STGOD 2k8 background thread

[Crossroads Inc.]

the only thing that will suck is that, so far, the designs im considering for MY ships will be DEEPLY "unsphear" like

Although I could totally see a naming thing revolving around planets "The Jupitar, the Mecury, The Holy Terra" etc

I was actually planning on naming my ((future)) dreadnaught "Vengance of Terra"

[Covenant]

Your ships aren't military. I don't drive a car that looks like a battletank, nor do I go fishing on a battleship. I think it's quite logical for a colony fleet to look significantly different than ships of the line. ;D

Sad thing is, I'm really pretty awful when it comes to modelling spaceships. I can do people, but not spaceships. I don't know what it is I'm not doing, but something just never looks right to me.

[Covenant]

I sent Fractalsponge a mail, asking for a little tip on making spaceships believable. I built the thing out of some spheres, but it looks like just a heap of spheres. I'm having trouble ever imagining it NOT just looking like spheres though, so there's some step I'm missing. I could coat this thing in rivets, panels, cannons, etc, and it'd still look like a mess.

It'll take me a little bit, but I'll figure this out. I'm sick of my spaceships really looking like ass. They look like a toy spaceships. There's just some element of it that's off and makes it look like slop.

[Darkevilme]

Attempt number two, Chamaran destroyer

Descending and from left to right. Side view with front to the left, back view, front view, top view with front to the left, bottom view with front to the left.

[Rogue 9]

I'm a fan of the style of UNSC ships from the Halo series and newer-model Terran GTVA ships from Freespace 2. No frills; just angular, not-quite-boxy void-sailing death. As an added bonus, ships drawn from such an inspiration would probably be easier to model.

[Darkevilme]

Yes i suppose they would be, but i like curves on my ships. I'll happily give you a block of doom style ship sometime when i feel like modelling one. As an aside is like, the destroyer model any good?

[Academia Nut]

Shinn Langley Soryu, that was awesome, and I think a shared past is definitely something I will write into the history, although I think it would be hilarious if we could somehow work in a sort of longstanding, childish "They started it," argument, in which each side claims that its the other's fault for the schism in the first place, but mostly they just act like small children unless there is another reason to fight each other, like territory or loot, in which case they have a perfectly good reason to pound on one another. Can't let perfectly good grudges go to waste!

And since I think we have now proven that we can't be trusted next to one-another, we can say that we got rooted up by the Empire more than once and wandered into whatever positions we're assigned later.

Oh, and here's the next bit of Konige culture:

Social Structure

Könige social structure is a fairly simplistic hierarchy with a great deal of fluidity between layers. The most numerous members of the population are the faans, the lower class of citizens that do much of the manual labour in the society and make up the bulk of the troops. The faans are often described as having an attitude that would make a Marxist’s head explode, in that they like being the exploited underclass, because damn it, they’re not awesome enough to actually do what others do, but someone has to be that cool. Of course, the highly fluid nature of their society means that there is far less resentment in most as most faans are not being actively held in their social position.

Above the faans are the Rhodais, the skilled middle class that include various technicians and range up to professionals such as engineers, doctors, and lawyers. Aside from typically earning more money than faans, the Rhodais tend to have more contact with the Rückers, which has its risks and benefits; although most competent Rückers tend to treat the Rhodais working for them reasonably well as they understand that the Rhodais are what keeps tours going, a few are absolute dicks to those around them. Surprisingly, some Rhodais do not mind, or even enjoy, these more abusive Rückers because that was what attracted them to join in the first place. Additionally, most of the NCO and junior officer cadre tend to be drawn from Rhodai families

The highest “civilian” group are the Gröpais, the privileged upper class. Technically, the only thing that separates the Gröpais from the other classes is the patronage of a Rücker, but many of the perks mean that most Gröpais are actually financially independent of their patrons. There is a highly fluid “under-class” of Gröpais that are little more than faans elevated to the status of Gröpai at the whims of Rückers, who must keep their patron happy to ensure the continuation of their privileges. Above these are the wealthy merchants and former Rhodais who have proven useful enough for a Rücker to induct into the class of Gröpai. These Gröpais tend to be stable over many generations as the resources they can provide their patrons make them immensely useful to entire Rücker families. In fact, sufficiently wealthy families may in fact become the patrons of lesser Rückers, usually providing various resources in the hopes that they will become better, or at the very least provide a back-up should there be a fall from grace with more prominent Rückers.

One interesting form of Gröpai is the Pimp Tsar, a man or woman who can wrangle up kick ass chicks (or occasionally studly dudes) for the Rückers to satiate their often (some times literally!) nuclear-powered sex drives with. The practice of pimping is something of an ambiguous mess amongst the Könige, in that amongst the lower classes it is seen as a being a bit scummy and rather degrading for all involved, but those pimps that can cultivate sufficient Awesome to attract the attention of a Rücker are often held up as paragons of Awesome. Those that work with Rückers are often considered somewhat necessary as many Rückers will find themselves so inundated with offers for sex that they need a filter. The title is also often applied to non-pimps who are friends with Rückers and take on such a filtering role, further reducing the negative associations pimps often bring up.

Finally, there are the Rückers, who have their own parallel hierarchy based on how awesome they are. All Rückers are technically higher class than even the richest Gröpais, but the fiercely meritocratic structure means that some are little better than faans that have learned to wield the power of Awesome, languishing in obscurity. Still, one of the biggest perks of being a Rücker is the right to elevate anyone to the status of Gröpai, and smart Rückers will often form alliances with skilled individuals, elevating them to the status of Gröpai where they will be able to have access to wealthy and influential groups who would not normally associate with such people.

The lowest group of Rückers are those that are driven mad by contact with the Awesome, turning them into raging berserkers. While a few manage to overcome such stability issues, they are typically extremely dangerous to be around, and as such they are typically locked in special cages called Garaugs, where they tend to spend their days in a daze, practicing their combat and musical skills, safely sequestered from others until they are needed as front liners to soak up enemy fire.

Above those locked in Garaugs is a complex hierarchy that is often too labyrinthine for outsiders, including other Könige, to really understand, but eventually the officer class is reached, the Rückers that typically command military groups or captain ships. Called Tsars, they are extremely experienced warriors and commanders. Above them are the various Über Tsars, who lead fleets and armies and govern planets.

The thirteen greatest Über Tsars form the Iron Council and are called the Eisengrafen, or Iron Counts, and they serve as a supreme judiciary council and advisors for the leader of the Metallkönige, the Rück Tsar. The Rück Tsar is the Most Awesome Könige around, and leads them in peace and war. The position is typically decided via a duel to the death. There is a list of successors should the current Rück Tsar dies of natural causes (rare) or enemy action (significantly more common).

---

And yes, as judges, the Eisengrafen have huge ass warhammers as gavels. Wait until you see the Konige weapons!

[Rogue 9]

Yes i suppose they would be, but i like curves on my ships. I'll happily give you a block of doom style ship sometime when i feel like modelling one. As an aside is like, the destroyer model any good?

I was referring to Covenant's idea of modeling Imperial ships. You're obviously capable of making good models; I'm hardly in any position to give you advice.

Edit: Though if you're offering to model ships, I'm certainly not going to turn you down.

[Covenant]

Yes i suppose they would be, but i like curves on my ships. I'll happily give you a block of doom style ship sometime when i feel like modelling one. As an aside is like, the destroyer model any good?

I was referring to Covenant's idea of modeling Imperial ships. You're obviously capable of making good models; I'm hardly in any position to give you advice.

Edit: Though if you're offering to model ships, I'm certainly not going to turn you down.

As I mentioned to fractalsponge, the inspirations for such a design are This Sphereoid Robot, This ship from 2001 and BattleTech Dropships and such things, trying to emphasize the functionality of a sphere while also looking unusual and otherworldly.

Some of them could even have been, in an Imperial height, coated with a layer of gold that would allow them to have gleamed like the sun. Or it could have been bronze, and some of the vessels kept in storage on the ground have since begun to turn a green patina.

Speaking of battletech, since when did it become 40k?

Someone call the HAB, the Inner Sphere's been conquered by the Imperium of Man.

[Academia Nut]

Hmmmm... gilded warships makes me smile, really drives home the idea that this is an old power secure in its superiority and its own mind boggling wealth, that values overwhelming awe as much as overwhelming firepower. That when they appear in orbit, they should gleam like a new star to those below.

At least until they blew themselves up anyway.

[SirNitram]

I'd love to see someone model Enclave ships, but the one universal about them is they are ugly as sin. They are blocky, industrial, and blatantly homicidal. They're not even painted, for the most part. They're just really big and mean and fully of guns.

Which is probably why the Enclave 'won', insofar as it did.

[Rogue 9]

Well if Imperial ships aren't using these as inspiration, then I certainly will.

[Darkevilme]

Yay, Chamaran Monitor model done, though i dont think its as awesome as the destroyer.
@rogue nine: I'll prolly do one or two, please keep requests down below about a paragraph in length as far as defining the ship so i can have some room to be creative.

Academia_nut: The original Chamaran ships were bronzed, though the current designs probably only use a thinner layer that's been worn thin and through in several places. Bronze with the glory of the former Chamaran kingdom, bare metal revealed by space scouring as a reminder of what they've been reduced to.

@ Sirnitram: I'm picturing a huge armoured brick with other, smaller, armoured bricks welded to it with gun hatches and cubic weapon blisters, that resemble bunkers, all over. Close?

[SirNitram]

@ Sirnitram: I'm picturing a huge armoured brick with other, smaller, armoured bricks welded to it with gun hatches and cubic weapon blisters, that resemble bunkers, all over. Close?

Pretty much. The really big ships have guns which are exposed, a little like RL battleships, but the overall blocky feel is correct.

[Dahak]

I think the sphere-shape for Imperial ships is quite nice. Though gilded, I don't know... That's very much over the top.
Personally, my nation goes for smooth, aerodynamic ships due to obvious reasons.

[Noble Ire]

I'm a bit confused by the composition of each faction's fleets. Aren't we all supposed to be limited to what are essentially repurposed civilian craft and light patrol ships, excepting those powers which have access to large Imperial shipyards? I had envisioned my power's naval assets being primarily light attack craft, freighters refitted as troop ships and weapons platforms, and mass driver artillery (cobbled together from mining equipment).

[Hotfoot]

I'm a bit confused by the composition of each faction's fleets. Aren't we all supposed to be limited to what are essentially repurposed civilian craft and light patrol ships, excepting those powers which have access to large Imperial shipyards? I had envisioned my power's naval assets being primarily light attack craft, freighters refitted as troop ships and weapons platforms, and mass driver artillery (cobbled together from mining equipment).

No. I mean, sure, if you want to do that, fine, but every nation under Imperial Control was allowed a "National Guard" styled fleet that they could build and run, with severe limitations. Basically, if the Empire was ever invaded, these fleets would support their own space, maybe be called on to fight in other fronts, etc. The Imperial Fleet, however, was massive and contained a much higher technological standard that was kept from the protectorates.

[Covenant]

There's no reason to not do civilian ships. I plan on being an Imperial Remnant type faction and using a lot of up-armed freighters and junkers too. Space Serbia would be a bit more restricted in their selection of up-armed civilian vehicles than Space Texas or Space Newport News might.

[Hotfoot]

There's no reason to not do civilian ships. I plan on being an Imperial Remnant type faction and using a lot of up-armed freighters and junkers too. Space Serbia would be a bit more restricted in their selection of up-armed civilian vehicles than Space Texas or Space Newport News might.

No reason to disallow them, sure. I'm just saying it doesn't need to be the standard by any stretch of the imagination.

As far as Imperial Ships, gilded ships works, especially for the Capital Defense fleet. I'd rather not have them be uniformly spheroid though, since that does get boring after a while.

[Redleader34]

Ok, as soon as I finish editing my proto OOB, I'm in for this STGOD. For ships though, I was gonna go with small, fairly compressed main ships, and a few high command ships that seem to hav mostly airly degisngs, almost like pleasure liners. In the Empire, My group worked on processing ores, and repairing, light damage to imperial ships. Could that work with our fallen Earth Empire?

[Crossroads Inc.]

For my group Im playing on a single Military grade Taskforce built as "National Gaurd" and then supplamented by lots and lotas of up-armoured Frighters, big ones too.

[Spyder]

Earth, Commencement of the Final War

The halls of the Great Academy, the main centre of scientific research for the Terran Empire. A uniformed man had a message for the head academician.
“Dr Vance, your emperor has had to make an example of yet another of your Academics. Questions are being raised about the standards of education your institution is providing.”
“I can assure you, commissar, Mr Grey’s recent public expressions do not reflect the views of the Academy in either its students, its faculty or its administration.”
“Spare me the sound bite doctor. The Imperial Academy of Science has evaded inquisition thus far but I’m afraid your luck has just run out. It is my opinion that the Academy has been infected by the taint of xenological influence. It was a mistake to allow the continued study of the artifacts your people recovered, one which we will soon rectify.
The inquisitors will be here first thing tomorrow morning. I suggest you be prepared, you have seen what happens to heretics. Good day, doctor.” The uniformed man leaves as abruptly as he arrived.
Dr Julius Vance grimaced, if the good commissar knew what he knew the inquisitors would be there much sooner.

Later that evening, plans were about to be put into motion. A safe distance from the academy building, Dr Vance, a few of his fellow academics and a man wearing a similar uniform to that of the commissar had gathered in a dark room lit only by monitors.
“You understand doctor; once we proceed there is no return. All possibility of success relies on the death of the Emperor.”
“Change is a challenging process my friend, but we have taken steps to mitigate the obstacles involved. As long as the military can be kept under suppression for the duration of the transition this will all be over in a matter of days.”
“The probe team’s in contact,” a man dressed in black reported, “they’re in.”

Meanwhile, inside the Imperial palace...
“Damn it, what the hell’s going on? The Imperial Chambers have been sealed off, we’ve lost power and comms. I’m completely locked out of the system.”
“What? Get a military detachment here right now! ”
“I can’t get any response. I think we’re under attack...”
“Run down to the security team on this level and send them up to the chambers. You three, go find out what’s happened to the system and get a general distress broadcast. Move!”

High up in the palace, the sound of gunfire rattled throughout the Imperial chambers. Imperial guardsmen, killed by the probe team’s surprise attack, lay dead on the ground, their blood splattered over the ornate fixtures of the Emperor’s chambers.
A few of the wounded had been rounded up and stripped of their weapons. After a brief search of the surrounding area, three words were spoken that would seal the fate of the revolution.
“He’s not here.”
One of the masked men of the probe team grabbed a wounded guardsman by his collar, blood continued to leak through the guardsman’s clothing.
“Where is he?” The question came through calmly, despite the intensity of the situation.
“He,” the guard’s voice labored, “he left before you arrived.”
“Where is he?” The question was posed again.
“ Somewhere safe from you,” the guard wheezed, “they know you’re coming. The Enclave will not take Terra.”
“Enclave? What about the Enclave?”
For a brief moment before his demise, the guardsmen suddenly understood, he laughed laboriously through his injuries. “You stupid heretic!” He coughed, “the Enclave has launched a full scale assault. The Emperor is personally overseeing the preparation of our defenses. Your revolution arrived too late.” The guardsman laughed, “by mere minutes!”
The guardsman’s laughter was silenced by a round from his interrogator’s side arm.

Back at the gathering,
“There is a problem,” the man in black reported before relaying the sequence of events to the rest of the group. There was a moment of disbelief before an image of the emperor appeared on one of the monitors.
“My fellow Terrans, we are under attack. Moments ago our outposts reported sightings of Enclave warships heading directly for Earth. The Enclave desire war, we will provide the war they desire followed by their complete and total annihilation. It has also been brought to my attention that certain individuals have been plotting an insurrection against the empire. These acts of heresy in a time of war will not go unpunished...”
“You are fucking kidding me!” A member of the group cursed loudly.
The uniformed man picked up his communicator as a private message came through. “I see, thank you, get everyone else out of there now.” He faced the others, “The Emperor has asserted direct command over the military, the generals are all being replaced by the commissars. We no longer have any military support.”

“Dr Vance,” one of the others asked, “what happens now?”
The doctor takes a moment to ponder the situation, “the plan is going to require some adaption. This location is no longer suitable, we’ll need to leave.”
“This building?”
“This planet. We’ll need to improvise the finer details as we go. In the meantime gather the militia and prepare for the consequences.”

[Adrian Laguna]

Okay I have a power idea. I'll be the local Muslim Kingdom. Not sure yet if I'll go for Ottoman Turks or Crazy Arabs. I'm also considering making it Matriarchial Islam, that would be hilarious.

[Thirdfain]

Kaldic Peoples
Imperial Public Datalinks
(redirected from Kald)

The linguistic classification Kaldic peoples are the speakers of the Kaldic language family, a branch of europan-romantic peoples, living mainly in the north spinward and rimward marches, where they constitute roughly a third of the population. The language family shares many common root words and phonems allowing speakers of branches as diverse as Csabran, Konige, and Volk to communicate even today with only small difficulty. Since emerging from their original homeland (most commonly thought to be in Europa on Terra in the early [CENSORED BY IMPERIAL WRIT], they have inhabited most of the north spinward and rimward marches. Many settled later in the Southern Spinward marches or emigrated to other parts of the Terran Empire.

Kaldic settlers mixed with existing local populations and later colonists, thus modern Kalds are considered genetically diverse, though connected by speaking often closely related Kaldic languages. Their cultures and traditions show both similarities and dissimilarities, related to their individual histories. Pan-Kaldism was never a successful movement, owing to the drastically diverging cultures which emerged among different Kaldic peoples. Consequently, there are a number of different nations within the Kaldic language family each with very different cultures and customs. The only successful pan-Kaldic movement was the Nordkaldian movement, which unified a number of Kaldic peoples under the Nordkaldian Monarchy, a constituent state of the Empire. This movement found little support outside of the fairly uniform Nordkaldic regions.

Kaldic peoples are traditionally divided along linguistic lines into West Kaldic (including Baverisch, Bayerisch, and Sachser), South Kaldic, (including Konige, Csabrans, and Volk), and North Kaldic (including Nordkaldian, [CENSORED BY IMPERIAL WRIT]). For a more comprehensive list, see Ethno-cultural subdivisions.

[Covenant]

Ok, as soon as I finish editing my proto OOB, I'm in for this STGOD. For ships though, I was gonna go with small, fairly compressed main ships, and a few high command ships that seem to hav mostly airly degisngs, almost like pleasure liners. In the Empire, My group worked on processing ores, and repairing, light damage to imperial ships. Could that work with our fallen Earth Empire?

Certainly sounds fine to me--it's good to see you're building your nation's backstory into their navy too, it'll make for a fun mix of influences.