Seems that A won by a narrow margin. We'll go with them.
You are the
Agorans.
The
Agorans inhabit
Hosteus Minor, a member of moonless planet in the habitable zone of the K-class star
Hosteus Major. They are an aquatic race, living in massive hives built of kelp-like biomass located in shallow water. Hosteus has three asteroid moons, which had special significance to ancient Agorans during the early stages of civilization.
Hosteus Major is a tidally-locked "waterworld," by most measures, slightly cooler than Earth, with a temperate front hemisphere, and minor ice caps on both sides. 87% of its surface is covered in ocean, but roughly 79% of that ocean consists of coastal shallows on the order of one to two dozen meters. These coastal shallows, labelled "plains" by the Agoran hydrocentric taxonomy, form biodiversity havens on a scale similar to that of Earth's coral reefs. The plains of Hosteus form a single interlinked "continent" with a single, sprawling forest of undersea plants referred to as the kelp.
Hosteus Minor, being tidally locked to its star, has one hemisphere in eternal day and one in eternal night. Despite this, the whole planet is roughly within habitable temperatures. The disadvantage is that the kelp does not grow on the dark side, and thus it is only populated by fish and microorganisms that have been driven into the dark by currents.
Hosteus Minor is slightly more massive than Earth at 1.24 Earth masses, but is less dense and has a surface gravity of 8.1 m/sē. It has a thick oxygen-rich atmosphere at an atmospheric pressure of 275 kPa, composed of 43% Oxygen and 56% Nitrogen. Additionally, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is roughly 1200 ppm.
Hosteus' few islands are mostly volcanic in origin and are heavily forested by land-dwelling variants of the same plants that inhabit the coastal waters. Aquatic plants in Hosteus' seas are typically a pale gray, but near the surface they display brilliant green and blue pigments on their leaves, which tend to spread out just inches beneath the surface level. Plants on land are typically a sharp blue in color, sometimes purple, and typically do not exceed 13m in height.
The Agorans are primarily swimmers, lacking legs, and instead have an eel-like torso that they use to swim around or snake about on the surface. Their two front flippers are long and arm-like, terminating in five webbed fingers, which allow them to manipulate objects. Two of their fingers curl the opposite direction, allowing them to be used as thumbs.
Agorans display a wide variety of physical variations, some genetic, others developmental. All Agorans have a bioluminescent crest, colored differently depending on mood. Likewise, their arms have biolights from the shoulder down to the elbows, which allows them to signal to each other even in world's dark nights.
Some Agorans display angled fins protruding from their joints, often accompanied by additional biolights. Others have a bright, dangling biolight on a stalk protruding from their crest, and others still tend to have claws, differently shaped scales, or any combination of these traits. Some can have completely new limbs, often deformed and tentacle-like in function.
Agorans are large creatures, about 2m in length, but they are lightweight and weigh less than 40 kg on average. Being one of the rare creatures on Hosteus to have skin capable of retaining moisture, they can stay on land indefinitely provided that they drink plenty of water. Females are typically larger than males, but must eat considerably more and have faster metabolisms.
Agorans reproduce via eggs, and females typically lay five to twenty at a time. Each fry can swim on its own as soon as hatched, and tends to be nursed for about four months before it starts to act independently. Agorans only lay eggs once in a lifetime under modern social conventions, although if neccesary they can produce additional batches at the cost of their own nutrition. Each Agoran has a lifespan on the order of a human life.
Navvosh Hive, Daag Confederacy, Date 90|43, Time 05:14The Hive's bureaucrats meet inside a bulbous structure known as the Spire, protruding from the surface of the water and filled mostly with air. The location is intended to provide isolation from the busy affairs of the city below, allowing the leading members of the city's council to meet and discuss matters without distraction.
One councilor, Loggosh, proposes funding for a hypothetical agency meant to direct the efforts of known science in order to gain a better understanding of where the people of Hosteus are, and what they can accomplish. Another councilor, Palemash, respectfully disagrees, suggesting that money and labor be better spent on the public implementation of Balloon Elevators in order to facilitate business traffic.
The rest of the councilors, feeling no particular attachment to public transportation in a city where residents can swim in any direction, decide to support Loggosh, and soon conclude that a preliminary team of renowned scientists shall be chosen from the university and presented with the task.
The Agorans live in a strictly meritocratic society where all public offices are routinely evaluated for performance by other public offices. The city council, a body of eight popularly elected Agorans, rotates out a member every Anth.
Living on a tidally locked world has given the Agorans a pretty terrible concept of time. For centuries, the Agoran tribes wandered slowly, synchronizing their sleep with each other but rarely intermixing due to what we called jetlag. Soon, however, the three Satellites became known as Agorans started scouting the surface, sometimes spending long hours on beaches, studying the motions of the stars.
The three satellites and their periods are as follows, in ascending order of distance from Hosteus Major:
Yog - 1.5 Earth-hours
Noth - 3 Earth-hours
Faras - 6 Earth-hours
Noticing the 1:2:4 resonance of the satellites, the Agorans constructed a timekeeping scale based on powers of two:
1 Argyog = 1/8th Yogs = 11.25 minutes
1 Agyog = 1/4th Yogs = 22.5 minutes
1 Ayog = 1/2th Yogs = 45 minutes
1 Yog = 90 minutes
1 Noth = 3 hours
1 Far = 6 hours
1 Anfar = 2 Faras = 12 hours
1 Athfar = 4 Faras = 24 Hours
1 Anthfar = 8 Faras = 48 Hours
The most common terms in use are Noths, Argyogs, and Anthfars. The last two are usually referred to as "Args" and "Anths" respectively.
Agoran cities tend to keep track of their age in 128-day segments. They read and write numbers in binary in educated circles, although decimal is by far more common among the middle and lower classes. A date consists of the number of Anths, followed by the number of "Years" that have passed (this has nothing to do with Hostean years). The rest of the day is measured in Noths and Args, with 16 Noths in an Anth, followed by 16 Args.
...
The
Council of Stars shall consist of five appointed members, who will serve until further notice. Such an arrangement is typically shunned by Agorans, but the benefits of team cohesion over a long period of time are too much. Future members will be employed on a basis as decided by the eight councilors.
Nteh University shall be the pool of choice from which to draw candidates. Though Navvosh contains five hundred thousand Agoran souls, only the most prestigious can bear the honors of having graduated and taught at Nteh. Below is the list of candidates.
This game will mostly use d100 rolls, so keep that in mind.
Skills: Each candidate adds to or subtracts from your council's total attribute pool. All attributes can go either positive or negative.
Administration: A value that increases the efficiency of your agency. It will generally lower costs, aid in hiring, and prevent accidents from occurring if positive. Negative values increase running costs, raise the chances of a launch failure, and cause data to get misplaced.
Manufacturing: Manufacturing is a resource that is divided between projects, and determines how fast they can be completed. This does not reflect the quality of work done, only the quantity. Negative manufacturing results in employees being forced to work overtime and the resultant loss of . Surplus manufacturing makes workers happier.
Science: Positive values provide bonuses to scientific experiments and increase the likelihood of new properties being discovered. Negative values cause your experiments to explode horribly.
Diplomacy: Positive values improve your chances of getting public support and improving opinions. Negative values mean that your support will dwindle if you don't provide results.
Traits: Each candidate has a trait, which can be negative or positive.
(1)
Name, Profession: Thulataru, Doctor of Microfluidics
Description: He is computer-savvy and knows his way around physics, but he is kind of a recluse.
Skills: +25 Administration,
+10 ScienceTrait: Does not provide bonuses when leading a project.
(2)
Name, Profession: Hathlag, Astrologer
Description: She knows a lot about orbits and space, but little about what's in it.
Skills: +10 Science,
+10 DiplomacyTrait: Your diplomacy cannot go negative.
(3)
Name, Profession: Chyaa, Fluidics Engineer
Description: He is great at optimizing algorithms, but hardly understands why they work.
Skills: +20 ManufacturingTrait: Halves negative manufacturing values.
(4)
Name, Profession: Onos, Bureaucrat
Description: A talented shift organizer, and a man of good taste in literature.
Skills: +10 Manufacturing,
+10 DiplomacyTrait: Multiplies your diplomacy by 1.25x.
(5)
Name, Profession: Zsbot, Activist
Description: She is great at securing funds for the agency--and getting on people's nerves.
Skills: +35 DiplomacyTrait: Can not lead projects.
(6)
Name, Profession: Rlothot, Businessman
Description: He is a shrewd negotiator with dozens of overseas investments.
Skills: +15 Administration,
+15 Manufacturing,
+10 DiplomacyTrait: He might run into financial troubles.
(7)
Name, Profession: Orthek, Material Engineer
Description: He enjoys blowing things up.
Skills: +10 Manufacturing,
+10 ScienceTrait: Gains +20 Science while testing drives and heavy machinery.
(8}
Name, Profession: Ghar, Artist
Description: She is renowned for her work in abstract art.
Skills: +25 Administration,
+10 DiplomacyTrait: Can make fancy visual representations.
(9)
Name, Profession: Achutei, Inventor
Description: She is the one and only inventor of the Balloon Elevator.
Skills: +10 Administration,
+25 ManufacturingTrait: Might be upset about not funding public Balloon Elevators.
(10)
Name, Profession: Borli, Doctor of Marine Biology
Description: He knows a lot about fish, but wants to know more...
Skills: +35 ScienceTrait: Will insist on sending live animals to space.
Each person must nominate five candidates.
Author
Topic: Reach for the Stars [Suggestion Game] (Read 11788 times)