#the-helixverse

[the-helixverse]

Medusa-Class Battleship

Creator: Thai'Qul Length: 798 Meters Width: 378 Meters (Widest Point); 70 meters (Narrowest Point) Propulsion: Nuclear Pulse Drive; Five Fusion Drive Thrusters Crew Complement: 5,000-7,000 (Normal complement); 10,000 (Max. Capacity) Radiator Type: Solid-State/Droplet Armaments:

x8 40mm Point Defense Cannons (PDCs) (Aft)

x4 Cargo/Torpedo Bays (Aft)

x2000 5-kiloton driver warheads (Aft)

x4 Ultra-Relativistic Electron Beam (UREB) Cannons (Bow)

Interior

Because the Thai'Qul are an aquatic species, their ships are unique in being almost entirely filled with water. This pulls triple duty in protecting the occupants from intense G-forces, radiation and heat; providing resources for the fusion reactor and torpedoes, and in the event of a hull breach, lost water can be more easily retrieved than air. The consequence of this is that it increases the ship's overall mass, requiring more energy for any kind of acceleration or deceleration. This is also another reason for their ruthless pragmatism: the lack of air pockets outside the cargo sections prevents them from easily taking prisoners or taking larger ships aboard.

Creators

An average Thai'Qul male. Roughly 85% of the species is male, carrying out tasks for the rarely-seen matriarchs, who outsize them significantly. On ships such as the Medusa-class, prepubescent matriarchs- referred to colloquially as "Countesses"- serve the role of captains and admirals.

Strategic Overview

If there's any way to describe the Thai'Qul military doctrine, it would be ruthless pragmatism. Rather than engaging in widespread power projection, heavier ships are mostly concentrated within their own systems, while smaller vessels are the most commonly encountered. These represent the first line of defense, focused on patrolling defense perimeters.

Should a perimeter be broken and an enemy force infiltrate a Thai'Qul system, either by evading or destroying lighter vessels, this is when battleships such as the Medusa-class are deployed. This typically follows barrages of Thai'Qul frigates and corvettes, which will try to guide invaders into designated kill zones, where the Medusa-class will engage them at close range, such as near large asteroids, space stations or ring systems.

While these battleships lack high speed or fine maneuvering, they make up for it with powerful defenses and overwhelming firepower, particularly their UREBs. Once the invader's shields and other defenses have been exhausted, should they refuse to surrender, attacks from these beams will irradiate and effectively sterilize the target.

This is done because, rather than simply blowing up bellicose ships, the Thai'Qul will always try to salvage as much technology and information from them as possible, either to assess motivations or reverse-engineer whatever they discover. Of course, should a ship surrender instead, the Thai'Qul will gladly accept, taking the time to analyze captured ships just as thoroughly.

This doctrine has proven to be quite effective in multiple engagements and ensured invasions of their systems are rare.

Ship Diagram

The Bow Shield is a large dome entirely covered in ablative heat-resistant armor.

The nose of the craft houses the four UREB cannons, which cover a large hemispherical field. While the beams lose effectiveness over time or when fired at an angle, time dilation effects prevent them from completely dissipating over longer ranges. Maximum energy from the bremsstrahlung resulting from impact has been measured at over 5,000 Sieverts.

The UREBs are only possible via the battleship's length, where the linear accelerator (Linac) runs along the central axis of the ship.

The Medusa-Class doesn't have a designated bridge or command module, but instead 36 large windowless spheres, where most of the crew resides. Commands, controls and sensor readings are instead performed using holographic display interfaces that crew members can pull up at any moment. This ensures damage to one area of the ship will not compromise control, and that key staff can be moved into the interior.

The ship uses a combination of solid-state and droplet cooling with liquid lithium, firing the molten coolant into space, where it condenses into larger drops before being recaptured in a dish section for recirculation. Additional radiators vent excess heat to prevent the lithium from completely vaporizing. In times of duress, this coolant can be used as everything from makeshift flares to additional thrusters.

The aft section consists of a large octagonal cylinder, which houses bay sections designed to be drained of water so cargo, torpedoes and other craft can be sent into space. This is also where the ship's fusion reactor is housed.

The PDCs, nicknamed "Barnacles," allow the ship to fire at targets behind or beside the ship.

Contrary to popular belief, the piston supports are only painted blue and not transparent, though they are full of water to help cushion the impact following a pulse.

The pistons and their shock absorbers are attached to a set of electric motors, which extract a small, but not insubstantial amount of power from every pulse.

The Drive Cone is fitted with flexible rings and is even colored bright white to take advantage of as much radiation pressure as possible. Usage of this drive is why the battleship can't be used in a planetary orbit, as the risk of creating radiation belts poses a threat to orbital infrastructure.

[the-helixverse]

ART DUMP

//Hey everyone! Sorry it's been a while, but here's some art I've made. Some of it is recent, some is from a few months ago and I don't think I ever shared it here

//Hope you enjoy!

[the-helixverse]

Gene Warriors

//Hey, everyone!

//After trying to sort things out for months, this a (very early) layout I had in mind for my Wordpress account, so this is me kinda testing things out.

//And yeah, I finally finished some details, including the first short story, and I really wanted to share. Hope you enjoy!

[the-helixverse]

So I’ve talked a lot about the far future, but what about the second half of this universe?

For that, let’s take a step back in time:

At the end of the Second World War, two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan- one on Hiroshima and one on Kokura. Not only did this prove instrumental in ending the war, it proved to be one of the most definitive moments of history. It was the end of one era and the start of the next- just not in the way anyone expected.

Around half a year after the event, something strange began to take place. Hundreds of people who’d been present in the cities were found to have undergone radical mutations, granting them strange abilities. They weren’t able to bend physics, time travel or fly, but their bodies were undeniably changed. Most were taken into custody by the American occupiers for study.

Yet even overseas, people were experiencing much of the same, especially among scientists who participated in the Manhattan Project to build the bomb. Efforts to keep this quiet were made, but as time went on and more and more people vanished, it was a conspiracy that couldn’t be contained. And it would be for long.

In June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, attempting to reunite the peninsula under their rule. By September, the South Koreans were pushed all the way south to the bottom corner of the landmass, but was quickly followed by a United Nations Coalition lead by the United States.

Together, they managed to overwhelm the North Koreans and, in less than a month, pushed them all the way to the border of China...only for the newly-communist People’s Republic of China to send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to fight on the side of the North Koreans.

Much like in our world, the fighting stalemated in the heart of peninsula. After a year of fighting, the Americans wished to end the war. Some speculation was made about using atomic bombs, but instead, a new military operation was carried out: Operation Rainbow Dawn.

Rainbow Dawn saw the deployment of the mutant people drafted into service in a pincer movement along both sides of North Korea, unleashing everything from controlled tsunamis to swarms of metallic bees to firestorms. The communist forces were taken completely off guard and, with no way to counter them, the Korean War ended on August 21st, 1951, less than two weeks after Rainbow Dawn began.

This was the new era, and there was no way way to deny it. These mutant humans- known as posthumans, psychics and all kinds of other nicknames- became a new part of life during the 50′s.

Posthumans may not have been able to warp reality, but their abilities allowed researchers to unlock new secrets of biology. Combined with discoveries regarding DNA, this began an explosion of research into medicine and biotechnology, accelerating their understanding decades ahead of their time, even past where we are today.

New organs could be grown on demand, cures for diseases were synthesized, and even new forms of life were created overnight.

The downside, as it was discovered, was that posthumans only gained their abilities after experiencing DNA damage. This usually came from radiation, but it could be achieved through chemicals, toxins, diseases, even extreme stress; anything that could cause DNA damage did, at least for a select group of people. No obvious genetic markers existed for who would mutate and who wouldn’t.

Not that there wasn’t plenty of sources of mutagen for them to experience- the Great Smog of London, Stalin’s experiments, the rampant pollution and proliferation of atomics- all of it contributed to a growing population of posthumans.

But with them came a much greater issue: Neocytes.

Neocytes- also known as Constructed Organisms, Gedrogs, Yōkai, Kupua, etc.- are, broadly-speaking, living beings created by many posthumans. They can be created by will and often supplement the abilities of their creators, but many are also created by accident.

Because they’re reflective of the mental state of their creators, these uncontrolled neocytes are often highly aggressive, malformed, dangerous and hungry. While grotesque and bizarre, with body plans from the laws of evolution, they still follow the needs of any living them, particularly the drive to feed.

Often they’ll kill and eat their creators, anyone in the area, and go on to become like invasive species, tearing their way through the ecosystem. This has lead to many places around the world becoming quarantined, split between Reclamation Zones, where efforts exist to clear them out, and Quarantine Zones, where they proliferate uncontested.

Even outside these zones, huge swaths of the world have become infested with these neocytes, either in hordes or as individuals, becoming a constant problem for the residents. Cities in some places have become literal fortresses, while smaller communities have people carrying weapons of all kinds.

As dangerous as they are, neocytes share one weakness: oligodynamic metals, especially silver, will cause their bodies to break down on a cellular level. Many have taken advantage of this and armed themselves with silver weapons, even creating careers in hunting them. 

And combined, all of this has changed the world more than the rest of the century combined.

The World in 1968

After 23 years, the world has become a strange place of extreme contrasts. With advanced biotechnology, food has become far easier to produce and advanced medicine has helped the world population grow to 4 billion. Biofuel has practically replaced oil and the need for silver has put nations like Brazil and Mexico into a new level of prominence.

In addition, as a stronger need for domestic security has grown with incursions of neocytes, native groups in nations such as the U.S., Canada, Australia, Japan and Scandinavia have received rights for autonomy and self-determination. Beyond their borders, many socio-economic and military pacts beyond NATO and the Warsaw have emerged, such as the Pacific Coalition, the European Defense Community, and the Trans-Tasman Alliance.

Of course, all of this has come with many issues. In addition to neocytes, many nations, particularly the USSR and China, conscript posthumans into weapons of war. Their potential for destruction was brutally demonstrated during the Hungarian Revolution, and the fear of conscription has resulted in millions of refugees fleeing both countries. Adding to this are millions more who’ve been displaced by entire cities having to be quarantined.

In addition, the United Nations has become a far more powerful global peacekeeping force, establishing control over large swaths of lands and guaranteeing neutrality and stability in lands that need it.

The biggest concern is, however, the lack of any sort of nuclear test-ban treaty. A lack of global consensus, exacerbated by an even more tense situation between East and West, has lead to even more countries either developing their own nukes or are in the process of doing so.

Yet even while the world is at a high point of tension and many worry about what they feel is an inevitable conflict, things carry on as usual among this this new normal. For people out in places such as the countryside, that tends to be about making it to the next day.

And at this all-time high, some have chosen to take a stand and to try and change things for the better.

[the-helixverse]

Character Introduction: D.A.V.E.

//Here’s the first of my Helixverse characters, and, fun fact, the first OC I ever created ^^

Name: D.A.V.E. (Digital Audio Vocal/Visual Emulator) Height: 18 inches/45.72 cm Weight: 2.7 kg/5.95 lbs Species: Artificial Intelligence Affiliation: Helix Gens

Small, strange and mobile, D.A.V.E.- short for Digital Audio Vocal/Visual Emulator- is a linguistics unit and one of the founding members of Helix Gens. A unique creation, D.A.V.E’s purpose is to help break down communication barriers, teach languages and impart knowledge whenever possible.

He possesses data on a total of 46,550 languages and dialects, including sign languages, braille, binary, Morse code, and, to a lesser extent, body language and facial cues. This repertoire includes languages that have few or no living speakers, making him also function as a Rosetta disc.

D.A.V.E. himself is a self-aware Strong AI, roughly as smart and inquisitive as a human child. He also possesses a degree of human emotion, mainly happiness, friendship, loyalty, caution and empathy. However, he’s incapable of negative emotions such as anger, hate, jealousy, or resentment. The closest he gets are with fear and anxiety in his self-preservation instinct.

He’s also incapable of any form of violence. His initial drive is to flee, but failing that, he will use non-lethal means to avoid harm to him or others, such as a flashbang carefully tailored not to cause permanent eye damage in the target. Additionally, while he can understand what negative emotions and conditions are, he can’t experience them; he either views a matter in positive terms or he’s completely neutral.

The reason for this is unknown; D.A.V.E. was found alone on the southern coast of Ireland in 1960. Not only does he have no data on his origins, but he’s also a very odd construction, even containing wetware, such as living neurons in his CPU.

Regardless, D.A.V.E. has remained a loyal friend to the group and is devoted to helping people around the world.

[the-helixverse]

A brief glimpse into more social media in the Helixverse (Circa June 2017)

[the-helixverse]

Villain Profile: Iron Lung

The emergence of posthumans in 1951 brought with it a new revolution in biotechnology. Many prominent scientists, psychologists, biologists, physicians and others sought to use these to their fullest potential. One of them was Dr. Julius Leichtenberg.

Born in Hesse in 1937 and later immigrating to the UK, Leichtenberg was an aspiring neurosurgeon who attended the University of Oxford. His biggest influences were American neurosurgeon Robert White and Soviet organ donation pioneer Vladimir Demikhov.

Leichtenberg was fascinated by the idea of head and brain transplants, and believed it was possible to utilize this technology to save lives, whether it was preserving the brain or attaching it to a new body, either natural or artificial. The procedure had yet to be performed on a human and Liechtenberg and others were looking for willing subjects.

However, it was during this search that Leichtenberg, along with several other bystanders, were gravely injured in a fight between a posthuman criminal and police in the streets. The collateral damage left him so badly injured that being rendered quadriplegic was the best case scenario. It was more likely he would not survive.

Already a rather bitter man after facing criticism for his support of brain transplants, Liechtenberg's embitterment turned to spite and he decided to volunteer for his own work. With the help of thoroughly detailed notes and several assistants, he had his brain removed and preserved in solution and attached to a set of artificial sensory relays.

It would've been easy enough for Liechtenberg to simply find a donor body or have one grown for him and move on from there. But, after spending days, weeks and months fixating on his resentment- as well as possible unexpected psychological effects of being an isolated brain- he opted instead to pursue revenge.

The full details of what happened afterward is unclear, but Liechtenberg opted to have his brain preserved in a blast-proof canister and encased in an artificial body, which was then armed with various weapons and means for destruction. Early models were large, clunky and mechanical, which is where he earned his moniker in the press: "Iron Lung."

Iron Lung's primary M.O. is targeting posthumans, particularly those who try to use their abilities to make the world a better place, and either killing them or mutilating them to the point where they can no longer use them. He's shown no qualms about doing the same with other philanthropists, leaders, law enforcement or anyone else who gets in his way.

After numerous skirmishes, he's also gradually adapted his artificial bodies, upgrading them with new and better technology, weapons and equipment. He has now become a large, snake-like figure with a highly flexible body composed of synthetic muscle. He's also learned and employed a great deal of tactical skill, showing both proficiency in combat and the willingness to retreat when overwhelmed.

To date, no one has ever been able to capture him. The most that can be done is to cause him enough harm to force him to retreat and repair himself. With the only vital component of him being his brain, which is always hidden behind several layers of protection, the damage he can take is staggering. Efforts to stop him have gone so far have included RPGs, a Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne and an FV4201 Chieftain tank.

He also possesses and artificial voice that retains his native accent, and while it sounds disturbingly even throughout (comparable to HAL 9000), the more damage he takes, the more this voice distorts until it devolves into a loud series of electronic whirs and blaring.

Because of the viciousness of his attacks and the nature of his existence, head and brain transplants remain a contentious subject, although a handful have been performed in the years between Iron Lung's emergence.

[a-student-out-of-time]

is it me or does that ship/cannon/whatever it is have a lot of balls?

//Yep! And there's a good reason for that

Medusa-Class Battleship

Creator: Thai'Qul Length: 798 Meters Width: 378 Meters (Widest Point); 70 meters (Narrowest Point) Propulsion: Nuclear Pulse Drive; Five Fus

//I explain it in detail here ^^