Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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taalismn
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:
Or lead to the formation of some special security cadre of sorts, specially if concerns over potential infernal infiltration threats rises to the fore, leading to a climate of increased vigilance.

Just a thought or two.


An adventure scenario might be the chronically-underfunded meta-response department of some remote Golgan outpost, staffed with rejects and underperformers from other bureaus.....finds themselves as the first line of difference against an unexpected paranormal threat to the Republik(and potentially the entire Anvil galaxy)...Nobody higher-up believes them, at least not in time to do any good, so they're effectively on their own.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
SolCannibal wrote:
Or lead to the formation of some special security cadre of sorts, specially if concerns over potential infernal infiltration threats rises to the fore, leading to a climate of increased vigilance.

Just a thought or two.


An adventure scenario might be the chronically-underfunded meta-response department of some remote Golgan outpost, staffed with rejects and underperformers from other bureaus.....finds themselves as the first line of difference against an unexpected paranormal threat to the Republik(and potentially the entire Anvil galaxy)...Nobody higher-up believes them, at least not in time to do any good, so they're effectively on their own.


Ironically, a surprise attack from the Rynncryyl Kingdom, where some of the governors seem to have considered such a move as "easy targets to drum up morale & practice", maybe bolstered by some deals of the moment with one or both infernal powers in the Minion War (or stragglers of their forces) seems like a quite feasible possibility.

And for no particular reason that i can guess, i keep imagining the meta-response department as a mix of Lexx and Red Dwarf in a derelict possibly older than the Dominator War.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:[
And for no particular reason that I can guess, i keep imagining the meta-response department as a mix of Lexx and Red Dwarf in a derelict possibly older than the Dominator War.


"We still haven't found the restrooms on this thing."
"Then where are we supposed to-"
"Be really careful when pushing the 'flush' lever. Make damn sure it's the one with the 'flush' painted on it. The other lever also flushes, but it flushes the whole airlock into vacuum."
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
SolCannibal wrote:[
And for no particular reason that I can guess, i keep imagining the meta-response department as a mix of Lexx and Red Dwarf in a derelict possibly older than the Dominator War.
"We still haven't found the restrooms on this thing."
"Then where are we supposed to-"
"Be really careful when pushing the 'flush' lever. Make damn sure it's the one with the 'flush' painted on it. The other lever also flushes, but it flushes the whole airlock into vacuum."
"Welcome to the station, private. Based on your records you have been picked to be our new chief gunner."

"Bu-but i was a stock clerk, i've never held a gun outside of training, what to say of capital ship weapons!"

"Immaterial, Golgan - no one can be expected to physically hold a capital ship weapon anyway. Your medical records show you possess advanced sight & hearing, making you the only one outside the bridge officers capable of reading and listening to the interface's displays for our Zebuloid gunners and direct. Ergo, the jellyfish herding duties are yours now. You also get a translator."

"Madam, Zebuloids speak our language, that's kind of insensiti...."

"The interface, private. You have to understand it to respond correctly to it."

"It's not on Golgan?!"

"No, and it refuses to accept reprogramming or new language packages. How experienced with sign language or mime performance are you? Do you know how to dance?"

The duo reach a room and the door slide open. Within one can see what somewhat resembles a bridge and a peculiar square platform with a garishly colored pattern of symbols utterly alien to the baffled young golgan clerk in front of a screen. Perched close by, one may see what seems like the unholy lovechild of a macaw with a peacock spider, that ruffles itself upon their arrival. "Reporting and awaiting for duty, custodians."

"Custodians?" The younger golgan mumbles.

"The natives see us as caretakers for the proprietors."

"Proprietors? And natives from where?!"

"The station, it's a holy land according to them. Long story, leave chatting for the canteen. Now it's time for your crash course in breakdancing with cannons."
Last edited by SolCannibal on Tue Jan 16, 2024 8:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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taalismn
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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THAT.....is the beginning of one psychotic adventure...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:THAT.....is the beginning of one psychotic adventure...
Like the most entertaining ones are. :lol:
Last edited by SolCannibal on Tue Jan 16, 2024 8:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Borast
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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Reminds me of a comment made by a ship captain in one of Ms. Moon's Space Operas...
She stated that a captain she used to be under had all the ship's weapons keyed to sound as instruments in an orchestra...so he could tell by the missing sounds what weapons were damaged or off-line.
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taalismn
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

Borast wrote:Reminds me of a comment made by a ship captain in one of Ms. Moon's Space Operas...
She stated that a captain she used to be under had all the ship's weapons keyed to sound as instruments in an orchestra...so he could tell by the missing sounds what weapons were damaged or off-line.


"LISTEN TO MY CONCERTO OF MASS DESTRUCTION!!!!!! BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!!"
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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And now that i've had my fun, let me give show a little of the method/sense to my insanity.


First off, coming up for a reason for an average Golgan bureaucrat, to end up in a sort military command position he's utterly unsuited for (Golgans can't start as men-at-arms according to Anvil Galaxy and i do count pilots or gunners among those, though not 100% certain of that).
So, our stock officer that ends up as the station's chief-gunner by virtue of being one of the few who's not blind and deaf to the system interface used by the original builders. Just the kind of thing that would like an awesome edge on paper to many a xenophobic golgan politico, but far less so when you are the paper-pusher suddenly finding itself as gun jockey.

But...while fine, dandy and obviously helpful, being able to see and hear something on itself doesn't have to mean you understand what is being said or displayed on screen - and there comes the importance of an interpreter, to help you make sense of the foreign words & characters, not to mention speak correctly (what in some cases one might be biologically incapable of).
And there comes in the peculiar non-humanoid alien in its perch, my admitedly surreal on the concept of Red Dwarf's Cat, the last member of a sapient race evolved from the abandoned pets of the station builders after millions of years on their own (and with some tweaking by the AI to help it with some internal issues).

The mime performance/Dance Dance Revolution set up, much like elements of the intepreter's appearance, was inspired by non-verbal communication methods, such as the courtship dances of peacock spiders or the flying gyrations & dance code coreographies of many bee species.
More than once i have inserted miming & dancing languages - what imho makes considerable more sense than things like pheromone communication, that might be interefered by something as simple being downwind or the beating of their wings, in flying insectoids such as the Xiticix - for sapient arthropods in games based on this and i brought up an interface conceived with that in mind too as a little personal joke.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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Worlds GNE/USA Personnel have received Peerage Titles/Land Grants

“For an egalitarian democratic corporate state, we sure have a lot of knights, earls, barons, lords, dukes, princes, princesses, and even some kings and queens on our payroll.”

“My full title, if you must know, is Technical Sergeant Zelmo Zale, Greater New England Regular Army, United Systems Alliance Joint Command, Holder of the Stainless-Silver Trench Digger, Stone-Layer of Mezni, Master Builder of the Populduct and Earl of Cadover.”

These are worlds where active duty United Systems Alliance personnel have been gifted with (more than merely honorary*) titles, usually as a reward for saving the locals. Such gifting has been seen as a way of securing the planet’s/kingdom’s security by tying its fortunes more securely to the Alliance, and giving the technologically/magically-superior USA personnel a personal stake in securing the future security and prosperity of the kingdom. These worlds tend to have neofeudal/neobarb cultures, available openings/gaps in their aristocratic society(usually as a result of whatever crisis caused to the GNE/USA to get involved in the first place), and/or open land to spare.

(*Most notably, worlds such as Skenzia and Paloi award honorary knighthoods and citizenship to the worthy, but these come without land titles or property)

-Ilovona(Protectorate)----Attempted coup thwarted by GNE solders; the young GNE-educated King is seeking to replace the ousted conspirators’ titled ranks with more progressive GNErs willing to uplift the kingdom.

-Dahaz(Protectorate)---- Local tyrant and his pet monster overthrown almost by accident. GNE diplomat declared the new king and several of his companions by extension become local nobility.

-Kaldia/New Providence(Protectorate)----Local neobarb uprising/invasion devastated many medieval-level kingdoms. Many communities and kingdoms offer/award abandoned lands/titles to liberating USA personnel to encourage them to stay on as protectors and champions.

-Kalipsis(Protectorate)----Relocated refugees from Infernal invasion gratefully offered land grants on their new world to USA soldiers who rescued them, to encourage their continued protection and uplift.

-Tetrak(Protectorate)----Former resort colony taken over by corrupt aristocracy and pirates. Reform-minded King seeks to fill empty court seats with USA personas to secure continued protection and support.

*Kasenti Stellanion(Independent Star Kingdom)----In gratitude for killing a Dark God and scuttling a coup attempt, the reformist Queen of this Dark Elf kingdom made a temporarily stranded GN soldier and several other outworlder companions full Peers of the Realm, with an eye towards pursusing closer relations with their respective nations with the newly annointed Lords and Ladies as liaisons.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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Out of curiosity, what might "dark elf" mean in a megaverse context beside being a non-light skinned elf, heretic/renegades or something else? :| :?:

Ah, re-reading the Stelanion's history data got me this "The Stellanion was founded by an offshoot of Alfheim’s ancient society. According to legend, apparently a number of elven sects unhappy with the influence of either the Asgardian or modern-day ‘star elves’, decided to leave and settle elsewhere. The Stellanion was one of these dissident migrations."

So my overall impression is that "dark" in this context means divergent or splinter sect, in a Warhammer/Dragonlance style take of the term.
Last edited by SolCannibal on Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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SolCannibal wrote:Out of curiosity, what means "dark elf" in a megaverse context beside being a non-light skinned elf? :| :?:


There are various degrees of 'drow' elves in the megaverse ranging from simply blue-gray or black-skinned elves to the equivalent of night-skinned Asgard elves, just as there are various degrees of humans across the megaverse.


In general though, merely dark-skinned elves follow the same general skin-tones as humans, so various degrees of tan brown, to heavy melinated near-ebony as in humans don't cause calls of 'drow'. Less likely dark shades of blue-gray and jet-black(as opposed to other colors like dark purple or green, as happens in some elven variant septs), a higher degree of magic, bad attitudes towards non-elves, and generally living below ground or in low light conditions are regarded as signs of 'drow-ness'.
Some dark-skinned elven septs and cultures sharing those characteristics object to being grouped with 'dark elves/drow', and conversely there are those 'pure' dark elf cultures who deride those same groups as being pretenders or watered-down and degenerate versions of their own ethnic purity...vicious wars and campaigns of ethnic cleansing(by or against elves) have been fought over who is or isn't a 'Dark Elf' , and a good many dark-skinned elves have suffered by association with the rumors swirling around 'Dark Elves'.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

Yes, re-reading the write-up on the Stelanion i finally came up to the part where is mentioned most of the elven population (about 85% of it) tends to darker skin tones ranging from dusky brown to blue-black. Had mostly forgotten that was there.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:Yes, re-reading the write-up on the Stelanion i finally came up to the part where is mentioned most of the elven population (about 85% of it) tends to darker skin tones ranging from dusky brown to blue-black. Had mostly forgotten that was there.


In that, the Stellanion is liberal in that it encompasses a range of dark skin-tones. Some elven cultures are decidedly less tolerant and would not consider the Stellanion a 'Dark Elf' society by any stretch.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
SolCannibal wrote:Yes, re-reading the write-up on the Stelanion i finally came up to the part where is mentioned most of the elven population (about 85% of it) tends to darker skin tones ranging from dusky brown to blue-black. Had mostly forgotten that was there.


In that, the Stellanion is liberal in that it encompasses a range of dark skin-tones. Some elven cultures are decidedly less tolerant and would not consider the Stellanion a 'Dark Elf' society by any stretch.


For some reason, the whole "drow or just dusky-skinned elves" subject got me thinking of a "drow meets space Africa" kind of blend, with the queen possessing, or recently starting, a gender-flipped version of the Mino regiment of the kingdom of Dahomey (that according to some versions, where all technically the king's spouses), a "royal military harem" so to speak.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:
For some reason, the whole "drow or just dusky-skinned elves" subject got me thinking of a "drow meets space Africa" kind of blend, with the queen possessing, or recently starting, a gender-flipped version of the Mino regiment of the kingdom of Dahomey (that according to some versions, where all technically the king's spouses), a "royal military harem" so to speak.



Entirely possible; I really haven't fleshed out all the details of what happened in the Stellanion aside from 'local version of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters attempted to unleash an alien intelligence posing as an ancient elven god/dess, to feed on all the impure elves and non-elves, get their gooses cooked when nosey outsiders and plucky local misfits interfere".
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
SolCannibal wrote:
For some reason, the whole "drow or just dusky-skinned elves" subject got me thinking of a "drow meets space Africa" kind of blend, with the queen possessing, or recently starting, a gender-flipped version of the Mino regiment of the kingdom of Dahomey (that according to some versions, where all technically the king's spouses), a "royal military harem" so to speak.



Entirely possible; I really haven't fleshed out all the details of what happened in the Stellanion aside from 'local version of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters attempted to unleash an alien intelligence posing as an ancient elven god/dess, to feed on all the impure elves and non-elves, get their gooses cooked when nosey outsiders and plucky local misfits interfere".


Yes, yes. From the basics in that one sentence of yours i'm tempted to riff "Lord Voldenot" as either a Shifter or Witch empowered by a supernatural link with the Alien Intelligence or something similar - maybe with Shadow Meld and related powers for "darker than black" aesthetic - but the Evil Immortals from Pantheons of Megaverse show quite nicely you don't have to be from either or these OCCs for such an Intelligence to consider giving you a power boost.

(and from what i can see in CB2, Devy'Orhal, the Evil Immortals' patron, is a quite average CB1 AI example, except for the aforementioned hefty boost it offers its Neuron Beast minions)

Speaking of agendas, considering their xenophobic bent and the irregular distribution of ley lines within Kasenti space, i can imagine such a cult/secret society attempting to kill two birds with one stone through empowering a world or even star system's ley lines through the application of celestially aligned purification-genocide in a planet with a larger proportion of non-elves or "impures" ones in its population.

Maybe, to go with the "magical purification" imagery - and avoid repeating the nuclear option of Chaos Earth-Rifts and Armaggedon Unlimited - a worldwide series of cataclysmic firestorms and volcanic eruptions, jumpstarted through well-placed geomantic manipulation in concert with the planetary alignments. A world covered in ashes, to bring life and vitality for the survivors to work in building a new era, a cleansed and renewed for the Asheaters to bring a new beginning.

Alas, it was not to be and their fate has been thwarted, at least for the time being, until the planets and stars are right once more.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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Pinarr---Homeworld of the Pinarii, Golgan Protectorate World(Anvil Galaxy)
“Pinarr can be termed a ‘banana republic’ in that the local hereditary despots are cheerfully supported by big Golgan agro-concerns, who don’t care how the locals savage each other as long as the commercial crops are big and harvested and shipped out on time.”

“I haven’t met a Pinarii yet who didn’t claim to be a deposed ex-baronet, third distaff cousin of a lannds-earl, fifth son of a fifth son of a fifth son of a hereditary assistant vice minister of a royal council, or the currently exiled secret love-child of an eighth circle high patootie.”

“Pinarr needs a few thousand LaFayette-types...the American Revolution hero, not the frigate....to reform the government and calm the populace, if they don’t want heads to roll in abundance when their own revolution comes.”

“Pinarr’s dotted with enough castles, strongholds, and fortified country estates, of which many have been reinforced with modern armoring materials, that any widespread social unrest on the plent ain’t going to be pretty. Winkling defenders out of those positions is NOT going to be easy.”
----Excerpt from Office of Positive Outcomes evaluation report RG-2324423Pni

Pinarr is the homeworld of the Pinarii species, a tall, smooth-skinned people known for their ability to see through supernatural illusions, and for their aristocractic mannerisms(or pretensions), even from those of low social birth. Body armor is also a big thing on Pinarr, although most of it is merely decorative; there are few Pinarii who don’t own at least a large gorget or back-and-beast cuirass indicating their social status.
Pinarr is a world firmly under Golgan Republik control. Over a century ago, the ruling aristocracies and their entrenched social generals, who had managed to stave off the social upheavals normally associated with global industrialization up to their space agae, cut a deal with the alien Golgans. In return for steadfast loyalty to the Republik, the Pinarii ancien regimes would remain in power, in control of the advanced technology that the Golgans would trade them. The Pinarii would advance as a people, but under the firm grip of the aristocrats’ police, with the (benign) oversight and technical support of the Golgans. Now several centuries later, Pinarr has several offworld colonies, star travel, and the protection of the Golgan Argosy. For their part, the Golgans have a satrapy, system that can serve as a base for their fleets, an agricultural source, and a waystation for their commercial trade. The Pinarii are also, with their smooth skins and bulging eyes, not as unattractive to Golgan sensibilities, and the Pinarii ability to see through illusions, something all the advanced Golgan senses cannot always do, is becoming appreciated by some security-sensitive parts of Golgan society.
However, this bargain has backfired in some ways; though Pinarr has remained under the grip of unrefotmed royal police states, access to Galactic technology and star travel has allowed a quiet, but substantial, exodus of disaffected Pinarii offworld seeking personal freedom. A major part of this migration consists of minor and younger reform-minded aristocracy who fear that increasingly the refusal of the old regimes to change their ways will result in an eventual catastrophic collapse of Pinarii society and the total assimilation of the remains as a Golgan state.
Ironically, there are actually MORE Pinarii in the offworld free colonies and sanctuaries than there are in the Republick-assisted ones. Many of these free enclaves are in the United Systems Alliance territories, and the Pinarii there have been using their connections to covertly support revolutionary cells back on Pinarr. Information, money, and weaponry has been slipping across borders and down to the Loyalist worlds under Republik control and to growing labor unions and reformist groups.
Pinarr would seem a natural hot spot and point of contention between the Golgan Republik and the United Systems Alliance in their current state of conflict. However, nobody’s predicting a clean and bloodless overthrow of the standing government and Pinarr’s defection to the USA; the Pinarii aristocracy have dug in their spurs and aren’t about to give up their privileged lifestyles for egalitarian power-sharing with the ‘rabble’ any time soon.

Solar System(Feydma)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars:
-Yellow Dwarf
Number of Planets: 9
-Asteroid(Palut)--- Palut is a Ceres-sized planetissimal that plays host to an automated solar weather observatory.

-Terrestrial(Ruli)---Huge Ruli is covered in a thick violent atmosphere that has a tendency to eat spacecraft that unwisely venture within. A ‘super-Venus’, Ruli’s poisonous atmosphere and crushing gravity make exploitation unlikely. Even at a distance, Ruli evoked impressions of dread in early Pinarii astronomers, and it features in some Pinarii folklore as a bad-tempered deity, home of ill-tempered spirits, or purgatory of disrepactful children. It does possess five rather better-reputationed moons that have become mining and scientific outposts.

-Terrestrial(Pinarr)--- System lifeworld and home of the Pinarii

-Gas Giant(Esco)---Miniscule for a gas giant, Esco nevertheless manages to hold onto 17 moons. the three largest of which have been acquired by the Golgans and made into mining colonies and naval stations. A large gas mining operation keeps the staions and their complements of ships fueled and supplied.

-Gas Giant(Gawl)---Barely a cohesive puff of gas, Gawli falls into the ‘microscopic’ category of gas giants. Following some probe data, Golgan scientists have been taking a closer look at Gawli, wondering if it may begin evaporating at an accelerated rate like Garf.

-Asteroid(Chiggen)--- Despite its distance from Feydma, this cold rocky body is rumored to be the site of an exclusive space habitat hideaway for Golgan corporate types and their Pinarii aristocratic high blue-blood allies who shuttle out in space yachts bought for them by the Golgan corporations. Popular rumor has it this is where, during lavish parties serviced by advanced technology and supplied with delicacies imported from across the Republik, and safe from prying eyes, corporate overlords and their local collaborators hash out policy to continue to screw over the rest of Pinarii society. It’s most likely pure bunko, but the asteroid DOES seem to attract a higher than normal amount of space traffic than a mere rock should warrant.

-Terrestrial(Moyt)---Huge Moyt is shrouded in dark cold methane clouds. Its toxic atmosphere and high gravity make it an unattractive prospect for manned exploration, though the interaction of its methane atmosphere and several volcanic hotspots has led to some spectacular surface storms.

-Gas Giant(Garf)---Another ‘barely there’ gas giant, Garf seems to be inexplicably falling apart. a phenomenon which has attracted the interest of Golgan astronomers, who are perplexed as to WHY the planet seems to be evaporating. Best estimates give the planet another 1.2 million years of life before it dissipates completely into a thin ring of gas and debris around Feydma.

-Terrestrial(Gilov)--- Small icy Gilov sits at the far edge of the Feydma system. The Golgans have established a small communications station on Gilov as a backup booster-relay to theri galactic communications. The Gilov station is generally staffed by low tier Argosy personnel on what amounts to punishment or ‘get lost’ assignment-details. Assignment to Gilov means long tedious watch-jigs checking and rechecking the equipment, going over maintenance logs, and eating reconstituted rations while painfully aware that the Argosy personnel further in-system are enjoying Galactic entertainment and regular helpings of the local produce.

Planet(Pinarr)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 13,220 km
Gravity:: 1.3 g
Temperature: Temperate, albeit on the cooler side.
Unusual/Special Features:
-Tilted Orbit---Pinarr’s orbit is tilted some 45 degrees out of aligment with the general disc of the other bodies orbiting Feydma.
- Unusually Long Orbit----A Pinarr ‘year’ is 2.2 Earth years long thanks to an unusually slow progression around Feydma.
-Moons(2)---Altha and Durma ae both half the size of Earth’s moon, but bth have been developed by Golgan technology into outposts. Altha supports several mines and a trashipping port, while Durma supports a Golgan Argosy naval base.
-Craters---- Pinarr bears a healthy collection of impact scars, telling of some impressive past meteor bombardments.

Atmosphere: Breathable terrestrial nitrox mix
Terrain: 4+ terrian types.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Mercury
- Iron
- Colombite
- Scheelite
- Diamond
- Fluorite
- Emerald
- Asbestos
Hydrosphere:
69% of Pinarr’s surface is covered in open water
Biosphere:
Lush; the Pinarii deal with the Golgans has benefitted them all in respect that Galactic technology helped avoid the worst damage native industrial revolutions usually inflict on a sophony species’ homeworld environment. Pinarii is nearly undamaged by technological development, and the aristocracy enjoy vast private hunting parks and nature preserves.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
4.5 billion Pinarii. There are also several enclaves holding about 318,000 Golgans and other Republik client-races.
Technology:
Industrial Age/Early Information Age; though the Pinarii enjoy the advantages of imported Stellar Age techology and the rare bit of Galactic tech, their actual production capacilities are still fairly primitive by Galactic standards. Most high tech is in the hands of the aristocracy and their retainers; the Royal Army and personal guards of high-ecehelon families being the only ones permitted to carry megadamage weaponry.
Economy:
Agricultural----Much of Pinarr is still covered and divided up into plantation-style fiefdoms and holdings growing crops. Advanced agricultural techniques imported form offworld have made these farms very productive, the bulk of the surplus crops being snapped up by Golgan agro-corps for sale elsewhere in the Republik.
Wealth:
Wealthy---Pinarii is making good money selling agricultural products to the Republik. Golgan agro-concerns like FructdiCelestiDelisi and PromoBotan have substantial stakes in Pinarii agriculture. The upper social classes on Pinarr can afford advanced medical care, technological amenities, and Galactic luxuries and entertainments. Aside from trickle-down effects and the occasional civics project such as medical clinics and colosseum-style mass entertainments such as holodomes, the lower classes rarely see any of the wealth in their own hands.
Government:
Aristocracy---Pinarr is divided up into multiple fiefdoms ruled by aristocratic bloodlines. Power games between the ruling clans is a favorite sport, though the status quo changes very little.
Law Level:
Overbearing---The ruling class rules through a combination of police state tactics and social class pressure. There are literally different laws for the various social classes, and the lower on the societal scale one is, the less rights one has, until the peasant class can almost be bought and sold. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the very top tiers are maneuvering to erode what small handle the lower tiers have on holding the upper crust responsible for their actions.
Popularity:
Ambivalent--- Though a certain amount of traditionalism is respected in Pinarii society, the fact that society and governance have become static has begun to breed unease in many Pinarii. Even some of the aristocracy are chaffing under the Golgan-sympathizer/collaborator ruling party, especially as of late they seem to be rewritting the laws to give themselves even more power, backed by the technology and support of the Golgans.
Stability:
Unrest, especially in the lower classes. Multiple generations of families working in the same roles for the same people(or their descendants) with little visible advancement or opportunity for change have begun to wear at the public patience.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

The Gunrunners' War
The Golgan War (or ‘GREAT Golgan War’ as it has been sometomes called) proved a boon for the Three Glaxies armament industry, especially in the Anvil Galaxy.
The situation led to an unexpected (and uneasy) truce of sorts between the three major weapons manufacturers of note in the conflict; Naruni Enterprises, Hartigal Combine, and Argis Stellar Industries, all of whom had links to the Altess Dynasty.

-Naruni Enterprises
The Altess Dynasty was less than happy that Naruni had supplied the Golgans with much of the armament used during the Republik’s offensive campaign to either subjugate or destroy the Dynasty, especially as the Altess own a controlling share of NE Three Galaxies. However, with the Golgan’s destruction of an NE Repo-Fleet has made the Altess plans to punish Naruni less awkward and wearisome; the Naruni are eager for revenge and have declared that it’s time for payback against those bill-scoffing Golgans. The Naruni have therefore offered large discounted arms deals to those worlds in teh path of the Golgans’ Kultural Revolution campaign. This has spared the Altess the problem of again threatening the Naruni with buying NE out from under them. though NE is also strengthening its local position with the profits it stands to make, even with the discounted goods, from sales to paanicked worlds fearing teh Golgan steamroller in their neighborhood.

-Aegis Stellar Industries/United Systems Alliance
ASI and the USAns are currently considered the boon lesser kindred of the Altess for their standing with the Altess in the latter’s hour of need. Though the USA’s industrial capacity is rather taxed by all the demands made on it by recent galactic events, Altess investiture, both overt and covert, in USA concerns, has buffered strained USAn industrial muscle somewhat. That having been said, even though the USA is already openly at war with the Republik, the Altess have discretely made large purchases of USA-made armaments and hired crews from the USA and Central Alliance to ship(and in some cases smuggle) them to needy worlds in the path of the re-energized Golgan warmachine. The unleashing of the USA’s ‘Irregulars’ on the Golgans has also helped this, as OPO-trained insurgency groups have been arming and advising resistance movements behind Golgan lines.
The Altess have managed to persuade ASI agents in the region not to unduly antagonize Naruni. Embarrass and school them, perhaps, but nothing that will have NE turning and focusing on taking the USAns out of the picture, rather than beat on the Golgans. Sensing more moving under the surface from the senior polity, the USAns have agreed, and backed off from any plans to cut Naruni from the regional arms and shipmarket.

-Hartigal Combine
The Golgan War has put Hartigal in a difficult position; on one hand Jelko Rodula wants to stick it to the Golgans for attacking his homeland, while on the other hand, he really wants to punish Naruni for killing his old friend Lester M’kri. Though he doesn’t know the full extent of the Dynasty’s control of NE, he does suspect that their hand in the arms corporation is substantial, and frankly he’d like to punish his fellow Altess accordingly for what he sees as their complacency in M’kri’s death. Though recent secret revelations from the EShemarians have softened Rodula’s ire somewhat, the renegade Altess is still looking to play out his grudge, albeit on a longer time scale. Of more immediate concern though is Hartigal’s potential role in the current Great Golgan War. Jeko would LOVE to see Naruni bled white seeking to undermine the Republik, but knows that ain’t going to happen. If Rodula has Hartigal enter the warzones and compete with Naruni, offering discounts to needy worlds, he’ll have to slash his prices even more, and simple economics dictates that there’s only so much Hartigal can afford to lose on sales, especially when it has to stay solvent to continue the fight against Naruni Enterprises. And if Rodula plays his Altess trumpcard to pull strings and influence people, he’ll have Armoria agents in force out to drag him back to the Dynasty. For now, Hartigal has simply increased its presence in the warzones and begun cutting its prices, while Rodula awaits a better opportunity to promote Naruni’s downfall and hurt his countrymen who have enabled Naruni’s monstrous corporate policies.

Overall, the Great Golgan War has led to an uneasy truce between the three weapons manufacturers. While Naruni is baldly competing for profits(and gouge out Golgan eyeballs in the process), the USA is looking to win hearts and minds among the worlds at threat from the Golgans, while Hartigal is looking to make money, but also replace Naruni in the minds of clients and at least tie with the USAns for market share.
The unofficial truce means that NE, ASI, and HC ships don’t shoot at each other when encountering their opposite numbers, and that they don’t try to openly undercut each others’ efforts to reinforce the Golgan secessionist worlds. Offcamera, though, the three are going hammer and tongs to outcompete each other in garnering position.
The Altess want to bleed the Golgans, punish Naruni by bleeding them too, and cultivate the USAns and Hartigal (not suspecting that HC is already run by one of their own) as alternatives to Naruni(and threats to dangle over NE’s heads).
The Golgan position in this is very simple; they’re getting shellacked by an unexpected informal alliance of their ‘lesser’ enemies. The Golgan steamroller is hitting roadblocks in the form of surprisingly increasingly well-armed resistance in worlds they were expecting to storm easily. There’s growing guerilla movements on worlds they HAVE taken, and the effort of putting out all the little fires in their backyard is further taxing the already stretched Argosy and Guard units at a time when they should be focused elsewhere.

Perhaps the real winners in this are the smugglers, who have been making record profits, despite(or BECAUSE of) the risks in the warzones, running guns to secessionist worlds, passing illicit technology to the Golgans for reverse-engineering, and getting refugees and fugitives out of the warzones.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Shorty Lickens
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by Shorty Lickens »

I was going to make a thread title: "Have any of you guys made a complete star system using the rules in the books?"
Like with full detail of each planet including intelligent species and political organization and such. But it looks like many of you have done that already. So I dont need to ask now. And I'd like to thank you guys. I've been trying to do it myself but its very difficult. My original idea was a budding civilization just discovering space travel and not yet knowing they were part of the Three Galaxies. Maybe a group of explorers or warriors or pirates or privateers or merchants. I wasnt sure. Now I have more inspiration to get going.

Or I may just steal all your ideas. How bout that?
http://incompetech.com/graphpaper/
Create and print dozens of different graph papers.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

Shorty Lickens wrote:
Or I may just steal all your ideas. How bout that?


You ain't stealing' if you're contributin'.
Ideally, take one, leave one. :wink:
Let us all know what you're doing with the stuff.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:-Hartigal Combine


Curse my meme-infected brain, that every time i come across the word combine, gets sidetracked from the text into thiking of either this or this (When not both put together, that is).

Years upon years of reading on the Three Galaxies and i still can't remember nothing of Hartigal beside "NE splinter with spiteful Altess boss" because of that. :roll: :oops:

taalismn wrote: Perhaps the real winners in this are the smugglers, who have been making record profits, despite(or BECAUSE of) the risks in the warzones, running guns to secessionist worlds, passing illicit technology to the Golgans for reverse-engineering, and getting refugees and fugitives out of the warzones.


"The Swag Must Flow..."

More serious aside, someone with portal access to the right places could make some humongously filthy lucre in the whole situation. Of the three, i'd guess ASI has the largest edge on making use of that particular venue.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

Shorty Lickens wrote:I was going to make a thread title: "Have any of you guys made a complete star system using the rules in the books?"
Like with full detail of each planet including intelligent species and political organization and such. But it looks like many of you have done that already. So I dont need to ask now. And I'd like to thank you guys. I've been trying to do it myself but its very difficult. My original idea was a budding civilization just discovering space travel and not yet knowing they were part of the Three Galaxies. Maybe a group of explorers or warriors or pirates or privateers or merchants. I wasnt sure. Now I have more inspiration to get going.

Or I may just steal all your ideas. How bout that?


First things first - what kind of civilization do you have in mind? Let's throw some questions around and see what sticks ot the mind and maybe sparks the imagination.

- How new are they to space travel, just found FTL on their own, got it from someone else (either trade or acquiring from aliens, living or dead), hit upon an alternative like Stargates or rift-hopping through chance or not even that and are crawling to neighboring stars in relativistic speeds?

- How much of their initial star system have them explored, colonized or developed in any way?

- Does the homeworld have one sapient species or several? Are the natives from a species already known in interestellar society (human, wolfen, kreegor, noro, seljuk, etc) or some new brand of sapient? If the later, what's peculiar or special about them?

- Are they, as a whole or in part, familiar with magic, psionics, superpowers or some other peculiar resource through certain organizations or cultures peculiar to their civilization? If so, to what degree and how accepted, restricted or rejected it is?


Reading or rolling tables can lead to much more stuff indeed, but i hope just tinkering with those questions might help with defining a image of your own concept of civilization in mind.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:[
- Are they, as a whole or in part, familiar with magic, psionics, superpowers or some other peculiar resource through certain organizations or cultures peculiar to their civilization? If so, to what degree and how accepted, restricted or rejected it is?.
\

"Have they got something to sell?"

"Well, we could afford to get rid of most of our lawyers-"
"Nope, got too many of the as is."
"Okay, how about our entertainment celebrity social class?"
"Every society goes through its own phase of making stupid people famous. We don't need to deal with the dross again. Anything else you want to clean out of your global garage?"
"We make a mean tube steak with hot sauce-"
"SOLD!"
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
SolCannibal wrote:[
- Are they, as a whole or in part, familiar with magic, psionics, superpowers or some other peculiar resource through certain organizations or cultures peculiar to their civilization? If so, to what degree and how accepted, restricted or rejected it is?.
\

"Have they got something to sell?"

"Well, we could afford to get rid of most of our lawyers-"
"Nope, got too many of the as is."


Another lawyer joke - and now i had to remember the Advocate demons (from Land of Damned 1) and their infernal realm of Scarundar, because why not a whole hell made of lawyers and legal representatives looking for dupes, i mean, clients to iron out deals for, what's so bad about it?! Thanks. :x :roll: :lol:

taalismn wrote:"Okay, how about our entertainment celebrity social class?"
"Every society goes through its own phase of making stupid people famous. We don't need to deal with the dross again. Anything else you want to clean out of your global garage?"


Guess now i know what new horrid power i'm going to add to the forces of the Minion War next.... :twisted:
Last edited by SolCannibal on Wed Dec 01, 2021 11:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

Blame this guy for the 'Stop Making Stupid People Famous!' line: https://signoftheapocalypse.com/.
It's become one of my social reform battlecries because it's true; we're making too many stupid people into celebrities!
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

Heral----(Thundercloud Galaxy)(Consortium of Civilized Worlds colony)
“First glimpse I got of the surface of Heral was from the cockpit of our landing boat as we were coming in at Saderport. Nice-looking community, well-laid out streets, plenty of open spaces...and one big hulking cityblock-sized tentacled monstrosity rampaging across the downtown district, shrugging off militia fire like water off a nkoli’s back. That immediately told me we were in for some serious **** when we got boots on the ground.”
---Srgt. Hetka Cormon, Medeseaed United Militia(seconded to USA Marines) United Systems Alliance Joint Command

“The giant monsters were bad, but at least you could see them from several miles out. The mutant crab swarms were arguably worse; they were small and they were EVERYWHERE when they came ashore. Individually they were easy to kill, but there were so damn MANY of them, and they were going for the local villagers and other soft targets. Even nowadays after counseling, I still go to guns if I hear somebody crunching something. The damn noise just gets to yah.”

“House to house fighting with things that go bump in the night, I’ve had enough of. Heral was not fun, even when we held the upper hand. The only good thing was that when it was all wrapped up and done, we grunts got to upship and leave. Gotta feel sorry for the Heralians, though; it might be their home, but they gotta live with the memories of what was also there.”

Heral is a colonial offshoot of the CCW’s Wolfen worlds. Heral showed great promise to surveyors, colonization proceeded without any major problems(though Heral, being a very wet world, was considered by many to be an odd colony choice for Wolfen), and the colony was already showing an economic profit for investors. Its main draws were a robust agricultural/aquacultural trade and a location near a growing trade lane on the growing frontier. Starships could stop by and pick up supplies and fuel, and do a little trading for such goods as bales of Green Ice SeaMoss or canned qwakola fish.
During the Minion War, Heral had the misfortune of suffering a demonic invasion. It is not sure what the Infernals were after, but regardless, the planet was subjected to a sudden invasion of monstrous creatures. Rumors vary that the Infernals were after the remains of ancient temples previously discovered on the planet(indeed, several archaeological sites were vandalized), as a test of biological weapons, or as a decoy operation meant to draw CCW and UWW forces from several key targets in adjacent sectors.
The United Systems Alliance, however, were in a position to help and responded in force, sending supplies and military assistance to the beleaguered Heralian militia. In a vicious eight-month campaign, Usan and Heralian forces battled Infernal forces(though it would be discovered that the Infernals had generally up and left after the first three months, leaving behind a spoiler force of expendable monstrous cannonfodder).
Fortunately, though Heral is a wet world with primarily open water covering most of its surface, most of the fighting took place on the main land masses/minor continents, leaving the many island chains as refuges for the civilian population, as the Infernals showed little interest in marine operations. The only exception was Kadora Bay, where the Infernals invested what was discovered to be a sunken coastal ruins site. The Infernals dug in on both the shore and on the nearby seabed, requiring the opposing forces to hastily order up amphibious combat equipment to root out the Infernals and deter several terror attacks on the closer island communities. The campaign saw the surprise reputation made for the 2nd Quimbek Expeditionary Mechanized Infantry Battalion attached to the USAJC, and in harm’s way at the Battle of Kadora Bay. The normally staid and reticent Quimbek proved both the toughness of their armored power-exosuits and new PA-10QBk power armors, and their previously unrecognized fighting spirit, earning the 2nd QEMIB the proud moniker ‘The Fighting Accountants’.
Post-Minion War, Heral is slowly recovering. Arriving contingents of CAF troops have taken over the task of mopping up from the Usans, though the USA keeps a few specialists in the area to deal with any residual supernatural ‘surprises’.

Solar System(Hetor)
Number of Stars: 2
Types of Stars:
-(Hetor-A) Orange Dwarf
-(Hetor-B) Orange Dwarf
Number of Planets: 4
-Asteroid(Kerot)---This planetissimal sees only 2 hours of night out of its eight hour day, as it is positioned such that Hetor-A and -B dominate its sky.

-Terrestrial( Heral )---System lifeworld

-Gas Giant(Mandi) ---Enormous gas giant. The Wolfen have established a gas mining operation and a metal-mine based on Descelus, one of Mandi’s eight moons. The outpost frequently serves as a stopover for starships wanting to refuel before or after transiting the nearby hyperlane. The Descelus outpost and its four hundred personnel generally sat out the invasion of Heral without incident, but three months after main combat operations ceased on Heral, a Night Owl demon and several adjutants appeared on the moon, killing dozens in an effort to seize control of the outpost. CAF Marines and USAJC demon-slayers dispatched the Infernals in bloody fighting.

-Terrestrial( Doralen) ---Gargantuan rocky planet covered in a thick freezing fog of methane vapor. Normally unremarkable except that during the Heral Campaign, USAJC warships detected the presence of a Demon Soul Barge lurking in orbit. Two USAJC warships immediately pursued and attacked the Infernal vessel, ultimately destroying it in Doralen’s upper atmosphere with nuclear missiles. Though little was learned as to what the Soul Barge was doing out on the edge of the Hetor system, it is suspected that the tanker-type vessel was part of the initial planetary invasion force, or was awaiting a linkup with other Infernal forces raiding along the trade lane. As a postscript to the incident, the destroyed Soul Barge is now suspected of being the source of the Infernals who attacked the mining/fuel-harvesting operation over Mandi, the attackers being the Barge’s captain and surviving crew who possibly escaped undetected in an escape pod or shuttle, and made their way to Descelus via slow-orbit, with the intent of hijacking a starship there.

Planet( Heral )
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 13,400 km
Gravity: 1.3 g
Temperature: Cool; the average climate on Heral is equivalent to Alaska; generally cool, rarely truly warm, and often bitterly cold.
Heral’s oceans are kept in open water mainly through underwater thermal vents and high solar tides.
Unusual/Special Features:
- Unusual Axial Tilt----Heral experiences a great axial tilt(55 degrees) causing great variation of seasonal day/night length over a greater portion of its surface, compared to other worlds.
Atmosphere: Dense, but breathable, terrestrial nitrox mix
Terrain:
Unusual Seismology----Heralian volcanoes have no apparent history of violent eruptions. Though volcanic island-building is obvious, Heralian volcanoes tend to be ‘slow-oozers’ rather than ‘blasters’. Lava production tends towards slow rivers of magma and fairly even outgassing, as opposed to super-hot fumaroles and clouds of burning gases. Geologists and vulcanologists are still trying to figure out why this is the case on Heral.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Zinc
- Mercury
- Iron
- Sapphire
- Salt
- Diamond
- Fluorite
- Titanium
Hydrosphere:
Soaking Wet---Nearly 87% of Heral’s surface is covered in open water, with two small continental land masses, and multiple island chains.
Biosphere:
Sparse----There are signs that Heral once supported a more vibrant ecology, but that some sort of ancient mass extinction event caused disruption of the ecology such that it is only slowly recovering. Sealife(including several varieties of boney fish) and marine plant life are the most common, while the land is dominated by a few dozen species of conifers and leafy deciduous trees that are starting to diversify to fill previously vacated ecological niches. Still, there are a number of commercially exploitable species; Heralt Sedar produces an aromatic bark favored for wood inlays, Heralt Green Ice SeaMoss is an oceanic algae rich in easily assimilated nutrients, and several species of local fish can well, with good shelf-lives.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
2.3 million wolfen(was 2.6 before the invasion)
Technology:
Information Age, Advanced, with fusion power, local space travel, computers, and the ability to build low-end M-factor weaponry and armor. Hovercraft and airships are the preferred means of transportation on Heral.
Economy:
Heral was supported by a mixed economy as a trading outpost and agricultural/aquacultural trade.
Wealth: Went from Wealthy to Depressed, as the major moneymaking facilities on Heral were destroyed(the main trade spaceport and warehouse town of Garekenport is now a CAF military base), and trade disrupted. The Heralians are rebuilding, with offworld assistance, but recovery is proving slow as the galactic economy works to repair itself and regain its former equilibrium.
Government:
Heral society has traditionally been run by a set of interlocking guilds controlling various trades on the planet, with the Fishing and Port Guilds being the most powerful. Some utilities and responsibilities, such as power, medicine, and defense, are jointly handled, though even there, small and highly-specialized guilds handle elective duties(the Pharmacists’ Guild makes decisions o whether to invest in local medicine development and production, or farm it out to offworld concerns, for example, and the Power Workers’ Guild develops strategies for updating the municipal power grids).
Law Level:
Moderate; the Wolfen colonists imported the strict and comprehensive Wulfen law codes, but the Infernal invasion saw law and order disrupted. Though martial law has been rescinded, there are still some remaining issues of supply hoarding, banditry, and vigilantism(not everybody wants to hand back the guns they were issued during the invasion).
Popularity:
Ambivalent----Not everybody’s happy with the colonial government’s original low-tech philosophy meant to promote local self-sufficiency, given how it left them vulnerable to attack, but enough colonists remember that the mandates were favored by a lot of THEM previous to the Infernal invasion. A lot of the island communities are also reluctant to return weapons given them during the emergency, citing continuing issues of possible left-behind Infernal stragglers making trouble, or possible future attacks.
Stability:
Solid---- Despite the festering issues of blame and the disruptions of the invasion, the Heral government system is likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future. There is some anticipated turnover of leadership nationally and locally, but all within the system. The presence of CAF and USA military forces has a firming effect too, and most local Heralians are assured to see that somebody has their backs.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

I notice that the text on Heral's invasion speaks of both "infernals" and the Minion War, but the details and few glimpses we get seem to give no clues (afaik) if the attackers were associated with either Hades, Dyval or some other opportunistic third power, infernal or not, for that matter. That's an interesting kind of absence/omission, to say the least.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:I notice that the text on Heral's invasion speaks of both "infernals" and the Minion War, but the details and few glimpses we get seem to give no clues (afaik) if the attackers were associated with either Hades, Dyval or some other opportunistic third power, infernal or not, for that matter. That's an interesting kind of absence/omission, to say the least.



Note that the spacecraft detected in the outer system was a Demon Barge....It was Hadic demons. But a good part of the infestation was monsters cooked up by demonic manipulation. Both big and small, from the monstrosity noted in the opening monologue to swarms of small mutated alien crabs... :twisted:
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by gaby »

Maybe soon Independent Races.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

gaby wrote:Maybe soon Independent Races.


Contribute a few. The tools are available in the books and on these threads. Use them. Exercise your imagination and writing skills.
Show us what you got percolating in your mind.
This could be your year to show us what you've learned from all your question threads and put to good use in coming up with exciting original material of your own.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

Darad Defense Industries Justice Ranger ‘Garrett’ Hovertank

“Oh sure, they could have gone with a single barrel for the armament...that rotary deal adds a good extra half-meter of height to the turret, but the added rate of fire, especially in anti-armor mode, makes up for the higher profile....and people just seem to react more ....positively...when they got six gun barrels pointing at them.”
----Dillard Bucker, Justice Ranger, Darad

The rise of the United Systems Alliance didn’t just expand the market horizons for its core companies, WZT and PS/ASI, it also provided an umbrella for local firms, long crushed under the heel of coreworld megacorps or unscrupulous multidimensionals like Naruni Enterprises. With WZT/PS/ASI blessings, these local industries were encouraged to grow and find their own niches, filling needs of he nascent USA that the main corporations couldn’t, and to take advantage of the growing trade network to expand their customer base. Such is the case with member world Darad, who was lucky enough to have its own fairly advanced vehicular industry, but lacked the means to get a foot in the door of offworld sales, as long as it was being bulldogged by its old colonial masters. With independence and membership in the United Systems Alliance, a chance to acquire its own trade fleet and market its own products arose, and Darad industries were quick to seize the opportunity.
More than a glorified squad car, the Garrett was developed to meet the needs of the self-defense forces of Darad. Though not the equal of the main battle tanks and robots fielded by the larger star-empires, the Garrett nevertheless is quite effective as a recon vehicle, fast raider, and harasser. It is equally at home in open wilderness and in urban environments, where its compact size make it both a harder target and more maneuverable in tight conditions. Its hoverjets allow it to traverse open desert as easily as marshy ground, making it well-suited for the varied planetary environs of the United System Alliance’s member-worlders.
The Garrett can carry a crew of three, with cargo provision for carrying three light or medium Power Armors in rear racks, but courtesy of extensive automation, the hovertank can be effectively operated by one person, via a combination of manual controls, eye-track helmet, and voice commands.
The primary weapon of the Garrett is a six-barreled variable mode mass driver, nicknamed the ‘Six-Shooter’. Mounted co-axially in the weapons turret is a light pulse laser, and two smoke/tear gas mortars adorn the turret sides. The weapons turret has no internal space for a gunner/spotter, and is fully automated, allowing for a saving in space, and a lower profile.
The rear 1/3 of the Garrett is actually a detachable module that can be swapped out for various accessory systems. Typically, the rear module is outfitted as a passenger or prisoner transport pod, but the module can be swapped out for specialized cargo pallets, sensor pods, ELINT/EW modules, or a vertical-launch missile cell rack.
The Garrett is found primarily with the planetary militia of Darad, but has also begun selling through the United Systems Alliance trade network, to other worlds as well.

Type: DDI-JRHPT-02 Garrett
Class: Medium Hover Patrol Tank
Crew: Three (Pilot, gunner, and communications/sensor/commander)
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 400
Reinforced Crew Compartment 100
Main Turret 150
Pulse Laser Cupola 50
Forward Machine Gun Turret 35
Height: 11 ft
Width: 10 ft
Length: 30 ft
Weight: 30 tons
Cargo: Small space in crew compartment for several small arms, survival packs, and a few personal possessions. If not carrying Justice Armors, the PA racks can hold an additional half-ton of gear.

Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 15 year energy life
Speed:(Land) Hover Stationary to 250 MPH, 1-4 ft off the ground
(Water) Can travel across open water, at 1 ft altitude, but wave height/sea state cannot exceed 2 ft. Speed of about 180 MPH.
Market Cost: 9 million credits
Systems of Note:
Standard Robot Systems, plus:

*Long Range Communications---Radio: 100 mile range

*Laser Communications----An erectable laser communications dish allows point-to-point laser communications, usually with orbital satellites or spacecraft. 12,000 mile range

*Encrypted Communications---An onboard encoding system allows for encrypted, burst-mode, communications between Justice Rangers. The Justice Rangers regularly change encrypt keys to prevent their communications being compromised; the black boxes are opened with special tools, and several chips are swapped out/around to enable the new coding sequences.

*Sensor Lance---A combination system of a magnetometer() and a short-range microwave radar for groundsearching minefields(in theory, the ground radar should be able to detect even nonmetallic mines, but takes twice as long) and detecting vehicles. Especially useful in the Fringe worlds where pirates, hostile aliens, and bandits alike lay in ambush for unwary travelers.
Range: The magnetometer has a range of 4,000 ft and can detect vehicles and other metallic structures with 80% accuracy. It can pick up the EM fields of nuclear-fusion powerplants, including those of robots, and powered-up electromagnetic rail guns, at TWICE that range.
The ground radar has a range of 3,000 ft, and has a 90% chance of detecting metal-cased mines, 60% chance of detecting nonmetallic ordinance.

Weapons Systems:
1) Cassidy Arms 60mm Multimode Massdriver Cannon---After much debate on the merits of conventional weapons such as binary liquid propellant autocannon, heavy energy weapons, or missile launchers(or multiple mountings/combinations of same), the Justice Rangers elected to take a chance on the newly developed multimode mass-driver system, arguing that one weapon meant less demand on crew attention. After extensive testing and THOROUGH field-testing, the Justice Rangers settled on Cassidy Arms’ RFMD-03 ‘Six Shooter’. This is a large-caliber(60mm) rail gun that fires a single large projectile, like conventional artillery, rather than a stream of smaller ones in a burst. By varying the angle of the weapon, and the timing and power of the stator pulses through the electromagnetic rings inside the weapon’s barrel(s), the massdriver can act as a low-arc direct fire weapon, or a ballistic trajectory long range field piece. Another advantage of the massdriver over a rail gun is that the larger projectiles could be exchanged for different types of ordnance, similar to tube artillery---long rod penetrators for flat trajectory anti-armor work, explosive shells for artillery bombardment, illumination rounds for night-fighting, etc....
Because the projectile doesn’t actually touch any sort of rifling traveling through the barrel, the massdriver doesn’t suffer the same sort of barrel fatigue as conventional tube artillery, but Cassidy Arms has designed a gatling-style six-barrel arrangement that allows barrel-stator elements rotated out of active fire mode to recharge more quickly; this adds weight and some mechanical complexity to the gun, but allows for faster rates of fire, and greater reliability per barrel(a damaged barrel can simply be designated out of commission and cut out of firing rotation).
The sight of the six sixty-millimeter barrels rotating into firing position, and tracking on a target has been known to stop some opponents in their tracks(and require subsequent changing of undergarments).
Range:(Direct Fire) 6,000 ft
(Artillery Mode) 15,000 ft
Damage:
(Fragmentation) 5d6 MD to 50 ft blast radius.
(High Explosive) 2d4x10 MD to 30 ft blast radius.
(Anti-Armor)(Effective only in direct fire mode) 2d6x10 MD to 4 ft blast radius; a full-melee burst of six shots does a whooping 2d6x60 MD!
Rate of Fire: ECHH in standard mode, up to 6 rounds per melee
A burst mode of six rapid shots is possible, but all tubes must be loaded with the same type of ammunition
Payload: 96 rds
Notes: Firing more than two full-melee rapid fire bursts in a row runs the risk(20%) of shutting down the weapon, while the system cools down for 1d4 melees

2) Coaxial Pulse Laser(1)---Mounted in a small mini-turret alongside the 60mm Rotary Cannon, is a pulse laser for antipersonnel work.
Range: 3,000 ft
Damage: 2d6 MD single shot, 6d6 MD pulse burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3) Glacis-Plate-Mounted 7.62 mm Light Machine Gun(1)---As a weapon of last resort, or for use against ‘soft’ targets, the Garret mounts a traditional rapid fire machine gun in the glacis plate, with a 45-degree arc of fire. The Justice Rangers have used various ammunition types in this weapon, including reduced-lethality rubber bullets, incendiary tracer, ramjet armor-piercers, and, it’s been rumored, silver rounds.
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage:(Standard) 6d6 SDC per single rd, 2d4x10 SDC for a 10 rd burst
(Ramjets) 1 MD per rd, 2d4 MD per 10-rd burst
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: 2,400 rds

4) Smoke/Gas Mortars(2x4)----Smoke projectors are of limited use on a hovercraft, but the Justice Rangers mount a pair of these four-tube mortars on their hovertanks just in case. They’re also useful for dispensing crowd-control tear gas
Range: 400 ft, with an ideal gas dispersion area of 30 ft per shell
Damage: Varies by chemical type and local conditions. Typically loaded with harmless smoke and riot-control CS chemicals
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-4 per launcher
Payload: Each tube has two cartridges, for a total of 16 shells between the two launcher batteries

5) Modular Pod(1)----The rear of the Garrett can be fitted with a modular pod, allowing the tank to be quickly outfitted for transport or heavy assault work. The following are the more basic and common modules available to the Garrett, but other pods, including field HQ and disaster-relief medical units, and RPV Drone launch/retrieval boxes, are also in development/available.

a) Squad Module---A passenger module that can transport up to eight security troopers in relative comfort(padded side-benches with crash restraints). Can be fitted with a rooftop hatch, and lateral peepholes/gunports.

b) Brig Pod---A module for prisoner transport, with reinforced internal cage, external locks, and shackle/restraint points for securing particularly strong/unruly prisoners. Additional modifications can include special environmental controls(for subduing prisoners through hot/cold AC, or the introduction of gaseous anesthetics), forcefields, electromagnetic fields, or stasis freezing.

c) Cargo Pod---Basic cargo pallet that can hold 2 tons of cargo.

d) Mini-Missile Launcher Battery---Vertical missile launch cell array, with provision for 72 missiles. Volleys of 1-8

e) Short Range Missile Launcher Battery---Vertical missile launch cell array, with provision for 36 missiles. Volleys of 1-6

f) Medium Range Missile Launcher Battery---Vertical missile launch cell array, with provision for 18 missiles. Volleys of 1-3.

g) Ammunition Pod---This module is mounted in anticipation of long-duration gunfighting, and carries a generous supply of 60mm cannon ammunition; up to 360 rds. It is also sometimes used in tank squads as a supply tank, keeping other tanks in the unit ammo’ed up in the field.


Justice Ranger Buford Pusor Light Hovertank
“There’s an argument going on on what’s the better Boom Gun platform; the Glitterboy or the Pusor....Well, everybody knows about the Glitterboy and everybody associates the BoomGun with it...so when the fletchettes start arriving terminal airmail, and the sonic booms start rolling, most everybody starts looking for slow-moving mirror chrome on the march...but with the Pusor, by the time somebody starts looking for you, you can already be hot-jetting it to a new firing position.”
-----Sheriff Lydia Sherman, Justice Ranger

“What the Daradians call a ‘security vehicle’, other planets would comfortably call a ‘tank destroyer’. The Pusor’s got the characteristics; low profile, heavy weapon, low cost, and high speed. One person can operate it, but it works best with two, one driving like a madman, and the other shooting like a gunfighter. There’s plenty of both on Darad and the Rim.”

The Buford Pusor LHT, or ‘Pusor’ as it is more commonly known, is an attempt by Daradian engineers to create a lighter, more agile, single-man hovertank for the Justice Rangers, without sacrificing firepower, and dropping the vehicle into the hovercar or hovercycle classification. The Pusor was also an experiment in adapting the impressive ‘Boom Gun’ weapons system to other carrier platforms.
The Pusor looks like it was made from an oversized Ford Futura, with a low, sleek, body, tail fins, and twin cockpits, but the Pusor is actually built on the frame of a heavy hover sedan, reinforced for greater stability and armor.
The teeth of the Pusor is a BoomGun copy, mounted in a retracting turret on the centerline of the tank. This powerful weapon gives the hovertank a hard-hitting anti-armor punch against mecha and vehicles, and can even be fired while the tank is moving, courtesy of a fire control stabilizing program that sequentially maneuvers the tank’s hoverjets. For backup, the Pusor mounts a small turret in the front glacis plate, packing a 7.62mm machine gun and a small pulse laser.
The only real complaint about the Pusor is that as a ‘police vehicle’ it lacks the capacity to carry back prisoners arrested in the field, unless any cargo is jettisoned. However, the retort is that the Pusor is a scout and light combat vehicle, not meant for routine law enforcement patrol work.
The Pusor is only recently making its way into the hands of the wilderness patrol Marshals who it is intended for. It’s also seeing (pardon the expression) booming sales offworld, especially in the pirate-ridden frontier zones.

Type: JR-LHT-02 Pusor
Class: Light Hovertank
Crew: 1, with provision for an additional crew member, and 1-3 passengers in the rear cargo compartment.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 300
Reinforced Crew Compartments(2) 100 each
Boom Gun Turret(1) 120
Machine Gun/Pulse Laser Mini-Turret(1) 50
Hoverjets(6) 60 each
Height: 7 ft(8.5 ft w/ Boom Gun elevated)
Width: 5.5 ft
Length: 16 ft
Weight: 3 tons
Cargo: The Pusor has a cargo module behind the right-side cockpit that has roughly 3 ftx4ftx4ft of space
Powerplant: Nuclear w/ 15 year energy life
Speed:(Land) Hover Stationary to 250 MPH, 1-5 ft off the ground
(Water) Can travel across open water, at 1 ft altitude, but wave height/sea state cannot exceed 2 ft.
Market Cost: 5 million credits/nu-dollars
Systems of Note:
Standard Robot Systems, plus:

*Long Range Communications---Radio: 100 mile range
*Laser Communications----An erectable laser communications dish allows point-to-point laser communications. 12,000 mile range

*Encrypted Communications---An onboard encoding system allows for encrypted, burst-mode, communications between Justice Rangers. The Justice Rangers regularly change encrypt keys to prevent their communications being compromised; the black boxes are opened with special tools, and several chips are swapped out/around to enable the new coding sequences.

*Fire Stabilization---The Pusor uses a special stabilization system of synchronized hoverjets to counterbalance the recoil of its boomgun. This allows the Pusor to fire its main gun without having to stop to deploy stabilization booms, a time-consuming and risky process when the vehicle is on the move in a combat zone.

Weapons Systems:
1)RG-15 “Boom Gun” Heavy Rail Gun---The main weapon of the Pusor, it is mounted on a central pedestal mount with 360-degree arc of fire, 30-degree depression, and 60-degree elevation. A coaxial sensor package allows the gunner in the main hull to see what the gun is ‘seeing’, regardless of angle. This means that the tank can hide behind cover with only the gun showing, and fire behind itself.
Range: 11,000 ft
Damage: 3d6x10 MD per fletchette shot
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: 150 rd drum

2) Machine Gun/Pulse Laser Mini-Turret---This small turret, mounted in the forward glacis plate, holds a 7.62mm machine gun and a light pulse laser. The machine gun can fire a variety of specialized ammunitions, but the most common types are riot control rubber bullets and armor-piercing HEAP rounds.
Range:(Machine Gun) 4,000 ft
(Pulse Laser) 2,000 ft
Damage:(Machine Gun)
*Rubber Bullets 1d6 SDC per single rd,
*Standard 6d6 SDC per single rd, 2d4x10 SDC for a 10 rd burst
*HEAP(High Explosive Armor-Piercing) 1 MD per rd, 2d4 MD per 10-rd burst

(Pulse Laser) 3d6 MD per blast
Rate of Fire:(Machine Gun) ECHH
(Pulse Laser) ECHH
Payload:(Machine Gun) 1,000 rd magazine drum
(Pulse Laser) Effectively Unlimited

3) Smoke/Gas Mortars(2x4)----Smoke projectors are of limited use on a hovercraft, but the Justice Rangers mount a pair of these four-tube mortars on their hovertanks just in case. They’re also useful for dispensing crowd-control tear gas and other chemical agents. The Pusor’s are mounted in two tail finlike features on the rear of the vehicle.
Range: 400 ft, with an ideal gas dispersion area of 30 ft per shell
Damage: Varies by chemical type and local conditions. Typically loaded with harmless smoke and riot-control CS chemicals
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-4 per launcher
Payload: Each tube has two cartridges, for a total of 16 shells between the two launcher batteries

Options:
*Drone Launch Rack----The Pusor has provision for carrying and deploying up to four basketball-sized drones(each has 10 MDC, flying speed of 80 MPH/ max. altitude of 800 ft, battery life of 45 minutes, effective communications range of 50 miles, and both advanced robot optics and audio). Each drone costs 50,000 credits, the launcher/recharger 120,000 credits.
Last edited by taalismn on Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
Omegasgundam
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by Omegasgundam »

Both of them can make things DEEPLY unpleasant for small bands of poorly equipped ruffians (such as stupid PCs causing trouble) and are still more advanced and capable than the overwhelming majority of what their expected haunts consider to be 'military standard'. The Buford is basically an alternative for medium PA, and looks simple an cheap enough for an adventuring party to use as a 'project car'. The Garret on the other hand is a convenient 'PA Taxi' for a small party, and has at least two crew spots that you can shove the skill monkey's into and have them contribute.
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taalismn
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

Omegasgundam wrote:Both of them can make things DEEPLY unpleasant for small bands of poorly equipped ruffians (such as stupid PCs causing trouble) and are still more advanced and capable than the overwhelming majority of what their expected haunts consider to be 'military standard'. The Buford is basically an alternative for medium PA, and looks simple an cheap enough for an adventuring party to use as a 'project car'. The Garret on the other hand is a convenient 'PA Taxi' for a small party, and has at least two crew spots that you can shove the skill monkey's into and have them contribute.


Yep...gets worse when the mechanics start shopping the PS/ASI catalogue, and mounting accessory systems(and that's part of why PS/ASI doesn't mind a little in-system competition) or loading specialty ammo..

Buford with laser designator+Garret with laser-riding shells= "Ouch time!"
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
Omegasgundam wrote:Both of them can make things DEEPLY unpleasant for small bands of poorly equipped ruffians (such as stupid PCs causing trouble) and are still more advanced and capable than the overwhelming majority of what their expected haunts consider to be 'military standard'. The Buford is basically an alternative for medium PA, and looks simple an cheap enough for an adventuring party to use as a 'project car'. The Garret on the other hand is a convenient 'PA Taxi' for a small party, and has at least two crew spots that you can shove the skill monkey's into and have them contribute.


Yep...gets worse when the mechanics start shopping the PS/ASI catalogue, and mounting accessory systems(and that's part of why PS/ASI doesn't mind a little in-system competition) or loading specialty ammo..

Buford with laser designator+Garret with laser-riding shells= "Ouch time!"


Shouldn't this pair of models have gone into the Starship Designs thread instead?
Ok, technically it's a pair of combat vehicles not ships, so probably not precisely that one per se, but you get what i mean... :-?


All of that said, some info on member world Darad and how independence and membership in the United Systems Alliance has affected relations with its old colonial masters - or in fact, learning the story of the world, who are its past colonial masters and, how it obtained independence & membership in the USA in the first place, would make a quite welcome addition to the topic i dare say.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:
All of that said, some info on member world Darad and how independence and membership in the United Systems Alliance has affected relations with its old colonial masters - or in fact, learning the story of the world, who are its past colonial masters and, how it obtained independence & membership in the USA in the first place, would make a quite welcome addition to the topic i dare say.



Darad has been mentioned, back on Page 7 of this thread...It's kinda Texas-Mars with waterholes and a big bad corporate cluster it broke away from becauseof a cyberpunk-style corporate war.

In the future I'll include page numbers of worlds that have already been mentioned. :wink:
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
SolCannibal wrote:
All of that said, some info on member world Darad and how independence and membership in the United Systems Alliance has affected relations with its old colonial masters - or in fact, learning the story of the world, who are its past colonial masters and, how it obtained independence & membership in the USA in the first place, would make a quite welcome addition to the topic i dare say.



Darad has been mentioned, back on Page 7 of this thread...It's kinda Texas-Mars with waterholes and a big bad corporate cluster it broke away from becauseof a cyberpunk-style corporate war.

In the future I'll include page numbers of worlds that have already been mentioned. :wink:


My bad, gonna backtrack to take a look then and thanks a bunch.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

Khaldar---(United Systems Alliance Protectorate)( Corkscrew Galaxy)
“The Consortium of Civilized Worlds is what did us in here on Khaldar. All those other worlds and the Human Alliance wanted to make deals with them. A lot of them sat closer to the coreworlds than us, or on more convenient travel lanes through the Arm. New technologies and new trade treaties that brought in cheaper products, cheaper than we could make them. Khalder just didn’t have the clout in the Alliance to swing the treaties to favor us, or the means to keep the megacorps from picking up and leaving in favor of greener grounds, Nothing to keep the mills from going idle.
Anlis Minerals, Melgard, Sout PolarMin, Cosmasteel, Graybyrne Corp---used to be those big corp logos blazing on the city-domes around here---before they left for lower labor costs and lower corporate taxes in the CCW. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the idea that soon we might have new marquees up and glowing, like WZT, Aegis Stellar Industries, and Bank of Eugenia.”
----Delvarr Tayetz, CEO, Coanoake Metals, Khaldar.

“LIving on Khaldar’s no different than being a Belter, except that we don’t have to worry about radiation ...too much. Some of these old domes aen’t that much different from the old ships some scavenger Belter clans use. Most of the life support systems are pretty much the same, and arguably the scale’s a lot larger, so among the non-Belters, there’s less claustrophobia. Some of the old domes are outright homey after some tinkering and living-in.”

Khaldar is a Human Alliance-settled world that’s fallen on hard times. Once an important industrial and mining world, Khaldar found itself increasingly marginalized by more state of the art offworld industries.
Khalder is a world that would normally be declared unsuited for colonization, given its toxic atmosphere. If not for its location and access to substantial deposits of minerals, the planet would have been bypassed. Those new to the planet would be surprised to learn the world supports a native ecosystem.
Colonization was only possible through artificial environments; Khaldar’s colonists live under domes and in sealed mine tunnels. Once, the planet was ringed with the lights of active factory complexes refining minerals and turning out products to be shipped to the Human Alliance. Now though, the planet is ringed with more dormant and abandoned domes, and even some of the hab-domes are going dark as many residents flee the downward-spiraling economy and immigrate seeking greener pastures. However, there’s still a determined native population who mean to stick it out and make the most of their world, even as galactic trade and incoming revenue dries up.
Conversely, there’s a smaller flow of immigrants TO Khalder, drawn by word of vacanies. There are a growing number of illegal immigrants who have taken over some of the abandoned dome-communities and reactivated them, scavenging other abandoned domes and derelict factory complexes for necessary parts and materials. Most of these squatters are refugees from worlds even worse off than Khaldar, and who fled towards the coreworlds in search of help, but were turned away for whatever reason. The native Khaldars are of a divided opinion about these illegal immigrants; many dislike the squatters and fear that anunwlcome criminal element is moving in with them, while others welcome the hardiness and ingenuity of the refugees and the energy they bring to decrepit communities.
The United Systems Alliance has recently come to Khaldar, willing to re-invest in the planet. The USA has brought with it a slew of new technologies to revitalize the local economy, bolster the life support systems, and employ the destitute. Among the new additions to the planet was the landing of several large TW meat-synthesis systems, providing the locals with new sources of protein to supplement the tank-farms and chem-vats.
The only thing standing in the way of full membership is the lack of a cohesive common government on the planet. The USA is sitting down with the ad-hoc congress of the Khaldar communities to renegotiate the original corporate colonial charters and hopefully merge them into one cohesive global admimistration code. If and when that happens, Khaldar would be one step closer to becoming a full-fledged member of the USA. For now, though, Khaldar is considered a protectorate, though the USA maintains a very hands-off approach to the local government, and provides general overwatch and assistance.
Khaldar’s proximity to the metro-core worlds of the old Human Alliance makes it the closest world yet to the HA heartlands to switch to the United Systems Alliance, making it intriguing if only for that.

Solar System(Khef)
Number of Stars: 2
Types of Stars:
-Blue Sub-Giant(Khef-A)
-Red Dwarf(Khef-B)
Number of Planets: 9
-Asteroid(Gentarus) ---Gentarus was once home to the Sungazer Resort, a luxury space station bored into the asteroid rock. During the system’s heyday, the Sungazer hosted many a corporate retreat and local celebrity event, with photo-ops taken in the Sun-Gaze Ballroom, usually with the system’s twin suns in the background. When the Khef system fell by the wayside, the resort was abandoned, its pricier fittings stripped out. Recently the USA refurbished the life support equipment and installed an automated emergency life station.

-Gas Giant (Oblan) ---Jovian Oblan’s small moon system lies within a dense radiation belt, making them difficult to exploit wthout heavy shielding. Even during the Khel system’s heyday, this wasn;t considered worth the effort. That doesn;t seem likely to change any time soon, either.

-Terrestrial (Rublis) ---Small rocky Rublis at one time supported a half-dozen small mining outposts, but these were abandoned worse than Khaldar when the big megacorps pulled out. Several of these have been badly vandalized by scrap-scavengers, but the USA has reactivated and refurbished one to act as a base.

-Terrestrial (Khaldar) ---Settled system lifeworld

-Gas Giant (Toynum) ---Miniscule Toynum’s six small moons played host at one time to Paldor Open Space Engineering’s construction yards, that built prefab space structures for sale. When the local Khel economy collapsed, Paldor packed up and left for greener pastures, leaving behind what couldn’t affordably be disassembled and packed inside transport hulls. This still left some fairly impressive orbital assembly rigs floating in space, and the shells of zero-ge foundaries. Though there’s been some talk of reclaiming the yards and re-equiping them, most business analysts feel it would be cheaper to simply build new facilities from scratch. Severall of the rigs have been vandalized for scrap materials, but the majority of POSE’s old works remain unmolested, the sight of the giant spidery station-yards proving strangely mesmerizing to casyal travelers visiting the system, and ccasionally used as obstacle race courses by astro-racers and patroling aerospace fighters passing by.
The outermost moon, Toltice, is the site of an ice-mining operation sending large chunks of ice coasting in-system to feed Khaldar’s thirst for water. Tolt-Ice Co. has a small family-run habitat with some 1,000 inhabitants, and are argubaly the most prosperous people in the system, selling water to Khaldar and passing spacecraft.

-Gas Giant (Keshell) ---Small Keshell’s moon system has attracted the attention of Tolt Ice Co.’s Belter miners, who have laid claim to several of the ice-covered moons. Another local Belter clan, the self-appounted ‘Keshellers’, seeking to set up a gas-scoop operation, is contesting this on the basis that the Toltans already have a profitable stake in Toynum’s moons. Given the lack of any central authority in the system, this dispute is causing some problems, and not everybody wants to turn the matter over to the USA to judge. On the other hand, nobody wants to start a feud that could rapidly escalate, draw in the attention of the USAJC, and lose both the Toltans and the Keshellers their prospective claims to the moons.

-Gas Giant (Dolhiv) ---Microscopic Dolhiv goes largely unmentioned or noticed by even those local to the system. Its low gravity makes atmo-scooping fairly easy, but its distance from other bodies in the solar system makes it unattractive economics-wise as a commerical venture.

-Terrestrial(Admoris) ---Small, dry, and cold, Admonis is largely ignored, aside from the occasional passing tramper doing a mineral scan, hoping to find some overlooked mineral bonanza. At least one prospector came to grief doing this, their ship crashing with a loss of all crew. While the accident was determined to be because of poor engine maintenance and an overstressed plasma chamber, spacer gossip places the blame on an offended ‘space spirit’, no sign of which has ever been found, even by more comprehensively equiped paranormal-hunters.

-Gas Giant (Boritus) ---Jovian-sized Boritus lurks at the edge of the Khel system’, and has swept up an impressive ring system of small space debris.

Planet(Khaldar)
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: 10,500 km
Gravity: Light; 0.4 g. Gravity generators or centrifuges are required to maintain general 1 g health.
Temperature: Cool; -80 degrees F on average.
Unusual/Special Features:
-Slow Rotational Period----Khaldar’s days are 480 terrestrial hours long.
Atmosphere:
Toxic ‘methane smog’, not helped by the lingering traces of industrial pollution.
Terrain: Four+, varied.
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Scheelite
- Colombite
- Iron
- Cobalt
- Diamond
- Talc
- Graphite
- Nickel
Hydrosphere:
Arid/Desert---Moisture is at a premium, with what water there is locked deep under the crust. Deep drilling and comet mining supply the communities of Khaldar, but the native life is frugal when it comes to use of water.
Biosphere:
Sparse-----Surprisingly, Khaldar supports a modest ecosystem. There is some speculation that life may have been deliberately or accidentally seeded on Khaldar long before the first Human colonists arrived. Local life is scant, though, consisting a few dozen species of hardy lichens, ground-runners, and hardy rock-weeds, with the only animals being a handful of species of burrowing worms and invertebrates.
Civilization:
Settled
Population:
318 million Humans. 7 million Other(recent immigrants/refugees)
Technology:
Galactic, but low-end. Unable to afford new tech from the coreworlds, Khaldarans make do with what they’ve got, keeping the old machinery going.
Economy:
Mining and Industrial---Khaldar once supplied the Human Alliance with refractory materials. New technologies coming out of the CCW, however, rendered Khaldar’s output uncompetitive. There’s still some mining and manufacturing going on, but at a greatly reduced scale and that mostly to meet domestic needs.
Wealth:
Depressed---The big megacorps that once held up Khaldar’s industrial economy and bought its metals have moved out, taking with them skilled workers.
Government:
Hierarchy---This is the remains of the old corporate colonial administration at work, keeping the water flowing and the lights on. A few locally-based firms have stepped into the power vacuum left by the departure of the big megacorps, nd taken over running of the government.
Law Level:
Minimal, and has devolved to largely community-by-community. There has been some trouble with scavengers and gangs, and several of the dome communities have pooled their security to form a sort of mutual police taskforce to combat the worst of the gang activity.
Popularity:
Ambivalent; not everybody is convinced the USA’s here to stay, and some are afraid of what changes being a member of the Alliance will bring.
Stability:
Solid; despite the fears and anxieties of the locals, there’s little sign of the system descending into chaos. The various communites, native and squatter alike, actually help each other out, nobody wanting any trouble with their neighbors or bear witness to any avoidable catastrophe. The arrival of the USA has injected energy and hope into Khaldar society.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

I'm getting an image out of this system - some potential headaches and opportunities to be had for the low to mid-rank business enterpreneur.
To a very relative and stretchable definition of "low to mid-" in a space opera setting such as the 3 Galaxies, that is. :wink:
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:I'm getting an image out of this system - some potential headaches and opportunities to be had for the low to mid-rank business enterpreneur.
To a very relative and stretchable definition of "low to mid-" in a space opera setting such as the 3 Galaxies, that is. :wink:


It's basically a space Pittsburgh...old steel mill boomtown driven out of business by those damn foreign steel mills selling for less!
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
SolCannibal wrote:I'm getting an image out of this system - some potential headaches and opportunities to be had for the low to mid-rank business enterpreneur.
To a very relative and stretchable definition of "low to mid-" in a space opera setting such as the 3 Galaxies, that is. :wink:


It's basically a space Pittsburgh...old steel mill boomtown driven out of business by those damn foreign steel mills selling for less!


There's also that "most business analysts feeling it would be cheaper to simply build new facilities from scratch" bit on reclaiming and re-equiping the yards of Toynum - cheaper for whom and where, the businesses that abandoned the system, oh magical talking heads? Costs depend on available resources, logistics networks and contacts that go far beyond stock market projections and do not seem to fit the local situation already. Sounded like a bit of hogwash from armchair analysts in account of the roots of Khaldar's economic situation in the first place.

I also ask myself if the scale of the shipyards could be exploited to adapt them to work on capital instead of habitats.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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SolCannibal wrote:
I also ask myself if the scale of the shipyards could be exploited to adapt them to work on capital instead of habitats.


It would be like adapting a shipyard more used to building marine oil rigs for constructing nuclear aircraft carriers....Oh, you could do it with enough money and new equipment, but it would be a close run thing to make it more economical than some of the alternatives.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
SolCannibal wrote:
I also ask myself if the scale of the shipyards could be exploited to adapt them to work on capital instead of habitats.


It would be like adapting a shipyard more used to building marine oil rigs for constructing nuclear aircraft carriers....Oh, you could do it with enough money and new equipment, but it would be a close run thing to make it more economical than some of the alternatives.


Hmm, i hoped for something of a closer fit, specially considering a bunch of space where machinery goes is presently vacant, but an appropriate comparison either way. Scale is definitely not the ultimate determinator. That in itself creates problems, since local habitat production is great for a system booming in population, but much less practical an article to try to export when you are not.

For ships have the whole "move under their own power" part can be a major advantage when it comes to finding buyers in other places, while towing a large habitat or space station to other systems can be something of a headache, possibly more than it is worth in a number of cases.

Maybe something like the massive mobile industrial platform adapted by the Darc Dominion neobarbs into a warship? It did have some definite sort of FTL capacity at least....
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

Well, do bear in mind that IRL, the shipyards and graving docks that built the warship Bismarck are still in business, albeit building smaller boats and some large barges, so there's precedent for that sort of thing.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

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taalismn wrote:Well, do bear in mind that IRL, the shipyards and graving docks that built the warship Bismarck are still in business, albeit building smaller boats and some large barges, so there's precedent for that sort of thing.


So it all depends on what the USA - or perhaps even the growing community of refugees from military debacles all across Corkscrew and beyond - could bring to bear in resources to add, or scavenge and tow from somewhere else.
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:
taalismn wrote:Well, do bear in mind that IRL, the shipyards and graving docks that built the warship Bismarck are still in business, albeit building smaller boats and some large barges, so there's precedent for that sort of thing.


So it all depends on what the USA - or perhaps even the growing community of refugees from military debacles all across Corkscrew and beyond - could bring to bear in resources to add, or scavenge and tow from somewhere else.



"Okay, what's with the castle floating in the old zero-gee dry dock?"
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

taalismn wrote:
SolCannibal wrote:
taalismn wrote:Well, do bear in mind that IRL, the shipyards and graving docks that built the warship Bismarck are still in business, albeit building smaller boats and some large barges, so there's precedent for that sort of thing.


So it all depends on what the USA - or perhaps even the growing community of refugees from military debacles all across Corkscrew and beyond - could bring to bear in resources to add, or scavenge and tow from somewhere else.



"Okay, what's with the castle floating in the old zero-gee dry dock?"


"Well, we were experimenting with adapting the habitat chasis for a sort of capital mobile gun platform, but with some mining and factory capacities, thanks to some blueprints and machinery, liberated from the Indrellians, through the goodwill efforts of some Achansonian friends - it can mass produce Tergars, just so you know - but then the big artificer guy from Thundercloud, i think they are called colossians, came up with some TW suggestions involving geomantic optimization. Then that cute kobold girl with the blue hair said she had something called Tarnow Essence Fragment Crystaline Matrix that might help getting around our material compatibility issues.... and well, things happened, as you can see."

"Ok..."

"On the plus side, apparently it can also transmutate any available materials according to its needs for fabrication as long as there's enough PPE available. The coeficient of energy to matter gets less optimal with other sources such as fusion or electric."
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

Yeah, you get enough misfits together, you get a Critical Mass of Awesome.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by SolCannibal »

Indeed.

On a slightly random aside, i found the name of two worlds of the Duchy of Harwinton-Sachs amidst some older write-ups related to the conflict with the Dadalane Jihad and how some USAn aligned gear, with or without the AJC, found its way into it.

- Harwinton IV
- Wiscott

Thought of bringing it back as a possible opportunity to expand a bit on the Duchy and its colonies.


Maybe also a good time a pirate band-star nation-minion race idea of mine as a monkeywrench of sorts in the already problematic political climate....
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Re: Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:Thought of bringing it back as a possible opportunity to expand a bit on the Duchy and its colonies.


Maybe also a good time a pirate band-star nation-minion race idea of mine as a monkeywrench of sorts in the already problematic political climate....


Oh yeah, the Jihad's wolfpacking its neighbors is a definite hotspot/brushfire. Somebody like the TGE or the CCW(if it's feeling grouchy) would roll over them in a matter of days, but against the little pocket polities of the Rim, the Jihad's a substantial pain in the ass, especially if they're willing to work with other groups to cause trouble.

On a related note, I'm compiling a list of all the 'sectors' I mention...
I'll probably start listing the worlds I've mentioned in each eventually, but that will take some time(going over each and every Network Omni News report for info including planet names, affiliations, and organizations...I created a LOT of one-offs I should get around to indexing and consolidating), so thee list will come out first.

This will help with giving homeworlds to any 'new' species I create whole-cloth, and if possible save some trouble coming up with new polities/worlds for them.

Face it, somebody REALLY spiked the punchbowl in the Three Galaxies with so many habitable worlds and sophont species coming out to play at the same time.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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