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[escaped lurker]

ASTRA VAGUS
Choose your own Adventure - in Space

Spoiler: Just my little rant.. (click to show/hide)

Yay for another tactical title. Illustrated and with the system thought out beforehand. I just might improve, or so I hope. 

Because I like the unfavorability of dice, this will be another roll-heavy one. There are actually a fair number of rules for the different races, but most will only come into effective play if we choose to play as such. Some of them might take some tweaking, but we will see. This one should have the potential to go at a snappy pace. For now I have „only“ the first 4 Ships and a few odds and ends like stations, but the system isn't all that complicated. The table is set, the dye is cast. Fun times ahead. (Calling it! You'll see. You'll see.)

Inspiration comes from a multitude of sci-fi media, notably recents are FTL and Masters of Orion II. There are also some influences from this forum, especially those I participated or lurked in. "Build a Forum Game!" was also very responsible, albeit I was looking for something new anyways. Since Evil Lincoln will be doing a 4? Player RPG kinda thing, I took the freedom of going the Suggestive path on a more strategical route. (Here's hope he wont mind it ;3 ) Anyways, we do have a lack of spacey games.

Not much to add to that spiel. Best see for yourself.

Much is said about the past, but little is known or accepted as truth from a broad strata of the sentients that inhabit the galaxy. At first there might have been the Atano, seeing as they once held most of their galaxy in the grasp of their lifeless extremities. The Kathervan claim to be older still, stemming from the dark clouds that once gave form to their husks, many galactical cycles past.

One of them surely was the first in their own right, just as it must be for two of the others. Ignothal claim to have wandered their stars long before they themself changed to what they are now – so long their elders claim that they saw the dust forming much of their old galaxy. Well known is that the Protervee met upon them, having forsaken their original home for lack of matter. They are said to have taken anything of worth with them on their uncountable fleet – long lost to ages past.

Many wars were fought between those pairs, but none of them was ever able to finish the other – and with the merging the battlefields ceased for a while, the goal changing to survival instead. Not long after both galaxies had settled into one, the Vagusi emerged. It seems to be a matter of fact that they did so from a gate – but they ever tell that it was a mistake, that they did not planed on coming or even staying here. At the end so they did, and their ambition to return to where they would belong has long since dwindled. The galaxy itself has not recovered in the few cycles since it was "born", and many parts are only accessible through a maze of gates – fields of asteroids and other space-debris making traveling a challenge even in the best of areas.

As for you? You are kin to one of the mentioned races, and sometimes fare between the others. It is at this point that the Vagusi-Station awakes you from your idle thinking. You've got the go for docking. But first it's time for their intrusive protocol.

Your name is:

Your are one of the:

Spoiler: Ignothal (click to show/hide)

Ignothal

Bonus to Shields and Weapons, Malus to Boarding and Hull
+2 for Dealings with Atano, -2 for Protervee, -1 for Kathervan
Former residents of the elliptical galaxy.

These aberration-like beings are able to feed on pure energy. Luckily for the other races, it does only sate them – instead of something silly like strengthening them and whatnot. While their form is difficult to hurt with crude physical means lasers do a very fine job at this. Their affinity with energy – and old feud with the Protervee - has led them to develop good shields and weapons, while their ships lack protection - much as their masters do. They feel kinship towards the Atano, as those are likewise beings that thrive on energy.

Ascension:
The Ignothal have almost surpassed physical matter, and as such are able of ingenious feats. If damaged to a substantial degree, they will call their bodies back towards their node of power. While this straining act does require them to rest afterwards, killing them without destroying this point of recall is considered to be nigh impossible.

Spoiler: Protervee (click to show/hide)

Protervee

Bonus to Boarding and Evading, Malus to Shields and Hull.
+2 for Dealings with Kathervan,  – 2 for Ignothal, -1 for Atano
Fled a compact dwarf galaxy to the former elliptical galaxy.

This aggressive race left their home-galaxy in search of a more useful system. This peaked their conflict with the Ignothal, and in the wars that ravaged the elliptical galaxy after that, saw them adapting their natural strengths for personal combat with the need to evade the weapons of their – in that regard – stronger opponents. As a side-effect of these tactics, their shield and hull is severely lacking thou. As their social hive-structure is comparable towards the multiorganisms of the Kathervan, they are respecting them more than the other races.

Hivedom:
Most ships of bigger size – and often enough also some smaller ones – are under the direct command of a queen. Her different drones are born into their special roles, and as long as she survives, the colony stays operable. Should she die, the winner of the following battle-royal will become the new queen – provided they survive the reason that killed the previous one.

Spoiler: Kathervan (click to show/hide)

Kathervan

Bonus to Boarding and Weapons, Malus to Healing and Shields
+2 for Dealings with Protervee, – 2 for Atano, -1 for Ignothal
Former residents of the spiral galaxy.

They came from the outer nebulae of the spiral galaxy, where common sense would dictate that no life could ever be born or thrive. But their belief says otherwise, and their old enemy the Atano certainly did not care whence their contenders came. Their ships are nothing more to them than an extension of their body, for the Kathervan command the growth of their organic matter to a supreme degree. Their prefered forms are very suited to attacking, but shields are somewhat difficult to maintain, just as it is time-intensive to heal the wounds that they have sustained. They share some common views with the Protervee, and are more welcoming towards them.

Fleshformers:
The Kathervan are the only race known to the galaxy that has achieved interplanar travel by themselves truly. While their ships could be grown by a single individual, it is mostly a teamed effort by individuals gifted in these matters. The most common way for them to gain sustenance is by a form of photosynthesis, but raw biomatter, water and certain minerals are also needed from time to time. It is of note that the Kathervan itself is only a tiny core, hidden deep in the ship or structure that they posses – normally they only ever leave there to possess a new husk.

Spoiler: Atano (click to show/hide)

Atano

Bonus to Hull and Repair, Malus to Evade and Weapons
+2 for Dealings with Ignothal, -2 for Kathervan, -1 for Protervee
Former residents of the spiral galaxy.

The first to settle the spiral galaxy are known to be the Atano – at birth a rather unremarkable species, it is their impressive bio-technology that has brought them to their might. They never really adapted themselves to battle against the Kathervan, and have stayed as competent builders, while their ships just lack the edge in speed and weaponry. As the Ignothal also have surpassed their natural-given limits – albeit in another way – they enjoy the common ground that they possess.

Immortality:
The Atano always share a link with their ship or station, transmitting the newly gained data. Should they be killed, their systems are able to gift them with a new body, which retains all of the old memories. To prevent anyone tampering with these systems they are closed off, and as every individual makes sure to encode its own messages significantly, even their peers are unable to convert the uplinks into useful information.

Spoiler: Vagusi (click to show/hide)

Vagusi

Bonus to Evade and Hull, Malus to Boarding and Shields
+1 to all Dealings
They arived in the newly formed lenticular galaxy.

The Vagusi arrived a few cycles after the lenticular galaxy was born from the fusing of the two previous ones. Originally a colonial-ship, filled with gene-samples to populate the farther reaches of their own galaxy, it seems that their gate went awry. In their initial search for a way back to where they wanted to belong, they actually made a name for themselves with all the other races, as being reasonable beings that one could mutually profit from. On the peacefull side unless pressed otherwise, their ships are known for their good construction – the shields and capability of the crew leave something to be desired thou.

Multitude:
The Vagusi are – for a lack of a better description – just that. They lack the bodies or survival tactics of the other races, and often enough their lives are sold for cheap. They are however modestly able-minded individuals, and with them striking dealings to all of the races, they are skilled in such matters. While there are hostilities from time to time, it is mostly a matter of consequences and not influenced by racial disgust.

You are here on buisness, and your occupation is:

Trader: High Bonus to Dealings, Malus to Evading and Boarding
Bountyhunter: Bonus to Evading and Weapons, Malus to Dealings and Hull
Raider: Bonus to Boarding and Hull, High Malus to Dealings
Envoy: Bonus to Evading and Dealings, Malus to Weapons and Shields
Scavenger: Bonus to Dealings and Shields, Malus to Boarding and Weapons
Miner: Bonus to Dealings and Hull, Malus to Evade and Boarding
Mercenary: Bonus to Weapons and Shields, Malus to Evade and Hull

[escaped lurker]

(Reservational Post)

[escaped lurker]

(Reservational Post)

[escaped lurker]

(Reservational Post)

Alright, fine to post now?

I'm interested to see what this is.

Sure enough. I will add any rules as soon as we encounter them, and then they wander onto the front page. I guess the initial stuff is already quite big enough, no need to further that effect.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Dear Not-Yet-Reader. Please refrain from posting, as I really want 3 Reservations, for Rules, Maps and similiar - No need to search through all of the thread then. After those posts the - ready to go - main-post will go up immediatly. Please do feel free to check back in ~10 minutes.

Thanks.

Alright, fine to post now?

I'm interested to see what this is.

[Scionox]

Name: Umbranocte
Race: Kathervan
Occupation: Raider

Hmmm, this reminded me a little bit of space rangers.

[Xantalos]

Pasting ta witch.

[Harry Baldman]

Name: Skithy
Race: Kathervan
Occupation: Raider

[GreatWyrmGold]

We are Skithy, a Vagusi Scavenger

[escaped lurker]

Time to move this along then, I guess. Name-Roll (12) - Harry's name "Skithy" is it then. And another vote by GWG, albeit only for the name. Eh.. tempted to wait for new suggestions after your ninja. But only so long.

Skithy. Kathervan. "Scavenger".

Yeah, Right. You are quite sure not to tell them your carreer choice, because they of all sentients are actually the most displeased about such matters. Unless they find themselves in a war, they would normally not encourage the plundering of other races. As long as one does not hit any of their traders, and is subtle about the matter, one can sometimes arrange a deal of some sort.

Your last hit was actually pretty nice, (13) giving you some additional fuel and tradegoods. Not much of the later, but flying past a friendly station that is en-route has never been your thing.

These Vagusi seem to especially like their protocol – while it is very uncommon for ships to be in the possesion of non-native crews, only a Kathervan can guide a husk. At least you would have not heard otherwise, and neither would you. There is a reason battleships need multiple captains, and even you feel strained sometimes.

Seeing as you have almost no data on this star-system, you might ask about it after landing. Asking about a lot of things, because you fled from some Atano Hunters Raiders that disliked you raiding "trading with" their kin. For bad or worse, the gate is in disrepair on this side, and with none of them chasing you it seems they knew.

That gets you thinking …

There is a reason that you are a captain while others are not. Among your peers, you were noted for:

Your Piloting: Bonus to Evade and Weapons
Your Intelligence: Bonus to Dealings and Shields
Your Sense for the Husk: Bonus to Hull and Healing
Your Tactical Mind: Bonus to Boarding and Evade (Kathervan Racial Trait)
Your Control of the Growth: Lower time and cost for growth (Kathervan Racial Trait)

Spoiler: Racial List - for those interested in the works (click to show/hide)

Your Psychic Abilities: Scanning without module (Ignothal Racial Trait)
Your Warlike Notions: Bonus to Weapons and Shields (Ignothal Racial Trait)
Your Leadership of the Hive: Bonus to Boarding and Repair (Protervee Racial Trait)
Your Splendid Fertility: Lower hatch-cost and time, additional drone capacity. (Protervee Racial Trait)
Your Tactical Mind: Bonus to Boarding and Evade (Kathervan Racial Trait)
Your Control of the Growth: Lower time and cost for growth (Kathervan Racial Trait)
Your Way with the System: Bonus to Shields and Weapons (Atano Racial Trait)
Your Impressive Engineering: Able to rebuild Alien Systems, Able to upgrade Atano systems (Atano Racial Trait)
Your Leadership: Bonus to Dealings and Boarding. (Vagusi Racial Trait)
Your Ingenious Mind: Able to itegrate Alien Systems, Able to Rebuild Galactical Standard Systems (Vagusi Racial Trait)

Your ship is:

A Heavy Cruiser: Easy
A Medium Cruiser: Normal
A Light Cruiser: Challenging
A Scout: !Fun!

Spoiler: For the ships - same order as on the list - look here. (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Kathervan Racial Rules (click to show/hide)

Kathervan do not need any Crew besides their Captain, but he can not leave the ship.

Ever Spawn will be treated as 1 Point of Hull-Damage until it returns to the ship, or it is otherwise lost.
A Spawn can be regrown over the course of 1 day, at the expense of food and energy.
Spawns gain no personal experience, but if a returnee was able to kill / disable enemy crew, he will give the captain a trickle of experience in that regard.
Any Kathervan is able to board its Spawns.

Half of Kathervan Organ-Chambers (Weaponry and Utilitarian, rounded down) will start with a Bypass for Galactical Standard Equipment.
Organs can not be „turned off“ and thus always require Sustenance. Installed Kathervan-Weapons fall under the same rule.

A Kathervan-Captain can grow all previously held Kathervan-Systems, for double the production cost. He can theoretically also grow a new ship, but it will need a Kathervani to captain it - and a very long time to grow. We are talking weeks for a scout and months for anything else here.

If in close proximity to a star, Kathervan will be able to gain sustenance. Only 70% of total sustenance can be achieved through photosynthesis.

Kathervan Hull needs to be under 25% before the defenses of the Core are breached and thus can be fired upon.

Also accepting suggestion for our "speech". It needs to be readable on the light forum skin is all.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Control of the Growth
Medium Cruiser

[Weirdsound]

Your Sense for the Husk
Medium Cruiser

[Harry Baldman]

Your Control of the Growth.
Medium Cruiser.

And we speak in Green Glow, just like the title.

[GreatWyrmGold]

*checks the turn post*

How about orange with a green glow? Or the other way around?

[Tomcost]

Control of the Growth
Medium Cruiser

+1 and PTW!