Hello everyone! I am here to request help, really. I have an idea for an RP, but while I have some concepts in mind, I need help fleshing out others. So, I request for the thoughts of the wise! Guide me, with thou wisdom!
Here are some basics:
Setting
The time span is a couple decades after this one, maybe 2070s-2090s. I'll try to determine the exact date. (Or you could help!)
Mankind has found a way to zoom around (short distance) across the stars. It doesn't come in the form of any mechanics or engines. They have to use people, called Dark Weavers. (Explained later)
Now the specific circumstances are a bit... Well, this is partially the reason why I'm asking for your help. I really don't know whether to put these ideas in, make new ones, or whatever.
If we're talking about an unstable political system, I can add stuff such as rebels, pirates, divergent 4th generation of Weavers, (I'll explain later.) political tension between Weavers and others, maybe discussions on whether or not AIs are setient or not, etc.
If the political system is stable, then I guess the feel would be a more 'Star Trek' kind of deal: exploring the cosmos, maybe even finding aliens. Whether hostile or not, I haven't thought that far ahead.
The Factions
When I mean Factions... Well, it's a bit hard to explain. I'll let my descriptions show.
Dark Weavers
This is my most well thought out concept. Have you ever heard of Dark Matter and Dark Energy? How the former contracts and squeezes space, acting like regular matter? How the latter expands the space, pulling it like you would a rubber band? That's what the Dark Weavers are based off of. Human Manipulators of these forces.
The Weavers are generally organized in two different categories: Attunement and Generation.
There are two Attunements of Weavers: Dark Matter Weavers, and Dark Energy Weavers. A bit self explanatory. The most basic powers of each is to expand/contract space. No, no black holes, Dark Matter. No, no sundering reality, Dark Energy. They can't do such things. Why? Because the weaver has such a powerful force on his body, he is unstable, in a sense. He cannot use his power too much in one go, lest he either implode/explode. He can try to stabilize using the opposite force, but his usage of the other force is not nearly as effective as his primary.
This also makes combat interesting (Using these forces has many practical uses outside of FTL travel, combat included): If you want to cancel out an effect, use the opposite. If you want to effectively kill someone, use the same force they are using- it makes them more unstable.
Ex: A Dark Energy (DE) Weaver sees a Dark Matter (DM) bolt coming at him. He either A) cancels it out with a DE bolt, or B) lets it hit him to stabilize him. However, if that bolt was a DE bolt, it would have been effective against him, making him more unstable.
Concerning the forces in the matter of space ship travel.. By applying these two Attunements, a ship can go FTL. The DE users focus their powers onto the back of the ship, and the DM users focus on the front. This creates a phenomenon known as "warp surfing", and allows a ship to go 10 times faster than light.
The other category, Generation, is more like a cultural category. Given a multitude of factors, all three generations are 'dark' cultures. (AKA goth, emo, and punk)
Gen one is a Gothic Culture. They are also the ones who first used the two forces. The catch is, many of them have been in stasis tubes (powered by dark matter). There are a few older ones that helped start the weaver culture, but many others are now just starting to awaken. They typically have a white streak through their hair, and their eye colors are partially the color of their force. (Red for DE, blue for DM.) They are covered in scars, and generally have a somewhat paranoia/resolve to them. (I have a backstory to gen one I'll add later)
Gen two is an Emo culture. They wear tight(ish) clothes, contribute to many of the arts of the Dark Weaver Culture. They have a streak of color of whatever force they use running through their hair, and tend to have the most cybernetics out of the bunch. (Adding backstory later)
Gen Three is the Punk Culture. They also tend to wear the most revealing clothing, almost as if ridiculing the standards set by the gen one. They can't escape it, though. In addition, their hair color is like gen two, but its a distortion of the color- red is pink, blue is bright blue or purple. They're the (relatively) wild ones of the Dark Weavers. They also have a tattoo somewhere on them representing their force (corresponding colors- red or blue) (Backstory later...)
Other Cultures
Now, I'm thinking of adding other cultures, such as a knight/medieval hierarchy to either the military or Navy. Why? It's pretty obvious I put most of my thought into the Dark Weavers. However, I want people to recognize and even play as Non-Weavers, so that means I got to make other cultures/options just as appealing. This is where I really need your help. Come, help me make other cultures!
I tried to make this with reality as a (admittedly small minor speck of a) base.
(I will add more when I have Time/Ideas)
Here are some basics:
Setting
The time span is a couple decades after this one, maybe 2070s-2090s. I'll try to determine the exact date. (Or you could help!)
Mankind has found a way to zoom around (short distance) across the stars. It doesn't come in the form of any mechanics or engines. They have to use people, called Dark Weavers. (Explained later)
Now the specific circumstances are a bit... Well, this is partially the reason why I'm asking for your help. I really don't know whether to put these ideas in, make new ones, or whatever.
If we're talking about an unstable political system, I can add stuff such as rebels, pirates, divergent 4th generation of Weavers, (I'll explain later.) political tension between Weavers and others, maybe discussions on whether or not AIs are setient or not, etc.
If the political system is stable, then I guess the feel would be a more 'Star Trek' kind of deal: exploring the cosmos, maybe even finding aliens. Whether hostile or not, I haven't thought that far ahead.
The Factions
When I mean Factions... Well, it's a bit hard to explain. I'll let my descriptions show.
Dark Weavers
This is my most well thought out concept. Have you ever heard of Dark Matter and Dark Energy? How the former contracts and squeezes space, acting like regular matter? How the latter expands the space, pulling it like you would a rubber band? That's what the Dark Weavers are based off of. Human Manipulators of these forces.
The Weavers are generally organized in two different categories: Attunement and Generation.
There are two Attunements of Weavers: Dark Matter Weavers, and Dark Energy Weavers. A bit self explanatory. The most basic powers of each is to expand/contract space. No, no black holes, Dark Matter. No, no sundering reality, Dark Energy. They can't do such things. Why? Because the weaver has such a powerful force on his body, he is unstable, in a sense. He cannot use his power too much in one go, lest he either implode/explode. He can try to stabilize using the opposite force, but his usage of the other force is not nearly as effective as his primary.
This also makes combat interesting (Using these forces has many practical uses outside of FTL travel, combat included): If you want to cancel out an effect, use the opposite. If you want to effectively kill someone, use the same force they are using- it makes them more unstable.
Ex: A Dark Energy (DE) Weaver sees a Dark Matter (DM) bolt coming at him. He either A) cancels it out with a DE bolt, or B) lets it hit him to stabilize him. However, if that bolt was a DE bolt, it would have been effective against him, making him more unstable.
Concerning the forces in the matter of space ship travel.. By applying these two Attunements, a ship can go FTL. The DE users focus their powers onto the back of the ship, and the DM users focus on the front. This creates a phenomenon known as "warp surfing", and allows a ship to go 10 times faster than light.
The other category, Generation, is more like a cultural category. Given a multitude of factors, all three generations are 'dark' cultures. (AKA goth, emo, and punk)
Gen one is a Gothic Culture. They are also the ones who first used the two forces. The catch is, many of them have been in stasis tubes (powered by dark matter). There are a few older ones that helped start the weaver culture, but many others are now just starting to awaken. They typically have a white streak through their hair, and their eye colors are partially the color of their force. (Red for DE, blue for DM.) They are covered in scars, and generally have a somewhat paranoia/resolve to them. (I have a backstory to gen one I'll add later)
Gen two is an Emo culture. They wear tight(ish) clothes, contribute to many of the arts of the Dark Weaver Culture. They have a streak of color of whatever force they use running through their hair, and tend to have the most cybernetics out of the bunch. (Adding backstory later)
Gen Three is the Punk Culture. They also tend to wear the most revealing clothing, almost as if ridiculing the standards set by the gen one. They can't escape it, though. In addition, their hair color is like gen two, but its a distortion of the color- red is pink, blue is bright blue or purple. They're the (relatively) wild ones of the Dark Weavers. They also have a tattoo somewhere on them representing their force (corresponding colors- red or blue) (Backstory later...)
Other Cultures
Now, I'm thinking of adding other cultures, such as a knight/medieval hierarchy to either the military or Navy. Why? It's pretty obvious I put most of my thought into the Dark Weavers. However, I want people to recognize and even play as Non-Weavers, so that means I got to make other cultures/options just as appealing. This is where I really need your help. Come, help me make other cultures!
I tried to make this with reality as a (admittedly small minor speck of a) base.
(I will add more when I have Time/Ideas)
I am just going to throw a few ideas around here. You can have Puritans, opposed to all weavers. They are earth/planet based, or they travel the stars in a slow mechanical way in huge well- defended ships. Perhaps they travel so slow that generations live there between system and system. They could oppose weavers politically or millitarily. They might have a religion which instructs them to hate weavers as unbalancing forces in the verse. Think victorian steampunk with swords, lazer rifles and perhaps a martial art and tech dedicated to counter weaver powers.
Another culture might be sort of space gypsies, the Nomadika. They have small craft that hitch onto weaver ships, or they stow away in supply stores and engine rooms. No special powers per se, but they know how to hitch a ride and survive on many different planets. Rogues, merchants, families, refugees, they organize not out of want but need. Maybe they have a crude language to evade authority, and a few secret towns-within-cities. Can even have rebel weavers join the Nomadika, making them capable of piracy aimed at weaver and puritan ships.
I guess you can also have the Colonists and the Corps. These are mundanes travelling with the weavers or aiding them planetside. The weavers might not want to setttle on a planet and grow crops for 80 years, and they might not want to police an alien species after victory. These are the paperpushers, scientists, the soldiers, mechanics and settlers that form the human backbone of the weaver systems.
Do with this as you will, hope it helped
Another culture might be sort of space gypsies, the Nomadika. They have small craft that hitch onto weaver ships, or they stow away in supply stores and engine rooms. No special powers per se, but they know how to hitch a ride and survive on many different planets. Rogues, merchants, families, refugees, they organize not out of want but need. Maybe they have a crude language to evade authority, and a few secret towns-within-cities. Can even have rebel weavers join the Nomadika, making them capable of piracy aimed at weaver and puritan ships.
I guess you can also have the Colonists and the Corps. These are mundanes travelling with the weavers or aiding them planetside. The weavers might not want to setttle on a planet and grow crops for 80 years, and they might not want to police an alien species after victory. These are the paperpushers, scientists, the soldiers, mechanics and settlers that form the human backbone of the weaver systems.
Do with this as you will, hope it helped
Thank you for helping me with this!
Your ideas are great. With the Puritans, not only can I interweave them among the plot, but give the Weavers that extremist gen 4 faction I was talking about earlier. Also, it could give me a chance to flesh out a belief system: the elder mythos. The Puritans could oppose the Weavers because they believe the Weavers would bring about the Elder Mythos's coming.
The nomads.. I'm not really finding a good plot point in there... Yet. Give me time, and I'll probably find a spot for them!
Finally, the colonists and Corp: yeah, I was already somewhat anticipating this in my RP. All these things are a given. However, the thing is, I want to make these groups appealing to characters, just as appealing as Weavers.
Your ideas were excellent. I now have a new faction to put in! Furthermore, I can update the Weavers, and I can also consider a second new faction. I can even update the setting, somewhat!
Your ideas are great. With the Puritans, not only can I interweave them among the plot, but give the Weavers that extremist gen 4 faction I was talking about earlier. Also, it could give me a chance to flesh out a belief system: the elder mythos. The Puritans could oppose the Weavers because they believe the Weavers would bring about the Elder Mythos's coming.
The nomads.. I'm not really finding a good plot point in there... Yet. Give me time, and I'll probably find a spot for them!
Finally, the colonists and Corp: yeah, I was already somewhat anticipating this in my RP. All these things are a given. However, the thing is, I want to make these groups appealing to characters, just as appealing as Weavers.
Your ideas were excellent. I now have a new faction to put in! Furthermore, I can update the Weavers, and I can also consider a second new faction. I can even update the setting, somewhat!
I really love this idea, and if you ever get around to starting a roleplay in this setting I'd love to be involved.
I don't know that I have a whole lot to contribute to this, but I think the addition of the elder mythos raises some interesting questions. How much is actually known about these beings? Is there a contingent of disciples who are devoted to ensuring their return? If so, what kind of place in society would these cultists occupy? Can they preach their beliefs without fear of persecution, or do they hold private sermons away from the prying eyes of the Puritans? Also, what's the nature of the elder mythos? They obviously have some relationship with dark matter and dark energy.
The only other thing worth mentioning is this video. I kind of imagine weaving might look a little bit like this, at least in an abstract sense. I dunno.
I don't know that I have a whole lot to contribute to this, but I think the addition of the elder mythos raises some interesting questions. How much is actually known about these beings? Is there a contingent of disciples who are devoted to ensuring their return? If so, what kind of place in society would these cultists occupy? Can they preach their beliefs without fear of persecution, or do they hold private sermons away from the prying eyes of the Puritans? Also, what's the nature of the elder mythos? They obviously have some relationship with dark matter and dark energy.
The only other thing worth mentioning is this video. I kind of imagine weaving might look a little bit like this, at least in an abstract sense. I dunno.
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