In an original flavour Gundam AU, take the reigns of an advisor to a minor power in the decaying Union of Sol, and attempt to navigate a fragile peace while positioning yourself to survive its eventual collapse.
It is the year 133 of the New Standard Epoch. The Union of Sol, formed from the ashes of the old governments of Earth and the blood of their interplanetary colonies, has expanded across humanity's home system, stretching from the sun-scarred wastes of Mercury to the edges of interstellar space. Ruling from the Union Spire, a vast and beautiful habitat overlooking Earth, the Union brings together representatives from across the solar system to chart the fate of a united humanity, in a new age of peace and enlightenment free from the terrors of history.
The peace lasted forty-three years. While the Union Assembly sat on their thrones above Earth, their representatives in the outer worlds - separated by months of travel and long communication delays - slowly gained more and more power, devolved from the Assembly in the name of simple convenience. Soon, the Union-appointed Governor Plenipotentiary of Saturn favoured his home moon of Tethys extensively, at the expense of the larger, older, and poorer industrial colonies of Titan, and the match was struck. As Titanian workers starved to provide Tethyan luxuries, they pursued independence from Saturn through full Union membership. The Saturn Sphere Home Fleet moved to blockade Titan, hoping to starve out the insurgency, only to be countered by a ramshackle Titanite fleet equipped with a new type of weapon - the mobile suit.
Developed from the stable suits used to service orbital stations, but freed of their dependence on a parent station for energy and life support, mobile suits outpaced the conventional strike craft used by the SSHF, and demonstrated the potential of the Stable Suit's neurohaptic interfaces in a military capacity. The First Battle of Titan was a crushing defeat for the Union's forces, and the Spire could no longer look away - but attention is not action, and the Union quickly grew gridlocked. As the representatives of the eight Spheres and the minor colonies bickered, the situation over Titan continued to deteriorate. Saturn's second push ended as the first did, and in response the Governor Plenipotentiary used the ongoing paralysis of the Union to justify a state of emergency, assuming dictatorial control of the Saturn Sphere and authorising the use of old naval hulls as kinetic kill vehicles.
The strike on Titan was thwarted, not by the Titanites but by long-range bombardment by the Jupiter Sphere Home Fleet, already on their way to Saturn orbit. Jupiter had followed Saturn into a formal state of emergency, but instead focused on the potential humanitarian crisis on Titan. The JSHF were thus ordered to enter the Saturn Sphere; Saturn denounced this as an invasion, as only the Union could override Plenipotentiary authority on internal matters, and the Union had passed no resolution. Both Jupiter's and Saturn's declarations shook the Spire, but it came no closer to a formal resolution - and soon, the fleets of two Spheres of the Union clashed in the first battle since the end of the Colonial War. The Battle of the Great Conjunction would end in Jovian victory, in no small part due to their own mobile suits, and they would establish a blockade of Titan, preventing Titanite forces from leaving the world or Saturnian forces from assaulting it.
After several long months of skirmishing, and the landing of Jovian mobile suits on Titan's surface, the Union would accept Jovian intervention as fait accompli, and formalise Jupiter's role in arbitrating the conflict. The Titanite rebels would be granted leave to establish their own colony, and Jovian ships would escort them from the Saturn Sphere despite sabotage and attacks by rogue members of the Saturn Sphere Home Fleet. Saturn's government would retain authority over Titan, and the Union "would not recognise moons breaking from their primaries, just as they would not recognise planets breaking from the Sun". Jupiter's Governor Plenipotentiary would be called before the Assembly, but not removed from her position. The Jovian official who ordered the destruction of the Saturnian KKVs - and in the eyes of his critics, the invasion of Saturn - would be awarded the Union Star and, later, the Nobel Peace Prize. For now, the Union stands - but for all the honours everyone knew that the war was ended by Jovian force of arms, not Union procedure.
Humanity is at peace, but an uneasy peace. Mercury harvests the Sun's rays to feed humanity's growth, uncaring of the means or costs of that growth. The aerostat cities of Venus nervously watch the glow of the factories below, all too aware of their history as prisons. Earth sits all but abandoned, given over to vast terraforming efforts to recover from the Colonial War, its population moved to the great ecumenopolis of Luna - by choice to its spires, or by force to its slums. A thousand old rivalries stir on Mars, still clinging to its pride from the Union's birth, and sinking deep into resentment of its decline. Jupiter revels in its role as the Union's peacekeeper, but anyone can see that the Union needs Jupiter more than Jupiter needs the Union. Saturn grumbles in Jupiter's shadow, and even Tethys grows to resent its tightening grasp on its moons. Uranus's ailing Governor Plenipotentiary is a true believer in the Union, but the old man's days are numbered, and Titania and Oberon both covet his seat. Neptune has fallen under the sway of occultists and mystics, turning its eyes away from Sol to gaze into the void.
And then there's you. One of the footnotes.
Which one, to be precise?
[ ] Quaoar.
The Enlightened Consulate of Quaoar was established as a research colony to study the strange gravity of Quaoar's rings, and is the oldest trans-Neptunian colony from first settlement. Its numerous institutes have yielded several breakthroughs in gravitics that allow for the current interplanetary shipping network to operate - as well as many stranger studies about the impact of long-term residency in deep space on the human mind.
Strengths:Newtype Adaptive bullshit. Research colony, strong academic traditions, actually respected by the Spheres. There's something weird about your rings.
Weaknesses: Little heavy industry. More than a little obscurantism and occultism. Neptune thinks you're a bunch of heretics. If you stare long into the void...
[ ] Ceres.
The Alliance of Cooperatives and Free Associations of Ceres, Pallas, and Vesta is one of the oldest governments in Sol, claiming descent from the original Martian secessionist movement that saw the collapse of Earth's old colonial order - or so they say. In truth, the Alliance barely controls Ceres, with Pallas and Vesta practically private fiefs for their own local interests, and the rest of the Alliance's members little more than a thin veneer for Martian and Jovian spies and corporations.
Strengths: Trade. Highly developed infrastructure. Large and experienced (but pre-mobile suit) navy comparable to a Sphere's in size.
Weaknesses: Infighting and corruption. Flashpoint for Mars-Jupiter tensions. Navy is highly decentralised and rather... piratical.
[ ] Pluto.
The seat of the Union's Governor Plenipotentiary of the Outer Reaches, Pluto's authority technically reaches across all bodies outside Neptune's orbit, though it has essentially no ability to meaningfully project it. For all their official status, the Outer Reaches are de facto the Union's dumping ground, so the Spheres can promote anyone politically inconvenient into a post with little meaningful influence.
Strengths: Political legitimacy. Full access to current-generation Union naval and mobile suit technology.
Weaknesses: Political dumping ground. All the blame and none of the credit for anything that happens on the other trans-Neptunian colonies.
[ ] Haumea.
Haumea was originally established as a shipyard to service probes and research missions going beyond the edges of the solar system, especially a proposed mission to Sedna to reach interstellar space. The reputation as the "gateway to the stars" has never really left Haumea, even as essentially all of these projects were ruled out as totally impractical, and while the rings of Haumea provide enough rare minerals to keep the colony solvent, it has never really had an opportunity to grow.
Strengths: Advanced orbital infrastructure and shipyards. Access to exotic materials. Veteran spacers, including Stable Suit pilots. Funny shaped planet.
Weaknesses: Very low population. Low industrial materials. Basically no military.
[ ] Eris.
The Eridian League is the youngest of the Union's worlds, a result of the Peace of Titan. The nominal successor of the Titanite independence movement, plucked from their war against Saturnian tyranny by Jovian meddling, the League was split by the war into two factions - the original "Lunarist" faction, seeking greater influence within the Union for individual colonies rather than the Spheres, and a growing "Anti-Unionist" faction seeking the overthrow of the entire Union system.
Strengths: Original developers of mobile suit technology. Stockpile of resources from evacuation of Titan. Small but experienced military.
Weaknesses: Saturn hates you, Jupiter wants to use you. Young colony without much infrastructure. Ideological shoes your practical realities can't fill.
* * *
"fish are you starting ANOTHER quest" I do not control the brain worms. Blame this on Witch from Mercury ending and me going on an ADHD bender on the Kuiper Belt.
As far as quest style goes, this will be generally in the style of Divided Loyalties, where the PC is one of several advisors to a nation styled after a classical CK2 quest - in this case, minor colonies in a solar system sized pending Gundam Clusterfuck. All of the nation options will exist in setting, it's just a question of which one the PC is going to work for and what their starting options will be - while all the classic CK2 slots exist, a Diplomacy advisor on Ceres is going to have a very different time than one on Pluto or on Eris!
Researcher of Quaoar (+6 Learning): Whatever else you may be, you're a scientist, from a world of scientists. Fleet Officer (+2 Martial, +1 Diplomacy): You served the Union as an officer in the outer Reaches Home Fleet. Outer Reaches Idealist (+1 Diplomacy, -1 Stewardship): The Reaches are a land of absurd promises and impossible dreams - but you should never underestimate the breadth of the possible. Political Bystander (+2 Diplomacy, -2 Intrigue): You've mostly avoided the Institutes' intrigues, and earned a form of their respect.
Skills:
Deep Space Survival (Trained +5)
Naval Theory (Skilled +10)
Orbital Research (Skilled +10)
Orbital Engineering (Trained +5)
Physics (Trained +5)
Spacecraft Command (Veteran +15)
Spacecraft Engineering (Skilled +10)
Spacecraft Operation (Trained +5)
RHSBelogradchik, converted Palomar-class corvette
The Belogradchik followed you from the Union to the Institutes, and now to the Consulate. No longer a vessel of the Outer Reaches Home Fleet, she has been refitted to serve as a dedicated research and exploration vessel. In addition to the ship and her crew, your office also controls a small but sophisticated space station which serves as Belogradchik's home port, performing routine maintenance and refueling to ensure she can operate on your terms.
Usage: May be attached to any orbital mission for 2 Resources and 1 Influence. (Influence cost negated by berth.) On Mission: Reroll one Learning failure per turn. If this ability does not activate, refund 1 Resources upon mission completion.
Tadgh Kaspichan, Head of Security:
Professional but cordial.
Some philosophical friction. (Idealist vs Cynical)
Sympathy for his condition. (Fleet Officer vs Laika's Disease)
Quaoar's government consists of the Consulate, an executive body appointed by the various research institutes and universities that make up the backbone of the colony, and the House of Voices, a unicameral legislature which is elected every five years by proportional ballot across the entire planet and its orbitals.
Executive Committee of the Consulate
Chair of the Committee: Bohumil Thomas Head of Outreach: Asm. Ali Hargreaves Fleet Representative: Capt. Anastasya Whipporwhil Head of Administration: Prof. Xuan Marta Hoang Head of Security: Tadhg Kaspichan Coordinator of Research: Hypatia Khwarizmi (PC) Chief of the Judiciary: Jenivive Filo Kızılırmak Delegate of the House of Voices: Jean-Noel Otgonbayar Chief Engineer of QPIC: Hanifa de la Fuente
House of Voices
The House of Voices is currently in contention, with a minority coalition of the Technocrats, Frontier Party, and Liberty-Opportunity-Autonomy Party holding just shy of a majority of seats.
Recognised Political Parties
Technocrats: The Technocrats support the execution of government functions by recognised experts in their fields, usually by way of Consulate appointments. Generally supportive of the Consulate and opposed to "mob rule", they support a strong but transparent Consulate, but will quickly move against a Consul deemed unfit for their position. They were the major political allies of your predecessor, Rajesh Kriemhilding, whose anti-corruption efforts leaned heavily on Technocrat rhetoric. They control one of Quaoar's Union Assembly seats.
Frontier: Frontier prides itself on being a "spacer's party" based in the minor orbital colonies. Their interests are highly focused on this core constituency, and they receive few votes from surface settlements or large colonies, though they have moderate support in areas with notable Fleet presence. A traditional ally of LOA, they served as "kingmakers" in the current government, negotiating the compromise with the Technocrats.
Liberty-Opportunity-Autonomy: Sometimes called the Nationalists, though many LOA members reject this label. Formed from the anti-Geocentrist Liberty and Autonomy Party and the populist Opportunity movement, LOA has traditionally been in opposition to the Technocrats, who they considered anti-democratic. However, the split between the Technocrats and Unionists over the Titanite war gave LOA an opportunity, and with support from Frontier delegates they brokered a compromise with the Technocrats to form a narrow minority government without needing to rely on the increasingly unstable Unionists. Part of this compromise was receiving the Delegate seat on the Consulate, where they are represented by Jean-Noel Otgonbayar.
Innovation and Development Party: Formerly the left wing of the Technocrats, they broke with the party over the implementation of Union intellectual property laws, which they saw as a danger to a free and open scientific process. They substantially gained at the Technocrats' expense in the recent elections, with many of their predictions about the Union seemingly vindicated by their paralysis in the Titanite war.
New Green Party: There is no environmental movement to speak of on Quaoar, being as it is a largely uninhabitable ball of ice. The New Green movement are localists who favour energy independence where possible, in particular reducing reliance on the Mercurian energy trade. Has a complex relationship with Frontier; both are highly democratic-populist parties and often opposed to the larger groups, but starkly divided on the infrastructure issues which form the core of their platforms.
Socialist Party of the Quaoar Republic: The SPQR is perhaps best described as two or three smaller parties in a trenchcoat, being divided into Unionist, populist, and technocratic factions. This infighting has made it difficult for the party to secure a place in government, though they have traditionally been the largest of the opposition parties; however, the prominence of the Unionist faction saw them losing out in the latest cycle to both LOA and the IDP. Previously controlled one of Quaoar's Union Assembly seats, where they were represented by Ali Hargreaves, but lost it to LOA in the new government.
Unionist Party: Often referred to as the Market Unionists to distinguish them from the pro-Union faction of the SPQR. Previously a leading party in government alongside the Technocrats, they were ousted by LOA when the Titanite conflict and unrest on Neptune saw public confidence in the Union drop, leading to a significant loss of seats and internal stress within the party. They control one of Quaoar's Union Assembly seats.
Federation Anarchiste Quaoar: The Anarchists are mostly considered to be a "protest vote", indicating a lack of support for any other recognised party. Their gaining of two seats in the recent election is not unprecedented, but is certainly unusual, especially as the party declared an end to their traditional abstentionism.
Weywot Fleet
Official Designation: 3rd Flotilla, Outer Reaches Home Fleet, Union of Sol Loyalty: Reliable; de jure beholden to Pluto and the Union, but Weywot and Quaoar are home. Status: Operational Composition: 8 Kilauea-class destroyers, 22 Palomar-class corvettes
Population, Regions, and Major Settlements of the Quaoar Sphere
Population numbers are approximate, rounded to the nearest thousand.
[x] Quaoar Historic image of Quaoar and Weywot, recreated in tile on the floor of the Executive Chambers
Executive Chambers of the Enlightened Consulate, Toypurina, Quaoar
133 NSE, May 4, 09:44 Quaoar Synchronised Time
The entrance hall of the Executive Chambers is wide and dark, whether you are looking down at the floor or up through the reinforced glass dome into the depths of the void. Sol's distant light shines through the glass, still brighter than the fluorescent lamps that ring the room despite the vastness of space. At its heart lies a glowing light, a recreation of an ancient depiction of the world you now stand on, from before humanity could escape Earth's covetous grip.
You have been to the Consulate's chambers before, of course, but it is your first time walking them as a Consul. Your appointment has been confirmed, upheld by the House of Voices, and your predecessor has stepped back to seclusion; there is nothing left for you to do until the rest of the Consulate arrives. Your predecessor advised you to arrive early, but perhaps you have come too early; alone in the vast circular chamber, you have nothing to do but nervously pace the edges of the room, feeling your anxiety and anticipation slowly curdle into a frenetic restlessness.
It is quiet here and now, before the Consulate assembles and the pulse of the world stirs - you're almost disappointed at how… simple, it feels. Your predecessor carried a certain gravitas, made the Consuls' chairs exude an almost physical presence. The weight of authority, perhaps, or simply the weight of their spirit. Will others feel the same, when they look at you? Is it the pageantry, the dark floors and vast halls, or something else, that pulse at the edge of your consciousness?
The Spheres and even your fellow Reaches worlds had a whole litany of jokes about Quaoarian "superstition", especially as Neptune seems to dive headlong into their own bizarre ritualism, but anyone on Quaoar knew there were things that words couldn't convey; things that you had to live to understand.
Maybe Nietzsche had the right of it; maybe your people have spent too much time void-gazing, gone mad from the cold isolation. But it is easy to say humanity was not meant for deep space, easy to point to your titanium bones and magnetic joints and say that you have left something behind you that you cannot regain. Easy for them to speak, blinded by Sol and bound by gravity, never having seen the true breadth of the cosmos.
But even if humanity's nature is of Earth, you are of Quaoar, and you will not let them call you less for it. Nature is a beginning, not an end, and it will not define you. You were shaped by Quaoar, and now you shall shape Quaoar for those who come after you. Your chosen home thrums with life and growth, and if it is not humanity's nature to be here, then humanity will change its nature. The first and oldest law, which has brought you here and carries you all forward into the future: you will change, and you will adapt.
The universe demands nothing less.
The universe is one thing - but what does the Consulate ask of you?
[ ] Head of Outreach.
Quaoar's universities and researchers may be the purpose of the colony, but they are far from its only occupants. They may control the Consulate, but without the factories, farms, mines, and shipyards they would swiftly starve. Your Diplomacy caught the attention of your predecessor, who has trained you to manage the various interests within Quaoar, as well as maintaining relationships with the rest of the Reaches, and placating the Union and the major Spheres.
[ ] Fleet Representative.
Officially, the Fleet Representative is not a Quaoarian executive but an advisor attached to the Consulate by the Union's Outer Reaches Home Fleet, to advise - but not command - the Consulate in Martial matters. The title of Consul is, as far as the Union is concerned, ceremonial. But the ORHF hasn't even been called to order by Pluto, let alone Earth, since its formation, and no one labours under the illusion that it is not a power in the Quaoar sphere. After Saturn and Jupiter's recent actions, the Consulate are not so foolish as to deny the Fleet access to the halls of power - and the Fleet is keen to maintain their access to Quaoar's innermost circles and the technology they could offer.
[ ] Head of Administration.
Life is not simple in the Reaches; sunlight is scarce, and many physical goods must be shipped from the inner worlds. Mercurian energy-barges make the long haul to Quaoar out of both greed and obligation, but they circle like vultures, keen to pry away knowledge and secrets to justify the expense. With such scarcity, Stewardship of your resources is a vitally important role, and coordinating the numerous competing factions to make best use of them requires a lifetime of training.
[ ] Head of Security.
Secrets are more valuable the fewer people know them, but knowledge grows faster the more it spreads. Every institution wants to stay ahead of its rivals, but no one wants to see their research slip through their hands. While the institutes resent Consular involvement in their Intrigue, they also know the alternative - not having anyone keeping an eye on who's spying for who, or tracking who's working for offworld interests - is far worse.
[ ] Coordinator of Research.
The academies and institutes would never give full research authority to the Consulate, and if they did, their representatives would never agree on a single nominee to hold such a position of prestige and power. Still, the great institutions of Learning need someone to keep the Consulate abreast of their activities, manage coveted public investments, and set broad priorities for the whole community - as well as a single point of contact for when they need to put a finger on the scales.
A plaque hangs above the door to your office, facing your desk. It is embossed with a depiction and the words of the pre-spaceflight political scientist Wallace Stanly Sayre: "The politics of the university are so intense because the stakes are so low."
The Coordinator of Research; the most coveted yet most curtailed seat on the Consulate. Supposedly in control of awarding research grants, setting overall priorities, and facilitating coordination and communication between the Institutes, in practice it's the job of herding a flock of intelligent, prideful cats around a room the size of, well, a small planet. Its appointment is the most tense, even more than the election of the First Consul; the Institutes desperately want control of your position for its enumerated powers, but also seek to hobble any actual exercise of them lest they fall into the sphere of a rival.
Often, it's the Research seat which holds up the appointment process to nearing the final deadline - but there is a deadline, the seat must be filled, and the business of government must continue. The Institutes may stretch protocol and procedure to their breaking point, but they won't shatter them - you only wish that the nominees could leave the hearing and go to sleep while the deans and bursars hemmed and hawed. Or at least that the President of Toypurina Polytechnic would have slipped you some of whatever pills kept the centenarian awake for forty-three straight hours, most of them spent shouting.
Finally, though, they reached their consensus, and called you forward. From there, it was just a perfunctory trip to the irritatingly well-rested House of Voices, who read out your duties and obligations with all the enthusiasm of a broken voice synthesiser, and handed you the key to your office, an epaulet bearing a stylised owl, and a data terminal already flooding with requests, congratulations (with requests), well-wishes (with requests), and expense reports. As soon as you were out of sight of the cameras, you kicked off a wall and sprinted to your office in the Consular wing; you managed a whole four hours of sleep before being summoned up to the Consulate's inaugural meeting, which was better than you'd hoped.
You are kicked from your drowsy recollection by the whirring sound of electric motors, as panels rise from the floor to form a ring-shaped table, followed shortly by a second set which fold into round, high-backed chairs. It takes you a moment to locate your seat, as it still has your predecessor's name on it - before it flickers twice to show yours.
What does it show?
[ ] [NAME] Write-In
[ ] [GENDER] Male
[ ] [GENDER] Female
[ ] [GENDER] Other
This is Gundam. Names are usually at least multicultural, and often the Full Tomino of something that sounds vaguely like a name but isn't used as such in present-day Earth. Johann Ibrahim/Abraham Revil and Mirai Yashima sit on the same scales as Jamitov Hymen and Elpeo Ple. It's pretty hard to come up with a name that doesn't work to some degree.
The table folds up to reveal a thin display, showcasing the official profiles of the incoming Consulate. Out of curiosity - and to see just how much to expect will be cut from the other files - you start with your own.
(Did they really need to use your passport photo?)
Who were you before your appointment?
[ ] You were the captain of a Union Fleet vessel turned to science.
If Quaoar belongs to the Institutes, Weywot belongs to the Fleet. Quaoar's only moon is perhaps the least interesting thing in its orbit, and the Fleet (officially only a flotilla, but nobody calls it that around a Fleet spacer unless they're desperate to see a dentist) serves in as much a scientific capacity as a military one, using the stronger engines and superior maneuverability of its Palomar corvettes to ferry all kinds of equipment out to the Rings to try and unlock the mysteries of gravity. As captain of the Belogradchik, you formed a rapport with the researchers, and when several Institutes banded together to buy out a Palomar for private use, it was Belogradchik that answered.
Gain Fleet Officer trait (+2 Martial, +1 Diplomacy).
Known as a relatively impartial figure to the Institutes, and one they actually respect.
Access to a dedicated research ship, the former RHS Belogradchik.
There's a joke that the Reaches are where people go to waste their lives on impossible things - Quaoar wants artificial gravity, Haumea wants interstellar travel, Pluto wants peace in our time. For some people, it's not a joke. Relations bonus with gravity researchers, and with fellow "punchliners" from Haumea and Pluto.
Mandate: Develop an indigenous warship class designed for mobile suit operations.
[ ] You were elected to the House of Voices.
The House of Voices may not appoint the Consulate, but they control its purse strings. Elected representatives are a common compromise candidate for the institutes - perhaps because they value popular sovereignty and the democratic tradition, or perhaps because politicians can be bought and sold with money and favours outside the labyrinth of academic rivalries and institutional loyalties.
Gain Elected Representative trait (+2 Diplomacy, +1 Martial).
Relations bonus when dealing with the House of Voices.
Subvote for party/bloc. Increased bonus for same party.
Powerful representatives may call in favours.
Mandate: Strengthen democratic - or at least electoral - oversight of the Institutes.
[ ] You were Chief of Medicine at a hospital in Toypurina.
While not the equal of the Spheres' or the Union-backed hospitals of Pluto, Quaoar's healthcare system is robust and reliable, compensating for its relative lack of resources through expertise and education. It's not unprecedented for doctors to be named to the Consulate, but usually in a dedicated role - placing you in charge of all research was a classical example of a compromise where everyone leaves equally disappointed. While there's a real need to focus on medical research, the Institutes aren't subtle about how they expect that need to keep you occupied and away from their work.
Gain Hospital Administrator trait (+2 Diplomacy, +1 Stewardship).
Relatively protected from internal factionalism - nobody wants to make an enemy of the doctors.
Large bonus to Medical research, smaller bonus to Biology and Environmental research.
The Institutes expect you to stay in your lane and not interfere with their business.
Mandate: Improve healthcare infrastructure outside of major settlements.
[ ] You were a senior faculty member of a voting Institute.
The Institutes - the universities, private research firms, and publically-owned labs which first founded Quaoar - are the ones who select members of the Consulate. Their rivalries usually prevent them from electing any internal candidates - doubly so to your position, which has the most direct power over them - but sometimes a coalition lasts long enough to form a strong enough majority to actually elect a researcher, as they did with you. While you are of course expected to maintain a suitable level of impartiality... you're also very aware of who actually put you into the seat and how much it cost them.
Gain Institute Researcher trait (+2 Diplomacy, +1 Intrigue).
Subvote for specialisation and institution.
Large bonus to research deals with your alma mater - but favour them too much and their rivals will begin moving against you.
Mandate: Secure support and investment for the projects of your backers.
[ ] You were an architect at the Juvit Colony Yards.
Juvit Colony is the sole true orbital colony in the Quaoar Sphere, built at great expense by the Union at the height of its post-Colonial War generosity. Its primary industry is the maintenance of private spacecraft, but it also serves as the home port of the Union's flotilla; it's not the equal of the grand and infamous Boondoggle Cruiser Yards at Haumea, but it doesn't need to be; your job was to build science ships and mend some plates, not build a Home Fleet out of the Union's scraps.
Gain Shipyard Engineer trait (+2 Martial, +1 Stewardship).
Bonus to military infrastructure technologies.
You know how to operate a stable suit - which probably transfers to these newfangled mobile suits?
Bonus to construction efforts from knowing the right people for the job.
Mandate: Develop an indigenous science ship class for research in the Rings and elsewhere.
[ ] You were a retired officer turned instructor at the Ti'at military academy.
Ti'at's military academy is not the equal of those on Jupiter, Mars, or Venus, let alone their combined efforts on the Spire, but when you retired from the VSHF, you were done being the tip of the spear. You had expected a comfortable career in history, writing your own memoirs of the Venusian revolt and angrily critiquing everyone else's, and for fifty years that's what you had - but your new home has come calling, and while they're asking you to learn and teach rather than lead and fight, you're still too much of a soldier to turn them down.
Gain Military Theorist trait (+2 Martial, +1 Intrigue).
Colonial War veteran - actual inner world military experience.
Bonus to initial development of military doctrine.
Political outsider on Quaoar but respected in the broader Union - even if you were only a major when you mustered out, there's not many old Colonial War hands left.
Mandate: Develop a doctrine to counter mobile suit operations as used by Jupiter.
[ ] You were the mastermind of the expansion of José.
Quaoar's second-largest terrestrial settlement has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past years due to the discovery of exploitable deposits of heavy metals. Its expansion implemented a number of experimental construction methods, for which you were heavily criticised by the Institutes and the press right up until you succeeded. You declined a number of prestigious posts at various Institutes, and they seem to have decided if they can't have you (and brush away their past criticisms), they'll promote you instead - and now you need to prove your work at a much greater scale, competing not just with Quaoar's own workers but the whole Union standard.
Gain Urban Planner trait (+2 Stewardship, +1 Diplomacy).
Bonus to terrestrial infrastructure technologies.
Institutes hate you for upstaging them from outside their system, but definitely can't say that out loud.
Mandate: Develop new construction methods, and establish their superiority to existing Union standards.
[ ] You were an architect at the L3 minor colony cluster
Every core needs a periphery, and the designated boonies of the Quaoar Sphere are the so-called "minor colony clusters". While Juvit is the only "true" space colony in the Quaoar Sphere, the orbitals are home to many more small settlements, growing out of everything from Institute-sponsored orbital labs and Union-backed maintenance bays to one colony that occupies the prow of a shattered Old Earth cruiser that was gravitationally captured by Quaoar after a date with a Martian KKV over Tranquillitatis. The minor colonies are at best a footnote and at worst a punishment for most Institute engineers, but for you, they're home - and now you have a chance to actually help them.
Gain Orbital Engineer trait (+2 Stewardship, +1 Martial).
You know how to operate a stable suit, and in less than ideal environments - not unlike the first Titanite mobile suits.
Bonus to orbital infrastructure technologies. Bonus to orbital workforce as you're willing to work with less formally credentialed staff.
Penalty to Diplomacy or Stewardship checks to command or persuade the Institutes; they expect you to be an easily manipulated hick without a Proper Understanding of Politics.
Mandate: Develop a refit standard for minor space colonies. Beat the Institutes to a mobile suit design.
[ ] You were a senior government administrator.
While the Voices shout and the Institutes bicker, the day-to-day work of Quaoar's government is done by a number of boring people in boring suits that the former two groups only think about when they need someone to present them with a report. You've served in most branches of the government, helping trim the bureaucratic kudzu that grows around any large institution, and put yourself forward as a politically neutral candidate for the Consular seat out of frustration with how much the Institutes' closely-guarded influence can throw a wrench into the works of proper governance.
Gain Civil Servant trait (+2 Stewardship, +1 Intrigue).
Bonus to administrative workforce as you know the right people to tap.
Both the Institutes and the House of Voices fully expect you to just follow their lead and do what you're told.
Bonus to Intrigue actions to keep the Institutes and House placated while you get the actual work done despite them.
Mandate: Standardise a proper system to actually coordinate research, so the government can actually govern properly.
[ ] You were an educator on Galatea, before the Witnesses came.
Most of the Union views the Witnesses as the butt of a political joke. To the inner Spheres, they're proof that the outer Spheres are full of space-mad mystics, and to the outer Spheres, they're proof that Neptune is - but when the ships from Neso came, you weren't laughing. As some of your students started to disappear, you organised the rest and chartered a ship to attend a conference in Protean orbit - only to adjust your course for a gravity assist around Neptune and into the Reaches. Quaoar wasn't your first choice of destination, but they're no friends of the Witnesses, and it's nice to be respected for your work again.
Gain Refugee Leader trait (+2 Intrigue, +1 Diplomacy).
Opinion bonus with Neptune refugees and other Outer Reaches worlds. Large opinion penalty with Neptune.
Bonus workforce as you can more quickly integrate the Neptunian refugees.
Cannot take Adaptive traits. Some people are too important to leave Neptune.
Mandate: Integrate Neptunian knowledge into Quaoar tech base.
[ ] You were an analyst on an observation post with a good view of Titan.
The Union officially regulates the use of long-range imaging for surveillance as part of its policy of planetary independence. While Quaoar's private telescopes are nominally intended for scientific purposes, the Union can't go so far as to demand that you turn them off when another sphere passes through their arc - as Saturn did at the height of Titan's rebellion. Quaoar does not maintain intelligence officials on its stations, but if an astrophysicist happens to also minor in military strategy, they're not going to deny them a job either - and they could hardly stop you writing down your personal observations of debris from the Titan conflict and how it interferes with your study.
Gain Intelligence Analyst trait (+2 Intrigue, +1 Martial).
Saw - as much as you can see anything across interplanetary space - the Titan conflict unfold firsthand.
Experience with observations of mobile suit combat beyond those released by official Union statements.
Opinion penalty with the Union and Fleet, who don't like Quaoar operating private intelligence outposts.
Mandate: Develop an offensive mobile suit doctrine in the style of Titan.
[ ] You were a journalist lauded for exposing corruption in the Consulate.
For all its infighting, Quaoar takes academic integrity seriously, and comes down hard on anyone caught cheating the system. After several successful exposes, your predecessor brought you on to clean house, and you proceeded to hunt down numerous officials and even some Institute researchers who were being less than honest in their dealings - while also building your own experience with Quaoar's scientific community. Your predecessor's nomination to their seat was unexpected, but he eventually persuaded you that you had all the necessary qualifications - and that your work was unfinished.
Gain Investigative Journalist trait (+2 Intrigue, +1 Stewardship).
Opinion bonus with the public and parts of the House of Voices. Easy access to advice from your predecessor.
Opinion penalty with the rest of the Consulate.
Official sanction to crack down on the Institutes, as long as you can make something stick.
Mandate: Crack down on corruption in your own department without unduly impacting research output.
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We're almost done with character creation - just special traits to go, and then we'll be into actual research turns.
Vote name/gender by pairs, but use approval voting for background - the second and third place results will be retained and integrated as your immediate subordinates.
The primary stats of each option generally indicate which other Consulate member you'll probably need to work with to accomplish your main goal, but you'll still be responsible for the whole breadth of research and development - the Mandate is just the primary thing they expect from your appointment, not the only goal (or even the only priority)!
Quaoar ([ˈkʷaʔuwar]) is the sixth largest dwarf planet in the Sol system, comparable in size to Pluto's moon Charon. It has a single moon, Weywot, and two distinct sets of rings, all of which have unusual orbital properties - Weywot's orbit is highly eccentric, indicating an unusual formation, while both rings exist well beyond the Roche limit, and thus should not exist according to conventional models of orbital mechanics. The rings remained an obscure scientific curiosity well into the colonial era.
The first formal plan for colonisation was proposed as part of the UNOOSA's Centennial Plan, meant to follow the completion of Hooke Colony Yards in the Jupiter Sphere, but was discarded with the plan's rejection by COPUOS. The committee's chair delivered a fierce denunciation of the plan, naming Quaoar specifically as "an unremarkable, unlivable ball of ice, with nothing to offer but funny rings and a name nobody can say". (The name Quaoar - honouring an indigenous Californian deity - was defended by the IAU and a spokesman from the Republic of California. Their statements received significantly less coverage.)
The Copernicus II disaster renewed an interest in the experimental study of orbital mechanics, and Quaoar was singled out as a potential research site by a team of New Cambridge researchers - however, they struggled to find funding, as most existing colonial ventures were already tied up in the Mercurian energy boom or the development of Neptune. Rights to the colonisation project were purchased by the Venusian pioneer (1) and industrialist Reijo Plymoth Kunwar, who established AstraGrav Horizons as a private, Earth-based colonial venture. AGH would attract prominent investors, with Kunwar promoting Quaoar not only as an academic destination but as possibly containing the keys to artificial gravity or faster-than-light travel, to the great frustration of his academic partners - most notably the resignation of chief colonial engineer Simone Chuong, who had led the original New Cambridge team (2).
AGH would acquire four Von Braun-class construction ships and a Jules Verne-class mobile service yard from Hooke. Kunwar would host a contest to choose members of the crew complement for these ships, personally selecting them from over two million applicants as "our best and brightest, to light so dark a place" (3). He would hold a second contest for berth space on the Verne, inviting universities and private think tanks to submit their best research projects for his "city of science and planet of marvels", promising them significant autonomy and input on planning his "city of lights".
The final AGH mission included representatives of 67 private research companies and 38 public universities, inconsistently named "founders" or "partners" in AGH's own press releases. Of them, 84 were based in the Earth Sphere, 13 from Venus, 6 from Mars, and 2 from Jupiter. The project was lauded for its efforts towards interplanetary cooperation. While selected founders were originally meant to have a full team and their equipment shipped to Quaoar as part of the initial colonisation, this quickly proved to be impossible, and Kunwar shifted to promising priority access to real estate and resources once the colony's core infrastructure was set up.
Quaoar was officially established 41 years prior to the Colonial War. Kunwar never visited the colony, dying at the age of 72 from a stroke while travelling to Earth from Venus for routine medical procedures. The colony was managed by AGH until the Colonial War's end, with AGH retaining ownership of core infrastructure. When several partners lobbied for the construction of a private life support facility, AGH declined, citing Kunwar's original charter, leading to some public criticism until they agreed to grant the partners further control over development, and oversight of AGH's local executive board. These protections slowly expanded over time, most notably when the partners assumed financial responsibility for Quaoar's public educational system in exchange for a number of enumerated rights for "an accredited institute of science or industry" - a law which finally set aside the founder-partner dispute in favour of simply "institute".
The end of the Colonial War saw AGH - like any interplanetary colonial company - officially dissolved by the Treaty of New Toronto. Ownership of all AGH assets was passed "to the residents of the colony of Quaoar, as represented by a body of their choice". The Institutes, as non-colonial entities (i.e., not owning colonial infrastructure or renting them to colonists), remained incorporated, simply legally severed from their parent organisations on Earth, and the Union affirmed their protections as of local rather than colonial origin (having been pushed for by local institutions, against the policies of AGH), allowing them to retain their influence ahead of a constitutional referendum. The referendum would select a constitution written by Jenivive Filo Kızılırmak (4), then a student at the Toypurina Institute of History and Culture, which established an executive body appointed by the Institutes but subject to approval from a popular House of Voices, who retained control over raw materials, energy, and life support.
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(1) Kunwar never set foot on Venus. His private aerostat, Amytis Gardens, was built using resources shipped from Earth and Luna at great expense, and was not considered his permanent residence. While never formally a Geocentrist, he was closely tied to the movement, and a major donor to their affiliated parties in the Californian Third Republic.
(2) Chuong's public criticism of AGH would see her ostracised in the press and removed from any official statements about the colony - including retroactive edits of past releases. She would later file suit against Kunwar, claiming that her designs had been used by AGH without compensation, but the suit would be dismissed after her death. The exact extent of her contributions to the final colony remains unknown. After the Colonial War, Chuong would be posthumously honoured by the Union "for integrity in the defense of science and reason"; she is one of two Outer Reaches representatives on the Wall of Giants on Luna.
(3) This is the first recorded use of Kunwar using this phrase, though it would not be associated with him in the popular consciousness until his speech at the First Venusian Polytechnic.
(4) Kızılırmak would serve one term in the House of Voices before being named to the Consulate as Chief of the Judiciary. She has retained the seat ever since, and is now the longest-serving member of the Consulate.
[X] You were elected to the House of Voices. [x] You were the captain of a Union Fleet vessel turned to science. [X] You were a retired officer turned instructor at the Ti'at military academy. [X] You were an architect at the L3 minor colony cluster [X] You were a journalist lauded for exposing corruption in the Consulate.
[x] You were the captain of a Union Fleet vessel turned to science. [X] You were an architect at the Juvit Colony Yards. [X] You were an architect at the L3 minor colony cluster [X] You were an educator on Galatea, before the Witnesses came.
[X] You were the mastermind of the expansion of José. [X] You were a senior government administrator. [X] You were a journalist lauded for exposing corruption in the Consulate.
[X] You were Chief of Medicine at a hospital in Toypurina. [x] You were the captain of a Union Fleet vessel turned to science. [X] You were a retired officer turned instructor at the Ti'at military academy. [X] You were a senior government administrator. [X] You were an analyst on an observation post with a good view of Titan.
