Futuristic Portals to the Afterlife - OCC

[Pretzel Heart]

As long as he doesn't have a thing for goats.

Goats? Nah.
Now chickens, on the other hand...

 

[Chordling]

IctoraPost I can't say that Diablo will be very pleased with Winston's actions.... he- he only wanted to play.

 

[Rhakun]

Wouldn't it be just hilarious that the pirate code was edited to include a single subtitle banning the presence of goats on board for an unspecified reason?
At this point the joke deserves recognition.

 

[Chordling]

No more goats pls. >.<

 

[Ronan]

Wow, the joke got really out of hand.

 

[Pretzel Heart]

Chordling

While I have a moment and now I'm (slightly) less asleep.

A few of the world building questions I've had mostly center around geography. Like where do humans typically live, in floating cities or on the ground? If the cities are floating how are they maintained? What are the divisions of countries like, or has the idea of nationhood been lost and we're all just under one mysterious "government?" What is the exact structure of this government? Does this Earth's history parallel our own or is it completely separate? Like, would they know that Apollo is referencing a Greek God? Also what altitude do the airships typically fly at?

 

[Ronan]

Chordling A few of the world building questions I've had mostly center around geography. Like where do humans typically live, in floating cities or on the ground? If the cities are floating how are they maintained? What are the divisions of countries like, or has the idea of nationhood been lost and we're all just under one mysterious "government?" What is the exact structure of this government? Does this Earth's history parallel our own or is it completely separate? Like, would they know that Apollo is referencing a Greek God? Also what altitude do the airships typically fly at?

Chordling : This, this, this! Like, Nova is from the desert. Does that mean you're allowing the desert to be an actual cowboy-like desert city or is it futuristic and steam-punk? Is it actually on the ground or are they floating islands? Maybe upside-down?

 

[Syrenrei]

Chordling : This, this, this! Like, Nova is from the desert. Does that mean you're allowing the desert to be an actual cowboy-like desert city or is it futuristic and steam-punk? Is it actually on the ground or are they floating islands? Maybe upside-down?

As far as I see in the lore, ALL of the ground is uninhabitable and thus why everyone now lives in the sky on ships. Notice that our characters can not even go outside on the deck without protection from the radiation.

From the lore, under "Government and Society," Reformation Section:

Slowly, society rebuilt itself off the ground... literally. Mechanics abandoned cars and renovated a fantastic hybrid between the sailboat and airplane: the airship. The constant raging winds and high demand to move made this new vessel the most employed method for traveling. The skies became home to mankind.

Under the next section, "Environment":

All of Earth's diverse lands have transformed into dangerous ruins and floating islands, which is why all of nature's living creatures were forced to live in the sky. Countries no longer exist. The air is polluted with high levels of radiation. Special breathing masks are required to be able to breathe and see. Radiations suits are worn to protect the rest of the body from the storm's harshness. Ships are also equipped with intricate filterings to allow optimal airflow throughout the vessel without poisoning their passengers. Short radiation exposure can lead to serious health conditions. Longer exposures will always lead to death. Any exposure is reason to be placed in quarantine. There currently is no remedy to radiation poisoning.

The sandstorms section just beneath this paragraph elaborates a little more.

 

[Chordling]

What is the exact structure of this government?

Here is the chapter about the government. Since the sandstorm began ages ago, the history which is relevant to us today would not be relevant to them. Whether they knew that Apollo was a Greek goddess would not matter.

I hope that Syrenrei was able to answer the rest of your questions.

 

[Kaerri]

can we at least have hot men for eye candy

I second this motion. Do I have a third to carry?

I'll third this.

 

[Pretzel Heart]

I hope that Syrenrei was able to answer the rest of your questions.

It was a noble attempt, but not really (no offense). I read all the stuff in the lore, I just wanted to probe a little deeper...
Like, again, if society isn't living on the ground, then I'm guessing one of three things is the result: Either they have big floating cities / ships so large to appear as cities (so something like the Geovanni wouldn't be so unheard of even among non-pirate populations, even though it said the Arcaine is the most prominent airship they have right now which can't hold a candle to the Geovanni), Human population was extremely compromised after the beginning of the storms leading to a massive drop in numbers and scattering of diaspora (which comes with its own sets of questions and concerns), Or there are a sht ton of small ships flying around (I mean, imagine a separate ship for every family...that's a lot of ships!). Because it says ships are the primary form for traveling I thought that there would be some kind of home base (thus: floating city). At the same time supporting something of that extent would be a massive undertaking. Not just engineering wise, but like, where do they get potable water and the ability to continuously produce food? They have to have some kind of massive floating agricultural sector which presents even more unique issues to probe! Or have developed new outlets of food sources. The pirates get their wood from the cool ass forest, but where do the rest get their wood from? Even something as simple as bullets becomes a precious commodity where every resource is incredibly finite. Though even normal marintime ships ran into these issues, thus the amount of ale pirates drank and needing to maintain huuuuuge cargoes of livestock to raise onboard to ensure continuous fresh food (I've been doing my pirate research :3 ). Again, if the population has been severely compromised, then this would be...less...of an issue, but still something that keeps me up at night. xD
That brings us back to question of nationhood and government. If there are no massive floating cities / ships, and humans are just scattered all over the place, then is their only real unifying identity tied to whether they are in the 'government' or 'not' (ie: a pirate?). How can we have concepts of national identity when we have no nations? What about issues of race? With the eradication of land barriers, how have cultures developed to get along with one another? Have they been mixed and mashed together? Has it been so long that no one even questions it anymore? How many cultures and languages have gone extinct because of this? Or in the changeover did humans do their best to preserve national boundaries? (ie: This ship is British only!) If we look into the CSs, it seems that some characters do retain a national identity or at least knowledge a national history (like Toki being related to a specifically Japanese lord and referencing a history with Europe). Which is why I was also wondering how much of this world's history parallels our own (if Japan existed were they visited by the Dutch then opened by the US? If the Greeks existed did they have gods? If not, then who founded the basis of Western academia? They have a meritocratic democracy so those ideas had to come from somewhere! Even if, by this point it is SUPER ancient history. Did some of that history get lost in the sand storms? And here we have another rabbit hole...)
So then the government. Without a central hub, and without a national identity, how exactly do they establish power, structure, and authority? Is it a massive undertaking with hundreds or even thousands of offices subletting power down to the smallest scavenger ship? Does this necessitated need for constant observation and eradication of dissidents make them more of a dystopia? (NGL I was getting some major dystopia vibes over here...meritocratic my thumb!) Since military officers and government officials are inextricably intertwined, I could see something like this network making sense. But then who do they answer to? Who stands at the top of this system? Is it the Captain of the Arcaine? Some sort of council? What exactly is the ranking difference between a politician, a soldier, and a scientist? I mean...if we are going by military offices = government positions, how do the scientists rank into this at all? Unless they have their own kind of advisor-like system and essentially work as think tanks or lobbyists. And then I have a ton of questions about how training, learning, and academia functions in this environment, but I'll shove it for now.

Sorry, not trying to be rude I just really love world building and trying to wrap my brain around concepts. I know most of this will probably never even come up in the RP this is what I meant by holding back

 

[Syrenrei]

This doesn't really answer most of those questions, but I did discuss with Musician about the study of botany and she revealed the Cold Raven does have a greenhouse that they would utilize to grow some things.

And as I understood it, there really wouldn't be national identity. I live in America, and sure, I might know a few generations back where my family comes from, but I certainly don't know hundreds of years in the past. To me now I am just "blended" from those European roots. Similarly, the people aboard the floating ships are so incredibly distanced from a time with borders and countries it would be hard to be nationalistic in the same way. I don't think Musician has nailed down the exact year, but I get the feeling in this world the population is a lot smaller and it's become very intermixed and homogenized as it's been a very, very long time since people lived on the ground.

 

[Chordling]

The main concept that will help null about half of the questions asked is that countries do not exist. Races exist but not countries. You can be Asian, African American, European, whatever, but you can't place a finger on the map to say where that is.

Part of the reason why this part of the lore was not developed was simply because it has no direct effect on the plot of the story. There is no reason for anyone in the roleplay to have to worry about that kind of information. It's not necessary for the roleplay and it would be unnecessary for me to develop. The image that is more important is that there is a feud between the government and the pirates. No one in this world cares about what your genetic roots are because there's a huge radiation storm brewing outside. It's more about your social up bring.

 

[Rhakun]

A lot of words.

I'll try to answer, but it's going to be mostly based on conjecture and my interpretation of the lore so far
Forgive me, Chordling , if I've nerded your beautiful lore.

First paragraph:
-As I understood it, it can go any of both ways. Big ships can serve as bases/ports/hubs and smaller versions work as travelling devices.

-Most resources (particularily the organic ones) can be synthetized if you have the science, materials or disposition and it seems to be that the task of science in this world is to do just that. It is said of scientists that:

"[...] They are engineers, mechanics, alchemists, biologists, meteorologists, and even botanists. Their research has been responsible for the survival of the human race. Without their help, humans would have been wiped away by the sandstorms hundreds of years ago. Because of their contributions, many folks have referred to them as sustainers."​

And, effectively, we can pretty much Bill Nye our way around anything: Water can be crafted out of hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere, Seeds and livestock could be recreated from the human genome OR they could have been rescued and bred during and after the Apocalypse, etc. Minerals and some other things would surely be very hard to find, but who's to say that some bucko hasn't picked up an antiradiation suit and gone to the ground to find some copper or any other land riches? Scavengers, I infer, do that. If "Prohibited locations are desolate areas that no longer provide useful materials," (Environment/Ruins) They must have been visited and harvested at some point.


Second paragraph: ++Lorewise, the keyword I first considered to place the Apocalypse in a moment of time was Enlightenment. I guess we can understand this universe as a parallel of human history with the sole exception that portals took a play in matters with people being scared by them until a big revolution of thought came into place. Considering this whole line, It COULD BE assumed that the post-apocalyptic world the Black Raven exists in really took off somewhere around the XVIII century. The same way the European thought switches arose on the XVIth (with, to say it again, the ENLIGHTENMENT) and didn't really take off with tangible events until 200 years later with the American and French Revolutions.++

From Magic Portals/The Enlightenment:
Centuries passed like this. Portals, whenever discovered, were cast out of settlements like cursed artifacts. In some rare cases they were sealed, by brick and board, right where they were discovered—the people too fearful to risk touching them. But while humanity's intellectual advancement suffered many setbacks, advance it did. A generation of great minds cropped up that questioned traditional wisdom. They were curious, confident, and they refused to settle for rumors and superstition. Their intellectual courage inspired the first off world explorers, the first scavengers. And within the span of a generation and a half centuries of unfounded fears were undone.
​

As for ethnical and identity matters, you can just say that they're gone. The Apocalypse sort of... renders culture less important than survival, I believe lol.

Some ties must certainly exist (I'm playing a character who's clearly Asian, can't really argue against that), but the circumstances may render the more subjetcive aspects of nationhood sort of unimportant. If we go by this reasoning and the ++previous one++, we can understand the roots behind the political ideology of the government. If we don't, things can be justified in that it is "something similar to a global Democratic Meritocracy" and not "a global Democratic Meritocracy." Maybe things just developed in that way to keep civilization afloat.

Now, if we really were to make a parallel with the real world, I guess the government could be socially similar to the modern Swiss Confederation (Everyone can have their culture, language and heritage and nobody really minds), economically and politically similar to a secular British Empire (huge worldwide network with a centralized hub that wants to unify and organize as many things as it can. Additionally, it's fighting rebels that originated from factions within itself) and internally organized as the USSR (Most professionists have a role in the face of the government and the acommodations of labor are understood as a single unit divided in institutions with ranking varying according to performance, relevance in role to current needs and possibly, social ties. Furthermore, they all act in accordance to a common interest of state self-preservation.)

To put it simply, I'd chow it down to a bunch of people who just gathered, survived and organized in a post-rationalist world where nature is going bananas.



And now I'll go die.

 

[Chordling]

Rhakun has given an appropriate interpretation of the lore as well.

 

[Rhakun]

Rhakun has given an appropriate interpretation of the lore as well.

Validation from Chordling ? NOW I can die.

 

[Chordling]

Validation from Chordling ? NOW I can die.

Please do not die.

 

[Syrenrei]

 

[Rhakun]

Please do not die.

OK, No death
But I'm really tired so I'll go rest lol

 

[Ronan]

My brain ... I read French Revolution and Swiss Federation and that's all I got.

 

[Chordling]

SentinelSevn , Alecto , ApfelSeine , IctoraPost , Kaerri , Life. , Pretzel Heart , Rhakun Ronan , Syrenrei , The One Called X , whitepaperplates , and YumenoTsukishiro

The next scene has been set! Piracy Day is now over. It is now late in the evening and the crew has been tasked to help clean up the mess from the party. All previous conversations have stopped. The cabins are now open. All areas of the Cold Raven are now accessible.

Kaerri , Alecto , and The One Called X , your characters should being to make their way towards the captain's quarters, as instructed by the canine.

Everyone else is free to being new conversations. Rumors from the day's event may circulate through the crew members. Have fun but please do not let them get too out of hand. I enjoy our jokes OCC but they will not appropriately translate for the IC.

Get crackin'. Captain's orders.

 

[Syrenrei]

GODSPEED, The One Called X , I SHALL ANGST IN YOUR ABSENCE.

I'm sure Angelica will be completely professional and tight-lipped in the presence of the captain given her level of intoxication.

 

[The One Called X]

GODSPEED, The One Called X , I SHALL ANGST IN YOUR ABSENCE.

I'm sure Angelica will be completely professional and tight-lipped in the presence of the captain given her level of intoxication.

yes. she will absolutely not insinuate that he has illicit relations with goats and does not deserve a dog as wonderful as Diablo.

but like honestly she'll be fine once she gets some food in her. she is a lightweight and drank on an empty stomach whilst having a lot of FEELINGS. or like maybe she won't be FINE but she'll be better and not crying all over the place.

 

[Ronan]

Omg let the goat thing die, please.

 

[Chordling]

Omg let the goat thing die, please.

You started this.