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Author Topic: Venus - a VSF campaign setting  (Read 35393 times)

Offline Dewbakuk

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Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« on: December 08, 2008, 10:08:25 PM »
One day I'll work out how to create one of these new fangled website things and do this properly. However, as we're going to start a VSF campaign in February, which will of course be fully reported here, I've been asked to put the setting info up. I'm pulling together all my old notes and thoughts so this thread will have sections added as it goes along. So, here it is...

Quote
When British explorers first visited Venus, they were struck by its primal beauty. In stark contrast to the desert expanse of Mars’ surface, Venus was covered by an endless rain forest, or so it first appeared. Had that first impression been true then humanities ventures upon its surface would have been short and limited in the extreme, for the jungle floor and swamps of the surface are no place for the frail human body. The air is thick with moisture. The lack of any real breeze means there is no release from the stifling temperature. Sunlight rarely penetrates the canopy directly. There are insects and similar creatures of enormous size just waiting to devour an unwary adventurer. Large creatures closely resembling the dinosaurs of Earth’s past crash or stalk through the trees, crushing or devouring all in their path. Worst of all are the savage Lizardmen that call the jungles their home...

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before explorers discovered a large mesa rising far above the jungle canopy. The climate atop the mesa was far more hospitable, the humidity was lower, it was cooler, there was wind and sunlight and there were far fewer creatures trying to eat them. Even the basic act of breathing was easier. The mesa was large enough to house a small town but far better was the view from the edge. In the distance were many more mesas, some of which were many times the size of the one upon which they stood. Venus was open for colonisation!

A suitable site was found for settlement and during the initial stages of construction a Royal Navy Aeronef was dispatched to survey the nearby mesas. During its survey, the ‘nef crew spotted another aerial craft in the distance. As no other nation had yet claimed to reach Venus, it could only be an indigenous craft. The ‘nef followed the course of the alien craft and discovered a native village atop a large mesa. The village looked nothing like those of the Lizardmen and no-one could entertain the idea of such brutal creatures creating an airship. The ‘nef’s captain ordered the ship to stand off and viewed the village through his telescope. The airship was clearly a trading vessel as cargo was being lain out and displayed to the villagers. The villagers themselves were most certainly not lizardmen, in fact they appeared to be some kind of bird. Realising that contact with a trading species might be better not being initiated by a warship, the captain marked the location and reported back to the fledgling settlement. Contact with the new race was made a priority and a group set off the next day, thus was made initial contact with the Parrotmen of Venus.
So many projects..... so little time.......

Offline Dewbakuk

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2008, 10:12:06 PM »
Quote
A short treatise on the “Noble Savage” of Venus, the Parrotmen. Penned by the hand of Sir Solomon Wandsworth of the British Explorers Society.

Settlements

The villages of the Parrotmen are universally located atop the mighty mesas of Venus. When I enquired as to whether any villages had ever been built in the jungles below, I was almost always emphatically told that the “world was in two” with Parrotman above and Lizardman below. The sole exception to this was an ancient village shaman who told me a story of an older age when large numbers of their ancestors gathered together in the deep jungle and built a home of stone, larger than any village, which was ultimately doomed. This story is most probably told as a warning tale, warning of both trying to build in the jungle and of overpopulating a mesa. The tale is intriguing however and I must admit to a desire to quest out with a ‘nef and see if such a place does, or rather did, exist……

Homes
A Parrotman village is an odd looking place, even to a seasoned traveller’s eye. I was expecting a collection of huts as may be found in Africa or South America. In truth, such structures do exist in some villages, those located far from any Lizardman tribes. However in most villages, huts would be susceptible to attack from Lizardman raids and as such they have developed what have been termed Eyries by most human settlers.

A common feature atop the Venusian mesas are spires of rock rising from the ground. These are usually found near the edges of a mesa and I am told by my geologist companion, Monty, that such formations were most probably caused by extremely high winds in the past. Thankfully for the Parrotmen such winds are unknown in the modern day, for they have taken to building their dwellings atop these spires.

Each spire will support a single dwelling of most unusual design. The dwelling is made in a manner that appears to be an interesting variation of a style still used on Earth by some cultures, that of wattle and daub. The unique part however, is that the dwellings are spherical! I had the fortunate opportunity to see such a dwelling being made on one of my visits and the construction process appears to be an odd mix of basket weaving and plastering. The dwelling is supported on the spire by several wooden posts which are recessed into the rock and the dwelling itself. The result is a very stable, if somewhat odd, single room dwelling.

Each dwelling is linked to it’s neighbours by suspended walkways which run throughout the village. Certain sections of the walkway can be raised or lowered to allow or deny access from the ground. In this way the village has a rather effective defence against the predations of their enemies.

Society
Parrotman society is somewhat similar to many human societies. There is a headman or chief who is nominally in charge of the village at all times, however all important decisions are made by the Council of Elders, of which the chief is a member. The Council of Elders is made up of the 10 eldest members of the village not including the chief or the tribal shamans, who are also members.

For some reason a village will always have two shamans, regardless of size, although no-one would tell me why. I expect it is a tradition that has long lost any reason. The shamans act as spiritual advisors to the council and the chief and practice some form of ancestor worship. They also take on the role of doctor within the tribe and I have to admit, their poultices are effective. I just wish the shaman were a little quieter while making them, the ululations of a human shaman are nothing compared to the vocal capacity of a Parrotman.

Farming/Hunting
A Parrotman village is restricted in its size, largely by the size of the mesa upon which it rests. Although the village rarely takes up much room itself, the Parrotmen long ago took up farming in order to ensure their food source. This means that all villages will have grain fields and fruit groves alongside them.

Oddly, while the Parrotmen have developed animal husbandry (more on which later), they don’t apply this to livestock and rely on hunting to provide their meat. This means a larger proportion of hunters than would be expected in such a society.

Rite of Passage
There is one aspect of Parrotman society that dominates all, the rite of passage. This act serves both as a test of manhood and as a method of ensuring a viable gene pool. Once a Parrotman male reaches the appropriate age, he sets off alone into the surrounding jungle, where he must make his way to another village, avoiding or killing anything that seeks to stop him. Usually this means Lizardmen. Many of the young males never make it and I believe this, more than any other reason, is why the Parrotmen and Lizardmen will forever be enemies.

Technology

While technologically inferior to ourselves, the Parrotmen have nonetheless made some impressive steps in their development. Need surely drives invention and nothing makes this clearer than the airships which the Parrotmen employ in both travel and war. While the airship is their most talked of device, they have developed other equally amazing machines.

I was most amazed to discover they have developed a lifting platform for use at the mesa edge. While simple in concept, the amount of rope needed to lift such a distance is phenomenal. No animal would be able to perform the task of turning the vast coiling spindles. To solve this, the Parrotmen have developed a form of gas engine. I am not an engineer and cannot explain its function but it has pumps and some form of turbine which provides power.

Airships
The airship is the most well known Parrotman device; it is after all how we originally found them. Travel and trade between villages is handled almost exclusively by airship, an obvious exception being the rite of passage. This is due to the dangers of travelling through the jungle depths. In the past, Parrotmen caravans would come under constant attack by Lizardman raiders and they expected to lose more than half of the caravan on any trip.

The invention of the airship changed everything for the Parrotmen. Travel became far safer and trade blossomed, which led to more invention. The early airships were unstable bags of animal skin filled with gas that were driven by the wind. The current airships vary in size and design greatly, some using sails, others using gas engines, while others use both. A common design is for a large central fabric body with two gas cells inside, with either one or two smaller bags protruding on spars to the side for stability. Unlike our own airship designs, the Parrotman craft are crewed from above, rather than below the gasbags, hence the need for stabilising bags to the sides.

Methods of War

On a recent trip to a village one morning, I arrived to discover it had been raided by Lizardmen that previous night. The damage was obviously not too severe but many Parrotmen had been killed in the attack and the chief had called for a reprisal. It was at this point I realised where the chief’s power truly lay. In times of peace he was a council member, but in times of war, his rule was absolute and everyone obeyed.

It was an astounding thing to watch the village prepare for battle. The most common weapon looked to be some form of crossbow, although the firing mechanism seemed very complicated, I was later informed it sped up the loading process somehow. However there were many Parrotmen who seemed to prefer simpler weapons such as fighting picks and spears. A few came out carrying enormous serrated fighting clubs that required two hands to wield, apparently weapons of honour carried by the best fighters.

Hearing a screeching sound, I turned to see large bird like beasts being brought to the assembling warriors. The smaller of these savage creatures were then harnessed and their riders claimed them. The larger ones were to be coaxed and goaded into battle, although I saw one calmed by a shaman and a large crossbow loaded onto its back. Clearly the animal husbandry I had heard of only applied to these fighting beasts.

The final act of preparation I saw was the one I’d most expected. The airship currently docked at the village was being fitted with weaponry. It was also, like the large bird, fitted with large crossbows, however it was also fitted with pedestal mounted tubes. I was then informed that such tubes held explosives that could be dropped by an operator when over a target. I was somewhat surprised to see the airship crew readying jezzails. A trader colleague explained that the Parrotmen had something similar to gunpowder but most villages didn’t use it, preferring their rapid fire crossbows. Clearly the airship was from a village that did employ gunpowder.

Interactions with settlers

So far the Parrotmen have welcomed human settlers openly. They are keen traders and excellent linguists. Very few skirmishes have broken out between humans and Parrotmen, as there are plenty of empty mesas for settlement. However there have been a couple of occasions where settlers were told they couldn’t stay somewhere as it’s sacred ground. So far the settlers have been advised to move on and there has been little conflict. I am sure there will come a time when settlers refuse to move however and I hope I am not around at that time.

Offline commissarmoody

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2008, 02:01:40 AM »
most excolent! I loved ever hit of it and cant wait to read more.
"Peace" is that brief, glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.

- Anonymous

Offline Dewbakuk

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2008, 07:03:11 AM »
Thanks, next up is the Lizardman info.

Offline commissarmoody

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2008, 07:50:52 AM »
Great!

Offline Malamute

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2008, 08:37:48 AM »
Its sticky now. :) Great stuff, Dean I am really looking forward to taking part in this.
"These creatures do not die like the bee after the first sting, but go on age after age, feeding on the blood of the living"  - Abraham Van Helsing

Offline thejammedgatling

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2008, 10:42:32 AM »
I think I'm going to get myself a huge block of polystyrene and make myself a mesa or two..

Inspiring stuff and well written. I'm looking forward to both reading more of the background and also seeing your gaming group put together this into a gaming table. Do you draw straws as to who stores it at their house?

Thanks for sharing

Offline Ramshackle_Curtis

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #7 on: December 09, 2008, 11:34:19 AM »
Great work Dubakuk. Id like to read a description of the parrotmen. Do they have wings and arms?

Offline Dewbakuk

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #8 on: December 09, 2008, 12:45:17 PM »
Oddly enough they look rather like GW Kroot, my wip shots are here http://www.flickr.com/photos/28016805@N00/sets/72157600451299762/

Actually, I always imagined them as a cross between Kroot and Skeksis, not quite as dirty and unkempt, but that kind of savagery and more clothes than Kroot. I used to have some nice artwork that was done for me, but it got lost in a computer failure.

New terrain is being built at the moment. I should expect the Village and it's mesa will live on top of my shelf unit. The terrain will mostly be merged from multiple players though.

Offline Westfalia Chris

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #9 on: December 09, 2008, 02:51:01 PM »
Venusian Parrotmen! Pure genius. Just don´t let them run afoul of the Parrot rifles of the US imperialists. lol

Looking forward to seeing an army of those.

Offline Ramshackle_Curtis

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #10 on: December 09, 2008, 05:34:32 PM »
Thats alot of kroot you got there! Nice colour cheme.

Offline Dewbakuk

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #11 on: December 09, 2008, 07:14:06 PM »
Thanks, there's more.....

Offline thejammedgatling

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #12 on: December 10, 2008, 12:25:35 PM »
I think your Kroot/ Skeksis idea is a good one. I'd be interested to see how you might convert the GW plastic kroot, wihich we're going to be using (pretty much as is) for our subterranean dwellers in our Mars campaign. Your description almost makes me think of a Central American race like the Inca or Aztecs, who used a lot of animal ceremonial costume. I wonder if you can get some good figures of them and do some cool conversions (though I suspect that unless you got some more heroic scale 30mm stuff that the kroot would be too big).

Good luck!

Offline twrchtrwyth

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #13 on: December 10, 2008, 07:58:47 PM »
Great ideas. 8)
He that trades Liberty for Security will soon find that he has neither.

Benjamin Franklin


Offline Ray Rivers

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Re: Venus - a VSF campaign setting
« Reply #14 on: December 14, 2008, 01:00:40 PM »
Love the idea...

BTW, saw this in the toy shop the last time I was there... perhaps I need to pick it up... a box of 12 rather large insects:

Large insect toys

Each insect measures about 70 or 80mm's in length. 

I especially like the beetles.

UPDATE:  I bought these and the bugs are huge (a couple of them measure around 14 to 16 cms).  I think I can use about four or five out of the set but if you are thinking about buying them, you should see them up close and decide for yourself.  May not be everyone's cup of tea for giant insects.
« Last Edit: December 16, 2008, 09:18:45 PM by Ray Rivers »

 

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