Lore

[SuperSnark]

Hi everyone!

You may remember conversations in the past about creating a primary "game mode" for Terasology. Well your loveable Loremaster has a GRAND PLAN for the cultures of our world, their current state of existence, and their origin. This all goes along with our World Theme and Backstory thread created a while back in which we all (more or less) agreed to a world in which two primary cultures exist and oppose each other in a yin/yang fashion.

Not everything has been fleshed out in its entirety; including details such as place names and even our basic culture names. I'm very open to a collaborative process in coming up with these things, but I do plan to "guide" them to the extent I'm allowed to do so. In keeping with our original plan, there will be two primary cultures: one based on mechanical machinations and one based on a more elusive/magical one.

I will eventually be presenting the following artifacts for your perusal:

1. A timeline with a history.
2. A detailed summary of our two primary cultures
   • Their religious viewpoints
   • Their technological prowess
   • Their origins
3. Concept art (to the extent I can provide it)
4. Various "stories" in the form of journals, diaries, etc. from the citizenry of our world.

To get things started, I'm posting the battered first draft of a "history" written by Marcus Ekttonius - a member of the current steam-punky culture. This first bit of Marcus' book will be followed by subsequent chapters.

Keep in mind, this is partly to get our collective juices flowing when we're thinking about what the world looks like in its current state.

Also keep in mind that this is an ongoing, unfinished, very rough "thing" at this juncture.

 

[SuperSnark]

Sirrus Evictus – High Exemplar
15 Athena Ave.
Sparta Nova

Sirrus,

The following document was confiscated from noted lunatic Marcus Ekttonius, who still claims to be a historian. It looks like an early draft of a book. Patrol picked him up at dig-site thirteen again. As you know he has been forbidden access to this dig-site on several occasions. Council has advised that the document be destroyed as it contains information counter-productive to The Cause. Portions have been redacted per review by the Inner Circle. Thought you might like a look as there are bits related to Project Falcon.

-Brutus Maximus
Sergeant at Arms

Here Be Dragons
A Brief History of the World Under our Feet
By Renowned Historian Marcus Ekttonius
1071 AC

Chapter 1: The Ancients

The world around you was not always the lush world you see before you today. In fact it was once quite desolate. It was a cold and brutal place, full of radiation and nearly devoid of life on its surface. Its subsurface oceans were primarily populated by radiation tolerant species such as the infamous Cubus Gelata we all know and despise. This primordial state of our world existed long before The Gift of the Ancients and long before the arrival of the Ancients themselves. How do I know this? Because artifacts I have unearthed from the Arcadean Empire have unthinkable origins.

To be sure, we knew the Arcadeans to be a technologically superior civilization. Before the Great Cataclysm and the subsequent Rift over a thousand years ago they were deemed the Ultimate Source from whence all modern knowledge and insight are based. The technologies we enjoy today, primarily our ability to terraform the land around us, are all based on Arcadean technology unearthed in the years since the Catacylsm. But what if I told you the source of this very power did not originate with the Arcadeans, but with the Ancients themselves!

And what if I told you that the Ancients were not the gods and goddesses of the distant skies that our Prophets told us the Arcadeans worshiped, but mortals such as ourselves? Mortals of extreme knowledge who preceded the Arcadeans. It is blasphemous to even suggest such a thing, but it is the truth! I have known this for years and finally I have the proof I need. The ancients redacted redacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted. This is why the Arcadeans could have in no way created the device I found at site thirteen. While The Council may have suggested I should turn my endeavors to other sites I’m positive that further research will reveal even more conclusive results and further prove my theory that readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readactereadacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacte readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted readacted dInitial tests do seem to indicate that the composition of this mineral could be the result of an explosion created by some type of super-weapon. It may be that fragments of this device may yet exist in site thirteen. However, until my permits are approved by The Council, which is not known for its speed of deliberation, I will have to suspend research into this area.

 

[Perdemot]

nice work. I already love the "steam punky" culture

 

[Cervator]

Cubus Gelata

Haha, I love it

Sounds like a fairly well organized society exists in the present, that's probably more realistic than the "You stand alone in a vast pristine land - enjoy!" - dunno how that'll change how you might start the game, but where there's a will there's a way

And for those wondering - this is lore development for the "Untrue Tao" idea, which could be one way to play Terasology, maybe the first big target

 

[SuperSnark]

You know, one thing we might consider is that we start the player on an "expedition" of sorts. Maybe he/she has left the primary home city and is seeking out to establish an outpost on the "frontier". This frontier could be the site of the Arcadean empire which has resources that need to be harvested by the player.

The farther the player delves into the ruins of the old Arcadean city/cities the more dangerous and more rewarding the resources. The Mechanist culture can thereby improve themselves by harvesting the "steampunky" elements from their culture's past.

The Shaman culture could start at an opposing point on the map; seeking out ways to enhance their capacity for magic (old biotech mods) and perhaps seeking to destroy the Mechanists and their culture.

 

[Cervator]

Sounds good to me, gives a bit more purpose than the "arbitrary middle of nowhere" - and it is a little similar to the start scenario in DF where you outright manage an expedition meant to set up a new settlement

Makes sense if the machinists start near mountains/caves/ruins or so, the shamans could start in forest/plains/open land ruins where old farm type activities took place, explaining the occasional biotech artifact they might find

 

[Anthodeus]

Well, the story sounds good (I read most of the lore around here - I did come from the old combat thread that had the lore mentioned). I don't remember names (of planets or otherwise) but he idea is there. Are we going to stick to this plan? Sounds promising; and also, this way we can make the player have a "race" of sort - different crafting options, different ways to mine or place blocks, powers maybe? Ofc, these could just be plans, but layed out it would look pretty

I would also have to mention MLP with the tangent to this idea : the magical race ( unicorns ), the advanced flying race ( pegasi ) and the humble average people ( earth ponies ). Ofc, who watched MLP also knows about some... future ideas, that might as well be tangents to the lore as well.

 

[Cervator]

This is an ooooold thread with one of the background lore concepts we looked at in the past (3.5 years really? Wow, time flies). Everything here in the Incubator forum is pending reorganization somewhere else, the last few remaining threads I wasn't sure how to reorg / where to move / find time to really do it.

We've come up with several settings since, including Light & Shadow and Iron Renegades (following the Steampunk setting mixed with Western/Rails). None of them are really the "official" setting of the game, but hopefully will become fully functional gameplay templates one day

 

[Anthodeus]

Yeah, I was reading the L&S thread after I wrote this here. I understand that the land is supposed to be split among the 2 factions inhabiting the planet, but that doesn't mean that we, the player, have to be part of either (at least from what I understood).

As stated here, one side of people will be searching for technology ( which in this case may be crashed ships, like meteors in minecraft but made of metal, pipes and all other type of steampunky parts ) , while the others may analyze the two inhabiting races to understand what sort of forces they control ( their magic ways might also explain how they wield weapons without hands ) . For example, while searching for technology might allow you to craft weapons that you can mine stuff with, researching their magic will allow you to mine blocks at a range ( this fits well with the creatures' abilities ).

I have yet to lay eyes upon the Iron Renegades idea, but I shall do so as soon as I can

 

[Cpt. Crispy Crunchy]

I really like the idea of searching and finding technology or even trade it, some sort of blueprints e.g..
An intricate magic system surely would create a nice gameplay element! Couple crafting and magic capabilities with a sort of characterskill progression and one should get a nice rpg. Though only 2 factions seems a bit boring, however I really like the concept with shamans and machinists. Add some sidefactions and the world will seem vivid enough.
And joining a npc factions which affects gameplay would be also pretty neat!
I would be totally in if it should get serious someday, want to get my city Simulation framework done beforehand however

Have to read about L&S and such soon too..