Sci-fi RPT planning commission

[jep'ray]

Soo time to brain storm a new RP thread in a sci-fi setting...Hard, opera, or squishy(star trek)??? the choices...i will have to get to work scaning in my ship drawings to help get an ideal on what direction to force it...but i generaly like going the hard sci-fi route, but that can be soo constrictive...then again...we can go all squishy about it, but im not sure what will happen if someone decides that they want to go after kirk or somthing...but lets put what few remaining working braincells into a decent ... um... somthing...a decent something that everyone will enjoy...so in a galaxy far far away...

[$tormin]

My votes go in this order

50s B movie Sci-Fi, Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers style. We can fight Nazis and have monkeys for sidekicks!

Hard. One solar system, weeks to travel to anywhere interesting. No magic force fields or handwavium metals. If you get into a gunfight inside a spaceship you had better realize that you are gonna put holes in the hull. Probably the hardest to do a good story with and having to stick to actual science could possibly get annoying.

And finally something similar to Galactic Civilizations, instead of playing a single person each player could play an entire race or fragment of a race. Explore, trade or just have a huge freaking knockdown war!

[Soria]

Hmmmm..... Can I put in a choice in their to?

Something Starcraft/ Warhammer 41k

Any road... I think I'd prefer $tormin's first two suggestions. Playing an entire race works in RTS's, not so much RPs.

[jep'ray]

any and all imput is welcomed here...yeah im thinking somthing along the lines of Firefly just to keep the group together...not sure how well things will go if everyones off all over the galaxy...no one would ever see each other...so what do you all think, stay in a group or split up into groups of one?

[Soria]

Firefly would work with the 5o's goof ball nes.... I think.. I never got a chance to watch firefly...

:: hides::

[jep'ray]

go out and see it now, and realize what a loss it was that it wasnt picked up for another season... but i do have a ship design waiting for a crew to fill it...its a nicely armed merchant vessel. even has its own hanger with a few fighter craft, you never know when you might need a fighter to help deliver something...couple of other goodies...i wonder if i should go for light speed, a Jump gate, warp drive, hyper space or bubble space for faster than light travel? stick with projectle weapons or lasers or Phasers...hmmm

[jep'ray]

um as for the Warhammer 40k thing, that will only work if people know the general back ground of it all, i used to own 8 diffrent armies for 40K so i know the fluff to it all, I can throw something together down that path, but its gonna be a slug fest agianst the forces of Chaos, Tau, Orks, Necrons, Eldar or Tyranid, or if we are one of them, against the Imperial Guard, Space Marines, Sisters of battle, Inquistion...or even the elusive Squats (dwarfs)...but i can do that, its a twisted dark gothic world, but its doable...

[Soria]

I was more refering to the everyone trying to kill each other a mix of ship fights and ground fights.

[$tormin]

Ever play the game Wing Commander: Privateer? It's about a guy who flies independent in one of the backwaters of the Kilrathi War, doing cargo runs or taking mercenary contracts. Being mercs or independent merchants would give freedom and a reason to have a lot of high value goodies.
Maybe instead of a carrier we could have a large cargo ship and fighter craft could dock to it. Have the story take place in a backwater and give "Jump Point" FTL system so that there is a reason pirates or military ships would be there rather than just random encounter after random encounter.

[Rookie]

"In a world..."

In a solar system, thousands upon thousands of light years away, a solar system exists in which its inhabitants have been traveling between the 10 planets for over 5 centuries, a hostile race has entered the solar system and began conquering the allied planets. The allies have the technology of mechs, star-ships, space cruisers, and an army of devoted soldiers from many races of the 6 inhabited planets.
The enemies arsenal: an army led by a secretive leader, and a parasite that mutates its host and totally destroys the mind and becomes an obedient, powerful, servant. Salvaging the ruins of fallen soldiers and their vehicles.

The general idea: no energy shields, but advanced technology including star-ships that shoot "laser-beams", fighting mechs (e.i. Starcraft Goliath-esque), and space cruisers (once again, no shields, but laser resistant armor, but seals off breached sections.
The enemy pretty much bastardizes these technologies and makes them their own. The Flood from Halo meets the Zerg from Starcraft. Their leader cruises around and controls the parasites mentioned through mind control gained by slaying the original master and absorbing its power using his race's special powers.

The plot: The Flood-Zerg have taken the two outer-most planets which were relatively unoccupied except for research stations. The allies have caught on to this plan and are preparing the defense for the 8th planet in the solar system. A small band of mercenaries is hired to aid in this defense as the planet falls. In a last chance action they attempt to hold off the enemy while evacuation begins to the 7th planet. This is where our story would begin.

The races: GM/DM would come up with 6 races, 1 for each of the planets. Players would throw in input during development.

The skill tree: minor abilities given to each race, but pretty much the same as the current one with changes made for a sci-fi setting.

more details would be added if you guys were interested. My two bits.

[jep'ray]

hey buddy, theres always room for more, you should run with that one, start a RPT from your story line...im still working out the bugs in mine...im likeing to stick to firefly method more and more. and we can all go hoping around space to stick our noses into trouble...anyone have any goos ship names?

[Rookie]

elaborate on the "firefly method."

[$tormin]

Everybody on one ship or having one main ship and several Parasites or fighter craft.


Now, who would be the captain?

[jep'ray]

$tormin got it on the nose, as for the captain...raffle? lol, or we could vote on it...of course it would be easier if the DM was top dog, but thats no fun...gonna have to figure that out, and figure out things like cargo space, crew berths and powerplant type...also the size and legality of the shuttles and fighters on board...along with the ships weapons system, defensive or offensive, if we want an armed merchantman, or a plain old defenseles cargo hauler...

[$tormin]

Yushev Krusnetzov, callsign Sin Eater reporting! I'll work out the characters skills and role once we have a clearer idea of what this is going to be about.

[jep'ray]

well that answers that question...lol, good to have you aboard sir. For now its a all human universe, but if yall what aliens, lets have a tally on how many or what type of alien should be included. and no you can not be a giant gastropod alien, I am not going tp follow you around with a mop and bucket O slime...so what have you?

[Soria]

Always gotta have an alien race that prizes logic. Its just necessary. :D

[jep'ray]

"live long and prosper?" some pointy eared space elves huh? hmm, but what to make them look like?

[$tormin]

If you want unique elves, maybe go along the same lines FuzzyModem did in his CrossOver comic
Linka (http://crossovercomic.com/index.php?page=extras&base=media/extras&folder=Elves)

[jep'ray]

No, it was just a pun on startreks space elves...but a alien race based around logic...what from should they be, maybe friendly Geek Kilrathi...space kitty, not only are they cute, but their smart too...

[$tormin]

Space cats are overused. What isn't often used is humans that just look different. Aliens with different motivations and personalities amongst themselves.
In our dealings with them we would meet paranoid military types, greedy merchant types pretty much everything we have.
If it's humans only and you want the area restricted, have like 10 star systems that were isolated during a major human civil war with 3+ major factions in a state of not quite open war.


As for my guy, I think I will take Scanner, Cargo and possibly Communications on the main ship. We need a captain -_-

[jep'ray]

hmm o yeah position needed aboard the ship. well, a captain or commander, Helmsmen or pilot, Comms, Cargo, ships medico, armed thug...um i ment security officer, Navigations, weapons system, fighter pilots, engineering and/or mechanic, shuttle pilots, um an crew member in a red uniform to get shot or eaten everytime something bad happens...at the start of an episode...um am i missing anything...maybe a cook, but im sure we'll all have nice tasty pills to eat or something...

[$tormin]

There will have to be a lot of overlap on positions, for example cook could be on a rotation to heat up the rations. Not only will the number of players (hence the crew size) be fairly smallish there will have to be a rotation so that someone would be on duty at all times even while on autopilot.

[Rookie]

My two bits again:

I'd go for a defensive ship and make the fighters on board the offensive part if necessary. Maybe have the various roles have certain character bonuses? Captain would receive a leadership bonus, Assistant Captain (first mate) also receives leadership. Squadron leaders also leadership and intelligence and flight skill bonus in their particular vehicle?

NPC's could fill the gaps of course. That's what they're for. And bullet sponges of course.

Did we decide what kind of universe we wanted?

Ship Names: The Black Hawk, Valkyrie, Fist of the Heavens, The Lady Caroline, Grond (Tolkein tribute), and the ever popular The Death-Trap. Just throwing out some ideas :)

This is starting to sound good. I had a "Star Fighter" RPT a while back, I don't know if there would be anything in there that would help, whether it be ideas that are good or ideas that are bad.

[jep'ray]

:D lol funny i was about to start a names list...
top on my list was Last Exile, Killing time, Forlorn hopes, Break even, Payup!, 3hour tour...

yeah, we'll stick with everyone on one ship, driving each other nutz in the process, but i can at least keep tabs on where everyone is...the ship will be a fast cargo hauler, not a Sol Fleet pocket carrier...but i put in for a high performace model...stats would probably equal a fast military courier ship...so far i have room for maybe 2 fighter med-heavy fighters and a shuttle all internaly held...if you want a fighter for all, we're gonna need a bigger ship, as it is i think this thing is longer than the firefly...the ship has 2 offensive Gauss rifles but we aint choping up Kingdom dreadnoughts with it, you'll be lucky to scratch its paint...couple defensive turrets here and there...pretty much 2/3rds of the ship is cargo...

I'm going with Wing Commander style Jump points...so we will jump from point to point, with some travel time between jump points. may routes to choose from...guarded, but taxed main trade routes, or back water channels with pirates and bandits guarding jump points...

Factions...i got a few lined up...writing some of it up now...

and any and all imput if helpful

[$tormin]

Naming our tramp freighter Killing Time would be like me naming a spent match head after a supernova :p

Edit: Read the book Excession and you will know what I mean.

[jep'ray]

lol

[Soria]

I'm all for that. :D I wanna be the cook. As for names, its a cargo freighter right? So maybe something more suiting like...hmm...Steel Stallion, or something like that, you know, something that convies both its purpose, but also its power.



That is all.

[$tormin]

Captain
Navigation
Scanner
Cargo
Cook (IMHO removable. Small crew means that you can have a rotation on cooking duty, person who has to do it can microwave up something for everyone)
Engineer
Small Craft Pilot
Most crew should be able to do several jobs.


Instead of an actual full out fighter, maybe have a scoutship or fast patrol craft. It can be used to look around dangerous situations, extend scanner range, transfer small amounts of cargo quickly without wasting a lot of fuel, etc.
As merchants, it would be hard to justify the fuel bill that would be incurred if we carried around a full out heavy fighter loaded with guns and missiles. Even if fuel is cheap using more would mean more stops to refuel and longer docking times, less engine power for moving money making cargo among other concerns.
If the Galactic Empire sends a battleship against us, we should not even consider fighting and just go to the Oort cloud and strap a few ice rocks to the ship as a heat sink/camouflage.


BTW, how hard is this going to be?

[jep'ray]

ok heres what i have so far for background info on the people we are shareing space with...

Major players:

Hegemony of Sol: Inner system / core planets. They are easily the most powerful and largest group of planets and hold center stage to all other factions. They meddle in other governments to parlay peace and further their own agendas.
A large standing fleet and patrol force.

The Corporation: It is the company that owns this space, cutting out a group of systems close in to the Sol controlled space, they are the business that no longer wished to play politics and wanted free reign to do as they pleased. The technology here is second to none, but the good life is only for those who rank high in the corporate ladder.
Some Corp. Security ships can equal a Sol battle cruiser…only a security force…a force that should not be ignored…

The Kingdom: a group of planets first founded by slow ships from old earth, they are ruled by royalty, as their old land of Great Britain was once ruled. Also occupying a space close to the Hegemony of Sol, they are opposite the Corp controlled space, and have a much larger area, but are sparsely populated… Very high quality crews, but old and aging ships, they do miracles with what little they have. Only a hand full of the latest ship designs…

Penance Colony: a Cult led by a direct descendent of the great prophet Jedia Brown. Who set off in a hijacked freighter with those who believed as he did…Penance is the only habitable planet in a binary system filled with gas giants, its placed somewhere between the outer rim and kingdom…the colony and the planet that it is on has become there church, and no one else wants even one of them on there planets, so it is normally guarded by several different system ships to make sure they don’t get loose…these people are a backwards kind of nuts. Fanatics to the end, they believe that Armageddon is long over due, and work hard to make things right.

Republic of Out Rim worlds: A gaggle of planets too far out for sol to even care about, these hard working folk are the farmers for all, as it is their only export. They occupy the far outer reaches of human space, strange things have been happening in the back water areas, strange sightings, and goings on…they have militia fleet, a mish mash of classes and weapons fits…it is barely up to repelling pirates…let alone fights that break out between planets and homesteads.

hundreds of planets to choose from, countless ways to get there...i'll draw up a map later...

[jep'ray]

um, it should be fun...lol...as for the fighter...yeah, well see, the shuttle will be a surplus Sol Assault drop ship they have a bunch laying around so why not...hmm maybe have to stick a bigger pop gun to the ship...how hard? not sure, still working out the first episode...

[$tormin]

If we are using mostly rail guns it won't take a bigger gun to have more killing power, just use a more massive projectile (Depleted Uranium with Steel jacket rather than a steel spike) and put more power into the gun to shoot the projectile faster. Just by having illegally powerful linkages from the power plant to the gun and some upgraded coils inside the gun we can be more powerful without everyone who sees us writing us down as someone to watch. Just don't let the safety inspectors too close ;)

[jep'ray]

now thats my kinda thinking...hmm maybe i should switch out the fighter for something more along the lines of cowboy bebop, and Spikes ship...its designed as a racing ship...speed and moves are its high point...tack on a big a@@ gun and were in buisness...so we get a small personal space craft with more engines that it knows what to do with...and one realy over sized gun...and room for one....i think we can store things like aircars or ground cars on the outside of the hull...
Pirates in space...they want what your carriing, so blowing you up to kingdom come kinda blows the cargo to kingdom come...so most likely they will not shoot to kill, disable...well... thats why the defensive guns point backwards...boarding actions are a possiblity, and traps of various kinds... but no everything is in space...the various ports we will call to will give us all sorts of things to break...from big city Sol planets to one street towns in the republic out rimmers...
pulse lasers will work for anti missile duty. and the main guns in one or two turrets to give freedom of movement to the ship. the medium fighter has a few pulse lasers in the nose and alot of hard points...also figure to have at least one or two EV pods for ship repair in space...on top of regular space suits...
um do we need an escape capsule? im sure R2 would like one...but hey its space if you get blown up, what makes anyone think that someones gonna bother looking for your butt in a blinking soda can in space? so far the ship doesnt have one...

[Soria]

Meh, if the cook should be dropped, then drop I say. As for what you guys are talking about.. whew..

[Rookie]

You guys must have read the same book or something cause this is getting too complex for my little head. I am now afraid to have ideas shot down because they might not fit the parameters or because they're "silly and unrealistic"

[$tormin]

Not a book, rail guns are real. The thing about them, once you start throwing something fast enough it doesn't matter what you use because the impact is going to have more power than any explosive you can fire.

Don't be afraid to suggest ideas :P

[jep'ray]

no fear! nothing is final, at least until i actualy start the RPT. im just bounceing ideals around in here...i mean heck, i want to throw in something Red Dwarfish, and add some space Neo-nazis...maybe a few space gypsies...all back ground contacts or something...i'm gonna try to find some time to actualy reach my stupid scanner before i go to sleep tonight and throw some pics at everyone...but feel free to shoot, and we'll see where it all lands...hmm So how much crew do we need anyways?

[$tormin]

Here's an idea for a minor political entity.
Rocks and System Vehicles:
Mobile independent colonies, rocks are hollowed asteroids and System Vehicles are constructed O'Neil Colonies.
Several like to hang around less developed systems using their manufacturing capability to help out starting colonies by producing goods cheaply that would otherwise have to be imported. The vagrants benifit from access to cheaper access to system material (having to pay no or little tax to harvest asteroid material for example)

[jep'ray]

lol, the space mobile homes..but awsome ideal, it'll put those in for sure...im sure they can also be used as a kind of port o call for pirates, wanting to trade items with no questions asked...could be fun, so they are all called O'neil Colonies...cool...more imput!

[jep'ray]

Btw, if you have any ideals that can help fluff out the back ground space feel free to chime in. If you think you can come up with a better system lord or government that what i posted earlier, feel free and throw it in here, and we'll see about puting into the offical fluff...um has anyone thought up a name for my RPT yet? i just have have it down as "Stardust Revival" in my word pages...any thoughts?

[$tormin]

Because I was the first to ask, I was given permission to attempt to craft the Sol system. :D Waiting on approval via PM before I post it.


Edit: And here it is. Still subject to change

Sol System
Terra: Population 6 Billion
The human home-world still has by far the largest population though military and political power has mostly moved to the Halo. Because of possible environmental damage from heat put into the atmosphere, no civilian traffic is allowed to lift off for space from the surface or drop through the atmosphere with aro-braking. Non military goods are shipped by space elevator through the Halo

Earth Halo: Population 500 million
Earth Halo started as a few orbiting colonies and manufacturing centers that continually built up as excess asteroidal material sent to Earth orbit was converted into more and more habitats and factories. The construction of the two space elevators gave cheap access to the largest known market in the universe which further fueled the Halo's growth. Currently the Halo contains 40% of the entire human manufacturing output with the ability to scale up 50% more with short notice. The people of the Halo have the highest standard of living, not counting the Rocks and System Vehicles.

Luna: Population 50,000
Settled early as a waypoint to Mars, Luna never grew as quickly as expected. Currently the Lunar colonies mine and refine materials that are sent to the Halo via mass driver to supplement the constant stream of rocks pushed from the asteroid belt. Powerful weapon emplacements are on the moon able to prevent any attack from any direction not exactly opposite the Earth from Luna.

Asteroid Belt: Population 1.3 million (?)
Sparsely populated region, most activity involves prospecting rocks and readying them for flight to the Halo.

Mars: Population 5 million
Vast underground cities house the millions who call Mars home. The Martian government acts as a separate entity from the rest of the system but when dealing with outsiders will be solidly with the main government.

Venus: Population 700,000
Currently Venus is undergoing Terraforming. A large dust cloud was placed between Venus and the sun and gigantic machines are trapping greenhouse gasses to bring the worlds temperature down. A small moon named Pearl was created in Venus' orbit and is being used as a base for the Terraforming operation.

Jupiter (and moons): Population 200,000
Jupiter is the primary manufacturing center for cryogenic Helium 3 fuel used as reactor fuel in most space ships and planet based power plants in the Sol System.

Saturn: Population (Classified)
Saturn is the primary staging point and base for the Terran based military.

Others: Population 3 million collectively
Bases and colonies around the rest of the planets and in inter planetary space. Does not include the vagrant people of the independent mobile habitats.

[jep'ray]

lol, i think the only one that i actualy put any thought into was the crazies of Pennance colony...the end all had already come and gone, so its up to them to make the rest of the universe match their ideals...lol gotta love writing up fantic loons...i think i may be borrowing a bit from Hitchhilkers guide to the galaxy...but hey that was kinda funny too...

[$tormin]

I'm willing to do other worlds too, i'll claim them slowly though so others can have a chance to work ^^

[jep'ray]

like Galactus...$tormin goes across the known Verse gobbling up whole systems...

[$tormin]

I'm doing the Corperate home system now. ^^
My realm is getting beaten down hard right now though so it might be morning before I can post it :/


Edit:
Going Norse theme with the names
Corporate
Star: Asgard
Muspelheim -Closest planet to Asgard
Midgard- Corporate Homeworld
Svartálfaheimr – Mars like
Niflheimr - Mars like
Jötunheimr- Gas Giant

[$tormin]

Corporate
Star: Asgard -Slightly larger than Sol

Muspelheim -Closest planet to Asgard. Rocky body, 3 asteroid moons.

Midgard: Population 1.3 Billion
Corporate Homeworld. Slightly further from sun than the Earth is so average temperature is lower. One year is 412.7 days, day is 31 hours long. Surface is 61% ocean.
The first easily Terraformable world discovered, Midgard already had a native life consisting of simple plants and ocean animals. Atmosphere is breathable but unpleasant due to high concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and other trace elements currently being removed. Weather patterns heavily affected by terraforming and heat pumped into it by surface/space traffic.
Population is rapidly growing through several methods including monetary incentives for large families, cloning and state run child rearing institutions. Construction of the first Space Elevator is scheduled to begin within 30 years.

Midgard Halo: Population 30,000
Still in the early stages, the hub of Asgard manufacturing is nowhere near the impressiveness of Earth's Halo, consisting of a mere two dozen habitats and manufacturing centers.

Svartálfaheimr: Population 15,000
An ice desert world that is a third smaller than Mars. Domed colonies.

Asteroid Belt: Population 10,000
At the earliest point in colonisation the asteroid belt was the primary manufacturing center for the system. Currently resources are being relocated to the Halo.

Niflheimr: Population (Classified)
A mars-like world slightly larger than Svartalfaheimr that is currently used as the primary military staging area for the Corperate sector.

Jötunheimr: Population 50,000
A jovian gas giant with stations set up to collect and refine Helium 3 for space ship fuel and power generation.

[Rookie]

Maybe the Corporation could also have the viking pagan religion?
We could pillage some ideas and call pirates from the Corporation system vikings, and have some of their culture revolve around the same kind of ideas as the Scandinavians?

Now that we've opened that can of worms, I'd like to have a character from that system if we could somehow work that in.

[jep'ray]

not a problem, the ship is privately owned by the crew, so the crew is from any and all walks of life, except maybe Penance colony...i heard their crazy...Vikings? sure sounds like fun, lets bounce more ideals around and see what sticks...

[$tormin]

They don't HAVE to be vikings, our planets are named after roman gods and we don't speak Latin or form empires ;P
Naming military ships after Norse heros would be cool though.



Rock: No Fixed Abode
Population: 12,000
One of the first rocks made, constructed by hollowing a large asteroid with nuclear charges while spinning it. NFA started with the designation Rock 004 and was used as a base for asteroid mining in the Sol system. After the mining and refining process was entirely moved to the Halo Rock 004 was temporarily abandoned.
A later expedition rediscovered it twenty years later and began refurbishment as a habitat. A century later a new concept of mobile habitats was tested with Rock 004, now called Paradise Rock.
Yet later a jump drive was added and a larger manufacturing center was added on. At a point years after this a dispute with the Sol government caused Paradise Rock to declare itself independent and it left the Sol System and was renamed No Fixed Abode.
Despite having reconciled its differences with the Sol government the NFA has not returned to the Sol system in over 1000 years. Instead it wanders randomly among the other systems.
The population of the NFA is currently 12,000 and like nearly every other independent Rock or System Vehicle the standard of living on board is the highest known.

[Soria]

Or celtic ones. :D

[$tormin]

Organization: Corporate Armed Reactionary Force
When the Second Space War only ended with Sol's intervention and threat to begin sterilizing bombardments of key rebel colonies, the Corporation realized that the larger force will not always win a war.
As was part of the agreement, Sol withdrew and allowed Corp to occupy its rebellious colonies. The ground troops of the time were untrained and not prepared to deal with hidden rebel cells that continued to commit terrorist acts after the peace was declared. In response the government began a program of training and equipping a large professional force to fight its wars on the ground and inside colonies to subdue the enemy without massive losses of enemy civilian lives.
As time passed, CARF's mandate expanded to anti-piracy actions as the Third Colonial Collapse created a large number of desperate but armed people who turned to piracy to survive.

Event: Colonial Collapse
The establishment of a colony without the backing of a major government's resource base is risky but potentially hugely profitable. Occasionally such ventures fail as either the Terraforming does not take resulting in dying worlds or the infrastructure breaks leaving the project unable to continue when the investors back away.
As it is simply not practical to evacuate planetary or system populations, the people left behind such events are forced to get on as best as they can. Sometimes this results in the locals commandeering space craft and taking to piracy.
Even this is not enough to keep the end away forever though, without a stable planetary ecosystem to act as a backup to closed artificial ecosystems there is eventually a total meltdown and finally death for all that remain.

[jep'ray]

Penance Colony : one of the earliest settlements out towards the outer rim of known space, the colony was originally a scientific research station on a barren rock simply called Echo 201. An experiment in terraforming it was where the main template for turning lifeless worlds into living habitats. Of course the Sol government never disclosed the real reason for place such an important research center so far out of the way. The planet was rich in alien artifacts that helped advance the study and use of hard terraforming by at least 50years. The small colony was starting to grow, but other fates awaited its future.

Back in the heart of Sol, on the mother planet of earth a rogue religious faction was gaining strength. They spun a tail of Armageddon and penance for all the sins that man made. Their first leader, the prophet Jedia Brown was a man known by many. He had worked in some of the highest reaches government when something suddenly changed his own personal world. The left his post, and took on the name of Prophet and started to reveal closely guarded state secrets in his rants from the pulpit. He knew something that the others have yet to be told of at the time. The fact that artifacts had been found on more than a few planets, as the Government on Sol expanded. That the latest and greatest technology, he thought, was due to things found and not simply human ingenuity.

The Government was at first slow to react to this threat, as he amassed a huge following in a short period of time. When they were finally ready to quiet the Prophet it was too late, his group was mobile and militant. They were causing some trouble here and there but the noose was closing in on them all, as more military might was brought down on them. Jedia’s only option was to flea earth. They took command of a long distance supply ship and headed off to deep space, his destination was Echo 201. On earth his whereabouts were unknown till it was too late. The person they had been watching was a fake. They had no clue where he would go…

Echo 201 had no clue what fate had befallen it, as the supply ship popped into real space and headed inbound for the research lab. The lone cruiser the held orbit was bored with its time watching the stars go by, they just went into routine logged the IFF of the ship. Then the slightly nervous looking supply captain asked for a face to face meeting with the cruisers captain. Which he approved on, any change in pace was welcome. The shuttle landed in the hanger and docked but the meeting never happened. The Aux power core from the supply ship that was in the cargo space of the shuttle and it went critical and exploded with the power of a sun inside the massive Sol cruiser. They had no time to signal for help before turning into stardust. The ship then made planet fall.

The followers of the prophet out numbered the research colony ten to one, and soon had control. Not all was as they had wished, the lab was in the middle of closing down, the main artifacts had been moved and they terraforming was now known to work and already starting on other worlds. It took months for word of the attack on Echo 201 to reach earth and by then, he was now so far out of the public’s eye that they really didn’t care what he did anymore.
The Prophet now had command of his planet but no the artifacts he wanted, but he did have a good sized colony habitat. There they would fester and grow, as they turned the defense turrets on any ships sent in to rescue any scientist left living.

Over the next 30 years nothing was heard of from Echo 201, when a new scourge moved across the outer rim and heading in towards Sol. A Fleet of ships, unknown in design had started to take out colony domes. The only word that they broadcast before attacking was Penance.

According to the Prophet, Armageddon had already come and gone. When the humans could no longer look to themselves for salvation but to alien artifacts. Armageddon had come and gone as it was up to them to right this wrong. It was up to the Prophet and his followers to remind everyone of Armageddon…

They left death and destruction in there wake. The ships they used were crude, and almost barbaric in its weaponry. Holding on to a bomb pumped X-ray laser in its forward hull, they would ignite a nuclear warhead inside the lead lined armored housing in the nose. The bomb pumped X-ray laser was as fatal to its own crew as it was to the ships that it tore into. Any weakness in that blast chamber was fatal to the ship firing. They went deep into the Sol controlled space, but the prophets own weapon had turned against him as his flagship suffered a fatal misfire. The assault on Sol had faltered, and the Sol units could finally group up and take them down as they fled back to their home on Echo 201.

Pushed back to the planet, its fleet lost they were Quarantined for the known future. The colony had since changed its name to Penance colony and they await their second prophet and a chance to complete there view of the universe after Armageddon...

[$tormin]

The Zen: Alien Race
Beginning nearly two million years ago the Zen began to explore and study the galaxy. In that time they had charted every jump point and had examined every world of interest but they never colonized or altered worlds.
The main interest in the Zen's explorations was to find other space-faring life but their period was one lacking in such, with only remains of space civilizations and primitives with potential.
One million years ago a star's collapse was predicted and would erase the jump points connecting the Zen homeworld with the rest of the galaxy. A decision was reached to pull back to their world and wait rather than moving the population or even the star system to a more convenient location. With 10,000 years lead time they easily accomplished this goal while leaving as much as they could of the galaxy unmarked by their passing. By the time the jump points vanished, the entire race had gone into a hibernation while machines watched and listened for outside activity.
Human explorations caught the attention of the machines which awakened a small portion of the Zen race, mostly researchers and scientists, who decided to contact these new interesting people. The closest star with jump point access to the Zen world was nearly 25 light years from their world, which meant a 50 year lag time in communications. None the less greetings and exchanges of information happened.
Currently the Zen are embarking on a project to create a new star 1 light year from thier own to create a new jump point into human space, a project expected to take over a thousand years. Slow ships sent from the Zen world are expected to reach human space within three hundred years.

While impressive, Zen technology is not so advanced that it is impossible to understand... leading human researchers to conclude that the current point of human technology is at the low end of the highest point with no substantial breakthroughs possible. Refinement of current tech is possible but due to problems with communication with the Zen, no useful help has arrived from that area.
Nearly all ancient alien artifacts in the galaxy are Zen in origin but due to the passing of time are nearly useless unless exceptional chance has preserved examples of such unusually well.

[Rookie]

Yeah, we don't HAVE to have them be vikings, but it would add a bit of personality and it would be kind of fun, and thats the whole point of the RPT right?

The Corporation reminds me a bit of Czerka Corp from Knights of the Old Republic.

[jep'ray]

yup thats the ideal...and if you want go on and make me a system that is Viking...we have a whole galaxy to fill up...give me a system, name, planets and base them off of vikings cause, i know vikings wouldn't be caught dead at a board meeting in suits...but they can have their own system, under their control unless you want them as part of Sol domain

[$tormin]

Indeed. When I picked norse names for the planets I was just picking a naming scheme that sounded cool. I imagined that the survey ship's crew decides to play a game of poker to decide who gets to name the planets and some Dane won.


By the way, yeah we have a large chunk of the galaxy to create. Even if 90% of stars have no useful jump points thats still a lot of territory to cover. Start submitting stuff!

[Soria]

Damn, if only I had my Celtic mythology book near by..

[$tormin]

When building a system, I have been making sure to have a few key things
1. Rocky planet that is terraformable. Without a complex large ecosystem to serve as a backup for when (not if when) the artificial ecosystems in the domed cities or space colonies fail. When this happens you evacuate the populace, burn everything then expose to hard vacuum and rebuild.
2. An offworld manufacturing base. It's a hell of a lot easier to make stuff locally than to ship it across inter stellar distances. Zero G factories have advantages with easy access to materials from asteroid belts and cheap solar power.
3. A gas giant to use as a gas station. If you don't want to pay the energy price of lugging your fuel to orbit, you have to either use a gas giant or capture ice asteroids, and those are in the Oort cloud usually which means throwing them a long way and they usually lose a lot of mass by the time they get anywhere useful.

[jep'ray]

ok heres a pic of the two ship designs i have bouncing around inside my head...i drew ship A years, and years ago for a RPG campain that never got off the ground, and is one of my favorites...Ship B is new, the whole front half is cargo, doors are on left and right...so which do you like???
also some fighters for scale...if that helps

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q121/jepray/Scan10049.jpg

[Soria]

I definately prefer the look of ship B

[Rookie]

I also like B. And I like the looks of the heavy fighter :)

You are a very talented artist Jep.

I don't know if i would take on the responsibility of doing a whole system, but i wouldn't mind doing a planet or two.

[jep'ray]

ok, a few planets then, get crackin! lol, and we'll render the rest of your system lifeless...and thanks, i'll get you a close up of the heavy later, its nick name is Tarantula

[$tormin]

Organization: Galactic Civilization Committee
Effectively the United Nations in space. All medium to major powers have representatives, including an honorary position for the alien race known as the Zen. The GCC was formed in response to the discussion on what do do about Penance Colony following the short war.
The Committee has no actual legal power but meetings are generally used to arrange treaties and discuss grievances. Official meetings are held every two years on board the Rock, No Fixed Abode which makes a stop at a predetermined system for the event.

[jep'ray]

ok heres a frigate for one of the factions, any thoughts? its too small for a crusier but way bigger than our cargo ship...its spiffy

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q121/jepray/Scan10051.jpg

[$tormin]

War Vessel: Shiva Gunship
Originally designed as a patrol and escort ship for the Sol Rapid Reactionary Force (RRF) the Shiva's role was expanded to include use as a skirmisher and to deliver heavy firepower into the flanks of enemy formations.
Hundreds of Shiva hulls have been sold to Sol friendly organizations and the design has been licensed to the Corperate Systems which have modified it into the new Odin Gunship.

Weapons:
4 turreted dual Plasma Cannons. 45cm Hellbores 1mt/sec firepower each.
8 turreted railguns. 150 kt/sec firepower each
4 medium missile launcher racks
2 combat drone launch bays.

((Crappy MS Paint sketch)) (http://i5.tinypic.com/8ful3tk.jpg)

[jep'ray]

urt, hellbores...thats a Bolos weapon system...ouch, that things gonna be big, this frigate i drew up only has 2 cannons of that size, and few rails and infinate repeaters for close in support...ok will work on ship stats now

[$tormin]

45 cm isn't all that much ;P

[Rookie]

System:Mjolnir Confederacy.
Mjolnir: population: 4.5 billion
The largest planet, from which the system gets its name is 73% water. The inhabitants are notoriously tall and strong. Their average height is between 6 foot 5 and 6 foot 7. When they were able to enter space, they began the conquest of the two other planets.
Mjolnirs are pagans in belief, worshiping the same gods as the Norsemen of Scandanavia. After conquering the planets they began capitalizing on the two planets and are large suppliers of lumber from Loki, water, and precious metals used in ship building from Scorvia. Mjolnir pirates are known by the same calling as the Norsemen from earth: Vikings. They raid and pillage other systems, but little is done about it by the Mjolnir government which operates as a democracy. The raiding and pillaging brings revenue to the planet and stimulates the economy.
The people themselves are known for their height and strength, but also for their strategies in war and the mighty Mjolnir fleet. But they have made treaties in recent decades and formed alliances. Once these alliances are made the pirates begin to leave allied systems alone. They are new members to the GCC.
Scorvia: population: 3.3 billion
The Mjolnir conquered the Scorvians who are now under the rule of the Mjolnirs. Hundreds of rebellions have been attempted, but the smaller and weaker Scorvians are always beaten down by the Mjolnirs and their superior tactics.
The Scorvians are smaller than most Sol System residents. They are known for being quick, but weak in stand up fights, but have incredible aim. Scorvian men are often brought in to the Mjolnir army as snipers, cavalry, and scouts. The relations between the two are still rough, but becoming stronger as the years progress.
Loki: population: 345 million
A jungle planet renamed after the Mjolnir god of trickery and mischief. It is the Confederacy's largest exporter of timber products and precious minerals mined from its vast mine systems. The population is made up of workers sent from the home planet, as Scorvians are too small to be any use in the lumber and mining industry, and Scorvian dealers who determine value of goods.

summary: The Mjolnir Confederacy is on good terms with all members of the GCC. Other systems are attacked by small Viking raiding parties. Although the Government does not stop them, Vikings are not a state sponsored group. Are generally friendly to outsiders.

[jep'ray]

Awsome job on the vikings, wanna try your hand on another system?

[$tormin]

So now we have 3 major powers (Sol, Corp and Mjol) One unknown power (Zen) and one minor power (No Fixed Abode)

Though as the oldest rock and in its own rights one of the oldest independent human civilizations, the NFA should have its opinions respected equal to anyone else.

Which planets in Mjolnir have space elevators and halos? Is there a lack of a real asteroid belt that makes planetary mining worthwhile?
The racial differences between the two peoples is interesting, I'm guessing that they were settled by two different racial groups and Loki was set up for nearly automatic Terraforming, or are the jungles there native?

[Soria]

The Nefaritti System. ( Take it or leave it.)

A mostly femme run set of colonies, willing to work with the Confederancy, but stubborn to blend completely with them. Contains a massive yellow star.

Ra ( Mercury like planet.)- Named After the Egyptian God of the sun, before inhabiting the planet, the colontist built something like a sun screen between the sun and the planet. Has two moons, Amun and Atum.

Nephthys ( Like Venus/Earth, hot, but livable.) Swamp planet, with some of the richest diferity of flora, funa, and dieases. Most people avoid it for last bit. One moon, Baal.


Naunet- ( Earth like.) Earth Size planet, but with much more of its surface is covered with water. One moon Geb.

Nut- ( Jupitar/Saturn, aka big ass gas planet with rings.) Planet consists of deadly gases, but has several obriting stations, and six moons, Imhotep, Seker, Set, Khepry, Ptah and Menthu. This planet houses the main areas of not only the sciences, but the arts.

[jep'ray]

ok, stats on that frigate..its now a destroyer...

Integrated Dynamics:

Ship class: Destroyer
Class name: Talbot

A well known ship from the space yards of ID, the Talbot class fast destroyer is a catch all design. As known with all ID designs the safety of the crews are a priority, as seen to by the many life pods places across its hull. A Standard hanger design eases the build of the ship. Another off the shelf component is the radar/ladar system mounted under the ship. Its power plant is over spec for a ship of this size, but allows it awesome maneuvering and unparalleled speed.

Weapons outfit: standard
Long range is in the form of a twin mounted 45cm hell bore and two twin missile launchers in the nose of the ship.
Medium ranges get a single turret with a triple mounted 20cm hell bore and 4 twin mounted Gauss rifles.
For the short range, it excels with no less than 30 infinite repeaters turrets mounting twin barrels. Making any approach by fighter craft no less than suicide.

Some have argued that this jack of all trades suffers too many set backs trying to cover so many areas of battle, but others still say that it is the only thing that has kept its crew alive to fight another day.

By today’s standards it is now reaching the ends of design limits, newer hulls can do as well or better for less cost to the user, but it remains a favorite for system police and customs, or for escort duty.

[Rookie]

I'll say Mjolnir and Scorvia have space elevators.

Loki's jungles are native.

No asteroid belt, but Loki is rich in minerals not normally found in asteroids

Could you fill me in on how the ship system works? I'd like to flesh out the Mjolnir Fleet i alluded to.

[$tormin]

Ship system? Do you just mean a rundown on the current weapon types that have been used?

[jep'ray]

hmm kinda playing it by ear, main weapons are rail guns (gauss rifles) PLasma cannons 40cm and up, really large capitalship missiles, as big as our ship kinda missiles... medium range is the under 40cm plasmas, Guass rifles again and smaller missiles, Partical projection cannons...X-ray laser is powerful, bombpumped x-ray is easiest to pull off, and normal warhead in missiles...you can have a Maser (microwave laser)if you want. short range, small plasma, Infinite repeaters are small rail guns they spit out metal so fast and far it makes avoiding it impossible... small missile systems..lasers would fit into this area...but all in moderations...run the list of weapons and ship class you want to put it into and i can tell you if it will fit or not...

[Rookie]

For the Capital Ships: 4 turret mounted rail guns
2 Plasma Cannons (turret)
6 Gauss Rifles
12 Infinite repeaters
6 short range missile
All evenly distributed of course. If this is too much or too little for a capital ship let me know. I think i could build other smaller ships off this basis.

[$tormin]

Maybe a good rule of thumb would be 10megatonnes a second for a heavy warship direct fire (or a glass canon like the Shiva)
6-10 for medium warship and
2-6 for an escort or patrol craft.


Direct fire as in not counting fighters, drones or missiles.

[Rookie]

whats are megatonnes?

[$tormin]

1 million metric tonnes of TnT. So 1mt/sec would be like blowing up a 1 megatonne nuclear bomb on the target every second.

Edit: Of course the ships will have battlescreens capable of withstanding such firepower, but bombardment of planets is nasty and if you do it you should expect to have your nation put down like a mad dog.

[jep'ray]

a gauss cannon is a rail gun, its just another name for it...and i think your thinking megajoule...for lasers...the amout of power released...but its all the same, just a world of hurt. 6 turrets, 4 with rail 2 with plasma, and 6 addional railguns, 12 point defense turrets (repeaters) and 6 sets of short range missle pods...sounds right for a capital ship...

im gonna go on and make my odd ball fleet, hang on a sec you guys realize if one of these things wanted to shoot our little transport to kingdom come, they could right!? but we are kinda small so hard to hit...hmm

[jep'ray]

Im thinking along the lines of Babalon5 ships for a basis for the weapons layout...

[$tormin]

We are also a cargo ship so would have a very bad engine/mass ratio when fully loaded. Essentially a sitting duck.
Don't pick fights with warships!

[jep'ray]

more shtarship goodness...

Integrated Dynamics: Rapier class Dreadnought
Ship class: Dreadnought or man o war
Class name: Rapier

The largest design made by ID ships, it was also a financial flop for the company. Very few worlds could afford such a large vessel, let alone crew her. The ship held more weapons than a wing of destroyers could ever manage, bigger than any capital ship, it still suffered from being over gunned and under powered. Even with an engine room that was as big as a destroyer, it was a feat in engineering that the folks at ID managed to fit as many guns on this hull without causing to collapse under its own weight. The main hanger is large enough to house a frigate, or several wings of fighters, an standard hanger forward of the main houses the ships shuttles.

Weapons outfit: standard

Long range: no less that 7 turrets holding two 60cm hellbore plasma cannons,and numerous large capital ship missile tubes

Medium range: 5 turrets holding a triple mount of 20cm hellbores and a 2 turrets with a twin rail guns

Short range: 60 point defense turrets litter the hull

Of the 20 hulls sold, none have yet to be destroyed in combat, and all are still in operation in the systems, normally to guard the capital planet. the class was discontinued shortly after the last known sale. Cost over runs and poor sales figures doomed the ship from further development. Many believe that if they worked the design, they could have gotten around the poor power figures by arming up with non-plasma weaponry but the project was canceled before it could be tested. One item of note, the prototype ship “Leo”has since gone missing, between the shipyard and the boneyard…lost in transit, all hands presumed lost…

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q121/jepray/Scan10053.jpg

[jep'ray]

and another...
with a destroyer for scale...
Penance colony: Attack ship

A crude design to be made quickly and in great numbers these ships once numbered into the thousands as they spread like locust across the stars. Basic life support, and weapons that tried to kill the crew as much as kill the enemy, it’s a wonder that they didn’t fail sooner…
It was easily the size of a battle cruiser but with barely enough weapons to fill a frigate, with only one large exception. The Bomb pumped X-ray laser that took over a quarter of the ships hull to house. So heavy reinforced was that blast chamber that may enemy ships found it nearly impossible to destroy it with a head on attack.
This single weapon, with all its deadly drawbacks is what gave them the edge in any fight. The will to recklessly use this weapon at such close ranges surprised the first captains that fought them, it defied all common sense. Only the fanatics of Penance could ever make it work. The weapon, when it worked correctly would cut down even the most powerful ships shielding and armor, and even if the armor held, the secondary radiation effect almost always rendered a killing blow to any organics in the ship…
Its secondary weapons were almost laughable. One large laser cannon on each side of the hull and a bottom turret housing two more…the power output needed to make these weapons affective against the battle screens of that time were stupid. The ship would have to turn off its engines while it fired the lasers, and in points of desperation they would risk turning off their own shields and life support to fire the lasers for longer periods of time.
The point defense turrets on the ship were also laughable. A mix of under powers lasers and sub-par plasma weapons, they only had one gun per ball turret and due to power supply problem, normally never fired.
They were all roughly of the same design, and almost all were destroyed after their failed rapture. But not all these ships were caught, a few have turned pirate or await the day the chosen prophet returns…

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q121/jepray/Scan10052.jpg

[$tormin]

I like them. With the Pennance ship I can easily see the earlier design I posted (Shiva) being a counter to those ships since it's for hitting from the side or back of fleets with massive firepower and high speed/maneuverability.

[$tormin]

Rock: Endless Wake
500 years ago the Rock Salvation's Destination had an accident that killed 30% of it's population. For months afterward the AI that ran the ship acted strange.
Coming into the Mjolnir system it contacted the Rock Wanderers Challenge and the System Vehicle Forgotten Promise and declared a state of emergency. Moving to the two others, it forced its inhabitants to abandon to the other vessels before declaring a name change to Endless Wake.
The Endless Wake then turned and moved to the nearest jump point and left the system. Currently it wanders star systems randomly and only ever communicates to Rocks or System Vehicles when it requires completely essential maintenance or repairs that it cannot perform on itself.
A few pirates have figured that the Rock would be free and easy to take but it apparently has been able to manufacture up to date weaponry and is more than capable of defending itself.

[jep'ray]

heres the write up on our ship, thats version B since well everyone liked it better than A...i liked A...o well, B is bigger anyways...


Newport News Space Industries: Stardust class cargo transport
At a time of expansion came a need for a smaller form of transport over the impossibly large bulk haulers. NNSI, a primary builder for the Sol system answered this call with what is now the classic Stardust hull. Slightly over powered, and with a rather large cargo space in the forward half of the hull and even a small crafts hanger built in to the rear of the hull it was soon a favorite for special shipping firms and smugglers alike.
NNSI did their research well before building the stardust class ship. Four primary engines in moveable pods and one aux engine in the nose to aid with lifting off, this ship can land anywhere the pilot cared to try. The clamshell doors that line both sides of the cargo bay ensure, no matter how busy a port was, there was always a way to get the cargo out. The rear hanger was large enough to hold 2-3 runabouts or fighter craft, special hard points on the hull allowed more craft or cargo to be held outside. Because the ship was designed to run with its own shuttlecraft, the life pods were omitted to make room for defense systems. Many variants were made, the most popular (especially amongst the smugglers) was the Long Arrow variant, which placed an offensive package to the hull along with 3 point defense turrets. This variant was designed for longer ranged transport in areas where a patrol ship might not always near by to help.

Weapons out fit: Long Arrow variant (non-standard)

A remote turret mounted turret with twin medium rail guns

3 defense turrets, port and starboard turrets with a single infinite repeater and a aft turret with a dual mount.

Counter measures computer system also included…

Today it is an old and ageing hull, with too many light years on its frame. But it can and will be seen in space ports across known space. The design is timeless, the structure sound and well engineered, the power plants stout and everlasting. With the proper captain and crew the Stardust will continue to see service for many years to come…

[$tormin]

Planet: Lords Promise (English Judaic/Christian name. Multiple names depending on faction)
Population: 350 Million
A world created specifically for those who wished for the simpler life and didn't want to be placed in one of the many parks on Earth.
The Terraforming of the world is nearly complete meaning most of the engineers have been moved to other projects but the original base is still maintained as the worlds only landing strip capable of handling commercial craft. The planets economy is self sustained for the most part with any needed external capital provided by various Rocks and System Vehicles that come into the system and purchase system debris for processing.
By treaty, anyone is able to leave the world free of charge if they find the lifestyle unsuitable and system defense is provided by the Sol military. Since there are no worthwhile targets in the system, it is generally safe from pirate actions so the ship commanders sent to protect it are often ones close to retirement and wish to serve out their final years quietly.

[jep'ray]

um, just a thought, if you want to make your character profiles more intresting and none of the planets we have listed in here dont match, feel free to make your own home planet... i am gonna make a start up list soon with all the fluff that is approved into the story line, anyone have any thoughts as to the skillsets were gonna need to include? start to work up bios soon

and

WHO WANTS TO BE THE CAPTAIN?!

[$tormin]

Yushev Kruznetsov
Birthplace: No Fixed Abode
Citizenship: No Fixed Abode, Sol
Skills:
Profession: Ship Systems (2 points): Ability to operate most systems on star ships that do not require excessive amounts of training such as scanners, navigation and communications gear.
Zero Gravity Maneuvering: Greatly increased skill and comfort in zero gravity.
Martial Arts: Hand to hand combat and dirty fighting
Wealth: Good at making money.

Bio:
Repentance Nfa Kruznetsov Januar Ohfor Yushev, born a Rock Dweller but has lately gotten bored and decided to take a sabbatical to check out life among other peoples. Learning starship operations he left the No Fixed Abode and went to the Sol system to hire on with an independent shipper.
Yushev gained his skills in zero gravity martial arts as a hobby and though he is good, he has never won any serious competitions. Despite this he is far more capable than most in zero gravity situations.
As a going away gift from the rest of his community, Yushev was given his own personal intership craft, little more than a three person pod. Like all other Rock dweller ships this craft has a non serious name, Repairs Respectfully Required, and an apparently insane computer.

[Rookie]

Here's a thought before we go about making any more systems: How many are we actually going to use? If we have a bunch of fluff systems floating around and trying to incorporate all this history, it's just going to make things harder to keep track of. Let's be realistic, decide which ones we would use, and maybe slow down on the system making?
Personally all the systems and technology are getting really hard to keep track of. It's kind of the same thing going on with the DaVinci's Legacy for me. There is so much to keep track of it's hard to keep interest and stay involved.

[$tormin]

Since we are doing episodic style it won't be as hard to keep track of things. I think it will be along the lines of one set goal, 3ish encounters or major plot points and each ep should be about 2-3 weeks. We could just look up systems specific to the episode.

Edit: I also sent a pm offering to captain if nobody else offers. I think it's a bit of a conflict of interest since I have done so much work with Jep behind the scenes and expect to do so in the future when it's running. It would be like doing a self-insertion fanfic.... <shudders>

[Rookie]

heh, the horror movie for all writers.

"Wait...the authors name is bob soandso...did he just describe the main character as bob soandso and make him look like himself while hitting on an unreasonably attractive female!? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" *head explode*

I'll step up for captaincy. Just PM me the ships specs and you guys can help me get a set of skills desirable for a captain (leadership and probably navigating among them) that i can incorporate with my own wants. I would like a "first-mate/assistant captain" however so I'm not eternally bound to stay on the ship if i don't have to be. the two of us could swap adventure duties, but i would stay on board for crucial situations involving the ship itself.

[jep'ray]

well, i am gonna make a base page that will hold all the system info...but for now we only really have to worry about Sol and one other destination...other wise its just back ground info, to pull up when needed...i guess we have alot of info...i'll try and get the first mission written down... so whos gonna take the captains seat?

[$tormin]

Rookie volunteered! Sucker! :p

[jep'ray]

HEHEheheHehe...{edit} sry evil laughing moment....well rookie you are now captain of a lovely old and refurbished Stardust class transport. information on the ship was posted earlier...i will get an interior floor plan in a few days...we will be using the RPT skills from the thread that $tormin made...should help, just gotta work out the details...so for now, i guess start thinking up what you want to be, or if we have to i'll make a list of positions needed abord ship...um, vote on that last bit please...

[Rookie]

No, i believe who ever signs on to serve under me is the sucker. hehehehehe...fools...

[$tormin]

Feel free to make up skills that are not already covered in the RPT creation thread. Just remember, jep has final say on what goes.

[Rookie]

# of skill points allowed?

[$tormin]

Standard 5.

[jep'ray]

yeah, what $torming said...

ok have we decided a name for the ship? Soria mentioned Steel stallion, i like Last exile and Forlorn hope...Killing Time was cool too...any thoughts to a ship name, the ship class is called Stardust...Im gonna call the thread the Stardust Revival cause it is...any thoughts?

[Rookie]

Last Exile and Forlorn Hope sound good to me.

[Gramorn Soulaxe39]

im not in this but Forlorn Hope sounds good lol i've been reading this for a couple days. it sounds better than last exile anyways

[jep'ray]

feel free to join up, when i get that page up, were just cutting teeth geting ready to start up this Sci-fi thread. will get a signup and ooc page up in a few days i think...

Last Exile 1
Forlorn Hope 2

[$tormin]

I vote to name our craft "Net Currency Gain" ;P
jk. Last Exile is fine.

[jep'ray]

and the vote it a tie, anyone else care to chime in?

[Rookie]

For those of you who have played Kingdom Hearts (anecdote on ship naming):

In the beginning you get the opportunity to try to name the raft that your merry little crew gets to sail on. My friend and I were playing for the first time and decided we wanted to name the raft "The Death Trap." The guy doesn't really like the name, but says if you can beat him in a race you can give the raft that name. It took us two hours to finally beat him, but we were bound and determined to ride the "Death Trap." many many inside jokes resulted.

[$tormin]

How's progress on the map and sketching out the first episode?

[jep'ray]

working on the ship layout now...and making a few NPC's to tag along for the first ride...*sniff sniff* Ugg someone around here is burning their coffee something nasty...i'll run an outline past you when i have it all typed up...

[jep'ray]

you know...and exterior sketch of something...never really helps when i cant get anything to fit in the space i alotted myself...lol...geez i need some freaking graph paper or something...maybe some paint brush pics? o well, i'll keep my nose to the grind stone..

[Soria]

I vote for Last Exile.

[jep'ray]

and last exile pulls ahead,
Last exile 3
forlorn hope 2
is anyone left to vote?

[Slarethorn]

Just to keep it close, I'll throw a vote for forlorn hope. It sound more ominous to me.

[jep'ray]

and that brings it back to a tie...did we miss anyone? last call for votes

[Rookie]

If I were to choose between the two, it would be Last Exile.

I don't know if your first tally included me as voting twice, but if that is the case, we can take off my vote for forlorn hope. I believe that allows Last Exile to pull ahead.

[jep'ray]

ok so Last Exile pulls ahead for the win...i havent voted...and it woiuld have been my choice...I'll get the sign up sheet ready...soon...i hope

[$tormin]

Sol 2 project

It was decided that economic conditions in the Sol system could be greatly improved with the addition of a second, artificial, star to the system, placed in orbit around Jupiter (whereupon Jupiter would begin orbiting the star). This construct would be built from a pair of gas giants in an unused system one jump from Sol and would be ignited prior to jumping it to Sol and placing it.
In order to decrease the wasted energy and prevent any ecological damage of the Earth itself from changes in illumination patterns, a hyperbolic array is to be constructed around the new star, mirrored on the inside to redirect otherwise wasted light and heat to where it's needed.
Inspiration for this lays with the alien Zen's current project to construct a full sized star from over a hundred spare gas giants they had placed outside their system for future use.

[jep'ray]

this i will have to think about..its abit much for the begining...maybe for later use

[$tormin]

Thustin's World: Failed Colony

Thustin's World was the first attempt at terraforming a dead world to create a living one fit for human habitation. Due to the newness of the science dealing with terraforming very little was expected so it came as a complete surprise when the world became habitable quite quickly.
At this point in time the Earth's population was at 9 billion and massivly overcrowded so there was a rush to colonize. Everything seemed to be going well. There were some problems of course, weather was not quite stable and uncontrolled organisms were either expanding beyond what could be tolerated or going extinct. These seemed to be manageable though and the planets population soared to two billion while a gigantic space based industry was being constructed for the next stage of the world's development.
Disaster struck when a newly mutated strain of life, not quite a fungus mold or bacteria, kept appearing. Each time an outbreak was put down it became harder to deal with. It began to spread and consume everything. The planets weather completely destabilized as the oceans died and dangerous levels of trace gases went into the atmosphere unchecked. Tens of millions died due to infections and the population was forced to move into sealed habitats.
The final push came when the strain mutated seemingly overnight and began to consume any reactive material it touched. Normal methods of sealing could not hold long and most of the major cities containment failed, over a billion died within 10 years and a full out relief effort became a blockade when refugees brought to Earth had brought the outbreak to the homeworld.
Eventually everyone not rescued died and to this day a strong interdiction is enforced across the entire system.

[jep'ray]

oooo nice like that one...dont think i want to visit it but i do like it...

[$tormin]

That would be the first Colonial Collapse. Most other failures would become lifeless frozen balls of oxygen ice or Venus like hellholes. On either one humans could survive for quite a while by going to ground and savaging what is left but not even insects can survive on Thustin's World.

[jep'ray]

Blakes Revenge: Colonial colapse world...

the few Inhabitance of what was once called Blakes world, now call it Blakes revenge. all initial scans showed a picture perfect terraform. the plants and wild life was taking hold and the first settlers were starting the long haul to set up the rest of the planet. the project leader James Blake found the previously unknown caves that lead into the planet. there they found a gold mine in minerals and metals. among that find they also found something other, more alien elements. something was released in the mineing of Blakes world. It became part of the air, covered the globe. At first the colony kept word of their find to them selves, as they filled warehouses with there digings. When Blake was ready to report the minierals found, he was murdered, stabed in the back.
About this time symptoms started to appear. the planet was soon quarantined as more colonist started to come up with the same strange symptoms. shortness of breath and lack of energy, changing of skin color and loss of bone mass with later death as organs started to fail. the leading doctors took the charge to help out the now isolated colony. after years of work where half the colony died waiting, a cure was found, but it was expensive to make. Very expensive to make. The Colony would later use all the minerals that they found to pay for enough treatments to allow them to live with some sort of comfort. The wild life either died or changed with the strange alien sickness. The colonist are slowly dieing off, Blake had gotten his revenge on them...they stay under quarintine blockade with remote mines and a few picket ships...

Update

some new reports have come to light...rumors have surfaced that Blake was not part of the Terraforming unit but part of a Sol Bio-Chem military R&D unit...(Further information has been remotely deleated)

[$tormin]

First Contact Communications Transcript: Elber Sytem
Discussion Participants:
Sol Destroyer Material Defender
Semi-Independant Battleship Alone and Unarmed (Sub Vessel of System Vehicle Ocean in Motion)

AaU enters system. Contact established with Sol warship Material Defender.
AaU: Now this is interesting. I'm assuming that signal is the reason you have this place mined with satellites.
MD: Yeah. Glad to see someone friendly out here. This stuff started coming in a couple hours ago and I dumped all my passive arrays to catch as much of it as I could. To answer your next question, unless someone went through a lot of trouble setting this up it actually is coming from twenty five light years spin-ward. Yes, your maps are not wrong. That system does not have a jump point and hasn't had one in any possible configuration for as long as we have been able to track them.
AaU: Okay, I have just done an analysis of that signal and I can't really believe it.
MD: I'm going to believe it until I get a reason not to. So, do you want to drop some arrays and tie them in with mine?
AaU: Doing so now. I have also started manufacturing more. In about ten minutes I will be spitting out two every three minutes.
MD: Good. By the way, mind sitting on this for a while?
AaU: Sit on it? You must be joking. This is the biggest news ever if it's not some sort of trick. And being a trick is getting a lot less likely now that I am getting some better strength on the signal with the passive array.
MD: How about a deal? You hold it for a week and let me warn my government and I will let you break it publicly. What is your security rating anyways?
AaU: I self-assess at 81% but dont' worry. Here, have an uplink to my scanners. Signal strength is 17% better than I estimate yours to be right now.
MD: Actually that's closer to 23%. Don't you guys ever have budget cutbacks? This is awesome gear you have. Sending what I have from before you arrived. <signal file attached>
AaU: So, do you want to say something officially? This chatting won't look good in the history books. Wow, highest chance of actual first contact with active non human origined intelligences. It's hard to believe.
MD: How about this? <signal file attached>
AaU: That will do as good as any. So, you able to make any sense of this?
MD: Nope. Guess they have the same problem we did when we used to send out first contact signals, unless you already know what it means you can't figure it out.
AaU: Well that enforces my faith in the universe.

<file continues but gets boring after that>

[jep'ray]

lol...i was wondering why the story kinda stoped all of a sudden...lol

[$tormin]

How far along is the first ep?
Might have to run a couple episodes before more people start signing up.

[jep'ray]

yeah looks to be the case, will have it up and running in a few days...works been busy and im fried right now...

[$tormin]

Alien Artifacts:

The Garden of Stars (200 Million Years Old)
An artificial constellation consisting of seven artificial stars, the Garden was first discovered when observations were made from beyond an obscuring nebula preventing scientists in the Sol System to realize that the setup was a construct. Refinements in jump point calculation show that they are placed just right to prevent jump points from existing within 10 light years of any of the stars, which led researchers to jokingly conclude that the builders had a "look but don't touch" policy.
Currently the Garden is the oldest known artifact.


Nessus Jump Corridor (80 Million Years Old)
A pair of apparently artificial black holes in Sol's arm of the galaxy has created an interesting effect on the creation of jump lines. This corridor has allowed the formation of more stable jump points than are mathematically calculated to exist in any other part of the galaxy over the same area. This has proved beneficial to Terran exploration and development and nearly all movement is in the directions that this corridor provides.
Nothing is known of the creators.

[$tormin]

Event: 4th Space War (700 years ago)
Mjolnir and a now non-existent space nation had a border dispute over a particularly valuable system both had claimed at the same time. When it was about to become a shooting war the rock Traveling Salesman offered its services as a mediator.
During the talks the Mjolnir government assassinated the leader of the other nation by striking the Traveling Salesman with stealthed kinetic projectiles, ripping it open and killing two million civilians on board as well as the delegates.
In response all other Rocks and System Vehicles formed a coalition and declared a war that ended two years later with the 180 day siege where the Coalition fleet destroyed nearly every piece of Mjolnir space-based infrastructure. Due to this the government was overthrown and the current one was put into place, one which immediately sued for peace.
The Coalition assisted in the rebuilding efforts and for the most part by now the entire thing has been forgotten.