Darkmatter — Roleplayer Guild

Hello one and all. The following RP is a going to be set loosely in a setting, known as the Free State, which I have created over time. I say loosely because I want at all times for the players to feel as if they can directly influence things because I believe that to be true. Races, worlds, technology etc will be detailed in IC posts through encyclopedia entries in a nod to classic fictions.
The tone will be equal parts suspense, action and humour if I plan it accordingly. Mature topics such as death etc will feature.

I look forward to creating an interesting story with you

Compendia Galactica; 54th Edition ~ The History Of The Free State said
The Unity and Formation of The Free State
The entity known as An Sárstát Flaitheas was born from the ashes of a much older nation, the Unity. The Unity was born as a pact between the Dowinites and Corvexians to mutually assist each other, eventually leading to them becoming one political body. Soon after establishing their first dozen outposts and starbases they came into contact with the Golden Empire. At this time the Unity was vehemently aggressive and expansive. Having a sizeable sector of their own they began to wage war against the Empire who had initially attempted to coerce them. After seven decades of war neither side had made any significant gains and made their way to the negotiation tables. The Unity agreed to allow the Empire to trade within their sector and the Empire agreed to not impede the Unity's expansion, as long as it did not interfere with the Empire's domain.

Things remained as such for several centuries, with both increasing their influence. The Unity, expanding aggressively, had begun taking more and more from the Golden Empire in the form of loans and leased warcraft. This went on to such an extent that eventually, the Unity became economically reliant on the Empire who began to abuse their incredulous debt. The government was replaced with a puppet of the Empire, huge taxations were put in place and crime was punished with indentured servitude. The Unity's home planets, Dowin and Corvex became penal colonies for the criminals of the Empire, both human and alien, after the Empire had seized the Unity's outer colonies. When several centuries later, the Empire began to decay, those left on Dowin and Corvex were ill prepared to fend for themselves. Most of the 'criminals' sent there had been those who had spoken out against the Empire or committed some petty crime. Safe to say, everyone in the Gryan system felt resolutely hard done by at the hands of the Empire. Fractured nations and countries formed on both planets, split along economic issues. Some vouched for socialism and others for a free market. Crime was abundant in this period and both planets were in the grip of economic upheaval without the Empire's direction. None wanted a return to anything resembling the Empire or any kind of imperialism and thus eventually, socialism faded and the libertarian movement gained massive momentum. The large minority of immigrants had never been mistreated but slight disdain and prejudice attracted them to the movement. Over time, as the free market grew and people provided for themselves more and more, traditional political values faded and the citizens began aiding each other more and more. Leaders began to be elected on ability to retain civil liberties and on their intelligence and effectiveness at communicating instead of on the basis of agendas or political dogma. These shifts in social dynamic all occurred in a relatively short period of time and gave rise to the Realm of the Free State as it is today. In this new realm all were equal, economy opportunity was plentiful as trade grew and people co-operated with each other. A new form of government was created which had deep and intricate representation of all citizens, acting more as a guiding body and hand of the people than an actual 'governing' body.

The Duchy Conflict and the Free State-Aurolian Trade Alliance
In the first century of its existence, the Realm fought a small border war with the Grand Duchy, comprised of several skirmishes at one of their outposts, Dirac Station. Although the Duchy never truly invaded or assaulted the sector, they were inherently despised by the people of An Sárstát Flaitheas. The Duchy only sent a handful of craft each time, almost testing the strength of this new 'Free State'. Each time the citizens responded venomously of their own accord, with the government military wing stepping in to oversee and direct formations and attack.

Eventually the Duchy's interest began to wane as they realised only a full invasion would suffice, considering so many of the citizens of the Realm volunteered for every battle. Although the skirmishes ended, the Free State held massive contempt for the Duchy. When news reached the Realm of slaves rebelling on Aurolia they seized the Duchy's difficulty as their opportunity. Aside from their hatred of the Duchy itself, slavery was a perversion of the natural order according to the founding philosophy of the Realm. The Free State began gun-running to the slaves as well as providing them with medical equipment and food supplies during their struggle. As the rebels began to seemingly turn the tide and the Duchy retreated, the Realm left the Aurolians to their own devices, due in part to wishing not to interfere unnecessarily and in part to losing interest once the Duchy was deterred.

In the several centuries since, the Aurolians have become a space faring power in their own right and after reestablishing contact and reminding them of the aid provided at their hour of need, the Aurolians have now become one of the biggest trade partners of An Sárstát Flaitheas. The Realm has also, in the past eleven years, aided the Federation in the Derelict War against the Duchy.

The Collective-Realm Concordat
For the last two centuries, the Realm has maintained a tenuous but very profitable and advantageous relationship with the Drogue Collective. Immediately before connections were established, the economic production of the Realm was coming under intense strain. Demand was ever-increasing and there weren't enough raw goods in the two systems the Realm kept domain over to keep the industrial wheels turning. Fortuitously , this coincided with contact with the Collective who occupied space directly accessible by the Free State. Although initial talks were far from ideal, the two groups saw many similarities between them. They were both of the people and banded together by ideals that they held dear, and both despised the idea of autocracy. It was these interests which allowed two otherwise socially contrasting nations to form a trade agreement between them. An Sárstát Flaitheas gained access to seemingly limitless if somewhat suspiciously sourced raw materials, and the black markets of the Collective received more advanced and luxurious products than were being produced in their own sector. The boom produced by this new trade allowed construction of the Midlat Station which acts as a go-between for the two. Over the decades the connection grew stronger as the Realm began hiring Collective mercenaries to protect trade routes and certain paramilitary outfits of The Drogue became innately affiliated with the Realm and her security contracts. One of the smaller but most ideologically important parts of the partnership is the acceptance of the rare criminals of the Realm freely into the Collective. Due to the libertarian outlook of the Free State's people, the thought of imprisoning a citizen was perverse. Instead they are sent to the collective and not allowed to return to the Realm for a period of time proportional to the severity of their crime. In fact, very few return as most feel more at home in the Drogue Collective where criminality is an accepted part of life. Many of the narcotics that are sold in the Realm originated in the Drogue Collective. Initially they were frowned upon, but many become commonplace and some, such as Black 0, have even entered production on Midlat Station. However, the people refuse to allow anything that is too addictive or hazardous like the notorious Cinsel spray, is illegal. This is not a government imposition but rather a consensus of the citizenship that 95% agree with, that is enforced by the government in one of their few interferences. The artificially produced cybernetic trips popular among young Realm humans have also come into vogue in some parts of the Drogue. These offer completely safe and personalised trips through the use of advanced software programming that manipulates the connections between natural and synthetic neurones in cybernetically augmented individuals.

The Timpishta Incident and Commonwealth-Free State Economic Pact
The Realm's most recent interaction with another interstellar state was with the Commonwealth of Valyncian Republics. Although aware of each others existence, from their mutual aid of the Federation's revolution, neither had made moves to establish communications. The citizens of the Free State believed the Valyncians dominated their human peers too much and that a certain amount of subjugation existed in the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth in turn implemented high tariffs on goods, to protect domestic produce and didn't wish to contact as large a commercial producer as the Free State.

However, the two would be drawn together under violent circumstances. In 1309 AF, a lone trade ship, the UP Armaments owned Timpishta, was separated from its contingent when its electrical systems failed as it engaged its Graviton drive. The resulting miscalculation resulted in the ship being isolated billions of kilometres from its escort. The Timpishta stopped its spaceshot just outside the orbit of Ithica. Once it returned to classical speeds, the ship immediately began broadcasting distress signals, via G packet photon signals, in all directions hoping it would reach any Free State Vessel, to give the ship a frame of reference to calculate a spaceshot back to the Realm. These signals, were undoubtedly picked up by the nearby colony of Ithica. The ship appearing in orbit was misinterpreted as a military scout or forward vessel. The Timpistha was promptly shot and destroyed by the orbital defences of the colony, but not before its signal reached home.

The abrupt end to the broadcast immediately spelled trouble to UP who contacted the NFS. Two of UP's own frigates, accompanied by an NFS, Deesh class destroyer investigated. Having pinpointed the source of the distress signal, they calculated a jump to the orbit of Ithica's closest neighbour. They were momentarily detected by Ithica and seemed to confirm their erroneous assumption that the Timpishta had been a scouting vessel for a coming fleet. The Commonwealth quickly mobilised four Guardian class vessels to intercept the Free State vessels. A brief but fierce battle ensued in which both UP frigates and two of the Guardians were destroyed. The Deesh class destroyer turned heel and fled, with both Guardians in pursuit. The Realm vessel initiated a jump back to Dirac Station but not before a small tracking missile had imbedded itself in its hull.

Both sides now knew of the location of an outpost of the other, and both felt utterly wronged. In the coming days the Commonwealth sent scouts to Dirac station and learnt of its size and importance to both the Federation and the Free State. Not wishing to anger the Federation unnecessarily, the Commonwealth instead began to amass a fleet at Ithica in case the Free State decided to launch an attack. Similarly, the Free State began to consolidate defences around Dirac, including over twenty ships volunteered from UP and Titan RA.

The next scout that came from the Commonwealth was detected and intercepted by the Free State. It was crippled and not destroyed. The surviving crew were captured and interrogated. It quickly become apparent that the Timpishta incident had been a colossal misunderstanding between the two nations. The Free State immediately began broadcasting signals to Ithica summing up the revelation and suggestion a neutral meeting place.

Both sides agreed to meet in an unclaimed star system where they would distance a non-aggression pact. The talks were only planned to last a few days but ended up going for over a month as the initial pact become a complex agreement of mutual benefit between the two nations as a sign of reparation for the colossal mistake.

Known as The Ship-Pharmaceutical Pact by the Realm, and as ________ by the Commonwealth. There are two main clauses in the agreement. Firstly, the Realm consented to purchase seven frigate-equivalent vessels from the Ithica ship yards each year, which they then sell to their own companies; within this clause, the Commonwealth allowed Realm pharmaceuticals to be sold tariff-free within their borders, a first for them. This created a form of oligopoly between Free State and Commonwealth manufacturers. However, the Realm didn't see it this way rather as cornering a market fairly without monopolising it.

Secondly, mutual war assistance was agreed upon and Free State commercial products were permitted to be sold in the Commonwealth for with slightly reduced tariff.

Side Note: this history features mention of other Nations. These stem from other RPs are considered canonical in my opinion but irrelevant for the needs of this RP. These other nations are of other players' design and not my own.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prologue

Mr. Gressil sat in his chair, which in turn sat behind his desk, sat in the centre of his office which finally, sat atop his office building. One hundred and three years he had come to work and sat behind a desk. The dates changed as too had his desk, yet nothing could change the monotony of a Monday. Not just that, he was almost sure it was a common disdain regardless of species; that all those across the sector felt the perfunctory nature of a Monday’s endeavour. ‘Least I don’t have any snark to answer to,’ he thought to himself. Mostly true due to the fact he was the CEO.

Reaching forward in his seat, Gressil tapped the comms button, “Send in the first appointment.” He asked curtly to his secretary.
‘What was her name again,’ he wondered.
A Dowinite, he knew that much. These interns were huffled and shuffled along like nobody’s business these days. Certainly not business he bothered himself with. He had relinquished the frivolities of day-to-day management of any kind many years ago. Even these meetings he had on a daily basis were nay but the most obligatory of responsibilities.
“He’s on his way in now sir, and also...”
“That’s fine thank you.” Gressil interrupted the secretary.

Time to act as a CEO should. Shuffling in his chair, he straightened himself up, sat forwards and made himself as grandiose as possible. These diplomat types were usually self-righteous, pompous ass kissers. Nothing could ever prepare them for the indifference they met in this office.

“Good morning Mr Gressil.” The greeting was chirped from the beak nosed, suited up human who had just entered.

“My name is Haron, Dick Haron. I’m here representing vested interests of The Assembly and affilia..”

“I know exactly who you represent Mr.Haron. You hardly think you’re the first nor last pencil pusher to walk through my office doors.”
Gressil interrupted without hesitation or prudence. Leaning intently forward he place his two hands on the desk and all pair of eyes became fixated on the young man before him. Barely fresh out of the nest, evidently, Gressil wouldn’t have been surprised if this was this chickling’s first shin dig.

“Ahem. Indeed.”murmed Haron attempting to assert some kind of dominance, or at the very least a kind of mutual respect. It didn’t go well.

“Currently there are some concerns regarding a few of your more nuanced business practices.”

Gressil sat back in his chair having already ascertained the inevitable outcome of this conversation. Haron had ruffled up his feathers, but to no avail. Definitely new to game Gressil decided emphatically.

“Mr Haron I can assure that,” began Gressil before being distracted slightly but a slight beep coming from his haptic comms centre situated on the his desk. It was accompanied, with zero subtlety, by a ominously obvious red light.

“As I was iterating, here at Valencis Industries, we uphold naught but the utmost integrity of the law when conducting our operations. Everything, from our commercial entertainment to our large scale food production is completely above board. You and yours seem..” Gressil was cut short once again by his own comms panel. Two more notifications in quick succession.

“Again, this must be the, what is it, twelfth audit in as many years? It’s…sorry could you excuse me a minute.” Snarled Gressil angry at his own comms. The red alert was literally just that; an alert of the utmost gravity.
Flicking a hand out he activated the viewing function of his panel. Near instantly a jumble of light was scattered out of the desk and into the room before him, looking almost as if it was wrangling itself into submission. After a few seconds the photons settled into their correct pattern and there before him stood his Chief Surveillance Officer. The holo-message began relaying its message,

“Code  1. I Repeat  1.” The message looped over onto the second message which bore the same information.
Gressil shot out of his seat like a man possessed; and he was possessed by a great a sudden urge of ambition and surprise.
“Out.” He said frankly to the glorified clerk.

“This is very unprofe…”

“Now!” bellowed the Corvexian gesturing aggressively towards the door.

Fumbling with his body and confidence, both of which had been scattered by Grissel’s presence, Haron scurried out the room huffing and fuming. Leaving through the door he had entered only moments before, he heard one last message over the comm before he was out the door and out of earshot.

“We’ve found it sir. We’ve bloody found it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Basic Info
Our characters will comprise a special, highly paid and skilled team being assembled by Mr. Gressil of the Valencis Company to retrieve whatever this mystery 'it' is.
One might be an ace pilot, another a crack shot, a medic, a scholar etc. There's plenty of room for variety in the team.
The plot will (hopefully) takes us across the length and breath of the Free State, and possibly beyond. I have a story mapped out but will of course adapt it as organically as I can to player choices and actions, and of course suggestion.

Character Sheet

Name:
Race: (Canon Race Info Can Be supplied. Making your own is completely acceptable as long as there's supplementary info so we know what we're dealing with. )
Gender:
Age:
Home Planet/Station: (Same as race.)
Appearance: (Text or visuals; or a mix.)
Personality/Morales:
Class: (Broad description of their specialty amongs the team.)
Equipment:

History:

This is only a template, feel free to deviate, once I'm happy with the character the format doesn't really bother me that much.

Darkmatter Member

Resident Engineer & Physics Afficiando

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