Phorcys Rising: Epic Steampunk Adventure [OOC]

[AmongHeroes]

This RP is currently on hold.

Phorcys Rising IC

Themes: Steampunk, Nautical Thriller, Low Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Warfare

For the past 150 years, humanity on the world of Terre has been experiencing a formative period of societal evolution. Historians would one day call this time The Age of Luster, and it began when industrialization began to sweep across the nations of the world. Initially the factories and mills of this industrial revolution were fueled by the kinetic movement of rivers or wind, and though prosperity reached many, it wasn’t until steam was harnessed that the true revolution occurred.

As steam power was mastered, it spurred an explosion of technological advancement and economic opportunity never before seen. The promise of this new frontier took roots in all facets of life; from agriculture, to medicine, and for the next fifty years the people of Terre were a part of a socioeconomic shift that has yet to be replicated. The upper and middle-classes boomed to the point where members of the lower class were almost unheard of. Trade and cooperation between nations was free and fair, and as a result peace reigned. The utopian era seemed as if it would never lose its momentum. Ironically however, the first crack that signaled the crumbling of The Age of Luster was brought about by humanity’s next great leap forward: flight.

A Friduhelmian physicist named Dr. Oscar Akoyev discovered a substance that when mixed with several common chemicals produced an inert gas so buoyant that it could lift units of mass thousands of times heavier than itself. This element came to be known as Levincium, and though no one could have anticipated it, its discovery tolled the death knell for peace across Terre. Airships soon followed in the wake of Dr. Akoyev’s discovery, and for a time the boom in trade and commerce that resulted surpassed the expectations of even the most optimistic of Terren. The fire of opportunity was burning as hot as it ever had.

Unfortunately, the fuel for this fire was dwindling, especially when it soon became apparent that only a scant few nations possessed naturally occurring Levincium deposits. Coupled with the now unsustainable rate of expansion, countries soon began to panic as they realized that their newfound prosperity was at stake. Relationships between some nations began to erode quickly; free trade was replaced by tariffs, regulation, and distrust. Wishing to project power in a world that was changing once again, military spending across the globe rose exponentially. Technology was focused on the creation of machines of war. Though peace still held, it was held together by gossamer thread.

The thread of peace was finally cut on a brisk morning over the Searsan city of Morse, when Friduhelm forces invaded. With surprise and numbers on their side, the Friduhelm army soon took the city, along with its precious Levincium refineries. Over the next seven months the entirety of Searsa was conquered, and as a result Friduhelm became the largest holder of Levincium in world. Unwilling to stand against the might of Friduhelm, the nations of Doorster, Terahon, and Inglor, soon allied themselves with the imperialist power, forming the Fri Imperium. Among the nations on the Amarc continent, only Carodie held its ground.

Though outmanned and outgunned against the Imperium, Carodie possessed a strong and determined military that led the leaders of the Imperium to seek another option besides an all-out invasion. Using their powerful air armada, the Imperium blockaded Carodie from the rest of world, essentially laying siege to the proud nation. The countries of Frith had little interest in involving themselves in a war with their now powerful neighbor across the ocean, and the island nations of Quindith, Sta-Loudi, and Bellonat likewise feared entanglement with the Imperium. It appeared that Carodie was on its own.

With hope waning, the Carodith leaders knew they had to act boldly against the Imperium, or not at all. A young naval officer, Commander Tabor Reid, approached the leadership with a daring plan that would hopefully break the grip of the Fri Imperium on Carodie…

The Carodie Republic is the sole nation on the Amarc continent not controlled by the Fri Imperium. Following the invasion of Searsa, it was also the only nation to speak out fervently against the military action taken by Friduhelm. It is a fiercely independent country, and it values personal and economic freedoms for its citizens. As such, it has placed much of its large wealth into the maintenance of a large standing military to ensure its independence following the decline after the Age of Luster. Though it lacks large Levincium deposits, the Carodie Republic leads much of Terre in agricultural production, steel manufacturing, lumber, oil, and coal refinement. Its resource capacity aside, Carodie is perhaps best known across Terre for the high quality of its engineering.

Capital:
Doir

Government Type:
Representative Democracy

Official Language:
Carodith

Denonym:
Carodith

Prime Minister:
Sir Alfred Minton

Military:
The Carodith military is broken down into three branches; Army, Navy, and Air Force. Although the Prime Minister has overriding control of the military, the three branches are generally accountable to a four cog general known as the General Chief of the Military or GCM. Below the GCM, each branch is controlled by a three cog general, or Branch General.

Army:
The Carodith Army is oriented towards highly trained and highly mobile infantry units. Its tactics emphasize speed, coordination, and strong force of action to achieve strategic advantage. The infantry units are supported by heavy armor units, and mobile artillery that are structured to facilitate rapid support. The Carodith also contains a large contingent of Special Forces units that specialize in sabotage, deep penetration, intelligence gathering, and supply disruption.

Navy:
The Carodith Navy is one of the largest fleets on Terre. Both its surface and submarine fleets are large, and contain the majority of the world’s next generation vessels. Its ships are designed to engage enemy forces on both sea and air, allowing the Navy to defend itself from a wide range of threats. Further, the pilots that make up the Navy’s fighter squadrons are considered the best in the world, and other nations have sought to commission Carodith Naval Aviators to train their own fighter corps.

Air Force:
Though proud and fierce, the Carodith Air Force is small and light, containing only a handful of battleships and carriers. This is largely due to the nation’s lack of accessible Levincium. Despite this drawback, the Air Force prides itself in its ability to support the Army, acting as a strong force multiplier for the troops on the ground. It also maintains a vital role as a reconnaissance and transportation force for the Army’s robust group of Special Forces.

The Fri Imperium is made up of five nations on the Amarc continent; Friduhelm; Searsa; Doorster; Terahon; and Inglor. Although each nation maintains regional independence, all five national governments are directly controlled by the state of Friduhelm, from its capital Konigingen. The Imperium is strongly imperialistic, and wishes to expand its control across all of Terre, and thus its military is powerful and heavily funded. The nations of the Imperium have plentiful resource availability, and it controls over 65% of Terre’s accessible Levincium deposits.

Capital:
Konigingen

Government Type:
Dictatorship

Official Language:
Frise

Denonyms:
Friduhelm: Friduhelmian
Searsa: Searsith
Doorster: Doorn
Terahon: Terahon
Inglor: Inglorian

Chancellor:
Reinhard Eichel

Military:
The Fri Imperium draws its military forces from all five of the nations under its control. There are three military branches: Army, Navy, and Air Corp. Each of these branches is led by a Fieldmarshal, Seamarshal, and Airmashal respectively, and only the Chancellor has higher military authority over the branches.

The Army:
The Imperial Army, also known as the Rustungkraft, is deeply focused on heavy infantry and heavy armor units. These units are slower than their equivalents in other nations, but their sheer power and ability to absorb damage makes them formidable. The Rustungkraft also emphasizes coordination between artillery and air units to facilitate tactical advantages on the battlefield.

The Navy:
Known as the Schlactmarine, the navy is the smallest of the branches. The ships that comprise both its surface fleet and submarine force are generally a generation behind the more advanced navies of other nations. Despite its small size however, the Schlactmarine trains heavily, and it is undisputed across Terre that its seaman are true professionals. As with the Rustungkraft, the navy focuses on the ability to coordinate operations with the Air Corp.

The Air Corp:
The Fliegenmacht are the pride of the Imperial military. Of the three branches the Air Corp receives the most funding, the newest arms, and the most training. Its armadas are vast, and the ships that comprise them are at the cutting edge of technological advancement. The Fliegenmacht utilizes large battle groups that are made up of both carriers and battleships, supported by smaller corvette and frigate class vessels. Along with its large capital ships, the Air Corp has a large number of fighter and bomber squadrons that are also highly trained and well equipped.

It was an indisputable fact that the Imperium controlled the skies, and it was a consensus among Carodie’s General Staff that it was a hopeless endeavor to attempt a frontal assault against the Fliegenmacht to break the blockade. The blockade’s main goal was to prevent foreign Levincium from reaching Carodie, and thus far it had been a resounding success. When Commander Reid approached the General Staff with his proposal, Carodie only possessed enough Levincium to sustain eight months’ worth of minimal combat operations; hardly enough to rebuff the bloated Fliegenmacht. If the Carodie Republic had any chance of ending the blockade, and eventually leading a military campaign to break up the Imperium, it needed Levincium. Commander Reid’s plan set out to circumvent this problem by exploiting both Carodie’s strengths, and the Fri Imperium’s weaknesses simultaneously; their navies.

Commander Tabor Reid was second in command to the CRN’s(Carodie Republic Navy) submarine fleet, and he was well versed in its capabilities. At the time of his proposal, a very important classified project was nearing completion; the construction of the CRN’s two largest and most advanced attack submarines. The two subs were the first of the Hellfish Class Hybrid Steam Powered boats, and their potential capabilities were lauded by the CRN brass as the most deadly vessels in all of Terre. It was these two submarines that were the lynchpin for Commander Reid’s plan.

With the two Hellfish submarines acting as vanguards, Commander Reid proposed that a large group of cargo subs could run the Imperium blockade and make their way to ports in Thiadon, Quindith, and Sta-Loudi--nations in the western hemisphere that held vast Levincium reserves--and secure enough of the precious element to allow Carodie to forcefully end the blockade. The plan was initially met with resistance from the General Staff, with even the Branch General of the Navy calling the idea preposterous. In the end however it was Prime Minister Minton that saw the plan as Carodie’s most attainable hope for defeating the Imperium, and that very night Project Dynatos was born.

Construction of the two Hellfish continued in the ultra-secret submarine pens in Oakden Heath, only now the pace of the work was feverish. The engineers were tasked with completing the two monstrous vessels in only three weeks after Project Dynatos had been approved. During this time, Commander Reid had been appointed to assemble the best submariners to crew the new vessels, and he set about his work with alacrity. Also during this short time frame, the cargo submarines to be used in the mission were hand selected and pain stakingly moved in secret to the naval base at Otterden to await their escorts.

The crews were finally assembled with only a week and a half to spare before the two Hellfish were scheduled to sail, and the men and women that Commander Reid had worked so hard to select began training on their new charges while construction was still being completed. Despite the rush and almost insurmountable security hazards, the date finally arrived for the launch, and Commander Reid reported to the Branch General of the Navy, and Prime Minister Minton himself, that the mission was a go with their final approval. The PM took little time, and gave the mission his final blessing, and with that an encrypted radio transmission was relayed to the crews waiting at Otterden and Oakden Heath that the fate of Carodie rested in their hands.

^Ship insignia.^

Name:
Carodie Republic Ship Phorcys

Motto:
“We Strike from the Depths”

Hull Designation:
HSPS-233

Class & Type:
Hellfish-Class Fast Attack Submarine/Battleship Hybrid

Displacement:
47,000 tons

Length:
893 ft. 5 in.

Speed:
32 knots

Complement:
136 Officers, 2,438 Enlisted

Armament:
9 x 18in. Mark VI Main Battle/ Surface to Air Guns.

30 x 5in. Mark XI Guns.

80 x 40mm Anti-Aircraft Guns.

49 x 20mm Anti-Aircraft Guns.

16 x 20mm Flechete Anti-Biologic Guns.

36 x Trident Torpedoes.

The C.R.S. Phorcys (HSPS-233) was the second of the two (the first being the C.R.S. Minton) Hellfish class submarines to be laid down for construction in the Oakden Heath sub pens. As a hybrid, the Hellfish class of vessels was designed to act as both a fast-attack submarine and a fully functional surface battleship. This design was made possible by the collapsible and self-sealing turrets that can recess beneath the main deck when the ship is operating as a submersible.

When operating in the battleship mode, the Phorcys’ main armament is the 9, 18in. guns that are situated in three separate gun batteries; two to the fore of the conning tower, and one to the aft. These guns are equipped with up to 75˚ of elevation, allowing the ship to engage both surface and airship targets at long range. To track its targets, the Phorcys and her sister ship have the first radar sensor arrays to be standard on any Terren capital ship. As a submarine, the Phorcys utilizes its Trident sonar guided torpedoes for anti-ship use, and its 16, 20mm Flechete guns for anti-biologic attacks underwater. Its torpedoes are housed in six separate tubes; four in the bow, and two in the stern.

The Phorcys is powered by an oil fired, high pressure steam generator, that charges two massive Taurus Kinetic Batteries. These fly-wheel batteries allow the Phorcys to remain submerged at flank speed for up to three days before it must surface to regenerate its power supply.

More to come.

More to come.

[!]This RP will center upon members of the Phorcys’ crew, and as such all characters must be members of the Carodie Republic Navy.

[!]Though I will not require it, I suggest that characters be officer ranks so that there can be more interaction between other player characters throughout the ship. If you are unfamiliar with some positions on a naval vessel, please Google it, and if you have an idea for a position that doesn’t exist in the real world, but could apply to this universe, please feel free to PM me with your idea. To be honest I strongly encourage such participation as the more a player has vested in the storyline, the more likely they’ll stick around.

[!]Characters will be accepted based upon the work a player puts into creating them, not on a first come, first serve basis. Please don’t take it personally if you are not accepted, trust me it is not a personal matter. I hope that it is obvious that I have put a lot of effort into creating this RP, and since it’s my baby, I am striving for players who will express their own interest by continued and thoughtful participation.

With that being said, please don’t be afraid to try out for a character. Trust me, if you’re truly interested in this RP your work will speak for itself.


[!]I am searching for no more than six characters for this RP. If I don’t get six good ones, we will play with fewer. I myself will only be participating as a Non-Player GM.

[!]Below are lists of character types that I need, and a second list of those that I am suggesting. If the character you’re wanting to make doesn’t fit into any of these categories, no sweat! Make up your own and justify their existence to me. I always love when players expand the world they’re playing in on their own.


-Phorcys Captain


-Phorcys Executive Officer
-Gun Commander
-Undersea Sapper Commander (think Steampunk Navy SEALs)
-Chief Engineer
-Medical Officer
-Sensors Officer
-Repair Diver Commander


Here is the format for Character Sheets:

Name:

Age:

Rank:

Appearance:
Please post a picture along with a short description. No anime or cartoon images please.

Military History:

Personality:

[Zhaliora]

*waves hand*

[AmongHeroes]

Haha thanks Zhal.

[Lillian Thorne]

*swoons* you so have me.

[Byzantium]

Oh hot dog! I want in.

[AmongHeroes]

That's awesome Lillian, and I didn't even have to mention Kraken lol.

[Lillian Thorne]

I was just cooing about how awesome this looks to a friend in RL and they were impressed by everything as well. I'll just consider the Kraken icing on the cake if/when it happens.

[Naril]

Well then. I'm more than a little intrigued!

[OiHarkin]

Interesting... would like to see what becomes of this

[AmongHeroes]

Yes...yes! More interest! *rubs hands deviously*