Post by The_JJ: Solaris Council on Jul 15, 2010 4:25:50 GMT 1
Various notes:
The Network:
The Network Nodes, for reasons unknown, allow ships to surpass the speed of light. Salient facts:
1. The Network was here before humanity reached it.
2. A Network star can support four nodes. No more. The reasons for this is unknown. Attempting to force another pathway will cause destabilization in one of the other nodes.
3. Inside the Network, the Laws of Physics are consistent. A ship that enters a node at 30 kilometers an hour and then accelerates to 60 kpm will emerge from the other node at 60 kpm.
4. A 'node' is a sphere of space several kilometer in diameter.
5. A ship entering a node at a point x,y,z will exit the node at point x,y,z. The Z direction is approximately perpendicular to the system's plane, x points to the systems center of mass, and y is tangent to the gravity well of the system.
6. When a Mobius engine is activated, the ship is pulled into the Network space. It can emerge from the antipode point by powering down the Mobius engine once it has crossed the Network's Central Node.
7. No one knows what happens when you power down a Mobius engine while in the Central Node. This is because everyone who does is never seen again.
A very poor image of a Network tunnel: *----*----* Where each * is a Node and - is some space.
8. Creating a new Network node is a job for specialist with lots of capital and lots of time. Only three Houses and some PC's have the infrastructure to do so.
This means you can have fights on the Network... though it's pretty risky (ships that might have been merely 'crippled' with a shot to the Mobius Engine will fall off the Network.)
Tech:
Some NPC's:
House Han:
A most old and respected House. Though it functions like any other, it stands out in some strange customs. It is a matriarchal House, and it practices polygamy: one marriage for love, one marriage for dynasty. Figuring out the sexuality of the next Han heir (as well figuring out which heir will actually lead the House) and offering the opposite gender is one of the greatest games in the Conclave dealings. This generation, for the first time in several, has not needed to seek scientific answers to the issue of issue, and chose a male for her dynastic marriage.
Han's 5 systems are in the central area of the Network, surrounded by 'dead systems' (systems without habitable planets.) House Han maintains a strong space force and a tradition of elite soldiery, though it's been a long time since they were last tested. House Han maintains a fairly loose hegemony on the surrounding Independents and Minor Houses of a preferred trading partner status. It should be said however, that Han has traditional beef with the Guardians, a situation that has not been alleviated in thousands of years due to their insistence on maintaining genetic capable facilities for the purposes of providing the female-female dynastic marriages with offspring. House Han has two branch Houses (Anchova and Lira) that help run systems and vote in lock step with them in the conclave.
Territory: 5 congruent systems, surrounded by dead systems. Very loose control over most neighboring areas. Russia, not that anyone cares.
Characters:
The Lady Anna (Russian name, pronounced Ah-nuh) Finate-Han, third of her name, Mistress of Han Space, Heir to Legacy, Rightful Ruler of Earth and her Colonies, Keeper of The House Pledge: We Are Han, Unashamed.
In appearance, she is nothing like her legendary ancestors until you look into her eyes. The flash of intractable intellect and pride behind her green eyes is much the same. She has kept her House bureaucracy under family control, unlike so many Houses lost in decadence.
Consort Tamara Datar. Product of House Tessier's endless eugenics quest for the perfect celebrity, Tamara Datar fit almost every qualification. Intelligent, beautiful, charismatic, could sing, dance, act and was even mildly psionic. But she was too independent minded. Disappointed, Tessier shoveled her off into the high class consort business, and were very much surprised when House Han offered a ludicrous bid. What exactly Tamara Datar does at Pride Rock is a mystery, but she is never far from the Lady.
Lord William Tallic. Second son in House Tallic. Quite content to get drunk and party until such a time that the Lady decides it's time to try for an heir.
House Tessier:
Las Vegas had a one night stand with the music industry and then dropped the kid on Hollywood's doorstep. All the best casinos are here, all the best movies are made here. When you win the lottery, you go to Babylon. You leave two days later, poorer than you were before. System Tessiera houses the only Pan-Network music, movie, stimsim, and broadcast industries.
Though it had but one system and no military to speak of, House Tessier is nevertheless one of the most profitable Houses in the Network. Every six months they release a new big stimsim or movie. In April, the blockbuster or comedy hits. In October, the drama.
Territory: System Tessiera, which includes Planet Babylon and the Muses Station.
Characters:
The Lady Jane Tessier: Considered an oddball in the Conclave. Flighty, prone to non sequitur ramblings, insists on dressing in ridiculous fashions. Yet she (or someone) has beaten off several in House attempts to seize control of Tessier financials.
House Umberto:
A beloved House, distinguished by honor. Regardless of history, in the past 40 or so generations House Umberto has come to believe and act on its own propaganda. A tradition of self sacrifice and martyrdom seeps out of the Imperial Palace, itself little larger than the average bureaucrat's residence.
Behind this goody two shoes attitude, House Umberto controls a considerable manufacturing base, a large fleet, and a large army. They recently began a push to the edge of Network space, and control 6 productive systems. They also donate considerable funds to the Guardians, and other humanitarian organizations. They have one branch House (Cavour) that votes with them, as well as a coalition of three Minor Houses.
Territory: Six systems, Greater Rome. (A city state surrounding the Vatican city state)
Characters:
Emperor Umberto LXII, People's Emperor. A young Emperor, looking to make a name for himself. Came to power two years ago.
House O'Terra:
New kids on the block in Great House politics. Several years ago charismatic young Conri O'Terra, heir to House O'Terra and with it the Emerald System, favored vassals of House Basudan, proposed to Ariadne Paitakes, daughter of yet another vassal House. Lord Basudan, fearing the prospect of his vassals united, ordered the marriage broken. But where he saw political maneuvering, this was indeed a case of love, and one should always fear the power of love: it plays great with the plebes. Riding an outpouring of public support, and his father-in-law's carrier fleets, Conri battered and scattered the Basudan fleets, adding their home system to his own and splitting a branch family to rule the other.
The rise of O'Terra from Minor to Great has caught the imagination of the Network... for now. To many unhappy but conservative plebes, the dynamic energy displayed by O'Terra's supporters offers a path to reforming the status quo that is less threatening than, say the radical Solarian Revival.
Territory: 4 systems.
Conclave votes: 3 (O'Terra, Paitakes, and Grenora)
Characters:
Lord Conri O'Terra, handsome, reform minded, and a darling of the gutter press. Likes to play soldier, though he remains fairly untested.
The Lady Ariadne Paitakes, strikingly beautiful, she spent much of the war hostage, so like her husband remains untested. She is however, by all accounts intelligent.
Sir Ajax Paitakes, father of the bride. Once House Basudan's right hand, this hard man is a grey veteran of many a fleet action.
House Al Thani
The first (and largest) of the Miner Houses. More or less not ruled by the House members, who happy to enjoy the luxury provided for them. Instead a sprawling, expansive bureaucracy governs the House affairs.
Territory: 9 and growing, but most are dead systems in various stages of being mined out.
Conclave votes: 1, but is part of the Miner block, with a total of 4 votes.
Characters:
Basir Al Thani. Perhaps the only man in his House who cares. Serves as the House rep to the Conclave. Sometimes a very, frustrated, bitter man, but still a powerful voice and the de facto head of the Miner block.
House Ngwenyamas
A House formed of early UAD dissidents. The House has fluctuated between honorable and dishonorable, but today strains under a growing military spending and an outdated industrial complex that is lagging behind its neighbors.
Territory: 4 systems.
Conclave Votes: One vassal house.
Characters:
Mosi Ngwenyamas, Twentieth of His Name, Long May He Rule. Hot tempered, but charming otherwise, and reasonably well liked in the upper echelons of his House and others and his military.
House Solanki
A house derived from the India/Pakistan area, at first. Stead fast Conclave supporters of House rule, they have a respectable fleet, a respectable ground army, respectable production centers and a respectable trade fleet, respectable research centers and respectable reputation.
Territory: 4 systems.
Conclave Votes: One vassal house, one branch family.
House Tallic
Descended from heroes of the first Humanity Wars, House Tallic remains, along with House Umberto, a staunch supporter of Guardian policies. On the home front, Tallic lost a series of wars with House Han about a century ago, and only recently recouped their losses, partially at the expense of the Golden Cities client systems.
Territory: 3 systems, a loose group of Minor Houses in a Trade Zone.
Conclave Votes: One branch family.
Pandora Corp.
After Rowe's ouster by the Board and the subsequent destruction of Deimos,* Pandora Corp. HQ moved more or less permanently to the Asgard system. Though nearly stripped of all possible material, the Pandora work-yards there continue to provide the Network with well made, standardized.... well, everything, from kitchen appliances up to Thor class cruisers. You can buy better, they say, but never for that price.
*"Mr. Rowe," as one Board Member famously understated, "did not take his firing well.")
Solaris Revivalists
Not everyone loves the Conclave, and the Great Houses. The Independents, outcasts from House systems, relegated to the marginal dead systems, in particular, but even the underclasses of the Houses can grow restive. The Solaris Revivalists took to heart the Solaris anti-imperialist dogma, and though they've yet to do much, they worry the Conclave.
House Titokowaru (Minor House)
Behind a core of Mauri tradition, Japanese honor, American spirit, and Russian vodka a House was born. No Great House, she possessed naught but Neo Zealand and her two moons. Her fleet is zealously lead, but no force to be feared. What she does own, deep in her crusty, marginalized heart, is a warrior culture ready to fight and die for poorly understood causes and wars not of their own makings.
Territory: Neo Zealand, Pa Alamo, and Pa Stalingrad.
Houses Tela, Roy, and Tabor. (Miner Houses)
Trapped in a nether world, neither Great nor Minor, distinguished by technology and capabilities that are slowly slipping into the hands of others. 1 vote each, but in a block.
Various Minor Houses, of many makes and shapes. They plot endlessly against each other, occasionally attracting the attention of higher powers
And of course...
The Guardians of Humanity.
Characters:
Guardian Jonathan Rosse. A large man, older and battleworn. No particular strategist or finder of secrets, but given a target and an objective, quite a capable leader.
... and his ship, the Earth. She carries most of the heavy Mech Core and Armored Columns of the Guardian Marines. Heavily shielded, heavily armored, the Earth was ambushed by a full House fleet in a Network pocket. Layer after layer of heavy armor and Mobius shielding peeled back, only to reveal more beneath. Even as her core was exposed, the Earth continued firing and falling back, eventually kicking up to the Network and returning to the Venusian shipyards she called home. Her sister ships tore House Pendragon, denied the prize that might have saved them, to little shreds and left the ashes for the Conclave to squabble over.
Her presence in a system, routine checks aside, signals the Guardian's expectations of a straight slugfest.
Guardian Melanie Wainwright. A woman of many smiles, varying from 'I found that quite amusing' to 'I know where your children play.' At first glance, the least capable military leader of the big four. At second glance, a cunning strategist from the Guardian's Intel Ops Division with big picture credentials, and a fair tactician as well.
... and who wouldn't be, with the flexible firepower at her finger tips. The Water's main feature, big guns and shields aside, are the support ships she carries. These Outriders can be housed
in such a manner that they might fire both engines and weapons while still attached to the mothership, but are also quite capable of detatching and fighting on their own. The Water also carries a very large number of the Guardian Infantry, power suited soldiers trained to fight in the rat tunnels of a dug in system where orbital fire simply doesn't suffice.
Her presence in a system indicates the Guardian's expect either a highly fluid situation, or perhaps expectations of a long siege.
Guardian Hoshi Kai. An oddball in Network military masters, as a hotshot fighter jock who got promoted. Of the four, she is aggressive and unpredictable, neither bad traits in a commander.
Her ship, the Air fitting her name and commander, the Guardian's fighter base. Only the O'Terra's Pygmalion matches her for capacity. (Though the Air is much larger, she also has mainline guns, heavy shielding and everything a capital ship needs.) When the Air is in system, expect no escapees slipping through the cracks and a fair amount of swarm and board. The Air also carries a pretty good Spec Ops compliment.
And then there's Edward Dawes. Leader of the Guardians, a fairly young and handsome man, embodies the nature of the Guardians. Popular, benevolent, and quite capable of glassing planets with hardly an ounce of trouble.
and his ship, the Fire. A rarity in the system, carrying Plasma Lances and Spinners. Dismissed in conventional warfare because they can't fire through shields, the Fire does not carry them to win fights; she carries them to end fights. She is a sterilizer, dusting stations and planetside 'contraband' a like. She also carries the elite Fire Teams, the Black Ops equivalent of the plasma spinner.
When she leaves Sol at all it mean someone, somewhere, is soon to be on the receiving end of a very painful ass kicking.
There's your format: Summary, territory, characters. I've finalized how the stats will work, but I'm not revealing them just yet. DO know, however, that I added Defense as an espionage stat, and Conclave votes.
In an effort to draw down on the amount of crazy awesome prevalent in TW cannon (as we were pretty much at 'destroy planets at whim' levels) and to give the scientists in the next game a purpose, (and for IC reasons) a great number of technologies are banned and or heavily regulated. Among them, genetic technology. The greatest military force in the Network are the Guardians of Humanity, whose sole purpose is the destruction of AI's, genetic abominations, and other banned technologies. Also, should aliens show up, they'll probably fight them too.
FTL will be possible, but... limited in target areas. No hyperdrives, only Network Nodes. So you're limited to the systems that have been linked to the Network.
Re: Expanding the network.
Nodes can be 'developed' around sufficiently large stars with sufficient application of power. So far, putting more than four nodes around a star causes destabilization that eventually collapses a node. Destinations are random, be generally land within a few galaxies of the start node. Generally.
Developing a node is a highly specialized, expensive, and time intensive process that requires a lot of ground work. Mostly the Network is expanded by the Miner (not Minor) Houses.
Nodes are evenly spaced around the sun, in line with it's axis of rotation (e.g. along the plane with most of the rest of the matter in a system.) Their location varies with the size of the node and the size of the star, but the close end of the spectrum is about Saturn levels and some are way out in the Oort.
You need a Mobius Engine and, for larger or underpowered ships, Gaussian adjusters, to 'climb up' to a Node. The adjusters change the shape of the 'pocket' of volume that gets lifted to the Network, but the default of an unadjusted Mobius Engine is a long ellipsoid.
You can also 'climb up' to the Network outside of a node, but it takes a truly massive amount of time and power for even small scoutships. Sometimes a 'ghost ship' will pop up, running on autopilot, crew long dead of starvation or asphyxiation or in deep cryo (which is really rare, since no one has really used cryo tech since the formation of the Network.) Thus, falling off the Network is generally considered a Bad Idea.
Most great houses control 3-4 systems.
Banned techs:
Intelligent AI's (intentionally rather nebulous.)
Genetic engineering on humans. It's all natural or nothing.
There is an age limit of 150.
World ending level techs are frowned upon, underdeveloped (most wars are about conquest, not destruction), and have fallen behind defensive research.
Techs that no longer work:
After a brief golden age of psionics, the ability slowly faded from the human race. Current the best of the best psionics can light candles, lift boxes and detect surface emotions.
Military will be split space/ground, and probably come in tens. (One military in the old system = 10 in the new. Just for differentiation.)
Econ will be split into trade/production/logistics. You'll have to split up you production to your projects. Logistics lets you move more efficiently through things like army upkeep. Trade is cash, easy to earn, easy to spend. I'll keep track of things like 'unique goods' and such, but I'll roll it into trade.
Espionage is split between Black Ops (sabotage, assassinations, etc. etc.) and information gathering (double agents, turncoats, data and information.) And defense.
There will be tech levels (Weapons level x or ship design y or consumer goods z or whatever) and then research level. You can be high tech but stagnant, or low tech but growing.
Instead of quantization FO, you get a reputation. NPC's will interact with you on an individual basis. (Some will hate you, others not.)
Similarly, everyone gets a stat, ranging from Safe to Enemy of Humanity, reflecting the Guardian's public view on their faction.
Known Allies/Known Enemies will mostly be short hand to tease out the relationships of NPC's, though I'll let you know who in the world hates/likes you.
Morale will be split into Fear and Love, and a (sort of) composite of the two reflecting your Obedience. The Fear and love are not mutually exclusive.
Umm... yeah. So that up there was months old brainstorming during a downtime in the game.
Re Capital Ships:
The biggest in the Network are the Guardian Ships Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. And they are 'damn big.' Not quite Death Star, but are bigger than a Star Destroyer. Right now the upper limit isn't size but resources.
Most ships need to refuel 'eventually' though a ship built for it could function indefinitely on solar power.
The Miner's make their living by in house strip mining the systems, and then selling the leftovers (which may or may not include habitable/terraformable planets) to other Houses at truly huge prices.
There are many 'dead' systems in the Network. Most serve as buffers between the big houses, and actually hold large mining or space stations. These are the 'independents,' a strange bunch, who do not pay taxes to the Houses, but lack any sort of protection from them. Generally a place for romantics and those, due to crimes or politics, who must seek refuge from the House systems.
The dead systems also are notorious for pirates.
FTL will be possible, but... limited in target areas. No hyperdrives, only Network Nodes. So you're limited to the systems that have been linked to the Network.
Re: Expanding the network.
Nodes can be 'developed' around sufficiently large stars with sufficient application of power. So far, putting more than four nodes around a star causes destabilization that eventually collapses a node. Destinations are random, be generally land within a few galaxies of the start node. Generally.
Developing a node is a highly specialized, expensive, and time intensive process that requires a lot of ground work. Mostly the Network is expanded by the Miner (not Minor) Houses.
Nodes are evenly spaced around the sun, in line with it's axis of rotation (e.g. along the plane with most of the rest of the matter in a system.) Their location varies with the size of the node and the size of the star, but the close end of the spectrum is about Saturn levels and some are way out in the Oort.
You need a Mobius Engine and, for larger or underpowered ships, Gaussian adjusters, to 'climb up' to a Node. The adjusters change the shape of the 'pocket' of volume that gets lifted to the Network, but the default of an unadjusted Mobius Engine is a long ellipsoid.
You can also 'climb up' to the Network outside of a node, but it takes a truly massive amount of time and power for even small scoutships. Sometimes a 'ghost ship' will pop up, running on autopilot, crew long dead of starvation or asphyxiation or in deep cryo (which is really rare, since no one has really used cryo tech since the formation of the Network.) Thus, falling off the Network is generally considered a Bad Idea.
Most great houses control 3-4 systems.
Banned techs:
Intelligent AI's (intentionally rather nebulous.)
Genetic engineering on humans. It's all natural or nothing.
There is an age limit of 150.
World ending level techs are frowned upon, underdeveloped (most wars are about conquest, not destruction), and have fallen behind defensive research.
Techs that no longer work:
After a brief golden age of psionics, the ability slowly faded from the human race. Current the best of the best psionics can light candles, lift boxes and detect surface emotions.
Military will be split space/ground, and probably come in tens. (One military in the old system = 10 in the new. Just for differentiation.)
Econ will be split into trade/production/logistics. You'll have to split up you production to your projects. Logistics lets you move more efficiently through things like army upkeep. Trade is cash, easy to earn, easy to spend. I'll keep track of things like 'unique goods' and such, but I'll roll it into trade.
Espionage is split between Black Ops (sabotage, assassinations, etc. etc.) and information gathering (double agents, turncoats, data and information.) And defense.
There will be tech levels (Weapons level x or ship design y or consumer goods z or whatever) and then research level. You can be high tech but stagnant, or low tech but growing.
Instead of quantization FO, you get a reputation. NPC's will interact with you on an individual basis. (Some will hate you, others not.)
Similarly, everyone gets a stat, ranging from Safe to Enemy of Humanity, reflecting the Guardian's public view on their faction.
Known Allies/Known Enemies will mostly be short hand to tease out the relationships of NPC's, though I'll let you know who in the world hates/likes you.
Morale will be split into Fear and Love, and a (sort of) composite of the two reflecting your Obedience. The Fear and love are not mutually exclusive.
Umm... yeah. So that up there was months old brainstorming during a downtime in the game.
Re Capital Ships:
The biggest in the Network are the Guardian Ships Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. And they are 'damn big.' Not quite Death Star, but are bigger than a Star Destroyer. Right now the upper limit isn't size but resources.
Most ships need to refuel 'eventually' though a ship built for it could function indefinitely on solar power.
The Miner's make their living by in house strip mining the systems, and then selling the leftovers (which may or may not include habitable/terraformable planets) to other Houses at truly huge prices.
There are many 'dead' systems in the Network. Most serve as buffers between the big houses, and actually hold large mining or space stations. These are the 'independents,' a strange bunch, who do not pay taxes to the Houses, but lack any sort of protection from them. Generally a place for romantics and those, due to crimes or politics, who must seek refuge from the House systems.
The dead systems also are notorious for pirates.
The Network:
The Network Nodes, for reasons unknown, allow ships to surpass the speed of light. Salient facts:
1. The Network was here before humanity reached it.
2. A Network star can support four nodes. No more. The reasons for this is unknown. Attempting to force another pathway will cause destabilization in one of the other nodes.
3. Inside the Network, the Laws of Physics are consistent. A ship that enters a node at 30 kilometers an hour and then accelerates to 60 kpm will emerge from the other node at 60 kpm.
4. A 'node' is a sphere of space several kilometer in diameter.
5. A ship entering a node at a point x,y,z will exit the node at point x,y,z. The Z direction is approximately perpendicular to the system's plane, x points to the systems center of mass, and y is tangent to the gravity well of the system.
6. When a Mobius engine is activated, the ship is pulled into the Network space. It can emerge from the antipode point by powering down the Mobius engine once it has crossed the Network's Central Node.
7. No one knows what happens when you power down a Mobius engine while in the Central Node. This is because everyone who does is never seen again.
A very poor image of a Network tunnel: *----*----* Where each * is a Node and - is some space.
8. Creating a new Network node is a job for specialist with lots of capital and lots of time. Only three Houses and some PC's have the infrastructure to do so.
This means you can have fights on the Network... though it's pretty risky (ships that might have been merely 'crippled' with a shot to the Mobius Engine will fall off the Network.)
Tech:
General Tech info:
This is for average tech, currently represented by a +++ rating.
Ships: Capital ships are large, on the scale of Star Destroyers. Carriers can sometimes be larger. Current 'standard' doctrine emphasizes a focus on capital ships, but some Houses follow a heavily armed cruiser attitude (notably House Han) and others go for a carrier based fighter fleet (notably House O'Terra.)
The largest ships on the Network are the Guardian ships Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. These are followed rather far behind by the Terran carrier Pygmalion.
Weaponry these days favors railguns to punch through shielding, and lasers are used on fighters and for up close work and once shields go down.
Defensively, shielding generally draws power from the main reactors, and strength of shield is proportional to engine power. It is necessary to 'flicker' shields while firing, a reason for the discrete packet fire of railguns over laser power. When two shields touch (very rare even when one side tries for it, unless fighters are involved) they form a passable tunnel. At the long distances these battles are fought at, plasma weaponry has become rare due to distance lag.
Computers are not quite so advanced as most would expect by this time, as such work is frowned upon by the Guardians.
Artificial food is viable, but natural grown food sort of occupies an 'inexpensive luxury good' slot in life. Eating artificial food is reserved for the truly desperate and out of work, and is heavily stigmatized.
There is limited anti gravity, but no one has yet found a descent application for it that couldn't be replicated more cheaply via 'moar power!'
Most ships cruise on solar power (and batteries) and fight or climb to the Network on fusion. A system's civilian solar refueling centers (big space borne panel/battery combos) are often a first target during trade wars and sieges.
On the ground, depending on the sun in system, nuclear and solar power fill out ratios.
As for gateways, they grow increasingly unstable with prolonged use, are terribly vulnerable to enemy attacks (and very explosive when disabled), and generally not viable over long (intergalactic) distances. Thus they're more of a novelty item for rich people.
Manufacturing is generally fairly automated, though nanobots have been phased out by Guardian edict. ('GreyGoo tends to, by design or accident, become self replicating. This self replication is not only a public danger, but leads to evolution and networked pseudo intelligences.') Nevertheless, robotic production lines do well enough, and the move created much support for the Guardians, as it provided the lower classes with many jobs.
Many other jobs include the service sector (no robot waiters, see?) entertainment, military, and agriculture.
This is for average tech, currently represented by a +++ rating.
Ships: Capital ships are large, on the scale of Star Destroyers. Carriers can sometimes be larger. Current 'standard' doctrine emphasizes a focus on capital ships, but some Houses follow a heavily armed cruiser attitude (notably House Han) and others go for a carrier based fighter fleet (notably House O'Terra.)
The largest ships on the Network are the Guardian ships Fire, Earth, Air, and Water. These are followed rather far behind by the Terran carrier Pygmalion.
Weaponry these days favors railguns to punch through shielding, and lasers are used on fighters and for up close work and once shields go down.
Defensively, shielding generally draws power from the main reactors, and strength of shield is proportional to engine power. It is necessary to 'flicker' shields while firing, a reason for the discrete packet fire of railguns over laser power. When two shields touch (very rare even when one side tries for it, unless fighters are involved) they form a passable tunnel. At the long distances these battles are fought at, plasma weaponry has become rare due to distance lag.
Computers are not quite so advanced as most would expect by this time, as such work is frowned upon by the Guardians.
Artificial food is viable, but natural grown food sort of occupies an 'inexpensive luxury good' slot in life. Eating artificial food is reserved for the truly desperate and out of work, and is heavily stigmatized.
There is limited anti gravity, but no one has yet found a descent application for it that couldn't be replicated more cheaply via 'moar power!'
Most ships cruise on solar power (and batteries) and fight or climb to the Network on fusion. A system's civilian solar refueling centers (big space borne panel/battery combos) are often a first target during trade wars and sieges.
On the ground, depending on the sun in system, nuclear and solar power fill out ratios.
As for gateways, they grow increasingly unstable with prolonged use, are terribly vulnerable to enemy attacks (and very explosive when disabled), and generally not viable over long (intergalactic) distances. Thus they're more of a novelty item for rich people.
Manufacturing is generally fairly automated, though nanobots have been phased out by Guardian edict. ('GreyGoo tends to, by design or accident, become self replicating. This self replication is not only a public danger, but leads to evolution and networked pseudo intelligences.') Nevertheless, robotic production lines do well enough, and the move created much support for the Guardians, as it provided the lower classes with many jobs.
Many other jobs include the service sector (no robot waiters, see?) entertainment, military, and agriculture.
Some NPC's:
House Han:
A most old and respected House. Though it functions like any other, it stands out in some strange customs. It is a matriarchal House, and it practices polygamy: one marriage for love, one marriage for dynasty. Figuring out the sexuality of the next Han heir (as well figuring out which heir will actually lead the House) and offering the opposite gender is one of the greatest games in the Conclave dealings. This generation, for the first time in several, has not needed to seek scientific answers to the issue of issue, and chose a male for her dynastic marriage.
Han's 5 systems are in the central area of the Network, surrounded by 'dead systems' (systems without habitable planets.) House Han maintains a strong space force and a tradition of elite soldiery, though it's been a long time since they were last tested. House Han maintains a fairly loose hegemony on the surrounding Independents and Minor Houses of a preferred trading partner status. It should be said however, that Han has traditional beef with the Guardians, a situation that has not been alleviated in thousands of years due to their insistence on maintaining genetic capable facilities for the purposes of providing the female-female dynastic marriages with offspring. House Han has two branch Houses (Anchova and Lira) that help run systems and vote in lock step with them in the conclave.
Territory: 5 congruent systems, surrounded by dead systems. Very loose control over most neighboring areas. Russia, not that anyone cares.
Characters:
The Lady Anna (Russian name, pronounced Ah-nuh) Finate-Han, third of her name, Mistress of Han Space, Heir to Legacy, Rightful Ruler of Earth and her Colonies, Keeper of The House Pledge: We Are Han, Unashamed.
In appearance, she is nothing like her legendary ancestors until you look into her eyes. The flash of intractable intellect and pride behind her green eyes is much the same. She has kept her House bureaucracy under family control, unlike so many Houses lost in decadence.
Consort Tamara Datar. Product of House Tessier's endless eugenics quest for the perfect celebrity, Tamara Datar fit almost every qualification. Intelligent, beautiful, charismatic, could sing, dance, act and was even mildly psionic. But she was too independent minded. Disappointed, Tessier shoveled her off into the high class consort business, and were very much surprised when House Han offered a ludicrous bid. What exactly Tamara Datar does at Pride Rock is a mystery, but she is never far from the Lady.
Lord William Tallic. Second son in House Tallic. Quite content to get drunk and party until such a time that the Lady decides it's time to try for an heir.
House Tessier:
Las Vegas had a one night stand with the music industry and then dropped the kid on Hollywood's doorstep. All the best casinos are here, all the best movies are made here. When you win the lottery, you go to Babylon. You leave two days later, poorer than you were before. System Tessiera houses the only Pan-Network music, movie, stimsim, and broadcast industries.
Though it had but one system and no military to speak of, House Tessier is nevertheless one of the most profitable Houses in the Network. Every six months they release a new big stimsim or movie. In April, the blockbuster or comedy hits. In October, the drama.
Territory: System Tessiera, which includes Planet Babylon and the Muses Station.
Characters:
The Lady Jane Tessier: Considered an oddball in the Conclave. Flighty, prone to non sequitur ramblings, insists on dressing in ridiculous fashions. Yet she (or someone) has beaten off several in House attempts to seize control of Tessier financials.
House Umberto:
A beloved House, distinguished by honor. Regardless of history, in the past 40 or so generations House Umberto has come to believe and act on its own propaganda. A tradition of self sacrifice and martyrdom seeps out of the Imperial Palace, itself little larger than the average bureaucrat's residence.
Behind this goody two shoes attitude, House Umberto controls a considerable manufacturing base, a large fleet, and a large army. They recently began a push to the edge of Network space, and control 6 productive systems. They also donate considerable funds to the Guardians, and other humanitarian organizations. They have one branch House (Cavour) that votes with them, as well as a coalition of three Minor Houses.
Territory: Six systems, Greater Rome. (A city state surrounding the Vatican city state)
Characters:
Emperor Umberto LXII, People's Emperor. A young Emperor, looking to make a name for himself. Came to power two years ago.
House O'Terra:
New kids on the block in Great House politics. Several years ago charismatic young Conri O'Terra, heir to House O'Terra and with it the Emerald System, favored vassals of House Basudan, proposed to Ariadne Paitakes, daughter of yet another vassal House. Lord Basudan, fearing the prospect of his vassals united, ordered the marriage broken. But where he saw political maneuvering, this was indeed a case of love, and one should always fear the power of love: it plays great with the plebes. Riding an outpouring of public support, and his father-in-law's carrier fleets, Conri battered and scattered the Basudan fleets, adding their home system to his own and splitting a branch family to rule the other.
The rise of O'Terra from Minor to Great has caught the imagination of the Network... for now. To many unhappy but conservative plebes, the dynamic energy displayed by O'Terra's supporters offers a path to reforming the status quo that is less threatening than, say the radical Solarian Revival.
Territory: 4 systems.
Conclave votes: 3 (O'Terra, Paitakes, and Grenora)
Characters:
Lord Conri O'Terra, handsome, reform minded, and a darling of the gutter press. Likes to play soldier, though he remains fairly untested.
The Lady Ariadne Paitakes, strikingly beautiful, she spent much of the war hostage, so like her husband remains untested. She is however, by all accounts intelligent.
Sir Ajax Paitakes, father of the bride. Once House Basudan's right hand, this hard man is a grey veteran of many a fleet action.
House Al Thani
The first (and largest) of the Miner Houses. More or less not ruled by the House members, who happy to enjoy the luxury provided for them. Instead a sprawling, expansive bureaucracy governs the House affairs.
Territory: 9 and growing, but most are dead systems in various stages of being mined out.
Conclave votes: 1, but is part of the Miner block, with a total of 4 votes.
Characters:
Basir Al Thani. Perhaps the only man in his House who cares. Serves as the House rep to the Conclave. Sometimes a very, frustrated, bitter man, but still a powerful voice and the de facto head of the Miner block.
House Ngwenyamas
A House formed of early UAD dissidents. The House has fluctuated between honorable and dishonorable, but today strains under a growing military spending and an outdated industrial complex that is lagging behind its neighbors.
Territory: 4 systems.
Conclave Votes: One vassal house.
Characters:
Mosi Ngwenyamas, Twentieth of His Name, Long May He Rule. Hot tempered, but charming otherwise, and reasonably well liked in the upper echelons of his House and others and his military.
House Solanki
A house derived from the India/Pakistan area, at first. Stead fast Conclave supporters of House rule, they have a respectable fleet, a respectable ground army, respectable production centers and a respectable trade fleet, respectable research centers and respectable reputation.
Territory: 4 systems.
Conclave Votes: One vassal house, one branch family.
House Tallic
Descended from heroes of the first Humanity Wars, House Tallic remains, along with House Umberto, a staunch supporter of Guardian policies. On the home front, Tallic lost a series of wars with House Han about a century ago, and only recently recouped their losses, partially at the expense of the Golden Cities client systems.
Territory: 3 systems, a loose group of Minor Houses in a Trade Zone.
Conclave Votes: One branch family.
Pandora Corp.
After Rowe's ouster by the Board and the subsequent destruction of Deimos,* Pandora Corp. HQ moved more or less permanently to the Asgard system. Though nearly stripped of all possible material, the Pandora work-yards there continue to provide the Network with well made, standardized.... well, everything, from kitchen appliances up to Thor class cruisers. You can buy better, they say, but never for that price.
*"Mr. Rowe," as one Board Member famously understated, "did not take his firing well.")
Solaris Revivalists
Not everyone loves the Conclave, and the Great Houses. The Independents, outcasts from House systems, relegated to the marginal dead systems, in particular, but even the underclasses of the Houses can grow restive. The Solaris Revivalists took to heart the Solaris anti-imperialist dogma, and though they've yet to do much, they worry the Conclave.
House Titokowaru (Minor House)
Behind a core of Mauri tradition, Japanese honor, American spirit, and Russian vodka a House was born. No Great House, she possessed naught but Neo Zealand and her two moons. Her fleet is zealously lead, but no force to be feared. What she does own, deep in her crusty, marginalized heart, is a warrior culture ready to fight and die for poorly understood causes and wars not of their own makings.
Territory: Neo Zealand, Pa Alamo, and Pa Stalingrad.
Houses Tela, Roy, and Tabor. (Miner Houses)
Trapped in a nether world, neither Great nor Minor, distinguished by technology and capabilities that are slowly slipping into the hands of others. 1 vote each, but in a block.
Various Minor Houses, of many makes and shapes. They plot endlessly against each other, occasionally attracting the attention of higher powers
And of course...
The Guardians of Humanity.
Characters:
Guardian Jonathan Rosse. A large man, older and battleworn. No particular strategist or finder of secrets, but given a target and an objective, quite a capable leader.
... and his ship, the Earth. She carries most of the heavy Mech Core and Armored Columns of the Guardian Marines. Heavily shielded, heavily armored, the Earth was ambushed by a full House fleet in a Network pocket. Layer after layer of heavy armor and Mobius shielding peeled back, only to reveal more beneath. Even as her core was exposed, the Earth continued firing and falling back, eventually kicking up to the Network and returning to the Venusian shipyards she called home. Her sister ships tore House Pendragon, denied the prize that might have saved them, to little shreds and left the ashes for the Conclave to squabble over.
Her presence in a system, routine checks aside, signals the Guardian's expectations of a straight slugfest.
Guardian Melanie Wainwright. A woman of many smiles, varying from 'I found that quite amusing' to 'I know where your children play.' At first glance, the least capable military leader of the big four. At second glance, a cunning strategist from the Guardian's Intel Ops Division with big picture credentials, and a fair tactician as well.
... and who wouldn't be, with the flexible firepower at her finger tips. The Water's main feature, big guns and shields aside, are the support ships she carries. These Outriders can be housed
in such a manner that they might fire both engines and weapons while still attached to the mothership, but are also quite capable of detatching and fighting on their own. The Water also carries a very large number of the Guardian Infantry, power suited soldiers trained to fight in the rat tunnels of a dug in system where orbital fire simply doesn't suffice.
Her presence in a system indicates the Guardian's expect either a highly fluid situation, or perhaps expectations of a long siege.
Guardian Hoshi Kai. An oddball in Network military masters, as a hotshot fighter jock who got promoted. Of the four, she is aggressive and unpredictable, neither bad traits in a commander.
Her ship, the Air fitting her name and commander, the Guardian's fighter base. Only the O'Terra's Pygmalion matches her for capacity. (Though the Air is much larger, she also has mainline guns, heavy shielding and everything a capital ship needs.) When the Air is in system, expect no escapees slipping through the cracks and a fair amount of swarm and board. The Air also carries a pretty good Spec Ops compliment.
And then there's Edward Dawes. Leader of the Guardians, a fairly young and handsome man, embodies the nature of the Guardians. Popular, benevolent, and quite capable of glassing planets with hardly an ounce of trouble.
and his ship, the Fire. A rarity in the system, carrying Plasma Lances and Spinners. Dismissed in conventional warfare because they can't fire through shields, the Fire does not carry them to win fights; she carries them to end fights. She is a sterilizer, dusting stations and planetside 'contraband' a like. She also carries the elite Fire Teams, the Black Ops equivalent of the plasma spinner.
When she leaves Sol at all it mean someone, somewhere, is soon to be on the receiving end of a very painful ass kicking.
There's your format: Summary, territory, characters. I've finalized how the stats will work, but I'm not revealing them just yet. DO know, however, that I added Defense as an espionage stat, and Conclave votes.