[RP] Cloudsville's Space Empire RP -- Discussion thread

[Harmony Ltd.]

So, in order to begin giving people ideas, here's a fraction of what I've come up with...

The Stellar Nation

Praised be the Holy Flame, the Life-That-We-All-Share.
Revered be it, for it is the link that unite us all.
For the Prophet was revealed the glory of the Flame;
And as [The Prophet] shared [The Flame's] wisdom with all willing to hear ;
Together shall we be [The Flame's] instrument, for the good of all.

-- translation of the opening verses of the Doxa's first Sura.

Living among the stars, in gigantic starships, they roam the galaxy, never settling in one place, always on the move.
Everywhere they can be found, exploring, trading, exchanging goods and ideas.
They are composed of so many different kinds that counting them would be futile.
Their culture is ever changing, and more diverse than a human mind could conceive.


They are the Community. They are the Stellar Nation.


///---------
The Doxa is :
1 – The Religion
2 – The Holy Scriptures
3 – The “Government” and its body of law
of the Stellar Nation
///---------


---+++---


“How's life in the Community, you ask me? Well... First, I hope you don't mind confined spaces? Gonna miss those blue skies? And the wind? ... Sure, we have those parks and bio-dome in every ship, but that's never just -quite- like the real thing...
“Having an open-mind is also a requirement – you wouldn't believe all the crazy things I saw since I converted ten years ago. Some of the old-timers are real numbers themselves! For example, I know of one Hzy'Lonh – strange creature by the way, takes almost half a ship by itself, but I've never heard a better rendition of “My Way”... – a Hzy'Lonh I was saying, who claims to have been one of the first converts of the Prophet back in the day. Refuse to tell how he was like, though...
“Oh, and while we're on it, another thing: learn to get along, man. If not you're going to bang your head on the walls faster than it takes to say 'brainfart'. Trust me, you're going in for a rough culture shock with all the weirdness around.”

-- Djiddy “Hal” Saud, ex-mercenary, member of the “Unmistakably There” commune's [1] security forces.

[1] : “commune”: designation of the Community's basic social unit of one habitat-ship and its microcosm society. Named after the ship that host it.


---+++---


“How was the 'Nation' 'born' exactly? Well, that's an interesting story I hear...
“As the story goes, it is said that the Prophet, before the Revelation, was a merchant operating from The Hub. He was part of a caravan that roamed the galaxy, exchanging goods and stuff around, for a tidy profit of course. From what they say, he was already living more or less like we do today, never really setting down anywhere, always on the move.
“So, some day his caravan got stranded in the Terminus sector, don't know why or how... Remember, the place's a real pirate nest, and at that time there was no Warp-gate or anything to get you over the shoals. You had to navigate through them the old fashioned way, and risk getting stranded, or worse. To be honest, I always wonder what the hell he was doing there...
“Anyway, predictably, he and his pals got stranded, dropping out of hyperspace in what would later be known as the Home system. And they landed on Revelation to do some repairs. Things happened, the Prophet, blessed be him, Saw The Light, yadda-yadda, we all know the story, as the Doxa goes...
“They managed to get back to civilization, his caravan getting back to business, the Prophet starting preaching about the Flame and his Visions along the way. I guess he was a pretty charismatic individual, as people started following him around on their own ships, most doing trade themselves, and other also starting to preach.
“And it more or less all snowballed from there. The rest you can find in the history books, how the Doxa was founded, the Holy War, all of that.
“But what was he doing in Terminus, it remains an enigma to me. That place is a deathtrap. Either he was really desperate to do business with the Pirates, or there must have been something else drawing him up there...
“I guess you can say that The Flame fated it to be that way, heh?”

-- “Spark”, central AI of the “Over The Rainbow” commune.


---+++---


“[We Bring] Peace Through Overwhelming Firepower”

-- motto of the “Fire Extinguisher”, 3rd 'Pacifier'-class capital ship of the Doxa's Navy


===============



Brief Summary:


“Space Nomads” is the term that would best describe the Stellars (term used to designate the citizens of the Stellar Nation), as almost all of their population live in huge hyperspace-capable habitats, generally hosting hundreds of thousands of citizens, which constantly roam the territories under their control and most of the known galaxy.

The exact number of Stellars and their individual races is a bit difficult to establish, as there is no real central authority keeping an up-to-date census of the population, but it is estimated that there is around 550 billion Stellars scattered around the known galaxy.
Roughly 40% (give or take a few percents) of all Stellars are Terra-descendant humans (humans whose DNA can be traced back to Terra) or descended species (trans-, post-, whatever species that descend from baseline mankind one way or another). This still place them, demographically, as the most important racial group in the Community, which count hundreds of species from the whole Known Galaxy and beyond.

At its root, the Stellar Nation is a socio-political construction, not a racial one, one that existed even before Mankind first reached the stars: As long as you conform to the rules and customs of the Nation you will be accepted in its ranks.

The Nation is united behind the Doxa (the Church/Government of the Nation) in its beliefs in the Flame and in the teachings of the Prophet. The Doxa itself, as a form of government, is difficult to understand for strangers, in part because most of the governmental functions are delegated to the various artificial intelligence running the Community on a day-to-day basis; but also and mostly because by most standards, the Stellar Nation in an Anarchy, in the noble sense of the term, only loosely bound together by their common faith.

Please note that the term “Stellar Nation” is a foreign invention, and that in their own language they only call themselves “The Community”, referring to themselves as an equivalent of "Brother/Sister". An interesting thing to know about them is that their language does not differentiate between male and female gender, or the absence of gender whatsoever, a fact which tend to complicate the work of translators and can mislead strangers not familiar with their culture when they stumble over Stellar works.

In fact, body modifications such as bio-genetic or mechanical enhancements are seen as a part of life by the Community, whose lifestyle is entirely dependent on the continued operation of their century-old vessels. It is interesting to note the relation entertained by the Life-Worshiping Community with its Artificial Intelligences, which are full citizens on a an equal footing with biological ones and which are often given the occasion to use bio-interface, in order to allow them to be closer to the Flame.
If mind-upload is known and sometime practiced by members of the Community, it is culturally regarded as being personally undesirable, as all Believers should aspire for their essence to come back to the Flame when their hour has come. It is however mandatory in the Nation's armed forces, as it is obvious no one is meant to die for such sterile endeavour as warfare.

The Doxa, because it sees psionic abilities as the physical manifestations of The Flame, has a deep respect for psionic people, the Prophet himself being suspected to have been a powerful psionic. As such, and because of literal millenia of encouraging the development of psionic abilities in the population, the Stellar Nation count a higher than average proportion of psi-able individuals than most other powers.

[Harmony Ltd.]

On a more general note:

I wish to assure you that the Stellar Nation has no relationship whatsoever with the pirate activities in the Known Galaxy.

[Scyto Harmony]

Looks awesome, Harmony. I'm working on mine right now.

[Tytan]

So let me get this straight, the point of the RP is to play nations not people?

[Scyto Harmony]

Let me know if this steps on any toes.

The Draco’Iaculus (The Naga)

“The what? I don-- Oh! You mean the Naga? No one calls them the ‘draco-whatever’ unless you’re speaking in their tongue. Yeah, I do lots of business with them. They’re pretty tolerant of other races - but if you want the best discounts then you should bring a Human with you.” - CEO of IOC, Ymen Mandrake

-----------------

Not long after starting to colonize the other systems in their Home Sector, the Naga met an alien race for the first time. A human mining frigate had been damaged and ended up in their corner of space by a matter of mere chance. Immediately the Naga were fascinated with the Humans - their striking physical similarities, their advanced technology, and as they would later learn, the ability to cross-breed with them.

Many centuries later, the Naga refers to both the race, and the Empire. The Naga Empire is made up of Naga, Humans, and their Half-Breed children (although ‘pure’ Naga make up the majority). It is expected of all under the Naga Empire to speak both Draconian and a Human language fluently. Most religions are accepted under the Naga Empire, save for a few, but most Draco’Iaculus worship their own gods. Drugs and Alcohol are strictly forbidden in Naga territory, but that doesn’t stop either from being a highly valuable illegal commodity.

--------------------

Under our Emperor's (Empress') Rule we are all brothers and sisters, if not in blood then in soul.  
-Drac’Iaculus proverb.

-------------------

The Naga Empire is run by an Emperor or Empress, who can be Draco’Iaculus or a Half-Breed (Although most of the nobles in Naga society prefer to keep their bloodlines pure) and a council of Elders which deal with the day to day.

Draco’Iaculus are unable to manifest psionic abilities, but the Humans and Half-Breeds under the Empire can. In opposition to that, the Draco’Iaculus retain their venom (A trait that is attributed to helping them become the dominant species on their home planet) while the Humans and Half-Breeds do not.

-----------------------

A Draco'Iaculus:

A Half-Breed:

[Cptadder]

I did two of these before. One in which we were all island states and that went well until the Saddam analog used chemical weapons on everyone. The second one with the warlords in time (Everyone is a demi-god fielding armies of mythological creatures in the 10th century) which fell apart due to lack of conflict. Everyone played nice to much.

[Harmony Ltd.]

So let me get this straight, the point of the RP is to play nations not people?

Nothing stops you from playing individual characters in this RP without playing a Nation.

It's just tthat barring your character being pretty fucking important, its actions will harly have the same impact in the game, in term of magnitude, of that of a whole interstellar polity.

Go on, give it a chance if you want.

[Tytan]

Alright, gimme a sec, I've already had an idea stewing that I came up with for another game. 30 points is what I rolled btw.

[Ironmonger]

I have an important question. Will I be able to jump in later, rather than immediately? The random number god Real life isn't being too kind to me, and it's causing me to lag behind on a lot of stuff, such as my empire design.

[Tytan]

The Thek
[Sorta rough draft]

While not necessarily Isolationists, the Thek very rarely receive visitors to their core planets. Not because they're inhospitable, but because there is no reason to. Every job position is filled by a Thek, their culture is fairly inaccessible to outsiders, and Thek don't actually have to eat and those that choose to will generally import foreign delicacies.

It's also probably important to note that every Thek is a cyborg.

The Thek value efficiency over all. That has been a fact since they started recording their history. This drive for efficiency is what eventually drove the Thek to their first cybernetic enhancements. So they could do their jobs better, faster, and without actually needing to audibly speak.

********************************************************************************************************************

They have a rigidly enforced caste system organized by complexity of jobs. From bottom to top: Menial labor (Janitor), semi skilled (Merchants), skilled (doctor/engineers), specialized (scientist/researcher), ruling class. It's a generally accepted belief among the Thek that while a lower skilled job May not be as complex it is just as important as any other.

The only possible exception may be the ruling class.

The ruling class are less kings and more managers, overseeing every facet of society and dealing with outside threats. While not kings they do enjoy comforts that lower classes rarely have access to. Such as having the highest quality enhancements available to them. While each class may vary greatly in appearance the ruling class are generally very humanoid, while the lower classes may have enhancements more suited to their jobs the ruling class wish to appear most 'normal' for dealing with outsiders.

A ruler will be assigned their own district which will be their job to manage. The way rulers deal with problems is if it affect the territory of one ruler he or she deals with it. If it affects the territory of multiple rulers those affected convene. If it affects a planet that planets rulers convene. If it affects the species every ruler convenes. These convenings are generally done remotely and democratically with majority rules.

********************************************************************************************************************

The average Thek is kind if blunt. Deceptive is not a word generally attributed to Thek. If they say something it can almost be guaranteed to be true.

While they still have the ability to speak Thek rarely speak verbally to one another and will instead favor their species wide web (basically the internet with less scum and plugged directly into your brain).

Depending on their job a Thek's physical appearance will vary immensely. Even Thek with the same job may just barely look similar. It mostly depends on their personal tastes in enhancements.

********************************************************************************************************************

While not unheard of, Thek don't seek out military engagements. They see war as being hugely wasteful, which is not to say they are not prepared for it.

Unlike traditional militaries the Thek military acts as a government agency in charge of enforcing the law and will of it's people, and in the event they can no longer get in contact with the rest of their species they can act as their own government. Among other things they have full jurisdiction over all internal military matters, threats to public security, and generally anything that requires more than kind words.

If they come across a problem that must be dealt with using force they will drown the problem in it's own blood. Their combat doctrine is 'threat appropriate overkill'. They won't destroy a planet to deal with some invaders taking over a spaceport, but they will consider destroying the spaceport.

When it comes to their militaries the Thek have a thing for symmetry.

A single ground squad will travel in a group of 3.
A fighter/bomber has a crew of 3, and travel in flights of 3.
A standard troopship hold 3 platoons, travel in 3's and have an escort of 3 fighters each.
Carriers travel in 3's, holds a complement of 3000 troop carriers, and 3 fighters for each of those.
Each carrier has an escort of 3 heavy, ship-killing dreadnoughts.

There is one exception to the rule of 3's.

The command ship.

A command and control center linked to every solder and ship.
A refit vessel large enough to accommodate the entirety of the Thek navy.
A super weapon so devastating it requires the unanimous approval of every military ruler on board to use.
A space station so large as to affect the gravity fields of nearby planets.
And an Ark large enough to hold the population of a planet.

Simply moving it requires not only the unanimous application of the planets rulers requesting it's services, but the unanimous approval of both the homeworld's and the military's rulers. And it always travels with it's permanent escort of 3 super-heavy dreadnoughts.

[Cptadder]

That inspired me to write a little something

[Cptadder]

The Hora

First thing you need to understand about the Hora kid, it's that you can't understand them.  You can know they are an old race.  You can see one of the great Anima ships swimming through the void and see the body.  But every single one of them is an AI not flesh and blood like us.  Not even some of the meat and metal races running around.  Every single one of those races have the same biological drives, spread their genes far and wide... basic part of organic life.  But the Hora?  They were made by somebody and the Hora just ignore any questions about where they came from.  Rana sure as heck is not a home planet, place is a paradise for 90% of sentient species out there.  But it has no history, no time periods of growth or expansion.  The entire thing smells and I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Tolerate is the word not trust.  People tolerate the Hora because their survey ships provide good hyperspace charts and sell them cheaply and because they know to focus on planets no one cares about.  They have made themselves useful in a hundred ways so people tend to forget that each one of them is a bloody battleship with a few thousand combat droids aboard.  Sure there are spaces beyond count who suffered some accident in deep space and thanks to a Hora survey ship they made it back home safe... but they are machines!  They do things not because it makes them feel good but because for some bit of programing says it's the thing to do.  A wise man accepts a ride on a Hora ship if he needs it but he does not go out of his way seeking them out.  
And don't get me started on those idiot "Captains!"  Partners?  Bah mascots more like... or slaves...

-Excerpt from an interview for the book "Races of the Galaxy"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Hora
The Hora are a space faring race of sentient machines built by an unknown creator race.  The body of a Hora is typically a spherical ship of at least two kilometers in diameter with Hora as large as sixty eight kilometers in diameter reportedly seen in Rana from time to time.   Within each Hora are hundreds to tens of thousands of avatar machines of the Hora.  They include repair, helper and combat models.  Each Hora has an different internal layout which can be roughly grouped into styles influenced by the races they have encountered and Captains accepted.  All Hora have an organic crew of some size typically recruited from among the Hora colony worlds thanks to the Hora's bizarre relationship with it's the population of the Hora cluster.  Competition to make it into any spot of a Hora crew is fierce thanks to the design of Hora Anima ship which can be described as a warship crossed with a cruise liner mixed with a carrier or cargo ship depending on the individual Hora purpose.   Regardless of size or design the outside is identical, perfect spheres in any one of a thousand colors.  Launch bays, weapons and drive systems set within the hull.  With all hatches open it looks less like a sphere than a golf ball.

Each Hora has it's own purpose.  World ships are the permanent Hora assigned to each planet to protect them and act as the speaker for the Hora in that planets affairs.  Survey Hora endlessly ply deep space controlling drone fleets of small disposable ships to scout new hyperspace routes.  There are contact Hora who handle relationships between the other species in the galaxy.  Discovery Hora because it's off somewhere in deep space looking for new resources or new species.  And the almost never seen combat Hora which are believed to hide in deep space between systems ready to respond to call of distress from other Hora.

Captain
Every Hora has a Captain.  This is an organic of almost any race chose individual by a Hora to become it's partner/master/press secretary.  The relationship is a complex one and exists on multiple levels.  Every Hora captain is chosen individually by the Hora and no Hora would compete with another Hora for a particular individual.  It has however been known that one of the crew of a Hora with an existing Captain will be named by that Hora as a good captain material.  This is no guarantee of anything as many Hora will ignore such recommendations while others recruit only from existing Hora crews.  

The Captain of a Hora ship becomes via implants and nanotechnology a part of the Hora itself. A foreign ship hailing a Hora will be talking with the Captain.  The Captain does not own the Hora nor the reverse.  When the offer is made it is explained that the position is for life.  That is not to say a Captain can't have a normal family, in fact many do and bring them along on trading, patrol or survey work.  Each Hora has a purpose known to the prospective Captain and no Captain would sign up for a lifetime job they had no intention of fulfilling.  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hora politics
Every Hora world or major colony has a "planet" Hora.  The main system of the Hora has three "planet" Hora for example.  One each around the two habitual planets of Rene and Cala both have a Hora in the L5 Lagrangian point in permanent orbit.  These Hora are in effect the overlords of each world except the Hora care very little about how organics amuse themselves so long as order remains.

Hora planets are colonized by species from across the know galaxy.  Some cities on Cala are know for their frantic melting pot hundred aliens a mile mix while on Rene and smaller colony worlds there are single species settlements.  The Hora have a unique method of attracting settlers as they will find a place on the planet where local conditions are such that a species or several species will find it attractive.  Then Hora assembler machines and helper chassis will construct the initial skeleton of a colony, fields will be ditched and trenches dug for irrigation.   A meeting hall will be constructed and the entire area mapped.  Then an offer will be put out via Hora agents to find settlers from across the galaxy to sign a colony charter to trade work and taxes in exchange for land and freedom.  When the colonists move in on transportation provided by the Hora they will find help waiting from helper chassis and often nearby colonies as such help can be deducted from the debt those colonists own to the Hora for land.  In a few years when the colony is expanding the Hora will withdraw everything three or four diplomatic units that provide a direct link to the planet Hora if issues need to be put to arbitration.

This freedom towards it's citizens has resulted in the mercantile prowess that the Hora boast.  Such taxes are plowed back directly into other colonies or into Hora construction.  Such freedom does have as everything from drug use to depravity is tolerated is tolerated by the Hora.  Aside from kidnapping, murder and slavery most anything is tolerated by the Hora.  If you want to sit in your lawn chair shooting your ray gun in the air while naked a Hora peace officer will ignore it as just something those organics do.  As long as you don't endanger others such behavior is legal.  This hold true on all Hora daughter worlds and colonies.  Only on Rene and Cala where there are large numbers of organic races and more formal laws have been put in place are things different and even on those planets there are very few select areas with much looser restrictions.

The Captains of the planet Hora can be considered as the rulers in day to day matters on each Hora settlement.  Their purpose is to safeguard the world not decide traffic rules however.  To be sure they have the power to make such a ruling but few bother being that direct.  On some planets citizens send full representatives to speak for them in Congress or Parliament.  On others direct democracy is used.  Other colonies every citizen works for an interstellar corporation which holds defacto control.   The Hora allow and even encourage multiple systems of government on each planet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Relations with other races
The Hora dominate inter-species politics.  In domestic issues the Captain of the planet Hora speak to the citizens and respond to issues.  In Inter-species relations only the Hora and the few handful of planet Captains have any say in the matter.  The decision to join this alliance, or uplift that species is all held to the Hora.  Interference with this rule can result in a mild reproach or if the offense more serious like attempting to attack a Hora or undermine the Hora rule it can result in banishment, stasis or for the worse crimes execution.

For the worst crimes or greatest offenses the punishment is dead by non-existence.   Death by black hole, a punishment the Hora alone use as part of their judicial system.  Such executions are incredibly rare but every one is broadcast from start to finish.  From the verdict to the trip to the nearest system containing a Black-Hole before the offender is released in a rescue capsule which contains everything the condemned will need to do over the next five days as the orbit decays closer and closer to the black holes event horizon.  The capsule will be torn to pieces far before then by gravitation tides.  But each execution is beamed back by the broadcasting equipment built into the tiny cell the size of a cargo container as the condemned can see with crystal clarity the nothingness they are being dropped into.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hora military

Each Hora is a ship, some of those ships are multiple kilometers across and armed with weaponry to crack dreadnaughts (400-700 point). Some like the planet Hora or exploration Hora are little more than defenses and hanger space (90-250 point). There are ten kilometer sized Hora which have a four kilometer internal space devoted to a garden of unmatched variety and beauty. It depends on the role the Hora has taken and the changes each Captain makes to the layout. Ground forces in the Hora get short changed severely. High quality ground forces are incredibly rare in Hora space and normally consisting of immigrants or refugees. Hora combat robots are utterly average with above average equipment. Some Hora crews are top of the line commando material but you won't find godlike super soldiers anywhere.

Instead what you will find are the Hora, hundred and thousands of vessels, all armed to some degree all with excellent defenses and all surprisingly mobile. Thanks to the ceaseless work of scouting Hora, the ships of the fleet know exactly how to get to almost any destination quickly and safely taking advantage of every shortcut know and many not known to anyone else. However a Hora are not suicidal fighters. If attacked they will defend and then retreat to avoid damage to themselves. Only in war is such avoidance abandon with an unmatched ferocity and utterly surgical devastation.

Hora combat tactics for planetary assault are brutally simple. Take control of space then demand surrender of the planet. If no surrender is offered begin systematic destruction of all resources in use for combat. The Hora give amble warning to areas about to be hit by kinetic weapons forged in orbit to provide the exact amount of destructive power needed. After a full twelve hours of bombardment a second offer to surrender will be offered. Failure at this point will result in a completion of the destruction of all useful war materials and an abandonment by the Hora of the planet.

[Tytan]

@Cpt, I can't decide if we'd be enemies or not.

[Cptadder]

@Cpt, I can't decide if we'd be enemies or not.

I'd think it would depend on when the Thek encountered the Hora.  If it was first contact or meeting them via another race.  With first contact being much more likely to be peaceful.  I don't think there would be any Thek Captains for example but there might be a Thek colony or two in Hora space.  I image the Hora going to the Thek saying the equivalent of "We have a asteroid of unusual composition that would make for an excellent mining station.  We will trade you the rights to mine it for technology Y and good relations"

I don't know, I think the Thek would have an issue of Hora acceptance of organic inefficiency and frivolity as annoying.  But I don't know if the Thek would look on the Hora as backwards cousins, or rivals or some combination of the two.  I don't see blood sworn death enemies because of the Hora's space based nature. So in my mind head at least Hora Thek relations would be the Thek looking on the Hora as the equivalent of Space Rednecks or Space Amish.  Or maybe something a little different as the Hora do provide star charts on the cheap.

In this example that would be the Thek tolerating because of their delicious home made (star charts) bread.

[Katarn]

Um...I'm sorry, but what's happening here?
I mean could someone explain me what are you doing/will do and what this RP will be about?

[Harmony Ltd.]

(background fluff)

Ascension Sector
A few months ago...


[There are thousands upon thousands of indistinct motes of light dancing around in the virtual space.]
[Upon closer inspection, these motes of space represent the Minds of Community's starships in the sector.]
[As you watch the motes of light slowly drifting in the virtual space, something suddenly attract your attention. One of them is flickering and sending bursts of data through the subspace network, toward the nearest ships.]
[One of these bursts reach you. Status update: it is a raider attack.]
[Acknowledged. Help is on its way.]

~~~

“... Seems like some people never learn.” Backing from her Virtual Reality dive, a smirk passed on the woman's face, “Jekyll? Would you do us the honor?”.

As she fastened her previously loosened seatbelts the ship was traveled by a quiet tremor of cybernetic systems activating themselves at the speed of thought, a low hum slowly rising in tone as they came on-line.

“Aye-aye, ma'am! Ship is now on combat quarter: it's showtime!” As the over-enthusiastic AI spoke, the ship's sub-systems were already steering its gravdrives to move it toward its objective: a commune, humongous ship hosting hundreds of thousands of lives, currently being assaulted by a band of raiding pirates. Far inside the ship, featherweights of anti-matter were being annihilated at an impressive rate as the ship was converting the energy of dying matter and harnessing the power of gravity's fundamental force to propel itself at relativistic speed, to cross as fast as it could the lightyears separating it from the peoples it had to protect.

“Know what captain, I like the smell of crispy pirates in the morning! Taste like home!”. To an external observer, it would have seemed strange, to see an AI engage in small talk with the captain of its ship while in the middle of a fighting operation. However, said stranger would had have to take some points into consideration: first point, everything in this ship was automated and cybernetically run, the crew only consisting of the biological captain and the ship's AI; second point, that for said artificial intelligence it was as trivial to run its ship and sustain a conversation as it was for a human to breath and look around at the same time, even more so in a way; and, third and most important point, that even at full acceleration and by using the hyperdrives to cut down travel time, the journey to its target was still going to take a little while - and in these conditions small talk was as good a way as any other to manage pre-operation stress. In any case, it could only be better than minutes-long silences only punctuated by the hum and arythmic percussions of the ship's working.

“You have no nose, we're in space, and it's past nine in the evening, Jekyll.” did she reply, the trace of a smile on her face. Even had she been careful not to let it show, which she was currently not, it would have been obvious that Chandrah Zyvh, captain of the 3^rd Fleet's 5^th Escort-Cruiser 'Hyde's Gambit', appreciated its board AI. It was natural, in a way: after all, they had only trained, worked and fought together for the past seventy-six years.

“Oh, you're no fun captain. And anyway, it's always morning somewhere. In fact, the computer says it's morning again in Umeria.”. Even without any sort of avatar to carry this kind of information, it was easy to hear the smile in the artificial intelligence's voice.

A few seconds of humming silence had passed when came a question: “... What's it with you and thousand years old terran movie quotes, Jekyll?”. It could have been a rhetorical question as it could have been genuine curiosity. Not that it stopped it from answering her.

“The fact you get the references is telling enough, Chandrah. And anyway, I'm not the worst offender out there. Why, I know of this one AI which named itself Skynet...” that last phrase came with a clearly amused tone, and it seemed as if the captain had indeed some references on old terran culture, as a sudden fit of cough escaped her throat, conveniently offering a diversion from the conversation. “How long before contact?”

“One minute and thirty-two seconds before hyperspace jump, eight minutes and twenty-one seconds of hyperspace travel and roughly two minutes in real space. I already told the 'Just Passing By' that the 'Hyde's Gambit' Escort-Cruiser of the Doxa's 3rd Fleet was en-route to support them.”

“Good. All the drones are ready to operate at full efficiency?”

“Check. I even polished the hubcaps for you, my dear.”

“That is so sweet of you, Jekyll...”

“Anything for you, my dear.”

* * *

“-and so I said to him 'If you take it like that, then you can take this big drill of yours and shove it down your exhaust p-”

“It seems we are almost in range, Jekyll.”

“... always at the worst moments... Yes, thirty five seconds before they are in range of our main armament. What shall we do?”

“Well, the usual: we hail them, demand their surrender, they refuse, we blow them up. How does that sound to you?”

“It lacks a bit of panache, but on the other hands that's only some raiders. Can't expect much.”

“Good. Proceed.”

“Already on it. I unleashed the hounds.”

“Plug me in.”

“At your command.”

Through the subspace and radio transmissions hailing the raider ships over all frequencies, came the transformed, digitized and booming voice of the captain.

“TO ALL CURRENTLY ATTACKING THIS COMMUNE: THIS IS THE 'HYDE'S GAMBIT' ESCORT-CRUISER OF THE DOXA'S NAVY. WE ARE BRINGING MORE FIREPOWER TO THE TABLE THAN YOU COULD EVER HOPE TO FIGHT. SURRENDER OR BE ANNIHILATED.”

A few seconds passed as the radio transmission traveled between the cruiser and the raider ships.

“Balls!” came the answer, as one of the fighters threw a bomb over the commune's hull, blowing up a house sized hole through which the ship's atmosphere began to leak. A thing which would have probably seemed more dramatic, if the attacked ship wasn't itself the size of a small mountain, the act seeming like the futile attempt of a mosquito to bring down an elephant.

“Ugh. Fucking barbarians. Are the drones in place?”

“Ready to fire at your command.”

“Blow these fuckers up.”

“Happy to serve.”

The drones, autonomous starships of modest size when compared to the cruiser, immediately began firing their long-range lasers on the swarm of pirate fighters circling over the wounded commune.

“Is their carrier in range of the secondary batteries?”

“In range and locked. Ready to fire at your command.”

“Standard charge. Two shots burst. Fire.”

On the side of the ship, one of the secondary gravgun turrets adjusted itself toward the primitive carrier of the offending force, and, as it locked on its target, fired two shots in quick succession from its twin barrels. Inside the ship's bridge, the roar of the struggling inertial compensation field generators could be heard as two projectiles weighing close to a metric ton each were fired at a not-so-insignificant fraction of lightspeed toward the enemy carrier a few lightsecond away.

“How are the drones faring Jekyll?”

“Marvelously well, my dear. A fourth of the attacking force has already been destroyed or put out of combat, and the rest is falling like flies. We report no loss of our own, just some scratched paint at worst.”

In their final approach, the projectiles fired from the secondary batteries adjusted their courses as the carrier tried to engage in evasive maneuvers. If it barely managed to evade the first shot, it failed to avoid the other. The shield of the carrier, too weak, was penetrated like a wet paperbag, the projectiles hitting the starship at full force.
In a split second, the combination of speed and mass delivered so much energy to the target as to make it explode like the mechanical equivalent of an overripe watermelon on fire.

* * *

In less than fifteen minutes after the arrival of the cruiser, the last fleeing enemy fighter exploded as it was hit by a drone's missile.

“Well, that was boring.”

“Are you sure, Jekyll? You seemed to rather enjoy it.”

“Well, I have to say I'm always up for some hot spaceship on spaceship pew-pew action, but you have to admit, there was no real challenge this time.”

“And to be frank I prefer it to stay that way.”

“Pff. Noob.”

“I hate dying. It always takes weeks for that itching sensation to cease. And, you know as well as I do these ships don't build themselves. Not yet at least...”

“Yeah, sure. Oh, by the way, the 'Just Passing By' congratulate you for this masterly administered smackdown. They report only minor structural damage, and are going to head back to the Hub for repair. Unfortunately, preliminary reports indicate that lives were lost in the attack.”

“*sigh* Okay, let's see if we can help our brothers and sisters down there.”

[Tytan]

@Cpt, I can't decide if we'd be enemies or not.

I'd think it would depend on when the Thek encountered the Hora.  If it was first contact or meeting them via another race.  With first contact being much more likely to be peaceful.  I don't think there would be any Thek Captains for example but there might be a Thek colony or two in Hora space.  I image the Hora going to the Thek saying the equivalent of "We have a asteroid of unusual composition that would make for an excellent mining station.  We will trade you the rights to mine it for technology Y and good relations"

I don't know, I think the Thek would have an issue of Hora acceptance of organic inefficiency and frivolity as annoying.  But I don't know if the Thek would look on the Hora as backwards cousins, or rivals or some combination of the two.  I don't see blood sworn death enemies because of the Hora's space based nature. So in my mind head at least Hora Thek relations would be the Thek looking on the Hora as the equivalent of Space Rednecks or Space Amish.  Or maybe something a little different as the Hora do provide star charts on the cheap.

In this example that would be the Thek tolerating because of their delicious home made (star charts) bread.

It's an awkward relationship none the less. It's more awkward because in the mindset of a Thek I can't decide if the Hora are extremely wasteful or not.

Even if they offered the position of captain to a Thek they wouldn't accept. Even if their job is scraping the crud off ship engines every Thek thinks of their job as being supremely important. They wouldn't give it up just so they could go explore the universe. They might get lucky and find a few hundred or maybe thousand free spirits in the outer colonies, but the Thek consider 'free-spiritedness' to be a form of psychosis to be treated.

The Thek don't need a fascist government, they do it to themselves. On the plus side when they're not working they do have fun. Internet connected to your brain can be very entertaining.

[Cptadder]

It's an awkward relationship none the less. It's more awkward because in the mindset of a Thek I can't decide if the Hora are extremely wasteful or not.

A Hora would reply
"The wastefulness of any given activity can only be determined after extensive testing and repetition. Self improvement requires discovery, and discovery is inherently wasteful."
Then of course in my old forming head canon I think a Thek would respond the Hora go to far and test too much. Chances for interaction between Thek and Hora would be highly limited I'm guess since the Thek would not be drawn to any Hora colony offering fast and lose rules. Nor would any Thek except under orders from the leadership caste be interested in working on a Hora crew or in any other activity that would bring it into direct contact with anything other than interaction with Thek ships in distress or trading delegations from either race.

Even if they offered the position of captain to a Thek they wouldn't accept. Even if their job is scraping the crud off ship engines every Thek thinks of their job as being supremely important. They wouldn't give it up just so they could go explore the universe. They might get lucky and find a few hundred or maybe thousand free spirits in the outer colonies, but the Thek consider 'free-spiritedness' to be a form of psychosis to be treated.

The Thek don't need a fascist government, they do it to themselves. On the plus side when they're not working they do have fun. Internet connected to your brain can be very entertaining.

The more I think about it the less chance there is a Thek colony in Hora space. Similar but to far apart for there to be common ground except in theory. But not that many point of conflict. By seeding multiple races on each planet it makes it unattractive to attack Hora holdings as Theks. But Hora have littel interests in planet except as colony sites.

[Tytan]

@Cpt, Like it said in my mythos, Thek aren't isolationists, more 'normal' species just think they're weird. The thing that drives them more than anything isn't to be the best, it's to make the race better. The only reason they don't work round the clock is because they've determined that the quality of their work takes dips after working for so long.

It's more interesting in the case of scientists. Their most popular field is of course cybernetics, but they don't try to make them more pleasing to look at (unless they're trying to make them pleasurable to look at for the leadership or merchants that deal with other species) they're trying to make them more functional. They'd trade function over form every time even if it only shaves a few seconds off of a task.

As for trade, I don't see why they wouldn't openly trade with the Hora. If the Hora can offer advancements to their technology they would gladly do so. Trade is fairly important to the Thek, because it's more efficient to trade something you have to many of for something you need than to make it yourself.

EDIT: I've added a little more to the military section, including an obsession with the number 3.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Stellar Nation

Nation Creation:

29 NCP to spend


Sectors:
“Revelation” - Midrange (3 NCP) + 1 Warp Gate (1 NCP) + 1 GDP Boost (1 NCP): 5 NCP, 9000$ GDP
“The Hub” - Core (5 NCP) + 1 Warp Gate (1 NCP) + 1 GDP Boost (1 NCP): 7 NCP, 13,000$ GDP
“Ascension” - Colony (1 NCP) + 1 Warp Gate (1 NCP) + 1 GDP Boost (1 NCP): 3 NCP, 5000$ GDP
Nomad Sectors (x10) – Colony (1 NCP): 10 NCP, 20,000$ GDP


Trade Routes:
[Free Slot]
[Free Slot]
[Free Slot]
[Free Slot]
total: 8000$ GDP


(unaffected Trade Route Slots will be turned into a Nomad Sector)


Total GDP: 55,000$


Military:


Fleet:
54,000 points available for a fleet.


10x Nomad Fleet (3,000 points each, one per Nomad Sector) – 30,000 points:


100-point Carrier (x2) (20 points own armament + 30 x 2-point gunboat) – 200 points
80-point Cruiser (x6) – 480 points
60-point Escort-Cruiser (x20) (20 points own armament + 20 x 2-point gunboat) – 1200 points
40-point Frigate (x28) – 1120 points


Reserve Fleet – 24,000 points:
500-point Pacifier (x9) (400 points own armament, 50 x 2-point gunboat) – 4500 points
200-point Battleship (x30) – 6000 points
100-point Carrier (x24) (20 points own armament + 30 x 2-point gunboat) – 2400 points
80-point Cruiser (x60) – 4800 points
60-point Escort-Cruiser (x24) – 1440 points
40-point Frigate (x120) – 4800 points


The Reserve Fleet is cut in three equal parts, stationed in the “Revelation”, “Hub” and “Ascension” sectors.



Special Circumstances:
1000 points available for “Ground Troops”


Special Operations – 800 points:
When hostages need to be rescued, when ships need to be boarded, or simply when some heads need to be stomped, these guys will answer your call.
Post-citizens of the Doxa, heavily augmented (through biotech and cybernetics) and either strongly-psychic or psych-Null. All of them have at least over 50 years of experience serving in the Doxa's defense forces.
Their gear can be described as being almost the best the Doxa's military technology can fit on individual combattants.


5000/$, x15 equipment modifier
300,000 Operatives


Singularity Unit – 100 points:
This unit is shrouded in mystery and purposeful misdirections. All that is known for sure is that only the very best members of Spec-Ops, or individuals with exceptionally high potential, are allowed to join its ranks. They are also said to be equipped with incredibly potent gear, though nothing is known for sure about that.


50/$, x20 equipment modifier
250 Harbingers of the Apocalypse


Doom Corp – 100 points:
City killing atmospheric fortresses. When you REALLY want that enemy Stronghold to be reduced to ashes without needing to resort to controversial orbital bombardment, a floating castle will do. Specialist units, haven't been used in literal centuries.


5$/unit SuperHeavy unit
20 Doombringers

[Harmony Ltd.]

Descriptions of the three named sectors to follow tomorrow.

[Scyto Harmony]

I'm a little confused on Trade Routes. I'm reading it as - your Trade Routes open to any of us when we create our nation and any that we don't join in will be turned into Nomad Sectors?

[Scyto Harmony]

The Naga Empire

Nation Creation:

32 NCP to spend

Sectors:
"Kel'Iaculus" - Home (7 NCP) + 1 Warp Gate (1 NCP): 8 NCP, 15000$ GDP
"Kel'Humanis" - Midrange (3 NCP) + 1 Warp Gate (1 NCP) + 1 GDP Boost (1 NCP): 5 NCP, 9000$ GDP
"Kel'Sullith" - Midrange (3 NCP) + 1 Warp Gate (1 NCP) + 1 GDP Boost (1 NCP): 5 NCP, 9000$ GDP
"Kel'Altec" - Midrange (3 NCP) + 1 Warp Gate (1 NCP): 4 NCP, 7000$ GDP
"The Edge" - Colony (1 NCP): 1 NCP, 2000$ GDP
"Omari"- Colony (1 NCP): 1 NCP, 2000$ GDP

Total GDP: 44,000$

Military
The rules on this are a bit complicated, so let me know if any of this doesn't work.

Fleets:
The Emperor's Fleet - 4000 Points
80-point Strikers (medium) (x15) - 1200 points
15-point Fangs (small) (x150) - 2250 points
350-point Emperor's Flagship (Superheavy) (x1) - 350 points
200-point 100000 troops/$: “Regular” (x5 Equipment Mod) - 200 points

5x The Naga Fleet (5750 each) - 28750 Points
80-point Strikers (medium) (x5) - 400 points
15-point Fangs (small) (x50) - 750 points
200-point Muscle (heavy) (x20) - 4000 points
600-point 1000000 troops/$: "Regular" (x1 Equip Mod) - 600 points

The War Fleet - 10,000 points
Built but kept out of service during these times of peace in the Naga Empire, The War Fleet is a collection of ships to be spread amongst the 5 Fleets only in times facing the destruction of the Empire.
350-point Warmonger's (superheavy) (x10) - 3500 points
80-point Striker (medium) (x50) - 4000 points
50-point Spear (light) (x50) - 2500 points

[Tytan]

THEK SECTORS AND MILITARY

SECTORS:
Home Sector: Thek Prime
Core Sector 1:
Core Sector 2:
Core Sector 3:
Midrange Sector 1:
Midrange Sector 2:

UNSPENT MILITARY CREDITS: 170$

Ground Forces:
2,430,000 (Marauders) 2430$ (Elite, x20 Equipment)
Thek ground forces consist of a single unit. The Marauders. Literally designed to handle any problem. They don't need to eat, they don't need to sleep, they don't ground vehicles, and they don't fear death. Each unit is a special forces squad unto itself. Nearly perfectly accurate to a thousand yards, enough explosives to destroy a city block, and can move upwards of 30 mph on level ground.

Navy:
24300 Gunboats (1p)
FTL capable fighters designed to escort troopships, carry out fire missions, provide cover and suppressing fire for ground units, and swarm larger ships.

8100 Troopships (0)
Basically an armored tear drop shaped shell. It doesn't have it's own ftl drive, but it does have have docking ports that will accommodate (Gunboats) which do. Besides being able to survive planet fall they can use the pointed end to perform breaches on other ships and space stations.

27 Carrier (0)
Thin vessels with scores of spindly arms bristling with docks that accomodate 300 troopships and 900 gunships, and enough room to accommodate their crews. When hosting a full load it resembles a massive fir cones.

81 Destroyer (Superheavy) (300p)
Large ships with relatively small crews that are basically built around the large central gun (used for ship to ship combat and orbital bombardments). The rest of the hull is bristling with anti-small ship weapons, anti-missile defense systems, and missile batteries.

3 Dreadnoughts (Ludicrously heavy) (1000p)
Basically a Destroyer, but three times bigger. All three are permanently assigned to the Command Ship except in cases of extreme emergencies.

(Command Ship) (Ludicrously heavy) (2000p)
[See Thek Mythos]

Merchant Fleet

40 Merchant Frigate (Medium) (75p)
If there's one thing Thek hate it's seeing hard work going uncompensated. Their solution to the pirate threat stealing the fruits of their hard work is the Merchant Frigate. Considered by most to be rather heavily armed for a merchant ship these ships serve the dual purpose of transporting large amounts of cargo and passengers.

[Harmony Ltd.]

I'm a little confused on Trade Routes. I'm reading it as - your Trade Routes open to any of us when we create our nation and any that we don't join in will be turned into Nomad Sectors?

That is correct.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Sectors under protection of or belonging to the Stellar Nation :


Terminus / “Journey's End”

Only the “Home” system is inhabited by the Community. It contain the planet Revelation (“Where He Saw The Light”), spiritual center of the Doxa. The system contain a non-negligible amount of the Nation's shipyards, and most of its military ones, which benefit from the abundant resources of the system's asteroid belts.
The sector is one nearly continuous hyperspace shoal, only a few pathways allowing safe if slow passage from the rest of the galaxy into the “Home” system. This makes the warp-gate of Home the only viable way to travel between the system and the rest of the galaxy, these other pathways being travelled by hordes of techno-barbarians and pirate raiders.
Needless to say, pirate activity in the sector and the neighbouring ones is very high.

Description of the Sector:

The Hub

This sector holding a central position in the known galaxy is the commercial and cultural hub of the Stellar Nation. It contain the planet on which the Prophet was born (Cradle / “Where He Was Born”), and the remains of the Empire the Doxa defeated during the Holy War.
The sector is bustling with activity originating from the constant flux of people and merchandise traversing it.
Aside from Cradle, which is under a special regime, the few other inhabited planet of the sector are nominally independent from the Stellar Nation, if under its protectorate.

description of the sector:

Ascension / “Where He Became One With The Flame”

In this nebula full of young & nascent stars, it is said that the Prophet ascended to another plane of existence and became one with the Flame.
The sector is empty of uninhabited planets, but is full of harvestable resources for the Nation's industries.
It also contain a number of black holes, remains of the supernovas which gave birth to the Sector's nebula.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Major exports of the Stellar Nation:

- Raw Materials (mining asteroids is one of the main source of income & sustenance of the Nomad Sectors).
- Astro-Naval shipbuilding, repairs & refitting.
- Import / Export from all over the known galaxy.
- An extremely wide variety of cultural products of all kind (though they aren't exactly -sold- ; the Community is all about exchange in these matters).
- Anti-matter: If the Communes use Fusion as their primary energy source (Commune refuelling in the atmosphere of gas giants is a common sight in the Known Galaxy), most of the smaller ships of the Community run on anti-matter. As such, they are a major producer of the stuff, and a net exporter. Though they tend to control carefully who they sell the stuff to. They wouldn't want it to blow back in their face, one way or another.


Major imports of the Stellar Nation:

- Delicacy foods and other agricultural products: the food produced and recycled inside the Communes can get bland after a while, and it's in the nature of the Community to always seek new flavors.
- Stories, music, art, new discoveries, scientific theories: cultural & scientific products. They're a mostly post-scarcity society, so they tend to concentrate on the more intellectual side of existence. They also really like to party, admittedly.
- And in general, new and interesting things (example: the new iBrain from Thek Industries Inc, which will be dissected, retro-engineered, copied and improved).



Also, it doesn't really count as an "import", but the Community is extremely welcoming of immigration, as long as the immigrants manage to integrate in its society; a thing which means mostly, in the Stellar Nation, "respect the Freedom of your Brothers and Sisters".
Immigrants generally tend to convert to the Doxa after a while.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Open secret:

A small but non-negligible proportion of the pirates in the Known Galaxy are criminal elements from the Stellar Nation, the vast majority having been banished from the Community or being descended from those, but some (the Big Bosses) still being counted among the Community's ranks.


While the Doxa is openly fighting Pirates all over the Known Galaxy, it still has an informal agreement with them, granting them the right to stay in the Terminus sector, in exchange for not attacking the Doxa's only system there.
Far from the Doxa encouraging piracy, it is simply an acknowledgement of the impossibility of eradicating pirates and techno-barbarians from the sector, and putting this to profit helping the Doxa defend its holdings there.


Still, many are quick, seeing all of the above, to conclude that the Stellar Nation is behind most of the acts of Piracy in the Known Galaxy.

[Tytan]

Thek Imports and Exports

Exports:
Raw Materials (Both raw and refined minerals, but only what they have a surplus of.)

Medical Technology (Mostly cybernetics. Including prosthetics, replacement organs, and recreational.)

Services (While they're rarely the lowest bidder they provide some of the highest quality work. Ideal workers for terraforming planets, performing medical procedures, and just about anything else requiring precision. They do however make the worst psychologists.)

Imports:
Luxury goods (Including foods and entertainment)

Scientific advancements (They're not ashamed to admit they can't figure something out)

[Tytan]

Open secret:

A small but non-negligible proportion of the pirates in the Known Galaxy are criminal elements from the Stellar Nation, the vast majority having been banished from the Community or being descended from those, but some (the Big Bosses) still being counted among the Community's ranks.


While the Doxa is openly fighting Pirates all over the Known Galaxy, it still has an informal agreement with them, granting them the right to stay in the Terminus sector, in exchange for not attacking the Doxa's only system there.
Far from the Doxa encouraging piracy, it is simply an acknowledgement of the impossibility of eradicating pirates and techno-barbarians from the sector, and putting this to profit helping the Doxa defend its holdings there.


Still, many are quick, seeing all of the above, to conclude that the Stellar Nation is behind most of the acts of Piracy in the Known Galaxy.

I feel sorry for any pirates that try to take any Thek ships. Very very sorry.

Also, I get the impression we need a board to play on. If we do need one I've got an idea.

[Sponsored content]