Dias Ex Machina Games

Hello peoples out there!
I had an idea for a quest/adventure or whatever you want to call it
Basically its on the premise of an underwater bridge that stretches from (what was) North America to somewhere in Europe (Spain maybe).
The tunnel is a remnant from hight of human kind before the 2nd Hammer of God, which miraculously survived all the changes of the Earth and is still intact. The tunnel was built so it would never need matenance (or have some kind of super advanced automated repair robots). There is evidence of the tunnel having lighting (light fixtures and such), but these have long since broken and are worthless. Due to the tunnel's sheer size and the presence of algae and other flora (or is it fauna? or something else?) there is no shortage of breathable air, although it is stale and old smelling/tasting (along with the saltiness).
Now the entrances of both ends have been lost. The one in NA could be somewhere around where washington DC used to be, and the other one could be anywhere on the opposite continent. The actual tunnel is perfectly straight, no bends of any kind. but as it moves away from land initially, it slopes downwards (not a straight drop, something less than 45 degrees from the horizon) then levels out further away at sea.
The tunnel itself is huge. It was able to have enough room for multiple lanes of cars (maybe something ungodly like 24 lanes), but with plenty of space in between the pavement and the top of the tunnel (50-100 feet maybe? something that would make anyone say 'woah'), and 4 train "tubes" underneath that (i was thinking these could be that vacuum train that was being planned a while back), and although the trains are useless now, the tubes still could have a vacuum or not.
As the tunnel makes its way across the sea, it will go through huge undersea mountains (in which the whole tunnel is cast into darkness (although there might be some kind of algae that gives off light that could grow all through out the tunnel)) and when in the open sea, the sides could be transparent (super-thick glass or something) that will alternate from being all of the tunnel (when over a fault or underwater canyon) to strips of glass (when just in empty sea). Because of this change from under ground to underwater change, the EDF will fluctuate inside the tube as well (from being normal levels close to short to being almost non-existant when underground or in emtpy water).
There are three "stops" along the tunnel, each one placed in perfect incriments from each other (the whole tunnel is divided into 4 parts, with a "stop" at the border of each segment). These stops will be like small cities that exist in this underwater tunnel (residential areas, stores, parks, etc). There could also be small pools of water (one of the "stops" could be at a lower elevation than the rest of the tunnel and it flooded there somehow). These pools could have sea life, underground or aquatic monsters, or just be empty pools of water, filled with debris.
aand thats it.
sorry for the length and all the little notes.
its not perfect and im new to this.
comment please!

Run it with your adventuring group and share with us what happens.

And, welcome to the boards.

I agree with Kallian. Run it and tell us how it all went down.

I will make a few comments (and that's all they are) that you can use to help you create a better story:

I never went into detail the extent of mankind's development before he fell, so go ahead and assume what you like. I will say that an underground tunnel across the Atlantic is a mighty venture. It also had to have been one hell of a construct since nothing else of man survived either...no temples, no pyramids, not even Mount Rushmore. Of course..."ROBOTS" kind of explains a lot of that.

It's doubtful the tunnel would ferry cars. They thought of this when they planned the "chunnel." What happens is a massive build-up of carbon monoxide from gas burning vehicles would have no way of escaping without an extremely costly circulation system. Bullet trains would be the most likely option. Plus the fact that even with three cities in this tunnel, no car ever built could drive that distance before running out of fuel or electricity.

Chances are such a tunnel would link from New York to England or France, not Spain. Think of this politically.

Oxygen is created by plants utilizing photosynthesis. So plant life in this tunnel or this far down would not produce oxygen naturally...unless they were magical. Also...regardless of magic, though pure water is transparent, ocean water is not. There is no sunlight at the bottom of the ocean, so no glass walls. And its flora, not fauna...fairly certain fauna don't produce oxygen, they expel carbon dioxide and fart methane...thats about it.

No one would build a tunnel perfectly straight that length. It would have to follow terrain of the Atlantic. You should ride the MTR station in Hong Kong sometime.

If you create an underwater city, name one Star Oceana. Call it a personal favor.

In Grade 10, we were given an assignment to create a futuristic city. Everyone expected me to create some space city, so I threw them a curve and did one underwater, Star Oceana. It was a three domed city at the bottom of the Atlantic with two industrial facilities and a residential one. It also had bubble nets which kept in their food supply. It ran natural sunlight from artificial bulbs that helped psychologically and assisted the growth of plant life inside the domes. It ran a single massive tunnel simply called "the cable" that connected between the city to Sao Miguel in the Azores. I picked the Azores because it was smack in the middle of the Atlantic, allowing a relatively short distance for the tunnel. The cable had a single two-rail train system as well as several larger vacuum tubes for supplies and the ferrying of mineral ores, which was the city's primary export. There was a massive network underneath the city where the titanium and silver ores were dug. There was no glass on the domes. They were triple hulled and reinforced by the lovely invented material "plastisteel".

Did I mention I was 15 when I wrote this?

I drew like 9 images, a cross section of the "cable" as well as a forward plan on how the city would look in 100 years time. I got 60 out of 30 (yup) and nudged my final grade in Social Studies to a B.

Tap that story for all its worth...

_________________
“I despise stallions. I ride them as I ride an ugly noble women--smiles for appearances and politics only. Stallions. All personality with no depth. They prance like ponies and trot with arrogance. I always say, respect your mules most of all. A stallion may lead with the king and gather the eyes, but a mule will follow behind…and carry your kingdom.”
Tsarevick Kazaan
Amethyst D20

http://www.diasexmachina.com

wow
I didn't think of any of that stuff. Thank you slipstream and kallien for your input. Lets see if I can defend myself here (or make some changes)...

Well for one, yes I know that nothing of mankind's achievements survived but, being underwater, a tunnel would have to deal with a lot less environmental factors than something on land would. I know there might be some tectonic movement (and a fault runs right across where my tunnel wants to be too T.T), so instead of a tunnel complete spanning the ocean, maybe two sections that have been divided and some how kept water from flooding the tunnels. I know I said robots too, but that wasn't suppose to be a big thing, like the tunnel's survival depended on robots.
And going to the part on mankind's advancement before falling. You did leave a lot of leeway here, hinting that mankind may have advanced enough for interplanetary travel and colonization, so maybe a tunnel that can span an ocean was attainable then (It could even be a partially built tunnel too). Plus, on the matter of carbon monoxide build-up, maybe man had developed more environmentally friendly cars like they are trying to do now.
For the glass sections... I don't want to get rid of those. Perhaps when the tunnel was operating fully, they had floodlights at certain intervals, showing off the ocean splendor. Now as adventuring individuals wander the tunnel, all they can see is blackness and maybe the occasional sea monster (a large glowing one would be even better though, now that I think about it =D )
And I will gladly name a city Star Oceana. Thats one less name to come up with (I'm horrible at naming things Many a Frank have walked through St. Shiretown with me ^.^;;)

I think that covers everything. And don't hold back on the bashing and criticizing! I am more than open to constructive (and destructive) criticism.
And for adventuring groups...
I am a relatively new person to this, and there is no one anywhere near where I live (or can afford to get too T.T) who plays on a regular basis, and definately none who have heard of Amethyst or Dias Ex Machina (Machine of the Goddess?).
Woe is the lonely crawler T.T

I have a few things to volunteer. First: Despite the prospects of alternative fuels, there will never be a power system that will enable a car to traverse the Atlantic on a single tank/charge. Further, the entire operation would only need to have one car accident to halt millions of cars driving on the route. Trains would be the only option...seriously.


And drop the glass...

_________________
“I despise stallions. I ride them as I ride an ugly noble women--smiles for appearances and politics only. Stallions. All personality with no depth. They prance like ponies and trot with arrogance. I always say, respect your mules most of all. A stallion may lead with the king and gather the eyes, but a mule will follow behind…and carry your kingdom.”
Tsarevick Kazaan
Amethyst D20

http://www.diasexmachina.com

Nooooooo! I don't want to. I want to use it now as part of a creep-out factor. Adventurers won't know its glass until a huge underwater monster swims by it and they see it because their torchlight (or other means of lighting) illuminates the monster swimming past them.

And its the future... Kinda... So really anything is possible, seeing as no one can predict the future, and what is going to be around. Maybe they were powered by mirconuclear reactors. Or Mr. Fusion. They got to get them gigawatts somehow. (sorry, couldn't resist).
I will agree though, that trains are much more feasible (at this point in time). But of the plans I have heard about, where trains would go under the Atlantic, the tubes they would be in will be under a vacuum and the trains using magnetic rails (or what ever you want to call it).

Trust me, no matter how much you like an idea, nothing is worth that horrific moment went you try something you think is neat and it gets laughed off as a horrific cliche. Nothing you do after can defuse that bomb.

And yes, I have heard about other long-distance tunnels. In every situation, the tubes have been air-right, and for use with trains only. It simple makes scientific sense. But hey, your game, your rules...

_________________
“I despise stallions. I ride them as I ride an ugly noble women--smiles for appearances and politics only. Stallions. All personality with no depth. They prance like ponies and trot with arrogance. I always say, respect your mules most of all. A stallion may lead with the king and gather the eyes, but a mule will follow behind…and carry your kingdom.”
Tsarevick Kazaan
Amethyst D20

http://www.diasexmachina.com

I see your point there...

And just to put it out there clearly, I am really glad this got taken apart and nit-picked through. It was the whole point of me putting it up here and asking for criticisms.

And I had another idea about something from the book, where it talks about humans that had fled to another planet, and having something "alien" arriving at earth. Just an idea though.

Do tell...

_________________
“I despise stallions. I ride them as I ride an ugly noble women--smiles for appearances and politics only. Stallions. All personality with no depth. They prance like ponies and trot with arrogance. I always say, respect your mules most of all. A stallion may lead with the king and gather the eyes, but a mule will follow behind…and carry your kingdom.”
Tsarevick Kazaan
Amethyst D20

http://www.diasexmachina.com

O.o
No its alright.
Thats as far as I got anyways.