[BE] World Burning

trevis

Useful Information
Glossary

Link to the World Burner google spreadsheet.

Pintrest Board for inspirational images.

• Galactic Location: Interior world, NE Darikahn Empire above the Karsan League. Contested Space.
• Atmosphere: Partial Life supporting - Partially terraformed world. Class according to how close to the atmosphere scrubbers you are. Too far outside requires protective gear.
• Hydrology: Predominantly Liquid - Big oceans. 70/30ish split, earthlike.
• Topography: Naturally Rugged (Provisional. Thoughts?)
  
• Tech Level: Low Index (Provisional. Customizations. No Grav/Pressor tech due to messed up magnetosphere.
• Predominant Government: Imperial Stewardship (Provisional.) Stewardship and Court Setting is native.
• Factions:

Quote from the Chat (by Wilper) which seems to capure a lot:

"So, our world was one the home of a heretical sect. Mundus Humanitas burned the world to cleanse it, and it had since been a site of pilgrimage, to see the power of the MH, and to fully grasp the need for sacrifice to keep the faith intact and whole. Then there was the civil war, the Darikhan outlawed the MH faith, and to underline their seriousness they started terraforming the planet to bring it back to life again. A symbol action more than anything, something to rally around in these dark times. Then again, another garden world wouldn't be a bad thing to have on hand. And while we wait for that to happen we can use it to store some political prisoners and POWs, there's a war going on you know. That also means that there are no families going back a long time on this world, unless there are descendants of the original families that are now reclaiming what once was lost."

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Time to start Burning our World! I'll compile the results in this post.
First one up is Galactic Location. This covers how close our world is to the Vaylen threat (in the galactic South) and which of the Empires we are either in or between, so certain cultural things. There is a brief description in the world building chapter but also you might look at the traits at the beginning of the human lifepaths, which goes into a little more detail.

Keep in mind the big civil war that broke the empire ended about 126 years ago.

flynn1066

In re-reading the WB section of the rules, the Darikhan Empire struck me. I like that they're the most powerful of the eight regions. The hubris of military superiority strikes me as interesting. That being said, I'd rather be at the edge of the region focusing on the internal struggles of the world rather than on the front lines of the Vaylen conflict. That being said, I don't have strong feelings toward the region. I'm much more interested in the crucible of conflict on-planet rather than the intergalactic struggle

trevis

They're also the ones who've outlawed the church. So... sounds like Interior World Maybe in the Darikahn above the Karsan League?

John

I’m okay with that. I like the idea of internal strife blinding humans to the Vaylen threat a bit.

Mischa

No strong opinion on location.

Adam

I'm keen on a mercenary character who runs his own company, so Darikhan sounds like it would fit right up that alley.

trevis

Atmosphere is next. (Non Human/Vaylen)Alien Life Supporting. Human Life Supporting, Non-life supporting or Partial Life Supporting.

It boils down to do we need some kind of artificial environment tech to survive on this planet. Alien Life supporting gives us an indigenous Life faction automatically.
Partial life supporting means we have some kind of weird topography where parts of the planet support us but parts don't.

And if anyone wants to toss in details on things as we go, that's fine.

Adam

I'm interested in the "partial supporting" — maybe the planet is in the middle of being terraformed?

John

I like the notion of biodomes or other artificial environments. Not sure I like the idea of another (i.e., non-Vaylen) presence to deal with, since we’re already having a bit of human strife to focus on. So non-life-supporting? Maybe mineral-rich or strategically important?

John

Adam and I crossed in flight. I could go for partial supporting. I like Adam’s idea of partial terraforming. Mainly I’m after the sense of claustrophobia or entrapment.

flynn1066

Partial supporting sounds great to me. What about a gulag? It's important because the Empire holds it's religious and political prisoners there. Just thinking out loud.

I love the idea of claustrophobia and entrapment. It will really boil down the conflict on-planet

Wilper

The gulag/prison-planet thing doesn't really resonate with me. Nothing against the partial/ongoing terraforming thing though.

If you really like the gulag, can we make it a part of the setting, instead of the whole society? So the warden isn't also the governor/duke but the planet has a real high society, and other functions as well. Labor camps that in part support the wealth of the society at large.

Mischa

Partially life supporting is good. I would be fine with native life, but maybe that's best left to a game of Durance.

trevis

So...big atmosphere processors, or the like? How long does this process take, 100 years? 200? (Makes the planet pretty new as far as colonization) Maybe breather masks outside of enclosed areas? You can survive out there a while, but it's damaging? Energy shields over valleys or gorges to contain good atmosphere, or more like domes?

trevis

Partial life-supporting it is. Do we want classic domes or something like what I mentioned above. Like when you picture it, what seems cool?

On with Hydrology.

Predominantly Liquid or Predominately Land?

trevis

Provisionally, Predominately liquid (determined in chat. Wilhelm is the only non-firm vote here.)

John

So if we’re saying that Mundus Humanitas destroyed this world and it’s being reclaimed (which I really like), maybe Topography ought to be Artificially-Created and Naturally Tame since it was once a desirable place?

Also, can we get more specific on Predominantly Liquid. I’m not having second thoughts—I just want to firm up the image. We’re not talking about undersea dwellings (primarily) right? I’d be up for an undersea settlement with energy generated from geothermal vents and mineral harvesters. Just not so sure about an all-SeaLab situation. I don’t *think* that was the intent.

trevis

No. Predominantly Liquid just means the planet is more ocean than not. Like Earth. It could mean a complete water world but the impression I got was more standard 70/30 split or there about. With our habitable areas manly on land.

There could be ocean habs but it sounded to me like we're land based. It amounts to having enough water vs not enough.

trevis

Topography is (Provisionally unless objections) Naturally Rugged/Broken

trevis

Tech Index? Sub Index, Zero Index, Low Index or High Index.

Currently hovering between Zero and Low Index in discussion.

We are allowed to drop things from the index not in line with the world as well as choose one item from the index above it.

John

With low index, we could have some relatively mild space activity. I like the notion of a space station and a human presence on one or more moons. I don’t want to detract from the richness of this reclaimant world, though, and I haven’t convinced myself one way or another about whether it would do that. If we do have space activity, I suggest we have FTL communication so we can have character-to-character chats in real time. It could be interesting if the mechanism were distance-limited or slow enough to effectively be. That way, you have some of the drama of delayed comms and couriers without it hampering communication between player characters.

Adam

Communication lag between a planet and its moon is O(1s) round trip, so FTL communications isn't really that imperative for real-time communication — at least intra-system. I don't know if the text says anything about interstellar FTL communication, but the thought of imperial missives arriving on a battlecruiser, rather than by some bureaucratic Quantum Teleportation communication network makes me giddy. It enforces the autonomy of the local government.

John

You know, I had "The Martian" and that 6-7 minute lag in my head. You're right--a moon would be faster. And yeah, I love the idea of hand-carried messages for longer distances.