[Space/Thaumatology] Stargate: Fantasy - Worldbuilding thread

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Undead Question I

Considering we've opted to have our Goa'uld expies be pretty much anything, it only seems appropriate for basically all undead - 2, 3 (which I'll note you've mislabeled as another "2"), 4, 5, and 6 - to be in play. Heck, some of that was already in play for the science fiction version of the setting - the Goa'uld's regular use of the Sarcophagus device brings to mind both mummies and vampires (in the latter case, being analogous to the vampire's daily coffin rest), and the Wraiths (from Stargate: Atlantis) basically were vampires. There was even a subplot where it turned out one could harvest an organ from a Wraith to make an extremely-addictive drug that gave the user superpowers, analogous to the effects of drinking vampire blood in some media (most notably Vampire: The Masquerade).

I would suggest going a step further, and having many of the Jaffa-expies be sapient corporeal undead, rather than Goa'uld incubators.

[Prince Charon]

Fixed the 3. Was writing while sleep-deprived, due to waking up, not being able to get back to sleep, and Having An Idea.

Yes, I can see some of the Jaffa-expies being sapient corporeal undead.

[adm]

My apologies for dropping out for a bit, rough week.

Current Question; 7, blend of the above, plus, what I list below.

Undead Question I

1. None; Less Goa'uld, more other species, some friendly, some not.

2. Mummies; I think these could be lost/imprisoned/abandoned Goa'uld. Weakened over full strength ones, dangerous and desperate.

3. Liches; Trusted human, or whatever, subjects that have positions of trust and power.

4. Vampires; If we add in SG:A, I would reserve these for the Wraith.

5. Zombies; Entry level Jaffa

6. Skeletons; I think this a bad move, it would let the "It's magic, not Science" twist out of the bag too early.

7. Something else (please specify); Jaffa, I picture still using the incubator idea useful, as it touches on contagion horror. Keeping the Goa'uld as strong r strategy producers, let's assume that zombies are the entry level larval form, as they grow they become something more free willed like wights or wraiths.

[adm]

Stargate Command Question VI

I like TGLS's take. I would insert that once the ley line maps etc did not lead to NAZI cells, or stock piles, this group got progressive shoved on a back burner, as the Soviets became the West's new Big Bad.

The Gate wound up at L'Anse aux Meadows due less to a plan on the West's part, and more of a happenstance. The Gate and stuff found with it were stuffed in a freighter and sent to the US, as was a lot of "interesting" items found in Europe, and was pulled out for "safe keeping". The Gate itself was pulled towards the ley line nexus, and the freighter was damaged, run ashore, or whatever, and the stuff, being out of Europe was left there. This may be a passive action by the Gate, my preference, or, once recharged, the Gate may become something more akin to the Guardian of Forever from Star Trek.

As the Gate and materials recovered, were found to be less "important actionable intelligence" and more "mystical NAZI crap" responsibility for it was "magnanimously awarded" to Canada, it wasn't until the Gate had been at the ley line convergence long enough to reactivate that Five Eyes realized that this may actually be something important.

[adm]

Stargate Command Question VII

Not a lot of thoughts here. If taking my above suggestion, during the "not an important post, but we have it to siphon funding off of, for other off the books projects" stage.
The personal sent here were either folks that Five Eyes could not dump, that Congressman's kid that needs to have international experience, but is not trusted with a real job, old guys not quite to retirement age, useful irritants that you do not want to lose, but do not want around day to day, think Fox Mulder's back story in X-Files, he was a good profiler, but was difficult to keep on point.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Sounds good to me. I will note that, if the integration of "natives" into the teams is officially discouraged, it may not be appropriate to have a dedicated Liaison Agent for them. Rather, they may be under the same Liaison Agent as whichever team member is considered responsible for them (generally, whoever it was that convinced them to join up - Jack, rather than Daniel or Sam, would have been considered responsible for Teal'c, for example).

Seconded. This is a good idea.

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

being a TV series with a Hollywood Military focus, they neglected IS-related procedures a lot.)

I was also thinking that an organization run by intelligence agencies is going to be quite a bit more aware of that, as will players who have to live the consequences of loose informational security.


Just by way of explanation.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Seconded. This is a good idea.

Yeah, thinking that I'll edit the post to fit that later. It does make sense. Some, maybe even most, might become naturalized citizens of their sponsor's home nation, once they're able to not stand out in the wrong ways.

Originally Posted by ericthered

I was also thinking that an organization run by intelligence agencies is going to be quite a bit more aware of that, as will players who have to live the consequences of loose informational security.


Just by way of explanation.

Yes, that fits. Have started thinking that the 'Carter' expy of the pregens I'm working on will be the most divergent from canon, being a CIA agent based on the Cleaner template from GURPS Action 1, instead of being a Hollywood Action Scientist - or I'll add an extra character who's a Cleaner, and the SG1-expy has two TA agents. (Late EDIT, but not worth making a new post for: the Jack-expy makes a lot more sense as the Cleaner/IS agent than the Sam-expy, so if I don't add a 'new' Cleaner character, Jack-expy is our IS agent.)


Also, Happy Hallowe'en, for those who care about such things.

[Prince Charon]

OK, made a change to Stargate Command Question VII in regard to the 'Native' (extraterrestrial) agents, so have a look.

The Undead question looks like the consensus is something like 'They all exist, and some are Goa'Uld, servants of Jaffa-equivalents, or the victims of horrific punishments by the Goa'Uld. The SGC probably shouldn't encounter them until they've been using the Stargate for a while, though.' Is that acceptable?

Probably going to post a new question, this one about Elves, tomorrow; I want to review it again first, preferably when I've had a bit more sleep.


Current thoughts on the SG1-expy for this setting:

Jack-expy: Major James MacElroy, seconded to the Stargate program from Canadian Forces Intelligence Branch. Team leader, designated IS agent, secondary PS agent. Probably uses Cleaner template from GURPS Action 1 pp7-8.

Sam-expy: Not named yet, seconded from either CIA or USAF ISR. Designated TA agent. Probably built with Wire Rat template, GURPS Action 1 p16, but with Magical Engineering; might replace Gadgeteering with magical advantages.

Daniel-expy: Name not certain yet. British archaeologist and linguist technically employed by MI6. Designated LD agent and secondary TA agent; Path/Book Adept. Might use the Academic template from GURPS Horror.

Teal'c-expy: Possibly 'G'annan of Frolec.' Might be a Jaffa, might be some other sort of alien. Sponsor is MacElroy. Designated PS agent, secondary LD agent. If having notable magic at all, it'll be Magic as Powers. Probably made with the Soldier (Heavy Infantry Officer) template from the 4e conversion of Historical Folks (might be Archery Officer instead, using a fireball-staff instead of a bow, or a Cavalry officer if we want to go more AU).

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

The SGC probably shouldn't encounter them until they've been using the Stargate for a while, though.' Is that acceptable?



Sam-expy: Not named yet, seconded from either CIA or USAF ISR. U).

Yes, meeting the "advanced" sort of trans-Gate being should probably wait a while.

If the Five Eyes really did/was signals intelligence NSA would be more likely than CIA.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

The Undead question looks like the consensus is something like 'They all exist, and some are Goa'Uld, servants of Jaffa-equivalents, or the victims of horrific punishments by the Goa'Uld. The SGC probably shouldn't encounter them until they've been using the Stargate for a while, though.' Is that acceptable?

They could probably encounter some of them relatively early on, so long as them being undead isn't obvious. Some sort of revenant-type undead - basically a zombie, minus the rotting and mindlessness - would be largely indistinguishable from a normal person, outside of a pallor (possibly concealed by armor, and in any case explainable as a result of purposeful cosmetic treatment) and low body-temperature (which the characters won't have a chance to check until they've been defeated, and only if the bodies are left behind; this will certainly raise some eyebrows, but they may come up with logical explanations; you could avoid this if such undead turn to dust when destroyed, like Buffyverse vampires, with the characters simply assuming some sort of advanced self-destruction mechanism is in play). Inhuman resilience and strength may be explained away as a result of advanced combat drugs and/or a function of their armor.

But that all depends on how long you want the characters to be in the dark about the existence of actual magic. If our Teal'c-expy's innate abilities could potentially be explained with science (considering we're starting from a baseline of "having an alien snake in your belly giving you super-strength and resilience is realistic," that's not too difficult, honestly) and his Magitech equipment (like the Jaffa staff) is assumed to be Sufficiently Advanced Technology, you could potentially keep this going for a while (and it might be interesting if SGC convinces the Teal'c-expy - or if he had come to such a conclusion himself already - that there's no actual magic involved, just advanced technology, prior to them discovering that, no, it's actually magic), so you'd want any undead to at least look vaguely plausible.