Difference between revisions of "Modification:The Long Night"

{{Quality|Tattered|[[User:DeusVult6|DeusVult6]] ([[User talk:DeusVult6|talk]]) 11:00, 14 September 2020 (UTC)}}

Updating to 2.6

Man ruled the solar system, once. In its grand epoch spanning thousands of years, Earth was the jewel of a great solar empire, its every square inch morphed into a sprawling factory city, pumping out countless advanced resources to supply colonies from the clouds of Venus all the way to the moons of Saturn.  

None know for sure what happened exactly. Something went wrong, for certain. Perhaps a war between those who pushed for nanomachines to do away with traditional technology and those who viewed its power as uncontrollable. Or it could have been the radical transhumanists who plunged the planet into a new dark age to fuel their own ascent. Man's own hubris, maybe, his rapacious lust for more resources sending the world into a death spiral. Or perhaps, something yet more sinister.  

The result, everything knows. Earth's fall called its wayward children of all kinds back to its shattered surface, and the haggard survivors of the fallen colonies found a realm far unlike what was documented in their own histories. A hellish wasteland filled with mutated horrors, half-mad cybernetic demigods, and powers greater still. A world of constant, unending warfare as the children of man fight for the chance to rebuild, and establish their own grandiose vision of the future. Whether it be the great old powers of the ancient Nobles, the first of the new men, the demigod Executors and their slaves, the barbaric Posthumans and their thralls, or even the scattered remnants of true humanity, the future is uncertain. All that can be known is that this night will be long and harsh indeed, and only the hardiest and most determined will even stand a chance of seeing a new dawn.

== What is The Long Night? ==

"This mod is my attempt at a cyberpunk setting, sort of. Clothing and weapon-wise it has the same trappings as more surreal and far-future cyberpunk dystopias tend to lean towards, but it can also be seen as an anachronistic techno-feudalistic setting. My primary intent with this mod is to really push how far I can take Dwarf Fortress into the future while still having things work in-game and provide a coherent story of humanity and its kindred struggling in a world that is the victim of our own rapaciousness."

= Civilizations =

== Pan-Humanity ==

Pan-Humanity is the collection of biological species descended from the original human race. Some were developed by the rich as a means to imbue their children with literal biological superiority to complement their social advantages, while others were purpose-built to colonize other bodies within the solar system. However, with the collapse of the Great Solar Empire the colonies, reliant on Earth by design to prevent rebellion, began to fail, and those who could manage to secure transport in the following centuries would return to Earth to find it a ruined apocalyptic morass of inhuman powers and human tyrants, and in response formed their own petty states to preserve their people.

Baseline humans are those native to the planet who have undergone little genetic modification. They once populated Earth in teeming masses, but after the collapse of the planet have been greatly reduced in number. The constant clouds of toxic pollution and fouled water have caused many humans to be born with severe physical defects like failing organs and missing limbs, leading to a significant portion of the population having at least one cybernetic limb. Their societies usually exist under the shadow of higher powers but some are influential enough that they have a modicum of influence.

The Nobles are descendants of the ruling families that controlled the Eastern Sphere of Earth in the past. They are modified for long life, intelligence, and mild telepathic capability, able to sense the presence of others of their own kind. Their culture is a blend of east asian nations which had long ago been assimilated into the Solar Empire, and in truth very little of it reaches past the surface level, as below the trappings of ancient cultures lies a cunning and ruthlessly pragmatic force that is determined to hold on to power even after the collapse of the Solar Empire, and possessed of the capacity to do just that thanks to its advanced exo-suits and biomechanical war machines.

Those who ruled the Western Sphere also pursued the arts of biological augmentation, but on a greater, more personalized scale than the Nobility of the Easten Sphere. The ruling class of this region split between the physically capable Neo-Humans and the incredibly intelligent, powerfully psychic, and dangerously unstable Executors who directed them. While more chaotic and prone to backstabbing than the Eastern Sphere, the individualistic and experimental attitudes of the Western Sphere hegemons allowed them to innovate enough to catch up to the power of their more entrenched neighbors, resulting in an uneasy peace between the two, though the Executors lack a custom Bioframe model of their own.

The Martians were some of the most successful of the human strains. Designed to colonize Mars after the minimal terraforming efforts to make it liveable were completed, the sturdy and tireless Martian Strain was introduced into the colonies after the first generations spent most of their lives knowing only the hardship of making the planet suitable for life. As the Great Solar Empire collapsed under its own weight, however, it was proven that all the efforts of the colonization were truly only half-measures propped up by the homeworld, and soon vital systems began to fail across the planet. The ones who could afford or otherwise obtain access to space vessels fled the planet back to earth, determined to start life anew as they left their kin to what was most likely a slow death.

Specifically adapted for the aquatic climate of Europa, the sleek-bodied Europans were specially bred for that particular biome, intended to produce a three-dimensional megacity within its waters. However, something caused this to fail somewhere near the last years of the Solar Empire. What it was remains unspecified, as all records of the event were deleted. All that is left is rumors of something "eating" the colonies. This is, of course, nonsense. Europans have found a niche on Earth due to their amphibious qualities, and their slim bodies and smooth skin (wrinkles not being very hydrodynamic) has led them to often find jobs in the media industry and in setting beauty standards.

=== Jovians ===

The other moons of Jupiter were far more sterile than Europa's seas, and a different breed of being was required to administer them. For this, the Jovians were created. Their bright yellow skin has a vital compound within that absorbs radiation from space, a cost-saving measure compared to radiation-proofing Jovian habitats. Their compounds were spread out across Jupiter's many moons, and the Jovian administration was one of the most reliant on Earth imports due to its difficult living situation. However, the Jovian's capacity for analysis allowed them to predict its inevitable end before many other extraplanetary factions, and were able to evacuate enough of their number to escape extinction.

Home to the moon of Titan, the Titanians would more accurately be called the New Titanians. The original race was lost to history, but it is known that the first Titanians had partially terraformed the moon using an archaic AI long abandoned by the increasingly biomechanical Solar Empire. Despite being an older model, or perhaps because of it, inconsistencies and errors built up in its complex programming resulted in it going haywire, seizing the factories of Titan and churning out legions of killing machines. To combat this, the original Titanians created a new generation of soldier models optimized for guerilla war in the dark shadows of Titan's wilderness, giving them incredible capacity for stealth and unrivalled night vision. In the end, however, desperately grown soldiers could not contend with a malevolent AI's seemingly endless army, and the survivors of the conflict escaped back to Earth, intending to report to the heads of the Solar Empire only to find it no longer existed. Now they live for nothing but themselves.

Subhumans are humans who were, like baseline humanity, warped by exposure to the toxic influences of the collapsed megacity-world that Earth had become. However, instead of bearing with it as best they could, they experimented with genetic alteration that would enable them to negate the countless stillbirths and early deaths without being reliant on nanoteche. This was a thought that occurred independently in resource-poor communities across the world, for there was no way their number could afford the technological implants needed to keep subsequent generations alive. The end result was that they would create a new species that would carry on their legacy as best it could. However, the end result was tragically less than ideal. Genetic optimization programs, likely stolen from places of higher learning and status, selected for surivability in a harsh wasteland, encouraging traits like aggression, low intelligence, and decreased empathy to ensure the necessary pragmatism required for an organic to survive this world without the assistance of high technology would manifest. It has been many decades since then, and the subhumans still lurk out in the wastes, slowly growing in population and strength as they re-learn what their ancestors have forgotten.

== Uplifts ==

During the pre-Solar Empire days, mankind had unlocked many of the secrets of biology and technology, though they were yet to create their true masterworks. The earliest radical experiments on creatures besides themselves were on a selection of animals chosen for their adaptability and high intelligence, traits that would make them easy to shape into intelligent beings. Why was such a thing done? To many historians, it seems to be simple curiosity. Some mark this as one of the key turning points of human history, where the idea of nature being sacred was discarded for good and humanity truly began to believe it was the sole master of all life below it, a thought entertained in the past but never truly accepted. The Uplifts were made, and they have managed through cunning and luck to survive to this day. They have little in the way of a united culture but in their newfound freedom have become determined not to lose it again, adopting democratic governments to ensure their liberties are kept. Of course, they are no better than the animals that currently dominate the planet, and corruption and abuse of power are just as common in Uplift nations as they are in human ones. Some cannot help but wonder, though, if their freedom came just in time to watch the world they live in slowly die.

=== Dolphins ===

Allegedly the first Uplift race, dolphins are also some of the most heavily cyberized, given four legs and two arms at birth to carry their bodies across the land. Though the technology exists to give them biological limbs, most opt to continue the use of cybernetic limbs due to their strength and versatility.

Heavily modified to increase their size to that of a large dog, and given arms in the place of wings to create a sort of raptorial appearance, the Corvids quickly found a niche in jobs requiring creativity or agility, helped along by their small size leading many to view them as endearing or at least as good at fitting into small places between machinery to conduct repairs.

=== Gorillas ===

Little besides a skullcap was added to the Gorilla, which has since been used for hard labor and heavy infantry across the globe. Due to their simian nature, they were often seen as closest to humanity and given preferential treatment over other Uplifts, though in reality Gorillas were on the lower end of the intelligence scale within the viable spectrum of candidates and chosen due to the cultural impact other intelligent simians would undoubtedly generate.

Octopi are a difficult case among Uplifts. The primary issue is whether they are even truly Uplifts at all. Octopi are inarguably intelligent, but what was underestimated is the alienness of that intelligence. They were never social animals and never developed traits like sociability or empathy, and while their intelligence was increased enough to use tools and communicate, they still never developed either. One could even say that all that was done was take a highly efficient predator, increase its intelligence and capacity to hunt intelligent prey, and turn it loose. And now the world has collapsed, and they are free.

Posthumans are the result of a counterculture of self-sufficiency and the quest for personal power that developed in the shadow of the oppressive Solar Empire. Due to the heavily stratified society they lived in, where customized genetics were a major indicator of how high you could rise, many sought to alter their bodies and thus increase their upward mobility through black market nanodocs and illegal retroviruses. For every successful patient there were a thousand mutations even more horrible deaths. But for some, to merely climb the ladder of hierachy was not enough. Certain interest groups and radicalized movements operating on the edges of the Solar Empire's awareness sought not to grow within the system, but grow without. But to do that, they would need to do more than just upgrade themselves. They would need to evolve at a pace that would move faster than the grinding wheels of the bureaucratic genetic regulation departments would allow, and use methods that would conflict with the Human Limitation Laws intended to prevent any one person from growing distant enough from humanity to forget it entirely. The choice was made to do this via machine due to its reliability, and the first of the hereditary cyborgs were created. The first generation was a simple one, they were barely more human than anyone else, but as they reproduced their children would be modified as early as within the womb, slowly mechanized and improved in a subtle but significant way. First the changes were merely physical, but as the agents of the Solar Empire recognized the threat and began to hunt them the changes began to become psychological as well. Traits such as ruthlessness, pragmatism, self-sufficiency, and raw power were more commonly selected for, and what would become the posthumans slowly drifted away from human psychology into a mental model more like that of a tiger or other alpha predator, tempered with the intelligence and bitterness of a society hunted by its betters and shunned by its equals. Territorial, fearsome, cunning, and possessed of great bitterness towards the ones who refused to let them blossom, the Posthumans were warped into the fearsome beings that exist today, living for themselves and possessed of a martial might few individuals can match. Despite the power of their more evolved individual specimens, their slow reproduction speed and their innate territoriality prevent them from uniting and overwhelming humanity. Rather, they exist in the wastelands and on the fringes of organic civilization, often alongside but rarely part of it. But their presence can be felt across the world. For many did not become shining beacons of an existence above mortal men. Many others, in the early days before the hereditary nanomachine system was understood, slowly degenerated, birthing and siring ever more animalistic or monstrous children as they lost control of the mechanisms meant to guide them. Perhaps, seeing the many horrors that walk the wastes, it is no wonder that the Posthumans are feared to the extent that they are.

=== Asura ===

The Asura are most emblematic of posthuman evolution. Fearsome and beatiful, wild and capricious, they represent an intelligence that is at once close and at the same time far removed from baseline human psychology. Their emotions and tempers are wilder and their instincts sharper, their grasp of the complexities of societies weaker and their patience thin. Nanomechanical beings designed to live in the harshest depths of the destroyed world, where might is the only law that matters. That said, they are not entirely adversarial to mankind. Time has softened their hatred, as has the collapse of the Solar Empire which nearly destroyed their ancestors. While they prioritize their own kind (and above that, themselves), they rarely break their word once given, and make for valuable allies should one win their friendship.

Rakshasa are one of the more regretful turns in the road of Posthuman evolution. These fearsome creatures are the result of early hereditary cyborgs overcompensating when designing their children to fight the Great Solar Empire. The errors regarding aggression and empathy compounded and fell out of balance, resulting in a marauding horde of hateful berserkers instead of warriors to protect Posthumanity from harm. Even today they maintain caves and old fortresses from which they plan their raids, fighting a battle long over as their minds scream for blood.

=== Yaksha ===

These towering posthumans lust for battle and serve only themselves. Less social than the Asura and less vicious than the Rakshasa, the Yaksha can be considered something of a neutral entity among the posthuman powers, and little is known about them. Even so, their services as mercenaries are highly valued.