The Final Frontier - - Star Trek Rp (Planning)

[Vauhsoj]

I'm in.  I am currently working on a Vulcan chief engineer.  I'll post his profile when I figure it out.

[Kobold King]

I love the Azi Dahaka, Adamir. I can't wait to see them in action.

[Turos]

I'll play the cook. He's only known as 'The Cook' or 'Cook'. He doesn't talk at all. He does listen, though. He's very good at listening. He's a top-of-the-line master chef whose life's ambition was shattered by the introduction of the replicator. Now he mostly just programs in new recipes and washes dishes, even though he doesn't need to. If he catches you going to deposit your dishes in the dematerializer, he will snatch them away from you with a glare and run away into the kitchen, which is more of a closet, and wash them, then sigh depressively and deposit the clean dishes into the dematerializer.

 

He is human and has a monstrously large mustache, which he has let grow since he doesn't actually do any cooking whatsoever. If someone had a request for a homemade meal, he would probably have a heart attack.

 

I'll also play his watch. Cook knows people don't wear watches anymore, but he already feels antiquated, so he wears one. It has a very enhanced articial intelligence. The best part is that it is programed specifically to know nothing about cooking. That boosts cook's morale, and the watch is very verbose on stating how little it knows about cooking.

 

The watch serves one basic function: it tells you how pointless a watch is in space where relativity ruins the concept entirely since the watch isn't connected to any subspace clocks, or even to the ship. The watch does make comments on other topics, however, so things don't get too stale. The watch has developed a fascination for people's hand sizes.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Turos

[Adamir]

Thanks, Kobold!
 

Additional ideas

 

-I'm sure everyone has thought of this already. Hoid brings the ship to the Cosmere. Why? The reactor was strong enough to contain a Shard, and he is planning on imprisoning Odium. As seen in WoB, Hoid and Odium used to be allies - their hatred is not a lifelong rivalry, it is a betrayed friendship. Hoid is planning on imprisoning Odium and separating it from Raise to try and recover his old friend. This occurs just over ten years before Elantris, or one year before the Reod - let us assume that is when Odium Splinters Devotion and Dominion.

 

-We begin when the crew of the Horizon (I'll think of a better name later) are dropped off in orbit around Yolen, or Dakhara as it is now called. The Great Dahaka is Hoid's "old friend", the dragon he was in contact with through the Letter. Using the Survival Shard, the Great Dahaka separates Yolen from the normal flow of time. Here, he keeps to his oath of non-intervention, maintaining a constant balance in population across Yolen that could make Leras green with envy.

 

-The crew are told that they need to convince the Great Dahaka to submit his Shard to Hoid, to allow him a chance to fight Rayse personally and try to overpower him. Hoid also steals the reactor core to imprison Odium, telling the crew he will give them a replacement power source if they get what he asked for.

 

-Haze is the Survival Shard's Investiture, just as the Mists are of Preservation. The plants on Dakhara grow by absorbing this Haze. When an Azi eats these Haze-grown plants, they will suffer hallucinations alongside the usual euphoria. These illusions are actually glimpses into the future through Haze, which most Azi are taught to ignore. The Yo'Lin were specifically engineered by the Great Dahaka to be susceptible to Haze. The Tar'Ka'Jun write down every word the Yo'Lin say while in their Haze-stupors, which are then delivered to the Great Dahaka, for him to sort through to identify the future. The Yo'Lin are all insane, though their usual unresponsiveness due to Haze hides it; it is why the Great Dahaka engineered a species to see the future for him, rather than doing so himself.

 

-The Survival Shard influenced the Great Dahaka to complete efficiency. The planet is held in place so as to inspire more cultural disassociation between the Light and Dark sides, and their constant warfare is meant to keep the population in check. The Great Dahaka oversees the war effort for both sides, each of whom consider the other a den of heretics.

 

-Sel'Ke transformations are scientifically impossible. The Sel'Ke can be considered the primary Investiture users of Dakhara, tapping Haze to change forms. All fire breathing Azi use the Investiture in Haze. If necessary, Haze can be substituted with other forms of Investiture. Sel'Ke have developed specific organs to store Haze, allowing them to transform an average of three times without access to Haze to replenish themselves.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Adamir

[Turos]

*Cook wonders if haze organs are good for making a mean haggis with a halucinatory kick.*

[Adamir]

I would upvote, but I hit my quota an hour ago.

 

Kagé clutched his forehead, howling in pain.

 

"What is it?" one of his Ymmur servants asked, rushing up to him.

 

"I sense a great disturbance in the Force," he whispered. "Time and space has been re-written. What was may no longer be, and never has been... The wind was not the beginning, for there are neither beginnings nor ends..."

 

"Get me a Tar'Ka'Jun!" the Ymmur screamed down the hallway, before turning back to Kagé. "How? Who would do such a thing? Have they no knowledge of chaos theory? How many planets have they destroyed by changing their past?"

 

"A human... a human without a name. A human incapable of cooking, until he used Soul Forgery to re-write his own history... Send a warning to the Great Dahaka. The Balance of the Force is broken. There has been a retcon."

Edited July 11, 2015 by Adamir

[Kobold King]

Thanks, Kobold!

 

Additional ideas

-I'm sure everyone has thought of this already. Hoid brings the ship to the Cosmere. Why? The reactor was strong enough to contain a Shard, and he is planning on imprisoning Odium. As seen in WoB, Hoid and Odium used to be allies - their hatred is not a lifelong rivalry, it is a betrayed friendship. Hoid is planning on imprisoning Odium and separating it from Raise to try and recover his old friend. This occurs just over ten years before Elantris, or one year before the Reod - let us assume that is when Odium Splinters Devotion and Dominion.

 

-We begin when the crew of the Horizon (I'll think of a better name later) are dropped off in orbit around Yolen, or Dakhara as it is now called. The Great Dahaka is Hoid's "old friend", the dragon he was in contact with through the Letter. Using the Survival Shard, the Great Dahaka separates Yolen from the normal flow of time. Here, he keeps to his oath of non-intervention, maintaining a constant balance in population across Yolen that could make Leras green with envy.

 

-The crew are told that they need to convince the Great Dahaka to submit his Shard to Hoid, to allow him a chance to fight Rayse personally and try to overpower him. Hoid also steals the reactor core to imprison Odium, telling the crew he will give them a replacement power source if they get what he asked for.

 

-Haze is the Survival Shard's Investiture, just as the Mists are of Preservation. The plants on Dakhara grow by absorbing this Haze. When an Azi eats these Haze-grown plants, they will suffer hallucinations alongside the usual euphoria. These illusions are actually glimpses into the future through Haze, which most Azi are taught to ignore. The Yo'Lin were specifically engineered by the Great Dahaka to be susceptible to Haze. The Tar'Ka'Jun write down every word the Yo'Lin say while in their Haze-stupors, which are then delivered to the Great Dahaka, for him to sort through to identify the future. The Yo'Lin are all insane, though their usual unresponsiveness due to Haze hides it; it is why the Great Dahaka engineered a species to see the future for him, rather than doing so himself.

 

-The Survival Shard influenced the Great Dahaka to complete efficiency. The planet is held in place so as to inspire more cultural disassociation between the Light and Dark sides, and their constant warfare is meant to keep the population in check. The Great Dahaka oversees the war effort for both sides, each of whom consider the other a den of heretics.

 

-Sel'Ke transformations are scientifically impossible. The Sel'Ke can be considered the primary Investiture users of Dakhara, tapping Haze to change forms. All fire breathing Azi use the Investiture in Haze. If necessary, Haze can be substituted with other forms of Investiture. Sel'Ke have developed specific organs to store Haze, allowing them to transform an average of three times without access to Haze to replenish themselves.

 

 

I like these ideas! Your world integrates very well with the Cosmere.

 

That said, I don't know how I feel about setting this RP in the Cosmere wholesale. As an interstellar game, this game will doubtless be traveling to the far reaches of the galaxy. We need free rein to flesh out the galactic culture and society as much as we can, and we know too little of the Cosmere as a whole to be so limited.

 

Is it possible to change Dakhara's history so that it lies on top of some sort of rift to the Cosmere, through which the Survival Shard came through? That way we can keep all the awesome Investiture mechanics you've designed, while still allowing ourselves the freedom to shape this galaxy as we see fit.

[Turos]

 

That actually sounds really cool, your majesty. Investiture-powered lasers. Pew pew poof!

[Kestrel]

Oh man, super sorry I wasn't here this afternoon. Let me read through the things.

[Kestrel]

@Adamir looks good, I like your character and the species!

@Turos also good!

I'm not too entirely sure about the Cosmere thing itself, but it is for fun and the shardworlds do offer nice exploring opportunities.

[Kobold King]

I'm not too entirely sure about the Cosmere thing itself, but it is for fun and the shardworlds do offer nice exploring opportunities.

 

I just worry that restricting ourselves to the rules of the Cosmere will put hard limits on our creativity. We don't know whether there are enough interstellar civilizations in the Cosmere to form the kind of galactic community that's always been a Star Trek standby, for instance; for all we know, the only spacefarers in the Cosmere will be the ones Brandon writes about in the third Mistborn trilogy. We also know next to nothing about the layout of Shadesmar and even less about the Spiritual Realm, which would undoubtedly be key points of study for any advanced civilization within the galaxy.

 

I think it would be simpler for everyone and everything involved if Dakhara was a unique and enigmatic planet rather than the norm. Trying to play by the rules of Investiture on every planet could cause a bit of a headache, but allowing Dakhara the monopoly on magic makes the planet more interesting and special in my opinion.

 

In addition, I don't believe the Cosmere fits with the kind of galaxy we discussed earlier, one mostly devoid of human-like races and filled with stranger aliens. While such creatures appear to exist in the Cosmere, Brandon's universe does focus pretty exclusively on humans. It seems clear that non-humanoid aliens, if indeed existent, are much rarer in the Cosmere then they are in our galaxy.

 

 

Besides which, I think it'd be neat if we went back to Star Trek's roots a bit here. Instead of exploring someone else's setting, why don't we build our own up from scratch and have the intrepid Federation crew uncover it piece by piece? Adamir made a fascinating world inspired by the Cosmere, and I adore his work. But don't we want to leave it open for someone else to make a wholly original world without worrying about how Shards or Hoid would interfere with it? Would it be preferable to open the doors to a plethora of wildly different worlds, creating a galaxy of unrivaled diversity and beauty?

 

 

The decision's ultimately up to you, Lark, but I just wanted to get my opinions out there.

[Kestrel]

The influence of the Cosmere worlds wasn't going to be, in my opinion, as strong as you seem to think I meant. ^^" But I do see and agree with all your points here. Let's wait for now to decide, as I'm on the fence. Let's see what the others say.

[Vauhsoj]

I agree with Kobold.  I believe it would be more fun if we could create the galaxy as we explore it.  The world Adamir created is pretty cool, though.

I was on all morning, and nobody posted.  I left for a few hours, and suddenly there's all this activity!

[Adamir]

The Great Dahaka stared down at Kagé, golden eyes glittering with fury. "Retcons! Retcons everywhere! Why, just this morning the Azi Dahaka were an alien civilization. And now, they are magic dragons. And you want to turn them back into aliens?"

 

"W-w-well..." Kagé stuttered. "I didn't think of it that way... the Kobold King told me to."

 

"Very well," the Great Dahaka sighed. "We must obey the great King of the Kobolds. Send word to the scribes and Tar'Ka'Jun, we are re-writing our own history again. Do you know how expensive it will be to procure a Soulstamp large enough for the entire planet?"

 

"How about... How about we Soulstamp the planet to be able to afford the Soulstamp?"

 

"Fine, do whatever you want. It isn't like anyone pays attention to the lore or anything. Tomorrow morning - I am not going to retcon anything at four AM. Yes, I know there is no day and night cycle here."

 

In all seriousness, it was a bad idea to lock it into the Cosmere. If it is a part of the Cosmere, we're just re-treading through what has already been explored. I wrote this eight hours ago, but my internet vanished just before I could hit send. Just skip over my Additional Ideas post, and you'll have a planet completely disconnected from the Cosmere.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Adamir

[Kobold King]

In all seriousness, it was a bad idea to lock it into the Cosmere. If it is a part of the Cosmere, we're just re-treading through what has already been explored. I wrote this eight hours ago, but my internet vanished just before I could hit send. Just skip over my Additional Ideas post, and you'll have a planet completely disconnected from the Cosmere.

 

 

Drills and pickaxes struck the earth, filling the morning with a cacophony of clanging. The engines of huge mining machines roared and the cries of the workers rung out, as they worked to coordinate the massive drills to the rich veins beneath the planet's surface.

 

The freshly risen sun illuminated the camp in all its majesty. Stocky Querlings pulled carts laden with dense ores. Blubbery Nalthas took inventory of all the metal extracted on the previous day. A few many-eyed Yauvex repainted the bright green arrow of the Upboat Corporation on each of the machines.

 

Standing atop a hill, slender and reptilian, was the wealthiest cobalt magnate in the galaxy. Owning every cobalt mine from here to the Morelth Nebula, he was rich and powerful in his own way, and he acted the part. His wealth had turned his mind and with it his pride. When he watched his miners, he did so with all the dignity and ego of a medieval royal watching his armies march.

 

They didn't call him the Cobalt King for nothing.

 

 

On this morning, a winged Desmod servant fluttered up to its lord, master, and boss, bowing low to the ground as it did so.

 

"Your wealthiness," it rasped through its thick muzzle. ""There is news of the Azi Dahaka."

 

The Cobalt King turned languidly to his employee, unclasping his claws from behind his back and scratching his chin with a yawn. "Oh? What news this time? Another retcon?" He laughed bitterly.

 

Biting its lip, the Desmod said "...Yes, your wealthiness."

 

The laughter stopped, the Cobalt King's scaly face turning deadly serious. "What has been changed this time?" he growled softly.

 

"I-Investiture, sire. At your displeasure, the magic was stripped of their species and they have aliens once more. They are no longed in any way connected to the Cosmere."

 

There was a still silence, before the Cobalt King smiled, a wicked smile that showed off each of his finely-honed teeth. He reached a slender arm around the Desmod's furry back, pulling it closer into an embrace.

 

Swiftly, he flourished a glimmering blade from his sleeve, pressing it against his employee's jugular vein.

 

"Do you know what this is?" he asked quietly.

 

"Y-yes sire," the bat-like alien squeaked. "It's a knife."

 

"A vibron-knife," the magnate corrected lazily. "It vibrates on a molecular level if I flip the switch on its hilt. It can slice through bone and titanium as easily as it can butter."

 

"Y-you are wealthy enough to afford the very best, sire."

 

"You know what? I am," the Cobalt King proclaimed, as if in mock surprise. He released his hold on the bat, tossing it to the ground. "I'm richer than the old gods, the new gods, and all the lesser gods in between. I can afford the very best."

 

His eyes took a dangerous sheen once more. "And when I'm presented with anything that's not the very best, there's always the vibron-knife."

 

Towering over the short little bat, the magnate stalked over towards it and stooped to its level. "What, then," he asked in a deadly whisper. "Is the implication of my threatening you with my vibron-knife?"

 

"T-that I am not the very best, sire."

 

"Absolutely," the magnate hissed. "And you seem to have mangled the message I sent to the very best race I've seen in this galaxy yet. Somehow the Great Dahaka got the impression that I was displeased at their magic. On the contrary, I love their magic. I find it a fascinating and unique element to their worldbuilding. All I ever suggested was retconning their magic to have arrived from the Cosmere, rather than retconning all of us to have been there all along. Do you understand?"

 

Weakly, the Desmod managed to nod its head and squeal out a "yes."

 

"Then go forth," the Cobalt King growled, "Catch the soonest shuttle to Dakhara and tell the Great Dahaka this in person. And if you mangle this message anywhere nearly as badly as you mangled the first, I will mangle you and send your neatly carved remains to your family in a nicely wrapped package. Understand?"

 

"Yes, sire. Of course, sire!" The wings of the Desmod started beating again, and the bat flew off in the direction of the shuttle yards.

 

The Cobalt King sighed, then smiled and put his knife away. Maybe now Dakhara could have the best of both worlds--magic from the Cosmere and a connection to a rich galaxy the Cosmereites could never dream of. As long as the imbeciles in his employ didn't keep mucking things up, they would have a rich and fantastic setting indeed by the time this was done.

 

He clasped his claws behind his back and stared out over the ridge again, watching the drills bore into the earth.

 

It was good to be king.

 

 

 

Um... in all seriousness, I guess what I"m saying is that I love the Azi Dahaka's magic, and I don't think you need to take it out altogether. I was merely suggesting we leave the rest of the setting mostly non-magical and definitely non-Cosmere. By leaving magic on Dakhara but leaving it absent elsewhere, it allows us to tread new ground; exploring how an interstellar civilization founded upon science would react to finding a magical species like the AD.

 

Hope I made that clear. I'd hate to have to kill another Desmod....

[Kestrel]

What.. what are you guys even doing?

[Kobold King]

What.. what are you guys even doing?

 

 

I think we're planning this RP with a smaller RP. Let's just roll with it.

[Kestrel]

[Adamir]

The Soulstamp was a thing of beauty. Eighty five meters wide, a perfect circle of Soulstone with inscriptions carved into the rock. The Great Dahaka raised his hand, and two hundred serpentine Sel'Ke flew into the air, ropes in their jaws to raise it into the air. Even with two hundred, it was a struggle. But the Great Dahaka felt secure in the knowledge that this change would please the Cobalt King. He with seventeen thousand nine hundred and ninety four Breath - but of course, after today, no Dahaka would have any knowledge of Breath, nor Investiture.

 

"Wait!"

 

A reptilian creature dived from the upper atmosphere, screeching to the ground. Haze met intruder, and a sudden surge of euphoria left it unable to flap its wings. The Great Dahaka watched in horror as it slammed into first one Sel'Ke, then another, then another, flailing about to grasp something and tearing at their hides with its claws. The Sel'Ke screeched in pain, dropping the ropes - but they were high enough, thank Adonalsium, and the Soulstamp began to fall to the ground.

 

The Soulstamp struck the earth, and ripples of Investiture began to spread. It was working! The Cobalt King would surely be pleased, for the very properties of Haze were changing. The Shard the Great Dahaka had held for centuries departed - he had never bonded it in the first place. And a device materialized as if from Shadesmar, capable of holding the planet in stasis without assistance from Investiture.

 

The creature landed in front of the Great Dahaka, gasping as it reached for a gas mask tied to its left wing. Pulling it on, it whispered its message with haggard breath.

 

"The Cobalt King sent me... don't retcon completely..."

 

Feelings of dread struck the Great Dahaka, as his wallet began to cough awkwardly. He would need another Soulstamp.

[Kobold King]

Breaking from our meta-RP, how exactly will the Great Dahaka manifest in the RP proper? Will he have a physical form? Will he be practically omnipotent like other Shards?

[Adamir]

I was thinking of him having a physical manifestation as a much larger version of a Yo'Lin, being the only remaining member of what was once the only Azi breed - if we go with the Shard story, then he created the other breeds to perform specific functions for his society.

 

"Captain Smith!"

 

The navigator rushed through the door before it had even finished sliding open, his face glistening with sweat and his eyes with anticipation. "We've finally caught up with the ship!"

 

"Finally," Ashley sighed, "open communication channels. Are we close enough?"

 

"Yes, captain. Opening communication channels."

 

A holographic screen materialized in front of her, expanding to reveal a pale, haggard face. His hair was neatly combed, immaculate to the point of an obsession - as though trying to enforce a sense of respect onto others. A sense of respect that failed spectacularly. There was an arrogant look in his eyes, pride and a sense of smug superiority. But most distinctive of all was the silver H tattooed onto his forehead.

 

"Finally," Ashley sighed, "I've caught up with you. We've spent the last week following your co-ordinates. Are you the chief officer on that red tin can you call a ship?"

 

"Officer?" The man's accent carried the same sense of smug superiority. Ashley felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to punch him. "You are speaking to the acting captain of the JMC mining ship Red Dwarf." His voice quivered partway through the sentence - clearly lying.

 

"Where is your captain? I and several of my men will board your vessel to speak to the actual captain. Any resistance on your part will be taken as a declaration of hostility, and met with the same response. Gentlemen, forgive the cliche of it all, but set phasers to stun."

 

Just meant as a joke, not a serious suggestion.

Edited July 11, 2015 by Adamir

[Kobold King]

I've never seen Red Dwarf, so I'm not entirely sure what you're referencing anyway.

 

What are the upper limits to the Great Dahaka's powers? Could he destroy a planet if he needed to? If there was an invading armada coming to take over Dakhara, would he be capable of singlehandedly destroying the fleet?

Edited July 11, 2015 by Kobold King

[Adamir]

Not entirely sure at the moment - is this going to be a Rashek case, wherein he only held the power for a brief period of time? Or will he have the power constantly? I'd say it would be a bit more interesting if he were a former deity who maintained the pretense to hold his citizens in line, but that might be echoing Mistborn too strongly. My current idea is for him to be able to influence people breathing in Haze, but I'll leave it up to you. Also, are we planning to cross over with any other works of fiction later on?

 

P.S You don't watch Red Dwarf? Heretic!

Edited July 11, 2015 by Adamir

[Kestrel]

I am, in all honesty, not even following the meta-rp sorry oop

I'll try to work on my character bios. Who knows, I might even draw them.

[Kobold King]

Well in my defense... actually, I have no defense. I have no good reason for not watching Red Dwarf.

 

My only concern is that he'd be overpowered by several orders of magnitude if he were given the same powers as other Shards. Considering Shards have the ability to create or destroy worlds with little to no effort, I'm afraid the Great Dahaka would have to be nerfed in some way for him to interact with other player characters.

 

I like the idea of him being a Lord Ruler-like entity, even if that idea has already been done in Mistborn. It could be interesting to create an actually benevolent version of TLR.

 

 

 

I am, in all honesty, not even following the meta-rp sorry oop
I'll try to work on my character bios. Who knows, I might even draw them.

 

Drawings would be awesome.

 

And don't sweat not following the meta-RP. It's mostly just humorous at this point, like what we do on the Question threads. (Though I may find a way to work references to the Cobalt King into the canon RP... )

Edited July 11, 2015 by Kobold King