Civ thread
Any race or location goes, even races you wanna create, just include a picture and a minimum of 2 positive traits and 2 negative traits
>>46898875
Insects in the Mana Wastes.
>>46898875
Humans on the islands.
>>46898875
Machines in the Mana Wastes. Bring law and logic to this tainted land.
>>46898963
>>46898900
Insect guy here. Changing my vote to machines in mana wastes.
>>46898997
I really liked the inscect idea so I already started fleshing out a plot, I can easily transfer that to machines so either seem like fun
Also English is my second language so please bare with me
>>46899044
Don't worry about it man. I'm cool with either. I don't have much to do for the next few hours either.
>>46899044
Machine guy here, I'd be happy with either considering the similar hive-nature of both insect and machine society.
On that note... Insectoid Machine-hive?
>>46899044
>bare with me
L-lewd, DM-senpai~
Not on the first quest~Your English doesn't actually seem that poor, but I guess we'll see? That was actually a relatively common misspelling even among native speakers.
>>46899076
Machinsects? I like it.
>>46898963
>>46899059
>>46899125
"I like it" counts as a vote in my book
Unholy fusion of the sciences it is
Purely for lore purposes, what race do you want our "creator" scientist to be? Won't have too huge of an effect but I'd rather let you guys decide than saying "genius gnome", and I'll get right up writing
>>46899224
The Homunculi could be fun. A created race creates a race.
>>46899224
Why not awaken, masterless and unknowing of our creators, but filled with a pre-programmed purpose? The creator machines are our mothers, ignorant of their own.
First order of business would be to find a way to get power from the magical engery
>>46899254
Being masterless sounds cool. It could potentially be a plot hook further along in the story.
>>46899224
Or insects that have become taken over by the robot parts, magic waste and all
>>46899302
My votes on cyborg parisitism.
>>46899302
Magic cyborg insects might be fun.
>>46899559
I think we can agree on magic insect cyborgs. Are you still here, OP?
>>46899586
Yes my friend, I planned on waiting outside my class and writing until it started but I got there and it was cancelled so I'm running to wait outside my next class, the first post should be ready in 8 minutes
>>46899676
No problem man. Just making sure a cyborg machine insect didn't eat your brain or something.
i should at least try to fug at highschool as being the only chance getting the unconditional love
>>46899743
For hundreds of years, you were blind. Your race was not but an interesting footnote in a land where industry roared and technological prowess ruled the land, where beings born of pure science sought to master the physical plane. To the outside world, they were the spawn of abomination, grey skinned men in an equally grey land, but to the peering eyes below they were a race of ambition and folly, a cataclysm waiting to happen.
An insectoid race, what distinguished you from the rest of the lands flora was an evolutionary mishap, your races brainwaves transmitted and received at a frequency well beyond any material creatures capability, enabling a simple form of shared thought and experience, a large feat given your meager intellectual capacity and size, roughly that of a small mouse.
The Homunculi delved as far as their understanding could take them, secluded on their dusty plateau, shunned by the world for their work that defied arcane knowledge. The depths of their knowledge was reached in their quest to create as they had been created, to become gods. In their avarice and greed, an enigmatic being came to the once proud race of engineers and technicians, promising to quench their insatiable hunger, the ability to shape organic life. The being himself proved able to meld organisms in ways they only dreamed of, and would pass that knowledge to them in exchange for their services.
He had them forge 7 gates across the thousand mile plateau, titanic monuments to their skill, the likes never seen before or ever since. Blind in their pursuit, the Homunculus had little knowledge of the arcane and their depths, and virtually no innate ability to utilize them.
Part 1/2
>>46900040
For years the Homunculi labored under the direction of this enigmatic outlander, who bestowed his knowledge to them in small increments, but never enough to satisfy. After three long years, the 7 gates arched kilometers high, grey claws curving towards each other with sinister intent. For decades after the final gates completion, the largest of them, all standing in the relative center of the plateau in gargantuan magnificence, the gates lied dormant. The grey dust that cloaked the land dulled the gates luster silver, but the enigmatic envoy bestowed the Homunculi as he promised, the secrets of creating life, and they questioned not in their insolence.
Firstly their knowledge granted them freedom from their mortal coil, age and even death now evading the elder Homunculi. Beasts of burden were sired to replace any need for physical labor on their own part, and to fight their wars if needed. Creatures of curiosity, purpose and sometimes of sheer sadism dotted the landscape, which the now godlike Homunculi thought themselves masters of.
>>46900725
On the 100th year of the gates completion, in synchronous order they vibrated to life. The grey coat that coveted the tendril like gates was shaken off, revealing once silver talons now pulsating crimson energies, and at the center of the gates, a seemingly impossible fire, suspended without fuel nor gravity. The red gates creeped an aura of blood red miles around themselves, corrupting the landscape and creations of the Homunculi, creating terrible beasts of nightmare out of what some already considered monsters. Dozens of Homunculi elders, many of the original who allowed this very event to befall them, realized their folly, albeit too late. They allowed themselves to construct literal portals to a daemonic plane, which the 7 gates were rapidly pouring out energy from. Beings of industry and intellect, the Homunculi were not without their own failsafe. With hundreds of miles of territory being lost per day, the Elders long ago planned the eventuality that their constructs be used against them, designing even greater weapons of war in secret should their labor be used against them. With daemonic beings pouring out from the gates unendingly and Homunculi forces and their beasts of burden on the verge of defeat, the enigmatic being returned once more, only now in his true form, a towering meld of beast and man with banners imbued in his back, metal infused into his flesh, a daemon of treachery. As he marched on the Homunculi with gleeful pride in what he perceived as his crowning achievement, the extinction of an entire race, the Homunculi unleashed their weapons of war, contraptions devised from the very fabric of reality, impossibly small manipulation of matter beyond the comprehension of daemons and the arcane. Massive explosions engulfed the daemon tide and their blood red gates, a twig of irony as pure energy incinerated the flaming horde and their leader, and collapsing their gates.
>>46900758
Just letting you know I'm still here. Continue.
>>46900758
im still lurking for this godly intro
>>46900758
Also lurking
>>46900824
>>46900758
The red tendrils were replaced by a purple fog, the daemon attempt to bond the material plane, the aether and the daemon plane permanently scarring the land, indigo cracks pouring out arcane energy where the gates once stood, daemonic no longer but filled to the brim with volatile, albeit thankfully not malicious energies. The Homunculi, or what was left of them left this now broken land, fleeing their destroyed refuge in search of a new garden.
Your race survived the landscapes transformation relatively unscathed, surviving due to unparalleled cohesion in with species psionic connection.
Magic users of ambition and desperation fled to this new mana wastes, where aetheric energies amplified their powers and a permanent violet mist embedded the thousand mile plateau. Over time the area was resettled and communities revolving around the seemingly unlimited magical energies sprung up, communities turning into small kingdoms and small empires. Warring Mage-Kings now ruled the landscape where science once shone bright, powerful sorcerers now manipulating the rips into the aetheric with crystals that placate the flow of energy into even more suitable form, and the owners will of course.
Through the changing centuries the feats of the Homunculi were lost to time and their race departed from the land long ago.
Except one.
>>46900957
For the Swarm Collective!
>>46900957
>>46900984
The eldest of the Homunculi, for who even time itself could not claim, endured. Miles below the center of the plateau, where his empire once stood, he resided in his subterranean chamber, outside the reaches of the aether energies. Riddled with lament and despair over the fall of his people to what he perceived as their own doing, he labored away unendingly, a single man with no desire than to unturn what had befallen his land.
His race believed they mastered machine, their industry was unparalleled in all the lands; his race believed they mastered life, creating creatures to suit their every need; but both fell prey to the limitless power magic now possessed in this land. He knew he needed a delving of the two, an unholy union of flesh and metal, impervious to the effects of magic.
Musing in his underground chamber, he encountered you, a little creature he remembered only from his studies. With your skittering and survival, he saw a hope. In you he saw the salvation of this land. His races mastery of machines would be the anvil on which his dreams of redemption would be forged, his races hubris that gave them mastery over the physical form would be the hammer, and you would be the sword, forged to take back this land.
Class is starting now, I'll definitely be back after this! Bump if you can, if thread archives I'll revive it later, no worries
>>46901100
I have a feeling we are onto something good.
>>46901100
I'll go ahead and bump this liking the intro
Bumpin'
A solid intro like that gives me hope for this quest.
>>46901356
We'll go ahead and bring this back up
A bigger and better version
carson?
bumperino, this better not die
Le reply
Come back OP, come back!
>>46904195
I just have 4 classes in a row, I'll be picking up in an hour after class
>>46904195
He'll come back. Also, I think he would need to relax a bit after classes.
>>46904224
Whew I was scared
And (hopefully) one last bump
>>46904224
DM, are you by any chance carson?
>>46904257
Rest is for the weak my friend, I'm typing up right now
>>46905777
Who's Carson? I must've missed a quality Civ , unless you mean Ben Carson
>>46906069
Sweet
>>46901100
Originally of a formic design, the last Homunculi elder, Hoachim (Hoe-uh-keem, German pronunciation) Hel, kept your nervous system and thus your miracle of psionic communication intact, transforming your physical form from that of a small, formic creature into the the tougher design of a beetle. Your fragile form of chitin would not suffice however, for flame and arcane energy destroy all the same. You would need a suit of iron to turn you from a fragile creature into an endless wave of grey. After centuries of isolation, Hel knew he was slowly losing his sanity. His mental state would not last the time it would take to gene splice your species to accept metallic implants through sheer forced evolution, Hel would once more need to make a pact with the devil.
Hoachim Hel, last of the proud Homunculi of the Grey Plateau, in his final act of vengeance against the evils of magic and the ruin of his land, used the last of the ancient weapons of his people to take a crystal fortress, where Mage-Kings, their castle enveloping the pierced fabric of reality with aether crystals at their hearts.
Hoachim used the very essence of the crystal to bind your physical form with that of iron and steel, replacing your carbon and calcium form with that of silicate and steel, your form now immune from the radiation and aether flow from above.
Hoachim knew the Mage-Kings reprisal would be swift however, and in his retreat collapsed his tunnels to his lair, in doing so trapping him and the pursuing battlemages left they discover his races ultimate creation and surely end it before it blossomed. His enemies thought his work that of a blind, mad old relic who simply sowed destruction in his mania. Hoachim knew that you would thrive however on the abandoned machinery and seclusion of his caverns, hoping all he could for your survival.
>>46906069
nvm, carson is just some guy that was supposed to do a civ today, and I thought that you might be him.
>>46907107
24 hours after your creators sacrifice, your collective will and instinct spark into sapience and intelligence, the first and only hive mind the worlds ever seen.
You number a thousand strong, grey beetle like creatures, the size of a clenched fist. When motionless and viewed from afar, you'd resemble nothing but a clockwork toy used by dwarven children, but in motion you possess the fluidity and prowess of living beings. With pincers rivaling the strength of animals many times your size, ideally it would take 5-7 of you to kill an unarmed man in synchronization. The larger your number and the smaller in quantity the enemy, the more combat effective you become, being able to literally swarm your enemies into submission.
You are the dying breath of the Homunculus, their last gasp of their legacy. You are the Scarabites, and for the first time since your collective conscious remembers from generations of your species, you feel a pang. It is of something different than that of pattern recognition, mating and harvest patterns. You feel curiosity. Luckily your creator left you enough materials to study, and after 24 hours of devouring knowledge you obtain an average at best understanding of technology and industry, far below the heights of your creators but still more than suffice for a race only a few days old.
It's been two days since your creation, the Mage-Kings territory is in disarray, their house leader lost and their fortress destroyed, the deceased Kings entire army is marshaled by his heir, anticipating an attack by a rival house or treacherous bannermen.
You can choose to
>stay here and take advantage of the chaos, despite the formidable enemy presence,
>or venture out into the wastes of the violet plateau, your existence not yet made
>>46907328
>or venture out into the wastes of the violet plateau, your existence not yet made
Better safe than sorry.
>>46907328
>>or venture out into the wastes of the violet plateau, your existence not yet made
>>46907328
>or venture out into the wastes of the violet plateau, your existence not yet made
>>46907381
>>46907505
>>46907520
Thank god i'm finally home and on a computer and stuff, I can finally post pics and stuff
From the meagre literature you were left with, one theme always shone through, fortune favors the bold. What once served only as stories now stand as your teacher, you decide to depart this place, for it may be your birthplace, your destiny lies far beyond these ruins.
You travel 1,000 strong, 20 above surface as the eyes and scouts, and the remaining 980 or so burrowing underground, although slower, sae from detection. Individually, you're small enough to hide in crevices or simply lie motionless, but numbering anything larger than a hundred attracts the eyes of even the the simplest of mages or mana spawn.
>+combat effectiveness in numbers
>+infiltration in smaller numbers
>+-voracious hunger (will require massive simple resources for reproduction and repair)
As you set out, you find a cache of steel wreckage, deciding to upgrade your swarm rather than bulk your numbers just yet
>Extreme Versatility - choose two minor mutations or one major mutation
currently you're a flightless Scarab-type model, with simple burrowing abilities and meagre land based ability, such as the ability to climb, but not upside down
Think of it as three branches
>Isoptera / Formic - ant / termite branch
>Koleoptera - beetle, armored carapace
or
>Hymenoptera - flying insects, bees / wasps
>major mutation changes your branch from current Koleoptera to either the other two
>minor mutations are advanced adaptations into a certain branch, such as corrosive acid for subterranean, toxins for flight, as long as it suits the branch
As with our hive mind, majority votes rule
>>46908158
>Hymenoptera - flying insects, bees / wasps
But we have a king!
Let's stick with
>Koleoptera
Advanced pinchers and carapace
>>46908334
seconding this
>>46908158
Will we be able to eventually branch into the others with specialized units or some such?
Because then I'll say we stick with Koleoptera for the moment. Seems most useful in gathering an initial base of resources.
>>46908298
Why have a king when we can have a hive mind?
>>46908383
Exactly
We're safer under ground
>>46908158
>>46908334
>>46908376
Giving this a third vote.
>>46908298
>>46908334
>>46908376
>>46908383
>>46908505
>>46908525
ill be RIGHT back, gonna watch the GoT premiere
Promise I wont slip in any spoilers when I get back
>>46908623Snape kills Dumbledore.
>>46908645
You asshole! How could you do that to us
So any thoughts on how to proceed? We need lots of resources to reproduce so I'm thinking a slower and safer build rather than just swarming
>>46908793
Pretty much. Establish a network of tunnels below the wastes to help us gauge the surface. Locate potential resources both above and below.
>>46908623
I'm pretty sure S6 is entirely original TV-only material anyway, so meh.
What's the TL'DR?
>>46909592
We're cybugs.
You should read it, though.
>>46909592
Too long; didn't read
>>46908158
I'd rather change to Isoptera (or at least hymenoptera), since they have highly developed tunneling, construction, and farming (see leafcutter ants) abilities
>>46908158
Stay with Koleoptera.
Termites are dope guys. We can build giant towers and shit.
>>46909887
I wouldn't mind doing so later but if we do it now that's all we can do as it is a major mutation or we could do 2 minor mutations
>>46908525
>>46908793
>>46909650
>>46909887
>>46909996
You decide to improve your current form, your front two pincers losing dexterity in exchange for sheer crushing power. A thousand front mandibles isn't exactly a costly endeavour however, enough alloy left to fortify all of your carapaces as well. The loss of dexterity will hinder technology and development for the time being, specialized building units seeming useful in the future
>improved combat capability
>improved health
(future and all current Scarabites receive mutations unless specialized units)
You travel in columns at the base of a mountain, two dozen scouts on the surface with the majority of the swarm burrowing in 3 vertical tunnels underground, only 2 abreast to conceal numbers.
Only thirty miles from your home you encounter the first being of interest, the mana-twisted descendent of the Homunculi pack mules, a Capramace. Bred for strength and feeding the lesser races, the twisted mockery of the once peaceful animal uses it's excessive muscles to impale prey with it's horns and carry them back up their clifftops. Obviously, it's too daft to notice your scouts, but you can "interact" with it as you see fit.
The map your creator left you with places a slave trading post only 15 more miles north east. The next closest settlement is Alkstar, a larger, better equipped hold where slavery is forbidden, hence the slave post miles away from the town. These towns are supposedly inhabited by ape-like beings, venturing into these wastes despite their inability for magic in their desire for exploitation.
Whichever (or both) your four cohorts (480 each) is up to your collective will, as well as the wandering beasts fate.
>>46910574
The capramace could be useful in building, traps or fortifications or otherwise. And speaking of fortifications, maybe a home under the mountain?
>>46910574
Ignore the capramace for now. We should build a tunnel system throughout the mountain and see if we find anything in the process of "hollowing" it out.
After that I say we build a nice big pitfall for the capramace. Preferably under it's nesting area. We can keep it and use it for a study of organics.
>>46910574
>>46910722
Voting for this. Fortifications in the mountain and the capramace as a kinda defacto guard
>>46910574
>Head to Alkstar
Not seeing much benefit to "interacting" with the capramace. We got our last upgrade by finding a cache of steel. I'd say we're more likely to find more of it inAlkstar.
>>46910842
Ok maybe we hit an iron vein
>>46910830
>>46910842
If I can try to change your minds Anons, I think we should go for the mountain to see what it may have inside. Go for the capramace after we can secure our future in the wastes. Not to mention if the capramace tries to attack any of ours we may not be able to replace them for a long time.
We need a base of operations, a supply of resources and then the capramace. After that I say we build up and join the slave trade.
>>46910926
>Ok maybe we hit an iron vein
You're not thinking big enough anon. This is the Bug Civlympics, we need to go for Gold!
>>46910983
And since we have a voracious appetite it'll cost us more to replace and reproduce. Lets not risk any of ours till we can make more.
>>46910574
Im gonna cast my vote to making this mountain HQ
>>46911125
>>46911007
>>46910993
>>46910983
>>46910926
you decide to skip the settlements for now and delve into the side of mountain instead, burrowing until the rock is too hard to tunnel through, and you turn downwards. After 600 feet you finally reach something, through the structures metal is too hard to piece, your nubmers make it easy to find a shaft. Your scouts must've found a long buried living quarters of the Homunculi or scavengers, whoever they be, the home now serving as their tomb.
If you were a being of emotion, it surely would be a grisly sight. Bodies separated in half as if they were thrown yards away like ragdolls. Entire rooms of bones, origin unknown given your lack of anthropology expertise. Could very well be as old as the days of the Great Fire, or as recent as last century. Of course, it's all conjecture, and usually it would matter not, but curiosity is still a new thing to you, and history isn't what you tell yourself is important right now.
As a medium sized dwelling, there's only as much usable metals as there is steel pipework and appliance wear lying around, about a hundred lbs in total.
>5 new scarabites
This could serve as a refuge if need be, but materially the small caverns deso-
You feel a rumble. Collectively, you all cease any skittering and searching of the house waiting for the tremors. Is this an "earthquake"? Half excited by the new experience and half terrified, you feel the entire house shift as century old foundations creak and threaten to collapse. In a mere glimpse, you instinctually know what this is. With the majority of your swarm in the cavern, survival instincts kick in and your rush out in an eerily organized fashion out through the vents which you entered, like a grey flow in reverse. A head as large as an ox cavern, caving it in. This must be a sand kraken, one of the few indigenous species from before the arcane magics took over, you and it likely the last remaining untainted beings.
>>46911702
You know that thing bees do to Japanese Giant Hornets? We're doing that.
>ASSIMILATION IS UNDENIABLE
>>46911702
Rushing to the surface, you rise to see the Sand Kraken in the distance devouring the unlucky capramace you encountered before. But such disturbances from a creature of such a size has alerted nearby ape-men huntsmen from the slave outpost (human to us, monkeys to Homunculi), and they'll be here soon to track the beast and reap their riches. Staying here is no longer an option, and traveling directly north would encounter the travelling slavers / hunters. You can advance to Alkstar or head around it, south, anywhere but directly north or west, the direction you already came from.
>>46911808
aren't you an ambitious one? Perhaps a future endeavor, our technological prowess is nowhere near our progenitors
>>46911808
Well we would... IF WE WERE HYMENOPTERA
>>46911702
>>46911818
I vote we reduce the number of surface scouts and move towards the slave outpost. Once nearby establish an underground colony and watch as we expand.
The slavers are also likely to have raw materials gather by the slaves so we can take those as well.
And as the hunters return with the sand kraken we can bring them under ground. Should prompt more from the outpost to investigate which is when we can begin to sink the entire outpost. That should make it more than safe enough to return to the mountain and scavenge for any lost items or tech.
>>46911818
Maybe go check out alkstar? I don't wanna reveal ourselves to the humans yet though
>>46911818
>Seconding Alkstar
A slave outpost probably just has shitty slave accomodations, slightly less shitty slaver accomodations, and a slave market. Let's go to Alkstar instead and hide in the sewers while we munch on metals.
>>46912111
>>46911955
>>46912029
I disagree. We are an obviously mechanical creation in a land where there are likely a great deal of interesting technological relics, from a time when our creators were masters of both magic and physics. The Mage-Kings cannot be trusted with the knowledge of our existence and no other primitive can be trusted to keep quiet. We move south, avoiding Humans as much as possible and extinguishing those who do discover us, for secrecy.
>>46911955
I think we should head for the slave outpost as well we can sap their resources
>>46912029
>>46912111
>>46912122
Why don't we destroy the slave outpost, take their supplies and leave it all in a mass underground grave? Anything we can't take will be put under a large amount of earth and we can leave sinkholes to make the area dangerous for anyone who comes after our passing.
Think of the news spread, a slave outpost destroyed by sinkholes. No survivors! Then we can move on to either Alkstar to live in sewers or we go some where else entirely. But I'd also like to revisit the mountain to try and scavenge. If the slavers and the kraken are dead it should be safe.
>>46912415
All it takes is for one of the bipedals to realize that their sprint is faster than ours, and the Mage-Kings will know of our existence before we can do anything about it. 'Twas hubris that brought our creators to their knees, and it will do the same to us if we believe we are ready for this in our infancy.
>>46912447
Unless we reveal our power or our origins, we're not remarkable enough to alert the Mage Kings over. We're just a buncha weird bugs in the Mana Wastes
>>46912447
This is why I'd like to reduce the number of scouts. Less on the surface means less chance of being seen. Not to mention if we want to sink an outpost, we'll be digging pretty deep. Sink it then scavenge.
>>46912122
I agree with this we should reveal ourselves right now. We are at our weakest, this we should aim to avoid contact with any beings capable of revealing information about us at least until we have a secure base
>>46914295
Shouldn't*
my bad
>>46914305
Sorry bud but I think OP is kill I've been watching this thread for a while
>>46914371
Bummer had some interesting potential
I just read all prior events, is op gone?
/thread?
>>46915180
I think so. I know GoT wasn't THAT good that you wouldn't come back.
I am assuming OP is kill but I will keep a small sliver of hope.
>>46915220
I might just post some wallpapers if anyone wants, also OP come back!
>>46915250
>>46915250
This reminds me of the grey plateau mentioned earlier
>>46915418
That's one pretty cool! I like the light on the various structures.
>>46915438
I like this one too, who doesn't want a waterfall in their fort? If OP doesn't desert us maybe we can have an underground waterfall.
RIP OP
