The precursor race(s) of Transcendence

General discussion for the game Anacreon
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gc2
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...are the empires of Anacreon

Here's what I think happened:

In Anacreon the majority of traveling is done with jumpships, because the larger frigates and cruisers are too slow to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time. From the in-game stats, jumpships are quite flimsy, most likely from having to compromise a great deal of structural strength to be able to accommodate a jumpdrive. Movement of goods are done purely with jumptransports, because anything else would be too slow.

So as empires got more advanced, they built warp links and stargates. These constructions would obviously be placed in the major population and industrial centres, or locations of strategic importance. As the stargate network got more extensive, slow-moving ships became increasingly worthwhile.

As time went on, the empire disappeared. It could be that the ruler abdicated, or it grew too big and got torn up from the inside. Alternatively, it could have moved onto a higher existence. Whatever the cause, the stargate network was left behind in the galaxy, to be discovered by the next race to reach spacefaring level technology.

It was said that humanity discovered a stargate (the Kuiper gate) just at the edge of the solar system, and soon found many more. As a result, starship technology took on an entirely different course. There was no need to use fragile and weak jumpships when there is already an extensive network of gates, so humans and the other races focused their efforts on slower but sturdier ships. Superfreighters are used over jumptransports (which do not even exist in the Transcendence universe) for commerce.

Due to prolonged lack of maintenance, the stargate network now operates at reduced funtionality, since the "stargates" do not even fulfill the role of a warp link. We have yet to see a true stargate in Transcendence, which allowed the traveler to go anywhere in the galaxy without a receiving gate. However, it is very likely that those who built the network are the ones running the empires here.
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catfighter
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Maybe the emperor(s) of the remaining empire(s) "transcended" into domina, oracus, etc. with their ultra-advanced post-industrial tech. Now, they manipulate us from the shadows, driving the galaxy in a far more subtle and long-term game. Muahahaha!
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Anacreon doesn't take place in the Transcendence setting despite some similarities and it really doesn't have much plot or backstory. The original Anacreon was vaguely based on Asimov's Foundation setting.
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Republic of Reason Historical Society researchers believe the world "EE 4387", an unassuming CGA world belonging to Dogeland, to be the original homeworld of Humanity.

Terra, Sol III, Manhome, Cradle, Earth. There are many names for it. It's very nature gave birth to the planetary class we know as Earth-like. Of course, with the rise and fall of so many empires both great and small, many of whom choose to try and cement their fragile power by claiming to be based on the One True Earth, The Real Terra or some other such claim of ownership over the true origin point of humanity, it has become increasingly difficult to pinpoint the actual birthplace of Man.

The so called "New New Mars Archive Theory", though often mocked by it's detractors, states that "EE 4387" is in fact the actual One True Earth, Cradle of Humanity. Lying in a dark nebula at the very heart of the Galatic Expansion of Humanity, this humble blue orb holds historic secrets that can only be guessed at. The distinguishing features that mark it out from other Earthlike candidates in the Core are a pair of worlds, one Earth-like and one Ocean, that lie approximately 50 lightyears to the Galactic South of "EE 43872". They are named New Eden and Terra Nova, both names that the ruling Transhumanist TechnoBaptists of old Earth would have found fitting for humanity's first colonies.

Though evidence is scant, if the "New New Mars Archive Theory" is correct, the first vessels used by Man may have been Ramships and not Jumpships as previously thought.
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Are Anacreaon empires populated by Humans?
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bzm3r wrote:Are Anacreaon empires populated by Humans?
i vaguely remember reading something that yes, the idea is you're playing as humans, but i don't know if that's canon.
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You can be whatever you want to!

Mine is a race of intelligent felines; several human influences have leaked into our language and culture, hence our more common name of Felor after the Old Human root for cat. Even in Transcendence it is a huge galaxy and there are bound to be alien races that have had no contact/influence from humans. If we are the precursors, there must be a couple of races throughout history to be non-human. Who else in the galaxy has arisen independent of the hairless monkeys? :wink:
Behold my avatar, one of the few ships to be drawn out pixel by pixel in the dreaded... Microsoft Paint!

Day 31: "I have successfully completed my time reversal experiment! Muahahaha!!!"
Day 30: "I might have run into a little problem here."
Wayward Device
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catfighter wrote:You can be whatever you want to!

Mine is a race of intelligent felines; several human influences have leaked into our language and culture, hence our more common name of Felor after the Old Human root for cat. Even in Transcendence it is a huge galaxy and there are bound to be alien races that have had no contact/influence from humans. If we are the precursors, there must be a couple of races throughout history to be non-human. Who else in the galaxy has arisen independent of the hairless monkeys? :wink:
How feline are we talking here? Because now I can't stop imagining the Felors as 3ft tall upright walking terrestrial housecats, with adorable miniature cat-sized spaceships. And luxury shortages being when a world runs out of string, laser pointer batteries and mysterious boxes. I'm sorry :p.

Deep within the halls of Deep Library, the oldest and most respected seat of scientific learning in the Republic of Reason...
A scholar looks up from the piles of data slates, holocrons, biocrons, crystal storage units and theoretical information projections that make up his work environment, his brow furrowed with uncharacteristic perturbation. He ignores the spectacular view of the Hematite/Magnetite Inclusion Rift afforded by the transparent wall that runs the length of the outer side of Research Space 0001987-Xenoanthropology. Flashes of light play across his face from as the friction from geobaric microquakes releases itself as lightning, racing through through the Rift formations and leaving a dozen-atom-thick trail of transuranic opal behind it. This too the scholar pays no heed. Through the powerful computer implanted along the length of his spine he sends a request to the world's Primary Archive System, a comprehensive records query. Unlike other such times, where the computation had required the indexing of unimaginably vast quantities of data that might tie up world processing resources for hours or even (the horror!) days at a time, his call is relatively simple, the overarching data structures to be analyzed comparatively small. There were bigger files on some fictional universes and it wasn't like he was asking for a comprehensive macroform simulation based on Sentients:Deceased or Thermodynamics:Total Observations. He was a Xenoanthropologist, Chaos and Disorder take it! The soft sciences, say what you would about them, never caused a stir by hogging an entire world's processing power.

Still, mere moments after sending his request he was confronted with his God. Reasonia, resplendent in her palladium plated Exoarmor, the cyborg-owl Wisdomio at her shoulder, her Plasma Trident glowing bright in her hand, appeared before the humble scholar in a flash of nucleonic brilliance.

"Greetings Scholar Horatious Unlike Cloud, SIN010101010100111111, Admin Password "Icarusshouldhaveusedamoreheatresistantpolymer1234!:D,the colour teal, a memory of complete darkness, the smell of the mushroom noodles they have at that one New New Mars joint off of Giant Calcite Pillar Avenue"! It has come to the Archive's attention that you have placed a request for a not-inconsiderable amount of processing power! I just thought we should have a little chat before it gets processed."

The scholar cleared his throat. Though superstition was a trait for backwards peoples, usually eliminated by the time they reached Biotech, or at the very latest Antimatter, he couldn't help but be nervous when confronted by the active incarnation of the intelligence that was Admin over all 8.1 billion sentients on this world of academia.

"Well, you see, I came across this thing in some old diplomatic documents and I just wanted to check that we had the facts strait. The chance for a hoax, or what have you...This is all so unlikely!"

"I know", replied Archive Admin Intelligence Reasonia8954, "Highly irregular. There shall be quiet some upset in certain academic circles. Still, errors happen to us all, even the enlightened scholars of the Republic."

"But, I mean, over fifty cycles of peace and friendship, GalWar1, The Jumpmissile Incident. All that, all that time, and no one noticed they were cats!"
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catfighter
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Wayward Device wrote:How feline are we talking here? Because now I can't stop imagining the Felors as 3ft tall upright walking terrestrial housecats, with adorable miniature cat-sized spaceships. And luxury shortages being when a world runs out of string, laser pointer batteries and mysterious boxes. I'm sorry :p.
Never underestimate the power of the laser pointer, my friend; someday it could save your life by distracting the enemy captain at a crucial moment. It does of course have the...hehe...tendency to y'know...backfire every once in a while. :oops: But we're working on it, training our soldiers to focus more and- Ooh, shiny! :wink:

We are not quite that diminutive (more around 5 ft from nose to tail) and just because we are intelligent and have semi-opposable "thumbs" doesn't mean we have to stop using two of our legs. Your human height advantage doesn't help you if you can't all learn to share sensory information without a console and some fancy tech. We Felor early on evolved a link to a universal energy called Kha'arra, which we can tap into and use for communication and limited force-manipulation. This energy was a major influence in our mental development that helped us to distinguish ourselves and rise above the feather-chasers the humans hold captive even to this day. We were pleased to learn that humans had the good sense to befriend a race so similar to our own, but human attention has made them soft and lazy. :? And some have even deprived our cousins of the plant you call "catnip"! It is the lifeblood of our people, produced at all consumer goods autofacs and infantry equipment autofacs! It is the fire in our blood, the strength of our warriors, and the one thing which first set us along the path of space travel and galactic conquest! To be without it is...unthinkable! :shock:

The Kha'arra Collective at the Coronae Lightwell managed to get in a message that many of its members operate at less than peak efficiency since they received news of the Republic's misinterpretation. Something about uncontrollable fits of amused purring or something. :roll: They say it may be quite some time before the lead historians can calm down enough to record this interesting little event.
Behold my avatar, one of the few ships to be drawn out pixel by pixel in the dreaded... Microsoft Paint!

Day 31: "I have successfully completed my time reversal experiment! Muahahaha!!!"
Day 30: "I might have run into a little problem here."
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Finnian
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Wayward Device wrote:
catfighter wrote:You can be whatever you want to!

Mine is a race of intelligent felines; several human influences have leaked into our language and culture, hence our more common name of Felor after the Old Human root for cat. Even in Transcendence it is a huge galaxy and there are bound to be alien races that have had no contact/influence from humans. If we are the precursors, there must be a couple of races throughout history to be non-human. Who else in the galaxy has arisen independent of the hairless monkeys? :wink:
How feline are we talking here? Because now I can't stop imagining the Felors as 3ft tall upright walking terrestrial housecats, with adorable miniature cat-sized spaceships. And luxury shortages being when a world runs out of string, laser pointer batteries and mysterious boxes. I'm sorry :p.

Deep within the halls of Deep Library, the oldest and most respected seat of scientific learning in the Republic of Reason...
A scholar looks up from the piles of data slates, holocrons, biocrons, crystal storage units and theoretical information projections that make up his work environment, his brow furrowed with uncharacteristic perturbation. He ignores the spectacular view of the Hematite/Magnetite Inclusion Rift afforded by the transparent wall that runs the length of the outer side of Research Space 0001987-Xenoanthropology. Flashes of light play across his face from as the friction from geobaric microquakes releases itself as lightning, racing through through the Rift formations and leaving a dozen-atom-thick trail of transuranic opal behind it. This too the scholar pays no heed. Through the powerful computer implanted along the length of his spine he sends a request to the world's Primary Archive System, a comprehensive records query. Unlike other such times, where the computation had required the indexing of unimaginably vast quantities of data that might tie up world processing resources for hours or even (the horror!) days at a time, his call is relatively simple, the overarching data structures to be analyzed comparatively small. There were bigger files on some fictional universes and it wasn't like he was asking for a comprehensive macroform simulation based on Sentients:Deceased or Thermodynamics:Total Observations. He was a Xenoanthropologist, Chaos and Disorder take it! The soft sciences, say what you would about them, never caused a stir by hogging an entire world's processing power.

Still, mere moments after sending his request he was confronted with his God. Reasonia, resplendent in her palladium plated Exoarmor, the cyborg-owl Wisdomio at her shoulder, her Plasma Trident glowing bright in her hand, appeared before the humble scholar in a flash of nucleonic brilliance.

"Greetings Scholar Horatious Unlike Cloud, SIN010101010100111111, Admin Password "Icarusshouldhaveusedamoreheatresistantpolymer1234!:D,the colour teal, a memory of complete darkness, the smell of the mushroom noodles they have at that one New New Mars joint off of Giant Calcite Pillar Avenue"! It has come to the Archive's attention that you have placed a request for a not-inconsiderable amount of processing power! I just thought we should have a little chat before it gets processed."

The scholar cleared his throat. Though superstition was a trait for backwards peoples, usually eliminated by the time they reached Biotech, or at the very latest Antimatter, he couldn't help but be nervous when confronted by the active incarnation of the intelligence that was Admin over all 8.1 billion sentients on this world of academia.

"Well, you see, I came across this thing in some old diplomatic documents and I just wanted to check that we had the facts strait. The chance for a hoax, or what have you...This is all so unlikely!"

"I know", replied Archive Admin Intelligence Reasonia8954, "Highly irregular. There shall be quiet some upset in certain academic circles. Still, errors happen to us all, even the enlightened scholars of the Republic."

"But, I mean, over fifty cycles of peace and friendship, GalWar1, The Jumpmissile Incident. All that, all that time, and no one noticed they were cats!"
Clap clap :mrgreen:
IN GEORGE WE TRUST
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