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Author Topic: Blackrock Drive Yards lore  (Read 7339 times)

Cycerin

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Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« on: January 29, 2013, 07:03:37 AM »

Here's some really messy overview of my thoughts for the lore here. I expect to be able to reflect more of it through the actual mod as the game's development cycle continues.

Part of it is shoutouts to some of my favorite sci-fi, part of it is unused ideas for my own short stories, part of it is stuff inspired directly by what little we know of Starsector lore.

Blackrock timeline:



  • FAR PAST:
    Spoiler
    - Domain humanity settles in Gneiss system: a poor colony grows, desperately trying to terraform the habitable but hostile moon Lodestone and its venus-like planet, Blackrock.

    - Neglected by larger Domain for declaring independence, deemed below note-worthiness for political interference. Domain Military stationed patrols + a research outpost in same system to keep watch

    - Blackrock proves harder to mine for Infernium than estimated before the expedition. Orbital cities anchored to a space elevator ring over Blackrock now completed. Built through political compromise between Blackrock government and Domain. Lodestone succcessfully terraformed. A divide between Blackrock and Lodestone forms, as the moon grows rich off the labour of the planet.

    - Greater Domain refuses to build a gate in the system, using it as leverage to try to seize assets on the planet. Constant political posturing and near-conflict ensues, until...
    [close]

    THE IMPACT EVENT:

    Spoiler
    - Von Neumann-style, destroyer-sized interstellar probe of unknown origin crashes into Blackrock, in the middle of a meteor storm

    - No trace of aliens on board - alien DNA in several fragmented forms present. Fragments from the impact spread active matter all over Blackrock. Military demands glassing of the surface, but is voted against. Impact event unsuccessfully hidden from Domain authority in the system - a civil war ensued that cemented Lodestone as the dominant power in the system, and resulted in the deaths of untold Blackrock dwellers to keep the secret hidden. Domain research outpost now part of the colonist authority.

    - Zone of Quarantine erected around Von Neumann impact perimeter. Coverup as geothermal mining operation.

    - Over several decades, evolution of synthetic lifeforms with traits consistent with alien DNA found in probe begins by itself. Scientific consensus is that disassembler nanobots turn Blackrock minerals into building blocks for life based on blueprints carried within the probe. Attempts to retrieve samples nearly always results in nano-corrosion of equipment and containment breach. Lifeforms deviate from baseline DNA to a high degree, some adapted to life in infernal conditions, and some adapted to live in terraformed habitats below the surface. Sub-surface extent of nanomachine corrosion and psuedolife habitats becomes impossible to estimate.

    - Blackrock technology begins to outpace Domain technology in certain areas due to utilizations of alien nanotechnology.

    - Blackrock Drive Systems, the only prosperous corporate entity on Blackrock, uses alien technology to run mutative nano-engineering on their space engine designs.

    - Psuedolife archetype "Locust Gibbon", a hexapodal, arboreal creature roughly the size of a large dog, exhibits traits of sentience. An eugenics program is initiated. Political upheaval continues until the creatures are integrated in society over the course of ~150 years, extremely useful as ship crews due to their physiology.

    - The newly formed Blackrock Drive Yards begins to run a large profit selling highly advanced modular systems from Blackrock. Lodestone becomes industrially marginalized, but is still heavily armed, and comfortably serves as the political seat of power in system.
    [close]

    COLLAPSE:

    Spoiler
    - Collapse begins. Blackrock isolated from the rest of the Sector due to circumstances.

    - The Scouring of Blackrock. Organically evolved psuedolifeforms, starship-sized psuedolife entities and clouds of roving nanoentities erupt from underneath Blackrock's surface, and overrun several orbital cities and reduce them to ruins. Locust Gibbons prove absolute loyalty to humanity by helping several populations escape to Lodestone/the asteroid belts.

    - Orbital ring around Blackrock detached and sent towards the system's sun along with orbital cities to try to dispose of psuedolife threats. Surface partially glassed.

    - First post-Collapse paramilitary forces from the old Domain show up. Blackrock Drive Yards secures power in system and fully establishes itself as the political power on Lodestone by successfully using starship and weapon designs developed during the Scouring to hold the enemy at bay.

    - Blackrock Drive Yards begins large-scale development of military hardware. Knowledge on Blackrock/Lodestone manages to be kept largely intact compared to the rest of the Sector.

    - Cities above Blackrock re-erected and most of surface turned into large-scale nanofactory. Blackrock Drive Yards quells uprising on Lodestone by force, killing large numbers of the population in the capital city to force obedience.

    - Gradually, unity against psuedolifeforms still present in system and unity against ex-domain threats like Tri-Tachyon (interested in the system's unique technological prospects and research of alien life) coupled with belief in Blackrock's corporate and military power actually turns the Blackrock-Lodestone system into a singular political entity known as Blackrock Interstellar Authority. All real power still contained within Blackrock Drive Yards and its ruthless founder, who has remained alive through unknown means and personally retains influence in several distinct arenas.

    - Blackrock recruits privateer and mercenary forces sent to the system to their cause after convincing them of their ableness and power. Thus, the sparse population of the system grows, and military expansion continues exponentially. Most Blackrock armed forces consist of ex-privateers, ex-turncoats and ex-mercs who have now found a reason for living after the Collapse - or, at the very least, some source of a paycheck.

    [close]

    PRESENT:

    Spoiler
    - Blackrock colonizes adjacent systems and becomes a major player in Sector politics. Blackrock ruling board hopes to reignite Domain infrastructure through using their xenotechnology and resources, but refuses to fall in line under the Hegemony.
    Meanwhile, constant espionage, clandestine military action and bribery by the Tri-Tachyon corporation only serves to turn Blackrock into a progressively xenophobic faction. Blackrock no longer recruits from privateers, begins increasingly utilizing deadly force. Sells military hardware to independent forces in the Sector, increasingly angering the Hegemony for inciting civil warfare and destabilizing Sector security and undermining Hegemony authority.

    - Psuedolife from an unknown planetoid in the far reaches of the Blackrock system threaten from the inside, as ship-sized entities hewn from comet ice and stone slowly encroach upon the system center to find fresh DNA to incorporate into their psuedolife mutation cycle. The legacy of the alien Von Neumann probe that lead to the psuedolife threat remains a fact, and its ancestry a complete mystery, especially to the Locust Gibbons, who have slowly developed an almost religious yearning for the xenolife, having next to no racial history of their own, but the enormous racial history of Humanity as an ever-present contrast.

    - Void beast driven from Gneiss now inhabit asteroid belts in several adjacent systems. Hunted by Blackrock, they also terrorize local shipping.
    [close]
« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 08:05:55 PM by Cycerin »
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Thule

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2013, 07:19:47 AM »

Great insight. Thanks for sharing.
What could be helpful would be spoilers for lore that is only known by few.

Gets me thinking how cool it would be to have a mod community lore canon that ties the
single factions somewhat together and provides great possibilities for story telling.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2013, 07:22:44 AM by Thule »
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Cycerin

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2013, 07:43:36 AM »

I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I guess UsC will be a good place to do that.. fanfiction of fanfiction? In a sense.  ;D

I formatted using spoilers now. Feels right somehow.
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Pelly

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2013, 08:06:07 AM »

Great insight. Thanks for sharing.
What could be helpful would be spoilers for lore that is only known by few.

Gets me thinking how cool it would be to have a mod community lore canon that ties the
single factions somewhat together and provides great possibilities for story telling.
That would be a very, very fun and good idea, some like the star trek ships though would be interesting to explain (maybe a wormhole? to a parallel universe),

Anyway I really like the lore as it fits with the theme and looks like it could evolve into something special.
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Flunky

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2013, 05:46:14 PM »

An interesting read. Are the Locust Gibbons inspired from another sci-fi source, or are they an unused idea of yours? I like the notion of a culture/religion envying genetic history as a concept, though I suppose humans too are often obsessed over knowing their roots.
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Hyph_K31

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2013, 10:36:24 PM »

Very nice reading Cycerin. Even though there isn't that much to read, those few lines and paragraphs have a lot of detail in them! I now have quite a vivid picture in my mind of just what happened with the BRDYs.

If I understood correctly, can we expect a new organic faction? ;D

Great insight. Thanks for sharing.
What could be helpful would be spoilers for lore that is only known by few.

Gets me thinking how cool it would be to have a mod community lore canon that ties the
single factions somewhat together and provides great possibilities for story telling.

That sounds cool! It would be interesting to see how all the faction could be stitched together.
« Last Edit: January 29, 2013, 10:41:17 PM by Hyph_K31 »
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Cycerin

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2013, 02:41:31 AM »

New faction, yes. But I'm still working on the details. Will probably also make subfactions, Antediluvian style, down the road.

The Locust Gibbons are something I came up with, but the notion of a species uplifting another is obviously a nod to David Brin. You can see their influence (and the pseudolife's influence) on the faction through the insectoid appearance of their ships.
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Cycerin

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2013, 02:53:50 PM »

***

Time to go.

Stepping outside onto the walkway, the young spacer braced herself against the railing as an air current blasted the little hab-module. The whole thing lurched sideways, and the other habs beneath the walkway parted briefly, sending a shiver through the anchors that kept them from floating off into the sky. Through the temporary gap left in their wake, she saw old cables and loose struts waving slowly, as if wanting to caress the planet's thick, golden cloud layer.

She took a deep breath, and immediately wrinkled her nose. Filtered sulphur fumes, mixed in with sanitizer. A pang of unwelcome nostalgia.
"Blackrock," she sighed.

The walkway sunk slightly as her companion planted all six limbs on the railing, testing its resistance. His head was almost upside down, fixated on the clouds below.
The woman raised an eyebrow. "You need to get used to that real quick, or you're going to be completely unable to enjoy your stay here."
Rocking back and forth in concentration, the creature looked like a chameleon on a branch. His turreted head creaked as he took in his surroundings. Suddenly, he froze and stared over her shoulder, his milky eyes dimming and brightening.

Shielding her eyes, she spotted the object of his attention: the distant city, barely visible in the thick clouds. Thousands of threads extending upwards into space caught and scattered light like a spider's web, enmeshing the orbital anchor that kept the structure aloft. Above it, the ever-present sun, twisted out of shape by a swarm of orbital mirrors.

She found it as mundane as ever.

Pulling her jacket tight around her shoulders, she sighed. "Come on, Mr. Vellum. After we board the zep, you'll remember why we came here."
"I never forgot," he croaked. "After you."

The clank and clatter of her magnetic boots against the catwalk was enormous in such a small space, but it wasn't loud enough to drown out her thoughts.

***
« Last Edit: February 16, 2016, 08:07:05 PM by Cycerin »
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Pelly

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« Reply #8 on: January 30, 2013, 03:18:45 PM »

Lovely story, i like the Locust Gibbon especially, and the hint of the relationship between them
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Bjørn_in_the_Sector

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Re: Blackrock Drive Yards lore
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2013, 01:52:49 PM »

…man. This thread needs more recognition...
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