catwhowalksbyhimself

Join Date 06/2007

Galaxy War--a new mod based on Formis6's race movies

With Formis6's permission, I am working on a mod which will replace all regular races with new ones based on his excellent race graphics, among other things. This mod will not be released until there are at least enough done to replace all the original ones--but it looks like he'll be there before too long anyway. In the meantime I'm already working on it. Watch this thread for more info on the mod, its backstory, and its races.

The basic story behind the mod is a huge war, involving most of the galaxies most powerful races breaks out when a terraforming experiment by the peaceful Forgoy accidently causes widespread destruction on a colony of the United Terran Empire. Unwilling to accept any apolgies from the Forgoy, and used to dealing with all problems through military might, the Terrans launch a vicious strike again the kindly amphibious Forgoy and most of the galaxy quickly picks sides. The Madrabs, meanwhile, manipulated by the mysterious Kryons, begin taking advantage of the chaos to quitely take over and over run planets. When the Terran Empire sees what is happening and realizes the potential thread posed by the increasingly numerous Madrabs pushing into everyone's territory, a hasty peace treaty is made with the Forgoy, and the sides are rapidly redrawn. . .

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And a preview of the first race: The United Terran Empire.

History:

By the late twenty-first century, the war and terrorism that had risen in the late twentieth century had left most of the world's most powerful countries in shambles. Governments had broken down, and what little power was left was vested in individual cities and in the thug-like remnants of former armies.

Canada was one of the last countries to fall. When former Canadian military officer John Starkey heard of the death and chaos caused by the lawless in his small home town, he brought his former unit together to bring peace to the town and chase out the thugs. Realizing the value of military order in restoring society, he began raising an army, gradually conquering Canada and bringing civilization and order back into being wherever he went. By his death, he had conquered most of world and united it under martial law. When Hyperdrive was discovered and man began expanding into the stars, the Imperial Army, now utilizing state-of-the-art powered battle armor, went with them.

Culture:
The United Terran Empire is a militaristic society. There is only one branch of the government--the military, which controls all aspects of society and government. Surprisingly, the civilian populace is given a very large degree of freedom. Free opinion are allowed, for the most part, and military officers who abuse their power are dealt with extremely harshly.

The humans stick mostly to themselves, isolating themselves from galactic society. They have little concept of diplomacy, preferring to ignore races who leave them alone and to deal with any percieved slight by invasion and conquest--and often extermination.

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Next up: The Forgoy Sanctuary

History

The Forgoy have alway been a peaceful race, strong believers in their various, yet peaceful, religions and seekers of spirituality. For many thousands of years of their history, however, their civilization did not dominate their planet. Instead, they were still prey for numerous predators. Somewhere during Earth's 12th century, a lone tribe began to show aggression and lethal self-defense against their predators. Other tribes reacted in horror to this at first, but Forgoy civilization was able to start in earnest among this tribe, and many others eventually began to follow. Philosophers and religious leaders eventually came to the conclusion that it was acceptable to take life, but only in defense of your own life or life of another. Some minority Forgoy still regard this as heresy.

Forgoy technology and culture soon caught up roughly with Earth's. In very recent days, a young Forgoy by the name of Tormis claimed to recieve a vision during his morning meditations about how the Forgoy could bring peace and culture to the stars. Unlike in many cultures, the Forgoy took this very seriously, and many great scientists and engineers were sent to study his vision. This work led to the invention of hyperdrive. Tormis was hailed as a visionary and prophet and soon was appointed leader of the Forgoy people. He remains their leader into the present day.

Culture:

The Forgoy respect meditation and philosophy as the chief pursuits in life. Spiritual and religious leaders and philosophers are afforded the highest amount of respect. Affording any other activity a place about these pursuits is frowned upon. Elements of culture expressing their spiritual pursuits, such as music, plays, and writings, are praised throughout the galaxy. The Forgoy likewise are very curious about other cultures, particularly their philosophies and religions, and seek to take the best from them. While most Forgoy are no longer, strictly speaking, pacifists, they will still seek to avoid violence as much as possible, fighting only when they feel they have no choice.

Galaxy War Involvement:

The Forgoy accidentally started the Galaxy War when attempting to use a re-directed comet as a means of making an unusable planet habitable. Unfortunately, the comet passed too close to another planet in the solar system colonized by the United Terran Empire. The comet's gravity cause massive tidal wave distortion, and, more importantly, knocked one of its moons out of orbit an into the planet, causing massive destruction on the planet's surface.

The Forgoy were very apologetic and immediately send envoys to the Terrans offering reparations. The diplomats were imprisoned and executed for the supposed "crime" against the empire, and all there explanations were not accepted. The Forgoy found themselves under massive attack, and as they started going to their allies for help, the races of the galaxy started taking sides. While the Forgoy managed to hold their own for a time, their defenses were on the verge of collapse when the situation changed drastically.

The Forgoy soon found themselves fighting on the side of their former enemies and against many of their allies. The war was ony starting.

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Androgon Syndicate

History:

As more trade and commerce went into the stars, it was only inevitable that crime would follow. Space pirates appeared among every race. While some continued to act independently, others began gathering together into organized crime syndicates. The most powerful of these was the Androgen Syndicate, named after the planet of a minor race who tolerated illegal activities, giving them free reign. The power of the syndicate soon grew under of the leadership of former Terran Imperial officer "Deadeye" Steele. He was able to exert enough influence to be able to control the entire planet.

Culture:

The Syndicate is not a true race, although it does control many planets and acts as the de facto government for those planets. The members of Syndicate proper only care about profit, legal, or illegal, legitimate or not. Many races are happy enough to trade with them, just as long as they don't ask too many questions.

Galaxy War Involvement:

The Syndicate began officially neutral, trading weapons to both sides, but the Terrans had no tolerance for them and began shooting down their ships no matter whose boarder they were in. The Forgoy, on the other hand, eagerly bought their weapons and allowed free passage to their ships, overlooking any other activities. Figuring that the Terrans winning the war would be very, very bad for business, the Syndicate openly joined the Forgoy's alliance. When the war abruptly shifted, the Syndicate preferred to continue to oppose the Terrans, siding with the Madrabs.

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Kool

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Very cool. I'm looking forward to see more of this.

Do you have plans to include specific shipstyles for the races?

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Not for now. I have no talent whatsoever in that area. If some who does wishes to do it, they are welcome to do so.

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The Madrab Conglomerate:

History:

The Rabbit-like Madrab kill all their predators and over-ran their home planet many millenia ago. All other animal life died off, unable to compete with their sheer number, and the pollutants and problems they introduced. Nothing else is known about their history until modern times, as the Madrab don't keep track of history and much of it is the same anyway.

When they finally invented hyperdrive and reached the sky, the Madrab began over-running over planet they could get their hands on, destroying native animal life. They soon ran into other races, putting halting their expansion until the Galaxy War began.

Culture:

Life as a Mabrab is a harsh existence. Because of the sheer number of Madrabians that exist and their tremendous population growth rate, the Madrabs have no respect or regard for life at all, their own race's, or any one else's. Murder is legal and rampant. As a matter of fact, several serial killers from other races have moved to Madrabian planets, where they can work their hobby openly, with little reprecussion. The Mabrab are also infamous for over-powering their ship's engines. The deadly radiation brings slow death to the crew, but that matters little to them. Any offspring born with mutations as a result are simply killed.

Involvement in the Galaxy War:

When the war began, the Madrab saw it as an opportunity to expand into more planets. They joined on the side of the Terran Empire, but, encouraged by the Kryons, began taking planet from all the races in the war, relying on communications loss and confusion to protect them. The Terrans, however, eventually found out and realized that the Madrab were well on their way to running the other races out of all of their planets altogether. The Terrans declared war on the Madrabs and the Kryons, who they had caught giving advice on how to invade Terran planets undetected, and the sides of the war shifted.

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I wish I was so creative when making custom races...

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I wish I was so creative when making custom races...

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Glad you like them. And it doesn't really matter. It's not a contest. The important thing is that you enjoy what you make.

Feel free to steal any ideas here, by the way. As Formis has been busy of late, it will probably be a bit until this mod is released anyway.

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"Feel free to steal any ideas here, by the way."

I just did.

I took the United Terran Empire and used it to make an "alternate universe" version of the Earth Federation, where Earth was struck by a comet (ripped off annother mod!) shortly after the Federation is formed, and the planet is reunited under a military dictatorship. In fact, the rip-off race is only one word off from yor race's name: United Earth Empire! still, imatation isthe sincerest for of flattery. That...didn't come out right, did it?

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Rise, oh undead beast, and terrorize the world once more!

Anyway, I'm thinking of reviving this. Formis has been MIA for a while, but if I use the head by Donfield, although I can't figure out how to pm or otherwise contact him.

Anyhow, I've got another race idea that I could actually use the custom civ pic for, and I might be able to get something better later. That makes 11 races I can make total if I use all of Formis's. I can cough up one more somewhere.

I'll probably make both DA and TA versions, if all works out. Still wish Formis was able to make a few more, they are true works of art.

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Neilo

Join Date 04/2006

+128

Those race portriats are awesome!!! Are they available in the Library?

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Yes, indeed they are. Look under the misc category.

Formis churned out a lot of these in his time. He gave me permission to make a mod out of them, once he had a full twelve, but he stopped making them and we never got twelve, so now I'll go on as best I can.

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Neilo

Join Date 04/2006

+128

Thankyou, i will check them out!

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Freeman43

Join Date 11/2007

+12

sweet can't wait.

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The Fellowship of Nature's Way:

Fellowship of Nature's Way Pic

History and Culture

The Engronians have roamed the galaxy for countless milenia. Nearly every sentient race has legends that may have their origins in these beings, such as Earth stories about faries and elves. The Engronians are very different from all other races, however, in that they don't value knowledge so much as the experience of discovering it. They have no libraries or repository of knowledge. If they have no immediate use for a particular technology, they simply forget it, and destroy any remaining samples for raw resources. They have only returned to the stars in the last few years, having forgotten their space travel technology in their efforts to turn their planet back into the paradise it once was.

The Engronians are also unusual for having a complicated lifecycle, consisting of Four distinct sentient forms, plus a five plantlike form, three of which have two separate genders. The various forms are believed to be the source for many of Earth's, and other planet's, legendary creatures.

Involvement in the Galaxy War

When the Terrans attacked the Forgoy, the Fellowship, as their closest allies, immediately joined in on their side. Arguably, it was their choice to join what would otherwise have been a two-party war, that triggered a galaxy wide conflict. When the sides were re-arranged, the Fellowship remained with their allies, the Forgoy, and against the Madrab, whose enviromentally distructive habits disgusted them.

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