### **Story Summary** Centuries in the future mankind has managed to colonize their own solar system. Along with planetary habitations there are several space stations throughout the solar system. With the resources of other planets available mankind has made leaps and bounds in technology through previously untangle resources only capable of being created in different environments than that of Earth. Thankfully humanity managed to preserve the Earth by exploiting resources on other worlds than their native one and Earth has been recovering steadily, if slowly. Having fully exploited their own solar system humanity has looked out across the vastness of space toward neighboring stars; however technology for faster than light travel has yet to be discovered so at the moment all that can be done is to send out expedition ships to search for famed, but still hypothetical, wormholes, and to mine any asteroids that come in from out of the solar system for exotic minerals or other alien things. Of course even if humanity has progressed so far its warlike nature still rears its ugly head and weaponry has advanced along with science. Gunships, orbital cannons, space cruisers, and perhaps most importantly of all in 'compact' warfare, the MECHA. These versatile combat units can be used for a multitude of purposes, from mining, to armed combat, MECHA have become a staple of both space and planet life. From these advances all the different colonies have produced their own military forces and expeditionary forces, each seeking to advance their own causes as nationalistic tendencies that used to be between nations on Earth has now infected the different colonies on planets and in space. Even some space pirates have formed their own groups. While humanity squabbles with itself over the solar system and who will be the first to reach another part of their galaxy an unknown menace from across space has been steadily making its way toward our solar system. It will not be long before humanity has more to fear than itself... ### **The RolePlay** So as you can see the idea is fairly simple. Mecha combat in a Solar System based humanity as alien forces invade from afar, of course humanity is greedy and certain factions will try to push things to their advantage when they find out. I was thinking the way to go would be that the role players start on an _expedition force_ sent to mine an asteroid from out of the solar system. Of course the force has a few Mecha for defense against pirates but what they get more than they bargained for and have to try and escape to warn the rest of the solar system before it is too late. ### **Technology Level** I was kind of thinking of a balance between say the more 'realistic' style of Robotech where things are a lot more balanced and the diversity of MECHA like in Gundam. Expect lasers, plasma rifles, shields of various kinds, etc though I certainly do not want any reality altering effects like _some_ Gundams I could mention. You won't be getting the real good stuff right from the get go obviously but even when we do we will not have a real clear advantage over the enemy, makes things more exciting when the pressure is on. ### **The Expedition** The story starts on the expeditionary ship, the _XEON III_, a craft designed for the express purpose of exploration and mining operations. The large craft contains crew quarters, a hangar filled with equipment, a mining shuttle, and a few Mecha for defensive purposes. The ship also has a decent medical bay and research lab since they never know what they will find on a mission. Most of the crew are either ship engineers or lab workers but they have a small group of MECHA pilots as well who were hired for defense against pirates. The vessel is equipped lightly, the bulk of its equipment made for surveys of comets and plantoids, and therefor has few weapons. The vessel is fairly quick however and has a dense hull in case of any environmental hazards out in space and some shielding to help aid in escape. The _XEON III_ relies heavily on its hired muscle for any pirate action so at least their Mecha repair department is top notch. Currently the _XEON III_ is on a course for what appears to be a passing by comet dubbed _Fish Tail_ because of its unique particle trail. The mission will prove to be much more than anyone bargained for... ### **The Solar System** _Earth:_ Home of the human race and the 'center' of human civilization. Earth feels it has the divine right to tell all the human colonies what to do considering all humans originated from this planet. For obvious reasons Earth is the most developed of the planets and has the most variety in animal and planet life. Earth has the largest military force however most of their best equipment is actually imported from off-planet. Earthers tend to be proud of their heritage and can sometimes hold themselves as better than those raised off-planet. _Lunar Colony:_ Mankind's first step toward space colonization on planets, the Lunar Colony is considered the 'giant leap for mankind' after Armstrong's 'small step' or the first lunar landing. The moon was certainly not an easy undertaking for colonization since the moon is not capable of holding an atmosphere. In order to create permanent habitats on the moon, large biomes were constructed in order to cultivate planet and animal life to help facilitate an indoors biosphere. Advances in technology would later let humans essentially create their own oxygen but the lunar colonies helped set the precedent for future colonies, also creating biomes similar to Earth tended to be theraputic for those living in space and became the norm. The Lunar Colony has very close ties to Earth being its closest space colony neighbor. Most Lunars consider themselves the same as earthers and generally their policies completely coincide with Earth's. The Lunar Colony has a lot of mining operations, after excavating meteor impact sites it was discovered that both the meteors and the moon had a plethora of rich minerals and metals that could be mined and put to constructive use. While not as important as its humble beginnings, the Lunar Colonies still are large areas of ship and more recently, Mecha construction. _Space Colonies:_ Humanity has many space colonies but you will find them always next to somewhere of note, such as an asteroid belt, plantoids unsuitable for habitation, gas clouds, and so on. The only real exceptions to these rules are 'halfway' colonies that keep in sync with certain planet orbits as stopping points for convoys and to provide protection. 'Halfway' colonies of course are rarely ever 'halfway' between two planets and so they receive more or less space traffic depending on where planets are in their orbits. Space colonies usually have significant research and mining operations, though of course this depends on location. _Mars Colony:_ Humanity's first real terraforming project was Mars. It took a while to accomplish but Mars was humanity's first success at terraforming a planet to be able to support human life. Of course the environment is very different from Earth but thanks to advanced terraforming techniques and technology, Mars is a planet that humans can live on and even enjoy a limited variety of plant and animal life. The Mars colony is proud to be the pioneers of space colonization and planet terraforming. Martians tend to have maybe a little too much pioneer spirit, according to other colonies. Because of this pioneer spirit Martians tend to be quite independent thinking and tend to get angry when others tell them what to do, they especially clash with earthers who like to tell others what they should do. Mars has an extensive expedition fleet, an extension of their frontiersman spirit, which roams the solar system to discover new plantoids, meteors, anything of interest basically. Explorers to the core, Mars has a steady outflux of people leaving for the depths of space. Many enterprises and corporations operate from Mars, making the planet quite a space hub for commerce. Martians are known for taking risks, traveling abroad, and ignoring demands from others. _Venus Colony:_ Venus may be a sister planet to Earth but as the hottest planet has been extremely resilient to terraforming projects. Manmade biospheres were needed in order to settle the desert world; however, thanks to the extremely high rates of carbon dioxide Venus has been crafted into a 'greenhouse' world. Venusians are likely to be born with 'green thumbs' as much of the population has a close relationship with plant life which is essential to the Venus colony. Plants grow huge, fruits and vegetables are highly nutritious, which has created a huge market for their products which are shipped throughout the solar system. Once humanity seriously started colonies in outer space and other planets food became a major issue as it is rather difficult to start farms off of Earth. Once humanity figured how to more efficiently 'farm' water they were able to start farming projects off of Earth with varying degrees of success. Once the Venus farms rocketed off it really helped to alleviate the burden off of Earth to provide all the foodstuff needs for other colonies that had yet to get to a level where they could feed themselves. Being the largest supplier of foodstuffs after Earth, Venus is constantly sending out supply ships loaded with foods around the Solar System. Because Venus sends so much food off world a market for caravan 'guards' sprang up rather quickly in order to protect all the shipments. Many private security firms were created to provide services for the vast amount of ships streaming from Venus's surface. Venus is an agricultural marvel and is very business and nature oriented. Venusians tend not to be bothered too much by politics and instead worry more about trade and profits. _Mercury Colony:_ Mercury is a very unique colony for several reason: The planet is the closest to the sun and has hardly any night/day patterns. Also the planet has extreme temperature differentials meaning the colony had to be special to survive. The one planet colony is moveable, in order to live in the 'twilight zone' on the planet to prevent huge changes in temperature. Needless to say a moveable permanent colony makes living on Mercury quite unique. Mercury is a place where many experiments take place for a few reasons: It is easy to choose a night or day environment depending on the situation, you can shoot whatever you don't need into the sun, and generally not too many people live on Mercury. Mercury has become rather a testing ground for experimentation. Also the surface has been bombarded my asteroids in the past and therefore has a large mining operation as well. Mercurians tend to be survialistic and sometimes isolationist. Every so often a scientific breakthrough comes from the Mercury Colony. _Jupiter Colony:_ As Jupiter is a Gas Giant it is impossible to have an inhabitable colony on the 'surface' so instead the colony is basically a network of space stations in orbit. Jupiter's gases and extreme mass have been used extensively in the creation of advanced weaponry. The extreme environment has helped give rise to several techniques usable by metalworkers and others to craft some of the most powerful ships and weapons seen in the solar system. Special mechs and other devices made by Jupiter industries are highly prized. ### **Character Skeleton** **Name:** **Age:** **Gender:** **Appearance:** (No real photos please) **Place of Birth:** (Earth, Colonies, or even a Ship) **Bio:** **Talents/Skills:** **Anything else of interest:** ### **Mecha Sheet** **Mecha Name:** **Appearance:** **Armaments:** **Special Equipment** **Mecha Specs:** (On a scale of A[strong]-D[weak]. Eventually there will be S-class Mecha specs but not at the start. Go for a balance or else choose which specs to focus on.) _Long Range Combat_ _Medium Range Combat_ _Close Range Combat_ _Armor_ _Speed_ _Agility_ _Strength_ _Shielding_ (Can be N/A, also does not have to be traditional 'energy' shielding. Few Mecha at the start will have shielding to begin with.) **Mecha Quirks:** (Things of interest, maybe a personal touch or two, things like that)

You have my interest since i first read Mecha in the title. i like your idea consider me joined.

I'll keep updating the first post, add things like tech level, Colony alignments, among other things.

I'd be up for this, nice to see you again Iceheart.

Likewise.

Interested in playing as a G-mo'd vat-grown human from the Mercury colony

I'm always game for giant robots. So sure what the heck, I'll give it a go.

How realistic giant robots? Like anime robots that are firing giant assault rifles and punching crap realistic? Or walkers of varying sizes and legs, armed with various RCS thrusters (and otherwise) with artificial gravitational plates on the feet to keep it from falling off a low-gravity planet, and so it can maneuver while firing specially-designed recoilless railguns, coilguns, plasma weapons, lasers, and missile launchers in open space kind of realistic? Usually, anything termed "Mecha" refers to the super-dumbed-down version of phsyics and realism, while "Mech" refers more to the scientifically-accurate, physically-possible side of things. I didn't see the greatness of a robot somehow punching something apart in space- when you can take a railgun, mount it on a reloading mechanism equipped with a couple boxes of ammunition, a small reactor, multiple solar panels, some RCS thrusters, and essentially do the same thing- blast something apart- except from about 50 kilometers away.

You have my interest, although every Mech/Mecha RP I joined on the Old Guild died quickly :(

@WilsonTurner Oh my those two examples you put out there, ha ha. Yes I can't see punching as an effective method of combat and certainly that kind of over the top 'aesthetic' fighting that puts drama and choreographed 'duels' over obviously much better means of fighting. Course there is a time and place for that but in moderation. As for how scientific it is, well frankly I don't think I'm up to the task of being ultra-realistic, so all I can say is that it will probably be a hybrid mech/mecha roleplay, according to your definitions.

Wilson, if we were expected to be totally realistic about this, I doubt anyone would even bother with walkers/mechs. They're a terribly inefficient concept. Why bother giving a spacecraft legs and arms, rather than just mounting any of its weapons on a swivel mount? And I'm a bit surprised you put 'artifical gravitational plating' on the realistic side of the mech/mecha dynamic. With regards to punching things apart in space, it sounds like you've got something in particular in mind that's earned your disgust. In the defense (however moderate it may be) of mecha anime, some make an honest effort to justify their close engagement ranges. Gundam had the Minovsky particle, for example; which was a hypothetical byproduct of helium-3 fusion reactions that made most electromagnetic sensors (radar, microwave, etc.) inoperable in regions saturated with M-particles. The mecha themselves ran on fusion reactors that spat M-particles out, which made actually locating them by non-visual means rather difficult. I'm not saying all of Gundam makes scientific sense (it seems the further you get from the original series, the less sense it makes), or that all mecha anime try to be even a little realistic, but not all of them are as brainless as "CHECK OUT OUR BADASS ROBOTS PUNCHING THE !@#$ OUT OF JUPITER! NANANA GUITARSOLO!" /spiel

One thing I will say about melee combat is that you'll most assuredly be better off if you actually have a melee weapon to use in combat, like a blade. You are piloting a giant mechanical contraption so 'hand-to-hand' combat could occur, sometimes without a weapon, but unless your Mecha is actually designed to deal damage with it body, it will mostly be a defensive measure. On another note I kinda was always a fan of the mobile armors, with their varying design and specific strengths. When I get around to making character sheets I'm not too worried about what 'type' of mecha you make though of course there will be limits to what they can do. I'll certainly be expecting them all to have certain _strengths_ and _weaknesses_.

Hmm Well, I don't think great big humanoid walkers are my kind of style. Maybe I'll join in later if I'm interested, with a centaur mech.

How many people are you hoping for before moving to the OOC and character creation?

Hmm well I'm actually pretty find with that we have, but I want to lay the foundation up here first before making the OOC.

Fair enough

[Link To OOC](http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/75544/posts/ooc#post-2336569)

Now I'm having a hard time figuring out what kind of character to make. Decisions, decisions...