Story submission for the project (rough)

[Mr X]

This was previously in another thread, but I've decided to post it in one of its own following Feared_1's thread so that other people have a proper place to make constructive comments.

Here it is:



In a addition to the Olympians and the Hadeans, there was a third, far smaller, faction of the Cthonians (not got a name yet). Their technological prowess exceeded that of their kin to such an extent that they found a way to make portals that join two parts of space and time as well as some truly powerful weapons of war. Most of the portals did not cover time, and were the starportals that the EDF has already encountered, but a few ripped apart the boundaries of time itself.

The Hadeans attacked for the this technology but were too late. The third faction had locked the time portals and hidden the keys in a complicated sequence across the history of the universe. With their homeworld and its production facilities hidden at the end pf the trail. To even the balance of power, they gave the key to the first portal to the Olympians. With the Hadeans controlling the territory with the portal and the Olympians holding the key neither side could access the technology, which is a good thing for the other sentient species of the universe.

Following the destruction of the Olympians and Hadeans by the Hadeans and EDF respectively, a scion patrol (I'll explain my reasoning later for using the scions) uncovers the key and locates the portal. They find out at a Hadean research facility nearby (the had been trying to find a way to open the portal without a key, but to no avail) about the trail and what it leads to. Seeing a chance to accelerate the growth of the already considerable technology of their race the current Padishah orders an expeditionary force to travel through the gate and locate the technology.

Complication, a new enemy arises (General Hoohah's suggestion (the Hzarzk) could be this but I'm open to suggestions) and follows them though. This enemy finds the next key and the scions must pursue them to:

a) Stop them from completely screwing up history and causing a paradox.

and

b) Keep up with the enemies and try to prevent them from acquiring the technology at the end.

Essentially the bad guys always find the key and the next portal first because the mess that they have made is keeping the scions busy clearing it up.

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I really think that we should do a campaign from the scions perspective. It could be interesting because the IS/EDF has a load of established background throughout the various mods but the scions don't seem to be touched upon as much, so therefore we can add a lot of depth to them. They are also more technologically minded than humans and so that combined with the new technology means we could invent some very cool vehicles for them, plus its more believable that they would be able to make advanced Cthonian technology work.



I'll flesh this out later but what does everyone think of it for now?

[Nielk1]

Interesting...

A few issues...

I will refer to this story, at least the basic idea of it, as "The Time Cop Idea".

Never considered that.

VSMIT is readying a reply with helpful information.

[VSMIT]

Line item criticism!

This was previously in another thread, but I've decided to post it in one of its own following Feared_1's thread so that other people have a proper place to make constructive comments.

Danke schön.

Here it is:



In a addition to the Olympians and the Hadeans, there was a third, far smaller, faction of the Cthonians (not got a name yet). Their technological prowess exceeded that of their kin to such an extent that they found a way to make portals that join two parts of space and time as well as some truly powerful weapons of war. Most of the portals did not cover time, and were the starportals that the EDF has already encountered, but a few ripped apart the boundaries of time itself.

I like this idea of a third Cthonian race.  So most of these portals are just controlled wormholes, yes?  What about the ones for time?  Does that mean that it just allows near-instantaneous travel without relativistic effects, or does it mean that they transcend time and allow for true time travel?

The Hadeans attacked for the this technology but were too late. The third faction had locked the time portals and hidden the keys in a complicated sequence across the history of the universe. With their homeworld and its production facilities hidden at the end pf the trail. To even the balance of power, they gave the key to the first portal to the Olympians. With the Hadeans controlling the territory with the portal and the Olympians holding the key neither side could access the technology, which is a good thing for the other sentient species of the universe.

So does this mean that the third Cthonian race is still around, but lost in time and space?  Or have they been wiped out, with their home world completely automated?  It's a bit ambiguous here, some clarification would be nice.

Following the destruction of the Olympians and Hadeans by the Hadeans and EDF respectively, a scion patrol (I'll explain my reasoning later for using the scions) uncovers the key and locates the portal. They find out at a Hadean research facility nearby (the had been trying to find a way to open the portal without a key, but to no avail) about the trail and what it leads to. Seeing a chance to accelerate the growth of the already considerable technology of their race the current Padishah orders an expeditionary force to travel through the gate and locate the technology.

Does this mean that you're breaking from FE?  Since the Hadeans weren't destroyed by the EDF, they were just overthrown from within.  The answer to this question would also answer my next question: How do the Scions discover what the portal is used for?

Complication, a new enemy arises (General Hoohah's suggestion (the Hzarzk) could be this but I'm open to suggestions) and follows them though. This enemy finds the next key and the scions must pursue them to:

a) Stop them from completely screwing up history and causing a paradox.

and

b) Keep up with the enemies and try to prevent them from acquiring the technology at the end.

Essentially the bad guys always find the key and the next portal first because the mess that they have made is keeping the scions busy clearing it up.

So will the campaign begin with this decision, will it have begun earlier (with this being the story split), or is this just a question for the community as basically a, "What do you want to see happen?"

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I really think that we should do a campaign from the scions perspective. It could be interesting because the IS/EDF has a load of established background throughout the various mods but the scions don't seem to be touched upon as much, so therefore we can add a lot of depth to them. They are also more technologically minded than humans and so that combined with the new technology means we could invent some very cool vehicles for them, plus its more believable that they would be able to make advanced Cthonian technology work.

I'd like to see a story that focuses on the Scions for once.  Everyone focuses on either an ISDF derivative or faction, and that leaves the Scions out in the cold a lot.  I understand that the ISDF is more popular than the Scions (As seen in most MP games), but I find the Scions to be much more interesting.  I'd like to see the Scion take on Cthonian technology.  It'd be cool.

I'll flesh this out later but what does everyone think of it for now?

It sounds like a good idea.  Even if this isn't cannibalized for the CP, it would make an excellent mod in its own right.  Excellent work.

[Nielk1]

ISDF are made because they are easier. Scions would be a fun challenge.

I think the Pegasus device and Hadean Portals do not use wormholes but a more ingrained biometal property like BLINK.

The Hadeans make portals, so it is not like the portals can belong to another race. BUT they can be based on the technology of that race, and maybe even be directly compatible with the ones that race has sitting around.

[AHadley]

I like it very much. It seems we have some very good writers around here.

[Mr X]

Right, I'll answer all the questions asked. With VSMIT's the answers are within the quote, and are written in bold.

Line item criticism!Danke schön.
I like this idea of a third Cthonian race.  So most of these portals are just controlled wormholes, yes? I think that maybe its best if it doesn't get explained, as they are far beyond the grasp of the existing races of the universe (sorry if this sounds like a cop out )

What about the ones for time?  Does that mean that it just allows near-instantaneous travel without relativistic effects, or does it mean that they transcend time and allow for true time travel? It is true time travel, you enter it and then exit at a completely different point in time and space.

So does this mean that the third Cthonian race is still around, but lost in time and space?  Or have they been wiped out, with their home world completely automated?  It's a bit ambiguous here, some clarification would be nice. They got wiped out when the Hadeans invaded, they had to make a last stand whilst technicians sealed the gateway and launched the key to the Olympians in a pod travelling just short of the speed of light



Does this mean that you're breaking from FE?  Since the Hadeans weren't destroyed by the EDF, they were just overthrown from within.  The answer to this question would also answer my next question: How do the Scions discover what the portal is used for?
So will the campaign begin with this decision, will it have begun earlier (with this being the story split), or is this just a question for the community as basically a, "What do you want to see happen?" Sorry, made a mistake here, I haven't completed FE yet and the website I referenced my information from said that the EDF beat them. The story should completely comply with FE. As for the scions discovering the portal and making it work, following the fall of the Cthonians during FE the scions scour the ruins of the Cthonian civilisation to see if they could find any technology that was usable. They find the portal key and the information it contains leads them to the portal. A small fgroup of scientists goes through to investigate, by measuring the background radiation in space they realise that they have gone backwards in time, they go back to report this before returning through in larger numbers. Meanwhile, much debate is occuring among the scion leaders on core about the implications of time travel. When the research party does not return a large military taskforce is sent to investigate. After passing through the portal they quickly find that the scientists are dead and find that whatever happens happened so fast that they could not react and escape, no-one survived. The military force is ambushed by the same enemy and this is the first mission. They struggle to not be overwhelmed and then suddenly the enemy breaks and flees, the scions give pursuit and follow them to the next portal. The enemy had located the key and passed through the portal, it is here that the chase across time and space begins.

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I'd like to see a story that focuses on the Scions for once.  Everyone focuses on either an ISDF derivative or faction, and that leaves the Scions out in the cold a lot.  I understand that the ISDF is more popular than the Scions (As seen in most MP games), but I find the Scions to be much more interesting.  I'd like to see the Scion take on Cthonian technology.  It'd be cool.
It sounds like a good idea.  Even if this isn't cannibalized for the CP, it would make an excellent mod in its own right.  Excellent work. Thanks, its a shame then that I wouldn't have the foggiest idea about how to make it into a mod

The Hadeans make portals, so it is not like the portals can belong to another race. BUT they can be based on the technology of that race, and maybe even be directly compatible with the ones that race has sitting around.

Ok then, the Hadeans stole the portal technology from the third faction but couldn't replicate the time travel properties.



I'm thinking about calling the third faction the Gaians.

[VSMIT]

I think that maybe its best if it doesn't get explained, as they are far beyond the grasp of the existing races of the universe (sorry if this sounds like a cop out )

This is very much a cop out.  Not sure people would like this...

It is true time travel, you enter it and then exit at a completely different point in time and space.

True time travel would mean that you only move in time, your physical position would remain the same.

They got wiped out when the Hadeans invaded, they had to make a last stand whilst technicians sealed the gateway and launched the key to the Olympians in a pod travelling just short of the speed of light

You said this in your first post:

With their homeworld and its production facilities hidden at the end pf the trail.

Which implies that they're still around.  So which is it?

Sorry, made a mistake here, I haven't completed FE yet and the website I referenced my information from said that the EDF beat them. The story should completely comply with FE.

Ok, that's good.  As long as you know what you're basing it off of, we can help you with that.

As for the scions discovering the portal and making it work, following the fall of the Cthonians during FE the scions scour the ruins of the Cthonian civilisation to see if they could find any technology that was usable. They find the portal key and the information it contains leads them to the portal. A small fgroup of scientists goes through to investigate, by measuring the background radiation in space they realise that they have gone backwards in time, they go back to report this before returning through in larger numbers. Meanwhile, much debate is occuring among the scion leaders on core about the implications of time travel. When the research party does not return a large military taskforce is sent to investigate. After passing through the portal they quickly find that the scientists are dead and find that whatever happens happened so fast that they could not react and escape, no-one survived. The military force is ambushed by the same enemy and this is the first mission. They struggle to not be overwhelmed and then suddenly the enemy breaks and flees, the scions give pursuit and follow them to the next portal. The enemy had located the key and passed through the portal, it is here that the chase across time and space begins.

You still haven't answered my question about the "choice."

[Mr X]

This is very much a cop out.  Not sure people would like this...

Hmm, I think I have it. There is a part of biometal that changes with its position in the four dimensional universe. By using a correct sequence of energy impulses you can change this and in doing so link it to the other point (assuming that the other point is also occupied by biometal) and so when something touches one it leaps to the other. Because of the complicated movement of objects in the universe it is very complex to get correct. It is even harder to link it for two points in time because:

a) It is harder to know where the biometal was/ will be.

and

b) The part of biometal that deals with its point in time is far more complex to alter.

However, once two pieces of biometal are linked there is no known way to disconnect them.

I hope that this covers it.

True time travel would mean that you only move in time, your physical position would remain the same.

Ok, so its time and teleportation, TARDIS style.

This is very much a cop out.  Not sure people would like this...
True time travel would mean that you only move in time, your physical position would remain the same.
You said this in your first post: Which implies that they're still around.  So which is it?

They are dead, they could not stay on their homeworld as they used their technology to move it and they hid it in the cold void of space where there is no sun, so it could not support life. Most had been killed in the war with the Hadeans and the last of them were finished off in the final battle where the first portal in the sequence was sealed.

You still haven't answered my question about the "choice."

The first level of the campaign would be the scions being ambushed whilst investigating the disappearance of the scientists.

[Nielk1]

This is very much a cop out.  Not sure people would like this...

T'was never explained before, why now? (portals)

True time travel would mean that you only move in time, your physical position would remain the same.

Well, first, he says time AND SPACE, so I suspect you could end up anywhere. But consider relativity. All locations only exist relative to something else. Would a portal that only transmits you back in time transmit you based on the portal's location from the point of the big bang? As the universe expands this location could be between galaxies when you emerge. Does it attach to the gravity of the system it is in? Quantum physics suggests that the output location of any such transport would be undetermined and thus in a constant state of flux (if only at the atomic or subatomic level) unless something established it. Since observation establishes existence from a quantum state, and it is theoretically possible to influence what one observes, a mere thought could effect the chosen location, or an artificial observation somehow created by the portal itself. It might also be the portal is limited to transport in its lifetime or even instead to the materials it is made out of, though quantum entanglement would theoretically allow any materials anywhere to be tied to it.

You said this in your first post: Which implies that they're still around.  So which is it?

With time travel, does it matter?

They got wiped out when the Hadeans invaded, they had to make a last stand whilst technicians sealed the gateway and launched the key to the Olympians in a pod travelling just short of the speed of light

AHA! Sublight speed! Are you aware that at such speed time passes faster for everything not moving at that speed. By the time it reaches the Olympians, they might be dead! Now, it might only take a generation or 2 to get there, which would allow the correct amount of time for the Hadeans to create portal technology. Though, the question is how do THEY get back faster then the key? Wormholes?

As an interesting side note, if I am thinking correctly, and I got this from somewhere else, if a portal in space (not time) is opened while at sublight speed, it can lead to the current time outside the 'speeding area' or to the time when that instance of sublight speed was first archived. Important to note this could allow the key to get to the Olympians at the same moment the probe carrying it escapes into sublight speed, and as thus it would DEFINITLY reach the Olympians before the Hadeans got back with the technology. It should be noted the full duration of the trip as per the sublights peed time dilation occurs for the key while all outside time is ignored. A reason for this could be a weaker portal that needed to be close to the destination, or simply not wanting the Hadeans to easily portal right back to their home planet. I think the instance of transport while at sublight speed applies to a Rosenberg Bridge.

EDIT:
I like the idea of the portal artificially supplying the observation to establish the output location. As such a BRAIN stored inside the portal could be 'programmed' with a new location. Yes, a BRAIN. That is the best way to establish a quantum existence.

EDIT2:
Interesting note. The probe could arrive at the Hadean world AFTER the EDF have a station there. This could be the start of the story instead. The probe would be empty if you use my weird ass Rosenberg Bridge at sub-light speed bit, thus allowing for a weird time traveling story with a start simultaneously at in the past and present.

EDIT3: I might be perverting the name "Einstein-Rosen Bridge"

[Mr X]

AHA! Sublight speed! Are you aware that at such speed time passes faster for everything not moving at that speed. By the time it reaches the Olympians, they might be dead! Now, it might only take a generation or 2 to get there, which would allow the correct amount of time for the Hadeans to create portal technology. Though, the question is how do THEY get back faster then the key? Wormholes?
EDIT2:
Interesting note. The probe could arrive at the Hadean world AFTER the EDF have a station there. This could be the start of the story instead. The probe would be empty if you use my weird ass Rosenberg Bridge at sub-light speed bit, thus allowing for a weird time traveling story with a start simultaneously at in the past and present.

EDIT3: I might be perverting the name "Einstein-Rosen Bridge"

That, is very confusing. Maybe I should just amend the story so that the key is sent through a starportal, rather than trying to include a complicated explanation of the laws of physics.

[VSMIT]

Or you could just say it's a property of a strain of biometal this third Cthonian race developed .

[TheJamsh]

I really like this idea so far. Probably my favourite i must say...

[VSMIT]

Same here, TJ.  A lot of thought was put into this one (With a bit of prodding, but gentle prodding, mostly) .

[AHadley]

Gently yes, but I do have a cattle prod just in case.

[Nielk1]

I love this one. My cokimany physics included.