It didn't stop, there was always motion, always surprises; assassinations, coups, disasters, revolutions, and more. But like a flowing, chaotic river, there was only one end, one direction all instability flowed towards.
After Earth's monarchies collapsed, the subsequent Republican era promised freedom, prosperity, justice, and representation for all. It was convenient lie the new ruling class told themselves while continuing to oppress the usual scapegoats, but by the time NATO became the Western Alliance, and the Western Alliance became the Terran Alliance, consolidating all of humanity under a single boot, those on the bottom found themselves receiving the boot to their necks as larger and heavier than ever.
When FTL was invented and mass produced, those not in power fled, as many and as far as possible, hoping for an escape from unending oppression. Their newfound freedom was short-lived. The Terran Alliance had no competition, certainly not from newly formed and vulnerable colonies. Once again, it seized total control, this time limited by FTL lag, the sheer distance of space stretching travel and communication times to the weeks, months, and years of earlier eras.
As always, corruption grew. As always, resentment grew. As always, revolution exploded.
The Outer Reaches Rebellion was the last true grasp for freedom humanity could muster. Oppressed colonies, pushed to the breaking point, fought back against the Terran Alliance, demanding freedom.
They failed.
Yes, the Terran Alliance was defeated, sent reeling back to their core to reform into the Terran Hegemony. But humanity was left no better off.
Like so many revolutions before, the end of foreign oppression only meant the beginning of local oppression. Or more accurately, the continuation of local oppression under a different flag, with many of the new states being outright monarchies ruled as fiefs by the old administrators and oligarchs. The ensuing bloodbath in the absence of central authority only cemented their dominance as the Great Houses took shape.
Authoritarianism was here to stay.
Knowledgeable of the past and empowered by modern technology and a lack of rivals, oppression became a science and art form. Governments discovered the ideal tax load the could be squeezed from a populace before guaranteeing rebellion; the minimum literacy level that could sustain a modern society to ensure perpetual domination by the ruling classes; the cutting-edge surgical, medical, and psychological technologies best used to deal with dissidents.
That is the end of the Inner Sphere's history. The singular direction past, present, and future converge towards. Names change, cultures rebel, dissident colonies are founded and then annexed, wars both large and small are waged constantly, but nothing changes.
It is a boot stamping on a human face; forever.
------
Welcome to Inner Sphere Outcasts, a civilization quest where players run a wayward colony in or near the Inner Sphere. After centuries of isolation, you are now a fully functional independent civilization roughly equivalent to Earth in population and development.
In a sane universe, this would make you an inconsequential microstate, almost totally irrelevant to anyone but immediate neighbors.
But this is the Inner Sphere, a mire of insanity and violence so thick that having any knowledge of and capacity to build more of any industry at all makes you of strategic interest to entire empires. Having an entire independent civilization? That's something the Great Houses would do anything to have, or be willing to nuke to glass to deny their enemies.
Gameplay is intended to be entirely open ended and players are free to do whatever actions they want with the nation, from diplomacy to military to economic or whatever else. I will attempt to base all results on realism over all else as much as possible. No rolls because I absolutely despise dice.
Players are able and encouraged to submit custom Battletech designs using Battletech rules and design programs. Logistics, cost, production bottlenecks, transportation bottlenecks, manpower and training are all things to consider when making designs! When relevant, even designs using custom or otherwise illegal in BT setups can be submitted, using whatever specific custom equipment we discuss. Just ask and almost anything will be accepted.
This will be my first quest as a GM, and I am basing this on a full RP game I tried to run but turned out to be too big in scale with multiple players. Hopefully with just the Quest Nation to deal with it should be easy.
------
Now for the first votes of the game!
Nation Creation (Part 1)
Polity Name:
The founders of the nation left from:
[] Terran Hegemony
[] Free Worlds League
[] Federated Suns
[] Draconis Combine
[] Capellan Confederation
[] Taurian Concordat
[] Rim Worlds Republic
[] The Pentagon Worlds
[] The Kerensky Cluster
[] Other
Their exodus was a:
[] Religious Movement, knowing the heathens would never leave you in peace (Describe)
[] Political Movement, knowing the Inner Sphere would never accept your views
[] Monarchism (It already rules the Inner Sphere) [] Fascism (Oppression is already available in the Inner Sphere) [] Democratic (Elections are synonymous with manipulation in the Inner Sphere, if they could change anything, they would be illegal, which they are, depending on the whims of the powerful) [] 'Socialist' Police State (Long since integrated into some powers in the Inner Sphere) [] Agrarianism (Long since integrated into some powers in the Inner Sphere) [] Peaceful Anarchism (Peace was never an option)
[] Militant Anarchism (Conscription and an organized military are required for survival)
[] Radical Anarchism: A voluntary society does not mean a weak military (Describe organization)
[] Unrestricted Democratic: An equal voice for all! No more disenfranchisement, districts, party restrictions, or split votes! (This will change how I count votes)
[] Vanguardism: The Revolution is non-negotiable! Workers of the Inner Sphere, unite!
[] Technocracy: Division and decentralization of rule to the educated. No more incompetent politicians! (This will become a council game)
[] Other
[] Sponsored Colony, of another power
[] Terran Hegemony
[] Free Worlds League
[] Federated Suns
[] Draconis Combine
[] Capellan Confederation
[] Taurian Concordat
[] Rim Worlds Republic
[] Other
[] Standard Colony
[] Penal Colony
[] Military Outpost
[] Political Evacuation Site
[] Factory Complex
[] Research Complex
[] Other
[] Desperation Move, evacuating whoever and whatever they could as everything burned
[] Other
When preparing for their journey, your people prepared to transport:
[] A little of everything, not knowing what might become necessary
[] As many people as could possibly be supported
[] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (specify field if desired)
[] Industrial machinery, to jumpstart life on their new home
[] As many spare ship parts as possible, preparing for a rough journey
[] Other
[] Combination of above (specify)
When your people left known space, it was a:
[] Public event, noted by the news
[] Secret, known only to them and their sponsors
[] Deception, as they broke course and headed their own way
[] Catastrophe, as you suffered a misjump
[] Other
When arriving at their destination, your people found:
[] A varied garden world, rich in resources and as grand as Terra itself
[] A cluster of poorly habitable worlds a jump away from each other, each rich with different resources, requiring your people to spread to all of them
[] A habitable but resource poor world, with resource rich worlds multiple jumps away, spreading your people thin and requiring constant cooperation
[] Nothing but dead rocks, requiring the manufacture of artificial habitats
[] Other
[X] Plan: Marxism-Leninism-Maoism Reborn!
-[X] Capellan Confederation
-[X] Political Movement, knowing the Inner Sphere would never accept your views
--[X] Vanguardism: The Revolution is non-negotiable! Workers of the Inner Sphere, unite!
-[X] A little of everything, not knowing what might become necessary
-[X] Deception, as they broke course and headed their own way
-[X] A varied garden world, rich in resources and as grand as Terra itself
[X] Plan Hidden Colony
-[X] Terran Hegemony
-[X] Sponsored Colony, of another power
--[X] Terran Hegemony
--[X] Factory Complex
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (specify field if desired)
-[X] Deception, as they broke course and headed their own way
-[X] A varied garden world, rich in resources and as grand as Terra itself
[X] Plan Hidden Colony
-[X] Terran Hegemony
-[X] Sponsored Colony, of another power
--[X] Terran Hegemony
--[X] Factory Complex
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (specify field if desired)
-[X] Deception, as they broke course and headed their own way
-[X] A varied garden world, rich in resources and as grand as Terra itself
A Terran Hegemony cokoby in the Peryphery will not end well, mostly because most your neighbors will hate your guts and Comstar sooner or later will come knocking.
[X] Plan: Periphery Forever!
-[X] Sponsored Colony, of another power
-- [X] Magistracy of Canopus
- [X] A little of everything, not knowing what might become necessary
-[X] Secret, known only to them and their sponsors
--[X] A varied garden world, rich in resources and as grand as Terra itself
Basically this is a secret colony of Canopus that was founded during the Reunifcation Wars, quite comom really specially since many Periphery powers fear the Star League would do with them so they sponsered many colonies in deep space to see if some remnants of they society can survive free.
Also the Reunification Wars were quite brutal and our colony would stay isolated for a very long time and only has the fears that Star League one day find them and punish them for they defiance not knowing the sitaution would detoriate fairly quickly, specially since during that time nasty weapons were trowing around left and right like cotton candy.
Besides Canopus happens to be quite liberal spciety and they do have a genuine elections and all, the difference being they happen to vote for the same person over and over, and the few times they vote for someone else they happen to do a very bad job.
Either way our people will at least start with some democratic leanings.
[X] Plan: To build a Nation
- [X] Terran Hegemony
- [X] Militant Anarchism (Conscription and an organized military are required for survival)
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (specify field if desired)
-[X] Deception, as they broke course and headed their own way
- [X] A cluster of poorly habitable worlds a jump away from each other, each rich with different resources, requiring your people to spread to all of them
A Terran Hegemony cokoby in the Peryphery will not end well, mostly because most your neighbors will hate your guts and Comstar sooner or later will come knocking.
Colonies are also not necessarily 'in the Periphery' as space is 3d. They can be 'above' or 'below' the giant blobs that are the Great Houses, or even the TH to a much lesser extent.
[X]Plan: The Council will decide your fate
-[X] Terran Hegemony
-[X] Political Movement, knowing the Inner Sphere would never accept your views
--[X] Technocracy: Division and decentralization of rule to the educated. No more incompetent politicians! (This will become a council game)
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (specify field if desired)
--[X] Robotics
-[X] Catastrophe, as you suffered a misjump
-[X] A varied garden world, rich in resources and as grand as Terra itself
[X] Plan: Bayer Squibb Klein
-[X] Terran Hegemony
-[X] Sponsored Colony, of another power
--[X] Terran Corporation BSK
--[X] Research Complex
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (biotech)
-[X] Secret, known only to them and their sponsors
-[X] A high gravity Super Earth, where the thick air is breathable only on the highest mountains and the sea is an organic molecule soup.
I had so much fun with this faction in the last game I've got to at least try.
For those who weren't part of the last game, imagine if Monsanto hired E.A. to administer a planet.
[X] Plan: Bayer Squibb Klein
-[X] Terran Hegemony
-[X] Sponsored Colony, of another power
--[X] Terran Corporation BSK
--[X] Research Complex
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (biotech)
-[X] Secret, known only to them and their sponsors
-[X] A high gravity Super Earth, where the thick air is breathable only on the highest mountains and the sea is an organic molecule soup.
[X] Plan: Souls unbound by gravity
-[X] Political Movement, knowing the Inner Sphere would never accept your views
--[X] Vanguardism: The Revolution is non-negotiable! Workers of the Inner Sphere, unite!
-[X] As many spare ship parts as possible, preparing for a rough journey
-[X] Deception, as they broke course and headed their own way
-[X] Nothing but dead rocks, requiring the manufacture of artificial habitats
Planets are revisionist don't you know! In space we shall lead a true, potentially nomadic (seems fun) revolution, unbound by the chains of capital or gravity
[X] Plan Hidden Colony
-[X] Terran Hegemony
-[X] Sponsored Colony, of another power
--[X] Terran Hegemony
--[X] Factory Complex
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (specify field if desired)
-[X] Deception, as they broke course and headed their own way
-[X] A varied garden world, rich in resources and as grand as Terra itself
[X] Plan Hidden Colony
-[X] Terran Hegemony
-[X] Sponsored Colony, of another power
--[X] Terran Hegemony
--[X] Factory Complex
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (specify field if desired)
-[X] Deception, as they broke course and headed their own way
-[X] A varied garden world, rich in resources and as grand as Terra itself
Wanted to make a plan where we're a inexplicably a penal colony of violent death row inmates on a paradise planet but I doubt it'll get any votes at this stage.
[X] Plan Hidden Colony
-[X] Terran Hegemony
-[X] Sponsored Colony, of another power
--[X] Terran Hegemony
--[X] Factory Complex
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (specify field if desired)
-[X] Deception, as they broke course and headed their own way
-[X] A varied garden world, rich in resources and as grand as Terra itself
[X] Plan: Bayer Squibb Klein
-[X] Terran Hegemony
-[X] Sponsored Colony, of another power
--[X] Terran Corporation BSK
--[X] Research Complex
-[X] The best educated, to better themselves with technology (biotech)
-[X] Secret, known only to them and their sponsors
-[X] A high gravity Super Earth, where the thick air is breathable only on the highest mountains and the sea is an organic molecule soup.
