darkborn
Senior Member
Yeah..sorry. xD. I have NO idea for a name for the title. But, that aside, I have a barebones idea for a sci-fi idea. It's full of technobabble, though the more later stuff I implemented kind of goes away from that... sort of. But, before I start rambling away, lemme just explain how I got the very basics of this idea for a RP.
So, I first came up with this idea when I thought up of a system for dark matter/energy. I was REALLY into Warhammer 40K back then, (Yes, I could have been considered a redbeard back then.) and I really was intrigued by the concept of astropaths and choirs of them. And then I saw a show on Science Channel about Warp Surfing (I'll explain soon.). Then, that's when the brain inspiration struck me.
Prepare for walls of text.
Humanity is relatively new to space exploring. They’ve colonized the solar system, and some systems beyond.
“How did they do that?” You may ask..
Well, first, lemme explain the concept of warp surfing to you.
Warp surfing is basically expanding the space directly behind your ship, while either leaving the space in front of it normal, or contracting a small space in front of the ship for even faster warp surfing.
The ship is surrounded by a bubble of regular space for safety reasons.
Warp surfing is estimated to be able to go ten times faster than the speed of light. So, there's this concept. But how do they expand the space behind the ship, and contract and/or keep a safety bubble around the ship?
Well, with warp surfing established, let’s now establish dark matter and dark energy.
Dark matter first: Dark matter basically acts like gravity, which contracts space in front of it. AKA holds space stuff together. So in my mind, this could be what contracts/projects a safety bubble around the ship.
Dark Energy: the weird stuff that causes the universe to expand. Simple. So, it expands the space behind the ship.
So, where does this dark matter and dark energy come from?
People.
People are basically injected with dark matter and dark energy. Now you can see why I mentioned Astropaths. But with this almost 'magic' (It probably really is one..) system, things get interesting.
The story about how these people were injected with these forces is long and complex- not going into specific lore right now. Maybe I'll edit it in.
BUUT. I can give mechanics.
So, yeah, these people can use the dark energy and matter. But they’re unstable. If they use too much of the power, bad things happen. (Dark energy- explode. Dark matter- implode.)
Imagine it like a meter in a game- if you overheat, you’re dead.
And what lowers the stress these forces caused is by using the opposite type. So, a dark energy user must be exposed to dark matter to re-stabilize, and vice versa.
There’s two/three ways to reduce overheating yourself.
One: using your opposite affinity. It’s the least effective in reducing overheating, but it works.
Two: injecting yourself with the opposite type directly. Most effective. Limited, though. Very limited. It's also very recent.
Three: someone hitting you with the opposite type.
And on this third note, combat gets interesting with this system.
Before I elaborate on combat: this instability is the reason why you need multiple users of both types to warp a ship. Using a single dude of each type will lead to their demise really quickly. Hence why I also mentioned choirs.
But anyways, these energy types make combat interesting. They’re like limited forms of magic.
They can be made basically into shields, or destructive uses, and sometimes practical uses as well, as shown by the warp traveling.
As a general rule, dark energy is the more combat/destructive type, while dark matter is the more utilitarian type.
What’s more, if, say, a dark energy user goes against a dark energy user, expect the fight to end quickly. Either one or both will explode by the end of it- both are sending waves of energy that destabilize them even more.
Same goes with dark matter, except implosion.
If you pit a dark energy user against a dark matter user, expect the fight to last a lot longer. Both are sending energy types that the other can absorb, and stabilize each other.
Moving on to powers, lemme elaborate on the powers of each.
Dark energy: blast energy that can explode others. Yay.
Shields: expand space in front of them.
Dark Matter: Can redirect stuff by making a point extremely contracted, thus making it dense- heavy gravity. They can crumple people with this technique, or they can make it hard to escape
from a certain area. They can also do stuff like make stasis fields, because the more dense an object is, the more time is affected/slowed down.
So, there's the basic framework of the system that inspired me.
With that done, I decided that I needed more. I recently became interested in psionics. Thanks, Stellaris. But, A Certain Scientific Railgun helped inspire my psionics as well.
So. I decided to implement a psionic system. It's a pretty standard system, at least in my head; I think I'll have to elaborate. However, what I AM thinking is that people aren't naturally powerful psionic people themselves. They need a booster. AKA, technology- say, implants or chips in the brain that enhance their ability.
With the psionics at least given a cursory glance, I felt like maybe there should be one more, to implement a rock-paper-scissors kind of deal. So, I'm thinking about adding a electromagnetic/nanobot manipulator- people who have extensive circuitry and wires and whatnot throughout their body, enabling them to construct nanobots and electricity. This is the least thought out, to be honest, but it helps me get a grasp on the rock-paper-scissors system.
Dark matter/Energy users beat Electromagnetic/nanobot manipulators, because the Dark matter/Energy users can just explode/implode/destroy/stop the EM/nanobot manipulator's electronics that allow them to do the stuff.
EM/nanobot manipulators beat psionics, because psionics, with their delicate technological brain booster implants, are easily disrupted by electricity.
Psionics beats Dark Matter/Energy users, because psionics can disrupt a Dark Energy/matter's concentration.
...Whew! This is a lot, looking back at it. But there is a trend: humanity has come to rely on cybernetics. A lot.
With all this around, I'm also a bit worried about people's lack of wanting to play a 'normal' character. I don't want this RP to focus on the three different types of 'special' dude/dudettes.
Now, I have an entire political system set up, but before I do that.. break.
Oh, and for general setting, I was thinking that humanity HAS gone into the stars already- duh, because we have Dark Matter/Energy users...- but not ultra-techy like Star Wars, Warhammer, or Star Trek. Maybe something along the lines of Halo, or a bit more advanced.
I do feel like this dark matter/energy system is a bit complicated to explain. Is there an easier way to explain this? Should I be concerned with it's complexity?
So, I first came up with this idea when I thought up of a system for dark matter/energy. I was REALLY into Warhammer 40K back then, (Yes, I could have been considered a redbeard back then.) and I really was intrigued by the concept of astropaths and choirs of them. And then I saw a show on Science Channel about Warp Surfing (I'll explain soon.). Then, that's when the brain inspiration struck me.
Prepare for walls of text.
Humanity is relatively new to space exploring. They’ve colonized the solar system, and some systems beyond.
“How did they do that?” You may ask..
Well, first, lemme explain the concept of warp surfing to you.
Warp surfing is basically expanding the space directly behind your ship, while either leaving the space in front of it normal, or contracting a small space in front of the ship for even faster warp surfing.
The ship is surrounded by a bubble of regular space for safety reasons.
Warp surfing is estimated to be able to go ten times faster than the speed of light. So, there's this concept. But how do they expand the space behind the ship, and contract and/or keep a safety bubble around the ship?
Well, with warp surfing established, let’s now establish dark matter and dark energy.
Dark matter first: Dark matter basically acts like gravity, which contracts space in front of it. AKA holds space stuff together. So in my mind, this could be what contracts/projects a safety bubble around the ship.
Dark Energy: the weird stuff that causes the universe to expand. Simple. So, it expands the space behind the ship.
So, where does this dark matter and dark energy come from?
People.
People are basically injected with dark matter and dark energy. Now you can see why I mentioned Astropaths. But with this almost 'magic' (It probably really is one..) system, things get interesting.
The story about how these people were injected with these forces is long and complex- not going into specific lore right now. Maybe I'll edit it in.
BUUT. I can give mechanics.
So, yeah, these people can use the dark energy and matter. But they’re unstable. If they use too much of the power, bad things happen. (Dark energy- explode. Dark matter- implode.)
Imagine it like a meter in a game- if you overheat, you’re dead.
And what lowers the stress these forces caused is by using the opposite type. So, a dark energy user must be exposed to dark matter to re-stabilize, and vice versa.
There’s two/three ways to reduce overheating yourself.
One: using your opposite affinity. It’s the least effective in reducing overheating, but it works.
Two: injecting yourself with the opposite type directly. Most effective. Limited, though. Very limited. It's also very recent.
Three: someone hitting you with the opposite type.
And on this third note, combat gets interesting with this system.
Before I elaborate on combat: this instability is the reason why you need multiple users of both types to warp a ship. Using a single dude of each type will lead to their demise really quickly. Hence why I also mentioned choirs.
But anyways, these energy types make combat interesting. They’re like limited forms of magic.
They can be made basically into shields, or destructive uses, and sometimes practical uses as well, as shown by the warp traveling.
As a general rule, dark energy is the more combat/destructive type, while dark matter is the more utilitarian type.
What’s more, if, say, a dark energy user goes against a dark energy user, expect the fight to end quickly. Either one or both will explode by the end of it- both are sending waves of energy that destabilize them even more.
Same goes with dark matter, except implosion.
If you pit a dark energy user against a dark matter user, expect the fight to last a lot longer. Both are sending energy types that the other can absorb, and stabilize each other.
Moving on to powers, lemme elaborate on the powers of each.
Dark energy: blast energy that can explode others. Yay.
Shields: expand space in front of them.
Dark Matter: Can redirect stuff by making a point extremely contracted, thus making it dense- heavy gravity. They can crumple people with this technique, or they can make it hard to escape
from a certain area. They can also do stuff like make stasis fields, because the more dense an object is, the more time is affected/slowed down.
So, there's the basic framework of the system that inspired me.
With that done, I decided that I needed more. I recently became interested in psionics. Thanks, Stellaris. But, A Certain Scientific Railgun helped inspire my psionics as well.
So. I decided to implement a psionic system. It's a pretty standard system, at least in my head; I think I'll have to elaborate. However, what I AM thinking is that people aren't naturally powerful psionic people themselves. They need a booster. AKA, technology- say, implants or chips in the brain that enhance their ability.
With the psionics at least given a cursory glance, I felt like maybe there should be one more, to implement a rock-paper-scissors kind of deal. So, I'm thinking about adding a electromagnetic/nanobot manipulator- people who have extensive circuitry and wires and whatnot throughout their body, enabling them to construct nanobots and electricity. This is the least thought out, to be honest, but it helps me get a grasp on the rock-paper-scissors system.
Dark matter/Energy users beat Electromagnetic/nanobot manipulators, because the Dark matter/Energy users can just explode/implode/destroy/stop the EM/nanobot manipulator's electronics that allow them to do the stuff.
EM/nanobot manipulators beat psionics, because psionics, with their delicate technological brain booster implants, are easily disrupted by electricity.
Psionics beats Dark Matter/Energy users, because psionics can disrupt a Dark Energy/matter's concentration.
...Whew! This is a lot, looking back at it. But there is a trend: humanity has come to rely on cybernetics. A lot.
With all this around, I'm also a bit worried about people's lack of wanting to play a 'normal' character. I don't want this RP to focus on the three different types of 'special' dude/dudettes.
Now, I have an entire political system set up, but before I do that.. break.
Oh, and for general setting, I was thinking that humanity HAS gone into the stars already- duh, because we have Dark Matter/Energy users...- but not ultra-techy like Star Wars, Warhammer, or Star Trek. Maybe something along the lines of Halo, or a bit more advanced.
I do feel like this dark matter/energy system is a bit complicated to explain. Is there an easier way to explain this? Should I be concerned with it's complexity?
