Background
When man in 2421 AD finally managed to learn how to really get off planet earth, it was no huge surprise that he would go on a spree of resource exploitation where possible, colonization where manageable, with lots of general pushing and shoving and elbowing to go with it. The first missions were sponsored by various nations; China was the first off, sending a virtually fruitless (but with massive bragging rights) expedition to Alpha Centauri. India, the European Union and the United Pacific States (what used to be the western parts of old USA) were not far behind, and no more successful. But none of them would be allowed to keep the initiative for long. From the moment that true space exploitation went from not just a dream to a possibility, but from a possibility to a reality, several multinational huge-scale venture capital corporations were set up with the sole purpose of getting to the juciest pieces first. Discussions in the UN about regulations for exploitation were largely (read completely) ignored, and where nations bickered, companies prevailed.
The next 30 or so years was a race not unlike the gold rushes of ancient history (aka 19th century), but with far more resources involved - both the ones being grabbed, and the ones utilized in grabbing them. Companies established their own domains, staking out whole systems and vehemently defending them against incursions by all means possible, violence being the rule rather than the exception.
After the initial rush to stake out systems, earth saw a veritable exodus. Space Conglomerations payed handsomely for workers for their mining platforms and factories, and charged "reasonable" prices for breathtaking seaview vistas on pristine terra-like planets (wanting to bring markets closer to the production sites), and many colonies quickly grew to large sizes. Another reason for the exodus was that all manner of political and religious organizations saw the opportunity to build just the society they had always longed for, but never had the chance back home on Earth. Polarization of people was in many places utterly complete. Whatever the reasons and outcomes, Earth quickly became a much less crowded place, but somehow managed remarkably well nonetheless.
During all this time, arms dealers saw a gold rush of their own (not to mention a good deal of them where already involved as venture capitalists) as the companies continued to compete over resources and systems. Things escalated more or less out of hand, until the Rimaldi incident in 2489 AD when a Neo-Zoroastrian colony of some 10 000 people was utterly destroyed when an asteroid was pushed to crash on it by a Cruiser from a company wanting to discredit the owners and landlords of the colony system. More from fear of losing future income than any genuine concern over human lives, all major players in the colonization race came to an agreement, where basic rules of conduct were set up.
For a while space became a bit less violent, but warring continued behind the curtains. Economic warfare, sabotage, anything imaginable. Little of this ever reached the attention of the larger populace though, and life in space prospered. Technological discoveries increased this prosperity even more, as drone workers took over menial tasks, built-in quantum computers were ubiquitous and "humanic enhancements" as they were called, implants to enhance body and mind, became abundant.
One of the greatest achievements of this time was the construction of the Warpgates. Taking the ideas that enabled FTL travel one step further, engineers managed to create a "gate" that allowed FTL travel between two predetermined points in space, using far simpler ships and less energy that was required for ordinary FTL travel. For the gates to work, both entry points needed connection to what became known as planetary Hyperstatic Fields. These were quickly set up all over human-controlled space, and warpgates (the name taken from popular fiction) were constructed to connect systems near and far.
It was really a golden age for space capitalists and colonists alike. But then something happened. It's origins are still unknown, but somewhere, somehow, someone came up with a scheme for damaging the economic opposition that simply went out of hand, to put it mildly. An engineered bio-mechanic virus, later known as The Scourge, was released in 2505 AD into a backwater industrial system, to render it useless. But the virus was deadlier than any previously used, and what's more it wouldn't be contained to that system alone. It got a hold on an outwards-bound ship, and quickly spread to a number of neighboring systems. Before anyone realized the danger, it had spread to virtually everywhere, and there was no escape. It was engineered to specifically target a particular kind of circuits found in most AI and man-machine interfaces, and these were extremely common. In the blink of an eye, or rather over the course of about three years, everything crashed. More than 95% of all people were killed, if not from the virus itself then from the malfunctioning of machinery that mankind had come to depend on.
This is the lull after the storm. Approximately seven years (exact time keeping has been difficult) have passed since the first mention of The Scourge, and for the last four of those years things have been seemingly calm. The survivors are slowly banding together and turn their eyes upwards, outwards once more. In some places, remnants of old societal structures remain. In others, completely new constallations are forming. Will you dare take control over one of these fledgling factions, and brave the dangers of space once more?
Map, Players, NPCs, Orders, Updates, Stories
Map is hand made by me, though most factors are randomized. It consists of star systems interconnected by warpgates for travel.
Players will be as many as would play, the more the better. Each player will play a survivor faction. Once the first deadline for orders has passed the NES will be closed to new factions, and thus players, so if you want to play then sign up now! Anyone is welcome, as long as you read the rules and fill in a template.
NPC factions will not exist, period. It's not up to me to play factions, it's up to you, the players. If a player should drop out, and doesn't have a replacement, the faction will be played with a minimum of input for three turns, and if no replacement has been found by then, something very nasty will happen. Very nasty.
Orders should be sent to me by PM. Initially orders will be limited to one PM per turn and faction. I really can't see any reason why you would ever even approach that limit. Orders should in particular include any diplomatic deals you have signed, and of course what you intend to do with your PP and military.
Updates will hopefully be regular, but most likely not. I will try once a week, but since this is my very first NES I don't really have an idea of how long each update will take. Rather than overworking myself I will let updates take their time. First deadline for orders is Thursday 25th of Jan, at 20:00 GMT!
Stories will be rewarded. There will be small awards for all who write stories, and they can also have an ingame effect on updates and such. I will also hand out random event bonuses (and penalties) each update, some of which may also depend on stories.
When man in 2421 AD finally managed to learn how to really get off planet earth, it was no huge surprise that he would go on a spree of resource exploitation where possible, colonization where manageable, with lots of general pushing and shoving and elbowing to go with it. The first missions were sponsored by various nations; China was the first off, sending a virtually fruitless (but with massive bragging rights) expedition to Alpha Centauri. India, the European Union and the United Pacific States (what used to be the western parts of old USA) were not far behind, and no more successful. But none of them would be allowed to keep the initiative for long. From the moment that true space exploitation went from not just a dream to a possibility, but from a possibility to a reality, several multinational huge-scale venture capital corporations were set up with the sole purpose of getting to the juciest pieces first. Discussions in the UN about regulations for exploitation were largely (read completely) ignored, and where nations bickered, companies prevailed.
The next 30 or so years was a race not unlike the gold rushes of ancient history (aka 19th century), but with far more resources involved - both the ones being grabbed, and the ones utilized in grabbing them. Companies established their own domains, staking out whole systems and vehemently defending them against incursions by all means possible, violence being the rule rather than the exception.
After the initial rush to stake out systems, earth saw a veritable exodus. Space Conglomerations payed handsomely for workers for their mining platforms and factories, and charged "reasonable" prices for breathtaking seaview vistas on pristine terra-like planets (wanting to bring markets closer to the production sites), and many colonies quickly grew to large sizes. Another reason for the exodus was that all manner of political and religious organizations saw the opportunity to build just the society they had always longed for, but never had the chance back home on Earth. Polarization of people was in many places utterly complete. Whatever the reasons and outcomes, Earth quickly became a much less crowded place, but somehow managed remarkably well nonetheless.
During all this time, arms dealers saw a gold rush of their own (not to mention a good deal of them where already involved as venture capitalists) as the companies continued to compete over resources and systems. Things escalated more or less out of hand, until the Rimaldi incident in 2489 AD when a Neo-Zoroastrian colony of some 10 000 people was utterly destroyed when an asteroid was pushed to crash on it by a Cruiser from a company wanting to discredit the owners and landlords of the colony system. More from fear of losing future income than any genuine concern over human lives, all major players in the colonization race came to an agreement, where basic rules of conduct were set up.
For a while space became a bit less violent, but warring continued behind the curtains. Economic warfare, sabotage, anything imaginable. Little of this ever reached the attention of the larger populace though, and life in space prospered. Technological discoveries increased this prosperity even more, as drone workers took over menial tasks, built-in quantum computers were ubiquitous and "humanic enhancements" as they were called, implants to enhance body and mind, became abundant.
One of the greatest achievements of this time was the construction of the Warpgates. Taking the ideas that enabled FTL travel one step further, engineers managed to create a "gate" that allowed FTL travel between two predetermined points in space, using far simpler ships and less energy that was required for ordinary FTL travel. For the gates to work, both entry points needed connection to what became known as planetary Hyperstatic Fields. These were quickly set up all over human-controlled space, and warpgates (the name taken from popular fiction) were constructed to connect systems near and far.
It was really a golden age for space capitalists and colonists alike. But then something happened. It's origins are still unknown, but somewhere, somehow, someone came up with a scheme for damaging the economic opposition that simply went out of hand, to put it mildly. An engineered bio-mechanic virus, later known as The Scourge, was released in 2505 AD into a backwater industrial system, to render it useless. But the virus was deadlier than any previously used, and what's more it wouldn't be contained to that system alone. It got a hold on an outwards-bound ship, and quickly spread to a number of neighboring systems. Before anyone realized the danger, it had spread to virtually everywhere, and there was no escape. It was engineered to specifically target a particular kind of circuits found in most AI and man-machine interfaces, and these were extremely common. In the blink of an eye, or rather over the course of about three years, everything crashed. More than 95% of all people were killed, if not from the virus itself then from the malfunctioning of machinery that mankind had come to depend on.
This is the lull after the storm. Approximately seven years (exact time keeping has been difficult) have passed since the first mention of The Scourge, and for the last four of those years things have been seemingly calm. The survivors are slowly banding together and turn their eyes upwards, outwards once more. In some places, remnants of old societal structures remain. In others, completely new constallations are forming. Will you dare take control over one of these fledgling factions, and brave the dangers of space once more?
Map, Players, NPCs, Orders, Updates, Stories
Map is hand made by me, though most factors are randomized. It consists of star systems interconnected by warpgates for travel.
Players will be as many as would play, the more the better. Each player will play a survivor faction. Once the first deadline for orders has passed the NES will be closed to new factions, and thus players, so if you want to play then sign up now! Anyone is welcome, as long as you read the rules and fill in a template.
NPC factions will not exist, period. It's not up to me to play factions, it's up to you, the players. If a player should drop out, and doesn't have a replacement, the faction will be played with a minimum of input for three turns, and if no replacement has been found by then, something very nasty will happen. Very nasty.
Orders should be sent to me by PM. Initially orders will be limited to one PM per turn and faction. I really can't see any reason why you would ever even approach that limit. Orders should in particular include any diplomatic deals you have signed, and of course what you intend to do with your PP and military.
Updates will hopefully be regular, but most likely not. I will try once a week, but since this is my very first NES I don't really have an idea of how long each update will take. Rather than overworking myself I will let updates take their time. First deadline for orders is Thursday 25th of Jan, at 20:00 GMT!
Stories will be rewarded. There will be small awards for all who write stories, and they can also have an ingame effect on updates and such. I will also hand out random event bonuses (and penalties) each update, some of which may also depend on stories.
