Minla's Flowers [Part I: Mission Interrupted]
Creator: Z3K3 || First Published: 02/24/2023 || Players: 2 || Size: 36x20
Categories: None
Rating: 1.50 in 2 ratings
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Comments:
Z3K3 (02/24/2023 10:30pm | Edited: 03/26/2023 01:29am):
This map was inspired by the sci-fi short story "Minla's Flowers" by Alastair Reynolds.
This is part one of a series of maps I've created to accompany the story.

The story follows the journey of Merlin and his AI ship, Tyrant, as they took damage while travelling the Way Net, a vast
interstellar "highway" of sorts. They are forced to make an emergency landing on a peculiar planet with floating chunks of
land ripped up from the ground below, miles in length casting long shadows and with an enormous armored sky surrounding
the world, shattered, given the damage -- presumably by a dangerous alien race known as The Huskers. Soon he encounters
the Skylanders and in an attempt to show peace, Merlin has Tyrant print him some flowers from a distant planet as a
symbolic offering. During their confrontation he learns their commander is named Malkoa, of their war with the people of the
ground, the Shadowlanders, and meets Malkoa's child daughter, Minla. Merlin presents the indigo flowers to Minla and she is
enchanted by them. A tentative friendship is formed and Merlin prints different flowers for Minla regularly and tells her stories
of the planets they come from, despite her being unable to understand him. Some days pass as Merlin uses Tyrant to help
synthesize a life-saving medicine, attempt to decipher the Skylander language, and make the slow, necessary repairs to
itself, when the ship discovers an anomaly with the Way Net -- it has become untethered in this region of space and its
shifting will eventually cut through the sun of his newfound friends ... in seventy years.

Using Tyrant to print out the necessary knowledge materials to advance their civilization to the point of space travel and leave
the planet before its destruction, Merlin urges the importance of working together, to forget their war and focus on a joint effort
to escape the solar system. Accepting the materials, the Skylanders promise Merlin they will study them with their greatest
minds, though they express reluctance to share this knowledge given to them with the Shadowlanders. At first, Merlin plans to
leave -- but after an interaction with Malkoa just before departure, he changes his mind. In order to see it through to the end
and guide them along the years, Merlin enters Tyrant's frostwatch chamber to sleep and be awakened in twenty years to
ensure their progress remains true.
Meanwhile...the conflict continues...


For Part II, see here: [pending]

[[[PLAY MAP INFO:]]]
[[[1v1 thematic 2Q rotational map]]]
Slight asymmetries to create the effect of the Skylands (floating islands) and the Shadowlands (the ground below where the
massive lands above were ripped from and now enshadow). The asymmetries should be negligible in effect, a willing sacrifice
for the visual effect I was aiming for; if any are egregious, comment below.

.:::Thematic rules... (low technology era)
Banned units: Stealth, Bbomb, Piperunner, Bomber, Fighter, Megatank, Neotank, Rockets, & Missiles.




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