For most of the previous two decades all out war has raged between the two major powers of the human galaxy, the Ptaran League and the Ilosian Federation. After years of continual conflict both major powers have exhausted themselves, the cost to commerce and the normal business of governance having come close to ruining both sides.

With the major issues of hegemony unresolved, both sides have, none the less, agreed to peace to forestall mutual collapse. With hostilities concluded, both sides are engaged in reducing rebellious allies to restore the status quo ante. Both sides have an interest in supporting rebellions and fostering discord in their former enemies ranks.

It is a time of great uncertainty as the drawdown in fleets and armies floods the galaxy with cheap ships, weapons, and battle hardened and unemployed veterans. Behind the scenes unhappy allies, ambitious regional powers and factions in both major powers work to further their own schemes, and in some cases, renew the war.

Far from the cosmopolitan centres of Empire a small naval detachment struggles to deal with the day to day problems of colonial administration. Ambitious locals, half civilized barbarians, pirates, privateers, revolutions, shipwrecks and a thousand other tasks conspire to make a hardship posting even harder. Life in a galactic backwater isn’t easy, but it can always get a good deal worse…


Welcome to my first attempt at a group roleplay! This will tell the story of the crew of a small naval vessel serving far from home in a time of relative peace. They serve in an exotic backwater of limited strategic importance, dealing with the minutia of Imperial rule on a shoestring budget. Players will mostly be officer and petty officers.

This will be a small group RP because I don't want to create a huge bloated cast that will collapse the whole thing under its own weight. I also want players to contribute to the plot and to world building which I think will work better with a smaller stable.

Inspirations:

The primary inspiration for this RP is history, particularly the Peloponnesian War, the British Empire post 1815, and the Bolivarian period of South American history. Ideally this will all blend together nicely.

Horatio Hornblower meets Patrick O’Brien

Tech Level:

Halfway between Alien and Mass Effect. Everything is dirty and dangerous. I’m looking for collaboration here but ultra fancy AI’s ect wont exist.

Character Guidelines:

All characters will be members of the Ilosian Navy, crewing a small warship. It isn’t an absolutely prohibition but if you want to be something else you will need to convince me.

Be human! Aliens exist in the universe but by and large their metabolic requirements are so different that it makes interaction rare and conflict even rarer.

Be open to having backstory connections with other characters. Unless you are part of draft of replacements you will likely have been serving with at least some of the crew for some time.

Expectations:

Be reasonably active
Be interested in world building
Be mature

Notes on a Space Navy:

This RP takes place in a military setting. I’m not a veteran and I’m not going to want perfect communication protocol or whatever. You might occasionally be given an order by another PC that you might need to obey. The nature of space travel is very egalitarian however. Officers who give stupid or malicious commands often find themselves encountering ‘accidents’ so it behooves those in positions of authority not to abuse their office.

The Nature of Empire:

Time delays due to FTL flight mean that administrative units as we understand them are difficult to maintain. Close to the capital worlds of both powers tight control is possible because travel times are short. The further you move away from the center however the more difficult administration becomes.

Rather than deal with this both major powers maintain leagues similar to the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian league, enrolling various regional powers into their alliances. Often times these allies are none too happy with bigger foreign powers controlling them. There are usually embassies or advisors that provide ‘policy advice’ to quasi independent polities.

Aliens exist in the universe but by and large their metabolic requirements are so different that it makes interaction rare and conflict even rarer.

Ok but how though?

The nature of space travel is very egalitarian however. Officers who give stupid or malicious commands often find themselves encountering ‘accidents’ so it behooves those in positions of authority not to abuse their office.

as a veteran i can tell you this happens in real life as well.

also, i am mildly interested but it depends on a lot. i will keep an eye on this and keep you updated.

<Snipped quote by Penny>

Ok but how though?

A methane breathing alien finds interactions with humans difficult and unproductive. They don't compete for habitable planets, they can't eat the same foods and there are just not that many reasons for them to interact. High level academic contacts exist but that is unlikely to come up in this RP.

<Snipped quote by rush99999>

A methane breathing alien finds interactions with humans difficult and unproductive.

How exactly does the difficulty and productiveness of said interactions hinge on the type of gas that is breathed by those who are interacting? I get everything else, but this confuses me.

@rush99999 I used a methane breather as an example, but any alien race will likely have completely different biochemistry. As a result they don't compete for the same worlds, they can't eat the same foods or use the same medicines, they probably need full life support rigs to even visit each other. Under these circumstances trade and war are pointless so there aren't a lot of reasons to interact. There might be some tourism but probably not a tremendous amount.

This looks good and cool! Count me in!

Sounds interesting.

Kind of interested!

I'm interested in this, especially with the take that interstellar communication and travel mandate a more loose hegemony than an imperial model. What I'm wondering if the characters are the crew of a ship in a task force, what is their overall mission and what sort of options would exist for having political impact on the setting? For example, diplomacy with barbarians and potentially forging other alliances.

I mean, you say Peloponnesian War, and I think "Philip of Macedon" a few decades later. I'd definitely like to explore the dynamics here.

Also, what is the structure of the military? Highly professional or is there some element of patrician/wealthy citizen service along with commission purchase? It seems like exploration for potential resources through naval service as an officer, would there be an element of commercial gain to Naval service in this regard, such as the discovery of new resources for government/companies through system survey and exploration?

Also, is interstellar communication tied to naval ships or other couriers passing though systems?

@HeySeuss

I imagine interstellar communication has to be handled by ships rather than some FTL so it might take weeks or months for news to travel from the centers of power to the periphery. Dedicated couriers probably exist in the center which jump into system then beam transmissions to relay satellites. Outlying positions probably have a semi regular packet or naval dispatches carried on packets. Think of how news might reach Singapore or some other outlying possession during the age of sail.

The structure of the military is very similar to the Age of Sail British fleet, with the addition to the existence of a Naval Academy. You go to the Academy and are enrolled as a midshipman. Most commissions will be held by members of the aristocracy because those are the people who can afford an Academy education. It is possible for warrant officers to be commissioned but because this comes with a drop in pay for a senior warrant it is rare. It is also possible for heroic spacers to be made a midshipman and thus begin a climb up the ladder. It is rare, but there are famous examples.

The overall mission of the ship is to keep the peace and fly the flag. I plan on having a Perdiccas II Macedonian style king who will keep the pot stirred up. Maintaining the peace might require placating or chastising local powers, building up informal alliances or any of the other morally questionable stuff that goes on at the very edges of Imperial power.

It is possible to profit from naval service. Smuggling is a thing as are any number of creative book keeping errors. There will also be prize money for the taking of enemy ships and cargo, similar to the British system, except with no distinction for privateers vs national ships. Recovering ships from pirates also results in prize money. There is all manner of scope for secret accounts for legitimate operations and private fortunes to be made if one is clever and/or unscrupulous.

@Penny I was thinking of that entirely, actually, re: communication being carried entirely by ships along their routes. Also, in regards to tech, did humanity suffer periods where star systems lost contact with each other due to regression/progression of tech and would that account for barbarian groups vs. civilization? I basically am wondering if there are pockets of humanity that develop new technologies that are ahead of the curve of the larger powers, especially with such a distributed population and limited communications, it means development of tech in silos with limited sharing of data.

Beyond that, what sort of weaponry is envisioned? Do land forces have a role, such as detachments of naval infantry as a boarding force or otherwise, and are there small craft undertaking strike operations? Are the larger ships themselves able to operate in atmosphere or are shuttles required to move people onto planets?

Anyway, sure, I'm interested.

@HeySeuss Great! Its nice to have someone interested to help me articulate my ideas and hopefully add to my setting.

I envision that there are pockets of humanity that have become isolated through one thing or another. Shifts in the patterns of transit space, isolated and forgotten colonies of larger civilizations. Some of these might have advanced, but I think more generally they will fall into barbarism as lack of contact makes high tech infrastructure impossible to maintain. fur clad hunter gatherers hunting in the ruins of fusion plants and the like.

Space battles tend to be settled without boarding actions. I haven't totally settled on space weaponry but I am thinking large torpedos which are fired from long range and maybe some sort of short range particle beams which can provide point defense and be used as weapons at close range.

In the isolated corner of the universe where the RP will take place there are a few regiments of regular forces and and native levies (similar to sepoys) who do the bulk of the soldiering but these are of poor quality due to long deployment in boring conditions with little cause to do more than bust up drunken brawls. Mostly they guard and police local bases. The quasi-independents might have all manner of troops...

Generally speaking if a problem is on the ground it has to be sorted out on the ground. Ship killing missiles and ground based weaponary can protect fixed locations from attack.

All ships are able to land and generally do land on water, to dissipate thruster heat. Shuttles, cutters and other small craft do exist, but it is possible for even the largest ships to land. Smaller ships are capable of some limited atmospheric operation, but firing particle weapons in the atmosphere degrades guns quickly, as they aren't designed for it.

Sorry if this is all a little stream of consciousness!

Sounds good. I'm just curious about the dimension beyond crewing the ship, and the politics of the situation. It sounds like the alternative to invasion by ship, which sounds like a logistically unlikely scenario, is to encourage revolts from within and play factional politics. It seems like the hegemonic powers probably have robust intelligence and diplomatic operations to this end, the way the Brits played factional games in lesser powers in the 19th century, notably the parts of India and China they didn't control. Covert assets would probably have to be of the sleeper variety and would be entrusted with a lot of discretion in carrying out their orders and building their networks over decades given the limitations of communications.

@HeySeuss Exactly, its always much cheaper to encourage the internal enemies of a hostile power and provide them with the quiet assurance that you will recognize their government in exchange for alliance. Classic Stasis in the since Thucydides would recognize. It isn't that a ground invasion is impossible, and a small ruthless force can accomplish alot, but the logistics of a drawn out ground war favor the defender immeasurably.

The two major powers probably don't like to sell top of the line units to their 'allies' however, lest they decide that the friendship of one faction or the other is too expensive.

So there would be weapon smuggling and weapon 'smuggling.' Good sideline for risk takers looking to make money and brownie points.

It has been a long time since my last advanced RP, but this one definitely captures my interest. I am thinking I might make a smuggler that had been arrested and was given the option of either serving in the navy or prison, and s/he decided to chose to serve.