Help with some poetical starship names - and more!
- Thread starter Dirigible
- Start date
Hammerhead
Explorer
The Scimitar of Infinite Damage...
Patryn of Elvenshae
First Post
From Italo Calvini's Invisible Cities:
He Comes to Isidora
[Fallow] Curves of the Planispheres
There's more great phrases from that book, but the Amazon view only shows two cities ...
He Comes to Isidora
[Fallow] Curves of the Planispheres
There's more great phrases from that book, but the Amazon view only shows two cities ...
Testament
First Post
Hmmmm...thinking about the Bezerkers, here's my take on them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNIPAX report 206698
ITEM: "Bezerkers"
This report is compiled from data collected by survivors of Bezerker attacks. While much of it is possibly conjecture, we have little more to work with than this.
VESSEL CLASSES:
As space borne entities, the Bezerkers are being classed as ships in computer records. Three distinct 'classes' have been identified of Bezerker, based upon size (weapon configuration appears highly mutable, see below). These have been dubbed the Massacre, Holocaust and Megadeath classes. Each higher class is approximately 50% larger than the lower.
<Insert sizes here>
Propulsion method is unknown, believed to be based upon hydrogen extraction and ignition through unknown methods.
STRUCTURE AND SYSTEMS:
All evidence indicates that the Bezerkers are in fact, alive, despite their mechanical appearance. They, as well as their Slave units and Gargoyles all bleed, and also contain organic matter, although in no apparently logical configuration. This appearance is owing to the Nanoweb, as it has been dubbed, that runs throughout the bioogical systems of the Bezerker units. This Nanoweb is used to protect, arm and augment the host, it can be used to create almost anything a Bezerker requires, apparently ex nihilo.
The enormous mutability displayed by the Nanoweb has lead scientists to speculate that the Bezerker's "cores", so to speak, are in fact that holy grail of Nanotechnology, a Universal Constructor. This device sustains the Nanoweb, replenishing it's numbers and supplementing its supply of raw materials. This would also explain the consumption of ship hulks that Bezerkers have been observed to do.
Bezerkers possess highly advanced sensory systems, and it is believed that their primary hunting method is their apparent ability to sense energy signals. All communicative systems are also open to a Bezerker, and higher output draws them from further away. If this is the case, then communication between vessels should be minimised in areas of known Bezerker activity. This is almost certainly how they locate the inhabited planets within a system.
SHIP TO SHIP COMBAT SYSTEMS:
The Bezerkers have no form of energy shielding, it is not required, and is possibly to complex, inefficient and power intensive a system for the Nanoweb that forms part of a Bezerker to bother with. Instead, the carapace of a Bezerker and the Nanoweb throughout it acts as ahighly effecient energy absorbtion system. The primary armament of UNIPAX vessels is thus counterproductive, as the energy is absorbed and used to power the internal systems of a Bezerker.
In combat, the Bezerker's Nanoweb is able to synthesise almost any weapon imaginable, however, they have shown a marked preference for ramming and literally slicing a ship's hull open with large spines that are grown from the web. At range they employ large spines launced from the Nanoweb that are designed to puncture hulls.
This is not to say that they do not use more "advanced" systems. The Megadeath class Bezerkers in particular often extrude large weapons that discharge a tight focus enegy beam, one that intensifies when the Bezerker is attacked with energy weapons. All classes employ this weapon when attacked in the Mercurial or Flare region of a system, ambient solar energy is used to fuel this weapon.
Only rarely do any Bezerkers make use of their Slave units (See Planetary Assault Systems) in space combat, although Gargoyle organisms are used to attack assault craft and protect the host against ballistic weaponry. They are often loaded into the launched spines to provide boarding forces as well. Note that the large vents in the side that Attack Gargoyle swarms are launched from are one of the only weak points on a Bezerker, energy weapons have been effective when fired into them.
After a space battle, the Bezerker units have been observed trawling the area with their Slave units, collecting all debris from the battle.
GARGOYLES:
The Gargoyles biotechnological organisms apparently created within a Gargoyle. They are highly variable in size (7ft tall boarders to 28ft long attack craft), display similar resiliency to the host, and have a limited Nanoweb of their own. They use it to alter their primary weapon system, their claws and barbed tail, although they can also use it to launch spines of their own. Boarding and planteray assault Gargoyles are often observed dragging corpses back towards their launch spines, presumably for analysis by the host.
The most curious trait of Gargoyles is that once all resistance is subjugated, they cease to function/die, and are then literally consumed by the host.
Autopsies of retrieved Gargoyle remains show that they are in fact organic, but with no internal organs, no blood save the Nanoweb flowing through their analogue of a circulatory system, and a metal skeletal system. They are believed to be assembled in the UC of a Bezerker, and are broken down for reprocessing after a battle.
PLANETARY ASSAULT SYSTEMS:
When they first emerged, the Bezerkers used overwhelming force, and highly destructive weaponry to attack planets. Since then, their attack form has evolved and improved, to the point where they are able to scour a planet of all human life, while causing minimum damage to native life forms, or the biosphere in general.
When a Bezerker attacks a planet, it detaches its smaller slave units, and all of these release Gargoyle swarms to assist in a blockade. The master unit also starts to emit an interference signal from arrays grown from the Nanoweb to cut off all communications. In early assaults, they then used large energy weapons to bombard population centres in a crude form of assault. This was followed up with Gargoyle swarms to kill off any survivors.
Within a short time, this was rendered obsolete. The next assault form to be used was swift and deadly. First large shells are detonated in the upper atmosphere, releasing an intense EMP to destroy as much technological resistance as possible. Within minutes, shells with force estimated in the range of 1 gigaton are deployed into oceans, creating mega-tsunamis and destroying all coastal population centres. Gargoyle swarms protected all shells on the way down. The last shells launched were the equivalent of neutron bombs, annihilating all life forms in the remaining population centres. Any surviving organics or mechanoids were dealt with by Gargoyle swarms, which also located any shelters and cleansed them with deadly efficiency.
In recent months, the assault form has changed again. First, the Bezerker unit passes close to the heliosphere on its way to the target world. After the intial EMP assault, more shells are launched into the upper atmosphere, releasing a deadly contagion. Lethality is at 99.6% percent. While the virus is being launched by the slave units in a pattern that ensures maximum coverage, the Bezerker reconfigures its underside into an immense emitter, and bathes selected areas (usually population centres) in deadly radiation, killing all life forms in the selected areas. The radiation disperses quickly, leaving the area ripe for resettlement. Once again, Gargoyle swarms are used to finish the task. The entire process, from blockade to Gargoyle re-absorption, takes less than three Standard Terran Hours.
--------------------------------------------------------END REPORT
My thought on the Bezerkers is that if they were made to ensure that their masters stayed on top, then why would they destroy planets? I figured that they'd cleanse them of sentient life and leave them ripe for resettlement, hence their assault systems.
And some more Bezerker names:
Voidshaker, Worldbreaker, Skybleeder.
And my personal thought is that rather than "One Which", it should be "We That." Exactly how biotech are we talking as well, like Moya and the Leviathans in Farscape, or the Yuuzhan Vong in Star Wars:NJO?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNIPAX report 206698
ITEM: "Bezerkers"
This report is compiled from data collected by survivors of Bezerker attacks. While much of it is possibly conjecture, we have little more to work with than this.
VESSEL CLASSES:
As space borne entities, the Bezerkers are being classed as ships in computer records. Three distinct 'classes' have been identified of Bezerker, based upon size (weapon configuration appears highly mutable, see below). These have been dubbed the Massacre, Holocaust and Megadeath classes. Each higher class is approximately 50% larger than the lower.
<Insert sizes here>
Propulsion method is unknown, believed to be based upon hydrogen extraction and ignition through unknown methods.
STRUCTURE AND SYSTEMS:
All evidence indicates that the Bezerkers are in fact, alive, despite their mechanical appearance. They, as well as their Slave units and Gargoyles all bleed, and also contain organic matter, although in no apparently logical configuration. This appearance is owing to the Nanoweb, as it has been dubbed, that runs throughout the bioogical systems of the Bezerker units. This Nanoweb is used to protect, arm and augment the host, it can be used to create almost anything a Bezerker requires, apparently ex nihilo.
The enormous mutability displayed by the Nanoweb has lead scientists to speculate that the Bezerker's "cores", so to speak, are in fact that holy grail of Nanotechnology, a Universal Constructor. This device sustains the Nanoweb, replenishing it's numbers and supplementing its supply of raw materials. This would also explain the consumption of ship hulks that Bezerkers have been observed to do.
Bezerkers possess highly advanced sensory systems, and it is believed that their primary hunting method is their apparent ability to sense energy signals. All communicative systems are also open to a Bezerker, and higher output draws them from further away. If this is the case, then communication between vessels should be minimised in areas of known Bezerker activity. This is almost certainly how they locate the inhabited planets within a system.
SHIP TO SHIP COMBAT SYSTEMS:
The Bezerkers have no form of energy shielding, it is not required, and is possibly to complex, inefficient and power intensive a system for the Nanoweb that forms part of a Bezerker to bother with. Instead, the carapace of a Bezerker and the Nanoweb throughout it acts as ahighly effecient energy absorbtion system. The primary armament of UNIPAX vessels is thus counterproductive, as the energy is absorbed and used to power the internal systems of a Bezerker.
In combat, the Bezerker's Nanoweb is able to synthesise almost any weapon imaginable, however, they have shown a marked preference for ramming and literally slicing a ship's hull open with large spines that are grown from the web. At range they employ large spines launced from the Nanoweb that are designed to puncture hulls.
This is not to say that they do not use more "advanced" systems. The Megadeath class Bezerkers in particular often extrude large weapons that discharge a tight focus enegy beam, one that intensifies when the Bezerker is attacked with energy weapons. All classes employ this weapon when attacked in the Mercurial or Flare region of a system, ambient solar energy is used to fuel this weapon.
Only rarely do any Bezerkers make use of their Slave units (See Planetary Assault Systems) in space combat, although Gargoyle organisms are used to attack assault craft and protect the host against ballistic weaponry. They are often loaded into the launched spines to provide boarding forces as well. Note that the large vents in the side that Attack Gargoyle swarms are launched from are one of the only weak points on a Bezerker, energy weapons have been effective when fired into them.
After a space battle, the Bezerker units have been observed trawling the area with their Slave units, collecting all debris from the battle.
GARGOYLES:
The Gargoyles biotechnological organisms apparently created within a Gargoyle. They are highly variable in size (7ft tall boarders to 28ft long attack craft), display similar resiliency to the host, and have a limited Nanoweb of their own. They use it to alter their primary weapon system, their claws and barbed tail, although they can also use it to launch spines of their own. Boarding and planteray assault Gargoyles are often observed dragging corpses back towards their launch spines, presumably for analysis by the host.
The most curious trait of Gargoyles is that once all resistance is subjugated, they cease to function/die, and are then literally consumed by the host.
Autopsies of retrieved Gargoyle remains show that they are in fact organic, but with no internal organs, no blood save the Nanoweb flowing through their analogue of a circulatory system, and a metal skeletal system. They are believed to be assembled in the UC of a Bezerker, and are broken down for reprocessing after a battle.
PLANETARY ASSAULT SYSTEMS:
When they first emerged, the Bezerkers used overwhelming force, and highly destructive weaponry to attack planets. Since then, their attack form has evolved and improved, to the point where they are able to scour a planet of all human life, while causing minimum damage to native life forms, or the biosphere in general.
When a Bezerker attacks a planet, it detaches its smaller slave units, and all of these release Gargoyle swarms to assist in a blockade. The master unit also starts to emit an interference signal from arrays grown from the Nanoweb to cut off all communications. In early assaults, they then used large energy weapons to bombard population centres in a crude form of assault. This was followed up with Gargoyle swarms to kill off any survivors.
Within a short time, this was rendered obsolete. The next assault form to be used was swift and deadly. First large shells are detonated in the upper atmosphere, releasing an intense EMP to destroy as much technological resistance as possible. Within minutes, shells with force estimated in the range of 1 gigaton are deployed into oceans, creating mega-tsunamis and destroying all coastal population centres. Gargoyle swarms protected all shells on the way down. The last shells launched were the equivalent of neutron bombs, annihilating all life forms in the remaining population centres. Any surviving organics or mechanoids were dealt with by Gargoyle swarms, which also located any shelters and cleansed them with deadly efficiency.
In recent months, the assault form has changed again. First, the Bezerker unit passes close to the heliosphere on its way to the target world. After the intial EMP assault, more shells are launched into the upper atmosphere, releasing a deadly contagion. Lethality is at 99.6% percent. While the virus is being launched by the slave units in a pattern that ensures maximum coverage, the Bezerker reconfigures its underside into an immense emitter, and bathes selected areas (usually population centres) in deadly radiation, killing all life forms in the selected areas. The radiation disperses quickly, leaving the area ripe for resettlement. Once again, Gargoyle swarms are used to finish the task. The entire process, from blockade to Gargoyle re-absorption, takes less than three Standard Terran Hours.
--------------------------------------------------------END REPORT
My thought on the Bezerkers is that if they were made to ensure that their masters stayed on top, then why would they destroy planets? I figured that they'd cleanse them of sentient life and leave them ripe for resettlement, hence their assault systems.
And some more Bezerker names:
Voidshaker, Worldbreaker, Skybleeder.
And my personal thought is that rather than "One Which", it should be "We That." Exactly how biotech are we talking as well, like Moya and the Leviathans in Farscape, or the Yuuzhan Vong in Star Wars:NJO?
Last edited:
Dirigible
Explorer
What? Quite the opposite. They'd hit the surface, one like an asteroid, the other like an asteroid made of antimatter.
But then, as neutronium is only theoretical, I guess its properties are up for grabs.
Mispunctuation on my part. Never intended to.
I like the idea of a ship based soley around a universal constructor; I think I'll use that, but I already have a pretty clear image of the Serks in my mind. I'm not familiar with the Vong. The ambient solar weapon is pretty nifty, too.
They're large, solid things - no crew, so no need for access points or other internal spaces. They're differentiated into weapon systems, powerplants, armour and so forth, but it's all crammed together seamlessly. Like FarScape's Leviathans, they don't look especially organic, but they're made of various materials that grow and partially operate in a biological fashion.
The creators are long extinct. And even if they weren't, the fact they're prepared to prevent the rise of all other intelligent species points towards a certain callousness regarding collateral damage
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Strictly speaking, they don't destroy planets; they just scorch the surface to slag, vapourise the cities, char the mountains, boil the oceans and turn forests to dust.Totally different thing
Testament
First Post
Dirigible said:
Cool, I thought that it'd be an interesting visual as well. And it creates a certain level of paranoia, since you can't ever be sure what that thing will do. And I'm glad you liked the Solar Cannon, I thought that was a cool idea.
I wasn't sure how much development you'd done with the Beserkers, so I left it relatively open. I was guessing you'd go with the Leviathans though. The Vong, for the record, use lving technology, but it's quite clearly alive. Their weapons breathe, their ships are fleshy, that sort of thing. Same with the Tyranids of Warhammer 40K too. Essentially then, the Serks are huge masses of metal and unclassified organic matter that grows and heals itself, turned into an invincible, infinitely mutable juggernaut of death by the Nanoweb. I fear for your players.
The creators are long extinct. And even if they weren't, the fact they're prepared to prevent the rise of all other intelligent species points towards a certain callousness regarding collateral damage
Totally different thing
Still seems kind of wasteful for a race smart enough to create these horrors, but its your game. I reiterate that it was my take on them, and I found the idea of a planet simply purged of human life brilliant. I had mental images of ghost cities, appliances still on, as though everything just stopped, there and then when the contagion hit.
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