Unfortunately, you will have to write your fan fiction in English to have a chance to be selected:
One of the main goals of the fan fiction contest is that all texts can be read by the whole community.
Most people in the community are not speaking French and won't be able to read French.
So even if a text is really good, it wouldn't make sense to select a text that the majority of people isn't able to read.
The fact that Novaquark is a French Company is not relevant on this topic.
What matters is what it means for the whole community.
That being said, we don't want to close the contest to non-native English writers either:
1) A non-native English writer can seek help from a native English speaker to polish the text in English.
2) The native English speaker must be aware that it can help only on a volunteer basis: he won't be eligible for any reward.
3) If a non-native English writer seek help from a native English speaker, he must submit the complete text before proofreading. Once his text is proofread, he will have to keep both pre-proofread and post-proofread versions of the text available.
4) On a similar topic, we prefer to precise that if several participants write a text together, only the one submitting the text on the forum will be eligible, as there will be only one prize per text.
The Contest rules have been udpated accordingly.
@Anonymous:
Thanks for offering your help to non-native English writers. Much appreciated!
Hello there, DU Community! I've got a bit of an update on a few things for you all, concerning Chromion Industrial.
First and foremost, I'd like to welcome Commander Trailblazer as the leader of Chromion Industrial's Security forces! It'll be nice knowing our members will have some protection out there!
Secondly, I'd like to direct you all to Chromion Industrial's Discord channel! It's been in existance for a while, but word hasn't really gotten around. Feel free to pop into our lobby and say hi! (Here's the link: https://discord.gg/uckarBz)
Thirdly, I'd like to address two issues that go hand in hand: payment, and work. I've been pondering as to how to handle paying our members for their hard work, and I believe I've come up with a solution.
Work will be assigned based on a contract system. A member of the org may accept any number of contracts, or no contracts at all. Each contract has a base fee, and there is a possibility of bonuses, depending on the contract. At the end of a week, if the member has completed at least one contract, they receive all the completed contract's fees that haven't been collected yet, along with the base salary that each working member receives. If a member completes no contracts in a week, they get no base salary.
This is a tentative system, and it may be tweaked a little in the future once someone comes around and pokes a few holes in the idea
Lastly, I'd like to say: Join us! We're always looking for new members, and I've been thinking about organizing some game nights for everyone to enjoy while we wait for DU to release. I look forward to seeing some new faces within our ranks.
That's all for this update. Yall have a good day, y'hear?
Before starting to read the Lore Bible, here are three things to keep in mind:
- Some names and acronyms (put between brackets) in the texts below are still temporary names/placeholders. The final names will be decided in the following days. The update will be announced on the forum and on the social media. We don't want to keep these names, for different reasons varying for each case. Once in its final version, it will be published on the Community Wiki hosted by Gamepedia in a more structured way.
- It was a difficult decision but we have to consider that some parts of the short story written by Alain Damasio will be modified or removed. We all agree in the team that Alain Damasio has made a short story of the highest quality, but this short story was written more than a year ago (July 2015) and at that time, too many points regarding the game universe were unclear or undecided. With all the recent additions to the Lore Bible (those released today publicly and those which remain hidden as "secrets" for the time being), it generated some inconsistencies difficult to solve. We tried to find solutions or workarounds, without success. Some points were also not possible to represent in-game, gameplay wise. While the short story will be updated in the near future to fit with the current Lore Bible, in the meantime here are the specific points from the short story you should not take into account when writing a Fan Fiction for Dual Universe (if you want it to be eligible for being integrated to the official backstory of the game, of course. If not, you are not bind to such limitation).
Unfortunately, Sohan Decker is not a member of the Alpha Team, as he woke up just a few weeks before the Arkship landing on Alioth and do not participate in the neural simulation that will take place more than a year and a half before the landing. Aphelia memory must have had a glitch when talking to Sohan for the first time.
When approaching some Kyrium, the matter doesn't reflect human faces aging or growing younger. Sohan Decker has probably some hallucinations, a possible side-effect of the long cryogenic sleep.
While probably convinced of it, Sohan Decker didn't communicate with an invisible entity by using elements and he didn't get some schematics of a high-performance reactor in Kyrium as a reward. The proof? When asked to show it, he's not able to find it anywhere! Poor Sohan. Probably another hallucination. Cryogenic sleep seems to have a lasting side effect on him.
- The Novaquark might slightly change the Lore Bible over time, but we will try to keep those changes to a minimum, to ensure that it doesn't contradict fanfictions that have been already integrated to the official lore. These changes will occur mainly when an inconstancy is discovered in the official lore. And in this regard, we count on your feedback to track down every little detail that might seem inconsistent (some details may be awkward on purpose though ). As always, we remain open to your feedback on the Official Lore. Let us know what you think about it!
That being said... Happy reading!
Dual Universe Lore
Dual Universe takes place about 10.000 years after the Grand Exodus when humanity left the Earth to establish itself in new star systems. The information below is meant to help answer the most common questions about the game environment and try to set the general framework where fan fiction can be written.
Main historical dates
2027: Discovery of the doomsday Neutron Star that is heading towards the Earth. Collision will happen in 498 years. There are margins of error, so we don’t yet know if it means annihilation or simply major disruption in the solar system’s planets, but the end result is the same: the Earth will not be able to host humanity anymore. The event is nicknamed the [“Star Kiss of Death”], or [SKiD]. It’s basically the Armageddon.
2049: Creation of the United Earth Federation (UEF), a transnational institution in charge of coordinating humanity’s efforts and response to the SKiD. After concluding there was no hope to save Earth, the “Rebirth Program” is launched to analyze possible responses and escape strategies. New measures are voted to encourage natality in the population, to fight against a nihilist movement that advocates a “no future” philosophy and maintain a sufficient level of humans in the long run to fuel the Rebirth Project’s considerable needs.
2084: Better measurements have narrowed the margin of error. We are now certain that the neutron star will hit our solar system, and will actually collide with the Sun, turning into a black hole that will ultimately swallow or eject into deep space all the planets, Earth included. There is no hope anymore. Major funding is directed towards the Rebirth Program. All nation states must contribute at least 20% of their resources
2100: Mankind is entering a new era where robotics and AI have profoundly transformed society. Work as we know it has long disappeared, and social influence has replaced money as the currency of value. People do not “work” anymore, they have “activities” that can get them socially recognized. Money is still used, via a Universal Revenue, mainly as a way to control the scarcity in production, and balance the availability of goods against their rarity.
2130: AI have reached a threshold of global sentience. It is active in political, economic and social debates, and, while its benefits are recognized because it allowed the transition to the post-work era, more and more concern is raised about the sentient aspect and the potentially uncontrollable dimension of the AI agenda. Irrational fear rises. The AIs try to reassure the population that they have no rational reason to threaten humanity, but it only increases the level of suspicion within society.
2145: Massive rebellions all around the world signals the end of sentient AI, introducing a permanent universal ban on this technology, enforced by the very powerful UEF. Against all expectations, sentient AIs accept this and willingly shut down without any form of violent action.
2150: Society is reorganizing itself, as many “jobs” that needed sentient-level AI (surprisingly many, including low skill manual work), are once again left to humans to perform. Robots, in general, are banned also, as most of them required sentient-level AI to function properly. Early attempts at designing automated non-sentient robots all failed in the late 21st century, as it was discovered that sentience was a necessary byproduct of any sufficiently sophisticated AI for it to be able to interact with a complex world.
2200: A major summit of the UEF signals the alarming lack of progress on project Rebirth at the dawn of the 23rd century. Debates continue for years afterward about priorities, what technology to use to build Arkships that could help evacuate Earth, who would be eligible if we cannot host the 3 billion people still in the current population.
2200-2400: Major political events keep slowing down humanity and the UEF in its attempts to advance the technologies needed to build functional Arkships. Many wars, economic crisis, and nihilist terrorism are plaguing the progress.
2400: A period of calm and peace opens up. Major progress is suddenly made in the technologies needed to build the Arkships. Some are scheduled to be built within the next decade.
2440: Several key technologies are unlocked: cryosleep modules, nanoforming technology, nanopack condensers, resurrection nodes (it is unfortunately too late to use this to save humanity, as we would need to install billions of them out of the solar system, on a hospitable planet. There is not enough time for this).
2450: The Arkship technology is now mastered. Mass production begins. The race is on to produce as many as possible.
2500: Terrifying high-resolution images of the neutron star are provided by our most powerful telescopes. Riots break out all around the world over the selection process that dictates who gets to board the Arkships. The process was created by a scientific committee from the UEF, aimed at gathering the maximal amount of genetic diversity, plus a lottery to offset the fact that not everybody could go. Massive euthanasia programs were organized for those who had to stay, in order to provide them with a painless death at the time of their choosing.
2510-2536: The first Arkships leave Earth. Each Arkship is heading towards a particular part of the galaxy. One of them, the Novark, is heading towards the Scutum-Centaurus arm.
2538: The neutron star annihilates the solar system. Arkships are on their way, heading towards different regions of the galaxy.
12477: The Novark arrives on Alioth with a mighty thud as it deploys itself into the planet surface. From afar the planet shows many similarities to that of Earth, a blue and green marble sitting in the goldilocks zone of its star. Large continents surrounded by equally large oceans define the planet's appearance. Mountain ranges suggest continental drift, and large forests have taken hold over most of the planet. Primitive lifeforms are abundant. There are no obvious signs of advanced lifeforms.
Year 0 after arrival (0 AA): It will be your turn to write History in-game.
The world in 2500
In the century that preceded the Grand Exodus, the Earth’s population had dropped considerably, down to something less than 1 billion people. The “no future” movement had gained a considerable momentum. people were simply trying to tend to their immediate needs; losing any vision for the future or any concern for the consequences of their actions. Natality had dropped to an all-time low, crime had been continuously rising, and nation-states, as we know them, had long disappeared.
The UEF was the last large-scale social structure still holding, among a myriad of medium to small sized city-states. UEF representatives and offices, research centers, production units, etc, were scattered all around the world within the largest city-states. The UEF’s role now extended far beyond its initial goals, including a feared and powerful armed force to maintain order and ensure that the proper funding was collected from all city-states, in order to fuel the Rebirth Program.
A global language shared by all people on the planet started to emerge at the end of the 21st century. By the end of the 22nd century, almost everyone was speaking at least two languages: the global language (the “common”) and their local native language, each city-state having somehow evolved a variant from their original country’s language.
Economy
During the first half of the 21st century, the Internet quickly decentralized the economy, removing intermediaries and frictions. Anyone was able to open their own marketplace online, with powerful central aggregators to help integrate available offers. This was both true of goods and services. This highly distributed model of economy stood the test of time, both during the sentient AI era, and even after, up until the last century.
One of the main challenges of the last century, after the city-states model had become the norm, was logistics. Transporting goods over long distances carried the risk of being attacked by pirate hordes living outside of the city-states. The UEF and other independent security groups were in charge of ensuring protection, but still, the risk made inter-city trade dangerous, and local markets were the preferred method for basic commerce.
A global currency, the [U2] [(Universal Unit)], is installed by the UEF at the beginning of the 22nd century. It has acquired a growing support over the years and is still used as a reference currency on Alioth to help organize the exchanges of goods and services between colonists.
Culture & Society
At the moment of the Grand Exodus, humanity, and more precisely the UEF, was divided into four main political movements, essentially different from each other in the way they decided to answer one simple fundamental question: what is the main driving force in the development of humanity? Behind this question lies the promise of a political agenda on how to best rebuild civilization after the Grand Exodus and where to put priorities.
The [Luminous] are the first group. They consider the main driving force to be knowledge and wisdom. They value science, industry, and technology as the main sources of progress, and were heavily involved in the Rebirth Program, which led to the construction of the Arkships. They are, of course, very much respected for this even if some may criticize them for their all too rational take on things.
The Alphas are the second group. For them, the main driving force is, well, … force. They believe that people will respond mostly to strength and balance of power. They favor military action as a way to control and orient the evolution of the world in an attempt to avoid chaos and prevent instability. Their intentions are good, but they often fall to scandals involved with their expeditious way of handling subtle situations.
The [Ethereans] constitute the third group. They believe in the power of culture and arts. For them, humanity needs to be driven by dreams, beauty, and ideals before anything else. This is what gives us meaning. They are not against more practical endeavors but like to see these activities as a way to expand and support their vision. They have many supporters but are also often criticized for their lack of pragmatic action.
The [Emporium] is the final group. They believe in the power of money and commerce. They think that this has been the life and blood of human societies for millennia and, even if they will gladly regret it in private, they think this is nevertheless what gets the job done and can really set people in motion. Some point to them as a cause of an ever greater inequality, but they know how to silence critics and make people happy.
None of these movements are inherently good or bad, they all value human life and sincerely want to help drive humanity to success again.
Science & Technology
After the early 2400 years, science and technology suddenly advanced very rapidly. Incredible innovation occurred, becoming the foundation of the industrial, societal and economical program of Project Rebirth. Here are some of the most prominent breakthrough:
Nano fields: an expected advance in theoretical physics led to the discovery of a new force in nature, called the nano force due to its scale, that allows the fine control of the molecular dynamics of matter with incredible precision using high-frequency nano fields. Nano fields can be focused and modulated in a very precise way to destructure, collect or deploy and assemble matter in a short range radius. This is the core technology that gave birth to the nanoformer that every colonist is now equipped with.
Calabi-Yau Compactification: the science behind CYC has been inexplicably lost in the Arkship archives. It is the technology that powers nanopacks, which are extra small containers (that colonists wear on their suit), capable of amazing volume and weight reductions of almost anything contained in them. All we know is that it seems to work based on the possibility of storing matter within the extra dimensions of space-time allowed by String Theory, inside what is called the Calabi-Yau space. The exact science and understanding behind them have been lost and attempts at reverse engineering have all failed. Due to the limited number of Nanopacks available and their considerable value, further attempts to reverse engineer them are discouraged.
Nano fields displacement: this is a direct application of nano fields, used to collect, store and maintain matter within containers. The matter constituting objects is analyzed and de-structured first then stored using stable nano fields and can then be retrieved later via a reverse process that reconstructs the original object. Unlike with CYC, only limited volume gain can be obtained, and no weight reduction is possible.
Nano 3D printing: based again on the versatile nano fields, advanced 3D printers became possible. They are capable to assemble matter from reservoir sources to build small sized technological parts; from electronic to industrial units. Coupled to the automated assembly, this quickly became the basis of the industrial chain.
Quantum branching: Quantum Branching is at the heart of the Resurrection Node technology and is based on the “Many Worlds Interpretation” of quantum mechanics. At any moment, in particular, when you die violently, several versions of the universe coexist in parallel. Scientists working on EPR pair experiments unexpectedly found a way to instantly switch one universe with another, and in particular to switch the universe where you die with another one where everything would be exactly the same, except that your body position would be inside a Resurrection Node. The amount of matter to switch increases the energy cost of the operation, so RN teleport only the minimal set of mass to get the desired effect, which is... your naked body. A Resurrection Node is paired with your body and cannot be used by somebody else. It will make you virtually immortal, even if natural aging will probably get you out of the loop at some point.
Propulsion Engines: the conquest and exploration of the arrival star system, as well as nearby other stars, is a clear objective of the UEF for each arkship colony. Several engine technologies have been perfected as part of the Rebirth Program to allow for various flight modes, either within the atmosphere or in space. Warp drive technology was near completion and should become available a few years after the arrival, and even stargate instant transport has been sketched as a not too distant possibility but was unfortunately still not available at the time of the Grand Exodus. Warp drive speed is believed to be in the range of 100 times the speed of light, while super warp probes, that could be used to seed stargates, could reach up to 10.000 times the speed of light Making it possible to cross the entire galaxy in just 10 years.
Environment & Alioth
Alioth is a rocky planet orbiting a yellow dwarf star, very similar to the Sun. It has been selected due to its very similar Earth-like environment, including oceans, forests, mountains, and lakes. It has a moderate fauna and flora. The temperature during the day is similar to what can be found on Earth, but nights can be extremely cold.
The planet underground contains all the usual materials needed for basic industry, but more rare resources may have to be later harvested from one of Alioth’s three moons, or even from more distant planets in the system.
The planet day/night cycle is only 5 hours, and its weather pattern is relatively stable. Overall, Alioth is a very life-friendly planet, carefully chosen to facilitate the starting years of colonists.
The Arkship
The Arkships are a marvel of technology. They can host millions of people in cryosleep for extended periods of time. Made out of Kyrium, they can sustain incredible amounts of deceleration or acceleration, and absorb the corresponding crushing forces for whatever stand inside them. The origin of Kyrium is not well documented, and it seems that the material cannot be produced from a known industrial process, but has probably been found during some mining operations within the solar system.
Designed to travel close to the speed of light for extended periods, the Arkship engines are also not part of the colonist UEF documentation and no assembly schema could be found within the archives. There is much debate over why the UEF would intentionally withdraw such potentially useful information.
Each Arkship is controlled by a proto-sentient AI that was allowed to be built against the very strong UEF AI ban because it was argued that it would have been to hazardous to let the fate of humanity rest with dumb automatic machinery that would possibly not be able to react to unexpected situations. While being an exception to the AI ban rule, the onboard AI is still however not allowed to take control of any machinery or robot beside the Arkship itself. The Novark AI is called “Aphelia”.
Once on approach to the destination planet, the Arkship is designed to literally “plant” itself into the planet, to allow the deployment of deep geothermal energy collectors that should sustain the ship functions for potentially unlimited amounts of time. One of the key functions of the ship once arrived, is to deploy a 20km radius safe zone area where colonist would be free from any form of aggression from the outside, or… from themselves. It was indeed decided that the potentially violent nature of mankind under stressful situations should be mitigated with appropriate supervision. Within the safe zone, Aphelia is in charge of maintaining order and providing support and information to colonists.
Regrettably, one known consequence of prolonged cryosleep periods is that the subject will suffer from a loss of episodic memory, as well as most high-level cognitive memory like expertise, skills or know-how. To mitigate this side-effect, the Arkship archive contains large data banks that are transferable to colonists via a wireless data transfer process involving brain implants capable of stimulating neural activity. The process is slow and can take days for the most advanced skills, but is an effective way to re-enable lost knowledge for long time space travelers.
The Arkship extreme energy efficiency, designed to allow the ship to travel for millennia, forced trade-offs on what could be embarked in order to minimize the total mass, and of course, human bodies were preferred over any other “mass”. For this reason, and because nano 3D printing would make it possible to easily rebuild them, no ship or industrial machine was included inside the Arkships’ cargo. Humanity would have to rebuild civilization from scratch. A large set of Resurrection Nodes tuned to each registered colonist where however installed inside the Arkship to avoid any loss of precious life once arrived on the destination planet. For these reasons, the inside of the Arkship, besides the propulsion machinery, is mostly occupied by cryosleep pods, as well as Resurrection Nodes.
Alpha Team
While most of the Arkship passengers will wake up after the Arkship landing, a few thousand among them become half awakened between a few years and a few weeks before the arrival: the Alpha Team. While their bodies are still asleep, their brains are awakened and connected to an advanced neural/computer network that immerses them collectively within a virtual reality that is meant to simulate their first steps on the destination planet, for education and testing purposes.
During this simulation, of course, nobody can die (this represents the Alpha phase in-game). They are given easier access to certain resources in order to help them experience various stages of the tasks they will have to face in real life when arrived. The Alpha Team will then be in charge of guiding newcomers and helping to bootstrap the first months of civilization rebuilding on the destination planet.
Mysteries
The cryosleep memory loss side effect and the apparently incomplete archive has given birth to several mysteries for which colonists have developed many “theories”:
Kyrium is an absolute mystery. Nothing is available in the Arkship archives about its nature, how it was found, how to create it or even manipulate it. No colonist have the slightest memory about the Kyrium. If Aphelia is asked for information on Kyrium, the Novark’s AI will just give an elusive answer, explaining its lack of information as memory loss. Obviously, this is not a satisfying answer.
Aphelia is in charge of the Novark and the well-being of all the passengers. She seems as caring as invasive in the private life of the colonists. While she doesn’t seem brutal, hostile or coercive by default, her behavior is perceived as if she monitors every action of each human that has been aboard the Novark. She also seems to avoid disclosing information on some specific topics - at least that’s the feeling of some passengers - despite the fact she always says if she doesn’t give a satisfying answer, it’s because the answer is beyond its capabilities. For these two reasons, many colonists think the AI is not trustworthy. Aphelia seems to have incredible defenses against hacking, far higher than anything the most experienced colonists in hacking have ever seen, reinforcing the feeling that the AI might hide a lot of things.
The Arkship light speed engine is completely undocumented. No schema is available to rebuild one using 3D nano-printing, or by any other means.
There seems to be no trace of the records pointing to the destination of the other Arkships within the galaxy.
Battle of Emberstone
“Troopers!” A voice roared over the din. The men and women swarming throughout the drop bay halted, looking towards the source of the voice.”
“Two years ago we woke aboard the Novark on Alioth. Our home left far behind as we stepped out into the unknown. Afraid, confused and homesick we banded together. Forging a new civilization, a new way of surviving, and a new home.”
Alexander paused, surveying the gathered crew. He caught glimpses of pride flashing over the faces of his comrades.
“At first we believed we wouldn’t follow the ways of Earth, that peace, would come naturally. But alas that is not the case. As of today, we are at war. As many of you would've heard, 37 hours ago the city of Emberstone fell under siege. Although the JSDF replied in force, it was not enough. As of 0400 hours this morning, Emberstone has fallen.”
Silence fell over the drop bay, the hum of the warp drives could be heard as the men and women aboard the Invictus took in the news. Expressions of pride and joy were quickly replaced by concern, sadness and anger.
“Do not weep, the time for mourning is not here yet. For today is the day, today is the day we fight. Not for ourselves, but for our brothers and sisters, for those who have fallen! We fight for the Union, and the Syndicate!”
“HOO-RAH!”
“As of right now, the Terran Union is assembling the might of its military force to take back Emberstone. Silverlight Industries, Diverse Unified Alliance,the Aether, Objective Driveyards, Chuckling Casket, Chromion Industrial, and the Solar Empire are all sending everything they can spare.”
The Invictus lurched as it dropped out of the warp gate, arriving at the Alioth system. The engines roared into life and the cruiser slipped forward.
“Glasrevin has tasked us to drop into Emberstone, our lz is the square. From there we are to set up an FOB and split into squads, each squad taking a cardinal direction. You are to clear surrounding anti-air batteries to give the ground forces a safer corridor to land the rest of the army. So, I ask, what are we going to do?!”
“PAVE THE WAY!”
Throughout the fringes of the system, vast fleets of ships dropped into view. The Invictus plowed forward, heading towards Alioth. More ships flowed through the jump gates, all heading for redemption.
“We do not know what our chances of survival are, so we fight as if they were zero. Our brothers might lose us and the world might never know we existed, but the Enemy - the Enemy will know. The Enemy will remember. We will hurt it so badly that it will never forget us until the stars burn out. When they are dying, their last thought will be of us. That is our memorial - carved into the heart of our foes. We cannot lose, my friends. For we have already won”
Cheers rang out over the open area
as the TUSC roused into action. Final preparations were completed as troopers strapped in pieces of equipment. Alexander dropped down from the boxes he was perched on and adorned his own helmet. The HUD flaring to life and picking up the friendly tags. He did a once over of his pod, making sure the radio beacons and other equipment was securely strapped down. An amber light flicked on and troopers started clambering into their drop pods, strapping themselves in before the drop crew closed the hatch.
Above Alioth the fleets of the Cinderfall Syndicate were engaging the captured defence stations and the amassed fleet of the invading force. Flanked by three titan-class ships and the rest of the Terran Union fleet, the Invictus moved into orbit above Emberstone as the rest of the fleet engaged.
Alexander smiled as the buzz of the radio opened up and a voice carried across the TUSC’s channels. Doc better have a good speech, he mused.
“For a wounded man will shall say to his assailant, ‘If I live, I will kill you. If I die, you are forgiven’. Such is the rule of honor, broken the paradigm, an example must be set. Invoke the siren's song and sign the death warrant. Better to die quick, fighting on your feet. Then to live forever begging on your knees! So rise up, and answer; Can we still be saved?”
“Hell no!”
“Will we rise from the dead?”
“Hell no!”
“Is there still hope for us?
“Hell no!”
“Were we ever even alive?”
“HELL NO!”
“Free speech for the living, dead men tell no tales. Their laughing finger will never point again. Six feet under with no marker, Keep our names from your mouth forever. So I ask you; Do we bow for the weak?
“Hell no!”
“Do we pity our contenders?”
“Hell no!”
“Are we more than a cog in the system?”
“Hell no!”
“Will our war machine be stopped?”
“HELL NO!”
“This is their one and only decimation. The only one they’ll ever receive. Can't deny or ignore it. We are Leviathan: The Beast.”
Alexander stayed quiet during the exchange, studying the city below on a digital panel. They’d be performing a high orbit drop, although this exposed the drop pods to longer durations of any anti-air, it allowed them to better position themselves as they plummeted through the atmosphere. If they’d gone for a low orbit drop there was also the potential of being intercepted while not in the safety of the fleet. The light in the bay flipped from amber to red.
“DROP DROP DROP”
Barked a voice over the radio. He quickly inputted code and slammed his hand into the button above his head. The pod shuddered as the clamps released and it was jettisoned out into space. 84 other pods quickly followed, decoy pods would fall ahead, soaking up as much anti air fire as they could, enabling the troops and supply pods to land.
A song started blasting over the intercom and on the speakers mounted outside of a few modified pods. Streaks of light flashed past the soldiers as captured Anti-Air batteries opened up on the pods, drowning out the song with thunderous cracks. Explosions filled the air as missiles and shells screamed upwards into the sky. Far above the Invictus roared back into life, returning to participate in the battle.
The city rushed closer and their destination came into view, the massive city square was littered with craters and bodies as the pods careened downwards. He bowed his head as a pod exploded into a ball of fire, the shockwave shunting his own pod spiraling. He wrestled to get the craft back on target, using up the precious fuel. Notifications slowly crawled up a digi pad as pods were struck down.
Charlie 3-2 Viridian 12 -- KIA
Bravo 2-1 Azure 4 -- KIA
Supply 0012 Destroyed
Delta 4-2 Goldenrod 6-- Off target
Delta 4-2 Goldenrod 10-- Off target
“Brothers and sisters!”
Delta 4-2 Goldenrod 9 -- KIA
Delta 4-2 Goldenrod 8 --Off target
Delta 4-2 Goldenrod 7 -- KIA
The digi pad flickered then died as another shell rolled over the pod. Fighters weaved through the falling pods, cutting down the plummeting troopers. Goldenrod we the last to drop, he thought, a grim expression on his face, feet first into hell...
“Remember this day my friends, remember this moment. Remember this as the day we FIGHT.”
“HOO-RAH!”
Alexander was thrown into his harness as the landing thrusters kicked in. A shell exploded directly below him, sending smoke rushing over his pod. Another jolt and he slammed into the ground. The hatch blasted open, flying into an enemy soldier ready to fire. Alexander sprung out of his pod, firing at the distracted soldiers as they watched the pods rain down around then. The Battle of Emberstone had begun
--------85km from Emberstone-----
Two children burst out of their house and spun around in the backyard as their mother watched on, unaffected by the ravaged city. The twirling pair stopped as they looked up into blue sky.
“Mama! Look!”
Said the younger child, pointing a hand towards the sky. The mother stepped out from the doorway and looked upwards.
“Children, get back inside now.”
The mother looked on as the children chased each other into the farmhouse. Streaks of white flared over the city, like molten rain falling through the sky. In the background flashes of the space battle could be seen. She wore a grim expression as she saw the pods falling through the sky. While the invasion had been quick and deadly, the battle for Emberstone would be brutal. So it begins.
The continuation of the story can be found here. Please do not edit the file in anyway aside from commenting.
At this point we aren't sure exactly what connection mechanics will be like, or exactly how transactions will work. My guess to start out would be no, if you sell a construct blueprint, then either the smaller constructs will have to be sold separately as separate blueprints, or they will all be combined into a single blueprint, and then detached manually after construction. Perhaps in the future, there will be a way to connect ships together by some sort of connector, allowing the ability to save a construction of multiple ships as a single blueprint.
Some other alternatives would be:
- Combining all the different construct blueprints into a single package or "folder", so that they are separate blueprints but buying them all at the same time is the only way to get any of them.
- Simply selling the actual physical ship itself. Like, you build the big ship and the little ships and put them where they need to go, and then someone buys the whole thing directly.
You obviously have never been in a leadership role.
I can tell you as a leader IRL, that talks about policy making will always be heated BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. They should be. I would be more worried for a group that all thought the same.
What you did was try to throw those doors open. Now your upset that the people who have either been part of those discussions, seen them, or are mature enough to understand people argue, are making you out to be the bad guy.
There are bound to be reworkings during the two year wait we have until DU is released . . There is also a likely chance that quite a few internal squabbles will take place in that time as well. . .
What you must remember is this; heated debate brings around progress. It is "NOT" the end of the world! It is simply two or more passionate people who love their job working out their differences. . . Far better to have it come out now than during release. . .
But they don't. I'm not privy to the internal goings on at McDonalds because I'm not a board member nor an investor in the company. People who aren't currently involved in CSYN don't "deserve" to know anything about the organisation - anything they do release is just marketing stuff to get people on board. Yes, people in the organisation probably deserve a voice there (although I don't know how it's actually being run as of yet, and one could argue that subordinates don't need to know absolutely everything). So this "journalism" is a waste of your time and only serves as something to chuckle over for a little bit before moving on. Forum drama is unneeded so early into development.
The point of that conversation wasn't so that they could agree with each other, it was so that they could understand each other better. It's like character building; y'know, with your favorite TV show, the two main characters get into an argument and this one says that, that one says this, and at the end of it all they both understand the other a bit better.
We've been listening, it's just a matter of truly understanding what the other means to do, which Cinderfall has worked through
Think of it this way: You gather 15 different people in a room. You ask each of them their opinions on a policy. They each give a different opinion on said policy. Then they ask you to choose one, and you know that if you choose one, the other 14 might think less of you for it. Then you have to do that for every policy on the list, every time you have a meeting.
And you're telling me you wouldn't feel stressed about that? I call bullshit.
Hey outlandish I am a member of the senate and the representative for the solar empire there and well, after having seen ur article I was more than a little amused. We have two years till game starts and you are worried about how we have beeen debating over what CSYN is. I'm touched, really I am. It's nice to know someone cares enough and is needy enough to attempt to make a fuss about this. I look forward to laughing at your next article.
The wider gaming community has long displayed some negative characteristics. One that springs to mind is the desire to see a project fail. So these type of questions are going to arise again and again and again and if NQ are not careful they will be feeding into fears. And that's not helpful when you are trying to crowdfund.
Let me put it this way. When I see a well-considered post such as the OP's go largely unanswered by the community (and that's not an attack on anyone here) or ignored by the devs a horrible question arises in my mind: "have I may have bought into another Starforge, NMS or any other turkey I care to mention?" And I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this. Of course, there might be many legitimate reasons why the OP can't be answered and I've not lost faith in DU as a concept. However, I do think it would be very wise if NQ broke their radio silence very soon and started addressing such questions on a regular basis.
Hello to all of you. I would just like to publicly apologize for the spam that resulted on the forums today.
One of my members appeared to have gone and advertised the Diverse Unified Alliance without prior approval nor mention of doing so. This person had no approval nor encouragement from other members. They acted on their own and I take responsibility for what happened.
I am reaching out to contact this person directly and I hope to avoid any future problems like this.
A lot of things are under construction. The Lore is no exception.
Join us in this section to talk about the storyline, to give your feedback and/or make some suggestions about what has already been uncovered of the storyline.
Stay tuned as we are currently working on the game world bible
As you may already know, Dual Universe will be different from many MMORPGs due to its Sandbox aspect.
One of the particularities is to make the evolution of the storyline directly tied to what happens in-game. This might include the integration of fan fictions in the official storyline. However, it won't be possible to make it happen without a few rules that will preserve consistency and equity among players.
Of course, it's totally possible to write a Fan Fiction without strictly following the official lore.
In that case, keep in mind a few things:
- You cant' use Dual Universe nor Novaquark in the tittle of your fan fiction.
- You must put the tag [Non-Canon] in the title of the Fan Fiction
- You must put the tag [Fan Fiction] in the title if you publish the text anywhere else than the official forum.
- Do not expect to see the Fan Fiction integrated to the official storyline.
- Expect many players to ignore it in their roleplay, as for keeping consistency when roleplaying with each other, it's only natural that players aim to have the same lore references.
Now about the necessary rules to follow if you want to see your fan fiction integrated in the official storyline:
- Please read the official storyline first.
- The fan fiction should be compatible with what is known from the Dual Universe backstory so far. Nothing in the fan fiction should be contradictory with what has already been published. Note: an important Lore update is planned for Tuesday 15th of November 2016. This might give you answers to a lot of questions you migh have until now. It's highly recommanded to not set into stone what you have imagined for your fan fiction before having read this update, if you aim to see the fan fiction integrated.
- The content of the fan fiction must not include content from another game of fiction universe.
- The fan fiction should not give any status advantages on specific Player Characters over others. Example: a Player Character involved in a fan fiction can't become the captain of an Arkship or the Prime Minister of a country prior to the Arkship Launch, just because the author of the fan fiction has decided this.
- No alien creature should be involved.
- Physical violence should be limited (No gore or similar things).
- Verbal violence and cursing is tolerated but must stay limited.
- Explicit sexual content isn't allowed.
- Hate speeches toward real people, real ethnic groups, real religions isn't allowed.
- Real politics proganda isn't allowed.
- If the fan fiction is integrated to the official lore, you accept to transfer to Novaquark the right of using the fan fiction content for promotional purpose of the game, without expecting any additional reward or financial compensation in return.
- Ultimately, Novaquark staff reserves the right to validate or not a fan fiction in the official storyline. That being said, we will try our best to integrate as many as possible, and will help writers in this direction if they ask for help.
Of course, we remain open to the community feedback and suggestions to improve these guidelines!
These guidelines will be updated on Tuesday, 15th of November 2016.
Two months have passed since the first highlights on Dual Universe's main organizations, so Sleepers are having a second round of topics. Some legates even get involved in the writing !
The Aether as a Cult? Well, you certainly couldn't have known. If you did, I would have to break the news to you: we are not a cult and we have no plans to evolve into one.
We are a Family and Team with a moderate amount of role play to strengthen inclusiveness and keep our affairs and life in Dual Universe interesting and somewhat unpredictable. The Kalnian Books are fictional as far as real life is concerned, but in the Aether and Backstories, they exist--not as a laws to live by, but as spice and guides that add to our lives.
I do not mind holes in the lore. It will encourage us to make our own ideas. I also like the idea of stressing that the new lore, or future is more important than the past. the game will mean different things to different people and setting in stone what earth was like before the game starts may limit some people's backstories and concept of their character.
Halo381 reacted to Astrophil in Aeonian Federation [Now Recruiting]
Halo381 got a reaction from Kurock in Chromion Industrial
Halo381 got a reaction from Kaladin in So Now We know.