Creating A Scifi Universe; A collaborative effort

[Rakuseki]

Quote]In any case are you describing the past, or history? Was there bad blood, or is that all fine and dandy now? [/Quote]

The Signians resent the Earth Federation to this day. It's kind of like they're biding their time and waiting for the perfect opportunity to give them the big 'fuck you.'

Are they now loyal members of the Earth Federation? Or is there simmering unrest? If the former, how are they viewed by other colonies? If the latter, what will cause the spark in the ammo dump?

Not necessarily loyal, but whenever the Federation has a military conflict, the Signians are called up as shock troops. The high command and the Signians have a lot of tension between them, but their pact remains intact. The other colonies view the Signians as bloodthirsty mercenaries for the Feds. As stated before, if the Signians see an opportunity to screw the Feds over without fear of reprisal, they will.

[Thirdfain]

Do they act like pirates - or are there independent spacers who act like pirates? Are they antagonistic? Or perhaps there was a war and the UF won. Or perhaps there was a war and the UF lost. Thoughts?

some of them are pirates, cirtainly- but they are miners first and foremost. Most Terran ships are built with materials they harvest from the Belt and the Jovian/Saturnine LaGrange point asteroid clusters.

The idea was that there was a war between Earth and the UF, and the UF won- but only like the Narns won against the Centauri; they simply made it too expensive for the Earthers to maintain control. Now, with a stranglehold on a vital source of resources, and Earth divided, they can maintain sovereignity, but only through careful political chess playing the Earth nations off against each other, backed up with a small but very compotent navy which makes an invasion prohibitively expensive.

Another thought - if we accept Fusion as being the dominant energy source, then maybe the UF's power not only comes from raw resources but also He-3 from Jupiter and the other Gasgiants? Maybe no one wants war with them because the economy is centred around fusion; if you upset the UF, they jack up the prices. If you invade the UF, they sabotage their He-3 operations, effectively 'poisoning the well'.

Perfect! I like it a lot. They would have scooping stations over the gas giants, lifting up massive amounts of raw fuel. It would fit with the theme of their relying on non-military methods to ensure their independence from Earth.

[Stofsk]

ThirdFain, would it be fair to say that Spacers have adapted to low-g environment, and as such don't have the strongest muscles in the universe? I can see them getting some cybernetic enhancements to compensate. If they land on a planet they're probably still feel worse for it.

Rakuseki, would the Signian Protectorate be secretly allied with the Russian Hegemony, or do they consider them worse than the Earth Federation? How many colonies do they have? Are they disbarred from colonising, given their previous attempt at an armed insurrection?

[Thirdfain]

ThirdFain, would it be fair to say that Spacers have adapted to low-g environment, and as such don't have the strongest muscles in the universe? I can see them getting some cybernetic enhancements to compensate. If they land on a planet they're probably still feel worse for it.

This is getting closer and closer to the Floaters by the minute. Absolutly, I'd see it that way.

[Stofsk]

Who're the Floaters?

[Thirdfain]

My nation from the SDnet STGOD1. A bunch of anrachistic, genetically engineered spacer hippies. Suffice to say, it didn't fit me very well, and we ended up in a massive genocidal war which ended the STGOD.

Detailed description is 4 posts down on the link below.

http://bbs2.stardestroyer.net/Archive/v ... t=floaters


The Game Thread

http://bbs2.stardestroyer.net/Archive/v ... ght=asgard

[Stofsk]

Incidentally I have an idea for an alien race, who are big enough to stand toe-to-toe with the Earth Federation or Russian Hegemony. They're not meant to be villains, they're meant to be complicated with their own internal factions and so on. They have a general tech parity with the terran nations.

They're reptillioids who look like a more graceful Gorn (from TOS). They're not as 'heavy' in other words, but still tough. They're called the Chel'Noirn.

I also have two other aliens who are more advanced in certain ways. All three are from my own personal universe which I've decided to share, well at least the Chel'Noirn. The other two are more... weird.

Fuck it's late (for me).

[18-Till-I-Die]

Well, i thought about adding a race of alien felines (like lions or big cats, but humanoid) who are extremely wealthy and powerful merchants. I call them the Emerates of Hassari, or the Hassari for short. Tech wise they outstrip most of the human nations, but they arent violent at all.Quite the contrary, they have taken a sort of 'prime directive' vow to stay out of conflicts and veer away from joining one side or the other if at all possible. They will defend themselves, their vast Tradeships are heavily armed; and they will willingly sell weapons to any tom, dick or hary who meets their price. They deal in platinum, which is valuable to other races as well, and they'll piss on their grandmothers grave for a few platinum coins. Money is all important to the Hassari.

Think of them as furries with a Ferangi's mindset some Eldar Craftworlds and the cold, black, corporate heart of an Eron Exec.

They wont fight for any side, or fight at all unless attacked directly, and even then only if they cant run. But for the right price they'll pass down some prety impressive tech...it's just some junk they had laying around, but it's impressive to us puny humans

[Typhonis 1]

Who said the Earthy had to be united to go into space ? several mega nations have explored and colonised space and vy for power there

No-one. I like the fact Earth is divided, which leads to factions out in space.

Pacific Allied Territories - China, Japan, Phillipines, Korea and Australia (don't forget New Zealand). What I don't get is China's inclusion. What happened to cause that? I mean, China side-by-side with Japan? Not that it's hopeless, actually rather an interesting predicament.

North American Union - USA and Canada, and I'm guessing Mexico as well. Why not combine them with the Pacific Alliance? The acronym can be PAL. I am soooo funny...

United States of Europe - Why not just call it the European Union? I can see the EU spreading a bit, perhaps gaining Russia as a member, and Turkey (eventually, heh). I also would think that tensions between Old World will arise against the New World (ie America) and these guys would grow less friendly towards the yanks.

New Delhi League and The Caliphate - are they meant to be allies or enemies?

South American League - I'm interested in reading what your thoughts were on these guys. Sorry, but I got nothing. Druglords owning the country seems so crazy it might actually come true.

What happened to Africa? Quarantined? Plague continent? Hopeless cause? Rife with civil wars?

So we're looking at 4-6 factions that control Earth. What's Earth like? How's the environment?

Of course, now we have the Earth Federation and Russian Hegemony. This is getting complicated. No more UN?
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OK China really had no big choice in the matter.They wanted in on the new mega national thing yet bad blood between them and the Russianss kept them from joining the Hemogeny and of course India and China have disliked each other so they figured to go into the PAT . They dislike many of the other nations but realise they need there help.


The North American Union is Tomas Jeffersons dream come true however it is not without its own problems in that drug trafficking has kept pace with the tech to stop it.there is tension between the NAU and PAT over Hawaii and the Aleutians also theres a mess in Alaska .The Russian Hemogeny is eyeing that piece of land so a part of the NAU military is now being repositioned to guard against an attack.

The European Union and the NAU are allies for the moment but tensions are growing and the alliance may soon crumble over who has rights in Greenland. the Ukraine and many of the Baltic states are part of the Union .

Turkey is the heart of the Caliphate however there is a great hole where the Saudi peninsula ,Lebanon,Jordan,Isreal,Syria,and Iraq used to be. basically is irradiated glass and the clean up is still going on since someone had the bright idea to dump masses of toxic waste in the area.

South American League was made to keep the other groups from gaining a foothold in South America and the NAU under the auspices of the Monroe Doctrine acted as big brother till they got united.The NAU is now questioning the wisdom of said idea since it seems to have helped the drug trade reach even higher levels.

Central America is still fragmented the NAU and SAL keep it that way as a buffer between the nations.


Northern Africa is in the Caliphate , and acts as a buffer against EU maneuvers to get to Southern Africa.

Southern Africa is still a mass of countries however many countries have backing from the larger mega natins and proxy wars are faught in the dark continent .

Antartica is also slowly becoming a war zone as more and more countries send expedtions there looking for resources.

New Delhi and the Caliphate at times are allies against other factions but are enemies with each other .Depends on what is going on. Forces of the two exchange fire, underwater ops are sabotaged. But they are still on speaking terms.

Earths envitronmnt is hotter than it is today he global warming scientists warned about was discovered to be a natural occurance ,IE there have been warm and cool periods in human history this is a warm one, Sea levels have srisen some and previously frozen areas are thawing out,like Siberia and Greenland.


Polution is still a problem but thanks to new energy sources ,cold fusion was finally discovered,it is slowly decreasing .

Hope this helps some

[Typhonis 1]

Earth Federation Captial is in New York City The Russian Hemogenys Capital is located at L-5 and the orbitals there .


Earths moon is dominated by NAU,PAT and Earth Federation bases annd such with the Lunar Massdrivers used to keep the Hemogeny in line. The Hemogenys counter is a large fleet of boomers

Hemogeny controls the Lagrange points around Earth and many asteroidds in trojan orbits have already been harvested by both sides .

[White Haven]

Hassari: 'Only the mad would attack the Unbound...'

[Pablo Sanchez]

Typhonis1:

I really don't like many of the ideas for the Earth, as they don't make sense. There isn't any particular rhyme or reason for some of the national arrangements that are being put forward. China has no reason to enter any alliance of other states as anything but puppetmaster, there's no real reason for any part of Earth to be depopulated and irradiated, and Turkey is far more likely to join the EU than it is to become the heartland of a fundamentalist Islamic state.

Here's a more sensible arrangement of nations--


Superpowers

United States of North America
Includes modern USA and Canada. Peaceful, economically strong.

Pan-Slavic Hegemony
Includes Russia, Poland, and the upper Balkans.

People's Republic of China
Same territory as today, just much stronger and only 600 million or so
population. And has Taiwan.

Major Powers

European Confederation
Includes the modern day EU plus Turkey. UK is fairly independent and leans towards the USNA. Combined economy, military, and foreign policy, but nations retain individuality.

Japan
Same Japan as usual. Economically very powerful, military nearly nonexistant. Role of protector is taken by the USNA.

Arab League
Stretches from Morocco over to Iraq. Poor and unstable, due to the fall of oil as the world's main fuel. Fundamentalist politics.

India
Fairly powerful, but with a low rate of industrialization and literacy. Population has stabilized around 1.5 billion due to massive government efforts on that front.

Other Nations

Mexico
Similar with today, but a strong trading partnership with the USNA and subsequent economic development have greatly improved Mexican living standards and stabilized the country. Effectively a USNA protectorate.

Brazil
The most heavily populated and powerful nation in South America.

Australia and New Zealand
Close economic ties with USNA.

Notes

SubSaharan Africa
A craphole. Population declined very sharply because of the AIDS epidemic. Following the development of a cure, the population began to increase again, which caused the old tribal and resource arguments to flare up. Largely ignored by the rest of the world.

Minor Nations
Places like Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran, and the Central Asian states simply fall under the sway of the nearest major power and operate as client states.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Hassari: 'Only the mad would attack the Unbound...'

Sorta

More like "You paid what for that planetkiller? I could'a got you that wholesale."

[18-Till-I-Die]

Just something i was thinking: The way i thought it was that Earth was one United Earth Empire, sorta a fascist dictatorship that smacks of Nazi Germany, armbands and all, and the colonies were desperately fighting back. Like that game, Colony Wars, only with more violence and sex, and that H-O-T chick Akima from Titan A.E as the main character.

[White Haven]

Hehe. Oi, that sounds bloody familiar to somethin out of an RP environment I spend quite a lot of time in. Short the armbands, plus some other stuff. But hey, they make a good 'aw crap, here they come!' device.

[Bob McDob]

Selenians
The peoples who live on Earth's moon Luna are known as Selenians (and, alternately, Lunarians). They are a tall, swift people considered very beautiful by Earth and Martian standards. Physically, they are very weak, due to the low gravity of the moon, and tend to be defensive around Earthlings, Martians and Spacelings.. They typically wear exoskeletonal armor when meeting with extraplanetary diplomats.

With few exceptions, the Selenians have been dominated by Earth for their entire lifespan. The history of the Selenians has been a sad story of exploitation and brutality. With the secession of the outer colonies, most of the major powers became increasingly defensive of their satellite, clamping down on rebellion harshly and ruling them with an iron will. Throughout their history there have been several Selenian rebellions, the most famous and most successful being the 327 Rising against the Republic of China by Qin Huan. The revolt was put down merciessly, and there have been no subsequent risings. This probably has as much to do with the lengths Earthlings have repeatedly stated they are willing to go to towards the goal of maintaining control on Luna, and the fact that since the 327 Rising most of the nations of Earth have permited Selenians an increasing amount of self-government, although most of them keep hush about it.

The Selenians have a long tradition of cultural excellence. Many of Luna's underground cities are considered architectural masterpieces, and they have produced a wide variety of art, ranging from paintings to cuisene, but they are best known for their poetry. "The Selenian's Lament" details a young Selenian's experience in the Tranquility War, recording his frustration at being forced to fight an enemy he symptathises with (a fellow Lunarian) for a mother country he loathes; it is similar to Yeats's Irish Airman Forsees his Death. They are also the birthplace of Blood Death (a musical genre described by historians as "a cross between classical orchestras, punk rock, and a strangled whale"), much to the displeasure of parents everywhere.

Though the nations of Earth work tirelessly to promote ancient cultural stereotypes among their Selenian colonies (a "divide and conquer" method), there is little doubt that the majority of Selenians see themselves as sharing a common background, race and creed. Typical cultural divisions such as ethnicity have little credence among Selenians; the motto of United Selenia (an anti-Earth resistance movement based in Alesia) is , latin for "We are all Selenians". The irony of using the language of the Roman Empire as a symbol for rebellion is a contradiction they relish; many Selenians have a keen appreciation for irony.

Spacelings

There is no one makeup among Spacelings; indeed, the only thing they have in common is that they live in space cities. They are a polygot of peoples from all walks of life, all ethnic backgrounds and all cultures.

Although there are a subset of spacelings that live in orbital colonies and deal with commerce between planetoids, the people most people are referring to by the term spacelings are the "deep spacelings" - the ones that live in the asteroid beds, away from other peoples. Many spacelings, with some notable exceptions, have a common dislike for centralized government, stemming from the fact the early spaceling colonies were founded by the discontent of other countries. These early colonies were described as communist, but that is a misleading term, because there were no greater proponents of private enterprise than the early Spacelings. Rather, the term typically refers to the large degree of cooperation the spacelings practiced among themselves - they saw themselves as a brotherhood of mankind, united in their rejection of traditional society. The early days of the spacelings are looked back upon with fond memories by anarchists and libertarians.

Later governments were less idealistic, and there were frequent interstellar wars between colonies. These wars were bound together by a strict legal code known as the Armistad Conventions - battle could be directed only against combatents, and there was a strict regarding sieges. Oddly enough, trade was allowed to continue almost unimpeded during these wars - the spacelings realized that commerce was their lifeblood, and that without it they would collapse. One of the traits Selenians share is paranoia; this is not so much dictated by their physical weakness (gravities among Spaceling cities differ, but a Martian gravity is considered an ideal compromise), but by their perceived weakness to other peoples, and the fact that the cities are their only real homes.

[Bob McDob]

... and a mini-history of the United Freeholds (actually, I just modified it from something I wrote up several weeks ago, as Freeholds is close enough to the Confederacy of Alesia <G>)

In 566, during a golden age of relative peace and prosperity in the asteroid belt, the wealthiest and most powerful Spaceling cities banded together to form the United Freeholds, a loose alliance dedicated to military and trade. Although such a union had been discussed for centuries, its actual formation caught the other powers by surprise. Many of the neighboring states (and even some of the planetary nations) felt threatened by the fledgling country. In fact, Freeholds was united only in name, and their constituents remained wary of each other.

The actual cause of the Freeholder War is still debated to this day, but it seems that its neighbors overestimating its actual strength was a great cause. In any case, in 569 the Imperial Empire of Dornier and an alliance of seven other nations declared war, catching the Freeholders by surprise. Despite their dominating power within the belt, the Union was totally unprepared to fight a planetary-style war; nevertheless, they drafted and militarized at an astonishing rate.

Despite their successes at retooling their economy, the Freeholders still took heavy losses in the opening months of the war. Many of the border cities fell to the invaders despite putting up spirited resistance, and the Alliance was prepared to make a strike at Circe itself. Fortunatly for the Freeholders, the Allies had overextended themselves, and their leadership took to squabbling among themselves. In actuality, the Freeholders were no more united than the Alliance, but they were determined to defend their homeland. Raids on the Allied supply lines met with success, and in 582 a Freeholder fleet surprised and overpowered the defenders of Novaya St. Petersburg, which had been used as a supply depot by the invaders. The following year the Freeholders defeated a Dornier attack fleet at Xianghuang, and forced the remaining Imperial forces into a retreat. Cut off from their Martian allies, the spaceling members of the alliance fell quickly, and Freeholds ended the war larger than when it had begun. In 584 the Treaty of Novaya St. Petersberg was signed, ending the War; many Freeholders consider this the true founding of their nation, rather than the signing of the Circe Declaration of 566.

Following the war, the turned its attention to reconstruction of its devastated space, but almost immedietly afterwards old rivalries took root between its member states. There was a very real possibility of dissolution during this time, ironically enough, as the cities took to squabbling among themselves over resources and several threatened outright secession. In the end, though, the economic and political benefits simply proved too valuable to dissolve, and the union held. In addition, the Freeholders was simply too weak to continue fighting.

One of the consequnces, though, has been that the Freeholders has never cemented their ties, and the Union remains loosely bound. In theory, there is nothing to keep a city or even an entire cluster from breaking away. A hundred years after the war ended, Freeholds remains a fractured, disunited nation, the most anarchic of the major powers. For decades a popular sport among outsiders has been placing bets on when the United Freeholds will collapse; at present the odds are 500 to 1.

[Typhonis 1]

Well all I was doing was trying my hand at creating an Earth where the individual powers went into space and war is threatening to break out between them there and on Earth

[SirNitram]

Hehe. Oi, that sounds bloody familiar to somethin out of an RP environment I spend quite a lot of time in. Short the armbands, plus some other stuff. But hey, they make a good 'aw crap, here they come!' device.

National Socialists who are actually socialist!

'It's, like, nazi-communists from space, maaaaaaaan.'

[Stofsk]

Pablo, Australia would have stronger ties with America than it would with the EU. The main reason being it's closer. I'm not sure about New Zealand, though I think it would be the same.

[Pablo Sanchez]

Well all I was doing was trying my hand at creating an Earth where the individual powers went into space and war is threatening to break out between them there and on Earth

But we're trying to create a plausible future environment for Earth. It isn't really plausible for there to be a unitary nation that includes China, Japan, Indonesia, and Australia. The interests of those nations do not align, neither do the histories and cultures.

A Canadian-USA merger is plausible because the cultural differences are minor and even today their economies are closely intertwined. Assuming a severe economic depression and subsequent political fallout following the collapse of crude oil prices, a pan-Arab state could be possible. Nations form only when they have interests in common.

Here's a possible colonial nation--


Democratic People's Republic of Eden
Eden was founded in the early days of space colonization by the European Union, but its distance from Earth and the potential to create a new and better society drew many dissatisfied persons. With a population drawn from across the entire Earth, the Eden Colonial Authority hoped to create a new paradise on Eden.

However, circumstances proved considerably more difficult than planned. Progress was slow, the terrain harsh and unfamiliar, and the wars between Earth nations and Spacers caused occasional lapses in communication with home. Following large scale food riots by the working class in the Famine of '06, a cadre of hardcore leftists siezed control from the European Union-appointed government, promising to "briefly rule in best traditions of Cincinnatus." They put down the insurrection with all necessary force and set about reordering the government, society, and industry along more efficient lines.

In the first decades that followed, the government has declared complete independence from the EU (and, with Chinese aid, won the brief naval war that resulted), and issued repeated assurances that it would return power to the people and restore full civil rights as soon as the situation was brought under hand. About 50 years ago, these assurances ceased, and the dream of Eden has been replaced by a socialist dictatorship that plays up fierce colonial Nationalism for its own ends.

Eden is a multicultural society whose citizens enjoy many of the amenities of the modern Socialist state. Education and medical care are provided, and the standard of living is comparable to that in the EU on Earth; the freedoms of the people are respected (so long as they do not interfere with government business). The entire operation is run with a veneer of cheery and modest deference to the citizen. Militarily, Eden has grown to become comparable to many second-rank Earth nations.

Essence of the Nation:
A happy-nice police state

[Pablo Sanchez]

Pablo, Australia would have stronger ties with America than it would with the EU. The main reason being it's closer. I'm not sure about New Zealand, though I think it would be the same.

I'm not very familiar with Australia, so I'll take your word for it and modify accordingly.

[Stofsk]

Question: what happened to the United Nations? Did it disband due to bureacratic top-heaviness? Was there a WW3? Did people get sick of it?

[Pablo Sanchez]

Question: what happened to the United Nations? Did it disband due to bureacratic top-heaviness? Was there a WW3? Did people get sick of it?

We've got a severe economic collapse in the oil-producing states, Hell on Earth in SubSaharan Africa, India-Pakistan wars, and Russian and Chinese expansionism written into our Earth history--all prime areas for the UN to stumble. I'd say that the UN still exists, but it has become irrelevant. Let's just assume that it deadlocked over some major issues in the past, and that several permanent seats broke faith with it as a consequence, thus largely neutering the organization.

[Stofsk]

Selenians

Spacelings

I'd suggest they be members of the United Freeholds. The 'Spacelings' are just Spacers, which is what the UF is, while the 'Selenians' would be in the same boat - ie they'll have more alike with the Spacers and UF than anywhere else.