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Starmourn!!!

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  • VayneVayne Rhode Island
    Actually, it says they are vegetarians.
    image
  • BlujixapugBlujixapug
    Vayne said:
    Actually, it says they are vegetarians.
    "Diet: Seafood/plants only. Nothing grown or raised on land."

    "Seafood/plants only" doesn't, to me, imply herbivorous. It's not 'seafood: plants only', it's 'only seafood or plants'.

    Why would they have sharp teeth if they only eat plants?

    I like the idea of food being grown in vitro in this galactic setting: vat-grown meat, or meat analogues constructed from agglutinated plant or single-cell proteins, diets heavily supplemented by pills, actual livestock a barbarically primitive notion far too environmentally demanding for overcrowded planets and agricultural space stations. While the Amaians living on their home planet would have no quandaries, the space-farers living on ships, getting their food from traders, would have issues reconciling their need to eat with pride in their heritage. They'd be trying to distinguish between hydroponic food and everything else, "Technically this is of the ocean, being wholly nourished by waters, so we may partake. The rest of your offerings are dirt-grown, terrestrial, and so are unacceptable to us." Like Orthodox Jews evaluating a menu for kosher, or Muslims for halal, straining to interpret justification one way or the other from the lens of ancient scriptures. To me sci-fi is at its best when it uses technologically advanced settings to explore social issues in a new context.
    image
  • LucianusLucianus
    @Blujixapug

    Well... I'd be scared of the Amians if I were a human in that game. They apparently killed off an entire race of land dwellers, the Evux before they became a spacefaring civilization. Which is technically genocide. You'll never know what they'll do to other inferior 'land dwelling' races.

    That is not an ordinary star, my son. That star is the tear of a warrior. A lost soul who has finished his battles somewhere on this planet. A pitiful soul who could not find his way to the lofty realm where the great spirit awaits us all.
  • BlujixapugBlujixapug
    Lucianus said:


    Well... I'd be scared of the Amians if I were a human in that game. They apparently killed off an entire race of land dwellers, the Evux before they became a spacefaring civilization. Which is technically genocide. You'll never know what they'll do to other inferior 'land dwelling' races.

    I mean, humans would be genocidal too, if they weren't so busy arguing about 'technically race and ethnicity are social constructs so it doesn't count'.

    It's so interesting though, the whole idea of, what type of species achieve spacefaring capabilities? What sort of global cultures prosper and develop to that point? Kind, or selfish? Peaceful enlightened utopias, or war-torn worlds steadily destroying themselves? Conquerors? Post-scarcity societies, or those driven by hunger for more resources? Fragmented planets of many self-governing nations, or united worlds under one ruling body?

    By extension, are certain characteristics or particular technological developments inevitable, necessary precursors to spaceflight technology? Things like globalisation? Automation? The written word, the wheel, fire? Must they always be the lone dominant sentient species of their planet - is genocide therefore a common trait? Is mutualism viable? (I'd play that) Is human scholastic diversity a unique example of symbiotic intelligence compared to other species?

    And then might interference - uplift, violation of the Prime Directive - moot certain of these developments? Imagine a race that never developed writing, because they were given a technology like the 'grain' from Black Mirror, an implanted device that records and can play back your every lifelong visual and aural experience: literally an external memory drive.
    image
  • TolanTolan
    Can we have stargates to travel between planets?
  • KayeilKayeil Washington State
    I'm curious how the enemies system will work there like if each race has a home planet (or ship) instead of just a city like in the other IRE games. If they get a planet instead of a city, can you land and then just immediately die to guards if you're not welcome there? Or will it be a more complex system where arriving there may be extremely dangerous to you, but the possibility to explore around? Maybe you'll land in an area outside their main area (like a capital), but then you walk into the city and get dispatched by guards. Or what if they just have a ship? Will we just dock our ships on theirs, or how do we infiltrate?
    What doesn't kill you gives you exp.

  • LucianusLucianus
    @Kayeil

    I think traveling to enemy planets would depend on the size and stealth capabilities of the you're using to get there. A dreadnaught-class starship would obviously alert the planet the moment you arrive at their star system should they have the appropriate defense.

    Though I definitely hope we'll have a class that allows people to sneak around... and smuggle themselves on board of player ships to infiltrate a planet.
    That is not an ordinary star, my son. That star is the tear of a warrior. A lost soul who has finished his battles somewhere on this planet. A pitiful soul who could not find his way to the lofty realm where the great spirit awaits us all.
  • AereidhnaAereidhna Dallas
    Super excited to see if they put out builder/coder calls.
  • HyperlithHyperlith San Fierro area, San Andreas
    Lucianus said:
    Aesi said:
    Texel said:
    Aesi said:
    totally digging the humans so far. Planning out my badass space marine. Ooh-Rah!
    Human?! I guess the imperial guard are the meat and potatoes of imperium of man. Your service is commendable human. I'll take my geneseed and augmentations and fight xenos in the grim darkness of the far future. 
    Hah. All I need is a machine gun, a knife, and my never ending crate of whoop ass.
    Oh no... he meant these Space Marines:



  • HyperlithHyperlith San Fierro area, San Andreas
    Texel said:
    Imperial Navy. 

    Reavers!

  • VansittartVansittart
    Blujixapug said:

    Anyway, more stuff I hope I can do in this game:

    Uncover existential riddles woven through the fabric of matter, energy, and life itself. Pulling at threads unravels a web of evidence leading to revelations about ancient civilisations, advanced races who lived in a younger, intermediary phase of the universe, on planets now dead, who directly or indirectly caused the existence of my race. We are the universe experiencing itself.


    I'm glad that you're keeping your hopes and expectations under control.

    Mmm, Subliming is so awesome (have you read Excession? You must have done, right? It's so awesome).  Also, the Quantum Thief?  You should read that immediately.  I realize I am just talking to you now though, and this is of limited value to the wider community, but hey.  WHAT HAS THE WIDER COMMUNITY EVER DONE FOR ME, HUH?

    Do you log in any more?  If you are riding the alt train, please be PMing me details.  Tart out.

  • VayneVayne Rhode Island
    Ever wonder why all spaceships tend to be oriented on the same axis?
    image
  • LucianusLucianus
    Vayne said:
    Ever wonder why all spaceships tend to be oriented on the same axis?

    In-universe:


    First, even though space is indeed 3D, most solar systems/galaxies are relatively flat. So, a ship enroute from, say, DS9 to Earth would approach the Sol system at a relatively low angle of incidence relative to the ecliptic plane of the galaxy (but possibly not to the ecliptic plane of the Sol system itself).



    Second, even in a 3D space, there has to be a common "up" and "down" (Z-axis) in the coordinate system. For our Milky Way galaxy, the most natural "up" is one or the other of the normals to the plane of the galaxy. While in a stellar system, "up" would be one of the two normals to that system's orbital plane. It would follow then that unless a ship were travelling directly "up" or "down" through the galaxy or stellar system along this normal vector, it would maneuver to keep itself oriented roughly "top-up", to avoid navigational confusion.



    Third, though the shows/movies don't dwell on the real physics of this, ships in ST do orbit planets. Although there are an infinite number of possible orbital planes, even in one direction, the most logical (and easiest to break) is to orbit in the same direction as the planet's orbit around its star, within the same plane as the planet's stellar orbit. There may even be regulations requiring this while in well-travelled areas of space to avoid collisions.



    Lastly, even if one ship is approaching another from a wild angle of incidence, one of two things would likely happen. If the ships are friendly, the incoming ship would match course with the ship it was approaching. If the ships are hostile, the ship being approached would turn to face the enemy (thus allowing the captain to bring the most powerful weapons he has - torpedoes - to bear with minimal targeting, and also pointing the highest number of phaser banks at the enemy ship).



    Out-of-universe, having two ships, or formations of same, be aligned in attitude when facing each other is mostly for the audience's benefit. We're not used to seeing things "upside-down" while at rest, and with a large variety of ship configurations in the Federation fleet (nacelles-down, nacelles-up, "barrel section" or no, etc) you at least need an "establishing shot" showing the ship in a "normal" attitude, before you begin playing with relative attitudes during combat or other wild maneuvering. So, even if two ships approached each other with each one looking "upside-down" to the other, it would make sense to have the approaching vessel match axes with the ship being approached so the audience can easily recognize the two ships in question.



    Understand that the camera angles still may not indicate the true orientation of the two ships relative to the galactic plane (our common "up"). They may be meeting at an angle 30 degrees off the plane, and inverted. As long as they are both "right-side-up" relative to each other, there is a camera angle that would make them appear to be traveling through space as if it were a 2D surface.





    That is not an ordinary star, my son. That star is the tear of a warrior. A lost soul who has finished his battles somewhere on this planet. A pitiful soul who could not find his way to the lofty realm where the great spirit awaits us all.
  • VayneVayne Rhode Island
    Lucianus said:
    Vayne said:
    Ever wonder why all spaceships tend to be oriented on the same axis?

    In-universe:


    First, even though space is indeed 3D, most solar systems/galaxies are relatively flat. So, a ship enroute from, say, DS9 to Earth would approach the Sol system at a relatively low angle of incidence relative to the ecliptic plane of the galaxy (but possibly not to the ecliptic plane of the Sol system itself).



    Second, even in a 3D space, there has to be a common "up" and "down" (Z-axis) in the coordinate system. For our Milky Way galaxy, the most natural "up" is one or the other of the normals to the plane of the galaxy. While in a stellar system, "up" would be one of the two normals to that system's orbital plane. It would follow then that unless a ship were travelling directly "up" or "down" through the galaxy or stellar system along this normal vector, it would maneuver to keep itself oriented roughly "top-up", to avoid navigational confusion.



    Third, though the shows/movies don't dwell on the real physics of this, ships in ST do orbit planets. Although there are an infinite number of possible orbital planes, even in one direction, the most logical (and easiest to break) is to orbit in the same direction as the planet's orbit around its star, within the same plane as the planet's stellar orbit. There may even be regulations requiring this while in well-travelled areas of space to avoid collisions.



    Lastly, even if one ship is approaching another from a wild angle of incidence, one of two things would likely happen. If the ships are friendly, the incoming ship would match course with the ship it was approaching. If the ships are hostile, the ship being approached would turn to face the enemy (thus allowing the captain to bring the most powerful weapons he has - torpedoes - to bear with minimal targeting, and also pointing the highest number of phaser banks at the enemy ship).



    Out-of-universe, having two ships, or formations of same, be aligned in attitude when facing each other is mostly for the audience's benefit. We're not used to seeing things "upside-down" while at rest, and with a large variety of ship configurations in the Federation fleet (nacelles-down, nacelles-up, "barrel section" or no, etc) you at least need an "establishing shot" showing the ship in a "normal" attitude, before you begin playing with relative attitudes during combat or other wild maneuvering. So, even if two ships approached each other with each one looking "upside-down" to the other, it would make sense to have the approaching vessel match axes with the ship being approached so the audience can easily recognize the two ships in question.



    Understand that the camera angles still may not indicate the true orientation of the two ships relative to the galactic plane (our common "up"). They may be meeting at an angle 30 degrees off the plane, and inverted. As long as they are both "right-side-up" relative to each other, there is a camera angle that would make them appear to be traveling through space as if it were a 2D surface.





    I love that people have put that much thought into it, though in tv land the reason for this is probably merely familiarity.
    image
  • LucianusLucianus
    @Vayne I think it is also important to look at the physiology of the race and their spacefaring technology. Humans evolve walking on land. Our brain and the sensory organ for balance (the small bones in our ear and the fluids that fills it) recognizes orientation that always has an up and a down. That's why we get nauseous in 3D space and it takes training and conditioning (think astronauts in NASA constantly running underwater simulations to replicate zero gravity conditions) to get used to that.

    If we were an aquatic race... we probably wouldn't have a sense of up and down. Heck... marine mammals have actually evolved without the sensory organs that our ears has to tell us our orientation in a 2D plane. That's why dolphns, whales, and otters can swim around in the ocean with such speed and agility without caring which up/down direction they are facing. (Obviously, we should train genetically modified hyper-intelligent marine animals to fly our spaceships if we didn't have drone technology. XD)
    That is not an ordinary star, my son. That star is the tear of a warrior. A lost soul who has finished his battles somewhere on this planet. A pitiful soul who could not find his way to the lofty realm where the great spirit awaits us all.
  • TahquilTahquil
    Marine space marines
  • TexelTexel
    Lucianus said:
    @Vayne I think it is also important to look at the physiology of the race and their spacefaring technology. Humans evolve walking on land. Our brain and the sensory organ for balance (the small bones in our ear and the fluids that fills it) recognizes orientation that always has an up and a down. That's why we get nauseous in 3D space and it takes training and conditioning (think astronauts in NASA constantly running underwater simulations to replicate zero gravity conditions) to get used to that.

    If we were an aquatic race... we probably wouldn't have a sense of up and down. Heck... marine mammals have actually evolved without the sensory organs that our ears has to tell us our orientation in a 2D plane. That's why dolphns, whales, and otters can swim around in the ocean with such speed and agility without caring which up/down direction they are facing. (Obviously, we should train genetically modified hyper-intelligent marine animals to fly our spaceships if we didn't have drone technology. XD)
    This reminds me of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. He fantasizes that the human race has an evolutionary break with people insist on staying "human" and those that allow for evolution in space, space people get longer and develop ambidextrous feet, as well as have no discernible sense of balance. They make their ships circular and forgoe petty things like gravity. Pretty cool idea and easy to see how something as little as "Sense of balance" can have a lasting impact on evolution. 

    Hey developers can we have space human/monkeys that only live in space?
    Okk tells you, "You 'woof'ed on a house channel in a conversation with the Lord Bard."

  • CydraCydra
    I'm personally hoping for something like Eclipse Phase.
  • WithywindleWithywindle
    edited May 2016
    I am really hoping it's about space llamas. I've been wanting to play a space llama game ever since I got teased with this as a child. They mocked me and told me they were going to make it with alpacas instead. Bastards.

    So anyway, yeah: space llamas. Let's do it.

      
  • AsmodronAsmodron
    I would personally love if different forms of 'space-travel/space-venturing' were introduced, rather than the idea of 'Got a spaceship'.


    It would be interesting if different races achieved space-travel in different scenarios. Examples:

    A race with acute mental capabilities that are able to forge a telepathic link with space squids, forming a symbiotic if not parasitical relationship. This would be seen as a rite of passage for up-and-coming cadets that would symbolize the completion of their basic training. They will either succeed and form a link, being recognized as both an adult and soldier, or fail and be devoured by the squid.

    Once the squid is bonded, they would be equipped with armor and useful mechanisms to assist with future travels.
  • KayeilKayeil Washington State
    Some of these ideas remind me of the anime Tenchi Universe with the cabbit Ryo-Ohki that was also a space ship.




    What doesn't kill you gives you exp.

  • TahquilTahquil
    edited May 2016
    @tecton - what kind of feel are you hoping for the game? Is it going to be a little darker than Achaea or should we expect to hear people semi-regularly space squealing with space glee about space cookies on our space Comms or space sharks romping and nyahing when we space dock into space statins for space fuel?
  • KayeilKayeil Washington State
    I'm hoping we get more than the 30 day limit to decide if we want to retire our character to transfer credits to Starmourn. For such a new game I think it may take longer than 30 days to settle in and really get an idea if we want to give everything we've done here up.
    What doesn't kill you gives you exp.

  • SarapisSarapis
    edited May 2016
    Tahquil said:
    @tecton - what kind of feel are you hoping for the game? Is it going to be a little darker than Achaea or should we expect to hear people semi-regularly space squealing with space glee about space cookies on our space Comms or space sharks romping and nyahing when we space dock into space statins for space fuel?
    That's really a question better directed at me right now, and you'll have to make your own call from the material we're releasing as we release it. The only info we're giving out about Starmourn right now is what's on the website or in the newsletters I'm afraid! 
  • TahquilTahquil
    @sarapis just dont misinterpret information and turn it into my own personal eternal earth misunderstanding  B)
  • SzanthaxSzanthax San Diego
    Sarapis said:
    Tahquil said:
    @tecton - what kind of feel are you hoping for the game? Is it going to be a little darker than Achaea or should we expect to hear people semi-regularly space squealing with space glee about space cookies on our space Comms or space sharks romping and nyahing when we space dock into space statins for space fuel?
    That's really a question better directed at me right now, and you'll have to make your own call from the material we're releasing as we release it. The only info we're giving out about Starmourn right now is what's on the website or in the newsletters I'm afraid! 
    So the squeees are amount e... Squeeeeee



  • AsmodronAsmodron
    edited May 2016




    Theme song found.


    (Race of green-haired odd creatures have attained space-flight. They exhibit strange ritualistic arts of dancing around and the use of flashing colors and light, obviously a prayer to their gods. Their voice takes on strange tones, going from high-pitched to deep, may be a mating call of some sort. Further investigation is required)
  • LucianusLucianus
    Asmodron said:




    Theme song found.


    (Race of green-haired odd creatures have attained space-flight. They exhibit strange ritualistic arts of dancing around and the use of flashing colors and light, obviously a prayer to their gods. Their voice takes on strange tones, going from high-pitched to deep, may be a mating call of some sort. Further investigation is required)
    Behold! Their natural enemy:



    That is not an ordinary star, my son. That star is the tear of a warrior. A lost soul who has finished his battles somewhere on this planet. A pitiful soul who could not find his way to the lofty realm where the great spirit awaits us all.
  • KayeilKayeil Washington State
    edited May 2016
    Hello Starmourners!
     
    Today, I'm writing to you to introduce you to the Shen race - one of the 11 player races in Starmourn. 
    They're one of the oldest of the Younger Race civilizations, having achieved spaceflight over 100,000 years ago, and while they can be quite stoic, they open up quite a bit after a few cups of rootwine or a spoonful or two of fermented vuu honey.
     
    Learn all about the Shen here: 
    http://www.starmourn.com/shen.html
     
    Enjoy, and expect one of these newsletters weekly, at least!
     
    Matt Mihály
    CEO, Iron Realms Entertainment






    What doesn't kill you gives you exp.

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