Fed2k's Duniverse

[Dunenewt]

Right, let's start with the basics, this board is dead.

Anyway, here's my solution.  If anyone posts on the NationStates forums then that would help in the comprehension of my idea. It would involve each participant owning a House, which would start of as a Minor House.  All these Houses would be based on one big planet to start with, and territory will be claimed from a map.  Eventually as the game progresses, more planets and moons will become available and eventually Houses will be able to become Major Houses.  This fic would involve not only alliances, but commerce deals as well where participants can sell the specialist weapons and technology to others.  I doubt that this all would be able to stay in one thread, as that thread would become overly complicated, so multiple threads could be used, but only as long as the title had a prefix indicating that it is part of this FanFic.  The only problem I can see with this is that it would require 10+ people to be fun enough to play.  I know we almost never have ten regular FanFic posters but I hope that this will appeal to a wide range of the many members on this site.

Any thoughts?

[Acriku]

With enough people I'd join. Once I get into things I can contribute decent stuff, it's the getting into that is the hard part ;-)

[Dunenewt]

I'd say its getting enough people to join. 

People who I can think might be interested:

You

Me

Dante

EWS

DragoonKnight

SirSard

Dawiduh

Clemenza

Ex

[Mihail]

I'm all for it, but I have a few suggestions. Even if we don't stick to only one thread, we shouldn't make lots of threads for this one fanfic, since I'm pretty sure they would be unnecessary and that everything could be contained in two or three threads, if this 'fic gets as grand as you(and probably everyone else who has seen this) hopes. Second, we need to find out who is really going to post, and can guarantee it, since losing a crucial member during a war, say, would not be a very good thing for this fic. So we have to have dedicated participants. And third... well, I don't have a third suggestion. just my two santims. :)

[Dante]

Well, now that two people have replied...

EWS, by his own admission, knows next to nothing about the Duniverse and has been reluctant to take part in any Dune-related fics in the past. Also he hasn't posted in any fic for several months now. Busy with university and all that. I'm not sure about Dragoon. Had he continued posting in Factions 2, it would probably have been wrapped up by now. Nice as it would be to see Sard's return to Fanfiction, I'll believe it when I see it.

Now don't get me wrong, I think it's an ambitious and interesting idea, but I don't think we currently have enough people (without enough dedicated time) to make it workable. I mean for starters, if we're following the Duniverse we'd need the basic tripod of the system, so one or more people would have to take responsibility for the Guild, CHOAM, and the Emperor, as well as some sort of administrative body for the Landsraad. Yes I know that's more than three legs. Of course it's concievable that someone could hold more than one role... In some cases.

A few things would need clarification though. Would this be set in an already-established Imperium, which would (eventually or immediately?) need outside bodies such as Ix, Tleilax, Great Schools introduced; or would it involve making a new one? If the former, when to we introduce these outside bodies? If the latter, it would make our job easier but also further from the original Duniverse. Assuming the former, would we be able to interact with existing Great Houses? If so, how? Further, how do we prevent god-modding? We can't have everyone specialising in technology/weaponry/loyalty etc. It's concievable that some houses would be possessed of a very poor military, but be an economic powerhouse. In which case we need to know why, and have a method to prevent abuse of this situation.

I have more questions, but they can wait for a bit. First suggestions.

We will need a map, and it will be difficult. The map will need to be rigid enough to be accurate and fair to all who take part, but flexible enough to accomodate late entries (I might be able to put something together, give me a day or two and I can produce a workable sample). Regarding the multiple threads, I think it would be a good idea to restrict this as much as possible. Nobody wants the confusion and inconvenience of doing trade deals in one thread and diplomatic negotiations in another, nor the bother of checking multiple threads. I would recommend that if at all possible the actual action of the fic be restricted to one thread. Statistics, dates of deals, military movements, etc, would ideally be monitored by a website similar to that created for TGED. Each participant would either insert their own data in compliance with others, or hand in data to a central manager of the site. This would give us a workable database, rather than a collection of threads to search through.

Time. I think that as far as possible, we should try to have an implementation of time, even if only loosely. Not to say that we have to put an exact date on every purchase and negotiation (though that would be nice), but it might be nice to avoid battles that last for a few hours while simmultaneously a few days pass nearby.

Rule of engagement, and general rules. Not necessary to have them, now but they need to be there. Something this big needs to have structure of some kind, lest it fall apart completely.

Edit: Actually it occured to me that I could just attach the map I made for Warlords II. Please keep in mind that this is not a suggestion for the map we use, just showing off the kind of thing I can do. :) And I can do better. I could even colour the areas in correspond with which House owns which area, and put in a key to show which type of terrain it is and what natural resources are found there. The attachments are identical, but some people prefer different formats. I know I like PNG. Or BMP. Can't stand Jpegs, but if I don't use them I get whine whine whine stop using large file sizes. Pff. Anyway...

[attachment deleted by Gobalopper]

[Dunenewt]

Basically Dante, our sides will be small and insignificant so they will not attract the interest of the Guild or the Emperor.  It'll be pretty self contained with in the Duniverse.

[Dante]

They still need to get from A to B, no? And I hardly think the rest of the Imperium will be uninvolved should conflict arise.

[gunner154]

Much as I might be interested in some roleplaying, the problem of needing to pay attention to it for a large amount of time and being able to post almost everyday deters me from doing so. If I were to participate, I would take on a very very minor role. Either that, or have a role that can be easily replaced by someone during my absence.

How's that?

[Dunenewt]

You wouldn't have to post everyday.  Posting as you are now would be fine.

[The_Sadukar]

How about making it an actual FED2K Duniverse thread?

[Dunenewt]

Just waiting for the end of this week when my mock examinations are over.  Well I'll start it whether there are enough people to begin or not, hopefully people will see its potential when it starts.

[Lance_Leader]

Sounds like an interesting idea. Ill join or w/e if u ever start it, i may not post much but im still here.....watching  8)

[Dunenewt]

Ok, then, I'll post something up when I get back home as I'm currently at school at the moment.

[Dunenewt]

The Minor House of Huahin

[tt]This house is militarily orientated, and maintains a high state of readiness at anytime.  All men and women between the ages of 16 and 40 are trained in the Huahinian Defensive Forces, and can all be called in as reservists in very little time.  The basis of their army however is small and well trained with a proud reputation, despite Huahin being formed in recent times. 

The house was formed after Paul Reaney was given the right to claim his own part of a planet due to his part in foiling a plot by a renegade House on the Emperor.  Little is known of Paul's history before he became Count Paul of Huahin, but it is believed he was part of a highly secretive Imperial Intelligence branch.  The name Huahin originated from the original Terran name given to the land he chose.

However, recently the Count passed away, and the new Count is Trevor Cherry, Paul's illegitimate son.  [/tt]

Anyone else care to post up something about their chosen side?

[Dante]

Alright I'll jump. We'll see if this works.

Minor House Venevive

Seventy years ago, Great House Venevive was a powerful, rich and influential member of the Landsraad. Under Countess Belle Venevive, the House had prospered for the better part of half a century. And then, within the space of ten standard years, its fortunes plummeted. The Countess was assassinated by person or persons unknown, along with her husband and two eldest children. The remaining son, Detrius, assumed power when he was in his early thirties. His first act was to undo almost every economic bargain that his mother had made, claiming independence from the previous administration, which he decried as weak and dependent. He then banished all of his mother's advisors, and set about spending her fortune on lavish parties. At the seventh of these, he overindulged in his planet's famous brandy, and loudly insulted one of his guests, none other than the Viscount Moritani. This dealt a mighty blow to House Venevive's standing in the Landsraad, causing tension that only increased when the Count refused to issue an apology.

Moritani-Venevive relations, formerly extremely close, were extinguished overnight. As a result, the Baron Harkonnen also ended his dealings with Count Detrius. The Count ignored this, and turned to another close economic partner, House Ordos. He borrowed money without limit, throwing ever more lavish banquets for ever fewer guests. Within a year House Venevive was bankrupt, and House Ordos started to call in the loans. Detrius, now holding the reluctant support of only one Great House, immediately declared war on his old ally. Underfunded and under equipped, his army was decimated in a month. His one remaining ally, House Wallach, abandoned him.

Disgraced utterly, Count Detrius was called before the Landsraad. On the eve of his hearing however, he died in suspicious circumstances. In his stead, his nephew Melanthus stood before the court. Melanthus' inspired delivery and cunning web of half-truths was enough to spare his House from complete destruction, but not enough to retain its fortunes or standing. House Venevive was stripped of all honour and title. All holdings were confiscated and given to House Ordos as compensation and repayment of debts. The planetary fief of Draconis III was annexed by House Ordos, and Draconis II gifted to House Moritaini. Melanthus, the only surviving member of his family, was banished to a backwater planet far away from the centre of the Imperium. Ironically, the very same planet where House Venevive had banished the remains of House Jlacius twenty years earlier. With only a few retainers and a handful of goods, what remained of House Venevive seemed doomed.

Melanthus, however, executed an almost miraculous recovery plan. He wooed and married the surviving Jlacius heiress, Lady Nera. Combining their resources ensured continued survival for both Houses, and the two ex-nobles quickly extended their reach through a combination of guile and clever rationing of their meagre resources. They extended and fortified the Jlacius compound with surrounding natural resources, investing in a single laboratory.

Thirty years later, Minor House Venevive has finally put itself back on the map of the Imperium, albeit as an insignificant speck. Melanthus and Nera devoted their efforts to researching the land around, extracting every possible use from it. They mined into the tallest mountain in the region, hitting rich seams of metal ore and coal. The tunnels were converted into their residence, and now most of their work is centred around these tunnels, known as Complex.

Minor House Venevive is now led my Lady Nera in name only. In reality, the Lady retired from administrative work after the death of her husband, leaving control of Complex and House Venevive in the hands of her three children. House Venevive has devoted itself to research, and has been able to produce low-tech but highly desirable technology for some time. It specialises in biochemistry and weaponry production, but has no standing army. The few hundred followers of the House are trained only how to defend Complex. The House opperates on a technocratic basis. Academics hold positions of administrative importance, while duties such as food provision and maintenance fall to those unlucky enough to have failed the many tests set to them during childhood.

There. Possibly a bit much, but I do like my backstory. I even cut it short.

[Lance_Leader]

Lets give it a shot,

Minor House Veero.

House Veero actually started from House Syoch. House Syoch ruled by Cheng Sipive was formed from around 250million individuals falling into poverty. Cheng (being an heir to an enormous fortune) decided to help the people by providing them homes and food. Chengs advisor Milian Eqrue brainwashed him by using the thought of power and a grand military leading the planet. Cheng figured a plan to make the people totally dependent on him. This worked wonderfully as the people eventually became so attached to his wealth they were willing to die to protect it. In his power-hungry state and with Milian pulling the strings from behind, he formed a large military and started equiping them for war. They trained every able-bodied male in the society to be the best soldier he could be. Cheng started the mass importation of laser weaponry from an unknown source, disguised as food and supplies to his army. Cheng unfortunitly did not figure the cost of food and upkeep of the common people and only focused on his armies. Eventually the people started to realize the conditions were turning grim and the common people died of starvation and exposure to basic elements. Millions died, but the word was never told to the fathers, sons, or family serving in the military. When Cheng, as power hungry as ever, started recruiting even more, preparing for his invasions, the new recruits told the regulars of the poverty and death that is happening to thier family and friends. In the next few weeks large revolts occured were people and soldiers alike attacked thier former dwellings and military instillations. The few still loyal to cheng tried to smuggle him out of Syoch territory were unsuccessful and cheng and most if not all of his followers died in the conflict. Chengs advisor Milian was never captured and her wereabouts unknown.

The populace decimated by famine tried desperatly to make a living but all they knew how to do was fight. Sometime during all this, the old Captain of the military proposed a radical idea. He proposed that since they still had thier training and weaponry they become fighters for hire...mercinarys. The Captain, Cpt. Vincent Veerone was considered a hero from the population as he borrowed mass amounts from other unknown factions and used them to feed the public. In exchange for these credits, the military used its forces to perform tasks for the various factions and eventually became masters of thier new prefessions. The people soon realized that in the turmoil of the universe jobs were easy to find and the  money started flowing in. Cpt. Vincent appointed two other people (Lt. Charles Baker and Scott Vilhern, a wealthy trader and business man known for his people and bargining skills) to help run the group which was quikly growing in population and strength. Over time the group grew big enough to be considered a Minor House. The people, in honor of thier leader, named the new house, House Veero, after their leader Vincent Veerone. As the jobs start to come slower and rumors of the old assistant in house syoch, Milian, returning to wreak havoc, the only option is to observe the situation closely..

The house operated in a mercinary faction, the military being fairly large only taking jobs from those who can pay the credits. It is rumored that they are looking for newer, stronger weapons then basic laser weaponry to strengthen thier forces.  (Even though i put alot about them being expensive and having a large army, i mean small incomparison to anything a major house would have)

(Remade to fit fiction rules)

[gunner154]

Minor House Kalisma (made to sound like charisma)

"The strong rule the weak, but the intelligent rule the strong." That is the Kalisman motto, as part of the House Anthem that all Kalismans are to be familiar with. Its citizens believe that there is little purpose in playing major roles in war or the military, because after all, the pawns of war are the fighters, not the thinkers, and being the egoistic schemers they are, Kalismans always stay away from war and obtain military backing when necessary. Its stronghold might appear densely populated, when in actuality, much of the space is used for high-tech machinery and thinking machines, highly abused by Kalismans. The entire base is a system of networks, each building an individual processor capable of managing an automated defence grid, making its defences nearly impenetrable. It boasts of almost absolutely no combat abilities, except for the usage of saboteurs when necessary, though the last time a saboteur was employed was nearly four hundred years ago. Its ruler, the young, charismatic Vrun Kalisma, is not the most capable leader. He is, however, extremely cunning, for he has been known to have attempted several attempts at shutting down House Ordos' computer systems, although they were generally unsuccessful or merely had temporary effects, and is known to be plotting something bigger...

The history of Kalisma dates back two centuries ago, when the great Lord Omal of Major House Uthirus laid siege to a technologically well-developed village known as Dela Chorosmus, often nicknamed The Charismatic Door. Lord Omal was a fanatic of the Jihad, and would do anything to uphold it. With his army and a small group of smuggler mercenaries using heavy artillery, Lord Omal granted the chief of Dela Chorosmus four days to surrender lest his "beloved Charismatic Door be decimated by the heavens." The chief refused to comply, and heavy artillery rained onto the only village on the barren wasteland planet of Con Niklin to make use of a fair amount of technology in its daily work. Chorosmus trpops lay hidden in dugouts deep in the heart of the wasteland, and they emerged when Omal's troops were inspecting the wreckage left behind by the artillery. However, Omal's troops were prepared, and the two groups fought in a bloody battle. However, Omal's troops were recalled all of a sudden in the midst of the battle, leaving behind a victorious troop of Chorosmusians. Emboldened by this sudden victory, the Chorosmusians began reconstructing their village, and developing all kinds of wild technology with their innovative minds. The people vowed never to fight battle again, realising the cost of the loss of minds and its impact on Dela Chorosmus. They laid out a series of rules and principles which they would follow, the most important being: "Do not fight battle with an object capable of killing, but harness the world to have it done." Rejoicing over their new set of rules, and essentially a new society that was refreshed by the historic victory over Dela Chorosmus, the Chorosmusians decided to name this new society Kalisma, and crown the most intelligent man as their ruler. They picked the greatest war hero, the ex-Minister of War known as Ziw Plana, promptly renaming him as Ziw Kalisma.

Two centuries were all it took to turn the noble Kalismans into fanatics of technology, and passive warmongers. Never engaged directly in battle, the Kalismans have engaged the wildest of thinking machines and harnessed their magnificent computational abilities to calculate the probability of winning battles, allowing them to defeat Lord Omal and rule over the planet. However, the numerous battles fought have already ravaged the entire planet, as mechanical wreckage lay with the rapids of human blood. Con Niklin could no longer sustain the power needs of the Kalismans to fuel their machines, and House Kalisma had to turn to another source of energy. Another source of inspiration. Another source of power.

(Edit: Sorry, I thought one big planet referred to each of us starting with one planet of our own. I've modified this.)

[Dante]

I wasn't going to say anything but I believe we all start out on the same planet...

[Dunenewt]

Yes we do...

[Lance_Leader]

Oh. Well sorry if i did somthing wrong. I read the rules and such but this is still my first one of these.

[Dunenewt]

Don't worry I think he meant Gunner.  Good work all of you so far by the way.  Gunner if you could just change the bit about you being on another planet, maybe you could be exiled from that planet...? It all looks good so far but we need continious high quality posts like these.

[Mihail]

I'll post my House information either a bit later today or tommorrow.

Here it is.

House Quichote (Pronounced Khi-ho-te)

The small, militartistic House was founded after it's first Knight, Darion Quichote, defended one of the Emperor's cousins(Who was visiting Darion Quichote at the time) against several assasins. For this, he was awarded a moderate fiefdom on a rather small planet, which he shared with several other Houses. Several generations after Darion Quichote's death, his descendant, Cicero Augustus Quichote rose to power and claimed the title of Knight of House Minor Quichote. He turned House Quichote around from being a quiet and gentle minor House who relied mostly on farming to get by into a militaristic police state. Production of weapons and technologies of war increased three-fold, and every male and female, except those for whom medical reasons prohibited them joining, were drafted into the army to serve for the mandatory 3 years. After that, they got a license to be able to keep up to two weapons in their home for self-defense purposes and were checked every 5 years if they had not forgotten their training(And if they had, they would be sent back into the army for 3 years to re-learn everything they had forgotten), and so was ensured a strong defense against any invaders, for almost every household had at least one weapon and one man or woman trained in the military arts. And so, because of their aggressiveness, House Quichote naturally drew the attention of House Harkonnen. A ptreaty was signed, and they became allies. house Quichote also has ties to House Vernius, from whom they buy new technologies, and House Richese, who supplies them with goods of questionable legality. House Quichote is now ruled by the Knight Honor Barbara. It is self-dependant, having several large mineral desposits in it's mountainous areas and fields and large forests in the lowlands, which are mostly flat without many hills. The notion of the military being the key part to a safe and stable House Quichote has been much relaxed, and now House Quichote is a democracy, although the 3 years of service to the military are still mandatory.

Continued tomorrow. Sorry, I'm just too tired and I have a feeling I've made a lot of mistakes or grammatical errors in this text...*woozes off to bed*

[Dunenewt]

Ok, sounds good :)

[Dante]

I meant both of them. From what I can tell, this is supposed to be about Houses that start out sharing a planet - indicating that none of them are wealthy or influential.

Also, this is the Duniverse, remember. Computers and all automated machines are heresy. And Ix isn't a House.

I've just about finished a map of one of the continants. Or is it continents? *Shrug* The rest should follow.

[gunner154]

I am aware of the machine heresy part. It was intentional that I designed Kalisma to abuse machines in this way, to absolutely defy convention. Does it defy the Great Convention though? I can design another House (this weekend that is) if you are very unhappy with the design of Kalisma. Or at least I can remove the technology part of it. I don't intend to have a standing army though.