Inner Sphere Outcast

Soberan 123 said:

[X] Plan: Republic of Shadows
- [X] A chain of probes dropped to watch in secrecy, revealing data on multiple nearby systems at a time when collected and processed
- [X] Spying on the Inner Sphere with probes, to gain information in absolute secrecy
- [X] Representative Democracy could work properly if made totally proportional with no thresholds or lost votes, with parties having exactly the number of votes on issues as parties give them, and voters be given the freedom to move their representation to other groups at will, or even vote for themselves

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(NEW VOTING SYSTEM UNLOCKED!)

After considerable debate on the finer details, a framework for a mostly representative-based Democracy is agreed upon. Under the new proposed method, each citizen shall have a vote to use at will with the expectation that they will delegate it to a party. Parties are elected to positions rather than specific individuals, and parties themselves are funded by the government based on vote count, allowing the parties themselves to cultivate a flexible cadre of representatives on a long term basis. Voters are able to switch party affiliation at any time or even create new parties in order to avoid individual parties becoming too entrenched or stagnant and ensure quick reaction to particularly unwanted decisions. Mandatory voting will be implemented to avoid the inherent bias towards extremism of optional voting, though individuals can choose to specifically vote for 'none' or even vote for a party which intends to vote against everything. Parties themselves have no threshold for size or support, and individuals can even make a party for only themselves without cumbersome overhead or red tape, however in such niche cases the smallest parties may not get access to secret information or physical access to the legislative buildings, instead voting on issues through mail or electronically.

The finalized system quickly comes to the first election, with a number of competing interests running for their slice of the government, including:
[] The Automation Researcher's block, promising to continue current plans and headed by current leader Sean Kearny, who is seen as a hero for 'saving' the expedition
[] The Military block, a coalition of primarily Marines with some Ship Crew and cooperative Army which believes the expedition should remain military in nature rather than becoming a democratic experiment, and which demands continued secrecy in regards to exploration due to the danger of the Great Houses should Elysium be discovered in their territory
[] The Terrestrial block, a group of those who just feel cramped on the Space Habitats and want to move to Elysium permanently instead of living in space
[] The Homesick block, people who just want to go home as soon as possible and think colonizing and long term living arrangements are an insult, and that all production should go to communication buoys and jumpships to find the way home as soon as possible
[] Other (Specify)

[ALL VOTES COUNTED HERE! Votes remain indefinitely UNTIL CHANGED (Once per player per turn max), to simulate party switching in the longer term. New power blocks may also be created on player whims, or die off without support]

The first cargo load of automated probes are produced and sent off by jumpship before the election, but not before the crews place the votes. In any case, they follow their mission to deliver the probes:
[] near to Terran Hegemony space, a few jumps away from Elysium
[] near to Lyran Commonwealth space, a few jumps away from Elysium
[] near to Draconis Combine space, a few jumps away from Elysium
[] near to Federated Suns space, a few jumps away from Elysium
[] near to Capellan Confederation space, a few jumps away from Elysium
[] near to Free Worlds League space, a few jumps away from Elysium
[] to the other side of the Inner Sphere (specify), to minimize risk of detection at the cost of logistics

Hellteddy said:

[X] near to Draconis Combine space, a few jumps away from Elysium

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(Election results are PERMANENT, but can be changed each turn by a player shifting their result up to once per turn, or by new players joining the game and choosing a faction)

Elections conclude, not surprisingly, with a decisive victory for the party of Sean Kearny, current commander of the expedition. Though his party has received a plurality of the vote, the margins are small enough that any internal party dissent could partner with opposition parties to block initiatives. It's unclear at this point how fluid the democratic system will actually be such circumstances, but Kearny has noted he is 'open to making changes' should the new system find itself in gridlock or stagnant. Optimism is high, as is trust in Kearny himself, as the entire Democratic initiative was begun with his own support.



Presenting an accurate map of the Inner Sphere to laymen is an eternal challenge of cartographers. The difficulties of portraying a curved surface of a planet on a paper is nothing compared to the difficulty of layering a three dimensional space into a two dimensional map that can be understood at a glance. Fortunately, the formation of the Star League and standardization of 30 Light Year KF Drive jump distance combined to allow the standard 'Terra-centric and Points' style most used today.

All two dimensional maps have inherent distortion in their presentation, so it is important to understand that two points within a 30 LY map scale are not necessarily one jump apart, as the 3d plane that is compressed out of visibility still keeps them apart. As such, a map with single-jump distance lines is useful to illustrate the practical arrangement of the Inner Sphere.

The 'web' of jump distances illustrates not only astrographical arrangements but makes politics visible at a glance. The fractured nature of Periphery powers is visible with their non-contiguous territory, as is the domination of Rim Worlds Republic and Canopian trade on the Lyrans and Free Worlds League respectively. Similarly, the density of the Terran Hegemony and Capellan Confederation are contrasted with the dispersed Federated Suns and central 'island'-based Draconis Combine. The Lyrans and Free Worlds League meanwhile have a mirrored distribution, with the bulk of Lyran population near border with a dispersed core, whereas the Free Worlds League has a dense core with more limited border connections.

With this in mind, Elysium's position roughly between the Draconis Combine and Naikongzu may seem uncomfortably close, but in practice the massive volume of stars means even the center of Great House territory often remains poorly mapped, with Periphery mapping being mostly limited to specific expeditions and scientific features of interest.

As such it is the systems of the closest Draconis Combine branch, the Ningxia Prefecture, which sees Elysian jumpships deploy the first series of probes a few lightyears away from. The international trade system of Antallos also has dedicated probes assigned. Though in all cases, the probes will take many years to yield significant data due to light lag, and similarly all information will always be many years out of date.


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Second Year


Colonization plans for Elysium and expanded space colonization have continued successfully over the past year, as has the formation of a basic local government.

Now though, the biggest societal issue the colony faces must be addressed: The future. Put simply, the expedition is not set up for population growth. The population is old, almost entirely on birth control simply as a military prerequisite, and with a particularly skewed gender ratio of over 2:1 in favor of male. Last of all, medical staff and equipment are limited, a small fraction of the massive number of industrial and scientific staff in total, and while fortunately still higher than a normal staff ratio for an isolated colony, mostly specialized in trauma injuries rather than childbirth or biological research.

As part of the long term effort to encourage population growth and prevent decline, Prime Minister Kearny launches initiatives to: (Choose any combination)
[] Ban birth control, an unpleasant but simple order that is historically proven to work at only the cost of public outrage and social instability
[] Encourage Polyandry, a Canopian custom that could be useful due to the skewed gender ratio, and historically the reverse of Polygyny has been successful at dealing with the opposite skew after cataclysmic wars
[] Subsidize births, a moderate expense with minor impact, but may be worth it for the small gain
[] Buy surrogate children, a less hostile way of ensuring population growth, but will require significant government investment into childcare to be a stable solution in the long term
[] Mandate genetic augmentations, in particular Belter augmentations, allowing for safer living in space and allowing birth in zero-gee, all without significant medical resource expenditure and the procedures being permanent as they are passed on to children
[] Expand cloning facilities, freshly cloned organs will be required in ever greater supply to maintain an aging population, so getting ahead of the issue can ensure the first generation simply lives longer to begin with to continue contributing. In addition, cloning new reproductive systems can offset the age related fertility issues of the population
[] Attempt artificial reproduction, something theoretically possible with advanced incubators but historically avoided for ethical reasons
[] Crash course medical training, as highly educated industrial experts can be spared for retraining in medical fields
[] Mandate cybernetics, literally cutting out medical experts from many medical issues, allowing medical resources and education to be focused entirely on the core parts of the body
[] Research more automation, as growth significantly beyond replacement isn't necessarily needed if a single individual can support 10, 20, 30, or more times individual productivity using machines, increasing as technology is developed
[] Other

With the first wave of probes dispatched successful and awaiting construction of the next wave, Sean Kearny and his secret conspirators face the question of what to do with the jumpship fleet in the interim. Without the restriction of oversight, he is free to use them to:
[] Risk contacting friendly dissidents at distant Star League research outposts for information
[] Conduct trade with far-flung colonies, establishing relations and gaining useful goods
[] Contact pirates in the Periphery, looking for allies against the Star League
[] Do nothing, minimizing risk by sending them home
[] Other

Free Action
[] Any action and any number of actions may be undertaken by the government during a turn, restricted only by the capabilities of the player civilization itself. If you want to do something that isn't listed during a turn, you can just add it to your orders.