Our Comic Lab in the Playground: An experimentation class

[Darklord Bright]

I can imagine that there'd be quite a few Zodohaani who would see the idea of gaining a physical advantage over rivals through cybernetics or enhancements to be part of "Playing the game", though it might be more common amongst the Warrior Caste than any of the others. I could especially see a Zodohaani noble making her personal bodyguards into 'super-soldiers' of a sort in order to one-up her rivals.

Does that fit the concept of the way Z2.0 might work? It seems to fit into the very competitive nature of the Zodohaani social structure to me.

[Mad Mask]

I can imagine that there'd be quite a few Zodohaani who would see the idea of gaining a physical advantage over rivals through cybernetics or enhancements to be part of "Playing the game", though it might be more common amongst the Warrior Caste than any of the others. I could especially see a Zodohaani noble making her personal bodyguards into 'super-soldiers' of a sort in order to one-up her rivals.

Does that fit the concept of the way Z2.0 might work? It seems to fit into the very competitive nature of the Zodohaani social structure to me.

Well, there is more than one culture and one nation per species... I'm sure there's one Zodohaani country/colony that would accept the Z_2.0.

v: Same comment.

[John Cribati]

I can imagine that there'd be quite a few Zodohaani who would see the idea of gaining a physical advantage over rivals through cybernetics or enhancements to be part of "Playing the game", though it might be more common amongst the Warrior Caste than any of the others. I could especially see a Zodohaani noble making her personal bodyguards into 'super-soldiers' of a sort in order to one-up her rivals.

Does that fit the concept of the way Z2.0 might work? It seems to fit into the very competitive nature of the Zodohaani social structure to me.

On the other hand, the Pleocygrans would think that such enhancement would be dishonorable and... stuff.

[Keris]

Okay. What numbers would you use for the Nakeesh.

Well, if they're splintered, I'd hazard that there would be anything up to a thousand fleets, each with maybe up to a couple of thousand ships, and each ship carrying a couple of hundred Nakeesh. This gives at most something like a 500 000 000 Nakeesh in ships, and maybe 200 000 Nakeesh in each fleet.
If they're more concentrated, then perhaps 100 fleets, each with maybe 10 000 ships and 1000 Nakeesh in a ship. This gives something like 1 billion Nakeesh in ships, with 10 million Nakeesh in a single fleet.
For colonies, I'd imagine that there aren't that many that support a minimum viable population to be low, but then again I would imagine that there are fairly few habitable worlds anyway, Earth-like worlds don't grow on trees y'know. Maybe one or two with a population in the millions, and several more with populations in the hundreds or very low thousands, perhaps worlds in the early (and perhaps abandoned) stages of terraforming (Nak-forming?) with large habitats, and a few dozen worlds with just small outposts on, a score or two of Nakeesh doing whatever you do on outposts like that. Maintaining a broadcast relay, perhaps, or studying alien dirt.
And then there are the Nakeesh living in colonies either belonging to or predominantly occupied by other species. If each faction (save the H_2.0) has a few colonies, and maybe one in twenty of the population of those would be Nakeesh, giving us another 125 000 or so.

This gives us a total population of between 500 million and 1 billion, with 99% of the population in space fleets. The Nakeesh would still be a "major player" because of those thousands of fleets (each fleet would likely be able to blockade a planet, giving the Nakeesh quite some weight to throw around), but they wouldn't be nearly as numerous as the other factions.

Should these numbers be completely off, and utterly unusable for whatever reason, feel free to nitpick them as I've done to yours. My figures are greatly influenced by my own conceptions of how big the setting is, and hopefully we'll be able to work out a set of figures that satisfy all parties.

Well, there is more than one culture and one nation per species...

There might not be. Any of the factions could be a have a single governing body and single way of thinking that has displaced all others. These are aliens after all, not humans.
And while it's always possible that there are exceptions to everything, it's a lot easier to get a feel for a faction when you talk in generalisations.

[Darklord Bright]

Plus, with the way that the bulk of the Zodohaani work as a culture, other subcultures would quickly get swept under the rug if they deviated too far from the norm. It's just the way the governing body of Zodohaan is.

The lunar colony is slightly different in that there aren't a lot of higher caste there - mostly miners and servants working on the other moon - but most of them wouldn't even have the money for cybernetics, rendering the point moot.

Zodohaani culture doesn't really allow for large alternative factions of Zodohaani. There are loopholes in everything however, and it isn't uncommon for people to find ways to bend rules without truly breaking from the planetary customs.

[BRC]

Keris: Those numbers work. I think I'll drop the inital populations to 8 billion on Nak and 1 billion in various colonies (Primarily largely automatic mining operations with a small community of Nakeesh running it). The Colonies that banned Nanotech after the Nanopocolypse were largely wiped out (Since they used Nanotech to do so many essential things, like let their food grow on alien worlds, or keep their habitats in repait). The colonies that continued to use Nanotech were ostracized from the rest of Nakeesh culture, and became the Type-3 Nakeesh.

About 2 Billion Nakeesh escaped Nak (So that's 3 billion total at this point), but many of them died due to starvation, disease, and conflict, and negative population growth took it's toll, so there are about 1 billion Nakeesh left. Most of the technology that allowed them to quickly and easily colonize worlds was based on Nanotech, so they're currently trying to find other ways to handle that. Also, most of the current generation of Nakeesh were born on refugee ships after Nak's fall. The survivors of Nak are trying to steer their race to reunite and try to find a planet, but they are old and dieing, the race is run by their children and grandchildren, who have lived their entire lives wandering the stars.

[Hyoumu Yau]

Well, I came up with some ideas, and finally decided to start designing my characters for a fancomic. It'll be a non-DnD setting, in a fantasy world with magic and some kind of technology, in a state of tyranny,war etc.
So while I had time, I designed the first main character. I don't have a full backstory prepared and still no name...


Please give some comments about the design. It's my first time doing weapons and scarfs... and the hair is always a difficult part
Thanks !

[Mina Kobold]

Well, I came up with some ideas, and finally decided to start designing my characters for a fancomic. It'll be a non-DnD setting, in a fantasy world with magic and some kind of technology, in a state of tyranny,war etc.
So while I had time, I designed the first main character. I don't have a full backstory prepared and still no name...


Please give some comments about the design. It's my first time doing weapons and scarfs... and the hair is always a difficult part
Thanks !

The scarf should be on his shoulders and therefore his arms should not stick out of them like a shirt.

Otherwise, not bad

[licoot]

Well, I came up with some ideas, and finally decided to start designing my characters for a fancomic. It'll be a non-DnD setting, in a fantasy world with magic and some kind of technology, in a state of tyranny,war etc.
So while I had time, I designed the first main character. I don't have a full backstory prepared and still no name...


Please give some comments about the design. It's my first time doing weapons and scarfs... and the hair is always a difficult part
Thanks !

That is pretty awsome, the hair and the weopons are great

[Szilard]

Weapons are good.
The arms look like they should be bigger and below the scarf.
I think the hair just needs a bit more curves, and not so much sticking out of the back.

[licoot]

I reakon we should have some kind of vote, like with the species, to determen the forms of travel between planets, so that how the ships work, and how technalogically advanced everyone is.

[Hyoumu Yau]

Weapons are good.
The arms look like they should be bigger and below the scarf.
I think the hair just needs a bit more curves, and not so much sticking out of the back.

Well, the hairstyle is supposed to be part ponytail... And usually they stick out of the back of the head...

[Dogmantra]

Well, the hairstyle is supposed to be part ponytail... And usually they stick out of the back of the head...

I think slizard meant that it looks a little rigid. It'd be better if the ponytail curved downwards.

[Mina Kobold]

Well, the hairstyle is supposed to be part ponytail... And usually they stick out of the back of the head...

You need to think about the perspective

The ponytail shouldn't be this visible or at this angle when seen like in that picture.

[Szilard]

The ponytail is fine (in sticking out anyway), but the parts above it are sticking out way too much.

[John Cribati]

I have something for all of you.

Spoiler

Show

[MethosH]

Hey guys, glad to see you kept this thread alive while I was away.
I'm going to read all the previous post, get back to you all about the universe we are building and update the main page with the new content.

I should do this all until tomorrow night

[Mad Mask]

Seeing that no-one had done one as of now, I've draw a picture of a Pleocygran. Hopefully it's faithful enough, if Herpes needs any adjustments I'll happily provide them (the black figure is a normal human for comparison).



On another note, I'm calling a vote for the type of FTL drives we are going to be using. Voting will end 14/09/10, and you can only vote for one type of drive:

• Jump drives (instant teleportation) (2: Mad Mask, Methos Hazara)
• Ship-based alternate universe drives (hyperspace, subspace, etc)
• Gates (a.k.a. "wormholes") (1: Herpestidae)
• Ship-based spacetime distortion drives (a.k.a. "warp drives") (1: Szilard)
• Space railroads

If there's anything else just tell, me, I'll add it.

[John Cribati]

Seeing that no-one had done one as of now, I've draw a picture of a Pleocygran. Hopefully it's faithful enough, if Herpes needs any adjustments I'll happily provide them (the black figure is a normal human for comparison).

Pleocygrans are more like Crab-Centaurs. The bottom half is good, but could be a bit rounder. Just make the top more human-like.

[Mad Mask]

Pleocygrans are more like Crab-Centaurs. The bottom half is good, but could be a bit rounder. Just make the top more human-like.

Is this better?



The arms somewhat hide the torso, but it's fully human. Though I changed the breasts into chelicera, because they looked kinda wrong on an arthropod-like creature.

[Szilard]

I'm voting for warp.

[John Cribati]

Is this better?



The arms somewhat hide the torso, but it's fully human. Though I changed the breasts into chelicera, because they looked kinda wrong on an arthropod-like creature.

Better, but Pleocygrans have 2 hands and 2 claws.

Also, as to the travel, I say that there should be wormholes, but only vehicles built for the purpose can travel through them because of some unpronounceable and made-up reason.

[Keris]

On another note, I'm calling a vote for the type of FTL drives we are going to be using. Voting will end 14/04/10, and you can only vote for one type of drive:

I don't think we're at the right time for a vote on this yet. And I'm not really sure whether we're going about developing the FTL systems the right way either, we should maybe decide on a set of effects and limits to those effects, then figure out which cause works best.
Alternately, we could do it similarly to how we came up with races. Have a series of proposals, with causes, effects and limits put down already, then vote on those.

[Fin]

Right guys, I need opinions. I have an almost idea for a comic called 'Doodlewars: The Eraser Strikes Back!' (working title). I haven't even got much of a plot yet, just a concept more than anything. I only have one fairly hastily put together picture, I wanted to get something done whilst I was feeling inspired.

Basically all the characters are doodles that have essentially because sentient and removed themselves form the notebook they were created in and (in the absence of the human that drew them) try to carve out a life for themselves on his desk. However to make this a little different I am combining the art with real images as seen in the spoiler.

Spoiler

Show

The reason they have blue lines running through them is because they came out of a pad with ruled lines in it similar to a jotter or... well a notepad I suppose!

So opinions about the idea?

I think this could be an interesting project to work on but I do have an issue, resizing the images I have drawn myself on Inkscape is fine but when I do it to the photographs it tends to blur them, how do I combat this? Sorry if that is a stupid question.

[MethosH]

First:
Special thanks to MM for making the vote.

I would like to place my vote at Jump drives (instant teleportation), but I would like to say something about those jump drives.

I'm talking about Dune style of jump. A distortion of space itself (only space) to bring to points of the third dimension together in the fourth dimension providing instant movement without moving.

MadMask, can you set the vote to last for 10 days? I think that would be enough time for everyone that is interested to vote and to propose new ideas.

Now, regarding factions/species/nations:

About colonies and size here is what I could gather, please correct me if I'm wrong:

1. The Zodohaani: Single government, associated with more than one planet and colonies. Rules a sector or a system.
2. The Nakessh: Nomand people with relative small numbers, hold a small number of colonies. Single government.
3. The Caz: Single government. Only have one planet. Heavily present in multi-faction ships and colonies.
4. The 2.0: Not a faction. Just a multi-faction subculture of people interested in improve themselves with technology.
5. The Krashningrions / The Pleocygrans: Single government. Holds many colonies and planets. Rules a sector or a system.
6. The Argotanians United: Multi-faction corporation. Single government based on corporation hierarchy. Rules over an entire sector.

And now, as a common consensus, we may need this:

Earth Union:

Earth Union is the form of "government" that rules Earth. Much like the, now extincted, United Nations, the Earth Union has representatives from all governments and was made to take decisions that would affect the entire planet and its colonies. It was decided that no country would hold colonies in space, but each colony would, equally, belong to the Earth Union.

Due to the distance from the colonies and Earth they all tend to act like small countries that are bound to Earth. With no real political influence but act, mostly, independent.

---

On another note:

Star Systems is a general consensus, so now is time for two things:
1 - Vote on the FTL travel system.
2 - Stop overthinking the factions for a moment and start thinking on the actual star system map. We don't need to use real star systems out there, I think we can come up with our own.

The Star System Map, unlike normal terrain map, can be done in modules. So what we need is figure out:

1. Planets, colonies and systems that our factions rule.
2. Make individual maps for them.
3. Put all approved maps together in a huge Star System Map.

[Mad Mask]

First:
Special thanks to MM for making the vote.

You're welcome.

I would like to place my vote at Jump drives (instant teleportation), but I would like to say something about those jump drives.

I'm talking about Dune style of jump. A distortion of space itself (only space) to bring to points of the third dimension together in the fourth dimension providing instant movement without moving.

Interesting. I'm supporting this idea.

MadMask, can you set the vote to last for 10 days? I think that would be enough time for everyone that is interested to vote and to propose new ideas.

Alright.

2. The Nakessh: Nomand people with relative small numbers, hold a small number of colonies. Single government.

I believe Nakessh society is too fragmented and dispersed to have a single government. Remember that most of them travel in wandering fleets.

3. The Caz: Single government. Only have one planet. Heavily present in multi-faction ships and colonies.

There are at least two nations on the Caz's planet, if I remember correctly.

5. The Krashningrions / The Pleocygrans: Single government. Holds many colonies and planets. Rules a sector or a system.

I believe there are many governments for the Pleocygrans. "The head of any given state is called the "Commander,[...]"

And now, as a common consensus, we may need this:

Earth Union:

Earth Union is the form of "government" that rules Earth. Much like the, now extinct, United Nations, the Earth Union has representatives from all governments and was made to take decisions that would affect the entire planet and its colonies. It was decided that no country would hold colonies in space, but each colony would, equally, belong to the Earth Union.

Due to the distance from the colonies and Earth they all tend to act like small countries that are bound to Earth. With no real political influence but act, mostly, independent.

Seems reasonable. I support this.

---

On another note:

Star Systems is a general consensus, so now is time for two things:
1 - Vote on the FTL travel system.
2 - Stop overthinking the factions for a moment and start thinking on the actual star system map. We don't need to use real star systems out there, I think we can come up with our own.

We should possibly think about the technology and how "realistic" it will be. Will we use the common space opera near-fantasy rayguns or more plausible firearms? There are many aspects of the technology that should be defined somewhat early.

The Star System Map, unlike normal terrain map, can be done in modules. So what we need is figure out:

1. Planets, colonies and systems that our factions rule.
2. Make individual maps for them.
3. Put all approved maps together in a huge Star System Map.

Actually, I believe it would be better if we did one starmap and several planetary system maps for each system, for scale reasons. I volunteer to be the starmap cartographer, though I'll have to know how everyone thinks each system should be in relation to each other before I do anything official.

I say the rough diameter of the "civilised sphere" should be a bit less than fifty parsecs (about 163 light years), allowing for a very large number of stars while still having a reasonable size.

[BRC]

The Nakeesh technically have a single government. After the Nanopocolypse some people tried to keep the Nakeesh Republic alive, and on one of the larger colonies, the Congress still meets. However, they have no power and they know it. Occasionally they'll try to pass resolutions or start programs calling the Nakeesh to unite again under one banner and do something great, or they send a message out denouncing or approving of some event that's occurred, and major planets technically have Nakeesh embassy's.

However, everybody knows the Republic is a government without a nation to govern. It survives because it's easier to have it than to get rid of it, and because, while the congress no longer represents the people of Nak (It's very difficult for elections to be held so basically people who want to join go up to the leader of whatever group they're with and say "I want to be our representative to the congress" and the leader says "Sure whatever, we had an election, you won"), it does represent a hope. A hope that one day the Nakeesh will re-unite, and when that happens, the Republic intends to be around to help in whatever way it can.

However, I wouldn't put that on their official entry. Each refugee fleet and colony governs itself, most are republics of one sort or another, though there is no one universal system.


Edit: An example of how to describe a Star system.

Nakal System
This system was once the hub of Nakeesh civilization. Nak was the only planet within it's habitable band, and while some Nakeesh carry on in colonies on the other planets, it's no longer a major center.
Because the system is the origin of a civilization, people use the names the Nakeesh gave the planets, instead of the standard system (Nakal I, Nakal II, Nakal III ect)
Planets (Distance from sun)
Rakel: A small rocky world with no moons, it's tidally locked with Nakal.
Nak: Once the homeworld of the Nakeesh, it's been stripped bare. Even the orbital habitats have moved away. Small communities exist on the planets two moons, but they are not much.
Kalack: A larger, rocky planet in possession of an atmosphere(Not breathable) and even several large bodies of water (Covering about 30% of the planet's surface), however, frequent storms and seismic activity make it all but uninhabitable.
Rorch: A Gas Giant, four moons.

[John Cribati]

I believe there are many governments for the Pleocygrans. "The head of any given state is called the "Commander,[...]"

On a planet-wide scale, they basically have the equivalent of the United Nations, where a representative from each Colony/State/Whatever (Though not the commander him-or-herself) to deal with such things as war and inter-planetary affairs.

[Dogmantra]

Right guys, I need opinions. I have an almost idea for a comic called 'Doodlewars: The Eraser Strikes Back!' (working title). I haven't even got much of a plot yet, just a concept more than anything. I only have one fairly hastily put together picture, I wanted to get something done whilst I was feeling inspired.

Basically all the characters are doodles that have essentially because sentient and removed themselves form the notebook they were created in and (in the absence of the human that drew them) try to carve out a life for themselves on his desk. However to make this a little different I am combining the art with real images as seen in the spoiler.

Spoiler

Show

The reason they have blue lines running through them is because they came out of a pad with ruled lines in it similar to a jotter or... well a notepad I suppose!

So opinions about the idea?

I think this could be an interesting project to work on but I do have an issue, resizing the images I have drawn myself on Inkscape is fine but when I do it to the photographs it tends to blur them, how do I combat this? Sorry if that is a stupid question.

I love this idea so much. Please make it!
If you do I will e-marry you... if you'd like.

[John Cribati]

I think this could be an interesting project to work on but I do have an issue, resizing the images I have drawn myself on Inkscape is fine but when I do it to the photographs it tends to blur them, how do I combat this? Sorry if that is a stupid question.

Ctrl+Shift+L brings up the Layer Drop Box... thing. Import the photo into Inkscape but don't change its size. Then put the characters on another layer.