SDN Worlds 4 Commentary Thread V

[Tanasinn]

There's a difference between fleshing your country out and wanking it off.

[Shroom Man 777]

True that, writing fluff is really addictive. I can't believe I nearly forgot how fun worldbuilding could be.

[Tanasinn]

Only problem with it I've encountered is keeping gameplay and fluff tones on the level. Gameplay can take me places that I wasn't anticipating in the fluff, and really, I've done quite little so far.

[Force Lord]

Your call now, Simon.

[Simon_Jester]

I have too many other commitments to write a long post on Kierger's visit in the near future. Sorry. Maybe i can come back to this after I wrap up the massive tangle of in-game and real-life shit that's piled up while I was at the conference.

[Agent Sorchus]

Did you know that it has been a month since the start of the Inhumanist league? Because we need to get this show on. Post might not be perfect, but at least there is a post now.

[Shroom Man 777]

Thanks Scorchus. Sorry for sitting on my ass on this matter.

[Agent Sorchus]

Is as much everyone's fault as yours. I've been forgetting it was even there every time I set down to type.

[Akhlut]

Got my internet connection back a few days ago and have had a busy weekend. I'll try to update within the next few days, hopefully with an...interesting story about the crew of the Turtles, possibly another update with a reappearance from Thompson S. Hunter.

[Shroom Man 777]

How about some NenAltKicking in the Inhumanist League?

Man Thompson S. Hunter. He got a guy mutated! By injecting Karlack blood!

[Master_Baerne]

Something else for the Inhumanist League, gentlemen...

[Simon_Jester]

Yay particle cannon sales!

Note: as I see it, particle cannon exports are a normal part of my national economy; this deal does not have special economic consequences any more than Bragulan K-bolter sales would.

[Master_Baerne]

On the other hand, if somebody wanted to buy some of the warships I've been peddling at the BEEEF, that would actually add points, yes?

[Simon_Jester]

Hmm. I don't know. If so it'd have to be worked into point construction costs.

The way I figure it, we don't have to pay for planetary defenses, so when defenses commensurate with what a planet "should" have are bought, it doesn't really affect things.

But if large transfers of warships are done (say, the purchase of a dozen Blitzes or some such), then yeah, that should be reflected in the order of battle of the nation making the purchase.

[Siege]

Subtle as a sledgehammer 'Zook, Shroom... As is right and proper .

[Simon_Jester]

Given the way the Formics work, I wonder how many of them (or their hive queens) the one at the Inhumanist League meeting actually represents.

A Phosako delegate would be interesting.

[shrugs] "We make up four percent of the Technocracy's population, and six percent of the upper levels of the government. We're doing fine."

"You sure you don't need aid to overthrow the evil humans?"

"Nah. We're OK. Thanks though."

[Master_Baerne]

I've been putting a lot of thought into the way the Formic society functions, actually. I'd be happy to explain in more detail, but it boils down to three classes; Hive Queens, drones, and a sort of 'middle class' of independent individuals that can communicate with the hive mind but aren't controlled by the Queens, because of a relatively common mutation. Hive Queens can direct all the drones in a hive, but usally don't - the individuals are often placed in direct command of drones, with the Queens dealing with external affairs and providing broad supervision.

There's fifty or so Hive Queens, who are quite well-treated by the Ascendant social structure (they're accorded the dignities of a noble depending on the size of their territories and few, if any humans deny that Hive Queens are at least the equals of humans, intellectually). The problems come from the middle class and the drones - drones, if separated from their Queen, can be reprogrammed to obey electronic signals, and unscrupulous factory owners have been stealing drones since the Formics were discovered. The individuals are often confused for drones and treated as such, which has caused a lot of problems over the years.

Complicating matters is the fact that Formics make up a quarter of the Ascendancy's population and, thanks to a mix of treaties and the semifeudal Ascendant social structure, can operate their own military units. The Bee-List troopers I mentioned in my post are just part of it; there's two superdreadnoughts and dozens of smaller ships operated entirely by Formics as auxiliaries to the Starfleet. One of the reasons the Ladies Ascendant have such a good reputation is because they managed to keep the Formics both in the Ascendancy and relatively happy about it.

[Akhlut]

Yay! Internet at home is down now for completely unrelated reasons! Hopefully it'll be back up by the weekend and I can get something up then.

I'm still interested and I have some ideas. If nothing else, I'll post up something from work during my lunch break.

[Simon_Jester]

Since you Ascendants are still sort of French, I have this image of an independent Formic wearing a beret to stand out from the crowds of drones...

I'd thought there were a lot more than fifty Hive Queens, myself. But no worries.

[Master_Baerne]

Let me clarify that - fifty hives, and therefore fifty ruling Hive Queens. There's more, but they're daughters of existing Queens and are essentially spares in case of accidents.

[Simon_Jester]

Do the Queens host multiple personalities? Are they really capable of keeping track of millions of bodies at once? I'm curious about these things...

[Shroom Man 777]

I like the cut of that Franco-Formic Queen's jib.

The corpse of humanity!

[Master_Baerne]

I thought you might, Shroom.

Simon - As I'd envisioned it, Formic Hive Queens can direct lots and lots of bodies, but not for especially complicated things; that mutation I mentioned earlier allowed hives to specialize and was the shot in the arm Formic civilization needed to advance technologically - its becoming common was the equivalent of the Renaissance for humans.

Hive Queens do indeed have multiple personalities, but only as a result of directing millions of other minds, simple though they are. A hive mind with large populations of soldier-caste ants will be more prone to solving problems with violence; if those soldier-caste ants have seen lots of action, the hive will react differently than if they'd been green. I'd been thinking of it as one mind that changes based on the experience of each of its bodies - it gets interesting when you consider that Hive Queens determine, to an extent anyway, the composition of their hive, so the hive mind's personalities are self-pruning and self-modifying.

Put another way, yes they have multiple personalities, but which ones depends on how many of what sort of ant is in the hive as well as what experiences they've had. The 'schizophrenic' quality usually attributed to Formic hive minds is the result of the Queen only directly controlling a small percentage of the hive at any given time, so which traits are dominant switches around.

[Force Lord]

Erg. Writer's block.

[Simon_Jester]

I don't think you're allowed to say "writer's block" until you haven't written anything for at least a week...