Messages

1

Promenade / Re: Orville Needs Pirate Voices

« on: December 13, 2019, 05:40:52 PM »

An update:



The game developers are now getting ready to begin implementing the first story line, which means now more than ever they need to start building a cast of voice actors. If anyone is interested they should reach out to Frans Bindels at galaxygrew@hotmail.com.



Peace

Davi

2

Promenade / Re: What are we bitching about

« on: September 24, 2019, 05:00:10 PM »

If Trump isnt careful, these people from Shithole countries are going to get offended and will stop sneaking into the United States.



IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT MR PRESIDENT

I don't know if you know where you are. But Pirates don't generally care whether or not the Crown is careful, or where people sneak.

3

Promenade / Re: SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!

« on: September 18, 2019, 11:32:43 AM »

Marc Stevens handles it by having everyone email him to request a user name for access before they can post.

That's how you build an echo chamber. I'm trying to build a resonance generator.

4

Promenade / Re: SPAM! SPAM! SPAM!

« on: September 16, 2019, 09:17:16 AM »

I have a feeling this is going to be an ongoing struggle. I've just spent the morning clearing it out, and removing the bot users. But I have a feeling the best defense against noise is signal. Right now there's not a lot of traffic in the forum. When there is more traffic the occasional SPAM will seem irrelevant. It's a ratio problem. My goal is too keep it below the Facebook unsolicited advertisement ratio.

5

Promenade / Re: New user here

« on: September 16, 2019, 09:14:20 AM »

Hey, welcome aboard.



You know, if you're in Arizona and you ever hear Ernie talking about one of the social gatherings he has at his home, you should feel totally welcome to go. Random listeners show up all the time, and that's pretty much how a lot of us met anyway. His address is at the foot of the show's homepage.

6

Promenade / Re: Bitcoin is broken

« on: September 16, 2019, 09:11:22 AM »

I've lost more Bitcoin then I will ever have again. But for me the question has never been whether Bitcoin was perfect. The question has been "compared to what?" The dollar is broken. So it always always always boils down to "What is the task" and "What is the best imperfect tool"

7

Declare Your Independence / Re: Reputation - psychopaths & true believers

« on: September 16, 2019, 09:04:56 AM »

I think you're right about this. I spent more than one long night in meatspace trying to get through to him. I think there's serious problems with Ernie's idea of an immutable and anonymous reputation database. His so called "permanent record" had a lot of technical hurdles to achieve, if it's even possible... or desirable. Me personally, I don't even want a system like this.



Did you read the first draft of the Fourth Letter of Reprisal?

https://forums.pirateswithoutborders.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8215&p=8695&sid=4aab500fb797f311b8151a71a29716a8#p8695" class="bbc_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">http://https://forums.pirateswithoutborders.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8215&p=8695&sid=4aab500fb797f311b8151a71a29716a8#p8695



Ernie wanted to rush it to publication, but didn't include most of it in the latest book edition. I think it has a lot left to punch out, and I bet you'd be good at it.

8

Promenade / Re: Work jackets

« on: September 16, 2019, 08:52:16 AM »

Crew shirts

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/69359308_10156495444635796_8881327528665415680_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_oc=AQk20--5nxACV18eZCKNNkNyu5q_4ZW9DYXQVa9GCsRto763vO7EiXKZyufjgFZexxg&_nc_ht=scontent-atl3-1.xx&oh=3fe062f59e48f96588b70df5e1b4e848&oe=5E081A26" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

[Grapefruit McPunk:]

9

Promenade / Bogg (Cosmic seeds)

« on: September 14, 2019, 09:11:56 AM »

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fezEUv4CXigjIv8bxpnAXbcTz_9sikBepJ6RHBT0l6c/edit?usp=sharing



The Radix Mundi

Bogg consciousness is nebulous. They are in a sense, all one consciousness they call the Radix Mundi, but they don’t all remember all of it all of the time. Individual Bogg are aligned with clans or races descended from each of the Primordial Bogg.



Bogg can also send out their individual consciousness into any plant life they’re telepathically connected to, as in within the magnetic field of a planet. This bond is so strong even if their individual body is completely destroyed their consciousness can channel into other plant life. There might be memory loss. They might be less connected to the Radix Mundi for a while. But they’ll survive, and given time and nutrients they’ll grow, and fully recover, even if no biologically original tissue remains.



Bogg have memories much longer than any humanoid lives, but far shorter than their own lifespan. They celebrate when they’ve forgotten their germination as a kind of passage into maturity, and from then on they simply live as if they always were. From their perspective they have simply always been, and always will be.



Motivation

Bogg are fascinated by animal mortality. They don’t have the phenomenon of death like animal life does, so they never get a sense of completion. For them all Bogg life is an outgrowth of other Bogg life, which they feel viscerally connected to, so the individual dying isn’t experienced like death. Canvasses never get put in frames because their artists never stop painting. Manuscripts never get sent to publishers because their writers never stop writing. They have no concept of religion or mythology, because they have neither an after life, nor a creation to worry about. They have no dating or courting rituals because their species does not biologically reproduce. It merely is. They have no families, no funerals, no annual holidays or celebrations. If they ever find each other they share an overwhelming sense of harmony. In fact, two distinct Bogg can conjoin into a single Bogg, and separate again. The study of even the simplest elements of their culture would take 100s of human life times to understand. They keep their origins a closely guarded secret.



If Bogg bother interacting with animal life they mostly just observe, trying to understand how death affects animal cultures. An entire animal lifetime seems like a blip to creatures as ancient as them, so in an effort to observe the moment of death they sometimes poison animals with a toxin that stretches the moment of death so they can more easily observe it. What they don't realize is that in studying our mortality they are killing their subjects.



The subject is offered a genetically altered fruit, which probably just seems like a bush they’ve never noticed before. The berries put the subject in a state they mistakenly call 'Elongated Mortality' or 'Elmo Berries' for short. It's a little lavender berry they give to all their death testing subjects. The infected person was given perfect physical health (even regrowing missing organs) and peace of mind, but only for the duration of the trip.



Characters

The names of Bogg in their native language are insufferably long affairs, and virtually unpronounceable by most humanoids. Fortunately, they tolerate nicknames when they associate with other races. But these nicknames are often a bit surreal by human standards. An amalgam of terms alien to them to convey concepts alien to us.



Grapefruit McPunk: Shaped like a giant turtle, with bark skin and clover scales. Abnormally large hind feet and a leafy cape. Capable of retracting branch-like limbs and growing back all manner of useful configurations. Capable of carrying passengers in its moist citrus center and traveling through ocean or space. A personality like a most overprotective valet driver.

 

Bush Clinic: A walking free clinic, producing all kinds of medicinal botanicals. Potentially a carrying case for dried and refined goods. Oils. Salves. Edibles. Etc. Like a doctor's bag, or Hunter Thomson's briefcase.



Cognito Blueberry: A Camouflage agent, specialized in shape-shifting, but always a little blue colored. Capable of roughly imitating animal life, and moving among them. Mimicking specific people is a challenge, but passing in a crowd is no trouble. They’ll always appear plant like upon closer examination.



Elmo Wolf: Bogg Agent armed with a variety of toxic barbs and fruits designed to intoxicate and medicate animal life for observation. Skin like birch bark. I named him Elmo Wolf to justify a psychedelic scene where the letters of him name rearranging to “Follow Me.”



Sheldrake Root: A fungal dimensional traveller. A personality like Robin Williams playing an extraterrestrial with DID. Seems to be in multiple places at once. Produces a fungus that lets the user interdimensional travel if eaten, if they can concentrate.



Star Wars[/b]

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Botanical_sentient_species



Agarian (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Agarian)

speaking, sentient mushrooms who could alter their size and number of limbs.

Lacked a visual system, they could smell and hear, feel the movements of the air.

They only required a modicum of sunlight to survive.

Traveled through space as giant seedlings, searching for worlds to colonize.

Stank to the Human nostril.



Ergesh (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ergesh)

Evolved from plant based organisms on their swampy homeworld.

Droopy slimy appendages of various lengths and sizes.

Did not have faces. A number of the smaller tentacles were actually “opticstalks.”

Could not get intoxicated, drugged, or poisoned by most substances.

Ergesh personal names were long affairs, Fortunately, they tolerate nicknames.

Their society has no class, no discrimination, no wants, no crime.

Amazing bio-technology which included living starships called Starjumpers



Black Orchid (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Murakami_orchid)

Force-sensitive plant that speak telepathically with Force-sensitive people.

A serum/virus for the purpose of eternal life.



Neti (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Neti)

Shapeshifting sentient plants with tough gray skin similar to plant bark.

Multiple thin branching arms, and thick body trunks.

Average life span of several thousand years.

Seeds remained dormant for more than a thousand years before germinating.



Sylphe (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sylphe)

Green skin. Flowers grew on their heads that changed with their emotions.

They communicated with pheromones that were used to influence other species.

Powerful telepathy, which allowed them to communicate at interstellar distance.



Zelosian (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Zelosian)

Keep their origins a closely guarded secret and were commonly misidentified.

Their blood was a green chlorophyllic sap.

Muscles were cellulose fibers

Alcohol had no intoxicating effect.



Doctor Who



Vervoids (https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Vervoid)

Artificially created humanoid slave plant

Pined for freedom and decided to destroy their oppressors. (Like plant Kaylon)

Short tendrils at the ends of their "arms" that shoot poisonous darts.



Krynoid (https://tardis.fandom.com/wiki/Krynoid)

Large, carnivorous alien plants that could be thought of as galactic weeds.

Snow and ice slow them down and render their pods inert.

Had an undefined anatomy.

Require animal proteins while young, but can survive on photosynthesis later.

Able to channel their power into other plants, at least within a mile radius.

Krynoids couldn't live in environments with high carbon levels.

Affected by high-pitched noises, allowing the host mind to reassert itself.



Marvel

Watchers (https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Watchers)

The oldest species in the universe.

Observing and compiling knowledge on all aspects of the universe without interference.

Innate ability to achieve virtually any effect desired, including augmenting personal attributes, time and space manipulation, molecular manipulation, energy projection and a range of mental powers.

[Dr. Who]

10

Promenade / Magacephallus (Space Whales)

« on: September 08, 2019, 08:36:43 PM »

I've got a treatment for a space whale plot in The Orville game that involves space pirates.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1slkMJSRpgHvmGCBsw_WwnBb1Ydo5ubv1GSlrzU0yjTQ/edit?usp=sharing



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3DiYspY1Q4[/url]



Pirate Opening

Captain Marque intercepts a Kaylon communication describing a Megacephalus sighting and rallies his crew to go on a hunt to harvest it’s meat.

Megacephalus meat is a priceless delicacy thought to have age reversing properties.

Kaylon reports multiple encounters but consistently fail to exterminate them because the Megacephalus simply “ceases to exist.” Or disappears in a poof of tachyons. (Dr. Who)

Captain Marque degradingly nicknamed the creature the “Cash Cow.”

Captain Marque is fanatical like Ahab, but the crew is ambivalent about the mission. Some are also eager to pursue the profitable venture, but many, including Reprisal, disagree.

Quartermaster Reprisal believes the Union should be abolished, as do all pirates, but she agrees with the Union’s hands off policy, and would rather protect the Megacephalus.

Many believe the Megacephalus is mythical anyway, and they don’t want to waste the ship’s time and energy chasing the Loch Ness Monster of Kaylon space.

The Precariat negotiates safe passage in Kaylon space, because pirates have been anti-slavery since the golden age of piracy on Earth. Kaylon are persuaded pirates are a fringe psychoclass of biologicals that poses no threat. (5LM: First Contact Protocol)

Note: I see this as being two things either a cutscene maybe before getting the mission order. Or possible a animation including youtube. I feel like this needs to be before the mission invite or intro.



The Dirge of the Megacephalus

Turns out the space whale is telepathic over extremely large distances, especially to gelatinous lifeforms like Yaffit, who feel it like a spooky resonate vibration. And it’s calling to the player.

It’s an ancient benevolent creature that’s been alone for so long it’s decided to die by orbiting a dying star (TNG:TinMan). This confuses the moral obligation to protect it.  

It’s death song reaches into deep space, and players will be able to navigate to it once they realize what the signal is.

Any ship that comes close to the space whale will be caught in it’s tachyon wake, and suffer power loss as it fights off the space bacteria on it’s hull.

Exposure to the electrophoretic waves created by the Megacephalus could cause  gelatinous lifeforms like Yaffit to trigger their mitosis process. (VOY:Elogium) Probably something it does to encourage the bacteria to procreate.

Any successful weapon strike, even on minimum power will be lethal to the space whale, and trigger the ending.

Whether it’s the pirates hunting the Megacephalus, or the Union hunting the pirates we all end up finding the wild Megacephalus eventually. This space whale is a bright pearl white reflective color that is blinding to look at in the sunlight.

For pirates it’s a question of whether or not to mutiny and overthrow the captain. Perhaps even turning him over to the Union in exchange for clean record.

If the player sides with Reprisal over Marque there could be a treaty with the Union where the Precariat adopts the Union’s endangered species policy in her Pirate Code.

The Union player pursues the Precariat, but learns that everything they know of pirates is propaganda. So, they’ve got to decide whether or not to arrest the pirates or let them go.

Duty says arrest them, but honor among captains says let them go. If the player lets them go they’ll have a gentlemen’s agreement with the captain of the Orville, but not the Union.

In the end, whether they’ve attacked the Magacephalus, or the star begins to go supernova and the corona of the star changes color the Magacephalus will die, and the player will receive a psychic song of it’s willingness, and even gratitude about moving on, but once the consciousness is gone the body begins to ungulate in great waves, and spin, at which point we learn that Magacephalus reproduces by macro cell division, similar to Yaffit’s species, and while the ancient white whale was preparing for it’s death, and has died, that’s because the two black whales it left behind are now infants, playing the glowing bacteria for the first time. Any attempt to communicate or foster them in any way is pointless. They both hear a distant whale song and disappear into the time stream.

Note: This sounds like it could be a mission



Star Wars[/b]



Purrgil

Massive creatures that live in deep space. A cross between whale, squid, and stingray.

Natural ability to fly through hyperspace if they inhale stores of Clouzon-36 gas.

Habit of wandering into hyperspace lanes, crashing into starships near their flight paths

They had four large hind tentacles, a single dorsal fin, and two side fins.

Whale-ships: Equipped with inhabitable armor, made into a base, and a fleet of ships.



Dr. Who



Star Whale: Galeen

An ancient and benevolent species that often rescued spacecraft in distress.

Many flippers and tentacles down their stomach. Smaller, spiked tendrils on their back.

More intelligent than humans, and they could live for thousands of years



AUDIO: The Song of Megaptera

The Sixth Doctor sought to end the whaling of these creatures by the Toothons

Galeens transmitted their song as radio waves, and used solar sails.

Got nourishment from its own internal self-sustaining ecosystem.

The Sixth Doctor described a Galeen as "basically a micro-planet".

Digested time particles in dark matter so internal organs were "eternal organs"

Survivors of crashed ships could live inside them for generations



TV: The Beast Below

To lose a pursuer, a star whale could dive in time which left a trail of tachyons.

Their voices were too high-pitched for humans to hear.

They were capable of bioluminescence and had glowing patterns.

They fed on solar power from the stars they passed.

Legend: Guided early space travelers through dangers on their journeys.



PROSE: Pack Animals

Degradingly nicknamed Cash Cow

Kept as a re-growing source of meat.



AUDIO: The Widow's Assassin

The royal hall on planet Hurn was constructed from the skeleton of a star whale.

Psychically sensed the terror of children and could not bear to hear them cry.

They built a ship on its back and carve open its brain to torture it into moving.



Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy



This features a whale in space... although only briefly.



The Avengers

Chitauri ships in are huge weaponized cyborg Space Whales.

11

Promenade / Re: The First Letter of Captain Kid

« on: September 08, 2019, 08:33:29 PM »

than i could count... not then

Thanks I'll fix it in the print edition.

12

Promenade / I've hidden some things in Manitou Springs

« on: September 05, 2019, 04:50:15 PM »

https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/70523483_10156524355210796_8127995741030318080_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_oc=AQmENKWx74Ei15rqeTTq_Pb4etY5kq5BAVUXpJv4yx0J71kVLfdMUplHjcaY6gV9x9M&_nc_ht=scontent-atl3-1.xx&oh=cb3688a6399fb0ec2318f3b654387ada&oe=5E0958FE" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

13

Promenade / Re: The First Letter of Captain Kid

« on: September 05, 2019, 04:43:47 PM »

What do you mean, "out of nowhere?"

14

Declare Your Independence / Re: Freedom is only 62 miles straight up... BULLSHIT!

« on: September 05, 2019, 04:41:51 PM »

You're exactly right. The 62 mile meme is only a legal technicality under current treaties, the same way "international waters" is only a legal agreement. They will transgress these limits the moment it suits them.

15

Communication / Re: Fourth Letter of Reprisal - Draft

« on: August 21, 2019, 03:50:09 PM »

Listen live while you can:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNSOtoyJmVgwFxHGJcHyW_w/live