Ares Land wrote: ↑Mon Jul 05, 2021 3:07 am
Do you have a bit of detail on what the Crayfish Nebula is? (You probably mentioned it before, but I didn't see it. Or I forgot.)
Some idea of what the conworld is like would help
No worries!
The
Crayfish Nebula is a fairly compact region of space, a roughly spherical shape approximately 200 light-years in diameter. It’s unknown what precisely caused the vast expanse of blinding blue light visible from a great many worlds across the expanse, but whatever did it also twisted space-time a little. Now instead of the local four,
seven dimensions are open across the Nebula, allowing among other things the manipulation of local 4D objects through 7D control. In other words—magic. It also allows the existence of souls, and of a “hyperspace” caused by the clustering of mass at a certain point in the Dig and enabling wormhole construction.
The whole area is under the control of a society called the
Nexum. A series of patron-client relationships, the older races are deemed responsible for the younger ones, representing their interests at the Concord in exchange for settlement rights in new systems elsewhere. There are often several chains of these: a human wanting to expand to a new system (should they reach that point) would have to go through the Miser Crabs, who would have to take it up with the Ark-Builders, who would make a request of the Predecessors, seven-dimensional hyper-intelligent Ascended beings whose original form was definitively Lost To History sixty-five million years ago. The Predecessors then create a wormhole in space to a pre-scanned system from the home system of humanity, free of charge. (While in theory anyone
can spin a wormhole, in practice most people prefer to use the ones created the Predecessors. It’s waaaay less costly—and the Predecessors know it too.)
That’s not to say different races don’t meet and interact themselves. That happens all the time, especially in the stations constructed around the wormholes. But it’s usually arranged by Higher Powers; the more Client species one can demonstrate responsibility for, the higher the rank in the Concord and the more planets allotted. (Sometimes this is useless, like with the Ark-Builders, but then the Ark-Builders have practically reached the level of the Predecessors in all ways but two so they’re an exception.) The Predecessors sit at the top in large part because they
are the system; without them the whole thing would collapse, and they are
extremely hard to kill.
The Nebula is home to 119 life-bearing planets, 24 of those also being life-
birthing planets. (We still don’t know where the Ark-Builders come from. Considering they look like the jumbo version of Baby’s First Cthulhu, maybe it’s better not to spectulate.) There are also (currently) 23 sapient species (two from one planet, two from another, and the rest from their own—a few planets have yet to develop their own sapients yet), eight space-faring empires, and five Patron species (the Predecessors, Ark-Builders, Moulds, Miser Crabs, and Nadders). Technology levels differ, but generally speaking the Patrons offer their Clients new tech once they can actually support themselves in space, and there’s always trade.
Oh, and just as a reminder, the entire
nebula is magical, and the type of magic differs from species to species and planet to planet.
Now, what have I missed?
(Also,
a picture.)