ORICHALCUM UNIVERSE: Intro and brief summary...

[Jasonft]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Yes. They've had them for some time by then, though interstellar exploration and activity is still just getting going.

Wait a second or three here. They are taking even primitive knowledge of Flux out to the stars? The same stars that are full of races (new, old, and ancient) that know all about psi and orichalcum but have never figured out Flux?

This cannot end well.

Edit: Some of those 'people' are bad enough with just psi and biotech. Add in Flux and the Primordials might decide biological life is an error and wipe the whole galaxy.

[D10]

Originally Posted by Jasonft

Wait a second or three here. They are taking even primitive knowledge of Flux out to the stars? The same stars that are full of races (new, old, and ancient) that know all about psi and orichalcum but have never figured out Flux?

This cannot end well.

Edit: Some of those 'people' are bad enough with just psi and biotech. Add in Flux and the Primordials might decide biological life is an error and wipe the whole galaxy.

You could say its undesirable, but such a recurring event caused by natural processess is not what I think they would call "an error".

Maybe spreading it throught the galaxy was a mistake tho, hehe.

[Jasonft]

Without the (younger) Elderen interfering, there would be life on only (maybe) two planets anywhere in the galaxy.Maybe three if Mercury still gets lucky.

It is entirely possible that the Primordials would decide that biological life would not even exist without past interference from Elderen - thus that it *should not*.

Interstellar conflicts with Flux, assuming everyone who has psi can eventually learn Flux, would be just the thing to make them annoyed.

The worst case scenarios of what could happen in the millennia or five before they finally notice boggle the mind.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Jasonft

Without the (younger) Elderen interfering, there would be life on only (maybe) two planets anywhere in the galaxy.Maybe three if Mercury still gets lucky.

It is entirely possible that the Primordials would decide that biological life would not even exist without past interference from Elderen - thus that it *should not*.

Interstellar conflicts with Flux, assuming everyone who has psi can eventually learn Flux, would be just the thing to make them annoyed.

The worst case scenarios of what could happen in the millennia or five before they finally notice boggle the mind.

Yes. You're getting it. What happened to Atlantis was not even close to the limit of what could happen. :grin: :shudder: For that matter, the Cataclysm came close to being worse than it was. Vylyrades chose the least bad option available, there at the end.

Now, a few small points, though, because your premises are slightly incorrect. It's true that most of the worlds out there have no knowledge of the Flux. Most.

There are a few other worlds where it's known, or has been known, one way or another. On at least one of them, misuse of it did things much worse than the Great Cataclysm on Earth.

As for the Primordials, they might know more than they're letting on, even to the lesser Eldren...

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by warellis

Are most ships in your setting tail sitter types, as in the decks are actually stacked on top of each other? More like a realistic design compared to most scifi ships I mean.

Some are. It depends on what the ship is designed to do. Many small spacecraft are hybrids, designed to operate within a planetary atmosphere, they often resemble a sleeker, smaller, more advanced version of the Space Shuttle Orbiter, with nuclear propulsion. They tend to be belly landers of one sort or another, for obvious reasons. There are also ships designed to set down in the water, or even operate underwater, but they are exceptions, but they too tend to be designed 'laterally'.

Other, bigger ships designed to land on planets tend to be 'stacked', and land on their tails, right out of Golden Age SF. Some ships can do either, though one or the other is usually preferred.

Ships designed to stay in space usually are designed around the need for 'spin gravity', either by spinning the whole vessel, or carrying a centrifuge-structure somewhere. A lot of them are cylindrical in a vague way.

There are also some 'special cases'.

And what kind of accelerations can your superscience NERVA drives do?

Depends on the ship and the design. A ship designed to be able to routinely reach Earth orbit, for ex, might be able to maintain several G for a few minutes at a time. Some military ships might maintain 1G for several hours at a time.

(With rockets, what the higher-order superscience drives can do is another matter entirely.)

Some are designed instead for low thrust over long periods, for some missions, .05G for days on end can be more useful than multiple G for a few minutes.

But like all rockets, they are limited by the reaction mass they can carry, the rocket equation reigns over them.

[Jasonft]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

There are a few other worlds where it's known, or has been known, one way or another. On at least one of them, misuse of it did things much worse than the Great Cataclysm on Earth.

This sounds interesting. Are you going to elaborate any time soon?

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Jasonft

This sounds interesting. Are you going to elaborate any time soon?

It's already had a few indirect affects on what's been revealed, I plan to reveal more in the medium-future.

[D10]

Dont worry, there will be a day when the one brings balance to the flux

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by D10

Dont worry, there will be a day when the one brings balance to the flux

There are indeed people in my world who don't understand the Flux who ascribe various mystical qualities to it, including moral imperatives one way or the other. They are gravely mistaken. The Matrix/Flux is so vast that it hasn't even consciously noticed the existence of humans or any other intelligent 'mortal' life. That tiny pico-fractional amount of its power that can be tapped into by mortals is therefore effectively a blind phenomenon, if you screw up with it, you face the consequences. In that sense it's like fire or acid.

But at the same time, it is alive, and following its own internal imperatives that take no account of mortal needs, wants, or interests. So it's both blind and fickle.

[Jasonft]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

The Matrix/Flux is so vast that it hasn't even consciously noticed the existence of humans or any other intelligent 'mortal' life.[/I].

Now this is interesting. Particularly combined with your earlier comment about the Primordials knowing more than they let on. I'm not sure if this has ever been mentioned before - I thought the Flux was a force of the universe like Gravity or Magnetism.