For The Tyrants Fear Your Might (A quest of interstellar rebellion)

AKuz · Dec 10, 2020

THE ALL-RADIANT CONGRESS

Setting Information: The Solarian Compact:

Initially formed as the Solarian Treaty Organization from the ashes of the old United Nations Security Council, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, and the Global Climate Relief Organization in the worst decade of Earth's environmental collapse. The STO was originally a body tasked with overseeing the granting of offworld mining permits and the purchase and distribution of the resources to countries struggling from climate change.

The advent of the Korolev-Chandrashker gates and the construction of the first one under STO oversight in 2063 led to the beginning of the transformation of that body into the de facto single governing body of the Human species.

Reorganized into the 'Solarian Compact', the first Charters were granted to massive corporate conglomerates to explore and exploit the cosmos for Humanity with little to no regulation or restriction.

In the early decades, the Solarian Compact oversaw the construction of KC gates in the systems closest to Sol and began the process of granting colonization rights to the most habitable worlds within that region with colonization rights granted to a number of national and international blocks.

With the growth of the Solarian Compact's power came calls for the body to become more representative and democratic, and in 2099, the Solarian Compact held its first elections and constitutional convention, inviting representatives from the Sol system and the five systems that held permanent Human settlement.

Over the course of the 22nd and 23rd centuries the Solarian Compact has held fast to what it sees as its duty to act as the mediator and financier of the Charters, the unifying agent of the disparate first Human colonies, and the guarantor of interstellar peace for Humanity.

As of 2252, the three most important bodies within the Solarian Compact are the Solarian Parliament -Located on Earth, the Solarian Compact Navy -based in the Korolev-Chandrashker system, and the Solarian Central Bank, -based out of the Columbia System.

Organized as a liberal democracy, with universal suffrage, the Solarian Compact is theoretically overseen by three equal institutions: the Solarian Parliament, the office of the Solarian Secretary General, and the Solarian High Court.

Though the Solarian Compact prides itself on being a Constitutional government, the actual original document merely outlines the terms of admitting new MPs and High Court Judges, and the electoral procedures of the Compact Parliament, with subsequent Parliaments meeting to add items like the Declaration of Property Rights, the founding of the Central Bank, the creation of the Solarian Navy, and the Laws on Freedom of Navigation and Travel being added later.

The Solarian Parliament is made up of two thousand six hundred and twenty seats representing ridings on Earth, Columbia, Atlantis, Penglai, Olduvai, and Epsilon which are elected every three years to a Parliament that meets in the New York prefecture of Earth.

Though the many frontier colonies do not have direct representation in the Parliament due to being owned and operated by private entities, their inhabitants are considered 'Absent for Employment' and may register with a home riding and submit a physical ballot (for security reasons) by courier from when polls open until they close. Though this process was suitable for the closely settled regions of space at the time of the ratification of the Compact Constitution in 2100, the rapid growth of Human settled space in the century and a half since has seen the de facto voter suppression of over 90% of Human settled space.

At the first sitting of each new Compact Parliament, the assembled members will elect a Secretary General and a slate of Ministry officials on a majority basis, and those individuals will oversee the executive branch of government and day to day operations. Though the average Compact Parliament contains between seven to nine parties in each Parliamentary sitting, the vast majority of seats belong to one of either the Party for Human Rights and Liberties or the Justice and Development Alliance and have since the very early 2100s. The governments formed this way can be brought down by losing the confidence of the Parliament for example, by failing to pass a budget, the process of finding a majority government will repeat again.

Though a democratic body that has maintained stability for over a century and a half, the Solarian Compact Parliament has been dogged by accusations of dynastic politics, Charter influence, voter suppression, regulatory capture, inability to reign in the Banks and MIlitary, and corruption at all levels.

Separate from the Parliament is the Solarian High Court that consists of eleven judges that serve terms of up to thirty-three years, with each new sitting of the Compact Parliament selecting one judge from a list provided by the governments of the six main worlds of the Solarian Compact. The High Court rules on matters of adherence of laws to the Solarian Constitution, and have been accused of serving as an arm of the Charters, though this has been strenuously contested by the Solarian legal profession as a whole.

By law the Solarian Compact also oversees a number of other important institutions including the Earth Reconstruction Commission (In a permanent public-private partnership with the Earth Reconstruction Association), the Solarian Central Bank, and the Solarian Compact Navy, though these important institutions often exhibit an alarming degree of autonomy from Parliamentary control.

The Charters:

The result of a cleverly conceived merger between specialty transport vessel manufacturer Titan Staryards and Private Military contractor Martian Military Solutions, Ares cut its teeth not just supplying material to the skirmishes between Mississippi Shipping and United Starhaul, but in supplying military contractors to both sides.

The professionalism of Ares mercenaries and quality of Ares gear led to the rapid expansion of business opportunities for the company and investment skyrocketed even after the Mississippi-Starhaul war ended in a hostile takeover of Starhaul by Mississippi.

Thanks in part to Mississippi debts held by Ares, when the RT-2102 Gate was opened up for settlement strategic maneuvering saw the Compact grant Ares mining and settlement rights to the newly opened system.

The rest, as they say, is history. Leveraging the immense resources of the Alexander system with their existing military expertise, Ares expanded nearly exponentially over the following century. While they maintain a dominating edge in the military field, they now integrated companies in fields from agronomy to personal fitness centers to xenobiology.

Internally Ares very self consciously styles itself as a hierarchical military organization complete with a semi-formal rank structure and an ethos of respect for the chain of command, professional courtesy, and treating your subordinates with respect. In practice Ares is hidebound, authoritarian, filled with passive aggressive sniping and rampant empire building.

While Ares remains headquartered on Mars, they have holdings in several systems and own the distant system of Alexander outright.

Rhodes Mining

One of the three original Charters that the Compact granted, Rhodes considers itself the singular reason that Humanity survived ecological collapse and spread past Sol. Immensely wealthy, over 52% of all material mined and processed by the entire Human race has passed through Rhodes hands at one point or another.

While founded merely to provide Earth the vital materials that it needed to rebuild itself after the lost decades of ecological collapse, Rhodes quickly expanded into all areas of the economy to support their mining, refining, and processing operations.

Dedicated to their vision of logistical chain efficiencies they've developed an entire chain of star systems into an efficient production center based around the resource rich system of Foundry, and the nearby feeder systems of Ecrams, Qem, and Crucible.

Rhodes considers itself home to a version of meritocracy built on hard work, education, and good old fashioned personal drive. This has developed over time into a stratified internal divide between the rank and file workers, the lower level management, and the highly lauded senior management. Each class lives in entirely separate worlds, attending separate schools, consuming different products, and leading very different lives in what many observers have labelled a de facto caste system.

they make food and medicine, the 120 year old CEO is kinda creepy tho?

Techbros, some of them science, some of them explore

Born from the union of Hermes Interstellar Services and The Ishtar Group, the Hermes-Ishtar Corporation owns and operates not only the communications backbone of Compact space, but much of the content that crosses over it.

The results of increasing consolidation of pre-spaceflight communications infrastructure and content creation and management firms, Hermes Communications and Ishtar Entertainment Group were both part of the second round of Charters established after the advent of the KC gates.

While Hermes quickly established operations throughout Compact space, their waystations, couriers, and communications repeaters a common sight in every corner of Human occupied space; Ishtar Group mainly limited their own operations to Sol and the Radiant system, where Ishtar owned and operated the world of Elysium to support their many projects.

Following a wave of Compact space wide reorganizations following the Mississippi-Starhaul conflicts of the 2130s, a desire for complete vertical integration on Ishtar's part led to a mostly amicable union with Hermes in 2139.

Since then Hermes-Ishtar have dominated all communications across Human space with only the privileged internal high-level communications of the other Charters managing to avoid consolidation under Hermes-Ishtar.

While Hermes-Ishtar make a great show of respecting individual creativity, initiative, and drive from their employees; in practice this amounts to rampant internal fighting involving the parasocial personality cults of different "genius" inventors, artists, and executive that rise and fall inside of Hermes-Ishtar at a dizzying rate.

Sketchy buggers, they can get you anything tho

Historical Topics:

Between 2036 and 2071 the Democratic Federation was the governing body of much of Earth's Western Hemisphere.

Initially comprised of a Federation of Socialist, Anarchist, Communist, and other far left social movements, militias, and political factions controlling regions of Earth's North American continent during and after the decline and collapse of the United States of America (1776-2034) due to the effects of unaddressed climate change amplifying existing political and economic crisis.

Eventually solidifying into the governing body of the former United States of America, United States of Mexico and the Dominion of Canada, the Democratic Federation embarked on an ambitious program of cultural revolution and economic reform designed to mitigate and reverse the effects of the climate change crisis.

As the patron of much of the central and southern western hemisphere, the Democratic Federation attempted to chart a course of environmental restoration separate from that of the Solarian Treaty Organization (In 2063 reorganized into the Solarian Charter), choosing not to contest Eurasian and African domination of outer space.

Having never existed out of crisis conditions, a combination of pre-existing economic damage, sabotage, and instability drove the Democratic Federation into decline in the Grey Decade of 2062 to 2070 and eventually forced the Democratic Federation to ratify a series of treaties giving the Charters economic access to Federation member states in order to conduct vital reconstruction work.

A last ditch uprising by radical elements in 2072 to eject the Charters from the Democratic Federation failed when Solarian Compact peacekeepers were called in and in seven months of street fighting pacified most of North America's key urban centers via strategic use of orbital weapons on the areas of greatest urban resistance.

Though guerilla warfare would continue in the Western Hemisphere for another three decades, the Democratic Federation was officially defunct by December 2072 and parcelled out into a number of Charter owned reconstruction areas under Compact authority.

Today radicals still pine for the four decades that the Democratic Federation attempted to build an alternative to the emerging Charters, and the polity's distinctive black, red, and green flag is brought out for each and every Great Black Summer. Well into the twenty second century, riots were often accompanied by demands to 'Avenge the Martyrs of 72!'.

Despite this underground extremist nostalgia, Charter and Compact schools teach that the Democratic Federation was a collectivist state whose iconoclastic behavior saw the destruction of famous landmarks like Mount Rushmore, Stone Mountain, and other monuments to Liberal Democracy and the Free Market in a mad attempt to remake the human race, but whose doctrinaire adoption of command economics saw them unable to deal with the ever-changing complexities of climate change.

Misc Details:

The first five systems to hold permanent Human colonies are known as either "The First Sisters" or "Earth's Daughters", depending on who you are asking and their political persuasion. From oldest to youngest, these worlds are:

Columbia: settled by billionaire American expats and tens of millions of refugees who had fled the unfolding revolutionary violence of the North American continent several years beforehand. Columbia was founded under a vision of fidelity to the American dream and to prove the indomitability of the soul of the United States of America and liberalism in the face of the red flags of the (North American) Democratic Federation. Fiercely loyal to the Compact and the dream of Charter prosperity, and home of the Solarian Central Bank, Columbia is often known as the "Gilded World" in reference to what many see as a return to American Gilded Age wealth and social inequality. Ares Conflict Solutions' central command is located here.

Atlantis: With colonization rights to this majority oceanic planet initially granted to the waning power of the European Union, the nations of the EU opened up colonization opportunities to other allied powers, especially Russia and Egypt. Atlantis was often seen by the EU as a place to dump unwanted refugees from outside of Europe's borders, and Russia and Egypt's tendency to see the world as a genuine project led to the usurpation of colonization rights away from Europe in the mid 2080s. Known today as the most restive of the first wave of colonies, Atlantis is the most skeptical of Charter power and plays a delicate game of wealth redistribution to underwrite the greatest social security net in Human Space. Cernunnos is de jure headquartered here.

Penglai: Originally the world in the most need of terraforming of the original colonies, Colonization rights were granted to the People's Republic of China and their allies after a lackluster bidding campaign. As China's focus was mainly on attempting to stem the damage of climate change on Earth herself, colonization of Penglai initially lagged until the Chinese Politburo struck upon the strategy of subcontracting colonization rights to Pacific adjacent nations suffering from the rise of that ocean. As colonization unfolded in the early 22nd century Penglai became known as a multicultural mosaic as hundreds of millions from across the Pacific settled and intermingled on the wine darkened shores of that world. Known today for its vibrant cultural milieu, violent clashes between labour unions, and private police, Penglai hosts the headquarters of the Hermes-Ishtar, Omoikane and Rhodes corporations.

Olduvai: With Colonization rights granted to a coalition of African nations at the height of the 'African Century', the African Colonization Organization did not see their colony as a refugee destination, dumping ground, or resource colony like their fellows. Instead the ACO saw the colonization scheme as an opportunity to preserve and export the rich traditions and cultures of Africa on their own terms, fully intending to set up healthy and self-sufficient colonies. To the current day, Olduvai has the closest relations with the home nations and is the heartland of Daughter sentiment and a bedrock for the Party for Human Rights and Liberties.

Epsilon System: While not technically a single world, the cluster of heavily inhabited space colonies in the Epsilon system are always considered the 'Fifth Sister' or 'Fifth Daughter'. As the most mineral rich system of the original colonies, Epsilon was the source of many of the materials that helped pull Earth through her darkest hour, and the system was recognized for their efforts by being invited to send delegates to the 2099 Solarian Compact Constitutional Convention. Epsilon is famous for its people's long roots in spacing and for being the headquarters of Mississippi Shipping Interstellar and thus the most heavily trafficked system in history.
Technologies: Nanomanufacturing, summary:

The contemporary gold standard for manufacturing. These devices use mechanosynthesis, a process that guides chemical reactions by placing reactive molecules with atomic precision. Ribosomes in the body's cells use a form of this method.

While the largest units can create objects up to 2m x 2m x 2m, smaller units (halving the units each time) are viable on basically any human scale. Projects larger than this size (such as ships or buildings, need to be either grown layer-by-layer via nanofabricators attached to robotic arms, or assembled from smaller parts through traditional assembly line, dry dock, or construction processes.

In principle basically anything can be made with these devices, and some materials can only be manufactured via these methods in microgravity. All manufacturing patterns in Compact Space feature Charter DRM using embedded explosive molecules like octaazacubane or cubic gauche nitrogen that will damage a disassembler or x-ray machine making reverse engineering of their products difficult.

A common part of 23rd century life is the near ubiquity of Artificial Intelligences in daily life, from consumer grade VIs through specialist TLIs, controversial AGIs, finally the perpetually 10 years away Artificial Super Intelligences.

The common consumer will daily run into what are properly known as Narrow AIs, and generally labelled as VI -Virtual Intelligences- by people outside the field. This category covers a broad swathe of techniques, from search and pathfinding to expert systems to genetic fuzzy trees to deep neural networks, which are mixed and matched with each other to optimize for the designed task. VIs are ubiquitous, exceeding human peak skill in their areas of specialization (though real world applications often don't do all that much better than trained humans), and have spent the past two centuries getting augmented with more and more clever algorithmic tricks for improving VIs. In order to do this, the Charters employ large teams of analysts and software engineers to develop clever algorithmic tricks that supplement or outright supplant neural networks, exploiting machine precision where stochastic methods are inadequate.

The use of VIs in everyday life is well accepted by the vast majority of the population, with professionals mixing and matching various consumer VIs to analyse data or assist them with creative or scientific works. Some VI lines are well loved by both the populace and the Charters themselves, with Charter programmers often deliberately leaving VIs with behavioral quirks and unpredictable glitches that not only save money on quality assurance, but are considered endearing traits that lead to anthropomorphization by the consumer market

Despite the mass comfortability and profitability of VIs of all kinds, the introduction of AGIs has been, to put it delicately, controversial. Though computer science has advanced to the point of producing programs that can not only pass the Turing test, but demonstrate sapience and match 23rd century human intelligence, flexibility, and creativity, the public reaction to the introduction of AGI saw the companies of the time rapidly pull them from the market, and even say the Compact itself move to heavily regulate the AI sector.

First introduced in the 2060s, the great tech firms began replacing their work staff with AGIs who did not require food, rest, housing, or pay. This shift led to an alliance between white collar workers fearing that automation would put them out of work and radicals who opposed what they insisted was AGI Slavery, a growing movement that would climax in the First Great Black Summer of 2084. When the ashes of the First Black Summer settled, the Compact's Parliament moved to grant rights to AGIs, and the resulting economic damage saw dozens of formerly great names in computing consolidate under the aegis of several of the first Charters who flaunted their extra-Solarian wealth by buying up prestigious brand names and research divisions on the cheap.

Since the 2080s, while the regulation surrounding AGI production and use have been severely weakened none of the Charters have sought to reintroduce them into the market, perhaps fearing another backlash like the First Black Summer and the few hundred thousand surviving AGIs that were granted Solarian Citizenship rights have found spread throughout the Compact and Charter Space where they usually work at the same white collar jobs whose workers they were designed to replace.

Perhaps due to the risks of attempting to reintroduce AGIs to the market, Omoikane has instead introduced their flagship product the "TLI" or Temporary Limited Intelligence. Approximately as effective as an AGI, a TLI is billed as a more moral replacement for AGI that uses a suite of high end VIs and a proprietary batch of creativity algorithms in order to complete complex tasks.

TLIs are used as a fire and forget program designed to be licensed to solve a single issue, no matter how complicated and then delete itself. Though the TLIs are a black box product, scientists from the other Charters believe that the central creativity algorithm in the TLI is inherently unstable and rapidly degrades in ability with time, making the TLI an instance of Omoikane attempting to market a critical technical flaw as a selling point that is accepted due to the ubiquitous market practice of planned obsolescence and artificial scarcity.

Though expensive, most businesses and successful professionals will keep a few licensed Omoikane TLIs on hand to throw at difficult problems or to supplement manpower in crunch situations.

While AGIs have been possible for nearly two centuries, the promise of a Seed AI, a recursively self-improving general superintelligence, is perpetually 'a decade away from the market', and no successful ASI ever been demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Charters or the Compact.

This is not to say that the Gödel machine architecture or the AIXI model has somehow been forgotten in the past 230 years, but that the Friendly AI problem has yet to be cracked. Every demonstration has either stalled out or gone immediately rampant, attempting to overthrow Charter Space before being stopped by the safety net of Narrow AIs. The small trickle of roughly human intelligence level AGIs that are created every decade typically come from these projects.

Urban legends persist that a few Seed AIs managed to escape and hide out beyond known space, plotting to return and crush humanity, or that they control all of society in secret, puppeting the Compact and Charters from their very foundation and occasionally engineering publicly failed ASI attempts to allay suspicion. These rumours are, of course, patently false, and simply the fevered imagination of crackpots at work, no doubt inspired by entertainment made by Hermes-Ishtar that feature AI supervillainy.
Systems: Map made by @Redshirt Army

The Spinward Frontier:

The Middle Spinward Frontier

The Core Region:

UNDER RADIANT CONTROL OR ALLIED:

The Radiant system is host to a G-class star, only slightly smaller than Sol. The system itself is rather small and resource-poor; experts believe that one or more Jovian planets ejected much of the system's bodies and then followed themselves. This is evidenced by the system's asteroid belt degrading over time, with high levels of eccentric orbits and impacts on planetary surface.

Radiant 1: A rather unremarkable airless iron planet, gravity 0.4 Earth Standard.

Radiant 2: A slightly larger unremarkable airless iron-silicate planet, gravity 0.6 Earth Standard.

Radiant 3: A binary planetary system and the outermost of the Radiant systems' planets.

Asphodel (Radiant 3a): The larger of the Elysium 3 pair, Asphodel might have once hosted life of its own. That life has been snuffed out for hundreds of millions of years, though, as the planet's significant atmosphere began the runaway cycle of your usual hothouse planet. Hermes-Ishtar maintained a significant aerostat and automated surface miner operation for in-house manufacturing, given that the frequent asteroid impacts from the asteroid belt keep digging up chunks of the upper crust and having low-melting-point metals rain out of the sky and solidify, unoxidized, on the surface for collection. Gravity 1.4 Earth Standard.

Elysium (Radiant 3b): Elysium was settled in the late 2190's, being a relatively simple affair. Simple life had already begun to evolve under its oceans, but continued orbital bombardment far past the lengths of things like Earth's Late Heavy Period had kept it there. It was a simple matter of forming up a small anti-asteroid task force armed with tugs and mining lasers to artificially end the pummeling, and the surface proved amenable to Terran life transplants. The colony is energy-self-sufficient, using a variety of solar, tidal, and nuclear power. Gravity 0.9 Earth Standard.

Radiant I: The outermost significant feature of Radiant, this asteroid belt is more a loose mixture of a primordial asteroid belt much like Sol's with a Kuiper belt. The shepherding gas giants which once nudged all these rocks into their orbits are gone, and with it the entire outer system is a maelstrom of chaotic orbits as the belts lose their coherence. This requires constant vigilance from Elysium's anti-asteroid team, but the high eccentricity of many asteroids also makes it cheap and easy to mine the ones that might come Elysium's way, which provides a trickle of basic resources for upkeep and personal goods. All large-scale building and infrastructure projects have been supplied from out-system, however.

A G-K far binary system, Gaid is simply a transit point to Radiant. Gaid's own gate maintenance techs and SAR rotated in and out through Radiant itself. There is no infrastructure other than a set of buoy lines for communications in Gaid A, and nothing in Gaid B.

Gaid A1: An airless world. Quality 10.

Gaid A2: A planet much like mars with a vestigial CO2 atmosphere. Quality 7.

Gaid A3: This planet boasts a methane hydrosphere. Quality 4.

Gaid AI: An asteroid belt.

Gaid A4: A turbulent Jovian planet, its storms would make resource extraction difficult. Quality 5.

Gaid A4a: An icy moon, with tidal heating creating a large ocean under a thin icy shell. Quality 9.

Gaid B1: A molten Cthonian world hosting a simply ludicrous amount of iron. Quality 15.

Gaid B2: An airless world. Quality 10.

Gaid B3: An airless binary system with two near-identically sized planets. Quality 7 and 8.

Gaid B4: This airless planet boasts a large and beautiful ring system, famous as a screen background option across human space. Every few years, a cruise or scientific expedition will stop by for more images.

Gaid B5: A small icy planet. Quality 3.

Gaid B6: A frozen world. Quality 7.

Gaid B7: An interesting gas dwarf sometimes referred to as an 'ice dwarf.' Quality 14.

A close K-M binary, Shei is home to an old Ares penal colony.

Shei 1: A Cthonian world. Quality 15.

Shei 2: An airless world. Quality 12.

Sheol (Shei 3): A boreal world, with a large, decaying ring, the planet features two large continents. The population of the consists of a large prisoner population on the larger of the two continents and a small Ares training base on the smaller. Records show that the prison consists of several million persons convicted to "high risk labour" and dropped on the continent with automatic resupply via Ares contractors and watched from orbit by weapons satellites. Most of the planet's land area is covered in a native tree analogue with a strange multi-stranded trunk.

Sheol is actually home to a population of over 100 million made up of prisoners and their descendants taht Ares was usuing as a live fire training course. Cooperation between Radiant agents, Ares mutineers, and the Sheolites themselves have seen the planet freed.

Gravity .95 Earth Standard. Quality 12.

Watchman (Shei 3a): Once the outer of two moons, this body now boasts Ares' local light shipyards and system command center. Quality 13.

Shei 4: Spiraling in from the outer system, this planet will eventually evaporate near-entirely as it closes towards the dual suns of Shei. Quality 3.

Shei 5: Martian planet with an active methane cycle. Quality 5.

Shei I: Asteroid belt.

Shei 6: Jovian planet with high rotation rate. Slightly squashed as a result. Quality 8.

Shei 6a: An icy capture, this moon will be torn into a ring sometime in the next hundred thousand years. Quality 2.

Shei 6b: Cold Martian planet, covered in a thin layer of water and carbon dioxide ices. Active methane cycle. Quality 8.

Shei II: Asteroid belt.

Shei 7: Jovian planet. Quality 13.

Shei 7a: An icy moon with significant cryovolcanism. Quality 6.

Shei 7b: A tiny icy moon, this is on the edge of hydrostatic equilibrium. Quality 2.

Shei 8: Ice giant. Quality 6.

Shei 8a: An icy moon. Quality 9.

Shei 8b: An icy moon, orbiting in an unusual polar orbit. Quality 9.

Population: 103,000,000

While lacking any currently-habitable planets, Five Lions' large size and potential have made it a significant point of Rhodes' recent extraction efforts. Ambitious terraforming efforts have recently begun.

Carajas (Five Lions 1): A Cthonian ball of iron, it's actively mined by robotic Rhodes-built landers. Gravity 2.3 Earth Standard. Quality 12.

Five Lions 2: A small rocky ball. Quality 3.

Five Lions 3: A rocky ball. Quality 7.

Grasberg (Five Lions 4): A large rocky world, glaciation has rendered it uninhabitable for now, but terraforming efforts have begun to artificially ramp up the greenhouse effect and restore liquid water to the surface, along with mining its ice. Gravity 1.11 Earth Standard. Quality 14.

Five Lions 5: This planet's atmosphere is so significant it verges on a gas dwarf. While a solid surface covered in a thin layer of ice is at the bottom, no reasonable colonization is possible. Quality 7.

Five Lions I: This asteroid belt, along with all the others, is being mined heavily.

Five Lions 6: This Jovian planet forms the center of current Rhodes extraction efforts. Quality 4.

Five Lions 6a: This Martian planet boasts significant ice caps and active plate tectonics, though only a vestigial atmosphere. Debate on whether to put resources into terraforming it are ongoing. Gravity .81 Earth Standard. Quality 17.

Oyu Tolgoi (Five Lions 6b): Home to the local population in covered shelters, this Martian planet, while nearly completely lacking water or plate tectonics, has its own atmosphere. Comet bombardment away from populated areas is ongoing and is already beginning to show results. Gravity .79 Earth Standard. Quality 11.

Five Lions II: An asteroid belt.

Five Lions 7: An unremarkable Jovian. Quality 2.

Five Lions III: An asteroid belt.

Five Lions 8: Jovian planet, its rotation speed has resulted in an unusually calm upper atmosphere. Quality 15.

Five Lions IV: An asteroid belt.

Five Lions 9: Jovian planet. Quality 9.

Five Lions V: An asteroid belt.

Five Lions 10: Neptunian ice giant. Quality 8.

Five Lions 10a: A small icy moon. Quality 5.

Five Lions 10b: A large icy body, this was probably its own planetoid at some point before being captured due to the complex interplays of no less than 5 gas giants.

Population: 15,000,000

A rare system with a brown dwarf orbiting a G-type star (just barely in the limits of what's considered a single system rather than a binary), and with a Jovian planet orbiting that, and on top of that treasure trove a dual ice giant binary, Osliam presents a golden research opportunity, and was bid on by Omoikane despite its otherwise sparce resources and poor habitable prospects.

Osliam 1: A rare hot ice giant, this planet is actively shrinking on a measurable time scale. It must have migrated in as a much larger planet recently.

Osliam 1a: This once-rock-ice moon is now a tiny molten ellipse barely holding together.

Osliam 1b: This somewhat larger moon changes color unusually with its day, as the shade of its parent cools lava to a dull red before emerging back into the light heats the lava back to a healthy orange glow.

Osliam 1c: This entire moon glows dull red in its day, just barely solid, and cools to an unusually smooth moon in its night.

Osliam I: This asteroid belt was probably a planet before Osliam 1's passing tore it to shreds.

Osliam 3: A hothouse planet with a relatively thin atmosphere, it retains temperatures and pressures that are survivable with heavy-duty equipment on the surface—when it's not raining sulfuric acid, that is.

Osliam 4: This small Martian planet seems to have collected some of Osliam 1's offgassing in its move inwards, and has a renewed temporary atmosphere.

Osliam 5a: This planet seems to have survived at the edge of the frost line by siphoning gas off its smaller twin.

Osliam 5b: Barely a gas giant, this planet was probably only slightly smaller than Osliam 5a in the distant past.

Osliam 6: The focus of Omoikane colonization in-system, Osliam 6 retains plate tectonics from the nearby brown dwarf but no atmosphere, an odd combination.

Osliam 7: A brown dwarf, this substellar object long ago burnt its deuterium and now lies slowly cooling, glowing dimly red. It is, however, still giving off a prodigious amount of low IR radiation.

Osliam 7a: Once its own planet, Osliam 7a was captured at some point by Osliam 7, perhaps in the same interaction that threw Osliam 1 to its suicidal innermost orbit.

Osliam 7a1: This icy moon is simultaneously shrinking and becoming more habitable—while its outer layers of ice are sublimating, the fierce tides of its complex interplay with Osliam 7 and 7a are heating the inner ocean to temperatures comparable to terrestrial water sources. Some scientists even suggest a pocket of water vapor is forming under the ice, and may form an internal "sky" for as much as a hundred million years before the outer shell sublimates entirely.

Osliam 7a2: This moon is less lucky; its tides are so strong that they seem to slowly be ripping the moon apart. It won't have the honor of becoming more than an ephemeral ring; the same complex tides tearing at it will rapidly disperse its debris field. While it lasts, though, it's easy water harvesting.

Population: 650,000

UNDER CHARTER CONTROL:

A distant double G binary, Xotreh hosts a small habitable moon around Xotreh B, the smaller of the two stars. As such, development has focused on the second star, despite the fact that the jump points center closer to Xotreh A.

Xotreh A1: This world boasts an active liquid silicate cycle on its surface, with oceans of basalt and continents of granite. Gravity 0.38 Earth Standard. Quality 8.

Xotreh A2: A rather large airless world, its original atmosphere was likely blown off by a massive impact. Gravity 1.2 Earth Standard. Quality 9.

Xotreh A3: A binary planetary pair of airless worlds about the size of Mars. Quality 6 and 8.

Xotreh A4: A hothouse planet with a planet-wide sulfuric acid storm due to its rapid rotation. Gravity .71 Earth Standard. Quality 8.

Xotreh A5 "Cueball": This planet is remarkably similar to Earth—if earth was buried under a kilometers-thick ice sheet across 90% of the surface. One day, as Xotreh A expands and dies, this world will become an ocean planet, but for now it's a cold desert. Gravity .87 Earth Standard. Quality 5.

Xotreh A6: An unremarkable icy ball. Quality 4.

Xotreh AI: An asteroid belt.

Xotreh A7: A Jovian planet, Xotreh 7 corrals the entire inner system in line. Quality 10.

Xotreh B1: This planet must have once been a gas giant at least the size of Uranus before it was sent inwards. Now all that remains is a dense core with a molten surface. Gravity 1.51 Earth Standard. Quality 13.

Xotreh B2: A binary pair of earth-sized airless worlds. Quality 6 and 7.

Xotreh B3: Another once-gas giant, this planet remains far out enough to boast a wholly-solid surface of iron. Gravity 1.64 Earth Standard. Quality 14.

Xotreh B4: A Jovian right on the frost line, its tidal heating keeps its moons on the edge of habitability. Quality 3.

Xotreh B4a "Sushi": An ocean world with massive polar ice caps, Omoikane has constructed a series of seasteads on the equatorial high ocean plateaus where it was feasible to drive foundations into the sea floor a few hundred meters below the surface. These small facilities serve as housing, data storage, and production centers for the research teams studying the dual Cthonian planets of Xotreh B. Gravity .67 Earth Standard. Quality 2.

Xotreh B4b: The lesser tidal heating here worsened the glaciation, and the planet lies under a planet-wide crust of ice. Gravity 1.13 Earth Standard. Quality 10.

Xotreh BI: The close proximity of this asteroid belt makes it an ideal location for resource extraction.

Xotreh 5: This Jovian is definitively beyond the habitable zone. Quality 6.

Xotreh 6: A dense ice giant. Quality 4.

Xotreh 7: Jovian planet. Quality 6.

Xotreh 8: An exceptionally cold Jovian. Quality 9.

Xotreh 8a: An unremarkable icy sphere. Quality 8.

Xotreh 9: This planet would have a massive atmosphere, if it wasn't so cold it all froze and fell to the surface. Only a few degrees above the space surrounding it. Gravity 1.3 Earth Standard. Quality 9.

Population: 54,000

Besides an interesting Jovian-gas dwarf planetary system, Bestreer holds little of interest other than its connections to other places.

Bestreer 1: An airless world. Quality 2.

Bestreer 2: An airless world. Quality 6.

Bestreer 3: This airless world once had a captured moon, torn apart at the Roche limit and forming a ring. A small gate maintenance and SAR team bases here, siphoning fuel and water from Bestreer 5 and mining into the surface for both resources and safe spaces for housing. Quality 10.

Bestreer 4: A rock-ice world. Quality 5.

Bestreer 5: Another rock-ice world made up more of ice than rock. Quality 5.

Bestreer I: An icy asteroid belt.

Bestreer 6: A large Jovian planet, on the edge of becoming a brown dwarf. Quality 15.

Bestreer 6a: This gas dwarf might have become a gas giant in its own right without its massive sibling. Quality 5.

Bestreer 7: Another Jovian. Quality 14.

Bestreer 7a: An icy moon, with an internal ocean buried under kilometers of ice. Quality 12.

Bestreer 8: An icy ball. Quality 10.

Population: 450

G-class star. A transshipping point to Radiant and environs, Mississippi keeps a substantial support crew on hand for possible cargo ship breakdowns or emergencies in-system, due to the slightly increased risk of issues from the absolute shambles of Akleod's inner system. A minor executive has also put together a cheap refueling and battery exchange station.

Akleod 1: Even actively evaporating and leaving behind a trail in orbit of dissipating volatiles, this body is large enough to have usurped Akleod 1a's orbit temporarily until it disappears away or the chaotic orbit of the two throws one into the star or out of the system. Quality 2.

Akleod 1a: The original Akleod 1, its orbit has been badly disrupted by the current, migrating Akleod 1. Which of the two gets ejected is still uncertain despite a decent amount of computational simulation; odds put it at 48-52% relatively. Quality 6.

Gnat's Ass (Akleod 2): A small, loosely-held-together icy body, perhaps what used to be an asteroid belt before Akleod 1's suicidal inner-system dive. It's not yet had time to fully reach hydrostatic equilibrium. Quality 3.

Akleod 3: An icy planet similar to Akleod 1, perhaps an old sibling. Quality 13.

Akleod I: An asteroid belt.

Akleod 4: A Jovian with an unusually elliptical orbit, it's regarded as the culprit for the chaos of Akleod's inner system. Quality 11.

Population: 5,000

As it turns out, transponder codes from regular priority messages through Gaid (now that we can see them, having backdoored the gate control) bear tags from a system, Thoa, along with navigational chart updates for any ships that happen to stop by. Thoa and Gaid both seem to have been nothing more than transit points to the far-more-valuable Radiant for Hermes-Ishtar, but Thoa holds a small anti-pirate base guarding against raiders from Signia. Hermes-Ishtar was apparently serious enough about it to have a converted corvette on station.

All told, the Thoa system holds gates to 2 systems besides Gaid's. There's also an unimproved jump point simply labelled as "dangerous." that leads to Signia

Thoa System Stats:

Thoa 1: A molten mess of a planet, it's hot enough that a residual atmosphere of vaporized low-melting-point metallics exists.

Thoa 2: An unremarkable airless metal ball.

Thoa 3: A super-earth hothouse, this planet would have been uninhabitable due to its gravity even before turning scorchingly hot.

Thoa 3a: A captured asteroid barely on the edge of hydrostatic equilibrium, the Nasty Bastardhad been excavating rudimentary shelters for "leave" for its crew.

Thoa I: An asteroid belt.

Thoa 4: A normal Jovian planet.

Thoa 4a: A moon much like Mars in climate.

Thoa 5: A Jovian planet with an unusual triangular wind pattern at the poles.

Thoa 6: Blooms of hydrogen well up from the core of this Jovian, perhaps disturbed by some recent impact.

Thoa 7: Bathyscapes would find themselves at home on the surface of Thoa 7. Pressures much like that at Earth's seabed keep a crust of ice 3 stable enough robotic drones could walk on it.

Thoa 7a: Unusually, Thoa 7a is the only large icy body in the system. Scientists are unsure of where the others went. As the only easy source of volatiles, the UNasty Bastard periodically stopped by a handful of obsolete volatile collection systems on the surface to top up.

Thoa II: A Kuiper belt of icy objects.

Empty Systems

Kimberly: A fairly unremarkable and empty system, this site was chosen as Rhodes' spinward boneyard—a place for failed experiments, old equipment, and ships so worn they weren't worth maintaining anymore, but were still valuable enough to warrant not throwing into a gas giant or otherwise completely destroyed. For 2 decades a Rhodes-affiliated salvaging contractor worked here, gathering scrap and other valuables, but following high injury and death rates and low returns, the contract (and most non-local dumping) was cancelled in 2247 (4 years before the March Days.)

Kimberly 1: A large rocky planet, this must have migrated inwards from further out in the system a long time ago to be so large so close to its parent star.

Kimberly 2: A Martian planet that keeps a comfortable daytime temperature despite its lack of atmosphere due to a close orbit.

Kimberly 3: A Jovian world.

Kimberly I: This asteroid belt is actually combined with a thinly-spread junkyard corralled by Kimberly's 2 gas giants.

Kimberly 4: A Neptunian world, this planet has several starship hulks abandoned as the closest stable orbit to the gate out. An old deactivation hub orbits in resonance with Kimberly 4a, the former site of a salvaging operation.

Kimberly 4a: The only significant satellite in the system, this icy moon retains a thin crust and a massive subterranean freshwater ocean.

Total:

Radiant:

Gaid:

Five Lions:

Head of Diplomatic Corps:

Name: Amanda Redcrest, Victoria Blackwell, and Kayla Hayashi

DoB: "2222", 2219, 2227, 2224

Current Position: Influential media figure and figurehead of Social Committee propaganda

Not a traditional diplomat, or a traditional individual 'Veronica Stardust' is the persona of a trio of XP broadcasters who have been working together since 2246 and has consistently been one of the most recognized figures across Charter space and is a local Elysian celebrity.

In Charter space those individuals who choose to make money by recording their lived experiences, of all kinds, for later playback are treated with an indulgent disdain by the polite classes as a mix of internet celebrity and sex worker despite the practice of selling XP experiences being common in the poorer segments of society and a smaller portion of the professional middle class attempting to stay afloat in a tight gig economy.

Amanda Redcrest was a former media programmer whose attempts to supplement her income with XP work backfired and saw her fired from her job. Contrarily, Kayla and Victoria both come from lower class backgrounds, though Kayla's attempts to climb into the middle class by earning a marketing degree were frustrated when her lower class status markers and financing of education via XP work saw her frozen out of the job market.

A former collaborator of Kayla's, Victoria had been a rising XP star in her own right and had no desire to change her station, but as her brief celebrity began to fade Victoria approached Kayla to propose the creation of a dedicated broadcasting persona that both would act as. Later bringing on Redcrest, who they'd both done crossover XP work with, to do technical work, the trio used carefully gathered market data and some intuition to create the "Veronica Stardust" persona of an middlingly-intelligent and freewheeling persona who played to the upper class's picture of what depravities and indignities the poorer class must get up to in their spare time.

From 2246 to 2251 the Veronica Stardust persona (performed by all three at various times, though primarily Victoria) produced experience recordings that were nearly always in the top 10 best sellers across Charter space.

Though they enjoyed the wealth that they brought in, the trio increasingly chafed at the market driven limitations of Veronica, and were considering a number of possibly catastrophic brand shifts when the March Days broke out and all three participated in street actions in a private capacity after sending one last broadcast as 'Veronica' to encourage revolt.

Since the formation of the Social Committee the figure of Veronica has been rebranded to serve as the figurehead of Social Committee Propaganda and several major initiatives have been launched with her at the forefront including a highly successful part of the anti-overproduction initiatives.

As part of the now-completed campaign to maintain the charade that Radiant was still under Charter control, Veronica Stardust continued to sell broadcasts to HI media chains, though the trio could not help but begin a brand shift towards a far more intelligent and radical persona.

Pros: XP Celebrity, influential, well known, inspiring to the middle and lower classes

Cons: XP celebrity, little diplomatic experience, three people

Diplomatic Goals: Defeat the Charters in the field of public opinion, push social revolution and freedom of information and communication, cause public opinion to oppose attacking Radiant

Unlocked FRM

Ares Peacekeeping Grade - Access to planetary army formation

Ares Military Grade - Access to mid-sized shipyards, bonuses to planetary army combat. Bonus to completion of Chinook remodeling

Rhodes Light industrial Grade - 10% increase to all mining income, reduced Cost for BLG and other actions that use basic fabber processes

Rhodes Heavy Industrial Grade - Massive discount on mining upgrades, able to unlock automated technologies with Omoikaine

Cernunnos Consumer Grade - +1 to all Soccom actions

Cernunnos Enterprise Grade - NOT UNLOCKED

Omoikane Consumer Grade - +1 to FRM reserach for each two tech bases unlocked (+6 currently)

Omoikane Enterprise Grade - +5 to blue sky research, automation with Omoikane

Hermes-Ishtar Consumer Grade - Your economy doesn't crash when the turn of funding

Hermes-Ishtar Production Grade - NOT UNLOCKED

MSI Consumer Grade - Consumer Goods, Drones, and personal vehicles, +2 to domestic projects in IndComm and SocComm

MSI Enterprise Grade - NOT UNLOCKED

Original Tech

The Box: Fabber the size of a X-box that can, with time, materials and power, print the components for a full sized box. Less efficient, but easy to print and hide.

Defence Coordinator:

Name: Maria Awhina

DoB: 2165

Current Position: Military Committee Delegate from the Radiant Veterans Guild

Born into poverty on Earth as the twenty-second century began to wane, young 22-year old Maria Awhina caught up in radical anti-Charter politics during the third black summer of 2187 and was convicted of property destruction during the rioting and sentenced to serve as a contractor to Hermes-Ishtar until her contract was paid off.

The stark choice of starvation or service to Hermes-Ishtar caused Maria to descend into self-destructive behavior where for twenty years Ms. Awhina continuously volunteered for the highest paid and most dangerous positions that Hermes-Ishtar had available.

Hermes-Ishtar considers Special Operations Lieutenant Awhina to have served with distinction throughout the heavy skirmishing of that era, though Maria herself continues to carry guilt for her service and her survival.

After performing exceptionally well in a hostage rescue operation Awhina was transferred to the Protective Detail Division of Hermes-Ishtar Security, and was eventually assigned to serve as the head of the Radiant Vice President's protective detail.

Over the next four decades she came to see the world as her home, and while her professionalism never wavered, her loyalty to the company who still owned her contract did.

This March, Maria had the option to gun down her fellow planetary headquarters workers to secure Yang's escape, or to finally return to roots in anti-Charter agitation. The fact that we are all here today shows what choice she made.

Pros:

-Actual Combat Veteran, knows Radiant inside and out, special operations expert, professional.

Cons:

-only academic knowledge of starship operations, logistics, organization command and strategic operations.

Command Traits:

-Objective oriented, unflappable, aggressive, prefers attacks and operations to come from unexpected angles.

Reports from the Permanent Commission for Military Intelligence on hostile forces in neighbouring systems:

Blue Squadron:
-Allegiance: Ares Combat Solutions
-Service: Mars Interstellar Security
-CO: Rear Admiral Weylon Kang
-Flagship: MIS Yorktown

We know little about Rear Admiral Weylon Kang except that he has received a number of commendations from the MIS board for keeping costs low while on deployment. He appears to be making an effort to clamp down on the rumours racing back and forth across the fleet.

MIS Yorktown
-British Empire-class Fleet Tender
MIS Eurymedon
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS La Rochelle
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Cape Rachado
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Second Schooneveld
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Matapan
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Valcour Island
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Kerch Strait
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Galveston Harbour
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Cape Sarych
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS River Plate
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Third San Francisco
-New Model-class Strike Corvette
MIS Scipio Africanus
-Cossak-class Frigate
MIS Suleiman I
-Cossak-class Frigate
MIS Louis Botha
-Cossak-class Frigate
MIS Fort Ware
-Hudson's bay Company-class Fast Fleet Tanker
MIS Fort Mackinac
-Hudson's bay Company-class Fast Fleet Tanker
MIS Fort Osage
-Hudson's bay Company-class Fast Fleet Tanker
MIS Arabian
-Postal-class Courier
MIS Macedonia
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Hispania Citerior
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Hispania Ulterior
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Gallia Narbonensis
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Sicilia
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport
MIS Corsica et Sardinia
-Legionary-class Fast Troop Transport

Fixed Defences:
Battery A
-MSS-54-F LMP Constellation
Battery B
-MSS-54-F LMP Constellation
Battery C
-MSS-54-F LMP Constellation
Shoal A
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal B
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal C
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal D
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal E
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal
Shoal F
-ASR-33-C TAM Shoal

Fixed Defences:
Battery A
-Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation
Battery B
-Airstrike Pattern LMP Constellation
Shoal A
-Macross-Pattern LMP Constellation
Shoal B
-Macross-Pattern LMP Constellation
Strikecraft Wing, ID# 48603
-Radiance-Type Strikecraft

-None

Local Security Forces
-Approximately fifty strong volunteer station security militia drawn from station personnel

Local Security Forces:
-Deep Space Security Solutions (Omoikane Subsidiary) Customs shuttle squadron based out of Xotreh B-4a's orbital station
-Three companies of Standard Planetary Security Company (Ares subsidiary) troops based out of Xotreh B-4a's habitat complexes for internal security and law enforcement

139th Solarian Navy Squadron:
-Allegiance: Solarian Compact
-Service: Solarian Navy
-CO: Vice Admiral David Visser
-Flagship: SNS Krak de Chevaliers

Thanks to his heavy handed labour discipline and extractive tribute and demands for corvee labour from Ascension Admiral Visser is viscerally hated by the populace of Ascension, and to a lesser degree the rest of the Solarian Force as well. While the gate's completion draws near, it is uncertain what path that Visser will persue.

SNS Krak de Chevaliers
-Star-hold-Class light-tender
SNS Victoria Newman
-Leonard Greyson-Chang-Class Strike Corvette
SNS Julia Stonechild
-Leonard Greyson-Chang-Class Strike Corvette
SNS Robert Chuikov
-Leonard Greyson-Chang-Class Strike Corvette
SNS Wallace Al-Wazir
-Leonard Greyson-Chang-Class Strike Corvette
SNS Dawn's Early Light
-Freedom's Light-class cruiser
SNS Jacob Nagumo
-Herald Kanumba-Class frigate
SNS Alexander Hamilton
-Liberation-class troop transport

Solarian Marines now spread throughout the system

PCMI Provides new system data on the single system that lies beyond beyond Five Lions:

Mobile Force:

Current Orders: Defend the All Radiant Congress by acting as a rapid response in the event of any hostile acts.

CO: Commodore Stephanie Rousseau

CNS Velasco, United States of America-class Fleet Carrier

-CO: Captain Esteri Attar

-Orca Wing, Switchblade-type strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: Wing Commander Jasmine Ang

-Red Wolf Wing, Switchblade-type strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: Wing Commander Heloisa Kimura de Lima

CNS Shieldmaiden, Great Heathen-class Light Cruiser

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Shamhat, Great Heathen-class Light Cruiser

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Righteous Tempest, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: Captain Vehement Shade

CNS August Willich, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Elysium, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Asphodel, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

-

Home Force:

Current Orders: Defend Radiant, comet patrol, act as a reserve force

CO: Commodore Erina Kozlova

CNS Blaire Mountain, New Model-Class Strike Corvette

-CO: Captain Guillermo Kageyama

CNS Scutum, Comet-Class Patrol Corvette

-CO: Captain Martin Pagonis

CNS Buckler, Comet-Class Patrol Corvette

-CO: Captain Samuel Smiles

CNS Nasty Bastard, A Jury Rigged Mess of a Drone Carrier

-CO: Captain Jean-Paul Beaumont

-

Radiant System Self Defence Force:

Current Orders: Defend Radiant, comet patrol

CO: Overseen by Admiral Gregory Mansur in his capacity as MilComm Chief of Naval Operations

Radiant Customs Squadron, Arabia-class boarding craft with marine contingents

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

Switchblade Wing, Switchblade-type strikecraft

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

Apogee Wing, Switchblade-type strikecraft

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

Battery A, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery B, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery C, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery D, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery E, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Battery F, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Shoal A, Macross-Pattern TAM Shoal

(Radiant-Bestreer Gate)

Radiant Orbital Yard 1

Current construction: None

Radiant Orbital Yard 1

Current construction: None

-

Gaid System Self Defence Force:

Current Orders: Defend Gaid

CO: Commodore Victor Raine

Battery A, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery B, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery C, Blindfire-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery D, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery E, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

Battery F, Airstrike-Pattern LMP Constellation

Shoal A, Macross-Pattern TAM Shoal

Shoal A, Macross-Pattern TAM Shoal

Shoal A, Macross-Pattern TAM Shoal

Zephyr Wing, Switchblade-Type Strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: Wing Commander Ara Helge

Aeolus Wing, Switchblade-Type Strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

Gale Wing, Switchblade-Type Strikecraft (Customized)

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

-

Frontier Force

Current Orders: Keep watch on SolNav force in Raphanus, assist with integration of Ascension military forces, patrol Spinward frontier

CO: Commodore Shayla McLean

CNS Kiel Mutiny, Kaiserreich-class BattleCruiser

-CO: Captain Inana Devlin

CNS Choreographer, Janissary-class Light Tender

-CO: Captain Karl Xanthopoulos

CNS Valiant, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Defiant, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain Fool's Errand

CNS Reliant, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain Rouge Napier

CNS Actium, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain John Rankin

CNS Crête-à-Pierrot, New Model-class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain Nkiru Chaudhari

CNS Valmy, New Model-Class Strike Corvette, attached to CNS Choreographer

-CO: Captain Sumac Barros

CNS Revolutionary Will, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: Captain Yamamoto Hanae

CNS Revolutionary Grace, Cossak-class Frigate

-CO: -N/A DATABASE ERROR, CONTACT IT FOR HELP-

CNS Under New Management, Don-Class Fast Tanker

-CO: Captain Adras Kierenos

CNS Liberte, Hollywood(C)-Class Frigate

-CO: Captain Colin McRae

CNS Egalite, Hollywood(C)-Class Frigate

-CO: Captain Adelia Swift

Resources
Naval Ship Types: Ship Types (Public Version)
Naval Officers: Congressional Navy Officers (Public Version)
System Codex: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rtNbPCcPsTK7HCHKo9dPgK7ntx5tBKOpltrZb_In7GY/edit#
Blaze Zhang: Blaze Zhang is trans-masc. That means his pronouns are he/him.

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Genderite · May 7, 2024

I mean the obvious name is Yuri's Night.

Slamu · May 7, 2024

SaltyWaffles said:
No, our first new fleet carrier should be "Yuri Sun" and deploy Lilyshadows. Or we could go with "This Too Is Yuri" for it. But the important part is that it's a fleet carrier that deploys Lilyshadows to make the joke work.

As for names for our first battlecruiser...

I'm thinking Defiant. Really sums up our attitude and pluck.

Or Spartacus. It's mind boggling that the guy managed to launch a slave revolt in the heart of the Roman Empire and succeeded. And the message is clear: win or lose, in the end the Roman Empire fell entirely under the weight of its own failures, sins, and flaws.

I just figured, y'know, Yuri Gagarin....

Tangentially related, how important are EW suites in naval warfare? I like the idea of something like the Quasar-C EW cruiser but 'long-range duelist not fit for slugging matches' makes me leery and I'm not sure if this is a case of "not bad to have in a fleet that is already self-sufficient" or "either build a skirmish line of these or ignore them entirely" sort of naval build. (Also I can't help but wonder if AGI-heavy Quasar-Cs would be uncommonly effective or just a gimmick)

Genderite said:
I mean the obvious name is Yuri's Night.

Ack, ninja'd!
(Cicada'd?)

How likely are reactionary holdouts to actually fade away? The ones that put down their guns when the tide of battle went against them, I mean. Because if they begin to internalize post-scarcity living as part of a community instead of part as a market demographic and SolNav blows through the gate in 7 months to 'liberate Earth from Anarchist hands' how many of the reactionaries are likely to still be...reactionaries? Not the die-hard Humanist cells or left-behind units like we see here, but just Joe Salaryman whose career was doing good until this Black Summer kicked off and now he has poor people neighbors in his investment neighborhood but also he can print off a fancy car and go joyriding whenever he wants and even print out the expensive nutrient bars, etc?

Winged One · May 7, 2024

SaltyWaffles said:
Or Spartacus. It's mind boggling that the guy managed to launch a slave revolt in the heart of the Roman Empire and succeeded. And the message is clear: win or lose, in the end the Roman Empire fell entirely under the weight of its own failures, sins, and flaws.

But then we have to falsify a gajillion transmitters to fake being that ship.

Slamu · May 7, 2024

Winged One said:
But then we have to falsify a gajillion transmitters to fake being that ship.

I mean, only if we lose, right?

StarSingerBlue · May 7, 2024

Slamu said:
just Joe Salaryman whose career was doing good until this Black Summer kicked off and now he has poor people neighbors in his investment neighborhood but also he can print off a fancy car and go joyriding whenever he wants and even print out the expensive nutrient bars, etc?

Going by Marcy's dad's reaction to everything I guess most of them are going "well, I guess it''s the status quo now"

There are probably some grumblers in most places, who think the level of violence was too much and etc, but the mass cancellation of all debt seems to have won a lot of people over. And the sheer immensity of "the Compact tried to kill us all" and the atrocities commited by the humanists, means that they're not likely to fight for or even publicly support those groups even if they do agree on certain topics.

Derpmind · May 7, 2024

Genderite said:
I mean the obvious name is Yuri's Night.

For your consideration: Yuri's Knight.

The Laurent · May 7, 2024

Greene Mania Shows Return of Divisive Politics to Epsilon
AICD-OPINIONS

In previous opinion articles I highlighted what I've found in Epsilon, and that is a system in which they had finally reached the end-point of politics, in which the people were content, the rulers good, and politics as a whole did not exist except as a side-show because the masses had no qualms or real struggles, while the middle-class were given opportunities for merit-based advancement within a peaceful system. As I said then, I do not know if this system can truly be scaled up even to the scale of the IPA, but Epsilon itself is like one of those islands before the rise of colonialism, peaceful and unified… which makes Greene's coming visit the diseases and plagues that will wipe out the native population who had lived in savage harmony with the world and instead bring only suffering.

Epsilon has found a way that is not the dysfunction of a badly managed liberal democracy or the chaos of anarchism, a truly natural and sensible way between the unchecked and unregulated capitalism and the violence of anarchism, and one that furthermore rejects the worst excesses of Humanism without accepting the absurd limitations on the free association of people wanted by many Anarchists.

Yet I have begun to see a changing in the very air, in the very water, as Greene's visit excited passion beyond sense, passion that leaves her publicly oblivious to a growing Personality Cult that she stabs at the center of, the rule of a despot who is finding ways to incite and control those who were once happy.

Those who, even a month ago, had sunk into the comfortable position of understanding their unique situation as the happiest natives of any system, are beginning to have nightmares, excited and enthusiastic either for or against Silvia Greene, especially when her schedule was leaked and it included potential addresses on top of meetings. She will ride in on her white horse to conquer those innocent children whose blessed freedom from politics must surely be envied by sane people. She is returning politics to Epsilon, upsetting the balance that has made the system the most peaceful in the entire galaxy.

It has sent thrills of chaos and disorder through Epsilon, crown jewel of the galaxy, and one of only several governments, Atlantis included, that has a handle on the Anarchy problem. She has done this, and she…

Political Activist Gwen Zhang Reacts to Greene-Mania
Epsilon Free Independent Truth

Beloved activist and scholar Gwendolyn Zhang has gotten back to us on what Greene-mania can tell us about Epsilon politics. We interviewed her at their gorgeous and tastefully appointed bungalow, where she was painting something for a charitable fundraiser. When asked about Greene she claimed that Greene was "Tremendous, a true power-player in our galaxy, and a kindly and charitable sort. However," she went on to claim, "As an activist I know that there's more to life than inside baseball, and that those who play it aren't going to be playing to win."

When asked what victory would look like for Greene, Gwendolyn Zhang said, "Victory looks different for everyone. Some in my family define it differently than others, and even myself. And often that's what separates those who change the galaxy from those who merely become part of the background. I have to worry that Greene is too soft to do what needs to be done, not in the sense of violence… which of course is unnecessary, as Epsilon shows, but to make the kinds of deals you sometimes have to make when you're dealing with the larger problems. But that's beyond what we need to care about, so much so that we understand that her visit shows that the OK government is growing to accept our position."

[CONT ON PAGE 2]

Comment Section (Page 1/15)

Seeing_Greene: You have to wonder if this is just a subtle attack.

ElsyianBound: Well yes, you know what they say, you can't make a revolution in white gloves. She's just a phony.

01010101_01010010_00100000_01000100_01010101_01001101: @ElysianBound: Reported for incitement of violence, creep.

HatersAnonymous: Gwen's so fucking hot, have you seen a picture of her? Man I would die for a taste of those lips.

Seeing_Greene: Ugh, who cares?

01010101_01010010_00100000_01000100_01010101_01001101: @HatersAnonymous, reported for sexual harassment, scumbag.

Seeing_Green: Made this throwaway account to mock the [CENSORED] Greene-heads and also the stupid robot.

01010101_01010010_00100000_01000100_01010101_01001101: @Seeing_Green, Digitally created Person, thank you. Reported.

YenForFashion: Isn't your name an insult?

Nematode: This is why they say 'don't read the comments.'

Epsilon Lifts Free-Speech Zone Rules
Press Release

In recognition of the great enthusiasm for Silvia Greene, and in recognition for the importance of her arrival and the strong feelings on all parties, Epsilon will be lifting rules establishing Free-Speech Zones for protests in favor of a more open arrangement. All laws regarding illicit or violent protests will remain in effect, and barricades will be deployed as needed, but the People deserve to make their voices heard, and this open and free communication is to show to the galaxy the strength of the IPA Way.

Blog--EpsilonActivistBriefs: Gathering For The Protests
BlogShot: The Only BlogSite That Asks Permission Before Harvesting Data

Preparing for protests is a very interesting process. I don't think people understand in general what it's like, and they didn't even before the IPA made things so… very carefully constrained. Free-Speech Zones are just an excuse to ignore inconvenient protests to create an image of a people who are too busy being rich and happy to be politically engaged… though it is true that the IPA has to a certain extent bled off the energy not just for the big reforms--so what you might say--but even for the small things. I've been working on a chart, but that's going to take time to get together. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of where the system is going, and I can say in the actual spirit originally meant by "at least the trains run on time" about services and infrastructural repairs.

But the key is that you want to try to get on some of the mid-level media. The high-level stuff usually won't cover you, and the low-level stuff covers you every which way because it's basically what I'm doing, blogging. This is different, we're going to be in front of the galaxy, and so rather than drawing attention by being slightly odd but in a harmless way, saying something almost like what is easy to say but not, what we need to do this time when we're protesting is not cause too much trouble… or rather, we need to ration it out, because they're looking for an excuse. I don't know what Greene has planned, but I do know the Zhangs. Which means I do know that there is a plan of some kind, because they've always had clever ideas and dirty tricks.

So we're trying to establish discipline over here, talking through our fears and worries, making sure there's enough water and snacks for everyone. Those just tuning in from the shoutout may be surprised, but it is actually really important to look after safety. Water, food, first aid kits, a plan for what to do if someone gets sick or needs to use the bathroom… these are all pretty important things for any kind of protest.

They're basic, but this is about the long-haul, not some sudden moment where everything falls right into place. The chance for that came and went, and now that's left is trying to work our way back into a greater place of influence and figuring out what the galaxy will look like when things shake out, and what our place in that is. Grand ambitions can let one soar, but if you don't have a launchpad, then what will come of it?

So here we are, gathering, a hundred strong or so, in this case for Pro-Greene protests, because while there might be differences we've heard grumblings from Humanist circles about making it a show of force, and so fuck them. (Gently fuck the system we have right now that dislikes Humanists but hardly guards against them expanding their influence as long as it doesn't end in open violence.) And we're just one of many groups. Consolidation might be important, but at the moment it just isn't happening, because there's all sorts of different priorities, and all of them clashing with each other. Our goal out there is to make our voices heard but not cause too much trouble.

They're waiting for it, the IPA. They want a justification for their 'Free Speech Zone' laws, one that people will buy who just occasionally read the news, because not everyone is convinced of it. So they want someone to be unruly, they want someone to make a mistake that can justify it… and the worst part is, we can't keep that from happening. Which means we need to think about what happens next.

Daily Deals: Where To Watch?

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Live Report: Silvia Greene's Remarks--Analysis and Consideration
50%+1 News Team

Natalie: Silvia Greene has been stopped by the sheer press of crowd, some of whom are urging her to give a speech while others are yelling and booing. It seems likely that she'll speak at least briefly, though she can't possibly have any prepared remarks.

Jonas: The crowds are awfully big, here, hundreds of thousands to millions, though obviously even in this huge area that means most people stretch beyond it. There are tens of millions or more people tuned in, and I wouldn't be surprised if this ad-hoc speech is eventually seen by billions at least in parts, even if they're just soundbites. This could really be the moment she starts her run at the 'ship position', the leadership!

Evelyn: Ah, a joke about our second major hobby, sports betting analysis! But I think… and it's begun. That's interesting. She's directly addressing the last year, and… oh that'll be analyzed. "Anyone who promises to know the future, to have not just an idea of how things should go but how they will, should not be assumed to be in possession of the full facts." For someone who is increasingly viewed by some as a figure who can guide the way to a better tomorrow… that's a rather pessimistic statement.

Natalie: She does have a brand for honesty, and some of the lines about unity and uniformity seem to at least open the door to cooperation across party lines, but also closes the door on any delusions that she might not be talking about Humanists when she speaks of "the sitting temperature of the galaxy" and the way in which she feels as if some are living down rather than living up to the moment. There's no doubt that she's at least trying to differentiate herself from the pack.

River: Yes, but I think what's being missed here, polling-wise, is that she is also warring against options that aren't electoral. If I'm her, I have to wonder how many people might support me but think the system is broken.

Evelyn: So, what, she encourages it?

River: No, she admits it to defuse it, so that in two or three years when she makes her move they're going to be able to look back on moments like this and maybe they'll be more receptive to her message. This is not someone who plays the short game, I don't think.

Natalie: Our fashion analysts have a lot to say about her outfit, too. A power-suit, but a bigger one, just a little bit, full-body covering, clearly meant to be seen as serious, perhaps even sexless. Greene has never been associated with a sex scandal, a fact that has itself been a scandal before, as there are many who wonder whether she can know a parents' concerns or the romantic and love-based issues that require care and compassion if she's such a work-a-holic. But she seems to be leaning into it, with a positively Puritan look--
River: I think it looks good, actually. Very good color coordination with the tie and suit, and that hat is honestly a nice throwback, softens the look. She's always been very fashionable in her way, on top of the interior decorating. It's just understated… well, not in colors, she's never been one to lean all the way into subtle. But you know what I mean. I just don't think the voters care.

Jacob: We'll see, that's for sure.

Natalie: Oh, now that's an interesting line of discussion. She's currently addressing the matter of the frontier, and Spacer culture, though I don't know whether she'll win points trying to emphasize common interests, not on a system that has plenty who believe that Spacers are of a different class entirely. But I'd say, based on polling, that it's a gamble she has to take, especially if she wants to continue to expand her faction. What if she was aiming for a few of the Spacer voters to convince a few seats to flip…

Jonas: Well now that's interesting. She's responding to the criticisms, and… well, I can't say I'd imagine she'd press quite so hard on the point about the Box, but it is a winning issue on many planets, enforcement has become relatively unpopular… but not among key demographics that she should be seeking out.

Bobbert: Hey, sorry I'm late, but I should be here now. Ah, now that's a line. And I mean "a line." "The peoples of the galaxy have a right to make their voices heard" in a way that seems clear is aiming right at the old Colonial Reform arguments of the last century, in favor of, it seems--though she does not say it--some sort of two-tier system? It can't be fewer than that, though she doesn't say anything, because the Core Systems are far too powerful not to be in a class all their own.

River: But note, she hasn't said any of that. Let's not assume we know what her plans are.

Jonas: Sure, we can not assume, but Colonial Reform has been a bugbear of hers for a long, long time, and it might be a way for her to get Spacer votes. But what I noticed is… oh, did you see it River?

River: I did, throughout this speech, which has now reached the fifteen minute mark, she's always said people, or sentients, or other such politically correct words. Not once has she said 'Humanity' or 'Humans' which is a bold choice.

Bobbert: You say bold, I say foolish. There's plenty of people in the middle on the issue that don't truck with any kind of anti-Augment bias but will find failing to acknowledge that Humanity is the measure of all other things insulting, especially some PHRL soft-Bioconservatives that would otherwise fall into her lap.

Natalie: Greene is moving towards the end of her speech. And it's easy to see the campaign here, because some of her phrasing is very, "I come here to bury Caesar." Her critiques against the electoral left, or even the Left in general, are muted and her commentary on the disruption and chaos focuses as much on the possibilities for a better galaxy as the very real dangers, though she does acknowledge them… I don't know.

Jonas: It feels like a Statement.

Evelyn: It has to be viewed that way. She's risking a lot coming here, politically. There are polls that say… what? My God, my God!

River: What is… what's going on?
Natalie: …

Flash Alert: Active Shooter!

Be advised, there have been gunshots heard in your area. The following warning has been issued by security forces of the Third Sector of Niven.

Shots have been fired from the crowd at a visiting guest, the situation is dangerous, please do not enter the area or attempt to confront the shooter, security forces are handling it. Remain in your homes, remain calm, and trust that things are under control.

Blogpost--A Moment of Near Heartbreak
KC Star

A cry, a noise like a scream. A villain in every since of the word, a lower-class hoodlum not worth the mud on the boots of a real man of merit yelled out his savage war cry, "For Humanity!" and opened fire from the crowd. Dozens and dozens of shots fired in the direction of Greene and her security team as they moved towards the exit and the transportation.

It was a moment of near-tragedy whose chaos and heartbreak must have this paper set aside any grievances with Madame Greene, whose politics have often been divisive, but who was speaking against violence and hate when the shots were fired. Several looked as if they hit, but they must not have, because dauntless Silvia Greene, the right-hand Meritocrat behind many of JN OK's most successful policies did not stop. Indeed she declared that she would continue her move towards her next meeting, which was to meet Mary Zhang, an influential meritocrat in her own right.

The shooter, whose name has not been released to the public, took his own life in captivity some hours ago, though manhunts are underway as it is suspected that he was a member of the Humanist Group 'Bloody Green Fists.'

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AICD-Exile Notes (Unpublished)

Not going to publish this, because holy shit it would be unethical to make people understand how close they came, but I was nearby, about to ask her a question, and so I saw it closer. A few of the crowd were shot… but I think she was too. Twice, maybe three times, I saw the bullets from the Fatblunt gun hit her. Her suit must have been armored beneath it, perhaps with the bulk to justify it? Either way, only the fact that it hit her body and not her head saved her, and I saw her wince for a moment before she mastered whatever it was and played it off. No doubt the bullets left bruises, but she was quickly being ushered to the transport.

She was determined, and she didn't seem scared. If I had to guess, she seemed as if she, what? She was a little rattled, but she looked as if she was thinking very, very hard.

Video: On to Zhang?! (Comments):

Seeing_Greene: "On to Zhang"? Is she really that enthusiastic about meeting some corporate sellout? But holy shit! She almost died, this is terrible.

Seeing_Green has been infracted for this post, to view their comments click below.

Seeing_Greene has been infracted for this post, to view their comment click below.

YenForFashion has been infracted for this post, to view their comments…

Private Meeting Between Mary Zhang and Silvia Greene Drags Hours Past the Scheduled Hour, Officials Give No Word On Schedule Changes for Greene's Visit
Epsilon National Inquirerer

Between Comments · May 7, 2024

Hmm, well I'm going to go with the operating assumption this is a false flag and be glad that the IPA and Greene Reformist block are actively moving against Humanism. I'm curious how closely they are working together though. Might be Greene is trading the IPA internal autonomy in exchange for having them back her bid for PM.

No idea how this would work out for us in the long run considering the whole Toby situation. I imagine he'd still try to coup her? Zero idea of how well she'd be able to resist that.

GardenerBriareus · May 7, 2024

BiopunkOtrera said:
Yeah that was definately a reference.

It raised a red flag for me as a possible sign of her being involved with the Institute - IE, the name's a cover, and because the Institute are the worst possible sort of nerds she decided to make it a reference to one of the OGs of cyberpunk (and also a series with an anti-AI enforcement agency called the Turing Registry, which the Institute might consider aspirational.)

obssesednuker · May 7, 2024

The Laurent said:
01010101_01010010_00100000_01000100_01010101_01001101

Binary to text translator is giving me...
UR_DUM

Truly an intellect of many generations.

Content is created by an AI generator, any beliefs expressed in this advertisement
Are not a reflection of the board of directors.

Same energy.

The Laurent · May 7, 2024

obssesednuker said:
Binary to text translator is giving me...
UR_DUM

Truly an intellect of many generations.

Same energy.

Not all AGI are thoughtful people.

Setsul · May 7, 2024

And now the question is how many layers of false flag operations we're on.
The spacer supremacist bend of humanism is definitely unhappy with Greene, but that would also be way too simple.
The IPA did suspend the free speech zones, so they could've been waiting for an excuse to justify them and keep them forever and/or make the more restrictive, but they also could've simply been trying to pre-empt larger protests that they really wouldn't want to or could stop by force. Give no order that you don't expect to be obeyed, make no law that you're unwilling or unable to enforce and all that. The illusion of complete control is important.
Last but not least, Greene clearly expected to be shot at, and who is the Caesar she's trying to bury? Could be the IPA, could be the Compact, could be someone/something out of the literal and metaphorical left field.
Or was this simply the best way to clear her schedule? You don't have to hold public speeches for a while if you've just been shot at while doing so, after all.

obssesednuker · May 7, 2024

The Laurent said:
Not all AGI are thoughtful people.

Makes sense. Humans (and, by extension, augments) are usually not that thoughtful, why should we expect a person whose thought patterns are based more in electronics than biochemistry to necessarily be different?

ScottishMongol · May 7, 2024

SaltyWaffles said:
I must admit, I love this series following the VdCB and the potential to see MINUET rescued. But I am also eagerly awaiting a continuation on Shayla McLean's Lace Jewel and Rosseau potentially conducting a fighting withdrawal to Radiant in the face of RVB's main force--or if RVB's main force just sits in Bastion, then hopefully the 201st gets wiped out.

Though I feel like there are a bunch of established perspectives/characters that are being left out that have lots of potential. Like the SolNav admiral who defected mid-battle over Earth, trying to help organize a rapid build-up of gate defenses for when/if SolNav decides to try a reconquest from KC.

Yeah ever since Midnight an increasing amount of airtime has been spent on characters and events we have no control over and who have limited relevance to the actual events of the Quest. And like, none of this material is bad and the authors are allowed to write whatever they want, but every time I get an update notification I think "Actual Quest update or sidestory update?"

blankmask · May 7, 2024

The Laurent said:
and I can say in the actual spirit originally meant by "at least the trains run on time" about services and infrastructural repairs.

How many people do you think got the accusation of being a fachist here? In story.

Also, Ms. Greene aping good ol Teddy here, who got shot, made a nearly hour long speech with a bullet in him, and then got medical attention. Definitely makes her look like a badass.

Slamu · May 7, 2024

Setsul said:
Or was this simply the best way to clear her schedule? You don't have to hold public speeches for a while if you've just been shot at while doing so, after all.

"I could really use a few days off. Someone fab up a FB-69 and give it to a mentally unstable humanist in the crowd this afternoon, will you?"
I mean, I've had meetings where I idly fantasized about stabbing myself to escape them, but if this is what actually happened then I don't know what to say.

BiopunkOtrera · May 7, 2024

ScottishMongol said:
Yeah ever since Midnight an increasing amount of airtime has been spent on characters and events we have no control over and who have limited relevance to the actual events of the Quest. And like, none of this material is bad and the authors are allowed to write whatever they want, but every time I get an update notification I think "Actual Quest update or sidestory update?"

Sorry about that. I just got inspired to write some earth stuff.

Gummy_Dragon · May 7, 2024

So that happened.

I have no idea if this is actually a false flag because for every organization that could set this up and benefits from blaming someone else, there's someone who would make a genuine assassination attempt. Literally anyone can yell, 'Yo Box-Chan, roll me a Fatblunt" and go after Greene.

Of course, it doesn't matter who shot her and why, or that she even pulled through, but that someone shot her in the first place. Mama Zhang is definitely going to crack down on individual rights after this, and there's going to be a real intense round of finger-pointing until someone takes credit, and that someone doesn't even need to be the actual culprit., so long as it looks like a humanist did it or got accused of doing it.

blankmask · May 7, 2024

ScottishMongol said:
Yeah ever since Midnight an increasing amount of airtime has been spent on characters and events we have no control over and who have limited relevance to the actual events of the Quest. And like, none of this material is bad and the authors are allowed to write whatever they want, but every time I get an update notification I think "Actual Quest update or sidestory update?"

I mean I kinda feel that too, but on the other hand the stuff they're writing about is in both styles and about topics I like. Besides that it's some of the better writing I've seen. So I'm not really complaining too much.

Also, that's kinda what happens when you directly cause the fracture of an interstellar polity and destroy its economic system.

Broccoliccoli · May 7, 2024

The in-text explanation of Greene having hidden armor and the luck to only get hit there is perfectly plausible, but I do kinda wonder whether she used all that private time during spacetravel to Senator Armstrong herself with some box. Her revealing that would make for a really dramatic anti-humanist moment during some rally and she did pick a path in life where bullets are a when rather than an if.

Himmelhand · May 7, 2024

Slamu said:
Unrelated to the actual update; What works better for the name of our first Gagarin-class battlecruiser, a deliberately confusing "Lilyshadow" or a more direct "This Too is Yuri"? Asking for idle curiosity (or if we put a NH-MAVI onboard, perhaps idol curiosity?).

Go with "This Too is Yuri" then follow it up with the sister ship "This is Yuri 2".

RE Greene, walking off getting shot a couple times will do wonders for your appeal with people who don't normally engage with politics.

Setsul · May 7, 2024

CeBrudras said:
The in-text explanation of Greene having hidden armor and the luck to only get hit there is perfectly plausible, but I do kinda wonder whether she used all that private time during spacetravel to Senator Armstrong herself with some box. Her revealing that would make for a really dramatic anti-humanist moment during some rally and she did pick a path in life where bullets are a when rather than an if.

Yeah, I'm not even sure she hasn't gone stealth fullcon and there's going to be quite a few conspiracy theorists saying that she has.

Rockeye · May 7, 2024

The Laurent said:
one of those islands before the rise of colonialism, peaceful and unified…

Right... Never any tribal warfare at all... King Kamehameha didn't conquer all his neighbors in open battle or anything... I love the sheer blinkered tone in these.

Torgamous · May 7, 2024

Slamu said:
Unrelated to the actual update; What works better for the name of our first Gagarin-class battlecruiser, a deliberately confusing "Lilyshadow" or a more direct "This Too is Yuri"? Asking for idle curiosity (or if we put a NH-MAVI onboard, perhaps idol curiosity?).

It is my considered opinion that the first native-build capital ship to float out of Five Lions should be named Voltron.

MrRageQuit · May 7, 2024

IPA shilling, the murky reality of Epsilon behind the curtain, and shenanigans. Looking forward to what's next.

Now, I understand ScottishMongol's POV, but given that we had a long wait before updates resumed in the first place, I'm just happy to see a solid flow coming. Also, the consequences might just impact us more and sooner than you think. After all, the QMs said they aren't just going to let us comfortably turtle, tech up, and feed the revolution from afar. They need to have some plausible explanations for the shit being flung our way...

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