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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The Laurent · Apr 19, 2022

Report to General Congress -Intelligence Committee June 3rd

Task force 12.7 continues on through Waystation. Attached are gathered reports on the task force.

I would urge the Congress not to allow the Solarian Task Force to pass the Sheol gate. Fighting them at Sheol is our best chance of stopping them. If we allow them to pass through they can turn the battle into one without gate defences, something we can ill afford. Even if they do intend to keep any promise, such actions would only allow them to rendezvous with other forces in the area, guaranteeing a larger assault force later. We are best off disabling the ships now.

Admiral Mclean

I would urge Congress to consider this action. While we do not have the ability to read their mind, we can consider the Task Force's actions at Waystation and Osliam a sign of their intentions and allow some degree of predictability. While it is true that such a force could theoretically link up with forces closer to the Core, I suspect such fleets will have other crises to deal with, and will not be able to pull a response quickly. Technologies such as automated manufacturing and other redacted technologies are game-changers, and the longer we can delay any confrontation the better.

Dr. Adrianne Atomas, Director of the Future Warfare Planning Council, which studies the potential practical use of technologies such as [Redacted], [Redacted], and [Redacted] Shipyards.

CyberFemme · Apr 19, 2022

Hmmmm. Glad we didn't pick Mansur.

The Laurent · Apr 19, 2022

CyberEnby said:
Hmmmm. Glad we didn't pick Mansur.

He kinda wound up being a default choice for that quote? I was actually a bit sour about it, but we didn't really have time to come up with an entirely new OC on the fly. Like, the quote was kinda made and then we were like [Naval Figure].

And Mansur is someone that people have heard of, and so we used him? Still makes me feel kinda blah tbh.

mcclay · Apr 19, 2022

im from sheol and i say nuke the fleet

Burned_Cookie · Apr 19, 2022

I'm not all to clear on the diplomatics of the situation, but I have to say that we can not let them pass that gate.

If we can arrange some sort of piecemeal transit or they disarm first sure, but no sailing their ships into the heart of our defenses and promising real good they wont stab us.

UponALotusBlosom · Apr 19, 2022

Honestly a lot of people are super hostile to the compact fleet and while that's understandable we shouldn't dislike people or discount their advice just because they don't advocate for the destruction of the 12.7 fleet. We don't really know enough about the actual state of SolNav decision making in the fleet or the broader compact to know whether that's warranted.
Plus If we end up sacrificing a chance at an at least short term denete we give up an advantage. As the return of the 12.7 fleet to compact space is comparatively much less advantageous to the compact then more time is advantageous to us.

Tatbee · Apr 19, 2022

The Laurent said:
I would urge the Congress not to allow the Solarian Task Force to pass the Sheol gate. Fighting them at Sheol is our best chance of stopping them. If we allow them to pass through they can turn the battle into one without gate defences, something we can ill afford.

Do we have gate defenses built at the Osliam-Waystation gate?

I only recall reverse tripwire gate defenses, not those.

Forgothrax · Apr 19, 2022

UponALotusBlosom said:
Honestly a lot of people are super hostile to the compact fleet and while that's understandable we shouldn't dislike people or discount their advice just because they don't advocate for the destruction of the 12.7 fleet. We don't really know enough about the actual state of SolNav decision making in the fleet or the broader compact to know whether that's warranted.
Plus If we end up sacrificing a chance at an at least short term denete we give up an advantage. As the return of the 12.7 fleet to compact space is comparatively much less advantageous to the compact then more time is advantageous to us.

It isn't an advantage. Reactionaries don't keep their word to people they see as lessers unless there's a gun to their head. Not only that, but there is no one aboard that fleet who can make any sort of promise that binds their superiors anyway. That fleet is headed to its homeport to be used against fellow revolutionaries one way or another. If we are unlucky, it will be used against us to start with. I really wish there was a way to help the poor bastards that will die on their officers orders, but there isn't.

The only detente here is reached by blowing up anything that SolNav has close enough to use to strike at us with. Anything else is wishful thinking.

Torgamous · Apr 19, 2022

Tatbee said:
Do we have gate defenses built at the Osliam-Waystation gate?

I only recall reverse tripwire gate defenses, not those.

The battle will be at Sheol.

MonkeyTypewriter · Apr 19, 2022

AlphaDelta said:
This is just Securities Fraud (nobody likes Securities Fraud, but everything is Securities Fraud).

Look. Asimov & Associates may not be able to bring the case that they want over TLI, but they'll bring a case, and they'll win it.

The Laurent · Apr 19, 2022

Changed up a name to give us actual variety. Maybe she'll even be in an Omake or something?

ScottishMongol · Apr 19, 2022

Forgothrax said:
It isn't an advantage. Reactionaries don't keep their word to people they see as lessers unless there's a gun to their head. Not only that, but there is no one aboard that fleet who can make any sort of promise that binds their superiors anyway. That fleet is headed to its homeport to be used against fellow revolutionaries one way or another. If we are unlucky, it will be used against us to start with. I really wish there was a way to help the poor bastards that will die on their officers orders, but there isn't.

The only detente here is reached by blowing up anything that SolNav has close enough to use to strike at us with. Anything else is wishful thinking.

Well, I suppose they could mutiny but that's on them.

Tatbee · Apr 19, 2022

Torgamous said:
The battle will be at Sheol.

Derp.
Nevermind.

🤞 12.7 don't attack the Osliam habitats on their way through.
Seems unlikely, but... you never know.

UponALotusBlosom · Apr 19, 2022

Forgothrax said:
It isn't an advantage. Reactionaries don't keep their word to people they see as lessers unless there's a gun to their head. Not only that, but there is no one aboard that fleet who can make any sort of promise that binds their superiors anyway. That fleet is headed to its homeport to be used against fellow revolutionaries one way or another. If we are unlucky, it will be used against us to start with. I really wish there was a way to help the poor bastards that will die on their officers orders, but there isn't.

The only detente here is reached by blowing up anything that SolNav has close enough to use to strike at us with. Anything else is wishful thinking.

See we have no fucking clue about anything about the local fleet our humint roll was low-- we have no idea how much they hold to the idea of the Compact or the reality, how much their spacer backgrounds and belief in spacer norms weighs against their dislike of us and further and this is personally the big one; by refusing to enterain the idea of accepting a reasonable surrender negotiated by trusted factors on the ground so to speak or some sort of staged withdraw under watch by our ships we guarantee a risky fight and shoot through the head any last chance at a short-term dente that provides more comparative advantage to us than to Solnav or the Compact.

Thus we shouldn't be blinded by adherence to the they're all reactionaries bar none point of view. Instead we should be wary but there is the possibility for great benefit in at least engaging in discussion before the guns come out so that we can safely say we made the best decision rather than acting ironically as a sort of reactionary ourselves stuck in a: this can only end in violence therefor we choose violence mode of thought.

edit: Blanket branding of people as reactionaries I think is one of my greatest problems with the direction of the conversation around the fleet. It destroys the possiblity of anything but conflict, results in worse outcomes as a result, and has us infexible when our primary advantage over the larger compact is flexibility.

Jane Dough · Apr 19, 2022

Darkandus said:
A look at one of the more unfortunate side effects of the broadcast

-------------------------------------

Micheal's life had been one of quiet desperation and hunger, held at bay by stories told to him by his Ma and Da, passed down to them by their Ma's and Da's, on and on, back to the beginning. Now, all he had left of his family history was a tattered and faded tricolour, green, white and orange, wrapped ever so carefully around an even older print of a picture. The picture of the Hero he was named after.

The story, much as it was, went like this. That his people were oppressed, rose up in rebellion, and were crushed again and again, but they never gave up. That their land was stolen, and subdivided. Forced into mud huts and evicted for cruelties sake at the smallest offence. That his people were starved while food that they had grown from their own soil was shipped away and sold for coin. That millions died or had to escape. That a rebellion finally succeeded, and for a while, things were good. But then the Rent Seekers came. The Landlords. The Greedy. The Corrupt. Stringing the people along with the bare minimum while they grew fat and happy, subjecting his people to the same. The evictions, the hunger, the land being stolen. For generations now, his family had been stuck farming this shrinking plot of land. Every growing season, having to buy more expensive seed stock. Every growing season, less money filling their pockets.

He knew their faces, those of his enemies. He knew their names. And the uniforms of their bully boys. How could he not, when they were so bold faced and shameless? Thieves. Robbers. He didn't care much about politics, what did such things mean to a man like him? But a small part of him said a prayer for the Anarchists. He didn't know if they would win their rebellion or not, but they gave him what he needed to win his.

The Rent Seekers really were stupid. They thought just because he had never went to school, or done anything else other than farm, that he would be thick. But his Ma had taught him his letters and snuck him old and moldering books. His Da taught him computers, and hunting with an old and simple drone.

Now though, now he had more than one drone. It was easy, all things considered. A small, swift design. A three gram explosive charge. A small camera and computer, loaded with facial and gait recognition. A distributed VI that allowed them to co-ordinate and learn. Some simple programming, so that when they receive the correct visual input, they fly at the head and detonate. A larger design, for breaking into buildings and vehicles.

He had a few thousand now, and more on the way. Soon the truck would be coming by to take the weekly tithe. It would fill up nicely with his fresh produce, ripe for the city.

Oh, he wouldn't get them all, there were some that were out of the country, or even off the planet, but by God, he'd get all of them he could. And hope that the rest were put in the ground by people who were just as angry as he was. He didn't have the head to build anything that would come after; but even he knew you had to clear the land and pull the weeds out by the roots, before anything could be planted fresh.

Angry farmer using the broadcast to settle some grudges?

Forgothrax · Apr 19, 2022

UponALotusBlosom said:
See we have no fucking clue about anything about the local fleet our humint roll was low-- we have no idea how much they hold to the idea of the Compact or the reality, how much their spacer backgrounds and belief in spacer norms weighs against their dislike of us and further and this is personally the big one; by refusing to enterain the idea of accepting a reasonable surrender negotiated by trusted factors on the ground so to speak or some sort of staged withdraw under watch by our ships we guarantee a risky fight and shoot through the head any last chance at a short-term dente that provides more comparative advantage to us than to Solnav or the Compact.

Thus we shouldn't be blinded by adherence to the they're all reactionaries bar none point of view. Instead we should be wary but there is the possibility for great benefit in at least engaging in discussion before the guns come out so that we can safely say we made the best decision rather than acting ironically as a sort of reactionary ourselves stuck in a: this can only end in violence therefor we choose violence mode of thought.

You're not getting it.

It doesn't matter how nice the local fleet officers are, they're still Charter-style corporatist assholss to some extent. Unless they are willing to surrender their ships to us, what they personally feel does not matter, because they are almost certainly going to be under someone else's orders when they get home. And that someone is someone who is embedded in the SolNav milleau where they are the big stick that keeps everyone together and everything in line. I can't predict how they're going to react, nobody can with the information provided. But given their organization and how it functions, I very much doubt they are interested in doing anything more than helping the Charters shackle us once more. If you have evidence to the contrary, let's see it.

Let's also remember that we have no inherent legitimacy as a nation to SolNav. We can see ourselves as a polity that might do diplomacy with an equal. The Charters as a whole see us as a rebellious province that needs to be bent under the lash once more. They aren't going to view us as someone to make peace with because we aren't an equal, only a subordinate that isn't being subordinate and needs beating back into their place.

Your argument is that we can safely help them pass home in a way that reduces risk to us and this will translate into diplomatic benefits.

My argument is that I don't care, because those ships are going home to be weapons to be aimed at our brothers and sisters, and thus they shall not pass.

Tatbee · Apr 19, 2022

Forgothrax said:
My argument is that I don't care, because those ships are going home to be weapons to be aimed at our brothers and sisters, and thus they shall not pass.

I agree completely.

[] Hold the gate
-[] Order Admiral McClean to wear a Gandalf costume.

Model DC.14F · Apr 19, 2022

Elero said:
Omake: The ARIA BASILISK
Omoikane techbros are not having a good time, so that inspired this.

Just curious, but what did you conceive the AI Safety guys as? Because ARIA doesn't seem anywhere powerful enough to pull a Basilisk, but I'm not sure if these guys are aware of that, or are just ignoring the facts to jump to the worst case scenario.

Were they appointed because of nepotism, and thus only know of ASI apocalypse through pop culture and conspiracy theories? Or does Omoikane just purposely choose the most paranoid, anti-AI execs to be in charge of AI Safety?

neutronium95 · Apr 19, 2022

If we were to offer the SolNav fleet a deal that involves sending their people, but not their warships home, would they be any more likely to take it if we allowed them to scuttle their ships instead of surrendering them to us?

I know that they're extremely unlikely to accept any sort of deal, but I feel like one should at least be offered.

Edit: I'd also be open allowing all of their unarmed ships to pass, which should cover most of the gate construction ships, as well as any fuel tenders or things of that ilk. That would probably also cut down on how many ships we'd have to devote to moving their people out of our space.

Anon500 · Apr 19, 2022

UponALotusBlosom said:
See we have no fucking clue about anything about the local fleet our humint roll was low-- we have no idea how much they hold to the idea of the Compact or the reality, how much their spacer backgrounds and belief in spacer norms weighs against their dislike of us and further and this is personally the big one; by refusing to enterain the idea of accepting a reasonable surrender negotiated by trusted factors on the ground so to speak or some sort of staged withdraw under watch by our ships we guarantee a risky fight and shoot through the head any last chance at a short-term dente that provides more comparative advantage to us than to Solnav or the Compact.

Thus we shouldn't be blinded by adherence to the they're all reactionaries bar none point of view. Instead we should be wary but there is the possibility for great benefit in at least engaging in discussion before the guns come out so that we can safely say we made the best decision rather than acting ironically as a sort of reactionary ourselves stuck in a: this can only end in violence therefor we choose violence mode of thought.

edit: Blanket branding of people as reactionaries I think is one of my greatest problems with the direction of the conversation around the fleet. It destroys the possiblity of anything but conflict, results in worse outcomes as a result, and has us infexible when our primary advantage over the larger compact is flexibility.

So, even taking the judgement of the fleet as an indictment of the sailors and their political beliefs, I'm not sure this decision works.

It isn't going to be two equally viable options. Revolution is always harder, because the assumed state of everyone who is not your explicit ally is someone who is OK with the status quo. Do any of the sailors really believe (not know) that most of the other sailors are sympathetic to the revolution and would join them if any of them refused to fight? Or is the assumption that most people are going to follow orders.

There is a lot of inertia here, which is going to push the soldiers to follow orders, even if they disagree. They may be nice. They may be sympathetic. They may even believe themselves to be fellow socialists (who think they can't act, because then they are dying uselessly). At the end of the day, it probably doesn't matter, because they are in a situation where it is sooo much easier to side with the Compact.

I'm not calling them reactionaries. But I am resigning myself to the fact that they are probably enemy combatants.

Angelform · Apr 19, 2022

Forgothrax said:
It doesn't matter how nice the local fleet officers are, they're still Charter-style corporatist assholss to some extent.

I feel it should be pointed out that the overwhelming majority of the people in the Amaranth Interstellar Commonwealth were 'corporatist assholss to some extent'. And only a vanishingly small proportion of them were active proponent of throwing off their corporate overlords prior to finding themselves ground zero for a rebellion.

The people on those ships are against us because we couldn't spare the time and effort to help them, not because they are fanatic supporters of tyranny who would never join us.

Amorous Intent · Apr 19, 2022

Fourteen Days In Sol--May 19, 2255

Parliament Bravely Declares: We Shall Not Flee–#SolNews

In a statement designed to reassure investors and the general public, the Parliament of the Compact has voted by a unanimous majority to remain in New York and secure the city against an Anarchist agitation, which… 1/13

Anarchist forces Storm Historic Prison – France 24

Anarchist forces have stormed the Ares Interstellar Corrections Alcatraz temporary holding facility in San Francisco Bay. The attack was begun with an automated vehicle bomb disguised as a schedualled supply ship which was detonated against the facility's corporate habour at around 10 AM, after which numerous anarchist commandos approached in small boats apparently fabricated for the purpose. Attempts by the facility perimeter to resist were defeated by anti-tank missile fire, and the anarchists entered the facility and began to free prisoners and loot supplies. Full damage to the building has yet to be assessed by authorities, but it is thought most of the facility's guards were killed in the assault.

Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by the so called California and Cascadia Free Communes and the infamous Voltairine de Cleyre Brigade but witnesses say it also seemingly included many local citizens angry at the heavy handed tactics used by Ares and Charter security forces against protestors since May First. Ares has yet to comment, but our correspondent Ambroise Thierry reports that heavy fighting is now spreading through the Bay district area as…

Brazil Shaken By Bandit Threat…–#SolNews

In Brazil, chaos reigns today as a masked bandit takes over the airwaves and declares that a Black Army is forming to "liberate" the people of Brazil from their own government and their "Capitalist masters". He further claims that they have thousands of soldiers already, and… 1/8

How JK OK Can Win–50%+1: Polling Analysis For Pundits

…the polling tends to turn against the incumbent during the time of a Great Black Summer, and so it is all down to timing. Can Prime Minister Roderick buck these trends to reach the point where the backlash to the violence propels the ruling party forward? There is cause to believe that OK's response, which has been carefully studied, is reaching quite a few people even as Prime Minister Roderick's "All Compact" announcement saw a significantly lower viewing population than expected. Polls have begun to close in on what is finally looking like a nail-biter of a race…

Minor Protests In Madrid– Madrid Metropolitan

In the wake of an illegal anarchist broadcast of unknown origins, minor protests over alleged government failings have spread rapidly, fanned by anarchists and other malcontents, but have not gained much traction in the face of recent government reforms which… 1/5

Anarchist activity over the Sahara?– Stars Across the Blue

Anarchist VTOLs, drones and other vehicles have been spotted in increased numbers over the last two days, no doubt partially a result of the Broadcasts leaking proprietary Ares data on weapons systems. They have been especially common in Touggourt and a joint task force of Algerian, Moroccan, and Tunisian forces along with private military contractors are gathering to put an end to the anarchist threat once and for all.

North America Black Summer Heats Up–Weapons Weekly

As the weeks old protests heat up, odd new figures or old nightmares appear, including FatBlunt, the infamous weapons' designer of the Democratic Federation who took a position with Ares where they discussed and critiqued weapons. For decades, the "FatBlunt seal of approval" was one of the highest honours a rifle or other gun could receive. But with the rising tide of protests they have now released an improved variant on an old DemFed fossil.

The FatBlunt 70-Model 69, has been sent throughout Sol through some unknown means of communication hacking which may relate to how the Anarchist Broadcast spread across all the known galaxy.

This new weapon is of course inferior to Ares products, being the result of Open Source development without the Profit Motive to drive True Innovation, but no doubt the nostalgia and anarchic will…

Solarian Marshals Miss Amaranthine Terrorists by minutes – New York Times(™) Powered By Omoikane (™)

Speaking for the Office of Criminal Investigations service this morning, Spokeswoman Ariana Kindle cut a slightly embarrassed figure. They had their Fox, almost. In a daring pre-dawn raid, the members of the Marshals Special Assault Team and their drones descended from combat VTOLs on an anarchist safe house in the Jeresy City district where Amaranthine Terrorist Theodore Santiago was staying, only to find they'd missed him by literally minutes. Six suspects and four dogs were killed in the raid.

The Marshals now believe that they have the Brazilian terrorist and his off world accomplices locked down to within a few blocks in Atlantic City. Despite ongoing protests, the Marshals have vowed to do everything they can and will not rest until this menace to society is hunted down.

Sahel Black Lions declare loyalty to Amaranthine Interstellar Commonwealth –Humanity Daily Thunderer

In a video released today, Fatima Habré, leader of the pro-augment Terrorist Group the Sahel Black Lions has today proclaimed her group's loyalty to the Amaranthine Interstellar Congress in the wake of the Broadcast.

"Our Sisters and Comrades of the Amaranthine Interstellar Commonwealth have shown us the way to a bright future where humans, Augments and even AIs can live together in harmony. With the power given to us by the Broadcast, we shall tear the hearts from Human Supremacy, and see it beat its last in our claws."

Security forces are bracing for a fresh Black Lion offensive even more lethal than the embassy bombings of 2252…

Religious extremists spread throughout South America…–Attention Atheists News Network

While the largest Black Summer to date rages across Sol, many are missing the fact that with anarchy marches religious extremism. Already rife across Earth's backwards Americas, violent religious extremism is on the march once again as it hasn't since the American Warlord Period.

While several extremist groups have been sighted in the Black Summer riots, the largest and most worrying are religious militias pledged to the service of the so-called "Black" Catholic Church.

Having split from the mainline Church in the late 21st century in anger over the mainline Church not being radical enough, the Black Catholic Church follows a radical doctrine descended from so-called "Liberation Theology"'.

Already reports are flowing out of the Orinoco Reclamation Zone and neighbouring regions of Brazil of farm-owners fleeing ahead of armed militants pledged to the Black Curch as a new Jihad is launched against those who don't…

Stocks Begin to Dip as Black Summer Spreads – #SolNews

Despite intense suppression efforts, the Black Summer spreads out of the normal anarchist zones, shaking investor confidence, especially since the so-called Broadcast implied the RBC was a front for anarchists. The emotional futures market has cratered in response to these allegations, which HI has strenuously denied...

...While most stocks have fallen by several points, a number of Ares subsidiaries have seen massive gains in value as investors anticipate substantial gains in demand for suppression equipment and expertise.

Parliament Debates Further Measures – New York Times(™) Powered By Omoikane (™)

Juan Erst Mullhouse, a spokesman for the PHRL, stated that "the anarchist crisis and the recession are the utmost priority of the Solarian Parliament," in a statement presumably designed to shore up investor confidence. He has also stated that "the bloodthirsty madmen attempting to resurrect the most nightmarish regime in history should surrender now."

Juan finished stating that "Our brave Solarian Marshals and other peacekeeping forces, and we hope that Parliament will give them all the support they need in their struggle against anti-civilization, anti-liberty, anti-human forces!"

According to further statements released by several parties in Parliament, the PHRL and their allies have taken the lead in calling for severe measures against the anarchist threat, particularly in the Saharan Reconstruction Zones and the American Reconstruction Zones.

Indonesian Independence Party welcomes Broadcast–South China Daily Worker

In a Press Release today, the Indonesian Independence Party's spokesman Joel Simargolang has declared that, "The Broadcast is a welcome weapon in the struggle for a truly independent, democratic, and socialist Indonesia." The young party has been at odds with China and Communism since its foundation in 2189, and has been accused of Anarchism in the past. It currently has one seat in the Parliament as part of the Earth List electoral alliance, but focus primarily on Solside activism, and have been called by some concerned groups of NGOs as a proto-terrorist cell whose existence threatens the safety and security of East Asia.

They have responded by denying this connection, but recent ties to Anarchist groups around Japan have been noted, with… (Subscribe to read more.)

Australian Constitutional Crisis!–Daily Gawker

In an expected move, Australia's government has fallen to another Constitutional crisis. But with its Liberal Communist Party and Labour Democratic Market Socialist Parties both unable to command a majority, the Old Warlords of the 2220s Special Period are likely to appear once more in this strange pageant of Australian Democracy.

Noted experts said that this was "Right on time" and "the least surprising thing I've heard all week."

Anarchist rebels are likely to plague all sides, but according to most expert claims, will not prove a significant obstacle owing to their lack of strong motivation and the strength of the left-wing in a country dominated by Chinese politics. Instead, watchers are paying close attention to the children of the 2220s Warlords, as well as those who are still alive and still have significant followings. See our other article rating these Warlord Children on the Five Key Factors that you should judge when uncritically supporting them in online slapfights…

China Declares Higher Stage Communism by 2300–Communist Weekly

In a bold declaration, China has nationalized the contents of the controversial Radiant Broadcast and declared that possession of it is legal as long as the program is registered, and has declared that now is the time to begin the transition through lower-stage communism and onto Higher Stage Communism by no later than 2300, beginning with an ambitious project to grant immortality to all, and… 1/10

Japanese authorities ask for Chinese assistance to hunt illegal self replicators–China Sea Times

Japanese authorities have requested Chinese assistance to hunt the suspected anarchist cell that has deployed illegal self replicating environmental cleanup devices into the Sea of Japan.

The autonomous devices, christened Polyethylene Lobsters by local authorities extract microplastic and other waste from the water as a way to self replicate, raising fears of an anarchist grey goo event in the heavily polluted waters around the troubled archipelago. Officials were quick to blame the Second Island Chain Reconstruction Alliance, a local anarchist group that preaches enviro-chauvinist socialism and possesses many agents throughout the area of the First and Second Island Chain.

"Troop Deployments Are Being Prepared," source reports – #SolNews

A widely publicised leaked internal documents reports that Ares Combat Solutions, in conjunction with various Solarian peacekeeping forces, are preparing mass interventions in a number of "hotspots", including the Bay area of Pacific City, the Chicago section of Atlantic City, the Chiapas Reconstruction Zone, in and around Chile, the Sahara and the Sahel. Notably, several of these locations are in national territory, but this document states, "The nations of Sol have shown themselves unwilling to contain anarchism, so we will clean up their mess."

The sentiment expressed in the report has been given applause in Parliament, and Charter and Solarian spokespersons have spoken in favour of it, although they have stopped short of actually confirming the statement. It is clear that the anarchist rebels throughout the globe are about to be crushed, but at great cost to property and national sovereignty.

Kirook · Apr 19, 2022

"My 'The Solarian Parliament will not flee from the anarchist forces storming the capital' shirt is raising a lot of questions already answered by the shirt."

Artificial Girl · Apr 19, 2022

Is China really embracing the old dream, or just taking advantage of the chaos...

Twei · Apr 19, 2022

Amorous Intent said:
While the largest Black Summer to date rages across Sol, many are missing the fact that with anarchy marches religious extremism. Already rife across Earth's backwards Americas, violent religious extremism is on the march once again as it hasn't since the American Warlord Period.

While several extremist groups have been sighted in the Black Summer riots, the largest and most worrying are religious militias pledged to the service of the so-called "Black" Catholic Church.

Having split from the mainline Church in the late 21st century in anger over the mainline Church not being radical enough, the Black Catholic Church follows a radical doctrine descended from so-called "Liberation Theology"'.

Already reports are flowing out of the Orinoco Reclamation Zone and neighbouring regions of Brazil of farm-owners fleeing ahead of armed militants pledged to the Black Curch as a new Jihad is launched against those who don't…

The absolute mashup of religious imagery: Liberation theology (but black, both politically and racially I should imagine), but also Jihad

But also, atheists decrying the notoriously religious anarchists is just perfect

Amorous Intent said:
In an expected move, Australia's government has fallen to another Constitutional crisis. But with its Liberal Communist Party and Labour Democratic Market Socialist Parties both unable to command a majority, the Old Warlords of the 2220s Special Period are likely to appear once more in this strange pageant of Australian Democracy.

This is just taking cursed Australian political party names and turning it up to 11

Amorous Intent said:
In a bold declaration, China has nationalized the contents of the controversial Radiant Broadcast and declared that possession of it is legal as long as the program is registered, and has declared that now is the time to begin the transition through lower-stage communism and onto Higher Stage Communism by no later than 2300, beginning with an ambitious project to grant immortality to all, and… 1/10

Politics in basically the entire eastern hemisphere is fiendishly complicated, isn't it? I'm sure we've had some information on it, but I can't recall it off the top of my head.

What does Communism even mean at this point???

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

Been Better

Some kinda Commie

Very tired girl.

Not Going Gently

Aspiring Gynoid

(She/Her)

Not Going Gently

Mad Rocketeer

Love the future

Fourteen Days In Sol--May 19, 2255

Kobold Librarian

I have a face!