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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AKuz · Dec 28, 2020

[x] [NEP] SocComm

Journal of M Chakrabarti, Congressional Delegate
January 4th, Sun and light cloud cover

We can all feel the noose tightening as we know that there is now no chance of further delaying Sol becoming aware of our independence and responding.

The time on the clock is all there is.

I am hopeful the future favours us.

Important vote tomorrow

New Diplomacy Corps head. We've whittled the candidates down to four. Each is preferred by at least one of the sub-Committees.

Part of me wants to give the nod to Veronica Stardust, who isn't even a real person. Just want to rub the Charter's faces in how different our values are. Or possibly even Mueller to really piss off the Charter bigwigs.

Though a more sedate option is where my head leads me. Ng has been in Radiant since the start and has no desire to see it leveled in corporate hellfire, and Baldi has a true vision of Radiant as an indispensable part of humanity, too valuable to eliminate.

I suppose it would be too easy to have just had an experienced diplomat fall into our laps. Sadly all the ones that did fall into our laps live on the Tartarus Archipelago now.

And are also unrepentant execs and narcissistic sociopaths to boot.

-

While the head of your Diplomatic Corps will be invested with plenipotentiary powers for interstellar negotiations, they will also be deeply involved in organizing and setting the culture of your new diplomatic staff. Each candidate is also prefered by a different congressional Committee and will provide a bonus to those Committees.

Different types of diplomacy projects will appear depending on the goals and backing of the different top diplomats and the culture they build.

[ ] [Diplo] Jennifer Mueller - Traitor to Her Class

Name: Jennifer Mueller
DoB: 2214

Current Position: Spokeswoman for the Alliance of Women Broadcast Workers

A product of the Charter meritocratic aristocracy, Jenny Mueller is an example of there being truth to the common aphorism that there is no more zealous believer than a convert.

The Earth-born 37 year old Mueller is a scion of the upper classes who wanted for nothing during her upbringing as part of a family that moved within the most elite Charter circles. As she matured, Jenny received the best education that social connections and money could open up and graduated near the top of her class with an MBA from Shanghai University in 2236.

Though not openly trading on her family name, Mueller's rise through the ranks of Hermes-Ishtar was inexorable, moving from high-status position to high-status position for a half decade. Her meritocratic rise up HI's ladder was derailed after an assignment to head a team creating a prestige XP period piece on Earth's Second Black Summer led her into a deep research dive of the various revolts against the Compact and the Charters which have flared up off and on over the centuries.

Herself describing the event as a 'slow motion disaster', Mueller's initial rage at her expensive and highly exclusive education bypassing or outright lying about important historical events, slowly transformed into a desire to spite what she saw as censorship.

Her subsequent attempt to revamp production of her project into a period piece that was obsessively historically accurate and meticulously researched saw her career derailed after she went to the mat in an attempt to see it released for general viewing. Though she eventually used her family connections to see her passion project released, the marketing budget was slashed to nothing and the release was buried in a tide of low budget educational aids.

Mueller's subsequent (again, self-described) tantrums saw her reassigned further and further from Sol, on less and less prestigious jobs, until she was transferred as marketing director for a resort chain on Elysium in 2246.

Effectively exiled from her former social circles, Mueller, resentful of her perceived abandonment by her family and friends, ensured that her department did as little work as possible and slowly drifted towards more radical politics.

When the March Days arrived, Mueller used her executive keys and resource access to assist the scattered protests and revolts congeal into something more dangerous. When the protests began gaining serious momentum Mueller talked several of her former C-Level colleagues into surrendering peacefully instead of fighting it out.

Since independence Mueller has worked hard to ensure that women broadcast workers no longer labour under social standards and practices that are sadly still common within the media industry.

Pros: True Believer, highly educated, has the Status Markers and speech patterns that sees her instinctively taken seriously by the upper class. Knows how the Charters think.

Cons: Zero Chill, wants to get one over on the Charters, risk-taker, known personally by high level Charter Executives.

Diplomacy Goals: Spreading the good news, never giving an inch to the Charters, full unilateral assertion of independence and total sovreignty in all things, promoting freedom of information

(MedComm's preferred candidate)

[ ] [Diplo] Jeffery Ng - The Old Man

Name: Jeffery Ng
DoB: 2122

Current Position: Congressional Delegate for First Wave Colonists

Originally born in Sol in the early decades of the last century, Jeffery Ng has led a long life on both Earth and Elysium.

Born on Luna to a spacer couple, Ng's early years were spent working the asteroid mining runs inside Sol and eventually his savings over a long and successful career as a space miner allowed him to retire to running a repair facility on Deimos with his wife of thirty years in the early 2180s.

His retirement to a settled life was interrupted when a series of conflicts between MSI and Cernunnos indirectly led to the bankruptcy of his business in 2187. Desperate to avoid total poverty Ng sought spacer work and was able to strike a contract with Hermes-Ishtar to move to the newly opened up Radiant system and assist with the terraforming and settlement of Elysium.

Ng's efforts were considered so valuable to the initial HI settlement team that he was offered a permanent contract to stay on and organize the Radiant Space Patrol. A contract that ostensibly came with full lifetime medical insurance including longevity treatments.

Taking HI up on the offer, Jeffery was quick to discover that his medical insurance didn't extend to his wife and she died of old age in 2205. Though Ng remarried in 2215, he never forgot the pain of life giving treatments being denied to those he loved as he also outlived his two eldest children.

He continued on as Space Patrol quartermaster, and then Space Patrol commander until the 2239, when he decided to again retire to a job as a spaceside tour guide for a number of Elysium's resorts.

When the March Days of 2251 struck, Jeffery and his old protege Gregory Mansur were instrumental in bringing the whole of the Space Patrol and Radiant's orbital infrastructure over to the revolutionary side nearly entirely intact.

Over the last few months Ng has served in the Congress as a Delegate for the initial colonists and on the Military Committee specifically as the voice for retirees.

Pros: Deep wealth of experience, unflappable, knows people across not just in Radiant but the neighbouring systems as well

Cons: Utterly unwilling to take risks, parochial

Diplomacy Goals: Avoid provoking our neighbours, reopening immigration

(MilComm's preferred candidate)

[ ] [Diplo] Jeremiah Baldi - Grillist

Name: Jeremiah Baldi

DoB: 2201

Current Position: Chairman of the All Radiant Union of V-Ranchers

A Radiant native, and only child of poached Cernunnos scientists, Jeremiah Baldi has been growing and grilling meat and meat by-products in the V-Ranches of Elysium since he was old enough to walk.

Baldi grew up in the heyday of 'designed foods', where those with money and status clamoured for newer and more unique flavours and textures to their food. His parent's Vat grown meat operation -a subsidiary part of an Elysium Hermes-Ishtar owned restaurant and resort supply chain- catered to specialized tastes and textures.

Though Baldi had learned the science and art of growing specialist meats at his parents' knees, his parents had the wealth and contacts to send him to a prestigious Cernunnos university on the Cernunnos agricultural world of Gaia.

When Jeremiah was away at university the universe changed around him, as Charter algorithms decided that it was time to push "organic, all-natural food" over "fake frankenfood" products, virtually destroying his family's fortunes overnight. Forced to leave the Gaian university with an unfinished degree in January 2227, Baldi returned home to try to help his parents salvage something of their livelihoods.

In a highly stressful effort that took two years, his family managed to pivot from luxury food items for the upper classes, to mass production of inexpensive food to the lower class of Elysium, though in the process his parents lost their management positions and joined him in working as common Bioframe technicians.

Despite the setback, Baldi spent over two decades attempting to resurrect his family's fortunes by striking deals to supply his own bespoke meat products in nearby systems, and attempting to sell increasingly exotic meat formulations to various resorts, restaurants, and caterers. All of which failed due to the current market stigma against vat grown food.

Eventually Baldi gave up on his dreams of bringing back his parent's heyday and instead turned to trying to ameliorate the currently deteriorating circumstances of his profession who he believed were not shown the respect they deserved as "Latter day ranchers feeding the workers". Baldi attempted to organize all of the bioframe technicians and vat grown meat suppliers across Radiant into a single organization in an attempt to push for better social treatment, better quality control, and higher wages.

His attempt utterly failed, and he was investigated by HI security for possible links to the Black Banner anarchist organization dating back to his university days. Eventually the investigative team decided that Jeremiah had come to his idea to form a union from first principles, but still blacklisted him from work with HI affiliated companies in 2244.

The experience of being fired and blacklisted for what he saw as merely an attempt to improve the experience of growing and eating meat led to Baldi's rapid radicalization and membership in one of the underground unions for orbital workers where he spent a half decade in the rough and tumble game of wildcat strikes and Pinkerton dodging.

When the March Days struck, Baldi immediately went back to his old bioframe technicians and inspired them to form a new union and to supply their product to the protestors instead of the companies. At the same time Baldi also convinced the Union to abandon the job title of "Bioframe technician" and instead adopt "V-Rancher" (Short for "Vat-Rancher") which he felt was a term more befitting those that laboured to supply meat to Elysium.

In the months since the fall of the Charters in Radiant, Baldi has been a leading figure in integrating the entire system's food production jobs and facilities into a single large federation that has become a major faction within the Industrial Committee and General Congress at large.

Pros: Capable of covert operations and unconventional diplomacy, understands interstellar logistics and industry

Cons: tied especially tight to the Industrial Committee, cares far more about trade and industrial policy than politics or sovreignty

Diplomatic Goals: establishing offworld trade, proving Radiant's good faith and potential as a trade partner, cutting deals to legitimize Radiant's independence

(IndComm and SciComm's preferred candidate)

[ ] [Diplo] 'Veronica Stardust' - The XP Star

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 middle class media programmer whose attempts to supplement her precarious 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 a middlingly-intelligent and freewheeling Radiant lower class partygirl 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, in which all three participated in street actions in a private capacity after sending one last Elysium wide 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 Congressional Propaganda and several major initiatives have been launched with her at the forefront including a highly successful sub-campaign of the anti-overproduction initiatives.

Also, 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 who they indent to leverage in a diplomatic and propaganda capacity.

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

Cons: XP celebrity, little diplomatic experience, literally three people

Diplomatic Goals: Keep Charter space open to Radiant broadcasts, promote freedom of information, maintain communications links, open up citizen to citizen diplomacy, appeal directly to the public to prevent aggression against Radiant

(SocComm's Preferred Candidate)

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Current Approximate Population: 250,000,000

Trust: 70 (The populace is happy with your performance so far, no effect)

Net BR Production: 27

Net SR Production: 22

Net E Production: 07

BR: 49
SR: 51
E: 21

Radiant:

Gaid:
N/A

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.

Scutum, Targe, Buckler: Space Patrol Corvettes

Three old corvettes used by the Space Patrol for heavy-duty asteroids and some light mining work when not diverting dangerous objects. Their weapons haven't been used seriously in decades, if ever, but they seem in good order.

Liberte, Egalite: Corvettes (Converted Couriers)

A set of hastily-converted couriers armed with a light PD laser and a mass driver salvaged from smaller Space Patrol boats. Fast, but fragile and without much firepower. These were never meant for squaring up against purpose-built warships, and no amount of jury-rigging can really change that.

Switchblade Wing: Several squadrons of aerospace fighters

Several squadrons of general-purpose Switchblade-class fighters, used for general purpose aerospace patrols. Jack of all trades, master of none.

Radiant Customs Squadron: Squadron of boarding craft with marine contingents

Once used to check cargo ships for illicit goods, this small squadron of Arabia-class assault shuttles, and most of its complement of marines, came over to the revolution's side early on. Arabia-class shuttles are capable of both space- and land-based assaults, including boarding actions. They lack everything except light PD lasers and miniguns, though, and are sitting ducks against fighters.

Choreographer: Crippled Light Carrier

(Formerly the Ishtar's Arrow): At Elysium for R&R, the fighting over this light carrier turned violent unlike most other places in Radiant. It had been written off in the initial chaos, but careful investigation has found that some of its critical damage was in fact a clever fake, projected by the ship's own systems on the command of an officer now dead or in confinement.

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(For the following plan, each project requires a die to be assigned. Each dice is a d20 plus the category bonus that will be rolled to progress on the project. Some projects will require certain resources to complete, please make sure those are on hand. Some projects complete automatically. Excess progress may be shifted to other projects in that section. Please vote by plan by picking a FOCUS and then assigning dice to projects. Project costs are Per Die)

Pick one option, thanks to focus being put in that category, it gains one extra dice to spend this turn, and will open up more options in that category next turn:

[ ] [FOCUS] Industry Committee
[ ] [FOCUS] Military Committee
[ ] [FOCUS] Science Committee
[ ] [FOCUS] Social Committee
[ ] [FOCUS] Media Committee

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INDUSTRY COMMITTEE (Two Dice)

"Industry is expanding to meet the expanding needs of Industry"

-Asphodel Environmental Commission: +5 to dice rolls involving Asphodel
-Orbital Industrial Workers Union: +1 to dice rolls on industrial rolls

Project: Begin Mining operations for BR

The Industrial Committee has presented plans to begin basic resource extraction in both Radiant and Gaid, and though we have little practical and institutional experience at doing so, the Committee is confident in the ability of our workers.

[ ] [IndComm] Begin BR mining operations on Radiant-2 (Quality-7)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin BR mining operations on Gaid A-1 (Quality-10)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin BR mining operations in Gaid Asteroid Belt (Quality 1)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin BR mining operations on Gaid B-2 (Quality 10)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin BR mining operations on Gaid B-3a (Quality 7)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin BR mining operations on Gaid B-3a (Quality 8)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin BR mining operations on Gaid B-4 (Quality 12)

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Completion: Automatic

Cost Per Die: 10 BR

Projected Result: Increase BR Production Infrastructure to Level 1 on selected planet

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Project: Expand BR production

The Industrial Committee has presented plans to expand our existing BR mining facilities. As we now have some practical and institutional experience with doing so, the Committee believes in the ability of our workers to complete these projects on time and on materials budget.

[ ] [IndComm] Expand BR mining operations on Radiant-1 to level 2 (Quality-7)
[ ] [IndComm] Expand BR mining operations on Gaid B-1 to level 2(Quality 15)
[ ] [IndComm] Expand BR mining operations on Gaid B-7 to level 2(Quality 14)

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: Automatic

Cost Per Dice: 40BR

Projected Result: Increase BR Production Infrastructure to Level 2 on selected planet

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Project: Begin Production operations for SR

The Industrial Committee has presented plans to begin special resource extraction, synthesis, and processing in Gaid. As we have some practical and institutional at doing so, the Committee is confident in the ability of our workers to complete these projects on time and on materials budget.

[ ] [IndComm] Begin SR mining operations on Gaid A-2 (Quality 7)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin SR mining operations on Gaid A-4 (Quality 5)

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Completion: Automatic

Cost Per Die: 10 BR

Projected Result: Increase SR Production Infrastructure to Level 1 on selected planet

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Project: Begin Energy Collection Operations.

The Industrial Committee has presented plans to expand our energy collection facilities in Gaid. As we have some practical and institutional experience with doing so, the Committee is confident in the ability of our workers to complete these projects on time and on materials budget.

[ ] [IndComm] Begin Energy Collection Operations on Gaid A-3 (Quality 4)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin Energy Collection Operations on Gaid A-4a (Quality 9)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin Energy Collection Operations on Gaid B-5 (Quality 3)
[ ] [IndComm] Begin Energy Collection Operations on Gaid B-6 (Quality 7)

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Completion: Automatic

Cost Per Die: 10 BR

Projected Result: Increase E Production Infrastructure to Level 1 on selected planet

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[ ] [IndComm] Expand SR Production on Asphodel

Asphodel has long been a source for the rare earth metals desired across the length and breadth of Compact space and is one of the primary reasons that Hermes-Ishtar not only constructed courier yards in Radiant, but placed several high end laboratories here.

Dice Bonus: +6

Project Progress: Automatic

Cost per die: 100 BR

Projected Result: Increase Production Infrastructure to Level 4 on Asphodel

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[ ] [IndComm] Expand E Production on Elysium

While Radiant currently possess more than sufficient power generation, the Industrial Committee believes that we could easily increase generation by building many more of the tidal generators that use the high tides caused by the Elysium/Asphodel binary system along with simple renewable resources such as wind and solar power and fusion reactors as baseline power.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: Automatic

Cost per die: 100 BR

Projected Result: Increase Production Infrastructure to Level 4 on Elysium

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[ ] [IndComm] Smallcraft Yards

Unlike frigates or capital and assault ships, smallcraft are comparatively simple, and don't have built-in warp drives. While this means they're strictly limited to local defense, they're also cheap, fast to build, and can be ferried by tow or cargo ship to other locations if needed.

Using sections of the blueprints from the Ares corvette yards, your engineers think they can kitbash a few sections into a generalist yard plan then construct it. It won't be efficient, or fast, but it'll be able to pump out any type of smallcraft that fits its dimensions-- fighters, bombers, interceptors, or assault shuttles. Even cargo shuttles, though you have plenty of those at the moment.

They brush off the fact you don't have anyone extra trained to fly them. They'll come, in time.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 0/30

Cost per die: 5 BR, 5 SR, 5 E

Projected Results: Gain a basic smallcraft yard.

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[ ] [IndComm] Expand BLG with household nanofabricators

Many of the distribution issues with the BLG can be solved by repurposing fabbers for household use. They can even print food-- though it's not exactly what anyone would call fresh. Nevertheless, as long as the planetside infrastructure is up, you've solved the issue with the BLG.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 0/40

Cost per die: 5BR, 5SR, On completion permanent +2BR, +2E upkeep per 50 million citizens

Projected Results: +5 Trust, Raise Trust Floor by 5, Improve General Congress Focus Vote

MILITARY COMMITTEE (One Die)

"I didn't know it was possible to get angrier at the Charters, and yet there Sheol sits malignantly."

-Courier Crewperson Community: +5 to dice on military rolls for smaller warship fabrication
-All-Radiant Congressional Defence Committee: +1 to dice on Military Rolls.
-Defence Coordinator's Maria Awhine: +0 to Commando and small unit operation rolls

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[ ] [MilComm] Begin Corvette Construction at Orbital Yard 1

Dice Bonus: +6

Project Cost: ?/2 quarters of production

Cost for Project: 20BR, 15SR, 10E

Projected Results: Launch a Buckler-class corvette

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[ ] [MilComm] Begin Corvette Construction at Orbital Yard 2

Dice Bonus: +6

Project Cost: ?/2 quarters of production

Cost for Project: 20BR, 15SR, 10E

Projected Results: Launch a Buckler-class corvette

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[ ] [MilComm] Repair Choreographer

With Choreographer now fully assessed, our shipyard workers are brainstorming ways to fabricate or replace military grade parts while our computers teams plan how to either replace or bypass most of her operating systems and firmware to get this light carrier operational.

While this project would be an ugly, graceless kludge, completing repairs would add an entire Light Carrier, a type of vessel we have no ability to build indigenously, to our arsenal and expand our military capabilities by leaps and bounds.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: Automatic

Cost per die: 30BR, 20SR, and 20 E

Projected Results: Choreographer and attendant corvettes become fully combat capable

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[ ] [MilComm] Scrap Choreographer

An alliance of Military Committee members have collaborated with Industrial Committee delegates to propose the scrapping of Choreographer. Pointing out that we lack the sort of dedicated logistics tail and fabrication facilities that a military vessel of Choreographer's size and complexity requires, they contend that we could get the most out of scrapping the vessel and using those resources elsewhere in our economy.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: Automatic

Cost per die: N/A.

Projected Results: Gain BR and SR based on dice roll. Even on a one you will gain the repair cost of 30BR, and 20SR.

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[ ] [MilComm] Convert Choreographer into a corvette shipyard

A minority faction on the Military Committee has put forward an intricate plan to convert Choreographer's hull into a corvette shipyard, and the worker's delegates from our current shipyards admit that the task is theoretically possible.

Dice Bonus: +6

Project Progress: 0/20

Cost per die: 5E

Projected Results: Gain a corvette shipyard

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[ ] [MilComm] Take control of Thoa

Ugly Duckling simply isn't built for combat against anything with more than jury-rigged weapons. Against one of your three corvettes and your pair of converted couriers, it would have no choice but to surrender or be destroyed.If you're lucky, nobody would notice.

On the other hand, others argue that this is an overextension and emphasize the 'if' and 'lucky' parts of the proponent's plan.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: Automatic

Cost per Die: 10 E

Projected Results. Take control of Thoa. Depending on roll, Ugly Duckling may surrender or be destroyed, and your actions noticed or kept covert.

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[ ] [MilComm] Liberate Shei

With Captain Rousseau more-or-less on our side, we could try to use speed to neutralize other Ares assets in-system while the cruiser is disabled. Should she fail to convince enough fellow contractors to cripple or turn Shieldmaiden, however, the cruiser would prove… difficult to defeat.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: Automatic

Cost Per Die: 10E

Projected Results: Potential to take control of Shei system. Results are dice dependant

SCIENCE COMMITTEE (One die)

"I would say that we're working in the FRM mines all the livelong day, but that's over-productionist talk!"

-Elysium Free Physicists Alliance: +5 to Dice rolls involving experimental physics projects
-Professional Union of Laboratory Technicians and Coders: +1 to dice rolls on Science Rolls

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[ ] [SciComm] Assist with Prototype Wormhole research -FTL Communications

Developing on the already established laboratory work conducted on Elysium, it may be possible to create a prototype for a fixed location interstellar communications device. Once we have the prototype in hand, we can begin iterating on this technology. It is expected that this project will require moderate amounts of SR and E to see to completion.

Dice Bonus: +6

Project Progress: ???/???

Cost per die: 10SR and 5E

Projected Result: Unlocks Wormhole Communications Prototype

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[ ] [SciComm] Assist with Prototype Wormhole research -Personal Wormhole

Developing on the already established laboratory work conducted on Elysium, it may be possible to create a fixed location interstellar travel device large enough for a single individual to travel through. Once we have the prototype in hand, we can begin iterating on this technology. It is likely that this project will require large amounts of SR and E to see to completion.

Dice Bonus: +6

Project Progress: ???/???

Cost per die: 10SR and 5E

Projected Result: Unlocks Personal Wormhole Prototype

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[ ] [SciComm] Bypass Charter Fabricator Rights Management for Ares

Building on our success with unlocking and analyzing HI blueprints, we should be able to make rapid progress stripping the anti-consumer protections built into Ares' extensive catalogue of blueprints. Without having access to the private keys for the blueprints, we will first have to crack the DRM protection, but the tools we've built up will streamline this process significantly.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 03/20

Cost per die: 3SR and 3E

Projected Result: Unlock Ares 'prints for consumer Ares products

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[ ] [SciComm] Bypass Charter Fabricator Rights Management for Cernunnos

Building on our success with unlocking and analyzing HI blueprints, we should be able make rapid progress stripping anti-consumer protections built into Cernunnos' extensive catalogue of blueprints. Without having access to the private keys for the blueprints, we will first have to crack the DRM protection, but the tools we've built up will streamline this process significantly.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 03/20

Cost per die: 3SR and 3E

Projected Result: Unlock Cernnunos consumer grade 'prints

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[ ] [SciComm] Bypass Charter Fabricator Rights Management for MSI

Building on our success with unlocking and analyzing HI blueprints, we should be able make rapid progress stripping anti-consumer protections built into MSI's extensive catalogue of blueprints. Without having access to the private keys for the blueprints, we will first have to crack the DRM protection, but the tools we've built up will streamline this process significantly.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 03/20

Cost per die: 3SR and 3E

Projected Result: Unlock Mississippi Shipping Interstellar consumer grade 'prints

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[ ] [SciComm] Bypass Charter Fabricator Rights Management for Rhodes

Building on our success with unlocking and analyzing HI blueprints, we should be able make rapid progress stripping anti-consumer protections built into Rhodes' extensive catalogue of blueprints. Without having access to the private keys for the blueprints, we will first have to crack the DRM protection, but the tools we've built up will streamline this process significantly.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 03/20

Cost per die: 3SR and 3E

Projected Result: Unlock Rhodes consumer grade 'prints

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[ ] [SciComm] Bypass Charter Fabricator Rights Management for Omoikane

Building on our success with unlocking and analyzing HI blueprints, we should be able make rapid progress stripping anti-consumer protections built into Omoikane's extensive catalogue of blueprints. Without having access to the private keys for the blueprints, we will first have to crack the DRM protection, but the tools we've built up will streamline this process significantly.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 03/20

Cost per die: 3SR and 3E

Projected Result: Unlock Omoikane consumer grade 'prints

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[ ] [SciComm] Crack advanced Hermes-Ishtar Fabricator Rights Management 'prints

Building on our success with unlocking and analyzing HI blueprints, we should be able make rapid progress stripping anti-consumer protections built into the blueprints whose keys were deleted by the Charter Loyalists. Without having access to the private keys for the blueprints, we will first have to crack the DRM protection, but the tools we've built up will streamline this process significantly.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 03/20

Cost per die: 3SR and 3E

Projected Result: Unlock HI advanced 'prints

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[ ] [SciComm] Subvert Hermes-Ishtar Communications Network across Charter Space

Our hacking team believes they've found an exploit using the interaction of the emergency and priority broadcast systems within the H-I Buoy network that will allow them to insert media for gate transfer without requiring system keys. This means that, until technicians on-site reset their networks, we will have free reign to broadcast anything of our choosing for a few days, and resetting only purges the data-- not the vulnerability. The only way to get around this would be to completely rewrite the (century-old) firmware and all its legacy and compatibility coding for the buoys and manually reimage them, along with replacing the older variants-- and there's an awful lot of buoys out there. It would be a long time before H-I would be able to totally shut you out.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 0/40

Cost Per Dice: 5SR and 5E

Projected Results: Ability to send unjammable messages across Humanity's entire communications network at a time of our choosing for between several hours to several weeks per system. Once used, H-I will begin attempting to counter with their own project.

SOCIAL COMMITTEE (Two Dice)

"We enjoy seeing people's lives get better day by day, every day."

-Congress of Caregivers and Physicians: +1 to all Social roll dice
-Ex-Marketing Division Gang: +5 to Propaganda rolls

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[ ] [SocComm] Expand BLG with household nanofabricators

Many of the distribution issues with the BLG can be solved by repurposing fabbers for household use. They can even print food-- though it's not exactly what anyone would call fresh. Nevertheless, as long as the planetside infrastructure is up, you've solved the issue with the BLG.

Dice Bonus: +1

Project Progress: 0/40

Cost per die: 5BR, 5SR, On completion permanent +2BR, +2E upkeep per 50 million citizens

Projected Results: +5 Trust, Raise Trust Floor by 5, Improve General Congress Focus Vote

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[ ] [SocComm] Continue anti-overproductivity campaigns

The people have thrown themselves into working for the revolution with fervor obviously outstripping that of HI drudgery. Unfortunately, since their old lives consisted of overwork anyway, right now people are dropping from exhaustion and needing actual hospital time to recover. Eventually, people are going to start dropping dead of heart attacks or stress in noticeable numbers, unless you do something about it.

That something is encouraging gradual lowerings to old cultural expectations around work-- starting with convincing everyone that 12-hour shifts are unneeded now that you're training tens of millions of people to share the load of essential jobs.

Dice Bonus: +6

Project Progress: 16/40

Cost per die: 1BR, 2E

Projected Results: Improve minimum bonus to +2 for each Committee

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[ ] [SocComm] Immortality Guarantee

Functional Immortality has been a practical reality for the wealthy since the mid 2020s, and has long been a leading cause of why workers will permanently indenture themselves into Charter service. With this program implemented no longer will our people have to work or die. By overwhelming popular demand, this program is paired with the full legalization of voluntary euthanasia.

Dice Bonus: +1

Program Progress: 0/50

Cost per die: N/A

Projected Result: When Project is Completed have a permanent upkeep cost of 5BR, 5SR, and 5E per 50 million citizens, a permanent propaganda dice bonus, raise the trust floor by +10, and get one free die.

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[ ] [SocComm] Encourage Retraining

With the end of Charter jobs comes the loss of tens of millions of what can, if one were charitable, have been called "makework jobs". While these jobless people have full access to the essentials of life it seems to be an inevitable part of the human condition that we want to do something productive with our time. Joint programs between educators, local communities, unions, and industrial committee delegates can be formed to attempt to steer those idle hands towards jobs that bring them satisfaction and accomplishment.

Dice Bonus: +6

Project Difficulty: 0/40

Cost per die: 2E per 50 million citizens

Projected Results: Gain an extra die into one of either Indcomm, Milcom, or Scicomm

MEDIA COMMITTEE (Two Dice)

"I have so much to do that I make sure to get a good night's sleep every day, and yet it feels like every morning brings more work"

-Creator's Forum: +2 to all media dice rolls
-Market Segment Analysis Hobbyists' Club +5 Signals Intelligence
-Guild of Professional and Amateur Performers: +5 to Human Intelligence

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[ ] [MedComm] Encourage Retraining

With the end of Charter comes the loss of tens of millions of what can, if one were charitable, have been called "makework jobs". While these jobless people have full access to the essentials of life it seems to be an inevitable part of the human condition that we want to do something productive with our time. Joint programs between educators, local communities, unions, and industrial committee delegates can be formed to attempt to steer those idle hands towards jobs that bring them satisfaction and accomplishment.

Dice Bonus: +2

Project Difficulty: 0/40

Cost: 2E per 50 million citizens

Projected Results: Gain a dice in either Industry, Military, or Science

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[ ] [MedComm] Insert Assets into Xotreh

Currently controlled by Omoikane, Xotreh appears to be a system deliberately lost by the bureaucracy. With a population barely cresting 54,000 individuals, the bulk of the inhabitation is limited to seasteads on the icy ocean world of Xotreh B4a, unofficially known as "Sushi". By all indications, "Sushi" is being used by Omoikane to dump workers with poor records and incorrigible troublemakers. The Media Committee wants to insert a team into the system under the cover of maintenance of local comms relays. Once we have a tap into system communications and agents on the ground MedComm planners will begin to plan to encourage Xotrah to throw off Omoikane and join the Congress.

Dice Bonus: +12

Project Progress: 0/10

Cost per die: 1SR

Projected Results: Insert Assets into Xotreh, new projects on completion.

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[ ] [MedComm] Insert Assets into Bestreer.

Officially owned by Cernunnos, Bestreer is barely inhabited, with only a gate maintenance team and a SAR station. The few hundred Cernunnos employees appear to have the same extremely relatable gripes and problems that all spacers relegated to backwater worlds have. The Media Committee wants to insert a team into the system under the cover of maintenance of local comms relays. Once we have a tap into system communications and agents on the ground MedComm planners will begin to plan to encourage Bestreer to throw off Cernunnos control and join the Congress.

Dice Bonus: +12

Project Progress: 0/10

Cost per die: 1SR

Projected Results: Insert Assets into Bestreer, new projects on completion.

-

[ ] [MedComm] Insert Assets into Fliveons.

One of the two other heavily inhabited systems in this region, Fliveons is home to over 15 million Rhodes workers. With over nine times Radiant's Basic Resource income alone, Fliveons is one the many Rhodes mining systems that feeds the great many-headed beast that is the Charters. Most of Fliveon's inhabitants live in spartan accommodations on the technically inhabitable Oyu Tolgoi (Fliveons 6b). The Media Committee wants to insert a team into the system under the cover of maintenance of local comms relays. Once we have a tap into system communications and agents on the ground MedComm planners will begin to plan to encourage Fliveons to throw off Rhodes control and join the Congress.

Dice Bonus: +12

Project Progress: 0/30

Cost per die: 1SR

Projected Results: Insert Assets into Fliveons, new projects on completion.

-

[ ] [MedComm] Insert Assets into Akleod

The last of Radiant's surrounding systems, Akleod is home to a Mississippi Interstellar transshipment hub. The just over 5000 inhabitants of Akleod are concentrated in an orbital station above Gnat's Ass (Akleod 2). It appears that the MSI Junior Executive in charge of Akleod is an utterly venal individual who had several under the table deals with Vice President Yang and other member's of Radiant's former rulership. The Media Committee wants to insert a team into the system under the cover of maintenance of local comms relays. Once we have a tap into system communications and agents on the ground MedComm planners will begin to plan to encourage Akleod to throw off MSI control and join the Congress.

Dice Bonus: +12

Project Progress: 0/10

Cost per die: 1SR

Projected Results: Insert Assets into Akleod, new projects on completion.

-

[ ] [MedComm] Flood Shei with Propaganda
(Can be taken same turn as [MilComm] Liberate Shei)

One method to soften Shei up might be to simply flood the airwaves with Radiant media and propaganda. The prospect of friendly aid may entice the imprisoned population to begin large-scale offensive movements to tie up Ares forces, or convince crew on board Ares' spaceborne assets.

This would, needless to say, blow your cover. If you could capitalize on it fast enough and eat all the bandwidth, however, Ares executives may be too busy putting out fires to ensure their message gets out.

Dice Bonus: +7

Project Progress: 0/10

Cost per die: 6E

Projected Results: More likely to disrupt Ares operations and encourage defections, one way contact will be established with Sheol prisoners.

Failure State: If roll fails, next quarter Ares will attempt to contact neighbouring systems and alert Sol weather Shei is liberated or not

-

[ ] [MedComm] Establish Contact with Sheol Central Military Command
(Can be taken same turn as [MilComm] Liberate Shei)

While one cannot say that Sheol possesses a planetary government per se, there is a Sheol-wide military high command made up of a decentralized federation of geographical governments, regional military commands, and nomadic military units.

The Media and Military Committees believe that two-way communication with the inhabitants of Sheol will enable us to coordinate a planetwide military offensive on the ground to liberate the system, splitting the attention and resources of Ares High Command on Watchman during the critical moment.

Dice Bonus: +12

Project Progress: 0/25

Projected Results: Ensure that [MilComm] Liberate Sheol goes more smoothly. Improve relations with Sheol populace.

-

[ ] [MedComm] Provide aid to Rousseau's Clique
(Can be taken same turn as [MilComm] Liberate Shei)

Rousseau is on board with Radiant seemingly on ideological grounds, but many of her fellow officers and crew will require more tangible commitments. Promises of pardons and material aid, combined with a large array of Radiant ideological materials personalized based off of Rousseau's subordinate data, should help turn both the pragmatic and the idealistic.

Dice Bonus: +7

Project Progress: Automatic

Cost per die: 3SR and 3E

Projected Results: More likely to flip Shieldmaiden and other Ares units intact depending on roll.

[ ] [MedComm] Sabotage Ares Operations in Shei
(Can be taken same turn as [MilComm] Liberate Shei)

A more permanent solution to preventing Ares operations from alerting reinforcements or sounding the alarm would require a multifaceted approach. Courier sabotage or interception, jamming, malware, and physical blocking of the buoy laser chains in-system could prevent the message from getting out.

Dice Bonus: +7

Project Progress: 0/20

Cost per die:

Projected Results: Prevent Ares loyalists in Shei from alerting other systems about Radiant and decreases Ares' ability to respond to revolutionary actions and rebellions.

Failure State: If roll is failed on a turn where [MilComm] Liberate Shei is not taken, immediately break cover.

-

Project: Dispatch Diplomats

While our Diplomatic Corps is still in its infancy that doesn't mean that we can't begin making open contact with our neighbours. Opening contact, will open up new possibilities for dealing with neighbouring systems and the Charters they represent. Though a more comprehensive ability to engage in diplomacy can only begin once a Diplomatic Corps head has been elected.

[ ] [MedComm] Open relations with Shei
[ ] [MedComm] Open relations with Fliveons
[ ] [MedComm] Open relations with Bestreer
[ ] [MedComm] Open relations with Xotreh
[ ] [MedComm] Open relations with Akleod

Dice Bonus: +2

Project Progress: Automatic

Cost per die: 2E

Projected Results: Opens up options for diplomacy, trade, and avoiding hostility with individual Charters.

Adnate · Dec 28, 2020

Veronica is clearly the only choice. Literally three people is a selling point, not a negative.

TheMaskedReader · Dec 28, 2020

Jennifer and Veronica are definitely my top two immediate picks, but we'll see.

Godwinson · Dec 28, 2020

TheMaskedReader said:
Jennifer and Veronica are definitely my top two immediate picks, but we'll see.

Agreed.

Looking at it...

AKuz said:
[ ] [Diplo] Jennifer Mueller - Traitor to Her Class
Pros: True Believer, highly educated, has the Status Markers and speech patterns that sees her instinctively taken seriously by the upper class. Knows how the Charters think.
Cons: Zero Chill, wants to get one over on the Charters, risk-taker, known personally by high level Charter Executives.
Diplomacy Goals: Spreading the good news, never giving an inch to the Charters, full unilateral assertion of independence and total sovreignty in all things, promoting freedom of information

AKuz said:
[ ] [Diplo] 'Veronica Stardust' - The XP Star
Pros: XP Celebrity, influential, well known, inspiring to the middle and lower classes, experienced propagandists
Cons: XP celebrity, little diplomatic experience, literally three people
Diplomatic Goals: Keep Charter space open to Radiant broadcasts, promote freedom of information, maintain communications links, open up citizen to citizen diplomacy, appeal directly to the public to prevent aggression against Radiant

Both of these are Freedom of Information picks. Mueller is a hardliner focused on dealing with Charter Executives, while Stardust is more flexible and focused on the people.

Honestly, I want to read both of these takes on revolutionary diplomacy.

Gladsome · Dec 28, 2020

Those are some very nice options for liberating Sheol. And I very much like the sound of subverting the HI Communications systems. The number of ways we can hurt the Charters seems to be growing nicely.

As for Diplomats, Jennifer and Veronica are the options that stand out.

inirlan · Dec 28, 2020

Err... I think that stockpiles and production hasn't been updated.

As for candidate, I'm tending towards Mueller, since I sincerely doubt either the thread or the population can simply leave Shei be - so we'll be aggressively expanding which means that peaceful normalised relations will be tough.

Rhymes · Dec 28, 2020

I'm kind of regretting changing my vote from MedComm to SocComm now a little bit. Ah well, what's done is done.

So, to planning.

I think whoever we select as head of the diplomatic corps should be representative of Radiant as a whole. That sort of eliminates Ng right off the bat, and while not provoking our neighbors would be nice, it's kind of inevitable given what we are and what we represent. Baldi wouldn't be bad--undercover fits our playstyle up to this point, but I'm not sure that trade is the way forward with the Charters. Maybe when some more systems have declared their independence, but not now. Stardust is pretty clearly the meme option, and while she would be absolutely hilarious and fun, putting three people, none of whom have any idea how to diplomat. . .yikes. Honestly, Mueller's zeal and fuck-you-Charters approach is appealing, especially knowing what we do now about Sheol, although I could see why people might not be a fan of her approach.

As a preliminary, I'm leaning towards approval voting Mueller and Baldi for now.

[ ] [Diplo] Jennifer Mueller - Traitor to Her Class
[ ] [Diplo] Jeremiah Baldi - Grillist

Now for the main vote.
[ ] Plan ENDOR
-[ ] [FOCUS] Media Committee
--[ ] [IndComm] Begin Energy Collection Operations on Gaid A-3 (Quality 4) (10 BR)
--[ ] [IndComm] Begin Energy Collection Operations on Gaid A-4a (Quality 9) (10 BR)
--[ ] [MilComm] DO NOTHING
--[ ] [SciComm] Bypass Charter Fabricator Rights Management for Cernunnos (3 SR, 3 E)
--[ ] [SocComm] Continue anti-overproductivity campaigns x2 (2x1 BR, 2x2 E)
--[ ] [MedComm] Establish Contact with Sheol Central Military Command
--[ ] [MedComm] Provide aid to Rousseau's Clique x2 (2x3 SR, 2x3 E)

Cost: 22 BR, 9 SR, 13 E

So, yeah. We are definitely running into the Energy bottleneck here, ~~but our BR production still could use a boost given how much industrial development and military construction costs~~. (Edit: NEVER MIND UPDATED RESOURCE INCOME GO FULL E PRODUCTION) Unfortunately, I think MilComm needs to sit idle this turn if we want to get the carrier.

Right now I think the play is to get our hooks as deep into Shei as we can without blowing our cover, and then, once we're ready, go loud hard and fast to flip it over with as many assets left intact as possible. More specifically, my thinking is that we should pile up two dice with Rosseau to get our hooks in on the cruiser since that option is a one-off, and one die this turn on the central military command. That +7 bonus to propaganda means we only need one die on that one--only need to roll a 3 or better on a d20 to get to 10/10, so we can take that when we're ready to go loud with an excellent chance to complete it, and use our remaining default MedComm die to finish up contact with the Central Military command. If we have one extra turn of stealth, then we can instead spend the die from the propaganda campaign on inserting into another system.

The SocComm vote is to finish up that project and get that extra flat bonus to everything. SciComm I just picked Cernunnos because food good, but I'm not attached to it.

LucidProp · Dec 28, 2020

We really oughta get the Choreographer online. We do need to at least look daunting to get the Charters to take our diplomacy seriously, and to deter an early attack, but the energy budget remains ever tight.

EDIT: Can we eat into next turn's income if a plan runs into a deficit?

inirlan · Dec 28, 2020

Hannz said:
We really oughta get the Choreographer online. We do need to at least look daunting to get the Charters to take our diplomacy seriously, and to deter an early attack, but the energy budget remains ever tight.

We require more minerals/you must build additional pylons.

Nabbing that mining world would help but it would mean diverting our efforts from Shei, which is difficult to stomach.

There is so little time and resources - aaaaah!!!

AKuz · Dec 28, 2020

Hannz said:
We really oughta get the Choreographer online. We do need to at least look daunting to get the Charters to take our diplomacy seriously, and to deter an early attack, but the energy budget remains ever tight.

EDIT: Can we eat into next turn's income if a plan runs into a deficit?

Forgot to update the budget, just did a quick audit and revised your stockpiles

Also: not really, no, you aren't dealing with money, but actual materials and "going into a deficit" is the Industrial reuse programs, which the IndComm dropped that from their plans because the resource situation was no longer dire enough to warrent scrapping already built things.

If things get tight again industrial reuse will return

LucidProp · Dec 28, 2020

[] Plan Our Words are Backed by B-B-BIG GUNS
-[] [FOCUS] Media Committee
-[] [IndComm] Begin Energy Collection Operations on Gaid A-4a (Quality 9) | 1 Die | Cost Per Die: 10 BR
-[] [MilComm] Repair Choreographer | 1 Die | Cost per die: 30 BR, 20 SR, and 20 E
-[] [SciComm] N/A
-[] [SocComm] N/A
-[] [MedComm] Insert Assets into Xotreh | 1 Die | Cost per die: 1SR
-[] [MedComm] Insert Assets into Bestreer | 1 Die | Cost per die: 1SR
-[] [MedComm] Insert Assets into Akleod | 1 Die | Cost per die: 1SR

Budget & Expenses:
- BR: 49 - 10 - 30 = 9IBR
- SR: 35 - 20 - 1 - 1 - 1 = 28SR
- E: 21 - 20 = 1E

Alright, since we're at risk of being discovered sometime this turn or the next, it's best the first impression of the Charters is that we have teeth and we ain't afraid to bite back! All the honeyed words in the galaxy won't amount to much if the Charters feel they can just instantly crush us. To that end, we need something bigger than our small group of Corvettes and converted couriers. We need an actual warship, and so repairing the Choreographer takes the utmost priority.

Once we have the Choreograoher online we can more easily bring the Charters into the negotiating table. It'll also help convince the Shieldmaiden's crew to flip, since we'll show we aren't a lost cause militarily when we do show up with a actual warship, and having the Shieldmaiden's assistance will definitely be absolutely needed for the liberation of Shei.

Rhymes · Dec 28, 2020

Hannz said:
Once we have the Choreograoher online we can more easily bring the Charters into the negotiating table. It'll also help convince the Shieldmaiden's crew to flip, since we'll show we aren't a lost cause militarily when we do show up with a actual warship, and having the Shieldmaiden's assistance will definitely be absolutely needed for the liberation of Shei.

Do we actually know that the Choreographer will have any impact on Shei, or are you guessing?

Also, is bottoming out our resources now the best use of them? It seems to me like it might make more sense to do that next turn when we have to go for broke and spend some time building our stockpile up a little more. Plus, if we can flip the Shieldmaiden, then we have teeth.

E: in light of our much larger BR income and much lower E income I think we should focus E development, not BR.

LucidProp · Dec 28, 2020

Rhymes said:
Do we actually know that the Choreographer will have any impact on Shei, or are you guessing?

Also, is bottoming out our resources now the best use of them? It seems to me like it might make more sense to do that next turn when we have to go for broke and spend some time building our stockpile up a little more. Plus, if we can flip the Shieldmaiden, then we have teeth.

The Captain we talked to is from Ares, they're made for conflict, and she's likely to approach people who think similarly to her in that they want to fight for something besides profit. However, if that something is tantamount to suicide like joining a rebellion without any real military power, they're less likely to join up. Just add what facts we have and the conclusion isn't too far-fetched. Flipping the Shieldmaiden isn't a gurantee, so we need to take steps to raise our chances higher. If we repair the Choreographer, we get some teeth, and raise the chances of having some more. That's hitting two birds with one stone.

And yes, there's no time like the present! From what I recall, we're still at risk of beibg discovered mid-turn so I would rather not risk the chance of being caught with our pants down. Every turn, we've had to scrape the bottom of the barrel and frequently the Choreographer was too expensive, and next turn won't be any different. Now is one of the few times when the budget might actually allow for it, so I'm taking the chance.

Rhymes · Dec 28, 2020

Hannz said:
The Captain we talked to is from Ares, they're made for conflict, and she's likely to approach people who think similarly to her in that they want to fight for something besides profit. However, if that something is tantamount to suicide like joining a rebellion without any real military power, they're less likely to join up. Just add what facts we have and the conclusion isn't too far-fetched. Flipping the Shieldmaiden isn't a gurantee, so we need to take steps to raise our chances higher. If we repair the Choreographer, we get some teeth, and raise the chances of having some more. That's hitting two birds with one stone.

Okay, see, I was asking if you had a basis in what's already been posted that you could point to as evidence of your assertions. I get the logic of your argument, I'm asking for evidence to support it. We've been told, straight up, that putting dice into the Captain's clique will make it easier to flip the Shieldmaiden. I don't recall seeing anything similar with reference to the Choreographer, but I could be mistaken.

Just doing some back-of-the-napkin math, if our BR and SR income remain consistent through this turn then we can get the Choreographer up next turn with resources to spare. And remember, word getting out is not the same as "massive fleet mobilization," so even once we go loud we do have a little time.

LucidProp · Dec 28, 2020

Rhymes said:
Okay, see, I was asking if you had a basis in what's already been posted that you could point to as evidence of your assertions. I get the logic of your argument, I'm asking for evidence to support it. We've been told, straight up, that putting dice into the Captain's clique will make it easier to flip the Shieldmaiden. I don't recall seeing anything similar with reference to the Choreographer, but I could be mistaken. Just doing some back-of-the-napkin math, if our BR and SR income remain consistent through this turn then we can get the Choreographer up next turn with resources to spare. And remember, word getting out is not the same as "massive fleet mobilization," so even once we go loud we do have a little time.

It's a narrative quest with mechanics, not a rail-road RPG with a set in stone story. Making conclusions based on logic and what information we have available is kind of the nature of quests, even when not everything is laid out for us. So no, I don't have a quote for you or word of god, but that doesn't make the chain of thought any less valid or less applicable in-universe.

BR and SR aren't the problem, it's always been Energy. A lot of our diplo and espionage options require it, and they often take priority especially when us being revealed is incredibly near. It'd be best we have a warship with us we can point to as proof of our ability, contained in our space rather than hidden/trapped in Ares territory when we reveal ourselves since we'll be negotiating from a position of some power rather than being helpless. It's not entirely about repelling a massive charter fleet, but appearing strong enough that our diplomacy can't be dismissed on the grounds that we'll be easily ground to dust in a few months or so. First impressions matter a lot, and I'd rather it be us looking capable rather than ill-prepared.

Derpmind · Dec 28, 2020

AKuz said:
] [Diplo] 'Veronica Stardust' - The XP Star

Yes, actually, I would like our head of diplomacy to be an impossibly charismatic and skilled composite of three individuals. Don't forget, this is the frriggin' sci-fi future. VP Yang isn't the only figure who has (had) an entire planet crafting his image, and compared to that our other choices all look like Joe Average. Y'all wanted to turn the weapons of propaganda against the Charters, well, this is one of them. Veronica Stardust mastered the system on an interstellar level. Use her.

AKuz said:
[ ] [SciComm] Subvert Hermes-Ishtar Communications Network across Charter Space

I'd love to combine this with [ ] [SocComm] Immortality Guarantee. If we can get that running and then broadcast to everyone that we've done so, that'd be a propaganda slam dunk across all of charter space. Though we probably can't manage that for a while, unfortunately.

clockworkchaos · Dec 28, 2020

@AKuz does a "Failed roll" mean not total completion for a progress options.

Rhymes said:
I'm kind of regretting changing my vote from MedComm to SocComm now a little bit. Ah well, what's done is done.

So, to planning.

I think whoever we select as head of the diplomatic corps should be representative of Radiant as a whole. That sort of eliminates Ng right off the bat, and while not provoking our neighbors would be nice, it's kind of inevitable given what we are and what we represent. Baldi wouldn't be bad--undercover fits our playstyle up to this point, but I'm not sure that trade is the way forward with the Charters. Maybe when some more systems have declared their independence, but not now. Stardust is pretty clearly the meme option, and while she would be absolutely hilarious and fun, putting three people, none of whom have any idea how to diplomat. . .yikes. Honestly, Mueller's zeal and fuck-you-Charters approach is appealing, especially knowing what we do now about Sheol, although I could see why people might not be a fan of her approach.

As a preliminary, I'm leaning towards approval voting Mueller and Baldi for now.

Okay, I helped design Stardust, and frankly, she's not a meme option. Let's be clear, in order to design Stardust they had to

1. Figure out what was appealing to people through market data and research (aka understand how people think)
2. Design a character as an acceptable lower class markers (again, that takes understanding how people think and what markers to really use, rather than the ones they would think of.
3. Play said character repeatedly while doing well enough that all three could do it without being obviously different.

Then, they had to redo the character again once the revolution was successful, and managed that as well, becoming something people still follow.

This is not a small amount of work, and I'm not sure why the person who managed to anger-shout her way here from the very top is supposed to be a better candidate other than class snobbery masquerading as demand for expertise when none of our people have such experience.

Rhymes · Dec 28, 2020

clockworkchaos said:
Okay, I helped design Stardust, and frankly, she's not a meme option. Let's be clear, in order to design Stardust they had to

1. Figure out what was appealing to people through market data and research (aka understand how people think)
2. Design a character as an acceptable lower class markers (again, that takes understanding how people think and what markers to really use, rather than the ones they would think of.
3. Play said character repeatedly while doing well enough that all three could do it without being obviously different.

Then, they had to redo the character again once the revolution was successful, and managed that as well, becoming something people still follow.

Okay, to be clear, I was using "meme option" as a shorthand for the kind of oddball, off-the-wall option that would be lots of fun and very different, but not necessarily the strategically optimal choice. It was not meant to disparage the work you put into the character, but I see how it could have came off that way, and I apologize for that. It was ill-considered of me.

As for why I think Mueller is a better option, I don't think it's class snobbery to think that someone who expressly knows how to talk to people in the Charters to get what they want would be well-suited for a job that, for the foreseeable future, will involve. . . talking to people in the Charters to get what we want (when we're not just punching them in the face). Where I see Stardust having issues there (and I should have said this initially but I was lazy, and that's on me) is that, while communicating with the general public is challenging and important, that's not really the job of a diplomat. Diplomacy is all about close personal interactions--the kind of thing a virtual celebrity isn't likely to have much of, and not the kind of thing that Stardust's team specializes in either.

Gladsome · Dec 28, 2020

Given the time it's estimated the Charters will need to take to formulate the beginnings of a response to our revolution, I don't see how much harm it'll do to let the Choreographer wait another turn while we establish energy collection and seize the opportunity to liberate Sheol.

LucidProp · Dec 28, 2020

Gladsome said:
Given the time it's estimated the Charters will need to take to formulate the beginnings of a response to our revolution, I don't see how much harm it'll do to let the Choreographer wait another turn while we establish energy collection and seize the opportunity to liberate Sheol.

It's a matter of propaganda and appearances. If we want our revolution to be taken more seriously by the people outside Radiant, we'll need to show that we have the potential to fight back and having a big shiny ship to point that out helps. As for the Charters, it's matter of negotiating from a position of some strength rather than very little or none at all. Corvettes are the only ships we have, and they aren't warp capable. We need the ability to project power in a obvious manner if we're to be taken seriously when we negotiate. It'll be a nice boon in early negotiations while Sol isn't ready to protect the outlying charters.

Gladsome · Dec 28, 2020

Hannz said:
It's a matter of propaganda and appearances. If we want our revolution to be taken more seriously by the people outside Radiant, we'll need to show that we have the potential to fight back and having a big shiny ship to point that out helps. As for the Charters, it's matter of negotiating from a position of some strength rather than very little or none at all. Corvettes are the only ships we have, and they aren't warp capable. We need the ability to project power in a obvious manner if we're to be taken seriously when we negotiate. It'll be a nice boon in early negotiations while Sol isn't ready to protect the outlying charters.

Given that the Charters still aren't actually aware of our revolution even if we are no longer actively maintaining the masquerade, I still don't think we need the Choreographer immediately. Building up our energy supply this turn will allow us to ensure it can be made operational later while allowing us to do other tasks that offer the chance to liberate other military assets.

I don't disagree with your logic, merely the urgency you apply to reparing the Choreographer this turn. Securing Shei is also a show of strength against the Charters, and that requires preparation and investment.

LucidProp · Dec 28, 2020

Gladsome said:
Given that the Charters still aren't actually aware of our revolution even if we are no longer actively maintaining the masquerade, I still don't think we need the Choreographer immediately. Building up our energy supply this turn will allow us to ensure it can be made operational later while allowing us to do other tasks that offer the chance to liberate other military assets.

I don't disagree with your logic, merely the urgency you apply to reparing the Choreographer this turn. Securing Shei is also a show of strength against the Charters, and that requires preparation and investment.

Securing Shei isn't a gurantee, while repairing the Choreographer is. Once we have the Choreographer online, we can more easily secure Shei. I don't recall exactly, but discussion a few turns ago basically said that we'll be revealed this turn, so I'm advocating for the guranteed option rather than one that has the chance to fail since I don't want to risk our first public appearance being coupled with a failure. First impressions and all that. If we actually do have until next turn before we're discovered, then yeah, I'm willing to go with another plan.

Sorry if I'm wrong about what I recalled however, it's been a hectic week and the days kind of mix together in my memories.

Gladsome · Dec 28, 2020

Hannz said:
Once we have the Choreographer online, we can more easily secure Shei

I disagree. If we spend all of this turn repairing the Choreographer instead of laying the groundwork to prepare to liberate Shei, in order to use the Choreographer to take part in the liberation next turn, we will have achieved considerably less in terms of gathering local allies and aligning them with our plans. While we will have a relatively powerful vessel, there will be much less in our favour when it comes to gaining support and undermining Ares within the system itself.

I too want the Choreographer to be made fully operational, but if we put in a good effort into preparation we will have a far better chance securing Shei. As my understanding goes, if we focus on MedComm operations in Shei, we can have assets readied in system and then begin to have the Choreographer ready in the next turn.

Of course, if we intend instead to liberate Shei the turn after next instead of the next turn, then we can prepare for the liberation and ready the Choreographer. I still think we should devote resources to increasing our limited energy supply this turn, however.

Alex the Average · Dec 28, 2020

I just realised something. Sheol is a prison world, in a system full of military assets and is a symbol of everything horrifically wrong with the Charters. Liberating it would literally be our Bastille moment.

Gladsome · Dec 28, 2020

Whenever we liberate the place, we need to publicise everything about Sheol.

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

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