"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six-"
"Engine telemetry stable!"
"Four, three-"
"Engine ignition!"
"One - liftoff!"
The small gaggle of observers joined you at the window as the controllers made their callouts, audible over the PA system in the observation area. You watched as a small rocket - no more than twice as tall as you were - leapt into the heavens, powered by an engine incomprehensibly powerful for its small size, burning through dozens of liters of fuel in the space of no more than a minute. It was already small at the distance between the launch stand and the observation area, and it shrank and shrank and shrank until the only way you knew where it was was by watching the tracking antenna smoothly lean back, following the invisible signal of the radio transmitter carried by that steel dart.
You held your breath - would you make it this time?
"Control, we've got pressure and altitude readings consistent with having exited the atmosphere!" a breathless controller blurted into their microphone.
You relaxed and let the breath out explosively.
You'd done it. You'd reached space.
And you were just getting started. You had dreams.
--
Welcome to Per Aspera! This will be a plan-quest where we guide a space agency the players select through the equivalent of the 1950s and the early Space Age (and beyond, if you manage it!)
The only problem is, thanks to some help from others, I've got a few ideas as to what we could do here, and I like them all equally, so here are the available settings (these may or may not be AUs)!
[] Bipolar World - You take control of one of two agencies, beholden to a pair of opposing superpowers, in a race to demonstrate your nation's technological dominance in the field of spaceflight. You will have great resources at your disposal, and relatively few demands on how you complete the objectives given to you by your nation's political establishment - only that you do complete them and one-up The Enemy. There are limited opportunities for cooperation and a political cost to attempting to do so, though it may be possible if you're willing to make that sacrifice.
[] Multipolar World - You take control of one of four agencies in a world where multiple competing nations or national groupings have emerged (like the EU, or a very-early African Union). There are more political interests at play here, but there are also more opportunities for cooperation and international initiatives - provided one bloc or another doesn't, say, declare war on someone. Then things might get messier.
[] Global Cooperative - You take control of the Global Space Agency. Thanks to an unprecedented bit of cooperation, the Internationale/UN/etc. have decided to pursue a global space program and the countries of the world have agreed to provide you funding. Here you will deal less with outside actors (because everyone agreed to fund you) and more with juggling the political support to keep their support.
Once we pick a Setting, our next vote will be to pick an Agency - and then, everyone, we get started!
Voting is open!
