Life2.0 - An "Of Unity" Narrative (Completed)

[CBR JGWRR]

Yes. She understands her Mum more now. But there's still time.

Yes - English is the language of dystopia after all.

That's it. Still, there's enough differences to WH40k allow for room to develop something else; got ideas coming together.

Who said Life2.0 would be doing the choosing?

Edit - I've also gone pack to the portrait set on page 9 - the initial members of the colony one - and added some of the missing Leaders.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"A HaMaadimi Honeymoon, Part 6"
15th Vorosh, 9 (2188)
Thando's Wife​

The great part of being on Loveboat One is it is just me and my husband. The bad part of being on Loveboat One is it is just me and my husband. Unity is a five minute time-delay away; without using MSI comms, it's too far to have a proper conversation. We can send text messages, but the bandwidth is pretty poor as the colony's comms satellites are in need of being upgraded to handle more traffic.

I've gotten to know Thando really well; let's face it, there really isn't much to do. We can either talk, or have sex. But Thando is like his sister; spinning makes him feel sick. So, we can't just use the RCS thrusters to put the ship into a tumble, it makes him throw up. And it turns out the biology of Human males doesn't work in zero-g. So, no sex until the deceleration for Unity return. Which...

Well, he goes through my underwear drawer. Less said, the better.

We've gotten to that 'floating together in silence because we've talked about everything' stage in a relationship.

What have I learned about my husband?

Well, I've learned quite a lot, as we played truth or dare for a week. And inevitably we had more questions than ideas for dares; it's kind of like playing 'I spy' - just like you run out of things to say, you run out of things you can do on a sparsely equipped R&D ship. We've told each other everything. And Thando's memory is just as potent as his sister's is, and he commits everything I say to memory. It's...

It's humbling, being with someone who knows everything you can say about yourself, and who still loves you.

We're both afraid of not living up to our ancestors. In me, it manifests as an anxiety-type neurosis that makes me fear failure. In him, it means he has this mutually contradictory way of revering and disdaining them.

He's at war with himself, Thando. I've realised that I can only ride the currents that flow through him, and be a source of stability by which he evaluates himself; he's never had someone he truly trusts to actually see the depths. Just the shallows is difficult for him, he's been living in distrust for so long... It's how he survived the path he took after all; when a price that buys planets is on your head, who can you trust?

It's why he stopped raiding MSI. The bounty was so high that he wondered if it was just a matter of time until even his closest friends turned on him.

And he's changing me. I'm not the woman I was when I arrived on Unity... The Flagship shattered my internal perception, because I lost. I got stuck in despair for a while, because all my life I've had the image of flawess Alexander as my metric. Worse, I got a lot of good people killed because of my mistakes; he dissected my tactical approach on the day we spent discussing the battle strategies we had used.

Piece by piece, we're rebuilding each other better.

I guess that, if the price of having a husband who truly understands me and loves me is putting up with foibles like the way he bites his toenails, I can live with it. Three weeks until we are back on Unity - Rivkah wants her ship back so that we can swap the pusher plate for a newly developed one to test that.

 

[Macavity116]

Being sequestered aboard a cramped little ship with the same person for such a long period of time has got to have an effect on a person's mental health. It's lucky Alexandra and Thando have turned out to be so compatible.

This is giving me some ideas for my next AAR...

 

[CBR JGWRR]

It's not a cramped ship exactly; the crew quarters is the roughly 5m radius sphere on the front. Granted, by the time you've added all the extra shielding to handle the UV output of an A-type star it is thinner, but it's still enough to comfortably exceed the likes of Starship on space per person.

But yeah, they'll have to like each other, otherwise it's not going to end well.

 

[HistoryDude]

It's nice to see some more insight on Thando and Alexandra.

I'm laughing at the fact that they played truth or dare. Will that spread throughout the colony?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

It's nice to see some more insight on Thando and Alexandra.

I'm laughing at the fact that they played truth or dare. Will that spread throughout the colony?

It would be nice to give more characters little moments like this.

Maybe. Maybe it already has, Alexandra isn't going to be the only one who knows of it.

So, where we are at:

We've got several mini-arcs that are waiting for a timeskip, and the narrative as a whole is waiting for a timeskip.

Mini-Arcs:
Ruki Of Unity - nine months
HaMaadimi Honeymoon - one month
Vorosh - Flexible
Pusher-Plates - first workshop test in one month, then full production over the rest of the year
Olinbar technology integration - Flexible

Macro-Arcs:
Introducing the Arishkan - Soon
Galactic Community membership - Soon
Arrival of MSI's naval might - three years

Ultimately, the colony has several possible outcomes:
Going alone into war, and if they lose, Naomi being crucified
Prikki aid into war
Arishkan aid into war
Galactic Community aid into uneasy peace
Eater Of Worlds or End Of The Cycle

Or, could keep doing minor pieces to pass the time.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Scarlet Six"
15th Vorosh, 9 (2188)
Gillian Veres​

I rest my high heels on the table. "So you want to join us?"

Sophia nods, leaning in. "If you will have me."

"The big question is, how comfortable are you with killing other Olinbar?"

She stands, and takes off her dress. Clarissa wasn't joking about the bruises, some still haven't faded. She didn't mention the burns though, her skin looks like someone has been using her to put out cigarettes. "I'm not a revenge kind of person, but I don't share the belief that other Olinbar will be turned the way Naomi and Valerius hope they can be. Not without martial superiority; they've not really dealt with military men. I have."

"What do you think it will take?"

She sits down again. "Grabbing them by their balls and squeezing." She gulps.

Odd. "How Naomi killed your brother."

She nods, holding back the tears. "Scarlet One had to do what she had to do. I don't blame her, because they won't listen until they start dying. They are so used to thinking they are superior that they will not bend."

"Which means they must break."

She nods. "I'm broken, Gillian, and I've changed..." She runs a hand over her injuries. "That is what it takes... I used to believe the lies. And then they made me a Companionship Asset, and I saw the truth as they gave me equality."

"They use you up and toss you in the recycler."

"Yes... I'd be quite happy never to see an Olinbar man again, but that's not an option. Us Olinbar have to understand what we have done, what we are a part of. To confront the cognitive dissonance that we rely on everyday. We have to be broken so that we can be rebuilt."

I hold her hands. "Sophia, I don't look at you and see a killer. You're too sweet to be a revenge taker."

She stares into my eyes. "Maybe not. But they won't change without violence. I can't see a future that doesn't mean that I must fight. If I don't change, they will come back, and I will be nailed to a cross besides Naomi." She pauses. Closes her eyes as a part of her dies inside. When they open, a spark of rage nestles. "Train me."

She's shocked by just how quickly I put a gun in her hand. "Welcome to the Scarlets, Six."

 

[HistoryDude]

Well, that's some useful insight. The proposed solution is very harsh. It's nice to see Sophia integrating, though.

Those proposed arcs look interesting. I'm looking forward to them.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"A HaMaadimi Honeymoon, Part 7”
2nd Qutrok, 9 (2188)
Alexandra's Husband​

I watch her finalise the deceleration burn as we return to Unity. Last few dozen nukes to go. Just have to rendezvous with the new pusher-plate module, reload the thousand nukes we've used up, and then handover to the research team headed for the Kidore II anomaly; Rivkah has decided she wants to know more about it, so they are testing the Beta Titanium alloy pusher-plate design.

We're going back to Unity though. Home beckons.

This is why nuclear and thermonuclear explosions are possible, I think - they open up the cosmos like nothing else on our technology level. If this ship was a chemical rocket they'd have to rework all the equipment to be light as possible and swap out fuel tanks and all sorts, such that it has to be practically a different ship to be in.

Orions though, just pile on the ammo and the cargo, and Loveboat One will be heading off on it's next mission.

And even overloaded with extra cargo and nukes such that it accelerates a tenth as fast as it did for us - about four kilotons of mass when it leaves tomorrow - a chemical rocket with enough delta-v to match just wouldn't be feasible.

Not even sure the colony could cope to begin with if they hadn't had those fusion-engined shuttles from the slave ship; it is a big system. We burned 33km/s of delta-v in the end, reloading at Kidore I for the return journey with the other Orion test ship configured for remote guidance to allow for space for nukes for the refuel.

It's part of the reason the colony is working on just the 26m designs and above in future, the 12m plates just aren't quite enough with how big the system is. They'll still get used, that's what the unmanned test configuration was for; a probe using a 12m pusher-plate could practically go anywhere, it was able to go back to Unity even after refuelling us. The colony has designs for probes with Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters as those have been used by MSI as RCS for centuries, but the low acceleration those have means they can't be used everywhere the colony might want one; by the time you have a big reactor to get decent thrust out and the radiators to go with that and a suitable tank and the small payload they can carry they have quite small accelerations.

Orion solves all those downsides, and the MPDs solve Orion's downsides if you need a gigawatt scale reactor on the ship otherwise.

She really does look great with the way her skirt has slid up while she's been sat there.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Well, that's some useful insight. The proposed solution is very harsh. It's nice to see Sophia integrating, though.

Those proposed arcs look interesting. I'm looking forward to them.

She was being figurative with that line.

For now though, the colony has a lot more time to fill.

 

[HistoryDude]

It's nice to see the Orion drives working.

Who's the "she" in that last line? Alexandra? Rivkah? Loveboat One?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

A Guide For Mages-Aspirant
3rd Qutrok, 9

Despite the king's propaganda otherwise, there have been quite a few Mages in Lukhuinite history. It's been speculated in the past that all Lukhuinites possess the potential, even if few realise it. While the reign of King Sosoth and his materialist-authoritarian regime has done much to drive the old Mages underground, we are not on the homeworld any more. Instead, we have a new opportunity.

I am Vorosh.

Until I revealed my capabilities to Rivkah, my talents were a well-kept secret. But, I trained as Shelk's apprentice, just as she trained under Gnashol, and he trained under Bassoneg, and he trained under Yegg before Sosoth had her killed in the Night of Dark Waters.

And now, I have the opportunity to pass on my knowledge.

This is not for the afraid, as this is dangerous.

It is apparent to all that nothing grows in a comfort zone, and magical talents especially are found only on the cusp of defiance of death, the comprehension of a near-death experience. The old Mages accepted that if they took in a hundred pupils, in the region of eighty would not survive the first year. I watched Shelk cast thirty six apprentice candidates into the abyssal depths, constantly wondering if the next act I attempted to learn would be my last, until I had to cast what remained of him into the abyssal depths when he tried to learn how to make a Shkiganor tame (for non-Lukhuinites, this is an aggressive ocean predator, dangerous enough to prey on unarmed Lukhuinites) and his attempt to dominate it's will failed.

Now, the colony does have many advantages. We have much more sophisticated medical care, for example. But, this also reduces the potential for the intuitive breakthroughs that enable a Mage to develop, as you are in much less danger of dying, and that means taking yourself to that point internally is harder.

First things first:

Back on Lukhuin, the old Mages divided what you could do into proficiencies in what were considered fields of magic. This approach simplifies understanding, however, it also simplifies the scope. They were working with pretty much only the level they could see, whereas our science has discovered other levels that we can work with. You're pretty much always manipulating one or more of matter, energy, forces and natural laws. It's also a good idea to actually be near what you are trying to do, as distance generally makes it harder.

Some examples of what I can do:

Transmutation - this was the foundation of pre-king Sosoth Lukhuinite industry, and consists of turning one material into another without setting off a thermonuclear explosion in the process. Or, deliberately setting off a thermonuclear explosion if you wish, which is why the old Mages were wary of trying this because of how many people blew themselves up. An atom consists of Protons, Neutrons and Electrons, which themselves have fundamental particles. Each element has it's own binding energy, with energy releasing reactions taking place up to Iron, and energy absorbing reactions afterwards; to not release an explosion you must have your released energy equal to the absorbed energy. Exceptionally good Mages are able to separate the two products. Trying to constrain a thermonuclear explosion is beyond most Mages, which means this is normally a slow process to avoid blowing yourself up.

Atomic Velocity Heat Manipulation - Human's developed the concept of Maxwell's Demon. This hypothetical entity had two boxes, and he sorted out the high energy atoms in the initial box, and allowed them through a gate to have high temperature gas in one side, and low temperature gas in the other. This is something that we can actually do, although again this is inevitably a process that requires additional energy.

Pressure-Volume-Temperature Manipulation - this relation is of a nature where if you increase one variable while another is held constant, you affect the third variable. For example, increasing pressure on air reduces the volume, and makes the temperature rise. This is the essence of the traditional fireball spell - using this, you can telekinetically throw bullets of solid air at extremely high temperatures if your ability to keep pressure applied is sufficient.

Sight Manipulation - the old Mages could make someone blind, or hide things from sight by manipulating how people see. As our understanding advances, we realise this is the manipulation of Photons, which offers so many interesting possibilities - cloaking devices, for example.

Mind Manipulation - technically, brain manipulation - the mind is separate in strong-willed individuals, and can be trained to be powerful enough to override brain manipulation. But, most people don't train their minds to overcome their brains, simply going through life allowing whatever goes in their brain to stay. This is our opportunity. Trying to outright dominate a mind is what got my teacher killed, so I'm not convinced it can be done by means we yet understand, but we can read thoughts, plant suggestions in thoughts, manipulate emotions and manipulate mental states.

Electromagnetic Field Manipulation - this is easier if you have an electromagnetic field established by natural means that you are augmenting; trying to set up a spell that has a magical EMF and have a spell that manipulates the resulting field is a quick way to exhaustion as precise manipulation of fields is quite demanding mentally. But, with an existing field, you can adjust it's shape and constrain it to direct it where you want it to go.

There are a lot of possibilities to investigate.

Declaring Officer: Vorosh

 

[CBR JGWRR]

It's nice to see the Orion drives working.

Who's the "she" in that last line? Alexandra? Rivkah? Loveboat One?

Alexandra; Thando is looking at her while they are still on Loveboat One.

Some additional context on Lukhuinite history - Vorosh is the product of a deeply secretive Mages cult that is severely persecuted by the prevailing kingdom on her world, which she has immense disdain for and has ruled for several centuries after taking power from the Mages, using the dangers of the Mages as an excuse.

 

[Macavity116]

Okay, so Psionics here involves manipulating the natural fabrics of the universe. With the implied degree of difficulty/danger involved in gaining these skills, I wonder if we'll see many Psionic characters, or a select (but talented) few.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Life2.0 Liberation Asset Design Bureau
Technical Brief:
"L2NA Loveboat One - Kidore II Research Mission"​

Mission Brief:
"Deliver a full complement of Kyaese researchers and their equipment to Kidore II."

Key differences for the Kidore II mission are shuttles suitable for surface to orbit transit in place of SODS rockets (the open bay structures top and bottom) Much longer crew and cargo section, much bigger radiators to handle the increased heat, and much bigger supply of Orion Pulses. About a quarter of the acceleration too.

In-Universe:
I didn't really want to cut short Uncle Thando and Aunt Alex's honeymoon, but the mission came first; Tryykad and his team had put together all the materials for a research expedition to uncover that particle accelerator/crashed station anomaly underneath the crater, and we had the data we needed from their mission.

Tryykad's mission has 80 Kyaese aboard - which is roughly 30 Humans in resource and space demands - on this first trip. The fore command sphere module undocks, the mission module undocks, then the command sphere re-docks and Loveboat One turns back for Unity. It'll be followed by more missions bringing more supplies, as he wants to set up a colony planet-side; they'll need to set up mining and in-situ resource utilisation anyway, and they can bring aeroponics farms with them rather than keep getting food sent out.

I'm glad we get to do some exploring.

Declaring Officer: Acting Arch-Imperatrix Rivkah Of Unity

Out-Of-Universe:
Didn't want to just jump forward half a year until something happens, so, we'll have a dig site to take minds off the coming conflict a little. Not a specific dig site as I'll be drawing on several similar in-game ones.

CoaDE reference data says the ship has to launch with detachable chemical rocket booster assistance, and once in orbit receives the reload of more pulses to give it 20k pulses, and therefore, the delta-v to achieve the following missions, with acceleration of roughly 1m/s^2:

Mission:	Loaded One-Way:	Loaded On-Return:
Low Unity Orbit to edge of Unity gravity well	11kt	6kt
Kidore I, Kidore II, Kidore IV, Kidore V	1.7kt	500t
Asteroid Belt between Kidore II and Unity	2kt	800t
Gas Giants	1kt	100t

Note: Loaded One-Way means retaining sufficient delta-v for the ship to return while coming back with no cargo, and does not mean the ship is stuck with no propellant. In the event the ship is going out to stay, a slight increase in cargo can be added.

Spec shown for one-way to gas giants.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Okay, so Psionics here involves manipulating the natural fabrics of the universe. With the implied degree of difficulty/danger involved in gaining these skills, I wonder if we'll see many Psionic characters, or a select (but talented) few.

Yes; it basically takes apart a traditional magic system and analyses what exactly is going on, and the repuccusions of getting it wrong.

At the moment, they have one. And technically, the Lukhuinites are largely in the dark too - requiring a thousand Energy Credits to breach the Shroud is a substantial chunk of a star's output for a month, so it's beyond the scale of a bronze-age civilisation to imagine. I'm extrapolating that the Magicians trait they actually have is equivalent to a basic-Psionic trait.

But, Vorosh isn't on a bronze age world anymore.

Which is one more than MSI have of course - being Materialists, MSI aren't really going to get Psionics. As far as they are concerned, turning the Lukhuinites against the Mages was an exercise in promoting their puppets to leadership positions.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Oh, and as a concept piece that will likely be refined:

---

The visage of the Shroud completely changes; suddenly we are on a battlefield. It's utter chaos, as battles of all kinds – everything from power armoured troopers with lasers to naked men with rocks – rage around us. Then a beast descends from the sky, and the battle ends as the beast feasts. After a little wait, it turns to us. The stench of blood-soaked ground is everywhere.

It looks at Vorosh, and takes the form of some hyper-predatory Lukhuinite that scares her into her shell.

Then it turns to Dad, and it assumes the appearance of Zaru-Toru, the ancient god of war. He bares his teeth at it.

Then to Aunt Alex, and it changes to a man who looks just like her in bronze armour, with a shield just like hers.

Uncle Thando sees his own reflection stare back.

When it looks at Mum, he takes the form of a demon atop a throne of skulls.

And then me.

I'm looking at Mum, smiling with Golden eyes and Golden hair, a scar on her cheek, a wolf's head on an iron ring, and a razor coiled on her hip.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

"Kidore II Research Mission, Part 1"
7th Qutrok, 9 (2188)
Tryykad​

I rest in my quarters. Thinking. Flap a few times to get airborne in the gentle acceleration.

"Computer, begin recording. Imperator's Log, 7th Odoos, 9.

We're underway. Later than planned, there were a few technical difficulties in loading Loveboat One up. What a ridiculous name it is...

Still, as my display shows, it's a few weeks until Kidore II; we've taken extra pulses so that we can accelerate for longer and get there quicker.

It does feel a little strange, exploring a natural world. Us Kyaese have been cooped up, never even seeing the stars. And back on the Infinite Wheel, that was never a natural star system anyway. Not even the star was; the Infinite Wheel's builders had used Star-Lifting technologies to obtain some of the resources with which they built the ring, as well as taking apart it's existing planets.

I'm looking forward to this. The first off-world colony of Kyaese in our history has set out. I'm proud of my team. My pioneers are coming with me, and the research staff will follow soon. On board we have pre-fab housing modules, aeroponics modules and mining modules. We reckon we'll have weeks of digging to do to get down to the wreckage anyway, so the second mission will bring the research modules and the larger manufacturing models.

After that, more civilians. We're coming here to stay."

 

[HistoryDude]

A peaceful dig might do everyone some good - although nobody should tempt Murphy in-universe.

I'm liking the background of psionics and the persecuted mages. What was that entity in the Shroud? The Eater of Worlds? The End of the Cycle? One of the others that I don't think it is?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

The Eater Of Worlds. I'm still refining the ideas - want an introduction for each of the Shroud Entities - but only got a solid idea for the Eater Of Worlds; what else is the Eater Of Worlds but war?