I started researching about this project about a month ago and have been slowly working towards developing a workable concept art via Photoshop, a WIP of which is ^ above.
Story:
The story behind this is that Humans finally developed FTLT (Faster Than Light Travel) in the year 2054. Mars had already been colonized after extensive terraforming to suit human requirements. This relieved much of the problems Earth was facing due to overpopulation. The moons of Saturn and Jupiter were too extreme to be successfully adopted for living, but were excellent mining sources.
In 2054, the Alcubierre drive was successfully built and tested on an unmanned spacecraft named Enterprise, a name derived from pop culture. The ship was literally aimed at the closest stars with earth size planets and sent off to the Gliese triple star system. However its delivery could not be verified and the ship was lost for over 15 years when finally a signal was received from the Enterprise reporting that it had found a planet suitable for habitat, but would require minor terraforming to adjust air composition. It also reported signs of preexisting life forms but was unable to estimate how evolved the species were. Over 83% of surface area was covered in water with vast seas, active volcanoes, island chains, and visible ocean currents.
In 2071, a large ship was commissioned to carry humans to settle on this planet, now named Elys. A vessel was launched that year to terraform the planet before the settlers reached there. The 3 world governments took this decision unanimously. However, a new space race began soon after to settle on Elys first. Asia was the first to launch the colonials in 2077, followed by Americas in 2078. The Euro-African government had other plans beside settlement. The large mining companies lobbied for this mission to send in secret an army for any hostile takeovers of any ore rich lands. This would later lead to a devastating war on Earth, dubbed World War 3.
The Asian settlers on landing first discovered the existence of multiple intelligent life forms. These humanoid beings, were named demi-humans, on account of them being superior in physique, and intelligence. Their only disadvantage over humans was that they were almost three millennia behind human evolutionary scale.
The Asian settlers soon discovered that the terraforming had greatly affected global climate and the local inhabitants soon started developing diseases. Secretly, by "abducting" the indigenous species, the settlers studied their anatomy and biology and soon developed medicines to counter their inflictions. They made contact and administered the medicines to cure them thus gaining their trust and in essence making them Gods to the DemiHs.
Soon after, the American settlers arrived, and after realizing that intelligent indigenous species live on Elys, they decided to drop the space race and work together with the Asian settlers forming an alliance to develop a peaceful society and help out the DemiHs to readjust to the terraforming. They started educating them and were able to establish workable communications.
After the Euro-African settlers arrived, they stuck to their goal of seeking our precious minerals and extracting the ores. The EA military took over all human camps and established supremacy over both Humans and DemiHs. Even their own crew members who were bold enough to protest were detained. The DemiHs were enslaved and forced to work in new formed mines, while the Humans were imprisoned or employed under oath of loyalty. Many of the newly discovered DemiH colonies were brainwashed into joining the military for the promise of better living conditions. The EA empire on Elys was renamed to Elys Empire and soon took over the planet.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, an EA Government employee leaked the details of their mission to Elys. This lead to global outrage and demand to retract orders and shut down the mining companies involved. The EA government however was practically run by these companies and refused to take any action other than increase the size of their military and incorporate heavy border patrols. The American and Asian Governments decided to unite and send reinforcements to their settlers. After finding out about this plan, the EA Govt launched an attack on the space agencies and destroyed many of their valuable communication and production equipment. The cold war was over and World war 3 began. 12 years and over a billion lives later, the World Government was formed uniting all the countries as states. It seemed world peace was finally achieved, as now everyone was considered equal and had access to all the rights as everyone else.
After reestablishing the space agency, reinforcements were sent to Elys. However, this backfired terribly and the Elys military, now equipped with weapons of mass destruction, sent an army to Earth and threatened to unleash the bombs unless surrendered. Earth decided to fight back, which lead to a 400 year long war eventually resulting in the overthrowing of the Elys empire dictators. Most of the Humans withdrew from Elys granting the DemiHs their own planet to take care of, while some, having formed strong bonds with the indigenous population, stayed back. The DemiHs, evolved very quickly after the Human invasion owing to their superior intelligence and were now at par with Human intellect. Equals at last, it seemed peace and prosperity were to spread across Elys as well.
However, Humans are a curious bunch and the invasion left a scar on the minds of the Elysians as well. For scientific as well as dominative desires, new threats were rising after almost 100 years of peace on Elys.
Environment Description:
That was the crude outline of the back story. For this particular level, I will be modelling an abandoned star-fort-turned-into-a-city inspired by the Earth's gunpowder era star forts. Here is one of the pictures which inspired me:
Fort McHenry
The idea came from the storyline itself, which is filled with war and military references. As a post-war residential zone, it would be successful in providing protection from the wilderness, the giant ocean waves as well as future attacks on the residents.
The concept is a naval star fort with about 150 ft high walls. It has 2 large doors, which can be closed during threats like an attack or a tsunami.
The cannons have been replaced by giant skyscraper-size railguns (I don't yet know how these work, and I don't need to until I'm writing a dedicated story or detail-modelling them). Each is derived from the same design, but is slightly different in size and purpose. It is powered by its own Thorium reactor (I just made that up).
There are residential buildings still standing since the war. These are now used by the residents.
The large tower in the center of the fort is the primary communications module.
There is a common kitchen, a hospital, an armory, a hangar or garage, a school/training center. The residents are comprised of both DemiHs and Humans, and still follow some of the army style living, despite having a democratic society. They are in contact with Elys's Governing agency, however, they are free to develop their own lands and societies. Trading occurs via the harbor. Some parts of the outskirts are used for farming and energy harvesting.
The flora is mostly large fungii. There are noticeable traces of algae, or chlorophyll dependent plants and shrubs, some of which grow on the giant fungi.. Grass is universal.
That's it for now. More to come soon.
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