From: Heivilin, Jim [banzai@missouri.edu] Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 8:10 AM To: 'list, blue planet' Subject: [FWD] Re: [BLUE PLANET] - More Native Mythology stuff... -----Original Message----- From: "christopher gribbon" To: blue_planet@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - More Native Mythology stuff... Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 10:00:44 GMT >Some time in 2126 or thereabouts, Raj and his crew, having visited Haven >and >consulted old satellite maps of Poseidon, decided to ride the New Pacifica >Flow eastward all the way to the Darwin Archipelago - farther than any >native expedition had ever gone. Everyone said it was suicide, but a few >"suicidal" scientists and explorers signed on with them. Raj and his crew >built a large (24 meter long) ship for the expedition, christened the Ibn >Battuta, loaded up on supplies, and set out into the sunrise. > > > >What became of the tiny colony established in the Darwin >Archipelago. HIST has sent a research team to the Archipelago in hopes of >tracing Raj's journey based on the oral records and notes Raj left behind. >So far, they have uncovered remnants of one of the Ibn Battuta expedition's >base camps, but the search is only just beginning. Cool. I like it. Of course, in my campaign, I assumed that the other island groups of Poseidon already had settlements (albeit smaller than Pacifica's) and that there was semi-regular traffic between them. See my "Los Isolotes" setting for more information. But, since this is certainly not the case officially, I like the idea of promoting the mystery of the other Archipelagoes. Didn't someone a while back on the mailing list say they had a setting which was an ecological expedition to the Darwin Archipelago? The first of it's kind or somesuch? Christopher Gribbon Vision Research Laboratories Medical Sciences Institute University of Dundee Dundee DD1 5EH UK (01382) 344 229 ____________________________________________________________________ "A scientist is meant to be disinterested, pure; his ambition merely to descry the cement of the universe. He isn't meant to use it to start laying his own patio!" - WILL SELF, The Quantity Theory of Insanity ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Poh tun Kai [pohtk@hitech.com.my] Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 12:10 AM To: blue_planet@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - More Native Mythology stuff... Hi, I've gotten back to BP writing after a long absence (blame it on work, and GMing two long campaigns of Call of Cthulhu) and I've finally got some more material on the way. It's another Native Legend piece, which I hope will make it to Dave's League of Professional Casualties page (http://www.crosswinds.net/~irregular/prof_cas.htm for those of you who haven't seen it yet), and eventually to Undercurrents when I've polished it up. It's about a famous second-generation native explorer, Raj the Wanderer, and his journeys and legacy. This is what I have so far, just off the top of my head. If the Storm Widow (UC #5/6) is the archetypal native settler, then Raj the Wanderer is the archetypal native explorer. Some superstitious sailors consider him the "patron saint" of all those who sail upon the open sea. Rajkumar De Silva was born in Haven in 2096; his family eventually brought him to Atlantis and raised him there. He became a highly skilled sailor and followed some expeditions around the New Hawaii region when he was growing up, but finally settled down in Atlantis as a fisherman, married his childhood sweetheart, and had a kid. In 2124, the Calamity occured; Mt. Odysseus erupted and buried Atlantis under hot mud and ash. Nearly two hundred lives were snuffed out in an instant, including Raj's family. Heartbroken, Raj went on "walkabout," sailing off into the wild blue ocean and wandering the Archipelago in his fishing catamaran. A few other grief-stricken survivors, who couldn't bear to stay in Atlantis any longer, followed him and became his crew. Some time in 2126 or thereabouts, Raj and his crew, having visited Haven and consulted old satellite maps of Poseidon, decided to ride the New Pacifica Flow eastward all the way to the Darwin Archipelago - farther than any native expedition had ever gone. Everyone said it was suicide, but a few "suicidal" scientists and explorers signed on with them. Raj and his crew built a large (24 meter long) ship for the expedition, christened the Ibn Battuta, loaded up on supplies, and set out into the sunrise. Five years passed. In 2131, some settlers living in the town of Kansas, on the southern end of the island of Prime Meridian, found a half-wrecked ship washed up on the shore - crewed by Raj and a handful of battered survivors. They said that they had, with great difficulty, crossed the oceans, surviving fierce storms and unpredictable currents, and reached the Darwin Archipelago. There, they spent four and a half years exploring the place, mapping it and discovering countless new specimens of flora and fauna. Furthermore, most of the crew had decided to stay and settle down, believing it impossible to return, especially since the Ibn Battuta had been heavily damaged during the trip. But Raj and a few others decided to make the trip back, after all these years...and so they did, taking the remains of the Ibn Battuta and building a smaller boat from it, the Serendipity. And so they sailed back, heading for Haven. They were blown off course and had many dangerous run-ins with various sea creatures, but somehow Raj managed to steer them to safety in the end. (this is the part I'm unsure of...is it possible for a 24-meter catamaran to ride the New Pacifica Flow all the way to the Darwin Archipelago? Can a smaller vessel make it back on the Haven Current or some other current? Maybe Jeff can help with this) Anyway, after this epic voyage, Raj's legend was born. Some skeptics didn't believe he actually made it to the Darwin Archipelago, since almost all the samples of flora and fauna he brought back was lost in a storm, all they have is some notes and oral records from his crew. But nonetheless, he became a hero to the native community, and storytellers passed his tales from town to town. The Serendipity took on a new crew and Raj soon resumed his travels, this time staying within the Pacifica Archipelago, to help explore his home region and bring mail and supplies to the various settlements. In 2135, as per the timeline planetwide storms caused widespread devastation and flooding, and fungal plagues hit the natives hard. In the wake of the storms, the Serendipity ferried healers and badly needed medicines from Haven to far-flung settlements, helping to save many lives. However, the ship was caught in a Force 4 hurricane on its way back to Haven from the Zion Islands, and was crippled. To Raj's credit, he managed to keep his crew and passangers safe and sound and managed to steer close to a small island before the ship sank, allowing everyone to swim to safety. From 2136 to 2140, Raj took a break from his travels to build a new vessel, the Walkabout, to recruit and train a new crew, and to plan his next expeditions. In 2141, Raj began what became known as the Second Voyage of the Wanderer, a grand tour of the Archipelago which included stops in the Northwestern Territories, Zion Islands, and Prime Meridian, with the last leg of the journey being a detailed coastal survey of Westcape itself. The expedition went more slowly than planned, and several stops lasted longer than planned. While in vicinity of Sierra Nueva, Raj met a beautiful local girl named Eleanor, who almost convinced him to end his restless ways and settle down with her. He tarried there for several months before resuming his journey, although eyewitness accounts say that he seemed to do so with great reluctance. Then, the Walkabout spent most of the Hurricane Season of 2142 in dock in Kingston, while Raj helped to arbitrate an end to a bloody feud between rival NRM factions. The storytellers of Kingston still speak of his great patience and wit in convincing the warriors to lay down their arms. Finally, in early 2143, the Walkabout reached Westcape. There, a freak storm threw the ship off course and Raj found himself briefly lost in the fiords of western Westcape. It is said that somewhere in the fiords, Raj found the mysterious Aborigine Graveyard (see Blue Planet Version 2 for more). Several months later, the expedition found its way back to Atlantis, and there the voyage ended. To his crew's surprise, Raj announced his retirement and gave his ship to his first mate. They say he had a peaceful look in his eyes, as if he had realized at last his true destination in life. Then he took a small fishing vessel and set sail for Sierra Nueva, alone. He was never seen again. Explorer, rescuer, peacemaker, wanderer... Stories of his journeys became part of the native folklore of Poseidon, passed from one storyteller to the next. And his legend grew in the telling. Today, historians and archaeologists are at last beginning a deeper look into the native history of Poseidon. There are many mysteries about Raj's journeys. What became of the tiny colony established in the Darwin Archipelago. HIST has sent a research team to the Archipelago in hopes of tracing Raj's journey based on the oral records and notes Raj left behind. So far, they have uncovered remnants of one of the Ibn Battuta expedition's base camps, but the search is only just beginning. And what of the Aborigine Graveyard, said to be hidden in the fiords of Westcape? So many mysteries, just waiting for someone to follow in the Wanderer's wake... Since mid-2199, a strange rumor has begun to circulate across the Archipelago. They say Raj has returned. Some speak of a dark-skinned, quiet man, his face closely resembling the old portrait carvings of Raj, who seems to be wandering from town to town, island to island, in the most remote regions. Sometimes, he comes across people in need of aid, and he renders assistance to them as a thinker, a peacemaker, an arbitrator, a witness. Sometimes he speaks to children, telling them about distant places that he has travelled to, all across the Archipelago, and even places on Earth itself. They say he has a strange sadness in his eyes. As far as most people can tell, he never gives his real name, but the old storytellers know the truth. It is Raj, who was blown off course on his way to Eleanor, and he travels the world now, searching for his lost love, who is long dead. (GMs are advised to look in the Most Wanted section of UC #5/6 for more information on this individual) * * * So, what do y'all think? Still needs a lot of work, needs to be polished and edited, and I have to reconfirm all the dates and locations, add in more details and character names. But this is a first draft, so I think I can be forgiven. :) Kai Poh Malaysian Lagomorph *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Poh tun Kai [pohtk@hitech.com.my] Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 9:26 PM To: blue_planet@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - Supercavitating Submarines > The biggest problem with a manned vehicle would be surviving the vehicle stopping. Once the vehicles speed drops below the critical speed (the article states 50m/s but it really depends on the pressure of the surrounding fluid), the bubble collapses and drag increases exponentally. This causes very rapid deceleration (kinda like hitting a brick wall). Owwwww. It's still a great technology for underwater bullets. And those rocket-powered dumbfire torpedoes...mmmm. So, can Biohazard confirm or deny the mention of such technology in Fluid Mechanics? Kai Poh Malaysian Lagomorph *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Phillip Bernstein [GSZalonef@Netscape.net] Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 11:40 PM To: blue_planet@lists.imagiconline.com Subject: Re: [Re: VS: [BLUE PLANET] - Bouncing messages] > Speaking of fluid dynamics and such, anybody know of any good books on > submarine design. I had plans on picking up a book on elements of ocean > engineering. I cant help you with non-fiction books, but i just watched an interesting show on the Discovery Channel about life on a boomer. If you missed it it is available from them for 19.95 .... On a more useful note, I have some good Science Fiction sugguestions dealing with submarines. A word of warning though ... my library (and yes ... at 3000 books spanning almost 20 years, this is a LIBRARY) tends to contain ALOT of out of print books .... The best suggestion to read is G. Harry Stine's Starsea Invader trilogy: First Action, Second Contact, and Third Encounter. This series deals with a new generation of submarine/air-craft carriers. It has alot of good stuff, and the tech looks accurate (which isn't always true). My next suggestion is David Mace's Demon-4. It is the story of a cyborg sub/drone. The story isn't really applicable, but like the Stine books, the tech looks at least fairly realistic. Mace wrote another book called Fire Lance that deals with a surface boomer carrier if you also like good military SF. Finally, the poor sister of the list, is J.D. Cameron's Omega Sub series. This is a fun SF/Action/Adventure series that is set on a post-nuclear Earth. This one is good for the crew interactions and lifestyle aboard a high tech sub. Good luck finding the above books ... they are all good reads. Zalonef "Good book .. Needs salt", Skroosh, Mogg Librarian ____________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com. *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.imagiconline.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.