Silence of the Stars OOC [Needs 6 more characters!]

[serce2]

4/10 characters filled.

 

Warning: Since this is meant to be in the style of medium scifi, technobabble ahead. You have been warned.

 

Humanity was alone. It always had been. Sure, there were ruins and the occasional alien species with too low of a genetic pool to sustain itself, and one war mongering empire reaching for the stars, but none survived this far. None of them mattered. For all intents and purposes, it was as if humanity was completely alone.

10^46 years have passed since the start of the universe. No stars remain in this cold, over-expanded universe, and even black holes are starting to dissipate. It's been long enough, in fact, for seemingly organized structures to pop in from a decrease in entropy. Humanity had survived, just barely, by finding a 100% efficient energy system. Unfortunately, this means that colonies tend to be small, isolated, surrounded by layers of thermal walls and kept completely dark. Even then, a very real fear exists that energy is leaking out to the unforgiving universe, irreclaimable.

Still, life past its expiration date finds time for emotions. Children, however few there are, are given a proper childhood and allowed to reach emotional maturity. Artists still exists, often hundreds of years old and still creating art. Each and every colony is stocked with movies from the long-gone era of stars. Though generations may pass without seeing a single piece of artwork, humans take solace in knowing that civilization lives on.

Recently, however, light has struck one of the obsolete solar cells on Colony 4T. At first, the scientists thought it was an error. Things decay, after all. But the surge of energy available to the colony was unmistakable. Something was producing light. A lot of it. As the Colony's humans looked out for the very first time in millions of years, a single star burned against eternity.

 

You're all humans living in colony 4T, and you're the newest generation. Some of you are reaching adulthood, others are still enjoying their time of light in school. You've been trained in a specialization, whether it be a pilot, scientist, soldier or otherwise. In any case, you've been raised almost entirely for the purpose of this excursion. There are perhaps fifteen of you, maybe less. You're expected to get to know each other and work as a team to get to, explore and create a colony on the solar system that popped up a few light years away.

 

 

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What is Medium/Hard Sci-fi? (warning: TV Tropes)

 

This RP is supposed to be as hard a sci-fi as possible, but I don't expect anyone here to know advanced physics so I'm not going to expect that. However, some ground rules: no faster-than-light, wormholes and Alcubierre drives are the only exception, teleportation is possible but is not FTL and needs special set-up at both locations, time dilation must be taken to account, and no infinite energy. Otherwise, everything is allowed, even unicorns hopping over rainbows. Protons are completely stable in this universe.

 

In the spirit of sci-fi, infodumps and other common cliches are allowed as long as they're tastefully done. Feel free to parody or even use seriously any of these tropes (warning: TV Tropes) as long as they follow the ground rules; this RP should be fun.

 

I know that there shouldn't be planets around a star yet if it's less than a few years old, nor ones well developed, but imagine that by complete quantum randomness a bunch of particles just randomly were found in one spot and held together enough to create a solar system. Hey, Quantum Mechanics does say it's theoretically possible...

 

Physics terms I mentioned that Wikipedia puts complex wall of texts on.

 

 

Warning: Terms are defined by a high school physics student, not by a scientist.
 

 

Entropy- The concept of information and disorder. For example, take a book. It's ordered information, right? There's only one arrangement of the pages that makes complete sense. However, if you were to throw those pages up into the air and let them float down, they will likely NOT be in an ordered arrangement. It's disordered. Current theories of the universe say everything eventually will become more disordered simply because there's a higher chance for it to be chaotic. However, it's not completely impossible for something to spontaneously become ordered! All random chance!

 

Wormholes- Currently purely theoretical IRL. The basic theory is this; the universe is like a huge piece of fabric. It's flat, and you have to go from point A to point B and travel through all the points in-between. However, if you were to curve the fabric and make it so point A and point B were touching, you wouldn't have to bother with the distance. You're right there! It's unknown to modern physics if they can be synthesized or are only found naturally, if they even exist.

 

Alcubierre Drives- So, you know how nothing can go faster than light? Well, nothing in this universe- but if the universe itself was made to go faster than light, no rules are bent. Alcubierre drives are currently purely theoretical in real life, but basically operate by causing the fabric of space to form a bubble behind it. More complex mathy stuff goes into it, but cool-but-also-frightening-thing; They form black holes when they accelerate.

 

Time Dilation- A thing Einstein found out. Some background knowledge on general relativity; everything is relative. When you drive your car, you can say, rightfully, that you're stationary and the world is moving instead. This does not apply to acceleration. Time dilation happens for this reason, as time is always constant no matter what speed you go at, meaning that if you go really fast, time will tick faster for you. At light speed, everything appears instantaneous.

 

 

Faster Than Light (FTL)- You probably know this hard rule of the universe by now, but here's an explanation why. Actually, several explanations. The simplest is that it takes more and more energy to approach the speed of light (SoL), to the point where 90% and 99% of SoL are vastly different. At SoL, you would need infinite energy, which is impossible. Light can go this fast only because it has no mass/weight, meaning that it doesn't need energy to move. Another reason is explained sorta above. At SoL, time simply stops for the observer. If you break the light barrier, you would go backwards in time and the universe doesn't like that.

Before the inevitable physics smart alec chimes in, yes, we are technically moving at the speed of light right now as we speak, but it's tiny vibrations smaller than atoms that are suppressed by a certain force.
 

Protons- A basic building block for atoms. Made up of... if I remember correctly, two down quarks and one up quark. It's seen as an oddity in the physics world simply because it's a Thing that can be broken down into smaller Things, but it hasn't yet been seen breaking down into those smaller Things unlike every other particle ever. That's a good thing, though! If protons could decay, atoms wouldn't be able to exist 10^46 years into the future.

 

Quantum Mechanics- An extremely complicated branch of physics that deals with very tiny thing, smaller than atoms and three of four fundamental forces (electricity/magnetism, weak nuclear force/radiation, strong nuclear force). It's in direct opposition to General Relativity, which covers gravity. It's a chaotic and unpredictable set of laws, and by unpredictable I mean that you can only ever get a Chance for a Thing to happen, and can never truly prove beforehand that it will happen. There's a LOT of complex stuff that would take paragraphs and paragraphs to explain, and it requires a strong mathematical background to fully understand, so I don't expect anyone to know this.

 

 

Other Things- I took the idea of this RP from Wikipedia's Timeline of the Far Future. A lot of my reasoning for why something in the RP does or doesn't exist comes from that link.

 

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While children are specialized in one of the following classes, basic 101 lessons are given out for all specializations in order to take advantage of human's versatility. For example, while a scientist may be trained to look for bacteria and handle lab equipment, they can also shoot a gun or put duct tape on an overheating drive.

 

Leader- Most likely only one. Good at math and quick thinking; makes major decisions for the group. Assertive. Must be objective and value logic over emotion.

 

Soldier- A couple trained for this journey. Very physically fit, and will keep going on no matter the odds. Must be steadfast, courageous, and keep calm under pressure, as well as be team-oriented. They're also trained to do any odd jobs necessary for the team, as well as cool down conflicts between the kids or other... entities.

 

Scientist Specializations- Few, perhaps one or two. While physics have already been entirely discovered, the new planets open up opportunities for geology and biology as well as others. Careful and attentive to details. Passionate about their chosen field. Not necessarily cold men in white coats.

 

Engineer- Two or three. Maintains the ship as well as any tech the group needs. Must react and think quickly and be ready to endure pain, stress and hardship. Team-oriented.

 

Artist- One. Equipped with a camera, lots of paper and a fancy pen. Likely emotional, as well as attentive and appreciative. Could be either bigger picture or detail-oriented.

 

-----------------------------------

 

Assuming no crazy derails, the plot will most likely be segmented to three parts.

 

The first would be having the kids learn to be a team and work together. This takes place as soon as the RP kicks off. This is to establish characters and realistically have them get a team chemistry as well as create potential conflicts for the second part.  

 

The second part would be exploration of the planets, and will by far be the largest chunk of the RP. I encourage all RPers to be a little aggressive here and add in whatever they want to the planets. Aggressive aliens? Weird landforms? Whatever you want, assuming it is within the ground rules, go for it. This also encompasses setting up a colony.

 

The third and final part is shakier, and is reliant on how the other two parts go. Most likely, it would be convincing colony humans to get over their thrifty attitudes and take to life on the planets, but this will likely change.

 

Name:

Gender:

Age:

Appearance:

Personality:

Class:

Other:

Edited October 4, 2017 by serce2

[serce2]

~*~*~[DATABASE]~*~*~

 

[Locations:]

• [The Colony]
  • Colony 4T, located in the middle of nowhere on an asteroid. It's an average-sized outpost for it's kind, but is quite old, still having old Era of Light solar cells around. Roughly forty to fifty humans living here at any one time.
    • [Greenhouse]
      • One of the few places with light semi-regularly. While most Colony humans eat efficient and synthesized food, plants are grown in hopes of preserving seeds and DNA. Bodies are also cremated here, in an effort to reuse nutrients.
    • [School]
      • Children attend a small, two classroom school for the first sixteen years of their life. They play and learn in light up to age 13, and are eased into darkness afterwards. Specialized classes begin at age ten, but children are taught basic knowledge of all specializations.
• [The Ship]
  • A well-made ship meant for traversing outer space. Star Trek-esque. It's new, having been made less than a year ago, and took out a lot of the Colony's energy reserves. 
    • [Cryo Quarters]
    • [Sleeping Quarters]
    • [Mechanical Room]
    • [Meeting Room]
    • [Arsenal]
    • [Laboratory]
    • [Deck]

 

[Characters:]

[4/10 slots filled.

• Leader reserved by Serce2.
• Engineers needed. [0/3]
• Scientists needed.[1/2]
• Soldiers needed. [1/potentially 6]
• Charlotte Williams, scientist (biologist). Lycanious
• Arya Syllvar, artist. Felixr2
• Lukas Martine, soldier. Serce2

[Official Sheets]

• Quote

  ~Serce2~

  Name: Lukas Martine

  Gender: Male

  Age: 22

  Appearance: A hulking brute of a figure, and quite pudgy. His shoulders are very broad, and he stands at nearly seven feet. He wears the standard uniform of the Colony in his off-hours, and on the job wears bullet-proof and energy-proof armor. Blonde, short hair, very pale skin from the lack of light. His eyes are a soft gray, and cloudy in the pupil due to cataracts. 

  Personality: A standoffish guy, who believes that he has a purpose in his class and will achieve it thoroughly. Very independent and tries to complete his duties without much help, negative qualities for a soldier. Does not accept apologies, and while he dislikes compromise he realizes it may be necessary. While he follows his orders loyally, if said orders expire or are inadequate to the situation, he will take initiative on his own and will become an impromptu leader. Surprisingly, not power-driven, preferring to stay steady and safe in his rank.

  Class: Soldier

  Other: He's trained to fight without sight.

   

  Name: Ali Pecora

  Gender: Male

  Age: 17

  Appearance: Lanky build. His cheeks are sallow, almost cruel. His eyes are intensely gray, and his hair is dark, very messy, and long. His skin isn't dark per say, but has an almost unhealthy looking gray tint to it. Generally wears the old Earth Captain's uniform of a white shirt with blue sleeves, worn and patchy after millennia of lying around.

  Personality: He's a bit cocky, by which I mean all the tests and great scores have gone to his head a little. He lacks the experience necessary for true wisdom and relies heavily on theory. However, he's an excellent diplomat, and his overconfidence goes toward helping the human race survive. Values strong morals and the team, and treats all of his subordinates with respect. Quick to solve problems, even if the solution is a little wacky.  

  Class: Leader. Very young for it, too.

  Other: Trying to go for a Kirk-ish vibe here without totally deconstructing him.

  Quote

  ~Felixr2~

  Name: Arya Syllvar

  Gender: Female

  Age: 16

  Appearance: A 5 foot tall, thin girl with somewhat long legs for her body size. Long silver hair reaching down to the tips of her shoulderblades matches the color of her silvery eyes. Add her pale skin and babyface to this and you get an image of a very fragile-looking girl - which is totally accurate. Although the design of her clothes was ultimately up to her, as the artist, she didn't want to be drawing too much attention to herself, so she didn't do anything special with it for everyone to see. On the inside of the sleeves however, is a tiny silver colored ring, instead of the standard plain black. Just a little something to express her creativity in her clothing in a way that she thinks really suits her: the most interesting parts are on the inside, hidden for no one but herself to see. And it helps with never accidentally dressing up in someone else's clothes.

  Personality: A rather introverted and shy (for those wondering: those are NOT the same thing) person. She'd rather quietly sit down, making sketches in her notebook, maybe making some bigger paintings if she gets real inspiration. She prefers to avoid unnecessary social interaction, and often tends to feel awkward when talking with others even if there really isn't much of a reason to feel like that. When interacting with others, she does always try to be as nice to them as she can, but she'll always be silently begging to just be left alone with her notebook. This makes her very difficult to befriend, and she really doesn't seem to care. It's not that she wouldn't be happier if she had a friend - she just doesn't know, because she never had one, and her anxiety keeps her from taking the first step - and discourages others from doing so as well. She's also very sensitive - a simple compliment can give her one of the best days of her life, but if you say something bad to her, like suggesting she's done something wrong, that can hit her really hard. However, she doesn't mind constructive critisism, if it's brought gently and makes sense to her.

  Class: Artist

  Other: She's also a pretty decent cook

  Quote

  ~Lycanious~

  Name: Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Williams
  Gender: Female

  Age: 21
  Appearance:

  Charlie has a tall and lanky build, standing just over 6ft. She has hazel eyes and a pale complexion. Red hair is neatly combed and cut short for low-maintenance, leaving her with a fairly androgynous appearance. Combined with the ambiguous nickname Charlie can sometimes be mistaken for male, but doesn’t seem particularly concerned with correcting people when this happens. Due to an accident in her youth Charlie lost her right hand which now has a bionic replacement. While it doesn’t offer any significant enhancements in terms of strength or dexterity, it does run on a small but powerful battery that Charlie can remove at will and use as an emergency power source. Despite the lack of light around the colony she tends to dress conservatively, mostly to hide some scarring that runs down her neck and right arm. Her uniform has some minor modifications for this preference, most notably a high-necked collar that she keeps flipped up.
  Personality:

  First encounters with Charlie can be overwhelming, particularly for an introvert. While she’s certainly amicable she’s an energetic and inquisitive sort of person, diving into conversations with just about anyone and having little filter on her thoughts and actions in the process. Behind her chaotic mannerisms though is a world that is constantly being analysed and methodically organised around her, with most of her inquiries being an attempt to better categorise others. Charlie will often obsess over the minor details as part of this behaviour, which can be a mixed blessing when dealing with everyday problems. It allows her to pick up on subtleties that others may miss, but she’s easily thrown when things don’t add up to a logical answer and can miss the big picture as a result. There’s a rational answer to everything as far as Charlie is concerned, and if she has to spend 3 coffee-fuelled obsessive nights in a row in her lab to find it then so be it.
  Class: Scientist- Biologist
  Other: Her strongest field of research is Botany, as she spends a lot of time in the Greenhouse.

   

Edited October 3, 2017 by serce2

[serce2]

Bumping. I may go back and flesh out, but this RP is officially open for business. I apologize for the wait.

 

Leader spot is open if anyone wants it, but if no one claims it by the start of the RP I will fill it.

[Felixr2]

Hey there Serce! So I was looking for a new RP to join (and I bet you know why) and then I stumbled across this. Very interesting! I'm totally up for this. I certainly want to reserve a spot for an artist, and I'll see if I can get an idea for a second character.

 

And I'd love it if you'd give scientific flavor text for the physics related stuff. I'm probably going to study physics in two years from now - any prior knowledge is welcome (especially the things that are more advanced than what we learn in high school - hardly any thermodynamics (not a word about entropy...) and only a tiny bit of quantum physics when delving a bit deeper into the subject of electromagnetic radiation)  (If you want to, of course... and it'd be neat for the other sciences as well. I'm going to study physics, yes, but my interests are far wider than just that )

 

Anyway, I'll try to get my sheet up sometime this week. If you'll have me, that is :3

[serce2]

Heck yeah! Artist is reserved!

 

Haven't really been able to work on this RP more with life getting in the way, should have my character sheets up Thursday or Friday. I'll also see how to incorporate your request.

[Felixr2]

Name: Arya Syllvar

Gender: Female

Age: 16

Appearance: A 5 foot tall, thin girl with somewhat long legs for her body size. Long silver hair reaching down to the tips of her shoulderblades matches the color of her silvery eyes. Add her pale skin and babyface to this and you get an image of a very fragile-looking girl - which is totally accurate. Although the design of her clothes was ultimately up to her, as the artist, she didn't want to be drawing too much attention to herself, so she didn't do anything special with it for everyone to see. On the inside of the sleeves however, is a tiny silver colored ring, instead of the standard plain black. Just a little something to express her creativity in her clothing in a way that she thinks really suits her: the most interesting parts are on the inside, hidden for no one but herself to see. And it helps with never accidentally dressing up in someone else's clothes.

Personality: A rather introverted and shy (for those wondering: those are NOT the same thing) person. She'd rather quietly sit down, making sketches in her notebook, maybe making some bigger paintings if she gets real inspiration. She prefers to avoid unnecessary social interaction, and often tends to feel awkward when talking with others even if there really isn't much of a reason to feel like that. When interacting with others, she does always try to be as nice to them as she can, but she'll always be silently begging to just be left alone with her notebook. This makes her very difficult to befriend, and she really doesn't seem to care. It's not that she wouldn't be happier if she had a friend - she just doesn't know, because she never had one, and her anxiety keeps her from taking the first step - and discourages others from doing so as well. She's also very sensitive - a simple compliment can give her one of the best days of her life, but if you say something bad to her, like suggesting she's done something wrong, that can hit her really hard. However, she doesn't mind constructive critisism, if it's brought gently and makes sense to her.

Class: Artist

Other: She's also a pretty decent cook

 

PS: Thanks for the ref on those terms!  It's a really simple, elegant, easy-to-ignore but not tedious-to-find way to do that! And though I did already have basic knowledge on some of those due to science videos on youtube and such, it's still good to have them refreshed / explained again, slightly differently. And there were some things in there that were new for me as well!  And the wikipedia link has some really interesting stuff!

 

And today I found out something great... that's also very mean! We get the possibility to learn a bit about special relativity and nuclear- and particle physics in school this year. Downside: we have to choose between both! D:

Edited September 1, 2017 by Felixr2

[serce2]

As human society has changed to be as efficient as possible- most people would wear plain, heat-trapping clothes since they live in heavy darkness most of their lives. An artist, though, could probably wear crazy outfits since that class is usually the designer. Machines do take care of the sewing process.

 

Accepted, once you finish up!

 

Oh, that sucks. I would recommend taking special relativity simply because it's a hard concept and is really important when you're dealing with light.

[Felixr2]

Finshed it!

[serce2]

Added to the character sheet, and finished mine. I'm going to flesh Lukas out more in-game.

 

I've PMed Lycanious, and am currently waiting for their reply. I should also note that once the RP gets five characters, we'll most likely start. If no one fills in the other spots by then, they become NPCs. It seems like no one's interested in becoming the leader, so including Lycanious's scientist, all we need is one more character.

 

This thread is most likely going to become the OOC.

Edited September 3, 2017 by serce2

[Lycanious]

Hey guys~ Sorry for the delay but I've finally got around to finishing off a character bio. I might be able to juggle a second character if you like to fill out the numbers...? Though yeah, I'd prefer not to be the leader so I'd probably go with engineer or another soldier.

 

(Thank you for the Physics cheat-sheet too, because most of my knowledge on the subject is probably going to come Google :s  My knowledge on Biology should be a lot better though so hopefully that'll keep in line with the character at least.)

 

Name: Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Williams
Gender: Female

Age: 21
Appearance:

Charlie has a tall and lanky build, standing just over 6ft. She has hazel eyes and a pale complexion. Red hair is neatly combed and cut short for low-maintenance, leaving her with a fairly androgynous appearance. Combined with the ambiguous nickname Charlie can sometimes be mistaken for male, but doesn’t seem particularly concerned with correcting people when this happens. Due to an accident in her youth Charlie lost her right hand which now has a bionic replacement. While it doesn’t offer any significant enhancements in terms of strength or dexterity, it does run on a small but powerful battery that Charlie can remove at will and use as an emergency power source. Despite the lack of light around the colony she tends to dress conservatively, mostly to hide some scarring that runs down her neck and right arm. Her uniform has some minor modifications for this preference, most notably a high-necked collar that she keeps flipped up.
Personality:

First encounters with Charlie can be overwhelming, particularly for an introvert. While she’s certainly amicable she’s an energetic and inquisitive sort of person, diving into conversations with just about anyone and having little filter on her thoughts and actions in the process. Behind her chaotic mannerisms though is a world that is constantly being analysed and methodically organised around her, with most of her inquiries being an attempt to better categorise others. Charlie will often obsess over the minor details as part of this behaviour, which can be a mixed blessing when dealing with everyday problems. It allows her to pick up on subtleties that others may miss, but she’s easily thrown when things don’t add up to a logical answer and can miss the big picture as a result. There’s a rational answer to everything as far as Charlie is concerned, and if she has to spend 3 coffee-fuelled obsessive nights in a row in her lab to find it then so be it.
Class: Scientist- Biologist
Other: Her strongest field of research is Botany, as she spends a lot of time in the Greenhouse.

 

Edited September 3, 2017 by Lycanious

[serce2]

Bumping. Lyca, you're accepted.

 

Still looking for more people! I'd like at least one more RPer before we start, but if necessary we can make this into a 1x1x1.

[Felixr2]

... bump?

[serce2]

Bumping your bump, Felix.

 

whoo leader character almost finished.

 

If no one else comes in, we're starting Oct. 1st. Character entrances are still possible all throughout Phase 1, so hopefully new people join in by then.

[serce2]

Due to work and school, the IC will be delayed to October 3rd. Thank you for your patience.

Edited October 1, 2017 by serce2

[Felixr2]

So when are we gonna start?  October 3rd has almost come to an end...

 

Or do you live in Australia or something?

Edited October 3, 2017 by Felixr2

[serce2]

Now! I touched up upon my leader character earlier, setting up the intro post as we speak.

[Felixr2]

So uhm... does everyone have their own room, or is it more like dorms? And how far apart are the sleeping quarters and the meeting room? Perhaps a map would be useful...

[serce2]

Ooh, yeah a map might be best. Get ready for terrible MSPAINT splotches when I catch a moment from school+work,

 

As for the questions...

 

On the ship:

Everyone has their own rooms. In fact, it's like one person to every three rooms. A lot of the ship is just empty space, as it's meant to be a huge cargo ship once the squad gets back. The meeting room on the ship is found in the helm, and most of our characters will get rooms very close to the helm. Perhaps a hallway over or two. Only exception would be engineers, who would sleep closer to the engines found in the back.

 

In the Colony:

I was thinking a circular layout, and a kind of open-campus feel. I would say the entire thing is about a mile in diameter. The majority of the buildings are basic, down to their structures, and each class has a building to sleep, do work in, etc. etc. The school everyone went to pretty much is the impromptu government building/meeting room, but you go into previously-locked rooms. Since the greenhouse, school, artists quarters all use a significant amount of light, they're all clustered together.