Topic of the Day: The Great Filter Theory

[Caelphon]

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The Great Filter, in the context of the Fermi paradox, is one possible resolution of the paradox. It posits that in the development of life from the earliest stages of abiogenesis to reaching the highest levels of development on the Kardashev scale, there exists some particular barrier to development that makes detectable extraterrestrial life exceedingly rare.

We've seen several "near extinction" events across the Orion Spur. Do you believe that there are other aliens that existed prior to the setting we currently exist within? Can you show us examples? What about aliens that we might still stumble upon? Do you think they'll be peaceful or warlike? 

[Haydizzle]

I like to imagine that Glorsh's unknowable goals, the Sinta'Mador, and the situation with hivebots are proof of preexisting life or civilizations in the setting. I won't be expanding on this further as I am currently on the lore team.

[Diggey]

I mean

10 minutes ago, Haydizzle said:

proof of preexisting life or civilizations in the setting

There is an entire Xenoarcheologist role.

You can find artifacts near anywhere for gameplay reasons but let's step out of the context of gameplay for a bit

I know everything is shortened for gameplay reasons.

It takes a lot to build a foundation and set up a wall. it takes months of brigtime to serve your 1 hour sentence.

It takes months of archeology to find one of these artifacts but...They are still near ubiquitous. You can bet that an away site problably has one, anywhere.

Now the fact that they are encased in rock is the result of space dust and such which means they have been there a while (or have been bluespace poofed into there) and some of the artifacts are just boring but some of them.... are not.

 

This is where I go into Veil theory heehoo. But as you brought up Sinta'Mador yourself aka The Sinta Th'akh faith is real and accurate (though misunderstands some things) and whenever you die you enter the afterlife of Th'akh and the Au'tark found this dead civilisation at their poles and Mador rituals tap into this. It's like low-tech necromancy, and the only reason it works is not because it is magic, but because ot some kind of all pervasive force in the setting.

There is a constant active, ongoing force in the setting that is always present, in some cases more strongly than in other places

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"in some places, there are stronger presences of the Spiritual World than others. This realm of the dead harbors all spirits, and only the strongest may cross over into our plane without any sort of special help. Certain times of year (often celebrated in Unathite culture) are some of the few times more ordinary spirits can cross over into our realm, and places with a stronger connection to the Spirit World can make it easier for a spirit to cross over"

And it is the reason why things like cult rounds can happen (even though they have never happened for real)

There is a reason the Chaplain role is here, and it is not just for RP, there is mechanical aspects to the role that have a real impact on gameplay if used properly (Also I think the Admins are semi-canon but of course non-canon in a semi-canon way)

The idea that we are always on the brink of something really really bad happening, only getting closer the more desperate the megacorps get trying to synthesize Phoron, inevitably breaching into whatever the fuck Bluespace does

Bluespace is NOT good.

It is inherently evil and dangerous.

There is a lot of bluespace mechanics that point to this beeing the case. (the whackiest shit is wizard rounds but there is part of some of the tech that tech wizards use that points to Bluespace beeing dangerous in and of itself)

 

To the topic at hand

I think there is a great filter in place.

It is set by whatever Phoron/bluespace is, it is an everpresent force that is not all powerful at all but related to death, as death in setting is not actually the final end.

I THINK it is related to the Stars in some way.

To the Stars and light.

I think this based on the Lii'dra and black K'ois and the K'lax beeing called the deceivers and them desperately hunting them down

 

SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED

Something bad is happening

I do not know enough about Diona lore but I am POSITIVE it is the stars

something is wrong with the stars

Every major Religion has a Trinity of some kind

And most of the successful species venerate the stars

 

Something lurks in the dark

Be careful

[Captain Gecko]

9 hours ago, Caelphon said:

We've seen several "near extinction" events across the Orion Spur. Do you believe that there are other aliens that existed prior to the setting we currently exist within?

While we'll most likely won't see another alien species anytime soon, or at least, not anything we'll ever get to play (current limit on alien species you know how it is), I do believe that there is definitely more alien civilisations and people out there. The Orion Spur hasn't been fully explored/isn't being fully monitored, and even then, it's only a tiny part of the Milky Way and we already have four indigenous spcies from there (not counting Vaurcae and Dionae since they are technically not from the Orion Spur originally). There's no way that the rest of the Galaxy holds no sentient life...

Unless... Unless something lays out there, surrounding us, preventing us to go further.

 

9 hours ago, Caelphon said:

Can you show us examples? What about aliens that we might still stumble upon?

Not properly aliens, but the Sinta'Mador, as Haydizzle pointed out, are a thing. Less of an actually alien species and more like proto-Unathi... But they are more than mere lizard Neanderthals, these ones actually had a fully fledged civilisation, with cities, or at least temples, a proper faith, etcetera.

As far as actual alien (not that I'm saying "alien" as in not any of the currently known sentient species) species, or traces of such, just like Diggey said, there's Xenoarcheology. Now, it's nothing properly canon, besides the field actually existing, but as your work is mostly roleplay, you may theorize that your finds may be from a pre-Glorsh Skrells, or pre-Alliance Humanity... Or perhaps these finds are much older, much more alien, coming from creatures that may already be extinct.

I guess what I mean is that while there is no actial official, written lore about it, there is nothing preventing you from (and I'm tempted to say that you're encouraged to) thinking that there may have been or even may still be sentient alien beings that we haven't seen yet.

 

Also aliens stumbling upon us are definitely a thing, since that's pretty much what happened with the Vaurcae and Dionae already.

 

10 hours ago, Caelphon said:

Do you think they'll be peaceful or warlike? 

No matter what they are, there's probably going some tensions and incident at the very least. Every single first contact in Aurora went... Well, at least bad, at worst apocalyptic. Even if in the end we end up being on good terms, I doubt that we'll ever see a First Contact that doesn't go explosive.

 

10 hours ago, Caelphon said:

The Great Filter, in the context of the Fermi paradox, is one possible resolution of the paradox. It posits that in the development of life from the earliest stages of abiogenesis to reaching the highest levels of development on the Kardashev scale, there exists some particular barrier to development that makes detectable extraterrestrial life exceedingly rare.

I believe that the barrier the Spur faces right now is interdimensional interactions. Bluespace is strange, and what lies beyond, perhaps much stronger, and much worse. Who knows what we'll find if we ever go too far...