Note: Inspired by [@Water Akira]'s interest check and aspects of the movie Interstellar. [u]Adventure Beyond the Stars[/u][hider=Introduction][i] The year- 2150. The era- Space Exploration We're in a golden age, so to speak. Three Blocs have prevailed on the global scale, and taken to the sky- the Sino-Russ Bloc, consisting of Russia, Ukraine, China, and many of the smaller satellites scattered around them. The second Bloc- The Euro-East Bloc- has taken control of the world's fossil fuels and a larger majority of the first-world population- meaning that yes, the Middle East did, in fact, stop fighting everyone and took on a more diplomatic role in their eventual conquering of the human race. The last Bloc is that of the North American Commonwealth, paired with various factions from Africa, Japan, India, and Australia, making up the New Alliance. These three factions have squabbled over the resources of the solar system for about half a century now- Mars was taken by Sino-Russ Bloc, the Moon and the asteroid belt taken by the New Alliance, and the various moons of Jupiter and Saturn taken by the Euro-East Bloc. These three Blocs are very similar in technologies- indeed, every time one made a discovery, it didn't take too terribly long for everyone else to 'discover' it as well. However, they each had their secret projects- the Euro-East were more concerned with self-sustaining energies, and have significant, top-secret research in the field of antimatter. While everyone else knows of the antimatter development, they haven't considered it cost-effective to steal and use it, nor do they realize how deep the research into this area is. The New Alliance has significant dealings with various corporations- the most primary of them all being Lockheed Martin, founded over a century beforehand- and has the most extensive spaceborne navy and military. The Sino-Russ Bloc has their own neural networking research, going so extensive that the pilots for their best pilots don't have an organic brain anymore- replaced by a neural processor instead. Still human, just faster, smarter, etc. The squabbling had been dying down by 2150, debts were becoming settled, disputes being solved, and it seemed that a golden age might dawn with all the technological advancements. The New Alliance was expanding through the asteroid belt, breaking out record-high production with everything from iron to iridium, holding a major economic advantage by producing all those rare minerals. The Euro-East was receiving hefty support from both Blocs because of their interest in the Alcubierre Drive, and the Sino-Russ had increased research into quantum mechanics, trying to figure out something FTL. It was a great surprise when, just in the interplanetary space between Mars and Venus, a very sudden anomaly occurred. It was first noticed by a New Alliance patrol- and moments afterwards, the Sino-Russo as they spotted what lay just before the patrol. The Euro-East had been listening in, of course, between both communications between the Sino-Russians, and the New Alliance, and figured out what happened fairly quickly. It didn't take long for accusations to fly, and a massive espionage operation to go underway. The New Alliance accused the Sino-Russos, who in turn accused the Euro-Easts, who in turn accused both of them. It took three months before the mad dash to see who ACTUALLY did it ended, and all three sides realized what just happened. A wormhole like this was most certainly not a coincidence- how could it be? It was stable and it was small, but large enough for a moon to pass through. And so with wary handshakes and eyeing, all three sides came to a tentative agreement to push a combined task force through. It wasn't taken lightly- the negotiations took another year to finish, in order to agree to everyone's demands. By the end of it, it was decided that four ships- one commanded by each faction, and then one record-breaking Cruiser outfitted with everything from attack corvettes to fighters and bombers to a full compliment of task-force marines from the various factions, plus a full suite of scientific and diplomatic equipment and crew. The three smaller ships, each representing their own faction, were only to escort and watch, and let the combined force ship do all the work. Everything from exploring a habitable planet (if there was one) to taking out an alien assailant, they were prepared and ready to risk death to find new lands and possibly the people that made the wormhole. Instead, the four ships tentatively crossed the barrier between their system and the great beyond, and found themselves in a completely unfamiliar solar system... within some weird kind of nebula. Visual sight, usually infinite and only restricted by the eyes themselves, went down to about twenty kilometers, as they entered a mysterious, glowing cloud that permeated the entire system. Regular sensors worked fine, but the more complex, the more they were screwed up by the cloud. No ship wanted to return, in case something was lost. Instead, they found that there were over two dozen planets in the system- eight of them in the liquid water zone. The solar system was no bigger than that of the Milky Way, and yet it had more than twice the planets on miraculous orbits that either just missed each other, or balanced each other out, maintaining and unheard-of equilibrium. And every single one of the planets in the liquid water zone showed signs of life. Some of them were absolutely teeming- others, not so much. But each showed signs of life, and because all the sensors that would normally do the work were down, teams had to be sent down to each planet, one by one, and then return home. They found no aliens, they found no devices. It was simply another, strange system. Pulling into the gravity well of the first, closest planet, they looked down through sketchy imaging to see what appeared to be a jungle of massive vines, mushrooms, and other unexplainable structures of what is hopefully plants. And then the men making up the task force, between the three great empires of the Milky Way System, dropped onto an unknown, possibly hostile planet, for God knows what reasons. [/i][/hider] Interested? Ask any questions I'll post both the question and answer right up here. [hider=Questions Asked and Answered] [quote=@Anodyne] so who exactly would we be playing [/quote] [hider=Response- Who you are and what you can have] Well, mainly the people in the task force! However, due to the equipment breaking, specialists will have to go down with the task force, meaning that you can be a soldier, pilot, medic, scientist, engineer, any of that. Just make it reasonable. Also note that other Blocs may give you technology that you can use- for example, a soldier for the New Alliance may get some fancy Sino-Russo cybernetic implants to increase his agility and speed, or something like that. It's completely at the discretion of the user, just don't go overboard. A Sino-Russo political influencing on your character may be that of the cybernetic implants as a 'offering,' while a Euro-East might give you some interesting energy weapons or exoskeletons, while the New Alliance might furnish you completely with body armor and weapons. New Alliance would likely have the better fighters, tanks, that sort of thing. The Euro-East would have the combat suits, walkers, and VTOL, while the Sino-Russos would have the cybernetics, the cool gadgets and that sort of thing. New Alliance- Hard military Euro-East- Advanced energy items, like suits and energy swords (like Halo) Sino-Russo- Advanced alterations, artificial or organic, plus devices like jetpacks, invisiblity cloaks, that sort of thing. Note that you'll only get funded by one faction, and gifted by another. Again, don't go overboard.[/hider] [quote=@Pie Flavor] Well let me ask, will the New Alliance Fraction, have better defensive technology considering that they are fully investing in the military? Or would another fraction have that area of specialization, which Euro-East would be my second next best due to their investment with energy tech. Or has it even been created yet and simply does not exist yet (which will be a problem with such bulky hulls on ships) (Edit: Im taking about like force-fields and etc.) [/quote] [hider=Response- Shields with the EuroEast and the Alliance] Well, this is a good question! Well, the way I see it, The Euro-East Bloc would have better shields in that they regenerate faster, and can do so very much longer, but they won't be able to take as much punishment at one time. Better for getting hit a few times. Alliance shields, on the other hand, would be more likely to hold up after consistent fire, but would only 'recharge' very slowly, and has a limited battery. [/hider] [quote=@PyroDash888] So, if I wanted to make a pilot (dropship/fighter), what faction would you suggest? [/quote] [hider= Response- New Alliance and Euro-East Dropships] New Alliance would have the heavy stuff- let's say the Wasp Dropship- that's got heavy armor, big guns, and all that. The Euro-East would likely have the lighter, faster aircraft that rely more on electronic warfare and shields. More likely, it'd be Euro-East aircraft used for drops on planets with no notable lifeforms other than plants or small animals- on planets with creatures evidently roaming around, New Alliance dropships would be called in for heavy air support. [/hider] [quote=@13sparx13] Just to make sure, you don't mind my quantum BS that's going on here, do you? There's not much tech to scale from exactly, so there's a good chance it's a bit ridiculous. Of course, pretty much every quantum thing I have going there is 'this is gonna explode in your face', but I like to be sure. [/quote] [hider=Quantum Device Limits] Good question- Not too much. It might go unstable and break- especially with the 'weird' interference in the system- or something like that. I'd suggest that the only thing that's really stable and available would be quantum entanglement communicators, which would probably be back on the starships to instantly talk to home. You might have a type of pack or something that has one, though. I daresay that it'd probably be a piece of equipment worth trillions, and would likely be very... unpleasant to break. Experimental items, not so much. So yeah, maybe a couple quantum mechanic devices, but not more than two or three total.[/hider] [/hider] [hider=Current Characters w/ Summary of each] blaaaank [/hider][hider=Character Sheet/Skeleton] {Appearance} Name: Age: Gender: Personality: (Also optional, just fill it in as you go, so other people can see your character after you've developed him/her a bit) Home Faction: Which one do you serve for? Sponsored Faction: Which one gave you a few goodies for influence? (Optional) Skills: What are you good at? Purpose: Are you a Defender, a soldier to protect the scientists? Note that you will have to double up- a soldier might be a medic, or a researcher might also be a coordinator, and that kind of thing. Strengths: What are you good at, overall? Note that everyone will probably have decent endurance, at the very least, because the factions wouldn't want to send people who might not be able to run from a threat. Weaknesses: Bad at armwrestles? Absolute crap with a handgun? Fear of heights, or spiders? Weapons: Try to list your more important stuff. Rifles, handguns, grenades, that sort of thing. Special Equipment: Anything out of the ordinary. If you want, list everything, or you can just list the more notable stuff. This includes the gifted items Armor/Wear: What are you wearing? Civie clothes? Battlesuit? Exoskeleton? Basic combat bodyarmor? Vehicles: Got any vehicles? Everything is going to be 'relatively' light and manueverable. Tanks would likely be hovers, and walkers would be the faster, less bulky kind, since everything has to be dropped and picked up from orbit. Biography: Optional, you can make it up as you go. Just give a vague thing, at the least, so you have something to go on, and you can't just coincidentally have this or that. Your superiors (NPCs, or me) WILL know your backstory. Other:[/hider][hider=Planets we'll visit!] Got any ideas? Tell me! Alright tourists, here's the itinerary for our eight planets: G2-S1-P5 - Jungle world! Inhabited by multicolored vines, 'shrooms, reptillian monkeys, and other creatures! G2-S1-P6 - Desert world! Inhabited by large walking cactus-y-things, sandsharks, and the like! G2-S1-P7 G2-S1-P8 G2-S1-P9 - World with a primitive people in the medieval era! They build primarily under the massive floating mountains, using the water falling from beneath to give them protection, where weak walls would not. Also, it has massive floating mountains, in case you didn't hear. G2-S1-P10 G2-S1-P11 G2-S1-P12[/hider][hider=The Factions of Earth] [hider=Sino-Russ Bloc] The Sino-Russo Bloc is the primary Asian faction that's taken the majority of that area. Ranging from Russia to China, and many of the satellite states between and around, it's like the Soviet Union with a big dose of espionage rather than such brute force they showed before. They're inclined to neural networking- with cybernetics and the like, even being the only nation/faction with cyborgs and people with their brains completely removed, in favor of a Neural Processor that works far better (keeps memories and all that). They're generally the least trusted, and trusting, of the Big Three. They're likely to have all the material gadgets, like explosive pens![/hider] [hider=The Euro-East Bloc] Oh indeed, the Middle East united and joined with Europe! A strange intermixing between Christians, Sunnis, and Shias, all the warring sides kinda gave up after being repeatedly beaten down. They decided to join together, since Europe was already the East's biggest fan (cause of the oil'n'stuff, and the new production they started), and became a nation more inclined towards battlesuits, walkers, exoskeletons, and the kind of weapons that use lots of energies. They're the only ones that have created so-called 'infinite batteries,' so they can use their big walkers and stuff without having to recharge every six hours. Look to them for mechanical suits, energy swords, weapons, that kind of thing.[/hider] [hider=The New Alliance of Various Nations and the North American Commonwealth] Most often referred to as "The Alliance" or the "New Alliance," and occasionally in the most casual for, the "NAH!", the faction consists of the majority of states in Canada, Greenland, United States of America, and most South American nations, making up the North American Commonwealth, plus the addition of Australia, India, parts of Africa, and other nations that are a bit out of the loop but offering something of use. Taking true to the American way, the majority of this faction is focused more on military and pure money-making. They have the largest military of all three factions, with the largest spaceborne navy to match. They actively patrol the solar system- part of a deal between the three factions, where they support the patrols so long as they are kept neutral. The NAH! specializes more in the field of hard military, with tanks, jets, helicopters, etc., the traditional and conventional weapons.[/hider][/hider][hider=Rules] Here are some rules that need to be covered and followed: 1. No godmoding- you are not Thor the All-Powerful 2. No metagaming- you are not Hermaeous Mora, the All-Knowing 3. No powergaming- You still aren't Hermaous Mora, the all-knowing and understanding. 4. I'm the GM. If you disagree with me, cool, but my word is law unless you have a really good reason that stumps my argument. 5. You're not going to be high-ranking, okay? Otherwise, you wouldn't be on the ground. Say, E-1 through E-5 ish, on [url=http://www.militaryfactory.com/ranks/marine_ranks.asp]military ranks[/url] 6. Try to be respectful, please. Anything gets out of hand, I will either kick you from the roleplay, or summon a moderator to resolve the issue. Debate is fine- but not arguments. 7. Please don't be an ass. 8. Have fun- or I'll kill you with the Digger of Doom (Warface reference)[/hider]