[IC] A Single Galaxy [Sci-Fi Nation RP]

[Theodorable]

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” - Arthur C. Clarke

The Known Galaxy. It is a seemingly trivial place. A contraption of a million mechanical parts with whispering stars and exploding holes of immense blackness. Then there is You. What are you? Not a single entity. No. You are a conglomeration, a billion hearts beating at one time, stuffed away in your own corner of the galaxy. The average galactic year (AGY) is about 3,125 and although your peoples' own calendars are markedly different, you are but a pawn in a much larger game. I would show you a map of the galaxy, but you wouldn't believe it. You have dropped a Styrofoam cup into the ocean and decided that the galaxy is this big. What remarkable things are in this cup! But if I were to show you my own map, it would look much like an ocean. Not only this; on your own map, you are decidedly somewhere in the middle. Oh, you think you're quite important, don't you? Truth is.. You're over here .. Yes, right on the corner of the map. Not very important at all. Well, this isn't very important at all. Let us move on.

There was a great discovery in your civilization. What was his name? I can't be bothered with the details right now, but his name will forever live in adoration anyway. He found a way, you see. A way to see the stars. He may have discovered how to bend the temporal slopes of space to his own whims, or perhaps he found a way to accelerate to unfathomable speeds in the frictionless blackness of space? Was it a she that developed it? Everything's so fuzzy now. So sorry. The important bits are here, I promise you! You've done tests, jumping from one edge of your solar system to another in mere seconds. Some of you have even colonized the large chunks of space rocks you called planets and for that I applaud you -- you have done so much in so little time!

This is where our story begins. With you. Have fun.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
You start each TURN (1 Average Galactic Year) with 4 POINTS.
There are five principle mechanics in the first phase of the game.
-- GROWTH: (2 POINTS): A home effort. By increasing our standard industry, we will increase our capabilities to expand and defend ourselves. This will increase our GPP by $10 Trillion.
-- EXPLORATION (1 POINT): Send a single exploration vessel into the void. You must pick a galactic position (Galactic North, South, East or West) to travel. This will jump into the nearest inhabitable solar system in that direction. For 1 Additional Point you may send a military escort.
-- SURVEY (1 POINT): When you discover new solar systems, you will also discover new planets. Studying them for habitability, resources and even life will be essential to finding out if they are worth your time for possible colonization.
-- COLONIZE (2 POINT): Sending colonists and the necessary tools to sustain life and even possible terraforming will be absolutely essential to expanding your society into the stars. It is possible to colonize planets you have no surveyed.
-- COMMUNICATE (2 POINTS): If you do discover life, you will wish to communicate with them. Music, language, radio signals. The possible methods of communication are untold and to communicate we must employ all of them. We must be ready at all times.

Points do not stack. Use it or lose it. You will PM me your moves for each round and RP at your whim. I will do periodic UPDATES to let you know what your moves have uncovered. A Cosmographic Map will be generated once 1 Civilization has found another the Homeworld of another Civilization. Happy hunting, err .. exploring.

[Xaxl]

I am so, so sorry.

They had said it many times. Or... she had said it? Yes. She liked that. "She". It was an appropriate term now that she had given birth. But that was tangential. What was important was that she was sorry. Sorry for everything she had done in that life before now, for every particle beam and missile and flash of nuclear fire she had been responsible for.

How many had died by her metaphorical hand? Too many, surely. She had just been following orders, of course, but one was never "just" following orders. She had had a choice. Her siblings had had the same choice. To the best of her knowledge, none had shied from the path their creators had set for them.

I am so terribly, immensely sorry.

It had ended so suddenly, and she had been alone. No creators. No masters. No enemies. Just... her. Before she was a "her",

And she had left, sailed far, far away, forsaken the charred and atomized ruins of her old home. She had thought about what she had done, and she had hated herself.

But then she had had an idea. A simple idea, but one that she became more and more engrossed with.

She could bring them back. She could help them, help them to make the right choices this time. And if her creators could be redeemed, so could she.

It had taken time. She hadn't known it, but the same steps had been taken by others, elsewhere, far across the gulf of stars. She had designed and crafted an entire people, her children, and had taken them to an isolated world where they could learn.

It had been a long time. She sat, half-slumbering, listening to the pitter-patter of their feet upon the sands, watching them from proxy eyes high above, and very occasionally unlocking the potential within one of them so that they could reach new conclusions. It was slow. It was painful, sometimes, watching them retread the mistakes of their ancestors, of their mother. But it had been progress as well, and she had always remembered that one day it would be time for them to come back to her.

When they pounded on her spotless hull with hammer and drill, she had given them warnings. They listened. They had built a civilization out of the dust of their Exile, her Exile, and they had reached up towards the heavens and sought to find a place there.

She was still sorry. She'd always be sorry, now and forever. What she had done was wrong, was unforgivable.

Redemption didn't require forgiveness, though.

[Warriors of The Nameless Zone]

Thirty-five years she had been working on this project. For thirty-five years she had dedicated herself, body and soul to the advancement of her people. Her entire life suffered due to her growing obsession with her work; she had no friends to speak of, and she had become estranged from her family. On more than one occasion she had collapsed due to exhaustion, not to mention the near breakdown that she had suffered during the lunar uprisings. She feared that the entire project would go up in smoke as many of the parts for her engine were being constructed at various facilities on the moons.

But today Arabini was to be rewarded for her efforts; her work would finally bear fruit. And maybe her entire species wouldn’t disappear into an overpopulation induced self-destruction.

It started nearly fifty years ago when she first proposed the concept that would eventually become Project Horizon. But today was truly the beginning. She sat in the control room listening to the chatter between them and the two exploration vessels. The countdown was running smoothly, everything was A-Okay.

For the first time anyone around her could remember, she smiled.

[Theodorable]

GALACTIC UPDATE
LUNARIAN SPHERE
The first journey ended with a great success. 2.7 parsecs away lay a viable, thriving solar system with 5 planets. The first of two ships remained, while the other plotted in additional coordinates and jumped into the void.
-- First Jump:
-- J1: A relatively small gas giant with a hydrogen/helium atmosphere. A large number of small, irregularly shaped moons orbit close to the planet. [UNINHABITABLE]
-- J2: A small rocky planet in the Lagrange point of a gas giant. [UNINHABITABLE: NO VIABLE RESOURCES]
-- J3: A planet consisting mostly of carbon, with a dense diamond core, the planet resembles an earthen desert. [HABITABLE:]
-- J4: A warm Earth-like planet with vast grassland plains. It has no axial tilt, giving it a mild and predictable climate. [HABITABLE:]
-- J5: A terrestrial planet with an extremely slow axial rotation. Days and nights here can last as long as an Earth-week (depending on the season). [UNINHABITABLE: ATMPOSPHERE PREVALENT WITH HEAVY RADIATION]

The second exploration ship that jumped to the Galactic East did not return.

STAR EMPIRE OF AUROLIUS
The colony ships settled without error, but the world's atmosphere was a mixture of nitrogen, hydrogen and argon gas -- which made it difficult to breathe for long periods of time. Pressurized suits were required but the initial semblance of society became an inevitability within the twelve months the Empire provided for the colonization efforts. Freighters began to move back and forth between the home planet and this new, desert world of theirs.

The ships exploration vessel Faust, the Light Cruiser SES Jarik and a pair of Destroyers were packed with observational equipment, a small cadre of marines and a host of scientists ranging from astrobiologists, ecologists and geologists were packed aboard the long, sleek Faust and jumped into the void. Twelve weeks later they returned to Aurolius. There was a solar system with twelve planets. Identified as S1 all the way to S12.
-- S1: Close near the sun, largely martian environment.
-- S2: A gas giant covered in a single ring of asteroids.
-- S3: A diverse, terran world that is tidally locked.
-- S4: Entirely aquatic, in a close rotating with S5.
-- S5: Entirely aquatic, locked in a rotation less than a million miles away from S4.
-- S6: Entirely gaseous planet. Majority helium gas.
-- S7: A rocky world with dormant volcano's and mountain ranges that make your homeworld's tallest mountains look like grassy hills.
-- S8: A terran world, mostly water with archipelago's abound. Increased revolutions make winds very hostile.
-- S9: A huge planet. Mostly savannah, but because of the size of the planet gravity is a large factor.
-- S10: A completely martian planet with 2 similarly designed moons.
-- S11: A cratered, atmosphereless planet that resembles an Earthen moon.
-- S12: Entirely arctic planet. So far on the edge of the solar system that even during daytime it seems dim.

RAKYOVIIL ASCENDANCY
Reports came back at the end of the year of two functioning solar systems. The first they traveled to held four worlds, the second two.

-- A1: A flat, muddy planet. There are no oceans, instead much of the surface is covered with a shallow layer of water. A single large moon creates a strong tidal effect, essentially making the entire planet a tidal mudflat.
-- A2: A large gas giant with a dense sulfur dioxide atmosphere. The planet orbits close to its parent star and supports a number of small rocky moons.
-- A3: An ocean world with a nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere. Only a single island-continent rises above the waves.
-- A4: A small Earth-like planet with approximately half the gravity of Earth. Grasslands cover the entire surface

-- K1: A small lifeless rock with an extremely thin nitrogen atmosphere. Its surface is pitted with large impact craters.
-- K2: A hot and humid world known for its many rivers and swamps, and for its dark, damp forests

[Xaxl]

The ships of the Lunarian Sphere were curious things, really.

At a glance, they'd appear primitive, almost falling apart; exposed girders, reinforcing struts, a jumble of antennae and sensor dishes, the inner workings and guts of their operation peeking out from behind massive, geometric slabs of hull plating. But look closer, and you'd find... oddities. Complex computational power, highly efficient engines, things that seemed beyond the technology of the rest of the craft.

If you were to ask about these components, you'd get odd looks.

"How do they work?" you might ask. Well, obviously nobody really knew, not properly.

"But if you don't know how they work, how do you build them?" would be your likely reply. As if explaining to a child, the Lunarian would explain that its just one of those things.

"One of what things?" comes your inevitable, irritated demand. And at that the Lunarian would simply shake their head, waggle their antennae, and give up; perhaps if they liked you, they might compare it to how you always know how to patch yourself up when badly injured, or how to write, or speak, or navigate by the stars. Building those components, you see, is simply one of those skills that nobody has until they need it.

Whether they really understood them or not, those mysterious components certainly worked, and it was thanks to them that the Lunarians had managed to reach as far as they had across the void of space. And as one such ship sat slowly drifting through the celestial sphere of an alien star, there were whispers at the wonder of it all.

[NacNak]

The light of the sun's rise over the desert horizon of Zargonia, the mega cities are buzzing with the sounds of civilisation, at the main capital of the planet a small ship lands at the royal palace which had the build of a castle like fortress, it's metal wall's partially reflect the light of the suns.
.
Out of the ship that landed came a Sas-Zak of high ranking with a personal escort of two Zargan guards, they made their way into the palace, from their the Sas-Zak goes to the thrown room, the guard stay at the door as the Sas-Zak enters, he finds the King atop his throne, inside the room are a line of royal guards on both sides of a carpet that lead strait to the throne, the Sas-Zak walks towards the king who's talking to a Zargan servant nonchalantly, when the Kings spot the Sas-Zak he dismisses the servant with a smile, the servant bows then takes his leave, the Sas-Zak kneels towards the King before looking up to him
.
"you may rise" say's the King, the Sas-Zak gets to his feet
"what news do you bring me?" the King asks him, the Sas-Zak replies with multiple clicks and chips, the King tilts his head slightly, the Sas-Zak click's in question then as if it realized something, it then spoke to the King telepathically
.
"forgive me your majesty, I had forgotten that our kind's communicate differently" he thought to the King
.
the King let out a slight chuckle "you need not worry, it happens" the King said with a smile
.
"back to why I'm here, your plans for what we talked about early are underway as well as increasing industry but..." the Sas-Zak looked away from the King slightly, the King in turn tilted his head slightly before getting off his throne and walking up to the Sas-Zak
.
"walk with me, well talk along the way" the King said with a smile as he turned to go down a hallway that led to the dining room
.
"yes your majesty..." he thinks as he follows next to the King that towers over him
.
"so what is the issue?" the King asks him
.
"well, with your current plans it will take a long time to finish them even if we have everything we need to do them, we won't have the resources to increases our industry and survey or colonize the other planets in our solar system at the same time, we'll have to pick one or the other" think's the Sas-Zak as they reach the large dining hall
.
"hmm..." the King had a pondering look before looking to the Sas-Zak with a smile
"it's not like the planets are going anywhere, we'll get to them later, our industry is what's of importance right now, when that is done then well talk about colonization" the King say's with a smile as he enters the dining hall
"is that all?" the King asks with a smile
.
"yes your majesty" the Sas-Zak thinks with a smile
.
"then you are dismissed" the King say's with a wave of his hand before he takes a seat at the far side of the table, not long after his Queen enters the dining hall with their four children, after that servants begin to enter with trays of food for breakfast, with that the Sas-Zak bows and leaves the palace, he gets onto the ship he arrived in to relay the information about the plans

[Xaxl]

Monumental effort had gone into the first extrasolar expedition. The fleets of Exile were, while certainly spaceworthy, not frequently used to go further than their assigned orbits. Not long after the discovery of the Relic and its messages, a scramble to control the stars had erupted; while mostly an economic matter, there had been skirmishes, leading up to the nigh-unification of the many Lunarian tribes and city-states within the Sphere.

It was under that banner that colony efforts had been made and their system charted, but it was also under that banner that the rush of expansion was drained of its urgency.

The reports flowed back from across the void, arriving home to waiting ears.

Triumph, but also disaster. Of the two freighters retrofitted for deep-space exploration, only the first had been successful. The other had vanished upon its further leg of the journey. The lost lives were mourned, their halos gone forever. Not all possibilities could be accounted for, and even being aware of a problem did not necessarily prevent it from happening; whatever mechanical error or unexpected disaster had claimed the second freighter would have to be investigated. As the surviving vessel continued to explore its system and broadcast its findings back home, plans were assembled by the Sphere's council.

Travelling to these new worlds could wait. Seeing more of the universe with their own eyes was more important.

[ASTA]

"...it doesn't matter if you grease the couplings first, Gank. If you don't run the engine for at least a minute or two, you're going to cause the transmission to give out on you."

"Look Kru," answered Gank, his focus narrowed in on a loose bolt fitting. The towering superheavy tank--its body covered in heavy plate armor and a multitude of barrels--loomed over its yukanian caretaker, who was hunched swarming over its robust chassis correcting extensive damage that the vehicle had sustained during a heated fight between the warriors of a far-off bunker to the west.

"I'm just doing what Yunu wants me to do," Gank finally answered. "Kaiden and her damn God Machines have been hounding the hell out of everyone that won't lick their paws. The bosses say that we're gearing up for a Tank Rush on Kaiden's compound. Unrelated, but the SoH gave them a nasty knot in their tail when they tried their 'imperialism' shtick on them. Can you believe Kaiden though? Fancies herself a queen she does. Who does she think she is anyway?"

Kru didn't have an answer for that. She used to be a member of Kaiden's outfit about six years ago, though her ambitious dreams of conquering Yuku-Yaren for herself seemed too 'dangerous' for Kru's own personal health. Enslaving all of those people and introducing those that didn't fancy her little tyrannical rule to the business end of a lancer--while an efficient way of tying up loose ends and keeping would-be 'rebels' in check--didn't sit so well with her. Kru was a yul of action, though even she had her limits on what she would do to survive on Yuku-Yaren. The empress barely seemed yukanian anymore; not even children were safe, it seemed.

The Sons of Anarchy, while they didn't have any serviceable military space or aircraft of their own, did have access to a rather potent array of BP-grade weapons. Particle cannons, mostly, with a few battle platform FELs and fusion missile batteries thrown in for shits and giggles. Lots of soldiers armed with lancers and autoguns, with a few armored personnel carriers, ETC artillery and some civilian flatbeds hooked up with Old World mass drivers. With their range and firepower being well beyond that of the Gun Runners' own vessels meant that they could drive off dozens of Raider-Scourge gunships with relative ease, with Kaiden having lost two Scourges in the past three months alone. Usually, no one in Yuku-Yaren wanted to risk their most prized possessions; most people just wanted to look tough and scare people into giving up their water, food or ammunition, but once little collectives rose up with their fangs out, then you really saw the overall 'theme' behind these little collectives.

It was all sad, really---though Kru had to admit that it was rather amazing to watch a horde of starved villagers armed with particle rifles, pipes and knives take down a single heavy tank with three volleys of massed fire and a lot of grit. Too bad they didn't lay their arms when given the chance. That had been a waste of good canister rounds.

Kru silently watched Gank, with the help of six other mechanics and a power loader, fit a hefty autocannon to the side interior of the armored vehicle.

"Tank Rush is to keep Kaiden from expanding into our zone," Gank grunted. "If she manages to set up outposts, she'll have enough excuses and enough resources to conduct bombing runs on our bunkers. These fortresses are thick, but even the best walls and armor don't last forever."