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Author Topic: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)  (Read 5832 times)

Mlamlah

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Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« on: June 06, 2014, 04:32:13 pm »

Humans had just began to explore and settle the reaches of space. They terraformed planets, assembled fleets, built great hulking cities in deep space and yet they remained as they always had. Governments rose and fell on the homeworld and colonies elsewhere, human factions went to war against eachother, and even against the races of other galactic civilisations which had found purchase in the stars. Humans developed a reputation as very fickle creatures, and it was not entirely undeserved. As the march of time moved inexorably forward, humanity lost track of itself. Not every human colony even remembered the existence of the homeworld, so far from it in time and space their people had travelled, some of these societies effectively disappeared from history.

One day though, ships began to appear in human space, ships that neither the human civilisations or their neighbors knew anything about. These ships came to be called the Pantheon. They hung dead, drifting in space, and of course human scientists soon became curious enough that they decided to crack one open and enter it. The attempt to breach the hull of one of these ships caused it to flare to life and quickly destroy the scientific vessels come to study it. From there it destroyed the entire human population of a nearby planet with an armament far superior to anything  any human had ever seen before. It took the united forces of nearly all human governments to assemble a fleet up to the task of eliminating this threat.
The ship was neutralized, and immediately cannibalized for it's technology, though most of what was found there has remained a secret from you. Almost immediatly after the human victory however, every Pantheon ship humans had under surveillance activated, and continued where the first had left off. The crippled human fleets had no chance to defeat this foe, the only option was running.
Thankfully the secrets of Pantheon technology gave humanity a hope of accomplishing this. The ship that had been taken apart ran on a Reactor that human scientists didn't even understand, for it seemed to run on a power source that humans could neither detect or measure, but they could duplicate the Pantheon Reactor on a smaller scale all the same.

You are the head of a private corporation that helped to fund the war effort and the research of Pantheon technology. With the backing of grossly wealthy investors you commissioned a small fleet of ships powered in part by these reactors, and you've taken one of these ships for yourself, with it you intend to escape death by the Pantheon. With you come one hundred and eleven of the greatest minds in your system. The ship will be lightly armed, but with a variety of facilities that could greatly benefit the creation of a colony elsewhere including a Robotic machining workshop, a supercomputer AI intelligence, a self contained ecosystem capable of sustaining the ship's population for a century provided it doesn't grow, a deployable atmospheric dome complete with an apartment complex, and a databank full of more information than the entire crew could read in their whole life.
Soon one of the Pantheon ships will be arriving at the planet you call home, there is little doubt that it will make short work of the planetary defences, and then will bomb the populace into oblivion. You must make a choice, the Pantheon Reactor Engine that is the primary feature of your ship is powerful, but also poorly tested. Normally navigation is a simple matter of mathematics, but here it is guesswork, and so you cannot arrive at a location you specifically designate.

-If you go only a relatively short distance, perhaps just outside of the boundaries of previous human colonization you will be able to aim for an ideal location. You will know the area, and whatever neighbors you possess. Perhaps best of all, it is likely that fleeing humans would pass through your new territory frequently, giving you the opportunity to increase your strength. On the other hand, the Pantheon will still be nearby, and if they find you it could spell your doom.

-You could go a reasonably lengthy distance, to space that you've heard of but that few humans have been to before, close to alien civilisations you are familiar with, and still allowing for contact with human settlers, but far enough away from the Pantheon ships that you're not likely to see them unless you draw their attention somehow. Unfortunatly you may not initially find a suitable location for a settlement, but it's possible you could ask local alien civilisations for assistance.

-You could go into the far reaches of deep space, into territories no human being has ever explored before. You never know what you might find, but it would be next to impossible for the Pantheon to find you. Truth be told, you probably wouldn't have an easy time determining where you are either. You're unlikely to find human settlers, but any alien civilisations you encounter are unlikely to have heard of you, so you would be starting with a clean state, rather than a reputation for petty warfare and fickleness.

So where will you go to escape this menace?
 
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Nirur Torir

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2014, 04:43:00 pm »

The short distance option sounds like suicide.

I'm tempted to suggest the far reaches, but we don't have a stable population. Do we have both the ability to research/create cloning devices and enough DNA samples for a genetically stable populace? If not, I'm voting the middle option.
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swordsmith04

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2014, 04:57:38 pm »

To the far reaches.
112 seems like it would be enough.

RulerOfNothing

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2014, 09:20:08 pm »

I'm going to go with the reasonably long distance.
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Weirdsound

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2014, 10:28:45 pm »

Middle option
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Epichighfive321

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2014, 11:12:34 pm »

Far reaches. If the Pantheons' goal is to wipe out humanity it seems that going where there aren't any humans is the best option.
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kaian-a-coel

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2014, 03:07:30 am »

The far reaches seems like the best option. When you run, run far and fast.
Also calling it now:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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10ebbor10

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #7 on: June 07, 2014, 03:23:36 am »

to boldly go where no man has gone before

I mean, our ship is selfsustaining, we have atmospherical domes, and other equipment. There's no reason why we can't move if we want to.
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Taricus

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #8 on: June 07, 2014, 03:28:59 am »

I'm pretty sure once we set those up, we can't move.

The middle option seems best. A moderate amount of everything really. And since we only have 112 people, we're going to need more. Unless we have genetic samples of much, MUCH more.
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10ebbor10

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #9 on: June 07, 2014, 04:06:30 am »

Well technically, with an optimal planned breeding program, 112 people can be enough to maintain basic genetic diversity, as long as nothing disastrous occurs.
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Harbingerjm

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #10 on: June 07, 2014, 05:58:17 am »

Actually, I'd suggest a shorter hop, setting up shop temporarily, building more ships and getting more people, then moving further on.
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escaped lurker

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #11 on: June 07, 2014, 06:26:35 am »

I'd also cast my vote for the far reaches. If we can get some DNA samples before making the hop, it obviously would be swell, but we can do without.
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Mlamlah

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #12 on: June 07, 2014, 06:52:36 am »

The short distance option sounds like suicide.

I'm tempted to suggest the far reaches, but we don't have a stable population. Do we have both the ability to research/create cloning devices and enough DNA samples for a genetically stable populace? If not, I'm voting the middle option.

While you have limited space to actually carry that technology with you, you have the scientists and information necessary to potentially establish the facilities for cloning.
I'm pretty sure once we set those up, we can't move.

The middle option seems best. A moderate amount of everything really. And since we only have 112 people, we're going to need more. Unless we have genetic samples of much, MUCH more.

Actually, there are partitions of the ship that are designed to be dropped off while still leaving the ship operational. The primary complicating factor is that you currently only have one major power source, and a supply of emergency fuel if it were ever to fail.

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Mlamlah

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #13 on: June 07, 2014, 08:09:27 am »

(I just realized that the ship still doesn't have a name, if we want to vote on that, i'll retcon it into existence.)

The Ship
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

You have no desire to ever have to experience the Genocide of the Pantheon ever again, and you admit that part of you is thrilled by the idea of exploration into the far reaches of the cosmos. So you give the order for a long jump, a journey of months even with the Pantheon Engine, with the full knowledge that you will never make it home again.

To your surprise, as your crew begins to make preparations you receive word that two other ships will also be journeying deep into the direction you have chosen. It's still deeply unlikely you will ever receive word from either of them, but perhaps your distant descendants will one day encounter eachother.


...

Six months later, you give the order to cut the engines. It is surprisingly difficult to turn them off after so long at full power, and it's another full week before the engine fully powers down. During that time you take the measure of your surroundings, and find three different systems relatively closeby. Conveniently you have three probes, and you send them out to give you more information on these systems.


The closest is a red dwarf system filled with dozens of small rocky worlds with thin atmosphere. There are a variety of valuable minerals and useful metals scattered arround the system, making it ideal for a mining colony.

The second is the familiar glow of a yellow star, with only four worlds circling. The outermost is a gas giant, but to your deep surprise the planet second from the star has all the signs of flourishing plantlife.

The farthest of these close systems is a binary star system, two white dwarfs circling eachother, with a number of gas giants in turn circling those stars. There is also a great asteroid belt in the system.
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10ebbor10

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Re: Exodus: Escape to the Stars (SG)
« Reply #14 on: June 07, 2014, 08:13:03 am »

I'd say we head to the Red dwarf system.

Binary star systems are notoriously unstable, while red dwarfs are extremely stable, for long periods of time. We have little population, so we will be relying on robotic systems for most tasks. Plant life is therefore not needed, and in fact a liability.
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