Wargamer tradition, slightly increasing the general survivability of your forces and increasing recruitment.
Advanced Therapy Promotion Project: It wasn't enough, some claimed, to merely fight against the diseases of the mind. In order to achieve its best self, society must treat the study and treatment of mental illness as a major science in and of itself. They were proposing a branch of the Academy dedicated to training social workers, therapists, and clinical psychiatrists and psychiatric researchers. 0/10, upgrades Promoted Therapy, increasing mental resilience further, costs 1 Network
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.
Nuclear Engineering For Kits: Every so often a strange idea appears on the docket, and this was one of them: some Tekket wanted to give schools nuclear experimentation playsets for physics and engineering minded kits to play with, educating them on the finer points of nuclear physics and technology. The technology did exist to make this mostly safe, but it would be very resource intensive. 6/10, grants Nukes for Kits, increasing EXP and ACD points, costs 1 NK
Zoological Educational Facilities: A number of animal enthusiasts had proposed expanding the park system to include special open air zoos: attendees would learn about animals and get to view them safely in accurate recreations of their natural habitats via specialized heavy grav-trams and auto-rovers. It could also be used for research and helping promote endangered species. 0/10, grants Open Air Zoos tradition.
Lunar Salvage Cabals: Some Tekket had taken advantage of easier lunar travel to establish archaeological digs to acquire samples of PrecursorTek. A number of Directorate Citizens wanted to formalize this organization in order to streamline the acquisition of material to reverse engineer. 0/10, unlocks Salvage Cabals, a Society that generates ACD and grants one ART.
BrainScan Storage: Some Tekket had taken to storing complex scans of their brain in their TekCrypts out of the belief that it would enable them to continue existing in some fashion after death. They were probably incorrect, but it did mean that future historians would have a great deal of biodata to work with. 0/5, generates CUL, upgrades TekMausoleums.
((((()))))
Elsewhere and elsewhen, a Therapist, older and wiser, tapped at a holopad. His patient, the Destroyer War survivor who he had once long ago invited to stay a little longer in his office, had died the other night. She had asked him on her deathbed to type up her entry in the Mausoleum, the entry that would tell everyone who she was, what she had stood for, what she had experienced: a digital obituary and eulogy both.
She had never recovered, not really, but with therapy and meditation, she had in her final years begun to finally enjoy life once again. A shame for how short it was before her time ran out, but at least she had SOME fulfilment in her golden years.
The funeral would be small. Her friend circle had never been large, even at its zenith, and many of her other friends over the decade had also passed. The Therapist expected around twenty Tekket in attendance. There would be speeches given, food eaten, and then the priest would ritually inter the womans cryopreserved body and ephemeral soul into the crypt.
Faith Points (FTH Points): 13
Available Faith Projects:
God-Machine Cults: Many already viewed them as divine: it would not be hard to establish a cult dedicated to the God-Machines, and it would provide a good outlet for Tekketi spirituality. Such a body would hold little temporal or legal power, of course: history proved that giving religious institutions political power was dicey. 0/5, establishes God-Machine Cult.
Folk Religion Revival: There were also a variety of older religions that had seen a resurgence in membership since the God Machines were awoken, and unlike the God-Machines, they didn't necessarily tie their loyalty to ultimately capricious demiurges. 0/5, Re-establishes various folk religions in Tekketi Civilization.
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.
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
TekShrines: Some of your engineers had taken to leaving machine spirits offerings, constructing simple shrines in the bowels of your facilities where they would leave bits of metal, plastic, food, scraps of paper scrawled with prayers. This had shown a mild strengthening effect on Machine Spirits in the area: perhaps something to be formalized. 0/10, develop TekShrine Tradition, increasing EXP.
Bond-Machina: Older machine spirits were more powerful machine spirits. Eventually, they reach a point where their vessel is no longer suitable: that is why Bond-Drones exist. However, some believed that with the advent of modern computing, standard Bond-Drones would also eventually become insufficient. Their proposal: house them in a powerful quantum supercomputer. This would limit them in terms of shell, but would provide them with enough room to achieve full intelligence. 0/10, Develop Bond-Machina, a form of supercomputer housing a fully mature and self aware machine spirit. Other effects unknown.
TekCrypts: Some people had opted to store their remains in the TekMausoleums, preserving them as a way of ensuring their spirit is properly interred. A number of Holy Men had suggested expanding the Mausoleums with facilities specifically to house the dead in order to allow the rite to grow and evolve. 0/15, TekMausoleums upgraded with TekCrypts.
TekGrimoire: The benevolent spirits of the machine were not the only ones that existed. There also existed darker spirits: the Gremlins, daemons of the circuit that wreaked havok using possessed shells. The Antianima, the Dark Spirits of Nightmares. Some religions held too that lighter ones also existed: the guardian souls of those passed on. The spirits of machines that transcended their physical form. Divine beings sent from on high. And all the ones in the middle of the morality spectrum. And others beyond. The priests and holy men of your society wished to assemble an authoritative compendium of these spirits and known ways to invoke, mollify, ward against, and banish them. 8/15, Develop TekGrimoire Artifact, increasing FTH. Unlocks TekDaemonism, TekOccultism, and TekAnimism Rites.
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).
((((()))))
Elsewhere and elsewhen, during the broadcast, a Tekket Engineer was assembling a bridge. Besides her was a Rover containing a variety of structural bloks. In front of her was a lunar crevasse: one of many that dotted the landscape. It was, currently, in between her and home: she had attempted to go treasure hunting and gotten lost and, unfortunately, whatever had happened twenty minutes ago to her Tek had scrambled navigation.
Thankfully, she had her OmniWrench. Waving it, piece by piece she snapped together her route home. Briefly, she tapped on her Envirosuits arm panel, trying to re-establish communications. Still down. It had been twenty minutes, and while the network on Luna wasn't great, it wasn't twenty minutes of no connection bad. Frowning, the Engineer continued their work, quickly assembling a bridge that should hold her rover. Bouncing over to it, she crawling into the drivers seat, hit the power button, and leaned back as her Rover began to move across the bridge. Thankfully, she had old maps and her own Q-Blok Nav unit, but this whole debacle had really put a damper on her quest for cool tek.
Academy Points (ACD Points): 14
Living Metal: 1
Network: 1
Warp Drive: Destroyer Tek. The remains of the engine they had used to cross the stars. Specifically spared from destruction by the God Machines along with several other pieces of the ship. To serve as a trophy, of sorts, according to MOTHER when asked. She had agreed to let you study it in order to develop a warp drive of your own. 0/10, Unlocks Crude Warp Drive technology, allowing for the exploration of other systems.
Advanced NukeTek: Fusion nukes were the closest you have come to really rattling the Destroyers, but they hadn't been sufficient to turn the tide, and who knows how well they'd fare against Destroyer space vessels. A number of Science Division Officers in the Fleet wanted to develop more advanced fusion tek, focusing on overall energy output. 0/10, Unlocks NukeTek Missile Technology, allowing for the creation of more powerful Fusion Nukes and stronger Fusion Weapons in general. Costs One Nuclear Material.
NukeTek Miniaturization: Another group inside the Academy wanted instead for NukeTek to be scaled down, creating smaller fusion engines that could be used for PowerBloks or to make weapons with. 0/5, unlocks PowerBlok technology, increasing EXP Points and allowing for deployment of Fusion Rockets on vehicles. Costs One Nuclear Material.
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.
Regenerative Nuclear Material: Living metal was metal. Uranium was metal. Was it possible to create a version of uranium with the regenerative properties of the former substance? Enterprising scientists wanted to know. 0/10, Develop Perpetunite technology, increases Nuclear Materials by 5. Costs 1 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.
Security Bots: Some in Directorate Fleet wanted to supplement your Tekket forces with custom designed combat bots designed to help guard vessels and installations against hostile forces as well as supplement security on fleet expeditions. For obvious reasons, no lethal weapons on anything less advanced than a Security Bond-Drone: no one sane thought giving an immature machine spirit a gun was a good idea. 0/5, develop Security Bot Technology, providing cheap expendable infantry security BlokBots and more advanced combat Bond-Drones to your ground forces.
MagTek Reassembly Protocol: An alternate proposed idea to Blok Repair Protocols was MagTek: a number of engineers proposed a sort of reassembly protocol that would caused damaged structures to attempt to replace lost bloks by snapping loose ones to themselves. You would only be able to repair structural damage, not replicate any complicated machinery in the structure, but that would still be invaluable for defensive purposes. 0/10, Buildings and Fortifications gain MagTek Reassembly Protocol, repairing structural damage.
Mammoth BlokBlots: Of course, there still existed a variety of large machines that could stand to be automated, especially since said machines usually have enough space to cram in a lot of processing power. The same faction that had advocated for BlokBots wanted to go bigger. 0/10, develop Mammoth Class BlokBots, heavy machines that generate EXP.
Deep Crust Scanner: The data collected by the Endeavors scanner was fascinating, but a number of students at the Academy believed that the real importance of the data would be improving the systems used to acquire it: they wanted to develop a novel next generation form of shipboard scanner that could map the deep crust of a planet and locate useful minerals and anomalies. 2/10, gain Deep Crust Scanner technology, revealing more resources and anomalies when surveying worlds, costs 1 Network.
Academy Fleet Compartment: The Academy and the Fleet were considered separate organizations under the Directorate umbrella. Still, by necessity, both organizations have a fair deal of institutional overlap: the Fleet requires all Ensigns and Officers attend mandatory training in special academy courses, and many among the Academy have attempted to jockey for spots in Fleet Labs. This was the brainchild of both groups: work together to design an expansion that could easily be added to vessels in order to serve as a ship-based laboratory and Academy campus. 0/5, Fleets upgraded with Academy Compartment, increasing overall crew education and access to advanced analysis and research to solve problems with, and increasing ACD. Requires Orbital Shipyard and turn in dock to take effect for existing ships. Costs 2 Network.
Lunar Survey: Luna was still largely unexplored. Some had suggested a round of Academy led surveys and expeditions in order to increase Directorate knowledge and resource extraction from the moon. 0/5, repeatable, increases Scan level of Luna by 1.
-----
Two hour moratorium.
"Every living thing wants to survive." - Spock.
Deep below the frigid icy waves of Erichteo, the third moon of Mongus, Taavi sat alongside his away crew in a Submersible, assembled by Engineering in preparation for this mission. Staring out the viewport (in reality a holographic monitor: actual windows were an unacceptable structural weakness) lit by the crafts frontal lights, he watches as something long and shadowy slinked through the cameras field of vision, shuddering as the black and twitching tentacle, resembling something between a living shadow and mobile oilslick, retreated.
Erichtheo did in fact have life. Deeply unsettling life, at least in this regional zone, located on the underside of a near continent sized glacier, but life none the less. The science fiction authors had eventually turned out to be correct, though they had certainly gotten the details wrong. Stepping away from the viewport, Taavi moved to one of the consoles, letting the next member of his crew take watch.
Reading the data, he noted that whatever was attached to that tentacle was massive: sonar put it at seven miles in size. Once or twice, it had tried to grab the submersible, wrapping those oil slick tentacles around the miniscule in size by comparison BlokVehicle and trying to drag it closer: damaged the engines so bad the craft was currently stuck.
It wasn't trying to eat them, thankfully: there had been no way to control the camera, so no video was obtained on what the surface of the creature looked like. The best guess of Taavi, recalling the images of the 3D sonar, was that it was examining the the BlokVehicle. Once it had determined it wasn't edible, it had taken to-
The craft shook and rolled, and Taavi nearly lost his balance, the only thing preventing him and his crew from tumbling through the air their grav-harnesses and mag-boots. For a brief moment, they were upside down before the auto-stabilizers kicked in and forced the vehicle to more gently roll back into place.
Disoriented and still a little knocked around, Taavi quickly grabbed a stability rail. "Everybody brace yourself, it's bored again," He commanded his crew, who all gave a collective, frustrated groan, taking the momentary repreive to batten down the proverbial hatches.
Once the creature determined they weren't edible, it had decided instead to use them as a toy, a floaty bathball to bat around. The good news was, the team on the ship had already sent down a shuttle to rescue them, armed with a Mag-Link towline to haul them to the 'surface' camp they had erected on an underside hollow of the continental ice-shelf. The bad news was it couldn't approach until the beasts sleep cycle, which was in sixty eight hours.
Life discovered on Erichtheo! The vast majority discovered thus far seem to be oceanic organisms located in the sub-continental abyssal zone, some of which can grow to monumental size! The planet also features vast amounts of water and ice and plentiful geothermal energy.
TKK Endeavor: The pinnacle of Tekketi engineering, the Endeavor is the first real space ship constructed in the aftermath of the Destroyer War, incorporating a variety of technologies to enable it to perform its mission. A hypermodular vessel build from grey dyed ferroplastic bloks, its design consists of a wide, flat disc connected via finned spine to two large nacelles. The majority of the crew and work decks are housed in the disc structure, alongside most civilian installations, wheras the Nacelles each contain sub-engineering decks, redundant systems, and storage. Lightly armed with only fusion torpedos and comm-jammers, the Endeavor is not intended to win a stand up fight: it's purpose is purely exploratory.
[ ] Survey Luna: Some light surveying had been done, revealing the best scrap harvesting locations alongside some small remnants of PrecursorTek. Also concerningly a number of high EM anomalies that your people weren't entirely sure the cause of: attempts to get a visual had been inconclusive and the EM field was distorting scanners. Currently home to a small research base. SCAN LEVEL: 1
[-] Survey Naklis: The planet closest to the sun, and Teklias closest neighbor. It had two major features: an ocean comprised of churning molten ore, and a handful of mountains and floating landmasses atop said ocean. A number of useful minerals had been discovered in the Molten Sea and geological surveys of the mountain indicated that it had deposits of liquid metal. COOLDOWN: 2 Turns. SCAN LEVEL: 1
[ ] Survey Tacchis: In ancient Tekketi history, Tacchis was considered a dark omen by astrologers and mystics. These days, the iceball was mostly known for the massive amount of diamonds probes had found: the planet was mostly carbon and water. While gems had no material value since the abolition of currency outside their use in industry and decoration, the survey data would still be useful.
[ ] Survey Mongus: The largest gas giant in your system, Mongus has a green atmosphere, the result of several rare-teklia gases according to probe data. You wouldn't be able to do a ground exploration of the system: the atmospheric pressure would crush your strongest vehicle like aluminum. But you could certainly do atmospheric probes and expeditions.
[ ] Survey Meeklak: The second largest gas giant, but the one with the largest ring, Meeklak was too far for casual probe use, meaning it and its ring were largely unsurveyed.
[ ] Erichtheo: Named after an old goddess from Classical Myth, Erichtheo, a moon of Mongus, is host to a number of creatures that exist primarily in its subcontinental abyssal zone, some of which seem to be able to grow several miles in diameter. It also had extremely extensive sources of potential geothermal power. SCAN LEVEL: 1.
[ ] Spraa'ng: The furthest planet in your solar system, very little is known about Spraa'ng due to its absurd distance. You're unlikely to find anything interesting before requiring a return trip, but it would certainly be a good way to test your engines.
[ ] Mal'Ket Configuration: The closest Sky-Storm, and the only one you can realistically reach without adapting the Destroyers Warp Drive to suit your own purposes, being a mere 90 or so AU out. With the Broadcast going out, many were suggesting collecting scan and probe data before the opportunity was lost.
((((()))))
Elsewhere, something uncanny happened. All throughout Teklia, the machines...stopped. It was if every processor on the planet had stalled out. Grav-Trams came to a gentle halt, passengers stuck in their seats. Computers froze, frustrating gamers across the planet. BlokBots paused mid-task. Even Bond-Drones were taken with this phenomina, their eyes surging with an unearthly blue light.
Then, a message. CHILDREN OF THE FIFTH AGE, YOUR CHILDHOOD ENDS. THE MALKET FORMULATION IS FALLING: THE PATH AHEAD WILL BE CLEAR. WALK IT OR BE CONSUMED. YOU HAVE 40 SOLAR ROTATIONS.
Displayed on every device, on every screen, through every speaker, in every language still extant on Teklia. Then, all Machine-kind awakening, as if from a daze, no memory of what had occurred: from the perspective of the Bond-Drones and Synthetic Intelligences capable of speaking, it was as they had been skipped forward in time.
Afterwards, your historians, astronomers, scientists, and mystics burst in to action to attempt to figure out what just happened. Some things are awnsered easily, but open more questions: the Malket Configuration is a known figure in the Teklian night sky, being the sky-storm closest to your solar system, being located just beyond its edge. It is also, concerningly, the sky-storm that vomitted out the badly damaged Destroyer ship.
Some answers come late, and serve as no awnsers at all, such as when communications engineers manage to discern that the phenomenon was caused by a strange broadcast that somehow enveloped the entire planet at the same time, originating from everywhere and nowhere at once. It was if some sort of field immediately enveloped the world, taking control over the machines.
Some answers are more important for what they imply, such as when some Culteks ask the God-Machines, who deny involvement entirely, but share that they do know what sent the broadcast. The Heretic, they whisper softly. Architect of the Third Age. Rival and peer, warden and prisoner, friend and foe. A being that lie in the depths of the Tomb.
In the days after, one of the God-Machines would come down from their lairs with an offer.
[ ] MOTHER, Offering Guidance: Should you wish to survive the Malket Configurations fall, she says, you must be as fluid and shifting as my own form. With my guidance, I will help you grow into what you need to be to survive, but know that you may not like what you become. Gain 5 Free Floating points per turn that can be spent on any category. This bonus lasts two turns. However, MOTHER will get five points of her own to invest how she wants.
[ ] YALDABOATH, Offering A Seed: Should you wish to survive the Malket Configurations fall, he says, you must be crafty and spiritual. I will give you artifacts of soul and circuit, trinkets of my forge imbued with power. The price will have been great and you will perhaps think it too steep, but should you accept, it will have already been paid. Gain Three ART to allow you to develop advanced rites and technology. You will have always already paid a great price.
[ ] Sphere 001, Offering Strength: Should you wish to survive the Malket Configurations fall, it says, you must have strength enough to endure the worst sorts of horrors. I offer a Rite, I offer a Relic, and I offer a Schematic. Know that for this I demand a feast, a glut of your resources until the configuration falls to feed my hunger. Unlock Bond-Machina, the Rite of ???, and an unknown technology. It will cost you 2 points from every action category as Sphere 001 gorges itself on material.
((((())))
During that same decade, a Tekket was put on the moon. This was no longer an exceptional feet, of course: in the decades since the Endeavor had landed, it had become the site of a vast construction, handled by a team of engineers and automata assembling the first major off-world holding of the Directorate.
No, a single or even a handful of Tekket on the moon weren't exceptional. What was exceptional was that, a handful of years in, the first lunar colonists were put on the moon to staff said holding. Constructed in the middle of a crater on the sunward facing side, hemmed in on all sides by mile high sheer walls, Luna Base One consisted of a collection of cubic housing HabBloks, both communal and private, some research labs of various sizes, some Agri HabBloks, all build around a cargo shuttle pad for transporting colonists and supplies to and from Teklia, each building self contained and connected by SmartRover Transit Cars.
When it was first erected, the crew consisted of over several hundred Tekket and their families, primarily engineers and scientists as well as general staff. However, as time went on and the decades passed, more and more academics would apply for transfer to the facility, bringing with them their own families, even as the youths on Luna Base One grew up and started their own families: by the end of the next decade, several would have grown to nearly a thousand residents, with a variety of smaller buildings and enterprises opening up to meet the needs of the residents such as a school and even an AgriBlok.
Down below, similar expansion was occurring with the advent of the Quantum Q-Blok and the Continental SuperHubs. 12 in total, these mammoth constructions, large enough to be seen from space, worked to process and store obscene amounts of data. Thousands upon thousands of titanic quantum computers hooked up to each other with thousands upon thousands of machine spirits. And yet, none of it wasted, used to support their lunar colony, the newly established TekMausoleums, or research simulations.
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 few decades had seen vast amounts of garbage cleared away, however, and a revitalization of the Teklian biosphere as the Autorecyclers turn ecosystem choking garbage into useable materials, freeing space for parks and forests, the material repurposed into massive overhauls into energy and especially processing infrastructure.
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 small research colony, less than a thousand people.
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 small research colony, less than a thousand people.
EXPansion Points (EXP Points): 16
Nuclear Material: 2
Available Expansion Actions:
Orbital Shipyard: Currently, you had no real orbital shipyard of note. If you wanted to construct more ships, you should probably rectify that. The current plan was for it to be five miles: small, but it would allow for small vessels, probes, and easier maintenance of the Endeavor. 1/10, unlocks additional Orbital Actions.
Nuclear Stockpiles: It was a very distasteful idea: nuclear weapons were ultimately a remnant of a darker, more divided age, and they had been of limited effectiveness during the Destroyer War, but they were, at the moment, the only weapon you had that could hit hard enough to come even close to shaking their bunkers. Better to have them and not need them, you supposed. 0/1, Grants Nuclear Weapon Stockpile. Can be taken multiple times. Can be used as Shipscale Weaponry in the form of Nuclear Torpedos. Costs one Nuclear Material.
Deep Space Monitors: One day, the Destroyers would return. It was a fear many, many of you held. To that end, some of you wanted to expand the deep space monitoring project in order to ensure that they would not take you by surprise. 0/2, repeatable, costs 1 Network. Each completion gives more robust deep space scanning.
Lunar Spire: A proposed expansion to Luna Base, the Lunar Spire is a massive transport hub intended to allow for expanded transport of goods and people to the Lunar Surface. It wouldn't make the place any more self-sufficient, but it would mean it would be easier to ship in material to make it self-sufficient. 0/10, generates EXP, establishes Lunar Spire.
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.
Lunar AutoRecycler: There existed more than enough material on the moon to fuel several AutoRecyclers, but for now, only one was needed to fully meet the colonies native need for industrial capacity: the rest could be put towards expanding the Directorate industrial capacity. 0/10, Construct Lunar AutoRecyclers, generating EXP, generates one Nuclear Material.
Lunar MegaHub: Instead of singular individual data hubs, some suggested taking advantage of low lunar gravity to construct a titanic city sized MegaHub to both meet all current and future needs for data for the burgeoning Lunar Colony. This would be grotesquely expensive in terms of power, however. 0/40, costs 2 Nuclear Material, generates 5 Network.
High Energy Physics Lab: With more free power, some were suggesting expanding the Academy by adding a specialized high energy physics lab to help train engineers and researchers to properly take advantage of the energy now available to them. 0/10, costs 2 Nuclear Material, generates 2 Network and generates ACD.
BlokTek Arcologies: As planetary industry expanded so too did its need for housing and infrastructure: urbanification was inevitable without special measures. It wasn't immediate, but some wanted to embark on the construction of a series of low-environmental impact arcologies meant to house the vast majority of your species in order to pre-empt such a problem before it occurred. 4/20, generates EXP, pre-emptively prevents urbanification of Teklian wilderness.
((((()))))
Elsewhere, a young Tekket youth stood at a console next to a race track. Next to him were seven other Tekket, the other operators at their own consoles. On the track were the racers, wheeled and treaded and mag-lev'd: BlokBots, in various shapes and configurations. Across the way was a stadium, where the parents of the Youth sat, waving a sign of encouragement along with the friends and family of all the other racers.
"ON YOUR MARK!" Came the voice of the digital announcer, and the Youth quickly pressed a few bottons, causing his BlokBot, a thin runner shapped bot whose body consisted of a narrow and lanky configuration of bricks, to get in position, adopting a runners pose. "GET READY!" The Tekket began to sweat, finger hovering over the button that would signal his BlokBot to begin racing. "GO!" The tekket slammed the button, and SpindleBot began running, loping forward with their long legs even as the track began to rearrange itself, forming a cubic obstacle course filled with walls, pits, spinning things, and more.
It was the third ever BotRace the youths school had put on. He had spent all year designing SpindleBot in preparation, programming it and training it's machine spirit: he had even managed to download a copy of an Anima rite to help the process along. Working in tandem with the bot, he sent out commands from his console, directing it and guiding it through the course to the finishline, wincing when it's arm was smacked by one of the course hazards, scattering the component Bloks, cheering when it managed to perform a running leap over a chasm, and gritting his teeth in anticipation as it attempted to outrun its rivals.
When the youth went home that night, it was with a bright and shiny silver medal and eagerness for next years BotRace. SpindleBot 2.0 would be his best bot yet!
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, and ethics. Provides an extra ACD Point.
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.
Promoted Therapy: Trauma was an enemy to the health and wellbeing of many Tekket. To combat it, your society provided a variety of tools to help people seeking treatment. 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.
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.
Promoted Therapy: Trauma was an enemy to the health and wellbeing of many Tekket. To combat it, your society provided a variety of tools to help people seeking treatment. 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.
Culture Points (CUL Points): 9
Wargames: An idea proposed by those among Directorate Fleet Command, designing a series of games intended to act as training sims for things such as tactics, survival skills, piloting, etc. This would also serve to help drive interest in the Fleet, increasing recruitment. 0/5, grants the Wargamer tradition, slightly increasing the general survivability of your forces and increasing recruitment.
Advanced Therapy Promotion Project: It wasn't enough, some claimed, to merely fight against the diseases of the mind. In order to achieve its best self, society must treat the study and treatment of mental illness as a major science in and of itself. They were proposing a branch of the Academy dedicated to training social workers, therapists, and clinical psychiatrists and psychiatric researchers. 0/10, upgrades Promoted Therapy, increasing mental resilience further, costs 1 Network
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.
Nuclear Engineering For Kits: Every so often a strange idea appears on the docket, and this was one of them: some Tekket wanted to give schools nuclear experimentation playsets for physics and engineering minded kits to play with, educating them on the finer points of nuclear physics and technology. The technology did exist to make this mostly safe, but it would be very resource intensive. 6/10, grants Nukes for Kits, increasing EXP and ACD points, costs 1 NK
Zoological Educational Facilities: A number of animal enthusiasts had proposed expanding the park system to include special open air zoos: attendees would learn about animals and get to view them safely in accurate recreations of their natural habitats via specialized heavy grav-trams and auto-rovers. It could also be used for research and helping promote endangered species. 0/10, grants Open Air Zoos tradition.
Lunar Salvage Cabals: Some Tekket had taken advantage of easier lunar travel to establish archaeological digs to acquire samples of PrecursorTek. A number of Directorate Citizens wanted to formalize this organization in order to streamline the acquisition of material to reverse engineer. 0/10, unlocks Salvage Cabals, a Society that generates ACD and grants one ART.
BrainScan Storage: Some Tekket had taken to storing complex scans of their brain in their TekCrypts out of the belief that it would enable them to continue existing in some fashion after death. They were probably incorrect, but it did mean that future historians would have a great deal of biodata to work with. 0/5, generates CUL, upgrades TekMausoleums.
((((()))))
Elsewhere and elsewhen, a Therapist, older and wiser, tapped at a holopad. His patient, the Destroyer War survivor who he had once long ago invited to stay a little longer in his office, had died the other night. She had asked him on her deathbed to type up her entry in the Mausoleum, the entry that would tell everyone who she was, what she had stood for, what she had experienced: a digital obituary and eulogy both.
She had never recovered, not really, but with therapy and meditation, she had in her final years begun to finally enjoy life once again. A shame for how short it was before her time ran out, but at least she had SOME fulfilment in her golden years.
The funeral would be small. Her friend circle had never been large, even at its zenith, and many of her other friends over the decade had also passed. The Therapist expected around twenty Tekket in attendance. There would be speeches given, food eaten, and then the priest would ritually inter the womans cryopreserved body and ephemeral soul into the crypt.
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 Tekket remains and data on the deceased in order to act as a grim digital epitaph for the dead so that they would never be forgotten. +1 CUL.
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 Tekket remains and data on the deceased in order to act as a grim digital epitaph for the dead so that they would never be forgotten. +1 CUL.
Faith Points (FTH Points): 13
Available Faith Projects:
God-Machine Cults: Many already viewed them as divine: it would not be hard to establish a cult dedicated to the God-Machines, and it would provide a good outlet for Tekketi spirituality. Such a body would hold little temporal or legal power, of course: history proved that giving religious institutions political power was dicey. 0/5, establishes God-Machine Cult.
Folk Religion Revival: There were also a variety of older religions that had seen a resurgence in membership since the God Machines were awoken, and unlike the God-Machines, they didn't necessarily tie their loyalty to ultimately capricious demiurges. 0/5, Re-establishes various folk religions in Tekketi Civilization.
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.
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
TekShrines: Some of your engineers had taken to leaving machine spirits offerings, constructing simple shrines in the bowels of your facilities where they would leave bits of metal, plastic, food, scraps of paper scrawled with prayers. This had shown a mild strengthening effect on Machine Spirits in the area: perhaps something to be formalized. 0/10, develop TekShrine Tradition, increasing EXP.
Bond-Machina: Older machine spirits were more powerful machine spirits. Eventually, they reach a point where their vessel is no longer suitable: that is why Bond-Drones exist. However, some believed that with the advent of modern computing, standard Bond-Drones would also eventually become insufficient. Their proposal: house them in a powerful quantum supercomputer. This would limit them in terms of shell, but would provide them with enough room to achieve full intelligence. 0/10, Develop Bond-Machina, a form of supercomputer housing a fully mature and self aware machine spirit. Other effects unknown.
TekCrypts: Some people had opted to store their remains in the TekMausoleums, preserving them as a way of ensuring their spirit is properly interred. A number of Holy Men had suggested expanding the Mausoleums with facilities specifically to house the dead in order to allow the rite to grow and evolve. 0/15, TekMausoleums upgraded with TekCrypts.
TekGrimoire: The benevolent spirits of the machine were not the only ones that existed. There also existed darker spirits: the Gremlins, daemons of the circuit that wreaked havok using possessed shells. The Antianima, the Dark Spirits of Nightmares. Some religions held too that lighter ones also existed: the guardian souls of those passed on. The spirits of machines that transcended their physical form. Divine beings sent from on high. And all the ones in the middle of the morality spectrum. And others beyond. The priests and holy men of your society wished to assemble an authoritative compendium of these spirits and known ways to invoke, mollify, ward against, and banish them. 8/15, Develop TekGrimoire Artifact, increasing FTH. Unlocks TekDaemonism, TekOccultism, and TekAnimism Rites.
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).
((((()))))
Elsewhere and elsewhen, during the broadcast, a Tekket Engineer was assembling a bridge. Besides her was a Rover containing a variety of structural bloks. In front of her was a lunar crevasse: one of many that dotted the landscape. It was, currently, in between her and home: she had attempted to go treasure hunting and gotten lost and, unfortunately, whatever had happened twenty minutes ago to her Tek had scrambled navigation.
Thankfully, she had her OmniWrench. Waving it, piece by piece she snapped together her route home. Briefly, she tapped on her Envirosuits arm panel, trying to re-establish communications. Still down. It had been twenty minutes, and while the network on Luna wasn't great, it wasn't twenty minutes of no connection bad. Frowning, the Engineer continued their work, quickly assembling a bridge that should hold her rover. Bouncing over to it, she crawling into the drivers seat, hit the power button, and leaned back as her Rover began to move across the bridge. Thankfully, she had old maps and her own Q-Blok Nav unit, but this whole debacle had really put a damper on her quest for cool tek.
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.
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
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.
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
Academy Points (ACD Points): 14
Living Metal: 1
Network: 1
Warp Drive: Destroyer Tek. The remains of the engine they had used to cross the stars. Specifically spared from destruction by the God Machines along with several other pieces of the ship. To serve as a trophy, of sorts, according to MOTHER when asked. She had agreed to let you study it in order to develop a warp drive of your own. 0/10, Unlocks Crude Warp Drive technology, allowing for the exploration of other systems.
Advanced NukeTek: Fusion nukes were the closest you have come to really rattling the Destroyers, but they hadn't been sufficient to turn the tide, and who knows how well they'd fare against Destroyer space vessels. A number of Science Division Officers in the Fleet wanted to develop more advanced fusion tek, focusing on overall energy output. 0/10, Unlocks NukeTek Missile Technology, allowing for the creation of more powerful Fusion Nukes and stronger Fusion Weapons in general. Costs One Nuclear Material.
NukeTek Miniaturization: Another group inside the Academy wanted instead for NukeTek to be scaled down, creating smaller fusion engines that could be used for PowerBloks or to make weapons with. 0/5, unlocks PowerBlok technology, increasing EXP Points and allowing for deployment of Fusion Rockets on vehicles. Costs One Nuclear Material.
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.
Regenerative Nuclear Material: Living metal was metal. Uranium was metal. Was it possible to create a version of uranium with the regenerative properties of the former substance? Enterprising scientists wanted to know. 0/10, Develop Perpetunite technology, increases Nuclear Materials by 5. Costs 1 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.
Security Bots: Some in Directorate Fleet wanted to supplement your Tekket forces with custom designed combat bots designed to help guard vessels and installations against hostile forces as well as supplement security on fleet expeditions. For obvious reasons, no lethal weapons on anything less advanced than a Security Bond-Drone: no one sane thought giving an immature machine spirit a gun was a good idea. 0/5, develop Security Bot Technology, providing cheap expendable infantry security BlokBots and more advanced combat Bond-Drones to your ground forces.
MagTek Reassembly Protocol: An alternate proposed idea to Blok Repair Protocols was MagTek: a number of engineers proposed a sort of reassembly protocol that would caused damaged structures to attempt to replace lost bloks by snapping loose ones to themselves. You would only be able to repair structural damage, not replicate any complicated machinery in the structure, but that would still be invaluable for defensive purposes. 0/10, Buildings and Fortifications gain MagTek Reassembly Protocol, repairing structural damage.
Mammoth BlokBlots: Of course, there still existed a variety of large machines that could stand to be automated, especially since said machines usually have enough space to cram in a lot of processing power. The same faction that had advocated for BlokBots wanted to go bigger. 0/10, develop Mammoth Class BlokBots, heavy machines that generate EXP.
Deep Crust Scanner: The data collected by the Endeavors scanner was fascinating, but a number of students at the Academy believed that the real importance of the data would be improving the systems used to acquire it: they wanted to develop a novel next generation form of shipboard scanner that could map the deep crust of a planet and locate useful minerals and anomalies. 2/10, gain Deep Crust Scanner technology, revealing more resources and anomalies when surveying worlds, costs 1 Network.
Academy Fleet Compartment: The Academy and the Fleet were considered separate organizations under the Directorate umbrella. Still, by necessity, both organizations have a fair deal of institutional overlap: the Fleet requires all Ensigns and Officers attend mandatory training in special academy courses, and many among the Academy have attempted to jockey for spots in Fleet Labs. This was the brainchild of both groups: work together to design an expansion that could easily be added to vessels in order to serve as a ship-based laboratory and Academy campus. 0/5, Fleets upgraded with Academy Compartment, increasing overall crew education and access to advanced analysis and research to solve problems with, and increasing ACD. Requires Orbital Shipyard and turn in dock to take effect for existing ships. Costs 2 Network.
Lunar Survey: Luna was still largely unexplored. Some had suggested a round of Academy led surveys and expeditions in order to increase Directorate knowledge and resource extraction from the moon. 0/5, repeatable, increases Scan level of Luna by 1.
-----
Two hour moratorium.
Last edited:
- Location
- Warsaw
I think we should get the regenerative material this time along with starting nuke miniaturization. From there we can snap up the low hanging fruits left.
Probably get the war games and nuke engineering as well for culture.
Probably get the war games and nuke engineering as well for culture.
Last edited:
The Bird
tEM IS GUD...RITER!
- Location
- In that den of villains and scum, OKLAHOMA
Part of the plans.
of these three options I think I like the mother one the most she been the one for a lack of a bette word good to us? been kind, not allof, the most conversantional with us, the most approchable, the most tekket, the one who views us with a motherlike attiude so I am gonna go with my gut and go with her
- Location
- Canada
Well...I think out of the three God Machines I trust Mother the most...still not very much as i have no idea what her game is, at least with the other two i can get the impression we are a Project or experiment
Edit: As a rule never trust anything overtly benevolent in Warhammer, the other two i can trust not wanting their own plans foiled with in regards to us.
Edit: As a rule never trust anything overtly benevolent in Warhammer, the other two i can trust not wanting their own plans foiled with in regards to us.
Last edited:
The Bird
tEM IS GUD...RITER!
- Location
- In that den of villains and scum, OKLAHOMA
This turn. All costs and rewards are immediate if not retroactive.
- Location
- Warsaw
I think it would be a good idea to complete the arcologies now. With the right plan we can get enough exp points to complete multiple projects each turn afterward.
- Location
- Canada
You have no idea the sheer terror i had when i read that one of our C'Tan is one that can screw with Time, you always forget the Necrons and the C'Tan can do that kind of nonsense and then BAM they hit with it.
As a side note we DO NOT pick that one under any circumstances, please for all that is good and holy.
All three choices can be seen as a sort of a deal with the devil thing.
Choose Mother and it can shape Tekket society by pursuing projects that will shape it (i.e. God Machine Cults) with the 5 points that it'll be able to allocate by itself.
Choose YALDABOATH and the Tekket will pay a steep, unspecified price retroactively.
Choose Sphere 001 and we'll have to deal with a minus to our income for however long it takes for Sphere 001 to be satified.
Mistakes:
This finishes according to the plan.
This should be at 4/10 according to the plan
You've repeated the High Energy Physics lab again.
- Location
- Warsaw
I'm against the sphere option. We need all the points we have.
- Location
- Canada
Really Mother seems the LESS problematic option, it still has issues, but we can fix it a lot easier then the other two potentially.
What makes you say that? Is there any indication that we can remove any of the traditions/traits that we are gaining?
The Tekket as a people are at their most malleable as a civilization right now. It will not be simple to change such a early trait/tradition. Or hell for all we know we can't do anything about such ingrained traditions (since by the time we are In a position to try to remove such a tradition it'll likely have been multiple decades in quest time)
Last edited:
DocSpooky
Humblest in the World
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I feel like if we take Mother we also need to take the folk religion revival thing, just to try and counteract her influence a little bit. This does mean we effectively don't get her bonus during one turn because we have to invest 5 points like that to counteract the potential bad things.
- Location
- Canada
I mean the fallout, say if she makes God Machine Cults, we can add other faiths just to ensure they don't have a monopoly, I don't expect us to get rid of them, but I have faith we can work on it.