HTML Inner Empire [v1.7] [Defiant Explorer]

[damnedfrog]

Great game. Maybe introduce some more body customization which can also influence outcomes and introduce it into character profile.

I also noticed reference to "Sky Ring" that crosses the entire sky. Are you placing this setting on type of Ringworld?

Didn't think of this explication for the Sky Ring.

I was thinking more of a ring like the Saturn's Rings.

Also, Defiant Explorer once pointed out that there is no moon in this world. But that strangely, Selene means moon (in fact Selene is the goddess and personification of the Moon in ancient Greek mythology).
So I was thinking that perhaps this world had a moon a long time ago. But it was destroyed by some cosmic disaster. And the Sky Ring would be the debris of that ancient moon.
And, for some (cosmic/devine?) reason, Selene is linked to this ancient moon. And so, she is maybe more that just one ordinary girl among many.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Great game. Maybe introduce some more body customization which can also influence outcomes and introduce it into character profile.

I also noticed reference to "Sky Ring" that crosses the entire sky. Are you placing this setting on type of Ringworld?

About the body's costemization. Mmmm... Technically possible, but in a practical sense... I'd have to redo entire sections of text and code to display the changes in the body description. And besides, I intentionally didn't detail some of the protagonist's physical attributes to leave room for the players' imagination, an imagination that would paint whatever best suited their tastes.

For example, what exactly is Selene's breast size? Who knows? The text descriptions are made so that pretty much everything but flat-chested gets in there. Medium? Medium-large? Large? Huge anime-like ones? The right answer is given by your imagination, which draws their size as you read the description of the bed scene or nudity. That's how our brain works; if something is missing, it builds it up. And I use that.

About the Sky Ring. It is Saturn-like. For the ringworld, they would be green-blue and not change color at night from the light of the suns. Actually, come to think of it, it would be a world without a night at all, if the inhabited section faced the suns. I mean, if you are talking about classic sci-fi ringworld around the star.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

I was thinking more of a ring like the Saturn's Rings.

Correct.

Also, Defiant Explorer once pointed out that there is no moon in this world. But that strangely, Selene means moon (in fact Selene is the goddess and personification of the Moon in ancient Greek mythology).

I mentioned that, yes. And yet, the choice of a name for the protagonist is left to the player.

So I was thinking that perhaps this world had a moon a long time ago. But it was destroyed by some cosmic disaster. And the Sky Ring would be the debris of that ancient moon.

Looks logical.

And, for some (cosmic/devine?) reason, Selene is linked to this ancient moon. And so, she is maybe more that just one ordinary girl among many.

To be honest, I am insanely tired of "special" protagonists. Chosen ones, princesses, you name it... Let me put it this way - you don't need a chosen one to make a story interesting. And even ordinary people can sometimes change a lot if they are in the right tangle of events. And, in my opinion, it's much more interesting than... than that:

Spoiler: Chosen One. Again.

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[lebac]

Ah, I see... for some reason I disregarded most logical explanation which would be Saturn like rings.
Also after that I saw that in one instance suns were passing through Sky ring, which wouldn't happen with Ringworld. There wouldn't be classical sunsets and sunrises either.

I guess I just want to see something in this environment.

Incidentally, Ringworld has night and day cycles provided by an inner ring of shadow squares which rotate between sun and surface.

I will shut up about Ringworld now.

Thank you for reply and keep it up! Game is great, and has true RPG vibe to it.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Ah, I see... for some reason I disregarded most logical explanation which would be Saturn like rings.
Also after that I saw that in one instance suns were passing through Sky ring, which wouldn't happen with Ringworld. There wouldn't be classical sunsets and sunrises either.

I guess I just want to see something in this environment.

Incidentally, Ringworld has night and day cycles provided by an inner ring of shadow squares which rotate between sun and surface.

I will shut up about Ringworld now.

Thank you for reply and keep it up! Game is great, and has true RPG vibe to it.

Ah, I see why you thought that way. Imagine a planet like Earth but with rings. And imagine being somewhere near the equator. The Valatean Republic, where the story takes place, is near the equator. And so you're looking up at the sky from this point. The rings will sort of cut the sky in two just above your head, from one end of the horizon to the other. And when the suns reach the area behind the rings, the locals call it noon.

 

[damnedfrog]

To be honest, I am insanely tired of "special" protagonists. Chosen ones, princesses, you name it... Let me put it this way - you don't need a chosen one to make a story interesting. And even ordinary people can sometimes change a lot if they are in the right tangle of events. And, in my opinion, it's much more interesting than... than that:

To be true, I'm not especially found of "chosen one" either (even if playing the dragonborn still has something cool about it ).
I like the idea of the peasant that become a hero by his own will and actions, not because of some powerful external force (god, fate... name it).

But it's you that was making wonder if Selene isn't more than an ordinary girl.
When you wrote that there is no moon in this world, but still the MC is named Selene, which means moon.
Before that post, I didn't paid attention of the meaning of Selene.
But after that, I started to think about the MC name meaning Moon in a world where there is none, but where there is a ring that could be the remains of an ancient moon destroyed a long time ago.
And then, I began to wonder why the MC would be name after a no longer existing moon. Perhaps she isn't the ordinary girl everybody (even herself) think she is?

 

[Defiant Explorer]

To be true, I'm not especially found of "chosen one" either (even if playing the dragonborn still has something cool about it ).
I like the idea of the peasant that become a hero by his own will and actions, not because of some powerful external force (god, fate... name it).

But it's you that was making wonder if Selene isn't more than an ordinary girl.
When you wrote that there is no moon in this world, but still the MC is named Selene, which means moon.
Before that post, I didn't paid attention of the meaning of Selene.
But after that, I started to think about the MC name meaning Moon in a world where there is none, but where there is a ring that could be the remains of an ancient moon destroyed a long time ago.
And then, I began to wonder why the MC would be name after a no longer existing moon. Perhaps she isn't the ordinary girl everybody (even herself) think she is?

Well, you were moving in the right and logical direction, and only at the end you started digging... in the wrong place. That hint from my Patreon was about something else. And now it looks like I'm supposed to give an extra hint. I can't just say "cold," puff out my cheeks, and blow a vague foggy everywhere.

Okay. So the game is written in English, but obviously, the characters themselves there speak Valatean. Words like Empire, Republic, or Phalanx will all be pronounced differently (another language means other sounds for words, etc.), but their meaning will be the same. For example, Republic is Latin for "public affair." Of course, there is no Latin in this world, and Republic in Valatean would sound different, but the meaning would be the same.

But with personal names, it won't work. A set of sounds must be the same; they are not translating, at most, adapted to lexical norms. So, then, where do names like Selene, Iolanta, or Sargon come from? So far, I haven't given a direct answer in the game, but in short, there's a set of names of the Ancient Ones, those who lived in the "golden city" of Saranura, with the gods themselves before Getaira screwed it all up. The meaning of these names is not known, but they are often given to children anyway, as belonging to legendary ancestors.

So it wasn't a hint to Selene personally (if that's the name the player chooses to keep for the protagonist). It was a hint to the setting and world. There are a lot of strange things, like why are real horses, tigers, and some... squirrels neighboring with fantastic yongu, jumpers, pharxes, or crawlers. Just because? Nope.

I think that was the biggest hint I ever gave. But it is my own fault - I shouldn't give them at all. Otherwise, people will flood you with questions... On the other hand, it gives me a better perspective on some aspects that have escaped my attention. For example, since yesterday, I've been wondering what material the Sky Ring is formed of. Judging from the fact that it is white and reflects light, perhaps it is ice? I didn't even think about that until yesterday.

 

[damnedfrog]

I think that was the biggest hint I ever gave. But it is my own fault - I shouldn't give them at all. Otherwise, people will flood you with questions... On the other hand, it gives me a better perspective on some aspects that have escaped my attention. For example, since yesterday, I've been wondering what material the Sky Ring is formed of. Judging from the fact that it is white and reflects light, perhaps it is ice? I didn't even think about that until yesterday.

Saturn's rings are composed of ice, with traces of rock (I suppose more dust/sand particles than stones).

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.
But for what we know, they wasn't formed by the destruction of a moon.

If the Sky Ring is the remains of a destroyed moon, obviously it's composition would a mix of the materiel of the moon and of the other body that hit her.
But it's not mandatory to have been a rocky moon.
In our own solar system, there are ice moons, like Ganymede and Callisto. Well, they are not fully ice/water, more fifty-fifty ice/water and rock. But we could imagine that there are moons having a greater proportion of ice in other solar systems.
Also, even rocky bodies reflect some light (like the rocky moons and planets of our solar system). So, the Sky Ring doesn't need to be mostly made of ice to reflect ligth.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Saturn's rings are composed of ice, with traces of rock (I suppose more dust/sand particles than stones).

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.
But for what we know, they wasn't formed by the destruction of a moon.

If the Sky Ring is the remains of a destroyed moon, obviously it's composition would a mix of the materiel of the moon and of the other body that hit her.
But it's not mandatory to have been a rocky moon.
In our own solar system, there are ice moons, like Ganymede and Callisto. Well, they are not fully ice/water, more fifty-fifty ice/water and rock. But we could imagine that there are moons having a greater proportion of ice in other solar systems.
Also, even rocky bodies reflect some light (like the rocky moons and planets of our solar system). So, the Sky Ring doesn't need to be mostly made of ice to reflect ligth.

So, ice it is. Now this is canon. Well, unless some astrophysicist shows up here to explain that we are fools and everything is wrong. Then... there will be some new canon. Anyway, it's not like the structure of the Sky Ring, from a scientific point of view, has the slightest impact on this story. For Bronze Age civilizations, the Sky Ring is still that big thing in the sky, a convenient reference point for timing, a night luminary, and the domain of Tanasta, the goddess of the ether.

 

[eeeira]

Not an astrophysicist here (so forgive me if not explain using all correct words but the concept i hope i am able explain well enough here though) , and i feel like a bit bad to point out that ice wouldn't really be around for long in orbit. But depending upon distance and zone of world being it a solar systems habitable zone. Smaller ice exposed to sun heat would disappear over time.

the example of Saturn's rings being ice works and is valid but Saturn`s is so far away from sun`s rays and temperature is less extreme

Spoiler: major picture

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So due to the length of time wouldn't most of ice disappear. unless of course ice is in non-sun side and rarely exposed to sun (systems star to disappear.)

for example a quick google search told me this about the international space station which we still have in orbit around our planet.

The outside of the ISS can reach temperatures as high as 250 degrees F (121 C) on the sunny side and as low as -250 degrees F (-157 C) on the shady side. Inside the ISS are plenty of things that generate heat – such as human bodies, laptop computers, pumps, and other electrical device

Note this is surface temperature when correct panel/sheets metal etc are exposed to direct unfiltered sunlight.

then one of reasons why mars is uninhabitable is due to solar winds

The solar winds would carry the evaporated ice further outwards in a solar system. Water ice could recrystalise in orbit around the planet in question. Note earths magnetic poles protects our atmosphere from being taken away with solar winds, where as core in Mars isn`t very strong metallic to help cream a strong magnetic field to protect mars from SolarWinds. hence why it lost it`s atmosphere. For example if one was terraform mars we would need find a way to protect the hard work of terraforming from solar winds.
Or a strong solar wind would blow all the hard work away.
One would need insert a new stronger metallic core in mars somehow to make a sufficient magnetic field to protect new atmosphere we create via terra forming or make some artificial form of protecting mars from solar winds Eg making artificial magnetic field with generators etc. This issue is rarely spoken about in sci fi in relation to mars and terra-forming Mars. While maintaining the atmosphere.

Solar winds are so strong that they destroy statelights in orbit due the distance from earth these satellites. do not get full benefit or protection of earth natural magnetic field. nor dose ISS in fact changing orbits if possible is done to keep crew safe from a bad solar wind flare up if can be detected in time. Even crewed launches with humans are changed due solar wind activity.

Last yr starlink lost 40-40+ satellites in orbit shortly after a launch due to a solar wind storm. These satellites being to far and wrong side for protection from solar winds.

the size of moon previously suggested would be far in excess of small space rocks forming a ring. plus ice could be located mostly under a rock surface too depends on composition sun face side obit rotation length of day etc etc.

also the magnetic field couldve before a moons destruction protect its water and or frozen water from solar winds etc. with it being exposed if not to direct sun light and or due to the moons magnetic field strength. But when moon was destroyed the moons magnetic field can no longer work or protect frozen ice etc from solar winds.

Also a space suit is so complex and thick due to the need to protect astronaut from extreme heat when in direct sunlight and extreme space cold when no sunlight is on the suit. Hence why the suits still are bulky and not yet thin materials as seen in most sci fi settings.

Sorry to be one to bust bubble idea for ice on rings in orbit in your wonderful novel rpg you have made. I just feel and know ice at this distance in habitable zone wouldnt survive direct sunlight in space in orbit for long. If anyone wiser smarter than me can explain this better and or correct anything i might have gotten wrong as been ages since i had use this knowledge.

I too am now wondering what these rings could be made from to be so shiny and reflective. As they both need not melt at the extreme heat and also be able survive extreme cold. But yet able to smashed up into itty bitty space rocks.

ps keep up good work havn`t had chance play new version due rl here but once i get soem down time i plan on it! as really enjoying your previous work so far!

edit: forgot to add eg comets that go by earth every so often one of reasons comets have a tail that's visible to us humans is due ice and other elements evaporating away from heat as it get closer in towards the sun and temperature is hotter in space the close you are to star/sun.
This means over enough time and during each fly by or orbit, these comets are constantly shrinking in size.
Which would mean for small ice rocks formed in planets ring wouldnt last very long in goldilocks habitable zone for carbon based life forms usch as our selves. to develop.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Wow, eeeira... That's a great and insightful comment. Okay, ice is no longer canon xD

- Hey, Tanasta, your domain is no longer rocks of ice in space! So you don't need to freeze your divine ass out there!

- What? But I love cold beer, you stupid mortal! That's not fair! I swear, one day, I'm going to...

Um... Okay. Sorry, the connection to the goddess has been suddenly severed. Anyway, if anyone has any ideas about what could be white or look white from the surface of the planet and reflect the light well enough, share your ideas. So far, it's a mystery material.

 

[Amnelis]

There's a

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that goes over the topic, someone links

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about asteroid's reflectance which could give some ideas of what the rings could be made of. Vesta is the brightest one but it is only visible to the naked eye at night during specific times of the year. There's also the Khatyrka meteorite that contains alluminium & quasicrystal (someone pls ELI5) but idk if that would influence how reflective it would have been as a asteroid. It seems meteor showers would be common, which could lead to more meteor iron weaponry like Tutankhamun's dagger.

Idk how plausible it would be but you could have something like the milky way alligning with the ring when seen from the equador. Maybe some sort of optical phenomenon like aurora borealis?

 

[Defiant Explorer]

There's a

You must be registered to see the links

that goes over the topic, someone links

You must be registered to see the links

about asteroid's reflectance which could give some ideas of what the rings could be made of. Vesta is the brightest one but it is only visible to the naked eye at night during specific times of the year. There's also the Khatyrka meteorite that contains alluminium & quasicrystal (someone pls ELI5) but idk if that would influence how reflective it would have been as a asteroid. It seems meteor showers would be common, which could lead to more meteor iron weaponry like Tutankhamun's dagger.

Idk how plausible it would be but you could have something like the milky way alligning with the ring when seen from the equador. Maybe some sort of optical phenomenon like aurora borealis?

About meteorite iron. The Northerners (the collective name in the Republic for the many peoples to the north of the Nomadic World) have it as a usual thing. Their main trade source is iron. Even their coins are made of iron. And it's meteorite iron. That archipelago where they live, which I wrote about earlier, it forms a semi-ring "nestled" against the continent from the north. This "semi-ring" is the consequence of a huge iron-containing meteorite impact in the past. Interestingly, they don't even have mines. Some peasant there might find a nugget of iron in his vegetable garden.

In the Republic, this iron is very valuable. It comes from as far north toward the towns on the Solastica coast, and from there, it goes south. Curiously enough, the swamp iron extracted by the Great House Talar (Noble Origin) is of much worse quality than imported meteorite iron. But it's much more affordable because the Republic buys it at a monopoly price. Most of it goes to warehouses and from there to government smiths who forge weapons. The general population still uses bronze and copper for ordinary needs.

About the Milky Way. Well... Um... Suppose Selene has seen it many times before. And if so, she might not have known that this cluster of stars is called the "Milky Way" somewhere.

 

[CarlH]

While on the topic of iron and world-building:
Does the lack of iron in your world signify a lack of mining knowledge in the people and/or easier and cheaper alternatives (bronze) as was the case on Earth?
Or does it mean that your world contains far less iron in its upper crust than Earth? As bog iron is available there must be some for the chemotrophic bacteria to oxidize. Maybe there are far more glaciations which generally rids the top layers of the underlying soil of iron deposits (buried under all the new soil deposited when the ice retreats) - even though the story is set in the tropics? In which case you either need really fucked up super Milankowitz-style orbital shifts or some other massive sediment-depositing events. Maybe a cyclical diluvian event when parts of the Sky Rings falls down?

 

[Defiant Explorer]

While on the topic of iron and world-building:
Does the lack of iron in your world signify a lack of mining knowledge in the people and/or easier and cheaper alternatives (bronze) as was the case on Earth?
Or does it mean that your world contains far less iron in its upper crust than Earth? As bog iron is available there must be some for the chemotrophic bacteria to oxidize. Maybe there are far more glaciations which generally rids the top layers of the underlying soil of iron deposits (buried under all the new soil deposited when the ice retreats) - even though the story is set in the tropics? In which case you either need really fucked up super Milankowitz-style orbital shifts or some other massive sediment-depositing events. Maybe a cyclical diluvian event when parts of the Sky Rings falls down?

About metals and minerals in general. On the territory of the so-called Civilized Realms (former Caladan Empire), there are many sources of copper and, especially, tin. And also silver. As for gold... it's not very plentiful. Marble quarries are also relatively abundant. The walls of Valatea are made of marble. And as Iolanta mentioned, marble mansions are quite common in Thesea, for example. Though not only there.

Specifically about iron. There are few open and easily extractable deposits of it. Unless you count the North of the continent - there are plenty of scattered meteoric iron nuggets. You could say that the North is already in the Iron Age, except that the Bronze Age didn't even begin there.

About the blacksmiths. Blacksmiths (specialists in forging) are rare, mostly concentrated in large cities. In the Valatean Republic, they work for the state and carefully guard the secrets of their skills. Blacksmiths working for themselves are practically unheard of, mainly because there is little or no iron for sale, except for very expensive imported meteoric iron from the North. But that iron is mostly bought up by the state buyers of the Republic, as well as representatives of the Great Houses. So a freelance blacksmith simply has nothing to work with.

What's curious is that Lasander is called "blacksmith" by many players for some reason. But he's a foundryman (caster/smelter), not a blacksmith, and I never call him that in the game. Bronze and copper are worked with by casting, not forging.

There are places where metalworking is even worse. In the Nomadic World, there is still a lot of use of... bone. Interestingly, Amran IV, the last Emperor of the Caladan Empire, wore in battle armor, helmet, and shield from the best quality iron. And yet he was killed by an accidental Ranalian arrow with a bone tip. It pierced his unprotected neck. More on this will be in Sargon's book in the last part.

About global cataclysms in the past. Please let me not answer this question. Leave me a couple of aces up my sleeve for possible secret scenes.

 

[Fwoosh]

The surface of The Moon [Our Moon, the real one.] is made up of: oxygen[frozen or bound up in other things], silicon, magnesium, iron, calcium, and aluminum, with small amounts of titanium, uranium, thorium, potassium, and hydrogen." And is a nice shiny white when seen from the surface because Moondust is in fact silicon glass for the most part* . So yeah, easy enough to say the Skyring is a nice shiny white due to the above composition.

Any subsurface materials making up our Moon would presumably be present in the Skyring also but them not being visible to the naked eye is as simple as saying they aint shiny enough. Anyone with a telescope could probably see some black rocks here and there were they so inclined to look.

As for any Ice present in the Skyring, sure it'd melt while the sun was on it but wheres it gonna go? There is no atmosphere in space for the steam to float away in and since its in a stable orbit already its not gonna fall either. So yeah, it'll re-freeze once the sun buggers off to the other side of the planet. might make for a pretty light show in the mornings at least. I cannot begin to imagine what a steam cloud re-freezing in zero gravity would even look like so have fun with that on your own. I assume it'd be pretty, probably?

*Moondust is also rich in iron, calcium and magnesium bound up in minerals such as olivine and pyroxene. Though I'm uncertain what, if any impact this has on its shiny-ness under sunlight.

TLDR: Skyring is shiny cos its made up of what our own Moon is made up of to begin with, just some assembly is required in its case.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

What are people discussing in other threads on this forum? Boob size! Penises! Who fucked who and how!

And what do people talk about here? Science!

 

[Fwoosh]

I saw a chance to help with something I know a little bit about and I took it. Though in all fairness barely Iron Age folks probably don't have a clue what a Thorium, Titanium or Uranium even is so what the hell call it moonrock Skyringrock Anything you like really!

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Though in all fairness barely Iron Age folks probably don't have a clue what a Thorium, Titanium or Uranium even is so what the hell call it moonrock Skyringrock Anything you like really!

Hey, they're not so savage! At least one pal from Nemeda invented distillation! And immediately started selling local "vodka" xD Which Selene can so recklessly drink in the latest update. Hmm, maybe add a meeting with this innovator one day? Must be an interesting dude...

Oh yeah, we're talking about the Sky Ring. What's also interesting (and something I hadn't thought of before either), the Sky Ring is a fixed object in the sky, visible both day and night. The coolest here is not what it's made of but the practical impact it can have on society by the very fact of its own existence.

I'll explain. The Valatean Republic is close to the equator, but still slightly north. This means that the Sky Ring from this point on the planet will sort of cut the firmament in two, but still lean slightly to the south. So in this world is very easy to navigate. You don't have to wait for a cloudless night and stars or look at which side of trees a moss grows. You don't even need inventions like a compass. Because the natural compass is always right above your head! The part of the Sky Ring that is a little "lower" always shows south. And somewhere far north, it will be even easier, since there the Sky Ring will be at the very edge of the southern horizon.

 

[Defiant Explorer]

Hey ebrq, thanks for the kind words. I'm assuming you haven't memorized the specific places with spelling errors you mentioned. But if you happen to remember at least the dialogs in which you saw them, let me know, okay? So I can double-check those places. I don't know if I'll be able to find errors there, though, because I'm working with a foreign language for me, and self-editing is not an easy task even for a native language (that's why editors are needed) - but still, I can try.