copilot: first pass

.copilot/development-log.md

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+# Development Log - Echo Legion / Warpforged Faction
+
+## Original Concept Discussion
+
+### Initial Post (User)
+- Fan faction for Warhammer 40k, tentatively called "Warpborn"
+- Civilian world with STC caches lost to Warp few thousand years ago
+- Local militia and Astartes deployment also lost
+- World was essentially a "Forge World" with great machines and STCs
+- Soldiers fell to Chaos, but civilians held firm with Mechanicus maintaining equipment
+- Made vow to protect geneseed when last Astartes fell
+- Evolved over time, gained reality-altering powers bound by materialist beliefs
+- Primary ability: short-range teleportation ("warp") - 30ft max in realspace
+- Reverse-engineered Astartes armor into lighter exoskeletons
+- Swore never to "warp" the protected geneseed/artifact
+- Eventually found way back to Materium
+
+### ChatGPT Suggestions
+- Recommended "Echo Legion" name as fitting
+- Suggested they be "echoes of their lost world"
+- Questions about relationship with Imperium, Chaos Gods, Mechanicus
+- Name alternatives: Materiarchs, Ironborn, Warpstriders, Echo Legion
+
+### User Clarifications - Relationships
+- **Imperium**: Not enemies, not allies - know they may be attacked as "Warp-tainted"
+- **Astartes Chapter**: Suspicion and hostility, but eventual cooperation
+- **First Contact Scenario**: Echo Legion emerges behind embattled Astartes, helps defeat common enemy
+- Detailed dialogue of first meeting, presenting armor clearly based on Astartes design
+- Present artifact: "We believe in facts, not falsehoods. Falsehoods get you killed in the warp"
+- **Chaos Gods**: Viewed as lies, immaterial things that can't be proven
+- **Mechanicus**: Initially heretical, but grudging cooperation when STCs revealed
+
+## Combat Doctrine Development
+
+### User's Vision
+- Born/raised/trained in Warp = enhanced awareness like "video game processing"
+- Hyper-mobility focused, energy weapons primarily
+- Tech priests from original vanishing now serve as historians/educators in colonies
+- Warp time dilation: short time for them = potentially pre-Age of Strife disappearance
+- Absolute momentum control when teleporting
+- Aesthetics: Astartes + pre-Mechanicus, brutal but functional and field-maintainable
+
+### ChatGPT Refinements
+- Enhanced perception through Warp adaptation
+- Predictive combat algorithms
+- Suggested energy weapon types (plasma, volkite)
+
+### Weapon System Evolution
+- **Echo Pattern Lasguns**: Modified to draw from exoskeleton power
+- High damage point-blank (cripple Astartes), medium damage at range, ineffective long range
+- **Power System Specialization**: Las/Volkite/Plasma require different armor configurations
+- **Modular but Limited**: Can cross-use with penalties (burnout, power drain, incompatibility)
+
+## Armor Class System Development
+
+### User's Three-Tier System
+1. **Light Exo-Armor**: Balance ranged/melee, primarily mid-short range
+2. **Medium Exo-Armor**: Distance focus, "get-off-me" melee weapons  
+3. **Heavy Exo-Armor**: Either pure ranged OR sword-and-shield melee specialist
+
+### ChatGPT Expansion
+- Detailed roles, weapons, mobility, and tactics for each class
+- Light = Skirmishers/Assault
+- Medium = Fire Support/Tactical Response  
+- Heavy = Frontline Breakers/Defensive Bastions
+
+### User Refinements
+- **Power System Integration**: Las/Volkite/Plasma determining armor type
+- **Cross-compatibility Issues**: Volkite thrusters on Las = excessive consumption, etc.
+- **Field Maintenance**: Screwdriver-level repairs vs Astartes complexity
+
+## Naming Issues Identified
+
+### Problems
+- "Vestroya" too close to canon "Vostroya" - confusion risk
+- Astartes chapters didn't exist pre-Age of Strife - lore conflict
+
+### Solutions Discussed
+- **Planet Names**: Orelis Prime, Daskara, Velkaris, Erethos, etc.
+- **Faction Names**: Warpforged, Riftborn, Iron Calculus, etc.  
+- **Oath Recipients**: Mechanicum Protectorate, Thunder Warriors, Rogue Trader Dynasty, Federation of Man
+
+## Key Documents Generated
+
+### First Complete Writeup
+- Combined all discussed elements
+- Focused on history, first contact, combat doctrine, technology, philosophy
+- Established relationship dynamics with various Imperial factions
+
+### Expanded Writeup  
+- Added more detail on armor classes
+- Expanded technology and Mechanicus relationship sections
+- Clarified philosophy and Chaos resistance
+
+### Final Comprehensive Version
+- Massive detail expansion incorporating all discussed elements
+- Full society structure, notable figures, vehicle specs
+- Detailed combat tactics and faction relationships
+- Future plot hooks and threats
+
+## Core Elements to Preserve
+1. **Three Armor Tiers** (Las/Volkite/Plasma) - User emphasized multiple times
+2. **Materialist Philosophy** - "The Constants" as non-deities
+3. **Warpstride Ability** - 30ft teleportation with momentum control
+4. **STC Preservation** - Three intact STCs as major plot element
+5. **Modular Technology** - Field-repairable but with power system limitations
+6. **Anti-Chaos Stance** - View Chaos Gods as lies, effects as provable phenomena
+7. **Complex Imperial Relations** - Neither ally nor enemy, valuable but suspicious
+
+## User Preferences Noted
+- Wants detailed expansion incorporating "EVERYTHING"
+- Prefers practical, functional technology over mystical elements
+- Emphasizes field maintenance and modularity in equipment design
+- Values logical consistency in power systems and capabilities
+- Wants faction to feel unique but grounded in 40k universe