[GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

But, after a certain point the need for slaves is reduced. Look at today's production. In many state of the art factories, production is almost entirely automated. Eventually society reaches a point where slavery is no longer really needed. The time it takes to reach that point is affected only by society itself and its rate of development.

Maybe eventually, but certainly not rapid enough to even begin to deal with the issues that arise from the expansion period. Faster development only increases labor requirements, compounding the issue of scalability even more.

Think about it logistically. How much labor do you think it would take to turn what is effectively a hunter-gatherer society into a post-industrial automated technocracy over a relatively short period of time? Red Eye had the advantage of Stable 101 and pre-existing factories and blueprints and it still required him to enslave half the goddamn wasteland to reach even a semblance of an industrial state. And even then his need for slaves was constantly growing.

SilentCarto wrote:I'm seeing the error too, by the way. Whenever it loads, it pops up a box saying "File Unavailable -- Sorry, there's a problem with this file. Please reload."

Are you in preview or edit mode? I experienced this multiple times recently with a non-PH document in preview mode (in which it shouldn't matter as long as the doc is full loaded; just dismiss the box and keep reading) and not once with both PH and non-PH documents in edit mode.

SilentCarto wrote:Remind me again why we're not using FimFiction? (No, seriously, I'm not being snotty about this...)

a: Because we consider continuing the story more important than converting it.
b: Because working on the story is a big enough task already without having to try and keep two separate versions of it synchronized.

Also, when the story is done, we're going to convert the whole mess over.

I feel like FiMFiction would have a heart attack at the size of it though

Unless you made each "Volume" its own story

Somber wrote:Also, when the story is done, we're going to convert the whole mess over.

Don't forget to add "Warning: Contains excess amounts of everything. Do not read more than a few chapters at a time, as this may cause brain meltdown. This story is too hardcore to follow the rules."

Vinylshadow wrote:I feel like FiMFiction would have a heart attack at the size of it though

Unless you made each "Volume" its own story

Not really. There are some huge stories up there. Making each volume separate would probably just cause more problems.

Somber wrote:Also, when the story is done, we're going to convert the whole mess over.

That'd be awesome, since I'd be able to get my delicious epub with as little hassle as possible.

This sort of reminds me of how CrazedRambling has started putting out audiobook chapters again and just how crazy that undertaking's going to be.

Also, finally read the chapter. I extremely enjoyed it. I know we fangush a lot, but I really really liked it. I found it so satisfying to see Goldenblood come together after so many hundreds of thousands of words of mystery.

Shame I don't have a quality microphone, I've had people say they like my voice

That, and I was practically the only literate person in my english class, so I was the one who read all the books out loud to the rest of the class...

Although having a gravelly voice say female lines might be a shock to some people

Good job, only I could make Glory sound like a heavy smoker (I don't smoke)

O. Hinds wrote:

SilentCarto wrote:I'm seeing the error too, by the way. Whenever it loads, it pops up a box saying "File Unavailable -- Sorry, there's a problem with this file. Please reload."

Are you in preview or edit mode?  I experienced this multiple times recently with a non-PH document in preview mode (in which it shouldn't matter as long as the doc is full loaded; just dismiss the box and keep reading) and not once with both PH and non-PH documents in edit mode.

It's in edit mode -- I clicked through from the hub page. Everything loads up as it should, and then it seems like the very last thing throws the error. it's clearly not anything that's critical to reading the doc, since as you said, you can dismiss the error and it works fine, so I assume it's something in the chat or tools. I think it's a problem with Google Docs in general, not the doc itself.

Somber wrote:Also, when the story is done, we're going to convert the whole mess over.

Ah, yeah, that would be a bit of work, wouldn't it? Fair 'nuff. I guess GDocs makes it easier for multiple people to edit, at that.

Derpmind wrote:Don't forget to add "Warning: Contains excess amounts of everything. Do not read more than a few chapters at a time, as this may cause brain meltdown. This story is too hardcore to follow the rules."

:D

SilentCarto wrote:It's in edit mode -- I clicked through from the hub page. Everything loads up as it should, and then it seems like the very last thing throws the error. it's clearly not anything that's critical to reading the doc, since as you said, you can dismiss the error and it works fine, so I assume it's something in the chat or tools. I think it's a problem with Google Docs in general, not the doc itself.

Huh. But yes, I think that we can blame Google for this.

Sigh.  I have story ideaitis.  I really should be packing for Everfree NW.  Anyway, hopefully if I type it here I can get it out of my head.

It starts off with a mysterious blue algae bloom in the antarctic ocean.  This bloom, far from being harmful, seems to be quite a beneficial growth.  Not only is it exceptionally efficient at pulling carbon out of the water, but it's quite a food source for hard hit oceans.  As the bloom spreads, it is accompanied by a new breed of fish.  This fish seems to feed on the bloom, and is quite nutritious for larger fish species.  Unfortunately, it's saturated with enzymes that are quite violently deadly to homo sapiens.  Still, sea life in the antarctic ocean thrives.  Then, off the coast of Australia, Chile, and south Africa, swimmers are violently attacked by a new breed of shark.  It's small, fast, and seems to be actually targeting humans as opposed to accidental deaths.  It appears to share the same toxicity as the smaller fish.  And it's dreadfully clever.  Some might say... intelligent.  Ghost ships are found in increasing number as the blue bloom spreads.  Small fishing boats and recreational vessels are found utterly abandoned.  Initially, pirates are blamed... yet there are no ransom demands.  Then terrorists.  Yet there is no pattern; any small vessel is hit.  Urban myths talk about Sahguin, Rokea, and mermaids with some tongue in cheek laughter.

Meanwhile, the deaths in coastal cities begins to rise.  Some attribute it to crime.  Others to regional conflicts.  Others to terrorism.  One thing is clear, they were all located on the coast.  Then, one by one in the dead of winter, staffed research stations in Antarctica go silent.  A seal team is dispatched to the Amunsen-Scott research station to discover what happened.  They find survivors that speak of strange alien killers that not only stalked and killed the scientists, but used the computers to access the internet for weeks.  Because the research station employed military and civilian communication channels (it's supplied by the Air Force) the creatures had a back door into the U.S. military and was gathering intelligence and uploading strange data packets.  Worse, dozens of other first world research stations with their own communication networks are similarly compromised.  The seals manage to get a message out and the navy nukes the station.  Almost immediately, McMurdo, the last staffed station, is attacked in the open by the strange blue half shark / half velociraptor like creatures.

Then the invasion starts.  The creatures swarm, first small cat sized creatures that sprint and seek out throats and faces.  Their slimy hide marks prey for larger creatures by scent.  They can easily squirm they way through sewer pipes and in through toilets.  Following the spotters are hounds, quadrupedal beasts that follow the scent and rip and tear it to pieces.  When killed, they release a highly toxic gas.  Behind the hounds are the velociraptors.  These creatures are swift, strong, and smart.  They attack over rooftops, through buildings, along tunnels.  Their razor sharp claws and bladed tails make them deadly urban combatants.  Their tough hides are bullet resistant to everything but high caliber weapons.  Then there are the fliers, like a combination of bat and flier.  They can't match supersonic flight, but they rise up by the thousands, and many are able to bring down aircraft through collision alone.  They throw themselves into the rotors of helicopters, and can fire poisonous spines from numerous glands.  Second to largest, the behemoths are elephant sized lizard beasts that plough through everything in their path.  Even tanks struggle to bring them down.  Lastly are the Leviathans, creatures big enough to tear ships and submarines apart.  This coincides with the crash of power grids and communication networks all across the planet.

The first week is a living hell.  The first month even worse.  In antartica, strange blue growths are spurting out of the ice, seeming to birth more creatures.  They are repeatedly nuked, and yet keep regrowing.  The creatures move under the cover of night.  They appear to be cool blooded, and dislike high temperatures, hiding underwater or underground during the day.  By the end of the first month, many nations in the southern hemisphere have collapsed entirely, with australia putting up the hardest fight to try and evacuate its people.  More horrifying discoveries; the creatures can reproduce by implanting eggs into humans, forcing people to put down their own.  They have a fondness for human crops, and even larger slug like creatures devour huge swaths of crops only to be cannibalized by their own.

Things look grim.  They haven't even found any 'leaders'.  No communications.  No parley.  Cities are abandoned as people are pushed out.  Then stranger non-combat creatures appear.  Like a mix of squid and monkey, they seem to target historical and cultural treasures, as well as information.  Following in the wake, they collect, save, and catalogue human culture.  Also, some people aren't being targeted, but taken.  The United States and Canada falls back into a garrisoned region of Las Vegas, Boise, Calgary, Toronto/ Buffalo, Pittsburg, Nashville, Memphis,  Oklahoma city, Albuquerque, and Phoenix.  The capitol is relocated to Denver.  Humanity bands together, working with other surviving groups.  Oddly enough, much of Europe seems to be spared the worst attacks, despite so much of it being on the coast.  Humans try to replenish their numbers.

One soldier's daughter gets taken as they try to evacuate Los Angeles.  He does everything he can to get her back, finding her and other 'treasure' being loaded up on a leviathan.  Getting aboard, he discovers the truth... the aliens aren't here for treasure, or loot, or resources.  In fact, they're here to save the planet... including the human race.  The aliens' plan is simple: annihilate 99.99% of the population.  Rebuilt the food chain.  And teach the surviving humans why such a cull is necessary.  They predicted that at current rates of human consumption and procreation, a run away green house effect could potentially sterilize a 'garden world' of life.  Unfortunately for them, the human manages to escape.

His information now confirms what humans expected and now use new weapons to try and beat back the alien life forms.  They suspect the alien weapons have a genetic 'kill switch' to prevent them from overrunning native life.  While greatly diminished, humanity pushes back even harder.  Still, factions arise.  Some want to take the alien's warning to heart.  Some want to nuke the whole world.  Some want to be taken by the aliens.  Others want to find wherever they came from and annihilate them first.  One faction develops a nuclear weapon that could incinerate the atmosphere, and potentially the oceans too.  Another develops a biological weapon to eradicate the alien life.  Most audacious of all is a group that comes up with a means to infect the alien hive mind with humanness.  This last one is the most abhorrent to the aliens, as it might actually succeed.  A group of humans learn of it and try to negotiate a cease fire rather than use it without warning.  The aliens warn that while such neural pollution would effectively destroy their race, it would also doom humanity.  The humans fight the military before they can field the weapon, disabling it.  If the aliens were human, they say, now would be the time to eradicate the unfit now and for good... but they are not human.  They finally agree to these terms: if humans can keep their population in check and their material appetites at bay so that other species can flourish, then they will halt the cull.

Humans agree.  Aliens withdraw back to Antarctica and let the ice cover them once again, waiting to see what we do...

That actually sounds like a really good story. I love sci fi type stiff like that, I'd be interested.

I agree with Silver, that would be quite the entertaining mini-series or novel.

Sounds like a workable framework. At the broadest strokes, it brought to my mind Kay Kenyon's The Seeds of Time, which I haven't read in probably eight or nine years but remember enjoying greatly.

Somber wrote:Sigh. I have story ideaitis. I really should be packing for Everfree NW. Anyway, hopefully if I type it here I can get it out of my head.

Well it does sound like an interesting concept, sir. I still hope you'll be able to enjoy yourself at the convention as much as possible. *hugs very gently*

And happy 3rd Birthday to Project Horizons!

http://wavemasterryx.tumblr.com/post/90541512337

And many mooooore

Well, at least until it's finished

Derpmind wrote:
Not really. There are some huge stories up there.

One of these days, I'm gonna start Diaries of a Madman. One of these days...

WavemasterRyx wrote:

Somber wrote:Sigh.  I have story ideaitis.  I really should be packing for Everfree NW.  Anyway, hopefully if I type it here I can get it out of my head.

Well it does sound like an interesting concept, sir.  I still hope you'll be able to enjoy yourself at the convention as much as possible. *hugs very gently*

And happy 3rd Birthday to Project Horizons!

http://wavemasterryx.tumblr.com/post/90541512337

Glorybutt.

WavemasterRyx wrote:And happy 3rd Birthday to Project Horizons!

http://wavemasterryx.tumblr.com/post/90541512337

Wow, already?
And after a quick search through the forums, apparently my third anniversary of working on the story is the twelfth.
…It's kind of hard to believe that this has been going for three years, really. :D
Anyway, thanks for the picture and the reminder; I don't know about the others, but I'd probably have completely forgotten the anniversary otherwise. :)

Only Blackjack may eat that cake

*steals a lick anyway*

@Wavey
Molto bene :)

@PH
Hoppy burfdee!

@Somber
Cool concept. Sounds vaguely like an old GRRM short story from his Tuf Voyaging book - Guardians, it was called. Involved sea life genetically engineering creatures around them to wage war on the surface on account of people kept eating them ('cos they were tasty, sedentary, and appeared non-sentient).

In Soviet Russia, Seafood eats you

....or something

Overlong Analysis Cobalt wrote:@Wavey
Molto bene :)

@PH
Hoppy burfdee!

@Somber
Cool concept. Sounds vaguely like an old GRRM short story from his Tuf Voyaging book - Guardians, it was called. Involved sea life genetically engineering creatures around them to wage war on the surface on account of people kept eating them ('cos they were tasty, sedentary, and appeared non-sentient).

Oh, hey, I remember reading that, now that you mention it.

Vinylshadow wrote:And many mooooore
Well, at least until it's finished

Well... since PH will likely be finished before its 4th birthday, I'm still planning on honoring it after then.

RoboRed wrote:Glorybutt.

Quite.  The butt of a champion.

O. Hinds wrote:Wow, already?
And after a quick search through the forums, apparently my third anniversary of working on the story is the twelfth.
…It's kind of hard to believe that this has been going for three years, really.  :D
Anyway, thanks for the picture and the reminder; I don't know about the others, but I'd probably have completely forgotten the anniversary otherwise.  :)

I know, it certainly doesn't seem like it's been 3 years, does it?
You're welcome, sir, and I'm glad you liked it.

Overlong Analysis Cobalt wrote:Molto bene :)

Thank you, OAC.

WavemasterRyx wrote:I know, it certainly doesn't seem like it's been 3 years, does it?

I exist permanently in that state. It's kind of depressing to be able to say "twenty years ago" and still be talking about your teens...

How old is Blackjack anyway?

Somber wrote:Sadly, our founding documents were very clear about slavery.  3 out of every 5 slaves would be counted for congressional representation.

What he's referring to is that the Declaration of Independence and the original Articles of Confederation danced around the whole slave question because they knew it was a problem and didn't want to try to figure out how to fix it at the time.  The 3/5ths Compromise didn't show up until 1783 (as a proposed amendment to the Articles) and didn't become actual law until the 1787 constitutional convention, over ten years after the Declaration of Independence was signed.  And don't make the mistake of thinking everyone was happy and on-board with that resolution -- the abolitionist movement was already well under way by the time America became a country, and that's why it was such a contentious issue.  The compromise was, like any good compromise, the answer that made everyone unhappy, but created the least total amount of unhappy. Which was important because of that whole, y'know, building a nation thing that was going on.

O. Hinds wrote:

SilentCarto wrote:It's in edit mode -- I clicked through from the hub page. Everything loads up as it should, and then it seems like the very last thing throws the error. it's clearly not anything that's critical to reading the doc, since as you said, you can dismiss the error and it works fine, so I assume it's something in the chat or tools. I think it's a problem with Google Docs in general, not the doc itself.

Huh.  But yes, I think that we can blame Google for this.

You can. I was having the same problem on Sunday with my character sheet for an online D&D game, which I had just created that same day.

LittlePip's colorful epithets:

Makes me wonder what word people use when they curse other ponies

Well, I doubt everyone swears using the Goddesses' names

"LittlePip smite you!" or something

Probably something involving Blackjack, a whisky bottle and a collar...

That's one way of putting it

*sips cider*

Welp, while I'm waiting for the next chapter, time to explore the "Friendship is Optimal" canon