Starwolf Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Yep thats good for me!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign I've been thinking about the Z'Qriun and I wanted to expand on the basic theme of the insectoid corporate society. Right at the moment, I don't have any real write-up, just mostly a lot of freeform thinking. Z'Qruin The Z'Qriun are descended from a hive species similar in structure to a wasp hive on earth. In their primitive years, this hive structure was literally a hive with queens, warriors and drones seeking to provide for the hive. As the Z'Qriun have evolved, both physically and culturally, the hive structure changed into competing hives. Even further along the evolutionary chain, the hives began to become more specialized and trade between hives became essential. Thus the "corporate" Z'Qriun society was born. To compensate a specialized caste of Z'Qriun, the emissary caste was created. Unlike drones and warriors who were tied to the hives, the emissary caste was independent of the hive structure and was specifically designed to assimilate data and make judgment calls regarding the relative value of goods and services. In time, an unexpected mutation developed in the emissary caste of Z'Qriun and independent Z'Qriun evolved. Completely severed from the hive, independent Z'Qriun are able to move and interact without the direction of the hive queen. This unexpected caste has not only been accepted by the Z'Qriun, but their free will and self-determination makes them valuable as explorers and ambassadors to other species. Z'Qriun society is divided into castes. Presently there are six castes; Queens, Warriors, Managers, Drones, Emissaries and Independents. Queens direct the overall goals of the hive, leaving the day to day operations in the hands of Managers. Warriors have literally evolved into a pseudo-military force that protects the interests of the hive. Emissaries are the negotiators that represent the hive. Independent Z'Qriun are the adventurers. They are an unexpected offshoot of the emissary caste and share much of the same somatype with them. If anything, Independent Z'Qriun tend to be larger than other Emissary Z'Qriun. Other species have managed to work their way into Z'Qriun corporations, which have expanded beyond the rigid hive mentality. Other species generally occupy positions analogous to the Manager caste, though sometimes they work as independent agents (not to be confused with Independent Z'Qriun). Queen, Manager, Emissary and Independent Z'Qriun are highly self-motivated and develop preferences and tastes. Their homes are somewhat weird to the mammalian eye, but each one is distinct. Warriors can exercise large amounts of judgement, but typically do not develop ergonomic preferences. Drones, while not entirely mindless, typically do not have individual homes or preferences. They live in structures that embody the hive mentality. An alien walking into a Z'Qriun hive truly feels out of place. The hive moves and thinks almost as one. When a human ambassador commented on the rights of the individual drone, the Emissary who he was touring with asked him why his serving robots were not free willed and capable of independence. Unable to answer, the ambassador dropped the topic. There is still a vocal minority who wish to see Z'Qruin drones evolved into free thinking individuals, but there has been no official push to make this happen. Z'Qruin planets are perfect examples of planetary engineering. Everything exists in a near perfect balance of needs versus resources. Of course, anything the may have once been a native species has either been destroyed or adapted to the Z'Qruin needs. To the visitor though, these can be eerie and disconcerting places. Most interaction takes place in specialized space stations orbiting Z'Qruin planets. Incidents where interlopers are considered a threat to the hive have decreased, but it is still known to happen from time to time. Visitors actually allowed on a Z'Qriun world are strongly encouraged to stay in areas away from the central hive. Z'Qruin Language The Z'Qruin are physically incapable of producing human tones and inflections. Their language consists of pheromone signatures and high pitched clicks and chirps. Translation devices capable of translating the language to the other species have been developed. While there is rarely any inflection added to these translations, the translation devices have proved invaluable in maintaining civil relations with the Z'Qruin. Z'Qruin Technology Z'Qruin have highly advanced biological engineering sciences. Even their space vessels are grown around essential components. The Z'Qruin do not share this science with anybody, but it is known that the carapace of their space vessels is as tough as any alloy developed. Those who have had the opportunity to study wreckage have tried to puzzle out the techniques used. The most often agreed upon observation is that the growth cycle includes some pretty significant nano-engineering. Somehow the process refines raw materials into an alloy-hard substance as it grows. The Z'Qruin have learned how to adapt the nervous system of these living ships to the electronics of the engines and weapons that are provided to them by other species. Like their colonies, the Z'Qruin ship aesthetics are discomfiting to other species, especially the Zharog (yazarian replacements) and Humans. Building a Z'Qruin Independent The only Z'Qruin truly capable of leaving the hive structure for extended periods are Independents. To human eyes, they look much like a humanoid wasp, complete with wings. They are incapable of extended flight, but the wings can be used to enhance their leaping in standard and lower G environments. Their eyes are located on the sides of their head, giving them a wider angle of vision than Humans or Zharog. Because of this, they have somewhat limited depth perception. At ranges of more than 10m, their range penalties double. This weakness has been brought to the attention of the Queens' Enclave in the hopes that a compromise between wide angle and depth perception can be reached. Z'Qruin have engineered handedness out of their genome. All Z'Qruin are Ambidextrous. Their primary (upper) arms have three fingers and an opposable thumb. Their proto (lower) arms and legs are incredible adept at finding nooks and crannies, allowing them to scale walls at nearly their running speed. Z'Qruin have both an endo and an exoskeleton. The exoskeleton is hardened over several vital organs, providing protection from physical injury. The carapace is not as efficient as deflecting energy weapons. Notes Most of this is copied and expanded from my vrusk entry posted earlier in the thread. There has been a little bit more fleshing out of the species as a whole, which I quite like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted August 8, 2009 Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Nice, kind of creepy. That package deal will be cheaper than the squishies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwolf Posted August 8, 2009 Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign I like those Z'Qruin... and I agree kind of creepy. Now we need to discover how humanity made first contact without wiping them out as a species... They may have their own hive ships? And a pitched battle against warrior/drones would not be something to involved in, sheer numbers could be devastating. And to make matters worse a screen of worker drones could cause invaders to waste precious resources and ammunition, only to discover that the real threat was those other bugs.... And Doc made faces at that squishie remark No really, its face stretched into some really wierd shapes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Here is the expanded Tech Tree chart. Let me know if you think there should be any changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Edited after feedback. Leaving the original up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Tech Levels for Races Human Zharog Changeling Z'Qruin Power 9 9 0* 8** Transportation 10 10 0 8 Weapons 10 10 0 10 Environment 11 11 0 12 Bio-Tech 10 9 0 12 * Changelings pretty much don't have their own technological base. They adapt existing technology from other races. ** Z'Qruin import their engines and power sources for ships from other species. In return, they export hyper efficient farming technologies and supplies. And I hate trying to do charts on these boards. Edit: /me takes look out the final output. Sighs. Shakes head and gives up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solron915 Posted August 8, 2009 Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Z'Qruin do sound a little creepy but I like the specialization of the of hive concept. I see that humans and Zharog are pretty much at the same level. If the first new session is just working out new game stats and the new rules for 6e. I'm looking forward to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted August 8, 2009 Report Share Posted August 8, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Chart: Human Zharog Changeling Z'Qruin Power 9 9 0* 8** Transportation 10 10 0 8 Weapons 10 10 0 10 Environment 11 11 0 12 Bio-Tech 10 9 0 12 The jots of HTML - non-monofont space ignoring code. wheee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Thanks g-a. Stolen and edited into original post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwolf Posted August 9, 2009 Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Thanks g-a. Stolen and edited into original post. "Shows what Intel Analysts know... I wouldn't have to RAM anything if Sam stayed back where I could protect her instead of always trying to stop unsavory individuals from hurting her... or if we had a ship that could shoot instead of just fly" Wade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign "Shows what Intel Analysts know... I wouldn't have to RAM anything if Sam stayed back where I could protect her instead of always trying to stop unsavory individuals from hurting her... or if we had a ship that could shoot instead of just fly" Wade You sound a little defensive there buddy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwolf Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign You sound a little defensive there buddy. Only because Sam needs defending Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solron915 Posted August 10, 2009 Report Share Posted August 10, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Only because Sam needs defending Will somethings never change . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Hey Starwolf. I see you are in contact with Brad still. Any thoughts on how difficult it will be to get the 6E macros to work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwolf Posted August 15, 2009 Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign They should be fairly easy to get setup once I have the books in hand. GA is making a purchase on my behalf at Gencon so I should have the PDF CD in hand in a few days. I am also working on a project with Brad and a couple of others to re-organize the code behind the scenes to centralize and simplify common code blocks, which is helping me learn the macro coding secrets. I will have some basic game ready tokens with macros within a day or two of receiving the CD. Luckily I read at around 1200 words per minute which was a real help in college. I asked Brad about 6E conversion and he is intending to stick with 5ER for now, so we (meaning you and I and the rest of our little band of rogues) are on our own as far as converting his code to support 6E. He has offered to help me with advice if needed though. My current portion of the project is to create hit location macros for hit locations other tahn human (beasties and vehicles). Then we will get those macros linked into the apply damage macro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Cool. And now for the bad news. As of late, my schedule has been in a state of flux. My new branch manager pretty well hates me and is trying to get me to quit. What that specifically means is that I am supposed to work Wednesday evening. And the ray of light? Even if I cannot arrange to have Wednesday off, we have a brand spanking new DSL connection with a wireless router. Since I am the resident "tech guru" for the office, I have been privileged enough to have received the codes for the service. Now assuming that all of the other employees are gone for the day or on the road (a pretty significant likelihood) and the phones are not too busy, I should not have any problems. I feel like I'm in a state of limbo though. Until the new rules become available and I can afford them it seems like I am shooting at a moving target in the dark. I was tempted to go on a creation spree this weekend, but I don't really want to do any major conversions later. I'm sure this upcoming session will be mostly laying the groundwork for the new rules, so I am not too worried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starwolf Posted August 16, 2009 Report Share Posted August 16, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign I was pretty much counting on it being more of a planning session and an exploration of the new house rules. I am in the same boat, kind of chomping aat the bit to get the new rules so I can start my conversions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solron915 Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Bad News everyone, Starwolf and his wife will be unable to be online wednesday as they have no internet service. But there is good news as he will be back online friday afternoon. If you still want to have a session I'll be there but I'm in the middle of a move to Oregon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Well, honestly with a new rules set and little actual work done to prepare, maybe this week is the best one possible for this to happen. I was also going to post that I would not be available due to... can you guess? If "fubar work schedule" is your answer, then ding ding ding, we have a winner. So it's cool. We'll try again for next week and keep trying until we are ready. No rush or pressure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merovign Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign AHHHHHHH (runsincircles runsincircles runsincircles) Well, that's poo. I have no idea what I'll be doing, but I got home at 8:30 tonight. We're going though IT contractors like foul-tasting, incompetent, lazy candy, and I'm still not catching up. Hopefully I'll be available for at least a discussion even if we don't have a full session. If that happens. Ah, well, the vagaries of life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Merovign, I sent you an e-mail about another subject. Let me know what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted August 18, 2009 Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign I'm back... I'm mailing out the CD-R to Starwolf today, the PDFs will be available in the store tomorrow as well. I'll be doing some more serious work on 6E with questions for Nolgroth now that I can actually discuss them at length and in detail. For example, right now the Changeling Template is 80pts just working from the description Nol posted. I'll also be updating the Gemini Webpage with the new map, adding all the Templates, Builds, and Thoughts we've put together and so on. Give us one easy reference. Sam and Wade are pretty much converted (I need to know which Disads Starwolf wants turned into Complications - there are a lot less points needed and "officially" and we can really make them count towards Character Development) - but have held off on the rest due to waiting on racial stuff. I also have Killian mostly converted, but a significant change in how VPPs are bought paused them. Now you purchase the Pool (Real Point count) and Control (Active Point limit). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted August 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign I'm ready for questions. Lay 'em on me! I can take it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merovign Posted August 19, 2009 Report Share Posted August 19, 2009 Re: Gemini Ascendant Campaign Re: Other e-mail - I'm not disagreeing on any particular point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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