FLUFF:
Spoiler:
The universe is billions of years old. Given how much time there has been for life to appear and develop across the universe, there should have been a number of civilizations that have come and gone. Clearly there are spacefaring civilizations like the Vox, but the are about as developed as humanity is, and have not really been active in the sectors of Nanotrasen space we're familiar with. The Abductors are also more advanced than humans, but their technology isn't too advanced to reverse-engineer. What is being asked here is whether or not there is an active spacefaring civilization predating humanity by a very long time. Well there is.
The [REDACTED] are an ultra-advanced civilization predating modern spacefaring civilizations such as humanity by millennia. Even though their development has stagnated for thousands of years, their technology is still hundreds, if not thousands of years beyond humanity. But nobody knows this. With how splintered [REDACTED] civilization has become, there is only trace archaeological evidence of their existence.
The [REDACTED] are an ultra-advanced civilization predating modern spacefaring civilizations such as humanity by millennia. Even though their development has stagnated for thousands of years, their technology is still hundreds, if not thousands of years beyond humanity. But nobody knows this. With how splintered [REDACTED] civilization has become, there is only trace archaeological evidence of their existence.
Spoiler:
Precursors (as a species) are a subtype of lizards. The most striking indication of a precursor is the presence of an extra pair of tiny arms. While they can't be used to manipulate normal items, certain Precursor-specific items require these tiny arms to be used properly. These tiny arms are hidden and unusable whenever you wear something that conceals your chest. It is possible to become a Precursor through unstable mutation toxin or magic mirrors, but unless you are the specific Precursor antag, being a Precursor makes you a snowflakey ligger.
Precursor antags are called Precursor Agents, heretofore referred to as just Agents. Agents spawn in a group (when spawned at roundstart) or alone (when spawned midround) in a Precursor shuttlepod on the Centcom z-level. This shuttlepod contains a cockpit, a dorm room, a teleportation and equipment room, and a brig. The outside of the shuttlepod is indestructible, but most of the equipment inside the shuttlepod can be destroyed by an explosion from within, leaving the shuttlepod a ruined husk. Agents are not required to cooperate, but are forbidden from backstabbing each other.
When an Agent spawns on the shuttlepod, they are given the option to randomly generate a character or load a character from their prefs. Picking a non-lizard character from your prefs uses your DNA for that character, albeit turned into a lizard. Picking a lizard character makes you that exact lizard, except with the extra arms. Once you've chosen your appearance, you choose your name. You are encouraged to input a sufficiently lizard-like name.
Once your appearance and name are finalized, you have time to equip yourself. You equip yourself by ordering items with a limited set of equipment points. A sampling of the different items you can order are listed in the Items section. Once you're equipped, you have two options for getting onto the station. You can pilot the shuttlepod onto the station z-level using the nagivation console in the cockpit, or you can use the teleporter in the teleport/equipment room for a stealthy approach.
In the teleport/equipment room, you can find a selection of basic equipment such as toolkits, single-use hand-teles, and single-use shuttlepod callers. The hand-teles will teleport you or others to the shuttlepod, while the shuttlepod callers function like the shuttlepod's navigation console. Also in the equipment room is a wardrobe pod that lets you spawn the full outfits of any non-security job that a lizard can take, complete with an ID and PDA to match (no slippery PDAs for choosing the Clown, though). The teleporter will take you to the arrivals shuttle, forcing the announcement system to announce your arrival so that you are as inconspicuous as possible. The teleporter won't let you teleport without a hand-tele or shuttlepod caller in your posession, just so you won't be trapped.
Agents can get the full gamut of traitor objectives or an objective to "Capture X crew members". A crew member is considered captured if they are alive in the shuttlepod's brig at the end of the round. Because captured crew members must be alive, you can't use the suicide verb in the shuttlepod, and advanced medbeam turrets in the brig rapidly heal any brute, burn, toxin, oxyloss, or cloneloss. Ghosting is just fine if you're sick of being a prisoner. Any non-Agents teleported to the shuttlepod will be teleported to the brig, so make sure they don't bring anything powerful enough to kill themselves or other prisoners with. Being in the shuttlepod counts as escaping on the shuttle or an escape pod, but counts as being in custody if you're in the brig and not an Agent.
Precursor antags are called Precursor Agents, heretofore referred to as just Agents. Agents spawn in a group (when spawned at roundstart) or alone (when spawned midround) in a Precursor shuttlepod on the Centcom z-level. This shuttlepod contains a cockpit, a dorm room, a teleportation and equipment room, and a brig. The outside of the shuttlepod is indestructible, but most of the equipment inside the shuttlepod can be destroyed by an explosion from within, leaving the shuttlepod a ruined husk. Agents are not required to cooperate, but are forbidden from backstabbing each other.
When an Agent spawns on the shuttlepod, they are given the option to randomly generate a character or load a character from their prefs. Picking a non-lizard character from your prefs uses your DNA for that character, albeit turned into a lizard. Picking a lizard character makes you that exact lizard, except with the extra arms. Once you've chosen your appearance, you choose your name. You are encouraged to input a sufficiently lizard-like name.
Once your appearance and name are finalized, you have time to equip yourself. You equip yourself by ordering items with a limited set of equipment points. A sampling of the different items you can order are listed in the Items section. Once you're equipped, you have two options for getting onto the station. You can pilot the shuttlepod onto the station z-level using the nagivation console in the cockpit, or you can use the teleporter in the teleport/equipment room for a stealthy approach.
In the teleport/equipment room, you can find a selection of basic equipment such as toolkits, single-use hand-teles, and single-use shuttlepod callers. The hand-teles will teleport you or others to the shuttlepod, while the shuttlepod callers function like the shuttlepod's navigation console. Also in the equipment room is a wardrobe pod that lets you spawn the full outfits of any non-security job that a lizard can take, complete with an ID and PDA to match (no slippery PDAs for choosing the Clown, though). The teleporter will take you to the arrivals shuttle, forcing the announcement system to announce your arrival so that you are as inconspicuous as possible. The teleporter won't let you teleport without a hand-tele or shuttlepod caller in your posession, just so you won't be trapped.
Agents can get the full gamut of traitor objectives or an objective to "Capture X crew members". A crew member is considered captured if they are alive in the shuttlepod's brig at the end of the round. Because captured crew members must be alive, you can't use the suicide verb in the shuttlepod, and advanced medbeam turrets in the brig rapidly heal any brute, burn, toxin, oxyloss, or cloneloss. Ghosting is just fine if you're sick of being a prisoner. Any non-Agents teleported to the shuttlepod will be teleported to the brig, so make sure they don't bring anything powerful enough to kill themselves or other prisoners with. Being in the shuttlepod counts as escaping on the shuttle or an escape pod, but counts as being in custody if you're in the brig and not an Agent.
Spoiler:
- Telescopic Energy Spear: An esword and a spear combined into one. Deals as much damage as a sharpened regular spear when deployed, and fits in your pocket when not deployed.
- Hardlight Greatbow: A self-charging energy crossbow-like weapon that fires a hardlight arrow that deals 30 brute and 30 burn. The Precursor equivalent of the .357, but too large to fit in backpacks.
- Valkyrie Armor: A lightweight armor vest with controls for an attachable accessory. You need Precursor vestigial arms to use the accessory you attach.
- Jotun Armor: A heavyweight hardsuit with controls for an attachable accessory. You need Precursor vestigial arms to use the accessory you attach.
- Hardlight Wing Modules: An accessory for Valkyrie and Jotun armor that allows the wearer to fly with hardlight wings.
- Energy Barrier Module: An accessory for Valkyrie and Jotun armor that allows the wearer to deploy an impenetrable energy barrier in front of them. The barrier is always located on the tile in front of you in the direction you're facing. Nothing can pass through the barrier, not even your own projectiles. Objects the barrier moves onto are unaffected.
- Mechanical Manipulator Modules: An accessory for Valkyrie and Jotun armor that gives the wearer two extra arms.
