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ig: liam.pannier

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ICYMI / join us in revivified space 💫

🚨🚨🚨 attention empire citizens: synastry is open! 🚨🚨🚨

https://synastral.jcink.net/

https://synastral.jcink.net/

https://synastral.jcink.net/

see you in empire space!

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🚨🚨🚨 attention empire citizens: synastry is open! 🚨🚨🚨

https://synastral.jcink.net/

https://synastral.jcink.net/

https://synastral.jcink.net/

see you in empire space!

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cosmos over the hill

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THE ARC SYSTEM: THE BLACK MARKET

Synastry uses an arc system that defines specific objectives for various groups and events that are happening in the game. If you represent one of those groups, you can use the arcs in threads or talk to the admin team about ideas you have about how to accomplish those goals. Advancing an arc for any group you are in or progressing a plot allows our members to drive outcomes and influence the balance of power in the game. Arcs are typically accomplished over a series of threads — none of these can be completed in a single thread between only two players. The admin team also monitors posting and plotting frequency across groups, and if we see a high volume of posts in a particular group, we will design mini-events that help advance the group's objective for players in those organization(s). Be aware that events that contain conflict between groups or, especially, events that have leviathan encounters may have severe and lasting consequences for participants. For this reason, our plot event signups that could be triggering (for example, an event which could result in a character developing a phobia) will always come with the option to designate any potential no-goes.

THE BLACK MARKET

Each of the criminal organizations is loyal first and foremost to themselves, and focused on their operations in the specific location where they do business. They will generally work with the highest bidder. Like every other group, Black Market characters are facing a transit shortage and are looking to buy and sell at high risk, high reward. Transit isn't the only useful thing in the galaxy, though — there's also information.

state secrets uncover and sell a secret from empire to retrograde or vice versa

secondhand tech secure mecha parts and sell them to a third party

build your influence bribe or get leverage on local officials

pals who do crimes establish a formal alliance with another group

hostile takeover edge in on another criminal group's business

transit supply secure, locate, and distribute transit

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THE ARC SYSTEM: RETROGRADE

Synastry uses an arc system that defines specific objectives for various groups and events that are happening in the game. If you represent one of those groups, you can use the arcs in threads or talk to the admin team about ideas you have about how to accomplish those goals. Advancing an arc for any group you are in or progressing a plot allows our members to drive outcomes and influence the balance of power in the game. Arcs are typically accomplished over a series of threads — none of these can be completed in a single thread between only two players. The admin team also monitors posting and plotting frequency across groups, and if we see a high volume of posts in a particular group, we will design mini-events that help advance the group's objective for players in those organization(s). Be aware that events that contain conflict between groups or, especially, events that have leviathan encounters may have severe and lasting consequences for participants. For this reason, our plot event signups that could be triggering (for example, an event which could result in a character developing a phobia) will always come with the option to designate any potential no-goes.

RETROGRADE

While RETROGRADE currently is a loose alliance of rebels, outcasts, and pirates, ideologically they are trying to increase their own political position to force the EMPIRE to redistribute power. Your mission(s), therefore, are these:

investigate exo tech determine if retrograde can produce exo technology

establish safe havens sustain a system of rebel hideouts

battle the empire find ways to diminish the empire's reputation

the enemy of my enemy ... ally or seek supply from criminal empires

the outer rim there are rumors of a lost europa colony ...

transit supply identify a source of transit to power retrograde operations

restore the nine-tailed fox can a machine function without its fourth pilot?

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THE ARC SYSTEM: EMPIRE

Synastry uses an arc system that defines specific objectives for various groups and events that are happening in the game. If you represent one of those groups, you can use the arcs in threads or talk to the admin team about ideas you have about how to accomplish those goals. Advancing an arc for any group you are in or progressing a plot allows our members to drive outcomes and influence the balance of power in the game. Arcs are typically accomplished over a series of threads — none of these can be completed in a single thread between only two players. The admin team also monitors posting and plotting frequency across groups, and if we see a high volume of posts in a particular group, we will design mini-events that help advance the group's objective for players in those organization(s). Be aware that events that contain conflict between groups or, especially, events that have leviathan encounters may have severe and lasting consequences for participants. For this reason, our plot event signups that could be triggering (for example, an event which could result in a character developing a phobia) will always come with the option to designate any potential no-goes.

EMPIRE

The EMPIRE has recently had an exo go missing, and high-ranking EMPIRE officials concerned about Transit shortages are trying to locate additional deposits of the magical substance. They also are responsible for the security of each of the houses (and the fifth station!) and are eager to stop the retrograde rebellion. Goals are as follows:

build a new exo work with scientists and magi to create a new first house venator exo unit

defend empire space protect a colony from one of the leviathans

battle the rebellion find ways to damage retrograde's cause

dismantle criminal empires infiltrate or slow down criminal activity

the outer rim traverse the dangers of the asteroid belt

transit supply research new sources of transit

find the missing exo uncover what really happened to the empire's missing venator unit

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by nasa

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SOCIETY & TECHNOLOGY

Though each location in Synastry has subtle variations in culture and the technology making the environment livable, there are some basic assumptions that are constant across all Houses & Stations. GENDER ROLES, SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS, & ORIENTATION There are no longer defined expectations for gender roles or societal persecution for an individual's orientation or gender expression. For the purposes of gameplay, this means that dynamics like the patriarchy, toxic masculinity, and homophobia do not exist and have been replaced by the considerations below. A character may still experience doubts while they explore their own orientation, but they will not experience persecution on these axes. Bioengineering has advanced to a degree where family structures can take genetic material from two or more parents of any gender. PREJUDICES Various prejudices that may express themselves are aspects of economic class, origin, planetary history, education, or political alignment between the empire and its rebels. We remind writers of our commitment to respecting the stories of the marginalized, so please review the materials articulated in our boundaries page if you wish to explore this kind of content. LANGUAGE All of the original languages of the Solar System still exist and are spoken in pockets; however, translation technology is increasingly common and available in a cochlear clip. Universal Empire is the official spoken language of all Empire locations, but there is cultural interest in preserving language as a way to honor the origin myths of the first house. FACTIONS Like many of us today, most citizens are loyal to the Empire, even if they harbor some disdain for the political machine. The fact of the matter is that the closer you are to the oligarchy, the more benefits you tend to receive — pilots, magicians, and military folks are usually well-looked after, with the result being that ordinary folks are often left to sort through the scraps. The Retrograde movement is a direct result of these imbalances, and characters who select Retrograde in their allegiance should be actively rebelling against the government in some way. Others have chosen a different path — joining criminal groups who skirt the law but who are more interested in near-term survival than political reform.

TIMEKEEPING Time passes differently in all Synastry locations according to the planet's gravity, orbit, and rotational speed, but the Empire marks time in Universal Empire Time, which represents Earth-GMT.

CURRENCY The universal currency of the realm is the Obolos, a reference to the myth of providing coins for the boatman upon one's death. Hard cash is a thing of the past; exchanges are made in electronic credits.

TRAVEL All House locations have high speed travel connecting terrestrial stations, making getting across the planet a matter of a few minutes or a handful of hours. Travel across the empire is accomplished by using either magically-empowered exo to move from place to place or to accompany a magician through the drift. Travel through subspace is a way to fold the universe in on itself; crossing the solar system can happen in just a few hours. Interplanetary travel would not be possible without the power of fuel derived from a substance called TRANSIT, which seems to be a new magical element introduced since the solar system's restart.

COMMUNICATION & TECH All locations are connected via a communication network working as an interplanetary internet. This infrastructure is fundamentally supported by the Empire, leaving some rebels to work on developing alternate modes of communication — a kind of outer rim pirate radio. Access to the internet can include alternate reality spaces. Most Empire locations also have some level of machine or robotic support.

BIOTECH Animus units represent the peak of bio-engineering at the moment, but other medical interventions have been developed to improve and extend human life. Each house has improved access to family planning, including technology which allows for parents of multiple gender expressions to have children. Bionics can be used to offset physical disabilities, but can be expensive, leading to a separation in the market and the proliferation of some black market devices.

DRUGS Various substances, including ordinary marijuana and alcohol, are still available in Empire locations — along with illegal drugs sold by criminal organizations. However, the most notable drug in the entire sol system is the use of TRANSIT, which can confer higher degrees of mental acuity, including temporary clairvoyant or other psychic benefits, to its users. This magical substance is addictive and can result in psychological decline. Distribution of Transit for these purposes outside of official sanctioned use is illegal in the Empire, since it is difficult to find and necessary to power interplanetary travel in most ships.

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Helping the Earth.

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THE EXO

IN THE BEGINNING, IT WAS THE GRAND TRINE AGAINST THE BEASTS OF DEEP SPACE. This was, all parties acknowledged, an unscalable solution to an unsolvable problem. But the new wizards were not suitable for this war, and so in the earliest days of revived society one of the most important matters of business was to create an answer to the riddles of space's newest and most terrible dangers. Research undertaken on the first house eventually uncovered the solution: individuals with the ability to tap into latent passive magic were found to develop a symbiosis between man, magic, and machine. And so: these were the first of the great exoskeletons who would fight in space in defense of the empire. Fundamentally, there are two classes of these massive constructs — VENATOR and FORTIFICARE. These exoskeletons require more than one pilot — currently anywhere from two to five — and are flown in teams of humans whose passive energy can generate symbiosis with the ship. Later advances introduced a new kind of ship — the ANIMUS, bio-engineered to be flown through the transference of consciousness of a single pilot. In all cases, pilots demonstrate high tolerance and capacity for passive magical energy, and are selected and trained with great care. All Empire Houses and Stations now have exoskeleton facilities, though the original base of research was conducted from the first house. The largest military station is now on the Fourth House. All units are stationed with a magician who can periodically restore function and power — giving an important mystical boost to the Empire's killing machines.

VENATOR class exoskeletons are typically offensive units. Pilots of Venator units have a neurotransmitter input which is frequently at the top of the spinal cord, as well as a cochlear implant which connects them to their teammates. The entity is flown and operated collectively, with pilots typically positioned centrally. Venator units are smaller and more agile than their Fortificare counterparts, and although never as small or agile as a solo ANIMUS unit, they tend to have a greater weapons capacity due to their frequent offensive deployment.

FORTIFICARE class exoskeletons are typically defensive units. Pilots of Fortificare units are distributed throughout the machine, and have neurotransmitters implanted in the part of their body which represents the closest analog to their distribution in the exoskeleton. They also share a cochlear unit, similar to their Venator counterparts. Fortificare units tend to be the largest of all of the machines, and are equipped with defensive weaponry, transit, and construction capabilities.

ANIMUS class represent bio-engineered entities who are piloted by full consciousness transfer. This is accomplished by a cranium implant which is turned on or off to accomplish the neural uplink. Animus pilots are solo pilots with a protective team around them, due to them “piloting” a bioengineered entity as opposed to a robotic mass. If an Animus-class pilot's body dies while they are in the machine, their consciousness stays in the machine.

Pilots who work together often enough will inevitably approach a phenomenon where they are able to sense and feel their co-pilot(s). This often results in something known as neural drift — a mental connection, as opposed to subspace drift, the physical act of traversing outside of physical space. Neural drift is experienced the most by the Venator class in that they will often feel everything their co-pilots feel, including pain. Fortificare class pilots do not experience such a high level as their offensive counterpart, thought to be in part due to the neural/conductive load being more spaced out among pilots. Animus class pilots will often report, after having worked with an entity for some time, feeling phantom body parts, such as wings, or tails when their consciousness is transferred back to their body. Although neural drift is considered to improve the function of pilots within an exoskeleton, it is a side-effect of working together, and not a pre-requisite. And though exoskeleton development has been through multiple iterations to improve the machines and implants required for the symbiosis to work — sleeker machines, smaller implants — the psychological concerns of neural drift have been understudied. What is understood is that the loss of a pilot in a team with neural drift — or the loss of all pilots — can result in a difficult replacement process.

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💫 JOIN OUR DISCORD 💫

It's the moment you've been waiting for — space, space, baby! Join our discord here to start getting ready for Synastry's magic, monsters, and mayhem: https://discord.gg/PJGnS7QFgx *reserves for faces, exo, and magi will be available in discord until the site opens on 9/8.

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THE INCARNATES

IT IS KNOWN THAT THE GRAND TRINE WERE THE FIRST REAL MAGICIANS. These destroyers and creators of the solar system as it is now known found the threads of magic underpinning the universe and pulled at them. Some things unraveled. Some things were made again. As chaos unfurled and horrors emerged from the deep, terrible darkness of space, the Trine made beasts of their own to fight back — but they were outnumbered, and so: they made more — more magicians, more machines. Revivified more people. Brought back a society in the image that was pleasing to them. Today, a thousand years later, magicians continue to exert their will on the universe. They are associated with the mythologies of old — given names of old, dead gods — though there is no consensus on whether this is because there is some spark of truth to the reincarnation story or a way of honoring the traditions of a solar system made dead and then living once again. Magicians have access to three domains, which is a descriptive list of areas where their powers can work. For example, the god Thor might have storms, protection, and strength. However, a domain is also a description of a specific manipulation of subspace that magician is able to create. In this case, when Thor enters subspace, they may find themselves in a space of pure storms. Incarnates of similar mythologies or similar domains may find their powers and spaces resonate and overlap in unusual and mysterious ways. At the beginning of the Empire system, the Grand Trine created the first of the great exo units. Today, these are largely the result of human engineering, but the maintenance of such great exoskeletons — empowering them periodically to undertake the terrible work of fighting the behemoths of the void — still falls to the magicians from time to time. Nobody knows what will happen if they stop. And anyone who has seen a leviathan from the deep does not want to know, either.