OOC for THE AFFAIRS OF KAITAIN: A Role-Play of Dune

At full strength it is certainly obvious. At a minimal level probably just a slight shimmering. I doubt you could go around all day with a shield on. It would interfere with all sorts of things. You could not grab something quickly it would just bounce of shield.

Shields stop objects not energy. I believe that explosive energy will penetrate a shield. Slow-pellet stunner may have carried an electrical charge similar to a Taser. Stun grenades would work too. A frag grenade would have the shrapnel stopped but not the concussive energy of the blast. You could still knock someone down with a very heavy blow.

In the movie it is 'way' obvious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkQFhPJuxgk

Not so much in mini-series
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtCedI-q9vU

If we go with movie effect then even your voice gets distorted. I think I like movie's version. Very obvious, like suddenly being encased in full plate armour. Not the sort of thing to go walking around in. But good combat effect.

I think the Baron Harkonnen had his on at low level for things like meetings and stuff. Would have got in the way of him raping slave boys even at low levels.

Probably why such things as poison became so popular. Even to stick a knife in someone has to be done slowly or at least in a controlled fashion. Guns no longer work (if they see it coming) and lasgun is pretty much suicide if shield is on.

Usually I think the idea would be just slap a button on your belt and voila impervious shield.

If person totally unexpecting an attack and with back turned could easily just be knifed or shot.

Maula pistols are common even if they can't penetrate a shield. I would imagine that not every house trooper may have had a shield. Elite guards, top ranked retainers and the very rich themselves.

Would make common thieves and killers unknown if everyone wore one activated all the time. And I think the feudal system they use has lots of the very poor and only a few elites. Probably lots of crime in slum areas, tavern fights and back alley knifings.

Yes I was thinking Shields would only be worn by the very elite and their bodyguards all the time. House soldiers may be given them if there was an open declaration of war, but otherwise it would be too much of an expense.

Maybe Minor houses would have enough shields for the rulers and the heirs, but maybe Shields are also a sign of wealth.

This could also be another way for house Ordos to influence Minor houses and Josephine. With their wealth they can afford to buy or indeed make shields to give to allies. Of course thinking ahead such shields would be made with a flaw to be activated if needed.

It's funny with the 1984 film the shields wore more impressive in the book. They could have pretended and the shields would have been like those in the book for the most part, but I figure they wanted to do the special effects. Same with the weapons.....Where are the ray guns?! We're not going to use swords in a science fiction movie. Anyway it's all good fun. I liked the battles in the film...and the mini series.

Considering it is 10,000 years after the Butlerian Jihad, I'm amazed computers haven't made a comeback. At least unintelligent ones.

Probably keeps the poor and middle class down. Technology is a great equalizer. Guns made peasants knight slayers. Preceded by longbows in the hands of yeoman.

Keep higher education out of the hands of peasants too.

Except for some Ixian and Richese tech not much innovation in 10k years.

Necessity of the Golden Path

Through prescience, Paul Atreides and his son Leto II foresaw several threats to the human species. They saw the Imperium's dependency on melange and the superhuman tasks performed by specialized groups such as the Spacing Guild, Mentats, and the Bene Gesserit as threats to any species-wide evolution. Also, because spice could be produced only on Arrakis, human development was constrained by its dependence on the planet.

They interpret this lack of exploration and growth as stagnation and an eventual threat to the survival of humanity.

A good portion of the human race especially it's leaders and elite are addicted to melange. Even middle class types have a meal with spice once a week.

Imagine surviving something like what happened in Terminator. You'd be wary of any computer, but yes you have a good point.

Look at the other big space opera Star Wars. Even with ray guns their soldiers couldn't hit the broadside of a Millennium Falcon at 20m.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54nv2bVxbH0

People say that, but when they boarded the Ship in the beginning they destroyed the rebels....I think several times they purposely shot badly. Let Han and the others escape to track them. They're not bad heroes are just better.

It did create the term "Stormtrooper effect".

The heroes were allowed to escape the DS so they could be tracked to the rebel hideout. Awfully loyal troopers to shoot wide and allow themselves to be shot down in return.

Just funny. Quite a few web postings on the effect.

http://cdn.themetapicture.com/media/funny-Star-Wars-Trek-fight-Stormtrooper.jpg

It's the old movie standard. Troopers are allowed to hit any character not associated with the plot with ease as their superior training would imply. However anyone the plot needs to continue well hell those pesky blasters just seem to miss and miss and miss.

It's the same in Terminator. I mean how many times did those things take out other humans with one shot but miss Sarah and co?

Plus every other Movie. It is called the hero barrier. Oh you can get injured, but unless plot calls for it the hero will never die. Just don't be romantically linked to them in an action adventure, then you know your dead, LOL.

Pentashields


I'm bringing up the Pentashield for two reasons: they are too useful a device not to figure into our story, and to round out the index for this thread.

According to the Dune Wiki:

A pentashield was a five-layered shield-generated field suitable for small areas such as doorways or passenges. A large pentashield could be generated but it would become increasingly unstable with each successive layer that went up.

They were virtually impassable to anyone not wearing a dissembler that was tuned to the same codes as the shield was tuned. A pentashield set up in such a way was also known as a Prudence Door (Pru-Door) or Prudence Barrier (Pru-Barrier), and such a configuration were used to facilitate the escape of only selected people, who were often under pursuit.​

Hard_Rom said:

The Holtzman Shield is a potent literary device: it makes directed-energy weaponry impossible against any worthwhile opponent, and also proves traditional projectile-based firearms and missiles ineffective, adding to the feudal atmosphere, and enforces the usage of mêlée weaponry despite other more advanced technology.

With the widespread use of shields, anyone of even minimal importance wore a body shield to protect against criminals, assassins, and accidents. Such a practice made the use of projectile weapons and thrown blades virtually obsolete. The only effective combat method was the deft use and careful precision of a handheld dagger, if moved slowly enough. New styles of fencing and knife fighting were developed to take advantage of this one small vulnerability.

As one would be unable to breathe within a shield that did not permit atmospheric gases to penetrate it, man-portable shields had a relatively high penetration velocity, approximately six to ten centimeters per second. However, shields for ships and planetary installations could and often did have extremely low penetration velocities, as artificial life support technologies could be utilized while the shield was active.

I did not know the last bit...

House Shields were the choice of defense for many Great Houses. The name House does not come from its use by Great Houses, but by what it protected: the home of a Great House. Any palace or castle or any home to a House was protected by this shield.

The shield was a larger version of the defensive shield worn by a person and could cover large areas without becoming unstable, as a Pentashield would do. Because of its massive size, a House Shield couldn't be shorted-out by a Lasgun.

Click to expand...

I've brought the index up to date.

I left out certain things, such as the reference to the "Golden Path" and related issues below, as they arose a generation later than our story.

If anyone finds any errors or omissions in the index, please let me know.

Hard_Rom said:

Considering it is 10,000 years after the Butlerian Jihad, I'm amazed computers haven't made a comeback. At least unintelligent ones.

Probably keeps the poor and middle class down. Technology is a great equalizer. Guns made peasants knight slayers. Preceded by longbows in the hands of yeoman.

Keep higher education out of the hands of peasants too.

Except for some Ixian and Richese tech not much innovation in 10k years.

Necessity of the Golden Path

Through prescience, Paul Atreides and his son Leto II foresaw several threats to the human species. They saw the Imperium's dependency on melange and the superhuman tasks performed by specialized groups such as the Spacing Guild, Mentats, and the Bene Gesserit as threats to any species-wide evolution. Also, because spice could be produced only on Arrakis, human development was constrained by its dependence on the planet.

They interpret this lack of exploration and growth as stagnation and an eventual threat to the survival of humanity.

A good portion of the human race especially it's leaders and elite are addicted to melange. Even middle class types have a meal with spice once a week.

Click to expand...

That was more of an off topic discussion.

It would appear we have no big objection to wearing personal shields.

Let the Imperial Government and Spacing Guild worry about smuggled in lasguns.

They were big in the books and films.

You do like you index don't you Josephine. Not seen those in other OOCs or stories.

Hope my incessant pedantic posting is not taking away from your own story posting time.

And you might be up for next post as Joab is in the embassy.

Oh I agree with Josephine. Pentashields should definitely be used in the story. I am guessing every Major house would have one set up on their doors for times of Crisis and attack, and on a secret bolt hole inside that only the most senior members knew about, probably with a different frequency.

I'm sorry where are we at the moment....and what theme are we exploring? I think it's about dealing with traitors within one house? I know everyone has an agenda and I want everyone to have fun.

I don't know what I can write without some more information. At the moment I can't interact with any other character because you are all in Josephine's house.

I need to know maybe the identity of the Judge of the Countess's petition, Several other houses that may wish to bring her down and maybe names of men that would like that or would seek to marry then do away with her. Or if I could actually make them up.

Hard_Rom said:

That was more of an off topic discussion.

It would appear we have no big objection to wearing personal shields.

Let the Imperial Government and Spacing Guild worry about smuggled in lasguns.

They were big in the books and films.

You do like you index don't you Josephine. Not seen those in other OOCs or stories.

Hope my incessant pedantic posting is not taking away from your own story posting time.

And you might be up for next post as Joab is in the embassy.

Click to expand...

The index serves several purposes. I do enjoy assembling it. More importantly, for writers who are less familiar with the minutiae of Dune, it gives them a handy place to go to see some of the major sociological, political, and technological aspects of the Dune universe and how it shapes our story.

As for shields, I think they would most definitely be allowed in the capital, with restrictions placed on lasguns.

EmpressJosephine said:

The index serves several purposes. I do enjoy assembling it. More importantly, for writers who are less familiar with the minutiae of Dune, it gives them a handy place to go to see some of the major sociological, political, and technological aspects of the Dune universe and how it shapes our story.

As for shields, I think they would most definitely be allowed in the capital, with restrictions placed on lasguns.

Click to expand...

I know I appreciate the index.

And I agree about shields.

Aussie_Wolf said:

I don't know what I can write without some more information. At the moment I can't interact with any other character because you are all in Josephine's house.

I need to know maybe the identity of the Judge of the Countess's petition, Several other houses that may wish to bring her down and maybe names of men that would like that or would seek to marry then do away with her. Or if I could actually make them up.

Click to expand...

Nothing says you can't create the Judge of Change NPC. If you're already at court, chances are you will know first anyway. Unless that is the Princess' info.

Don't let him accept your bribe too quick. So we can try outbid. Unless you really really want him on your side.

If the Princess' info she overhears is the name of the Judge or the fact he has been bribed already... maybe she can witness your bribery. Then the two you could get some scenes in before the Countess and her entourage get there.

The Judge is just an NPC. Come up with a name and middling rank from the Duniverse, run it past the OOC, and I say try it.

Two groups can operate independently. Keep the writing going.

Hard_Rom said:

Nothing says you can't create the Judge of Change NPC. If you're already at court, chances are you will know first anyway. Unless that is the Princess' info.

Don't let him accept your bribe too quick. So we can try outbid. Unless you really really want him on your side.

If the Princess' info she overhears is the name of the Judge or the fact he has been bribed already... maybe she can witness your bribery. Then the two you could get some scenes in before the Countess and her entourage get there.

The Judge is just an NPC. Come up with a name and middling rank from the Duniverse, run it past the OOC, and I say try it.

Two groups can operate independently. Keep the writing going.

Click to expand...

Agreed!

Also...

Recruit. Recruit! RECRUIT!!!

More players desired for this intelligent roleplay....A science fiction tribute done right.

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?p=75722768#post75722768

Recruitment posting

I dropped a note to the Empress earlier - if I don't hear from her in time, who should I write to?

JawnKarTurr is listed as second contact. I am the expert on canon. I can't see an issue with us talking. I might be the most active poster. Feel free to PM me, if you want.

I honestly can't see an issue with it. Josephine asked we recruit. So I have invited Kit to post a bio in the OOC. Seems quite knowledgeable and I expect it to be a Bene Gesserit bio (I think).