All That Remains?

[Kai]

Ok folks. I've posted everything in my list of 'to write' for the plot and setting section thus far. Got alot done in the last 2 days, lol, so take a moment to read over that stuff. Let me know what you think here in this thread. Additionally, I need to know what else is needed. I know that a villain profile is needed, and I went back and stole Atropos' profile from the old board, so I can rework her to act as an initial primary villain. I'll be getting on that now that the other bits are written and posted. I also know that I need to get a hold of photoshop of something and get the map tweaked/filled out and posted. What else do you think needs to be added?

[monet]

Everything reads like a book, Matt! Just some afterthoughts while reading the info--

~For the non-tower related cities, I've always had a fondness for the "tribal" aspect of living and the nomad-thing is kinda neat to me. I'm glad you included that section.

~It's friggin inhumane to have prisoners dumped in "tainted" areas!! o___o How awful!! ...But I wish we could do that here IRL, yet since that does happen, especially with the example you gave of Vespar, doesn't that help to create kinda our own problem? Isn't it enough that monsters appear out of thin air (LOL) in these places, rather to have that and then the fact that humans are also spawned into monsters when released into the enviroment? Humans spawn into more threatening/dangerous foes? I find it really resourceful, in a morbid sense, but damn! lol I can see that type of thing coming back to bite you in the ass.

Also, the way you discribed the tainted areas, I find really cool. I wonder too if there are people (or devices) who/which are overly sensitive or can sense when getting near tainted areas before it actually becoming a problem. I wonder if all the areas have been discovered and if they vary in size? I'd have to imagine there'd be some sort of standard measurement for the tower cities (and settlements) in place regarding proximity to these tainted places. Or perhaps in sort of land development wouldn't risk being so very close to one.

~The purpose of the IVO seems a bit misleading. If IVO, at its simplest definition, is a collaborated effort of professionals or specialists within their field ...harvesting and keeping data (this information specifically geared toward... lost/present-day technology?) then, what's the purpose of having membership that is so restrictive (100% sobriety, 100% celibacy) for the intent of using their genetic makeup? It sounds like they -do- conduct experimentation.

What are the consequences if a member decides it's not for them and wants out?

~No comments really for the writeups for the Ruins and Preservation of the Past. Only that if going through the ruins tells us that there were or may be civilizations on other planets, particularly the terra-formed... then why not take the risk of further exploration into the ruins? It would make a good argument, I think that that past would tell about the future. After all, the RDI's aren't exactly an accurate assumption of danger so if you want info on space (as to better prepare? I guess for space travel/exploration) that should be the key initiative for ruin excavation.

Not only that, but I'm thinking that there really isn't a serious interest on why/how the disaster happened 1000 years ago, right? Not just an interest on the tech of times past but why the cataclysm happened in the first place

[monet]

On another note, I'm interested in knowing how the layout of the site will be formed. Are we going to pick main places of play for the city of Asherah and have them listed or will it be one category for each city, one for outside settlements, etc?

And then, what do you actually need to do for the map making? What are you looking for??

[Kai]

Everything reads like a book, eh? lol. Maybe parts of a book.

1. Well, they exist. The nomad-types probably have the 'worst' existence of anyone on the planet. The more the group moves, the less direct access to resources they have, the less time they spend in any one location, and therefore, the fewer the opportunities to find anything of enough value to sell to someone in the tower cities. Still, some people just can't sit still, and if it's 'tradition' it's even harder to break away from - even if the majority of the population thinks you're stupid for doing it. =B Generally, though, the nomads are at the bottom of the bucket when it comes to tech.

2. Vespar is the only city that did (does) the abandonment of prisoners in 'tainted areas.' After such an admission and the discovery of the results, 'of course' they discontinued the practice. =o Or so they tell the rest of the world. It probably will be a resourceful thing, and a good place to possibly have some story stuff happen, because of the human-monsters that are super strong. For example, maybe those super monsters show up on Vespar ships out in space (once ships are launched.) Or maybe the group has to infiltrate the city for something and has to deal with them... either as weapons or, to everyone's dismay, that they have taken over and run the city, either of their own volition or through a villain's influence. The super monsters could be used as an invasion force, perhaps.

With the tainted areas, they also have some 'open endedness' to them, for possible story use. Yes, they can transform humans (and non-monster creatures) into monster forms, but the whole 'appearing out of thin air' could be used as a story push. For example, monsters could appear out of thin air because the 'tainted areas' are actually perpetual transportation devices, similar to the ones the good guys use in city and between cities, but that it functions under a different mechanism and/or is under control from afar. Perhaps the 'tainted areas', if they are in fact transporters, are connected to a variety of places, and at some point can be used like dungeon entrances to... ruins under the Earth, or maybe ruins on other planets and space stations.

As for finding them, no current devices on Earth can detect them. Sensitive individuals...? Maybe. I guess there might be some folks that have a 'sixth sense' to it, but it'd be a rarity... like a spontaneous mutation. And of those that could, with the majority of the population living within the tower cities, the ability wouldn't be discovered very often. IVO, city military, or maybe non-tower city settlement born individuals would be the ones where it 'would be seen.'

Should be noted that the 'tainted areas' affect the Senshi and Knights just like normal folks, but the 'heroes' are more resistant to the effects, and as they grow in power will become more resistant. Still, they don't want to spend a whole lot of time in the 'tainted areas' if they can possibly help it.

City placement, for the tower cities, obviously took 'known tainted areas' into account when they were planned... but at the time of establishment, less of the surrounding area, generally speaking, was properly mapped. So, in some cases, there may be 'tainted areas' rather close to a city. Telemnos is probably the safest city, overall, where, say, for Asherah, part of the 'deathblow' to further ruin exploration beneath the city is/was the need to 'seal off' the 'tainted areas' that exist below. It's no good to have a nest of monsters in your basement... so, you close off those basements, as best you can, to try to keep the majority of the monsters out. =B

Non-tower city settlements will go in both directions - the tribal/nomad and 'town'-type setups will generally try to keep away from 'tainted areas.' The 'corporation' types are out their searching for stuff, usually headed towards ruins, and thus, head straight for 'tainted areas.' The non-tower city settlement of Omicron has a high concentration of 'tainted areas' near it. =o

3. The purpose of IVO is supposed to be misleading. They, too, have a vague setup overall and open endedness for possible story development later on. Secret organization, rarely seen leadership... as of right now no 'home base' which makes them very difficult to isolate. 'Secret organizations' holding all the knowledge could easily end up with IVO 'holding all the cards' at some point. Having knowledge, doing research 'in the dark', probably having some badass recently recovered tech weaponry... they could end up being awesome allies, terrible enemies, or both, over the course of the game. Who really knows. They are both trusted and completely mistrusted by the population, so there are all sorts of ways they could be used.

As for the genetic material thing and the restrictions... the genetic material is pretty straight-forward. It's still allowing members to 'pass on their legacy', at least genetically, despite their other restrictions. Members in IVO are 'exceptional', which is part of the selection process, so losing that DNA would be detrimental to humankind, in the leaders of IVO's minds. The restrictive nature of their existence and the difficult, exacting, meticulous selection process is there to: A)Ensure that the very best are the only ones allowed in, B) instill absolute discipline in members, thus keeping them away from 'distractions', completely and always on task, with the ultimate result of 'getting the most out of them' in terms of their specialty over the course of their lifetime.

To be a member of IVO is to choose to live your job. There's some symbolism in 'knowledge as a religion' to this, as well. As I mentioned, there's something of a monastic origin to IVO, and the monks in the monastery traditionally had all sorts of restrictions on their behavior for the purpose of 'enriching their spirit and maintaining their purpose' - which correlates to what members of IVO are supposed to be doing. The knowledge distribution and collection 'for the planet' is IVO's 'grand philanthropic purpose' - similar to things like churches collecting funds and materials for the poor, but on a much larger scale, and with a more 'useful' purpose.

What happens if someone wants to quit? ... I'd imagine they just conveniently 'disappear.' Can't be letting secrets get out. It's quite possible IVO has some backroom experiments that have taken the Vespar 'leave 'em in the tainted areas' idea to new extremes. =o We'll just have to wait and see.

As a side note, a lot of what is currently visible in the setting is 'living', in that I have not given strict details on quite a bit of it for the purpose of leaving it flexible to fit to the game as it develops.

4. People have primarily given up on the exploration of ruins because the running belief is that they have already gotten 'the good stuff' from the ruins and/or if there IS anything else left that would be useful... well, civilization has already made 'better' stuff. Everything that exists in the current civilization is based off of what was taken from the surface levels of the ruins. Most of that stuff was in bad or non-working condition, but over the course of 1000 years, working versions were created, tweaks and redesigns were put into play... and things have progressed to where civilization is now.

So, what most are looking at is: the technology of the civilization at the 'time of the fall' 1000 years ago was THE apex, THE pinnacle of human civilization. Everything that civilization had was the best of the best and outclassed everything that came before. After all, that civilization spanned the entire Sol system. Thus, the general feeling from that is: 'How could anything prior to the upper crust ruins be worthwhile?' Particularly when you consider the danger involved, and the likely condition of tech or info recovered from lower levels.

It is this logic that, 'around 50 years ago' in game, began the true push to forget what is beneath the Earth and focus completely on getting into space. Why go digging around in the dirt for information that no longer applies - i.e., it is assumed that everything beyond Earth was destroyed, considering the failure of Earth tech to be able to 'see' anything living on the Moon, ect., with their telescopes; Venus' observed condition... and the fact that 1000 years have passed. (That is, if there really WAS anyone out there... wouldn't they have tried to contact Earth, since Earth was the 'center' of the civilization? ... 'Center' being used in the game's 'current' sense, since it's quite possible the actual center of that time period's civilization could have been the moon, a ship, or just about anything else.)

So, again, 1000 years have passed. The focus is on space because everything left in space is, literally, from that time period. Considering that the ruins on Earth are dangerous, and considering that Earth-bound ruins suffer from all of the degrading factors of the Earth: wind, water, movement of earth, lava flows/earthquakes, human infiltration, ect., it is commonly thought that tech/info/ect. found in space will be in much better condition, due to having existed the past 1000 years in the vacuum of space, as opposed to getting battered by the elements on Earth.

And no, not really. No one cares what caused the 'fall of 1000 years ago', cuz it was... 1000 years ago. Whatever it was, it's been gone for a damn long time, so what exactly is the risk? If it was going to 'come back and finish the job' why would it wait for 1000 years, why would it wait until the point of man's re-entry into space to strike? If the IVO database wipes had not occurred, there might be more information from the past about that, and thus there might be more of a small interest... but the interest in what actually happened, at game start, just isn't there. That's not to say it won't manifest once humans are back in space and make some discoveries of ships/ruins/ect., that could shed light on the fall itself. Once there's data from that, THEN some folks might start thinking about it.

Right now, it's all about perfecting their current space ship designs and actually getting in to space. Space, and the ruins/debris/ect. there, are the 'new' ruins of focus, for the same purpose, more or less, that you make for the Earth ruins. In this civilization's mind, they have 'exhausted' the Earth-bound set, but there's a 'whole new world' (to be lame) waiting out and above. Since they can 'see' Venus and the moon from Earth, and have a 'good idea' of what to expect, so there's no need to go back to ruins for info that's 1000 years old.

5. Layout of the site... I already made the IC boards. They are just hidden right now. I guess there's no reason to keep them hidden at this point, so I'll just go and un-hide them after I post this.

For the map, I have a base map. I thought I sent it to you... but maybe not. It's completely blank, and it's the 'world map' - I just need to photoshop it in terms of putting numbers down and making a legend, to show where the tower cities are. I should probably do a city map, too, at least in terms of something generically general... but it would be 'by hand' (whether in photoshop or literally by hand and scanned) but I suck at art and it would be ugly. =B I don't know if the city map is completely necessary... but I guess others can comment on that here and we can figure that out as we go along.

[monet]

~ Perhaps the 'tainted areas', if they are in fact transporters, are connected to a variety of places,

o.o That'd be extremely cool.

~ but the 'heroes' are more resistant to the effects, and as they grow in power will become more resistant.

Well. I don't suppose there's nothing that could be developed to help people withstand the effects, even for a longer-than-normal amount of time. If so, I guess it would be in practice by now, at least by military or IVO purposes. ...Or maybe IVO has something and are friggin hiding it!

~ As a side note, a lot of what is currently visible in the setting is 'living', in that I have not given strict details on quite a bit of it for the purpose of leaving it flexible to fit to the game as it develops.

Right, right. I wonder if the IVO would be interested in obtaining senshi as members. I guess it would depend on the general attitude towards them but.. were I a scientist working in IVO, I'd still like to trap and keep one. Cuz they be srsly special too! =D

~ if it was going to 'come back and finish the job' why would it wait for 1000 years, why would it wait until the point of man's re-entry into space to strike?

Because the threat just might come from space. Man may be stepping into a realm where he isn't suppose to, and may suffer a backlash for it.

Who knows right?

A 1000 years ago. That's such a popular, if not neat, story-like premise, you know? It's almost perfect if one were to think that another catastrophe is imminent, say if some sort of researcher discovered signs and such about the previous disaster. If no one cares what caused the previous destruction how can they be sure, if at all, it won't happen again? It's to learn from past mistakes to keep history from repeating itself. The open-endedness to it all is probably the coolest thing about it.

A thousand years passes. And then the senshi show up, right when the earth is on the verge of engaging in space exploration; it must count for something.

Or maybe, there's some kinda ungodly force that puts the senshi in the way of blocking a second cataclysm that couldn't be avoided at first? Maybe Sailor Pluto was behind it, transporting the senshi to be born in a time period that they were needed from the future. Or maybe pushed by an entity much bigger than herself! Kinda like how ChronoTrigger worked, eh?? They way they moved throughout time to prevent stuff from happening, or even to investigate why stuff happened (even though stuff happened anyway!), ne? Only we could be passing through whole worlds, or universes!

Wahh~! So many possibilities! *_______* Right, right?! How exciting~~! It inspires me to make the very best Venus I can! Even though he's being a douche! ((It's like 6:30am and I'm gonna work on him some more after I post this. Ugh! But I got so much to do today, lucky I'm off... u___u We have this love/hate thing goin' on right now, so I'm still workin through it. But if he pisses me off, I'm going right back to sleep!))

~ For the map, I have a base map. I thought I sent it to you... but maybe not.

I remember seeing a map from you, it was prolly through email. Which is fine, maps are SO COOL. I dare say, that I would vote against a city map. I mean, if you listed (I dunno how you did it, I haven't seen it yet) the boards in order of proximity to each other, then that may be enough? I'll see once I get out of this window.

~ it would be 'by hand' (whether in photoshop or literally by hand and scanned) but I suck at art and it would be ugly.

Lol. n__n Do it anyway so we can have something to laugh at. j/k I don't think I've ever seen a drawing by you. Anyway, give it a shot, world or city map and see what you think. But if you find yourself disinclined to do either or both, maybe.. I could try? Remember when we were re-designing the Eblana map for that game? Meh. Of course, Steff and Steph are both a lot better with photoshopping than I'll ever be!

That's it for now.

Oh. Right. Ice on an ankle, Matt? Not exactly my idea of what you'd call 'healing', maybe something that could ease the pain or inflammation in that case?

Ice does not heal. It hurts when you slip and bust yer ass on it! Remember that!

[Kai]

It's always a possibility that IVO or Vespar has something fancy and isn't sharing it with people. lol.

As for obtaining a Senshi, perhaps they'll be interested once the group starts to awaken. Part of the overall deal with this, and also with the lack of an interest in what caused the fall in regards to your mentioning the Senshi awakening is... they aren't really known anymore. IVO, perhaps, still has some stuff that talks about them, and there may be a few folks out there that still play around with the 'fanciful mythology' of super heroes, but the general population doesn't have a clue who or what a Senshi is. When they awaken and start to be active, there won't be some auto-spark of omg!Senshi!... it'll be more like wtf is going on!? Oh wow, super people! (I wonder if they are monsters...) If there is any connection to the catastrophe of 1000 years ago, only some individuals in IVO and a scant few enthusiasts will take notice. Instead, the population focus will first be in local 'amazement', with some fanfare, some confusion, and some mistrust (anti-sentiment will likely take a form similar to J. J. Jameson towards Spiderman in the Spiderman comics), which will most likely lead to an extension of 'peace in exchange for help' with 'Asherah first' - which leads to exploring other parts of the world and, of course, being pulled up into space at the request of the Asherah government.

Stuff in space is 'left overs' from the catastrophe, so, once new light is shed on 'the end', THEN folks might start worrying about it coming back. Right now everything is 'exploration excitement' in the same vein as that of Europe when the 'new world' was discovered.

e_e I don't think we wanna play with time-travel. We might could show some 'flashbacks' that take place in early times to tell history stories or something, which could maybe lead some credence to a 'reincarnation' idea, similar in scope to the canon. Perhaps these folks were the ones responsible for ending the threat, but they got wiped out, for the most part, doing so, and Moon's last act prior to her own disappearance post-catastrophe was to 'give them all a second chance', which has ironically taken 1000 years to get around to happening.

z_z But yes, map. Sent you the bare world one. Look at the IC board and also the Asherah description to see if there really needs to be a city map. And... yeah. You haven't seen any drawings from me, because I can't draw. =P~ I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. My stick figures end up being deformed. ~_~;

[monet]

Oh-ho ho ho! Well that explains it then!!

...

I can't churn out anything more than that. I'm gonna ditch V for right now and sleep for about an hour or two. =_= I'll have something more intelligent to say later on, LIKE I'M SOOO SURE!

>< Sorry.

[Steff]

I am actually alive...now that I am finally getting over this horrible virus n_n" And so, finally, I am going through all of your recent posts and this discussion board--go me! lol.

Your description of the non-tower city settlements is going to help me a lot with the NPC's and plot points we have discussed for Moon, yay! lol

The 'tainted areas' are friggin' awesome! What an extremely useful plot point =D If those 'tainted areas' are some sort of transporter fields, we could always link it up to my Labyrinth idea I've never gotten around to actually typing up since the game always dies before we need that specific plot point e_e"

I could totally see a major bad-guy come out of the 'deep, dark, depths' of IVO, haha. Again, I love the openness of IVO and how it could be used in the game But, question: what's the ', W' doing in the IVO thread title? lol. And, for the record, it could be all sorts of fun-dramatic if one of our senshi cast members is part of the IVO... I could imagine all sorts of juicy scandals coming out of that, haha!

Ruins definitely sound like fun, scary places for our cast to go exploring/training, haha.

As for the map, I can't wait to have one! e_e" I am a very visual person who needs visuals, and even if you do a great job describing the placement of cities, settlements, etc., it nonetheless makes my head want to explode because I just want to actually SEE our world, lol.

As for a city map? I think one could be useful, what with all the districts and stuff. But again, I am a very visual person who understands/learns best with visuals, so... yeah. I'll always be in favor of visuals, lol.

"I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. My stick figures end up being deformed. ~_~;"

LMAO. Just LMAO. I love how nonchalantly candid you are about your non-existent drawing abilities, ♥ You make me laugh.

[Kai]

Brain dead, should be studying for the molecular biology test tomorrow but just got off of work reply...



Uhh... the W is supposed to say 'worldwide' but apparently I ran out of characters and didn't notice.

@_@ Um... yeah. And I'll move Zoey and... maybe this weekend I can get ahold of photoshop to do the world map, at least. I still don't know what to do about a city map, other than try to hand-draw it. But I'll figure it out. ... Maybe. Ha. Damn it, where is my Dustloop :vbang: smiley at ...!

[Kai]

So.... Atropos is up, sans abilities. Maybe those will come tomorrow. ... What is the status of everyone else?

[Kai]

[steph]

I am back now, as you know. I dunno about everyone else...

Oh and I will burn Photoshop for you today.