SysNES 1: A Murky Pool of Light

Kentharu said:

From The Republic of Ik
To The Republic of Lantian

We are willing to trade our Mimkar and Gris map for your Horn and Wei map.

ooc: How far can ships jump without having recyclers?

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OOC: Ships can only go 1 turn without recyclers.

IC:

To: The Republic of Ik
From: The Republic of Lantian

We accept your offer.

Kal'thzar said:

Was it also your intention to effectively make some planets have to wait till terraforming to colonise? (Like Gemstar III, (1,1,0) (f,m,v) for future use). Cause this is very intresting; Zavi I by extension is also not a nice target for colonisation until terraforming improves it. seems more like a real space game than just slots to be filled.

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Yes, though Gemstar III just totally sucks for everything.

Kal'thzar said:

Dis; is Errai IXa meant to have volatiles in its description even though its a cold molten icy planet?

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No, I forgot it had Icy built in...or we can say its a reminder even though the world doesn't look icy.

@All those map traders - do remember that once a certain number of people know a map I'll just unshroud it to make updating easier. Right now Minkar is very much on the verge of a reveal.

No! No one must know!

I KEEL YOU!

In other news, please respond to my pm

Disenfrancised said:

@Kraznaya; I'll have a shortened crash course of info ready for you Sunday, along with some carefully redacted examples of peoples early order sets for help (since Kal insists on being so helpful ).

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Thanks. Orders this turn are not expected from me, then?

Kraznaya said:

Thanks. Orders this turn are not expected from me, then?

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Well you send some if you want, I'll then massage them into something workable. Sorry about the lack of attention, I have a wedding to go to this weekend.

@Kraz I can send you a list of things that you can do under the current rules; I'll send them tonight If I do though.

Or Feel free to PM me

“Globalization isn’t easy. The win-win mantra long offered by the economics profession does this megatrend a great disservice. It simplifies the problems and overlooks the inherent tensions of an IT-enabled globalization that is now proceeding at hyper-speed. Globalization is full of opportunity and challenge, as well as fear and risk. But in the end, globalization is nothing more than trust- that is, trust in economic partners to act out of collective interests in making the world a more prosperous place.”

Stephen Roach, Noted Economist of the First Era

“We agree to your proposal.”

I smiled. “The Republic of Lantian is pleased that our two civilizations are able to come to a cooperative understanding. We shall forward the appropriate documents and files for ratification with the appropriate organs of government. We look forward to further positive dialogues with the ‘Al.”

It was over.

After an entire year of endless negotiations and quibbles, there was a final negotiation. It had seemed that the ‘Al had shifted its position, and suddenly, during the middle of negotiations. Frankly, I had been surprised. The change was if a new administration and a subsequent majority had been swept into office, this one based upon cooperation and friendship as opposed to obstinateness and haughty arrogance.

My subordinates under me attribute the change to a change in the oracular leadership within the ‘Al structure. It is highly possible that one of the major nodes had been removed or either replaced; our best analysts gave this node the name Immaculate for it was supposed to represent all that was pure in the society of the ‘Al. Its removal as such was interpreted as the ‘Al’s gradual march to openness.

I forwarded the draft of the treaty to the Chancellor Fuji’s office. “I’m going out to take a walk. Should the Chancellor have any questions, simply have him contact me on my private line.” My subordinate nodded. I had built the Foreign Ministry from the ground up, and had handpicked the first employees of the Ministry. As such, they were all extremely competent and well-read individuals whose jobs would be to analyze and dissect other civilizations.

I sat under the shade of the maple tree. Under the artificial domes of Gemstar I, I opened my leather bound Tanakh. It was perhaps the last of its kind. After me, there will be no one left to remember the words of God. I lived alone in a universe of the gentile. Had God abandoned us? I turned to Leviticus. What had my people done wrong? Had we not obeyed his commands?

“Take no interest from your brother, in money or in goods, but have the fear of your God before you, and let your brother make a living among you.”

---------

He had really liked the trip.

I could tell.

After all, he was my son. And he was the son of an important man.

I am not simply anyone. I had served for decades in the Internal Security Division prior to being appointed as Security Minister. Being perhaps the third or fourth most powerful man in Humanity has its perks. My task was simple. It was to hunt down subversives of any color, of any stripe and of any ideology. And that is something I am very good at.

With Executive Order 12444, the Ministry of Security was empowered to ensure the stability of the Solar Federation and thus Humanity by any means necessary.

Any means necessary gave us the right to circumvent the courts. We spied on personal communications, we had informants all across Federation Space, we ruthlessly interrogated suspects and we tortured thousands in the name of Humanity. Posterity might curse my name for what they would perceive as flagrant human rights violations, but the fact is that the mere existence of posterity means that I have succeeded in my task.

It has never been easier for dangerous individuals to get their hands on weapons of mass destruction. Entire planets and even planetary systems have been engulfed by destruction before they were promptly quarantined. These are cruel and crude methods certainly. But what choices do we have? We can either doom millions to their death, or doom untold billions.

We exist in a continual Supreme Emergency.

In such a situation, the means I have ordered and implemented are justified.

“Minister Fuji?” I looked up. What was so important that I was to be disturbed? “Yes?”

“Minister, it is the President. He orders you to not return to Sol.”

“And why is that?”

“Code Silver.”

I turned pale.

Everything was about to crumble down.

Excerpts from the Autobiography of Richard Fuji, First Prime Minister of the Holy League of Terra

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Scandal​

PI Aiur had been shocked by the news; The Department for Environment had recently had a breakthrough in its investigation into the Department of Space Colonisation and The Office of the Chancellor, mostly pertaining to their operation under the Cybernetist government.

What they had uncovered was a systematic over-appraisal of economic wealth to be gained from the Planets in the Zavi system which had been used to make the argument to settle the planets of Zavi V and Zavi IV. To make up for the fact that this was indeed not the case almost all indicators of wealth had been manipulated, relying on a multitude of made up reports and equally fake government owned companies, where possible savings had been made on the construction of habitats [1] and facilities, building things slightly smaller and exacerbating the Kations irritation of being enclosed by others on all sides.

An emergency report of the actual productivity of the planets in the Zavi System had been devastating; Cybernetist economic indicators had overestimated the size of the economy by almost 50% and farm production was actually only functioning due to the multitude of regulations being broken. Equally devastating was the reports conclusion that the current indicators would breakdown completely making effective government impossible. The Upshot was that she would have to carefully introduce better legislation and indicators over the following year, keep the press and indeed any hackers finding out about this, The Department of Environment was gaining substantial regulatory powers and lastly she would be unable to use this to destroy the Cybernetist party.

The people would feel this one though, most of the overestimation was tied up in non-existent entities. But it was still a sizeable readjustment, new farming land had to be cultivated, regulations had to be eased in carefully etc. Effectively she would have to cheat as much as the Cybernetists to ensure the stability of the economy, the responses to a potential media discovery mostly revolved around martial law it was hoped this would be avoided however.



With the Reappraisal of the Governments ambitions, The Department of Space Colonisation is being move to the planet of Zavi V. Scientific funding has increased dramatically with especial focus on Computational technologies, supporting infrastructure is being built to enhance Energy and Construction Technologies. The presences of so much Scientific power and the planetary temperature and low gravity will greatly assist in the development of these technologies. Efforts have been made to push the department to develop habitats and colonisation plans to exploit the Gas Giant Zavi VI whilst current planning to develop Zavi I have been shelved for the moment.

Further efforts are being made to co-ordinate information gathered from Vazan data networks with what our spectroscopic data can tell us about the Minkar system [2]. Mostly this involves matching up the stars specific element content, intensity, mass (in the case of binary systems) and other such variables and using a variety of models to predict system content and size.

With regards to colonisation and the updated economic indicators to be used on this top secret project the following planetary classifications have been made:



[1] Ok so this is ICC, but I needed SOMETHING to explain the sudden drop in e and f!
[2] Nice ICC way to explain Dis revealing the maps if it comes down to it.
[3] a bit over the top
[4] taking just the first letter of special planetary properties.

Nice stories.

Anhyhoo, got everyones orders but the Akresians.

Is that in the; the deadlines passed and they're on borrowed time or get them in so I can finish the update sense?

Oh right. Will send orders within 5 hours.

Screw that, I want an update.

OOC: I'm fine either way.

Sorry this took a while even with a short update - the new calcs were tricker than expected, also hangovers.

Update 9: Till you spend half your life just covering up...

The most resplendent Ik republic continues its spread across the Errai system this year, as President Rasheeds personal fiefdom on Errai II is expanded with lavish government subsidies, and a new base is established on the opposite end of the system on the frozen blue moon of Errai's tenth planet. Much like their perceived relationship with the Akresians, the Ik try and enter into a master-client partnership with the Furtherest republic by establishing free trade and protection agreements. Economically this is a substantial success, though the Ik plans of cultural domination backfire when its found many Ik citizens prefer the peace of the icy vistas and the utter privacy and quiet the Furtherest republic enjoys to the screeching politics of Taik and the domination of the Rasheed clan. When a prominent Zen-Sufi order relocates to the isolated world the Ik government looses a considerable amount of face. The population drain is negligible however and the Republic is already at the limit of its current food production, though the generous Ik food gifts are currently unneeded. Those dissatisfied with life on Taik now have an alternative that the 'Al or Akresians never offered. Despite these embarrassments the Ik forge ahead with their scientific achievements, opening the Al-Hazred institute for High Energy Physics early in the year, and making spectacular breakthroughs in megastructure and complex matter design towards the end of the year, opening whole new vistas of things that can be built to reflect Ik glory and massively boost the economy (see notes). It also believed that several successful and productive data trades were made with both the Lantians of Gemstar and the Vazan of Zavi. Despite all this success there are problems for the Ik as population growth pushes the margin of their food and material supply, and paranoia seems to press on the minds of the Ik leadership as they demand elaborate encryption schemes on all communications. These prove feasible, but their necessity is questioned as neither the Akresians or the Republic have anything like the skills to tap even basic Ik data-feeds, and neither has even shown any interest in the affairs of Taik. The Akresians for one have the rather more pressing question of solving their food crisis. The solution is eventually found with plans for the construction of orbital greenhouse the following year receiving the go ahead, despite the harsh radiative environment pumped out by Errai VII making them less than efficient. Till then the Akresians will have to go hungry, something they have been depressingly used to this last decade, and the injustice of it all festers in their collective psyche. They do manage to look up from their bellies long enough to construct and staff a new centre for the investigation of materials technology, perhaps planning to shield themselves from the baleful Jovian planet. They're also somewhat amused by the posturing of the Ik fighter around the inner, and even more radioactive moon – a place the Ik will never be able to dwell thanks to their genetic weakness.

The Lantian state lurches from triumph to terror to pratfall this year. When projections reveal that this years production would fall short of what was needed to build a volatiles mine on Gemstar II and solve the food problem the government was enraged and promptly sacked their economists and general managers that had so obviously misinterpreted their commands. It was only the errors being discovered after the successful negotiation of living spaces in Horn system that prevented the Elder council form using their rights to call for new elections over government incompetence, and a new heavy military police force had to be recruited to stop possible protests in the capital. Naturally the innate Lantian serenity won through and the troops were unneeded. The Council, ever suspicious of foreigners were even more annoyed with the government when they traded system maps with the avaricious and despotic (to their eyes) Ik republic. The paltry wealth of the systems that were revealed in return only deepened their worry that after such torturous problems with the 'Al they would now have to share their promised land with a powerful and aggressive entity like the Ik fleet. The steady ramping up of production in the factory suburbs of the capital proved only a passing condolence.

The Esani seem invigorated with new direction this year as a charismatic cabal begins to exert influence on their formerly anarchic and badly directed policy. Slowing down the investigation of the terrifyingly tangled Black Forest ruins for now, they instead mandate the increase of industrial production using the local resources of the chill outer moon. Despite their isolation and small population, the Esani are one of the production juggernauts of the Hydra Tuft.

After battling so hard to best each other militarily, the Soulon and the Gardeners now try just as hard to best each other at peacetime pursuits, the hearts and minds of their wandering populations being the prize. Perhaps the most important development is the creation of a new Soulon government structure, dispelling the oligarchic rule of the Shadow Lords. Trying to live up to its name the League creates a decentralised federation with considerable powers devolved to each of the worlds of Kaus space. This is perhaps not quite what the general people wanted, as they've been shuffled around so much that none of them have a particular emotive link to any of the worlds, and correctly see the power of the local governments as a vehicle by which the Shadow Lords and their families can exert considerable control by means of their wealth. The Interworld Senate seems a bit toothless and irrelevant too, but nearly everyone decides this release of democratic power is considerably better than nothing at all and happily votes in the new elections, the operation of which are considerably smoothed by generous injections of resources. The new government doesn't do much to solve the structural inefficiency problems caused by poor data and fragmented social networks however, and keeping the league running costs considerable amounts of the Soulon intellectual energies. The Interworld Senate and de-facto capital of the Soulons is located on Kaus VI as the more populated worlds cannot avoid arguing over who should get the privilege, and no one likes the idea of politicians being to comfortable (the thick atmosphere also offers protection from planetary assaults). One of the first acts of the new Senate is to try and stem the flow of talented youngsters to the universities and delights of Kaus II with the production of counter propaganda and education programmes. However this flounders on the Soulon leagues continued lack of universities and wealth producing cities, the Gardener counter efforts via the now intermingled communication nets, and the fact that its hard for the reality of the tunnels to compete with the imagination of the wide deserts and white cities. The second act of the Senate doesn't help their image either when they ask the Gardeners to provide them with knowledge of the life sciences and have to pay through the nose for the privilege. The older people of the league appreciate the improved medical technology however. The Gardener experts sent to help prevent Kaus III from plunging into crisis gain even more recruits, and spread Gardener memes far and wide. They might even have reached the Soulon Senate, as rather than construct the massively ecologically damaging atmosphere processors on fragile Kaus III, they authorise the construction of volatiles mines on distant Kaus VII a at vast expense to meet their liquid needs. This act even earns them some grudging respect among various members of the Gardener hierarchy. Their rapid demobilisation and the recycling of their outdated fighter fleet goes even further to show their commitment to peace, though it is likely most Gardeners will never forget Kaus III.
As for the Gardeners, they advance their intellectual pursuits still further with the opening of a new pair of research facilities, one for probing each side of the matter-energy duality. It is said the post opening party lasted for seven days and nights, and has already entered into the collective legends of Kaus system. Their considerable knowledge and grace, as well as the constant self-promotion of their victim complex manages to prey on the Soulon guilt, especially as the memories of the stravation that forced the Soulon to such action began to fade. This was all masterminded by Metatron Deen, who seems as devoted to a lasting peace as his counterparts in the Soulon Senate, even divesting his office of many of the emergency military powers it had gathered during the war.

Ms Aiur, the Principle Investigator of the Kations is facing considerable political turbulence this year. Not so much over the actions or conduct of her own biotechnologist ruling faction, though the decision to concentrate population on Zavi V and the focused and rapid development of that world did seem to come straight out of the Cybernetist play book (some of the more venerable biotechnologists speaking out on how the low density boots on the ground approach is more suited to true discovery). Instead she was weakened by negative comparisons with the Vazan – the other dwellers in the Zavi system forging towards true intersystem vessels and biotech knowledge, as well as establishing an exploratory base on the intriguing biosphere of Zavi I. Both things their supports and detractors claimed the Kations should be forging the path on, rather than picking up the errant crumbs of Vazan data they can glean from the system networks. Despite all, this progress goes well on the new and vastly expanded city on Zavi V, as well as its colossally upgraded datasphere, and Kation scientific development receives and considerable shot in the arm. Though the paucity of researchers meant little was as yet uncovered, solving the sheer complexity of the routing problems required taught the Kations vast amounts about information management. Also of note in the Kation sphere was the high number of young people joining the workforce this year as those desperate birthings when the Vazan were still a major worry came to fruition. Finding jobs and housing for all these new young people proved a tremendous strain for the government, especially when they mandated workers leave the old roomy habitats on the ice moon to relocate to the crowded warrens of the inner system. With traditional biotechnologist values betrayed and a new generation of Cybernetist politicians riding waves of new job demanding voters, it seems the current government might not be long for power. As for the Vazan they spend a good deal of time finalising their basic ship technologies and forging for the more advance components their records indicate can be developed. The Vazan probe also returns home for refuelling - if any decision or agreement has been made with the republic of Ik regarding the future of the apparently interesting Minkar system then no public comment has been made or voted on by the Vazan public. Despite the Kation envy, the new base on Zavi I remains unoccupied beyond a skeleton crew, perhaps more a statement of ownership rather than an intense colonisation effort.

Meanwhile on Horn the 'Al remnants park their patchwork hulk over a promising moon and descend, their long negotiations with the Lantians finally concluded.

Trade and data leakage, and drive activity in the system causing reflections to glint off planets gives all factions a working knowledge of the Minkar system.

Minkar Description said:

The pleasant yellow sun Minkar would fill any Earth dwellers heart with nostalgia, if such a rare beast could be procured through all the years of time and distance. It is somewhat larger than old sol however, and neither of its rocky inner planets exist far enough out to retain a cloak of volatiles. Two large Jovians compete for the title of lord of the system, bright Minkar III bedecked in glowing orange clouds whilst dark Minkar IV is swathed in brooding greens. Minkar III emits a great deal in the infra-red spectrum, warming its three moons and painting them in lurid colours. Because of this the innermost moon is warm enough for liquid water to exist on the surface and its rock and brownish slush supports a biosphere in the equatorial regions. Life on IIIa is DNA based and has a similar chemical make up to Earthlife, but a rather different style has developed. The dominant organisms are of a clade that your explorers have dubbed the 'Wormforest', creeping vermiform autotrophs between a millimetre and several metres in size that follow the hemisphere warmed by Minkar III as the world rotates through its eight year 'day'. Odd as it is that the 'plants' move is that the 'herbivores' don't – the wormforest is fed upon by web-spinning blobs that lie in wait for their creeping prey under the dark skies. Despite its unpleasant aesthetic qualities Minkar III a is one of the most suitable worlds yet found in the Hydra Tuft – man can walk freely in the thin air with only need for a thick coat, and can subsist off the wormforest with only the aid of vitamin supplements. The other moons of Minkar III share this worlds mucky ice complexion, but are too small and cold to hold an atmosphere. Minkar IV's green clouds are periodically lit by flashes and burst of pink, as electrical discharges react with the exotic gases that compose the middle layers of the atmosphere. It too warms its innermost moon, but via gravitational twisting rather than radiated heat, and it has done rather too good a job of it. Minkar IVa is only a few hundred thousand years from breaking up under the gravitational stress, and its surface has already been reduced to near molten rock by the agony and is peppered with volcanoes. The next moon out has retained some of its ice, but is coated in a thick layer of sulphurous dust from the inner moons outgassings. Further out is a huge moon coated in hydrocarbons and ammonia similar to Errai IX a, but its vast size warms the surface to produce even stranger molecules, and its layer of gases is not as thick as its been less stressed by its primary. The last two moons of Minkar IV are unremarkable iceballs. Finally on the rim of the system lies a small blue gas giant that spins at an incredible rate, and is accompanied by another moon of frozen ice.

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Random Events
-The demands of the new security measures sees many important collaborations fail to work out at sensitive timing stages (-5 s to Ik biotech research)
-A baby boom follows Soulon demilitarisation (population bonus rather later on)

Karmically Blessed Societies
The Lantians, for including all their diplo in the orders: +1 Lucky roll
The Kations, whose cunning pleases Loki: +1 Lucky roll

Notes
New Facility Unlocked - Space Elevator: The space elevator is a strand of ultrastrong material stretching from a planets surface to geosynchronous orbit and beyond, using the planets rotation to counter the pull of gravity. It requires a metals mine and factory somewhere already in the system, and it cannot be built on moons or giant planets. It cost 350e on a low G world, 450e on a normal G world and 550 on a high G world. It adds extra e to the production of metals and volatiles mines on the planet depending on the world, and reduces the cost of building spaceborn habitats by 33% and reduces the cost of building larger ships considerably (both calculators have the new functions built in). A single Space Elevator provides these benefits to all the friendly habitats on the world, and multiple ones confer not additional benefit. Space Elevators have triple chance to be destroyed from bombing.
New Facility Reveal – Space Fountain (requires an as yet unknown amount of Energy Tech): Similar to a Space Elevator the Space Fountain reaches out of a planets gravity well from the surface, but does so via a continue rotation of magnetically bound particles to create a tremendous strong tower. It is much cheaper than a space elevator at 200e, but requires a continual upkeep of energy to maintain in the form of 10e per year. Thin, Standard, and Thick atmospheres increase the cost of construction by 50/100/150 each, and a Space Fountain cannot be built on a world with storms or a molten surface. However unlike a space elevator it can be built on Gas Giant moons. It has the same bonuses as Space Elevators, though it provides slightly more bonus to volatiles mines due to centrifugal loading of liquids.
New Ship Component Unlocked – Composite Armour: by using layers of ultrahard ceramics and layers of non-resilient soft extremely impressive armour can be created. However good materials and positioning knowledge is required before using composite defence is superior to just cladding additional titanium around a ship.

Datalinks: MAJOR CHANGES! Update Nine Ship Designer, and Update Nine Habitat CALC (different from before).

Toga! Toga Toga! Ah, Habitat Three should be Gamma.

Also, I am very sad that Research Centers don't get the university bonus. There was no indication that they didn't stack.

How come I don't have a second Beta habitat on Errai II.

OOC: Nice update dis, though I'm outraged you didn't mention that I changed the name of Gemstar I to Ningbao

Kentharu said:

How come I don't have a second Beta habitat on Errai II.

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Because I forgot whilst redoing all the economy pages, Its there (and obviously has the same stats as the current one) and I'll rectify it later.

OOC: And the Lantian division didn't show up on the map although it's listed on the Fleets/Armies.

Orders sent.

EARLY UPDATE FTW!