myrm said:

Sorry .. the whát?

(from the Netherlands)

The Laughing God said:

The Prisoner

Graver said:

It was also "borrowed" by JMS for the Psi Corp in Babylon 5.

DW

So they had some kind of sign?

Btw what the hell is a Tesseract?

The Laughing God said:

In geometry, the tesseract, also called an 8-cell or regular octachoron, is the four-dimensional analog of the cube. The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of 6 square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of 8 cubical cells. The tesseract is one of the six convex regular 4-polytopes.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

All clear now?

DW

Traveller61 said:

* lol* the fourth dimension is when you factor in time right?

Funny how this eight-sided thing resembles the eight-sides star of Chaos ...

The Laughing God said:

(mathematics) The four-dimensional analogue/analog of a cube; a four-dimensional content (which see) bounded by eight cubes (in the same way as a cube is a volume bounded by six squares and a square is an area by four line segments).

(figurative) A wrinkle in time that makes time travel possible. (Used by Madeleine L'Engle in her science-fiction novel, A Wrinkle in Time.)

deadbeaver said:

I thought it was the Flux Capacitor which made time travel possible, Doc. Or Huon particles.

-=Brother Praetus=-

'The Prisoner' was a 1960s TV series that played on paranoia and despair vs hope and truth as well as a variety of other strong human emotions. It starred Patrick McGoohan as 'Number 6' an intelligence agent of some kind who had been kidnapped and sent to some unknown location called The Village from which he tried to escape. it was more than a little surreal in places.

The Village had its own little dialects and culture - one of which was the parting pleasantry 'Be Seeing You', which was accompanied by a gesture consisting of making a circle with the forefinger and thumb and holding it over an eye.

It is similar enough that when I read the Haarlock Legacy that gesture and TV series immediately leapt to mind as a possible influence.

Something else .. has anyone written continueing adventures for the Haarlock campaign 'post-Mara'? I mean, does anyone continue the storyarc from where it was left in Dead Stars, and deal with a Calixis Sector with Erasmus Haarlock after his return?

Well I am planning to use Haarlock as the major villain in my next game, but it is not really a DH campaign.

In a nutshell the Tyrant Star is an alien universe that is impacting on our own; that universe is nearing end of its existence and that end is not far away. It is home to a powerful race that will not go quietly into the eternal night; they have engineered the the collision with the hope of breaking through and making a new home in ours. Their last attempt to break through was stopped in M2 and the door between universes was finally closed. Since that time they have been looking for another way through but they cannot break the final barrier, and now they fear that they never will before their universe finally dies.

When Haarlock stepped through he was instantly captured and obliterated; then after the "threat" was dealt with the aliens began to shift through Haarlock's memories and they found some very interesting, he had no idea of who they were and most importantly of all - he had a plan to get back to his universe. Also he had possessed a genius level intellect coupled with unshakable will power; in short a perfect agent to act where they could not.

The aliens saw a last desperate chance, and they took it. Haarlock was "reborn" and given an offer - help them to cross over to this universe and in return they would help him save his wife and child. They showed him their power and gave him the location of hidden caches belonging to xeno races that they had held in their sway in times long past when their agents could cross over to prepare their way. They also gave him a portion of their knowledge of trans-dimensional travel. They also adjusted his brain to instill a perfect trust of their motives. Then they released him to step back through the mirror on Mara. The Spear of Destiny picked Haarlock up and took him to his secret lair in the shattered remains of an unknown world in the Calaxis sector.

Haarlock’s first step will be to attack an AM facility and "rescue" a heretek Magos condemned for heretical experiments in time travel and manipulation. At the same time trusted agents will be dispatched to gather the xeno allies and new technologies.

Then he will persuade the Magos to aid him in designing a special temporal bridge with M2 to allow him to travel back and stop the door being fully closed; he will introduce a weakness that will slowly erode its strength allowing the aliens to enter our universe in M40, within a year or two of Haarlock returning, thus preventing a paradox. The aliens will then complete their part of the bargain by giving him the exact temporal co-ordinates to allow him to do the same to his wife and child, replacing their bodies with specially designed flesh constructs again to prevent paradox while the originals are revived and return to M40 with him.

And all debts will be paid; and the all the other powers in the galaxy will have to face an enemy so powerful and ancient that not even the death of its own universe could stop it.

DW

Hi. I've finished reading the full 16 pages of this thread. Nice.

I just wanted to chime in with the obvious - Spectoris, to me, is a reference to Stanislaw Lem's Solaris , no? :[

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_(novel)

Traveller, that is ab-so-lu-te-ly terrific!

The Laughing God said:

Too kind, too kind

I am now looking to create Haarlock’s ship using RT, and trying to work out what sort of soldiers and other agents he has at his disposal.

As for his ship the Spear of Destiny: Tattered Fates states that it was a Scout Frigate, but the picture in Dead Stars looks much more like a cruiser. I’m going with the cruiser, along with two escorts (Blade of Destiny and Hand of Destiny).

Also Tattered Fates tells us that there are still human agents loyal to him, so I am thinking of a small human crew with large numbers of (weird) servitors, with the troops being some sort of half clockwork half flesh creation.

A lesser version of the Widower will serve as his assassins and infiltrators.

Next will be the forces (apart from the inquisition) who want him stopped and the true plans of the aliens from the other universe; they have been absolutely truthful with Haarlock, but just left out one or two “minor” details

DW

Traveller61 said:

which would be ..... ?

I think Haarlock would also count many regular humans among his allies. Fiefdoms, noble houses, organizations or maybe even Apocalypse Now-style savages who venerate him as a god. Ancient pacts and truces being rekindled, favours called in that were passed down from generation to generation, ancient debts that now must be honoured ...

Just finished reading all 16 pages here, and I loved the discussion. I guess the only thing at the moment I have to contribute was I love the idea that the Hag has the Warrant. When I first read through the adventure I thought it was the cremated remains of his wife and daughter, as it stated you have to give up the one thing most precious to you.

Sane Man said:

Yeah the whole internecine Haarlock war was about the warrant IIRC .. kind of cool that the sole survivor had it, or has acquired it, and put it in the possession of an entity who has absolutely no need for it, yet will not be very much inclined to surrender it to the first would be-possessor that comes for it

Also a nice touch that the warrant caused the war, and the war took Haarlock's family and thus started his mad obsession with getting them back.

Hey guys, how did you play up the immediate consequences of Haarlock's release? I'm kinda at quandary on what to do myself so some inspiration might be needed. I definitely feel like they should get some punishment, otherwise it wouldn't have been that hard of choice.

LordMunchkin said:

with 'they' you mean your players?

Well, their Inquisitor could visit on them all kinds of punishment. But they will be high-ranking acolytes by the time they face Haarlock, so it kind off doesn't do their new standing justice if they're slapped around like schoolboys. Maybe Haarlock's return, and what that means for the Calixis Sector, is punishment enough.

But I wonder .. if they made a conscious, deliberate choice to allow Haarlock to return, does that necessarily merit punishment? They may have reasoned that the alternative was far worse: the Slaugth-dominated sector that is hinted at with various glimpses of a possible future.

I believe players that release Harlook willingly to prevent the Slot are playing in the hands of Tzench but I may be wrong.

The Laughing God said:

While Silas Marr might understand why they set Haarlock free, I doubt Lord Inquisitor Caiden would be so forgiving. In his eyes they may as well have unleashed a great evil upon the Sector. Sure they had visions which suggested it was the write course of action, but as the RH established few trust the fevered light spat out by the Warp.

Still they're too valuable to kill outright. No what I need is a plausible way for to continue their investigations while enduring the scrutiny of their enemies in the Inquisition. Hm, perhaps Marr deflects the blame from them but greatly damages his own image in the Conclave? His enemies, sensing weakness, might strike then. However, it'd probably be good to convey the feeling of unity the Conclave has attained after Harrlock's release. Thus the Acolytes would need to discredit Marr's foes rather than confront them head on. Might make for a great investigation, snooping around in the shadows and such.

Instead of filling out the details after the adventure I have been thinking of how to flush out the adventure a little ahead of Dead Star. I want to explore Haarlock's connection to the Slaugth a little more, and perhaps have them following Haarlock's trail out into the Kronus Expanse. So far I haven't really seen any suggestions for how Haarlock is tied to the worms that walk.

Salcor

This hook interests me too. The idea that Haarlock is all that stands between the Slaugth and their total dominion of the Calixis Sector, is tantalizing. Would be nice to find out what dealings he has had with the xenos horriblis amongst the cold stars where he visited centuries ago ...

Somehow all these after-Dead Suns scenario's do strike me as Ascension-type, epic level campaigns.

I am actually hoping to have my group initially ascended before Dead Stars. One will probably be an interrogator before the mission begins, and this would be their first ascended mission.

Salcor

Question. I can't seem to remember where it is located but in one of the various books there is reference to a space station that contains the library of one of Haarlock's cousins. Does anyone know which book that is in?

Salcor