The Subsector Before the Great Crusade

First thing that comes to mind, is that I'm missing the Iron Men. I thought that the whole idea with the ASEC was that they would have A.I., which served as an excuse for Alpharius to destroy them? Ok, not necessarily (or even likely) Iron Men, but some form of A.I...

Other than that, they Mezzans seem very interesting and perfect for the job. Just to make sure though- you are planning to develop the Mezzans as a dead culture which was destroyed by the Imperium, right? Or were you hoping to have a few survivers up and about?

For some reason the larger images have been removed, but you can get a gist with the thumbnail...



I can send more detailed information if you want... I'm already going to heavily 'borrow' Aquarius for the eldar of Tir'asur! Indeed, that's where the pretty piccie on Portent came from (and which was associated with the Oracle 2 article)...

The ship that I was describing would be for moving the population of several worlds out of their existing area. Since the worlds are in the Sargasso Gulf, Warp travel is not an option. They instead have built an enormous generation ship to move the entire populace.

The design actually makes more space. If you look at the design for a dyson sphere or any hollow earth concept, the available space is only on the inner surface of the sphere. There is a large amount of space in such a design that is not filled with anything.

Part of the reason behind this is because of the distance needed from the central star. If instead of a central star an artificial illumination system is created that closely approximates natural light, then this internal space can be filled with other habitat rings or spheres, thus creating a nested habitat.

The large circular holes are egresses between spheres. Ships move in between levels by first matching the velocity of the spere and then moving down through the opening. once through they proceed to the next sphere match velocity with it and then descend to the next layer. Docking facilities for each level exist around the edges of the egress points.



There could definitely be an A.I. left behind on one of the instilations that has been revealed by the shrinking Sargasso Gulf. Maybe it is lonelyor perhaps it was left behind as a spoil sport mechanism. It could act as an early warning system for a possible invasion by the Imperium. It could also be a ruse, to convince the Imperium that they are still there and a threat while the rest of the Mezzan flee.



The Mezzan are advance in some ways yes, but not more so than the Eldar. They do have some technology that is unique and not found within the Imperium or in other Dark Age of Technology cultures, but this is only because they have contact with xenos species.

The culture may appear to be Utopian, and it was originally built on some Utopian ideals, but is a very controled Utopia. I viewed the origins of the culture as occuring in the Dark Age of technology on the cusp of the Age of Strife.

The Mezzan were born out of a quasi scientific and phylosophical movement attempting to define what it really meant to be human. Was it the physicallity or genetics that made us so or was it the mind. The question was put to some of the greatest minds of the time (A.I.s by the way) who found it to be the reasoning and congnative part of an individual that defined them as human.

Their findings were to say the least unpopular. It would mean that what man created was not his to control, but should be seen as his children or even his equal. several cults grabed hold of the idea, mixed it with some old gnostic beliefs about trying to reach ascendance or to evolve to the next stage of man.

They called for stripping away the animal that chained mans soul. It became the rage to give up organic limbs and organs to be replaced by those of mechanical origin. Some beleive that the early tenants of teh cult mechanicus might have had their origins in this movement as well.

Such people who were willing to give up what the general public viewed as their "humanity" to side with machines were ridiculed and persecuted. The scientis whose ideas had spawned these movements also came under fire from colleagues and governmental agencies.

The descision was made to move to a place where they could build a society based on their theories, to prove that it could indeed work. that is what brought them to Anargo.

The basic premace that all human beings have an equal right to exist on the surface, sounds like a high ideal. saying and doing are of course to different matters. In the early years, the Mezzan were refugees from a decaying society. They were taming a new frontier, so little regard was given to the differences between organics and inorganics. Everyone was needed to build their society.

As life became easier and the society grew, human nature began to creap back into the equation. Inorganics lived much longer than standard humans (even with anagathics). they were also able to reproduce much more rapidly than their organic cunterparts.

Eventually some among the Mezzan began to settle organic or inorganic only colonies. The path was paved for the possible disolution of the culture. The oversight commitee, which was the defacto ruling council made up of several top scientists (organic and inorganic) as well as representatives from other walks of life stepped in.

It was deemed that a balance must be struck between organics and inorganics. The society which mouthed the values of equality must learn to live those values. The production of inorganics was scaled back to be comperable to that of the organics. extended families were created where organics and inorganics would have to live together.

New inorganics would be "grow up" with organic siblings. It was hoped that this interaction from an early age would teach cooporation, trust and unity. The trend towards pacifism took longer and came out of some horrific incidents dealing with first contact with another species and internal conflict. I hope this gives a better explanation of the foundations of the society.



Yes, I know these are not the terms used by the Imperium, but I was using words that I knew would give a clear piture of what I meant. If I had said analitical engine or man of iron, the concepts I was trying to convey might not have been evident to everyone. This is only the brain storming session. ideas can be obscured in 40k speak once we have a clear picture of what we are discussing.