You just gave me an incredibile idea.
I found these movie posters on a wall near my house.
Has anyone seen them? [emote]:twisted:[/emote]
…shouldn’t that be Last Night on Monarch?
Also, is this a sneak peek at titles authors have decided on? Or did you think them up? I admit, I googled to check.
These could be… suggestions. [emote]:)[/emote]
I’m not gonna code them. No one told me about anything similar. I just wanted to note that games which would fit the comp aren’t necessarily about the main storyline.
No way! There’s a movie based on The Andromeda Legacy Series??? Well I guess that would be mission accomplished then! [emote];)[/emote]
Unless of course you put them there or “tweaked” the image. I did however do a google search on “The Andromeda Legacy”, but only found IF links.
On an unrelated note, I did find this google book. The name of the author seems of particular interest.
I will deffy buy that book. But I guess I know MORE about The galaxy than The author. I’ve been there, you know.
Oh, I’ve poked around there, too. Found and did all sorts of things I shouldn’t have!
I rather thought the author might have been a family member or something.
Not the case, sadly–my last name is kind-of rare and astronomy ~ my interests, but nobody in my family is an author.
Considering all the IF games you’ve made, I guess you’d qualify as an author!
(Oh, and this is my 600th post! Yay!)
Grrrrrreat news, authors!
Our inmate ZUrlocker is giving a NEW PRIZE for the competition!
Check it here: dennis-wheatley-1936
A call to arms to all judges! Write me! Se will decide what to Award this prize for!
For all authors still there pretending you don’t want to enter this Comp: a week to the deadline for intent entering! There is a NEW PRIZE!
It seems like I’ve lost contact with one of the first people to submit their intent to enter in the Andromeda Legacy comp. No sign in PMs and no sign in my (far too many) stored email.
What I’m asking is, please, all people who wish to enter the competition to PM me AGAIN (sorry sorry sorry) so that I can stop being a dumbass and store your intents.
Thank you and sorry for being lame.
By (somewhat) popular demand: following the Andromeda facts, updated after the last IFComp.
A word to other authors (namely: Joey Jones and Paul Lee): You may want to add the bits about your stories. Thanks for the help.
---- WARNING ---- BIG SPOILERS AHEAD! Don’t read if you don’t want to ruin your gaming experience.
Let’s start with:
The Geography
[spoiler]Andromeda
M 31 / NGC 224 - Spiral Galaxy (previously mistaken with the Andromeda Nebula), biggest member of the ‘Local Group’, along with ‘Triangle’ and fifty more lesser galaxies. It counts circa one-thousand-billion stars, including Korhos, Fatimah and Sehrn, the trinary system of Monarch. From nearby galaxies and systems, Andromeda appears the most luminescent, given its 4.4 magnitude in Messier’s scale
Trinary System
Monarch’s solar system. Korhos, Sehrn, Fatimah.
Korhos
KFS1 / Korhos – Giant red, major star of the trinary system. Age: 8.5bill
Fatimah
KFS2 / Fatimah – White dwarf, lesser star of the trinary system. Age: 7bill.
Notes: the star, after ‘the Event’, has started revolving around Korhos, making it a satellite of the major star. Regarding Monarch, the major planet of the trinary system, this revolution causes devastating tidal waves every 10 days. The ‘Tidal Initiative’ has reduced the tsunamis to once every ten thousand years
Fatimah Initiative (or Second Bound): An underground net that provides an antigravitational field on Monarch to counterweight the one caused by the approaching of the orbiting star Fatimah. Every ten days, all non-emergency power sources on the planet are redirected to the Initiative. The Initiative was the Second Bound by the Interstellar Agreement and was signed by all the thirteen members of the Council.
Sehrn
KFS3 / Sehrn – Yellow star, medium of the trinary system. Age: 7.7bill
Monarch (planet)
Sixth planet in the trinary system, the biggest in size. Base of the human activity in the Andromeda galaxy, is Capital World and headquarters of the ASA Council of the Thirteen. Age: 1.2bill. Size: magnitude 7.2 in Resson’s scale
The Layers
Monarch underground surfaces, all separated by a thin air layer. The lowermost is a volcanic crust, born in the millennia when the once fiery planet cooled off. The uppermost is a thin ice layer, partly eroded by time and partly by human work, as in the case of the constructs. The Monarch cities are floating over the oceans from the now partly melted icy layer.
Constructs (or Construct)
The foundations of Monarch’s Republican World. Digging deep into the earth where the glacial layer has been molten, pillars of steel and concrete serve as supports for the above cities. In fact, the Monarch nation is but a floating continent built by the first colonies above the icy layer. Nowadays, a mere 10 percent of that layer is still solid, the rest being transformed into vast oceans covering more than half the world
Settlements (or Underground Settlement)
During the era when the Constructs were built, a large underground vault, known as the ‘settlement’, was used for R&D and to store artifacts and knowledge found while digging through the icy crust and the upper layers. Aseptic walls run relentlessly for kilometers, along with a vast number of laboratories and facilities. These places are a sort of gigantic city-under-the-city, where the researchers and the workers spent their time together in a closed environment. Due to the extremely long times before resurfacing, many were captivated in the settlements for months until their duty schedule expired. The seclusion proved too much for the inhabitants of the settlements, who started showing signs of paranoia and of claustrophobia. After only three years since the first humans entered the vault, a fierce riot took the pale halls, leaving more than three hundred civilians dead. The settlements were closed and all the work was handed over to automated machines and robots.
Only a part of the endless maze that once was the settlements is still visitable: the Museum of the Vaults, near the Central Station. There, visitors can witness the ‘magic’ of the white corridors lighting system, some of the remaining labs (only a handful are still functioning – even if for mere demonstrational purposes) and the thrilling experience of the disappearing walls.
The Quarantine
The reclusion area of the Underground Settlements. Different zones were used for storing artifacts found during excavations, storing unvaluable waste and garbage, and jailing those that were held responsible for acts of mischief during their duty.
A non-conventional belief, by the way, is that the Quarantine was used to recess ‘guests’ not too fond of keeping secrets and – as the very name indicates – to avoid unknown viruses from exiting the underground environment.
Mechanosatellites
Structures orbiting Monarch at a very long range. Build as solid space stations, they were meant to be used as bunkers against the Event onslaught. Upon serving their purpose, they have been since left abandoned.
Satellites
In general, space stations orbiting Monarch. Specifically, towns in the sky where people at present live and work. The larger part of Monarch population is still living in the satellites, only a few able to come to Monarch soil and live there.
Monarch (city)
The capital town of the Monarch world. Population: 2mill circa.
Brouguoise (city)
Home of the State University, in Monarch.
Phelios Fortress (or Terracentral Fortress)
The small asteroid-satellite orbiting Monarch VII, Phelios, is home to the Terracentral fortress, where the Quintessential Library and the Humanitas mementos are stored.
Morbozzo (quarantine space station)
The one and only quarantine facility still functioning at the time of the Second Event.[/spoiler]
---- WARNING ---- BIG SPOILERS AHEAD! Don’t read if you don’t want to ruin your gaming experience.
The Politics
[spoiler]Monarch is a Republic.
The Government rules the system.
The Government is made up by hundreds of people, voted democratically.
The all serve a higher Council, named the Council of the Thirteen, which is elected by the lesser council. The Council is made up by 13 people, whose identities remain unknownb[/b]. The government-above-the-government of the ASA Republican Worlds. Made up of thirteen members, it is the source of the ASA codex and of the 237 Bounds
ASA (or Andromeda Solar-spatial Agreement)
It is the set of rules which binds the interstellar space of the Andromeda Galaxy. The whole library is held in the Monarch Manuscript, under the Humanitas Mementos, closed from light and cryogenized at the Terracentral station in Phelios.
The Humanitas Mementos
The massive codex comprehending both the 237 Bounds, or Initiatives, and the larger set of rules and Government acts has been handwritten and then stored in a vacuum cryogenized vault inside the fortificated complex of Terracentral, inside the hollow satellite Phelios. It is guarded by laser-triggered weapons and by a small army of robocops.
The 237 Bounds
he sum of the 237 rules by which the ASA Republican Worlds work. They are divided into seven sections, each made up by at least 20 so-called ‘initiatives’. Only the first two Bounds contain just one Initiative each. Those were written in the Ancient Days before the reforming of the Republic.
Sen Kulpa (councillor)
The only member of the Council of the Thirteen whose name we actually know. Female. Mischievous. A mastermind killer.[/spoiler]
---- WARNING ---- BIG SPOILERS AHEAD! Don’t read if you don’t want to ruin your gaming experience.
The Timeline
[spoiler]Years are based on Monarch revolutionary process around the major star, Korhos. Comparisons between Monarch’s and Earth’s years are not available.
3000-8140 - The Third Age.
Sometimes, before 7892 - The first colonists come to Andromeda from another galaxy.
A new civilization is born inside the halls of a stranded-in-space-and-time-starship moving scientists, civilians and military from the neighboring galaxy to Andromeda. Its inhabitants’ heritage and history are soon forgotten. For details check the game Tree and Star.
7892 - The Event - Start. A brilliance starts enveloping the neighboring galaxy.
8140/d3/m4 - The Event - Explosion/End. The Event first collapses that deflagrates, obliterating the neighboring galaxy and part of Andromeda itself.
8140 - Fatimah is dislocated by the Event and starts circling Korhos.
8140-8150 - Andromeda population is decimated. People go and live in the Mechanosatellites.
8140-8350 - The Ancient Days - Monarch is slowly repopulated as the technology returns to its former advancement.
8199/d12/m5 - The First Initiative is signed by the Council of the Thirteen.
8200-8350 - The Constructs and the Settlements are being built.
8350-9855 - The Modern Days
9855/d25/m3 - The Alpha Radiation is discovered by Dr. Andy Re’s and Dr. Ektor Mastiff.
9855/d9/m4 - Dr. Andy Re’s is killed by unknown assailantb[/b] in the backstreet of his house.
9855/d10/m4 - The Second Event. Monarch is wiped clean by the Fatimah Tides. The Hyerotropes activate and leave Monarch.
9855/d10-11/m4 - Ektor Mastiff, probably the only survivor of the Monarch devastation, is stranded in an ancient starship, the Arcadia, build by an alien civilization as an ark for leaving its collapsing galaxy over one million years ago (due to the effect of another “Event”, called the Omega Supernova).
b The assailant has a name.[/b] Check the game Andromeda Dreaming for all the details![/spoiler]
---- WARNING ---- BIG SPOILERS AHEAD! Don’t read if you don’t want to ruin your gaming experience. WARNING SQUARED: The updates introduce elements hidden in the game Andromeda Apocalypse, which unlock certain Achievements. I suggest you try and find out by yourself before continuing the reading…
The Hyerotropes
[spoiler]Spheres of a matter unknown.
What follows are excerpts from various sources about the Hyerotropes.
The E-Pad
The moving motor of the Tidal Initiative. Discovered during the Ancient Era, its meaning or purpose is yet unknown. Apart from a huge power surge (all in the geo-gravitational spectrum), a Hyerotrope seems utterly inactive. Its ‘breathing’ has been hypothesized as a remnant of a former energy outbreak, the likes and size of which are not computable. Although ‘dead’ in many ways, it was soon discovered that its gravitational pull could be altered by igniting it with an immense plasma shock. Thus far, the seventeen Hyerotropes discovered have been used to counterweight Fatimah during the tidal outbreaks.
The plasmatrons are devices used for storing and releasing energy. The plasma incoming from the stars is stored in them and then used in time to power machines and other devices. A plasmatron can be fully depleted in a single shock (a.k.a. the ‘plasmashock’) when higher levels of energy are needed. One example is the discharge upon the Hyerotropes during the Second Initiative (aka Fatimah Initiative).
(Inserted by user 5,835/Ektor Mastiff – not present in general database)[paragraph break]Radiation which pulsates from a specific point under Monarch’s capital. Discovered on 25th/3rd/9,855. Generator or source: unkn. Z-position: unkn. Magnitude: feeble, but growing. ---- Warning: same kind of the Event residues. ----
The First Initiative
The icy mantle under Monarch (System KFS - Andromeda galaxy) has been pierced. What the first human probes have found can only be described as the remnants of a former civilization, the mortal spoils of which can be trusted as ultimately lost. A series of globular machines lays in a pattern (called the Hyeromatrix), hidden under the very mantle of the earth. All forty-four of those machines (called the Hyerotropes) are dormant but still present a form of ‘living’ electromagnetic and geo-gravitational power. Beyond this, an unknown energy array seems to be pulsing inside them, out of the usual spectrum. Whatever the structures are, there is indeed no way of stating that they aren’t alien in nature.
Moreso, the radiance emitted by one of the bigger spheres is very similar to the fast decaying fingerprints of the Event residue. This MUST be noted as extremely important.
(…) a containment cage will be closed around the forty-four Hyerotropes and investigative labs will be built under the Monarch’s crust. (later called the Constructs and the Settlements).
The Operator’s Diary (working near the Hyerotropes around year 7892)
(The military) are trying to open one of those balls of metal (the HT).
(…) They are gonna fire things at the metal balls.
(After firing at the HT) There was a flash an then all the walls begun rumblin. It was not only the walls, but everything. The ceiling cracked and – I swear – a chunk of ice large like a tank came crushing down. It killed seven people. None I knew, fortunately. They were all so much in panic I thought the world was really gonna end. But then it all got normal and everything got back to quiet. No sign of the general, today. Guess he has to smell those things. He’s never here when something occurs.
I forgot to say something. During the tremors (it was not a quake, more of the ground adjusting, I’ve heard some say), something odd happened. The computers went suddenly on, just for ten seconds or so. The were all broken, you know. No signal for two months. But then they wake up and there’s this white light. And all things begun moving towards that hole in the big chamber, the one just before the center of the earth. It looked like they were PULLED there by some sort of ghost.
(…)I heard Marko is dead, too. They don’t let anyone beyond the dam and I can’t tell for sure, but I heard some say he got devoured by one of those spheres. ‘It has eaten him alive’, they said.
The room’s description
A dome of sorts has been carved in the earth, an inner sanctum of inhumane proportions, spanning for hundreds of meters in all directions. The wall’s surface is smooth and shiny, cut into a dark material that looks like obsidian. On the ground, a maze of carvings draw perfect lines that intersect each other and run throughout the floor; all are filled by an ethereal substance as thin as air that glows in a faint blue. They seem to revolve around a single entity in the center of the gargantuan structure, and sink under its base. Many of these cuts then proceed over the structure, like an electric ivy clinging to it. Light shimmers from nowhere in particular and from all around at the same time, reverberating on the rock and on the steel floor. A faint buzz is the only noise audible, the rest of the universe swallowed in an uncomfortable, dark silence.
Other known facts
The Hyerotrope with which Ektor Mastiff interacts has a door-like opening that leads to a chamber, inside. The chamber is transparent from the inside. The Hyrotrope travels down to lands Mastiff on the volcanic crust. The door was opened by a series of cylinders, operated with small metal engraved circles.
A bigger Hyerotrope ‘kidnaps’ Mastiff and flies away, with all the other 43b[/b], when Monarch is destroyed by the tides.
The Hyerotropes respond to all kind of energy, the most powerful usually being the geo-gravitational.
The biggest energy depletions have been, in the end, the so-called Alpha Radiations. At first dormant, then faintly emitting, then blasting (replicating, maybe, the Event).
From the AI named LOGAN
(*) The Hyerotropes leaving Monarch are indeed 48, and not 44 as thought by the first Monarch colonists. They move together in a “formation” (the Hyeromatrix) resembling the solid figure named “truncated Cuboctahedron”. When they move, though, it’s usually because they are leaving a galaxy they just helped disintegrate. This effect – called the Omega Supernova – has been witnessed and recorded at least three times: first, one million and 300thousands years prior to the events depicted in Andromeda Apocalypse, when it obliterated the Neulan galaxy; second was the Milky Way, in year 7892 of Monarch’s calendar. Last (or was it?) the galaxy of Andromeda started being devoured in present day.
As discovered by Ektor Mastiff, the brightest galaxies in the amass containing both Andromeda and the Milky Way form the same truncated cuboctahedron of the Hyeromatrix, suggesting an even larger scope to the Hyerotropes motives and effects than the ones hypothesized up to now.[/spoiler]
A note on the setting of Tree and Star:
---- SPOILERS ----
[spoiler]The ship that Rood, Veritas, Chronos live on, the Godspeed, was originally only one ship in a fleet of indeterminate size. The Godspeed lost contact with the other ships, presumably after the whole fleet was pulled into the time-space anomaly, although the people of the Godspeed might never have known whether or not the other ships were also taken. In Rood’s lifetime, this is all vague legend.
In the space-time anomaly, the people could see no stars, and the ship’s eqipment could detect nothing except the signal that had torn reality apart around them – with the possible exception of some of the other ships in the original fleet very earlier in the history of the Journey (but again, that is unknown). When Chronos Han was a young man, he fought hard against the belief that the Godspeed was the extent of the entire universe, preaching that the myths of stars and planets and seas and trees were true. Chronos was proven correct when the Godspeed was inexplicably returned to normal space in the Andromeda Galaxy. When the stars of Andromeda appeared for all to see, the people called them the “New Heavens.” Rood and Veritas are among the first generation to be born after the stars reappared.[/spoiler]
---- SUPER SPOILER ----
My thought is that once the Godspeed became re-attuned to the signal from (presumably) the Hyerotropes, the ship was travelling at “warp” speed toward Monarch, although there is no knowing how long the journey within the Andromeda galaxy would have taken.
At any rate, a completely different account of the journey from the Milky Way galaxy to Monarch could be totally consistent both with Marco’s timeline as well as with the premise of Tree and Star.
Great Paul. Thanks a lot!
On a side note:
When Chronos Han was a young man, he fought hard against the belief that the Godspeed was the extent of the entire universe, preaching that the myths of stars and planets and seas and trees were true. Chronos was proven correct when the Godspeed was inexplicably returned to normal space in the Andromeda Galaxy. When the stars of Andromeda appeared for all to see, the people called them the “New Heavens.”
This is really interesting and something I overlooked when playing Tree and Star. It gives birth to some VERY serious psychological and philosophical speculations:
How did the people in the Godspeed react to the suddenly appearance of a greater universe? If many thought they were just all that existed, how did they cope with a so vast space around them? with stars, planets, galaxies? Isn’t this a far bigger problem than to accept the existence of the Hyerotropes?
This could be humus for a THOUSAND other stories, isn’t it?