(Original Idea by KeyGuyPerson)
“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
Humanity, nobody expected much from them. Most humans had their lives all planned out, and to them there would be nothing in the future but their normal lives. The sensible ones were completely fine with this, for they believed the could only dream of a more exiting life. Those sensible people withered away into the history books, being known only to those who decided to spend a few days backtracking through their family tree decades in the future. They are not the writers, they are those who look at the story and say "Ridiculous! That is impossible!". Rightfully so, as well. They were completely right, the story the writers wanted to make was impossible.
The writers would know this if they were sensible, but they were not. They ignored sense and followed their dreams, never giving a thought to the sensible people who said it couldn't be done. Pushing on ahead, those writers kept their eye on their goal and never allowed to wander. Through this reckless yet calculated journey, the writers finally succeeded. They had done the impossible, something that should not have been possible for such a young and damaged species. While the sensible people watched in awe, the writers trod upon the brilliant road to the stars. While the sensible people killed and fought, the writers marched forwards. The writers had to fight, of course, they were drawn into the conflicts of the sensible. But they never stopped marching, no, they refused to allow the sensible people to be right, to accept that reality truly was nothing more than menial labor and repetition.
As the ages passed, the writers kept on marching onward. Though none had yet been able to touch a star, they kept marching with no thought to the thousands that had already failed. They made great progress in their collective quest, continuing to invent new devices to make life just a little bit easier. As life got easier, the writers had more time to think and invent yet more devices to make life even more easy. It was a self-reinforcing loop, but still the sensible people refused to give a thought to the insane dreams of the writers. They used the devices to have more time to lay around doing nothing, but the writers did not care. While all this was happening, nobody gave a though to Earth and its inhabitants, still being stuck in a repeating loop of nuclear annihilation the moment they discovered the technology. Earth rocketed towards that point, having no idea what would happen.
Then, something happened. If Gods and Goddesses exist, then their interest was surely piqued. Something anomalous had occurred on that insignificant Earth, though they now had harnessed the power of the atom, their voices continued to speak. Their hearts kept beating, their DNA remained normal, their atmosphere was not full of ash. They had survived the creation of the nuclear bomb, something that had never before happened in the galaxy. Suddenly, Earth was no so insignificant anymore. The writers were closer than ever to achieving their goals.
The stars in the night sky burn brighter than ever, beckoning us writers to them. To some the stars say "We will give you power", to others "We will give you respect". Yet more hear "We will give you knowledge", and to a select few, they say something similar yet completely different.
To those few, they say "We will give you a home".
As you might have possible realized by now, this roleplay begins right at the dawn of the space race. Obviously, that means it is an alt-history roleplay. However, the in-universe history only loosely sticks to real life. The allies still won WW2, but details are left to the players to decide. The Cold War is going on, but the details of it are absent unless someone points them out in the roleplay.
Unlike the original, this rp will focus a good amount on Country interactions also, so wars and diplomacy are encouraged. Also, turns will be a bit longer so we can move through time a bit faster and hopefully get to colonies.
Now, this is an NRP (obviously). However, you can also play exclusively as a space agency if you want. Actually, they will be the primary focus of this RP, if the title didn;t tell you that already. Apps are as follows:
=Nation App=
Name (The nation must either exist, or an explanation for why it exists):
History (At very, absolute least two paragraphs, exceptions can be made if little history was changed and the nation is well-known):
Leader (It can be the real leader of the nation at the time, or someone else):
Space Involvement (A simple yes/no question. This will determine if your nation has a government space program. If yes, you must also make a Space Agency app):
Other (Anything not listed, go as in depth as you want with this, or just make a suggestion):
=Space Program App=
Name (Can be anything, as long as it makes sense. Historical agencies are completely welcome):
History (Two paragraphs bare minimum. Who founded it, how it got started, etc. No exceptions from this one. If it is a historical program, use the real history or explain why it is different):
HQ Location (You can choose a real world or fictional site):
Head of Program (Again, can be someone who really existed or a fictional character):
Organizational Structure (Government Agency or Corporation. This will decide where you get your funding, how important the board is, etc. To be a Government Agency, you must be based in an unclaimed nation, have claimed the nation you are based in, or have an agreement with whoever claimed the nation you are based in):
Other (Same as the Nation App):
=Rules=
1: While everyone is welcome, we expect at least a paragraph for each post, with readable grammar and spelling that does not cause us to feel physical pain in our eyes. Assume our eyes are extremely sensitive and we have extreme problems with dealing with pain.
2: Please be sensible, goofiness is allowed, utter stupidity? No. You can crack jokes, but you can't build buildings in the shape of pink bears. Unless your mascot is the pink bear, and you have a good reason for it to be a pink bear. Which you don't.
3: We will continue as far as activity permits us, that means we may pass our current year. This does not mean you get FTL and replicators. If we ever reach a point where sci-fi is acceptable, that sci-fi is going to be harder than tungsten. Google ways to do what you want to do if you have to, just don't build a "Whatever Drive". Did I mention no FTL? Ever? Follow Einstein, would you?
4: My decision is final, even when I change it multiple times. Especially when i change it. Because that will probably happen a lot.
Now, onto the gameplay mechanics! These following folders will tell you everything you need to know about the stat part of the RP:
Oraganizational Structures:
Private Companies – These started out as the play things of billionaires but soon found themselves in the position to make profits for their parent corporations. Private Companies see a market potential in Space exploration in such industries as communications, transport and resource prospecting. While they do have the funding, they need to be aware of losing investment and keep strong profits. These are dependent on their success for funding, both from investments and commercial operations.
Space Agencies – These are state-backed organisations that were originally set-up to take advantage of the new era of long range rocketry. they have since left the military sphere of influence and become political mechanisms of national pride and ambition. This ambition has driven the state's best scientists together for a common goal. The funding of such organizations depends upon the actions of their home nation, and public support is incredibly important to them.
This is where it gets interesting. You've all seen "Newspaper Style" posts (Posts where people just state what happened and nothing more). These are most common as updates in turn-based RPs. This roleplay takes "Newspaper Style" literally. Every update will have an actual newspaper with the date, posted as multiple images in hiders. Each newspaper will act as a summary of the year's events, hopefully making it easy and entertaining to follow.
Parts: (Number able to build varies per turn)
“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
Humanity, nobody expected much from them. Most humans had their lives all planned out, and to them there would be nothing in the future but their normal lives. The sensible ones were completely fine with this, for they believed the could only dream of a more exiting life. Those sensible people withered away into the history books, being known only to those who decided to spend a few days backtracking through their family tree decades in the future. They are not the writers, they are those who look at the story and say "Ridiculous! That is impossible!". Rightfully so, as well. They were completely right, the story the writers wanted to make was impossible.
The writers would know this if they were sensible, but they were not. They ignored sense and followed their dreams, never giving a thought to the sensible people who said it couldn't be done. Pushing on ahead, those writers kept their eye on their goal and never allowed to wander. Through this reckless yet calculated journey, the writers finally succeeded. They had done the impossible, something that should not have been possible for such a young and damaged species. While the sensible people watched in awe, the writers trod upon the brilliant road to the stars. While the sensible people killed and fought, the writers marched forwards. The writers had to fight, of course, they were drawn into the conflicts of the sensible. But they never stopped marching, no, they refused to allow the sensible people to be right, to accept that reality truly was nothing more than menial labor and repetition.
As the ages passed, the writers kept on marching onward. Though none had yet been able to touch a star, they kept marching with no thought to the thousands that had already failed. They made great progress in their collective quest, continuing to invent new devices to make life just a little bit easier. As life got easier, the writers had more time to think and invent yet more devices to make life even more easy. It was a self-reinforcing loop, but still the sensible people refused to give a thought to the insane dreams of the writers. They used the devices to have more time to lay around doing nothing, but the writers did not care. While all this was happening, nobody gave a though to Earth and its inhabitants, still being stuck in a repeating loop of nuclear annihilation the moment they discovered the technology. Earth rocketed towards that point, having no idea what would happen.
Then, something happened. If Gods and Goddesses exist, then their interest was surely piqued. Something anomalous had occurred on that insignificant Earth, though they now had harnessed the power of the atom, their voices continued to speak. Their hearts kept beating, their DNA remained normal, their atmosphere was not full of ash. They had survived the creation of the nuclear bomb, something that had never before happened in the galaxy. Suddenly, Earth was no so insignificant anymore. The writers were closer than ever to achieving their goals.
The stars in the night sky burn brighter than ever, beckoning us writers to them. To some the stars say "We will give you power", to others "We will give you respect". Yet more hear "We will give you knowledge", and to a select few, they say something similar yet completely different.
To those few, they say "We will give you a home".
As you might have possible realized by now, this roleplay begins right at the dawn of the space race. Obviously, that means it is an alt-history roleplay. However, the in-universe history only loosely sticks to real life. The allies still won WW2, but details are left to the players to decide. The Cold War is going on, but the details of it are absent unless someone points them out in the roleplay.
Unlike the original, this rp will focus a good amount on Country interactions also, so wars and diplomacy are encouraged. Also, turns will be a bit longer so we can move through time a bit faster and hopefully get to colonies.
Now, this is an NRP (obviously). However, you can also play exclusively as a space agency if you want. Actually, they will be the primary focus of this RP, if the title didn;t tell you that already. Apps are as follows:
=Nation App=
Name (The nation must either exist, or an explanation for why it exists):
History (At very, absolute least two paragraphs, exceptions can be made if little history was changed and the nation is well-known):
Leader (It can be the real leader of the nation at the time, or someone else):
Space Involvement (A simple yes/no question. This will determine if your nation has a government space program. If yes, you must also make a Space Agency app):
Other (Anything not listed, go as in depth as you want with this, or just make a suggestion):
=Space Program App=
Name (Can be anything, as long as it makes sense. Historical agencies are completely welcome):
History (Two paragraphs bare minimum. Who founded it, how it got started, etc. No exceptions from this one. If it is a historical program, use the real history or explain why it is different):
HQ Location (You can choose a real world or fictional site):
Head of Program (Again, can be someone who really existed or a fictional character):
Organizational Structure (Government Agency or Corporation. This will decide where you get your funding, how important the board is, etc. To be a Government Agency, you must be based in an unclaimed nation, have claimed the nation you are based in, or have an agreement with whoever claimed the nation you are based in):
Other (Same as the Nation App):
=Rules=
1: While everyone is welcome, we expect at least a paragraph for each post, with readable grammar and spelling that does not cause us to feel physical pain in our eyes. Assume our eyes are extremely sensitive and we have extreme problems with dealing with pain.
2: Please be sensible, goofiness is allowed, utter stupidity? No. You can crack jokes, but you can't build buildings in the shape of pink bears. Unless your mascot is the pink bear, and you have a good reason for it to be a pink bear. Which you don't.
3: We will continue as far as activity permits us, that means we may pass our current year. This does not mean you get FTL and replicators. If we ever reach a point where sci-fi is acceptable, that sci-fi is going to be harder than tungsten. Google ways to do what you want to do if you have to, just don't build a "Whatever Drive". Did I mention no FTL? Ever? Follow Einstein, would you?
4: My decision is final, even when I change it multiple times. Especially when i change it. Because that will probably happen a lot.
Now, onto the gameplay mechanics! These following folders will tell you everything you need to know about the stat part of the RP:
Oraganizational Structures:
Private Companies – These started out as the play things of billionaires but soon found themselves in the position to make profits for their parent corporations. Private Companies see a market potential in Space exploration in such industries as communications, transport and resource prospecting. While they do have the funding, they need to be aware of losing investment and keep strong profits. These are dependent on their success for funding, both from investments and commercial operations.
Space Agencies – These are state-backed organisations that were originally set-up to take advantage of the new era of long range rocketry. they have since left the military sphere of influence and become political mechanisms of national pride and ambition. This ambition has driven the state's best scientists together for a common goal. The funding of such organizations depends upon the actions of their home nation, and public support is incredibly important to them.
This is where it gets interesting. You've all seen "Newspaper Style" posts (Posts where people just state what happened and nothing more). These are most common as updates in turn-based RPs. This roleplay takes "Newspaper Style" literally. Every update will have an actual newspaper with the date, posted as multiple images in hiders. Each newspaper will act as a summary of the year's events, hopefully making it easy and entertaining to follow.
Parts: (Number able to build varies per turn)
