Awesome while Im thinking about it, technology, I haven't read everything but it's all reasonably plausible technology yes? No energy shields, FTL flight or communication (ignoring the gateways) or infinite energy schemes etc
Instant communication has mostly been allowed, mainly as a plot device. If you have a diplomat in orbit of Earth, they can still send a message back to your home planet. It just makes things smoother. (Plus, we have a hive mind nation that literally couldn't function if they weren't all in contact with each other.)
As for the rest, I wouldn't at all say that it's only plausible techs.
My only real rule is that it can't be literal magic, or out of place in a sci-fi setting. But I'm pretty loose about it. My nation has hardlight. Someone else used sci-fi vampires. Raylah is currently developing cloaking tech, and nobody has (thankfully) ever tried to start a debate about which technologies are 'realistic' enough to be allowed.
Demographics: Base line human, Minimal cybernetic/biological modification
Population: 2 Billion
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System Description: Binary Red Dwarf system Stars: Theta Leonis A & B Planets: Ares - Rocky inner world much like Mars, cold and nearly airless Oceania - Large Gas giant nearest the stars, deep blue in color, dozens of moons Tempestus - Smaller gas giant beyond Oceania, extremely violent storms on its surface, nearly 50 moons
Thick Asteroid belt separates Ares and Oceania, many more objects than old Sol's belt
Year 0: Colony ship "Redemption Factoria" transits through the Gateway finding a binary system of small and cold red dwarfs, the potential habitable world they expected to find was a frozen and lifeless rock. The Gateway fell silent behind them trapping the colony. The Redemption Factoria entered the thick asteroid belt to collect resources and begin manufacturing and setting up simple Asteroid habitats Year 1: The ship designed to land on a planet was not prepared to support a strictly orbital colony, food supplies quickly run short. Strict rationing and controls are put in place Year 2: 10% of the population starved due to low production and limited supplies, by the second year enough infrastructure was built to become self sustaining, though only just.
Year 10: Plans for the first major habitat are drawn up as infrastructure is continually built out to sustain the growing population. Year 12: Population controls are put in place to slow growth while Habitats are still built very slowly. Year 15: Construction begins on "The Well of Hope" a huge orbital structure capable of housing many hundreds of thousands Year 20: Population becomes fixed as capacity is reached until habitats are built, Slow construction continues on outlying habitats and the Well of Hope
Year 60: Well of Hope collects expected delays but significant experience is gained in Orbital Habitat construction. Year 65: The first Cylinder is finished increasing the carrying capacity of the system by hundreds of thousands
Year 83: Several Continental sized Orbital Habitats are started Hab-Tokyo, Hab-London, Hab-Denver and Hab-Delphi. Each capable of housing millions. Year 85: Disagreements on Resource allocation grow heated. Asteroid habitats drifting from the Well of Hope and the colony ship grow more independent. Year 88: The various habitats declare Autonomy from the distant Well of Hope and run themselves but are still generally cooperative. Year 90: Agreements are reached to concentrate on Hab-Delphi, Construction begins to accelerate.
Year 125: Hab-Delphi is completed, population of the system begins to skyrocket as the Hab fills with millions. Year 128: Other Habs resume construction, many small asteroid colonies also spring up. Year 131: Automation and industry techniques are refined increasing output
Year 170: The group of Mega-structure habs are complete increasing the population capacity to well over a billion Year 175: Mega-structure habs begin to try and consolidate political power as an Oligarchy. Year 179: The many small habs revolt, denying the large habs basic resources Year 182: The Large habs concede defeat due to pressure from the embargo. leading to the formation of a Republic granting each hab (or group of habs) their own representative.
Year 203: More Large habs are planned and begin preliminary construction. Small habs in the Belt grow more ubiquitous now numbering in the hundreds. Year 208: The first Jovian Moon colony is built as a religious enclave, though concerns of it being a cult compound are raised Year 210: Tensions grow as the Enclave proves to be a sinister cult striving for cultural supremecy, its ideology proposing a highly totalitarian and authoritarian structure where freedom would only exist for the priests and heads of state. Year 214: Most habs ignore the Enclave but its propaganda collects followers who see the cult as a necessary evil Year 219: Enclave followers attempt a coup of the senate, while many are killed and the building damaged it is ultimately unsuccessful Year 220: terrorism and sabotage are common occurrences in large habs like the well or hab-london Year 224: The largely ends when the myriad of small habitats pool their resources to tow a large asteroid into a collision course with the moon and have a small fleet of cargo ships act as escort. It is believed there are still members of the cult among the population. Year 230: the Senate agrees to a Constitution establishing a set of universal rights that most already enjoyed, but now the rights are formalized and officially protected. Beyond this it formalized many of the internal workings of the Senate and government adding a more rigid structure.
Year 250: As the Senate becomes a larger and larger body requiring many departments and oversite committees to manage the complexities of the solar system The Well of Hope is converted to a centralized government earning it the nicknames such as the "Well of Bureaucracy" Year 260:The enormous task of managing the thousands of habitats proves that the Senate has very little real power and would become crippled by its own size Year 266: The Senate disseminates power to the stations even further granting the vast majority of habitats the power to self govern, the Senates role becomes largely that of Mediator between stations. Year 272: Disaster strikes Hab-Tokyo as a cascade of failures leaves 120,000 dead, Senate is nearly powerless to help directly Year 280: The Senate takes on the role as disaster relief organization, purchasing ships, small stations and supplies to manage disasters and support any station that is damaged or under threat year 298: Activity detected from the gateway, Proposals of System wide security and preparedness are discussed, Defense satellites begin construction around the gateway Year 300: First Exploration ships constructed ready to be sent through the Gateway
Culture and Society: The many orbital habitats are culturally diverse as Earth was, everything can be found from an asteroid habitat run as a corporation to religious enclaves built into a gas giant's moon. There are several commonalities depending on the the kinds of station one lives in.
The large habitats like the O'Neill cylinders have the capability of theoretically housing tens or hundreds of millions if people were housed densely enough. While each have areas like this the vast majority of Cylinders are suburban or rural, many people living on somewhat large properties with gardens and the like or even small farmsteads. Most scientists and computer engineers hail from one of the major cylinders universities, many of whom transfer to one of the thousands of Asteroid colonies. For most O'Neill cylinders they posses a casual lifestyle, even in the dense city districts. This is because the Cylinders grow the vast majority of food or plant based luxury goods for the system, their wealth and abundance relieves much of the pressure of Habitat living.
Asteroid colonies fall into two significant groups, Industrial or Habitation, Industrial colonies are rather regimented and people live and work like those on off-shore oil rigs. Few are permanent residents of Industrial colonies and rotate in and out. Habitat colonies are also more regimented than their Cylinder cousins. This is due to the fact that few are entirely self sufficient, reckless consumption of resources could prove dangerous.
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Governance and Politics: Politics are extremely localized, each habitat or group of habitats are allowed to govern themselves generally however they please within reason. So long as taxes are paid to the republic and there are no universal rights being violated the habitat is free to run itself. However there is a system wide senate where each major habitat or group is given voice, due to the many opinions and objectives in the senate, and its sheer size, the government turns very slowly.
Technology Overview: Technology has been well maintained since the fall of earth, though focused entirely on space infrastructure. Designs on strictly planet side capability has atrophied. Advanced ship drive systems, laser technology, and industrial automation are well understood, but airplanes or ground vehicles would be archaic or simply ancient in comparison to some.
Their most advanced technology are High Energy Ion Drives that while slow to accelerate gran immense top speed eventually. Their other is Fusion power which while still complex and expensive to maintain provides abundant power.
Military Overview: Military power is generally non-existent, as a purely military capability. However each habitat has security/law enforcement personnel that could be armed with dangerous weapons if needed. Beyond this each habitat, and many ships, have heavy point defense lasers built to defend themselves from space junk and meteorites but would prove quite dangerous to military ships as well.
However some resources have been allocated for protection and a network of Defense stations have been built around the Gateway. These are simply automated satellites with over built point defense lasers, several of which are also equipped with over sized sensor and communications systems.
Due to the religious based conflict that raged years ago Religion, while still free to practice, is widely frowned upon. Few citizens are religious, and as part of the Senate's universal rights citizens are free to move between stations ensuring that no station can realistically force its population to be of a singular religion.
ok, just trying to get my bearings on what kind of technology is reasonable. I have a fondness for realistic scifi but still love me some space magic too. I wont start the debate on what is realistic.
for me, at least to start ill probably stick with pretty realistic tech, like ion Drives, fusion power, automation etc. Things like hover tech and hard light ill probably buy, trade, or steal. The cool factor im planning on is more of a scale thing O'neill cylinders are big lol.
I understand it's difficult to explain the culture of Theta-Leonis as a whole, since it is intended to be a mish-mash of stations each with their own unique style and way of life. However, in that case I recommend that you explain some of the more prevalent cultures and themes.
How does the average citizen in the large, "egalitarian" station live his life? What about someone in a tiny asteroid-sized station? And what does this authoritarian cult in your history actually believe, if they're still around today? Did their existence push the rest of Theta-Leonis into a more anti-religion state of mind?
You get the idea. You don't need to answer those questions specifically, just... elaborate a little. Thankyou!
@Irredeemable I love the New Hollywoodian one, especially the "Oligarch's Interview" quote. Surprised to see the Mixtist philosophy too, and not a bad one at that xD Your take gives them a "nature worshippers" feel that I kinda like
Dangit, you're making me wanna click one of those Rimworld ads I keep getting
Honestly I'm more scared of the ECU than the Zetans.
You should be. They lie about everything, are (potentially) cool with genocide, and use violence without remorse or guilt. I'm not really playing the good guy here xD
It's just that the average ECU citizen isn't really involved in all the shady stuff going on up top, and even many Oligarchs aren't.
You should be. They lie about everything, are (potentially) cool with genocide, and use violence without remorse or guilt. I'm not really playing the good guy here xD
It's just that the average ECU citizen isn't really involved in all the shady stuff going on up top, and even many Oligarchs aren't.
