The Forge of Weeks

Hi, I'm @theforgeofweeks, this is a sideblog I run; @locallyramifiedprime is techinically my main, but I use it far far less.

I've always been interested the idea of keeping game journals. Ideally I would keep them physically but with a physical object, I would worry too much about messing it up in some way. I also find it difficult to keep up motivation for it long term, even if I want to do it. So I'm trying out doing it digitally. In that vein, most of what I post here will be something like a game journal for some of the games I am currently playing and feel able to make that sort of content for.

If you are interested in reading any of what I've written, I'll link the start of some of my projects below. I may eventually go in and add links between the posts so you can go through them in order, but for now that hasn't been done.

Subnautica: Starting 5 days before the crash on 4546B. Haven't counted exactly, but I think it's roughly 80 - 90 posts?

I am also a very beginner artist and have been teaching myself basics on pen and paper, but also trying my hand at digital art inspired by the games I am playing. I'll post some of these with other entries.

Some games I've enjoyed, in no particular order or claims about if I've finished them or will write about them, just for an idea of what I enjoy.

Hollow Knight/Silksong

Scarlet Hollow

Hades I/II

Transistor

Wildermyth

Slay the Spire I/II

Subnautica

Celeste

Sunless Sea/Skies

Factorio

Cultist Simulator/Book of Hours

Stardew Valley

Dredge

Lot's of other games I want to play, some of which I definitely will get around to eventually (Roadwarden, Citizen Sleeper, Disco Elysium, Blue Prince, ...) and some which are unfortunately not supported on Mac (Chants of Sennar, Outer Wilds, Subnautica II, Ori, Rain World, ...), so could be many years until I can play them : (

Thank you so much to everyone who followed along with my (and Ryley's) progress through Subnautica. I first picked Subnautica up 5.5 years ago and really enjoyed it, but ended up getting too busy to complete it and stopped before I got to the Lost River. This is the first non-academic writing project I've done besides some writing when I was much much younger and has also been an inspiration to get into art, both physical and digital, which I have always wanted to do. Posting this has greatly motivated me to see it through to completion, with your help. Overall, my only real complaints with the game are that I wish the PDA would synthesize an entry for each biome with it's actual name and some of the key features. And I feel like the end of the game goes too quickly. Everything went very fast after I made it to the Lost River. Also sometimes the optimization of the game was a problem even with my modern macbook, but such is life. The only bug that really annoyed me was losing my Prawn full of materials to clipping through the map. I would eventually like to play Subnautica Below Zero, but want to take a bit of a break from Subnautica for now.

This is surreal. I’ve finally done it. I’ve built a rocket; I’ve cured myself. I’ve disabled the quarantine platform. Just one week ago I didn’t even think I would survive. And just two months ago I didn’t even know I was carrying a deadly infection.

I’ve been spending some time at Lifepod 5; contemplating how lucky I had to have been to end up in one of the few life pods still floating and end up in the shallows too. It was a rough start, but the PDA did a good job of keeping me alive early on. There’s only so much it can do on a planet like this though and with a bacteria like Kharaa. It’s been luck and in large part the Sea Emperor that got me this far.

I don’t really know where I go from here. I mean, obviously back to “civilization” for now. Someone has to tell their stories. To tell the galaxy about Bart and Ozzy and Captain Quinn and all the rest. And the Kharaa and the cure as well. I worry about what Alterra may do once they find out what is here. But they will clearly send a ship out here eventually. The Aurora already had a mission to find the Degasi. And with the Aurora and the Sunbeam downed as well, it’s only a matter of time until they send someone else out here to find out what happened. As funny as it would be to let Alterra spend all their money crashing into 4546B; it’s not fair to the people on those ships. I just wish I could do something to stop Alterra from coming back. The Precursors weren’t great for the Sea Emperor and the rest of the environment here; I suspect Alterra will be much worse.

Still; there’s no way I’m letting Alterra claim that I’m trillions in debt to them. It’s their fault I was here in the first place. If that’s how they want to treat me; I’ll just leave. Maybe I’ll come back here. Unfortunately, it’s time for me to go now. I probably won’t be able to use my PDA much while I’m on the Neptune. Or maybe I’ll be awake the whole time and have nothing to do but sit in contemplation and stare at the stars. I’ve never been great with predicting interstellar travel times — especially with these new ion drives, so I don’t really know how long I’ll be stuck on here. I suspect it will be long enough I’ll be desperate for real ground and water. Until then… well, there’s always the view.

Finally constructed the rocket boosters. Just took 3 full days to get 1 ion cube. All I need for the cockpit is some table coral. That takes me back to when I had just landed here. And of course I need the Cyclops module fabricator, which is on the Cyclops 1500m down. Luckily I have been remembering the gateway back to the containment facility. And I’m 90% sure I have both table coral and computer chips down there.

. . .

It wouldn’t be another day on 4546B if I wasn’t doing something idiotic and dangerous. I know I definitely put table coral and computer chips both on the Cyclops, but they weren’t there. So I had to go back to the shallows to grab some table coral and back to the Cyclops again. And I risk running into the Reaper near the Quarantine platform every time I make the trip to the Cyclops. I did see them, but luckily they didn’t get too close.

I am so so stupid. And I should be very very dead. First off all, I forgot there was a gateway from the Enforcement Platform to the Thermal Plant, which is where all the easy to get kyanite is. Second. One of those glowing leviathans destroyed my Seamoth the moment I got out so I had to swim all the way from 900m down to the Thermal Plant and just barely made it. And then of course remembered the gateway.

Well, I still don’t want to build a prawn suit. With all the upgrades I need just to get it to the ion cube deposit in the containment facility, it costs nearly half what the rocket does. I’m going to look around the crate and see if I can find any more alien structures.

. . .

Well, my main concern now is I am one ion cube short of what I need for the fuel for the Neptune. My options at this point are either build an entirely new prawn suit or hope I can find the wreckage of the old one somewhere in the lava fields. It should also have all the kyanite I need. I don’t really want to build a whole new prawn suit if I can help it. I’m going to charge up the Cyclops power cells and see if I can find the Prawn.

. . .

I’m impatient, half charged is good enough. I just need enough charge to get like 1/2 km there and back, and ignore the lava larvae. . . .

How is lead of all things the only thing I’m missing the Neptune Launch Platform. Won’t take me long to get, just wasn’t what I was expecting to not have on hand. This would probably be faster if I just made a new Prawn Suit, but if I can make it off this planet without one, I would rather do that.

. . .

I know this will be worth it in the end, but it will be a rough start for these young ones. They are nearly my size already, but they will need to grow fast to survive out here without their mother. It seems the precursors were right. A sufficient quantity of this “enzyme 42” can indeed cure the infection. I’m cured! The sores on my hands are gone and I already feel less tired. That may be the adrenaline rush though. But still, I can feel my fatigue improving already. There was at least a month where I thought this would never happen. It was purely luck that got me this far.

Leaving will be bittersweet. I think without the infection looming over me, I could come to like it here. Especially if the baby Sea Emperors inherit their mother’s telepathy. Alas, I owe it to the crews of the Aurora, the Sunbeam, and the Degasi to make sure everyone knows their fate. And given the data from the Disease Research Facility, it’s possible the quarantine was entirely ineffective. So someone needs to spread awareness of Kharaa and the cure. I can at least start spreading the word.

For now, I’ve disabled the quarantine platform. Next step will be building a rocket; which I suspect means a lot of resource gathering.

I’m struggling to find anything new. I just need some new areas. I remember seeing some inactive gateways in the containment facility, and I haven’t noticed any gateways in my exploration, so maybe they will take me somewhere useful. Probably safer too. Surely they wouldn’t have set up gateways directly to something dangerous. Going to bring my tablets and my ion cubes; I’ve got 4 cubes. I hope I have enough.

Ended up using one cube, but didn’t find anything there. Back at the containment facility, somehow I missed the ventilation shafts last time I was here! The precursors must have understood some part of what it took to keep this ecosystem alive if they went to all this trouble. If only they had been able to see the full picture… I wonder why the Sea Emperor couldn’t speak to them.

. . .

A little bit of sleep is good for the brain. I’m still exhausted, but I did realize there are bulb bushes right outside my habitat — less than 100m away. Apparently they rot quickly too, so will be convenient to just gather them last. That leaves eyestalks, which I’ve definitely seen near a lifepod (maybe 19? I’ll try that first), and the sea crown, which I’ve never seen.

.

.

.

I was right, it was lifepod 19. Had a mild panic attack on the way over here though. I think the attempted trip around the crater messed me up more than I expected. Every time I go over a drop-off I think I’m at the edge of the crater, even though I know there is more ahead of me. I know I’m far away, but some part of me is stuck out there getting chased by leviathans.

Okay, that should have been obvious. I can get a fungal sample from the mushroom trees all around my habitat. I’m not really sure about the rest of these. I feel like I remember them all being fairly deep, but definitely within range of the Sea Moth, so I should be good without the Prawn. I guess that makes sense. The precursors seem to have trapped the Sea Emperor at a different pressure and temperature than the surrounding lava tunnels; perhaps her species is suited for shallow waters (only 100s of meters, not kilometers). At least for hatching.

So this is the Sea Emperor. She seems … radiant…? I don’t have the words.

She says she can help me; that the precursors trapped her here and researched her. Her pleas fell silent because they could not hear her. She tells me if I can help her eggs to hatch, she will give me what I need. I think these may be the same thing to begin with.

. . .

There is a gateway in her tank that leads back to outside the Quarantine Enforcement Platform. I fear there is no way she will fit through, but perhaps her children can be free, once they are hatched. Why trap her here to begin with? Couldn’t they have used an open fence enclosure? I saw they had tracking collars! And they didn’t even set her free before they left. I’ll do what I can to help with the hatching enzymes. I need a few samples from various plants and fungi. Most of them I think shouldn’t be too hard to find. Sea crown seed and a fungal sample will probably be the hard ones.

This is a lot to take in. The Primary Containment Facility is built like a temple, full of symmetry and high ceilings. There seem to be six more gateways, which I don’t have the ion cubes to activate with me right now, since I lost half a dozen in the Prawn suit. And there’s an ion cube deposit in the center of the main chamber, but I can’t use it without the Prawn. I’ve got a few more in the Cyclops, but not enough to open every gateway.

Made it back to my habitat. Immediately collapsed on my bed for hours. I forgot how bad my hands look… I’m normally wearing the suit over them. I really don’t want to put it back on; it makes everything even itchier.

. . .

I ended up making two purple tablets and a blue one. Didn’t have any nickel on me though, so no orange. Anyway, I made it back in one piece. Now let’s see what’s in here.

Lots to sort through. So, Primary Containment Facility (is that where the voice is coming from?) is at 1400m and near here. Or actually, I think I remember a tunnel going down deeper back with the Cyclops. I hope my Cyclops hasn’t been destroyed… It’s got my Modification Station which I need to get deeper. Moving on, apparently the Quarantine Enforcement Platform is taking up over 1/3 of the power this power plant is generating! Also, looks like my PDA figured out a way to use the ion cubes in my tech if I need it. Should give me longer lasting tools if I have the cubes to spare.

I’ve got to get back to the Cyclops now. Which means making it past the Sea Dragon, without accidentally pulling it towards the Cyclops. … I see the Cyclops now, and I don’t see the Sea Dragon! I made it back to the Cyclops and oh F—! There’s a Sea Dragon on the other side of it. And I can’t get the Prawn in to the Cyclops because I turned off the power. I’m going to die here aren’t I.

. . .

Well… I’m still alive. I lost the Prawn. I would say good riddance, except it was loaded full of ion cubes, crystalline sulfur, and kyanite. I managed to do an emergency field swap and upgrade of the Cyclops depth module using the kyanite I had in my pockets. The Cyclops is pretty beat up, and almost out of power, but I managed to get it down in the lava tubes. Luckily it looks like it isn’t far to the Primary Containment Facility, and I think there is another Sea Dragon here, but it seems to be ignoring me.

That went fast.

I grabbed 9 of those ion cubes; the whole deposit. I’m almost running out of room. But I can use them to make more tablets once I get back to the Cyclops. Assuming I have diamonds, nickel, and kyanite to spare. Moving deeper into the Thermal Plant now though. The next room over has one of those giant archways and a pedestal that wants an ion cube. Oh! It’s a teleport! I guess I shouldn’t be shocked. There’s been teleporting robot fish. Why not teleport people too. Where am I though; just below sea level apparently (well, as much as 90m can be considered just below). Oh, looks like the Quarantine Enforcement Platform. Okay, going back and heading deeper.

Why! Why do I never have the tablets I need. I brought a Purple and an Orange. I use a Purple, got a Blue; and now I need another Purple! I’m so tired of this. I can just see the main power plant taunting me in there. And Purple takes diamonds, which means I probably have to go find diamonds somewhere, or at least go back to my habitat, because I don’t think I put any on the Cyclops. Would it have killed the aliens to set their doors to a 100 year unlock timer. Or a master key somewhere.

I’m going to sit here and rest for a bit. I need somewhere safe to decompress for a bit. I know I’ve been going non-stop for a bit, but I feel more tired than I should, even given that.

. . .

Wait! The gateway!! I don’t have to go back through the Sea Dragon! Or back to the Cyclops! It’s still a bit of a trek, but at least it’s safe.

I found the Thermal Plant. I managed to make it past the warpers and lava lizards and get inside. I think I’m safe here. I know any angry leviathan can knock one of these down, but the Sea Dragons would have to get through a huge amount of actually kind of crumbly lava tubes first. Okay… now I don’t feel quite as safe… But they don’t have any reason to try to knock out the Thermal Plant.

There’s strange robotic spiders here. They seem modeled after the those spiders that were crawling all over the Aurora. I wonder what they do. Also found some giant deposits of ion cubes and a blue tablet, that’s a new color.