The Syrrth Cycle scratchpad

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Micamo
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The Syrrth Cycle scratchpad

Post by Micamo »

*shrug*

---------

The ancients, in their wisdom, left no part of the world untouched by their passing. They forged their greatest works of invincible synth, powered them with limitless syrrth, and built great arteries down to the very bones of the earth so that no place would ever run dry of it.

Syrrth is a general term for the substance, or energy, that powers the constructs and devices of the Ancients that litter the Known World, covering it like a fine dust. Syrrth can take many forms, from a gas, to a liquid, to a solid, to even a form of pure shimmering light. Though poorly understood, it is nonetheless the source tapped to power the original creations of the artificers throughout the various sapient civilizations.

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The feshwa keeps his gun at the ready, his eyes revealing his grin beneath the sharp-toothed muzzle of an imperial warlock. The pips on his collar reveal his class, no mere adept, but a full scion. I don't need to conduct a delving on him to know what he's feeling. Still new to his badge, his power, his authority. Drunk on it. Believing himself invincible.

Oh if he but knew what he faced. He would fall to his knees and weep blood, begging for death. And I would refuse him.


Direct syrrth-exposure is extremely hazardous to all biomaterial and to sapients in particular. Most such incidents result in death, but the survivors find themselves irrevocably changed. The changes are as diverse as the folk who encounter them: New limbs, strange abilities, memories of lives unlived. Such survivors are called syrrth-scarred, and humans are sometimes called metahumans or metas. Syrrth-scarred are classified into three loose categories based on the severity of the changes: Gnats, Adepts, Scions, and Greater Scions.

Gnats have merely "cosmetic" changes, such as disfigurement or changes in personality brought on by the syrrth exposure. Adepts have some useful power to them granted by the exposure, such as flight, turning invisible, or being able to set things on fire at will. A Scion has at least 3 such abilities. More than 5 distinct ones is unheard of. Finally, a Greater Scion has at least 3 such abilities, including one that offers them protection from death by most normal mortal means, such as regeneration, incorporeality, or bulletproof skin.

Sometimes these categories are also used for sapients that have been Augmented, either with tech or even with Ancient artifacts, to give them abilities similar to what a syrrth-scarred may possess.

--------

I had hoped someday you would have chosen this for yourself. But the time for such sentiments has passed. The world is a price I will gladly pay.
Forgive me.


Unsatisfied with mastery over the mere physical realm, the Ancients built layers upon layers of immaterium, dream and memory given shape. In their unending quest to understand the works of the Ancients, sapients have created the PDU, a device which attaches to the skin of the temple and allows interface with the user's brain, allowing them to both see and interact with this immaterial world the ancients built known only as The Depths. The PDU has become nearly ubiquitous as a device for communication as well as information storage and retrieval.

But this use merely skims the surface. The depths contain so much more, for those who are willing to brave the dangers of the abyss.
Last edited by Micamo on 16 Aug 2018 21:50, edited 1 time in total.
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eldin raigmore
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by eldin raigmore »

wwOww!
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by gestaltist »

Very nice indeed. Is this the same universe that has Tazar or something completely different?
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by Micamo »

It's something completely different, though I'm not afraid to take ideas from old scrapped conworlds and recycle them so you'll probably recognize a lot of stuff.
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by elemtilas »

Micamo wrote: 13 Aug 2018 13:11 It's something completely different, though I'm not afraid to take ideas from old scrapped conworlds and recycle them so you'll probably recognize a lot of stuff.
Wait, are you saying you scrapped the Tazar world and all that wonder!?
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by Micamo »

*shrugs*
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by elemtilas »

Micamo wrote: 13 Aug 2018 13:49*shrugs*
**shrugs!**
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by eldin raigmore »

Micamo wrote: 13 Aug 2018 13:49*shrugs*
Why does your avatar look so sad?
Beautiful long lavender hair + cats = reasons to be happy IMO!
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by Micamo »

It's supposed to be me. And I'm sad.

--------

Kataan Dairen rises from the still-warm cinders of the Ashkanaan Wastes like a grey wart on mottled, rotten skin. Skycrawlers zip over the black dunes, carrying passengers and freight to and fro the strange construction. Though some of the other 18 Dairens may tolerate trade with us, the Kataan Xarau alone welcome us into their dark, forboding home.

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Shaft 13 stretches up and down like a pillar holding up the universe itself. The steady pale light of glowspheres shines from behind panes of transparent synth. Sapients bustle along bridges spun like silken strands. All for our benefit, of course. The Xarau themselves have no eyes, and they skitter up the pulsating walls as easily as they do the ground.

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Big Shen stands hunched over, kyr back scraping against a ceiling meant for human proportions. Kyr green-tinted carapace scattered the light of the glowspheres oddly, grey muscles and organs working beneath the almost-opaque surface. Kyr head rotated about, mandibles clicking to scan the room. "Ahh, it is…" ky said, drumming kyr vocal plates, "cozy, I suppose?"

--------

I tried to sell a PDU to a Xarau once, and ky seemed more amused than anything else. "We need no assistance to hear the Mother's voice," was all ky offered as explanation. It's just one instance of a larger pattern, I've found. They refuse to use anything made of metal or synth, anything that hums with Syrrth. The Xarau trust only tools of flesh.
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by gestaltist »

Micamo wrote: 12 Aug 2018 04:37 Unsatisfied with mastery over the mere physical realm, the Ancients built layers upon layers of immaterium, dream and memory given shape. In their unending quest to understand the works of the Ancients, sapients have created the PDU, a device which attaches to the skin of the temple and allows interface with the user's brain, allowing them to both see and interact with this immaterial world the ancients built known only as The Depths. The PDU has become nearly ubiquitous as a device for communication as well as information storage and retrieval.

But this use merely skims the surface. The depths contain so much more, for those who are willing to brave the dangers of the abyss.
Forgot to comment that I love this idea. A "spiritual realm" (or whatever you call it) which is a creation, and not something natural. Love it.
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by Micamo »

It's basically a clone of Kwa'kwa'c'qaay in terms of how it works, though its role in the world is vastly different.
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by elemtilas »

Micamo wrote: 13 Aug 2018 20:34 It's supposed to be me. And I'm sad.
[:'(]

Anything we can do to help unsadden you?

A blitz of cute kitten vids?

Dancing hamsters?

Hugs from the whole gang?
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by eldin raigmore »

Are you able to operate normally while sad?
Would you prefer no heroic measures to cheer you up?
Are you getting counseling?
Is there some situation you and yours are in, that, while it saddens you, you are handling it as effectively as anyone else?

Has this sadness persisted for 6 months?

———

If you can, try showing us what your avatar would look like if zhe were smiling.
I’d like to see that, regardless of any diagnosing or helping you might or might not want.
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by gestaltist »

Guys, I'm sure you are well-intentioned but I don't think an internet forum is a place for unsolicited psychotherapy sessions.
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Re: Micaworld scratchpad

Post by Micamo »

Xarau

Xarau are a species of sapient born with no skeleton, internal or external. Eusocial in structure, they shape their young into whatever structure they desire by laquering on an exoskeleton made of a semi-transparent green substance called Zu'keem, which must be replaced as the larvae grows, muscles and tendons filling the underside of the limb. Xarau can come in any shape or size depending upon what the needs of the Dairen are, but they usually are insectoid in appearance with 6 limbs and stand over 4 meters tall.

Eyeless, Xarau navigate their environment through echolocation, and communicate by playing musical notes on structures known as vocal plates, which sound much like a glockenspiel. The notes themselves contain the linguistic content, while the "tone of voice" is contained within the rhythm chosen in which to play the notes. They have no lungs and do not breathe, and are unable of making any sort of linguistic vocalizations.

Xarau feed exclusively on smaller insects and adorn their carapaces with the wriggling forms of captured bugs, which they glue to themselves by vomiting up a paste-like substance. Once one of the captured bugs dies, it is immediately eaten and replaced with another. This paste hardens into a sturdy building material and this is what their great hive-cities are constructed of.
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