An SDNW Proposal

[Formless]

Well, if they cost, say, $2 a pop and I have my 50,000 troopers of $2 badassery able to execute Order 66 on their TK-using asses, all will be well...

Of course that's just pulling numbers out of my ass and it requiring 50,000 troops to take down any single person is way over the top, but you get the (general) idea.

Of course, you have to find a balance and place limits on psychics for whatever purposes you want them to serve in the game. But the nice thing about a price based system is the obvious economic trade offs and the fact that you can tweak the price to whatever suits that balance best.

You could also try going with this: a certain percentage of the population has latent psychic powers (or potential, or however you want it to work), and the player has to pay for institutions or programs that actively seek them out. This could have advantages story-wise, since the psychics are now no longer just numbers and it could mean that they don't have to be exclusively found in military roles. Or you could use both systems/rationalizations, they aren't mutually exclusive.

[Dark Hellion]

To fully appreciate the irony of the race I want to play, it would probably be best to provide some overview on the XylyX as well. I made up the name about 10 years ago for a fan-fic race to a fic that never got off the ground. Originally, they were a race of cybernetically enhanced insectoids, the spelling designed to represent the bastardized way a human would say a name composed of chitinous clicks and chirps. They got scrapped for a while and when I tried to restart the fic most of their original context was removed. I simply kept the name because I liked the symmetry of the spelling and thought it had a menacing quality to it. They had evolved into a thought experiment race of a purely technological civilization of simply incomprehensible power. Basically, what would a species that views the Culture or Xeelee as those two ludicrously powerful civs view modern humanity be like? What would the greatest problems be for this race and what would its greatest fears be?

Basically, I want to treat them as a theoretically real motivating race but one that will absolutely never play a role. As will be pointed out in the following explanation of them, they would consider this type of interference mildly gauche and a general impediment to the mild amusement of watching lesser species flail about. So, an in-context OoC brief on the XylyX:

XylyX: As we have been personally told by their emissaries the species we identify as the XylyX does not think of itself with any name; just as an entity separate from the universe and others. All 'individuals,' despite ranking very high on the General Sentience Scale, are at best simply classified as numbered components of the main intelligence that is their binding will. The name XylyX is derived from the lettering corresponding to the name they were given in the scent language of the Intink Civilization. Its best translation is X-stop/death, yly-everything/all beings, X-stop/death. No one knows what perverse pleasure the XylyX get from using this translation as the name they give to other species, but we do know that they are fully capable of living up to it should they ever decide to.

Another moniker used is to call them the god machine, a sobriquet well deserved for they have all the power and incomprehensibility one would expect of a god. It can be correctly said that no one in the Omniverse [translators note: poor translation based upon over-simplification] truly understands the XylyX. Those civilizations that manage to grasp even the faintest specter of such knowledge are driven to utter despair or insanity. To the best of our limited abilities the key to understanding the XylyX is to look at history.

It was called many names, the first war, the true war, the only war, the first and final war, or simply capitalized as the War [See section on the War for additional details]. In the earliest days, when even the stars were young, the first civilizations began their climb to the heavens. These civilizations learned to utilize hyperspace for travel and eventually discovered the keys to passing from one bubble of space-time to the next. As with any period of great expansion conflict was inevitable. It was not conflict over territory or resources, there was enough in the Omniverse for everyone. It was a conflict of ideology. No one knows how it started, just that it did. For over a billion years it raged, vast empires and grand coalitions all seeking to prove that they, above all others, had the correct views upon life and the universe. Into this cauldron the XylyX entered in an almost innocuous fashion, just another AI race seeking some claim over glory. This assumption would be the end of the War and everything that had built up to it. The XylyX did not enter to prove anything to anyone. They saw the chaos of it as a threat to their self-preservation and would end it. In only 500 million years every great civilization had either been crushed or retreated to some dark corner to lick their wounds. But the XylyX did not stop with simple victory, they consolidated territory on a scale no other civilization had imagined and continued to build and advance. No species remained that could challenge them, but the XylyX were still not satisfied. For a billion years they continued to fortify and conquer until they held a super-majority of power in the Omniverse itself. One species holding vastly more power than all other species combined. In this billion years they unraveled the secrets of the universe and engineered machinery that appeared as magic to even the next most advanced species. Their goal was finally satisfied and they slowed their military production and territorial expansion but did not relent completely. And with cold patience have held this dominance for ten billion years time, obliterating anything that presents the remotest threat to their position of absolute power. The best estimates are that 24% of the Omniverse is under the complete control of the XylyX and a further 48% are knowingly or unknowingly part of their dominion. What has prevented or restrained them from bringing the entire Omniverse under their heel is mostly speculation but one does not doubt that they have a reason.

We know even less about the XylyX psychology and motives than we do about their history, which they gladly provide overviews of and matches other ancient databases. The one thing they have admitted to is their feelings of boredom. They describe it not as the boredom of monotony or the long-passage of time (their patience is truly infinite) but as a more existential thing. They have achieved everything possible. There is no science they cannot explain, no enemy they cannot annihilate with trivial ease, no great artwork they cannot produce in the spectacular fashion of a society that can use stars as pixels. There does not even exist any more mysteries that are compelling to them, even the future is just a simple application of their predictive abilities. This is why they seek species that will challenge their dominance; not for the thrill of military conflict but in the almost desperate hope that one will do something, anything, that truly surprises them. So they watch lesser species in mild amusement, sometimes prodding or cajoling and hoping that one of them will be of the rare variety that offers them real stimulation. It is safe to assume that this will continue forever.

The one thing that you should never ask the XylyX is why. Not because it angers them but because it amuses them. They will almost always respond dismissively, as if any action was a whim. It is never so, every action is weighed against the cold machination of their supreme intellect and always seeks to further some goal. To ask why is to invite the mocking scorn of a being so beyond you it only speaks to you because your tininess is humorous to it. They do not respect those that kowtow and hope to find answers.

If you feel they have done something wrong, disagree with the XylyX. Again this amuses them but they will not be as quick to mock. They can appreciate that other species cannot see the scope of their plans or do not agree with the XylyX position of godhood. It will not make them change their mind unless they already wanted to change it, but they will give you a modicum of respect for standing up against them, even if they predicted it.

In general, when dealing with the XylyX remember that they have predicted every action that you will ever take in your life to astounding accuracy and are privy to plans that are of scales beyond your entire civilization. Their will is inevitable and no action of a lesser being can truly harm it so feel free to speak to them like you would a peer. They do not hold to any hierarchy or creed and if given proper respect will only dissect you where you stand if they already were going to.

In conclusion, we should never consider the XylyX as part of our personal or interspecies affairs unless they have given us a covenant to keep. Nothing we lesser species can do will slow or redirect any plan they have and they will act with the utter impunity that their stature gives them. Remember only to hold all covenants they have forged dear, for they feel nothing of destroying those who break them. Do not get in their path, for even the forces of nature bend to their will.

Emissaries: The primary contact we have with the XylyX is through their emissary drones. While its true form can be almost anything it wishes they often use the guise of a three meter tall humanoid figure composed of black, metallic, disjointed, skeletal pieces and a blank, matte face. When speaking to a group every member will often think that it is looking directly at them at all times, whether the illusion is a subtle sign of respect or a joke meant to unnerve is anyone's guess. They have many such idiosyncrasies that seem strange for an AI. The emissary is often self-deprecating, referencing itself as an idiot or weakling compared to the warships or actual mind of the XylyX itself. This should neither be taken as an exaggeration or a sign of weakness. The emissary is a threat to any Class F or less civilization by itself and is capable of using total galactic annihilation level weaponry or system scale MEST (Matter, Energy, Space-Time) manipulation if it needs. From what the progenitor species have told us, it is truly impotent compared to a warship. This self-deprecation seems in line with the rest of the "humor" of the emissary. On the generally rare occasions they are sent to interact they tend to spend a large amount of time working to construe events as jokes and use their power for displays that neither highlight their true capabilities nor require the mildest of efforts. They are often sarcastic or simply do not take the tasks they are completing serious. What sick self-amusement they find from treating the struggles of other species as fodder for comedy is theirs alone. But, while the joke is often on us there does not seem to be any mean-spirit involved. If anything, it is trying to be helpful but finds our incompetence too funny not to mock.

But, when necessary they are deadly serious. Especially during the enforcement of certain covenant contracts. When the XylyX have an emissary ask you for some promise in exchange for some gift, there is no going back. In such case you will find the emissary above your planet, pronouncing your transgression and delivering the summary judgment of complete obliteration. Not simple depopulation of worlds but they will wipe out everything you have ever built that is in exclusive use by your species, destroy every last piece of information you have ever gathered and hunt down every being that flies under your flag. This is the true face of the emissary and the hinting of the power of XylyX themselves. There is one final step they can take, Erasure. This is their harshest punishment and the true display of the absolute power they hold. An Erasure not only destroys all of a civilization, it erases it from every database, record and mind in all of the space that the XylyX controls or influences. In the end your entire race consists of a few files held by the ancient civilizations the XylyX respects enough not to tamper with and the XylyX itself. It does not do this lightly or with petty reason and does not do this to make an example. It does this to erase an example, a thought much more terrifying.

In the end, no examination of the XylyX will ever allow us to understand what they are doing or why they are doing it. While capable of xenocide and worse without provocation they have shown a patience and restraint of proportions without compare to their power. Whether they have some sense of ethical concern or are amoral is beyond our judgment and what plans they hold is above our predictions. We can only keep our promises and continue to study in hopes of one day being able to open a real dialogue with the god machine.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

^ You know I think my ambassador will simply bring a high energy gamma ray weapon and just simply walk away leaving the nondescript device behind... while muttering "Death to the foul xenos".

[Darkevilme]

Prediction. The Xylyx will end up being objected to by Steve like he objected to the Outsiders.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

If I were Steve, I'd object it by sheer virtue that the description of them is so bloody verbose that I wouldn't even bother to scan through half of it. Predictably, this bastard race of droids will get insulted by the merest of slight, and then I would have little but no choice but to call a crusade against them, just out of sheer annoyance.

And Predictably, they must have prescience far better than anyone else because they are capable of predicting every action with 100% infallibility. Therefore, I should just raise a crusade army regardless.

[PeZook]

That, or people will become intent on proving just how impossible it is to RP all-knowing godlike alien species just to screw with you

[Darkevilme]

We have a bad case of TL;DR here. Hellion is playing a crazy bunch of AIs who want to unite the entire universe for a war against the Xylyx, not the Xylyx themselves. But none the less Steve has a precedent for objecting to extra-dimensional beings who are currently non interventionalist yet occur in people's backstories.

[PeZook]

We have a bad case of TL;DR here. Hellion is playing a crazy bunch of AIs who want to unite the entire universe for a war against the Xylyx, not the Xylyx themselves. But none the less Steve has a precedent for objecting to extra-dimensional beings who are currently non interventionalist yet occur in people's backstories.

Ah, yeah. I second Fin's complaint, then: too verbose a description

[Teleros]

Prediction. The Xylyx will end up being objected to by Steve like he objected to the Outsiders.

Well put it this way: if not I hope someone has Christopher Kinnison's phone number .

Okay, I know some people want ESP, but while some ESP (Spidey Sense-style precog, light TK and Telepathy, maybe some Jedi-style "enhanced physical actions") isn't a bad thing, I don't think we want to go too far and risk having players writing some over-powered characters killing other characters with a killing word or snapping them in half with telekinesis or frying them into a blackened cinder with pyrokinesis and not breaking a sweat in doing so.

Agreed. Lyta Alexanders and Alpha plus psykers make for problems in my experience. Regardless, I claim first dibs on anti-ESP tech for the Altacar Empire. And the sale thereof, naturally .

I'm reconsidering them for the most part. Considering a "simplified" system that goes by hull value alone and not hull type. Current thought is something like "Get build time in months by dividing hull value by 10, minimum time is 6 months". IOW, from $1-$60 hull value your ships would take 6 months to build, then the value determines it. $100 value is 10 months, $200 value is 20, etc.

Seems a good idea to me. I'd perhaps divide it into very broad categories though, eg:

Parasite Craft: £1 per 10 (shuttles, fighters)
FTL Parasite Craft: £1 per 5 (like FTL shuttles)
Gunboats: £1 each (short FTL hops)
Sub-Capital Ships: £10 - 50 (yachts to light)
Capital Ships: £50 - 200 (medium to heavy)
Super-Capital Ships: £300+ (superheavy and bigger)

An issue to consider now is whether to institute any kind of base cost for troops, if just to provide a minimum for baseline armed combat troops' cost (like $1 gets you a quarter million of such, or a million, etc.) to judge the worth of $1 in combat terms.

I'd just let people RP that stuff to be honest. Have people post their army values / numbers, and tweak as necessary (if, for example, both armies are supposed to be similar, but have a big cost difference).

[Dark Hellion]

Ummm... my race is like a page or two back. The XylyX won't be appearing in this at all unless the mods really want to use them to slap a player around or remove a pesky spiral arm. They would be literally impossible to RP and utterly pointless too. They were never meant to achieve a character status, they are just a thought experiment of a race that is so powerful that all physical challenges are pointlessly trivial. The best they could be is an omniscient narrator.

The thing is that if they are treated as being theoretically real but not present, instead of simply non-existent it layers a lot of irony upon the actual race. The Emissaries (big E) believe that a powerful angel of some nearly omnipotent and emotional god came to task them with a mission of great importance. The reality is that a glorified courier decided to fuck around with them because it was funny, and the god they think is suffering isn't. It doesn't feel emotion like that, doesn't care and in all likelihood it took the actions it did to lead the Emissaries on the road to their own destruction at the hands of a race it actually does want to see advance. And even if by happenstance the Emissaries succeed they are still missing the point; the conflict is trivial and boring, the XylyX just hopes you do something interesting that it hasn't predicted before it burns your universe to a cinder.

It takes the Emissaries from being just insane robots to a kind of over-the-top grimdark humor. They burnt out a beautiful civilization and millennium of advances in philosophical thought to pursue some foolhardy quest that is just a sick practical joke of a bored messenger boy. And somewhere beyond the stars that messenger is laughing it up and having way to much fun to stop the comedy.

But if they get vetoed, its OK as well. Insane fundy robots are still goofy enough even if they believe in an imaginary sky fairy.

[Steve]

I do not object to the idea that Hellion's AI race is convinced that the XylyX exist nor to the motivations he's given them. I do object to their real existence as currently described as opposed to the entire thing being a prank or plot by Q, who is part of the SDNW mythos.

[Akhlut]

I don't much care for the ESP, honestly. But, if everyone else wants it, I suppose I can make due.

[Siege]

I might as well put up my own preliminary character list...

Welcome to the Sovereignty!

Dramatis Personae

Politics

The Hon. D. Victoria J. R. Sinclair, President

“Colonials are just like elephants. They're big, they're slow, they eat a lot and they just won't forget anything we ever did to them.”

President Victoria Sinclair (full: Daphne Victoria Jean Rose) is the incumbent President of the United Solarian Sovereignty, and one of the youngest women to hold the office. Born into an old family which can trace its roots in Sovereign space back all the way to the first settlements, Sinclair was raised in an environment wholly accustomed to wealth and influence. Her family owns majority stakes in a giant bio-genetics company, SiNtek (run by sister Felicity), and like all members of the Sinclair clan Victoria was genetically tweaked before birth. It should come as no surprise then that she is rich, beautiful, smart, and exceedingly ruthless in her ambitions, a combination of character traits that make her an extremely capable (if cutthroat and more than a little corrupt) politician. Sinclair carries through a somewhat stroboscopic love/hate affair with ambassador Hank.


The Hon. Arkady Messier, Vice-President

“No word needs to be redefined more than 'definition'.”

Vice-President Arkady Messier is an ancient political animal who has stalked the Senate halls for at least two hundred years. More machine than man, he is kept alive indefinitely by a series of micro-machines which replicate the functions of organs that have long since failed. Where Sinclair tends to be tempestuous and forceful, Messier is a political predator who knows like no other the virtue in waiting for the perfect moment to make his move. This is complemented by his intimidating appearance: Messier is a metallic cyborg standing nearly seven feet tall, a trait he frequently uses to intimidate political opponents. Many a Senator has decided to change his vote to be more in line with the wishes of the administration after a visit from the imposing VP. For some unfathomable reason, Messier, despite having long lost his original vocal chords, chooses to speak with a Russian accent.


The Hon. Dr. Mult. Lyra A. Saxon, Speaker of the Senate

“The difference between the poor and the rich in a society is directly proportional to the justice with which said society rewards its greatest heroes.”

Lyra Saxon is the leader of the Technocratic Radical Party, the primary leftist opposition to the President's rightist Sovereign Justice Party; she is an aggressive but idealistic and intellectual politician who believes the Sovereignty should (among others) pay more attention to the desires of fringe colonists (instead of beating them with sticks), uplift the population out of poverty, abolish scarcity, and implement a whole range of impractically expensive measures that conservative politicians argue would ruin the Sovereignty and leave its worlds wide open to the Bragulans (to which Saxon famously once replied “oh, please, the Bragulans. How bad can they be?” A week later the Battle of Tannhauser Gate resulted in tens of thousands dead on both the Bragulan and Sovereign side.) Saxon is wildly popular on the fringes of the Sovereignty, but unfortunately cannot gather enough votes in the core to actually matter in politics: the opposition is a consistent minority in the Senate.


The Hon. Sidney L. Hank III, Ambassador Extraordinaire

“I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.”

Scion of a family which traces its roots to misty days before humanity ever set foot among the stars, Hank serves as Ambassador Extraordinaire, and is dispatched throughout the galaxy to negotiate treaties and settlements with other powers. When he is not busy doing this he runs North Central Positronics, an old and relatively small company that pioneers technologically-advanced items such as robots, computers, and weapons. The Hank family is quite peculiar, in that its members are not naturally born but cloned from ancient genetic templates stored in a cryo-vault in the ancient family villa orbiting Solaris. Parts of their brain are computerized, which allows them to freely access data within the gigantic NCP mainframe, a sentient Artifint construct which manifests as an obsidian megalith in cyberspace. The mainframe stores the memories of countless generations of members of the Hank family, which can be accessed as beta-level simulations, as well as downloaded and exchanged, thus providing family members with a wealth of information and experience. Hank, incidentally, is not the third to carry the name “Sidney Leon Hank”; he is merely the third to carry it this century.


Misc.

Brig. Flash Stalin, USS

“The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.”

Brigadier Flash Stalin is the commander of the 616 Interplanetary Patrol Group (nicknamed "Hell's Bells"), the primary USS fleet element active on the fringes of Sovereignty space and in Wild Space. He is known for an uncannily destructive approach to policing the space-lanes, and has a reputation as a 'shoot first, shoot some more, then maybe if it's convenient ask questions to the charred corpses' kind of officer. Among pacifists and colonials alike he is hated and reviled as a borderline pirate, but because he frequently operates a long way away from fleet bases in the region he has a significant degree of autonomy and continues to get away with his outrageous acts of mayhem and destruction--and secretly (and not so secretly) he has a great many admirers both in the higher echelons of politics and amongst his superiors, of which there are not as many as you'd expect. Brigadier Stalin commands his flotilla from his flagship, the USS Murderous, a dagger-shaped Genocide-class supercruiser painted brightly with symbols representing the number of Bragulan vessels (including unarmed colony ships) he has destroyed, as well as the number of planets he has bombarded.


1st Lt. John B. Baylor, USMC

“We're the biggest kid in the block. We've got the baddest tanks, the fastest ships, and the toughest technological sons of bitches in the entire universe. Marines, let's get tactical! Hoo-ah!”

First Lieutenant John Baylor commands a platoon of United Sovereignty Marines on the fringes of Sovereign space, where he fights against Bragulans, Karlacks, space pirates, space terrorists, uppity space colonists, and many other threats to freedom, apple pie and the Sovereign way. He is a solid, dependable soldier and officer. Like most of the men under his command Baylor is a Replicant, a bio-engineered human more or less tailored toward a specific function--which in Baylor's case is commanding a small unit of Marines. Baylor is an experimental Nexus-9-Echo model fabricated by Tyrell Corporation; he appears a success, although he does display certain quirky behavior that frequently leaves his superiors as well as the gengineers who designed him baffled.

[Shroom Man 777]

OUTSTANDING! *sniffs* The Sovereignty! And clone Baylors! Do Baylors dream of electric sheep? BLADE BAYLORS! BAYLOR RUNNERS!

[DarthShady]

Awesome stuff Siege. Sidney L. Hank III - I hope he lives up to the magnificent bastard from whose genes he was cloned.

[PeZook]

Genocide-class supercruisers

The USSS MURDEROUS!

SchromKorp!

Siege totally wins the thread. His country is the only writeup I actually read (Sorry Shroom).

[Shroom Man 777]

You will rue this day when the Bragulans come knocking on your doorstep, and you forgot which bureau is incharge of your oppression!

Will you be joining in?

[Steve]

Siege totally wins the thread. His country is the only writeup I actually read (Sorry Shroom).

Well, I can't blame you for ignoring mine because I'm damned boring.

But Shroom is always good for humor.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Revised and expanded writeup:

The Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya

Government: The Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya is a constitutional monarchy led by none other than Haruhi Suzumiya herself. Haruhi is quite similar to God-Emperor Heraclius XX Komnenos of the Imperium of Man in many ways, as both are long-lived and extremely powerful psykers revered as deities by their respective nations. She is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has the ability to veto legislation, and appoints both the Supreme Court and her Cabinet (among a great many other powers). While Haruhi herself holds nigh-unlimited power, most of the Empire's daily affairs are run by the numerous agencies that comprise her Cabinet.

The legislative branch is a bicameral Congress, divided into a National Assembly (proportional representation) and a Senate (equal representation). Judicial power is held by the Supreme Court and various lower courts. However, these two branches of the government often tend to be overpowered by the executive.

Economy: The Haruhiist economy, much like those of the Pfhor Empire and the Bragulan Star Empire, tends to focus extensively on (military) heavy industry, resource extraction, and refining. While there are some national industries, the economy is largely dominated by private megacorporations.

Military: The Haruhiists maintain a massive military modeled loosely on those of the Imperium of Man and the United Solarian Sovereignty.

The SOS Imperial Guard is a conscript force tasked with planetary defense, local counter-insurgency and occupation, and the occasional bug hunt. The SOS Imperial Marine Corps is a fully professional force tasked with planetary assault, boarding actions, and generally providing additional firepower if the Imperial Guard isn't sufficient to accomplish a task. The SOS Imperial Navy comprises all of the Empire's space assets, which range from old warships seized as spoils of war from conquered powers to the most sophisticated designs to come from the Haruhiist shipyards; it is tasked with patrolling Haruhiist space and spearheading assaults on enemy territory.

Territory: The Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya controls a total of eleven standard-size sectors. The central sector is the Kansai Sector, which contains the Haruhiist capital world of Hyogo. Directly bordering it is the Reach Sector, the next heaviest-developed sector of the Haruhiist domain.

Beyond the Kansai and Reach Sectors are the Midrange Territories of the Holy Empire, all of which were acquired via conquest of lesser powers. The Albion Sector was the former home of the Holy Empire of Neo-Britannia that had tried and failed miserably to conquer the Haruhiists in centuries past. The Ragnar and Zeon Sectors were the respective capital sectors of the Zodiac Alliance Treaty Organization (ZATO) and the Zeonic Federation (ZF), two rival human nations locked in a state of seemingly perpetual warfare until both were forcibly absorbed into the Holy Empire and made to bow before Haruhi's greatness.

Due to the Holy Empire's relatively recent expansionism, it controls a large number of colonial sectors. The Ophiuchus Sector was a part of ZATO before that nation was absorbed by the Haruhiists. The Sanc Sector was the central battleground of ZATO and the ZF; the fighting in that sector was so intense as to undo centuries of terraforming, much to the Haruhiists' chagrin and frustration. The Sara and Umoja Sectors were the former domains of the Directorate, a highly despotic human regime that was rapidly subjugated by the Haruhiists (at the cost of the biospheres of several planets in those sectors); the Umoja Sector in particular is notable due to its high diversity of sapient alien life and the presence of Tau ruins on several worlds. The Eridanus Sector is perhaps the only colonial sector that was settled peacefully by the Haruhiists. The Risea Sector is the most recent addition to the Holy Empire; the SOS Imperial Guard is currently carrying out counter-insurgency and extermination operations against the former inhabitants of the sector.

Species: For a society that is supposedly highly tolerant of xenos, there are surprisingly few of them within the Haruhiist populace. Humans are by and large the dominant species. Asides from immigrants, expatriates, and refugees from the other factions, there are quite a few interesting sapient and semi-sapient species native to Haruhiist space, mostly located in the colonial sectors.

The Kig-yar and the Yanme'e, native to the respective planets of Eayn and Palamok in the Umoja Sector, are the descendants of Tau auxiliaries stranded in the Umoja Sector after the extermination of their benefactors at the hands of the Imperium; they gladly joined the Haruhiists in order to overthrow the Directorate and are now among Haruhi's staunchest non-human supporters. The results of human experimentation conducted by the Directorate in the Sara and Umoja Sectors can be seen in various types of mutants distributed throughout the various Directorate worlds, such as the Necrotics, the Trogs (a collective term for two types of mutant), and the Nightkin (divided into the Mariposan and Utolbithan factions).

The Risea Sector is home to various types of hostile human and alien life. Gorasnaya is home to the Shu'ulathoi (an ancient race of psionically endowed giant maggots that had managed to enslave the first human colonists on Gorasnaya but has been undergoing a steady decline ever since), the Watchers (genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced humans who serve the Shu'ulathoi), the Chimaerans (a native humanoid species mutated by an out-of-control Shu'ulathoi bioweapon), and the Schismatics (the descendants of renegade Watchers who had experimented on themselves with Chimaeran genetic material). Sarfuth and Tyrus are home to a confederation of several reptilian humanoid species collectively and unimaginately dubbed the "Locust Horde" by the initial human inhabitants of those worlds.

Sector Breakdown: (assuming 26 NCPs; all NCP cost, GDP, and population figures based on latest revision of the rules)

Kansai Sector [Home Sector, free]
Worlds: Hyogo [sector capital], Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Wakayama
GDP: $14000
Population: 60 billion
Hyperspace Junction and Warp Gate present

Reach Sector [Core Sector, 8 NCPs]
Worlds: Aigburth, Harvest, Katagalugan, Reach [sector capital], Tribute
GDP: $13000
Population: 60 billion
Hyperspace Junction and Warp Gate present

Albion Sector [Midrange Sector, 4 NCPs]
Worlds: Britannia Inferior, Britannia Superior [sector capital], Caledonia, Hibernia Inferior, Hibernia Superior
GDP: $7000
Population: 30 billion
Warp Gate present

Ragnar Sector [Midrange Sector, 4 NCPs]
Worlds: Caprica [sector capital], Gemenon, Libran, Scorpia, Virgon
GDP: $7000
Population: 30 billion
Warp Gate present

Zeon Sector [Midrange Sector, 4 NCPs]
Worlds: Hatte, Mua, Munzo [sector capital], Noa, Zarn
GDP: $7000
Population: 30 billion
Warp Gate present

Eridanus Sector [Colony Sector, 1 NCP]
Worlds: Arcadia, Eridanus Primus [sector capital], Eridanus Secundus, Madrigal, Victoria
GDP: $2000
Population: 10 billion

Ophiuchus Sector [Colony Sector, 1 NCP]
Worlds: Canceron, Leonis, Picon [sector capital], Sagittaron, Tauron
GDP: $2000
Population: 10 billion

Risea Sector [Colony Sector, 1 NCP]
Worlds: Gorasnaya, Ostri, Pelles, Sarfuth, Tyrus [sector capital]
GDP: $2 million
Population: 10 billion

Sanc Sector [Colony Sector, 1 NCP]
Worlds: Aerilon, Aquarion, Loum, Riah, Sanc [sector capital]
GDP: $2000
Population: 10 billion

Sara Sector [Colony Sector, 1 NCP]
Worlds: Argo, Chau Sara, Kelanis, Moria [sector capital], Mar Sara
GDP: $2000
Population: 10 billion

Umoja Sector [Colony Sector, 1 NCP]
Worlds: Eayn, Palamok, Reagan's Planet, Sarengo, Umoja [sector capital]
GDP: $2000
Population: 10 billion

Population: 260 billion

GDP: $60000

Religion: Haruhiism is the official state religion of the Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya (naturally). Other religions are tolerated, though their followers collectively form only a tiny minority of the populace.

Foreign Relations: The Haruhiists tend to be a polarizing presence in the greater galaxy; the various other factions either like them or hate them, with very little room in between.

The Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya considers itself an ally of the United Solarian Sovereignty, the United Star Kingdom of New Anglia, and the Ascendancy. Relations between the Haruhiists and the United Nations of Earth and Nova Terra tend to be cordial. The Holy Empire has been attempting to strengthen its relationship with the Chamarans in recent years.

The Haruhiists and the Karlacks are generally distrustful of each other, though actual conflict between the two has yet to actually break out. The Imperium of Man generally takes a dim view towards the Haruhiists' general tolerance of xenos, and it also views them as especially unclean due to their liberal use of Tau-derived technology; any potential alliance between the two against the Karlacks would strictly be one of convenience. The Bragulans find the Haruhiists particularly loathsome due to their religiosity and their very close ties to the Solarians, though they also grudgingly admire Haruhi for her similarities to their own Imperator Byzon. The SOS Imperial Navy has shoot-on-sight orders for any and all Pfhor ships caught passing through Haruhiist space.

[Agent Sorchus]

Preliminary.

The Eoghan United Commons
Pronounced: O-in or YO-in

The Eoghan Speices , in their evolutionary lineage, shares many of the traits of the marsupial phenotype. They also share behavior with Terrestrial Mongoose’s. They are insectivores with limited omnivorous capacity. They have long fore limbs that allow them to run as a quadruped, while still retaining full bipedal motion. More Information as the Xenobiology College of the New Nordic Universtiy on the planet Oberlin.

The prime government agency is the Federal Forum lead by a Federal Marshal Supreme, it exists for the enforcement of the laws that are codified by the Political Courts. These courts create laws when it is called/requested for in general elections, or Common Elections. Common Elections are held within specific commons, where in a common is the entirety of the population that falls under a category of living that can include industry and specific knowledge. The Legal courts provide a place for grievances to be aired and is most similar to human courts.
Request more information? y/n

The technology of greatest importance for the EUC is the “Black Box”. The Black box resembles is effect a ZPM, in that it creates energy with no fuel, but it has been categorically proven not to be. The basic box barely creates energy, but when it is plugged into any ‘dodad’ it starts producing more energy. These dodad’s do not actually seem to effect the black box in any significant way, yet even if two dodads should cancel out the black box still increases its potential. This riddle has caused much confusion and slight stress in the population.

The confusion caused by the black box has driven large sections of the population towards mysticism and religion. The single largest of these newest religions is the fusion of Warship in Cthulhu and local myths cut form a similar vein. Though all sort of religions have had converts (including the rare believer in the God Emperor of Mankind), and as such no religion truly dominates Eoghan society.

The economy has grown far faster than the population, do to the easy of acquiring Energy from ground based Black box Facilities that use the peak number of dodads to achieve power. This ease of power is mostly used to refine complex molecules and to produce superdense and other exotic substances.

The current trends for the EUC's foreign relations has been peaceful, if not outright inquisitive. With the exception of the Karlack swarm citizens of the Commons are free to travel throughout known space, though warned about travel through the Imperium of Man and the risks of such. The prohibition on travel through Karlack space is due strictly to concerns about potential predation and the sticky situation that that entails.

Steve Should I just roll? or should I wait for you?

[Steve]

Rolls will come when we're actually in STGOD prep, and we're still not as there are final rule determinations to be made.

[Darkevilme]

What rules need to be determined still? To my mind we have enough for nation creation, industrial guidelines and a rule of thumb for helping moderators resolve disputes should they need to intervene. This sounds adequate to me.

[Steve]

I think one of the major questions left is the value of ground troops. How many should be required to reasonably seize any planet or sector? Do we want millions required for the job of claiming any Earth-like planet with a fair sized population or could we go with less, under the presumption that our tech permits troops to be more effective in occupation with fewer numbers? (Conversely, if $1 buys a lesser quantity of troops, it'd apply to the defender in this case too.)

If armies are huge, then we are implying thousands of troop carrying ships to ferry them about if one embarks on a major interstellar offensive. Conversely. if armies are smaller all around, then they're also vastly undermanned compared to the logical manpower pool of the states in question.

[Darkevilme]

Okay agreed. The topic is now. How many points worth of defensive forces does a world get according to sector, be it defence against planetary invasion or fleets in orbit.

Addition: If we have these free immobile planet bound armies that act as the counter part to orbiting death lasers, ground side beam batteries and airstrips of ground to orbit attack fighters...then can we just go ahead and say the part of your army you actually pay for is ALL capable of being moved in space to differentiate it. So $100 of Bragulan Death troopers comes with enough interstellar transports to get where they need to go if they were bought with GDP ?

[Agent Sorchus]

I think one of the major questions left is the value of ground troops. How many should be required to reasonably seize any planet or sector? Do we want millions required for the job of claiming any Earth-like planet with a fair sized population or could we go with less, under the presumption that our tech permits troops to be more effective in occupation with fewer numbers? (Conversely, if $1 buys a lesser quantity of troops, it'd apply to the defender in this case too.)

If armies are huge, then we are implying thousands of troop carrying ships to ferry them about if one embarks on a major interstellar offensive. Conversely. if armies are smaller all around, then they're also vastly undermanned compared to the logical manpower pool of the states in question.

We really shouldn't worry about troop ships per say, because we are also not worried about support vessels for the main battle fleet either. We should just assume that the army would have a few specialist invasion ships and that the rest are just bulky thin skinned transports that otherwise are used to move anything that the Navy or Army needs to be moved.

On to actual size of the army, I am of the opinion that population size is twice what it should be. ie a colony sector has more people in it than we have nowadays while only having one Earth type world, and it is supposed to represent the smallest population density of our system.

Of more importance than army numbers is how we deal with sectors that are only partially under one factions control. Say the IoM invades a Bragulan Midrange sector and captures one or two planets, but Bragula reinforces the fleet defending the remainder and achieves enough of a parity that nether side can force the matter either way. How should we deal with it then? Split the sector somehow?