mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
I love this thread
So many ideas...
So many ideas...
Forbidden Science of the Second Imperium
- Thread starter Michael Schulz
- Start date
Michael Schulz
SOC-12
"It was Crimmon that noticed it first. We were taking some time off after the psi-plague outbreak on Lan. Just once I want to meet a planetary noble who, after stumbling across an obviously pre-long night research station, reports it to the proper authorities--or even the navy--rather than simply poking inside looking for salvage. The all too necessary sterilization of the colony had left a bad taste in our mouths, and we needed to relax and take our minds off of what we had just seen. After all, we'd need all our strength for the next crisis two thousand years in the making.
But that night, as I was taking in the fragrent breeze and enjoying a delightful local beverage, Crimmon just stared at the sky. I hadn't known Crimmon before that Jump Kraken devoured his crew, so I often wondered what his mind had been like prior to joining the service. Indeed, I often wonder if his mind is really working at all these days. But as he stared into the night sky, I could tell something was wrong.
'It's not on the maps,' he muttered.
'What's not on the maps?' I enquired.
'That star,' he said pointing to the horizon. 'The one on the left.'
So, reluctantly, after Crimmon locked himself in his suite for three days plotting a course to his uncharted star, we set off into the unknown. Of course, we couldn't have known that what we'd find would lead us into a web of intrigue stretching back to Capital and leave only two of us alive.
A world of regenerating, carniverous plants thousands of years old. A starport dating back to the Interstellar Wars and evidence that it was still in occaional use. Photo-synthetic fauna that seemed unkillable by day, and only a little less so at night. Proof that at least one of the Vilani Megacorporations has a direct link to the 1st Imperium and something called the 'Rebellion Protocols.' All in all, if I never go on vacation again, it will be too soon."
From the Journals of Professor Kashadin Ebikhenerii, for internal viewing only, IISS Heritage Preservation and Recovery Divison, 997
But that night, as I was taking in the fragrent breeze and enjoying a delightful local beverage, Crimmon just stared at the sky. I hadn't known Crimmon before that Jump Kraken devoured his crew, so I often wondered what his mind had been like prior to joining the service. Indeed, I often wonder if his mind is really working at all these days. But as he stared into the night sky, I could tell something was wrong.
'It's not on the maps,' he muttered.
'What's not on the maps?' I enquired.
'That star,' he said pointing to the horizon. 'The one on the left.'
So, reluctantly, after Crimmon locked himself in his suite for three days plotting a course to his uncharted star, we set off into the unknown. Of course, we couldn't have known that what we'd find would lead us into a web of intrigue stretching back to Capital and leave only two of us alive.
A world of regenerating, carniverous plants thousands of years old. A starport dating back to the Interstellar Wars and evidence that it was still in occaional use. Photo-synthetic fauna that seemed unkillable by day, and only a little less so at night. Proof that at least one of the Vilani Megacorporations has a direct link to the 1st Imperium and something called the 'Rebellion Protocols.' All in all, if I never go on vacation again, it will be too soon."
From the Journals of Professor Kashadin Ebikhenerii, for internal viewing only, IISS Heritage Preservation and Recovery Divison, 997
Boy does this topic bring up memories of Burroughs, Shelley, Lovecraft, and Verne!
Forgotten horrors, just purring and ticking away, waiting to be uncovered by some unsuspecting victim!
Here's some random thoughts:
- The sole survivors of a planetary nuclear holocaust are the hardened criminals forced into hiberation for their heinous crimes
- Survivors of a gene war, mutated to fill the ecological niches left vacant when the higher animals went extinct; herds of massive human-grazers, communities of dwarf human-diggers, packs of steely human-hunters, and solitary human-pouncers lurking in the deep foliage
- AI driven super tanks (OGRE's) guarding the ruins of a civilization after a planetary war, survivors still hiding in the rubble, the AI's baiting and waiting for hapless rescuers to attempt a landing
Forgotten horrors, just purring and ticking away, waiting to be uncovered by some unsuspecting victim!
Here's some random thoughts:
- The sole survivors of a planetary nuclear holocaust are the hardened criminals forced into hiberation for their heinous crimes
- Survivors of a gene war, mutated to fill the ecological niches left vacant when the higher animals went extinct; herds of massive human-grazers, communities of dwarf human-diggers, packs of steely human-hunters, and solitary human-pouncers lurking in the deep foliage
- AI driven super tanks (OGRE's) guarding the ruins of a civilization after a planetary war, survivors still hiding in the rubble, the AI's baiting and waiting for hapless rescuers to attempt a landing
This thread is just great...
How about a "King Arthur" kind of legend?
A mighty king/warlord/general and his loyal troops lie in low berth hibernation until the day that they are needed to defend their nation from its enemies...
... except that the nation and its enemies are long since gone, and once some hapless explorer wakes these guys up, they pick some random faction/nation/species as the enemy, and go on a rampage.
WTF, just imagine it´s King Arthur himself who wakes up, thinks that the Solomani are the alliance of Celts and Roman settler he´s led in his day, the 3rd Imperium is the Roman Empire that abandoned them, and the Vargr are the Saxon raiders (not such a big stretch to think these wolf-like beings are today´s "seawolves") threatening Britain. Battledress instead of Roman legionary armor, FGMP-15 instead of Excalibur...
How about a "King Arthur" kind of legend?
A mighty king/warlord/general and his loyal troops lie in low berth hibernation until the day that they are needed to defend their nation from its enemies...
... except that the nation and its enemies are long since gone, and once some hapless explorer wakes these guys up, they pick some random faction/nation/species as the enemy, and go on a rampage.
WTF, just imagine it´s King Arthur himself who wakes up, thinks that the Solomani are the alliance of Celts and Roman settler he´s led in his day, the 3rd Imperium is the Roman Empire that abandoned them, and the Vargr are the Saxon raiders (not such a big stretch to think these wolf-like beings are today´s "seawolves") threatening Britain. Battledress instead of Roman legionary armor, FGMP-15 instead of Excalibur...
Michael Schulz
SOC-12
Chaos, I strongly second your King Arthur idea. I dig the Solomani angle as well, especially since Sol Sec would probably want to be rid of the guy as much as the third Imp.
In fact, I always had a King Arthur plan for TNE that could be applied. In the dying days of either the 2nd or 3rd Imperium (depending upon when your game is set) a Grand Admiral realizes that everything is going to hell in a hand basket and that there is nothing he can do about it. So--and this makes more sense if he is aware of and scared of Virus--he jumps his fleet and flag ship--a ridiculously powerful Super-Dreadnought--into an empty space. He then sends out a few scout ships to seed local worlds with legends of his return and to help ease the fall of said local worlds. Finally, he places himself, his crew, and his large compliment of marines in low berth waiting for a civilization to recover enough to seek him out.
For a milieu 0 campaign or TNE finding his ships and equipment could be a grail quest in and of itself. Following the legends of good Admiral Adak or what not and discovering this legendary fleet--while dodging rivals and the like--could be good stuff. Of course things are complicated when the fleet's proximity sensors begin taking people out of low berth when the party finally finds the fleet. And then there is the matter of whether Adak is really good or whether he has more...ambitious...plans for himself and his superior fleet.
In fact, I always had a King Arthur plan for TNE that could be applied. In the dying days of either the 2nd or 3rd Imperium (depending upon when your game is set) a Grand Admiral realizes that everything is going to hell in a hand basket and that there is nothing he can do about it. So--and this makes more sense if he is aware of and scared of Virus--he jumps his fleet and flag ship--a ridiculously powerful Super-Dreadnought--into an empty space. He then sends out a few scout ships to seed local worlds with legends of his return and to help ease the fall of said local worlds. Finally, he places himself, his crew, and his large compliment of marines in low berth waiting for a civilization to recover enough to seek him out.
For a milieu 0 campaign or TNE finding his ships and equipment could be a grail quest in and of itself. Following the legends of good Admiral Adak or what not and discovering this legendary fleet--while dodging rivals and the like--could be good stuff. Of course things are complicated when the fleet's proximity sensors begin taking people out of low berth when the party finally finds the fleet. And then there is the matter of whether Adak is really good or whether he has more...ambitious...plans for himself and his superior fleet.
Michael Schulz
SOC-12
A couple of quickies:
-An artifcial Psi-Plague. Colonists on a previously terraformed, but uninhabited world accidently open a container with old Terran markings. Within days 30% of the population is dying, 20% are in agony, and the other half of the colony is unaffected. The 20% suffering from intense migranes begin to...change. They begin to exhibit signs of powerful psionic abilities and, as if that weren't bad enough in the third imperium, exhibit subtle physical changes. As time moves on, it becomes clear that they are developing into a set of hive minds (about twenty changed indiviudals each) who have no use for normal humans, or each other. Will the PCs find a cure, be changed themselves, or will the 2nd Imperium documents they uncover reveal that the world had to be sterilized in the past...
-The Spinward Passage. The party stumbles across a starchart from late into the second Imperium/early long night. It details a natural Jump 3 route through the great rift. However, the equivilant of 'here there be dragons' appears on the chart. If the party can estabilish a quick, easy, and natural route to the Domain of Deneb, they will be rich beyond their wildest dreams. But as they jump through the rift, members of their crew/passengers begin to die from very unnatural deaths. A tentacled entity that is only paritially solid on the ship is feeding on the crew. What's worse is that it is only a baby Jump Kraken and that the ship is traveling into it's mother's nest. From dreams of riches, the party finds itself sent into a realm of extra-dimensional nightmares...
-Unstoppable. During the Long Night, a relatively small world managed, for a few brief centuries, to explode unto the local seen and crave out a large Pocket Empire. The secret to this victory was one part tactical genius and another part forbidden Vilani science. A nanite laced combat drug turned the world's population from humble farmers to brutally efficent super-soldiers. Tracking down either the old formula or a cache of the stuff, a local noble decides to experiment on his huscarles, only to find out that the horrible side-effects of the drug may have been the reason the empire fell...
-An artifcial Psi-Plague. Colonists on a previously terraformed, but uninhabited world accidently open a container with old Terran markings. Within days 30% of the population is dying, 20% are in agony, and the other half of the colony is unaffected. The 20% suffering from intense migranes begin to...change. They begin to exhibit signs of powerful psionic abilities and, as if that weren't bad enough in the third imperium, exhibit subtle physical changes. As time moves on, it becomes clear that they are developing into a set of hive minds (about twenty changed indiviudals each) who have no use for normal humans, or each other. Will the PCs find a cure, be changed themselves, or will the 2nd Imperium documents they uncover reveal that the world had to be sterilized in the past...
-The Spinward Passage. The party stumbles across a starchart from late into the second Imperium/early long night. It details a natural Jump 3 route through the great rift. However, the equivilant of 'here there be dragons' appears on the chart. If the party can estabilish a quick, easy, and natural route to the Domain of Deneb, they will be rich beyond their wildest dreams. But as they jump through the rift, members of their crew/passengers begin to die from very unnatural deaths. A tentacled entity that is only paritially solid on the ship is feeding on the crew. What's worse is that it is only a baby Jump Kraken and that the ship is traveling into it's mother's nest. From dreams of riches, the party finds itself sent into a realm of extra-dimensional nightmares...
-Unstoppable. During the Long Night, a relatively small world managed, for a few brief centuries, to explode unto the local seen and crave out a large Pocket Empire. The secret to this victory was one part tactical genius and another part forbidden Vilani science. A nanite laced combat drug turned the world's population from humble farmers to brutally efficent super-soldiers. Tracking down either the old formula or a cache of the stuff, a local noble decides to experiment on his huscarles, only to find out that the horrible side-effects of the drug may have been the reason the empire fell...
I like the psi-plague. Cool idea, very evil.
How about this variation. The plague causes each person to involuntary broadcast and receive thoughts of every one else around them for miles. As it spreads it creates a hive mind that eventually drives most people into a zombie-like state as their personalities are all averaged together and the population is paralyzed. There could be millions or even billions of people just standing around trying to sort out their thoughts so they can just move. Not immediately lethal but scary.
How about this variation. The plague causes each person to involuntary broadcast and receive thoughts of every one else around them for miles. As it spreads it creates a hive mind that eventually drives most people into a zombie-like state as their personalities are all averaged together and the population is paralyzed. There could be millions or even billions of people just standing around trying to sort out their thoughts so they can just move. Not immediately lethal but scary.
Andrew Boulton
The Adminator
Time for a Disaster Area concert...
Had to resurrect [snicker] this thread. Tomorrow the players will stumble into an abandoned research station with every horror imaginable.
The only planet around a distant pulsar is a cold, frozen radiation-blasted ice ball in far orbit. At the center is one of the Old Ones in cryo-stasis (perhaps). Cyber-zombies under the control of a brain in a jar, a "jump-7" drive in the landing bay, a psionic enhancer that drives the user homicidal, experimental plasma pistols, a whole range of cool drugs, greenhouse full of new and interesting plants, and a couple of the movie Aliens just for good measure.
Makes you want to steeple you fingers and go Bawhahahahah!
I still have a few empty rooms to add stuff. Any suggestions?
The only planet around a distant pulsar is a cold, frozen radiation-blasted ice ball in far orbit. At the center is one of the Old Ones in cryo-stasis (perhaps). Cyber-zombies under the control of a brain in a jar, a "jump-7" drive in the landing bay, a psionic enhancer that drives the user homicidal, experimental plasma pistols, a whole range of cool drugs, greenhouse full of new and interesting plants, and a couple of the movie Aliens just for good measure.
Makes you want to steeple you fingers and go Bawhahahahah!
I still have a few empty rooms to add stuff. Any suggestions?
1) a very bored AI robot, like marvin from 'hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy'.
2) a personality transfer device, loaded up with the memories of an ancient scientist, just waiting for a suitable subject to transform (have any NPC's in the party?).
3) a meson rifle. make sure they need it, and after they've won have it melt to slag.
4) a gate. "you humans. you're like children in a factory, pushing buttons and pulling levers, saying 'look what we've discovered!' many have come before you, and many will come after, and there are some who will appear if you unlock the door to their prison."
YES YES YES! 
Unstable meson rifle! Hmmmm free rems with every shot!
2) a personality transfer device, loaded up with the memories of an ancient scientist, just waiting for a suitable subject to transform (have any NPC's in the party?).
Yes, couple of teenage girls they rescued from the pirates!
I am going to keep #4 on the side just in case!
The lab of the evil Professor Io (look out Dr. Ganymede! )
Bawhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahhahahah!
Unstable meson rifle! Hmmmm free rems with every shot!
2) a personality transfer device, loaded up with the memories of an ancient scientist, just waiting for a suitable subject to transform (have any NPC's in the party?).
Yes, couple of teenage girls they rescued from the pirates!
I am going to keep #4 on the side just in case!
The lab of the evil Professor Io (look out Dr. Ganymede!
)Bawhahahahahhahahahhahahahhahahahhahahah!
Michael Schulz
SOC-12
Well Parmasson, if you're going to pile all of this stuff on one lonely outpost, then I'm a big fan of making it someone's lost museum/trophy room/prison facility. Toss in a few paintings and holograms of suitably heroic looking folks from the Milieu 0 era and give them a suitably space opera/pulpy name. The images can be stuff like the ancient, square-jawed, heroes hoisting the Scout Service flag, looking chummy with Cleon I, perhaps an image of the mysterious space opera/pulp folks looking at an alien sunrise with Cleon's son [the one who abdicated] amongst their ranks. Have a few other commendations and other prizes of some kind that identify them and their status.
Sprinkle in some skeletons that are clearly part of their group, a couple of very literally programmed maintance bots, one cryptic data crystal that implies a murderous conspiracy against their organization--if not the basic structure of the Imperium--and corrupted, enycrypted or just old bits of data hinting at other store houses with far greater treasures/horrors. Heck your derranged scientist in a jar may be a crazed former member or a prisoner of our ancient organization and can allude to such things as well.
Then, if you ever get bored down the road, you can either encourage your players to look for treasure or strongly imply that the ancient conspiracy is still at work, can pull mucho strings, and that the party has somehow earned their notice. (see the Immortal Imperial Illuminati idea a few posts back).
Huh, long post. Sorry.
Short idea: in a minimally functioning low berth pod (perhaps the players entry accidentally starts to cause a failure in the systems) is the body of a beautiful and alluring Man or Woman. He/She beckons the party to explore the station to find her companions but is actually a space siren looking to lead the party to their deaths!!!
Sprinkle in some skeletons that are clearly part of their group, a couple of very literally programmed maintance bots, one cryptic data crystal that implies a murderous conspiracy against their organization--if not the basic structure of the Imperium--and corrupted, enycrypted or just old bits of data hinting at other store houses with far greater treasures/horrors. Heck your derranged scientist in a jar may be a crazed former member or a prisoner of our ancient organization and can allude to such things as well.
Then, if you ever get bored down the road, you can either encourage your players to look for treasure or strongly imply that the ancient conspiracy is still at work, can pull mucho strings, and that the party has somehow earned their notice. (see the Immortal Imperial Illuminati idea a few posts back).
Huh, long post. Sorry.
Short idea: in a minimally functioning low berth pod (perhaps the players entry accidentally starts to cause a failure in the systems) is the body of a beautiful and alluring Man or Woman. He/She beckons the party to explore the station to find her companions but is actually a space siren looking to lead the party to their deaths!!!
Long posts are good.
Heritage Project Special Research Center 034
SNOWBALL FACILITY
This facility was a stopping point for all of the stuff the IISS found out there and did not want to bring back into the Imperium. I like the idea of "museum" or holding facility for stuff that could not be brought into a populated system for safety reasons. Lots of stuff in jars and cases.
Of course the cyber-zombies will make their first appearance!
(Under the thrall of the Brain In A Jar.)
I will let you know how it turns out.
[edit] MPMG Mk I (Man Portable Meson Gun) very dangerous indeed.
Heritage Project Special Research Center 034
SNOWBALL FACILITY
This facility was a stopping point for all of the stuff the IISS found out there and did not want to bring back into the Imperium. I like the idea of "museum" or holding facility for stuff that could not be brought into a populated system for safety reasons. Lots of stuff in jars and cases.
Of course the cyber-zombies will make their first appearance!
(Under the thrall of the Brain In A Jar.)
Good idea I think that I will add that in.
I will let you know how it turns out.
[edit] MPMG Mk I (Man Portable Meson Gun) very dangerous indeed.
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
Actually, Parmasson, everything should be in non-descript, cryptically marked/catalogued wooden crates. Remember the warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones]/i]? Why should the PCs have any idea what they are opening before they actually open it?
Wasn't the whole warehouse thing explored in GURPS Warehouse 23? The game supplement not the ordering house.
I rather like the idea of just endless crates (piled 10 high) in a maze like configuration. The players before long become lost...some crates could contain things that could help others were best left on the shelf. But...unfortunately...
I rather like the idea of just endless crates (piled 10 high) in a maze like configuration. The players before long become lost...some crates could contain things that could help others were best left on the shelf. But...unfortunately...
Michael Schulz
SOC-12
Personally, I was thinking it was more of a museum/trophy room/holding facility for some long disbanded organization that looked into the weirder side of Charted Space. But then again, I'm riffing off the last non-traveller rpg campaign I ran and Warren Ellis' Planetary more than Indiana Jones.
One last suggestion though: the party finds an old, far older than the station itself, low berth pod still in operation. Inside is a man wearing the deep purple flight-suit uniform that marked the 2nd Imperium's elite naval forces. Upon revival it is clear that the man--a slight fellow with mousy brown hair and a tendency to shyly stammer--is suffering from pretty severe amnesia.
If the party enters into any danger he will totally freeze up, seem panicky and do his best to hide while visibly shakey. He will avoid danger at nearly any cost. As he accompanies the party, two things should eventually become clear: 1) the man is a brilliant doctor, with a solid understanding of physics, chemistry, biology and several other disciplines, 2) if given the chance he is stealing pain killers, mood stabilizers, and any other drug that may take the edge off.
When confronted by the party or forced into serious danger, he will get panicky and beg to be left alone. If seriously threatened or hurt a sudden change occurs. His flight suit tears open as the experimental combat nanites coursing through his blood kick in, replacing his scrawny frame with 7 feet of super-dense, super-effecient muscle tissue. Screaming in rage our memory impaired friend's personality is totally submerged; replaced by the graysish-green goliaths desire to utterly crush any potential threats and satisfy his bestial desires (eating anything, drinking anything, uhhh, doing something else to anything, it is pure Id). Conventional weapons are almost totally ineffective as the rampaging beast demonstrates why the project that created him was cut off a thousand years ago and it's sole 'sucsess' buried and forgotten. Poor old Doctor Banner (Burusk Bannphron?)
One last suggestion though: the party finds an old, far older than the station itself, low berth pod still in operation. Inside is a man wearing the deep purple flight-suit uniform that marked the 2nd Imperium's elite naval forces. Upon revival it is clear that the man--a slight fellow with mousy brown hair and a tendency to shyly stammer--is suffering from pretty severe amnesia.
If the party enters into any danger he will totally freeze up, seem panicky and do his best to hide while visibly shakey. He will avoid danger at nearly any cost. As he accompanies the party, two things should eventually become clear: 1) the man is a brilliant doctor, with a solid understanding of physics, chemistry, biology and several other disciplines, 2) if given the chance he is stealing pain killers, mood stabilizers, and any other drug that may take the edge off.
When confronted by the party or forced into serious danger, he will get panicky and beg to be left alone. If seriously threatened or hurt a sudden change occurs. His flight suit tears open as the experimental combat nanites coursing through his blood kick in, replacing his scrawny frame with 7 feet of super-dense, super-effecient muscle tissue. Screaming in rage our memory impaired friend's personality is totally submerged; replaced by the graysish-green goliaths desire to utterly crush any potential threats and satisfy his bestial desires (eating anything, drinking anything, uhhh, doing something else to anything, it is pure Id). Conventional weapons are almost totally ineffective as the rampaging beast demonstrates why the project that created him was cut off a thousand years ago and it's sole 'sucsess' buried and forgotten. Poor old Doctor Banner (Burusk Bannphron?)
Michael Schulz
SOC-12
Double post and a request for you to tell us how your adventure goes!
We didn't even get into the facility tonight! Their pilot messed up the approach, a radiation spike knocked the computer offline and when we left them they were coming in hot with two other characters trying to get it back on line.
They were being haunted by nightmares from the last time they made a brief visit to this world to refuel after a misjump. They eventually got the idea and came back. The brain in a jar wants to get off world and has access to a telepathic FTL transmitter. It locked on the PCs and kept beaming messages to them as they slept. They though that their new house was haunted!
They were being haunted by nightmares from the last time they made a brief visit to this world to refuel after a misjump. They eventually got the idea and came back. The brain in a jar wants to get off world and has access to a telepathic FTL transmitter. It locked on the PCs and kept beaming messages to them as they slept. They though that their new house was haunted!
