Lore - Recent History - Overview

SuperSnark

Lore Master
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After responding to some discussion between our artists I thought this would be a helpful post in setting the stage for current events - as they would exist on our world at the time a player starts gameplay. I will work to flesh out these ideas further, but here's the overall premise of the current state of affairs:


A little over a thousand years ago, society on this planet was like an advanced version of our own society. Think several large key cities the size of NY City. Very advanced technology. Genetic engineering among the wealthy is super common and in fact "designer bodies" and human driven selection of traits becomes very "normal". What you end up with is essentially a new race of post-humans for the elite upper class. Some of these genetic modifications allow for a near-magical manipulation of the environment. These post-humans are the intellectuals living in ivory towers.

Meanwhile, the lower class, poor members of society deal with "blue-collar" type jobs. They are the mechanics, plumbers, electricians, etc. that keep the toilettes flushing and the power on. They are brilliant in their own right, as mechanical engineers, problem solvers that have to improvise due to a lack of resources, etc.

This society exists (in retaliative, co-dependent harmony) for centuries and is known as the Arcadean Empire. However, as time passes, the divide increases between classes, the physical differences continue, etc. Social injustice becomes a hot topic.

Eventually the Cataclysm occurs. The details at this point are unknown. Social upheaval may have initiated or resulted from other events.

For several hundred years a "dark age" follows.

1000 + years later, the Mechanists have pieced together a society based around their knowledge of the physical machines they were so adept at using. They have resolved to never again be "enslaved" as their ancestors were.

The Biotechs have renounced all "machine culture" as evil; believing it the cause for the cataclysm and have adopted a societal system based on harmony with nature. Ironic considering their blunt manipulation of genetics in their past and that this manipulation gave them the "power" to control nature to a degree.

So ... that's where we are currently.


"Steampunk" style ruins could very well exist as the "bowels" of the once great Arcadean Empire ... the glass towers were built on foundations of stone and iron that were maintained by the Mechanist culture. This may be a source of artifacts and technology for them.
 

Cervator

Org Co-Founder & Project Lead
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Haha, that's great and hilarious :D

With a bonus Ayn Rand reference, even!

I might merge it into one of the other lore threads though, if you don't mind :)
 

SuperSnark

Lore Master
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Glad you enjoyed it! I had fun with it.

I had the same thought ... I'm not sure how to best organize the Lore artifacts. I guess there are multiple types; although maybe two primary ones thus far.

1. Overview / History Types
2. More intimate, individualized stories
 

Cervator

Org Co-Founder & Project Lead
Contributor
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Yup! *casts "merge thread" spell which is totally not a genetic ability to manipulate digital matter*
 

dei

Java Priest
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"Don't open that door!" :)

Another fragment from the magic faction:
Arrest Report Nr 1428
Corpus Delicti: Suspect 101 was found in the mayor's office showing the the mayor's wife some kind of instrumentum which spent light when performing some mechanical operation on it.
Confiscated: The device was confiscated and identified to have an industrial tech origin. Therefore it was destroyed immediately by the monks.
Sentence: In the process the high priests concluded that the suspects lack of remorse to use such a destroyer instrumentum definitely proves his guilt. He is condammned for the "Assembly or Use of industrial technology" to complete memory cancelation and then overgiven the high gardener of hortus officinarum as a worker. There is no option for redress.

General note:
I would tend on some more catastrophic event for cataclysm. The destruction of our mother planet earth with an extremist's bomb would be an option. So both partys could blame the other one of this crime against the human race.
One says, it was the steampunk faction with a technical device. The other say it was the guilt of the magic faction with some biotech magic. So the other faction's technology is forbidden in each society because they fear loosing their current planet/moon too.

So I would alter history to a reconciliation of both factions around 2599 and shortly after that, the destruction of planet earth by a radical of one party (unknown which one). By the immediate destruction of a great part of the solar infrastructure (the earth) and huge streams of refugees, technology/biotech production got to a full stop (Tech like TVs etc. is very difficult to build into the game anyway) and threw the societies back to medival ages.

Main Characteristics of the societies resulting from this:
Magic (former main inhabitants of the inner system including earth):
- Have a religious motivated political system
- Went back to the roots of human culture (egyptian, greek, roman influences)
- Demonize all that is technical as apocalyptic instrument

Tech (former main inhabitants of the outer systems, worked with HE3 that ran dry):
- Have a secular political system
- Try to rebuild as much tech as possible from the pre cataclysmic world
- Have something against all biotech

What do you think? My english surely will need some corrections by a native speaker..
 

glasz

Active Member
Contributor
Art
Nice stuff, but what about : we dont call it mecha versus magic, rather steampunk mechanist dwarves versus biotech elves scientists, leaving room for a third faction, with "real" magic?
 

Cervator

Org Co-Founder & Project Lead
Contributor
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Yeah I think the hippies should still not technically have magic, although they might believe they do :D

Untrue Tao mainly is a checkpoint to prove to ourselves we can do a faction-based system with all it entails, then onwards and upwards beyond that. Whatever we come up with next likely will have more factions and could easily be set in a different world where the various races have much more varied belief, tech, and magic systems :)

Not to mention the potential of modding the heck out of UT and any other game mode, which could easily fit a magic race:twilightsmile:
 
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