[Accepted] The Vox, a primer

[Adrae]

Type (Species/Company/History/Other): Species

Relevant Dates: >550,000 years ago, to now

Basic Description: This was written to make the Vox actually have a bit of a culture that isn't just "SKREEE! TAKE TAKE SHINY!" It isn't specific on things, so that they can keep their air of mystery. After all, the only ones who fully know the Vox history would be the Apex, and they are not exactly in a talking mood.

Long Description: Cortical Stacks

 

The Vox cortical stack is a long-lived organ, but when it is placed on a new larva, bits of memory are lost. Within five generations, most of the memories of a life are gone, leaving little more than fleeting words and jumbled images. The cortical stack can last for ages, if the stacks are given maintenance from the Armalis.

 

 

Synthetic views

 

Viewing the Apex as demigods, the Vox Primalis tend to view robotics and artificial lifeforms as more important than the other, non-Vox races. The Apex do not seem to be troubled, or even aware of their deific status among the Primalis, concerning themselves with the complex task of keeping the arkships travelling across the galaxy.

 

The travelling of the arkships

The ships are ever searching for the Primal Source, the first colony of the Apex. The star charts are too old to be of any help, but the Apex will know when they get there. At least, that is what the Primalis are told. In reality, it is believed that the first colony of the Apex was torn apart long ago, during the great cataclysm which broke apart the Morning Gathering, the ancient, possibly intergalactic civilization of the Vox.

 

Morality

The Vox have a strange set of morality. Most believe that ownership is flexible, and that if you truly valued something, you would watch over it constantly. This concept stems from their Apex and Auralis constantly looking over the arkship. While they have no issues with stealing in that sense, they draw a hard line at post-combat looting. If their foe valued something so strongly as to die for it, then they deserve to be buried with it.

Other moral compunctions that many have is that they hate organ harvesting (due to their own Cortical Stack being required for reproduction), they act with honesty when directly representing the arkship, and that all should learn to respect their elders. In this case, the elders are the Vox Apex, and that all races should join them in their search for the Primal Source.

 

On Raiders

While many shoals may act like merchants or traders, others have concluded that the “lesser races” are a plague upon the universe. Holding examples like the Lii’dra and terrorist groups as proof that the other races do not deserve the sacred stars, they have resorted to raiding, attempting to act as guerillas to try to halt the spread of others. Kidnapping, murder, and looting is allowed and encouraged, because the other races are little more than a blight, a sickness in the galaxy, and thus do not deserve the same rules as the Vox.

 

 

Contact Details (Discord Preferably): Adrae#0309

[Adrae]

A bit of extra stuff:

FTL/STL travel

Due to the size of arkships, normal engines would cause immense strain on the ship, and braking and turning would be slow and dangerous. To combat that, the Arkships use a form of bluespace travel they call "Flickering". Performing microjumps rather than a controlled engine burn, they have no inertia to fight against, and can travel decent distances quickly. However, their jumps become more difficult as the ship approaches gravity wells. This causes their jumps to be shorter and shorter, or for the arkships to stay outside most solar systems.

 

Naming

While Vox usually do not care much for the other races, and keep their names traditional, some others try to create fake names to "blend in" with the other races. It doesn't always work, and can easily lead to Vox with obviously fake sounding names. Rather than feel shame for it, most feel a sense of pride. They are gifting the lesser races with an "easy" name.

Traditional names are usually easy for Vox to pronounce, and tend to have hard "C" or "K" sounds, typically repeated. Each different sound means something different in an Arkship, and it is entirely possible for two Vox with the same consonants to have wildly different names, to another Vox.

[Coalf]

So if I were to ask you, what in your opinion makes your lore better than what is currently on the wiki about the Vox and spacecraft/corti stacks etc.?

Not meant as a callout mind you, I'm just trying to think what you disliked about the Vox lore to want to replace/rework it?

[mention]Adrae[/mention]

[Adrae]

It's not really replacing things, it's trying to flesh them out. The major thing I disliked about Vox lore is that it seemed forgotten. It took several months for me to even learn that the Clans from the wiki had been retconned.

As it stands, over half of their history section is "Wild conjecture, starring Richard Davis", but I feel like it misses critical things for the Vox. There are many unanswered questions, all of which would help to establish them as more than just "Merchant/Raider race with names like Kekekekekek". They completely gloss over the fact that the Vox have purposefully not settled anywhere, which can easily be explained with the Primal Source idea. Rather than a choice to not stop and repair, they have a drive to find their world, because everything will be better.

The Cortical Stack, for one of the most valued organs, doesn't seem to have a concrete idea behind it, apart from letting Vox canonically die and then come back later. If the stacks can hold all memories of their previous lives, wouldn't most Vox be well-versed in almost everything by now? By putting a limiter on the amount of knowledge remembered, it gives a concrete reason for the Vox to not have insane skills.

The Synthetic views section is mentioned briefly in the wiki, as they revere the Apex as gods. Since the Apex are biomechanical constructs like AIs, it would make sense that they would have great respect for the other AIs, even if they are less impressive due to the lesser races creating them.

The Morality area was inspired by the line in the raiding parties: "Many share stories of great and clever Vox thieves, exaggerating accounts until the characters of such stories appear almost godlike." Throwing a bit of blue and orange mentality in there, it could be construed that living in their commune of a shoal, things are given when they are needed. Therefore, their society never really got caught up on the concept of property. However, they do understand what it means to die for something, as they would "perform kamikaze strikes on enemy craft." (Vox Apex, last line).

The Raiders section is mostly just to give extra motivations for raiders rather than "Heh, nothing personal, kid." Now, they can feel smugly superior, as they are the better race, and are taking what they are owed.

The FTL travel explains why, even if a group was willing, they would not come in-system to do extensive drydock repairs on their Arkship. It also makes much more sense than a giant bluespace drive, as even a small bluespace drive can knock people down. One on the scale of an Arkship could cause massive damage to both organic and inorganic things onboard. (General idea behind that was from Sword of the Stars for the drive type and Knights of Sidonia for the "What happens when engines turn on" scenario)

The names are because the Inviolate explicitly says to "Adapt and expand to all circumstances." One of those things could easily include names. Names can give a lot of first impressions, so changing their names would be needed to adapt to some circumstances. A ship named "Harmond's Loss" would be more likely to be accepted than one named "Kekairiku", just based on the name. And if the Vox can get a foot in the door, that's all they need to start doing... whatever they wanted to do, really.

[Coalf]

I'll read over this tomorrow since it's late but the clans were retconned like a few weeks ago just an FYI

[Coalf]

 

I think it adds a good amount of information, some is extranious but there is good enough "fluff" around it to prop it.

One thing I really dislike is the sudden resurgance of race politics from herr fuhrer Adolf Primalis.

To me as an outside observer it doesn't fit the overall image you're trying to paint of the Vox, which I assume is akin to "Lost survivors". You don't yourself seem to have a good reason to explain it other than "well you can feel superior", but I feel like it can be done much better.

To me I think their raiding reason should be more like "Stealing honey from bees" rather then "Kikah get the luger", either way I think that is the weakest part of it and you should either outright scrap it or re-do it.

[mention]Senpai Jackboot[/mention] since there is no race-manager for Vox this is technically JB's thing as an overall lore-person.

[Coalf]

Oh yeah, I forgot to ping or quote you.

[mention]Adrae[/mention]

[Adrae]

I agree with the raiding reason you provided. I feel like it would work better for their mindset. They owned this area, you all are just living there. And, like any animals that can produce things, you will pay your part. Does that sound a bit better? Honestly, antag ideas are weak for me. I don't usually have them.

[mention]Coalf[/mention] does this sound a bit better?

On Raiders:

 

Several Arkships have turned to taking what they believe they are rightfully owed. Since they used to rule the area, the other races are just living there for the time being. Like farm animals, their resources must be taken periodically, as a form of payment. If people must die for it, then it must be done surgically.

[Coalf]

That's much better, it supports raiding however it also suggests that Vox isn't just going to go in guns blazing but rather only take out people who give them difficulties in taking what they really should have owned in the first place.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Seen. Will reply tomorrow.

[Coalf]

Jackboot accepted over discord, so accepted and archiving.