Avali Nexus
Ryu's lore and art dump. - Printable Version

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Ryu's lore and art dump. - Ryuujin - 05-23-2015

I'll be using this thread to stick lore and art stuff that isn't present in the official wiki. It's also a place people can ask for clarification on lore elements too or raise points or discuss the existing lore.


Recent Art:

Negative space/experimental doodlage
The secret of tight-fitting cloaks
FF14/Avali crossover
100% cuter (or juvenile) avali proportions
Flying raptors
BL2/Avali crossover
Doodles, and Ori crossover




Lore:



Codex:


Non-canon or RP notes:




RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Nyumii - 05-23-2015

Yay, it's back!

I was kind of wondering about what purpose does the Exploratory Fleet serves, in light of the fact that Avali tribes are interstellar nomadic groups. Am I right in assuming that tribal fleets generally only visit/colonize star systems that were mapped out beforehand by the Exploratory Fleet? What other functions does the EF serve, and how large is this fleet - or more specifically, if there are multiple smaller fleets within this overarching faction, how large is a typical task force? Do these groups travel with an armed escort in uncharted territory as a precaution?


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Ryuujin - 05-23-2015

(05-23-2015, 04:08 PM)Nyumii Wrote: Yay, it's back!

I was kind of wondering about what purpose does the Exploratory Fleet serves, in light of the fact that Avali tribes are interstellar nomadic groups. Am I right in assuming that tribal fleets generally only visit/colonize star systems that were mapped out beforehand by the Exploratory Fleet? What other functions does the EF serve, and how large is this fleet - or more specifically, if there are multiple smaller fleets within this overarching faction, how large is a typical task force? Do these groups travel with an armed escort in uncharted territory as a precaution?

All groups, exploratory, nomadic tribal units etc. have "adequate" defences to fend to off pirates, uppity natives etc. at the very least sufficient to cover their escape or hold the line until the actual military fleet arrives with reinforcements and real firepower. (And if holding the line isn't viable, they'll use that nomadic wilderness survival know-how to abandon the position to take it back later)

The exploratory fleet is a mixture of pure exploration (Boldly going where novali has gone before, and adding those data logs to the system), and ordered research at the behest of the council/oracle (We need more data on X, please organise a suitable task group to carry out this project. Based on existing data the oracle suggests location X be assigned to tribe Y, they will probably need Z resources allocated for this purpose). In many ways the EF is itself still made up of tribes with specialities, just tribes that operate somewhat differently to the civilian infrastructure.

As you surmise the "fleet" isn't a single unit that goes about all together but breaks up into task groups depending on what needs to be done where.

The civilian nomad fleets don't usually go beyond systems that have had at least cursory examination by the exploration fleets. The civilian tribes are assigned goals based on their expertise and past performance, for example "We will need X resource. The oracle thinks your tribe can do this, if you accept you will be allocated Y supplies to set up the infrastructure and carry out the work. Based on existing data, sites A, B and C may be good locations to consider." The roles carried out by the nomad fleets typically cover all forms of industry and agriculture for example...
  • Miners with orbital refineries and asteroid mining drone swarms. 
  • Agricultural with mobile hydroponic/aeroponic farming facilities that can manufacture and deliver huge quantities of food and biological products on the doorstep for colonies.
  • Manufactures with multi-purpose, zero-G, drone-assisted/3D printed assembly lines that can fabricate almost anything from digital blueprints in bulk
  • Logistics with bulk haulers that can transport finished supplies between colonies and tribes, or complete trade deals with non-avali races.


Larger tribes tend to have access to entire specialised ships. Smaller tribes may be less mobile and instead erect temporary infrastructure planetside, such as greenhouses, or modular fabrication facilities that can be taken away once they're done.

Given the lack of an official currency, there isn't really a "commercial" sector in that sense. And entertainment/recreation facilities tend to exist either digitally (via the nexus infrastructure), or as facilities and attractions unique to that tribe. Specialist roles like teaching, medical, etc can all be handled via the nexus infrastructure. Even complex surgery can be handled by a simple robot with the right program installed!.


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Nyumii - 05-23-2015

(05-23-2015, 05:42 PM)Ryuujin Wrote: Larger tribes tend to have access to entire specialised ships. Smaller tribes may be less mobile and instead erect temporary infrastructure planetside, such as greenhouses, or modular fabrication facilities that can be taken away once they're done.


That actually reminds me; how large is a typical Avali tribe, and how large can a nomadic spacefaring tribe feasibly get while still maintaining its nomadic practicality? At some point, a local population just becomes too large to be called a wandering tribe - and loses more of its ability to pack up and move on the fly as it approaches that threshold, if it doesn't split itself into two separate communities by then.

And how large is the Avali sphere of influence on the interstellar scene - in lightyears, what's the furthest that any of them have journeyed from their homeworld by their current time? For how long have they been a spacefaring race, and how fast do their ships move at FTL speeds?

Regarding EVA/HEV hardsuits and the like - how robust are they against more extreme heat and radiation? If they had to, could an Avali go outside on worlds as sun-blasted or pressure-cooked as Mercury and Venus (or even harsher than that) without their protective gear failing them within minutes/hours?


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Ryuujin - 05-23-2015

The lower limit on a tribe can be as few as 3 or 4 packs. The largest tribes are still unlikely to have more than a few thousand members (Which represents a moderately sized colony ship).

I've never fixed in stone the size of influence of their species largely because their somewhat transitory state in various different game settings and thus having to be somewhat balanced within that. They've only been FTL for less than a couple hundred years. With the whole nomadic thing going on their actual sphere of influence (as in areas they have permanent colonies down in) is going to be spread out and weak, even though they have likely explroed a LONG way out form their homeworld.

It's worth remembering the galaxy is a BIG place, it's entirely possible to explore right through another race's territory and never make contact with them due to relativistic comms/sensors, and the fact most planets in a given territory aren't worth colonising.

EVA/HEV suit tech scales pretty well. At the most extreme end you're looking at something akin to a titan or small mech (from titanfall, not the fleshy kind :p) that could operate independently for days or even weeks if the operator brought adequate supplies, in all but the most extreme environments (Don't expect any evangelion-style volcano diving :p)

Simple counterpressure suits probably wouldn't allow it's operator to remain in direct (as in, in space) sunlight for more than 10-20 minutes, radiating that heat back out would require specialised hardware. But operating in shadow intermittantly would help regulate that hazard.


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Ryuujin - 05-24-2015

*Added some RP related stuff*


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Icowom - 05-24-2015

Considering their doctrines reliance on precision firepower even to the individual infantryman level. Do Avail troops have access to optics, of either worn, interfaces, or even surgery grafted that overcome their somewhat poor depth perception, and light level adjustment?

I've seen concepts of 'sniper goggles' on the mod page and the Nexus forum itself, but it seems trivial to take augmentation steps further than ever before.

It'll sure allow them to get the jump on newbish enemies thinking that all they needed to do is keep their distance~


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Ryuujin - 05-24-2015

(05-24-2015, 05:46 PM)Icowom Wrote: Considering their doctrines reliance on precision firepower even to the individual infantryman level. Do Avail troops have access to optics, of either worn, interfaces, or even surgery grafted that overcome their  somewhat poor depth perception, and light level adjustment?

I've seen concepts of 'sniper goggles' on the mod page and the Nexus  forum itself, but it seems trivial to take augmentation steps further than ever before.

It'll sure allow them to get the jump on newbish enemies thinking that all they needed to do is keep their distance~

To an extent. It's easy to over-think the optical aspect of warfare and aiming guns. (The sniper goggles arn't something I created. Their combat helmet already have equivalent systems installed)

The Avali arn't highly visually orientated. So while their combat helmets and stuff DO have optical systems (magnification, vision modes, heads up displays and stuff), they would also have a lot of audio-cues; virtual 3D sounds indicating waypoints, enemy positions, their weapon's orientation spacially, how close a target is to their line of fire etc.

Visual augmentations are possible but I have doubts whether the Avali brain could make that much use of the data since they just don't think greatly in terms of vision. And most of that same information could be communicated perfectly well through auditory routes (including aiming a weapon!).

Nonetheless, an Avali sniper with proper targeting wargear will wreck your shit with the best of them Wink


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Icowom - 05-24-2015

As someone who grew up on the Tom Clancey series, particularly Ghost Recon, the integrated warfighter with complete, encompassing augmented reality is not something I don't grasp believe me :-P

But the thing is, Avail seem to use railgun/coilgun weaponry, which by definition, can theoretically reach out and touch things in a second, what would take dozens of seconds for sound to reach. I foresee these fluffy technopholic hunters as preemptive attackers and guerrilla's whacking at OpFor's before they can get the first shots off.

I'm not sure what the canon for human weaponry (which seems to be everyone's favourite alien big bad for them) but if their weapons are anything like the Weilan-Yutani'esque tech philosophy they have, it's probably best of you didn't give them the chance to shoot first.

That said, Avail would still be terrifying enemies to face, especially if you failed to snuff them out with your own 'ambush' and counter attack and allowed them to get close enough for sound lag to be a non-profit. Unrivaled command and control, combat awareness and sensory power even at the individual level, working as a internet-fast cohesion?

It's a shame most media don't abuse the power of information and teamwork like your fluff-raptors do ;3;


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Ryuujin - 05-24-2015

(05-24-2015, 06:19 PM)Icowom Wrote: But the thing is, Avail seem to use railgun/coilgun weaponry, which by definition, can theoretically reach out and touch things in a second, what would take dozens of seconds for sound to reach. I foresee these fluffy technopholic hunters as preemptive attackers and guerrilla's whacking at OpFor's before they can get the first shots off
True, I hadn't considered the "problem" of the speed of sound. Though on their homeworld their atmosphere is considerably denser, and the speed of sound MUCH higher than on Earth, so their sound modulation used to emulate distance in their wargear would be a little more efficient but still doesn't come close to optical solution.

Not all of the sound cues are distance based. Like the audio cue based on aiming a weapon would be based on the difference in angle between the ideal point to aim at to hit the target, and the weapon's current alignment, aided by the HUD showing the visible aim of the gun, and the visible position of a target. So that wouldn't suffer sound lag issues. Then of course there is the matter of self correcting projectiles that can improve the accuracy after leaving the muzzle.

Even then their designers would be aware of these limitations and seek workarounds and solutions.



Funnily enough I've never set in stone what humanity's tech level is in this setting (Or even what their contact status is) for deliberate reasons, the prevalence of humans and hostility with them in the unofficial RP isn't entirely representative of the official lore. 


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Gonzogonz - 05-24-2015

question of a whole 'nother type:
some friends and i are going to be playing some DnD, namely Dungeon World. though some of us would really like to have a Sci-Fi setting at some point, and i think i heard/you mentioned somewhere that you have some DnD experience. this is not an invitation for you to DM (though it would be cool) i mostly want some help in making a DnD rule set, loosely based on the Dungeon World rules, containing things like Avali and the science-"safe" magic.
so, is this something you'd be willing to help with to some extent?


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Ryuujin - 05-24-2015

(05-24-2015, 06:39 PM)Gonzogonz Wrote: question of a whole 'nother type:
some friends and i are going to be playing some DnD, namely Dungeon World. though some of us would really like to have a Sci-Fi setting at some point, and i think i heard/you mentioned somewhere that you have some DnD experience. this is not an invitation for you to DM (though it would be cool) i mostly want some help in making a DnD rule set, loosely based on the Dungeon World rules, containing things like Avali and the science-"safe" magic.
so, is this something you'd be willing to help with to some extent?

I have been pondering setting up some kind of loose D20 based RP thread that is true to canon as a way of better exploring the setting. Thinking of useful narrative tools and set pieces I could make good use of. Wonder if there's any useful web resources I could use like a character sheet recorder.


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Icowom - 05-24-2015

(05-24-2015, 06:32 PM)Ryuujin Wrote:
(05-24-2015, 06:19 PM)Icowom Wrote: But the thing is, Avail seem to use railgun/coilgun weaponry, which by definition, can theoretically reach out and touch things in a second, what would take dozens of seconds for sound to reach. I foresee these fluffy technopholic hunters as preemptive attackers and guerrilla's whacking at OpFor's before they can get the first shots off
True, I hadn't considered the "problem" of the speed of sound. Though on their homeworld their atmosphere is considerably denser, and the speed of sound MUCH higher than on Earth, so their sound modulation used to emulate distance in their wargear would be a little more efficient but still doesn't come close to optical solution.

Not all of the sound cues are distance based. Like the audio cue based on aiming a weapon would be based on the difference in angle between the ideal point to aim at to hit the target, and the weapon's current alignment, aided by the HUD showing the visible aim of the gun, and the visible position of a target. So that wouldn't suffer sound lag issues. Then of course there is the matter of self correcting projectiles that can improve the accuracy after leaving the muzzle.

Even then their designers would be aware of these limitations and seek workarounds and solutions.



Funnily enough I've never set in stone what humanity's tech level is in this setting (Or even what their contact status is) for deliberate reasons, the prevalence of humans and hostility with them in the unofficial RP isn't entirely representative of the official lore. 


Hmm for their 'targeting computer' giving the directions for the correct attitude of fire for optimum perfusion, again it makes sense to skip the needless delay of sounds being popped into their brains and translated as mental 'sound map' data. Though from what you're implying in the second paragraph, is that their camera tech in their weaponry is already doing the ''visual percision' quite well, to the point of assigning and correcting their fire, even in transit.

Though it does bring another, somewhat amusing implication, Avail troops can and are possibly less of skilled soldiers, rather are skilled weapon system operators instead. 

I Mother Avalon. Soldier don't do the acquiring and shooting. Your weapon system shoot you! 


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Gonzogonz - 05-24-2015

(05-24-2015, 06:47 PM)Ryuujin Wrote:
(05-24-2015, 06:39 PM)Gonzogonz Wrote: question of a whole 'nother type:
some friends and i are going to be playing some DnD, namely Dungeon World. though some of us would really like to have a Sci-Fi setting at some point, and i think i heard/you mentioned somewhere that you have some DnD experience. this is not an invitation for you to DM (though it would be cool) i mostly want some help in making a DnD rule set, loosely based on the Dungeon World rules, containing things like Avali and the science-"safe" magic.
so, is this something you'd be willing to help with to some extent?

I have been pondering setting up some kind of loose D20 based RP thread that is true to canon as a way of better exploring the setting. Thinking of useful narrative tools and set pieces I could make good use of. Wonder if there's any useful web resources I could use like a character sheet recorder.

*clears throat*
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3269630/dwdotcom/DungeonWorld_character_sheets.pdf
... hm?


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Icowom - 05-24-2015

(05-24-2015, 06:47 PM)Ryuujin Wrote:
(05-24-2015, 06:39 PM)Gonzogonz Wrote: question of a whole 'nother type:
some friends and i are going to be playing some DnD, namely Dungeon World. though some of us would really like to have a Sci-Fi setting at some point, and i think i heard/you mentioned somewhere that you have some DnD experience. this is not an invitation for you to DM (though it would be cool) i mostly want some help in making a DnD rule set, loosely based on the Dungeon World rules, containing things like Avali and the science-"safe" magic.
so, is this something you'd be willing to help with to some extent?

I have been pondering setting up some kind of loose D20 based RP thread that is true to canon as a way of better exploring the setting. Thinking of useful narrative tools and set pieces I could make good use of. Wonder if there's any useful web resources I could use like a character sheet recorder.


From my experience, Shadowrun is a good place to start, if not gather inspiration for a custom system off. Sure, the mages stole all the friggin glory, but even chars which were completely tech and weapon heavy could do a thing or two with the rules.

're gunplay mechanics could have used a little tweaking IMO


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Gonzogonz - 05-24-2015

(05-24-2015, 06:57 PM)Icowom Wrote:
(05-24-2015, 06:47 PM)Ryuujin Wrote: I have been pondering setting up some kind of loose D20 based RP thread that is true to canon as a way of better exploring the setting. Thinking of useful narrative tools and set pieces I could make good use of. Wonder if there's any useful web resources I could use like a character sheet recorder.


From my experience, Shadowrun is a good place to start, if not gather inspiration for a custom system off. Sure, the mages stole all the friggin glory, but even chars which were completely tech and weapon heavy could do a thing or two with the rules.

're gunplay mechanics could have used a little tweaking IMO

i am somewhat familiar with Shadowrun, i'm decently familiar with the setting. the main problems, and the reason we use DW, is that DnD in general is... well... very fucking complicated. Dungeon World plays quite differently, and is far more approachable for new players, while vets might need to unlearn some things.
that and DW is 100% free to use and stuff. and i don't know if SR is the same.


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Ryuujin - 05-24-2015

[Image: 3185933910_acf7f9625d.jpg]

I kid I've heard good things about Shadowrun as a more futuristic/modern template but I also hear it's rather dense even as PnP systems go. I just wanted a simple, self explanatory way to roll in some checks in an RP thread rather than an organised RPG session where people need to study lots of rulebooks :p


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Gonzogonz - 05-24-2015

(05-24-2015, 07:23 PM)Ryuujin Wrote: [Image: 3185933910_acf7f9625d.jpg]

(I kid I've heard good things about Shadowrun as a more futuristic/modern template but I also hear it's rather dense even as PnP systems go)

yeah, all of the people i play with, including myself, are newbs to DnD of any sort. the only experience i have is watching a metric shit tonne of it on YT and then trying it here long ago.
one of the rollplay shows i watch is using the Shadowrun DnD rule set and setting, and while it is really fucking cool, it's also pretty fucking complicated. if i got it right, when you do a check, you roll an amount of dice equal to your stat. so if you have six in strength and want to bash down a door, you roll six dice and everything that is above the target number (given by the DM) is a success. that many die (when you're an troll with cyberware and 11 in body, you roll 11 fucking dice at once every time he does something related to taking damage or healing damage)
so while it is really cool and shit, it might be too complicated for some. and i'd rather not scare away some of them from DnD.

(05-24-2015, 07:23 PM)Ryuujin Wrote: [Image: 3185933910_acf7f9625d.jpg]

I kid I've heard good things about Shadowrun as a more futuristic/modern template but I also hear it's rather dense even as PnP systems go. I just wanted a simple, self explanatory way to roll in some checks in an RP thread rather than an organised RPG session where people need to study lots of rulebooks :p

roll d12.
10+, you get the effect you want/ask the questions you want.
7-9, partial success, this one is srot of complicated, but the DM will often give the player some form of choice in what they do. like: PC:"i want to disarm him and knock him on his ass." *rolls a 8* DM: "alright, you're not in a good enough position, and he's pretty fast, so you can either disarm him, or knock him on his ass".
6-, failure.

hm?

am i the only one that is having weird trouble with some img Ryuu posted in his last post?


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Ryuujin - 05-24-2015

Quote:Roll d12.
10+, you get the effect you want/ask the questions you want.
7-9, partial success, this one is srot of complicated, but the DM will often give the player some form of choice in what they do. like: PC:"i want to disarm him and knock him on his ass." *rolls a 8* DM: "alright, you're not in a good enough position, and he's pretty fast, so you can either disarm him, or knock him on his ass".
6-, failure.

That's a little bit too far on the side of pure RNG Wink - a stone cold killer, harden veteran with a dozen campaigns under his belt is just as capable in the field as a senile old tea-lady who wandered into the firefight without a stats-based modifier system Wink


RE: Ryu's lore and art dump. - Gonzogonz - 05-24-2015

(05-24-2015, 08:49 PM)Ryuujin Wrote:
Quote:Roll d12.
10+, you get the effect you want/ask the questions you want.
7-9, partial success, this one is srot of complicated, but the DM will often give the player some form of choice in what they do. like: PC:"i want to disarm him and knock him on his ass." *rolls a 8* DM: "alright, you're not in a good enough position, and he's pretty fast, so you can either disarm him, or knock him on his ass".
6-, failure.

That's a little bit too far on the side of pure RNG Wink - a stone cold killer, harden veteran with a dozen campaigns under his belt is just as capable in the field as a senile old tea-lady who wandered into the firefight without a stats-based modifier system Wink

that's just an example of a base roll. a +0. an average guy dong a dex check for exaple. of course there should be a stat sys. behind it, otherwise we would have that exact problem. it can just help with understanding to show what an unmodified roll would look like.