Do people protest the excavation of Ancient sites?

[GamingGlen]

And if so, who and what groups would?

Do the Droyne officially protest and demand that their own scientists should do the excavations? Or is it still theory that the Droyne could be descended from the Ancients?

Also, how much protesting happens on site on a world where environmental protective gear is required? I imagine just the diehards and those paid to do so.

 

[robject]

My opinion? Probably.

There must be groups who worry that Ancient tech could kill billions of people relatively quickly. And any world is going to protest the Imperium digging near their cities. Imagine if a stasis globe gets triggered for 100 years and covers half the world...

On the other hand, the Droyne are not the Ancients, and I feel they are too inscrutable (and supposedly powerless) to try. Although, maybe. BUT... they do not present a united front. They're not united beyond the planetary level, and maybe most are only Oytrips.

 

[flykiller]

Do people protest the excavation of Ancient sites?

dunno, but it would make a great adventure complication. "congratulations, you've found the ancient derelict. there's just one problem, greenpeace is going to follow you around now …."

 

[GamingGlen]

dunno, but it would make a great adventure complication. …."

That is what I'm doing for the Tripwire adventure*, combining the general unrest caused by a Zho spy with a recent Ancients site find (including the mysterious black pyramid).


* … being greatly modified because I'm not interested in running the Grand Tour of that subsector.

 

[CaptRet]

Do the Droyne even know that their ancestors were the Ancients ??

 

[Timerover51]

Well, the site in the Victoria/Lanth system might be a bit hard to get too as it is on a satellite of Victoria, and the inhabitants do noIC t know that it is there. The site in the adventure Twilight Peak is very well hidden, besides containing guards. I am not sure where the ANNIC NOVA fits in all of this, as I have always viewed the ship as an Ancient Artifact that the Droyne kept up. As for the other possibilities, I guess it would depend on where the site is and how easy it is for problem people to get there.

As for protesting, I suspect that if the Imperial Navy or military thought that there were usable offensive or defensive weapons at a site, they might get quite nasty with any protestors.

Overall, I would say it entirely depends on how much a problem the Game Master wants to present to the players.

 

[mike wightman]

Do the Droyne even know that their ancestors were the Ancients ??

Excellent question. What follows is conjecture on my part based on rather a lot of research into everything that has seen print about the Droyne.

First - Grandfather wasn't really a Droyne IMHO, he was what we now call Chirpers. The Droyne are a result of biological and psionic enhancement. It may even have been one of Grandfather's descendants that augmented the Chirpers into the Droyne.

Next, without the coyn ritual Chirpers remain Chirpers, do the Droyne remember the origins of their rituals? Did Grandfather establish the ritual to provide a route to augmentation as an alternative to his progeny's work...

Finally, do the Droyne rituals allow access to a greater repository of knowledge hidden in 'psionic space'?

The Droyne casting ceremony appears to psionically trigger genetic and psionic potential hidden within the Chirpers. Now since I am of the opinion that psionics is not magic but is instead some high TL mechanism to access and manipulate the quantum foam introduced in T5/AotI this leads me to the conclusion that Grandfather, and possibly the Chirpers and other naturally psionic entities (animal, plant, intelligent, dumb) either naturally developed these psionic abilities or psionics are actually a very advanced technology that was seeded into out galaxy by races that predate Grandfather and the Ancients by rather a long period of time.

One of Grandfather's main aims has been to understand how he came to be and what other powers exist within our galaxy.

To answer the question - no, most Droyne are unaware of their nature as descendants of the Ancients. But in time of extremis they can perform rituals that reveal the secret truths and allow them limited access to Ancient era technology.

A totally pastoral Droyne community faced with an extreme threat could suddenly equip its warriors with BattleDress and state of the art weapon systems 'conjured' from 'makers' hidden within 'psionic space' for example.

 

[Reban]

Isn't there mention of a degree of secrecy applied to the study of Ancient sites and artifacts? Not all obviously, you can't hide the large and well known ones but I was under the impression that Imperial academia and the services handled new discoveries with discretion.

You can't protest a discovery that isn't made public.

 

[kilemall]

Couldn't the Droyne employ lawyering/diplomacy to attempt to turn over heritage sites and findings to them?


Or get leverage because some artifacts won't work without them operating it?

 

[Timerover51]

Excellent question. What follows is conjecture on my part based on rather a lot of research into everything that has seen print about the Droyne.

First - Grandfather wasn't really a Droyne IMHO, he was what we now call Chirpers. The Droyne are a result of biological and psionic enhancement. It may even have been one of Grandfather's descendants that augmented the Chirpers into the Droyne.

Next, without the coyn ritual Chirpers remain Chirpers, do the Droyne remember the origins of their rituals? Did Grandfather establish the ritual to provide a route to augmentation as an alternative to his progeny's work...

Finally, do the Droyne rituals allow access to a greater repository of knowledge hidden in 'psionic space'?

The Droyne casting ceremony appears to psionically trigger genetic and psionic potential hidden within the Chirpers. Now since I am of the opinion that psionics is not magic but is instead some high TL mechanism to access and manipulate the quantum foam introduced in T5/AotI this leads me to the conclusion that Grandfather, and possibly the Chirpers and other naturally psionic entities (animal, plant, intelligent, dumb) either naturally developed these psionic abilities or psionics are actually a very advanced technology that was seeded into out galaxy by races that predate Grandfather and the Ancients by rather a long period of time.

One of Grandfather's main aims has been to understand how he came to be and what other powers exist within our galaxy.

To answer the question - no, most Droyne are unaware of their nature as descendants of the Ancients. But in time of extremis they can perform rituals that reveal the secret truths and allow them limited access to Ancient era technology.

A totally pastoral Droyne community faced with an extreme threat could suddenly equip its warriors with BattleDress and state of the art weapon systems 'conjured' from 'makers' hidden within 'psionic space' for example.

This could almost be a discussion thread by itself.

 

[robject]

Couldn't the Droyne employ lawyering/diplomacy to attempt to turn over heritage sites and findings to them?

I'd thought about that as well, and realized that that sounds really boring. The most likely argument is that Droyne != Ancients, so there's no heritage.

Your second point points to a useful plot hook.

 

[mike wightman]

There is a lot of metagame knowledge being used.

The Imperium does not know that the Droyne are the descendants of the Ancients, we do because of the big reveals, but how much of what is learned in Secret of the Ancients is eventually accepted or confirmed to Imperial authorities?

Post FFW does the Imperium learn of the Ancient bases on Fulacin? (every time I have run Twilight's Peak there is a total party kill by the end).

Early Library Data on the Ancients mentions the great diversity of Ancient sites - being able to piece together the Grandfather and his progeny story from the evidence prior to TP/SotA was something that had eluded Imperial scientists for centuries.

The Droyne, or even any evidence of Droyne, is missing from the vast majority of Ancient sites - there is more evidence linking humanity and Vargr to the Ancient era than the Droyne.

Another heretical statement - the Secret of the Ancients should have remained a secret a lot longer than it did. Or perhaps the whole Grandfather/Droyne story is a huge smokescreen for grandfather's true story...

 

[Tiikeri]

dunno, but it would make a great adventure complication. "congratulations, you've found the ancient derelict. there's just one problem, greenpeace is going to follow you around now …."

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat.

 

[Tiikeri]

All politics is local. If people who live on the world care, and they have a lical govt that wont stomp them then they might protest.

They could want to stop excavation to prevent danger, or they could be demanding ownership or percentage, or it could be a religious site, but i doubt it would be environmental.

Then the imperial rep for the world will tell the local govt to handle it, and if they cant or wont, the subsector dukes huscarls will. Done. The 3i is an absolute monarchy, people dont have rights.

 

[Blue Ghost]

And if so, who and what groups would?

Do the Droyne officially protest and demand that their own scientists should do the excavations? Or is it still theory that the Droyne could be descended from the Ancients?

Also, how much protesting happens on site on a world where environmental protective gear is required? I imagine just the diehards and those paid to do so.

Given what happened on Rhylanor with the pink/purple goo, I would. I'd be there on the front lines shouting my heart out, with a big old sign that read "Down with Ancient Excavations" … maybe shouting "No Pink Goo!" or "What do we want? No goo! When do we want it? Now!"

Sorry, I can't think of anything more catchy