inload: Beyond the Gate of Antares

+ Joining the Concord Combined Command +

The PanHuman Concord is one of the two great panhuman, most technologically advanced factions of Antarean space, the other being it’s ‘parent’, now known as the Isorian Shard or Senatex. The Concord is a society of both human and machine sentience bound together by integrated machine intelligence or IMTel. It is in practically every respect a utopian society in which humans are free to devote their lives to chosen endeavours entirely free of compulsion, or the necessity of toil and unwanted responsibilities. The IMTel anticipates the needs of each and provides a benevolent governance to all within its reach.

From the Gates of Antares Nexus [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]

+ I'll be honest, the above read like gibberish when I first looked into what the models I was painting were. On the other hand, it was intriguing gibberish – the sort of gibberish I remember from reading the Warhammer Fantasy Battle or Rogue Trader manuals for the first time when I was still in single chronodigits. In answer to the unasked question, yes, I did want to read more. +

+ As I understand things, in the Beyond the Gates of Antares (BTGoA) universe, there is no need to be welcomed to the IMTel (the Integrated Machine Intelligence) that benevolently oversees the PanHuman Concord faction, as once you're in it, you become part of it. +

+ All across the (colossally huge number of) worlds of the setting, the planets and ships are mostly immersed in a soup of nano-machines that infest the materials around you and the very air you breathe. So far, so dystopian; but as you read more into it, it's all surprisingly – refreshingly – neutral. Far from there being a centralised robot hivemind, it seems more of an extended internet with a very accurate set of algorithms. Most humans require implants to integrate – much like an on-board internet browser – and the IMTel itself is a gestalt of their thoughts and experiences together with the colossal number of machine intelligences (and aliens) that make up day-to-day society. Y'know, an actual hive or swarm mind, with no single controlling intelligence. +

'Driven by the collective desires, needs and anxieties of its citizens, the IMTel of a world simply does what is best for everyone.'

'Taking everything into the balance, the IMTel is unable to make mistakes'

[Beyond the Gates of Antares rulebook]

+ The rulebook's narrative 'voice of god' mostly plays the above straight – for the members of the PanHuman Concord, the largest of these sort of societies, and one of the prime movers of the game background, the life of most members appears utopian. Fortunately, however there are a lot of those very British smirks at authority in the rulebook – mostly in the little bits of colour text and in-universe quotes – that make it clear there's very definitely more than one point of view... +

+ That's not to say, however, that the PanHuman Concord is evil, either. One of the things I'm finding very appealing is the fact that while you could just as easily base your Concord Combined Command, or C3, (the military arm of the PanHuman Concord) army that leans towards a Matrix-like local IMTel, with humans largely subjugated and exploited; or a more neutral one that plays around with the themes of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World; or a genuinely optimistic Star Trek-like post-scarcity society. +

+ For a game ostensibly about recreating fictional future war, then, the background raised some very interesting implications of questions about how the IMTel tallies up with freedoms and liberties; of how a benevolent dictator's intentions marry up with the messiness of real life – and more besides. In short, it's a very rich setting – and that's within just one faction. +

+++

+ Show me the models +

+ Well, quite. +

PanHuman Concord Strike Squad

+ Starting as a simple palette cleanser between other projects, I've enjoyed painting these models. I put my thoughts on building them in an earlier inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. In terms of colour scheme, I used a similar approach for my Lamb's World Guard, but wanted to include some more eye-catching visual 'pop' – something usually outside my wheelhouse for regular  puny hu-mans. +

+ With the scheme decided, I looked at techniques. I probably wouldn't have opted for edge highlighting for these figures (given their size, it's easy to make them look crude and blocky, which didn't fit with the background) except for the fact that the models I'm most excited about for the setting – the creepy biomechanical Isorians – have much more organic shapes, and I want to contrast the two styles. Since the Isorians won't allow for edge highlighting, it seemed okay to use it here sparingly. +

+ Being quite slight, the figures painted up quickly. I got the squad of eight completed in two evenings' work. The detail's sharp enough, though there are a few softer areas that required a bit of head scratching on whether to add an edge highlight or not. +

WIP shot – after one evening's painting.

+ The group above show the basic scheme. Granite-grey hard armour and weapon casings, and desert yellow for most of the remainder. I've added a few patches of camouflage to the helm and upper arms, on a whim more than anything planned. It adds a little visual interest. +

+ In terms of other colours, I've used a blue-grey for the visors and sights,  hints of gold as metallics, and flashes of purple, green and orange for accents. Using all the secondary colours gives a balanced, unthreatening palette, and keeping the accents small helps to ensure they don't overwhelm the overall scheme. +

+ The group above show three members with plasma rifles and one with a plasma lance – a specialist weapon. I've marked it out with a different colour glow – quite refreshing to colour code things on a whim after many years of working out what colour X 'should be'. I think the scheme's got a nice semi-realistics/semi-fantasy feel that fits for me. +

Test figure

+ The final scheme varies little from the test figure above. I substituted gold for silver on the test figure, and changed the gold plate above the visor in favour of extending the camouflage area. +

+ I'm not really intending to do a giant army of C3 for gaming. These were fun, but I think I'd like to explore some of the other factions. Isorians were the ones that had the biggest vissceral appeal to me, and I've got a few on order. Given that I'm unlikely to find anyone local or in the PCRC (my gaming group) to spontaneously pick up the game, I thought it'd be nice to have a squad or two of each for small games. That way, if I manage to twist any of my friend's arms, I've got little preset forces to play with – a bit more like a boardgame than a full tabletop wargaming experience. +

+ It was with that in mind that I opted for a desert basing scheme. It allows them to be folded into my Lamb's World Imperial Guard army if it never takes off – but more pertinently, the light-coloured bases will contrast wonderfully with my planned Isorian scheme. +

Other half of the squad

+ The green icons above the heart mark rank. The 'First' (leader) has a little triangle to hint at the C3 (see what I did there?), the others a largely abstract sigil of dots and a line. +

+ Although I say the squad is finished, it's worth noting that BtGoA includes lots of drones – little flitting machine intelligences that enhance your squads in various ways. I think they're a nice way to differentiate these spacemen with laser guns from my lower-tech Imperial Guard armies, so I'm planning to paint up a few – they come on the same sprues, so it's just a case of building 'em. +

+++

+ Making my own army +

+ Part of the appeal of the game is its largely blank slate nature. Despite a hiatus caused by events in the real world, the background is continuing to be expanded and built. There's lots of space to build and develop the story as you wish to. +

+ Indeed, there are a huge number of open doors even within one faction's background. The Concord is a colossal place – millions of worlds – but it's not a monolithic culture. Because of the nature of its integrated technology,  the 'future internet' requires physical interaction – world to spacecraft, spacecraft to world – in order to stay roughly aligned. +

+ Extended isolation from other Concord worlds sees the local IMTel evolve slightly to better serve its own needs, just like a geographically isolated animal species will start to evolve away from a common ancestor. You need continual interpollination to prevent these 'shards' (as the individual groups – worlds, factions, even military squads – are called) from diverging too far. Small divergences are gradually diluted away when meeting again but, to reiterate, there's not a central government or centralised leader that decides. Instead, integration, development and agreement is unconsciously decided upon by the involved IMTel shards until a compromise is reached. +

Worlds can protect themselves against Concord nanospore by not allowing their technology to interface with it, but the Concord technology enjoys the advantage of total integration, allowing it to overcome resistance given time. The surest defence against contamination comes in the form of nanites called nanophages designed to identify and destroy unrecognised intruder nanospore. Ultimately, if sufficient Concord nanospore can be generated to become a self-sustaining shard, they will inevitably overcome any planetary defence and form a nanosphere, after which the world effectively becomes part of the PanHuman Concord.

So, perhaps the worlds of the Determinate have good reason to fear the IMTel civilisations. The IMTel itself is devoid of ambition and malice yet is intolerant and pitiless. Although IMTel technology is highly prized, contact with the IMTel nations is risks absorption: it is safest to acquire it through intermediaries such as the Freeborn who are capable of sterilising the technologies attachment to its parent IMTel.

[Beyond the Gates of Antares rulebook]

+ Background-wise, that's intriguing and full of depth to explore. In terms of tabletop gaming, it sets up some good opportunities for fighting! And on that note, here are a couple more shots. +