Futuristic Arcadian Dreamers OOC

[YohhananArbuckle]

The OOC chatter channel for Arcadian Dreamers:

Here is a link to the recruitment thread, which makes a quick and explicit sales pitch on what this RP is about, if you are interested in joining: Futuristic - Arcadian Dreamers

Drop in, say hi!

 

[Blemmigan]

Aaaaw yeee, time for lore.

*cracks knuckles*

Ouch.

I wrote the vague outline for a character but it'll probably change (or at least have detail and flavour added) once I've read this through. And look for potential collaboration... motivation still needs fine-tuning.

 

[Ambiloquous]

Woof, I should probs pop in, say hi, right?

Hello again, fellows!

 

[Blemmigan]

I haven't really thought much about how dreamers are integrated into [Druner] culture, or what the nuances of that culture really are. If you wanted to flesh it out that would be cool.

Immediately I hear "please write several short essays on Giant Space Bug culture" because I already started writing.

Uhhh so posting here for... reasons? Mainly because there's no way any of this will feature in my character sheet, but I may as well share how I've been imagining the race to work, and therefore the mindset I have while writing the CS.

Complete with a tiny snippet of nonsense insect language* for fun.

Beauty is in the tangible, and faith is in the reliable. Druners have a different concept of spirituality to most other races.

t't'k is a word in their most widespread language which means knowing one's place in the universe, to see oneself as part of the Great Mechanism, as neurons in a mind, as a lesser section of a greater whole, and find comfort in that. All are insignificant and all are important. Every action, once performed, becomes part of the mechanism, as do its consequences.

The concept forms an essential part of all druners, in the unspoken kind of way which seeps into the mind rather than being consciously taught. It is what makes them social creatures, seeking out roles that enable them to put their skills to use and play their part. It doesn't necessarily make them good, or kind or helpful, but whatever it is that they do, it will be carried out with a sense of duty, and their task will become their definition of what's right.

They are not foolish enough to dismiss Dreamers as being impossible: clearly they exist, although how it works isn't yet understood. But what is the point of taking actions in a separate world, if those actions don't contribute to the real universe and to the mechanism? How is it that somebody can be themselves and also a totally new person, a persona formed without relation to their work and actions? And, most importantly, how can they bring attributes of this other-worldly Dream into this great mechanism?

The druner do not have a concept of sacrilege (they are far too logical for that), but the ideas that Dreaming puts forward are instinctively wrong, a kind of mental nausea from a disconnect with how they know the universe to be. So they believe that, once somebody uncovers the real explanation for how Dreaming works, it will undoubtedly make sense and can be taken more seriously. But they meanwhile will keep working on more useful things. Besides, they do not know of any druners who Dream.

They do not appreciate that drunic Dreamers might not acknowledge that part of their nature to themselves, let alone to others of their kind.

Spoiler: *Nonsense insect language!

I've been working under the idea that their languages are pretty much impossible to write with other alphabets or logograms. It's also part of what makes translation software necessary for communication with others. Basically, the biology is too different.

Rather than being purely sound-based (there aren't enough kinds of clicks and chitters to cover that many distinct words), it also takes into account tone, context and, importantly, movement. The same sound in the same tone can have a multitude of meanings depending on the mandible movements which accompany it (which is why the wearable translation software covers these parts).

This also makes it very difficult for other species to speak druner languages. It's possible (to speak such languages without mandible movement), but the result is awkward, clunky and often confusing, with about three times as many syllables to explain concepts which would just be easier to gesture. Aliens which try to mimic the movements can sometimes be understood, and some druner will appreciate the effort, but it requires them ignoring how funny it is to see.

Written druner languages use symbols which include the movement, so basically the same as any other written language would link every symbol to a sound or tone. Unfortunately there's no way to write this in languages not built for it, so in latin letters it turns into just a transcription of sounds that can vary wildly. To those familiar with both the languages and with this primitive way of writing them, they're often able to glean the basic meaning. Mostly, though, it's used between non-druners to clumsily describe to each other what they heard, if they haven't learned how to write properly.

As for how druners understand other languages... they learn them. Or at least they learn to understand them: speaking them is impossible without a translator, though they may be able to write them. Obviously this leaves gaps in their education, so druners usually learn the most common language/s depending on where they are.

Also I meant to ask how many limbs druners have. "quadrupedal insectoids with a column body featuring six pairs of arms", so is that ten pairs total, or six pairs but they walk on four of them?
If a druner wore pants, would he wear them like this or like this

I'm definitely not just asking so I can reason to myself why they might count and think in base ten, like humans do (from ten fingers). This is apparently the stuff I wonder about.
It counts as still being soft science fiction if it's just lore, right? This isn't even all of it. I'm so sorry.

 

[Ambiloquous]

Hoh, you're putting more thought into your species' beliefs than I ever have. It's delicious. uwu

YohhananArbuckle Do I put species' specialty skills in the species or skills section? Does it count as something my character is good at, or is it too built-in or widespread to count as a personal skill?

 

[YohhananArbuckle]

Immediately I hear "please write several short essays on Giant Space Bug culture" because I already started writing.

Uhhh so posting here for... reasons? Mainly because there's no way any of this will feature in my character sheet, but I may as well share how I've been imagining the race to work, and therefore the mindset I have while writing the CS.

Complete with a tiny snippet of nonsense insect language* for fun.

Beauty is in the tangible, and faith is in the reliable. Druners have a different concept of spirituality to most other races.

t't'k is a word in their most widespread language which means knowing one's place in the universe, to see oneself as part of the Great Mechanism, as neurons in a mind, as a lesser section of a greater whole, and find comfort in that. All are insignificant and all are important. Every action, once performed, becomes part of the mechanism, as do its consequences.

The concept forms an essential part of all druners, in the unspoken kind of way which seeps into the mind rather than being consciously taught. It is what makes them social creatures, seeking out roles that enable them to put their skills to use and play their part. It doesn't necessarily make them good, or kind or helpful, but whatever it is that they do, it will be carried out with a sense of duty, and their task will become their definition of what's right.

They are not foolish enough to dismiss Dreamers as being impossible: clearly they exist, although how it works isn't yet understood. But what is the point of taking actions in a separate world, if those actions don't contribute to the real universe and to the mechanism? How is it that somebody can be themselves and also a totally new person, a persona formed without relation to their work and actions? And, most importantly, how can they bring attributes of this other-worldly Dream into this great mechanism?

The druner do not have a concept of sacrilege (they are far too logical for that), but the ideas that Dreaming puts forward are instinctively wrong, a kind of mental nausea from a disconnect with how they know the universe to be. So they believe that, once somebody uncovers the real explanation for how Dreaming works, it will undoubtedly make sense and can be taken more seriously. But they meanwhile will keep working on more useful things. Besides, they do not know of any druners who Dream.

They do not appreciate that drunic Dreamers might not acknowledge that part of their nature to themselves, let alone to others of their kind.

Spoiler: *Nonsense insect language!

I've been working under the idea that their languages are pretty much impossible to write with other alphabets or logograms. It's also part of what makes translation software necessary for communication with others. Basically, the biology is too different.

Rather than being purely sound-based (there aren't enough kinds of clicks and chitters to cover that many distinct words), it also takes into account tone, context and, importantly, movement. The same sound in the same tone can have a multitude of meanings depending on the mandible movements which accompany it (which is why the wearable translation software covers these parts).

This also makes it very difficult for other species to speak druner languages. It's possible (to speak such languages without mandible movement), but the result is awkward, clunky and often confusing, with about three times as many syllables to explain concepts which would just be easier to gesture. Aliens which try to mimic the movements can sometimes be understood, and some druner will appreciate the effort, but it requires them ignoring how funny it is to see.

Written druner languages use symbols which include the movement, so basically the same as any other written language would link every symbol to a sound or tone. Unfortunately there's no way to write this in languages not built for it, so in latin letters it turns into just a transcription of sounds that can vary wildly. To those familiar with both the languages and with this primitive way of writing them, they're often able to glean the basic meaning. Mostly, though, it's used between non-druners to clumsily describe to each other what they heard, if they haven't learned how to write properly.

As for how druners understand other languages... they learn them. Or at least they learn to understand them: speaking them is impossible without a translator, though they may be able to write them. Obviously this leaves gaps in their education, so druners usually learn the most common language/s depending on where they are.

Also I meant to ask how many limbs druners have. "quadrupedal insectoids with a column body featuring six pairs of arms", so is that ten pairs total, or six pairs but they walk on four of them?
If a druner wore pants, would he wear them like this or like this

I'm definitely not just asking so I can reason to myself why they might count and think in base ten, like humans do (from ten fingers). This is apparently the stuff I wonder about.
It counts as still being soft science fiction if it's just lore, right? This isn't even all of it. I'm so sorry.

Answering the easy question first, I'm imagining that Druners have four kind of stumpy, very powerful spider legs and then a body that is basically an articulated trunk standing upright on top of that. They have six pairs of arms coming out of the trunk of the body, so I think ten 'pairs' total, although that doesn't quite do the way the legs work justice. Their hands are similar enough to other species' hands (some number of digits and a thumb for grasping) that it isn't a huge hassle, although the size difference might mean that certain things are very awkward to grasp. Clothing wise I have no idea what they do! I was just kind of lazily imagining they were naked because they're bugs, but since they're an advanced civilization that probably doesn't make a ton of sense. It's kind of fun to imagine that however they dress has been influenced by their Association compeers, and that their customs have influenced the Association as well.

W/r/t base ten, I'm betting it's more reasonable to assume that they count in base <something else> (how many fingers do you think they have?) natively, but that since they share a culture with a bunch of human-in-makeup aliens, everybody has settled on base 10 for math since it's the most common digit configuration. This would also be an adjustment for the Anonoki, but since both species are supposed to be quite clever I think it's not too much of a problem. It's like people raised in the US learning metric or computer programmers learning to think in base 2. Individuals who really struggle with it could just have a chip installed in their head that does the translation for them, and probably a bunch of other stuff too.

If you assume Druner have twelve hands with five fingers they would count in base 60, probably, a sexagesimal system that means that human measurements of time, angle, and geographic coordinate would strike them as unusually logical (Sexagesimal - Wikipedia). Maybe the Druner taught the ancient Sumerians math? No - too weird. These are all fun details to provide, I only specify that it is 'soft' science fiction because there isn't meant to be a very high logical bar that people have to clear for their ideas to make it through. If somebody wants to assert they have a gun that shrinks things somehow that's just like, fine, no explanation really required.

In terms of language, keep in mind that these are all folks who have access to very advanced implants and software. Even if a Druner didn't 'learn' Basic or whatever it is that everybody usually speaks to one another, a mandible sized computer could trivially translate their language into Basic, translate incoming multiple speakers into a Druner dialect, and be trusted to pretty much always convey the right sentiments and tone in both directions, instantaneously. Learning the language makes sense if you are concerned about your ability to communicate if you lose the dang computer or just value actually knowing things over having them installed. That seems like it might be a Druner point of view.

It is interesting to think about how the worldviews of all these species color perception of one another. Like, looking at the list of species already specified, what does a Druner think when they imagine an archetypal so-and-so. That web of relations is a fun thing to explore that doesn't involve any shooting or magic whatsoever.

How do Druners react when dreamers from outside societies directly tell them that you/that Druner are definitely, 1,000,000% a Dreamer, because you can figure it out just by looking at someone? Or is the Druner inherent denial of this strong enough that it interferes with that awareness? I wasn't imagining that was possible, but if it makes a closeted Dreamer character easier to play it could be interesting. It could also just be the kind of thing that you, a third party dreamer, aren't supposed to mention.

Hoh, you're putting more thought into your species' beliefs than I ever have. It's delicious. uwu

YohhananArbuckle Do I put species' specialty skills in the species or skills section? Does it count as something my character is good at, or is it too built-in or widespread to count as a personal skill?

Indeed, this is the crunchy fun stuff.

Write them in either place as long as its clear, if you want to reiterate in the skills section it's fine, but if it is species wide you should really clarify that somewhere, so if other people want to be an X they know what baseline is.

 

[Blemmigan]

^{too many words nominee 2020}

Answering the easy question first, I'm imagining that Druners have four kind of stumpy, very powerful spider legs and then a body that is basically an articulated trunk standing upright on top of that. They have six pairs of arms coming out of the trunk of the body, so I think ten 'pairs' total, although that doesn't quite do the way the legs work justice. Their hands are similar enough to other species' hands (some number of digits and a thumb for grasping) that it isn't a huge hassle, although the size difference might mean that certain things are very awkward to grasp. Clothing wise I have no idea what they do! I was just kind of lazily imagining they were naked because they're bugs, but since they're an advanced civilization that probably doesn't make a ton of sense. It's kind of fun to imagine that however they dress has been influenced by their Association compeers, and that their customs have influenced the Association as well.

Thanks!

I mean for clothes I could still believe that they don't wear them, if it's just not something that they consider important (and they're so different-looking from more "modest" species that outsiders aren't embarrassed by it either).
Not in a pulp sci-fi "hello human, we humanoid aliens are all so enlightened that we go about naked" way, just that they're so physically different that it was never culturally significant enough to factor. Particularly if they have a more "colony insect" type life cycle where only a minority reproduce.

Or they might have different things that they prioritise in covering (e.g. I remember reading one science fiction piece where the spider-like aliens covered their mouth for modesty's sake, as eating was seen as vulgar). Or, if they have an armour-like exoskeleton it' that they might decorate, paint, inscribe, gold-leaf, hang with jewellery... or have metal/plastic/ceramic coverings (Fabric would probably be a pain if you've got sliding chitinous plates, getting trapped between them or obstructing movement).

Though to be honest it's more that my question about limb configuration reminded me of this as I typed it :v

W/r/t base ten, I'm betting it's more reasonable to assume that they count in base <something else> (how many fingers do you think they have?) natively, but that since they share a culture with a bunch of human-in-makeup aliens, everybody has settled on base 10 for math since it's the most common digit configuration. This would also be an adjustment for the Anonoki, but since both species are supposed to be quite clever I think it's not too much of a problem. It's like people raised in the US learning metric or computer programmers learning to think in base 2. Individuals who really struggle with it could just have a chip installed in their head that does the translation for them, and probably a bunch of other stuff too.

If you assume Druner have twelve hands with five fingers they would count in base 60, probably, a sexagesimal system that means that human measurements of time, angle, and geographic coordinate would strike them as unusually logical (Sexagesimal - Wikipedia). Maybe the Druner taught the ancient Sumerians math? No - too weird. These are all fun details to provide, I only specify that it is 'soft' science fiction because there isn't meant to be a very high logical bar that people have to clear for their ideas to make it through. If somebody wants to assert they have a gun that shrinks things somehow that's just like, fine, no explanation really required.

I'd originally assumed an insect-like feet (a single "digit" with claws), and having a multitude of limbs to grip things instead of indiviul fingers.

But like the idea of them being a bit more.... grippy. And with sixty digits, fluent in several different kinds of mathematics: sexagesimal as being what comes naturally, and quickly learning decimal just because it's so widespread. And potentially them approaching problems from sever different angles at a structural level.

(Though mainly I wanted to tie it into base ten because I am bad at maths. I like the idea of others though... I'll just have to do some hand-waving).

In terms of language, keep in mind that these are all folks who have access to very advanced implants and software. Even if a Druner didn't 'learn' Basic or whatever it is that everybody usually speaks to one another, a mandible sized computer could trivially translate their language into Basic, translate incoming multiple speakers into a Druner dialect, and be trusted to pretty much always convey the right sentiments and tone in both directions, instantaneously. Learning the language makes sense if you are concerned about your ability to communicate if you lose the dang computer or just value actually knowing things over having them installed. That seems like it might be a Druner point of view.

Implants for translating incoming data makes more sense than learning, haha. I got hung up on the "translating outgoing words" rather than translating words that are incoming.

I also like the idea of translation software being very... thought-based. Not mind-reading, but in a "the sentiments of what's being said" being prioritised over verbal accuracy. So, sarcasm, jokes, proverbs, all of those are tweaked enough to be understood.

But it could depend entirely on preferences and the particular translation software each person uses, of course. I'd probably have my character know at least some Basic (particularly as he's been on Port Gladys for a while), though of course he wouldn't be physically able to speak it.

It is interesting to think about how the worldviews of all these species color perception of one another. Like, looking at the list of species already specified, what does a Druner think when they imagine an archetypal so-and-so. That web of relations is a fun thing to explore that doesn't involve any shooting or magic whatsoever.

How do Druners react when dreamers from outside societies directly tell them that you/that Druner are definitely, 1,000,000% a Dreamer, because you can figure it out just by looking at someone? Or is the Druner inherent denial of this strong enough that it interferes with that awareness? I wasn't imagining that was possible, but if it makes a closeted Dreamer character easier to play it could be interesting. It could also just be the kind of thing that you, a third party dreamer, aren't supposed to mention.

Honestly, this is what I spend too much time on regarding science fiction. I may fall down when it comes to explaining new technology in any way which isn't just technobabble, but the more... social stuff is apparently what I really enjoy building. So long as that still counts as "soft" then all is well!

As for their attitude towards Dreamers... I think the lack of many openly Dreamer druners helps them to keep a societal attitude of it being someone else's problem.

Maybe like a desert race being familiar with the concept of swimming without ever having seen it. It makes sense that it would be possible, and you can calculate that it would work, but there's no need for it. And besides, they've never seen a lake or an ocean so it's difficult to actually, instinctively think of it as useful, or anything more as a thought experiment. Knowing that something is technically true is different from wholly believing in it, and although a druner would never admit to themselves that they're being closed-minded, they avoid investigating it further, lest the doublethink fall apart.

There would definitely have been other Dreamers, but I'm thinking that because it so goes against the natural order of things (not profane or taboo, but more like cognitive dissonance) the instinct would be to ignore or suppress it, however unsuccessfully. They may distance themselves from other druners out of shame, or in an attempt to distance themselves from the druner way of thinking.

...It's a bit woolly really. I guess it would differ from one druner to another, but the overarching attitude wouldn't be reverence or respect. Maybe some of the bolder druners might be curious, but without actually expecting much to come of it.

For the character I've been (tentatively) planning, they're kind of distant from other druners anyway. Instead of putting his intellect to something useful or working towards the advancement of society, he's on Port Gladys selfishly making money (also a rather un-druner-like thing to do) as an actuary and insurance provider for the incredibly rich. Dull? Perhaps. But he enjoys the work for the work's sake (and if he can skim a little here or tweak the figures there, so much the better).

Other druners would definitely not approve of his job, considering him wasting his time by their standards, but his two argumentative, vicious co-owners of the company are happy to reap the benefits. They've burned through their own funds, and know that their druner partner has plenty stashed away. The only reason those two haven't killed each other yet is because they think they'll need to work together to take him down. One day.

...But none of that is final, and I might change my mind completely and actually have a character more involved in this druner society I've already spent too much time thinking about.

He is however part of an auspicious brood (originally my thought was that it was sixteen hatched out of eighteen viable eggs, making an allusion to 1.618, the golden ratio): while not considered sacred, there's some bias there towards them heading towards great things and the advancement of druner society. Some are already prominent engineers, one is a foremost particle physicist, one is about to be named the druner representative for their planetary group, and one... is a Dreamer hiding on Arcadia, slowly growing rich and morally greyer while his closest friends conspire to murder him.

 

[Ambiloquous]

YohhananArbuckle What's the currency, where is it valid, and how is it exchanged? Shiny, shiny cards? Beepity-beep wristbands? Mental transfers? Digital interfaces? All of them? None of them?

Asking for someone who is suspicious of a lotta tech and definitely will not have a chip implanted somewhere ever.

 

[YohhananArbuckle]

^{too many words nominee 2020}


Thanks!

I mean for clothes I could still believe that they don't wear them, if it's just not something that they consider important (and they're so different-looking from more "modest" species that outsiders aren't embarrassed by it either).
Not in a pulp sci-fi "hello human, we humanoid aliens are all so enlightened that we go about naked" way, just that they're so physically different that it was never culturally significant enough to factor. Particularly if they have a more "colony insect" type life cycle where only a minority reproduce.

Or they might have different things that they prioritise in covering (e.g. I remember reading one science fiction piece where the spider-like aliens covered their mouth for modesty's sake, as eating was seen as vulgar). Or, if they have an armour-like exoskeleton it' that they might decorate, paint, inscribe, gold-leaf, hang with jewellery... or have metal/plastic/ceramic coverings (Fabric would probably be a pain if you've got sliding chitinous plates, getting trapped between them or obstructing movement).

Though to be honest it's more that my question about limb configuration reminded me of this as I typed it :v

I'd originally assumed an insect-like feet (a single "digit" with claws), and having a multitude of limbs to grip things instead of indiviul fingers.

But like the idea of them being a bit more.... grippy. And with sixty digits, fluent in several different kinds of mathematics: sexagesimal as being what comes naturally, and quickly learning decimal just because it's so widespread. And potentially them approaching problems from sever different angles at a structural level.

(Though mainly I wanted to tie it into base ten because I am bad at maths. I like the idea of others though... I'll just have to do some hand-waving).

Implants for translating incoming data makes more sense than learning, haha. I got hung up on the "translating outgoing words" rather than translating words that are incoming.

I also like the idea of translation software being very... thought-based. Not mind-reading, but in a "the sentiments of what's being said" being prioritised over verbal accuracy. So, sarcasm, jokes, proverbs, all of those are tweaked enough to be understood.

But it could depend entirely on preferences and the particular translation software each person uses, of course. I'd probably have my character know at least some Basic (particularly as he's been on Port Gladys for a while), though of course he wouldn't be physically able to speak it.

Honestly, this is what I spend too much time on regarding science fiction. I may fall down when it comes to explaining new technology in any way which isn't just technobabble, but the more... social stuff is apparently what I really enjoy building. So long as that still counts as "soft" then all is well!

As for their attitude towards Dreamers... I think the lack of many openly Dreamer druners helps them to keep a societal attitude of it being someone else's problem.

Maybe like a desert race being familiar with the concept of swimming without ever having seen it. It makes sense that it would be possible, and you can calculate that it would work, but there's no need for it. And besides, they've never seen a lake or an ocean so it's difficult to actually, instinctively think of it as useful, or anything more as a thought experiment. Knowing that something is technically true is different from wholly believing in it, and although a druner would never admit to themselves that they're being closed-minded, they avoid investigating it further, lest the doublethink fall apart.

There would definitely have been other Dreamers, but I'm thinking that because it so goes against the natural order of things (not profane or taboo, but more like cognitive dissonance) the instinct would be to ignore or suppress it, however unsuccessfully. They may distance themselves from other druners out of shame, or in an attempt to distance themselves from the druner way of thinking.

...It's a bit woolly really. I guess it would differ from one druner to another, but the overarching attitude wouldn't be reverence or respect. Maybe some of the bolder druners might be curious, but without actually expecting much to come of it.

For the character I've been (tentatively) planning, they're kind of distant from other druners anyway. Instead of putting his intellect to something useful or working towards the advancement of society, he's on Port Gladys selfishly making money (also a rather un-druner-like thing to do) as an actuary and insurance provider for the incredibly rich. Dull? Perhaps. But he enjoys the work for the work's sake (and if he can skim a little here or tweak the figures there, so much the better).

Other druners would definitely not approve of his job, considering him wasting his time by their standards, but his two argumentative, vicious co-owners of the company are happy to reap the benefits. They've burned through their own funds, and know that their druner partner has plenty stashed away. The only reason those two haven't killed each other yet is because they think they'll need to work together to take him down. One day.

...But none of that is final, and I might change my mind completely and actually have a character more involved in this druner society I've already spent too much time thinking about.

He is however part of an auspicious brood (originally my thought was that it was sixteen hatched out of eighteen viable eggs, making an allusion to 1.618, the golden ratio): while not considered sacred, there's some bias there towards them heading towards great things and the advancement of druner society. Some are already prominent engineers, one is a foremost particle physicist, one is about to be named the druner representative for their planetary group, and one... is a Dreamer hiding on Arcadia, slowly growing rich and morally greyer while his closest friends conspire to murder him.

Hmm, I have to learn how to do the block quoting thing. I will figure it out on my next response!

W/r/t clothing, I think it might be fun for them to have some kind of adornments that they add to their carapaces, either as jewelry or maybe even engravings or ornamental insets. Maybe they don't need clothes clothes because it doesn't serve the same social function, but something to stand out as individuals or represent status/achievement could still have been useful to them. Also, it would be kind of nice for telling Druner apart for non-Druner, not that any culture would really take that kind of thing into account. It would just be convenient for them to be already doing that since otherwise I bet it's pretty hard to distinguish.

No comment on how a dog would wear pants, I haven't picked a side yet. Going to wait a bit longer to see who seems like they're on the right side of history and then jump in over there.

W/r/t hands, I'm proposing they have normal-ish hands mostly as a narrative and world building convenience, since if they didn't almost everything would need to be put together differently to accommodate Druner and non Druner. Which could be fine! It's just a lot to think about, and they're already very different in a couple ways that require thoughtfulness.

W/r/t translation software, I think for it to be truly futuristic feeling it has to be pretty at the subjective aspects of language. I like the idea of different people being able to say what they mean fully in their native tongue and just being confident that the software won't mangle it. That does raise some interesting questions about how the translation software works since really faithful translation is more of an art than a science. Maybe different translation packages take different approaches to the softer aspects of the problem and people pick from among them to try to get something that 'gets' the way they speak? Given how advanced the software is it makes sense that you'd treat it basically like choosing an interpreter.

W/r/t weird doublethink around Dreaming, I dig it. Especially if its a major taboo on Druner worlds to actually use dream powers, most Druner could go their whole lives and never directly see anybody slinging magic.

I like your character idea! A white collar criminal is not where I imagined the first Druner character would go, but they do fit right in on Port Gladys. I believe Noivian's character is hunting their ultra wealthy evil twin brother, and that seems like something a guy who sells vaguely below board insurance to rich people would be interested in. Are his business partners also Dreamers? That's unlikely by the numbers, and if your Druner's dream gave him an edge in his profession or in protecting himself it'd explain why they need to work together. Do Druner think of other members of their brood as their family? I wonder if being part of a special clutch like that is more like having high flying brothers and sisters or having high flying high school classmates. It's a very different feeling.

YohhananArbuckle What's the currency, where is it valid, and how is it exchanged? Shiny, shiny cards? Beepity-beep wristbands? Mental transfers? Digital interfaces? All of them? None of them?

Asking for someone who is suspicious of a lotta tech and definitely will not have a chip implanted somewhere ever.

Everybody in the Association uses the Association Mark, although other currencies exist elsewhere in the galaxy. If you had no implants whatsoever you could probably pay for things with the distant future equivalent of your smart phone, which doubles as a secure electronic wallet. If you don't want to carry one there are probably relatively 'dumb' tap based cards (no magnetic strip or chip insert) you could carry instead. Carrying around actual Marks is aggressively weird but still technically possible, since the currency does exist as physical notes for basically sentimental reasons at this point.

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General question - what do you guys think of my character's Dream being an unspecified post-calamity US landscape where people have mutated into gibbering miscreations that self organize into 'countries' that span a ruined town or two and are always at war with one another? It's all weird alternative ancient history to Ollie, who has no strong feelings for pre-colonization political entities from a planet he's never visited. Having it be historical does mean that he has to wonder if Dreaming is some kind of weird timeline-peek thing, or if Arcadia/the Association are a hallucination he periodically has based on pulp science fiction from that period.

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Also just a personal update, I am in crunch time at work and will be offering degraded response times for the next week or so, until the 1st. Got some things that gotta ship.

 

[Noivian]

hoo boy theres a lot going on in here
i missed a party

 

[Ambiloquous]

Carrying around actual Marks is aggressively weird

Hmm, I see. Proceeds to make Callista weirdly and aggressively carry around actual Association Marks.

 

[Ambiloquous]

i missed a party

A lengthy, lengthy tea party.

 

[Noivian]

welp ok time to start working on fleshing out the largest economic powerhouse on Arcadia. can't decide if i want to monopolize healthcare, tech industry, transportation, or food industry....

 

[Ambiloquous]

All of them. I mean, tech is basically an all-in-one, right? Unless you mean specific tech.

 

[Noivian]

good point

soooo Deimos Industries specializes in technology production, and is the most common manufacturer of practically everything technology related. DI made the hovercraft your ride in, the tools to build the house you live in, the tech you use to entertain yourself with, the computers engineers work with to design the city, the augmentations within your body... the list goes on. Anything more complex than a simple melee weapon is more than likely made by DI. They've got their fingers in just about everything, and while they do receive a massive revenue off vendor sales, most of their capitol actually stems from a deal they have with the Association. A good portion of the planet's ocean floor is sectioned off for DI, and contains miles upon miles of factories mass producing military equipment. Anything from simple sidearms to personal armor, to massive ship-based cannons designed for fleet on fleet combat only.

Of course, the public doesn't see all that.

 

[Ambiloquous]

Whew, dis guy could be our next evil dictator if he wanted.

Also, searched up Deimos and:



Fear, terror, huh.

 

[Noivian]

I mean. DI is run by Octavius Deimos, a man who slaughtered his parents and framed his twin in order to seize control of the planet's largest and most important tech company, who's making literal planet destroyers for the government.

I'd say that's pretty terrifying.

 

[Ambiloquous]

Oh boye. Let's not ever meet, O Great Lord of Familicide and Gently Borrowed Technical Prowess.

 

[Noivian]

Hes got them big antagonist vibes, and honestly I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Ambiloquous]

Aye, villains are fun to write. You don't have to think too hard on what you can and can't do.

 

[Blemmigan]

Hmm, I have to learn how to do the block quoting thing. I will figure it out on my next response!

I have BBCode toggled on (rather than rich text), so just copy and paste the "[QUOTE=details]" code before each paragraph.

But, uh, it did make the post even longer. I will have to tone it down. Luckily my keyboard is playing up, making typing difficult and therefore being a handy deterrent.

W/r/t clothing, I think it might be fun for them to have some kind of adornments that they add to their carapaces, either as jewelry or maybe even engravings or ornamental insets. Maybe they don't need clothes clothes because it doesn't serve the same social function, but something to stand out as individuals or represent status/achievement could still have been useful to them. Also, it would be kind of nice for telling Druner apart for non-Druner, not that any culture would really take that kind of thing into account. It would just be convenient for them to be already doing that since otherwise I bet it's pretty hard to distinguish.

W/r/t hands, I'm proposing they have normal-ish hands mostly as a narrative and world building convenience, since if they didn't almost everything would need to be put together differently to accommodate Druner and non Druner. Which could be fine! It's just a lot to think about, and they're already very different in a couple ways that require thoughtfulness.

So! Will go for... decoration as clothing. I can also see those on planets like Arcadia to be a bit more extravagant with the clothing than druner on their native planets. Of course they'd still have that integrated into their culture, a little individuality and indication of status, but I guess I like piling on the Disapproval.

And more humanoid hands it is! Also makes them a little more alien, rather than just giant bugs.

I like your character idea! A white collar criminal is not where I imagined the first Druner character would go, but they do fit right in on Port Gladys. I believe Noivian's character is hunting their ultra wealthy evil twin brother, and that seems like something a guy who sells vaguely below board insurance to rich people would be interested in. Are his business partners also Dreamers? That's unlikely by the numbers, and if your Druner's dream gave him an edge in his profession or in protecting himself it'd explain why they need to work together. Do Druner think of other members of their brood as their family? I wonder if being part of a special clutch like that is more like having high flying brothers and sisters or having high flying high school classmates. It's a very different feeling.

Thanks! ...I don't know where that kind of character actually came from, but oh well. Perhaps moral ambiguity just comes easily in a setting like this.

Noivian any room in your heart character's future or plans to associate with a only-slightly-criminal bug?

I doubt the business partners would be Dreamers- they pretty much are sticking with the druner because of his skills and him being a little relaxed around the morals. There's also the fact that the partners are less... serious about the business than they were when it all started. They're more interested in the money and the lifestyle, whereas at the start they probably had visions of "making money off the rich to level the playing field, it's only fair". Then they of course became rich and corrupt themselves. Heeeeyo!
I had them pencilled in as an anonoki and a hamaedron.

Need to actually plan out the details of his Dream and (hopefully!) make it something which does secretly assist him- either with his job or with keeping him out of trouble. Maybe he's aware that he's a target, but is confident enough to not take it seriously.

I think that... broods are raised together and probably would be the closest thing a druner has to the concept of a family. But because they're so social overall, once they're out in the world and making new connections they wouldn't miss their "siblings" like humans would miss their families. So maybe more like a high school class in that case. Or the cousins you see once or twice a year. It's more in name and some old memories than anything else. So if one of his siblings is made a representative for the druner race in a system, then the rest of the brood would get an invitation to attend for appearance's sake (and probably so that said sibling can lord it over the others and everyone subtly talks up their own lives... okay fine, they're very much like classmates).

General question - what do you guys think of my character's Dream being an unspecified post-calamity US landscape where people have mutated into gibbering miscreations that self organize into 'countries' that span a ruined town or two and are always at war with one another? It's all weird alternative ancient history to Ollie, who has no strong feelings for pre-colonization political entities from a planet he's never visited. Having it be historical does mean that he has to wonder if Dreaming is some kind of weird timeline-peek thing, or if Arcadia/the Association are a hallucination he periodically has based on pulp science fiction from that period.

I like it! And not just because it says a lot about someone and/or is a potential parallel for what may or may not be happening in Port Gladys (or beyond). Dreams reflecting the Dreamer's attitudes towards the world? Fears? Or something totally beyond their control, whether on a subconscious or totally detached level?

Also I like both bizarre worlds (inside of this other bizarre world) and the ol' which-is-the-dream type worlds, especially when they are both weird.

Though the idea of you, at the end of the role play, pulling a "it was all a cheese dream my character had after reading pulp sci-fi, thanks everyone! Bye!" is hilarious

Also just a personal update, I am in crunch time at work and will be offering degraded response times for the next week or so, until the 1st. Got some things that gotta ship.

Good luck! Take your time as you need it.

 

[Noivian]

Noivian any room in your heart character's future or plans to associate with a only-slightly-criminal bug?

Yeees. Give me that juicy character relationships. Grabby hands.

What did you have in mind? A relation to the evil twin or the good twin or both?

 

[Blemmigan]

Yeees. Give me that juicy character relationships. Grabby hands.

What did you have in mind? A relation to the evil twin or the good twin or both?

Let's see... for the evil twin, this druner (wow I have to give him an alien-y name already) may either do some insurance work for him, buy products off him for convenience/security or just rub elbows with him whenever they move in the same circles. I doubt he'd disapprove much of all the rumours/facts of how Octavius got that position.

On the other hand, his two co-workers do want him dead, and in a moment of bold recklessness might contact a contract killer to do it (though to be honest they're unreliable and would probably fold on the payment, or regret it when they realise they might not be able to get to his savings once he's dead).

(Let me know if I'm misinterpreting either of them or if their planned outlines have changed since :v)

Either way, he's got money squirrelled away that would certainly be useful for somebody. I can't see him being thrilled about other Dreamers knowing that he's one, though, so he wouldn't go seeking them out and would definitely be uncomfortable if meeting one.

 

[Ambiloquous]

YohhananArbuckle Is it fine if I omit some things in history? Like an important person or something, nothing that would affect other people.

 

[Ambiloquous]

Alright, I've gotten a bit lazy and I think six pages is enough for feedback before I get back to adding more or fixing whatever should be fixed. I made a doc for the CS and six pages is a little much to be posted directly anyway, so down below will be the link to the doc. You don't need an account to check it out, I'm pretty sure.

Callista

docs.google.com