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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Cyanblackstone · Jan 26, 2021

Hannz said:
I'm surprised we never shot the H-I frigates, I thought we had enough firepower to down two frigates. Were we out of range? Didn't want to risk H-I opening up on the defense platform if we missed?

Either way, we'll probably find out in the AAR soon enough.

Most fighting is done at extremely close range compared to the distances involved in a solar system. Firstly, because warp drives are a bad idea to have on when weapons start opening up, as damage to a powered drive can do... very nasty things.

Secondly, because at a given point, you're using impractical amounts of energy to throw missiles, projectiles, or lasers at a distance where the enemy has plenty of time to dodge. Even light-speed weapons don't mean much when there's a several-minute window between you firing, and actually hitting your target, given that even miniscule changes in acceleration will cause you to miss, and ships routinely add tiny jinks to their course when within theoretical weapons range to prevent just that kind of long-odds shot from connecting. You need to get close enough that your lasers will still hit, and that your missiles and course-correcting thrusters on your ship and kinetic projectiles have the reaction mass to track your target.

Also, in a world where ships are expensive, it's become common practice to attempt to board ships if possible, as a small squad of internal attackers can rapidly disable a ship compared to a full complement of an opposing ship, and can even possibly take over the ship once combat is over to add to your own fleet without having to pay for a new-build. So most also want to get close enough that assault shuttles and their escorting fighter complement are relevant.

EDIT: Also, I forgot to mention, but with lasers especially hitting a target doesn't mean damaging them, especially at extreme ranges. Past 1 Mm or so, you'd have to keep even a spinal capital laser on the same spot on an enemy ship for several seconds to do anything more than scorch the paint. Which is nigh-impossible given the natural vibrations of machinery and people on your ship imparting nanoscopic jiggles to your focusing lenses, which translates into large swings at long range.

Adnate · Jan 26, 2021

What is an AAR?

AKuz · Jan 26, 2021

Adnate said:
What is an AAR?

an "After Action Report" though the one you're getting is an informal interview because it's more fun to write >: V

Gladsome · Jan 26, 2021

We absolutely need to acquire intel about what lies beyond our borders somehow. Getting an idea of the layout of the wider systems around us and how they connect to the wider territories of the Charters could be critical.

If we're going to bolster our growing rebellion and limit any Charter responses, finding out the locations of things like critical choke points, refueling depots, shipyards, refineries, factories and other systems that could be experiencing unrest are going to be very important.

Finding a way to cause mayhem behind enemy lines and harry enemy supply lines will make it easier to fight the enemy directly when we have to.

Plus, knowing our enemies' home turf and having the capacity to see what's happening beyond our immediate surroundings would help us see future incursions coming before they hit us.

Of course, there's always other things that require attention. Now that we're at war, we need to be very careful in the upcoming turns about what we choose to prioritise.

Summary: Information is victory because it lets us know where our enemies' weak spots are. Also I'm panicking because the war's just started and there's so much we ideally should do and not nearly enough time or resources to do them without prioritising some over others. You've done this to me QMs. You're going to give me anxiety and it's amazing.

Godwinson · Jan 26, 2021

The sheer level of active information-suppression needed for us to be this blind as to the 'geography' of settled space is more than a little boggling, and implies that they have some serious reasons to quash it.

nocarename · Jan 26, 2021

Godwinson said:
The sheer level of active information-suppression needed for us to be this blind as to the 'geography' of settled space is more than a little boggling, and implies that they have some serious reasons to quash it.

There was a lot of propaganda involved in colonial ventures. One of the big propaganda pushes involved with the colonization of the Americas was that the idea that 'Going Native' was bad, or from another perspective, listening to the locals and actually following instructions about viable ways to survive and not trying to grow crops where they weren't viable or building permanent buildings on a flood plain and especially anything like joining into the local power structures in any meaningful way or form was a great big no-no.

So.

This kind of information control is exactly what I would expect to see if it is actually fairly easy to just leave and build your own colony if you aren't hobbled by DRM and FRM. You don't want to leave a map with anyone who might get ambitious and be willing to look at some exponential growth projections in a considering sort of way, for exactly the same reason that if you're GMing a game you don't give hitpoints or a wound track to any NPC the players shouldn't be able to kill - you don't give anyone any idea of actually how big the opposition is or might be if there is any chance it can be hurt or someone will find a way.

And in universe you don't tell Sol how many systems it takes to support them either - if the number is too small, they won't worry about ones breaking off and if it is too big, they will demand oversight and faster expansion and that could cause issues with your stock options. Bad all around, best not to risk it.

Krall · Jan 27, 2021

On the matter of finding out the local system geography, I believe couriers generally know and learn their local routes - maybe if we infiltrate the MSI system nearby there might be some couriers willing to give us what they know about the local area (either by joining the revolution, or in exchange for a bribe)?

AKuz · Jan 29, 2021

[X] [WHO?] Accept Delegates from whoever comes to Elysium
[X] [ALLY] Joint Industrial Policy
-[X] [IndComm] Veteran's Colony Program (5 BR, 3E)
-[X] [IndComm] Build network infrastructure across Sheol (5 SR, 9 E)
-[X] [SciComm] Bypass Charter Fabricator Rights Management for Ares (3 SR, 3 E)
-[X] [MilComm] Repair Choreographer (30 BR, 20 SR, 6 E)
-[X] [MilComm] Integrate Rousseau's 'Rousseau's Errant Squadron' into the Radiant Space Patrol (2 BR, 2 E)
-[X] [SocComm] Integration Initiatives x2 (2 BRx2, 1Ex2)
-[X] [MedComm] Insert Assets into Fliveons (1 SR)
-[X] [MedComm] Insert Assets into Thoa (1 SR)

[IndComm] Veteran's Colony Program, 3+2= 5/150
[IndComm] Build network infrastructure across Sheol, 10+2=12/20
[SciComm] Bypass Charter Fabricator Rights Management for Ares 9+2=11/Autopass
[MilComm] Repair Choreographer 18+2=20/Autopass
[MilComm] Integrate Rousseau's 'Rousseau's Errant Squadron' into the Radiant Space Patrol 11+2=13/20, 11/150
[SocComm] Integration Initiatives x2 20+5+3=28, 39/150
[MedComm] Insert Assets into Fliveons 17+12=29/30
[MedComm] Insert Assets into Thoa 1+12=13/35

Total cost: 39BR, 30SR, 25E

-

FLASH ALERT from Gabriel Wright, Local Agent-In-Charge of Media Committee, Thoa Investigatory Project

[2252/9/12 01:16]

Just observed two HI frigates and some kind of auxiliary entering via Thoa's far gate. The two frigates are moving like bats out of hell on a direct line course with the Thoa-Gaid gate. They're flashing some kind of message back and forth with Ugly Duckling, as that warp auxiliary is putting herself on a course to 3a.

I don't like this. I'm putting my people to ground. I'll wait to cut and run home when it wont look suspicious.

Details attached.

-

FLASH ALERT from Gabriel Wright, Local Agent-In-Charge of Media Committee, Thoa Investigatory Project

[2252/9/12 01:55]

The local system exec is ordering a system wide lockdown and Onsider is being ordered to prepare for boarding. Ugly Duckling is returning to this fucking platform and the base itself has locked their defence platforms on us.

I'm standing Onsider down and surrendering. Goatspeed Radiant.

-

FLASH ORDERS from ALL-RADIANT CONGRESS MILITARY COMMITTEE

All Congressional Space Patrol Units, CODE SCRAMBLE

This is not a drill.

All Congressional Space Patrol Units, CODE SCRAMBLE

This is not a drill.

Operational command of HOME FORCE is delegated to Gregory Mansur, Coordinator of Space Operations aboard CFSF Choreographer for the duration of CODE SCRAMBLE.

-

FLASH ALERT from Captain Stephanie Rousseau, CO 'Rousseau's Errant Squadron'

[2252/9/12 11:15]

I have received word of the Charter force approaching, I am taking my squadron into Gaid to bar the door against entry.

-

FLASH ALERT from Vinnie Ngo, Gaid Search and Rescue Coordinator

[2252/9/22 16:40]

Hermes' Grace and Hermes' Will have transited from Thoa. I have already issued the secure in place order.

-

FLASH ALERT from Vinnie Ngo, Gaid Search and Rescue Coordinator

[2252/9/22 16:55]

Hermes' Grace and Hermes' Will are station keeping with the Thoa-Gaid KC gate.

-

Message from Hermes' Will, relayed by Vinnie Ngo, Gaid Search and Rescue Coordinator

[2252/9/22 16:59]

This is Mark Charleston to all persons current in Gaid.

This system is Hermes-Ishtar Corporate property. Your operations are in violation of the Solarian Compact Act of 2055, revision of 2112, and you are trespassing on private property. Stand down now and prepare to be detained.

If you do not comply with these instructions within one hour, under the revision of 2112 you forfeit your Compact right to an open trial.

Any attempt to flee the system or engage in hostilities against Hermes-Ishtar corporation property or personnel will be met with lethal force.

You have one hour upon receipt of this message to comply.

Detailed and specific instructions will be transmitted shortly to each pirate craft and installation in this system.

-

FLASH ALERT from Vinnie Ngo, Gaid Search and Rescue Coordinator

[2252/9/22 17:58]

Hermes' Grace and Hermes' Will are moving. Looks like they're headed towards Gaid A-4a.

Fuck.

Shit, ...Garry, fuck.

We might not be able to lift everyone off, but we can sure as fuck do what we can to get as many people off as we can and back to their families on Radiant.

-

Report from Vinnie Ngo, Gaid Search and Rescue Coordinator

[2252/9/22 19:01]

We have the beginnings of a plan, on the current course those frigates are going to reach A-4a before Capybara can reach them from over here at the Gaid-Radiant KC gate and start pulling people off.

But we also have Gaid Plodder too, coming in from A-3. The orbital mechanics don't look good, but I think we have one chance to Kirklin mine the frigates' course. They'll have to maneuver around or die.

If we can pull this off I think we can pull most of that platform's crew off before those frigates arrive.

-

Transmission from Shieldmaiden to the General Session of the All-Radiant Congress

[2252/9/23 04:47]

Shieldmaiden has transited to Gaid unescourted, if at all possible we will try to prevent any loss of life.

-

Transmission from RES Shieldmaiden to Hermes' Will, relayed by Gaid KC gate command

[2252/9/23 04:47]

Message to hostile Frigates menacing the free people of Gaid:

I am Captain Rousseau of Shieldmaiden, vacate this system and cease your attempts to harass the peoples of the All Radiant Congress. If you return immediately whence you came, I will threaten you no further.

-

Message from Hermes' Will to Shieldmaiden, relayed by Gaid KC gate command

[2252/9/24 03:30] [2252/9/24 19:00]

I don't know what game you're trying to play Shieldmaiden, or who you think you're fooling with those false colours, but if you refuse to stand aside and let us execute our legal and moral right to the defence of our property we will not hesitate to move to an assertive defensive stance.

-

Transmission from Shieldmaiden to Hermes' Will, relayed by Gaid KC gate command

[2252/9/24 14:50] [2252/9/24 20:20]

Captain Rousseau to Captain Charleston, the colours we fly are our own, for Shieldmaiden is a free ship acting in the defence of the democratically legitimized All-Radiant Congress.

Again, if you depart without persisting in your hostile intent on the people of Gaid, I will not pursue your ships.

However, if you do not comply by the time Shieldmaiden's weapons' solutions overlap your ships, I will strike you down without hesitation.

And if you harm even a single hair on the head of a single person of Gaid I will pursue until the heat death of the universe, Captain Charleston

-

Message to All-Radiant General Congress from Home Force CO Gregory Mansur

[2252/9/25 00:15] [2252/9/25 05:45]

HOME FORCE has transited to GAID

Operational Battlespace appears to be GAID A

[Detailed system map along with navigational details cut for bandwidth]

HOME FORCE Order of Battle:

HF 1.1:
CFSF CHOREOGRAPHER with full tender complement:
-RES MIDWAY
-RES ACTIUM
-RES LAKE CHAMPLAIN
-CSFS VALIANT
-CSFS DEFIANT
-CSFS RELIANT

Converted Courier-Corvettes:
CSFS LIBERTE
CSFS EGALITE

Following message will be broadcast to Hermes-Ishtar Paramilitary craft Hermes' Grace and Hermes' Will:

Message to Hermes' Will and Hermes' Grace:

In my capacity as a representative of the General Congress of the All-Radiant Congress I request and demand that you immediately depart the Gaid system peaceably.

This space is under the sovereign control of the All Radiant Congress as ratified by the democratically assembled delegates of the Radiant and Gaid inhabitants as of the April 2251 General Session of the All-Radiant Congress.

The All-Radiant Congress' General Assembly officially requests that no armed craft operated by Hermes-Ishtar enter into space administered and inhabited by the All-Radiant Congress and her people.

While we maintain the Solarian Compact promulgated right for freedom of travel for peaceful purposes, we reject any assertion of any Interstellar Charter or Solarian Compact body to authority over the Gaid, Radiant, or Shei systems.

This message will repeat until your confirmation of receipt of this declaration.

[Message is then followed via full documentation of Radiant's Declaration of Independence and the Manifesto of the Organic Composition of the All Radiant Congress, along with a formal request for diplomatic recognition by the Hermes-Ishtar Corporation]

If Hermes-Ishtar Force refuses to vacate the GAID system, HF 1.1 will assist RES SHIELDMAIDEN in the use of force in ejecting said Force.

-

Message from Hermes' Will to CSFS Choreographer, relayed by Gaid KC gate command

[2252/9/25 16:11] [2252/9/25 21:41]

What the fuck is this game Choreographer??

Stand the fuck down, or The Company will fucking destroy you.

Your acts of Piracy will render you Hostis Humani Generis. We will destroy you.

-

Message from RFS Plodder to Capybara, relayed by Vinnie Ngo, Gaid Search and Rescue Coordinator

[2252/9/26 20:27] [2252/9/27 06:42]

That's got it, I think.

Vinnie, we've completed our drop. They're going to have to burn maneuver to avoid that shotgun of bricks.

We're going to burn to try to get behind Shieldmaiden before one of those Frigates decides to kill us.

-

Message from Vinnie Ngo, Gaid S&R Coordinator, RFS Capybara

[2252/9/27 04:14] [2252/9/27 14:39]

They're not stopping, they've just diverted their course.

But Capybara should now have most of a day to refuel and evacuate A-4a's people before the Frigate's arrive… unless they don't turn to do a decel and just fire as they race past.

I hope Charleston's desire to arrest us is genuine and stronger than his bloodlust.

-

Message from Vinnie Ngo, Gaid S&R Coordinator, RFS Capybara, relayed via CSFS Choreographer

[2252/9/28 06:40] [2252/9/28 17:40]

Capybara's arrived at A-4a and there's simply not enough room. We're built to rescue a hundred people comfortably, and two hundred at a stretch… we can stretch our life support systems and get another hundred off A-4a after that, but then we've got too much mass to burn outta here fast enough.

This is always so much more heroic in the movies.

-

Message from Vinnie Ngo, Gaid S&R Coordinator, RFS Capybara

[2252/9/28 18:24] [2252/9/29 05:24]

Capybara now has three hundred and six innocent souls aboard. We dumped as much mass as we could; we'll be coasting an awful lot and hoping Mansur has someone in Radiant to catch us.

Nine members of my crew volunteered to stay behind to get some more people out, but we still have a total of two hundred and twenty people left behind on the A-4a platforms.

God, I hope HI is in a vindictive mood rather than a bloodyminded one.

We're going to boost out now at our maximum capacity and try to skirt behind Shieldmaiden's course to dissuade Will and Grace from following us.

-

FLASH ALERT from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

[2252/9/29 04:03] [2252/9/29 14:28]

Both Frigates have slowed to come into orbit of Gaid A-4a, and appear to be rapidly deploying assault shuttles.

We briefly received a distress Transmission from Gaid A-4a platform received, but it was cut off after we received the following:

Audio Channel said:
"-you will be detained until such time as Hermes-Ishtar Security Forces are able to bring you before a fully bonded and Solarian Compact certified judge and tried for whatever violations of property law you may have committed.

Do not attempt to resist as our Security Professionals are authorized to use lethal-"

We have transmitted the following to R-SOC Charleston:

Captain Stephanie Rousseau said:
I am giving you one last chance to stand down and leave those people in peace and depart.

-

[2252/9/29 10:33] [2252/9/29 20:58]

FLASH ALERT from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

All Hermes-Ishtar shuttles are now recalled to their ships and the A-4a platform has been destroyed.

-

Message from Shieldmaiden to Hermes' Will, relayed by Gaid-Radiant KC gate command

So be it Charleston.

You have chosen the blade.

You had best hope the small gods smile on your depravity

-

[2252/9/29 15:18] [2252/9/30 01:55]

FLASH ALERT from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

Likely to catch Hermes' Will and Hermes' Grace in-system.

Will be pursuing them towards the Gaid-Thoa KC gate to demand release of all prisoners and the surrender of R-SOC Charleston and his men into All-Radiant Congress custody for acts of piracy.

-

FLASH ALERT from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

[2252/10/05 02:34] [2252/10/05 18:41]

Unable to catch Hermes-Ishtar ships before they transit the Gaid-Thoa KC gate.

Hermes' Will and Hermes' Grace have launched a spread of Kirklin mines as we began overtaking them in this long stern chase.

I am pursuing these ships into Thoa, they will not escape me.

-

Message from CSO Mansur, Choreographer to All-Radiant Congress, Military Committee

[2252/10/05 08:45] [2252/10/06 00:45]

I can't convince Captain Rousseau not to chase Will and Grace into Thoa.

We have no idea what the situation is, or if the frigates will have the presence of mind to set up an effective ambush. We simply do not understand the situation.

I understand her anger, share it even, but I do not believe that the Congress can afford to committee our vessels to such a risky endeavour without preparation.

Unfortunately, as Rousseau and her squadron are not fully integrated into our chain of command she feels free to dismiss my instructions as advice and is now pursuing her recently acquired madcap vendetta.

I believe that I have no choice but to order Home Force into Thoa to support her because we cannot risk losing Shieldmaiden.

-

Message from CSO Mansur, Choreographer to ARC Defence Coordinator Awhina

Please Maria, we need to finish the integration and get our loose cannon under control.

At the moment while Stephanie is... intermittently receptive to my orders, I am not yet her "Commanding Admiral", so she feels free to do whatever damn fool thing she pleases when playacting as a revolutionary white knight.

-

FLASH ALERT from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

[2252/10/05 16:45] [2252/10/06 09:07]

Hermes' Will and Hermes' Grace have transited the Gaid-Thoa KC gate. Continuing pursuit.

-

FLASH ALERT from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

[2252/10/06 04:23] [2252/10/06 20:53]

We have transited the Gaid-Thoa KC gate.

Hermes' Will and Hermes' Grace are currently on course to rendezvous with the 3a facility and Ugly Duckling.

There also appears to be a modified Legio class logistics ship at 3a as well as Onsider.

I will again request that R-SOC Charleston stand down and return the people he absconded with.

-

FLASH ALERT from CSO Mansur, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

[2252/10/06 04:23] [2252/10/06 20:53]

HOME FORCE has transited to THOA

Operational Battlespace appears to be THOA

[Detailed system map along with navigational details cut for bandwidth]

HOME FORCE Order of Battle:

HF 1.1:
Light Tender:
CFSF CHOREOGRAPHER with full corvette complement:
-RES MIDWAY
-RES ACTIUM
-RES LAKE CHAMPLAIN
-CSFS VALIANT
-CSFS DEFIANT
-CSFS RELIANT

Converted Courier-Corvettes:
CSFS LIBERTE
CSFS EGALITE

ERRANT SQUADRON FORCE order of battle:
Cruiser:
RES Shieldmaiden

I plan to request that Regional Security Operations Chief Charleston hand over his hostages, and then support Captain Rousseau if she engages hostile forces.

I have, however, barely managed to convince Rousseau not to pursue the Hermes-Ishtar forces past the unknown far KC gate and settle for using Thoa for defence in depth.

-

FLASH ALERT from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

[2252/10/11 12:34] [2252/10/12 08:22]

Onsider appears to have self destructed near 3a. Current status of MedComm team unknown.

Unidentified Hermes-Ishtar Warp Tender has departed 3a headed towards the far KC gate.

-

Message from RES Shieldmaiden to Craft provisionally ID'd as "Ugly Duckling", relayed by Thoa-Gaid KC gate command

[2252/10/12 12:17] [2252/10/13 09:02]

Hermes-Ishtar ship, you have committed no crimes against the All-Radiant Congress, but if you persist in defending the Charter rapscallions that rule this system I cannot guarantee that you will survive the battle with my beloved Shieldmaiden.

Surrender!

Before it is too late!

-

Message from Craft provisionally ID'd as "Ugly Duckling" to RES Shieldmaiden, relayed by Thoa-Gaid KC gate command

[2252/10/12 22:01] [2252/10/13 20:01]

Yeah, uh, this is Officer Beaumont, we're not paid anywhere near enough to die for this shit.

We're wiping our computer cores and standing down.

Please don't kill us.

-

FLASH ALERT from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

[2252/10/13 04:50] [2252/10/14 02:50]

I am pleased to report that Thoa 3a is ours. The asteroid base is completely empty and it appears that the Hermes-Ishtar tender pulled everything off that they could and jettisoned the rest into space.

There is no indication that our people were killed when Onsider was scuttled. We believe that Wright and his MedComm team were taken aboard the ship before she departed.

They will pay.

I have told them as much.

-

Message from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

[2252/10/15 11:19] [2252/10/16 09:19]

We've identified the warp support ship as the Hermes-Ishtar Auxiliary Alphabet Kitchen, and she has finally linked up with Hermes' Will and Hermes' Grace on their arcs towards the far KC gate.

-

FLASH ALERT from RES Shieldmaiden, to General Session of the All-Radiant Congress:

[2252/10/17 16:00] [2252/10/18 14:00]

Hermes-Ishtar Force has fled Thoa, we are now in possession of the system.

"Ugly Duckling" is now under our control as well, and we have a number of HI POWs aboard her to interrogate.

-

Maria Awhina gingerly pulls herself through the open frame leading to Choreographer's flag office and gently launches herself towards a sextet of chairs surrounding a table.

She manages to not utterly make a fool of herself as she grabs the nearest chair, gripping it with white knuckles as she maneuvers her body into the seat and secures herself in place with a safety harness.

After securing herself in place, the All-Radiant Congress' Defence Coordinator takes a moment to cover her eyes and steady herself, willing her stomach into settling down with little success.

Instead of her stomach, Maria tries to focus her senses on the omnipresent hum of spacecraft life support and the distinctive sterile taste of shipboard air that she hated second only to the acrid air of the decayed and dilapidated American metropolis she'd grown up in.

She looks up in time to see Rousseau gracefully sailing around the edge of the room and launching herself towards a chair, securing her harness in the same movement she uses to settle her body into the chair.

To her right, Gregory Mansur and Erina Kozlova have settled into their own seats, Mansur adjusting the jaunt on the peaked cap he'd been using for forty years and Erian attaching computer tablets in front of herself and Maria with a smart adhesive.

Kozlova leans over, "Nausea again, ma'am?" she says, quietly sliding her boss a little pink pill popped out of a pill caddy.

Awhina breaths in and breathes out. "Yeah." She shifts to try to make the chair harness sit more comfortably against her stomach. "They could mod us until pain was a 'signpost on the way to victory' but they couldn't fix my nausea," she says as she chews and swallows the little pink tab, with a grimace of disgust.

Hoping that the medicine takes hold soon, Awhina tries to straighten up in the weightless environment and taps a button on her tablet, "ARC Defence Coordinator Maria Awhina speaking, my Chief of Staff Erina Kozlova, ARC Chief of Space Operations Gregory Mansur, and Captain Stephanie Rousseau are also present with me. In the interests of transparency, this meeting will be recorded and submitted to Congressional Archives, is that alright with those present?"

A pair of 'Yes's' and a 'Yes, Ma'am' follow and Awhina nods her head appreciatively.

"We are currently aboard CSFS Choreographer in patrol in the Gaid system, near the Gaid-Radiant KC gate, myself and Chief of Staff Kozlova having travelled here aboard the courier CSFS Beige Smear once it was deemed safe to do so.

"This meeting is just an information gathering session before a formal after action report is made, regarding the engagement with Hermes-Ishtar paramilitary forces that entered Gaid, abducted over a hundred of the ARC's citizens, destroyed the Gaid A-4a energy production facility, and evaded the attempts by Home Force and Rousseau's Squadron to retrieve our people.

Awhina looks down at her tablet and swipes to a list of questions, "I think the main thing the General Congress is interested in that, you, Captain Rousseau," she looks up and the former Ares woman nods, "sent us a message saying that you had calculated that you'd overtake Hermes' Will and Hermes' Grace in Gaid, then were completely unable to catch up with them."

Rousseau's green eyes flare in annoyance, "With all due respect ma'am, we made that assessment before those bastards put mines in our path and my ship had to cut momentum lest we be damaged or destroyed."

"Gaid Plodder used a similar tactic earlier and the Frigates didn't lose the same amount of time that you did."

Mansur leans forward and holds a hand out placatingly and looks at his fellow Spacer, "If I may, Captain," Rousseau nods, "Plodder, while well intentioned, erred with their mines; they released them too soon. Properly deployed Kirklin mines, which are essentially a deployment of objects that will use a craft's own hypervelocity speed to damage themselves, will force your target to have to cut their warp drive to avoid having their own drive destroy them when their courses converge."

Kozlova nods in understanding, "That makes sense ma'am. Will and Grace didn't have to cut their power and merely made minor course corrections, Shieldmaiden and Choreographer had to cut speed and recalculate, losing them in Gaid. Plodder tried, but they're an S & R ship, it's the literal exact opposite of their jobs, and they did the best they could."

"Essentially," Rousseau bites out, "My intention was to continue the pursuit to Thoa and catch the frigates when they had to stop to refuel, to run them down like an endurance hunter on the savannah."

"However, there was the issue of that logistics auxiliary at 3a," Mansur says. "Instead of stopping for a full refuel, they merely had to fuel up enough to intercept the logistics craft to refuel on the fly. They were gone before we even reached the gate."

"I still followed them up to the KC Gate." Rousseau glowers. "If that ship wasn't present I would still have followed Charleston through the gate, damn the consequences."

"Stephanie," Mansur starts, this clearly being an old argument, probably one as old as the incident itself, "Ugly Duckling dumped her computer cores and her crew had very little idea what's further up the chain except the daughter colonies a dozen gates away. We have no idea what's on the other side of that except that it isn't under Hermes-Ishtar control. The risk of pursuit was too great."

"If there was a chance of running that bastard down, I would have taken that risk. Shieldmaiden is still my ship, and her crew and I are of one mind on these matters."

Apparently a very well worn argument, because both Spacers seem to step back before launching into another round, the sterile spacecraft air seeming to cool between the two even further.

Kolova looks up from studying her tablet, and nods at Awhina, "The math checks out, ma'am."

She waves her screen over onto Awhina's tablet, placing her fingers on the screen and drawing lines across both screens, "You can see here where Captain Rousseau cuts speed after Will and Grace launch their mines. Could have been done better-"

Rousseau glares.

"-could have been done a lot worse. Annnd, if the frigates had been forced to stop to refuel on the other side of Gaid-Thoa gate or the Thoa-mystery gate Shieldmaiden could have caught them with a full-out burn."

Mansur nods, "That's why we cut down our own refuel time at Gaid-Thoa to as little as possible."

"I fervently believe that if they'd been forced to refuel beyond that far Thoa gate, I could have caught them at station and liberated our people."

"Buuut, with that tanker they could go at least another system or two where you would have no ability to refuel, even had there been nothing between you and them." Kozlova draws some question marks and a quick sketch of possible system layouts beyond Thoa.

"I wanted to wrap my hands around Charleston's neck and shake him until he blacked out," Rousseau fumes. "He's probably going to get promoted for this."

"What?" Kozlova blinks.

"That seems likely," Awhina nods, "depending on who his patrons are, or if he's just good at playing the game."

"He probably will; he gambled exactly as much as he needed to gain something from the situation." Mansur tilts his head back slightly, in thought. "So he kept his ships, gathered prisoners, and will sell Onsider's and the Gaid A-4a platform's destruction for the loss of Ugly Duckling and Thoa-3a. That's easy to sell as adapting quickly in a changing and hostile environment, and depending how much they can get from Wright and his team, they could know basically everything we're up to."

"They will get everything from Wright," says Awhina darkly. "Torture isn't the right word for it, but w-th-specialists have ways to turn someone inside out and upside down."

Awhina swipes back to her list. "Alright, if you knew you couldn't catch them in Thoa, then why didn't you tell us?"

Rousseau looks down guiltily at her hands gripping her chair's armrests, and Mansur looks mildly embarrassed, face reddening slightly, "It slipped my mind; I assumed our actions would be fairly obvious."

Awhina gives Mansur a slightly reproachful look. "CSO Mansur, Gregory, you know I have trouble not vomiting on a ship, and only twenty percent of MilComm are spacers, much less the General Congress."

"It occurs to me now, yeah."

"I trusted that it did have something to do with the refueling, because I trust that you know what you're doing... Buuuut."

"It's all in our full combat reports, and the daily nav logs."

"Yes, but you're going to give half the General Congress a heart attack if you keep leaving out things that feel 'obvious'." Awhina turns to look at Rousseau, who seems to have tamped her shame back down to whatever deep emotional hole she also keeps her common sense locked up in. "This goes for you too, Captain, I will admit that I don't always know exactly what you're doing, so I would appreciate you keeping me in the loop more, so I can figure this out for myself more often."

A subdued "Yes, ma'am." cuts through Choreographer's resting background humm.

"There's a few more things I want to touch base on." Awhina looks at her datapad again, the movement of her hands and body causing her to rise up into her chair's restraints. "Apparently Ugly Duckling's crew SHOT their officers?"

"They got paid for it," says Mansur, almost apologetically, grimacing.

"Sorry, what? We didn-"

Mansur purses his lips disapprovingly and sucks air in through his teeth before continuing. "No, them, uhm, instead of a hazard bonus or remote pay, their officers got legitimately good life insurance policies that paid out actual SolCoins, to ensure that they wouldn't be reluctant to risk their lives. They prefer family men and women to stick out in the empty systems for that reason."

Kozlova frowns, brow furring over her violet eyes in confusion, "But this 'Officer Beaumont' decided to forgo his policy?"

Rousseau snorts, bright blue eyes alight with contempt. "No, the people here were subcontractors for High Guard, an independent Private Security firm. All the enlisted are 'Security Officers' and the officer officers are 'Security Managers'. Because they come from a Private Security background, not a military one."

"Yeah, SPs are the lowest of the low, Ares," Awhina nods at Rousseau, "have that whole 'warrior military tradition' thing going on and come at a premium. Then you have the in-house people like the Spec Ops Group that I was with or Charleston's frigates who are better paid, trained, and equipped. Then you have your entry level private decurity firms which pay slightly better than regular spacing, but don't have the lifetime commitment to the Ares way of life."

"There's also MSI."

"Well, yes, Mississippi does everything in house because they do everything in house." Awhina grimaces. "And that's when the Charters simply can't convince the Compact Navy to hit their problems for them."

"I suspect that Aitch Eye considers the craft a greater material loss than the crew," says Mansur coldly.

"Almost certainly, if Earth's teeming billions are good for anything," Awhina says with a sarcastic lilt, "It's more cheap bodies." She sighs and looks down at her tablet, "Alright, we're almost done, but apparently that mystery gate leads to a pirate enclave?" She shakes her head. "Are we certain about that? I always thought that pirates were a cover for when w -for Charter skulduggery."

Rousseau shakes her head, "No, they're real enough; when I was a Midshipwoman aboard Lexington we cleared out a few orbitals on a system out in the trailing segments." she looks down at her hands again, "Though I… pirates is a grandiose term for the barely armed work ships we blew away."

Mansur looks away for a moment, eyes defocusing awkwardly, the clear sign of an older contact AR setup. "From what we can pull from Ugly Duckling's -incidentally, Aitch Eye didn't give her a name- crew, a couple decades back in the 2210s a ship full of Rhodes colonists en route from Crucible to Fliveons on an MSI ship goes missing during the Sixth Frontier War." Mansur's eyes refocus on the table. "I actually remember the loss; HI had the Space Patrol sweep Radiant and Gaid as a favour to Rhodes."

Maria tilts her head to the side, considering, then snaps her fingers and points at Mansur, "Shit, I think I remember that too, that was a, uhh, an Omoikane op to make MSI look bad. Or that's what we ended up deciding on."

Mansur shrugs, attention not on the table, "Whatever the case, Signia is a dead end system, with nothing to recommend it, except ships with some of the same people as that missing colony transport will sometimes pop out of the Thoa-Signia wormhole and try to snatch the cargos of passing ships."

Kolova frowns, "Why not just clear them out?" she shakes her head disbelievingly, "I can't imagine that any of the Charters would just allow-"

Rousseau tsks condescendingly, interrupting the much smaller woman, "Most assuredly, Ms. Kozlova, it would be too great an expense for our illustrious overlords. I submit to you that the operating costs for going in to clear out Signia would clear this segment's yearly operating budget by a great deal, but stationing the smallest possible High Guard garrison here is much less expensive and opens up opportunities for 'kickbacks'," says the red-haired military woman disdainfully.

"If you knew the games that Yang would play with the Space Patrol's budget…" adds Mansur mournfully. He looks over at Awhina, "You know they'll be back, right?"

Awhina nods and straightens up perceptibly, causing the other three individuals to straighten out in their chairs in response, "I think that's it for now, and Ms. Kozlova and I will be looking over your ships' and officers' logs, but right know I believe that I will be telling the the General Congress that you both did the best that you could have done in a rapidly changing environment and that we should prepare for further hostilities from Hermes-Ishtar."

-

Journal Entry of M Chakrabarti, Congressional Delegate:
October 20th, 2252, Sunny

HI's response begins to fall upon us.

A hundred of our people were abducted by Hermes-Ishtar and one of our orbital energy collection platforms destroyed.

The people are clamouring for action, the great wave of confident optimism that overwhelmed us with the Liberation of Shei has worn off. Not even the de facto conquest of the Thoa system has distracted the populace from their fear and anger.

I think it's the uncertainty of the extent of HI's reaction that is the most dangerous, there is a popular faction that is wildly overconfident, and another that already says that our entire endeavour was a fool's errand and that we should surrender before it's too late.

I'm just going to keep calling for putting one foot in front of the other and doing what we can to weather the storm.

-

INDUSTRIAL COMMITTEE

-

Veteran's Colony Program

"Our ambitions were well beyond our grasp. We can build just about anything we can design. And we can design just about anything we can imagine.

"But now imagine trying to do that with tens of thousands of immigrants who don't actually know what you're talking about. Who are still in a scarcity mindset, or think that you're talking about barracks amenities. Or just aren't taking things seriously.

"Like, I uh, like, I don't think anyone actually wants a solid gold toilet. We could do it, but that's not, not what we're talking about.

"I think we left the prompt way too open; we were expecting creative types who do this sort of thing for fun, not someone who's just spent months to decades in a strict hierarchy waiting for orders from above.

"I'm taking the long way around to saying that we basically wasted two entire months of this project.

"We've gone back to square one, and instead of taking a fairly passive approach of asking what they want and waiting for feedback, we're now sending some of our people out to directly let our immigrants know what sort of options they have.

"About the only real progress we've made is selecting nice sites for the Veteran's colonies and negotiating with the regional Congresses for development rights."

Samantha Ojiwa
Project Spokeswoman, Veteran's Colony Program

Project Progress: 5

Project Results: Add 5 to Shei Redeployment Program Progress tracker

-

Build network infrastructure across Sheol

"...We realised that we couldn't simply use the standard colonization playbook, of infrastructure expanding ad hoc from original colonization sites to wherever colonists settled.

"We then considered expanding the Supreme Central Military Command's existing internet of military communications lines for civilian use. Aside from the difficulty of retrofitting their indigenous systems to Compact Standard, the project could interfere with Sheolite military readiness, something that the SCMC is still extremely touchy about.

"Instead we decided to design, build, and launch a network of very low orbit communications satellites that were connected into the existing Ares system-wide comms infrastructure.

"At the moment, while any modern equipment can connect and use the satellite network with ease, the penetration of modern comms equipment into Sheolite society is negligible, limited to our Industrial contacts and regional military commands.

"As a stopgap measure, we've deployed wireless ad hoc mesh networks in urban areas, a straightforward modification of existing HI and Ares tech. Mesh networking is perilously underdeveloped by the Charters, as they preferred the control and monitoring capability that centralization provides, but it's better to have something rather than nothing right now. We're having to make heavy use of repeaters to provide full coverage right now, and it's absolutely killing the bandwidth. We're regularly getting less than ten gigabits per second, dropping as low as one gigabit out past the range of the base stations, and the connectivity is atrocious. Yet the Sheolites seem to be really happy with what they've got?

"The next phase of our project will be building out petabit fiber-to-the-edge backbone to get bandwidth and connectivity up to modern standards in cities, a mass rollout of satellite base stations for rural use to improve coverage and long range latency, and then finishing by providing basic home electronics to the civilian market."

Brian Goldhirsch
Orbital Industrial Workers' Union Shei spokesman

Project Progress: 12/20

Project Results: Project Continues

-

MILITARY COMMITTEE

-

Repair Choreographer

Luckily both Choreographer and Shieldmaiden share the skeleton of the AMS-53 boondoggle. Which is to say that both were built on the bones of a sixty-year-old Ares modular design that was sold to everyone up and down Charter space during the Fifth Frontier War.

Which means that we were able to find maintenance plans in Shei's repair yard and were able to get to work fairly quickly and without much difficulty.

And a good thing we had those plans too, it meant that we were able to crack directly into her bays without damaging the three New Model Corvettes which we have now crewed and christened as the CSFS Valiant, CSFS Reliant, and CSFS Defiant.

That she was able to dash immediately from her shakedown cruise and directly into Gaid during the HI raid is proof of the quality of job we did.

Jaimie Susilo
Orbital Industrial Workers' Union Delegate

Project Progress: 20/Automatic
Project Results: Choreographer and her attendant corvettes become fully combat capable in time for HI raid.

-

Integrate Rousseau's 'Rousseau's Errant Squadron' into the Radiant Space Patrol

Good Afternoon Delegates,

We began our integration of Captain Rousseau's squadron by seeing to their immediate material needs. Specifically by copying Shei's existing support infrastructure to create a logistics chain of the highly specialized parts that the New Model-class Corvette and Great Heathen-class Garrison Cruiser require.

Once that was complete we requested that IndComm make modifications to Choreographer's repair schedule to ensure complete compatibility between CSFS Choreographer, and RES Midway, RES Actium, and RES Lake Champlain. As both Rousseau's Corvettes and those already attached to CSFS Choreographer were nominally of the same class, IndComm had little difficulty in meeting our request.

Simultaneously we began programs to expand the pre-existing spaceborn berthing facilities to house Rousseau's people, and at this point in time we are fully capable of housing the crews of RES Midway, RES Actium, and RES Lake Champlain and warehousing their entire supply chain.

When CSFS Choreographer began her shakedown cruise RES Midway, RES Actium, and RES Lake Champlain were attached for cross training and in anticipation of being permanently attached to the Janissary-class tender once integration is complete.

While the officers and crews of the three corvettes have recently formally voted to transfer to the All-Radiant Congress' Space Force, the integration of RES Shieldmaiden was delayed by the incursion of hostels into Gaid.

At this moment in time RES Shieldmaiden under the command of Captain Stephanie Rousseau is operating independently of the Space Force and is patrolling the Gaid system. Though Captain Rousseau is cooperating with MilComm, it will take a final organizational and logistical push to bring her and her craft fully under MilComm authority.

Project Progress: 13/20

Project Progress: Rousseau is intermittently receptive to commands but is stationed atop the Gaid-Thoa gate now so she can white knight for us in our hour of need

-

SCIENCE COMMITTEE

-

Bypass Charter Fabricator Rights Management for Ares

Even with all the dirty tricks a Charter can manage for DRM, when you've got dozens of physical models-- not demos, either, stuff that was being used on the ground only weeks ago-- there's not much they can do to prevent us simply taking them apart piece by piece and comparing it to the schematics with self-destructs added-- and taking out what doesn't match.

The entire Ares ground, sea, and air fleet for logistics was captured more or less intact. The frontline combat systems, not so much-- more traditional cracking methods will be needed for those. But all the trucks, tankers, bridgelayers, and backbone of a modern planetary force are ours-- and some pretty neat small arms too.

Ellen Khrushcheva
Professional Union of Laboratory Technicians and Coders Understudy

"The guys, gals, and pals on the physical side loved being able to put the ghost imager through its paces, by the way."

Callista Moreno
Professional Union of Laboratory Technicians and Coders Spokeswoman

Project Progress: 11/Autopass

Project Result: Unlock Ares 'prints for consumer Ares products, including small arms and non-combat vehicles

-

SOCIAL COMMITTEE

-

Integration Initiatives

SocComm started this initiative by putting out an organizing call for families and communities to sponsor incoming immigrants on a short term basis that would lead into a form of chain immigration that would allow us to quickly integrate relatively stable groups of immigrants into communities without overwhelming them.

This project was an immense success, with high initial uptake which tripled after the news of the Veteran's Colony delays got out, with the integration councils housing nearly the entirety of the incoming immigrant population without significant pushback or complaint from either the native Elysians or the immigrant population.

In fact, the incoming immigrants have already begun to have a notable positive impact on the local culture, importing a number of cultural trends and that us novelty loving Elysians have taken to like a duck to water.

SocComm's encouragement has been barely necessary to ensure that the immigration from Shei is proceeding smoothly.

We believe that this form of "chain integration" may be a long term winner.

Richard Morra
Elysian Planetary Municipal Liaison Coordinator

Project Progress: 28/20

Project Results: +28 to Shei Redeployment Program Progress, Permanent +1 E upkeep, adds repeatable "Chain integration project"

-

MEDIA COMMITTEE

-

Insert Assets into Fliveons.

We got in, but I'm pretty certain that the customs official we bribed thinks we're smugglers. Could have been worse, he could have outright ratted on us, but in Fliveons (Five Lions, to the locals) cash is still good and a little taste of our mission's SolCoin allotment bought his silence.

We're going to have to step carefully for the next little while, but we're tapped into the local comms nets and getting our feelers out into the system's fifteen million plus people.

Ironically, I think they work less hours than we used to. Or at least I'm not seeing regular sixteen to twenty hour days. Lions simply have a much higher chance of getting squished by their jobs in a quite literal way.

We've started in two main areas:

The first is by leaning into our accidental cover story as smugglers and making contacts with the local underworld and hoping to get in contact with dissident communities.

Our second avenue of approach is making contacts with the local spacer community and especially the large number of in-system haulers that crisscross Fliveons on a regular basis. If we can get an in with them they have direct contact with just about all of the local workers. If we get lucky we can also tap into the local underground union scene which has some real possibilities.

Sam Kettle
Local Agent-In-Charge of Media Committee Fliveons Investigatory Project

Project Progress: 29/30 (Completed-ish)

Projected Results: Projects unlocked in Fliveons, -2 to next Fliveons roll.

-

Insert Assets into Thoa

I'm certain by now we're all aware of the loss of Onsider along with Gabriel Wright and his crew. We never received any intelligence from Wright's team before they were grabbed by HI, and we don't know if they were made independently of R-SOC Charleston's entrance into the system.

We simply don't know if it was an operational error on our end or bad luck. And I fear that we may never find out.

We give a salute to their courage and may they someday return to Elysian's fields.

Miriam Sinika
MedComm Delegate to the General Congress

Project Progress: 13/35

Project Results: Project Cancelled due to alternate success state

-

FLAGG VOMTE

That was fun wasn't it?

You now have a whole new system to wave your flag in!

By the way, what flag does the All-Radian Congress now fly?

Approval voting, vote for ALL flags you're interested in.

Akuz's design:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18702722
[ ] AKuz's submission

Rhymes' design:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18703595
[ ] Rhymes design

Nyvis designs:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18708503
[ ] Nyvis' first design
[ ] Nyvis' second design

Jenny's design:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18709748
[ ] Jenny's design

Alex the Average's design:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18711155
[ ] Alex the Average's design

Artificial Girl's Designs:

[ ] Artificial Girl's 1st design
[ ] Artificial Girl's 2nd design

ALanos' design:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18711407
[ ] ALanos' design

Voikirium's Design:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18711890
[ ] Voikirium's Design

Stabbtmcstabstab's design:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18712361
[ ] Stabbtmcstabstab's design

Strunkriidiisk's design
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18714668
[ ] strunkriidiisk's design

Squidfam's design:
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/for-the-tyrants-fear-your-might-a-quest-of-interstellar-rebellion.83706/post-18715673
[ ] squidfam's design

Clockworkchaos's designs:

[ ] clockworkchaos' first design
[ ] clockworkchaos' second design

Krall's designs:
For The Tyrants Fear Your Might (A quest of interstellar rebellion) Original - Sci-Fi
[ ] Krall's first design
[ ] Krall's second design
[ ] Krall's third design

AKuz · Jan 29, 2021

voting machine broke, do it manually

ramdomperson · Jan 29, 2021

[x] Rhymes design
[x] Artificial Girl's 1st design
[x] Stabbtmcstabstab's design
[x] Krall's third design

Looks like we are going to need serious military investments.

Also, [JK] Jenny's design.

Rhymes · Jan 29, 2021

[x] Rhymes design
[x] Artificial Girl's 1st design
[x] Krall's first design

mcclay · Jan 29, 2021

[x] Nyvis' second design

BelligerentGnu · Jan 29, 2021

Alright, fine, that explains it. But I'll have you know that I'm not going to be content until Shieldmaiden's nosecone is decorated with Charleston's head on a spike.

On the plus side, that chain integration option is going to come in superbly handy.

[X] Artificial Girl's 1st design

DocSpooky · Jan 29, 2021

[X] Krall's first design
[X] Krall's second design
[X] strunkriidiisk's design

Strunkriidiisk · Jan 29, 2021

[X] strunkriidiisk's design
[X] Nyvis' first design

Jack Jack · Jan 29, 2021

[X] strunkriidiisk's design
[X] Voikirium's design

Gladsome · Jan 29, 2021

[X] Rhymes design
[X] Artificial Girl's 1st design
[X] Stabbtmcstabstab's design
[X] Squidfam's design
[X] Krall's first design

A lot of very solid competition, here.

I panicked a little when I saw how low the Veterans' Colony roll was, but we definitely made up for it with that integration roll. That should keep integration going smoothly for the next turn.

Shard of Victory · Jan 29, 2021

[X] Rhymes design

Argent Citadel · Jan 29, 2021

[x] strunkriidiisk's design
[x] Artificial Girl's 1st design
[x] Krall's first design
[x] Krall's second design

Some excellent flag designs, everyone. Bravo!

I liked Voikirium's & squidfam's symbology a whole lot, but in the end I prefer the colours & design of the above.

Kirbstomp · Jan 29, 2021

[X] Rhymes design
[X] Nyvis' first design
[X] squidfam's design

Time to beef up the military

Mark Hyko · Jan 29, 2021

[X] Nyvis' first design
[X] clockworkchaos' second design

inirlan · Jan 29, 2021

[X] Artificial Girl's 1st design
[X] Voikirium's design
[X] Stabbtmcstabstab's design

[X] Krall's 2nd design
[X] Krall's 3rd design

Derpmind · Jan 29, 2021

AKuz said:
[IndComm] Veteran's Colony Program, 3+2= 5/150
[MilComm] Integrate Rousseau's 'Rousseau's Errant Squadron' into the Radiant Space Patrol 11+2=13/20, 11/150
[SocComm] Integration Initiatives x2 20+5+3=28, 39/150

Did we gain half Program Progress from Rosseau's Squadron? Because either we gained +6 from it, or the final total of 39 doesn't include the 5 progress from Veteran's Colony (and the +2 MilComm dice bonus). Also, Rousseau's Squadron isn't listed in the previous update as a project that would contribute to the Program Progress.

Nyvis · Jan 29, 2021

[X] Nyvis' first design
[X] ALanos' design
[X] Rhymes design
[X] clockworkchaos' second design

There's no room for white on the people's flag. The rest was just picking the best looking ones with that in mind.

Edit: eh I'll make an exception for pirate stuff. Still opposed to white background.

Gladsome · Jan 29, 2021

Nyvis said:
There's no room for white on the people's flag.

Why should we feel constrained by the half-remembered meanings of old Earth? Why must we feel unable to create new symbols with new meaning?

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

Been Better

Been Better

The Sky will be as it was meant.

"Well, I've got nothing."

Been Better

Been Better

Some kinda Commie

Humblest in the World

THE LEGEND

Banned Forever

The Sky will be as it was meant.

The Sky will be as it was meant.