Novus Aeterno Quest Submissions

[Therianwolf]

Fresh Fodder

It is about time you shameful excuses for Varu'nas, caught up to at least be recognized by your betters. However you have a long way to go and a lot to prove before we even begin to consider bestowing upon you what you may feel you are entitled to as your "birth right".

^{If you are receiving this do not react, we understand your apprehension to even associate with the likes of us, but you are being deceived. Our kind are not the criminals you are led to believe, the truth is the imperial hierarchy is controlled by corrupt fossils using the mantle of honour to keep control over all, they covet knowledge and power for themselves through the labour of those stronger then themselves.}

You can start by purging our galaxy of some of those filthy "Outcasts". It has come to our attention that those mangy inbreeds and weak of blood are rather adamant about being a pain in our scales, but why waste our time when we have your indentured service. You pups with delusions of grandeur it's repulsive, however we enjoy watching your kind squirm in the mud for our amusement.

^{The truth is your "masters" are the most decease ridden and weak of all our kind, they use forbidden machines to sustain themselves and yet call us weak! They fear what we believe, they fear what we worship, they fear the return of our master.}

But enough idle chatter you have your task, trivial as it may be. Bring us a corpse, yours or theirs, either way we plan to make an example of someone, the sooner it is completed the better things will be for you.

^{The task they have assigned to you is in reality to silence us, to hide their shame. Know this, your honour is but a play thing to them as they will sooner cast you aside like a spent casing or worse label you an outcast and be hunted by others, like yourself, so eager to please the hierarchy.}

Once your through with them we may consider you for something more, how shall we say, deserving for one such as us. If you obey and do as you are commanded you may even, one solar cycle, be worthy enough to be entrusted with a morsel of our vast knowledge, if you are fortunate enough.

^{We will not ask of you to join us, not yet, just that you let our god show you the truth. From there, if it is the will of the beast, you may decide our fate for yourself. Let us bring the Varu'nas back into the glory we once were, embrace the devourer and dominate this galaxy once again.}

Until that time be grateful and honoured we have not simply glassed your pitiful excuse for an empire out of existence or count your self lucky that tolerating your existence is less taxing then erasing it.

[eveneel2]

Forced to wander the stars for years, years ago an enemy was cast out and the group traveled into the blackness of space. 10 years ago they found you and watched your every move until now where they finally strike. A group of savages, pirates, a mess of all the species in the universe bound together in a desperate alliance to take the planet that you had called home for so many years... and because of this you must find a way to stop them. But even if you fight them off... you have no idea of how many still wait in your system waiting to pounce at your mistakes.

So this quest introduces a multi-race npc attacker that tries to destroy you and take the planet for themselves. Upon beating this quest you must search through your system and fight or trade/pay off the remaining pirates to leave your system.

[Therianwolf]

Cauldron born quest

Live?

Warning!
Unidentified celestial objects detected
Plotting projectiles trajectory...
Warning objects on intercept course with local planet. Do you wish to intervene?
Are you sure?
...
Probe sent
...
Analyzing sensor data
...
Gravitational field and mass is comparable to the debris field of a fleet of vessels.
...
No life forms detected
...
Energy signal detected... Located
Warning network breach detected!
Virus upload in progress, system purge initiated... Error. Purge failure. Error.
Network compromised, cutting connections to corrupted systems.
Warning IFF systems on infected units have been deactivated.
Warning! Intruder alert! Intruder alert!
Defensive counter measures activated...
Receiving transmission from infected units, audio only.
...
Live! We. Live! WE LIVE!
Transmission ended.
Warning! Infected ships targeting friendly vessels... Weapons are not powering up.
Error! Virus detected in audio visual core matrix...
File uploaded... Counter measures cannot block process.

Playing File001.proto-cricket

*a window appears in your view, an old human with a grey beard half a meter long on a worn face with stained teeth, stands in a metallic white room clothed in a dirtied lab coat, his eyes of hazel stare at you with intensity and madness*
This is Doctor Frank Stein of the flag ship "Purus Imperator", I am on the verge of a break through in medical and technological marvels not seen since the discovery of faster-than-light travel. Funding for my research has however been recently cut off thanks to Doctor Geppetto and his beast masters. Their capture of the beast of worlds has put a spot light on their team and have forced me to associate with more shadowy individuals. At least now I can continue my research with very little restrictions or "moral obligations" with regard to experimentation of sentient life. Currently I have a trial running with one of my test subjects of the new program taken from the artifact collected the other day, perhaps this futile crusade to find some forgotten world by our deranged leader and this crew will serve at least some purpose in my...
*alarms trigger*
-DANGER! Containment failure imminent!-
What? NO! My research!
-Danger! Containment breached! Activating clean slate protocol-
NO! Deactivate! DEACTIVA....*a blinding light engulfs the screen*.....GAHHHH!
*the camera falls to the ground leaving a still image of what remained of the doctor laying lifeless on the metallic floor, alarm continue in the background as the sounds of lumbering foot steps approach*
*a silloette blackens the view and picks up the camera holding it up to a glowing blood red mechanical eye* I...I...*the figure struggles to speak*...I Live!...
...
File ended
...BSoD error... Reboot in progress...
Systems online... All traces of the infection have be eradicated.
Probe has been destroyed... Targets are still on intercept trajectory.
Infected vessels are no longer within sensor range
Intervention required. What are your orders?

[TripleSteel]

Reported smuggler activity on [world name]
The band of humans known as the smugglers have had increased activity on [world name]. As of recent their actions have become more dangerous and require official attention. A recent altercation with these smugglers has left three civilians dead and six others hospitalized. Reports of missing people are on the rise and it is suspected that these smugglers may be playing a part.

Part One: The Informant
Meet with civilian informant named Godric Grier. Godric has come forward stating he has information regarding the recent increase in smuggler activity. He’s looking to claim some sort of reward in trade for this information. Perhaps you can force this information out of him by way of either intimidation or granting his request for a reward.

Part Two: Smuggler Interception
Godric has informed you of the system in which the smugglers have been basing their operations. He also has informed you the leader of the group, who goes by the name Dis, seems to be a rational man who follows some sort of code of honor. With this information you could either find a way to make a deal with Dis, or intercept the smugglers and find their base of operations.

Part Three: Contact
Either you have found the smugglers base of operations and are planning on cleansing the base and retrieving anything you can from the wreckage.
Or
You’ve contacted Dis and have negotiated a deal wherein you meet in a specified location and barter with him for the ‘merchandise’ he has taken from [world name]. Doing this you may either attempt to barter with Dis or Destroy / Disable his fleet and take what you can.

[Lord Tyrius]

This is my entry, I made mine in form of a picture (cuz why the *piep* not xD) :


[Click on the image to enlarge in order to be able to read the text]

---

//Thoughts 'n' comments:

• The quest can be for a single, but is most likely for multiple players (for example of one (a couple of) system(s))
• While the quest could be repetitive it shouldn't be happening in the same area of space multiple times (I'd say)
• Enemies (and maybe even allies) could appear anywhere at any time "using" the anomalies (for example at key locations of the quest)
• Things the player has to do in order to complete the quest could be (but are not limited to):
  - Conquering planets to gather tech/artifatcs before the enemy does
  - Attacking strategic key positions/enemy bases/research stations
  - Defeating future enemy leaders (and their fleets)
  - Finding and using an artifact that harden the dimension walls/prevent travel from/to the "main/NA" dimension (in that area)

I made this almost directly after the contest was announced and I didn't plan on submitting it at first but as you can see I changed my mind ;)
I really enjoyed making this, I'm a bit proud of the holographic effect and I'd really like to see similar "holographic helpers" implemented into the game someday :P

[Dayidayl224]

This quest can be applied to any one colonized or derelict world. Most civilizations put satellites into orbit to track outer space without the interfering atmosphere as well as information storage and transmission. So what if one of the optional things you could do was tap into the existing communication infrastructure. This could be used to start quest chains or to find technology.

Also, there is what is known as orbital decay. To anyone who has played KSP, you know that it practically impossible to get a satilite into a perfect orbit. So, once a satilite has been up for a while it eventually slams into the atmosphere and is completely destroyed, but not always, and the remnants crash to earth (see Skylab). So what if after colonizing what you assumed to be a completely empty planet , the infrastructure you just put in turned out to be near one such crashed satilite. Still with functioning memory units, you ask you're scientists to look into it and several hours later they find out that this planet was once controlled by the precursors for example. They also give you coordinates to what they believe are the locations of planets that might have similar such artifacts. Upon arriving at said coordinates, you find the planet to be controlled by another player.

This is where it gets interesting, as it opens the door for player interactions instead of a scripted set. An entire community could form with the soul intent of uncovering the more hidden and deeper lore of the game completely independent of what the game might have been planning.

Sounds like an excellent opportunity to not only expand on lore but to also let players make there own game I with the tools you give them.

[Therianwolf]

Guess I may as well post the Acaean start to the event I've written since the whole thing got postponed and I suppose there is no harm in posting it as none of the ones I've posted yet reveal who the real enemies are anyways. Before you read this fair warning it is jumbled up, to a point, that's intentional. It's meant to be hard to read and even harder to listen to as the dialog is out of order. Think of it as multiple people trying to explain a crisis situation in a panic without any structure or order. Also I mean tasters not testers, organic machines would taste not test


Remnants of the Past

*after launching a new capital ship from your planet an audible screech is heard and the player hub shakes before returning to normal and a display opens up*

We sense a foreign mind... The hive of the world below is reaching out.

*multiple voices are heard describing the following all out of sync*

-PUT IT OUT!-
There was one last thing, as the shells dissolved they released a psionic shrill, that briefly severed the hive connection to many of us within the system.
-We don't hear them, devour all intruders! Consume them, rip them apart!-
We have uncovered a memory engram from a fossilized corpse of an unknown creature upon the planets surface.
-We sense a dark presence within the collective, protect the hive-
Consensus, the area needed to be sanitized, to our fortune the sample survived.
-Long live the queeeeeeeeen-
Breeding of replacements with necessary mutations needed to properly decipher the sample has begun.
-We...feel. PAIN! The voices, stop the voices! Stop shouting! Who are we... Who am I!?-
Preliminary analysis from our tasters has resulted in losses, their neural hemolymph over heated and cause them to rupture, images of locations and sets of coordinates were shared with the hive
-We sense a foreign hive mind, it has invaded our link, it is disrupting our collective-
RNA degradation insects date the corpse around the time of the great cataclysm, possibly the remains of one of our own from the old monarch trying to leave a message about what it had experienced.
-Tasters are lost, they have caused considerable damage-
Agreed, additional larvae for implantation and experimentation will be required.
-Contaminated area has been cleansed, is the sample lost?-
We seemed to have connected with another hive mind aboard a human vessel in a nebula called "Amissio".
-feed feed feed feed feed feed-
The other mind dominated the tasters and they began changing, no longer were they a part of this collective
-We are legion! Your mental and physical diversity will be added to our own-
What ruptured out of the infected shells were not Acaean.
-Fire in the mitochondria core! Chain reaction imminent, protect the hive! Protect the hive!-
The genetic benefits of this engram are too valuable to not risk another attempt once properly prepared.
-The infected have taken the artifact! We must retrieve it-

*the multiple voices become one voice for the rest*

Senses returning to normal synchronization, pheromone receivers purged. The confusion and sensory overload has passed

Consensus has returned, we are of one mind again. Some still have not rejoined the collective and must be dealt with, including some of our space bearing kin. Action must be taken.

*after dealing with the rogue forces another display comes up*

It is agreed then, the psionic imprint... we know that signature. The Individuals, the abominations, are are returning. We must speed up our evolution, extinction approaches.

[Huginn]

H.....He.....hello.......?

Do you........Hear the whispers....of the Gods... Gods... Gods.............?

Follow....The Starry way......On the precipice of light......into the crucible of the void....

......God.....Is waiting.....




......Do you.....Hear The Whispers.......?