Anyone else disappointed that they lightened the story?

That's also a good point, though. I personally think they're a bit too soft, but it does seem like the Protectorate is basically the space police... imagine if one day every cop on Earth died except for one rookie and a retired chief. Things would go to Hell FAST.

Maybe the Protectorate isn't really as significant as we thought?

 

UN rather than police.

I'm more concerned with the fact that organisation this large is just bound to have at least some presence off Earth. Why we do not encounter any trace of their existence? Bunkers, outposts, bases, listening posts, embassies, recruiting centers, shipwrecks, anything? They get about as much coverage as Novakids do, and even then only because of prologue mission. Of course other races and organisations would try to take over their facilities and fill the power vacuum, but that's a weak excuse, because that's not instant process: either we were drifting in space who knows how much, or Protectorate was a colossus on clay legs to begin with, and they would have eventually dissolved on their own.

 

And the last one would be strange because it already lasted 500 years, so it wouldn't have dissolved so easily...which PROVES that they didn't get enough coverage (Right now they're little more than an excuse to make all starter quests the same).

 

So basically, our two options are...

1. The Protectorate is a paper tiger that acts great and powerful but has no significant presence off of their homeworld.

2. The devs dropped the ball.

 

And "500 years" thing just proves it. There were 8 Grand Protectors total, and even if that's an occupation for the rest of life (which I heavily doubt) and/or life expectancy differs radicaly in Starboundverse (who knows, maybe everyone lives for hundreds of years), that's two-three centuries max.

Well, Occam's Razor says the second is more probable and therefore closer to truth. Albeit the first one would be a kinda refreshing twist and entirely in the spirit of old lore.

 

This is in the far future. I'm guessing that medical advancements have extended life expectancy greatly.

 

Half a millenia is a 62 and half years, when you divide it by eight rulers. Not even dictators hold that long.

 

Humans, from other parts of the lore, didn't colonize space en masse. according to the lore, there are roughly 15.8 million people living off-earth. This is a terribly small number even if the population stayed at our numbers today. When you factor in that the Terrane Protectorate was Headquartered on Earth, and that, again from the lore, that the tentacle attack resulted in massive deaths due to a lack of places to evacuate to, the Protectorate, like many human institutions, was ruined with the destruction of Earth.

 

You DO know, that Protectorate may be led by humans, but is still a multiracial organisation, right? And thus probably has branches in other species? I mean, that's kinda like expecting to destroy UN by nuking Brussel.

And the whole shtick that half of humanity cosplay Glitch and never ever leave their comfort zone, while other half cosplay Novakid and never ever settle down is another huge plot hole.

 

Also, I really kind of hope the answer to my "two options" is number 1. That would actually make for the beginnings of a really cool story. Okay, get this:

So, it turns out the Protectorate are really just a bunch of naive humans. They have occasional expeditions, but for the most part they just sit around on Earth talking about peace and holding summit meetings. They're out of touch. All they know about the rest of the universe is the fluffy "edited-for-kids" version. They have no comprehension of what the world is really like outside their ivory towers... basically the space-faring equivalent of a bunch of college hippies. The other races play along with them for appearance sake, but they don't really care. And as soon as a real threat comes along they get wiped out instantly.

Your goal as the last Protector is not just to defeat the Ruin, but to LEARN... to come to understand what the universe is really like, what the other races are really like... to learn their flaws, and why they deserve to live despite being so flawed. More than that, it's to learn what it means to be a true hero and a true leader. Your goal is to put the Protectorate back together, but not as it was: as a TRUE engine for righteousness, peace, and prosperity.

 

Honestly... I THINK that's what the devs were kinda going for, especially with the whole "learn about the races in order to find the keys and unlock the Ark" angle... they just seriously half-assed it.

 

And if travel never caught on because of the sheer danger and isolation of space? The matter manipulator doesn't look to be a common tool, the logistics and difficulties of making a settlement still exist. perhaps the numbers are exxaggerated, but the complacency of humanity to stay where it is assumed to be safe(earth) over braving the bird-riddled frontier (and possibly dying from a host of known and unknown problems) may have casued the Earth disaster to get as bad as it did.

 

Didn't deter people during Age of Discovery. I mean, the moment Columbus returned, everyone practically dogpiled both of Americas: English and Germans in middle parts of Northern America, Spanish through entirety of South America and Carribean, French in Canada, Russians in Alaska, etc, etc. Never mind that you're sailing into unknown, where you just don't know will you sink next storm, will you die to plague that some poor sod brought aboard, will you become sick with scurvy, etc, etc.

I can bet if a working warp engine with reasonable price would be presented today, Earth would lose a fifth of its population because of all the poor and desitute, courageous and ambitious, marginalised and outcasts, all of them would just pick up and leave looking for better life across the stars.

 

Sign me up.

 

Actually, not much information is actually given about Protectorate ranks and tasks. For all we know, the Grand Protector title is merely a honorific title and they aren't the actual leadership (Note how the only thing they definitely do is start the graduation ceremony).

 

It's just a one-time organization.

 

True, and this AGAIN proves that there is jackshit of info about what may be one of most important organisations since Cultivator decided to take a dirt nap.

 

Surprisingly, this actually sounds like it makes a lot of sense.

I like it.

Part of me thinks the Devs didn't purposely make it as bad as it is, because from the blog posts they talked as if it was so amazing and awesome.

So for all we know, they could genuinely believe that.

But, then again, I could be very wrong. Who knows.

But I do really like your idea.

 

& if ya have such an accident then put the Item back, 0 acknowledgement from the NPCs to having done this... They didn't want the Item back, they wanted to keep the excuse to hate you for doing nothing wrong.

For the Topic: Speaking of not fleshed out story... why the hell was the NPC Glitch Villages with their love of Flammable Wood & Thatch given a Designation of Home Planet Type as "Volcanic"!!? It's supposed to be believable that Glitch live in VERY FLAMMABLE Villages that stay whole for no reason at all until a Player wanders by then it's somehow the Players fault everything goes to hell cause... what... the Player must surely be a Witch or Evil Wizard or some such because Flammability didn't mean shit till the Player suddenly showed up? To hell with the fact that building a VERY FLAMMABLE Town in middle of a literal Fire Zone is a special kind of Stupid on the level of a Durant*?

*Durant is a Steel/Bug Pokemon who used to be Bug Type, that has to put up with another Pokemon, Heatmor, a Fire Type Pokemon, eating them, so Durants evolved a Steel Armor to gain Steel Typing & DOUBLE THEIR FIRE WEAKNESS & complete ignoring of Evolutionary Development of SDef BST to fight Heatmor's STRONGEST BST STAT OF SATK... Special... Kind... of... Stupid...

Not to mention why is that Village in middle of Sand & Ash Storms completely pile up free for no reason at all whatsoever until a Player wanders near? At least this one CAN be fixed to make sense... Where's the NPC Janitors? Janitors can join a Ship Crew, so logically they should be able to get Employment in Towns as well.

Oh wow, that was so long ago... I had forgotten about that. Ya do indeed have a fair point there.

Here here! Fully agreed! Stopping Monsters or Town Guards from breaking those damn things is NOT my Responsibility. Plus their blindness towards Storage Container Looting is rather odd.

I did not know that before... cool! Many thanks for the info! (My fav Element is Lightning, but since Lightning Planets didn't get to become a thing & ya have no choice but to pick from 3 Planet Types to get Max Rent, i'm pondering choosing & Home Worlding a Volcanic World, so this'll come in handy for me.)

This Post is full of win!

I do find myself wondering now if the Peeps that ran the Terrene Protectorate had the Intellectual Level of Nerds Cosplaying as their fav Kids TV Show Heroes from their fav Saturday Morning Cartoons. Their dibs on the Matter Manipulator Tech might be the only reason their existence wasn't completely disregarded by the Universe as a whole, & instead of putting those dudes to enough good use the Terrene Protectorate just sat on them & used them as a Focal Point for their 'Nerd Hero Fantasies'. The MM was capable of so much more... & a HUGE Threat to the Universe knew this all too well, & that's why there is now a huge pile of Space Rubble where Earth used to be...

 

It would also be about The Protectorate learning about the dirt under their own fingernails. The people of Earth talk so big about peace and prosperity and all that... and look at it then in stark contrast to the brutality of the U.S.C.M. and the ruthless corporate greed talked about in the codices in the Erchius Mine, where the Letheia Corporation abandoned an entire mining colony to their doom so they could cover up the existence of the Erchius Horror.