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RELEASED Elithian Races Mod - A Starbound Expansion 2.3.10

A Starbound expansion mod which adds multiple new races and additional content

  1. Ancev Caine

    Ancev Caine Existential Complex

    If you examine the temple on the Refuge and scan the mural there you'll find the answer: the Avikan discovered an abandoned Ce'Tennan colony hidden inside a holographic mountain on their homeworld of Kadavan during their early tribal history and found a live Ce'Tennan named Rhadeis there, who granted them advanced technology. They wound up destroying the colony and killing Rhadeis by accident while fighting over the new tech, and afterwards the Rhaiod formed honoring Rhadeis and the other Ce'Tennan as being something similar to gods. When Kadavan was invaded by the Thell the Avikans were forced to abandon their homeworld, and ever since then they've been trying to guard Ce'Tennan technology and artifacts from the Thell. There's even a lorebook I found detailing an Avikan nomad being instructed to hide a Ce'Tennan artifact from a Thell team by a Ce'Tennan holographic recording, so presumably the connection between the Ce'Tennan and the Avikans runs deeper than Rhadeis just giving them tech on his own volition.
     
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  2. Aegonian

    Aegonian Weight of the Sky

    Not a waste of time at all, I love talking about the lore! The Avikan do view the Ce'Tennan as divine, although only Rhadeis is truly worshippped because he was intimately involved in the process of uplifting the Avikan from primitive animals to a highly advanced spacefaring society. The Avikan have been protective of any Ce'Tennan artefact ever since they found Vas Vha'leih, although their exodus from Kadavan has increased their zeal tenfold in this regard. That's the primary reason why the Avikan collect these cubes (and other artefacts), but the reason why they are so enthralled by them lies elsewhere.
    If you inspect the cubes using any other race, you'll find that they too are similarly enthralled by the cubes, with the exception of the Trink and the Droden. Trinkian characters say they are picking up an odd interference from the cube, while the Droden simply give an error message. The Avikan themselves don't know exactly what causes this, but the cubes are actually sending out signals which evoke certain emotions in organic creatures, and which cause an interference when picked up by synthetic beings. The Ce'Tennan used these cubes for a variety of purposes: some were used to evoke emotions of happiness, whilst others allowed their owners to more easily concentrate on whatever they were working on. However, the cubes were built with the Ce'Tennan in mind, and the signals are so strong for other races they they simply become enthralled by them.

    I also feel I should correct a small misunderstanding about Rhadeis and Vas Vha'leih, as Rhadeis wasn't killed in the fighting there: the encounter with Rhadeis in Vas Vha'leih is now believed to have been a holographic projection, although the Ce'Tennan created holograms which looked just as real as any living creature. Whether it was a recording or a live projection is still being debated by Avikan researchers, however, and some still claim that he used a teleportation technology to actually appear before the Avikan before vanishing again. Rhadeis was also only encountered once, shortly after the Avikan first found Vas Vha'leih. He explained to them who and what he was, and he opened the vault doors for the Avikan, allowing them into inner city. The fighting in Vas Vha'leih occurred a few centuries later, when the population reached a critical level and the city could no longer support the entire population.

    There's a series of seven codex entries simply titled 'Rhadeis', which can give you a lot of background information on Rhadeis and his involvement with the Avikan people. In short, Rhadeis once saved the entire Avikan race from extinction, but defied orders from his superiors in doing so. Rhadeis was cast out of the Ce'Tennan society for his actions, but he continued to dedicate himself to the development of the Avikan. He allowed the Avikan to find artefacts of the Ce'Tennan, and opened the doors of Vas Vha'leih to them, giving them an incredible technological advantage over other species. Rhadeis was also not alone in his actions, as there were other Ce'Tennan who helped him in uplifting the Avikan, but only Rhadeis ever revealed his identity to the Avikan.
     
  3. Ancev Caine

    Ancev Caine Existential Complex

    Interesting, I wasn't aware of that error on my part. I haven't found all the Avikan lorebooks yet.

    So the Glitch get the same effect as organics when they encounter Ce'Tennan artifacts?
     
  4. Aegonian

    Aegonian Weight of the Sky

    Yeah, the Glitch are affected similarly to the organic races. Looking at the way the Glitch describe most of the objects they inspect, the Glitch seem to have the same kinds of emotions as the organic races, even if they express them a bit differently, so I felt it was fitting for them to affected in the same manner. The Droden do not have any emotions at all, and their systems are rather basic compared to more advanced synthetic races, so they cannot interpret the signals at all. The Trinks, on the other hand, are a lot more advanced, but they weren't built to resemble organics, and so they process the signals completely differently from the organics.
     
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  5. Arra

    Arra The End of Time

    Okay, there's been refrenece to the Thell, and the Thelean as being hostile towards the Avikan. Are they one in the same?
     
  6. Aegonian

    Aegonian Weight of the Sky

    Yeah, "Thell" is the name the Avikan generally use when referring to the Theleans. Like the Ce'Tennan, the Theleans are known by many names: most species know them as the Theleans (they come from a planet called Thelea), while the Avikan call them Thell, and the Theleans themselves use the name Thellan when referring to the entire species. The Theleans have other names for Theleans in various phases of their lives, however. A young Thelean without a synthetic endoskeleton is called a Thanas, Theleans still growing around their endoskeletons are called Vehnon, and fully grown Theleans are called Hyvon. Theleans outcasts are referred to as Narvakhan, while members of other species who have fully assimilated into Thelean society are called Avandhas.
     
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  7. Ancev Caine

    Ancev Caine Existential Complex

    I have to admit as someone who plays a race in Stellaris called the Thell I keep getting briefly confused when the Thell/Theleans get referenced as anything other than highly religious and friendly cordyceps infestations.
     
  8. Gearzoid II

    Gearzoid II Big Damn Hero

    Just wanna put it out there the Vanguard Krahl mech is amazing. I would love to see it in the vehicle store or as a quest reward. Speaking of quests is that guy at the vanguard registration in the refuge going to offer quests in the future?
     
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  9. Arra

    Arra The End of Time

    Ah, thanks. That clarifies a lot for me.
     
  10. Aegonian

    Aegonian Weight of the Sky

    Glad you're enjoying the Krahl! It was probably one of the biggest additions in the latest update, despite it not yet being obtainable without commands, so it's good to see people are enjoying it. I plan on making it a quest reward in the future, and to also answer your question, the Vanguard Representative will likely be the one to offer that quest.
     
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  11. Arra

    Arra The End of Time

    Oh, Aegonian. Since a space overhaul is coming for starbound, adding derelicts and space stations, what would be the possibility you would add stuff to that? Maybe finding old chunks of the Nomada violated by the Theleans, or maybe old Centen stuff?
     
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  12. Aegonian

    Aegonian Weight of the Sky

    Generated spacestations have been on my TO-DO list for a pretty long time actually, since before the space update was even announced, but I never really knew how I was going to implement them. With the next update however, it seems I'll finally be able to add them, so yeas, there will definitely be Elithian content for the space update!

    So far, I had Avikan and Alliance-themed spacestations planned, but some derelict stations full of Violated Drahl and such are a great idea! Centensian stations are also a good idea - I'll add those too, eventually.
     
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  13. Ancev Caine

    Ancev Caine Existential Complex

    It'd be fascinating to see the Nomada being added as an actual, physical location in the updated space map, like one of those traveling NPC ships we see. Have the Nomada be a mobile station, for example, that wanders from system to system with multiple Avikan ships following it or breaking off to scout various locations.
     
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  14. Arra

    Arra The End of Time

    And I must ask another thing, would the Avikan have planet killer weapons? Maybe an orbital station that's been violated by the Thelean's being a prime target for a vanguard mission...

    (( Oh gosh I'm fanboying and creating horrid ideas just to pester and bombard you. ))
     
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  15. Aegonian

    Aegonian Weight of the Sky

    I'll have to look into whether or not something like this will be possible in the space update, but it's an amazing idea! There would be the problem of trying to find a single fleet in the gigantic space map, though... Perhaps smaller Avikan fleets will work: the Nomada already sends smaller fleets of ships to scout out locations and locate potential colony worlds, so it would make sense to find these smaller fleets lore-wise, too.

    The Avikan have some weapons on their larger ships which could deal massive damage to structures on a planet's surface (such as cities), but nothing so strong it could damage an entire planet. There's a few such weapons in the Elithian Alliance universe, though: the Centens, and the Theleans even more so, are particularly fond of these types of super-weapons. One such weapon actually played a pretty large role in the old Elithian Alliance roleplay: Regulus was a massive planet-destroying weapon which was built by the Centens in ancient times, but which was operated by the Theleans. There was also the Altharez station, also a Centensian construction, which was designed not to destroy planets but to destroy stars, although it was never actually used in the roleplay.

    If you're interested, these are a few images of the original Spore creations for both of these weapons: Regulus (1), Regulus (2) and Altharez.
     
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  16. Arra

    Arra The End of Time

    Wow. That is awesome....Would you mind if I just keep asking you questions? Because I have quite a lot.....
     
  17. Aegonian

    Aegonian Weight of the Sky

    Ask away! I always enjoy sharing these kinds of things with the community :nuruhappy:
     
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  18. Arra

    Arra The End of Time

    Well, what about experimental Avikan tech?
     
  19. Ancev Caine

    Ancev Caine Existential Complex

    You could probably still have the teleporters linked to the Nomada located in various major Avikan settlements - hopefully, anyway. Just thought it might be interesting to have the Nomada be physically present in the galaxy as well, though.
     
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  20. Aegonian

    Aegonian Weight of the Sky

    A large portion of Avikan technology is based on reverse-engineered Centensian technology, including Avikan FTL technology, electronics, teleportation (through jumpgates) and to some degree, the technology behind linerifles. There's still plenty of Centensian technology which is still poorly understood, and which the Avikan are still experimenting with. Cloaking technology is still in its infancy, and while the Avikan have managed to build jumpgates for many purposes, they are still unable to replicate Centensian jumpweapons. These weapons use jumpgates (essentially a shortcut through space, directly connecting two distant points in space) to capture the plasma from the outer edges of stars and then fire this plasma at a target using a powerful electromagnet. The weapons use energy captured from that same star to power the weapon's jumpgates, making them completely self-sustaining unless the star dies, or the weapon's jumpgate targeting system loses track of the star's location. The Avikan have attempted to replicate these weapons on a few occasions, but so far every attempt has ended in catastrophic failure where the jumpgate allowed too much solar matter through, destroying everything around the gate. So while the Avikan are able to open the jumpgate, they are still unable to build the proper targeting systems which make the weapons safe to use.

    Another Centensian technology which the Avikan are experimenting with is the use of time-bubbles, which allow you to speed up or slow down (but never reverse or completely stop) the passing of time in localized areas. The Centens have used this technology to create FTL ships, stasis pods and more, but the Avikan are still struggling on a theoretical level and have never managed to get it working in practise.

    You might also have noticed that holographic displays are still a rarity in the Nomada: there's a holographic guide in the Refuge, but it glitches every now and then, and it only displays in a single transparent colour. The Centens, as evidenced by the encounter with Rhadeis, were able to create life-like projections which could produce sound and move around without being restricted to a stationary projector, as is the case for all current Avikan holograms.

    The Avikan are also always experimenting with new types of weapons, and reverse-engineered Thelean technology is one of their current projects. This is proving to be a very difficult process, however, as Thelean technology generally only functions when operated by a live Thelean.
     
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