World of Ortix

When I started this blog (switching from the Terminal Space, back in the Golden Age of Blogging, damn I really miss those times), I did it mainly for posting stuff about my upcoming weird Sword&Planet / Science Fantasy / Gonzo Fantasy campaign setting that was slowly taking shape in my head. I was heavily inspired by Planet Algol (Blair, you need to come back) and my head was literally bursting with ideas.

And then over eleven years have passed.

Not much was done, at least not on topic of Ortix. Sure many ideas were written down but I cannibalized lots of them for the other projects. But the core remained intact and the last attempt to shape it into something more coherent was in 2019. And now I decided it may be a good moment to finally get it done.

Do not expect the end result within the next decade tho - since it started in 1997, it should take me next 25 years to complete it! More seriously - I don't even aim to complete the "Book of Ortix" or whatever it should be named. I treat it more as a thought experiment and way to keep myself occupied in the most creative way possible, while having fun at the same time. Of course I will post (or at least try to) the things I make, here on the blog.

So far I've compiled the loose list of one hundred ideas, both new and really old, that could be incorporated into the setting. Some of them are rather down to earth, while others (like four inner spheres of the planet) are outrageously gonzo. We shall see what will emerge from that mess.

With the Ashen Void I've experimented with full-color AI art and rather clear and "semi-pro" layout. This time I'll come back to the roots - World of Ortix will be ugly, convoluted and linguistically inferior, sprinkled with strange, hand drawn artwork.

But - as I said before - do not expect any coherent releases on this topic within the next twenty five years.

Ortix Worldship part Three - the Black Star

Details of the Ortix Worldship, its history, geography and inhabitants are born in pain. Everything is evolving and changing constantly, as I'm trying to create something more consistent than most of my projects. It's not an easy task, considering the very nature of game's world - it's rather complicated to create a world so different than ours. Luckily, It's only a game so I don't give a fuck about logic and laws of physics :D

As I mentioned in the first part of this series, each Worldship's power source is a small, artificial sun, suspended inside ship's megastructure. When Worldship begins to change itself into a planet, sun still remains inside it, acting like a light source for its Inner Surface.

The Black Star

It's uncertain when planet's internal light source started to emit strange, orange-red light. It's almost sure that it happened thousands of years ago or maybe even during the Population Phase, as the change of light's frequency has major impact on the flora and fauna of the Inner Surface.

Moreover - alteration of the properties of the sun wasn't a simple power loss - it looks more like a change of the sun's profile and power output or even like a change of its very nature.

Every person who saw the radiance of the Black Star admits that it emits eerie, disturbing radiance, impossible to detect or measure by any scientific methods, but clearly noticeable by any living being. This effect, combined with an absence of night-day cycle and general weirdness of the inhabitants of the Inner Surface makes it a really unsettling (and potentially dangerous) place.

Worldship part Two - the Ortix Worldship

Clicky!

Second part of my ramblings.This is the real start of the story about the Worldship orbiting the Cold Star. Still very raw text and many things are still unknown even for me. Probably even some very basic aspects of the Worldship's history may change.

The Ortix Worldship 

In case of the Worldship which is the center of our story, something went wrong. Probably some of the Ancestors woke up during the Transmutation phase. No one knows what happened but probably some kind of conflict erupted between them. Most of the Ancestors was killed and some Worldship’s processes were altered, maybe because of damage done to its mainframes or maybe as a result of intentional action. 

First and most important change was fact that no Guardians were awaken. This led to serious problems: when meteor shower devastated a large region of the of the outer surface, flora and fauna development went out of control, the same disaster caused major problems with Worldship’ security systems – gates between the Inner Surface and ship’s core complexes were opened and some breeding and gene-altering facilities went mad. Effects were terrifying – vile monsters had infested the Worldship itself. 

In addition, absence of Guardians had even more serious consequences – spaceship from the planet Earth has arrived.

Some old ideas... [Worldship part One]

Worldship during the initial phase could look like this

As you probably remember (or not! :D) I decided to separate the ideas about the surface world from the Underworld Kingdom. Now, when writing of the Bandits & Battlecruisers is finished, I felt rather empty.

Of course I have several unfinished projects (at least four, if I remember correctly) but I need more to feel busy enough :D That's the one of reasons why I started working on Ortix again - second one is because I had an idea how to change it into something bigger, more diverse and maybe slightly more original than typical Yet Another Science Fantasy Setting.

This is Part One, covering only the most basic aspects of the Worldship's concept. If you read this blog carefully you should find some huge similarities to one of my other projects ;)

Worldships

Try to imagine a spaceship so big that it’s powered by the internal, artificial sun. This fully automated vessel is able to travel through the Nullspace in search for a perfect place for a new colony. When Worldship finds such place, it shifts back into the normal space, sits on the orbit best for the life sustaining and start to reshape itself.
After some time, Worldship takes hollow, spherical shape, with artificial sun still suspended inside it. Transmuting devices begin to create it’s surfaces – both inside and outside ones. When it’s done, newly created planet begin to be populated.
During the “life creation” phase, Worldship begin to wake the Guardians – powerful artificial entities designed for balancing the population and protecting the Worldship from any threats from space, including any attempts of colonization by other sapient creatures.
Next and final step is to awake the Worldship’s creators - the Ve'sen. Some of them – the wisest and most powerful ones, called the Ancestors - are sleeping in the stasis cells, while most of them are born in automated breeding facilities. Their new home world is now complete.

I used the above image without permission but to be fair- here is a link to its DA page.