My IST Blog

[Last Free Human]

Finally got around to scraping it together after two yars of crazy work deadlines and general life suck:
http://istaleph.wordpress.com/

If anyone is interested. Not much yet, but I expect to add to it bit by bit...

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Bob Schroeck]

I like those logos... very nice. We couldn't/can't use the original UN logo in IST because of legal reasons -- the U.N. won't let it be associated with any commercial venture, to put it briefly -- but I can't help but wonder if those are different enough to get around that...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Last Free Human]

Thanks. I can always alter them a bit if we need to.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Last Free Human]

Added some more examples of the IST Embassy/Squad logos, my versions of the rank insignia and a quick bit about placement of emblems on IST member uniform sleeves. Not canonical, but I liked the look of them. Not sure I will use the UN emblem patch as is, but haven't figured out if I want to change it to be more IST specific.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Mamorien]

In set 3, the IST Toronto patch would actually be IST Ottawa, and in my current analysis of embassy placement, the IST St. Petersburg one is a historical artifact. (Russia lost enough population from the breakup of the USSR that two of its embassies closed -- tentatively, Irkutsk and St. Pete. I need to update the placement thread to reflect that, I know.)

EDIT: And Edmonton might actually be a better place for the western-Canada embassy than Regina (my first choice), and I can't remember if you've said anything about Threshold.

[Last Free Human]

Easy enough to change for the Toronto/Ottawa patch. I have an IST Edmonton in my parallel because that's where my cousin went to school and I created an IST team with her in mind for a Play-By-Internet Heroes vs. Zombies game. I used IST St. Petersberg because it sounds nice on the tongue. Is there another not Moskow city there that qualifies for an embassy?

IST Threshold is from my setting notes, it was built after the Y2K War tpo try and figure out why the Ancient Astronauts tried to bomb the crap out of the Marianas Trench; partially sponsored by James Cameron:

IST Threshold
An IST Embassy/Research Facility built above the deepest part of the Marianas Trench, where the Ancient Astronauts spent forty-eight hours bombing the area heavily for reasons unknown, and from where an unknown force decimated the invaders. IST Threshold is led by Doctor Pearl Moore and her husband Tashiro Yamato, the former IST members Black Pearl and Mount Fuji. IST Threshold is at least partially funded by famed Hollywood director and producer James Cameron. IST Threshold is a fully functional artificial city built on the seas thanks to Cameron and his team of inventors.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Mamorien]

Moscow definitely has an embassy because it's Russia's capitol, but I figured St. Pete was close enough to Moscow and Murmansk that they'd have its territory covered.

It'd need a different justification in canon, but Threshold sounds like a worthy project. And the notion of Pearl and Fuji getting together is surprising but sweet.

[Last Free Human]

How many Embassies total does Russia have? I could change St. Pete's to Murmansk.

Yeah, the Pearl/Fuji thing occurred to me as a result of her trying to reform him. I try to throw the human moments into the story occasionally.

The justification for Threshold could be ret-conned into anything, really. Disturbing undersea seismic activity, bizarre localized weather disruptions, mysterious Unidentified Aquatic Objects, "bloops", etc.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Mamorien]

Four: one for Moscow and three for its population of 136 million. In the IST placement thread down in the development forum, I kept Murmansk, Yakutsk, and Yekaterinenburg (which I decided was the "Sverdlovsk" Bob listed in the sidebar on p.IST15, because the other Sverdlovsk is in Ukraine and I figured Odessa had that covered).

And there's a potential justification on Bob's 1990s timeline: the kaiju attack on Tokyo in 1997.

[Last Free Human]

Hah! I was just about to ask when that Tokyo kaiju attack happened! Thanks. For a device designed to organize information I cant find a damned thing on my laptop.

The kaiju attack not only justifies that, but it helps with my IST parallel's timeline as the various stripes of kaiju are weapons of mass destruction used by the Ancient Astronauts.

I also dug up my copy of Supers Adventures and found the Kraken Incident to add to my "One With Everything" timeline.

I need to check out your IST placement thread. Might have to adjust some of my assumptions on IST placements.

Thanks.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Mamorien]

In the immortal words of John Freeman who is Gordon Freeman's brother, thanks I could help.

I didn't have a copy of Supers Adventures until I decided to participate in this project, but a quick trip to Warehouse 23 remedied that. I vote for including "Mark of the Kraken" and "Web of the Zyrani" as part of the history. "Jupiter Blues" takes place in the future, but the safe spots on Io were discovered in 2012; we can and probably should drop that into the timeline.

[Last Free Human]

I agree wholeheartedly, with the exception that I liked the NPC villains from Jupiter Blues as well as the Raveners. They could easily be ret-conned into a modern day IST game with little loss of fidelity.

Green Dawn is a nice addition to the sort of politically motivated villain/anti-hero opposition that would make great fun for the PC's.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Mamorien]

I decided to do a "flags of the world" image search so I could identify the national flag seen in the "IST Sleeve Insignia Placement" post. It's either Monégasque or Indonesian; the red is the right hue for the former, but for all I know, that's an artifact of the graphics program used.

[Last Free Human]

Indonesia. I need to modify these a bit sometime soon, typically it looks like the name of the nation is usually above the flag as well as the flag being above the UN symbol. Busy week at work though, I have a character write up to add to the site but haven't had the time to do the art for it yet.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Bob Schroeck]

Wow. You've been busy since the last time I managed to check the blog.

Love the London patch. I need to show that to Helen, maybe the Warriors will steal it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Last Free Human]

Thanks. Yeah, I had a relatively long stretch of not-work to indulge some of my ideas.

If you'd like I can send you a jpg of just the London one.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Bob Schroeck]

Ah, no need. I was speaking facetiously.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mamorien]

LFH is evidently not one to toot his own horn, so I will: the latest post at the Aleph blog has logos for QES, Green Dawn, and the Church of God in America, and they are way cool.

[Last Free Human]

Thanks, Mamorien, much appreciated, glad you like. I'm trying to come up with one for THAMF, TRADE and third thing.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Bob Schroeck]

Indeed they are. I wish I had that kind of imaginative flair when it came to graphic design...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mamorien]

*low whistle of impressed appreciation* He did multiple THAMF logos, as well as providing a list of what they've done post-Wall in his campaign. How many of those events can you use if he makes them available? And how many of them, for that matter, is he willing to make available?

EDIT to remove eerily apt typo caused by dragging a pronoun one point too far.

[Bob Schroeck]

Niiiice
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Last Free Human]

All the stuff I am putting up there is available for Bob to use. Like I say in the about section, this is more about my love letter to the IST setting than anything else.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Last Free Human]

Oh, right, added a Twitter feed for IST World news updates.

I wish I could say I have no life...but I do...which is why I only get to work on this stuff in the wee hours.

m
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

[Last Free Human]

Added a few more bits to the site.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)