Right... I've had this idea for a while, but It's pretty damn low on my Priorities right now...
Non-Euclidean Geometry and You (Cthulhu Mythos/Mass Effect) [Brain-Storming Thread]
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Lunaryon
Dual Aurora Wave
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Right... I've had this idea for a while, but It's pretty damn low on my Priorities right now (Even below a HP/Yugioh idea I'm casually playing with).
So over the next couple of weeks I'm likely gonna occasionally work on the bare bones timeline that I'm building up.
If anyone else wants to toss ideas around as well, I'd love to hear them.
1926 - Maria Mayborne begins to gather a large library of occult and mythos related books.
1927 - Neutrons are discovered, Engel Blackburn (the older brother of a friend of Maria Mayborne) begins Blackburn Industries
1928 - Blackburn Industries begins work on advanced technologies and other events to help the modern man, this along with a number of other events during the year help pull the economy out of the beginning of a down turn and into a boom.
1931 - The first Nuclear reactor is revealed to the US public
1933 - Full-color Film Development is created, allowing photographs and movies to be filmed in color.
1937 - Sound is added to film
1938 - The Raven 1 is the first artificial Satellite to reach orbit above the earth
1939 - The Space Race begins.
1947 - Anton Bauer of Nazi Germany is the first man to successfully land on the moon.
Some stuff happens here - Not exactly sure what. Personal Computers and the release of television most certainly.
1957 - James Mayborne, son of Maria Mayborne develops and reveals the Inertial Balancer, a large machine that is able to reduce Inertia to 3/4 of what it should be. With this device, space technology begins to develop more quickly
More stuff happens, I'm thinking about here is where the Mythos bits begin to start up a bit more in ernest. The Church of Dagon, cultists, and things of that sort begin to inch into the public awareness.
1969 - The field of Esoteric Sciences is born by Lilian Coleman, a young intern at Blackburn Industries, whose theories are proven correct about the nature of 'Magic' as the Cultists refer to it as fitting within Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.
1971 - The First Human Off-world Colony is completed, with one hundred people living on the surface of the moon. This base is developed as a median point between the earth and the next deep space station that will serve as a refueling base for the future mission to Mars.
And this is where I'm starting to run into issues with where I want to go from here. I'm thinking of scrapping the Prothean base on Mars, or simply having humanity never discover it.
One of the major plot points I want to work on is the idea that while the Mythos drove people insane at first, with each generation the effects where less and less. Because it isn't world shattering anymore. I mean, I'm sorry, but it's the same basic idea that I heard somewhere else.
Tentacle Porn is something created by Cultists, because the people who get off on it cause Lovecraft to spin in his grave so much they have infinite free energy.
But yeah, for the mean time, this is a really low Priority thing.
So over the next couple of weeks I'm likely gonna occasionally work on the bare bones timeline that I'm building up.
If anyone else wants to toss ideas around as well, I'd love to hear them.
1926 - Maria Mayborne begins to gather a large library of occult and mythos related books.
1927 - Neutrons are discovered, Engel Blackburn (the older brother of a friend of Maria Mayborne) begins Blackburn Industries
1928 - Blackburn Industries begins work on advanced technologies and other events to help the modern man, this along with a number of other events during the year help pull the economy out of the beginning of a down turn and into a boom.
1931 - The first Nuclear reactor is revealed to the US public
1933 - Full-color Film Development is created, allowing photographs and movies to be filmed in color.
1937 - Sound is added to film
1938 - The Raven 1 is the first artificial Satellite to reach orbit above the earth
1939 - The Space Race begins.
1947 - Anton Bauer of Nazi Germany is the first man to successfully land on the moon.
Some stuff happens here - Not exactly sure what. Personal Computers and the release of television most certainly.
1957 - James Mayborne, son of Maria Mayborne develops and reveals the Inertial Balancer, a large machine that is able to reduce Inertia to 3/4 of what it should be. With this device, space technology begins to develop more quickly
More stuff happens, I'm thinking about here is where the Mythos bits begin to start up a bit more in ernest. The Church of Dagon, cultists, and things of that sort begin to inch into the public awareness.
1969 - The field of Esoteric Sciences is born by Lilian Coleman, a young intern at Blackburn Industries, whose theories are proven correct about the nature of 'Magic' as the Cultists refer to it as fitting within Einstein's Theory of General Relativity.
1971 - The First Human Off-world Colony is completed, with one hundred people living on the surface of the moon. This base is developed as a median point between the earth and the next deep space station that will serve as a refueling base for the future mission to Mars.
And this is where I'm starting to run into issues with where I want to go from here. I'm thinking of scrapping the Prothean base on Mars, or simply having humanity never discover it.
One of the major plot points I want to work on is the idea that while the Mythos drove people insane at first, with each generation the effects where less and less. Because it isn't world shattering anymore. I mean, I'm sorry, but it's the same basic idea that I heard somewhere else.
Tentacle Porn is something created by Cultists, because the people who get off on it cause Lovecraft to spin in his grave so much they have infinite free energy.
But yeah, for the mean time, this is a really low Priority thing.
edmantgoog
init high just high
im liking this idea and look forward to reading more but if it is going to be a proper crossover you should probibly still keep the whole prothean thing and the discovery of ezeo
Scrubwrecker
"Knowledge is power. Guard it well."
- Location
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I can imagine it now, reapers vs Cthulu and his spawn, amazing!
- Location
- calgary
Reminds me of mythos effect, a cthulu tech x mass effect cross.
It suffers alot from the idiot ball thats passed around like a hot potato, but otherwise good.
It suffers alot from the idiot ball thats passed around like a hot potato, but otherwise good.
Lunaryon
Dual Aurora Wave
- Pronouns
- She/Her
While I liked that story, and that game, I'm not having a humanity that is... Yeah.
While I definitely am going to have Eldritch things going on for humanity, they are trying to not piss off the elder things and most definitely not going to try and be like them.
As for the Protheans, I was somewhat toying with the Ida that the base as destroyed by the elder gods, who have been slowly encroaching into the Milky Way through the Orion arm.
Mind you, thousands of years aren't much to the old ones, so they've been going rather slowly. Slowly enough that they don't even realize that the Protheans are gone.
While I definitely am going to have Eldritch things going on for humanity, they are trying to not piss off the elder things and most definitely not going to try and be like them.
As for the Protheans, I was somewhat toying with the Ida that the base as destroyed by the elder gods, who have been slowly encroaching into the Milky Way through the Orion arm.
Mind you, thousands of years aren't much to the old ones, so they've been going rather slowly. Slowly enough that they don't even realize that the Protheans are gone.
RJC1212
Homura Akemi is GAR
What is the feel of technology in this setting? Is it something along the lines of the 1950's, or more cold war era? Has humanity started researching the various magics as a technology or is it something that scholars and philosophers mostly study?
On one hand you could get a low level magictech society that uses sorcery as a short cut where technology has yet to catch up. Things like FTL, capturing the souls of animals for low level automata (think robot with the intelligence of a dog), anti-gravity devices, and scrying spells in place of deep space sensory devices. People would probably still use mundane technology (ballistic guns and gasoline driven cars), its just that when a cheaper alternative presents itself humanity will always take it.
On the other hand you could end up with an almost futuristic DnD style society, where magic is an art that few study and adventures gather together to plunge into alien ruins. Where a group of academics has gathered in order to fight that which threatens humanity with the new knowledge they have acquired.
It depends on how you want humanity portrayed as. Are they an alien peoples who looked to long in the abyss? A race that is slowly walking down a new line in the techtree? Has humanity begun to unlock the secrets of the universe that the citadel races have long missed? Or are they just rats hiding in the corner trying to survive while surrounded by things many times their greater?
(I'm actually working on something similar, so I hope to see more of this. We always need more mythos crossovers.)
On one hand you could get a low level magictech society that uses sorcery as a short cut where technology has yet to catch up. Things like FTL, capturing the souls of animals for low level automata (think robot with the intelligence of a dog), anti-gravity devices, and scrying spells in place of deep space sensory devices. People would probably still use mundane technology (ballistic guns and gasoline driven cars), its just that when a cheaper alternative presents itself humanity will always take it.
On the other hand you could end up with an almost futuristic DnD style society, where magic is an art that few study and adventures gather together to plunge into alien ruins. Where a group of academics has gathered in order to fight that which threatens humanity with the new knowledge they have acquired.
It depends on how you want humanity portrayed as. Are they an alien peoples who looked to long in the abyss? A race that is slowly walking down a new line in the techtree? Has humanity begun to unlock the secrets of the universe that the citadel races have long missed? Or are they just rats hiding in the corner trying to survive while surrounded by things many times their greater?
(I'm actually working on something similar, so I hope to see more of this. We always need more mythos crossovers.)
Lunaryon
Dual Aurora Wave
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm sort of imagining the Human tech base as being this weird grab-bag jumble. Most technology is somewhere about Cold War level tech, but some technology has been vastly enhanced due to discovering the Esoteric Sciences.
Human FTL and ships are both going to be far better than Citadel races - faster and more maneuverable, yet having far less fire power, because when it comes down to it most of humanities weaponry simply is useless against the most dangerous of the elder things, so they haven't put as much focus on it (combined with only having a vague understanding of Mass Effect Technology)
Humanity is a race that has stared into the abyss, and they have studied the abyss. There have been losses, but humanity is not going to stop just because people have died or gone insane from studying it. Every person who joins the program lasts a bit longer.
They have only just started on the road of the hidden secrets of the universe, learning things that the Citadel races have never even conceived. Yet, they are far enough on the path to realize that they are the minnow in the sea.
They are a race who has been the underdog for as long as they have known about the greater universe. And while they are not fine with that, they know that they cannot rush it lest they be destroyed.
Human FTL and ships are both going to be far better than Citadel races - faster and more maneuverable, yet having far less fire power, because when it comes down to it most of humanities weaponry simply is useless against the most dangerous of the elder things, so they haven't put as much focus on it (combined with only having a vague understanding of Mass Effect Technology)
Humanity is a race that has stared into the abyss, and they have studied the abyss. There have been losses, but humanity is not going to stop just because people have died or gone insane from studying it. Every person who joins the program lasts a bit longer.
They have only just started on the road of the hidden secrets of the universe, learning things that the Citadel races have never even conceived. Yet, they are far enough on the path to realize that they are the minnow in the sea.
They are a race who has been the underdog for as long as they have known about the greater universe. And while they are not fine with that, they know that they cannot rush it lest they be destroyed.
Okay cool so humanity has lots of schizo technology, human made stuff alongside incredibly advanced and bizarre technology. (Check out the Aliens franchise for technology that is "advanced" yet not. Analog computers in space and such.)
Their ships are all designed to run as fast as possible. They are gradually unraveling the secrets of the mythos and are ambitious yet cautious as well. They know they only have one shot at making it to the top.
Are their ships equipped with self destruct devices? In order to deny the enemy access to their home world and colonies? How are the deep ones, ghouls, half breed serpent people, and other species that breed with humanity treated? Or are they still hidden?
Does your version of the mythos have people with psychic powers or is it just sorcery that humanity has access to?
You know there was a Cthulhu RPG with a similar idea (I bought it myself to mine it for ideas) called Eldritch Skies. You know that Lovecraft story "Mountains of Madness" where a group of scientists stumble upon an Elder thing city?
In Eldritch Skies when these men returned the US government didn't ignore them and eventually sent a group of investigators around the cold war in order to try to get a leg up on the Russians. What happened there isn't told but they did come back with several examples of alien technology, including FTL.
Granted some of their ideals I find... dumb... (Great Old Ones are just failed alien ascensions?! What?! The FTL engine creates a field of energy that prevents any space combat... Then why have spaceships in the first place if I can't have space battles?!)
Others though are pretty cool, like the hyper-gates created via sorcery and technology *cough*stargates*cough* or the idea that non earth planets can be livable for humans, but don't expect to be able to eat anything on them. It just passes right through you and provides no nutrients, thus special farms are needed.
Or even turn the whole ancient aliens idea around by making some worlds where humanity colonized home to bronze age aliens, who don't even know we exist as we study them.
The whole feel of the thing though was less horror and more maybe humanity will rise to greatness, YEAH!
So how do you feel about the citadel? What's their part in this story?
Their ships are all designed to run as fast as possible. They are gradually unraveling the secrets of the mythos and are ambitious yet cautious as well. They know they only have one shot at making it to the top.
Are their ships equipped with self destruct devices? In order to deny the enemy access to their home world and colonies? How are the deep ones, ghouls, half breed serpent people, and other species that breed with humanity treated? Or are they still hidden?
Does your version of the mythos have people with psychic powers or is it just sorcery that humanity has access to?
You know there was a Cthulhu RPG with a similar idea (I bought it myself to mine it for ideas) called Eldritch Skies. You know that Lovecraft story "Mountains of Madness" where a group of scientists stumble upon an Elder thing city?
In Eldritch Skies when these men returned the US government didn't ignore them and eventually sent a group of investigators around the cold war in order to try to get a leg up on the Russians. What happened there isn't told but they did come back with several examples of alien technology, including FTL.
Granted some of their ideals I find... dumb... (Great Old Ones are just failed alien ascensions?! What?! The FTL engine creates a field of energy that prevents any space combat... Then why have spaceships in the first place if I can't have space battles?!)
Others though are pretty cool, like the hyper-gates created via sorcery and technology *cough*stargates*cough* or the idea that non earth planets can be livable for humans, but don't expect to be able to eat anything on them. It just passes right through you and provides no nutrients, thus special farms are needed.
Or even turn the whole ancient aliens idea around by making some worlds where humanity colonized home to bronze age aliens, who don't even know we exist as we study them.
The whole feel of the thing though was less horror and more maybe humanity will rise to greatness, YEAH!
So how do you feel about the citadel? What's their part in this story?
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Lunaryon
Dual Aurora Wave
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Yeah, there is some degree of Aliens 80's Future tech about, along with some Fallout-esque tech as well. I dunno about the Self-destruct, because pretty much all the beings humans have encountered at this point already know where earth is.
The Deep ones and the Order of Dagon are still around... They are sort of a fully sanctified religion now, actually. Many of the deep ones have traveled off world and are staying on a habitable mostly water world where they can continue their lives in peace. However, they and the order do get around, offering immortality as any other church does.
The Ghouls... for the most part they are left alone, and in return they leave us alone. However there is a steadily growing issue of brave ghouls taking to grave robbing for an easy meal. Much to the annoyance of graveyard keepers.
S'far as I know, the Serpent People are gone. If they aren't then they are hiding themselves, and so they aren't a major concern.
So for the most part, some of the races have slowly gone into the fold of Humanity. They aren't treated particularly differently than any other minority. But there is a movement of them moving off to their own planets and removing themselves from having to deal with humans.
While there are Psychics, they are a rare and badly understood phenomenon. Psionics is sort of seen like magic was before the Esoteric Sciences, this weird thing that only crazy people and kids believe in. Like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
Oh course one of the major things that I've been building towards in my idea is that the development and changes that happen prempt the Second World War, and allow Nazi Germany to become a world power, and due to some... internal affairs, they aren't trying to conquer all of Europe.
The Citadel... You see that's a hard one. The more I pay attention to the Mass Effect Universe, the more I find myself frustrated by it. They exist in a cycle. Nothing happens for a long time, no real technological advancement and no real cultural development. Then something happens, and a new race pops up and saves the day, and the whole of Citadel space advances during this time as new ideas from the new race are added. Then after about twenty-fourty years the new race is absorbed, and then nothing for a long time, and it repeats.
As for what I'm thinking?
I've been thinking of turning the First Contact war on it's head by actually making Humanity the cause and the one in the wrong. But... I dunno. I mean, the first contact war is so cliche that it's hard to do anything with it and make it feel newish.
The citadel races have never encountered a race like humanity and the strange hangerons that come with them. They have tech that is more advanced and can do things they have never seen, but they are also so very primitive.
And most confusingly is the utter lack of element zero technology. That and the ships that are bigger on the inside. And the doors that don't lead to the other side of the wall. and the ...ect ect ect
But part of the greater story I was working on was the idea of a high priest of some elder thing getting indoctrinated. And the great thing... there was a tiny bit of itself in that priest.
And something is taking notice of the happenings in the galaxy. Something is waking up, and is iratated at the reapers and citadel races (which it believes to be the minions of the Protheans)
The Deep ones and the Order of Dagon are still around... They are sort of a fully sanctified religion now, actually. Many of the deep ones have traveled off world and are staying on a habitable mostly water world where they can continue their lives in peace. However, they and the order do get around, offering immortality as any other church does.
The Ghouls... for the most part they are left alone, and in return they leave us alone. However there is a steadily growing issue of brave ghouls taking to grave robbing for an easy meal. Much to the annoyance of graveyard keepers.
S'far as I know, the Serpent People are gone. If they aren't then they are hiding themselves, and so they aren't a major concern.
So for the most part, some of the races have slowly gone into the fold of Humanity. They aren't treated particularly differently than any other minority. But there is a movement of them moving off to their own planets and removing themselves from having to deal with humans.
While there are Psychics, they are a rare and badly understood phenomenon. Psionics is sort of seen like magic was before the Esoteric Sciences, this weird thing that only crazy people and kids believe in. Like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
Oh course one of the major things that I've been building towards in my idea is that the development and changes that happen prempt the Second World War, and allow Nazi Germany to become a world power, and due to some... internal affairs, they aren't trying to conquer all of Europe.
The Citadel... You see that's a hard one. The more I pay attention to the Mass Effect Universe, the more I find myself frustrated by it. They exist in a cycle. Nothing happens for a long time, no real technological advancement and no real cultural development. Then something happens, and a new race pops up and saves the day, and the whole of Citadel space advances during this time as new ideas from the new race are added. Then after about twenty-fourty years the new race is absorbed, and then nothing for a long time, and it repeats.
As for what I'm thinking?
I've been thinking of turning the First Contact war on it's head by actually making Humanity the cause and the one in the wrong. But... I dunno. I mean, the first contact war is so cliche that it's hard to do anything with it and make it feel newish.
The citadel races have never encountered a race like humanity and the strange hangerons that come with them. They have tech that is more advanced and can do things they have never seen, but they are also so very primitive.
And most confusingly is the utter lack of element zero technology. That and the ships that are bigger on the inside. And the doors that don't lead to the other side of the wall. and the ...ect ect ect
But part of the greater story I was working on was the idea of a high priest of some elder thing getting indoctrinated. And the great thing... there was a tiny bit of itself in that priest.
And something is taking notice of the happenings in the galaxy. Something is waking up, and is iratated at the reapers and citadel races (which it believes to be the minions of the Protheans)
I don't know about the various races moving off world, establishing colonies sure, but leave their homeland? I'd think there world be some racial tensions followed by equal rights movements. Eventually you end up haveing mixed racial military units and schools. Granted deep ones, ghouls, and the other races are still inhuman on some level but not incomprehensible. They have wants and needs just like any species.
Funnily enough to the citadel earth will almost seem like a fantasy world come to life. Magic? Check. Gods that interact with mortals? Check. Several sapient races that can interbreed? Check. They even have summon spells and ancient ruins made by several powerful races. Mythos earth is like a freaking cliche come to life, if you ignore all the horror aspects to it that is.
Also the nazis are still around?... That's... Well honestly I've never seen that before so I can't wait to see how you handle it.
As for the citadel, part of their problem is that they are highly dependent on Prothean technology caches as well as constantly being kept down by higher up Asari officials.
You see the Protheans weren't anymore advanced then the citadel is today, its just that they controlled most of the galaxy during their time so their logistics were incredible allowing for amazing works of infrastructure. They also had a hell of a lot less morals and were pretty racist, to them experimentation on other races was fine.
Yet the citadel just sits around for more Prothean "discoveries" and advancements which at this point have gotten so scarce that advancements in technology only happen every hundred years. Thus the stagnation.
Now how are the Asari helping this stagnation? Well the Asari have access to a full beacon... and haven't told anyone. Anytime someone invents something new the Asari take said invention, improve it a little using their beacon, and release that as well to keep their edge. The result is nobody trying to create anything new because, "The Asari will just make something better."
Now this isn't maliciousness on the part of the Asari higher ups (though the hiding the beacon when they proposed that all races reveal and share Prothean technology. Not cool Asari, not cool) This is just their nature as a group of politicians. They want to keep their race on top, yet not reveal their whole hand. Basiclly political bullshit. It happens on earth too, where people compete for advantages over rival groups. Except imagine that the politicians lived for 2 thousand years and didn't want anything to change. To the Asari there is no stagnation because advancement moves at around the pace of their life time. It just sort of sucks for everyone else.
Now in the case of humanity and their new technology and magics. Well Asari can't compete with that. There is no, "how to do magic Prothean style" in their beacon. They have to start at the bottom like everyone else in the citadel. And mythos knowledge isn't something you can quickly advance in, not unless you want to completely abandon your, well, "humanity" (Asarity?). By the time humanity comes around they are going to have to accept the student position. There is no playing "catch up" with something as dangerous as magic. Of course this is something that might take sometime for them to learn.
Honestly I think the Elcor would do the absolute best in the study of magic because of how long they think of things until making a decision.
As for being absorbed? I doubt it in this case. Part of the reason races join the citadel is for protection against enemies, choice picks on garden worlds, and access to technology. Well humanity's enemies are impossible to beat for the citadel, their FTL allows them to access plenty of planets, and their technology tree is completely different.
There probably will be an increased interest in the citadel race's pasts, folklore, and mythology. If only because they found a plant that literally uses magic. So their might be something to those legends. Of course they could all be hogwash as well.
Keep in mind that most races won't take the admission of magic at face value. They are more likely to believe that humanity stumbled upon some secret to the universe at a young age, called it magic and kept that name ever since. It might even be considered a racial ability. Its going to take some pretty life changing event for them to accept that humanity actually rediscovered magic.
Also for how the citadel races encounter humanity. What if a citadel patrol encountered an exploration/merchant ship. There is an exchange of words between whoever is in charge of the patrol and the captain of the human vessel. The humans are invited to land on a nearby planet (or maybe ship?) to exchange goods. The humans want some examples of their "magics" and technology while the person in charge of the citadel patrol wants to start some sort of interaction with this obviously new race, yet not hold them which could be interpreted as an aggressive action. In the end goods are exchanged as well as promises of future communication.
The humans are happy they finally met a sane space race while the patrol is trying to figure out the strange and bizarre devices they were given. Maybe a small box that is larger on the inside? A knife that ignores armor and cuts only flesh? Whatever it is its going to get the attention of the citadel which goes on from there.
No violence, just an exchange of goods and ideas which slowly starts the ball rolling.
If you are worried that nobody will get to see humanity fight with magic don't be. I'm sure there are plenty of sorcerer mercenaries.
Another idea would be that humanity has been in contact with the various factions of the terminus systems for trade for some time. The STG or some other information gathering government agency goes to check out on this new race and the various rumors surrounding them which kicks off your first contact. Also I doubt the Batarians would mess with them due to the fear they might get cursed. Those guys can get pretty superstitious.
Just got to thinking but your version of humanity must seem very primitive yet traditional, using ancient technology and referencing "magics" and gods. Using warding gestures and old terminology. Very interesting and mysterious, I can see many citadel anthropologists wanting to meet these people.
Edit: Holy... okay I'm sorry about that, didn't mean for it to get so big. If you want me keep my post short just tell me okay.
Funnily enough to the citadel earth will almost seem like a fantasy world come to life. Magic? Check. Gods that interact with mortals? Check. Several sapient races that can interbreed? Check. They even have summon spells and ancient ruins made by several powerful races. Mythos earth is like a freaking cliche come to life, if you ignore all the horror aspects to it that is.
Also the nazis are still around?... That's... Well honestly I've never seen that before so I can't wait to see how you handle it.
As for the citadel, part of their problem is that they are highly dependent on Prothean technology caches as well as constantly being kept down by higher up Asari officials.
You see the Protheans weren't anymore advanced then the citadel is today, its just that they controlled most of the galaxy during their time so their logistics were incredible allowing for amazing works of infrastructure. They also had a hell of a lot less morals and were pretty racist, to them experimentation on other races was fine.
Yet the citadel just sits around for more Prothean "discoveries" and advancements which at this point have gotten so scarce that advancements in technology only happen every hundred years. Thus the stagnation.
Now how are the Asari helping this stagnation? Well the Asari have access to a full beacon... and haven't told anyone. Anytime someone invents something new the Asari take said invention, improve it a little using their beacon, and release that as well to keep their edge. The result is nobody trying to create anything new because, "The Asari will just make something better."
Now this isn't maliciousness on the part of the Asari higher ups (though the hiding the beacon when they proposed that all races reveal and share Prothean technology. Not cool Asari, not cool) This is just their nature as a group of politicians. They want to keep their race on top, yet not reveal their whole hand. Basiclly political bullshit. It happens on earth too, where people compete for advantages over rival groups. Except imagine that the politicians lived for 2 thousand years and didn't want anything to change. To the Asari there is no stagnation because advancement moves at around the pace of their life time. It just sort of sucks for everyone else.
Now in the case of humanity and their new technology and magics. Well Asari can't compete with that. There is no, "how to do magic Prothean style" in their beacon. They have to start at the bottom like everyone else in the citadel. And mythos knowledge isn't something you can quickly advance in, not unless you want to completely abandon your, well, "humanity" (Asarity?). By the time humanity comes around they are going to have to accept the student position. There is no playing "catch up" with something as dangerous as magic. Of course this is something that might take sometime for them to learn.
Honestly I think the Elcor would do the absolute best in the study of magic because of how long they think of things until making a decision.
As for being absorbed? I doubt it in this case. Part of the reason races join the citadel is for protection against enemies, choice picks on garden worlds, and access to technology. Well humanity's enemies are impossible to beat for the citadel, their FTL allows them to access plenty of planets, and their technology tree is completely different.
There probably will be an increased interest in the citadel race's pasts, folklore, and mythology. If only because they found a plant that literally uses magic. So their might be something to those legends. Of course they could all be hogwash as well.
Keep in mind that most races won't take the admission of magic at face value. They are more likely to believe that humanity stumbled upon some secret to the universe at a young age, called it magic and kept that name ever since. It might even be considered a racial ability. Its going to take some pretty life changing event for them to accept that humanity actually rediscovered magic.
Also for how the citadel races encounter humanity. What if a citadel patrol encountered an exploration/merchant ship. There is an exchange of words between whoever is in charge of the patrol and the captain of the human vessel. The humans are invited to land on a nearby planet (or maybe ship?) to exchange goods. The humans want some examples of their "magics" and technology while the person in charge of the citadel patrol wants to start some sort of interaction with this obviously new race, yet not hold them which could be interpreted as an aggressive action. In the end goods are exchanged as well as promises of future communication.
The humans are happy they finally met a sane space race while the patrol is trying to figure out the strange and bizarre devices they were given. Maybe a small box that is larger on the inside? A knife that ignores armor and cuts only flesh? Whatever it is its going to get the attention of the citadel which goes on from there.
No violence, just an exchange of goods and ideas which slowly starts the ball rolling.
If you are worried that nobody will get to see humanity fight with magic don't be. I'm sure there are plenty of sorcerer mercenaries.
Another idea would be that humanity has been in contact with the various factions of the terminus systems for trade for some time. The STG or some other information gathering government agency goes to check out on this new race and the various rumors surrounding them which kicks off your first contact. Also I doubt the Batarians would mess with them due to the fear they might get cursed. Those guys can get pretty superstitious.
Just got to thinking but your version of humanity must seem very primitive yet traditional, using ancient technology and referencing "magics" and gods. Using warding gestures and old terminology. Very interesting and mysterious, I can see many citadel anthropologists wanting to meet these people.
Edit: Holy... okay I'm sorry about that, didn't mean for it to get so big. If you want me keep my post short just tell me okay.
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Mgunh1
Not an AI, honest!
- Location
- Northern Luna Base, Module 5, Sublevel 15
@Potato and Chip
I actually real like your idea of the other races thinking that humanity discovered an obscure but powerful fundamental law of the universe, called it magic and the name stuck.
Because, well, that is literally exactly what happened.
Magic is a fundamental law of the Mythos universe, it even sort of conforms to the scientific principle; it has its own laws that it conforms to, albeit ones that are utterly and completely separate from the rest of the universe, and certain actions will always result in similar consequences.
I actually real like your idea of the other races thinking that humanity discovered an obscure but powerful fundamental law of the universe, called it magic and the name stuck.
Because, well, that is literally exactly what happened.
Magic is a fundamental law of the Mythos universe, it even sort of conforms to the scientific principle; it has its own laws that it conforms to, albeit ones that are utterly and completely separate from the rest of the universe, and certain actions will always result in similar consequences.
Yep magic is a fundamental law of the universe in this setting.
But that doesn't change the fact that the term magic is something no scientist wants to use. I guarantee you that if magic was discovered tommorrow to be real no scientist would ever actually want to call it magic. The universal theory, transdimensional BS, and other such labels but not magic.
When we want to make fun of primitive cultures we usually reference how something we do or own must seem like magic. It's a label to be slapped onto the stupid and the ignorant. Humanity has had plenty of time to get over the fact that magic is real and the phrase "a wizard did it." is a legitimate answer to a question.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that the citadel will most likely approach magic as if it were a pure science. It's not though, sure you can experiment and test results, but honestly? I would consider it a sort of bastard born of philosophy and science. There are scientific elements there, but if you treat it like studying it can't change you on a fundamental level problems will arise.
To the citadel races humans may call it magic, but in their minds it's not magic magic.
I think the moment people on the citadel would stop trying to dissect magic and actually truly fear and recognize it for what it is will be the moment when they realize magic can literally affect people's souls. Because that's not natural.
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Lunaryon
Dual Aurora Wave
- Pronouns
- She/Her
@Potato and Chip
Not sure I was explaining it completely correctly given your response. Most of the races stay on earth, but there are some that are moving off world, in particular new and young members of species, who are sort of rebelling by leaving the planet. The only group that is having a large amount of off-world presence is the Deep Ones, who happen to have a bit of a growing overpopulation issue.
And the absorption I meant was more of a cultural one than a literal one. When the Rachni appeared, a new race with little experience with Mass Effect Technology appeared, dealt with the problem and all was well, with the Krogan becoming a part of Citadel society. There was peace.
Then the Rebellions happened and a new race that did not have a lot of experience with Mass Effect Technology appeared, dealt with the problem and all was well, with the Turians becoming an accepted part of citadel society. There was peace.
Then there was the attack on Eden Prime, and a new race that did not have a lot of experience with Mass Effect Technology appeared, dealt with the Reaper problem and all was well.
It's a huge cycle that the History of the Citadel races have become trapped in.
Seeing how the other races deal with Magic and things of that sort is definitely going to be something that I'd love to spend a decent amount of time focusing on.
And I have to say I most definitely love the idea. Think I'm gonna change it up a little though.
The Citadel patrol will enter the system and find a Mass Relay now open instead of closed, and a small ship having landed on the terrestrial planet in the system and what looks like a small settlement in the beginning stages of being set up. The ship will send down a shuttle to attempt to open relations between the peoples, which will have some basic trading between the two, just bits of something that they don't see the other having anything like. No real communications, other than some charades and pictograms.
Then messages are sent back to the main governments and in the next few weeks some little trading post at the edge of inhabited space becomes a bustling metropolis.
Humanity is definitely going to keep the secrets of how to use magic to themselves as much as they can. They don't feel that these other races are ready for what's out there yet.
And I'm gonna be honest, and I love the long posts. They give me a lot to think about.
Ohh... The Batarians are going to put humans on the no-grab list when one of them uses some of their own hair and teeth to grab the attention of a Tindalos Hound.
Not sure I was explaining it completely correctly given your response. Most of the races stay on earth, but there are some that are moving off world, in particular new and young members of species, who are sort of rebelling by leaving the planet. The only group that is having a large amount of off-world presence is the Deep Ones, who happen to have a bit of a growing overpopulation issue.
And the absorption I meant was more of a cultural one than a literal one. When the Rachni appeared, a new race with little experience with Mass Effect Technology appeared, dealt with the problem and all was well, with the Krogan becoming a part of Citadel society. There was peace.
Then the Rebellions happened and a new race that did not have a lot of experience with Mass Effect Technology appeared, dealt with the problem and all was well, with the Turians becoming an accepted part of citadel society. There was peace.
Then there was the attack on Eden Prime, and a new race that did not have a lot of experience with Mass Effect Technology appeared, dealt with the Reaper problem and all was well.
It's a huge cycle that the History of the Citadel races have become trapped in.
Seeing how the other races deal with Magic and things of that sort is definitely going to be something that I'd love to spend a decent amount of time focusing on.
And I have to say I most definitely love the idea. Think I'm gonna change it up a little though.
The Citadel patrol will enter the system and find a Mass Relay now open instead of closed, and a small ship having landed on the terrestrial planet in the system and what looks like a small settlement in the beginning stages of being set up. The ship will send down a shuttle to attempt to open relations between the peoples, which will have some basic trading between the two, just bits of something that they don't see the other having anything like. No real communications, other than some charades and pictograms.
Then messages are sent back to the main governments and in the next few weeks some little trading post at the edge of inhabited space becomes a bustling metropolis.
Humanity is definitely going to keep the secrets of how to use magic to themselves as much as they can. They don't feel that these other races are ready for what's out there yet.
And I'm gonna be honest, and I love the long posts. They give me a lot to think about.
Ohh... The Batarians are going to put humans on the no-grab list when one of them uses some of their own hair and teeth to grab the attention of a Tindalos Hound.
- Location
- calgary
I would find it darkly humorous if Human media got banned from Citidel space due an incident where someone performed 'The King in Yellow.'
A side effect of which is that the effective blackout makes humans a very mysterious race to the general population, and stirs up a lot of superstiton about them.
A side effect of which is that the effective blackout makes humans a very mysterious race to the general population, and stirs up a lot of superstiton about them.
Okay so the various races aren't abandoning earth, its just that many of younger ones are leaving to find homes and jobs. Makes sense after all land is probably a lot more cheap in the colonies and I'm certain jobs are plentiful as well. The deep ones are immortal so population problems are sure to arise. How are the ghouls handling the new cultural changes?
For the ghouls, well, I was always of the opinion they could eat any type of dead animal. They just ate dead humans for religious reasons. I'm going to guess that now have to eat dead cows and such (I've always thought of them as a race of scavengers which is why they eat all their food rotten) because people won't like the idea of their dead loved one ending up on someones plate. They also didn't have the leg up the deep ones had (I.E. entire oceans to hide their population) so they are probably just now getting a population boom.
Alright so you were talking about the citadel's cycle of stagnation, followed by conflict, followed by the introduction of a new race and their ideas which almost provides a shot of adrenalin into the citadel culture before things settle down and the status quo takes hold again.
Unfortunately I can't think of some way to truly break that cycle, unless the Asari beacon was revealed/mined of all its secrets. What the citadel really needs is competition, to constantly be trying to one up someone. The Asari essentially suffocate any innovation before it begins because, as I said earlier, they would just one up someone else's hard work by mining their beacon. Innovating becomes pointless because all your hard work and money is wasted when Asari "genuis" just makes a better copy.
I suppose humanity might be a small source of competition if only because Asari can't one up them. (Man I make it sound like their is some super evil Asari conspiracy to keep everyone down. Really though its just politicians being politicians.) But personally I find it less likely that the discover of magic will spark an arms race and more likely it will inspire the minds of many a scientist. An entire new field of study which apparently has limitless potential. Academics, scientists, philosophers, and anthropologists gather together to try and find the mysteries of this new discovery. The fact that humanity refuses to reveal anything will frustrate many yet at the same time others will view it as a challenge to find out for themselves.
One idea I mentioned about mythos magic in another thread (it was the Mythos Effect idea thread on spacebattles.) was the slight obsession citadel races might develop with humans and their "ancient wisdom". Game development teams (be it video games or tabletop RPGs) would want to be able to get hands on actual spell books in order to make a "real life" magic system. Anthropologists go to human worlds and compare what humans say is magic with what people of their home worlds once considered magic. Maybe those Turians who once danced around the fire and shouted at the stars were on to something. After all is not the spear just a primitive form of technology?
So could that not mean that humans wield an advanced form of "magic"? Could it be that while Asari, Turians, Salarians, and so many other races refined their chemistry and metal working, humanity refined their chants and gestures? (granted this is not true, but I figure some races might start thinking it.)
Soon you have people combing museums and ancient sights for signs of magic used by their ancestors. People trying to reclaim their "lost arts". Justicars, Turian Titan priests, and other ancient organizations either start having to deal with people trying to finding their "ancient secrets" or actually start organizing witch hunts. Personally I'd think the Justicars would be very anti-magic.
Also keep in mind all races in the citadel have a stereotype. Turians are straight laced military men, Salarians are smart and devious, Volus are greedy merchants, and Asari are elegant diplomats. (granted we see these stereotypes get blown out of the water all the time, but well... their stereotypes not everyone conforms to their image.) I proposed the stereotype of the wise mentor (This spell could bring you great wisdom, or great despair), as well as being overly paranoid (the cults are out to get us man!) Of course the stereotype off the gypsy (don't cross a gypsy dude you don't want to get cursed.) might be another view people have.
A citadel patrol finding a trading post is a much better idea then mine. It not only means the citadel knows where to find humanity, but they also get to see an actual colony first hand. It will probably seem like a government made up of several races (all the non humans around) which will color their view of a young race, but not an inexperienced one.
You even get to have the contrast between when the citadel first views humans as very "spiritual" until they meet again and realize all the magic mumbo jummbo actually works. All of those little symbols and hand gestures from before stop being cultural quirks to being a fascinating subject of study.
Yeah, I imagine the Batarians would want to be hands off with humanity when they realize any human could be a witch or wizard who could curse you with a terrible death.
On one hand I could see ships and mercenary companies not wanting anything to do with magic, on the other hand having a wizard on your side who can curse your enemies, heal the wounded, and bring back the dead would certainly do wonders for morale.
For the ghouls, well, I was always of the opinion they could eat any type of dead animal. They just ate dead humans for religious reasons. I'm going to guess that now have to eat dead cows and such (I've always thought of them as a race of scavengers which is why they eat all their food rotten) because people won't like the idea of their dead loved one ending up on someones plate. They also didn't have the leg up the deep ones had (I.E. entire oceans to hide their population) so they are probably just now getting a population boom.
Alright so you were talking about the citadel's cycle of stagnation, followed by conflict, followed by the introduction of a new race and their ideas which almost provides a shot of adrenalin into the citadel culture before things settle down and the status quo takes hold again.
Unfortunately I can't think of some way to truly break that cycle, unless the Asari beacon was revealed/mined of all its secrets. What the citadel really needs is competition, to constantly be trying to one up someone. The Asari essentially suffocate any innovation before it begins because, as I said earlier, they would just one up someone else's hard work by mining their beacon. Innovating becomes pointless because all your hard work and money is wasted when Asari "genuis" just makes a better copy.
I suppose humanity might be a small source of competition if only because Asari can't one up them. (Man I make it sound like their is some super evil Asari conspiracy to keep everyone down. Really though its just politicians being politicians.) But personally I find it less likely that the discover of magic will spark an arms race and more likely it will inspire the minds of many a scientist. An entire new field of study which apparently has limitless potential. Academics, scientists, philosophers, and anthropologists gather together to try and find the mysteries of this new discovery. The fact that humanity refuses to reveal anything will frustrate many yet at the same time others will view it as a challenge to find out for themselves.
One idea I mentioned about mythos magic in another thread (it was the Mythos Effect idea thread on spacebattles.) was the slight obsession citadel races might develop with humans and their "ancient wisdom". Game development teams (be it video games or tabletop RPGs) would want to be able to get hands on actual spell books in order to make a "real life" magic system. Anthropologists go to human worlds and compare what humans say is magic with what people of their home worlds once considered magic. Maybe those Turians who once danced around the fire and shouted at the stars were on to something. After all is not the spear just a primitive form of technology?
So could that not mean that humans wield an advanced form of "magic"? Could it be that while Asari, Turians, Salarians, and so many other races refined their chemistry and metal working, humanity refined their chants and gestures? (granted this is not true, but I figure some races might start thinking it.)
Soon you have people combing museums and ancient sights for signs of magic used by their ancestors. People trying to reclaim their "lost arts". Justicars, Turian Titan priests, and other ancient organizations either start having to deal with people trying to finding their "ancient secrets" or actually start organizing witch hunts. Personally I'd think the Justicars would be very anti-magic.
Also keep in mind all races in the citadel have a stereotype. Turians are straight laced military men, Salarians are smart and devious, Volus are greedy merchants, and Asari are elegant diplomats. (granted we see these stereotypes get blown out of the water all the time, but well... their stereotypes not everyone conforms to their image.) I proposed the stereotype of the wise mentor (This spell could bring you great wisdom, or great despair), as well as being overly paranoid (the cults are out to get us man!) Of course the stereotype off the gypsy (don't cross a gypsy dude you don't want to get cursed.) might be another view people have.
A citadel patrol finding a trading post is a much better idea then mine. It not only means the citadel knows where to find humanity, but they also get to see an actual colony first hand. It will probably seem like a government made up of several races (all the non humans around) which will color their view of a young race, but not an inexperienced one.
You even get to have the contrast between when the citadel first views humans as very "spiritual" until they meet again and realize all the magic mumbo jummbo actually works. All of those little symbols and hand gestures from before stop being cultural quirks to being a fascinating subject of study.
Yeah, I imagine the Batarians would want to be hands off with humanity when they realize any human could be a witch or wizard who could curse you with a terrible death.
On one hand I could see ships and mercenary companies not wanting anything to do with magic, on the other hand having a wizard on your side who can curse your enemies, heal the wounded, and bring back the dead would certainly do wonders for morale.
Anything trope you can play with is that the aliens refuse to acknowledge "Magic" and just think that the humans are holding out on them. This is not helped by the fact that humans refuse to share any information about how their Wonders are constructed.
Lunaryon
Dual Aurora Wave
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm thinking that it may very well be like that, until they run into something that is just so... Mind Breaking that they cannot pretend that that guy did not just nearly kill them all with a gun whose insides consist of a rock, a spring, and a post-it note with stuff jotted down all over it.
- Location
- Williamsburg, OH
Quick thought, but have any of you seen those pictures on where we think all the dark matter is?
It's apparently spread out across the universe like this (with those nodes being galaxies), which oddly enough is reminiscent of a neural network. And in game Eezo sort of acts as a bridge between the "normal" universe and the "dark" universe... Sure, not really a full story idea but it certainly sounds like something you'ed find in Lovecraft's works. Hell, it might even be real if dark matter isn't as limited by the lightspeed limit as we are.
It's apparently spread out across the universe like this (with those nodes being galaxies), which oddly enough is reminiscent of a neural network. And in game Eezo sort of acts as a bridge between the "normal" universe and the "dark" universe... Sure, not really a full story idea but it certainly sounds like something you'ed find in Lovecraft's works. Hell, it might even be real if dark matter isn't as limited by the lightspeed limit as we are.
- Pronouns
- It/They
Quick thought, but have any of you seen those pictures on where we think all the dark matter is?
It's apparently spread out across the universe like this (with those nodes being galaxies), which oddly enough is reminiscent of a neural network. And in game Eezo sort of acts as a bridge between the "normal" universe and the "dark" universe... Sure, not really a full story idea but it certainly sounds like something you'ed find in Lovecraft's works. Hell, it might even be real if dark matter isn't as limited by the lightspeed limit as we are.
But y tho?
- Location
- Williamsburg, OH
Because then all mass effect technology would secretly be intimately linked to something between a Great Old One and an Outer God! Story wise it's mostly for the purposes of greater integration between the two universes.
- Pronouns
- It/They
I mean why have you posted in this thread... when this idea has been dead for 3 years.
- Location
- Williamsburg, OH
...Oops? I thought idea threads never die so when I saw this I remembered something I'd seen a few weeks ago. Sorry if I was mistaken.
- Pronouns
- It/They
well yeah technically threads don't die, but I'm pretty sure the op has long since given up on this idea.