Pre-ChaNES: Into the Void

Eh, brief orders sent. I'm still running the State of the United States.

Chand, just in case you thought it was, my most recent PM was not orders, its not what I'm doing this turn its what I'm doing in the future. I'm sure you knew this already but just in case.

It wouldn't be proper to let this sink to the second page, not so close to the update.

Right?

Bump to keep this thread from sinking below the first page never to be seen again, its wreckage strewn across the history of this forum. I swear this thing is still alive, it's just that numerous personal matters have been making it extremely difficult to concentrate on the update, despite my relative abundance of free time. I will attempt to continue my work on it today, and will post the update itself as soon as it is complete - the stats will hopefully follow before too long.

Edit: Is this the longest gap between a post-before-the-crosspost, and the crosspost itself? It may be so. Notify Al Gore.

Gee.. You got me excited and thinking it was the update.

OOC: Lee is right, you're evil Chand

alex994 said:

OOC: Lee is right, you're evil Chand

Click to expand...

Hey, I posted to let you all know that this wasn't dead, and to let you know that the update isn't too far off. That called "courtesy."

Chandrasekhar said:

Hey, I posted to let you all know that this wasn't dead, and to let you know that the update isn't too far off. That called "courtesy."

Click to expand...

OOC: ANOTHER misleading moment! I thought your post was the update!

OOC: From the bottom of the page!

OOC: GDUFS Alex! Stop spamming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Curls over into spasmic fits of barely-contained laughter*

Pre-Update 7
2136-2140 CE​

​

Sol

In the later half of the 2130's, Solar politics reached a fever pitch. The trend had been towards international unification for some time now, spurred on by the Russians and then the Americans, and their efforts would finally bear fruit in this time period. The members and prospective members of ASTRIS had been involved, on one level or another, in the idea of a world-state for some time, and together, they created a model government for the majority of Earth's nations to unite under - it was called the Solar Federation.

Of course, setting up a new government is not a quick process, but by 2137, all the preparations had been made. After a competetive election, a Canadian was elected as the Federation's president, and a representative congress was elected as well. The Solar Federation had some ambitious plans, and was well on the way to achieving them. By 2140, the Solar Federation was still finalizing its assumption of many of the roles of federal government from its member states, and the transition was going smoothly.

Thus, the world was divided into two groups. The Solar Federation was the larger of the two, counting more than three fourths of the population among its members. America and Russia were at the forefront, but they shared that leadership with the several members of ASTRIS. The nations of South America, Africa, and the Pacific also uniformly joined, with varrying levels of enthusiasm, but encouraged by the benefits to living standards and technology that would follow. The notable non-members were the European Union and the People's Republic of China, both of which suddenly found themselves outnumbered and outgunned by a unified Earth. Membership of one sort or another seemed inevitable for both, but it remained to be seen how long that would take, and what the circumstances of their joining would be. Additionally, a few Middle Eastern states remained outside the Solar Federation, embittered by their loss in World War III. This bitterness was not universal in the Muslim world, however, as evidenced by Indonesia's membership, and those nations were expected to join the Federation eventually as well.

The ideological differences between the Solar Federation and the People's Republic of China were obvious, but the Federation also had some differences in opinion from the European Union which were no less divisive. Specifically, the newest president of the EU, Yvonne Regiral, was an outspoken opponent against ASTRIS's program of "ethnic streaming" in their colonies. Her opinion was that each colony should share Earth's diversity, and it was an increasingly popular philosophy, even among the people of the Solar Federation. It stood in stark contrast to Russia's stated position on the issue, and it remained as a matter to be resolved as of 2140.

Another notable event of the late 2130's was an increasing weaponization of Sonty Corporation. Not only were its mining craft suspiciously well armed, but in 2140, it also added a variant of the Bacchan variable mecha to its security force. This wasn't precisely illegal, of course. In fact, another corporation, Malloy Systems, was currently becoming quite prosperous by selling weaponry for interplanetary freighters to use in defending themselves from pirates. However, a series of ultimately fruitless legal battles between the United States government and the Sonty Corporation showed that there was some distrust there.

Infinitas

On Bacchus, a significant event occured as a certain special resort was opened deep in the Aglaea trench. What made this resort special was the fact that one did not have to wear a hazard suit to venture outside there - the air in the trench was warm and thick enough for a human to breathe there unaided. It wasn't healthy to do so for long periods, and breathable atmospheres were becoming increasingly common elsewhere in colonized space, but it was still a sign of the progression of Bacchus's terraforming.

Bacchus was also able to finish production of a destroyer-class ship in 2140, though it was somewhat smaller than the Russian Prokhorovka. The Sugaar probably wouldn't be able to stand up to either of the destroyers used by the Solar Federation, but it was a point of planetary pride for the Bacchans.

Meanwhile, Bacchus continued to grow as people who wished to escape Solar politics fled there. The concept of a world government for all of Earth was especially troubling to some, and Bacchus remained a haven for dissidents of all sorts. Certainly, this wasn't exactly the ideal group of citizens to have, but Bacchus's reputation for being an alternative to Earth's rulers probably helped it on the whole.

The neighboring planet of Carmenta continued to develop as well. Terraforming and immigration were proceeding steadily, but the topic on everyone's minds was the separatist movement. The colonial government was quite loyal to first America, and then the Solar Federation, but only a bare majority of the population favored remaining a colony. The others were divided between joining the Planetary Republic of Bacchus and simply becoming an independent state of their own, which may have been all that was keeping them from unifying and rebelling. The colonial government certainly had its hands full keeping those separatist elements in check.

Nu

The European colony on the planet Isis in the Nu system had drawn some attention recently with the largely successful terraforming projects there, but the Nu system was also the target of the wealthy multinational Sonty Corporation. In 2136, several of Sonty Corporation's ships departed for 151-156A, which they renamed "Ra."

It was definitely unorthodox for a private corporation to make a colonial claim to a planet, but nonetheless, Sonty Corporation seemed mostly interested in converting the very small planet into an industrial center. As Europe's colony at neighboring Isis began to grow, Ra grew as well, supplying the larger colony even as it produced more craft specifically for Sonty itself.

Isis's growth was also much greater in this time period, as the European colony benefitted from Europe's greater focus on expanding what colonies it already had. Though the planet still lacked a breathable atmosphere, the thin atmosphere that had been created by the European terraforming efforts still moderated the intense heat from Nu's star, and some extensive deposits of liquid water near the poles had been accumulated over the years. Further terraforming focused on introducing hardy life to the planet, enhanced by Europe's advanced genetic modification techniques, much like Bacchus's had started.

European Sphere

In the late 2130's, Europe finally put a halt on its outward expansion and focused on developing what it had colonized. Indeed, it was during this time period that its colonization strategy began to pay off. With all of its resources focused inward, Europe was able to develop more colonies at once than any other superpower, allowing it to quickly close the gap of both colonial population and combined colonial GDP with China. Certainly, the colonies of the Solar Federation were catching up even more quickly, but with the Federation's much larger industrial base, that was to be expected.

The smaller European colonies at Valhalla, Carpathia, and Aria probably benefitted the most from the increased European subsidies, and the latter two especially began to grow in earnest. The colony at Lucenta managed to pull out of its economic slump and began to grow as well, though this growth was still quite slow. Its planet, Waypoint, was cold, small, and airless, and wasn't especially significant in its location, so it wasn't expected to grow large anyway. The nearby system of Pirenia was in a similar situation.

To contrast, the system of Olympia was already experiencing a period of robust growth, and the increased flow of European resources only served to enhance that trend. Encouraged by a new series of Olympian programs, an influx of foreign talent came to the colony, along with the already rapid immigration the colony was experiencing. The planet Arcadia was beginning to become a major R&D center, as indicated by the new spacecraft designs created by Arcadian engineers, and Europe's other colonies began to adopt some of these designs.

The Olympian government also began to develop another of its planets, working with the newly founded conglomerate, Orion Industries. Together, they started Lefkada Industrial Limited, a venture to expand Arcadia's orbital industry to the neighboring planet. Lefkada was a hot, barren planet, but a small colony had already been placed there by Arcadia. By 2140, it was rapidly growing, continuing Olympia's tradition of keeping Arcadia's native life safe from any environmental hazards.

Even further from Sol, the newly colonized system of Tyrelia was growing rapidly. By ASTRIS's classification, the planet Aries (formerly 070-542B) would be rated Terra Aequa, a planet that was extemely Earthlike in its climate. Like Novomurmansk and Baoyu, Aries's native life was very complex, bearing a close resemblance to the evolutionary patterns on Earth. There was even a close analogue to terran primates among the species there. Of course, every precaution was taken to ensure that these native populations were left undisturbed.

Aries's population grew quickly enough that the EU's infrastructure had a tough time keeping up, but this didn't present much of a problem to the eager colonists. More of an obstacle was the fact that a two year journey from Sol to Tyrelia would be considered an unusually fast one. Nonetheless, the planet Aries saw the greatest growth among the European colonies in this time period. Also notable is the fact that a second colony was set up on the somewhat less hospitable planet 070-542C in 2139.

Soyuz also deserves mention - though it had been somewhat neglected earlier in the decade due to the push for Tyrelia, the Europeans invested much more heavily in it after that. The planet Logos saw a major increase in its population, and to a lesser degree, the larger, less human-friendly planet of 110-142C did as well. On the edge of European space, this system also experienced growth due to the nearby ASTRIS colony expansion.

Lastly, a significant event occured in the system of Valhalla. While a new generation of spacecraft was being designed and manufactured by Europe, the improvements were more heavily weighted towards the new colonies that had no standing defenses of their own - it was thought that pirate raids would most likely occur in these distant systems, instead of those close to home.

These expectations were proven wrong when several freighters went pirate in 2139, ambushing a couple of civilian freighters in orbit around the gas giant 066-165C. The frigate Berlin was patrolling elsewhere in the Valhalla system, but a few antiquated JOAT-class corvettes were nearby, and they immediately engaged the pirate force. By splitting into two pairs, the corvettes were able to escourt the civilian freighters to safety, a move that certainly received approval from the public, but the pirates' reinforcements were able to overwhelm the two corvettes that had been left behind. By 2140, several new military ships had arrived at Valhalla to ensure that no further attacks would take place, but they were unable to locate the hideout of the pirates that had made this attack.

ASTRIS Sphere

ASTRIS's colonization did not get off to a good start in this time period. The system 192-209 was scheduled to become a Candadian colony, and ASTRIS's immense industrial power had already been put to work building a colony ship to go there. However, China had been preparing to go there as well for some time, and it had the advantage of using the Stigma skimway to Xiaoping. The voyage had only been waiting on the completion of an advanced Stigma drive to complete the final jump, which had previously been beyond China's abilities. However, the jump was completed without incident, and China quickly notified ASTRIS that it had placed the 10,000 colonists required by CAUST on 192-209's habitable planet.

Thus, ASTRIS had to shuffle its priorities somewhat. Three other colony sites had been chosen for three other nations, and it was decided that they would retain their colony choices. Canada would have to choose a different system for its colony.

Meanwhile, the existing colonies continued to grow, even as their founding states joined the Solar Federation. The Indian colony of Hastinapur continued to grow very quickly, despite the tough conditions on the planets there. Amazonas, the Brazillian colony, became somewhat of a haven for those fleeing the social problems of mainland Brazil. There was widespread hope that Brazil's entry into the Solar Federation would signal a great improvement of the quality of life of the residents there, but Amazonas retained the lure of the open frontier.

Australia also enthusiastically took to interstellar colonization, investing substantially not only in their colony at Victoria itself, but also in publicizing the colony's growth and success. Enthusiasm in mainland Australia led to enthusiasm among the colonists, and this trend would only increase as the colony grew ever larger. Finally, the last colony to be founded in the first half of the decade was the Israeli system of Zion. Its growth began in earnest as 2140 approached, expanding the Solar Federation's reach deeper into space.

ASTRIS also founded several new colonies in this time period. The frustration of its plans to colonize 192-209 for Canada only intensified and sped its efforts elsewhere. A colony ship was sent to the system 092-577, on behalf of Mexico, in 2136, and the system was renamed Texcotzingo. Even as the colony on this distant system was being founded, another colony ship was completed, and this one was sent to the nearerby system of 103-323. This system was given to Iran, and it recieved the name Aql as its colony was founded in late 2137.

The Solar Federation's unity played a major role in ASTRIS's operations from 2138 onwards. Their first president, a Canadian, was able to sort out the disputes resulting from Canada's loss of its first colonization site, and the coming colony ship was dedicated to founding Canada's colony. Using the newly constructed Stigma skimmer at Texcotzingo, a colony ship was sent to the distant system of 090-708. The colony was founded, and the system was named Elizabeth - due to the great distance between Sol and Elizabeth, this colony was actually the last founded in the 2140's. During its journey, another colony ship had been completed and sent to 163-202, to found the Indonesian colony of Tunggal. Both colonies were founded in 2140.

Chinese Sphere

Closest to Sol, Damen continued to expand upwards and outwards, focusing much of its resources on handling the growing population sent to it from mainland China - there were better planets farther away, but Damen was close and relatively convenient, and China moved an increasing amount of its military infrastructure there, resulting in sprawling orbital facilities that any colony would envy. On the main planet of Kua Fu, advances in spacial management and hydroponic agriculture were used to grow the cities ever larger, but the colonies on Damen's other worlds also grew to match it.

Xiaoping's growth rate maintained its high level, with China's increasing emphasis on populating its colonies, despite the lure of distant Tiantang. Its facilities struggled to keep up with the high growth rate, but everything was going more or less smoothly up to 2140. Also notable was the buildup of military facilities on the less populated, snowy planet of Enlai - the planet was greatly populated with military personnel and people affiliated with the military, and the military academy there rivalled Damen's, focusing more on special ops and ground combat than space warfare.

Haiyaoliangge and 039-240 grew as well, though somewhat slower, of course. Progress was mostly steady, with the exception of a pirate attack at Haiyaoliangge in 2137. This attack seemed to have been plotted and carried out by a non-Chinese group, and they brought substantial weaponry to the ambush, but the Chinese defense force fought them in a pitched battle and emerged clearly victorious - a great victory for the Chinese people, certainly.

Distant Tiantang's growth was easily the fastest, though, at least in proportion to the small population it had as of 2135. Only minimal facilities were required to sustain the colonisists there, and also meant that the main restriction on growth was how quickly people could be sent from Sol - and China was getting very good at increasing the rate at which colonists left the mainland. Tiantang's colonial government was even able to spoil its citizens to some degree with living conditions that exceeded what most of them knew in China.

Also, in contrast to Xu Fu, which went out of its way to recruit intellectuals and upper class party members into its colony, Tiantang gained a reputation for being a more earthy colony (no pun intended), build from the ground up with farmers and laborers, emphasizing traditional culture; it was an unusual design that had a strong influence on Tiantang's growth. This, combined with the great distance from Sol and the mass recruiting that was going on, resulted in a populace that was more dissatisfied with the PRC's status quo - at least by current Chinese standards. Tiantang's government had to strike a careful balance between the desires of the common people and the mandates of the higher Party officials. As of 2140, it seemed to be handling this task successfully.

Lastly, as previously mentioned, the Chinese had prepared a colony ship for the explicit purpose of beating ASTRIS to the system of 192-209, and it accomplished this in 2136. The colony there gave the impression of being more of a placeholder than a serious settlement, at least compared to Xiaoping and Tiantang, but its growth was appreciable, and if things continued to go smoothly, it would eventually match Xiaoping. China also sent a colony ship to 182-123 in 2138, evidently to construct a Stigma skimmer there for future use, but that colony remained quite small up to 2140.


Another very late update, which I apologise for. Some personal issues happened around the time of the deadline, making it tough to gather the motivation to work on this. However, things are going better now, which should hopefully translate into a much faster next update. Note that stats haven't been updated, so we're not officially at Turn Eight just yet - I'll complete the stats, write up the intelligence PMs, and make the map as quickly as I can. You should probably withold your orders until then. I'm just posting this now due to the great delay that you've already been made to wait for.

FROM: Solar Federation
TO: European Union

It is said that patience is a virtue. Our representatives, two years onward, continue to wait on the European response to the proposal of allowing colonial referendums and the establishment of a case by case selection process for colonial mission types in the future.

Oh, also note that Toltec seems to have dropped off the face of the Earth about a month ago, so Bacchus needs a loving player to carry it into the future.

OOC: Excelent Update. waiting for PM, and have a.. new Idea to bring up after that.

OOC: An interesting update I personally look forward to how democracy will be brought to the nations of Central and Southern Africa.

To: Solar Federation
From: European Union

We have come to a decision, that it is preferable for the European Union to remain independent of your organization, though we encourage your plans for referendums on the Solar Federation's planets to determine whether they shall pursue cosmopolitan demographics or a monoethnic population.

As for the future settlement of space, we have come to see that there are two practical solutions. One is a case by case discussion, where systems are designated as falling under the ownership of one of our two organizations. The other is reusing a proposal of pre-Astris Russia, where an arbitrary line or set of lines is drawn, determining our directions of future expansion.

OOC: Great update Chand! And what's the Solar Federation's leader's name? It seems that you have named him, 'A. Canadian' or something to that extent.

President Eh Montgomery.

OOC: Alex _____ perhaps? His great-grandson of course but...

That might be a bit of a conflict of interests, given that I am the also, OOC, the EU's current leader.