Hello all,
I’ve taken a little hiatus from working on all things Imperium. That doesn’t mean I’ve completely detached myself from it. I find myself thinking about the setting quite often, even when I don’t intend to. When I see some bits of world building that seem clever or intuitive, I wonder how I might implement something similar. I’ve also been struggling with my show and tell everything approach to presenting information.
I have a really bad habit of info dumping. Which has two major issues.
- I’m leaving next to nothing for speculation and further interest. I’ve been handing out highly detailed volumes of info that are both uninteresting to read (but maybe fine for reference), and including a bit too much of my own thoughts and rambles mixed in about various topics.
- I’m also potentially painting myself into a corner with future adjustments to the setting. Which is one reason the novel has been delayed. While the overall plot isn’t going to change (nor is the sequel plot), there are smaller bits of world building mixed in that have changed, and are likely to be readjusted soon.
As such, creating a much more “in-universe” style of database will hopefully alleviate both of these issues. The whole world didn’t need to see my “lore bible.”
I did make some pretty drastic changes to the setting (also, still not affecting the novel plot) over the past year. But I’m going to work towards bringing together all of the changes, and making sure that everything feels a little better while sitting together on the same shelf.
I’m also going to leave you all hanging a bit when it comes to certain details or historical events. This isn’t specifically to try and create speculation and discussion–though that is one of the my goals–but to make the information feel more meaningful and less clinical.
I think I’m repeating myself, so I’ll stop (with that) now.
My kiddo is almost 3 and I’m almost 47. That, in and of itself, is a challenge. I work on this project during my free time, and it’s easier to pick up and put down than my musical endeavors. I do enjoy working on it, but there’s been a wee bit of burnout in my mind. So a hiatus was in order.
I did finally boot up my playstation again for the first time in a while. Apparently I’ve decided to delve into janky, sci-fi, indie souls-likes. Namely Bleak Faith: Forsaken and Hellpoint. I didn’t like either at first, but once I got over some kind of hump, I got a little obsessed with both of them.
I bring that up, because I might have gotten a little inspiration from those games when it comes to world building. At least, in part. Both are exceedingly vague about their overall plot, particularly Bleak Faith. Which is not the part I’m really grooving on. They also both suffer from a lot of “on-the-nose” references to other media, but I do like how they both made their own thing out of a pile of tropes and existing archetypes.
I had already been mulling the idea of a variant of the Imperium setting in the far future. I jokingly called it Imperium^6. Implying that it was somewhere in the ballpark of a million years in the future. Originally, that was going to be somewhat Star Wars-esque. Where technology was extremely advanced, but also commonplace.
However… I have also been dabbling in a fantasy spin off, where reality is closed off, gone, or something. Regardless, you can’t get there and if you did, you’d find a lot of nothing.
But what if it’s not that there’s nothing, but it’s just no longer a place suitable for humans or other organic life?
Tie me up and call me: taking the concept of Blame! and Bleak Faith to its extreme conclusion. With my setting, that means the P’talar (the artificial humans from my main setting) have essentially colonized all of the baryonic universe.
Now, I was already ripping off the Xeelee with what the Yill Maingess (I think I may end up calling them the Yilmani or something–see, I’m already mucking up my existing database) and their war with the Photino Birds. Much like Steven Baxter’s setting, the Yims end up losing their struggle against the Etefalis or whatever they’re called. The Stellar Decay consumes the universe and the stars are reduced to barely fusing red and brown dwarfs.
But hey, you know who doesn’t mind that? Yup, the P’talar. Having reinvented themselves in the dark between galaxies, they are uniquely suited for survival in an entropic universe. So they uh… started building things. Megastructures that dominated former star systems. How is that not stealing from Blame!? Well, it is, but it’s not just our solar system, its all of them.
Given enough time, artificial life could likely engulf the entire universe, especially if they expanded at a geometric rate.
So, that’s the side-side plot to Imperium^6. Everything, everywhere, is P’talar. Or rather, there descendants, who are largely unaware of their precursor’s intent for all of this.
Also, as nothing organic is left alive, essence/lebenflus has vanished from our universe. But they still have magic in the form of a different kind of technomancy. This is manipulating the vast network underlying reality to affect other things that are connected to that network (which is everything, essentially). Much like the net-sphere in Blame! or the technomancy in Bleak Faith, it’s not magic per se. But rather a form of computer/network hacking that would appear as magic to those that don’t understand how it works. Given that the P’talar descendants are more or less oblivious to how intertwined their existence is to this network, they have a very hard time distinguishing reality from something that is caused by network manipulation.
Also, the ancient Transit Rings are still operational. They still use them to go from megastructure to megastructure in different dead star systems. But space travel is all but unheard of anymore. Leaving the megastructure leads to nothing. A vast empty universe, devoid of light or life.
This is exactly why those who live within the Neotherum can no longer venture into reality.
And yes, the P’talar are very similar to both the Forsaken and the Spawn in those two games. Being artificial life, tied to a larger purpose they don’t fully understand.
Now… before I completely admit to ripping off all my ideas from other sources. The Yill Maingess were a thing in my setting back in the 90s. They weren’t as similar to the Xeelee at the time, but they were a vast unknowable enemy faction that popped up now and again to cause havoc and destruction. Kinda like the Reapers in Mass Effect… in fact, a lot like the Reapers. Maybe I should due BioWare? Haha, no. I’m pretty sure we’ve been dreaming of ancient machines beating up humans since the 1800s or before.
Holy cow, this is a long rambling post. At least the top part, which is the actual update, is separated up top. If anyone read this far. Now you know a bit of how my brain works and the random crap I think about while I’m speculating about things within my setting.
Good day, sir (or ma’am).