The Headcanon Thread
Had an idea about the setting of Transcendence based on what you've seen? Here's a good place to share it! Headcanon can be fun, and occaisionally comes up with ideas for George (and other regdevs fro time to time) to work into things.This is a ported-over version of the 'Little things that should be canon' thread idea we have over in the regdev forums. Over there we had the problem of having a lot of regdev-restricted info that we sit on...which is somewhat vague. So we read it, and it sparks ideas that fill the gaps...which we can't share openly because of it being based on restricted info. So there's a thread for that. But it turned into something more general, with a lot of general game headcanon that didn't use the restricted info. And since every thread questioning lore ends up as a headcanon thread......it seems nice and neat to have a proper thread set up.
The One Big Rule:
Headcanon is inherently taking what is in the game, and trying to infer what is not in the game. And generally speaking, things aren't canon unless they're in the game (and even then, George likes being intentionally vague). This includes the seeeeecret dev wiki content that gets used for the other thread that inspired this one! If it's not in the game, it's not canon. Even if it is in the game, the game can always be changed! Thus there is no point in nitpicking other people's headcanon, and no place for it in this thread. Don't like someone's pet theory? Hold back from the pyramid quotes. A nice reply with your own interpretation of the same details is ok, though! Likewise, playing off each other's ideas is cool. Just be nice about it.
Other rules:
-Obviously, must be related to the Transcendence universe.
-Base headcanon off the canonical/semi-canonical sources that exist. Obviously these are a bit fragmented, so try to say where you got the info from if you can.
-Please don't spam inanity. Being serious is optional, being sensible is not. Remember, insanity is a sometimes food!
-No headcanon based on information on the Registered Developer Wiki or otherwise restricted to RegDevs. This is an important rule for regdevs, since while George doesn't really enforce this rule, we can really mess things up if we leak stuff that later gets changed, or spoil something accidentally. We have out own thread for regdev-based headcanon. Non reg-devs can ignore this one!
-Explain stuff, but keep it short!
-If a headcanon is a collab by multiple peeps, say who they are. Likewise, acknowledge IRC madness when you transfer it here.
-It's 'headcanon' with a single n, not a double. For headcannon, see the relevant SCP Foundation entry. Remember, everyone's face-mounted artillery is unique and wonderful.
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Relevant Examples taken from the Regdev thread (with restricted content excised)
Shrike (in the Regdev Thread) wrote:
[MULTIPLE ENTRIES REDACTED: REGDEV STUFF + I like having my serious theories about Morgental to be semi-secret. ]
Penitent Cannons suck for a reason
Penitent guns really are garbage for an alien weapon that can't be comprehended by human minds. And they're surprisingly simple at only tech level 4. The only way I could really think of (in-universe) for that being the case is if the gun is actually a 'remote', and the projectile itself isn't being created by the gun, but channeled and directed. But that just means that Oracus really doesn't punch very hard. But to make it make more sense I like to think that this is sort of an equivelant to the WW2 'Liberator' pistol....a super-cheap weapon design that can be given to any old backwater race of idiots so Oracus can compel some schmucks into being cultists, get them to shoot whatever's decent (since it's a bas gun that will damage almost any armor in the game), then take the guns from that thing. Alas, the penitent cultists are not very smart and seem to have gotten a bit behind on the "get something better" stage.
(This is not a serious bit of headcanon. But eh....that gun makes no sense anyway since it's supposed to be too many things at once. I'm trying to kill an ICS in vanilla with one of these+an enhanced flenser. Getting the right item combo has been hard since messing up is an instakill.)
Alas, even I can't come up with a reason for the Gaian Demolition Cannon.
Dvalin is really embarrassed by the stuff he made as a teenager whenever he sees it brought in by a freelancer
There's no secret-wiki-based reason for this at all. I just want to see him say "I have not seen a......wait.......I made this when I was thirteen! Where did you find it?!! I...ah....Walter?!" and wave frantically at a technician to get rid of the thing, blushing in shame at how crude it is. (Shrike AU would have it be the centauri recoilless cannons, just to reward players who carry one all the way to Dvalin, but that wouldn't make any kind of in-universe sense).
AssumedPseudonym (in RegDev Thread) wrote: Regarding the Penitent cannon, the conversation I had in my head (and that I typed up) for it was:
(02:35:47 AM) AssumedPseudonym: “This is what Oracus gave us.“
(02:35:47 AM) AssumedPseudonym: “But there are so many bett…”
(02:35:47 AM) AssumedPseudonym: “I SAID THIS IS WHAT ORACUS GAVE US, DAMMIT.”
(02:37:22 AM) AssumedPseudonym: “Then how come the Atonement has a NAMI missile launcher?”
(02:37:22 AM) AssumedPseudonym: “…Reasons.”
AssumedPseudonym (in RegDev Thread) wrote: Centauri Warlords: Origins
Everyone seems to think that the Centauri Warlords are badasses (except for the player, who never got the memo). My personal headcanon for that is that a drunken pilot in a Sapphire pulled a hey-y’all-watch-this and tried to win a head-on collision with an asteroid (and didn’t). The only ones around at the time were Centauri, who got blamed for it. A Borer pilot — as blitzed as the other pilot — decided to take revenge and wound up blowing himself up on extracted ore from vodka-impaired aim with the mining laser. After the Ronin A that went out to investigate wound up crashing a live-fire test of the CLAW which was actually a Centauri pilot who had added an Arbalest to a ship, was replacing a damaged one when the Ronin showed up, and completely screwed up the wiring in the best possible way while trying to get things put back together to get away from the Ronin, they got a reputation that got blown entirely out of proportion — and the Centauri were as guilty as buying into the hype as everyone else. It didn’t take long before the Sapphire was a freighter convoy, the Borer was an entire mining colony, and the Ronin A was a pack of Centurions. No wonder all Eridani thinks these guys can’t be beat!
Various IRC sources, mostly Shrike, posted to RegDev thread by Shrike (this actually comes before the AP one, but eh, whatever) wrote:
The centauri warlords are actually a group of LARPers who got far too into it
Canonically, the centauri are far more of a thing than their terrible weapon range, 20-facing ships and bad AI settings would suggest (and TSB does give them some actual firepower, although their range is stull terrible). But oddly, they're not actually present in Alpha Centauri. And they seem oddly powerful for a force that, without AI buffs, is basically the only group that can be taken out by hornets. Thus I hypothesise that one day a bunch of engineering students decided to play at being warlords for a prank/LARP, it went a bit too far, then decided to make a shot at doing it for real (also the police were after them anyway.)
This one's actually serious-ish: Hornets are modified escape pods
Or at least, they originate from that style of design. While the Hornet model is really really old , it looks like the two "wings" fold out from the back to uncover the drive...so it can be stowed with them folded as an "egg" shape. That lets you transport it easily, and it fits the classic Star-Wars style epod shape more or less. Having 'wings' lets you radiate heat better, and also mount some thrusters and sensors further out, and you can't ding the engine while transporting it. The only downside to this idea is that there's no space for a door in the back. Then again....this is a space fighter with an open cockpit, so getting in can't be that hard. Also you'd have much better armor facing towards an enemy than when running away...but this is a hornet, so that doesn't really matter.
(Hornets having open cockpits is old, old IRC-canon, dating from back when the original truespace models got released and got examined in detail. No idea who came up with it, but it's fairly universal now.)
[SECTION REDACTED: DEVWIKI SPOILERS]
Eridani Mineral Water has a dark secret
How do you bottle mineral water on a space station?!!! I mean, it works if it's actually from the moons of St John's World, but it doesn't say that.....they could just be siphoning coolant water and selling it for easy money on the side.
(I'm actually having this as an easter-egg in SM&M++. The actual item gets a revised description that states the origin....and I'm adding a level 2 illegal item that's the counterfeit version made from the coolant lines. They're actually the same thing though: the water used in Starton Eridani would probably come from the moons of St. John's World)
Corporate Factories are actually massive counterfeiting workshops
...how else do items supposedly only made on Earth mysteriously appear after people give them stuff? Especially when you're giving them organic chemicals, hydrogen, and catalysts (eg. palladium) and they come out with fine wines and liquor from 'very exclusive vineyards on earth'. Suuuuuure. And they don't even have regular shipments of supplies for their work...they just buy from random people. That's not a sign of a reputable manufacturer.
Katami is/was a Syndikat member
The arena makes no logical sense without organised crime being involved...there is no way it could make any money and avoid getting shut down given the amount of death and carnage involved (ok in reality there's probably a whole industrial sector in that system besides the arena but it's not ingame or in lore). So most of the matches are scripted so the Syndikat can launder money and generally mess with betting...and Katami's an important but fairly low-level part of it. People like him set up the matches and give advice, so he can determine who lives and who dies, in exchange for bribes from the Syndies......but when the Pilgrim starts doing well (or maybe even before then. Maybe he's been planning this all along?), Katami decides to game the system and try to carve out a bit more for himself. Eventually, he gets close enough that he might just manage it, so the Syndikat kidnap him and try to blackmail the player.
(Or maybe they don't. Kate Morgental's the one who tells you about this.....hmmm.............*prepares tinfoil hat*....which could mean that she's trying to power-play the Syndikat as well, or is in on Katami's plan through her past ties to him.)
Shrike (in RegDev Thread) wrote:The manticore is actually a fake (or partly so)
The manticore the player flies in the Corporate Command shares only a name and a sprite with the actual ship. It turns slower, accelerates slower, and is generally terrible. But why? Well, let's see the equipment. It has a Burak launcher....but no Uzon scanner. And you can't buy them. So the headcanon I came up with in IRC: the ship is at least partly a knock-off bought at discount price, and the Uzon is actually a ship component, not a device in and of itself. Normally it'd be installed....but not in this case.
AssumedPseudonym expanded on this by noting that the biggest Burak users are the Curators.....noted counterfeiters who use ships made by Makayev....and their Buraks don't track either. So it's possible that the playership is actually a curator-built/modified fake.
Edit: Also from me later on...the curators do fake starship parts in canon as well! True, they're faked to look old when they're not...but it's not that big a stretch.
(Left out: Bunch of stuff about Zubrin and the like because it's late and I'm tired and my arm hurts, bunch of stuff that's too reg-dev to port over, 50 billion different ideas about Microsaurs™)AssumedPseudonym (In reply to the post above) wrote: The above works, but what I actually said was, the Curators wound up getting a bunch of counterfeit ships, since their Troglavs and Lihkos don’t have tracking on their Burak launchers. They got into the business of pushing fake antiques for revenge. ^.~
(Edit: And yes, you can thank the regdev headcanon thread for the 'make more stuff happen with Microsaurs' ticket/thread a while back. We'd be here all year if we started talking Microsaurs and didn't chain Wolfy in a basement or something)