Terra Nova

Terra Nova

It is a time of expansion for the peoples of the United Confederation. The colony ships set out from the nearest colonized stars over a decade ago, when the Spur Quadrant was first opened up to colonization, or even before. FTL is slow and unreliable at the best of times, meaning the new worlds of the Quadrant would be practically cut off from their distant homeworlds. But with verdant planets and rich star systems awaiting them, they went regardless. Huge arks, with countless cold-sleep colonists from hundreds of different planets and species, are just now reaching their myriad final destinations.

This particular system, given the dull scientific designation of ASTR38 since the Quadrant was first mapped, is a binary star system, with a hot white star distantly orbited by a cooler, red star. The hotter star has been identified to have four planets – a small rocky world, a sandstorm-wracked desert planet, a huge gas giant and a freezing ball of ice. Considered at first just another barren system, closer looks revealed that the moons of the gas giant were above average size, and one of them had an oxygen-bearing atmosphere capable of supporting most common kinds of galactic life. So when the green light was given to send off the colony ships, ASTR38 drew the attention of colonists. Perhaps once they arrive, they will give the place a more flattering name.


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Welcome to Terra Nova! A space states game, but without the sprawling empires that seem doomed to kill every space states game. Instead, you're founding a country on an alien planet. This is science fantasy, rather than hard science fiction, so all kinds of mad science and Star Wars-style technology is likely to be rife. There's also magic – just straight up wizard magic – I'll explain how that fits in in the codex. The only thing there definitely isn't is quick and easy FTL – each star system is, in most practical terms, on its own, so the scope of the game will be confined to a single solar system. You still have a lot to explore, exploit, and all the other Xs.

So yes, this is a states game. For those of you who haven't played one before, and those who missed the most recent iteration in Spheres of Influence, it's a game about politics, country management, diplomacy, and getting really salty at your friends (and me). It's played through freeform text or bullet point commands, largely taking place in private messages, with the thread reserved for public announcements by everyone. On normal 'long turns', I submit an update for the turn, you reply with a list of instructions on what you want your people to focus on this turn. It's that simple.

Alternating with each 'long turn' is a diplomatic 'short turn', where you talk to each other and make all sorts of deals, pacts and trades, or just trade barbs and insults if you prefer. Just remember to make sure I receive a copy of all IC communication between your countries. There's also wars, but you don't have direct control over your military manoeuvres, and open warfare probably won't have as much importance in this game because of the setting. These sorts of games tends to grow in complexity over time, but that's all you need to know to jump right in!



Applications
Colony Name: The name of your faction's colony.
Ruler Name: The name of the leader of your faction.
Ruler Info: Some background information on your leader, who they are, where they came from, how they became faction leader.
Faction Info: Background information on your faction – who is in your faction, what their society is like, any unusual goals they have, etc. Though they are likely to be similar, your faction society does not necessarily have to be the same as your homeworld society – the latter is where you're coming from, the former is what you intend to create. You could easily be exiles, pilgrims or criminals, coming to set up a new civilization out of the reach of your former overlords, just as you could be a state-sanctioned colonial expedition seeking to establish a new vassal colony under the flag of your homeworld.
Faction Colour: A preferred map colour for your colony, faction and anything else related to them. You can also optionally come up with a faction emblem if you so choose.
Species Info: Information on your species, their homeworld, any unique traits, and any cool factoids on what their society and traditions are like. If they are magical or technological, for instance. A species with a magical society is likely to all be capable of casting magic at some level, whereas a species with a technological society is likely to have magic-users be either rare or completely non-existent.

CODEX

System Map
--A
----Aa
----Ab
----Ac
------Aci
------Acii (Prime World)
------Aciii
----Ad
--B
----B asteroid belt

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SpoilerA - Star
A hot white star that provides the majority of light and heat to the binary system. There's not really much to say about it.

Aa - Barren Planet
A star-scorched barren ball of rock. No life-sustaining resources, though high radiation readings mean there might be things worth mining here. No atmosphere, no weather, low gravity. Not a lot to say about this rather dull planet.

Ab - Desert Planet
Bearing little to no signs of water, this planet is wracked by sandstorms that could easily cause heavy damage to any potential inhabitants. The atmosphere is just dense enough to not cause depressurization, but is unbreathable and toxic. Moderately low gravity. It is unclear if there is anything of value here, and further exploration will be required.

Ac - Gas Giant Planet
A huge orange gas giant, which though lacking in life sustaining resources, is likely a good source of most conventional space fuels. Very high gravity, extreme weather, and likely a significant danger to craft that get too close, like most gas giants.

Aci - Lava Moon
A small molten world with moderately low gravity, likely caused to be so by being so close to the gas giant. It is tidally locked, and the surface is subject to near constant burning ash clouds and lightning storms. Surface temperature is very high and the hazardous atmosphere is too hot and thick to go outside without a suit. However, it is likely to have valuable and easily accessible mineral resources.

Acii - Habitable Moon
No doubt the focus of the expedition, this planet has a fully breathable atmosphere, likely caused by a biosphere that matches the same biochemical patterns seen in the development of most life in the galaxy. This also means some of the local flora and fauna are probably edible, for the species that care about such things. The gravity is only just slightly below average, the atmosphere is just slightly less thick than normal, the hydrosphere is very active, and it's not even tidally locked. It appears as if most of the surface is covered in a dense blanket of alien forest – perhaps indicating an aggressively invasive species that has taken over most of the planet. Likely to be rich in a variety of basic and valuable resources. An ideal habitable world, which could be lived on comfortably by most species in the galaxy.

Aciii - Barren Moon
With very low gravity, no atmosphere and little to say for itself, this barren ball of rock is perhaps the least interesting body in the system, though it at least has fascinating geological formations. Basic resources are likely to be found in abundance here, but we are unsure if there's anything of real value. Perhaps it will be useful simply for being easily reachable from its sister moons.

Ad - Ice Planet
The presence of ice on this planet makes it a potential low-grade colonization target, as both water and air could easily be derived from local resources, as well as valuable volatiles. The atmosphere, while thick enough to walk around in, is completely unbreathable. The weather is largely composed of cloudless days interspersed with freezing ice blizzards. The gravity is fairly pleasant, being moderately low.

B - Star
The binary partner of ASTR38-A, ASTR38-B is cooler, dimmer and more red, but still provides a decent amount of light and heat to A's planets and moons. It is surrounded by a dense asteroid field, perhaps having failed to accrue planets of its own. That asteroid field, while distinctly lacking in the volatiles necessary to sustain life, is still probably a decent source of valuable resources. The biggest barrier to its usefulness is how remote it is, as B's orbit places it far from the planets of A.

Countries

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SpoilerNone yet!

Concepts

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SpoilerMagic vs Technology:
The wizards are here, and they have their own societies that look down on the technological dependency of others. Which isn't super fair, since their own societies use limited technology in combination with magic. Magic can achieve wondrous feats, and a single spell can often bring a highly educated wizard up to par with a powerful technological device, but magic and technology don't mix. When casting magic, spellcasters draw energy from nearby, and this plays havoc with electronics. Magic screws up computers and most digital systems, and even when the electronics are heavily reinforced, continuous exposure to magic will eventually cause them to malfunction, short-circuit and break down.

As a result, most species that are capable of casting magic and structure it into their societies do not use electronic systems at all, instead relying on a mix of older, purely mechanical technology and magic to travel the stars. Some even eschew mechanical technology, delving into purely magical-dependent societies that often seem crude and backwards to more technologically advanced species, but get the job done just as well. Of course, magic is not strictly superior to technology – powerful energy pulses and disruptor weapons coming from both the magical and technological side can disrupt magic just as easily as technology.

This means magic societies tend to appear more historical and old fashioned, making use of old non-electronic systems such as blast furnaces, mechanical combustion engines and bullet-based firearms, and supplanting these with powerful magic, compared to the technological societies that tend to follow the bleeding edge and rely on advanced computer systems, energy blasters and a constant demand for electricity. The magic societies that reject technology entirely often look positively medieval, making use of arcane blacksmiths and artisans who imbue magic into their craft to create magic items. Their idea of a space hardsuit could easily be an enchanted suit of plate armour.

One thing neither magic nor science has ever been able to prove is the existence of a god or gods. Despite this, some magical societies remain convinced that magic itself is proof of divine intervention, referring to their wizards as clerics instead. Honestly, considering that the rules of magic seem almost entirely disconnected from the rest of physics, it is entirely possible that they are right. Others, taking a more scientific mindset, sometimes call magic psionics, and casters psions, as it is willed into being by mental effort. But most just call it magic and wizards.

Faster Than Light Travel:
Regardless of whether you believe in magic or technology, it's bad. Expensive, slow, unreliable. Ships often arrive early or very late, with little way to predict which, but still take months to travel even short distances. As a result, most of the United Confederation planets more or less run themselves, as even communicating between them can be challenging. Fortunately, cold sleep makes even decade-long journeys bearable, though few people like to travel across the galaxy regularly as you might quickly find yourself in a different century to when you started.

The United Confederation:
More of a union of independent planets than a true united government, the UC is like a space UN, decreeing laws for the good of all that are often ignored when outside observers aren't looking. UC officials have little say in how planets are run or who rules them, but try to make laws governing interstellar trade and peace, doing their best to prevent wars. Not that any but the most foolhardy of belligerent races would attempt an interstellar war anyway; with FTL being as slow and unreliable as it is, waging war from one star system to another is beyond impractical. No, it's the civil wars and wars between different polities on the same planet that concern the UC most of all, so they try to limit expansion and colonization to stop races coming into conflict. Though now, the balance of power in the UC council has shifted to the point where they are opening up huge swathes of space to free for all colonization, so perhaps things are changing.

Colony Name: Lliseps
Ruler Name: Desten Maystar IIIX
Ruler Info: Maystar is slightly fluffier than others, with deep brown eyes. They are generally kind, and earned their position due to their charisma.
Faction Info: This faction do not want other societies endangering each other, and what they are planning would stop this from happening. It involves magic, and so would need to ally with other magic-using colonies. They are more likely to avoid technological societies.
Faction Colour: Deep Plum. Also their embelem is a wispy eagle.
Species Info: Overly fluffy birds in a light blue colour, with white flecks like stars. When nervous, they puff up. Remarkably intelligent despite their cute looks, and big magic users. They inhabit Ad. They have a tradition in which the whole of their society has a giant game of hide-n-seek, and the winner gets to be the next seeker. Also, they’re all communists, but they established it without any flaws, e.g the leader taking most for themselves.

Colony Name: It Held Five Tongues in Blazing Red

Ruler Name: I am Incomplete

Ruler Info: A being composed of a hovering tree-like nerve fiber, ensconced in magical protection, flanked by 108 circling eyes and 81 jittering mouths, 80 of which endlessly chant "I am incomplete" in a disjointed babbling chorus. A hideous formless skin occasionally materializes over the entity in vague shapes and guises, sometimes manifesting into hands and disorganized fingers.

The eighty-first mouth is shaped differently from the rest. It is an ancient thing, like cracked stone, yet moves freely without constraint. It speaks in harmonies inaudible and rippling noise that penetrates even twenty meters of granite stone, animated by a terrible, capricious intelligence so deep within madness that its strategic plans and trifling whims seem indistinguishable.

The being, "I am Incomplete," is unique among its kind. Some say that it is the first among its kind. None other has preserved their own faculty within its overwhelming presence. For this cause, as soon as it had appeared in their society, it became the unquestioned leader. Few truly understand from where it appeared - for it was so long ago - but only know the events surrounding that time.

For some reason, after that ascension, the imports of high-velocity plasma increased in the society. Apparently, it was an personal indulgence (it "sounds tasty").

Other individual interests of this strange being, however, veer towards the magical - primarily the reconstitutive and the transportive kinds. It holds a hypocritical view towards bio-magic - despite disavowing it and cursing it, the formerly neglected domain had been increased after it took power.

Faction Info: The Searchers: An unusual faction among an unusual kind.

This group was one of the few first groups to regain a semblance of sanity after the creation of their species and the immediate destruction of their predecessors.

Forming a pseudo-cult around the overwhelming being which chanted "I am Incomplete," they bent themselves to its whims and sought clear goals and wishes at a societal level, unlike the majority of the rest of their kind, who simply wandered the planets and stars, trading and bartering meaninglessly, unaware of their horrifying nature.

Still, many seek to indulge their senses and gravitate towards whatever they deem "interesting" when there is no important directive, bartering and trading substances both mysterious and mundane.

At the direction of I am Incomplete, some members of this magic-oriented society were able to impart portions of the incredible presence of I am Incomplete into audiovisual emblems and sounds. These usable tokens form the basis of their internal currency and are akin to a powerful drug for their own kind. For other species, these may be more comparable to an incredible magical hazard, only useful as a weapon.

Many similar properties also appear in their foods, consumables, and entertainment, though most low-grade goods only stimulate the senses in a mundane fashion.

When ASTR38 was confirmed to have an oxygen-bearing system much like their own homeworld, I am Incomplete ordered a migration of a subpopulation to the new system in search of novelty and the information and goods of other species which could aid in its unknown desire.

When the party arrived on the planet in their ships of spiraling tendrils and flame-wreathed skins, they named the area It Held Five Tongues in Blazing Red on account of the taste of the atmosphere-color.

Faction Colour: Dark maroon.

Faction emblem:


Species Info: The Scattered. The Stranded. A product of an awful experiment of bio-magic which infected, transformed, and destroyed their precursor species. Few understand for what reason that experiment was done - or who, truly, was the instigator. But all that remains now are terrifying, disembodied sensory organs: Eyes, skins, mouths, nervous tissue - wreathed in strange and awful magicks. Yet, many are none the wiser. They do not understand that what is food to them is maddening poison for others - what passes as harmless entertainment is potent weaponry to others' senses.

For that reason, their absurd existence was slowly accepted by other species, provided, of course, the appropriate proxies for avoiding direct contact. Some pity the creatures, some exploit them for their unknowing arms trade, and some face them with open fear of those magicks that they, themselves, might not even know.

Overall, their society is a peaceable one. Individuals, so much as they can be defined, come and go, taking in the joys of the world(s), and exchanging trinkets and goods hither and thither.

On the homeworld now named The Countenance and Rough Grasping Hands, the major faction is certainly the pseudo-cult of I am Incomplete - as it is the only truly cohesive one, spanning the skies and the shallow seas. There are minor bands of traders and hedonists outside of Its domain, and who wander the seas and stars.

It is said in some tales that there remain some of their species who were able to "remember" their former shape, and fell into insanity - wanting things beyond the simple indulgence of the senses, things beyond the enjoyable, beyond the aimless short-term dithering that so many of their kind, if not given guidance, are predisposed to.

But within the domain of I am Incomplete, there are no official reports or discussion on this matter.

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Spoiler

Colony Name: Coloniam Piratis ('Pirates of Protectrix')
Ruler Name: Protectrix
Ruler Info: Protectrix has never been seen, apart from her (its?) hologram form. No answers have ever been given and they have remained hidden, though presumably close to the centre of the colony.
Actually a robot
Faction Info: Formally approved by an organisation dedicated to 'upgrading' magic via an exploration on its integration into modern mechanisms, Colony Alpha was a highly-automated, advanced settlement built around the original colony ship, which was intentionally built to be disassembled. Its engine is essentially a huge, immensely-insulated magic siphon that now powers the whole settlement and leeches from magic-users in the vicinity. What was previously a well-organised state has devolved rapidly- at least in the eyes of observers. Now, it is a society that constantly sends out parties to steal whatever it needs from those that refuse to pay tribute. Ascetic and regimental, Protectrix has full control of almost everything and everyone. Loyalty is suspiciously total. Rumours abound as to the cause.
Basically, Roman Space Pirates
Faction Colour: Red, Gold and Black.
Species Info: Humans. I mean, they look like humans, smell like humans, act like humans taste like humans, so they must be human, right? Always seen wearing things over their ears, or in their ears.

Colony Name: Arcadian Gladekeepers

Ruler Name: High Official Hyssop Gladeflower

Ruler Info: Hyssop is a middle-aged Sylvian. Her skin is multicolored and banded at the extremities, like an agate gemstone. Hyssop takes her job very seriously and is aggressively stubborn, which combined with her acerbic wit, has put her in constant odds with both rival political factions and the stagnating world-federation which she works under.

The Arcadian Federation, in an effort to make Hyssop “irrelevant,” tasked her with the leadership of the Arcadia Gladekeepers to colonize the moon Acii. While this was marked by a celebration like other colonial endeavors, Hyssop knew she could not refuse as her reputation is fragile and a possible confirmed rejection would reflect poorly among the Sylvian population. Despite this political strongarming, Hyssop determined to do her best. After all, success is the best form of revenge.

Faction Info: Arcadian Federation (the Sylvian-analogue to United Nations) is mind-numbingly bureaucratic and somewhat corrupt, but no slouch in the United Confederation. They are boring.

Arcadian Gladekeepers is a division of the Arcadian Federation dedicated to exploration and colonization in the spirit of Sylvian interests. Arcadian Gladekeepers have colonized planets in other star-system to variable success. As the Federation did not look too kindly on Hyssop, they handed her a seed colony which a majority of Slyvians are militantly eco-conscious, have no respect for authority, or some combination of both. Good fucking luck, Hyssop!

Faction Colour: Green (Big surprise huh).

Species Info: Sylvians (pronounced “sil-vee-an”), a magically-advanced civilization of spacefaring capable humanoids. Sylvians resemble a cross between standard fantasy elves and anthropomorphic cats. Sylvians can acquire unique appearance and few minor characteristics of the biome they are born in. Forest Sylvians are greenish and have leafy hair. Coastal Sylvians get coral-horns and webbed feet. Et cetera.

The Sylvian home planet (Arcadia) has been largely urbanized. The majority of Colony Zero Sylvians look inorganic, ethereal, or some combination of both – metallic skin, brick layer-like stripes, crystal growths, et cetera.

Sylvian names tend to go

[Pretty Nature Thing First Name (usually plants, but animals, gems, and metals are not uncommon)] [Two Nature-y Words Smashed Together Last Name]

Colony Name: Reach The Infinity Through Perplexity

Ruler Name: Cosmic Two Dimples
Ruler Info: Selected through a rigorous process which measured technical knowledge, charisma and martial provess, Cosmic Two Dimples was the only candidate who was suitable for at least two of these. Which two? That is classified for at least a sentury, sowwy.

Cosmic Two Dimples is very small for their age of thirty, barely two meters long. However, their dedication to the cause of the Horizon Seekers has made them raise high in rank, eventually, they got accepted into the Secret High Council, which is the dream of almost every child on their homeplanet.

Cosmic Two Dimples is very, very cute, but is also extremely conniving, and has proposed dozens of contingency plans on how to deal with the dire case of the United Confederation finding out the closely guarded secret projects of their homeland, each scarier than the lest. At least one of them is bound to work!

Faction Info: Reach The Infinity Through Perplexity was seemingly a state sponsored expedition, approved by the UC. But in truth, the ship was supposed go past the selected planet, faking its demise, and it would have carried onto ininity, to the edge of the Galaxy... However, the fake explosion turned out to be a real explosion, due to their secret precursor tech based propulsion gear malfunctioning, so they had to land anyways.
Their colony ship damaged, they now have to make do with they have left, befriend the other colonies who are now much, much closer than in the old UC lands, and actually figure out how the precursor gear works, and escape this planet... at all cost.

Faction Colour: Baby seal white, but yellow also works.

Species Info: The Horizon Seekers are shaped like baby white seals, however, not only are they much, much larger, but they are also actually blobs reproducing through budding. They have a very adorable looking face, and their skin is kinda fuzzy feeling. They are renowned for being easy to spooked by things like "Yeah my species often cuts their hair" or "Look at this knife I put on this robot", the Horizon Seekers were never really taken seriously. In fact, they were pretty medieval in technology for most of the time during their connection to the UC, being too terrified to perform great feats of engineering. They never ever went off world, either. They were seemingly welcoming to visitors though, mainly because they left their planet faster if they got their want, but sadly, this only led to more of them arriving. Soon, they became known as terrified resort owners.

But one day, a strange comet hit their world, which on closer examination turned out to be a cache of technology. And what technology! The blobs ran several checks, comparing them to ships parking near their space hotels. The results were that this piece of technology was more advanced than any of the alien species they met. Dubbing it Precursor technology, they decided that over the next century, in total secrecy they should reverse engineer it, finally build their own spaceship, figure out the trajectory of the technology cache's origin, and meet these precursors. Because once they got a really powerful friend, nobody would look down on them ever again. Hopefully, the Precursors are still there... somewhere in the horizon.

Also they learned how to put knives on cleaning robots, that is a good step forwards.

The Interstellar Frungy League presents:

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SpoilerColony Name: ASTR38 Colonial Frungy Club (Unofficial name: the Carnation Spurs)

Ruler Name: Fod Tuntun

Ruler Info: Captain of the winning Frungy team for the pre-colonization playoff, Fod is a League-born post-human (having elected to undergo cyborgization in zir late teens). Ze originally considered becoming a referee before falling in love with Alan Mors, a teacher and philosopher. Ze is a hard-working and loyal individual, dedicated to the success of the colony and the people involved. Ze also wants to spread Frungy to new planets, and is hopelessly optimistic that new people will want to learn and play the impenetrably-complex game for themselves.

Ze is also secretly involved in a semi-heretical attempt to modernize Frungy and bring it to the rest of the galaxy alongside zir husband Alan. Much of the colony's team agrees with their views, including their referees Misha Long and Kilix (a rare Zerb who isn't too squeamish about fighting). However, there are some among the crew with a much more orthodox view of Frungy, which makes Fod's job a delicate balancing act. So long as their referees remain on-board, they can claim to be canonical, however one misstep could bring the League down on the whole endeavor and trigger a new Frungy game for control of the colony...

Faction Info: The Carnation Spurs' official mission is to spread the reach of Frungy across the galaxy and establish a new colony for the League to enjoy. It uses the Official Rulebook issued upon launch, and endeavors to be a canonical representative of the Sport of Kings. However, a large portion of the colonists, including their official command staff/frungy team are part of a secret movement to revamp the rules of Frungy in order to make it appeal to the galaxy as a whole. So far their efforts have been supported by their referees, however, they must tread carefully in order to not be declared heretics by the League at large.

Faction Colour: Vibrant blue. Emblem


Species Info:

Excerpted from Frungy: The Sacred Game, Sport of Kings! Frungy is more than just a game, it is a way of life. Across the League it is played in almost every day by every citizen. Children learn Frungy in school and then go out and play it on the playground. Court cases are decided through Frungy. Weddings are held at matches. And of course, the League itself is ruled by the Triumvirate, those three holding the sacred positions Z-F-P, who are chosen each Grand Tournament by the ultimate game of Frungy. But if you look at the games the children play and the spectacular Grand Tournament, an outsider would wonder - how are these the same game? Their rules seem so different, the games so distinct. Yet that is the paradox of Frungy... it is a universal sport, one that can be played by anyone at any time and in many ways, yet that is united by a core principle guided by the Triumvirate and set down in the ancient past by ZFP.

Frungy's variants are acknowledged and set down in the Official Rulebook issued by the Triumvirate after every Grand Tournament. This rulebook, by all accounts an impenetrably long and arcane text, describes all of the rules of Frungy in detail, when tournaments can be held and how the winner and prizes are determined (most importantly the fixed date of the next Grand Tournament, as calculated by the formula in the previous edition of the Official Rulebook), as well as allowed (known as Canonical) variant rules of play. These rules must be interpreted by an expert referee trained in the name of the great ZFP, as no layperson can ever hope to understand the full extent of the rules. It is each member of the League's responsibility to play only by Canonical variants and not invent new ones or use older versions of rules if they know new ones are available. This is considered to be a terrible crime by the League, violating the sanctity and integrity of Frungy itself.

Referees are a special caste of citizens, cut off from regular society by their binding to the great Rules of Frungy. In order to be impartial they swear off ever playing the game themselves, which locks them out of the vast majority of regular social activities. The League has two different monastic traditions - one for the players, honed to the heights of physical, mental, and spiritual ability, and a second for the referees, who memorize vast swathes of the rules in order to uphold the sacred tradition of Frungy. A referee is both feared and respected, for though they cannot rule over others, their approval is nevertheless required for any decision made in the Game. They answer ultimately to the Triumvirate, which governs their ranks. Referees often keep to themselves, thus making their ways mysterious to the common folk of the League.

The Interstellar Frungy League is a multi-species organization, though it predominantly consists of humans, post-humans, and Zerbs. Zerbs are a fast and powerful insectoid species with six legs and a stinger they propel from their jaws. They are, however, strict pacifists, and worship the original ZFP as their creators. Zerbs are careful and studious, and take Frugny with much seriousness. They seem to believe that proper study of the game will lead to the return of ZFP and the ushering in of a new age. Humans joined into the league due to their obsession with sport, and because of the friendly nature of the Zerbs they quickly moved into positions of power.

WIP

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Spoiler
Colony Name: The Verdant Expanse

Ruler Name: The name of the leader of your faction.

Ruler Info: Some background information on your leader, who they are, where they came from, how they became faction leader.

Faction Info: Background information on your faction – who is in your faction, what their society is like, any unusual goals they have, etc. Though they are likely to be similar, your faction society does not necessarily have to be the same as your homeworld society – the latter is where you're coming from, the former is what you intend to create. You could easily be exiles, pilgrims or criminals, coming to set up a new civilization out of the reach of your former overlords, just as you could be a state-sanctioned colonial expedition seeking to establish a new vassal colony under the flag of your homeworld.

Faction Colour: A flowery pink

Species Info: A collective society united under the banner of the '

Applications will be open until the end of Sunday the 14th. I will start working on getting the game going on the 15th and beyond.

Colony Name: The Flash Brigade

Ruler Name: Space Captain Flash Carnage

Ruler Info: Captain Flash Carnage (Human) inherited the position from Captain Atomic Scar, 4th Captain of the illustrious S.T.A.R pirates (Space Treaty Astromic Rebellion), during a war to conquer the pleasure planet of Vegas Reximus. Wears a shimmering black cloak of changing skeletal remains, flickering through the equivalent of a skull-and-crossbones of known species imposed over a 8-pointed star, blood red felt on the other side. Knee high leather boots, a grey blouse with a white scarf. Numerous rings, on only nine fingers. Has an eye patch hiding an inbuilt cyber-eye, a large scar on a cheek, long black hair, and a winning smile of totally fake teeth.

Seems youngish thanks to illegal gene-therapy and medical-repair artifically improving his body, roughly 60 years old now, considered young to inherit his position but after finishing the conquering, pillaging and liberation of Vegas Reximus, backed by the dying commendation of Captain Atomic Scar and his crews support, the 4th brigade was renamed as the Flash brigade. Flash likes to strike fast and decisively compared to the overwhelming firepower tactics previously used by Atomic Scar, waiting for the exact moment, and creating it if needed. Flash Carnage grew up upon a labour planet, growing and supplying nothing buy SOPs (Sterilized organic particulate substance), a material that was the best generic fuel for matter replicants. It was tedious, hazardous and underpaid work, so when the S.T.A.R pirates invaded and ransacked as much SOPs as they could, Flash got the hell out of the only-technically-not-slave-labour-planet with them.

Faction Colour: Silver
Faction Emblem

Faction/Species Info: The Flash Brigade collects any species members, with some exceptions to perhaps hive mind members or complete fricking maniacs, depending on practicality. As a rule, any criminal can come join the Flash Brigade, but if your crimes are vile enough, there's no law saying someone can't shoot you down either so, good luck with that. The Flash Brigade mostly prefers to rely on scientific cyber-tech rather than magic, and while they aren't very proficient with tech, they cover a wide base of familiarity with techs so can adapt and have more specialised or unique ships and tools and specialists, although organising and keeping track of things is tricky too. Most engineers tend to be jack-of-all-trades.

The Brigade is made up of seven other pirate groups, although Captain Flash is the de facto ruler, has the largest crew and such, most weight to throw about. In times of war when decisions need to be swiftly made rather than letting the groups be independent or discuss it, he would take immediate charge. The groups do regularly meet up to discuss plans and trade with each other, and swap information, their homeworld so to speak, would be an asteroid in a cluster, that the fleets would meet up at if they needed to, but otherwise, the overall group would never split up beyond the eight fleets, and tend to stick in at least fleets of two, and group up for bigger jobs.

The Flash Brigade does it's best to be the counterbalance to any status quo about the place, taking in criminals, refugees, illegal trade, with various degrees of morality, makes connections with criminal elements in cultures, doing raids and hiring out mercs. In some ways, Dark Eldar, if not completely fricking insane and evil. More neutral and piratey.

Colony Name: Ograch
Ruler Name: 'Outreach'
Ruler Info: 'Outreach' is an elected position chosen by representative vote. Representatives present candidates for the role at the first meeting of each year, retaining the position until the first meeting of the next year.
Faction Info: Originating from the Colux Unity, the colony of Ograch follows in its origins footsteps. Groups of nine to nineteen individuals united by their skillsets, led by an additional member elected as representative. These representatives meet three days every four months, discussing issues presented by each group. At the conclusion of each meeting, representatives return to their groups to inform them of relevant decisions.
Faction Colour: Dark blue with silver outline.

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Species Info:Quin'Greach
Formerly non-native residents of the Colux Unity, the Quin'Greach are pale, densely white-haired entities. Muscular, bulky. Four arms, and a natural talent for mechanics. Omnivorous, with a substantial preference for meat. Bright red eyes, and powerful lungs used to inhale the thin atmosphere of their homeworld. Large mouth with two sets of sharp teeth. Hands are oft mistaken for leather gloves, and seeing their hairless face move for the first time has startled many a foreigner. They are not native to the Colux Unity, but rather were colonists and their descendants. Of the four species residing on Colux Unity, the Quin'Greach were the first foreign colonists, and the second residents of the Colux Unity. They were the first to suggest a new colony, and leveraged their industrial capabilities to develop the colony ship ahead of schedule. They also extended the offer of citizenship in the new colony to the other major populations of the Colux Unity, of which the crax have accepted, and two others have declined.

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Species Info:Crax
Formerly native-residents of the Colux Unity, the crax are tetrapodal entities consisting of a flexible pole-like spine with a singular eyestalk located at the highest point, two limbs ending in three suction-cup tipped 'fingers', and at the base splitting into four lower limbs ending in two additional suction cups, one mouth, and one multipurpose. These colonists are highly intelligent, and swiftly took to technology previously thought beyond them. Were offered a position on the colony as a courtesy, and were neither expected to accept or be the only ones to do so. This is primarily due to the crax previously opting for an isolated life, living in pre-industrial conditions despite the advancements of others, and were demonstrably content to continue doing so. Their participation is appreciated somewhat due to their surprising technological proficiency, but mostly due to the hope the crax will continue interactions with non-crax in the years to come.

The colonists of Ograch look forward to amicable co-existance.

Colony Name: Colony A
Ruler Name: Fenyel L-Aα
Ruler Info: Fenyel is an outstanding individual, and as such has been chosen to lead their people to new territories. He rules strictly, and he judges coolly. He was screened thoroughly and everyone agreed that he's the best candidate for the position. His last name was then changed to L-Aα to denote his new status.
Faction Info: The Annex of Tamilir is the faction of brave lezhiser to colonize a planet outside their own in behalf of the governing body of the lezhisen homeworld, Tamilir. They seek to have a greater galactic presence. They stretch out their hands into the void, they are yet to touch, and have their mark in galactic history. The founding of Colony A will be their first step.
Faction Colour: Orange. Emblem: The number and degree sign (#º).

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Species Info: Lezhiser
(sing. Lezhis; pl. Lezhiser)
The lezhiser are orange reptilian creatures. They have roughly the body shape of a raptor, but a more humanoid and straight posture, and have muscular bodies. Their bones are very strong and hard to break, but does not give much flexibility. Parallel blue stripes cover their arms, legs, and backs. A head crest of red feathers grow at the back of their heads. They are armed with sharp teeth and wicked claws. Two pairs of whisker-like antennae stick out their forehead. Lezhiser rarely grow taller than six feet.

The Lezhiser are highly technologically inclined. Most of their technologies are digital and electronic. Magic is only known by specialists, with the population at large mostly unknowing. They are averse to violence, despite their physicality designed for violence. They have an extremely systematic culture which names almost everything of their make with serial names, even their children, they do get more "traditional" first names that supplement their serial last names.

All of them also possess a weak form of telepathy. It was once used to communicate among themselves, but was sorely limiting on vocabulary, and eventually got replaced when vocal and written language was invented to describe the more delicate parts of mathematics and science. It didn't disappear, and lingered even after it was completely replaced by language, making the collective subconscious. All lezhiser are connected into the collective subconscious of the group they currently are in. Common behaviors are taken on, while bad behaviors are often subconsciously discouraged by the belief and philosophy of the collective, and eventually removed. It's a reason why crime and rebelliousness are always at low in Tamilir. It has gone unresearched for a long time, and it only has been recently that it has gained some scientific attention and discovered to be magical in nature.

Colony Name: Morgue™
Ruler Name: Morgue Queen
Ruler Info: Worker with the death, Morgue's Queen original job was dealing with preserving or perhaps repurposing the robotic shells of her people once a colony has died inside of it. As a individual, she's interested to check how the dead works and is interested in check corpses for study. Her ways are agressive when anything tries to blackmail or even threat one of her people and is ready to fight and show-off to anyone that think she's not ready for a fight. She didn't got a colony being a moroon and if anyone wishes to get her role, they must climb the social ladder.

What doesn't exist in their society, as in fact, everyone is a queen. Morgue Queen got her own colony after a propose of perfoming the autopsy of many species possible to deal and fight off magic and check how it works. Her personal dream is perfoming a autopsy on a whole planet.


Faction Info: The Morgue is a faction that wishes constantly to scavange the dead and be with the winner-side, unless, of course, if the winner side is a bunch of nasty, nasty magicians.

If any member of the Morgue isn't treated like a queen, princess or somewhat king, it will react negativally at any and every form of socialization.

Faction Colour: Purple

Species Info: Information on your species, their homeworld, any unique traits, and any cool factoids on what their society and traditions are like. If they are magical or technological, for instance. A species with a magical society is likely to all be capable of casting magic at some level, whereas a species with a technological society is likely to have magic-users be either rare or completely non-existent.

Royals are a highly tecnological and space-faring species of robotic shells and their little inhabitants that live inside, control the organs and manage it as a whole. If a shell is able and claim to be the best at a certain task, it will get a title as a queen even for common tasks, like cleaning, gutting and blinking. There's only one queen for one action, job or aspect and they're not always related with their current job.

Royals with no titles are tagged as a princess or prince.

A common shelll, not modified.

Colony Name: CRUX Station (named for Confederation Research Union X-11)

Ruler Name: Photine

Ruler Info: Photine is the central computer of CRUX Station, developed an unknown time ago by the station researchers. While one might initially assume that Photine is merely a sophisticated computer interface, it’s fairly clear that they are, in fact, a fully-sentient artificial intelligence that seems to have taken over as the head of the research facility. Photine has a rather odd and eccentric personality, and seems fond of conversation over incredibly mundane topics. The AI is possibly corrupted or otherwise damaged, given its odd personality and, at times, seeming incompetence at simple calculations that a computer should be able to perform automatically. The full extent of this corruption is unclear, given that CRUX Station only recently appeared.

Faction Info: The crew of CRUX Station call themselves The Observers, an appellation apparently given to themselves during the station’s disappearance. Their stated goals are research, though apparently of a non-specialized sort, as Photine has shown a clear interest in such diverse fields as nanobiology, botany, geology, nanomedicines, FTL travel, quantum physics, nanobotany, Newtonian physics, computer engineering, nanogeology, thaumatology, and so on. Why many of these things are not already in Photine’s database remains unclear.

CRUX Station’s appearance in orbit of the gas giant Ac was both recent and sudden, detectable by any that might have been within scanner range by a sudden massive burst of broad-spectrum electromagnetic radiation, as well as minor thaumaturgic disturbances that those sensitive (i.e. wizards) might have picked up if any were nearby. While the station appears in few records, CRUX Station was apparently a station known to have disappeared mysteriously years ago - why it’s appeared here now, and where it was in the interim, is unknown.

Faction Color: A scientific shade of heliotrope.

Species Info: The crew of CRUX Station hail from a variety of different Confederation member species, with no particular bias toward any one species. No less than a dozen species are present, ranging from large quadrupedal avians to airborne reptilians no larger than a housecat, and a variety of more conventional humanoid species. Some species present may even be those common in other factions in this system. However, the crew members of CRUX Station appear to be… off, somehow, with slightly unnatural movements and facial expressions, bizarre manners of speaking, and so on. Some individuals seem oddly identical to each other as well, and the service robots onboard behave in a weirdly lifelike manner. Something weird is going on in this place, that much is clear.

Colony Name: The New Lapliterran Kingdom of Chaletoire

Ruler Name: The Troi; La Grande Renne Padasarre de Shallote, Le Gentil Syndic Corentin, et la Sacre Pret Vandante Torrue.

Ruler Info: The Troi are elected by the classes they represent. La Grande Renne (or her masculine equivalent, Le Beau Rwa) is elected by the Knights Chevalier; Le/La Gentil Syndic is elected by the Yeomen; and Le/La Sacre Pret is elected by the Holy Lifegiver's Divine Clergy.

L'Renne Padasarre is born from a long line of great knights from a land known as Shalotte. Following the conquest of their home planet, Lapliterre, the Lapliterran people scattered across the cosmos in colony ships, and Lady Padasarre found herself the highest ranking knight of the Good Ship Shallot. Her bravery on the battlefield during the war against the Klingend invaders (a neighboring species of herbivorous fly-like creatures with a surprisingly robust tea and maritime culture) made her virtuous nature famous, and her skills in a Marquise (A model of heavy fighter best suited to close-range tight-formation assaults on much larger ships) left her martial prowess unquestioned among her peers. She is honorable, loyal, and strong-willed, unwilling to back down from any challenge so long as she feels her cause a righteous one. Upon this new planet, her goals are fivefold: To slay all evil, to defend the chivalric code, to create a beacon of peace in the galaxy, to engage in HONORABLE COMBAT with any and all worthy challengers, and to let the honor of the Knights of Chaletoire ring out in the voices of every creature who hears their name.

Corentin was born to a pair of Chevaliers, but found himself called to the life of the Yeoman. He is a farmer and an craftsman both at once - a tinker-tiller, or if you will, a sprout-smith. He did not gain the title of Syndic through skill alone, though, nor was he a political schemer who rose through the ranks through dishonest means. He is a gentle man who earned his position by taking a leading role in the organization of the colony ship's first syndicates. Because of his cool head and tender demeanor, he insured that all different tradesmen got what they needed regardless of industry or role. Due to his organizational brilliance, all on the Shallot would work for the benefit of all others, and none would go without. Corentin is a simple man with simple aims. He is an organizer of labor, a working man who works tirelessly for his fellow workers. All he wants is to ensure that no Chaletoirean goes hungry or cold, and that no land go fallow so long as its crops are needed.

Vandante is the product of a union between a Chevalier and a Yeoman, but they surprised their parents by finding their calling in Holy Mother Void. The Empty calls them, and they answer. A fine scholar and powerful mage, they are mysterious as they are devout. They have only a few known goals: to advance the knowledge of the species, to ensure all who live may continue to live under the protection of Her Holy Darkness, and to ensure that all who die return to the Holy Mother's Sweetest Oblivion.

Faction Info: Chaletoire is a remnant of the Kingdom of Foirette from back on Lapliterre. As their planet has been conquered by the Klingend, they have no idea on the condition of the rest of their species, on-planet or off. For all they know, they could be the last Lapliterrans. They sincerely hope that is not the case, and that Holy Mother Void has protected their bretheren.

Faction Colour: An HONORABLE blue known as #004A7F ! [Their Symbol is the Three-Pointed Star of Civilization!]

Species Info: The Lapliterrans are an odd race of plantoids resembling onion-humanoids. Their skin is very hard, they have tiny black eyes, thick, stocky builds, and they average between 4 and 9 feet tall (with the shortest among them typically being Clergy and the tallest typically being Chevaliers, though exceptions certainly exist; the current Grande Renne is only a little over five feet tall, and the previous Sacre Pret was well over 8). They are born with a tremendous desire to accomplish something, almost always something falling under one of three categories. The first group, those who yearn for bravery and battle, glory and honor, or simply to defend all they love, are called to the Knights Chevalier. The second and by far the largest group calls to those who want to see something come from nothing - from the kind ones who yearn for peaceful pastoral lives, to the industrious and driven who hope to build the tools to create a new future; the Yeomen. The third and smallest group has only one trait of commonality: the desire to Know. From philosophers to scientists, from theologians to mystics, these individuals are called to the Clergy. These classes are purely organizational, and none is considered to hold social or hierarchical power over the other. That said, there is a traditional mistrust between the Yeomen and the Clergy, and the Chevaliers look to both in a rather patronizingly protective manner. The Lapliterran lifespan can go on for a terribly long time, an out of control adult typically ranging from 200 to 700 years. Most Lapliterrans do not live this long, as they are particularly susceptible to disease, and the bravery of their Chevaliers finds many an early grave (and provokes many an unnecessary war.)

The Lapliterran religion is hard to properly categorize, as is neither wholly reincarnative nor paradisical; neither monotheistic, polytheistic, nor atheistic. Their chief goddess is Holy Mother Void; the Loving Abyss; the Gentle Oblivion. According to them, all souls are born from Nothingness, and to Nothingness all souls must return. They personify the void as a loving mother, a gentle creature who burdens them with no purpose except to live. In exchange, all the Mother asks of them is that they one day die. In this manner, the world maintains balance. What lives must die so that something new may be born. In the Lapliterran religion, the same souls do not come back; but their soul-stuff is used to create a new soul. Deaths are typically not treated with mourning, but the celebration with which people treat a fresh rain after months of drought. This is doubly so when an elder dies, as it means that the power and knowledge of their soul will return to the void, and that the next generation will be much-blessed.

Lapliterran reproduction reflects non-sentient plant reproduction. The Lapliterrans have no physical sex (though their culture does have a rich understanding of diverse gender identities and orientations), and any Lapliterran can reproduce with any other willing Lapliterran via a big hug followed by a firm handshake and strong, meaningful eye-contact. Months later, a seed will sprout from the head of one of the individuals. Once planted, the seed will take a Terran year to germinate, followed by the sprouting of a small new Lapliterran youngling (affectionately referred to as a bulb by the adults of the species). Their young are then typically raised by the parents until their calling becomes clear, at which point they are raised communally by local members of their class, typically friends and family members of the parents.

Of the many colony ships heading towards the star system, ten arrived intact, ready to establish themselves in this new land. Those ten accepted applications are;

-It Held Five Tongues in Blazing Red
-Coloniam Piratis
-Arcadian Gladekeepers
-Reach The Infinity Through Perplexity
-ASTR38 Colonial Frungy Club
-The Flash Brigade
-Ograch
-Colony A
-CRUX Station
-The New Lapliterran Kingdom of Chaletoire

Sorry about the delay everyone, I'll try and get the game started soon.

Turn 0

[System Map]

The colonists arrive within the gravity well of ASTR38-A, and many immediately begin petitioning to give the star a real name, now they intend to call it home. Eight colony ships in total converge on the worlds orbiting that star, while a mysterious space station that appeared during the last few months sits in orbit above the gas giant. In addition, the mercantile Ongel have built a trade depot in orbit of the habitable moon ASTR38-Acii, scanners pick up disturbances that could indicate additional hidden ships converging on the system, and initial readings indicate there may even be neolithic intelligent life on the habitable moon itself.

With colonies still packed and preparing to land, the ships are now all in communication range of one another. Although it is perhaps too soon to trade anything of value, with all focus and production on the foundation of these new colonies for now, it would still be wise for them to get to know one another. After all, they will soon be neighbouring nations for what will most likely be the rest of their lives. And they wouldn't want to accidentally try and claim the same square mile of land, as unlikely as that would be.

The coming ten years will see pre-planned colonial development and the establishment of basic colonies. Once those are done, the first true research, production, trade and concrete collaboration can begin. But now is the time for humble beginnings.

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SpoilerFor those not familiar, if you post any in-character messages in the thread, they are usually meant to be broadcast so everyone else can receive them. That's how you communicate with all the other players IC at once. If you want to message someone privately, PM them, and make sure you CC or forward it to me so I get a copy of the message. I need to see all IC messages!

As various colonial ships make their way into the ASTR38-A system, each and every one is bombarded by a broadcast on a frankly needless number of bandwidths, originating from the space station orbiting the gas giant. Maybe whoever's operating communications just didn't know which button to push and wanted to be safe. The broadcast is audio-only, albeit with a video component comprised almost entirely of distorted static.

"HELLO, new arrivals," says an exuberant, gender-neutral voice with an obviously artificial quality to it. "Greetings from CRUX Station. I am Photine, head of research, development, et cetera. We, the Observers, hope you come with intentions of cooperation. I believe we have much to learn from one another!"

The broadcast cuts out at that point, before resuming approximately fifteen seconds later. "Oh, and please do not disrupt the 'ecosystem' of the centermost moon too badly before we can study it. Thank you!"

A light, feminine voice is broadcast over open channels, with a musical, artificial tinge to it.

"Processor-Assisted Colony Ship Mk III, callsign Trident. Our destination is Sector 17, 27. We are arriving..... 413 standard years behind schedule. The crew are currently coming out of cryostasis and will be awake as we enter orbit. The leader of the expedition is <ERROR: UNDEFINED VALUE DETECTED, RECALCULATING BASED ON PRE-DETERMINED HIERARCHY>.

Our territorial claims are attached. Have a nice day!"

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Spoiler

A message is broadcasted to be received by any ships that may be in the stellar vicinity.

Hello their, neighbors. It seems that we all have stumbled upon this habitable world all at once. We, the Annex of Tamilir, would like to announce that we claim the amount of territory as indicated in the attachment, and we would like to keep them as ours, so we would like you to not intrude to our claimed territory, if you may.

Cheers, Fenyel.

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Spoiler

A signal appears, smeared across a few different frequencies in the interstellar ether, slowly coalescing in frequency space until one single transmission is heard. Audio-only.

We are Traders. Do not be alarmed. We deal in information, joy, and entertainment. It is very delicious. We only hope that you enjoy it as much as we do. The Ongel are also traders who are here. But they do not know the taste of what good entertainment is. For some reason they call our entertainment infohazard. Especially the emanation of joy which brings us meaning and direction.

They say that they are very willing to trade for infohazard, which we alone are capable of producing like none other. In that way we produce packaged entertainment for use when desired, since using entertainment when you do not care for it is an understandable woe.

We hope it makes them happy. If you will be happy to trade with us delicious information and entertainment, we will have a lot of joy. If you are wanting to do that, send image information of your kind. We want to know how to make you a lot of joy. Tell us your language and your happiness. Then we will for sure and most definitely make you a lot of a lot of joy.

Since this planet also brings us a lot of joy, we are delighted to enter the planet. We will set up two controlled trade zones in the confluence of climates in the north and the south, and an uncontrolled trade zone in the north-central islands. Since we understand that, in the past, interacting directly with us is not the most joyful, we will establish that the seas (which many others do not seem to care for) will be in our care. We wish to be friends. Let us have a lot of delicious joy.

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Spoiler

A voice pipes up. It squeaks with a voice so sacharine, that you can practically hear the dimples. It is sickening. But there seem to be lingering feeling of deliberate engineering to it.

"H... hewwo! We had a little awccident during landing! I am Chief Seeker Cosmic Two Dimples. Would anyone be intewested in coming over and help us clear up the debris? We would be very gwad if anyone did, and we could even set up one of our prepackaged auto assembly hotels and offer a tiny vacation to our hewpers, but mind you, we have no food to pwepare yet, so bwing your own.

We are awso interested in setting up a scientific resewch pwogwam once we have our equipment back online!

Here is our location! Twank woo!"

If voice can leave an aftertaste, this one definitely does.

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Spoiler

A transmission with a background noise of cheers, whistles, and shouting pipes through the radio.

"Greetings and jubilations, Frungy season has arrived! When's Frungy season? Well it's every season! As the IFL's official representative in-system the Carnation Spurs extend a warm welcome to everyone and we hope to see you around to watch once the stadium's built for inaugural Planetary Frungy match!

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Spoiler

The League has claimed this area to be our Official Grounds, so, uh, please ask for permission to come in okay?"

A brief burst of static, followed by a large hologram of a woman in an Onion Knight’s suit of armor appears, seemingly doing a triple backflip through the wall into your ship. She speaks in an accent that most humans would recognize as French, but which probably sounds to our alien compatriots like she’s got a taser on her tongue.

“Oho! Hail and well met, fellow travelers! I am la Grande Renne Emilie de Shallote! Noble Knightess, Daring Chevaliere, and Bold Warrior of the People d’Chaletoire! I am here to fight the unjust, to test the unworthy, and to forge friendships tempered in HONEUR et GLORIE. May my lance ever fall by your side, and may the wicked not taint this land with their foul presence! Au Revoire!”

As she reaches over to pound the end broadcast button, a gentler, more masculine voice calls out: “Wait, but what about our clai—-“

[END BROADCAST]