Traveller, The Rise of Empire: A Naval Design, Procurement and Command Quest

Home is a fat planet with higher than comfortable gravity, leading to a squat, stocky people.

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Home's System
A small, dim orange star burns morosely at the centre of the star system, casting the environs of each planet in an eerie, shadowy glow even at the height of midday. A K-type main sequence star, more commonly called a red dwarf, it leaves the planets that orbit it cold and icy, but still provides enough radiation for humanity to live there. Nevertheless, the people of Home only notice this strange glow when standing on the surface of the second planet in the system, their eyes having long since adapted to the odd colouration of their colony world.

That second planet is the only other significant solid body in the star system, a cold, icy world named Periboea that has been the site of significant mining and scientific operations since the development of domestic human spaceflight. The system also has a non-solid giant, a (comparatively) small, fat ice giant that seems to glow a cool blue in telescopes and when viewed from a space ship. While the upper atmosphere of Athos is ideal for surface skimming and aerostat research stations, little other development has been managed in the area.

There is no asteroid belt or other 'dense' collection of rocky sub-planetary objects in the system, forcing exo-planetary mining interests to rely on wandering comets and rogue bodies that happen to fly through the system. Several of these bodies have been moved into orbit around Home or Periboea, heavy rocks that are kept in safe orbits even now they are depleted of all useful resources.

Home Proper
The Plutocrats of Home come in two distinct forms; the 'nobility' are the decision makers, the rulers and leaders, and these are represented by the so-called 'Citizens Council' that expressly elects only landowners and industrialists. These twelve people - men, women and others - make decisions for the tens of millions of citizens that labour and thrive under them, relying on them for warm homes, drinkable water and the survival equipment needed for any expedition outside the cities. The other side of the coin that makes up this power divide are the civil servants, the bureaucrats that all descend from the handful of ships crew that ships crew that elected to stay behind on Home as their slow-boat carried on its long and lonesome journey. These unelected, hereditary positions hold much of the power over day-to-day policy and spending decisions, making them a significant power bloc in their own right.

The Chief of Staff of the Navy is, of course, one of these positions.

There is a fringe of resistance to these ways. A radical political group has formed on the outskirts of society, with several minor cities pledging their support to religious group called the 'Daughters of the People' which claims to envision a future for Home which is led by a messianic figure. They promise a new, more glorious age for Home, a recovery from the plagues of the past and a better future with the systems influence spreading beyond its own boundaries and into distant and disparate empires.

Home's Military
There are three branches of military on home, which can be easily distinguished by age and notoriety:
- The Community Wardens are the oldest uniformed service on Home and they are directly descended from the slow-boats security teams. Still wearing something that purports to look akin to the all-in-one bodysuits worn aboard ship, the Community Wardens are local police, detectives, enforcers, bailiffs and bounty hunters. They perform almost all law enforcement roles, and they often train alongside their cities militias in combat exercises. It must be noted that there is no planet wide law that concerns itself with the things available to the citizenry, so the Community Wardens are remarkably heavily armed.
- The City Militias were formed in the early days of the Plague that struck during the second century of Homes settlement. Initially conceived as a kind of 'people-management' group, empowered by the government of the planet to enforce quarantines and ensure medics and doctors could do their jobs without resistance, the militias have grown into a remarkable fighting force. Equipped with aircraft, icebreakers and tracked vehicles, the militias are an unusually atomised but nonetheless fierce fighting force that train rigorously for an unimaginable invasion of Home. Several Militia battalions are based on space stations and satellites with large populations, and the Navy's marines are drawn from these forces.
- The Navy, officially the Home Space Warfare Branch, is the youngest service but has nonetheless existed since the first permanently inhabited space stations were emplaced in orbit around Home. While initially a sub-branch of the Militia that operated a handful of basic chemical rocket shuttles, the Navy is now a branch in its own right, with five major ships constructed in the last two decades that are currently operational. They consider themselves the first line of defence against any outside aggression, understanding that the first sign of a threat that Home might receive is an enemy ship arriving in system or a near-light RKKV appearing on deep-space sensors.

Warships
As mentioned above, Home has built five warships in the yards orbiting Home over the last two decades, all seven of which are in routine service amongst the three planets. They are made up of two 'types':
- The Interplanetary Cruiser is just that - a cruiser that operates between the planets. Each of the ships is 1,000 displacement tons and is given thrust by a large chemical rocket capable of producing 3G's of acceleration. Power is supplied by a small fission plant which requires a service every year or so for refuelling and maintenance in order to ensure the crew of sixteen is kept well supplied with oxygen, heat and water. Armed with twenty-four missile tubes and a pair of experimental particle accelerators, at the time of building these were impossibly advanced ships and it showed in the price tag - each vessel cost Home some 257 million credits.
-- Currently in service: HSWS Camulus, HSWS Macha, HSWS Svetovid
- The System Defence Destroyer is a much more ambitious project that was first envisioned some twelve years ago, with the first steel being cut just five years ago. Built side by side, these two 4,000 ton ships stretched the ship-building capacity of Home to its limits as well as testing the limits of scientific progress. Equipped with the most advanced equipment known to society at the time, each ship is capable of 5G's of reactionless acceleration for as long as they have power, and they are provided this power by a 320 ton fission plant buried deep in the ship. They are also equipped with the best weapons imaginable, a quartet of prototype particle accelerator cannons, twelve small particle accelerators, ninety-six missile tubes and an array of small defensive weapons. Their crew of ninety-five is well protected and well armed, impossibly so to the minds of even half a century ago. The price tag is near unmentionable, with each of these two ships clocking in at 1.7 billion credits.
-- Currently in service: HSWS Deimos, HSWS Zelus

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The Here and Now
Scientists have recently made a series of major breakthroughs on gravitic science, which has led to the test of the first ever jump drive. Burning a huge quantity of helium-based fuel, a research ship (the Ceridwen) spent a week in jump space transiting from Home to Athos. While this journey isn't particularly a useful one, the same drive should be capable of transferring a ship across an entire parsec. It is known that there are other planets, other inhabited systems out there, and the Navy is charged with learning more about these systems and the potential threats that exist within them.

The Ceridwen is not equipped to make such a journey, and thus a new ship must be built. The Navy decides it should be:
[ ] A 'welcome wagon', a functionally civilian vessel intended to go out and find new friends.
[ ] A warship with a jump drive, intended to conduct diplomacy under the cover of guns and armour.
[ ] A minimal size ship which hopes to get in and out undetected as fast as possible, gathering a little data before returning home.
[ ] Something else - write-in.
There are at least two inhabited worlds nearby enough to be reached by our current jump drives. How many of these scouts should be built?
[ ] One. We should take this slowly but surely.
[ ] Two, one for each inhabited system.
[ ] As many as we can afford based on the current budget, expanding the fleet.
[ ] Something else - write-in.