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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spacemanelliot · Sep 1, 2024

AKuz said:
-On at least two occasions SolNav has Come Over There hard enough to END a Charter, demonstrating the threat
-Apollo Bell invented the warp drive, and were driven mad by the fact that they weren't allowed to touch the gates. This eventually led to Gate Touching.

You've said or at least implied that the Pre-Broadcast modern Compact can't actually hold the Charters in line anymore, but what would've happened if one or even a coalition of modern-day Charters had crossed the red lines that the Compact/Solnav has, in a Pre-Broadcast paradigm? Would they even be inclined to act, given their slow decay and probably at least some level of Charter regulatory capture? Hell, what would that look like in a Post-Broadcast world, given that it's more likely than ever with how spread thin Solnav is, as well as the probable desperation growing among the Charters that are still left? Like, I honestly can't imagine them getting as mad about the IPA setting up automated resourcing as they would about discovering our usage of such, or at least enough to be able to draw together enough forces to actually take them on.

Pyrelight · Sep 1, 2024

Probably depends on the competition. On the one hand a charter being hit with the anti-innovation stompy boots of big government undermines charters, but it also means the competitors get to carve up the corpse for spare parts and say "See, the system works! The Really Bad People get stopped."

Endorfinator said:
Thank God Eshumun got curbed stomped

Cernunnos probably carried on 90% of the same shit. Maybe with fewer genetically engineered slave castes but they were plenty happy to keep extorting people for treatments for the exotic dietary requirements that had been deliberately engineered into them.

Ekzentric Lohner · Sep 2, 2024

We could call our first unveiled gate design (if we ever do manage to complete and share that project) Gemini Gray or Phoebus Chime or something as a cheeky reference to Apollo Bell.

clockworkchaos · Sep 3, 2024

Kirook said:
We've talked a lot about the history of the various Charters, the Frontier Wars, and how things got to be how they were on the eve of the March Days in the Tyrants Fear-verse. But we've never had all that information in once place...until now.

Behold:

Everyone like "Rhodes ridiculous" but whose caste system has kept the in play as one of only two charters since the beginning hmmmmmm?

Torgamous · Sep 3, 2024

clockworkchaos said:
Everyone like "Rhodes ridiculous" but whose caste system has kept the in play as one of only two charters since the beginning hmmmmmm?

That just means their ridiculousness has had time to ferment.

clockworkchaos · Oct 23, 2024

AN: This is a sidestory of too much thought put into visual designs for the work '2 nations' from the big media post. It is not intended as a full update and I'm putting it in side stories. Real updates will happen when people can manage RL stuff.

1Sun review

So, for those of you in the 2 Nations (2N as we all call it) community you've probably heard the buzz about 1Sun. And, like the overbuzzed person I am, I have thoughts, which I am going to yap at you about.

First, I've seen people that either say it's official or that is a 'fake official', and it's understandable If you watch the credits sequence, in Japanese you might see the Japanese title of Áoxiáng Studio pop-up, or, if looking at the English version and only catching the number of animations from 2 Nations. So what's the deal? Is it 'canon'? Does that even have any meaning when Áoxiáng has stated wants to avoid the kind of 'mass canon/non canon' divide that represents corporate control of all media intellectualism and anti-fanfic sentiment. As such they aren't going to canonize anything, even, technically their own stuff.

First, no, it's not created by, or with any real work from Áoxiáng. 1Sun is a project headed by an assortment of Japanese artists who have broken free of the "Japanese produced" anime mills.

Then if that's the case, are the credits deceptive? Well again, if you read them, no, or not without a point. For example here's a quick translation of one of the credits (and please don't get on my case regarding exact translations. I love earth don't get me wrong, but man the enthusiasm in using native languages has made people arguing translations vicious.)

-
Lead Character designer*

Su Wenqian

*(Looked at our drawings once and said it looked okay)

Jr Assistant Nobody Character designer*
Oishi Sachiko
*Character concept art

-

This pattern continues for the entire sequence. Someone from Áoxiáng will be given a big title, a ridiculously large name, and a note on some incredibly small thing. "Drew an eyebrow" "Scream at 7:30 in" etc etc. Ending with the sequence of the large title card listing Áoxiáng and then nothing under it (liked this on 3 separate social media accounts)

People reading it might figure out it's a bit of a parody going on here. Specifically deals with the way HI likes to have "Japanese made" anime where they farm out the work to other studios for 99%, have some Japanese animators draw on eyebrows, and slap a Japan-made label on it. Turnabout is fair play here, with this a reverse. Though many of Áoxiáng animators were willing to play along and the praise they showered it with shows that there is no animosity here. (Personally I hope to see some influence next season).

But, onward, first, credit notes. Anyone who watched it is probably looking at me like I'm insane, since I talked about the credits themselves, but not about the beautiful sequence of the sword forging, which is amazing work of a master and his apprentice folding the steel and making a masterwork blade, all as the credits flash around. And arch heresy here, but I'm iffy on it? Don't get me wrong it's beautiful but it does make the full credits harder to read and focus on, which might have led to a lot of the confusion. On top of that… well I'll talk about it later, but put a pin in this sequence.

For now, let's get on to the story, and why I'm really hoping to see more/what I want to yammer about. So 2N has an… I'm not going to say problem because it isn't a problem. 2N understands what it is, and focuses on that. It's about the interplay of the Americas-Modern China and the Chinese-Modern DF. Within that it has a great set of characters who constantly have tension and heroism and flaws and all that good stuff. But it's in a sense fundamentally less interested in the Japanese-Compact. They exist but they have less focus, and notably their aesthetic is less detailed.

This partly stems from a wish of the director not to focus on over 200 year old battles and apply them to modern, revolutionary Japan. Colonel Misawa, rather than playing an enemy ace, cameoed as an "American" ace pilot. While the Chinese and "America's" tend to deliberately mix styles and details from the two periods, the "Japanese" are far more simply "anime WW2 Compact" style.

1sun ends up rejecting this strongly. Directly confronting Japan's imperial past while maintaining 2N's deliberate blending of styles and times. In this case it centers around "Hiro" of Izena Island. No last name, at least, not at the start. Given the opening sequences, one might be surprised to find that this is a 2N inspired work at all. The aesthetics certainly don't resemble it, instead being beautifully detailed and abstract works based on Japanese watercolors and done with so few frames it is as much picture book as animated work.

It then quickly moves to a more anime inspired styling, though one that, perhaps might seem odd to viewers. That is because, from the posted notes on this, the anime they are drawing on isn't the long established 'anime style' the Compact has written on-high as the 'standard format' that all will derive from. Settling into this style, we get Hiro's initial life, far from the Cities of the south where the world is modernizing.

That is, of course, until the man from the capital comes. Unlike the village, the man from the capital, (who is only ever referred to by that name) is drawn in what we think of as 'classic' anime style. The style of every show from Isekai and half of what was once "Radiant slop". Of every 'made in Japan' anime that never once saw a single creative decision made within light years of Japan. He quickly arrives to modernize the village.

Here the show starts to really adapt the deliberate mashing of times and place that defined 2N. The man from the capital himself is a mash-up, like 2N he takes heavy inspiration from the Compact, but his rising sun regalian is shown loud and proud. His modernization is likewise. In one sense it is an echo of every condemnation of the 'backwards' earth those lords of space liked to make. Their production is inferior, they do not respect copyright, how fairy tales are told that are not the official emperor's versions. In others, they are very different. Farming tools to be updated, or last names. Hiro is not from any great clan, but he needs a last name for census purposes, and so he is assigned one, Izeichi (Literally Ize-one) while his neighbor is Izeni (Ize-two) and so on.

As the man in the capital 'modernizes' the town, he morphs it. While in his opening scene he is the odd one out, the only one of his animation-style, over time, the town starts to look more like him. Never enough he truly fits in, but you can see the changes, spreading out from the office where he stays, and the added ferry that is the town's new link to the 'modern' world. One that deliberately blends the aesthetics of space ports.

The next major development for Hiro is his conscription. The emperor demands his service, for war will be upon them soon. The Japanese empire has been called to civilize and uplift their fellow man. Korea has been annexed and China will soon join the Compact Prosperity Sphere, and troops must be had for those who resist modernization.

And so, Hiro travels to the training camps.

Not the capital itself. Tokyo and the other cities are only ever portrayed as monuments and tall, tall buildings. So high and far away it is as if they are as Hiro puts it 'among the stars', looking down and ordering those below to work and fight and die for them. Never once touching anything so lesser as 'dirt'.

Within the training camps, Hiro himself is now the odd man out. The backgrounds and instructors are all like the man from the capital. None more so than Colonel Bushida, the man who oversees Hiro and his cohort, a harsh man who seeks to build up the country bumpkins until they are worth to be 'his bullets' and die in the service of glory.

And then there is Hiro's cohort.

Hiro's cohort is 1sun's next trick. For Hiro is an outsider, the only one like him. But while the instructors and backgrounds are the Imperial-Japan/Compact aesthetic, none of his cohort is. Instead, they are all rendered in their own stylings. For this 1sun blends places and times. In one sense, each of the people is from a Japanese rural village, one named and cited by the way they are usually only referred to by their last names, which is always just their village and a number.

But in another sense, one of them is a blond, blued-eyed woman. Another Dark-skinned Afro-haired man. Another Middle-eastern. Even a cat-girl. All rendered in unique stylings based on traditional art of the areas that feel like they would blow the budget if they were kept this way.

Sadly it is not to last. In a training montage, we watch as the uncoordinated, disparate group is brought to be one cohesive unit. A cohesive unit that has one drawn style, Standard-Compact-Anime. One of the genius bits here is that all of Hiro's cohort are rendered into 'background' style. The generic, low detailed style of the students who aren't' important. This includes Hiro himself, who starts to become indistinguishable, known only when he speaks and from the way the camera follows him. Only two characters might catch your eye at this point, on flittering off the edge. The first, well the narrative doesn't focus on them, but the other, the other is Colonel Bushida, their leader. The one who will have his glory, and the Empire's glory in turn. He is the main character in this story, not someone like Hiro, who is a mere… bullet.

This breakdown of personhood is most emphasized when the cohort is given one last chance to see their village before their deployment proper. When Hiro goes back, he is as alien to his village as the man from the capital. More-so even. The man from the capital is a person, rendered in the stylings of someone who isn't a main-main character, but at least gets a distinctive face and uniform. Unlike Hiro, a background undetailed ghost among his own town and family. The town has changed, reworked and colonized in ways that blend the old and the new.Some having modernized, some keeping the old ways and, if one is sharp, at the edges, a new style, or… one not new. That off style that the other person, the only other real person at the training camp had.

I do, briefly, have to digress about the 'factory sequence'. If you've only managed to get clips, this and the credits are probably the two you've seen. And, on its own it's an impressive piece of work. A nightmarish overworked factory using massively wasteful techniques to produce hundreds of katanas, with apprentices who once helped the master in the opening sequence simply stamping the master's name on them, one after the others, even when they are clearly half-falling apart.

This sequence contrasts beautifully with the opening credits sequence, and both make two parts of a whole. They are the animator's feelings about the way HI uses Japanese animation, something that once had craft, into slop only there for the title, poured out on screen. They are beautiful works-

And I think they shouldn't have been part of 1Sun.

Yeah, burn me alive. Don't get me wrong, as sequences they are beautiful But…. They run a collective 3:17, on a work that is under 16 minutes long. That's 20% of the movie to two sequences that, while beautiful, don't advance the plot, don't advance the characters, and while they are a heartful bit of bitter rage against the compact, aren't really tied into Hiro's dehumanization except in the most distant of ways. The work is fighting against its limited time in every scene, and this just doesn't help. Nor is there ever a real payoff for them, Colonel Bushida will complain the sword is bad, but it doesn't cause it to be dull at a critical moment or any other plot-changing result.

After his visit to the town, Hiro and his cohort are deployed to Manchiura. The scene is both an aquatic landing and a dropship. And their actions are brutal. The fighting is less a battle, and more a massacre or… perhaps 'police action' would also apply. Much of the battle clearly draws from 'police actions', both those in the Democratic Federation, and also the recent footage out of Shin-Tokyo. All the while Colonel Bushida charges them forward, seeing how many Chinese he can kill with his sword.

Either way, Hiro is both traumatized and… not. He has already been brutalized, and most of his cohort simply… accepts this is the way. Telling each other modernization happens and China has to just accept it, like they did. If they did, it wouldn't be a problem. Rhetoric both modern and ancient.

All that is, except one, one who catches Hiro's eye. That one lingering at the edges. It is another member of the Cohort, Toka-san (this is a bit of a pun, since San is both 'three' keeping the naming scheme and a suffix of respect in Japan), a peasant from Tokashiki who is also Greek and a fox augment*. Once Hiro starts to talk to them we see them drop their guard. Before they were mostly the same indistinctness of the others, just a hint of… something else. But once Hiro makes friends with them, they drop it to become a person, in a new style as they talk about how there is a world beyond the emperor and the corporations, a new modernity. For they are a Japanese communist.

*Subtlety is for cowards

And that style is important. Most people might recognize it as 'anime but different'. And that's true, but it's much more than that. It's from 'seventh wave' style, a recent trend that has taken off in actuarial, real Japanese produced media. The kind of stuff that doesn't get shown to anyone off earth, and mostly not outside the islands. Which, if Toko-san is indicative of what it can do, is a shame. The way the style choses to alternate between highly detailed still shots, before lines of motions that focus on them into crisp essentials is beautiful, and means I'm going to have to binge a few more series.

The story ends before we see Hiro's reaction. Does he join Toko-san's hand, or report them to the colonel?

We never see the answer, but we can only hope.

Toko-san is, I think, 1sun's final thesis. Not merely in its own confrontation with the Japanese imperial past (we were that, we should not forget it, but we have fought it and we can reject it) but also in the Compact as a whole. Those in charge are corrupt, Imperial and evil, monsters who see themselves as the only characters in their stories, brutalizing others to follow them wrapped in talk of civilization. But… but the people can change, can rebel. They might not, and you shouldn't not fight them, for what they do will be horrible. But the broadcast, much as we might wish it, didn't come from earth, it came from Radiant. It came from a colony.

AN: Special thanks to @Torgamous and @notbirdofprey for betaing this.

blankmask · Oct 23, 2024

I never thought I would be so interested in a literary critique. Just the thought of what people are doing with the art styles is absolutely mind blowing.

I think the forging scene could have worked if it was more connected. The bad sword is dull, or breaks at a critical moment, and the Colonel is wounded.

Then (perhaps in a potential sequel) we see one of the protagonists (maybe Hiro) wielding a knife. And it's not great, but it's better than average. It doesn't have a makers mark and it's not anything special but it's made to purpose and made well. And it's not trying to be something it isn't.

This would turn the odd superfluousness of the best scene in the film into an extended metaphor and maybe an Easter egg. (Yes I like Easter eggs, yes they're often corporate garbage, but they're still fun to find).

clockworkchaos · Oct 23, 2024

blankmask said:
I never thought I would be so interested in a literary critique. Just the thought of what people are doing with the art styles is absolutely mind blowing.

I think the forging scene could have worked if it was more connected. The bad sword is dull, or breaks at a critical moment, and the Colonel is wounded.

Then (perhaps in a potential sequel) we see one of the protagonists (maybe Hiro) wielding a knife. And it's not great, but it's better than average. It doesn't have a makers mark and it's not anything special but it's made to purpose and made well. And it's not trying to be something it isn't.

This would turn the odd superfluousness of the best scene in the film into an extended metaphor and maybe an Easter egg. (Yes I like Easter eggs, yes they're often corporate garbage, but they're still fun to find).

My own headcanon, (yes I have headcanon for my own works, but if I didn't write it it wasn't canon). Is that they had a scene planned where the sword breaks and the colonel was wounded, but they either just didn't have the animation finished or it turned out badly (experimentation leads to bad result sometimes) and made the decision that they didn't really have time/energy to redo it. (even in non-capitalism, you still sometimes have to acknowledge certain stuff just isn't working)

DeltaV11.2 · Oct 23, 2024

clockworkchaos said:
My own headcanon, (yes I have headcanon for my own works, but if I didn't write it it wasn't canon). Is that they had a scene planned where the sword breaks and the colonel was wounded, but they either just didn't have the animation finished or it turned out badly (experimentation leads to bad result sometimes) and made the decision that they didn't really have time/energy to redo it. (even in non-capitalism, you still sometimes have to acknowledge certain stuff just isn't working)

In some ways that acknowledgement might happen sooner. Capitalism has a habit of empowering sunk-cost thinking and individual stubbornness.

Slamu · Oct 24, 2024

clockworkchaos said:
*Subtlety is for cowards

<3

That was very evocative, and I also kinda want to see the mixing of animation styles and stuff. No idea how it'd work, but it sounds fun to watch and utterly dehumanizing to experience.

Gummy_Dragon · Oct 24, 2024

clockworkchaos said:
Subtlety is for cowards

You almost made me start laughing out loud in the library

The media described in quest is so good I wish it actually existed

Chloe Sullivan · Oct 24, 2024

Gummy_Dragon said:
The media described in quest is so good I wish it actually existed

Right?

I wish I was artist enough to mock up a poster or something.

Derpmind · Oct 24, 2024

clockworkchaos said:
AN: This is a sidestory of too much thought put into visual designs for the work '2 nations' from the big media post. It is not intended as a full update and I'm putting it in side stories. Real updates will happen when people can manage RL stuff.

I 100% wouldn't blink if I saw this in the main threadmarks. The ways you describe all the different animation styles is incredibly evocative. And the review describing a multi-layered work with different levels of meaning, while the entire piece itself is a multi-layered work? 💯/10 and two thumbs up, I recommend this to everyone.

Goatpile · Nov 1, 2024

Thanks clockworkchaos once again for the amazing post, keeping this thread semi-alive with tasty writing.

No analysis or further comments from my side, although I regret that I don't know any RL media experimenting with and using different artstyles to evoke themes like that. Because after reading that, I really want to see something like it.

notbirdofprey · Jan 11, 2025

Going Home, Pt. 1:

Briggs had thought about what life was like under anarchy, over the years. It was inevitable when you spent years fighting it, whether in the old DemFed or in Sahara.

He had imagined fear, deprivation, frothing animal hatred. He had never, however, imagined boredom.

After Midnight, he had drunk himself into a stupor for a week straight, found himself in bed with a pretty anarchist girl who had been in the grips back home, gotten kicked out of that bed two days later, and had nothing to do for months on end. There had been nothing for him to fight. No job he needed to do. Just uninterrupted barracks time stretching out into the future.

At first, it had seemed like an impossible dream. Then it had been wonderful.

But now, Briggs had found there were only so many card games you could play before they stopped being any fun.

And, if he was honest with himself, news from back home was starting to wear at him…he checked his phone again. The texts he had sent to his siblings still hadn't been let through by the Royal Ministry.
Finally, he spoke to his boss. And she sent him to her boss. And he found himself feeling like he was a job interview. There were four of them. One looked like a Cic - a Locust, all chrome and white porcelain. One was a brawny orc with a web of scars on one side of his face. The other two were normal.

"So, you want to go to England? Why are you talking to us? It shouldn't be hard to hop on a boat to Bristol or London," the Locust commented as Briggs stood in front of them, in perfect parade rest.

"Ma'am, I want to go to England and help fight," Briggs began.

"My family's done it since the Great Anti-Fascist War, we fought against whatever force was threatening the people of England. Fascism. Religious fanaticism. Totalism. Now, it's the monarchy. And I want to help kill it, ma'am."

"Why did you join up?"

"The English Army, ma'am, or you lot?"

"Us. You don't seem particularly politically motivated."

Before, she had seemed cool and disinterested. Now there was something animal in the Locust's pose. Something predatory. The others had leaned forward as well, caution and confusion sparking across their faces.

"I didn't have a good reason, ma'am. I…my commander convinced me. She was a proper officer, the sort you thought only existed in old vids. And when she thought you were worth fighting for, I went along."

Something about his answer seemed to satisfy the Locust. The incredibly lethal woman relaxed, and Briggs suddenly felt a wave of dizzying relief rush over him. He licked at his lips and found them unaccountably dry.

"And now I…I want to keep along. Give the Charter blighters another bloody nose, and…I'm worried about my family. They are up in Cottswolds, and I hear the Royal Army is starting to recruit young. I haven't heard anything from them since Midnight…"

"I think he's safe. I say we forward a recommendation to the unit," the orc said.

"All in favor?"

Three voices said "Aye," then the Locust added, " provisional on him attending a theory class on his way to England."

Two weeks had passed, and Briggs was getting damn sick of the theory class. He could get behind free stuff, and he could follow the logic about Augments and AGIs, the link between the horrors of old empires and their treatment under cosmoliberalism. But the circuit of capital and labor reminded him of learning Latin, except it was somehow even more mind-numbing. And so it was a relief that the boat had finally docked in Bristol, even if he was told to leave all electronics tied to his previous identity behind, lest the royal government track him.

That was an order that stuck in his craw...and the thought dropped out of his mind as he beheld the city. When he had last been to Bristol, after he had shipped out of the Royal Army to join his first PMC, the city had sprawled, low and cramped, the roads rent with potholes and every window hooded and barred. Now it gleamed, bright and shining.A pair of five-story (or taller) gleaming towers, resplendent with greenery running down their sides, stood over a modern port, lined with automated cargo lifters. And it was busy! Briggs couldn't even count all the ships . There were fishing trawlers, and bulk haulers, and a pair of cruise liners, but even more impressive was the naval fleet. Briggs had been a soldier, not a sailor, so he couldn't tell what sort they were, but they were big and dangerous-looking.

Part of him couldn't help but wonder why they were here, and not supporting landings as the anarchist troops surged onward to break the royal government.

As Briggs strode down the gangplank, he suspected he might find answers soon. It looked like there was a militia unit there to greet him.

He might not have enjoyed theory class, but the briefings on the different anarchist groups and their support bases he had devoured. So he was not surprised to see that of the ten militia, four of them were more machine than man, with one not even being really humanoid anymore. He strode up in front of them and snapped a perfect salute. "Lance Corporal Roger Briggs, formerly of His Majesty's Royal Parachute Corp, lately of the Armed Forces of the Federated Communes of Iberia and the Maghreb, here to join in the struggle against the reactionary government!" he said with perfect aplomb, doing his best to ignore the way heads (and guns) had snapped to him when he mentioned his first army, before relaxing.

"We were told we'd be having a local boy coming home," the robot with a head embedded in its chest said.

It left Briggs rather uncertain to look, so he simply kept his head on straight.

"Not quite home. I'm from Cottswolds, actually. I hear you have a bit of a royalist problem out that way."

He glanced at the ship, where the cargo haulers were working with tremendous efficiency. "I'm here to help clean that up."

And hopefully, its not too late for my brothers, he added silently, saluting hand dropping to a concealed pouch by his hip.

A/N: Had a little brainwave about Sol.

August · Jan 28, 2025

Ah, this is still alive, good, just wanted to point out that the Ranks of the Congressional and Solarian Navy post is broken, no images

AKuz · 2025-02-16T00:38:37-0500

Images of CNS Shieldmaiden, Admiral Rousseau's first command, a Great Heathen Class Light Cruiser commissioned from @AdmiralKew https://www.artstation.com/admiralkew , AdmiralKew (@admiralkew.bsky.social) , https://www.deviantart.com/admiralkew

CNS Shieldmaiden is shown here in her Congressional Navy Livery

As well as advertising copy for Ares, where she is depicted in her Charter Livery

BurnBright · 2025-02-16T00:41:11-0500

Wow, I was just rereading Midnight an hour back!

AKuz · 2025-02-16T00:51:19-0500

(for those of you who would prefer a more literary update, things aren't dead, will probably pick up in spring and summer once IRL has settled)

Gladsome · 2025-02-16T01:01:52-0500

Unsurprising to see the Charter livery looks way worse than the Congressional Navy lol

AKuz · 2025-02-16T01:14:02-0500

Gladsome said:
Unsurprising to see the Charter livery looks way worse than the Congressional Navy lol

it's inspired by NASCAR

Restestsest · 2025-02-16T01:39:24-0500

AKuz said:
it's inspired by NASCAR

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! They could have at least gone with dark gray or pitch black for "camouflage" and or intimidation. Hell, they could have just made it a navy blue or dark blue for their corpo colors?!?!?

SirKaid · 2025-02-16T01:49:06-0500

Restestsest said:
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

Because all the creative types got snapped up by Hermes-Ishtar.

AKuz · 2025-02-16T01:53:01-0500

Restestsest said:
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! They could have at least gone with dark gray or pitch black for "camouflage" and or intimidation. Hell, they could have just made it a navy blue or dark blue for their corpo colors?!?!?

to ensure exposure and advertising for subsidiaries and partners. they want you to know who makes the parts that go into the craft

Slamu · 2025-02-16T02:31:38-0500

AKuz said:
As well as advertising copy for Ares, where she is depicted in her Charter Livery

It isn't going to happen, but just to make sure someone asks the question; could we just buy warships off the Charterist corporations? "I would like to put in an order for a Great Heathen-class warship please, here is our money"?

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

Been Better

I miss Wildstar...

Aspiring Gynoid

Su Wenqian

This too shall pass

Subdefective

Been Better

Been Better

VOULL NE XATA VOK, MARA LOHK?

Been Better

Been Better