Polybius — Roleplayer Guild

These Dark Stars
A roleplay of the far future

The emperor is dead. It is the 498th year of the 13th era of the Empire. Historians and oracles alike will refer to this time in history as the Era of the Dark Star.

Warfare in space is quick and deadly. Due to the high cost of manufacturing, outfitting and manning the largest battleships, Imperial Doctrine has developed tactics for disabling ship support systems to cripple rather than outright destroy an enemy vessel. The IA also has a classification system for identifying and estimating the strength of FTL capable ships. 
Corvettes
Smaller vessels with light armament and armor (but more powerful and larger than a corvette), suited for speed and maneuverability

Destroyers
Ships smaller than cruisers (and usually larger than frigates, though not always) but armed to the teeth with a multitude of weapons. 

Cruiser
Capacity to be used as anti-fighters, planetary bombers, raiders of enemy supply lines, and scouts.

Battleship
Characterized by very heavy armor and large-caliber guns, making them key capital ships.

Source and worth a read: Read

FTL
Superluminal, or faster than light, travel became possible upon discovery of the 'void' and the attainment of supernatural powers by human beings.  While the drive that allows a vessel to dip 'below space' and skip along the boundaries between our reality and the void in a sort of limbo is a purely mechanical device, it is impossible to navigate this halfway space without a supernatural element.  This is because the boundary between limbo and our space seems to weaken in the presence of specific gravitational field interactions, and as a result fluctuating 'star lanes' exist hopping from gravity well to gravity well and terminating at around the edge of the heliosphere of the average star.  These fluctuations seem to follow no physical laws and as a result only Vacare, sorcerers who can sense the void itself, are able plot a course along the star lanes.  Attempts to navigate the halfway space without Vacare have either resulted in a ship being ejected into the interstellar medium, far from any help, or into the void, where nobody knows what happens to them.

Of course, trusting a Vacare can be difficult.  The invention of the cognition engine has, in a way, given the rich and powerful the option of cutting the sorcerers out for the first time.  It was found that the cloned brain of a Vacare, if left to grow in a natural span of time, could be interfaced with a ships system and used as a sort of navigational bio computer.  The process of making a cognition engine is far from perfect and occasionally a cloned brain will simply show no psychic potential, but to cut out the middle man?  Many purchase cognition engines for the security it gives them.

Then again, for the Vacare themselves there is another option.  A risky, foolish, insane option.  The most powerful of the sorcerers have debated the possibility of ignoring 'limbo' and plotting a course through the void itself.  No star lanes to worry about at all.  It is theorized that only an extremely maneuverable ship could make such a journey...  Under its own merits.  What is to be found in the void is hard to even theorize, but for a truly powerful, and wise, Vacare perhaps a quick zip through that plane would be possible.
 -@Isotope 
Void Walkers
Geneweaving
Cloning

The Setting

The Empire has stood for thousands of years, ever expanding, conquering and spreading influence to those most distant stars. Where encountered, alien races have been utterly destroyed, enslaved, or coerced into a disadvantageous treaty. Galactic history is left largely ambiguous except for a few major events:

The Diaspora

Long before the earliest traces of imperial power emerged, mankind inhabited a single planet in an isolated corner of the galaxy. Over time, humans developed technology sufficient enough to carry them to other star systems and eventually colonize them. Isolated, and without a unified government, many of these colonies were doomed or simply forgotten, only to be rediscovered thousands of years later. 

The Machine Wars

Artificial Intelligence is banned save for a singular, neutral entity called Gilbradia. Thousands of years ago, mankind developed great computers capable of 'thought'. Although the details of the technological renaissance that followed are lost to time, what is known is that the great A.I.'s ultimately waged war on mankind. Although the machines were ultimately defeated, a dark age followed this era of history. Part of the armistice resulted in the banning of ever creating an artificial intelligence again.  

The Imperial Era

The Empire was once a Republic. A democratic 'experiment' on a interstellar scale. Over time, the expansion of the Republic resulted in a oligarchy of extremely powerful politicans that corrupted and abused the democratic system in place. Eventually, a single tyrant emerged triumphant over his enemies, and the Republic was dissolved and became an Empire. 

The Void

Having reached the furthest points of space, mankind discovered the Void, an endless shapeless dimension outside the realm of space and time. Curious, man looked, and the Void looked back. Ripples of chaos spread through the galaxy and sorcery was born. This new universal force changed the very laws of physics and science forever, or awoke a latent power that had once lay dormant. A very small percentage of mankind was gifted with superhuman power. Precognition, telekinesis.

Factions

Imperial Factions

The Imperial Bureaucracy

A vestige of ancient times, the Bureaucracy has slowly relinquished power to the seat of the Emperor through threats, manipulation and unforgiving violence. With the death of the Emperor, the Bureaucracy has a chance to seize power once more and return the fate of the Empire to the will of the people. 

The Gilbradians

The planet-spanning supercomputer called Gilbradia is home to a quasi-religious sect of zealots and clergy that have undergone bio-mechanical surgery under the orders of the Imperial Authority. It is not common knowledge that Gilbradia exists. Gilbradia is ultimately a research facility, designed to create an environment for an Artificial Intelligence to prosper, develop and interact with humans in the hopes that AI's might one day be developed for the benefit of the Empire. Over time, legends have formed and Gilbradia has taken on a mystic quality for the layman-as prophetess, oracle and ultimately as a divine being. 

The Imperial Authority

The IA is the military arm of the Empire. The navy and imperial legion is feared throughout the galaxy for their ruthless enforcement of the Emperors will. With the death of the Emperor, rumors abound as to who will ultimately wield control of the Imperial Sword. 

Religious Factions

The Church of Ankh-Sah

Twenty-thousand years ago, a man looked upon the stars and saw patterns. Transcribing the words spoken to him by these 'angels', Ankh-Sah unknowingly wrote the first book of what would become the holy text of the most powerful religious movement in the galaxy. Followers of Ankh-Sah believe the stars to be gods themselves that shape the will of the galaxy. Combining astronomy, divination, ritual and an adherence to the teachings of Ankh-Sah.  A polytheistic religion of dizzying numbers of sects, orders and practices, they are the official religion of Imperial Provinces. 

Followers of the Void

Mystics and Sorcerers known for their strength and power in combat, negotiation and tactical insight. Called vacare by their enemies and allies alike, they often find themselves in positions of power thanks to their supernatural abilities. Vacare are thought to be atheists, but this is untrue. They believe the universe itself to be a divine being with certain space-time events and regions (such as black holes) to be sacred entities to be worshiped and protected.
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