SOTS Master List

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Invictus
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Re: SOTS Master List

Post by Invictus »

2018 update!

NEW:

Ararat Rift - The formerly violence-torn border zone between the Samtic Nexus and the Aurigan sphere of influence.

Nueki - A new subject species of the Sajit'satyk, big buff crab-apes who undergo personality death when they lose their natural masks.

The Trust of Isopteric Formers - Isopterid guilds in the Fracture who come together to handle terraforming projects and leverage their collective power.

Zel - The final member of the Yggrd-Zel-Ruun trifecta, reclusive but scientifically curious slug-puggos with loads of technology despite their hard luck.

REVISED:

Part I

Beymin - More short-sighted smugnessSatykarmic piety!

Computational Intelligences - More on their roles in the Sovereignty and their physical natures.

Desthej - Added homeworld and expanded physiology and lifecycle descriptions.

Hume-Anethgans - Noting their limited natural lifespan.

Isopterids - Revamped and expanded to be a more general entry, and with emphasis on their place in the SOTS universe; the Guilds have their own entry in Part II now.

Kalaquel - More physiological and BLOODSPORT details.

Kerberi - Revamped entry with more possibilities on their origins and natures. Also following dedicated Shroom-lobbying, they're the Xerberi now!

Kheler - More physiological detail.

L'cthei - More physiological detail.

Oolycysts - Updated physiology and lifecycle descriptions.

Padryceps - More biological detail.

Part II

Freeworlds of Cascadia - Revamped to be now basically in character and a mirror to the Terranates article. The truth shall not be known now.

Gorok Phalanges - Big new paragraph on their driving ideology and internal contradictions.

Grandeur of Aurgia - Slight adjustments to their history.

Instrumentality of Unequal Lussehk - More detail on its leadership and tumultuous history.

League of Laurentian Terranates - Revamped to be now basically in character and a mirror to the Freeworlds article. The truth shall not be known now.

Meridian Institute - But okay, what do they actually do?

NEUROM - Updated to reflect discussion, with more of that deep state goodness.

Satykarma - Slightly more detail on its hierarchy.

Sidereal Houses of Auriga - More on the depths of their mutanthood.

Shepherds' Protectorates - Revamped entry with a new history and social dynamics.

Tellese Commonwell - More on their social system, the Masks and the Hours.

Shen Rhapsody - General refinements. Like orgone. Geddit?

Part III

The Bounty - Slight correction.

Gateways - A bit more on their infrastructure.

Ichor - More on their shipboard storage.

Orgone - Their byproducts are secret.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
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Invictus
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Re: SOTS Master List

Post by Invictus »

End of year update! Let's note the major changes here:

NEW:

Meridian Magisteria - The astropolitical counterpart entry to the Meridian Institute as an institution, detailing the states it controls and the role they play.

Qri - Brand new species alert! Probability-eating moths from another universe!

Tabulla - The sinister phenomenon suggested in the discussion thread, a secret war of guyvers and parasytes in human space.

Treewalkers - An extension of the Cosmozoan concept and a longstanding idea from the discussion thread, dedicated primitivists or biotech-users who live on the edges of civilization.

Unterran Syndiktats - Now separated out from the general Intervergence entry (in Part III where it belongs), an anarchic expanse of the marginalized caught between great powers.

REVISED:

Part I

Desthej - Lots of updates to their biology.

Wisps - More on their lifecycle and interactions with starfaring civilizations - mostly the fact that they are worshiped.

Part II

Alliance of Axigrammic Thrones - Now detail-packed to the three-paragraph standard, with more on present status and how they function.

Ecumenical Standing Crusades - Refinement and elaboration!

Forwardist Alignment of the Vorri March - Now detail-packed to the three-paragraph standard, with more on what it means to be one.

Freeworlds of Cascadia - History updated to most recent thread consensus.

Instrumentality of Unequal Lussehk - History also rewritten and updated!

Isopterid Guilds of Cascadia - History and current status updated to most recent thread consensus.

Kiths of High Kheler - Now detail-packed to the three-paragraph standard, with more on what they do and how they function.

League of Laurentian Terranates - With liefs and dukems included.

Magi - Added details on their worldly dispositions and distribution.

Meridian Institute - A bit more on their reputation and recruitment.

Ministry of Fate - Some text on what they're doing in NEUROM these days.

Satykarma - Rewritten to the three-paragraph standard, with stuff on the species hibernation cycle and the immortal paragons and the narykeen added.

Sternheim - More on the role of the Grunders and their present status.

Trucial Stars - Added their religion.

Vaosich Superbias - Simplified polity name, and name also given to their political ideology thing.

Part III

Cascade - Revised history to most recent thread consensus.

Intervergence - More on how they might work, and where else in the Fracture they are.

Also to meet ballooning amounts of details that we still don't have place for anywhere else (:v), most all Master List entries have been adjusted to a three-paragraph format.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
User avatar
Invictus
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Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Re: SOTS Master List

Post by Invictus »

This is the first update of 2019, preceding the unveiling of Part IV of the Master List. It has been a very productive half-year!

NEW:

Barrenshrines - The sacred, sovereign territory of the Sardicans.

Calxyne - Fossilized ichor found at terrestrial sources, weaker but more accessible.

73 Clans Kavalcade - A nomadic caravan-polity of Kalaquel in Wild Space, exemplifying the musical theme the species has going on.

The Dirge and the Cleave - The renegade cyberzombie Bragulans as suggested in the discussion thread, distinguished from the external threats assailing mighty Bragule only by their uncanniness.

Ehl-Shir - the Sardicans' desertworld partners, swarms of living sand with formidable powers.

Galactic Calendars - Just formalizing the stuff in this thread!

Harrowed Hrgltuhe Hegemonies - what's left of the once-great Hrgltuhe empires of the K-Zone, before Apexaia fell and the Bragulans swept in.

Indrons - The ex-gatekeepers between the Cascade and the K-Zone (now determined to be considerably further away than previously thought), another client species of the Apexai of old. Good thing modern FTL can cross the distance without their help now.

Neuromongers - A proper writeup explaining what they were and how they worked (until they didn't).

Neuroplasma - The Samtic-tech instant spray-on nervous system in a can, very useful when you're a post-natural colony collective.

Ngovok - A minor species of the Cascade, besieged plant-tech turtleoids somewhat within the inhuman orbit.

Oversoul - The legendary focused totality of the Apexai species' psychic powers and the ultimate cause of their downfall.

Pandaemonium - What the Babylos Infall is made of, which I'm not afraid to admit is written to facilitate macguffins.

Profligacies of Shleraac - an entry for the modern remnants of the hedonistic specenoids of the ancestral Zigonian civilization, mostly confirming that they still exist I suppose!

Pyropraxic Concordance - Let's get 40K in here. Another unpleasant neighbor for the Sovereignty, a brilliant and terrible theocracy of the K-Zone run by psychic worm-men riding the bones of saints.

Radiant Helice - Finally, the Prefecture cometh cloaked in mystique and unreliable narration - which is to say, all these kung fu demigods are coming from somewhere but nobody is sure.

Respite Tendency - Let's get End of Evangelion in here. The other half of the Xolomite inheritance, a network of organic transcendentalists unfortunately indistinguishable from a Cthulhu cult.

Urrlyc - The fabled verdigrite shepherds, pacifistic giants who even the Bragulans are kind of cool with.

Vieleren - The collective name for the esper agents empowered by the Apexai of old, both legendary sages and glorified tech support. The surviving ones are pretty Dark Souls.

Vyss - Cosmozoan-riding space tick capitalists!

Xerberiad Integration - The shadowy network of AIs manipulating the Fracture to undo its anti-AI prejudices. It turns out that the Xerberi's abandonment complex has spawned the AI equivalent of Marxist solidarity.

Xolomites - Sapient clusters of psychic worms, once uplifted by the Apexai to be their servants in the K-Zone; and whose main relevance today is to found the Pyropraxy and the Respite Tendency.

REVISED:

PART I

Apexai - Pylons have been renamed "Conduits" in the tradition of plz don't sue us vivendee, and ASVS (Apexai-Solarian Vernacular Somatics) culture is a thing now.

Bragulans - Added their surprisingly long and glourious pre-Byzonic history.

Computational Intelligences - Rewritten from the original, mostly SDNW4-specific entry for their context in SOTS. Most notably, places other than the USS have them.

Desthej - Yet more biological detail on all respects, really, including on how their limb-babies work.

Espers - Added examples of how elaborate the powersets can get.

Hrgltuhe - Now, a tantalizing hint of their species history and the unwise deals they made.

Human-Apexai Hybrids - Moved from "Hybrids". Now contains a full account of their history in the USS and their generations.

Isopterids - Their lifecycle: a series of professional exams, really.

Mandragorans - The Unyielding Code of Mandragoran Justice does afford prisoners of war *some* rights so it's clear that they're not all bounty hunters and slave raiders.

Myrran - Rewritten from its dated state!

Oolycysts - Added the early divergence between the sun-worshipers and the Padryceps cultists.

Padryceps - More biological detail, especially on their immobile fungal forest germinator final stage.

Pyrrhons - More physiological detail, plus a more cohesive account of their spontaneous sapience-forming and why.

Rhapsodites - Finally, detail on the antigods of old. Most of it as archaeological studies of their remains, as is appropriate.

Ruun - Finally mentioned their original habitat/polity, the Gantry, I guess?

Sardicans - Added the Barrenshrines, the name of their traditional pilgrimage-homes.

Telestrons - A long due expansion of their descriptions and their history.

PART II

Eirenic Inheritances of the Hume-Anethgae - Renamed the "Irenic Heritances".

The Firmagence of Isopteric Guilds - The proper name for the "Isopteric Guilds of Cascadia".

Gorok Phalanges - A bit more on their (corrupted) folkways.

Heteroplex - Expanding on its internal structure and leadership.

Instrumentality of Unequal Lussehk - Lots of cumulative updates.

League of Laurentian Terranates/Shepherds' Protectorates - Added their mutual defensive pact.

Magi - Expanded on their institutional history, and that of Stands and Magical Girl Forms Virtues and Graces.

Meridian Magisteria - Clarified that sometimes it's basically Tiphares and Junktown.

Ministry of Fate - More on their tools, hierarchy and institutional vagueries.

Myrrani Ascendancy - More detail on their social dynamics and military strength.

Nova Meropia - The means of their rulership are now understood.

Principalities of the Unyielding Mandragorae - renamed "Principles", following the Princepts.

Qylathic Satrapies - As with the Oolycyst entry, lots of rewriting.

Trucial Stars - More on their history, entwined with the Sardicans and Qylath.

Unterran Syndiktats - A bit more on the variety of drug-fueled political systems within.

Vaosich Superbias - Actually can be flexible if the situation requires!

PART III

Ichor - Like orgone you can inject it for powers too, and it's probably better for you.

Orgone - Mentioned the expertise developed by other Fracture powers in using it, such as Grand Auriga.

Verdigrite - Added more on their origins and how Bragtech utilizes it.

---
Plus, of course, too many minor edits, cross-entry updates and writing improvements to count.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
User avatar
Invictus
Posts: 1306
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:44 pm

Re: SOTS Master List

Post by Invictus »

After a long time in the works, Part IV is here! Organizations and subfactions and detail previously confined to the main thread! An ever-expanding cast of significant and representative people who actually inhabit the universe!

Part IV is a step beyond the sandbox, as I like to think. Shroom and I have talked about SOTS as 'sandbox' worldbuilding, where the information presented is only a preparatory foundation for the 'real' setting of a story or an RPG, and not every element is necessarily present in any given presentation of the universe. This is reflected in how a lot the Master List entries are written in generalities: sure, that's also for breaking up unrealistic conformity over the space-opera scale that these species and entities exist on; but they're also for leaving room for customization. What are the actual Noble Houses of Grand Auriga? (Alright, I do have some names for that, but I haven't written them out yet) What are some actual member polities of NEUROM or the generic spacemericas that supposedly make up the Fracture? Who are the movers and shakers that a particular approach to understanding politics might focus on, outside legacy RP characters from previous iterations of SOTS? Now you will start to know. And there is potentially no end to this knowing, to SOTS's scale or scope.

At the same time, this means everything in Part IV is ambiguous! The writers of SOTS all have their personal visions of how it all actually looks - in theme and aesthetic, in the representation of posthuman utopias/dystopias and ancient cosmotropoli that are by definition unimaginable. We do not have the intention of hashing out every possible detail, nor would it be possible. And in that sense, one of us putting our foot down on some element does not extinguish alternate interpretations.
"This explanation posits that external observation leads to the collapse of the quantum wave function. This is another expression of reactionary idealism, and it's indeed the most brazen expression."
-
REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 1 - Rey Quirino Versus the Dark Heart of the Philippines
"...a literary atrocity against the senses..." - Ford

REBUILD OF COMIX STAGE 2 - Advent Rey Returns: REVERGELTUNG
Coming NEVER
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