The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,
And round the pebbly beaches far and wide
I heard the first wave of the rising tide
Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep;
A voice out of the silence of the deep,
A sound mysteriously multiplied
As of a cataract from the mountain's side,
Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep.
So comes to us at times, from the unknown
And inaccessible solitudes of being,
The rushing of the sea-tides of the soul;
And inspirations, that we deem our own,
Are some divine foreshadowing and foreseeing
Of things beyond our reason or control.
—— The Sound of the Sea, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"I know what weapons with which we fight the Third World War: ships, spirits, and men. Of these, only one squishes."
—— Anonymous Admiral
"If there is a benevolent God, they are his angels."
—— Anonymous Civilian
Pearl Harbor burns. Its defenders, defeated through a surprising weight of numbers, sit at the bottom of the lagoon. They are not alone.
Norfolk, San Diego, Great Lakes, Bremerton, Devonport, Portsmouth, Toulon, Brest, Rostock, Yokosuka, Halifax, Sydney, Devonport, Singapore, Qingdao, Sevastapool, Vladivostok, and many other naval ports, bases, and yards of varying importance also burn, in a decapitation strike of unparalleled scope.
The Red Solstice's butcher's bill, military and civilian, remains untallied. The losses, especially the shelled and bombed shipyards and skilled sailors and officers, are near-irreplacable. And yet, some hope remains.
Seabees and their international equivalents work alongside civilian construction companies to repair the damaged ports and yards. Ships, those safe at sea, return to guard the destroyed ports. Anti-ship missile batteries and mines deploy along coastlines to deter any attack. New weapons, designed for a new era of surface warfare, enter rushed design and high rate initial production.
And finally, there's you, the Kanmusu, the natural foil to this terror from the deep.
---
Difficulty Selection
Select a difficulty and any number of other (optional) world options. Difficulty is obviously First Past The Post, while the other Options use Approval Voting — Options are taken with "significant approval"
The opening is a preview of Lunatic and Infernal. Details vary, but that's generally what those two look like.
[][DIFFICULTY] Hard
A more difficult setting. The world becomes unpleasant. The world operates under Partial Mobilization.
[][OPTION] Repair Buckets Unavailable
No repair buckets exist. Automatically taken for all difficulties above Normal.
[][OPTION] DesDiv6
All posts will be Destroyer Safe™ and Momboat Approved™. This mostly means no swearing, under pain of 14cm/50.
[][OPTION] Slice of Life
The focus of the quest is on interpersonal relations. I start panicking because I have no experience writing slice of life.
[][OPTION] Magical Ships With Shining Souls Everyone becomes Magical Girls. I try to make the magical girl parallels more obvious.
[][OPTION] Magical Abyssals
Abyssals get magic. Depending on difficulty, this will include some magical flavor of leveling effect.
[][OPTION] Lost Floof?
You start midway between Nowhere, Nowhere, and Nowhere. Guess which three points have The Enemy. Gain extra agency. Gain extra challenge.
[][OPTION] Nuzlocke
I spend time trying to figure out the mechanics of a Nuzlocke narrative quest.
[][OPTION] Lord K
CVB-44 partially inspired this quest. I look at Lord K for suggestions.
[][OPTION] A Fleet Symphony: The Unspeakable Sound
I try to start reading That Fic. I take it out on you.
[][OPTION] Write-in. I reserve the right to veto any write-in.
†Terms and conditions may apply.
[][DIFFICULTY] Normal
[][DIFFICULTY] Hard
[][DIFFICULTY] Lunatic
[][DIFFICULTY] Infernal
[][OPTION] Classic
[][OPTION] Casual Mode
[][OPTION] Repair Buckets Unavailable
[][OPTION] DesDiv6
[][OPTION] Slice of Life
[][OPTION] Ships With Shining Souls
[][OPTION] Magical Abyssals
[][OPTION] Lost Floof?
[][OPTION] Nuzlocke
[][OPTION] Lord K
[][OPTION] A Fleet Symphony: The Unspeakable Sound
[][OPTION] Write-in. I reserve the right to veto any write-in.
@Murrchaos: World Consulting @CV12Hornet: World Consulting @Whiskey Golf: World Consulting @Archduke: World Consulting
@PADGTenno: World Consulting @Skywalker_T-65: Inspiration (Changing Destiny) @Sheo Darren: Inspiration (New Ironsides, Eternity) @Whiskey Golf: Inspiration (GG, Mk. II) @sasahara17: Inspiration (GG, Mk. I) @Icywinter: Inspiration (A Cute Character)
@Wolfsbane706: Inspiration (Skating)
Arc 0
@Icywinter: Title Graphics @Icywinter: Main Menu Graphics @Icywinter: HIJMS Zao Character Proposal @CV12Hornet: HMS Enterprise Proposal @UbeOne: Lucy/Illustrious Character Proposal @the Canadian Patriot / @Canadian Patriot: Vanguard Character Proposal, etc. @Icywinter: Lucy Armstrong Civilian Reference Edit @UbeOne: Lucy Armstrong Character Consulting @Alliterate: General Background and Character Consulting. @Archduke: Memes. @Icywinter: HMS Illustrious Combat Outfit Edit
This is my QM color. When I remember to speak in this color, it means I am making a statement or judgement as QM. I might forget or misremember, though. >.>
If I make a mistake, or something doesn't make sense, call me out on it with a solution for a No-Prize†.
Significant contributions to the thread will receive rewards. Rewards will be handled on a case-by-case business.
† Terms and conditions apply. Actual rewards may vary from None, to Acknowledgement, to Omake rewards.
Errant suggestions of different options, one of which I'm voting for:
[][OPTION] Too Scale
Shipgirls and Abyssals are within scale of their old selves/naval counterparts. This makes interaction between them and humans and even different sized vessels... interesting. The square/cubed law weeps in the corner. The giant monsters vs giant hero(ine) option.
[X][OPTION] Mix in SoL.
The focus of the quest is NOT on interpersonal relations, but they co-feature nonetheless. Does the QM still start panicking?
Errant suggestions of different options, one of which I'm voting for:
[][OPTION] Too Scale
Shipgirls and Abyssals are within scale of their old selves/naval counterparts. This makes interaction between them and humans and even different sized vessels... interesting. The square/cubed law weeps in the corner. The giant monsters vs giant hero(ine) option.
[X][OPTION] Mix in SoL.
The focus of the quest is NOT on interpersonal relations, but they co-feature nonetheless. Does the QM still start panicking?
[X][DIFFICULTY] Lunatic
[X][OPTION] A bizzare and semi-rusted junk pile of wtf: You're basically a accursed mutated junkyard...creature thar consists of abssyal flesh and pieces,parts of ships from different eras,junk,radioactive sludge,and..much more! Abssyals AND Ships don't seem like you at all.And plus you're...a boy. But on the bright side you can make a sweet as fuck cape!
[X][OPTION] Ships With Shining Souls
[X][OPTION] Magical Abyssals
[X][OPTION] Too Scale
The world will know of The great Junk-King.For war is his mother,and devastation is his Father.
[x] Plan Winter for Silentium : Darkest Hour
-[x][NAME] HIJMS Zaou
-[x][SHIP] HIJMS Zaou
-[x][LOOK] Check Below
-[x][DIFFICULTY] Infernal
The highest difficulty setting without additional options. The world is at Total Mobilization and war.
WE SHALL DEFEND OUR HOMELANDS, NO MATTER THE COST MAY BE
-[x][OPTION] Lost Floof?
You start midway between Nowhere, Nowhere, and Nowhere. Guess which three points have The Enemy. Gain extra agency. Gain extra challenge.
[X][DIFFICULTY] Infernal
The highest difficulty setting without additional options. The world is at Total Mobilization and war.
[X][OPTION] Classic
No revival available.
[X][OPTION] Repair Buckets Unavailable
No repair buckets exist. Automatically taken for all difficulties above Normal.
[X][OPTION] Magical Abyssals
Abyssals get magic. Depending on difficulty, this will include some magical flavor of leveling effect.
[X][OPTION] Lost Floof?
You start midway between Nowhere, Nowhere, and Nowhere. Guess which three points have The Enemy. Gain extra agency. Gain extra challenge
[X][OPTION] No Natural
Go hard or go home, you pussies! For in the Grim Darkness of KanColle, there is only war!
Eh, I just want there to be something more than cute girls doing cute things. While this is probably considered heresy in KC, I really don't care about cutes. And the idea of having no real challenge just... bores me. Why have demons crawling out of the depth of the seas to destroy humanity and not make it an epic struggle for survival? Put some meat on the bones and all that.
Oh, and I really hate slice of life and magical girls.
Eh, I just want there to be something more than cute girls doing cute things. While this is probably considered heresy in KC, I really don't care about cutes. And the idea of having no real challenge just... bores me. Why have demons crawling out of the depth of the seas to destroy humanity and not make it an epic struggle for survival? Put some meat on the bones and all that.
Oh, and I really hate slice of life and magical girls.
A rusted junk pile of wtf: You're basically a magical muntatef junkyard chimera consists of abssyal flesh and pieces,parts of ships from different eras,junk,and..more! Ships AND Abssyal don't seem like you too much,and plus you're...a boy.
The magical girl aspect is because they are literally magical girls, and I feel it is an aspect that needs to be addressed in some depth. There's common themes here with the Magical Warrior genre. Child soldier? Check. Magic? Check. Paranormal threat? Check. And the list goes on. Just to clarify, the Slice of Life increases the number of DesDiv6-type Episodes/Sideplots.
By the way, feel free to discuss player character choice. If you want to conduct a non-binding vote to interest check, feel free. Do note that I only count votes posted after the actual vote prompt.
Character votes are in the following format, and are exclusively by plan.
[K] Plan Name.
-[K][NAME] The character's name if natural born, or Summon if not
-[K][SHIP] Prefix Name (Hull Number). Example: HMCS Haida (G63)
-[K][LOOK] An image, or a description.
The magical girl aspect is because they are literally magical girls, and I feel it is an aspect that needs to be addressed in some depth. There's common themes here with the Magical Warrior genre. Child soldier? Check. Magic? Check. Paranormal threat? Check. And the list goes on.
Fair enough, I'm just worried out "defeating evil with love and friendship!". There's enough cutesy magical girl quests out there. None of which I have any motivation to read.
[X][DIFFICULTY] Hard
A more difficult setting. The world becomes unpleasant. The world operates under Partial Mobilization. [X][OPTION] Magical Ships With Shining Souls
Everyone becomes Magical Girls. I try to make the magical girl parallels more obvious. [X][OPTION] Write-in. I reserve the right to veto any write-in.
-[X] Natural-Born. You were a fairly ordinary lady. That was, until the shooting started. Now you remember being a ship, as if having the weapons of one wasn't enough.
You need to put your votes in the same post to get caught by the vote tally.
Also, I'd rather have the image link in the vote itself, as to not dig through the thread for the original vote. (And if the original voter moves off, then the original post with the poster won't show up at all in vote tally)
-[X] Natural-Born. You were a fairly ordinary lady. That was, until the shooting started. Now you remember being a ship, as if having the weapons of one wasn't enough.
@Icywinter: For excellent graphics, you have (1) Design a Character coupon. This may be redeemed at any time (with a character design/concept) for a character of your choice. The character may be submitted in public or private.
This totally isn't Lazy!QM outsourcing more character designs
Also, I'd rather have the image link in the vote itself, as to not dig through the thread for the original vote. (And if the original voter moves off, then the original post with the poster won't show up at all in vote tally)
