SDNW5 Preliminary Discussion Thread

[Esquire]

Bah! You Chartmapographers are little removed from barbarians. A truly civilized people knows the mysteries of the Same and the Other, of the Hot and the Cold, of the Fixed and the Mobile. These things are revealed by philosophy, not the art of the chartmapographer, be it ever so subtle!

[Simon_Jester]

True scholarly-beardedness yet escapes you.

[Esquire]

Smiteocratic philosophers have no beards - they give the other side something to grab onto during the traditional post-debate bar fight.

[Simon_Jester]

Beardless. Just as I suspected.

[Lonestar]

The Grand Dominion shall make a return, fret not.

[Panzersharkcat]

Beardless. Just as I suspected.

Bah. Nothing compares to our rich coats of fur.

[Imperial528]

What's all this silly talk of beards and fur? Clearly, the only place for hair on the body is on the top of the head.
The Smiteocrats may have the most ridiculous theories of the Universe's true function, but their clean-shaven style cannot be disagreed with!

As an aside, still working on nation name. It will be a Protectorate though, I can tell you that.

[irishmick79]

I'm in. Leading the Republic of Telkin.

[irishmick79]

Republic of Telkin, brief description

The Telkinian Republic is almost an accident of sorts. Nestled in an extremely hazardous region of space, the sector has few direct access points, which were only discovered by an errant hyperspace jump. Centered on the planet Telkin, the Republic is a small collection of systems often at odds with itself. Blessed with abundant natural resources and a stunning ecosphere, Telkin emerged as a natural tourist destination. Initially dominated by wealthy elites from other systems, Telkin developed one of the most secretive and efficient banking industries in the galaxy. The republic also established strict laws against extradition to other star systems, and virtually overnight the system went from being a backwater tourist trap to a major refuge for intergalactic criminals of all stripes.

Many intergalactic crime syndicates and corporations set up virtual headquarters on Telkin, and with them came an enormous influx of capital. Telkin began to develop rapidly, and before long local Telkinians began to demand a stronger voice in government, which had primarily been a parliamentary democracy dominated by off planet outsiders. Tensions exploded into an open revolt, which brought down the parliament and saw the establishment of a Telkinian monarchy ruled by a King after a decades long civil war. In order to prevent a flight of capital, the new government reluctantly made concessions which protected much of the economic rules and regulations favored by the off-worlders. The new monarchy did, however, win new regulations which outlawed the direct sale of any kind of arms or narcotics to non-citizens outside of the sector. Since the revolution, the monarchy has been able to maintain an uneasy and often tumultuous partnership with the established economic elites.

During the civil war, a major small arms industry emerged and became a major player in Telkin. After the war, the industry continued to expand, fueled mostly by domestic arms sales to private enterprises and to the slowly emerging military. As the monarchy stabilized and solidified its hold on power, the military grew from an ill-equipped, ill-manned and poorly led police force into a real instrument of power. The navy, which had previously been little more than a collection of small patrol craft, received new battleships and fighter carriers, dramatically increasing its combat power. Coupled with the limited access to Telkinian space, this allowed the monarchy to dominate the space lanes in the system. While the army remained small when compared to other systems, it accuired new weapons and improved its quality. The vast majority of the monarchy's resources, however, went into the development of a first-class law enforcement and intelligence apparatus. Tasked with keeping track of the numerous off-worlders present and the financial and criminal activities of the off-world private enterprised on planet, the Protectorate has an extensive network of spies and informers throughout the system, and remains an unseen but incredibly potent force in Telkinian politics. More so than any other agency, the Protectorate is a critical component of the monarchy's power base.

[Esquire]

Beardless. Just as I suspected.

Only the Smiteocratics are beardless. Other schools of philosophy have other facial hair traditions; the Aristocratistotelians tend to have beards that are like unto the gods'.

[Beowulf]

I'm in. Don't have a name yet.

[Simon_Jester]

So, Irishmick: micronation?

[Akhlut]

Some background to enlighten the reanimated stillbirths of other ecosystems that dare sully our galaxy.

The Hegemon of the Gray Kritarchy

Constituent States
The Gray Kritarchy: The ruling power over the autonomous satraps, the Grays are the most numerous members of the Hegemon and are ruled over by the Kritarchs, a group of judges cum executives, who preside over the state. The Kritarchs act as both the judiciary branch and as part of the executive branch. The military has its own hierarchy, but ultimately answers to the Kritarchs. The Kritarchy is ruled by three supreme Kritarchs, who rule through majority-rule (ie, 2-1 decisions). The Gray Kritarchy has been on the wane for the last several thousand years, though it is still a power not to be trifled with. The Grays themselves have been around for a very long time; there is some speculation that they are responsible for the transport of the Union State of Four Stars into their borders, either through directly uplifting dinosaurs from earth over 65 million years ago, or by using a now lost technology to cut through the veils of the multiverse and bring them here tens of thousands of years ago. The Hegemon has a powerful military, though that is mostly on the end of their navy and use of robotic infantry. Individual Grays are rather fragile creatures.In their own language, they call themselves the Hoavi, while they call their government the Voadau.

Scumdogia: The Gray Hegemon some centuries ago acquired a lawless stellar system filled with the scum of the galaxy; every horrible assortment of mercenary, criminal, sociopath, and pervert fill the habitable planets, moons, stations, and asteroids of this system with their filth and corruption. The main reason the Hegemon has not tried to scour this system of its inhabitants is precisely because it is filled to the brim with scum. It exists as a prison for the worst members of Hegemon society, as well as an implied threat to outsiders who disobey the Hegemon. Additionally, Scumdogia provides wonderful cannon fodder for the Hegemon in any war. Though formerly lawless, Scumdogia has recently seen some form of government arise, though it is even more horrible than the sum of its inhabitants' excesses: the Scumdogs of the Universe. A group of the most powerful mercenaries in the system, and possibly the galaxy, they have brutalized any rivals into submission or death and have proclaimed all within the system to be their Bohabs (slaves). Led by the ferocious Oderus Urungus, who claims the planet of Scumdogia as his birthplace, he has instituted a brutal bureaucracy on the system with his golden battle barge and army of bohabs. The Kritarchy interacts with the Scumdogs of the Universe on very limited basis, but the Scumdogs at least agree to entreat with the Kritarchy and have done so for decades now.

Union State of Four Stars: The four stellar systems are united under one government that exists under the Hegemon's beneficence; this government is made up of intelligent dinosaurs of two species: the Kipakt, a group of allosaurian dinosaurs, the Moxi, a group of oviraptoran dinosaurs. They are a very advanced society.The Kipakt provide a very large contingent of reliable and powerful infantry for the Hegemon's military.

The Philosopher's Kingdom: Composed of three stellar systems, the Philosopher's Kingdom is composed the genetically altered humans that the Grays have been abducting for millennia from earth and other planets, which the Grays have always had every right to do with complete impunity. The Grays have long probed and analyzed humans and decided to try and make them perfect servants for the Grays. The Kingdom is a sort of constitutional monarchy which owes its fealty to the Kritarchy.

[Simon_Jester]

Am I missing any would-be micronation players? Or for that matter macronation players?

---

Akhlut:
Hegemony of the Gray Kritarchy
5

Beowulf:
Noun of Adverby Noun.
4

Darkevilme:
Chamarran Empire
10

Esquire:
Hellenic Confederacy
9

FaxModem1
Empire of Tweed
Micronation

Feralgnoll
Braxian Collective
6

Force Lord:
Centrality
7

Imperial528
Confederate of Cerna
8

Irishmick
Republic (?) of Telkin
(Micronation? Macronation? I DO NOT KNOW! AAAAH! [replodes])

KhorneFlakes
Screworlders
6

Lonestar
Grand Dominion?
7

OmegaChief:
Capellan Authority
4

Panzersharkcat:
Bastian Star Empire
10

Romulan Republic
??? (Possibly a republic of Romulans?)
Micronation

Scottish Ninja
Volscian Confederacy
12

Shinn Langley Soryu
Holy Empire of Haruhi Suzumiya?
10

Shep
Shepistan
9

Simon_Jester:
Technocracy of Umeria
7

Tanasinn
Federal Union of Enslaved Subjugated Stuckenated Independent Worlds
7

TimothyC
Somethingorother of Bird Plane Krypton
Micronation

Vanas:
An Entire Great and Bountiful Empire of Goddamn Bees
6

White Haven:
League of Thought
8

NPC:
Bragulan Star Empire
9

[KhorneFlakes]

Wait, did Shep say that he wants to participate in SDNW5? Did he PM you or something?

[Simon_Jester]

Yes, he contacted me privately.

[KhorneFlakes]

Thought so.

EDIT: Goddammit. I should really stop sleeping so much on sunday. It's 3:25 am and I'm not even anything resembling tired.

[Imperial528]

Note: I changed my mind, "Protectorate" just didn't sound right.

Summary of the Confederate of Cerna

History:

The Confederate of Cerna was originally founded by the survivors from a lost colony fleet from a far away empire. The refugees originally settled the world of Cerna as a temporary place to make a living until they could find out how to return to their lost home. However, as the decades passed and little progress was made, the members of the old generation grew weary of their repeated failures and false hopes, and they began to focus more on developing what they had. The prime driving force in this was the influence of the new generations; those born on Cerna had never lived in the great stellar civilization their parents sought to return to, so for them there was no loss.
Since then the Confederate began to act as its own nation; nearby systems were colonized, space explored, and contact made with neighboring civilizations. All that remains of its original intent is its name: even though most of the populace had never been to the parent nation, there is still a cultural connection with the old Confederation where the original settlers hailed from. It is possibly because of the influence the stories told to the first children born on Cerna, then passed on to theirs, that the Confederate is still officially trying to contact the far away nation they came from.

Physiology:

Castorians are in appearance similar to humans, the only major differences being a lack of body hair, and wildly different skin and eye colors. The average skin color is a dark green, with dull red eyes. Other skin tones and eye colors, respectively, are white (the color) and light blue, gray and yellow, and tan with light green. Hair color is usually some shade of brown or black, although sometimes the hair color will match the skin tone. They are an artificial species, first designed to be a sort of more robust human, and as a result of this they have on average stronger, more resilient bodies, and slightly faster reflexes. A few liberties were also taken in terms of efficiency, such as moving nerves or blood vessels into more logical positions, and in sometimes outright eliminating biological functions. The major difference between a Castorian and a human, though, is that Castorians are biologically immortal, in that they will not die of old age.

How's this for a start? I will probably add more when I can think of more to write.

((Copied this over to the description thread, with NCP stuff.))

[Simon_Jester]

Work out your NCP distribution, OK?

Do the Cernans trade with neighbors? Do you have problems with rule by gerontocracy stemming from the nigh-immortality of their people?

EDIT: Also, while far be it from me to rule out the idea of interuniversal travellers, is there anything about the Cernan backstory that requires them to have showed up from another universe entirely? Wouldn't it be more sensible to assume that they're a lost colony from a civilization in another spiral arm of our own galaxy, or something like that?

[Skywalker_T-65]

I guess I can give this a try. Though I don't know exactly how to do it (research ahoy!) As for a name...

The Arcadia Republic

...yeah that works...once I see a dice roll (and go through research) I can think up more. One detail though...while Arcadia can be established (aka, not pop up out of nowhere) I don't want it too be too large, since I can't guarantee how much I can play. (oh and if I put this in the wrong thread, feel free to delete the post)

[Imperial528]

Work out your NCP distribution, OK?

Do the Cernans trade with neighbors? Do you have problems with rule by gerontocracy stemming from the nigh-immortality of their people?

EDIT: Also, while far be it from me to rule out the idea of interuniversal travellers, is there anything about the Cernan backstory that requires them to have showed up from another universe entirely? Wouldn't it be more sensible to assume that they're a lost colony from a civilization in another spiral arm of our own galaxy, or something like that?

I have worked out my NCP distribution, I'll edit it into my previous post.

Trade, yes. I assume that you can have historical trade interactions and such without actually placing a trade route?
The government system is designed such that any politician can be removed if needed, and there are term limits. Although to an outside it very well may look like a gerontocracy or close to that, because most high-level positions have decade long terms.

I could twist it a little bit to turn out like that, I suppose. The only thing is that they're not supposed to really ever make physical contact, or that it's difficult enough that it won't happen even in nation-wide emergencies.

[Simon_Jester]

Imperial, yes, you can have historical trade interactions without a trade route that's worth NCPs. NCP-based trade routes are major commercial routes worth as much to your nation as an entire solar system; only the most trade-heavy empires will have more than a few, and a relatively autarkic nation may have one or none.

However... what do you mean by "The only thing is that they're not supposed to really ever make physical contact, or that it's difficult enough that it won't happen even in nation-wide emergencies?"


Skywalker, this is the right thread for casual talk and "I'm in!" Your roll is a 5, so if you're playing a major nation you have 30 NCP to set it up with.

[Imperial528]

I mean that the Confederate's parent nation will not be showing up, at all, outside of maybe a transmission or something that only serves as plot. No military assets or the like.

[Simon_Jester]

If they're on the other side of the galaxy, then at the SDNW4-based hyperdrive speeds I'm envisioning it could take years to get there from here. I'm hoping for travel speeds of roughly one day per sector, and "sectors" are defined as "tiles on the map, which are less but not enormously less than 100 light years across." This setting is not as big as the whole galaxy, not by a long shot- and I think that's just as well, because it leaves more room for there to be weird and wonderful things off the edge of the map than if all there is out there is a million light years of nothing.

That gives us a rough parameter for FTL travel speeds, which are in fact the ONLY hardish number I want to allow in the game about capabilities. And the only reason I'm even pushing for it is because not having a rule on FTL travel speeds is even more trouble than having one.

Having it take two or three years (even assuming that travel conditions around the galactic core are as 'good' as the ones out here where we're operating in the game) would make it very unlikely that the Confederate's parent-nation would bother to send anyone to check up on them.

Or the colonists could be from another galaxy entirely. In which case hyperdrive at SDNW4 speeds would be a hopelessly inadequate means of transportation except for one-way colony expeditions by immortals (or people who really trust their cryonics and/or robots).

EDIT: I also started a prologue thread and put up a story post in it. If you have story you want to put in, or character sketches or anything else, it belongs there. This thread is for OOC discussion, "ask the mod a question" posts, and so on.

[OmegaChief]

Oh hey a question Simon, is there a limit to the number of warp gates we can have mechnically in one system?

I was just working on the backstory (Hence why I've been so quiet!) and I have a neat idea that might be best represented by two gates in one system, but I don't know if there's a rule conflict with this?