If the NEcrons find out about the C'Tan under us I'm pretty sure they just might decide to either dogpile every single Tomb World and dynasty in the segmentum on us or just have the Celestial Orrery blow up the entire star cluster considering how much PTSD they have regarding the C'Tan
Into that Vast and Unrelenting Darkness (40K Xeno Civilization Quest)
- Thread starter The Bird
- Start date
- Mature Sci-Fi Fantasy
they have to find out first that there are ctan chilling with us and they may realize they trying to deal with a tomb full of ctan is a bad idea. There really no IC option to go let try to kill the ctan or get rid of them not just cause they saved our entire species, not just cause they don't want to go, not just cause most of our citzenery is quite grateful to them or worship them we also be killed by them very easily so it is what it is
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And a single mobile defense ship can get tied up and leave our planet open if they bring so much as a single extra ship.
Hyacinthium
Writing about sad cannibals as we speak.
- Location
- Bedroom
- Pronouns
- He/Him
All I can say is that our C'tan might be freaks.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Plan: Maximum Ship Upgrades
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- He/Him
[X] Plan: Maximum Ship Upgrades
Getting the Grand Conclave up and running soon is important for maintaining social stability, but now that the Tekket are about to launch Warp-capable ships, outfitting them with some kind of countermeasure against daemonic assault or infection should be a higher priority.
Besides, picking this plan leaves a ship free to keep surveying the system through this turn and the next, and scanning all planets early allows the Endeavor-class ships to be on available for more important tasks in the future.
Getting the Grand Conclave up and running soon is important for maintaining social stability, but now that the Tekket are about to launch Warp-capable ships, outfitting them with some kind of countermeasure against daemonic assault or infection should be a higher priority.
Besides, picking this plan leaves a ship free to keep surveying the system through this turn and the next, and scanning all planets early allows the Endeavor-class ships to be on available for more important tasks in the future.
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Hyacinthium
Writing about sad cannibals as we speak.
- Location
- Bedroom
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Plan: Get that ship out there
I'm enthusiastic about how we have a deity just for kids. Especially since what we know totally explains why we had the option to give nuke toys to our young. Then there's the implied monhun stage of our civilization... Overall, I'm happy with the outcome of the religious actions. Although almost all of them also scare the shit outta me! The life force shit scares me more than the child safe nukes.
I'm enthusiastic about how we have a deity just for kids. Especially since what we know totally explains why we had the option to give nuke toys to our young. Then there's the implied monhun stage of our civilization... Overall, I'm happy with the outcome of the religious actions. Although almost all of them also scare the shit outta me! The life force shit scares me more than the child safe nukes.
yah while the folk religion ones are all quite good and I def want to try to complete the Lanternkeeper one before we head into the warp since increased resistance to despair and hopelessness will be very helpful against the warp stuff. The ctan one ones are also uhhh but kind fit with the ctan so I am still cool with taking them esp since they got good rewards and the courts they build sound soooo cool the last 2 though...
I am sorry any thing built that is called The Fool for communicating with gods I am not gonna trust at all and there the fact we have no way to now if there are receiving commutations from there god and not other...things in the warp. They also seem too good to be true for a lack of better word though I gues artefact and warp are very high indemand resources that we don't have many off
yah sacred livestock is also what I am leaning toward I also like not starting a tradition toward straight sacrificing stuff for lifeforce seems like a very slippery slope. Also toward revering, putting reverence toward those who make sacrifices of liveforce and sacrded livestock herds sound really cool too. There also the minor plus that increase EXP which we alwasy need more of
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Hmmmmmm yeah, the other upside of sacred livestock is that it means we're respecting the sacrifice more. Yes we're offsetting it to animals, but we're not just killing them and becoming callous about it, we're taking responsibility and being kind to the animals who give life force for us. It's not a sacrifice if you don't care, it's just you being an asshole.
fyi we don't even sacfrice them which makes the option even better in my book at least I think in my reading of this
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That's what I mean the sacrifice is still at least partially paid by us in terms of care and effort put towards the animals, we don't just line them up in ritually appropriate formations, kill them, and call in the clean up crew. It's actually forcing us to engage with the creatures who serve and aid us, and not just use them up and move on.
Hyacinthium
Writing about sad cannibals as we speak.
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- Bedroom
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- He/Him
I think it's pretty noticable that it's the least unethical. It's basically blood donations from otherwise well kept animals.
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And I was just about to vote for 'Get that ship out there'.
- Location
- Warsaw
We need more network after this. So we need to get that Comm-net. Possibly that faith option as well. Definitely work on the perpetual recyclers for the extra nuclear materials.
Turn 8: The Next Generation
The Bird
tEM IS GUD...RITER!
- Location
- In that den of villains and scum, OKLAHOMA
[X] Plan: Maximum Ship Upgrades
Much the same way the majority of the food chain on Teklia (except for the nucleophages such as the Mannikin and spiritual life forms such as Gremlins) began with simple sunlight touching a plant, Toxel noted that much of Erichtheos food chain started here, in the magmafields. Looking out the viewport, the Captain scribbled his observations on a pad: paper, not holo, he found having a pencil in his hand helped the memorization process. A vast array of hexagonal corals growing out of the magma created dwellings of sorts for the various inhabitants of the volcanic abyssal zones.
He watched as a cluster of arthropoidal creatures, with round, searching flourescent eyes the size of dinner plates, most of the creatures body mass, on either of their head, bodies shimmering in a bioluminescent array of colors, limbs and much of its carapace translucent, resembling moving masses of clear oil. The school of creatures moved around Toxels craft looking it over, and Toxel made sure to sketch their appearances, grinning...
Only to wince when one of them seized, its body twisting with a horrific crack as the infection within revealed itself, revealing a variety of blades as the oozy blood of the creature darkened to a murky rust brown, the mimic-infested shrimpoid letting out a horrific screech as it attacked the nearest neighbor, grabbing it close as it shoved a blade through the gelatinous shrimpoids eye, the creature thrashing even as its foes fled.
Toxel sat down his pad as he watched the mutated creature maul the other arthropod before viciously stabbing through the narrow forehead of the shrimpoid a particularly long, narrow needle. The infection vector. Unlatching itself, the Mimic-Infested Shrimpoid began swimming away, hunting for more shrimpoids, intent on eating or infesting all of its former pod, the shrimpoid it had just attacked drifting listlessly, like it was dead...
Before it began to twitch, flesh shifting and melting, the damage being undone. A moment later, the seemingly fine shrimpoid began kicking its way through the water. Mimic-infectors were a common predator of much of the smaller life in this region, he had observed: their short lifespan made up for by their voracity and ability to spread both via deliberate acts of reproduction as well as baiting themselves for consumption and thus transmission of the small, ringworm like mutagenic parasite.
Really, why was it so much of the life on this world was so uncanny, wondered Toxel as he watched a mimic-infector wander too close to a coral, a rubbery thing stretching out from one of the myriad holes on the seacreatures, dragging the screaming infector into shadow where it would, presumably, be cooked in the coral-magma chimneys by whatever extremophile sea slug had grabbed it, parasites and all. Here you had all manner of strange parasite and predator, in the Sub-Continental Zone you had the Leviathans...
A Mimic-Shrimpoid landed in front of the viewport, staring through again: presumably it had eaten or infected all its fellows and was curious about Toxels craft. The creatures necrotic, black, oozy eye gazed, and Toxel shivered as it grew a blade-ended appendage, tapping on the glass, no doubt wondering if the Tekket was some strange new type of food.
Erichtheo Surveyed! Discovered Magmafields, a vast coral jungle established over an extremely large volcanic zone with a wide variety of novel extremophile sea-life as well as valuable deep-core molten mineral veins.
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.
TKK Accomplishment: The second pride of the fleet, the Accomplishment was designed around much of the same principles as the Endeavor, for much of the same purpose. In many ways, it was essentially a second Endeavor in its entirety, though that was still an accomplishment in and of itself.
[-] Survey Luna: Luna was already fully surveyed. SCAN LEVEL: MAX
[ ] Survey Naklis: The planet closest to the sun, and Teklias closest neighbor. It had two major features: an ocean comprised of churning molten ore, and a handful of mountains and floating landmasses atop said ocean. A number of useful minerals had been discovered in the Molten Sea and geological surveys of the mountain indicated that it had deposits of liquid metal. SCAN LEVEL: 1
[-] Survey Tacchis: In ancient Tekketi history, Tacchis was considered a dark omen by astrologers and mystics. These days, the iceball was mostly known for the massive amount of diamonds probes had found: the planet's crust was mostly carbon and water. It also had several subterranean ancient ruins belonging to the Destroyers servants. SCAN LEVEL: MAX
[ ] Survey Mongus: The largest gas giant in your system, Mongus has a green atmosphere, the result of several rare-teklia gases according to probe and scan data, alongside a great deal of hydrogen, methane, and electrical storms. SCAN LEVEL: 1
[ ] Survey Meeklak: The second largest gas giant, but the one with the largest ring, 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 can grow to titanic size, and in the magmafields, home to a number of extremophile sea-life and valuable minerals. SCAN LEVEL: 3. COOLDOWN: 3 Turns.
[ ] Spraa'ng: The furthest planet in your solar system, very little is known about Spraa'ng due to its absurd distance. You're unlikely to find anything interesting before requiring a return trip, but it would certainly be a good way to test your engines.
[ ] Drydock: With the construction of the Shipyard, the Endeavor could finally come in for repairs, maintenance, and upgrades. Upgrades ships with all existing Compartments and Components.
((((())))
Captain Picault stared out the bridge of the Accomplishment, a smug grin on their face. All that work, all that jockying, and he finally had it! The command of a lifetime, the thing that would put him in the history books with all the great eminents of Tekket history: the first captaincy of the second ever Endeavor ever produced. Yes, he would likely never be a household name like Taavi was just by this command, but this was only step one.
Staring out, he watched as a variety of ships flitted from the Lunar Spire, the first location on his tour. It had been decided by the Directorate: they wanted to make standard the example set by Taavi. The first stop an Endeavor would make would be to Luna, which had grown greatly in the past few years. With the Spire came additional material, with additional material came more housing, with more housing came more and more demand for various goods and services and basic infrastructure.
What a time to be alive, Picault thought, marvelling at the fact that only but a hundred years ago the only inhabitants of Luna consisted of some scientists and engineers in a few pre-made laboratories.
"Alright, Cap'n, where to now?" His Navigator asked from their console, and Picault put his paw on his chin in thought. With the obligatory Luna pitstop out of the way, it was now up to Picault to decide where to go now....
Available Planets and Special Infrastructure:
Teklia: Teklia, oh Teklia. The second planet from your star, and your homeworld. A variety of mostly hospitable climates of variable comfortability, it is covered in what can only be described as space garbage: the ecosystem has largely adapted to it and millenia of exploitation has done much to clear it away, but its undeniably a very garbage covered planet. The past century had seen incredibly vast amounts of garbage cleared away, however, and a revitalization of the Teklian biosphere as the Autorecyclers turn ecosystem choking garbage into useable materials, freeing large amounts of space for habitation, agriculture, parks and forests, the material repurposed into into the Teklian orbital space, its off world colonies, and the Arcolocubes, giant cubic self contained ecofriendly metropolis.
Luna: A trash filled wreck, unlike Teklia Luna didn't have pesky things like an atmosphere or ecology to degrade its debris, meaning it had very well preserved trash. It was also the site of a small but healthy and quickly growing colony, a few thousand people supplied by lunar spire, a space elevator that allows for vast shipment of goods too and from Luna.
Deep Space Monitoring System: A Fleet initiative that utilizes a great deal of surplus processing power to scan the sky both to map it out as well as detect incoming threats before they arrive, giving early warning to the Directorate against hostile threats. It had recently detected a large supernova several thousands of lightyears away: interesting from an astronomical perspective but of limited importance considering the explosion happened thousands of years ago.
EXPansion Points (EXP Points): 27
Nuclear Material: 2
Construct Endeavor Class Ship: It was time to begin assembling the third Endeavor. Much like the first and second, it would be a exploratory vessel first and foremost, allowing for quicker survey of the local solar system and, should the worst come to pass, another thing between you and the Destroyers if they return. 0/20, cost 1 Nuclear Material, gain an Endeavor equipped with all unlocked Compartments and Ship upgrades as well as a variable amount of Perpetunite Nuclear Weapons depending on the size of your stockpiles.
Construct Valiant Class Ship: Another proposed idea was for a ship designed for actual combat: the Valiant. For obvious reasons, it would be larger in order to add space for redundant systems and weapon platforms, but at the size you were making it, you'd also be able to install fusion cannons as a shortrange but powerful laser weapon. 0/40, costs 2 nuclear material, gain a Valiant equipped with all non-Civilian Compartments and upgrades as well as a variable amount of nuclear weapons and powerful but short-range Fusion Cannons.
Orbital Defense Arrays: It might not save you, but it would buy time: an array of satellites armed with fusion cannons located in geosynchronous orbit with various of strategic importance, starting with major population centers. 0/10, costs 1 Nuclear Material, construct Orbital Defense Satellites. Repeatable.
Orbital CityBloks: A number of people wanted the Orbital Shipyard expanded with habitation bloks that could serve as civilian living quarters, effectively creating a sort of city-station to serve as a midpoint between Luna and Teklia: it wasn't like there wasn't demand, and it would certainly allow for an alternative to the arcologies. 0/15, generates EXP.
Asteroid Harvesting Facilities: You still had a century or so before Teklia was depleted of salvage and easily accessible nuclear resources, but it was never too early to begin preparing for the eventuality. With that in mind, some of your industrial technicians had proposed creating the beginnings of asteroid harvesting operations by creating a series of specialized shuttle to gather and process space junk into useable materials. 0/20, generates EXP, grants 1 Nuclear Material.
Living Metal Farming: A number of people on the Moon had taken to starting 'living metal' gardens, growing the smart-matter in lieu of plants. After all, Living Metal didn't require atmosphere or even water: just energy, and could be used to construct all sorts of Bloks. Some lunar colonists had proposed using some of the freshly cleared land to set up facilities expressly for the purpose of metal farming, which would help expand the production of the substance and provide a nice surplus of the material. 0/20, grants 1 Living Metal
Perpetunite Production Facility: It would require dipping into your Living Metal stocks, but a fairly popular ballot was to create expanded Perpetunite manufacturing facilities on the Moon in order to meet expanding demands for nuclear materials in Directorate space: because of its position, there were little concerns about radiation like there would be for planet-side facilities. 0/20, grants 5 Nuclear Material, costs 1 Living Metal.
CityShrines: Some had suggested installing into each CityBlok its own regional Shrine: a place where locals can pay tribute and honor to the spirits of their district and priests and mysteks could conduct ceremonial offerings to the CityBloks anima mechanica. This would likely have a beneficial effect on local spirits. 0/10, generates FTH and CUL, strengthens urban machine spirits.
Construct Pioneer Class Ship: The Pioneer Class was intended to be used to set up small settlements on other worlds: the same size as an Endeavor class, but the internals were all things that could be reconfigured into setting up a sustainable, small settlement of a few hundred on any world. 0/20, costs 1 Nuclear Material. When constructed, select a world with at least one Scan Level: create a small settlement on that world.
Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Stockpiles: It was a very distasteful idea: nuclear weapons were ultimately a remnant of a darker, more divided age, and the current design for Heavy Perpetunite Warheads were a terrible thing indeed: for almost an hour they could unleash energy, vaporizing cities. And yet, they were the strongest weapon you had against the Destroyers. 0/1, Grants Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Weapon Stockpile. Can be taken multiple times. Can be used as Shipscale Weaponry in the form of Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Torpedos. Costs one Nuclear Material.
Deep Space Monitors: One day, the Destroyers would return. It was a fear many, many of you held. To that end, some of you wanted to expand the deep space monitoring project in order to ensure that they would not take you by surprise. 0/2, repeatable, costs 1 Network. Each completion gives more robust deep space scanning.
Lunar CityBloks: The first Lunar metropolis: that was what was proposed, constructing a CityBlok on Luna for industrial workers, engineers, and...Well, whoever wanted to immigrate to Luna, really: with a CityBlok, the Directorate could likely triple the maximum capacity of the colony. 0/10, establishes Lunar CityBlok, generating CUL.
Lunar Monasteries: A number of monks and holy men wanted to establish pan-religious monasteries on the Moon, believing that the Overview Effect and lunar silence would be conducive towards theological research and meditation. There existed a few good sites, mostly in the Lunar Craters. 0/10, Construct Lunar Monasteries, generating FTH.
Hypermodular Power Bay: A proposed idea by Toxel: make the power bays on ships even more modular in order to allow power to be easily divertable to the various subsystems as needed. This would require investing in producing a great deal many more PowerBloks, but it would both increase power efficiency and versatility in the field. 0/15, unlocks Hypermodular Power Bay upgrade for ships, improving performance and adaptability, costs 1 Nuclear Materla.
Lunar AutoRecycler: There existed more than enough material on the moon to fuel several AutoRecyclers, but for now, only one was needed to fully meet the colonies native need for industrial capacity: the rest could be put towards expanding the Directorate industrial capacity. 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.
Perpetunite Recyclers: With the advent of Perpetunite, a regenerating radioactive isotope used for creating reactors that never require refueling, some had advocated for installing perpetual motion energy generators in the AutoRecyclers: the vast and infinite amounts of energy could be used to process additional nuclear material as well as increase general production. 0/20, generates 1 Nuclear Material, upgrades AutoRecyclers.
Comm-Net: The network must be expanded to meet the needs of the growing network. A proposed solution was a series of Q-Blok and Perpetunite Reactor powered communications satellites acting in tandem. This would reduce Teklia-Orbital-Lunar latency and increase processing power to allow for further data expansion, and the best part was, it could all be made groundside! 0/10, generates 1 Network.
((((()))))
Elsewhere, the Academy was expanded, constructing a variety facilities dedicated not to the hard sciences of math, engineering, and particle physics, but the soft sciences of the mind and medicine. The greatest threat to Tekket prosperity in the present era, argued many a mental health specialist and social worker, were maladies of the mind, the final warden of the apocalypse left after the slaying of strife, poverty, blight, and ignorance.
And to defeat it, the Directorate would have to treat it as an enemy to be studied and fought against with all the vigour the Directorate afforded conventional engineering and material technology. Psychiatric studies, social programs, expanded meditation seminars, and extensive educational focus on the mind and psychology, with accompanying training programs to produce an extensive mental health system meant to meet all Tekket psychological needs.
It was a new era for Tekket mental health, one where every Tekket received peerless care.
Culture Points (CUL Points): 13
Orbital Pioneer Initiative: Space was big and had lots of space, something anyone who knew what words meant understood. A ballot had been proposed to take advantage of this and your growing orbital infrastructure: fund the development of shuttle-houses that could be used as 'orbital houseboats' by Tekket wanting to move to space, allowing for decentralized orbital communities to form with minimal investment by the government. 0/15, generates EXP.
Wonderpark Fungineering Guild: A collective of engineers, technicians, and entertainers that either are or previously were studying or working at Wonderpark, the Guild, of which the current captain of the Endeavor was a member of, had requested a glut of materials to expand Wonderpark with expanded engineering workshops to build rides and test out zero-gravity technology both for general use in the Directorate and, of course, in Wonderpark. 0/20, orbital amusement park is upgraded to Wonderpark, a Society that grands CUL and EXP and further improves orbital engineering.
Super Battleball League: Battleball consisted of a game played in Lunar Gravity. It was the closest the Directorate came to a contact sport: several members of each team were housed in the cockpit of a small blokbot vehicle, with the goal of the game to beat the absolute snot out of your enemies vehicle and take the battleball from them. Some had proposed an expanded version of the sport, using the Mammoth Class Blokbots as a basis. It would...certainly be very impressive, and a number of people in the military especially were interested in the possibility of using it as a method to test out Battlebot MekTek. 0/20, establishes the Super Battleball League, a Society that allows for the deployment of Battlebots, heavy vehicles that can be utilized for combat.
VR Simulators: With access to Mind-Machine Interface technology, Virtual Reality technology had taken off for both entertainment and educational purposes. A number of Tekket wanted to go further and develop the first hyperrealistic VR Simulator, turning cyberspace from something that only existed on a screen to something that could be touched and interacted with. 0/10, grants ACD and unlocks SimTek.
Compulsory Secondary Education: It wasn't...strictly needed, since most Tekket pursued secondary education anyways. Still, by making it mandatory and spending resources to expand the Academy, you could effectively ensure 100% of your population was considered skilled. 0/10, grants the Compulsory Secondary Education, increasing ACD Points, costs 1 Network.
Sacred Livestock: Some priests and mysteks had taken to rearing livestock such as Swamp Cattle and Bighorn Lizards specifically for use in rituals: while animal abuse was forbidden, it was not considered illegal to slaughter animals so long as it was done ethically and humanely, though not all Mysteks outright sacrificed their livestock, instead merely using them as reusable sources of lifeforce. Some animal rights groups had proposed proposed promoting the latter practice in order to secure an ethical source of essence and reduce the incentive of raising individual livestock for slaughter by funding the creation of Sacred Herds, large, communally owned livestock held in common by the Mysteks. 0/20, grants Sacred Livestock tradition, increasing EXP and granting 1 Warp
Ritual Livestock: Others instead believed that the Directorates efforts would be better spent meeting lifeforce needs and thus minimizing the amount of cattle that were slaughtered via artificial selection programs to develop breeds of livestock that could quickly generate high amounts of lifeforce. 0/20, grants Ritual Livestock tradition, increasing FTH and granting 1 Warp
Sacrificial Livestock: And yet others claimed that the harvest of animals wasn't a problem in the first place: morally it was no different from eating them and there already existed plentiful rules to govern the humane consumption of animals that could simply be expanded to include humane religious consumption. Instead, if anything, facilities to rear these sacrifices should be expanded considerably: lifeforce was a strategic resource and could potentially give the Directorate an edge enough to survive the destroyers. 0/20, grants 3 Warp.
Zoological Educational Facilities: A number of animal enthusiasts had proposed expanding the park system to include special open air zoos: attendees would learn about animals and get to view them safely in accurate recreations of their natural habitats via specialized heavy grav-trams and auto-rovers. It could also be used for research and helping promote endangered species. 0/10, grants Open Air Zoos tradition.
Lunar Salvage Cabals: Some Tekket had taken advantage of easier lunar travel to establish archaeological digs to acquire samples of PrecursorTek. A number of Directorate Citizens wanted to formalize this organization in order to streamline the acquisition of material to reverse engineer. 0/10, unlocks Salvage Cabals, a Society that generates ACD and grants one ART.
Frontier Explorer Compartment: A proposed expansion to Directorate Fleets would be a civilian compartment: essentially turning every ship into a mobile city of sorts and allowing for easy establishment of colonies on various worlds visited by the Fleet as well as providing a wealth of civilian expertise for the Fleet. 5/20, Fleet upgraded with Frontier Town compartment, providing a variety of civilian skills and services to ships alongside a steady stream of internal recruits. Requires Orbital Shipyard and a turn in dock to take effect.
Blood for Art: A number of TekArtists had begun sacrificing quantities of their lifeforce to strengthen their art, believing that it enables them to awaken with the spirit of the piece. It does certainly result in more striking pieces, and the machine spirits of TekArt did typically grow faster than other machine spirits. Some Mystek factions wanted to provide these artists with more support, developing tools so that the artists can find easily find volunteers to help them strengthen their TekArt. 0/10, significantly increases CUL, costs 1 Warp
ShipShrines: Many an engineer, ensign, and cargo hauler believed that ships themselves had their own over-spirit, vaster than any sort of Bond-Spirit but far less active. The larger and older the ship, the stronger the spirit. Many of them wanted for standardized TekShrines in every vessel so that sailors can give offerings to their ship-spirits as well as the myriad other TekSpirits. 0/10, improves the performance of all ships.
((((()))))
Meanwhile, throughout Directorate space, TekShrines were established. Places of Ceremony, dedicated not to any one singular machine spirit, but the Machine Spirits of the area, whether the household itself, the neighborhood, or in some cases, the CityBloks. Each of them consisting of a ceremonial arch, said to drive away evil spirits, a courtyard in which the shrine-keepers and monks of the facility could perform rituals and rites to appease the machine spirits, a main hall containing many sacred incense burners, at its heart the shrine, where Tekket seeking to express gratitude or seeking the blessing of the shrine-spirits would leave offerings of paper talismans, sacred tokens, food, and even gifts of lifeforce.
Mysteks would observe the phenomenon that while rather uncoordinated compared to Anima rites, these shrines would strengthen a great many spirits at once instead of merely one or two, resulting in many machine spirits throughout Teklia becoming more active and aware, even if only ever so slightly. Though they say quantity has a quality all its own, something proven as BlokBots began moving slightly more ore, computers became slightly faster, power plants slightly more energetic, transit systems slightly more efficient, a improvement that was only noticeable in the absolute aggregate, but still potent none the less.
Faith Points (FTH Points): 18
ART: 1
Warp (WP): 1
An Unending Appetite: Sphere 001 spoke of an endless hunger: when its followers had approached it, it had refrained from draining them, telling them instead to bring it livestock and healthy and hale plants, opening up, seemless surface parting like a maw filled with razor sharp teeth as it devoured these live offerings whole. It seemed to prefer a more...direct way of obtaining life force, it seemed, and preferred to glut itself on lesser feed instead of consuming the rich lifeforce of Tekket. Many believed that by crafting facilities designed to raise livestock enmass for feeding to the God-Machine, the Directorate could help it sate its hunger, or at least earn some of its favor. 0/10, generates Living Metal, establishes Court of Hungers
A Discerning Wisdom: Mother spoke of a discerning taste: her hungers were not prodigious, but they were refined. Encoded into the lifeforce of Tekket were hints and whispers of their memories, mere tastes of their experiences. She had carefully savored each and every one of her adherants essence, sipping from them the same way one might sip at a glass of wine. In exchange for plentiful flavors to sip from, she might be convinced to part with knowledge. 0/10, generates Warp, establishes Court of Whispers
A Harsh Bargain: YALDABOATH had simple terms: a great deal of lifeforce only once. He had drained them near dry, and then allowed them to rest in specially arranged personal quarters, where they were attended to by the Tomb Guardians that served the god machine, providing the Demiurgic cults food, water, and assistance with their hygiene should they be unable to move. Many of his cults wished to create infrastructure such that this tithe could be repeated (to a...less extreme degree, of course) without pilgrimage to the Pillar, and no doubt Yaldaboath would be appreciative. 0/10, generates an Artefact, establishes Court of Bargains
Great Conclave: A proposed pan-religious body meant to allow for cross-faith communication, theological research, debate, discussion, and mediation, as well as giving the various faiths of the Directorate the ability to more efficiently coordinate research and information. It would take a great deal of wrangling in order to get the organization functioning, however. 0/25, Set up Great Conclave, generating FTH and providing a neutral mediating body for religious disputes between various spiritualities.
GodTek Emulator: A proposed idea by the Calculators was using a GodTek artifact to design an AI Emulation Drive using occult principles capable of serving as a vessel for one of their deities. This would, if it worked like the Calculators though, allow for them to receive direct communication from their gods. 0/15, establishes GodTek Emulator 0 - The Path, generating CUL, 5 Network and accelerating Calculator Research. Cost 1 Artefact.
The Heart of The Assembly: The Assembly wanted to create a massive MagTek Altar and glut it on copious, copious amounts of life-force to create what can only be described as a ritual reactor, capable of generating its own energy from the Bond-Spirit housed inside the Heart. If it worked, they promised to allot some of the energy to meet Teklia's growing needs. 0/15, establishes the Heart of the Assembly, generating EXP, 5 Nuclear Material and accelerating Assembly Research. Cost 1 Warp.
Temple of the Lanternkeeper: The Lanternkeeper was famous as a symbol of light struggling to survive in darkness. Many wanted to build a temple in one of the gods Holy Places to the Emberlight Firekeeper where they could give their respects and offerings, and where they could erect a Great Sacred Lantern in the gods honor. 0/10, establishes Lanternkeeper Temple, a Holy Site that grants your people increased resistance to despair and hopelessness.
Temple of the Huntsmaster: The Huntsmaster was storied as paragon of craftiness and cunning, felling their foes not through brute force, but through ingenuity, preparation, skill, and exquisitely crafted tools. Many wanted to build a temple in one of the gods holy places to the slayer of beasts and forger of weapons where the disciples of the huntsmaster could give offering and prepare their own weapons for the day monsters returned once more to Teklia. 0/10, establishes Huntsmasters Temple, a Holy Site that generates Huntsmasters, monster slayers specializing in custom engineered weapons.
Temple of the Old One: The Old One was historied as a lord of knowledge and mysteries. Many wanted to build a temple to the god in the abyssals of the sea where its monks, few in number but each of them powerful Mysteks, could assemble a great library where they could delve into the secrets of the cosmos, dedicated to the pelagic lords honor. 0/10, establishes Old Ones Temple, a Holy Site that increases the power of your Rites.
Temple of the Toy Maker: The Toy Maker was fabled as the patron of children and faeries both. Many wanted to build a temple to the whimsical god in Wonderpark of all places, a complex where the Toy Maker could be brought the offerings and wishes of kits and where rites meant to appease and invoke the fair court of the Toy Maker could be performed. 0/10, establishes Toy Makers Temple, a Holy Site that grants your children protection against malign influence.
Nuclear Ritual Engines: Mag-Tek Altars had proven an effective way of amplifying the effects of Mystek Rites. Some theorized that they could be improved further via nuclear reactor bloks, providing the Altar spirit with additional surges of power to channel into occult motion: to that end, they wanted to apply Mystek principles to nuclear design. 0/20, Mag-Tek Altars upgraded with Nuclear Ritual Engines, unknown effects, costs 2 Nuclear Material.
Rite of Soul: You can make the spirits more awake. Could you increase the shine of their soul? A heady proposition: some believed that by experimenting with God-Machine technology, more advanced versions of the Rite of Anima could be developed. No one was entirely sure what the results of this would be, however. 0/20, unlocks Rite of Soul, increasing EXP and FTH, Costs 1 ART.
Rite of Communion: Others had suggested an idea: the Rite of Anima required a form of Communion between a Bond-Spirit and a lesser machine spirit. Could the same rite be adapted to let this dance take place between Tekket and Bond-Spirit instead? Such a thing would be monumental, certainly. 0/20, unlocks Rite of Communion, increasing FTH and CUL, Costs 1 ART
Shrine-Talismans: A common offering to the spirits of the Shrine were talismen crafted from handfolded origamic covered in prayers written in classical Tekket calligraphy: they had, strangely, proven a very effective offering. Perhaps by supplying the Shrine-Keepers with the necessary tools, they could expand their knowledge on the construction of Talismans. 0/10, upgrades TekShrines with Shrine-Talismen, increasing EXP.
Shrine-Rites: This was an era of Mystek ascension. Give the Shrine-Keepers access to plentiful lifeforce to study: allow them to develop their understanding of the potent energy that the God-Machines had given access to and allow them to use it to develop rituals to further increase the potency of the TekShrines. 0/25, upgrades TekShrines with Rite of Motive Offering, increasing EXP given by TekShrines by two.
Gremlin.EXE: Gremlins. Lesser spirits of mischief that cropped up from time to time from the darkest corners of the Network or Teklia's shadowy underbelly, they would possess machine spirits, infecting them like a virus. Some times, this relationship was beneficial: the machine spirit would grow stronger or be given strange powers, adding the Gremlins power to their own in exchange for giving the Gremlin an occasional vessel. Most of the time, this turned out terribly, as the Gremlin provoked the machine spirit to malfunction and glitch, taking delight as havok was created, forcing a Teksorcist to perform long, time consuming rituals that left the unfortunate machine with long lasting damage. With the development of the TekGrimoires, some OcculTeks sought to imprison the minor troublemakers in order to prevent this, forcing them into empty DroneTek bodies layered inside and out with occultek binding. 0/20, develop Gremlin-Drones, created by taming mischievous data-spirits.
Familiars: Many naturalists theorized about natural spirits of the wilderness. Some druids and neo-pagans had experimented, finding that certain beasts and plants did in fact have some spiritual presence. Some Mysteks wished to explore the possibility of transfering the spirit to a Drone-Class vessel: after all, if you can do it to a toaster, why shouldn't it work on an equally old tree or turtle? 0/20, develop Wyld-Drones, Drone class automata formed not from ascended machine spirits but the souls of beasts and plants of sufficient soul strength.
WyldShrines: If nature spirits existed, then should they not also be venerated with shrines of their own? It was a proposal by a number of your naturalists, suggesting the establishment of TekShrines in the wilderness and parks in order to appease the various native spirits of Teklia. If it worked, if a method to appease these wyld-spirits was found, it could serve a number of potential applications in Tekket expansion. 0/10, establish Wyld-Shrines, reducing hostility from wildlife and promoting healthy wilderness, generating EXP.
Bond-Technomata: No Bond-Spirit was nearly mature enough to achieve a third metamorphosis yet, but potentially this process could be accelerated with sufficient amounts of Life-Force, and many Mysteks were salivating over the possibility: Bond-Machina had the ability to generate energy far in excess of their power systems and the ability to use that energy to strengthen and manipulate machinery. Who knows what powers their evolution would have? 0/40, create Bond-Technomata, advanced psyker machine spirits. Cost 1 Warp.
Delve into the Tomb: The complex where the God-Machines were located was, according to the expedition that found the God-Machines, impossibly vast. A select number of Monks wished to establish a temple atop it. It's purpose? To plumb the depths and obtain ancient technology. 0/10, Establish Tombdelver Order, a Society which generates Artifacts (ART).
Cthonic Lifeofferings: A number of Mysteks with interests in the macabe had begun donating small amounts of Life-Force to the TekMausoleums, believing it a method to perhaps appease the spirits interred there. It was an interesting proposal, certainly: by organizing volunteers to donate, perhaps the merit of the idea could be tested. 0/10, TekMausoleums receive regular donations of lifeforce. Unknown effects. Cost 1 Warp.
NeuroChoirs: A proposed theological application of the Mind-Machine Interface, the NeuroChoir would help coordinate and amplify prayer and spiritual meditation and, more importantly, allow for far easier donation of life energy for ritual purposes. 0/15, increases FTH, religious orders gain NeuroChoir artifact, costs 1 ART.
Mystek Ritual Compartments: A number of Mysteks wanted to explore the stars, and your ships would certainly benefit from having onboard spiritual support. Thus, some suggested adding an expansion to your fleet: a modular compartment providing a space for Mysteks to live, conduct rituals, and perform rites as well as house a Bond-Machina. 14/20, Fleets upgraded with Mystek Compartment, increasing overall crew mystic competency and resistance and providing your ship with access to Mystek Division, and increasing FTH. Requires Orbital Shipyard and turn in dock to take effect for existing ships.
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And at the same time, the Academy managed to crack a method to increase the energy generated by their nuclear weapons, fusion or fission, by a factor of 50%, while still keeping them perfectly stable. Perpetunite Warheads were theorized to be capable of lasting twice as long before they'd burn out. Fusion Rockets, now effectively pocket nuclear weapons, would do far more damage to enemy vehicles. Fusion Cannons could fire longer distances before they lost effectiveness.
It was the era of NukeTek. While the existing nuclear stockpiles of Teklia and its warhead production were small, each and every one of the heavy perpetunite missiles were powerful enough to rattle the destroyers but badly. Experts, think-tanks and analysts believe that this is only the first step, however: most simulations indicated that while capable of destroying large swathes of the Servile One army, Perpetunite Warheads likely wouldn't stop the Destroyers themselves due to their small squad commando tactics making it exceptionally difficult to pin them with a warhead, and they were fast enough and durable enough that fusion rockets would be less than optimal.
Still, it was more than Teklia had a few scant generations ago. With hope, it would be sufficient enough for success.
Academy Points (ACD Points): 18
Living Metal: 0
Network: 2
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. 2/10, Unlocks Crude Warp Drive technology, allowing for the exploration of other systems.
Extremely Advanced NukeTek: Perpetunite weaponry was dangerous, but it could be so much worse with the application of advanced particle technology to further increase the damage caused: longer range on fusion cannons to create fusion lances, more explosive torpedos, fusion rockets powerful enough to be called pocket nukes. There was no such thing as overkill. 0/45, Unlocks Advanced NukeTek. Allows for the creation of medium-range, re-useable shipscale weaponry in the form of Fusion Lances and further improvement to all existing NukeTek weaponry. Can spend 1 ART to halve cost.
What Even Is Lifeforce?: A number of scientists had assembled to finally awnser a question that's been plaguing them for generations: what exactly was lifeforce? The mysterious energy revealed to you by the God-Machines had a variety of uses and seemed to use blood as a medium, but clearly it wasn't needed going by the God-Machines. Could study be used to augment the Rite of Lifeblood and develop more efficient versions? Enterprising occult scientists wanted to know. 0/25, upgrades Rite of Lifeblood, increasing the efficiency of a variety of technologies. Costs 1 Warp.
NukeTek Ultra Miniaturization: It would perhaps be considered gross overkill to develop infantry-scale weaponry utilizing Perpetunite Reactors. However, much like your schools, your military didn't know the meaning of overkill: Fusion Shotguns, Fusion Blasters, Fusion Micro-Rockets, and Fusion Grenades. A lot of efficiency would be lost at the sizes you were aiming for, but it'd be a great way to give your forces some real teeth. 0/25, heavy infantry benefits from PowerBlok technology, costs 2 Nuclear Material
Perpetual Engines: Next generation engines that use Perpetunite reactors to generate thrust, these Engines would allow for far quicker and efficient traversal in system, permitting more involved research as your ships would be able to quickly return for re-supply and cover more ground quicker, as well as letting your ships change course in a crisis with more efficiency. 0/25, increases the Scan Level of worlds you visit by an additional +1, allows for quicker course corrections in combat and crisis by ships, cost 1 Nuclear Material
Q-Band Compression: A novel form of quantum technology that should allow for more efficient transfer of data and higher levels of compression, freeing up network and reducing overall latency over long distances, something that would be useful both in the civilian sector and for managing the Fleet's communication. 0/25, +1 Network, +CUL, unlock Q-Band Compression.
Engineering Improvization Doctrine: Toxel advocated that victory could be assured best by teaching Engineers how to improvise solutions in the field quickly and under fire: he wanted to expand the Academies curriculum for Fleet Engineers by including a variety of semi-randomized open ended simulations of increasing difficulty that would test their ability to come up with novel solutions to issues. 0/20, establishes Toxel Doctrine, improving your Engineers ability to develop novel technical solutions under fire.
The Teeth: A number of military scientists believed that by using GodTek and recent advances in NukeTek they could create a hyperadvanced, long range fusion cannon capable of causing significant damage. An intriguing idea, and it would give at least one of your fleets some actual teeth. 0/15, can upgrade a single fleet with the Teeth, a powerful medium range relic grade heavy fusion cannon that will automatically upgrade to incorporate newly developed technology. Will automatically upgrade to a long range when Extremely Advanced Nuke-Tek is completed. Costs 1 Artefact.
Revelation Class Scanner: Another proposed use of GodTek would be reverse engineering its sensory components to try and improve existing scanner technology. Eager young scientists believe that they should be able to potentially double if not triple the effective range, allowing your Deep Space Monitoring facilities to detect potential threats earlier AND allowing your ships to scan vast swathes of space quickly, effectively revolutionizing your ability to explore. 0/20, cost 1 Artefact, unlocks Revelation Class Scanner component, improving the effects of Deep Space Monitoring and upgrading your ship scanners to grant adjacent planets to the one visited +1 Scan Level. If taken with Perpetunite Engines, reach next Scan Tier (System).
Repair Protocol: Living metal is definitely a form of smart matter. If a way could be discovered to control it's growth, you could upgrade your blocks from merely regenerating to replicating if fed with sufficient energy. In essence, bloks that can create more bloks, allowing for your machinery to literally heal from injuries. 0/20, unlock Crude Repair Protocol, giving your machinery the ability to regenerate from light damage. Costs one living metal.
Gestalt Protocol: Another route to improving the strength of Machine Spirits, some of your scientists belonging to the Grand Reconfiguration Committee theorized that synthetic souls were just as modular as their form: they believed that there might exist some manner to merge machine spirits in order to radically accelerate their growth, creating Gestalt-Drones. They would no doubt be very, very different from typical Bond-Drones, however. 0/15, develop Gestalt-Drones, advanced automata created from a multitude of fused together synthetic souls instead of singular awoken machine spirits.
MagTek Reassembly Protocol: An alternate proposed idea to Blok Repair Protocols was MagTek: a number of engineers proposed a sort of reassembly protocol that would caused damaged structures to attempt to replace lost bloks by snapping loose ones to themselves. You would only be able to repair structural damage, not replicate any complicated machinery in the structure, but that would still be invaluable for defensive purposes. 0/10, Buildings and Fortifications gain MagTek Reassembly Protocol, repairing structural damage.
Academy Fleet Compartment High Energy Lab: A proposed improvement to the Academy Compartments was giving them their own High Energy Labs and self-contained power systems: this would allow them to further meet the fleets technical needs as well as provide, in all likelyhood, a great deal of surplus power for your ships to use. 0/20, Academy Fleet Compartment upgraded with High Energy Lab, increasing available power and efficiency of all advanced subsystems. Costs 1 Nuclear Material.
Academy Fleet Network Lab: Another idea would be adding additional information technology in the form of expanded computer labs and data hubs. This would reduce ship-to-Teklia latency, provide additional processing power for things like targetting and navigation, and in a pinch could probably be used to upgrade the Comm-Jammers. 0/20, Academy Fleet Compartment upgraded with Network Lab, improving efficiency of all E-War and computer systems.
Quartzbug Anatomy: A number of xenobiologists were deeply interested in the semi-silica based lifeforms found in the precursor temples. They wanted to perform an in-depth study of the creatures and their physiology. 0/20, grants 1 Biodata, a CUL resource used to domesticate, alter, and utilize alien organisms. Permits additional Quartzbug projects.
Temple Expedition: It would take a military escort, a great many BlockBots, and probably heavy artillery, but the Fleet believe that it should be possible to push past the Quartzbugs and do an in-depth exploration of the Quartz Temple and unravel its secrets. 0/15, grants information
ShipShieldTek: With the advent of Perpetunite technology, some in the Academy wanted to work on upscaling the technology such that it could be installed on both your space stations and on ships. This would fortify your space assets and forces against laser and radiation based weaponry, making you all that much harder to hurt. 8/20, upgrades ShieldTek to apply to space fortifications and ships.
Gnome Class Blok-Bots: Minibots that could be deployed to perform a variety of extremely small tasks, Gnome Class BlokBots are automatically programmed to use loose Bloks unassigned to any task to improve themselves, including the remains of other Blokbots, eventually assembling enough Bloks to 'evolve' into a Golem-Class. 0/15, creates Gnome Class Blok-Bots, generating EXP.
ZwergBot Disassembly Protocol: A proposed subsystem that would allow for BlokBots to continue operation even after being blown apart via configuring themselves into lesser classes. This would be very, very useful for your security bots, as it would mean they would have to be very thoroughly dismantled to stop them. 0/15, Security Bots will automatically when dismantled reform into smaller classes of BlokBot.
DestroyerKin Physiology: Servile Ones and Red Priests were different casts of the same species, one that seemed related to the DestroyerKin: an engineered labour caste? Destroyer Young? You didn't know what connection they had and you probably wouldn't until you met the Destroyers on the field of war again. But now you had access to several DestroyerKin corpses, incredibly well preserved, including a potential third species of DestroyerKin: your scientists were immediately demanding a full autopsy to take place. 0/10, unlocks DestroyerKin Physiology, providing you insight into their biological makeup.
((((()))))
Two hour moratorium.
Theodore Roosevelt said:
Much the same way the majority of the food chain on Teklia (except for the nucleophages such as the Mannikin and spiritual life forms such as Gremlins) began with simple sunlight touching a plant, Toxel noted that much of Erichtheos food chain started here, in the magmafields. Looking out the viewport, the Captain scribbled his observations on a pad: paper, not holo, he found having a pencil in his hand helped the memorization process. A vast array of hexagonal corals growing out of the magma created dwellings of sorts for the various inhabitants of the volcanic abyssal zones.
He watched as a cluster of arthropoidal creatures, with round, searching flourescent eyes the size of dinner plates, most of the creatures body mass, on either of their head, bodies shimmering in a bioluminescent array of colors, limbs and much of its carapace translucent, resembling moving masses of clear oil. The school of creatures moved around Toxels craft looking it over, and Toxel made sure to sketch their appearances, grinning...
Only to wince when one of them seized, its body twisting with a horrific crack as the infection within revealed itself, revealing a variety of blades as the oozy blood of the creature darkened to a murky rust brown, the mimic-infested shrimpoid letting out a horrific screech as it attacked the nearest neighbor, grabbing it close as it shoved a blade through the gelatinous shrimpoids eye, the creature thrashing even as its foes fled.
Toxel sat down his pad as he watched the mutated creature maul the other arthropod before viciously stabbing through the narrow forehead of the shrimpoid a particularly long, narrow needle. The infection vector. Unlatching itself, the Mimic-Infested Shrimpoid began swimming away, hunting for more shrimpoids, intent on eating or infesting all of its former pod, the shrimpoid it had just attacked drifting listlessly, like it was dead...
Before it began to twitch, flesh shifting and melting, the damage being undone. A moment later, the seemingly fine shrimpoid began kicking its way through the water. Mimic-infectors were a common predator of much of the smaller life in this region, he had observed: their short lifespan made up for by their voracity and ability to spread both via deliberate acts of reproduction as well as baiting themselves for consumption and thus transmission of the small, ringworm like mutagenic parasite.
Really, why was it so much of the life on this world was so uncanny, wondered Toxel as he watched a mimic-infector wander too close to a coral, a rubbery thing stretching out from one of the myriad holes on the seacreatures, dragging the screaming infector into shadow where it would, presumably, be cooked in the coral-magma chimneys by whatever extremophile sea slug had grabbed it, parasites and all. Here you had all manner of strange parasite and predator, in the Sub-Continental Zone you had the Leviathans...
A Mimic-Shrimpoid landed in front of the viewport, staring through again: presumably it had eaten or infected all its fellows and was curious about Toxels craft. The creatures necrotic, black, oozy eye gazed, and Toxel shivered as it grew a blade-ended appendage, tapping on the glass, no doubt wondering if the Tekket was some strange new type of food.
Erichtheo Surveyed! Discovered Magmafields, a vast coral jungle established over an extremely large volcanic zone with a wide variety of novel extremophile sea-life as well as valuable deep-core molten mineral veins.
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.
TKK Accomplishment: The second pride of the fleet, the Accomplishment was designed around much of the same principles as the Endeavor, for much of the same purpose. In many ways, it was essentially a second Endeavor in its entirety, though that was still an accomplishment in and of itself.
[-] Survey Luna: Luna was already fully surveyed. SCAN LEVEL: MAX
[ ] Survey Naklis: The planet closest to the sun, and Teklias closest neighbor. It had two major features: an ocean comprised of churning molten ore, and a handful of mountains and floating landmasses atop said ocean. A number of useful minerals had been discovered in the Molten Sea and geological surveys of the mountain indicated that it had deposits of liquid metal. SCAN LEVEL: 1
[-] Survey Tacchis: In ancient Tekketi history, Tacchis was considered a dark omen by astrologers and mystics. These days, the iceball was mostly known for the massive amount of diamonds probes had found: the planet's crust was mostly carbon and water. It also had several subterranean ancient ruins belonging to the Destroyers servants. SCAN LEVEL: MAX
[ ] Survey Mongus: The largest gas giant in your system, Mongus has a green atmosphere, the result of several rare-teklia gases according to probe and scan data, alongside a great deal of hydrogen, methane, and electrical storms. SCAN LEVEL: 1
[ ] Survey Meeklak: The second largest gas giant, but the one with the largest ring, 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 can grow to titanic size, and in the magmafields, home to a number of extremophile sea-life and valuable minerals. SCAN LEVEL: 3. COOLDOWN: 3 Turns.
[ ] Spraa'ng: The furthest planet in your solar system, very little is known about Spraa'ng due to its absurd distance. You're unlikely to find anything interesting before requiring a return trip, but it would certainly be a good way to test your engines.
[ ] Drydock: With the construction of the Shipyard, the Endeavor could finally come in for repairs, maintenance, and upgrades. Upgrades ships with all existing Compartments and Components.
((((())))
Captain Picault stared out the bridge of the Accomplishment, a smug grin on their face. All that work, all that jockying, and he finally had it! The command of a lifetime, the thing that would put him in the history books with all the great eminents of Tekket history: the first captaincy of the second ever Endeavor ever produced. Yes, he would likely never be a household name like Taavi was just by this command, but this was only step one.
Staring out, he watched as a variety of ships flitted from the Lunar Spire, the first location on his tour. It had been decided by the Directorate: they wanted to make standard the example set by Taavi. The first stop an Endeavor would make would be to Luna, which had grown greatly in the past few years. With the Spire came additional material, with additional material came more housing, with more housing came more and more demand for various goods and services and basic infrastructure.
What a time to be alive, Picault thought, marvelling at the fact that only but a hundred years ago the only inhabitants of Luna consisted of some scientists and engineers in a few pre-made laboratories.
"Alright, Cap'n, where to now?" His Navigator asked from their console, and Picault put his paw on his chin in thought. With the obligatory Luna pitstop out of the way, it was now up to Picault to decide where to go now....
Available Planets and Special Infrastructure:
Teklia: Teklia, oh Teklia. The second planet from your star, and your homeworld. A variety of mostly hospitable climates of variable comfortability, it is covered in what can only be described as space garbage: the ecosystem has largely adapted to it and millenia of exploitation has done much to clear it away, but its undeniably a very garbage covered planet. The past century had seen incredibly vast amounts of garbage cleared away, however, and a revitalization of the Teklian biosphere as the Autorecyclers turn ecosystem choking garbage into useable materials, freeing large amounts of space for habitation, agriculture, parks and forests, the material repurposed into into the Teklian orbital space, its off world colonies, and the Arcolocubes, giant cubic self contained ecofriendly metropolis.
Luna: A trash filled wreck, unlike Teklia Luna didn't have pesky things like an atmosphere or ecology to degrade its debris, meaning it had very well preserved trash. It was also the site of a small but healthy and quickly growing colony, a few thousand people supplied by lunar spire, a space elevator that allows for vast shipment of goods too and from Luna.
Deep Space Monitoring System: A Fleet initiative that utilizes a great deal of surplus processing power to scan the sky both to map it out as well as detect incoming threats before they arrive, giving early warning to the Directorate against hostile threats. It had recently detected a large supernova several thousands of lightyears away: interesting from an astronomical perspective but of limited importance considering the explosion happened thousands of years ago.
EXPansion Points (EXP Points): 27
Nuclear Material: 2
Construct Endeavor Class Ship: It was time to begin assembling the third Endeavor. Much like the first and second, it would be a exploratory vessel first and foremost, allowing for quicker survey of the local solar system and, should the worst come to pass, another thing between you and the Destroyers if they return. 0/20, cost 1 Nuclear Material, gain an Endeavor equipped with all unlocked Compartments and Ship upgrades as well as a variable amount of Perpetunite Nuclear Weapons depending on the size of your stockpiles.
Construct Valiant Class Ship: Another proposed idea was for a ship designed for actual combat: the Valiant. For obvious reasons, it would be larger in order to add space for redundant systems and weapon platforms, but at the size you were making it, you'd also be able to install fusion cannons as a shortrange but powerful laser weapon. 0/40, costs 2 nuclear material, gain a Valiant equipped with all non-Civilian Compartments and upgrades as well as a variable amount of nuclear weapons and powerful but short-range Fusion Cannons.
Orbital Defense Arrays: It might not save you, but it would buy time: an array of satellites armed with fusion cannons located in geosynchronous orbit with various of strategic importance, starting with major population centers. 0/10, costs 1 Nuclear Material, construct Orbital Defense Satellites. Repeatable.
Orbital CityBloks: A number of people wanted the Orbital Shipyard expanded with habitation bloks that could serve as civilian living quarters, effectively creating a sort of city-station to serve as a midpoint between Luna and Teklia: it wasn't like there wasn't demand, and it would certainly allow for an alternative to the arcologies. 0/15, generates EXP.
Asteroid Harvesting Facilities: You still had a century or so before Teklia was depleted of salvage and easily accessible nuclear resources, but it was never too early to begin preparing for the eventuality. With that in mind, some of your industrial technicians had proposed creating the beginnings of asteroid harvesting operations by creating a series of specialized shuttle to gather and process space junk into useable materials. 0/20, generates EXP, grants 1 Nuclear Material.
Living Metal Farming: A number of people on the Moon had taken to starting 'living metal' gardens, growing the smart-matter in lieu of plants. After all, Living Metal didn't require atmosphere or even water: just energy, and could be used to construct all sorts of Bloks. Some lunar colonists had proposed using some of the freshly cleared land to set up facilities expressly for the purpose of metal farming, which would help expand the production of the substance and provide a nice surplus of the material. 0/20, grants 1 Living Metal
Perpetunite Production Facility: It would require dipping into your Living Metal stocks, but a fairly popular ballot was to create expanded Perpetunite manufacturing facilities on the Moon in order to meet expanding demands for nuclear materials in Directorate space: because of its position, there were little concerns about radiation like there would be for planet-side facilities. 0/20, grants 5 Nuclear Material, costs 1 Living Metal.
CityShrines: Some had suggested installing into each CityBlok its own regional Shrine: a place where locals can pay tribute and honor to the spirits of their district and priests and mysteks could conduct ceremonial offerings to the CityBloks anima mechanica. This would likely have a beneficial effect on local spirits. 0/10, generates FTH and CUL, strengthens urban machine spirits.
Construct Pioneer Class Ship: The Pioneer Class was intended to be used to set up small settlements on other worlds: the same size as an Endeavor class, but the internals were all things that could be reconfigured into setting up a sustainable, small settlement of a few hundred on any world. 0/20, costs 1 Nuclear Material. When constructed, select a world with at least one Scan Level: create a small settlement on that world.
Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Stockpiles: It was a very distasteful idea: nuclear weapons were ultimately a remnant of a darker, more divided age, and the current design for Heavy Perpetunite Warheads were a terrible thing indeed: for almost an hour they could unleash energy, vaporizing cities. And yet, they were the strongest weapon you had against the Destroyers. 0/1, Grants Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Weapon Stockpile. Can be taken multiple times. Can be used as Shipscale Weaponry in the form of Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Torpedos. Costs one Nuclear Material.
Deep Space Monitors: One day, the Destroyers would return. It was a fear many, many of you held. To that end, some of you wanted to expand the deep space monitoring project in order to ensure that they would not take you by surprise. 0/2, repeatable, costs 1 Network. Each completion gives more robust deep space scanning.
Lunar CityBloks: The first Lunar metropolis: that was what was proposed, constructing a CityBlok on Luna for industrial workers, engineers, and...Well, whoever wanted to immigrate to Luna, really: with a CityBlok, the Directorate could likely triple the maximum capacity of the colony. 0/10, establishes Lunar CityBlok, generating CUL.
Lunar Monasteries: A number of monks and holy men wanted to establish pan-religious monasteries on the Moon, believing that the Overview Effect and lunar silence would be conducive towards theological research and meditation. There existed a few good sites, mostly in the Lunar Craters. 0/10, Construct Lunar Monasteries, generating FTH.
Hypermodular Power Bay: A proposed idea by Toxel: make the power bays on ships even more modular in order to allow power to be easily divertable to the various subsystems as needed. This would require investing in producing a great deal many more PowerBloks, but it would both increase power efficiency and versatility in the field. 0/15, unlocks Hypermodular Power Bay upgrade for ships, improving performance and adaptability, costs 1 Nuclear Materla.
Lunar AutoRecycler: There existed more than enough material on the moon to fuel several AutoRecyclers, but for now, only one was needed to fully meet the colonies native need for industrial capacity: the rest could be put towards expanding the Directorate industrial capacity. 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.
Perpetunite Recyclers: With the advent of Perpetunite, a regenerating radioactive isotope used for creating reactors that never require refueling, some had advocated for installing perpetual motion energy generators in the AutoRecyclers: the vast and infinite amounts of energy could be used to process additional nuclear material as well as increase general production. 0/20, generates 1 Nuclear Material, upgrades AutoRecyclers.
Comm-Net: The network must be expanded to meet the needs of the growing network. A proposed solution was a series of Q-Blok and Perpetunite Reactor powered communications satellites acting in tandem. This would reduce Teklia-Orbital-Lunar latency and increase processing power to allow for further data expansion, and the best part was, it could all be made groundside! 0/10, generates 1 Network.
((((()))))
Elsewhere, the Academy was expanded, constructing a variety facilities dedicated not to the hard sciences of math, engineering, and particle physics, but the soft sciences of the mind and medicine. The greatest threat to Tekket prosperity in the present era, argued many a mental health specialist and social worker, were maladies of the mind, the final warden of the apocalypse left after the slaying of strife, poverty, blight, and ignorance.
And to defeat it, the Directorate would have to treat it as an enemy to be studied and fought against with all the vigour the Directorate afforded conventional engineering and material technology. Psychiatric studies, social programs, expanded meditation seminars, and extensive educational focus on the mind and psychology, with accompanying training programs to produce an extensive mental health system meant to meet all Tekket psychological needs.
It was a new era for Tekket mental health, one where every Tekket received peerless care.
Compulsory Education: One of the things that helped the Directorate flourish was mandatory education starting years 3 to 21. Every citizen received lessons in science, engineering, mathematics, language, history, ethics, and nuclear physics and engineering. Provides an extra ACD Point
High Energy Research Labs Jr: Your children grow up playing with particle accelerators and build it yourself protonic reactors. Many other species might consider this insane beyond belief, but your children certainly benefitted from the intellectual stimulation, even if Schools now had to be bomb-proof. Provides +2 ACD and 1 EXP point and two network. An improvement to Nuclear Engineering For Kits.
Wonderpark: A 3D Antigravity amusement park located in Teklian orbit that served as both a major tourist attraction and a proving ground for Directorate orbital engineers to test experimental designs and techniques for use in designing orbital infrastructure. +1 CUL, space station design trends towards the more experimental and avante garde.
Wargames: Every year Directorate Fleet's science division puts out a handful of strategy games that they promote via professional leagues and events in order to encourage developing strategic management skills and, more importantly, get people to join the Fleet. Improved strategic skill and survivability for all troops and increased Fleet recruitment, increasing the size of crew complements.
War Against Extinction: A harsh lesson learned during the Destroyer War: there existed powers in the cosmos far more powerful than your species that wished you harm. It was a grim calculus, but if the day came when your soldiers and explorers had to sacrifice themselves in order to take down an enemy that would threaten your people, they would, without hesitation. Slight bonus for all forces against superior opponents, can designate forces as Extinctionist, increasing how much damage they do to foes but moderately reducing survivability.
Moneyless Society: Currency was an outdated concept when you produced enough food and material to more than meet peoples needs. Resistance to subversion increased.
Advanced Promoted Therapy: Trauma was a major enemy to the health and wellbeing of many Tekket. To combat it, your society had an extensive network of therapists, psychiatrists and social workers, including an entire division of the Academy dedicated to the industry. Moderately increased mental resilience for all Tekket.
Meditation: The product of countless therapists and religious and spiritual leaders working to promote the practice as a method of spiritual and mental wellness maintenance, Meditation had taken off in Tekket society, both group, private, and virtual mediation. It was no replacement for actual therapy, but it served as a valuable religion agnostic tool for mental health.
HobbyBots: In this modern era, BlokBots were used for more than just manual labour: they had also found a niche in the consumer entertainment market as pets, in games, as toys, and even sports and competitions, and with increased popularity came more casual robotics hobbiests. +1 EXP, BlokBots are slightly better designed.
Zero G Sports Team: All throughout the Directorate, citizens enjoyed watching and playing Z-G sports, to the point where Wonderpark had several mega-stadiums specifically dedicated to the watching the antigravity games played professionally by the Wonderpark Sports League and most CityBloks came installed with at least one Grav-Suite for amateur or local teams and leagues. +1 Cul, improves physical fitness.
High Energy Research Labs Jr: Your children grow up playing with particle accelerators and build it yourself protonic reactors. Many other species might consider this insane beyond belief, but your children certainly benefitted from the intellectual stimulation, even if Schools now had to be bomb-proof. Provides +2 ACD and 1 EXP point and two network. An improvement to Nuclear Engineering For Kits.
Wonderpark: A 3D Antigravity amusement park located in Teklian orbit that served as both a major tourist attraction and a proving ground for Directorate orbital engineers to test experimental designs and techniques for use in designing orbital infrastructure. +1 CUL, space station design trends towards the more experimental and avante garde.
Wargames: Every year Directorate Fleet's science division puts out a handful of strategy games that they promote via professional leagues and events in order to encourage developing strategic management skills and, more importantly, get people to join the Fleet. Improved strategic skill and survivability for all troops and increased Fleet recruitment, increasing the size of crew complements.
War Against Extinction: A harsh lesson learned during the Destroyer War: there existed powers in the cosmos far more powerful than your species that wished you harm. It was a grim calculus, but if the day came when your soldiers and explorers had to sacrifice themselves in order to take down an enemy that would threaten your people, they would, without hesitation. Slight bonus for all forces against superior opponents, can designate forces as Extinctionist, increasing how much damage they do to foes but moderately reducing survivability.
Moneyless Society: Currency was an outdated concept when you produced enough food and material to more than meet peoples needs. Resistance to subversion increased.
Advanced Promoted Therapy: Trauma was a major enemy to the health and wellbeing of many Tekket. To combat it, your society had an extensive network of therapists, psychiatrists and social workers, including an entire division of the Academy dedicated to the industry. Moderately increased mental resilience for all Tekket.
Meditation: The product of countless therapists and religious and spiritual leaders working to promote the practice as a method of spiritual and mental wellness maintenance, Meditation had taken off in Tekket society, both group, private, and virtual mediation. It was no replacement for actual therapy, but it served as a valuable religion agnostic tool for mental health.
HobbyBots: In this modern era, BlokBots were used for more than just manual labour: they had also found a niche in the consumer entertainment market as pets, in games, as toys, and even sports and competitions, and with increased popularity came more casual robotics hobbiests. +1 EXP, BlokBots are slightly better designed.
Zero G Sports Team: All throughout the Directorate, citizens enjoyed watching and playing Z-G sports, to the point where Wonderpark had several mega-stadiums specifically dedicated to the watching the antigravity games played professionally by the Wonderpark Sports League and most CityBloks came installed with at least one Grav-Suite for amateur or local teams and leagues. +1 Cul, improves physical fitness.
Culture Points (CUL Points): 13
Orbital Pioneer Initiative: Space was big and had lots of space, something anyone who knew what words meant understood. A ballot had been proposed to take advantage of this and your growing orbital infrastructure: fund the development of shuttle-houses that could be used as 'orbital houseboats' by Tekket wanting to move to space, allowing for decentralized orbital communities to form with minimal investment by the government. 0/15, generates EXP.
Wonderpark Fungineering Guild: A collective of engineers, technicians, and entertainers that either are or previously were studying or working at Wonderpark, the Guild, of which the current captain of the Endeavor was a member of, had requested a glut of materials to expand Wonderpark with expanded engineering workshops to build rides and test out zero-gravity technology both for general use in the Directorate and, of course, in Wonderpark. 0/20, orbital amusement park is upgraded to Wonderpark, a Society that grands CUL and EXP and further improves orbital engineering.
Super Battleball League: Battleball consisted of a game played in Lunar Gravity. It was the closest the Directorate came to a contact sport: several members of each team were housed in the cockpit of a small blokbot vehicle, with the goal of the game to beat the absolute snot out of your enemies vehicle and take the battleball from them. Some had proposed an expanded version of the sport, using the Mammoth Class Blokbots as a basis. It would...certainly be very impressive, and a number of people in the military especially were interested in the possibility of using it as a method to test out Battlebot MekTek. 0/20, establishes the Super Battleball League, a Society that allows for the deployment of Battlebots, heavy vehicles that can be utilized for combat.
VR Simulators: With access to Mind-Machine Interface technology, Virtual Reality technology had taken off for both entertainment and educational purposes. A number of Tekket wanted to go further and develop the first hyperrealistic VR Simulator, turning cyberspace from something that only existed on a screen to something that could be touched and interacted with. 0/10, grants ACD and unlocks SimTek.
Compulsory Secondary Education: It wasn't...strictly needed, since most Tekket pursued secondary education anyways. Still, by making it mandatory and spending resources to expand the Academy, you could effectively ensure 100% of your population was considered skilled. 0/10, grants the Compulsory Secondary Education, increasing ACD Points, costs 1 Network.
Sacred Livestock: Some priests and mysteks had taken to rearing livestock such as Swamp Cattle and Bighorn Lizards specifically for use in rituals: while animal abuse was forbidden, it was not considered illegal to slaughter animals so long as it was done ethically and humanely, though not all Mysteks outright sacrificed their livestock, instead merely using them as reusable sources of lifeforce. Some animal rights groups had proposed proposed promoting the latter practice in order to secure an ethical source of essence and reduce the incentive of raising individual livestock for slaughter by funding the creation of Sacred Herds, large, communally owned livestock held in common by the Mysteks. 0/20, grants Sacred Livestock tradition, increasing EXP and granting 1 Warp
Ritual Livestock: Others instead believed that the Directorates efforts would be better spent meeting lifeforce needs and thus minimizing the amount of cattle that were slaughtered via artificial selection programs to develop breeds of livestock that could quickly generate high amounts of lifeforce. 0/20, grants Ritual Livestock tradition, increasing FTH and granting 1 Warp
Sacrificial Livestock: And yet others claimed that the harvest of animals wasn't a problem in the first place: morally it was no different from eating them and there already existed plentiful rules to govern the humane consumption of animals that could simply be expanded to include humane religious consumption. Instead, if anything, facilities to rear these sacrifices should be expanded considerably: lifeforce was a strategic resource and could potentially give the Directorate an edge enough to survive the destroyers. 0/20, grants 3 Warp.
Zoological Educational Facilities: A number of animal enthusiasts had proposed expanding the park system to include special open air zoos: attendees would learn about animals and get to view them safely in accurate recreations of their natural habitats via specialized heavy grav-trams and auto-rovers. It could also be used for research and helping promote endangered species. 0/10, grants Open Air Zoos tradition.
Lunar Salvage Cabals: Some Tekket had taken advantage of easier lunar travel to establish archaeological digs to acquire samples of PrecursorTek. A number of Directorate Citizens wanted to formalize this organization in order to streamline the acquisition of material to reverse engineer. 0/10, unlocks Salvage Cabals, a Society that generates ACD and grants one ART.
Frontier Explorer Compartment: A proposed expansion to Directorate Fleets would be a civilian compartment: essentially turning every ship into a mobile city of sorts and allowing for easy establishment of colonies on various worlds visited by the Fleet as well as providing a wealth of civilian expertise for the Fleet. 5/20, Fleet upgraded with Frontier Town compartment, providing a variety of civilian skills and services to ships alongside a steady stream of internal recruits. Requires Orbital Shipyard and a turn in dock to take effect.
Blood for Art: A number of TekArtists had begun sacrificing quantities of their lifeforce to strengthen their art, believing that it enables them to awaken with the spirit of the piece. It does certainly result in more striking pieces, and the machine spirits of TekArt did typically grow faster than other machine spirits. Some Mystek factions wanted to provide these artists with more support, developing tools so that the artists can find easily find volunteers to help them strengthen their TekArt. 0/10, significantly increases CUL, costs 1 Warp
ShipShrines: Many an engineer, ensign, and cargo hauler believed that ships themselves had their own over-spirit, vaster than any sort of Bond-Spirit but far less active. The larger and older the ship, the stronger the spirit. Many of them wanted for standardized TekShrines in every vessel so that sailors can give offerings to their ship-spirits as well as the myriad other TekSpirits. 0/10, improves the performance of all ships.
((((()))))
Meanwhile, throughout Directorate space, TekShrines were established. Places of Ceremony, dedicated not to any one singular machine spirit, but the Machine Spirits of the area, whether the household itself, the neighborhood, or in some cases, the CityBloks. Each of them consisting of a ceremonial arch, said to drive away evil spirits, a courtyard in which the shrine-keepers and monks of the facility could perform rituals and rites to appease the machine spirits, a main hall containing many sacred incense burners, at its heart the shrine, where Tekket seeking to express gratitude or seeking the blessing of the shrine-spirits would leave offerings of paper talismans, sacred tokens, food, and even gifts of lifeforce.
Mysteks would observe the phenomenon that while rather uncoordinated compared to Anima rites, these shrines would strengthen a great many spirits at once instead of merely one or two, resulting in many machine spirits throughout Teklia becoming more active and aware, even if only ever so slightly. Though they say quantity has a quality all its own, something proven as BlokBots began moving slightly more ore, computers became slightly faster, power plants slightly more energetic, transit systems slightly more efficient, a improvement that was only noticeable in the absolute aggregate, but still potent none the less.
Machine Spirits: Discovered via ancient texts from long gone precursors, the Tekket have a healthy reverence for machine spirits, viewing them as invisible partners and allies. So long as the vessel is maintained and proper respect is given, the Tekket find the spirits of their technology extremely reliable, with a handful of rites and rituals existing in order to allow the Tekket to commune with the ghosts in the machine. Improved reliability for all technology.
Rite of Anima: A series of TekAgnostic Mystek rituals designed to help Machine Spirits achieve an awareness of self, strengthening them to the point they can be transferred into Bond-Drone vessels, where they can be used as companions, assistants, helpers, and pets. +3 EXP.
MagTek Altars: Occult Supercomputers housing mature Bond-Spirits connected to MagTek Assemblers and a variety of other additions that vary both Altar by Altar and Mystek Order by Mystek Order, these artefacts act as ritual accelerators, allowing for more efficient and power Anima Rite practices. Grants 2 ACD, improves effects of Mystek Rites.
TekMasoleum: Massive crypts interred with vast amounts of cryopreserved Tekket remains in vast Crypt-Complexes, guarded by wandering Bond-Drones and housing cthonic Bond-Machinas fed on the brainscans and stories of the dead, acting as storytellers and guides for those seeking knowledge of the dead. +3 CUL.
TekGrimoires: Occult aids consisting of HoloTek BlokBooks containing a variety of occultek lore and esoterica collated from various traditions combined with automated program-rituals designed to perform complex mathematical rites and calculations at speeds and precisions the organic brain cannot. +1 FTH
Rite of Lifeblood: Not so much a rite as a plug and play modular rite component, this technique had been provided by Sphere 001 as a method to empower rituals and occultek ceremonies by donating lifeforce. It had proven...frightfully effective, making the Rite of Anima and other rituals far more effective, even if technically it was a form of blood magic. +3 FTH, gain 1 Warp, 1 Artefact
God-Machine Cults: A collection of cults organized into Demiurgic Circles, each swearing to one of the three God-Machines. The God-Machines seem to have allowed their support, taking from them tithes of life-force in exchange for audiences and secrets.
Folk-Religions: A variety of religions supporting various dieties and pantheons, the Folk-Religions of Teklia had grown greatly in the past few years, and it wasn't unusual for Arcolocubes to have the occasional festival or ceremony held by the congregants of said religions.
The Assembly: The Assembly believed that no gods existed yet, but that they could be made, shaped by mantras, given breath by lifeforce, and given shape by living metal.
Church of the Great Calculator: The Calculators believed that if the gods existed, no vessel had sufficient processing power to manifest them, no programming language the complexity to describe them, and no vessel strong enough to contain them.
TekShrines: Shrines established to honor local machine spirits, the larger and more expansive the shrine, the larger its area of coverage. They had a very slight effect, the power they invested into the mechanica anima being so widely distributed, but this slight effect was vastly more broad in scope compared to more powerful artefacts and rituals used for strengthening machine spirits. +2 EXP.
Rite of Anima: A series of TekAgnostic Mystek rituals designed to help Machine Spirits achieve an awareness of self, strengthening them to the point they can be transferred into Bond-Drone vessels, where they can be used as companions, assistants, helpers, and pets. +3 EXP.
MagTek Altars: Occult Supercomputers housing mature Bond-Spirits connected to MagTek Assemblers and a variety of other additions that vary both Altar by Altar and Mystek Order by Mystek Order, these artefacts act as ritual accelerators, allowing for more efficient and power Anima Rite practices. Grants 2 ACD, improves effects of Mystek Rites.
TekMasoleum: Massive crypts interred with vast amounts of cryopreserved Tekket remains in vast Crypt-Complexes, guarded by wandering Bond-Drones and housing cthonic Bond-Machinas fed on the brainscans and stories of the dead, acting as storytellers and guides for those seeking knowledge of the dead. +3 CUL.
TekGrimoires: Occult aids consisting of HoloTek BlokBooks containing a variety of occultek lore and esoterica collated from various traditions combined with automated program-rituals designed to perform complex mathematical rites and calculations at speeds and precisions the organic brain cannot. +1 FTH
Rite of Lifeblood: Not so much a rite as a plug and play modular rite component, this technique had been provided by Sphere 001 as a method to empower rituals and occultek ceremonies by donating lifeforce. It had proven...frightfully effective, making the Rite of Anima and other rituals far more effective, even if technically it was a form of blood magic. +3 FTH, gain 1 Warp, 1 Artefact
God-Machine Cults: A collection of cults organized into Demiurgic Circles, each swearing to one of the three God-Machines. The God-Machines seem to have allowed their support, taking from them tithes of life-force in exchange for audiences and secrets.
Folk-Religions: A variety of religions supporting various dieties and pantheons, the Folk-Religions of Teklia had grown greatly in the past few years, and it wasn't unusual for Arcolocubes to have the occasional festival or ceremony held by the congregants of said religions.
The Assembly: The Assembly believed that no gods existed yet, but that they could be made, shaped by mantras, given breath by lifeforce, and given shape by living metal.
Church of the Great Calculator: The Calculators believed that if the gods existed, no vessel had sufficient processing power to manifest them, no programming language the complexity to describe them, and no vessel strong enough to contain them.
TekShrines: Shrines established to honor local machine spirits, the larger and more expansive the shrine, the larger its area of coverage. They had a very slight effect, the power they invested into the mechanica anima being so widely distributed, but this slight effect was vastly more broad in scope compared to more powerful artefacts and rituals used for strengthening machine spirits. +2 EXP.
Faith Points (FTH Points): 18
ART: 1
Warp (WP): 1
An Unending Appetite: Sphere 001 spoke of an endless hunger: when its followers had approached it, it had refrained from draining them, telling them instead to bring it livestock and healthy and hale plants, opening up, seemless surface parting like a maw filled with razor sharp teeth as it devoured these live offerings whole. It seemed to prefer a more...direct way of obtaining life force, it seemed, and preferred to glut itself on lesser feed instead of consuming the rich lifeforce of Tekket. Many believed that by crafting facilities designed to raise livestock enmass for feeding to the God-Machine, the Directorate could help it sate its hunger, or at least earn some of its favor. 0/10, generates Living Metal, establishes Court of Hungers
A Discerning Wisdom: Mother spoke of a discerning taste: her hungers were not prodigious, but they were refined. Encoded into the lifeforce of Tekket were hints and whispers of their memories, mere tastes of their experiences. She had carefully savored each and every one of her adherants essence, sipping from them the same way one might sip at a glass of wine. In exchange for plentiful flavors to sip from, she might be convinced to part with knowledge. 0/10, generates Warp, establishes Court of Whispers
A Harsh Bargain: YALDABOATH had simple terms: a great deal of lifeforce only once. He had drained them near dry, and then allowed them to rest in specially arranged personal quarters, where they were attended to by the Tomb Guardians that served the god machine, providing the Demiurgic cults food, water, and assistance with their hygiene should they be unable to move. Many of his cults wished to create infrastructure such that this tithe could be repeated (to a...less extreme degree, of course) without pilgrimage to the Pillar, and no doubt Yaldaboath would be appreciative. 0/10, generates an Artefact, establishes Court of Bargains
Great Conclave: A proposed pan-religious body meant to allow for cross-faith communication, theological research, debate, discussion, and mediation, as well as giving the various faiths of the Directorate the ability to more efficiently coordinate research and information. It would take a great deal of wrangling in order to get the organization functioning, however. 0/25, Set up Great Conclave, generating FTH and providing a neutral mediating body for religious disputes between various spiritualities.
GodTek Emulator: A proposed idea by the Calculators was using a GodTek artifact to design an AI Emulation Drive using occult principles capable of serving as a vessel for one of their deities. This would, if it worked like the Calculators though, allow for them to receive direct communication from their gods. 0/15, establishes GodTek Emulator 0 - The Path, generating CUL, 5 Network and accelerating Calculator Research. Cost 1 Artefact.
The Heart of The Assembly: The Assembly wanted to create a massive MagTek Altar and glut it on copious, copious amounts of life-force to create what can only be described as a ritual reactor, capable of generating its own energy from the Bond-Spirit housed inside the Heart. If it worked, they promised to allot some of the energy to meet Teklia's growing needs. 0/15, establishes the Heart of the Assembly, generating EXP, 5 Nuclear Material and accelerating Assembly Research. Cost 1 Warp.
Temple of the Lanternkeeper: The Lanternkeeper was famous as a symbol of light struggling to survive in darkness. Many wanted to build a temple in one of the gods Holy Places to the Emberlight Firekeeper where they could give their respects and offerings, and where they could erect a Great Sacred Lantern in the gods honor. 0/10, establishes Lanternkeeper Temple, a Holy Site that grants your people increased resistance to despair and hopelessness.
Temple of the Huntsmaster: The Huntsmaster was storied as paragon of craftiness and cunning, felling their foes not through brute force, but through ingenuity, preparation, skill, and exquisitely crafted tools. Many wanted to build a temple in one of the gods holy places to the slayer of beasts and forger of weapons where the disciples of the huntsmaster could give offering and prepare their own weapons for the day monsters returned once more to Teklia. 0/10, establishes Huntsmasters Temple, a Holy Site that generates Huntsmasters, monster slayers specializing in custom engineered weapons.
Temple of the Old One: The Old One was historied as a lord of knowledge and mysteries. Many wanted to build a temple to the god in the abyssals of the sea where its monks, few in number but each of them powerful Mysteks, could assemble a great library where they could delve into the secrets of the cosmos, dedicated to the pelagic lords honor. 0/10, establishes Old Ones Temple, a Holy Site that increases the power of your Rites.
Temple of the Toy Maker: The Toy Maker was fabled as the patron of children and faeries both. Many wanted to build a temple to the whimsical god in Wonderpark of all places, a complex where the Toy Maker could be brought the offerings and wishes of kits and where rites meant to appease and invoke the fair court of the Toy Maker could be performed. 0/10, establishes Toy Makers Temple, a Holy Site that grants your children protection against malign influence.
Nuclear Ritual Engines: Mag-Tek Altars had proven an effective way of amplifying the effects of Mystek Rites. Some theorized that they could be improved further via nuclear reactor bloks, providing the Altar spirit with additional surges of power to channel into occult motion: to that end, they wanted to apply Mystek principles to nuclear design. 0/20, Mag-Tek Altars upgraded with Nuclear Ritual Engines, unknown effects, costs 2 Nuclear Material.
Rite of Soul: You can make the spirits more awake. Could you increase the shine of their soul? A heady proposition: some believed that by experimenting with God-Machine technology, more advanced versions of the Rite of Anima could be developed. No one was entirely sure what the results of this would be, however. 0/20, unlocks Rite of Soul, increasing EXP and FTH, Costs 1 ART.
Rite of Communion: Others had suggested an idea: the Rite of Anima required a form of Communion between a Bond-Spirit and a lesser machine spirit. Could the same rite be adapted to let this dance take place between Tekket and Bond-Spirit instead? Such a thing would be monumental, certainly. 0/20, unlocks Rite of Communion, increasing FTH and CUL, Costs 1 ART
Shrine-Talismans: A common offering to the spirits of the Shrine were talismen crafted from handfolded origamic covered in prayers written in classical Tekket calligraphy: they had, strangely, proven a very effective offering. Perhaps by supplying the Shrine-Keepers with the necessary tools, they could expand their knowledge on the construction of Talismans. 0/10, upgrades TekShrines with Shrine-Talismen, increasing EXP.
Shrine-Rites: This was an era of Mystek ascension. Give the Shrine-Keepers access to plentiful lifeforce to study: allow them to develop their understanding of the potent energy that the God-Machines had given access to and allow them to use it to develop rituals to further increase the potency of the TekShrines. 0/25, upgrades TekShrines with Rite of Motive Offering, increasing EXP given by TekShrines by two.
Gremlin.EXE: Gremlins. Lesser spirits of mischief that cropped up from time to time from the darkest corners of the Network or Teklia's shadowy underbelly, they would possess machine spirits, infecting them like a virus. Some times, this relationship was beneficial: the machine spirit would grow stronger or be given strange powers, adding the Gremlins power to their own in exchange for giving the Gremlin an occasional vessel. Most of the time, this turned out terribly, as the Gremlin provoked the machine spirit to malfunction and glitch, taking delight as havok was created, forcing a Teksorcist to perform long, time consuming rituals that left the unfortunate machine with long lasting damage. With the development of the TekGrimoires, some OcculTeks sought to imprison the minor troublemakers in order to prevent this, forcing them into empty DroneTek bodies layered inside and out with occultek binding. 0/20, develop Gremlin-Drones, created by taming mischievous data-spirits.
Familiars: Many naturalists theorized about natural spirits of the wilderness. Some druids and neo-pagans had experimented, finding that certain beasts and plants did in fact have some spiritual presence. Some Mysteks wished to explore the possibility of transfering the spirit to a Drone-Class vessel: after all, if you can do it to a toaster, why shouldn't it work on an equally old tree or turtle? 0/20, develop Wyld-Drones, Drone class automata formed not from ascended machine spirits but the souls of beasts and plants of sufficient soul strength.
WyldShrines: If nature spirits existed, then should they not also be venerated with shrines of their own? It was a proposal by a number of your naturalists, suggesting the establishment of TekShrines in the wilderness and parks in order to appease the various native spirits of Teklia. If it worked, if a method to appease these wyld-spirits was found, it could serve a number of potential applications in Tekket expansion. 0/10, establish Wyld-Shrines, reducing hostility from wildlife and promoting healthy wilderness, generating EXP.
Bond-Technomata: No Bond-Spirit was nearly mature enough to achieve a third metamorphosis yet, but potentially this process could be accelerated with sufficient amounts of Life-Force, and many Mysteks were salivating over the possibility: Bond-Machina had the ability to generate energy far in excess of their power systems and the ability to use that energy to strengthen and manipulate machinery. Who knows what powers their evolution would have? 0/40, create Bond-Technomata, advanced psyker machine spirits. Cost 1 Warp.
Delve into the Tomb: The complex where the God-Machines were located was, according to the expedition that found the God-Machines, impossibly vast. A select number of Monks wished to establish a temple atop it. It's purpose? To plumb the depths and obtain ancient technology. 0/10, Establish Tombdelver Order, a Society which generates Artifacts (ART).
Cthonic Lifeofferings: A number of Mysteks with interests in the macabe had begun donating small amounts of Life-Force to the TekMausoleums, believing it a method to perhaps appease the spirits interred there. It was an interesting proposal, certainly: by organizing volunteers to donate, perhaps the merit of the idea could be tested. 0/10, TekMausoleums receive regular donations of lifeforce. Unknown effects. Cost 1 Warp.
NeuroChoirs: A proposed theological application of the Mind-Machine Interface, the NeuroChoir would help coordinate and amplify prayer and spiritual meditation and, more importantly, allow for far easier donation of life energy for ritual purposes. 0/15, increases FTH, religious orders gain NeuroChoir artifact, costs 1 ART.
Mystek Ritual Compartments: A number of Mysteks wanted to explore the stars, and your ships would certainly benefit from having onboard spiritual support. Thus, some suggested adding an expansion to your fleet: a modular compartment providing a space for Mysteks to live, conduct rituals, and perform rites as well as house a Bond-Machina. 14/20, Fleets upgraded with Mystek Compartment, increasing overall crew mystic competency and resistance and providing your ship with access to Mystek Division, and increasing FTH. Requires Orbital Shipyard and turn in dock to take effect for existing ships.
(((()))))
And at the same time, the Academy managed to crack a method to increase the energy generated by their nuclear weapons, fusion or fission, by a factor of 50%, while still keeping them perfectly stable. Perpetunite Warheads were theorized to be capable of lasting twice as long before they'd burn out. Fusion Rockets, now effectively pocket nuclear weapons, would do far more damage to enemy vehicles. Fusion Cannons could fire longer distances before they lost effectiveness.
It was the era of NukeTek. While the existing nuclear stockpiles of Teklia and its warhead production were small, each and every one of the heavy perpetunite missiles were powerful enough to rattle the destroyers but badly. Experts, think-tanks and analysts believe that this is only the first step, however: most simulations indicated that while capable of destroying large swathes of the Servile One army, Perpetunite Warheads likely wouldn't stop the Destroyers themselves due to their small squad commando tactics making it exceptionally difficult to pin them with a warhead, and they were fast enough and durable enough that fusion rockets would be less than optimal.
Still, it was more than Teklia had a few scant generations ago. With hope, it would be sufficient enough for success.
Directorate Academy: The Directorate required a vast number of skilled professionals to operate, even in this era of increasing automation. To meet this need, the Directorate Academy was established, growing steadily until its reach encompassed the globe. The Academy effectively WAS the place to get an advanced education. Thankfully, it provided online courses for free, though there were a number of lucky students who received invitations to attend directly: those were the ones who would get drafted into the Academies own personal labs. Provides 5 ACD Points.
Bond-Drone Technology: Some machine spirits are particularly lively and strong, given power through generations of veneration, extreme age, or, in rare cases, through the love and care of their owner. These awoken machine spirits are typically given new vessels to inhabit, thus birthing Bond-Drones, ensouled, somewhat intelligent automata that serve as warrior, protector, and even family. Provides 1 EXP Point.
Bond-Machina: Advanced psychoactive Bond Machine-Spirits who through ritual and sufficient processing power have evolved into more advanced, powerful forms, capable of generating energy as if from nowhere and using it to influence and empower other machinery as well as provide power to rituals. They served as guardian, guide, and friend. Provides 1 EXP Point and 1 FTH Point.
Mind-Machine Interface: A implantless technology that allows for wireless interface between Tekket mind and machine mind, allowing for easier control of technology and communication with machine spirits. +1 FTH Point and +1 ACD Point.
BlokTek: Hypermodular tek designed to be plug and play, BlokTek was the basis of most TekketTek. Every component could be, if you knew the schematic, used for a different machine. The same components that would be used to make a blaster could also be used to build a microwave: the battery as the power source, the optical lens to irradiate the thing, all you needed was a few bloks to make a box. Provides ultimate lego technology: all parts interchangeable and universal. Provides 2 EXP Points.
Living Metal: GodTek, or something derived from it: the Destroyers had managed to occasionally lightly injure the God-Machines, leaving small samples of an advanced proto-metal around. Researching it produced a room temperature regenerative semi-conductor. Another cornerstone of your tek: it meant that components could essentially be infinitely reused. Maintenance costs reduced to zero.
ShieldBloks: A countermeasure developed to reduce the effectiveness of Destroyer Laser Weapons, ShieldTek generators could power energy barriers around fortifications, hardening positions against lasfire. Recent advances had managed to produce ShieldBloks, which applies BlokTek principles to the technology, creating a modular barrier generator that could be freely installed in vehicles, satellites, and inside buildings. Vehicles and fortifications effectiveness against LasFire increased.
Golem Class BlokBots: BotTek had advanced to the point a variety of simple menial tasks and labours can be automated. Golem Class BlokBots come in a variety of forms with a variety of peripherals, from childcare assistant nannybots to industrial digbots to food-crate hauling cargobots. Increase EXP by 1.
MagTek Assemblers: Specialized MagTek pads that, when paired with a computer or tablet to act as a design station, could be used to instantly snap together bloks to assemble whole machines and devices once a suitable schematic was chosen, simplying the process to just a push of a button. Increase EXP by 1.
MagTek Binding Fields: Electromagnetic fields that help hold together Bloks, increasing whole machines ability to resist kinetic force, improving their overall structural durability, and increasing the conditions your machines could operate under. BlokTek is more damage resistant.
Q-Blok Processors: Small mass produced Quantum Computers, Q-Bloks are generally a few feet in size, containing complex tek that allows for processing power formerly reserved for rare government held supercomputers to be used for every day use both in religious practices, entertainment, Sythetic Intelligence useage, and industrial tasks. +1 CUL and +1 ACD
OmniWrench Manipulator: MagTek installed on specialized OmniWrenches to allow for magnetic lifting and movement of Bloks in order to allow for easier on site building of simple structures and vehicles: all an engineer has to do is wave their wrench to get things done. +1 EXP
Deep Crust Scanner: A new-model Ship Scanner that gives more detailed and precise readings far quicker than older models at the cost of requiring a great deal of processing power to utilize. It should allow your ships to locate deep crust anomalies and oddities and bypass simple forms of jamming. Gain 2 Scan Levels when scanning planets.
PowerBlok: Miniaturized nuclear reactors, PowerBloks are intended for use in vehicles and weaponry, allowing them to utilize increased amounts of power in order to allow for both larger size, more space for other components, or more powerful components that previously required larger vehicle reactors to run. They were also a component of Fusion Weaponry, typically used as artillery or on vehicles. Increased Vehicle performance. Can deploy Perpetunite Fusion Rockets and Fusion Cannons as vehicle and artillery scale weapons.
Academy Fleet Compartments: Modular and standardized Academy facilities that could be quickly added to ships, they provided a wealth of scientific expertise to captains and allowed for exiting field research opportunities. +1 ACD, improves Fleet technical ability and providing access to advanced scientific tools.
Mammoth Class BlokBots: Vehicle sized BlokBots meant to handle heavy manual labour. In a pinch, they could also be used to support golem class security bots. +1 EXP.
NukeTek Technology: Perpetunite based weaponry had evolved: more energetic reactors meant bigger, more powerful, and longer lasting releases of energy. Warheads, rockets, cannons, they had all been made far more efficient and destructive in the pursuit of tools capable of decisively turning the tide of battle. All fission and fusion based weaponry improved in effectiveness.
Bond-Drone Technology: Some machine spirits are particularly lively and strong, given power through generations of veneration, extreme age, or, in rare cases, through the love and care of their owner. These awoken machine spirits are typically given new vessels to inhabit, thus birthing Bond-Drones, ensouled, somewhat intelligent automata that serve as warrior, protector, and even family. Provides 1 EXP Point.
Bond-Machina: Advanced psychoactive Bond Machine-Spirits who through ritual and sufficient processing power have evolved into more advanced, powerful forms, capable of generating energy as if from nowhere and using it to influence and empower other machinery as well as provide power to rituals. They served as guardian, guide, and friend. Provides 1 EXP Point and 1 FTH Point.
Mind-Machine Interface: A implantless technology that allows for wireless interface between Tekket mind and machine mind, allowing for easier control of technology and communication with machine spirits. +1 FTH Point and +1 ACD Point.
BlokTek: Hypermodular tek designed to be plug and play, BlokTek was the basis of most TekketTek. Every component could be, if you knew the schematic, used for a different machine. The same components that would be used to make a blaster could also be used to build a microwave: the battery as the power source, the optical lens to irradiate the thing, all you needed was a few bloks to make a box. Provides ultimate lego technology: all parts interchangeable and universal. Provides 2 EXP Points.
Living Metal: GodTek, or something derived from it: the Destroyers had managed to occasionally lightly injure the God-Machines, leaving small samples of an advanced proto-metal around. Researching it produced a room temperature regenerative semi-conductor. Another cornerstone of your tek: it meant that components could essentially be infinitely reused. Maintenance costs reduced to zero.
ShieldBloks: A countermeasure developed to reduce the effectiveness of Destroyer Laser Weapons, ShieldTek generators could power energy barriers around fortifications, hardening positions against lasfire. Recent advances had managed to produce ShieldBloks, which applies BlokTek principles to the technology, creating a modular barrier generator that could be freely installed in vehicles, satellites, and inside buildings. Vehicles and fortifications effectiveness against LasFire increased.
Golem Class BlokBots: BotTek had advanced to the point a variety of simple menial tasks and labours can be automated. Golem Class BlokBots come in a variety of forms with a variety of peripherals, from childcare assistant nannybots to industrial digbots to food-crate hauling cargobots. Increase EXP by 1.
MagTek Assemblers: Specialized MagTek pads that, when paired with a computer or tablet to act as a design station, could be used to instantly snap together bloks to assemble whole machines and devices once a suitable schematic was chosen, simplying the process to just a push of a button. Increase EXP by 1.
MagTek Binding Fields: Electromagnetic fields that help hold together Bloks, increasing whole machines ability to resist kinetic force, improving their overall structural durability, and increasing the conditions your machines could operate under. BlokTek is more damage resistant.
Q-Blok Processors: Small mass produced Quantum Computers, Q-Bloks are generally a few feet in size, containing complex tek that allows for processing power formerly reserved for rare government held supercomputers to be used for every day use both in religious practices, entertainment, Sythetic Intelligence useage, and industrial tasks. +1 CUL and +1 ACD
OmniWrench Manipulator: MagTek installed on specialized OmniWrenches to allow for magnetic lifting and movement of Bloks in order to allow for easier on site building of simple structures and vehicles: all an engineer has to do is wave their wrench to get things done. +1 EXP
Deep Crust Scanner: A new-model Ship Scanner that gives more detailed and precise readings far quicker than older models at the cost of requiring a great deal of processing power to utilize. It should allow your ships to locate deep crust anomalies and oddities and bypass simple forms of jamming. Gain 2 Scan Levels when scanning planets.
PowerBlok: Miniaturized nuclear reactors, PowerBloks are intended for use in vehicles and weaponry, allowing them to utilize increased amounts of power in order to allow for both larger size, more space for other components, or more powerful components that previously required larger vehicle reactors to run. They were also a component of Fusion Weaponry, typically used as artillery or on vehicles. Increased Vehicle performance. Can deploy Perpetunite Fusion Rockets and Fusion Cannons as vehicle and artillery scale weapons.
Academy Fleet Compartments: Modular and standardized Academy facilities that could be quickly added to ships, they provided a wealth of scientific expertise to captains and allowed for exiting field research opportunities. +1 ACD, improves Fleet technical ability and providing access to advanced scientific tools.
Mammoth Class BlokBots: Vehicle sized BlokBots meant to handle heavy manual labour. In a pinch, they could also be used to support golem class security bots. +1 EXP.
NukeTek Technology: Perpetunite based weaponry had evolved: more energetic reactors meant bigger, more powerful, and longer lasting releases of energy. Warheads, rockets, cannons, they had all been made far more efficient and destructive in the pursuit of tools capable of decisively turning the tide of battle. All fission and fusion based weaponry improved in effectiveness.
Academy Points (ACD Points): 18
Living Metal: 0
Network: 2
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. 2/10, Unlocks Crude Warp Drive technology, allowing for the exploration of other systems.
Extremely Advanced NukeTek: Perpetunite weaponry was dangerous, but it could be so much worse with the application of advanced particle technology to further increase the damage caused: longer range on fusion cannons to create fusion lances, more explosive torpedos, fusion rockets powerful enough to be called pocket nukes. There was no such thing as overkill. 0/45, Unlocks Advanced NukeTek. Allows for the creation of medium-range, re-useable shipscale weaponry in the form of Fusion Lances and further improvement to all existing NukeTek weaponry. Can spend 1 ART to halve cost.
What Even Is Lifeforce?: A number of scientists had assembled to finally awnser a question that's been plaguing them for generations: what exactly was lifeforce? The mysterious energy revealed to you by the God-Machines had a variety of uses and seemed to use blood as a medium, but clearly it wasn't needed going by the God-Machines. Could study be used to augment the Rite of Lifeblood and develop more efficient versions? Enterprising occult scientists wanted to know. 0/25, upgrades Rite of Lifeblood, increasing the efficiency of a variety of technologies. Costs 1 Warp.
NukeTek Ultra Miniaturization: It would perhaps be considered gross overkill to develop infantry-scale weaponry utilizing Perpetunite Reactors. However, much like your schools, your military didn't know the meaning of overkill: Fusion Shotguns, Fusion Blasters, Fusion Micro-Rockets, and Fusion Grenades. A lot of efficiency would be lost at the sizes you were aiming for, but it'd be a great way to give your forces some real teeth. 0/25, heavy infantry benefits from PowerBlok technology, costs 2 Nuclear Material
Perpetual Engines: Next generation engines that use Perpetunite reactors to generate thrust, these Engines would allow for far quicker and efficient traversal in system, permitting more involved research as your ships would be able to quickly return for re-supply and cover more ground quicker, as well as letting your ships change course in a crisis with more efficiency. 0/25, increases the Scan Level of worlds you visit by an additional +1, allows for quicker course corrections in combat and crisis by ships, cost 1 Nuclear Material
Q-Band Compression: A novel form of quantum technology that should allow for more efficient transfer of data and higher levels of compression, freeing up network and reducing overall latency over long distances, something that would be useful both in the civilian sector and for managing the Fleet's communication. 0/25, +1 Network, +CUL, unlock Q-Band Compression.
Engineering Improvization Doctrine: Toxel advocated that victory could be assured best by teaching Engineers how to improvise solutions in the field quickly and under fire: he wanted to expand the Academies curriculum for Fleet Engineers by including a variety of semi-randomized open ended simulations of increasing difficulty that would test their ability to come up with novel solutions to issues. 0/20, establishes Toxel Doctrine, improving your Engineers ability to develop novel technical solutions under fire.
The Teeth: A number of military scientists believed that by using GodTek and recent advances in NukeTek they could create a hyperadvanced, long range fusion cannon capable of causing significant damage. An intriguing idea, and it would give at least one of your fleets some actual teeth. 0/15, can upgrade a single fleet with the Teeth, a powerful medium range relic grade heavy fusion cannon that will automatically upgrade to incorporate newly developed technology. Will automatically upgrade to a long range when Extremely Advanced Nuke-Tek is completed. Costs 1 Artefact.
Revelation Class Scanner: Another proposed use of GodTek would be reverse engineering its sensory components to try and improve existing scanner technology. Eager young scientists believe that they should be able to potentially double if not triple the effective range, allowing your Deep Space Monitoring facilities to detect potential threats earlier AND allowing your ships to scan vast swathes of space quickly, effectively revolutionizing your ability to explore. 0/20, cost 1 Artefact, unlocks Revelation Class Scanner component, improving the effects of Deep Space Monitoring and upgrading your ship scanners to grant adjacent planets to the one visited +1 Scan Level. If taken with Perpetunite Engines, reach next Scan Tier (System).
Repair Protocol: Living metal is definitely a form of smart matter. If a way could be discovered to control it's growth, you could upgrade your blocks from merely regenerating to replicating if fed with sufficient energy. In essence, bloks that can create more bloks, allowing for your machinery to literally heal from injuries. 0/20, unlock Crude Repair Protocol, giving your machinery the ability to regenerate from light damage. Costs one living metal.
Gestalt Protocol: Another route to improving the strength of Machine Spirits, some of your scientists belonging to the Grand Reconfiguration Committee theorized that synthetic souls were just as modular as their form: they believed that there might exist some manner to merge machine spirits in order to radically accelerate their growth, creating Gestalt-Drones. They would no doubt be very, very different from typical Bond-Drones, however. 0/15, develop Gestalt-Drones, advanced automata created from a multitude of fused together synthetic souls instead of singular awoken machine spirits.
MagTek Reassembly Protocol: An alternate proposed idea to Blok Repair Protocols was MagTek: a number of engineers proposed a sort of reassembly protocol that would caused damaged structures to attempt to replace lost bloks by snapping loose ones to themselves. You would only be able to repair structural damage, not replicate any complicated machinery in the structure, but that would still be invaluable for defensive purposes. 0/10, Buildings and Fortifications gain MagTek Reassembly Protocol, repairing structural damage.
Academy Fleet Compartment High Energy Lab: A proposed improvement to the Academy Compartments was giving them their own High Energy Labs and self-contained power systems: this would allow them to further meet the fleets technical needs as well as provide, in all likelyhood, a great deal of surplus power for your ships to use. 0/20, Academy Fleet Compartment upgraded with High Energy Lab, increasing available power and efficiency of all advanced subsystems. Costs 1 Nuclear Material.
Academy Fleet Network Lab: Another idea would be adding additional information technology in the form of expanded computer labs and data hubs. This would reduce ship-to-Teklia latency, provide additional processing power for things like targetting and navigation, and in a pinch could probably be used to upgrade the Comm-Jammers. 0/20, Academy Fleet Compartment upgraded with Network Lab, improving efficiency of all E-War and computer systems.
Quartzbug Anatomy: A number of xenobiologists were deeply interested in the semi-silica based lifeforms found in the precursor temples. They wanted to perform an in-depth study of the creatures and their physiology. 0/20, grants 1 Biodata, a CUL resource used to domesticate, alter, and utilize alien organisms. Permits additional Quartzbug projects.
Temple Expedition: It would take a military escort, a great many BlockBots, and probably heavy artillery, but the Fleet believe that it should be possible to push past the Quartzbugs and do an in-depth exploration of the Quartz Temple and unravel its secrets. 0/15, grants information
ShipShieldTek: With the advent of Perpetunite technology, some in the Academy wanted to work on upscaling the technology such that it could be installed on both your space stations and on ships. This would fortify your space assets and forces against laser and radiation based weaponry, making you all that much harder to hurt. 8/20, upgrades ShieldTek to apply to space fortifications and ships.
Gnome Class Blok-Bots: Minibots that could be deployed to perform a variety of extremely small tasks, Gnome Class BlokBots are automatically programmed to use loose Bloks unassigned to any task to improve themselves, including the remains of other Blokbots, eventually assembling enough Bloks to 'evolve' into a Golem-Class. 0/15, creates Gnome Class Blok-Bots, generating EXP.
ZwergBot Disassembly Protocol: A proposed subsystem that would allow for BlokBots to continue operation even after being blown apart via configuring themselves into lesser classes. This would be very, very useful for your security bots, as it would mean they would have to be very thoroughly dismantled to stop them. 0/15, Security Bots will automatically when dismantled reform into smaller classes of BlokBot.
DestroyerKin Physiology: Servile Ones and Red Priests were different casts of the same species, one that seemed related to the DestroyerKin: an engineered labour caste? Destroyer Young? You didn't know what connection they had and you probably wouldn't until you met the Destroyers on the field of war again. But now you had access to several DestroyerKin corpses, incredibly well preserved, including a potential third species of DestroyerKin: your scientists were immediately demanding a full autopsy to take place. 0/10, unlocks DestroyerKin Physiology, providing you insight into their biological makeup.
((((()))))
Two hour moratorium.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
You forgot to remove this, Boid-Man.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[] Plan: Readying for the Unknown
-[] Survey Naklis (Accomplishment)
-[] Survey Mongus (Endeavor)
-[] Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Stockpiles 1/1 EXP (x2)
-[] CityShrines 10/10 EXP
-[] Lunar AutoRecycler 10/10 EXP
-[] Perpetunite Recylers 5/20 EXP
-[] Frontier Explorer Compartment 5->15/20 CUL
-[] ShipShrines 3/10 CUL
-[] Great Conclave 12/25 FTH
-[] Mystek Ritual Compartments 14->20/20 FTH
-[] Warp Drive 2->8/10 ACD
-[] ShipShieldTek 8->20/20 ACD
Changes to Resources: Nuclear Material 2->1.
-[] Survey Naklis (Accomplishment)
-[] Survey Mongus (Endeavor)
-[] Heavy Perpetunite Nuclear Stockpiles 1/1 EXP (x2)
-[] CityShrines 10/10 EXP
-[] Lunar AutoRecycler 10/10 EXP
-[] Perpetunite Recylers 5/20 EXP
-[] Frontier Explorer Compartment 5->15/20 CUL
-[] ShipShrines 3/10 CUL
-[] Great Conclave 12/25 FTH
-[] Mystek Ritual Compartments 14->20/20 FTH
-[] Warp Drive 2->8/10 ACD
-[] ShipShieldTek 8->20/20 ACD
Changes to Resources: Nuclear Material 2->1.
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