Rhona W

Another World's War

Hey everyone - Have an OOC.

roleplayerguild.com/topics/160743-anot..

I'll get my character up tomorrow, and answer any questions you have in the morning. I have tried to put as much information there as I could to lay out the setting and the feel of the game as much as possible. Now though, I am going to bed *flops*

Another World's War

a n o t h e r w o r l d ' s w a r

---

The Background

It was in 2005 that the portal opened. There was no real warning; if there had been something that set it off, some accident or event somewhere in Tokyo in a lab, or some strange convergence, then all evidence in gone now.
Square miles of city were annihilated in moments as ‘the event’ swallowed them up. It looked like a gas giant planet, embedded in the ground and gouging a chunk out of Japan. It was visible from miles away, deforming the horizon and visible from space. It tore up the ground, and the devastation ruined the land around it for miles.

And that was all after-effects. What happened at the time was what everyone remembers. They came, the invaders. Swarms of their fighters, bombers, transports and other craft swept through the barrier, opening fire on refugees, intact buildings and facilities, military assistance and more. Spreading outward, they landed ground troops and began to pillage and plunder everything. Prisoners were taken, materials were looted, and more destruction followed. More and more of them followed, and in turn the forces of Earth began their counterattack.

After 5 years of brutal fighting eventually, we learned more about them - though, not enough. Hardwired self-immolation triggers stopped many of their bodies from being available to study. However, through cunning, daring, skill and determination, the forces arrayed against the invaders scored intelligence and information, and began to fight back, slowly pushing them back; first into Japan and then further, island by island, in scores of massive actions on land, at sea, and in the air, until they were, four years after their initial invasion, pushed back through the portal and to their own world.
The portal - by now named ‘Tokyo Jupiter’, because of its’ appearance - was ringed by defences, outside of an exclusion zone of fifty miles.
And then humanity caught its breath.



The portal still remained, which meant that another ‘event’ could happen anytime soon. And there was the question of what was on the other side. The decision was almost unanimous, though it came after another two years of discussion and debate, and was only ended when Invader missiles came through the portal, and began to impact on the land around it.
It had to be explored, the war had to be taken to them.

Drones and probes were sent through to chart the world on the other side, and it was found to be a planet very much like Earth, albeit less built up and with some small differences. Life was found in abundance, plant and animal life, and traces of other advanced life, besides the Invaders themselves - and they were still there too, destroying the drones not long after they arrived, and amassing their forces for another invasion.

A special committee of the UN was formed, one with primarily military goals in mind: it’s job would be to establish an operating base on the world beyond Tokyo Jupiter, and bring the fight to aliens. The species they held enslaved on the other side would be liberated after intelligence was gathered, and the new world - christened Avalon - would be explored and surveyed in detail, once the counter-attack was underway.

The only reliable way to access Avalon was via the air, and massive air ferrying efforts began, raw materials, equipment and personnel shuttled through the Tokyo Jupiter portal to establish an operating base on the other side. The Combined Expeditionary Forces had been formed, and they began to take the battle to the Invaders.

The Expeditionary Force arranged into units, squadrons and other such divisionary lines. Personnel and equipment from different nations were assigned together in new and radical ways of thinking appropriate to fighting a new enemy on a new world. Slowly the Expeditionary Force began to develop its’ own identity, here on the ‘other side’ away from the real world, back ‘there’, home, shore-side, of Earth, split by so many millions and millions of miles of space, yet only a few short hours of flight through the portal.
The locals - friendly, curious and eager to learn about the new ‘people from the sky’ who were fighting the Yerrill - slowly they began to come and look at the new arrivals - and, over the months, a kind of settlement grew up around the walls of the Expeditionary Forces’ main base. Expeditionary Forces personnel and international aid workers began to change the town from a shanty town into a settlement of sorts, distributing power, water, and food to the Avalonians, and slowly the town took on a kind of quasi-legitimate status. MP’s began to patrol it, with local volunteers assisting, and it became a place for R&R, trade and swapping stories. Avalonians bought their own food, drink, entertainment and company for the soldiers of the Expeditionary Forces, breaking up their monotony, and over the weeks and months, more and more of the friendly natives began to make friends with the humans as they learned one another’s language and customs.

All of this became the backdrop for the ongoing war against the hostile aliens - now known as the Yerrill, from the local species - who it turned out had invaded this world in turn, bringing with them slaves from other places who had become part of the local population. The humans were the first ones to fight back any kind of effectively.

Among the Expeditionary Forces many squadrons is the 101st Tactical Fighter Wing. A mixed bag of pilots and planes, nothing too exceptional, nor too bad. Relatively newly formed, the 101st will, though they don’t know it yet, find themselves at the heart of learning more about the Yerrill, about the locals of Avalon, and about the history of this war and how it started. And in doing so, will become a lot more famous than even they could imagine…

Another World’s War follows the exploits of a fighter squadron engaged in a war against mysterious aliens on another world. It follows the template of anime series like Yukikaze and GATE, or like the TV show Stargate: SG-1, where modern Earth has to deal with alien
invaders, and has some success in doing so. Another primary reference is the Ace Combat series of arcade flight video games, for their real-world aircraft and vehicles, combined with dramatic plots, large scale battles, larger-than-life characters, and sci-fi superweapons.

It is a game of action, intrigue and adventure. It will be a mix of character and plot development - the primary things - and hi-tech warfare, cool and exotic alien species, bizarre and beautiful landscapes and surprising revelations.
This is a game where armadas of aircraft duke it out in the skies, or rain fire down on the enemy in support of the allies in huge ground battles, or deliver precision support of commando actions. Or where aircraft prowl and sneak through terrain, their pilots a raw bundle of nerves as they struggle to get intelligence on reconnaissance missions deep into enemy territory.
It’s also going to be a hell of a lot of fun, adventure, excitement and awesome moments, driven by the player characters, and their reactions to the world around them.

The whole feel is one of adventure, excitement and action. Realism has it’s place, but the main concern is the adventure, the story, and the action, both personal and in combat.
Building up the bond between the men and women of the 101st will be a big focus of the game, alongside the wider plot of fighting back the Yerrill and discovering their plans long-term, as well as the nature of the enemy in more detail.

The UN Expeditionary Force

The Expeditionary Force consists of a primarily air-mobile force of fighting machines men and women from multiple nations. Their main base - termed ‘Camelot’, keeping with the Avalon theme - is a large joint operational base 20 miles from the Avalon-side exit of the Tokyo Jupiter portal, and the same distance from the nearest local settlements. It is situated in a large, open plain that is bordered by nearby rolling hills and some forested areas.

The Expeditionary Force itself is comprised of UN-affiliated countries, primarily western, though some eastern nations are involved by virtue of the fact that many of their nations were invaded during the initial attacks. While not all nations provide fighting forces, many provide logistical and materiel support on the other side of the portal, or provide administrative and other forms of support to the Expeditionary force on Avalon.

The Expeditionary Force’s main striking and combat power comes from it’s aerial forces. There are ten squadrons of tactical fighter aircraft, with a further two of heavy bombers, and numerous additional transport, tanker, and other specialist aircraft (such as electronic reconnaissance, intelligence gathering, AWAC etc).
The Expeditionary Force has access to a wide range of tactical aircraft, due to the multinational nature of the organisation. Some are obviously more advanced and capable than others, and as such, they form the ‘tip of the spear’, and the more ‘elite’ squadrons, being lesser in number than the array of other aircraft involved. These are often involved in the most high-risk, high-value missions, pathfinding and operating as the ‘first strike’ element of missions, with other aircraft following them up.

Additionally, there are various rotary-wing squadrons, which operate in close concert with the ground forces of the Expeditionary Force.
As the Expeditionary Force relies entirely on air transportation through the Portal to move equipment, this restricts the number of heavy vehicles, such as MBT’s and other armour, and much of their firepower on the ground is restricted to air-portable/air-mobile vehicles and equipment and is limited as a result.
This is not as much of an issue as it may sound, as the Yerrill seem to use relatively few heavy ground forces and large vehicles, however the few they do use tend to be large, well-armoured, and equally well-armed, requiring concerted efforts to knock them out. Mostly they are concentrated on Yerrill-occupied and controlled positions and fortifications, which also employ their own static defences.
Much of the Expeditionary Forces ground detachment thus relies on wheeled vehicles and light armour, with heavy firepower and support provided by aircraft of various types. Airmobile Artillery is also used, and the need for increased armour that is air mobile has lead to the re-introduction of some formerly retired vehicles and weapon systems, and others that were in experimental stages.

The Expeditionary Forces are controlled by a General, in this case from the UK. His staff and the upper echelons of the Expeditionary Forces are multinational in nature, reflecting the mixing of the national forces, equipment and personnel at other levels. UN observers and advisors are present throughout the Expeditionary Forces, and there are also civilian advisors, scientific personnel and other contractors in limited numbers in order to aid with the ongoing element of discovery and exploration, and also to aid with relations with the local population.

Due to the Expeditionary Force operating in ‘hostile territory’, with dangerous local lifeforms (there are some indigenous predators that are large, fast, and highly aggressive, as well as viciously territorial), as well as the Yerrill troops and forces, which often lay dormant in ambush around the landscape; all personnel have at least rudimentary training in self-defense and firearms, especially given the limited number of personnel involved in the Expeditionary Forces mission.

The Yerrill

Not much is known about the Yerrill themselves. They are known to be bipedal and roughly humanoid, and fairly equivalent in size to an average human. They have similar tolerances to gravity, and live in a similar atmosphere to humans, as they live on the same worlds and their aircraft, though advanced, have some comparable performance statistics.

No intact Yerrill corpses have ever been recovered, though some elements of their biochemistry are known; they are carbon-based lifeforms, but with higher concentrations of certain elements in their makeup.

Their combat forces use vehicles that are all fairly similar in appearance; mostly featureless on the outside aside from obvious engine exhausts, intakes, and sensor windows, as well as armaments, but lacking other surface details. Most of them are matte-black in colour with a hexagonal surface overlay, sometimes with gunship-grey undersides or patterns.


Yerrill Heavy bomber/transporter class

Their aircraft vary in size from fighter-sized craft to massive aerial leviathans, along with ground vehicles that move on multiple globular wheels, or even large ones that walk on quadruped or more legs, like insectile war machines.

Their craft utilise energy weapons as a significant part of their armament on most models, as well as high-velocity flechette-launching cannons and high velocity, high explosive missiles, often in large numbers. Their armaments tend to be highly destructive and can be shocking and overwhelming to be on the receiving end of.

Their settlements look almost hive-like from the outside, and are heavily fortified, with large numbers of built-in defences. They also emit strong jamming signals and distortion for several miles. Most Yerrill craft are equally highly equipped for powerful electronic warfare and jamming, meaning that many engagements take place at shorter distances than comparable human aerial battles and combat in general.

The Yerrill have not yet responded in any intelligible fashion to any attempts to communicate with them, instead only replying by replaying messages sent to them in distorted fashions (sped up, slowed down, pitch-shifted, etc), and have not responded to other types of communication as of yet. They attack human forces at will, though have learned to be more cautious following previous defeats, and do use advanced and intelligent tactics when dogfighting and engaging in combat overall, frequently employing ambushes, reserve forces, and other elements of surprise, especially using considerable elements of stealth.

Their overall goal remains unknown, but their previous actions in the invasion of Earth seemed centered on stripping the planet of all usable resources; the area for hundreds of miles around Tokyo Jupiter was stripped of almost everything other than dirt, base rock, and twisted ruins and wreckage. Plant life, animal life, crops, resources, and the people were all taken, and the same was observed in other areas where they gained a foothold. No news of the captives has yet been heard, and locating them remains one of the main priorities of the Expeditionary Force.

Some evidence of the use of these resources can be found in the construction of their fighting machines, as they seem to use reprocessed elements harvested from the area around Tokyo Jupiter, and other areas observed on Avalon where the same ‘strip mining’ process has occurred.
As yet, it is uncertain why the whole of Avalon has not been treated the same way, and why some pockets of locals remain free, though under the oppressive rule of the Yerrill and forced to work in their mines and factories. Understanding these motivations compared to their actions on Earth is another element of the fact-finding mission of the Expeditionary Forces.

It is currently theorised, based on information that has been learned from the native inhabitants of Avalon, that the Yerrill are not native to the planet, and invaded through another portal from a third world, but this has yet to be confirmed.

The Avalonians

The Avalonians are a race of bipedal mammalian people, who are mostly human-like in appearance, though they have long tails with a tuft of hair-like fur at the end, pointed elf-like ears, and wild mane-like hair along with markings in the form of stripes, spots, or other exotic patterns on their skin, usually on their faces and torsos.
Their skin colours are very similar to humans, though range more to extremes of shades, as well as normal ranges, and the same with hair and eye colours.



Their society is somewhat more primitive than humanities, though they do have a grasp and understanding of technology which implies that the Yerrill have forcibly suppressed much of the Avalonians’ technology, and indeed some of the Avalonians who have made contact with the Expeditionary Forces personnel have had small personal trinkets or items of technology that are comparable, or even in advance of, in some cases, human technology.

Avalonians tend to be quick-thinking, alert, and curious and have speedy reaction times. They are almost universally lithe, slender and agile, and are considered generally attractive by most people, though not everyone of course. They are intelligent, and friendly for the most part, though like any race of people they are all individualistic and have varied personalities.

A few Avalonians have begun working with the Expeditionary Force as advisors and liaisons in limited capacities, helping them with locating Yerrill outposts, territories and habitats for hostile wildlife and otherwise finding their way around Avalon as a whole.

game rules

Rules of the game:

• Don’t be a dick.
• No trolling or bullying other players or people in the game.
• Be nice to each other
• Have a sense of humour. Dear god, please have a sense of humour. This is supposed to be fun.
• The GM’s word is final on all decisions. Don’t argue with me about my own setting or plot; it will not end well.
• No, you can't play a Yerrill, an Avalonian, or a character who isn't a fighter pilot.
• Keep your OOC problems out of the IC, and vice versa - don’t pick on people because of something they’ve done out of character, or constantly pick on one character IC. It stops being fun pretty quickly for people if that happens.
• You don’t have to play a super-friendly and nice character - but if you play an asshole, expect to get treated like an asshole IC, and receive the appropriate punishments.
• Keep things PG-13; swearing is okay, but don’t go overboard. Some suggestive and racy moments are also fine, but if it goes more than that, keep it off the main boards.
• You don’t have to be an encyclopedia on weapons, equipment, technology, tactics and warfare (and no-one likes a know it all), but having at least a passing interest in the military and modern aircraft and weapons would be useful.
• Reality is ‘flexible’; there will be a general acknowledgement to the laws of physics, and the aircraft, weapons, vehicles, etc we use will follow the laws of physics - but the law of plot overrides everything else.
• There are aliens, there will be some sci-fi technology (i.e. lasers, railguns, etc may turn up at various point), but there is no magic, no superpowers or anything else. Your characters are members of the military, not the X-men.
• The game is anime influenced, but it isn’t an anime. No teenage wonderkids are going to be found flying multi-million pound jet aircraft in positions of authority. Similarly, if your character is an unreliable, undependable jerkass who has a problem with authority, then they’re not going to be trusted with a massively expensive and destructive piece of hardware. Try and make your character somewhat likely to be a fighter pilot, and remain in the military.
• I don’t mind chatter on the OOC from time to time, but please do try not to wander too far off topic too often. Please keep the memes to a minimum as well
• It’s not my job to chase you. If you are interested enough to want to play, then be interested enough to post regularly - once a week is fine. If you don't post, then I'll carry on without you.
• No fictional aircraft are allowed. No Ace Combat super-fighters, no Firefox, etc. And your aircraft must be a modern (i.e. 1960’s-ish onward) tactical aircraft, so no heavy bombers, helicopters or piston or turboprop planes. It doesn’t necessarily have to be in service, as long as you can think of a good reason why, and if it’s feasible it can keep up and be useful. GM retains the last word on this. If you’re not sure, then please ask me.
• Please let me know (if possible) if you’re away, or can’t make a post, bearing the above in mind - holidays, school, etc. - and I will do my best to work around you.
• Have Fun!

Character Sheet

Character Name:
Nickname/callsign:
Age: Must be over 18, and feasibly old enough to have graduated combat flight academy.
Nationality:
Gender:
Bio: A few short paragraphs about their life up to becoming part of the Expeditionary Forces
Personality: More of their outlook on life and disposition than the history, above.
Appearance: Picture or text. Anime pics are fine, though try and make them appropriate.
Personal Gear: Anything non-standard. Characters are assumed to have all of their normal piloting gear, which includes survival equipment, flight gear and an standard issue appropriate sidearm*.
Any heavier weapons needed will be issued at the time.
Aircraft: What plane your character flies. A link to wiki or another fact-sheet on the web is required.
Aircraft Colours: Any personal colour customizations - the Expeditionary Force is a bit loose with that kind of thing. As long as the markings are there…
Character Theme: Optional, but fun - a song you think fits your character.

*A standard issue handgun used by your respective nations' military.

Please post your character sheet into the OOC to be approved by myself before posting it to the characters tab.

My little pony FIM: TTOTLK

Silverwind wasn't entirely sure what happened, but it was one of those moments like others he'd been involved in before. He was eating a clover sandwich, enjoying a normal morning, and then the music started. And, like most ponies, he got swept up in the whole thing. It was one of those things about Equestria; sometimes big musical numbers just happened, and it was best just to go with it. Somehow, everypony picked the words and the choreography up quickly enough. The grey-furred pegasus was no different, and he joined in heartily with the musical number.
A pink earth pony with a mane like bubblegum was leading the routine, and she looked kind of familiar, though he couldn't quite work out where from, but he was too distracted to think about much.
A few moments later everypony was dispersing back to their mornings, and he was blinking at the introduction of the young draconnequus - that had been surprising, as he'd thought Discord had been the only one of those.
And oh, hey, there was Discord.
The scout blanched and did a double-take. The spirit of chaos!
He didn't seem to be wreaking devastation this time, like the last time Silverwind had seen him in a theater in Canterlot, where the conniving avatar of chaos had tricked a whole theater of ponies into having their magic drained by Tirek. That had been one of the most terrifying moments of his life, and the hours afterward had been more so, as the demonic centaur had ground Equestria under his hooves, and he'd been among the pegasi to have his own magic drained-
He snapped his wings, cutting off the thought - it wasn't something to revisit. As it was, it seemed like things were peaceful; so, warily, he turned back to the cafe and his clover sandwich, and his drink.
"Ponyville sure is a weird place," he muttered to himself as he took another bite of his sandwich.

My little pony FIM: TTOTLK

Just a question - I assume we're taking the series as canon, and in that case our characters know everything that happened and were there for it; i.e. all of the season premieres and finales and all of the other things that everypony was involved in or would know about? (although I am tempted to make a joke IC that Silverwind doesn't recognise any of the Mane 6, as nopony else ever seems to, despite the fact they've saved the world a dozen times by now, and one of them is an Alicorn...)

Another World's War

Hider

@Massasauga

Ahhh, that's an F-15 I certainly do recognise :D
I was thinking to myself that I really do need to replay those games soon, as it has been a while.

Well, I was writing more in regards to the ill-fated Harrier II program and efforts to develop a 25mm ADEN that led to nowhere, although it was stipulated that they could be retrofitted with the old 30mm, the project apparently got canned before that happened in favor of waiting for the F-35.

During which time the sea-harriers started flying themselves to pieces and the entire British carrier-program/naval-aviation was put on the chopping-block under the terms of "austerity". Which I suppose this being alt-timeline is a good thing.

Also, congrats on the gainful employment. Best of luck on adulting your way to success.

@Foster

Ah, fair enough - the way your original post was worded didn't quite come across that way to me. I don't think British Harriers flew with the 30mm guns that often anyway, but I know they were part of the inventory and regularly come up in info about the English Harriers. I'm not terribly surprised - sadly - that the project for a new gun got canned either. The defence decisions of my country's government often make me wonder how their thought processes work, and how logic can be applied to them.

I have a few friends in the model-making community who are in the Royal Navy. One of them said to me that because we (england) are trying to keep our naval air arm alive until we get the F-35, a lot of our pilots are training and flying with the USN at the moment. The problem with that is, they're building up so much hours and skill with the F/A-18 that the USN is reluctant to give them back because they're so good and they've had so much time invested in them, and the pilots themselves don't want to go back, as they end up behind desks or not keeping their flying current, so it ends up being a career dead-end for them. It's a bit of a miserable situation to find yourself in.
But that's politics, and we probably want to keep that out of things >.>

Yes, the job situation is really good news - I recently went from being a temp to going permanent where I work, and it will give me and my partner a lot of job security and general stress relief. We're looking to buy our first home to own instead of rent this year, so it will definitely help there. The fact I also mostly enjoy my job helps too, and that they're really pleased with my performance. Hopefully I can keep that goodwill going.

Another World's War

Surprised Silver didn't catch that thing in my first post...

@Massasauga

About the blue accents on your F-15? I caught it, but I couldn't remember what it was a reference to. it's been a long time >.>

OOC post is almost composed. Should be tomorrow.

Another World's War

BTW: AV-8B "Plus" model. The British model lacks a cannon... or radar.

@Foster

Thanks, but I do know quite a bit about aircraft - hence the interest in running this game xD
And you're not quite accurate - the British GR- Harriers - the ones used by the RAF - didn't carry radar, as they were primarily oriented on ground attack (and they were bloody good at it). The Sea Harriers used by the Royal Navy carried radar, as they operated from HMS Invincible and other RN aircraft carriers as their primary fighters, and did a fine job of it during the Falklands War in particular.
Both types could also be equipped with underfuselage 30mm ADEN gun pods, that looked much the same as the 25mm gun pod used by the AV-8B.

I'll be using an AV-8B though, so it's not particularly relevant! xD

Haven't seen you in a while. Was honestly quite surprised when I saw that you had recently taken a look at my profile.

However, I am interested in joining this.

Yeah, I took a break for a while - I got a bit burned out and frustrated with things so I needed some time away. However, I've got the RP itch again, so here I am. I had a look to see what all my friends were up to when I was back though, hence the look at your profile. Good to see you here again, and I'd be happy to have you onboard as well.

I'm working on the OOC, will be up this evening, UK time.
FYI in case I'm slow on responses or people wonder where I am; I work full-time and I run on GMT, so I'm in a different time zone to you US peoples, and I don't have as much time to check and respond to things as I might like, but I do my best.
Also, adult responsibilities, since I live with my partner, so cooking, cleaning, etc also have to come first :P
I also have other hobbies too, and I like to share my time - expect 1 post a week-ish (maybe two!) in the IC from me when we get going, and plenty of OOC chit-chat.

My little pony FIM: TTOTLK

@Silverwind Blade

Oh is that so xD...

Well I guess there's always something to be drawn into... he he... uh... no evil plots.

@Iatos

Ah, too bad, I do love a good evil plot ;)

Another World's War

Silver is probably taking the F-15A/C... just a guess. Making them the super-fighter of the flight.

Actually, no - see my post above. I'm probably going to have an AV-8B, I was hmming and haaing over a Tornado as well; I'm still not quite decided and I'll probably do so once I've thought more about my character(s). Depends on if I want to create a pair or a single character.
I'll probably end up going with the Harrier II since I'd rather just run a single character.

I'll try and get the OOC up this evening. I have a couple of other things I need to do, so it's more likely to be tomorrow than tonight.
Also, glad you're joining us too, Foster; I wasn't sure from your initial post, but from your second one I gather you're along for the ride :)

My little pony FIM: TTOTLK

@KiritoAsuna

So does anyone else going to be doing their post now?. Otherwise I suppose I make my next one to keep it rolling xxD

@Iatos

I don't really know what to post just yet, I'm kind of waiting for a good opportunity to be drawn into whatever's going on and start interacting with the other characters.