Brainstorming a “Kitchen Sink“ Sci-Fi campaign

[Eltab]

The stars in Orion are very big and very bright ... and very far away. Saying "We are from Orion" could be a form of misdirection. The Orion Constellation is visible and recognizable across a large cone in the galaxy. The Knights' resource base is in that general direction but not around those particular stars. It might be behind / inside a nebula or dust cloud, as seen from Earth / "civilized space".

If your gates are like Starfire (warp links may connect nearby stars or may go clear across the map) the homeworld could be anywhere in the night sky.

The true home base could lie in the direction of Lepus (the bunny rabbit hiding near the Hunter's feet) - because a bunny is cute cuddly and harmless, everybody knows that. Except for Monty Pythons. But Monty Pythons are paranoid; who really expects... umm ...

 

[Zardnaar]

You could have the precursors still around.

1. Their civilization collapsed. Survivors lack ftl/gates. It's not known the survivors are actually the ancients.

2. They are reclusive if powerful. Once again it's not known they are the precursors.

3. A precursor ship is floating around. Perhaps it is self aware but it can function as a jump gate itself.


I would probably give the galaxy really slow hyperdrives. The gates are very convenient however.

Depends if you want the current powers that be to be able to build new ones.

The current set up could also just be a hub and each gate system is isolated with a mega gate or whatever linked to a central area but the inter hub system has collapsed.

If the precursors are still around they gave their own private hub cut off from the "galactic" hub.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The fortress monasteries i was thinking of in particular are like massive mobile fortress ships that house the main strength of a space marine chapter, including the initiates, relics, manufactories and the like. I was picturing a sentient fortress that somehow formed the spiritual heart, if not leadership, of your knightly order. Maybe something in a repository of knowledge sentience that needed to be kept from most races, but was also used to help the Knights do ... whatever is it they do.

It would be cool if their stomping grounds were some sort of nexus of gates and relics from your lost civilization.

I had a similar idea for their base(s) in mind myself.

Also ringworlds or a dyson sphere.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The true home base could lie in the direction of Lepus (the bunny rabbit hiding near the Hunter's feet) - because a bunny is cute cuddly and harmless, everybody knows that.

That’s a pretty good idea, I have to say. Very...”not being seen”.

A number of writers (Greg Bear, for certain) have noted that certain advanced cultures- recognizing the danger represented by other advanced cultures- would actively conceal their existence as much as possible. Why not an organization like the KoO?

 

[Nobby-W]

That’s a pretty good idea, I have to say. Very...”not being seen”.

A number of writers (Greg Bear, for certain) have noted that certain advanced cultures- recognizing the danger represented by other advanced cultures- would actively conceal their existence as much as possible. Why not an organization like the KoO?

Assumng that their job is to wander about as knights-errant, righting wrongs and suchlike, then they're going to have a hard time concealing their existence, which will cause folks to reason that they must have a headquarters somewhere. After that, it's only a matter of time before somebody starts searching and eventually finds it. Things are far easier to conceal if folks don't know it exists in the first place. As another example, the Templars pissed off a lot of folks (largely by getting into investment banking) and then eventually got shut down by Philip IV because their assets were so valuable that they didn't have enough warm bodies to defend them.

That Hospitalars actually still exist as a charitable organisation run by the RC church. The have a strong claim to being the oldest charitable nonprofit in existence.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Assumng that their job is to wander about as knights-errant, righting wrongs and suchlike, then they're going to have a hard time concealing their existence, which will cause folks to reason that they must have a headquarters somewhere. After that, it's only a matter of time before somebody starts searching and eventually finds it. Things are far easier to conceal if folks don't know it exists in the first place. As another example, the Templars pissed off a lot of folks (largely by getting into investment banking) and then eventually got shut down by Philip IV because their assets were so valuable that they didn't have enough warm bodies to defend them.

That Hospitalars actually still exist as a charitable organisation run by the RC church. The have a strong claim to being the oldest charitable nonprofit in existence.

Very true, but I didn’t mean to imply the Orions would try to conceal their existence, just their home location.

Like the Templars, the Orions WOULD have many enemies. Unlike the Templars, the Orions would actively conceal their bases. (To be fair, the Templars didn’t have as many options, though.)

Misdirection from Lepus to Orion is a cheap safeguard. Not the only thing going for them, but a good starting point.

 

[MarkB]

Very true, but I didn’t mean to imply the Orions would try to conceal their existence, just their home location.

Like the Templars, the Orions WOULD have many enemies. Unlike the Templars, the Orions would actively conceal their bases. (To be fair, the Templars didn’t have as many options, though.)

Misdirection from Lepus to Orion is a cheap safeguard. Not the only thing going for them, but a good starting point.

Reminds me of the first Men in Black movie - "the Galaxy is on Orion's belt." The MiBs dismiss the claim on the grounds that the constellation of Orion is far too small to hold an entire galaxy, but it turns out that they're right for exactly the wrong reasons - it's actually an extremely tiny galaxy, that's dangling from the collar of a cat named Orion.

 

[Nobby-W]

Very true, but I didn’t mean to imply the Orions would try to conceal their existence, just their home location.

Like the Templars, the Orions WOULD have many enemies. Unlike the Templars, the Orions would actively conceal their bases. (To be fair, the Templars didn’t have as many options, though.)

Misdirection from Lepus to Orion is a cheap safeguard. Not the only thing going for them, but a good starting point.

A galaxy is a big place, so one could conceal bases in all sorts of remote locations, although any large conspiracy is going to leak (q.v. Star Wars), so you had better be very well hidden and able to bug out to some other location on short notice. See the Eina-Afa arc from Schlock Mercenary for another example of a hidden base. As a bonus, you get the most elaborate setup for a fart joke in the history of science fiction.

Tuesday 1 January 2013

Daily strip for Tuesday 1 January 2013

www.schlockmercenary.com

Also worth checking out (if you haven't already) for many good ideas for aliens and a lot of cool stuff including some great A.I. characters and an original take on transhumanism. Be warned, though. It went every day for 20 years (over 7,000 episodes) and just finished recently. The rabbit hole goes very deep.

 

[MarkB]

One good option for hiding a base, especially if your setting's FTL uses some kind of hyperspace rather than realspace, is not to place it within any star system, instead putting it in the depths of interstellar space. So long as you minimise its emissions and make it look like nothing more than a stray piece of Oort Cloud debris, the chances against anyone stumbling upon it are literally astronomical.

 

[MarkB]

One good option for hiding a base, especially if your setting's FTL uses some kind of hyperspace rather than realspace, is not to place it within any star system, instead putting it in the depths of interstellar space. So long as you minimise its emissions and make it look like nothing more than a stray piece of Oort Cloud debris, the chances against anyone stumbling upon it are literally astronomical.

Actually, having thought it through, a better alternative would be to have a semi-mobile base, and not even worry about hiding your emissions. You relocate once every 3-4 years, but always to a location at least 5 lightyears from the nearest star system. That way nobody can see where you are, only where you were.