[center][i]The universe has ended. It had always been mere speculation, but in the end, reality proved to be a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_vacuum#Vacuum_metastability_event]False Vacuum[/url]. Either by chance or due to the machinations of some unknown force, multiple nucleating wavefronts of true vacuum were generated within the Virgo Supercluster. These bubbles of spacetime, after expanding to swallow entire galaxies, began to expand faster than light as the rest of the universe began to implode upon the new expansive regions. As a result, the entirety of your civilization was engulfed in the true vacuum in an instant, without warning. By some unforeseen miracle, all life and reality as it is known fail to cease. You have found yourself displaced in an entirely new universe. Theories abound as to how such is possible, but no firm answers are forthcoming. Of more immediate concern is that the ultimate ecological disaster did not affect you alone. Other nations, other sovereign powers and forces, were displaced as well. Your nation, regardless of its previous existence, now finds itself isolated in an entirely unfamiliar geopolitical landscape. New alliances will be forged. New hatreds will be kindled. The great minds were wrong. In this new universe, the capacity for a joyous existence remains. The paradigm of life, intelligence, and impetus go on.[/i] [b][s]888888888888[/s][/b][/center] Welcome to the new Advanced Space NRP on the block, again. Hopefully this one will possess more longevity than its predecessors. Here is a link to the thread's [url=http://us19.chatzy.com/71048596582258]chatzy[/url], I will remain on standby there with pings enabled. If you ever need to discuss an issue with me or ask a question, come on in. Incessant idle chatter about the RP in general is also encouraged. The [url=http://piratepad.net/front-page/]piratepad frontpage[/url] for those of you not already familiar with it. [url=https://titanpad.com/]Titanpad[/url] too, in case piratepad is down for some reason. [hider=Regional Map]Below are a couple of maps and a map legend. Some basic information: [list][*]The map is 800x800 pixels, with every individual pixel representing one-hundred lightyears. [*]The map exists as as a three-dimensional cube with a width of eighty-thousand lightyears and a height of eighty-thousand lightyears, illustrated in two flat X,Y,Z coordinate maps. [*]The region has an internal volume of some five-hundred and twelve trillion lightyears. [*]Star density in our box is lower than the average density of stars in the milky way, but has an added vertical dimension. In the Milky Way, the accretion disk has a height of only 12 lightyears. We have fewer stars, AND an added vertical dimension, so we have a lower star density. [*]There are around nineteen-billion stars in our little box, with an average distance of thirty lightyears between them. [*]A single pixel on our map contains approximately thirty-seven stars.[/list] [hider=Coordinate List]Here are the coordinate locations for everything on the maps, including anomalies. For identifying the anomalies, they are ordered from left to right, and their order remains the same across both maps (since they just move up or down between them). So 'Magnetar One' is the Magnetar furthest to the left on both maps. Coordinates shown here have been rounded in order to make distance calculations easier. Need to calculation distances quick? [url=http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/geometry-solids/distance-two-points.php]Here[/url] is a handy calculation site. In case that is not working or you prefer the hands on approach, here's a manual input equation for you: Sqrt((x2 - x1)^2 + (y2 - y1)^2 + (z2 - z1)^2). Nation Coordinates: [@Nilesapa] - 620, 670, 330 [@Eschatologist] - 360, 230, 410 [@Monkeypants] - 180, 380, 730 [@Facepunch] - 640, 400, 280 [@AbysmalDemon] - 440, 240, 740 [@Willy Vereb] - 300, 570, 500 [@Keyguyperson] - 530, 740, 700 [@Mihndar] - 530, 610, 530 [@Terminal] - 650, 680, 240 [@AmongHeroes] - 160, 620, 240 [@SgtEasy] - 360, 540, 610 [@Durandal] - 560, 390, 180 [@Ascendant] - 570, 270, 690 [@Beach Burrito] - 740, 20, 480 [@Grisette] - 230, 230, 400 [@Isotope] - 750, 140, 540 [@Apollo26] - 760, 640, 410 [@Darkspleen] - 20, 50, 280 [@Duck55223] - 60, 220, 500 [@eemmtt] - 740, 570, 270 [@Heartfelt Gamer] - 620, 290, 200 Anomalies: Rogue Galactic Core - 450, 680, 490 Blazar Bubble One - 260, 470, 640 Blazar Bubble Two - 450, 480, 300 Supernova Remnant One - 160, 510, 690 Supernova Remnant Two - 180, 230, 530 Supernova Remnant Three - 480, 330, 120 Supernova Remnant Four - 600, 100, 320 Magnetar One - 260, 310, 450 Magnetar Two - 480, 730, 330 Magnetar Three - 500, 470, 240 Magnetar Four - 640, 550, 560 Wormhole One - 60, 30, 300 Wormhole Two - 280, 480, 560 Wormhole Three - 390, 120, 430 Wormhole Four - 500, 790, 610 Wormhole Five - 600, 300, 200 Wormhole Six - 760, 390, 760[/hider][hider=X-Y Map][color=red]Red Line[/color]: X Axis [color=green]Green Line[/color]: Y Axis[img]http://i.imgur.com/9emXXEu.png[/img][/hider][hider=X-Z Map][color=red]Red Line[/color]: X Axis [color=blue]Blue Line[/color]: Z Axis[img]http://i.imgur.com/DQHl1Ob.png[/img][/hider][hider=XYZ Comparison Map][color=red]Red Line[/color]: X Axis [color=green]Green Line[/color]: Y Axis [color=blue]Blue Line[/color]: Z Axis White Line: Map Divider[img]http://i.imgur.com/pq39tz3.png[/img][/hider][hider=Map Legend][center][img]http://i.imgur.com/a6Afylu.png[/img] This is a Rogue [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_galactic_nucleus]Galactic Core[/url]! Displaced from its home galaxy, it thankfully is not spewing out any blazars and so is relatively docile so long as you keep your distance. Its most significant effect on the map is its dark-matter footprint, which affects FTL travel in unusual ways. Close proximity to the core will render FTL jumps increasingly inaccurate, displacing them further away than intended from their desired destination point...skewed in the direction of the core, by a magnitude inversely proportional to the distance from the core. So the closer you get, the more dangerous FTL travel is.[/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/ZRNoPBP.png[/img] Watch out! It's a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_astronomy#Recent_observations]Blazar Bubble[/url] Remnant! It does not matter /how/ technologically advanced you are or how super-duper your experimental Superdreadnought prototype is, if it goes in here it's DONE. Conventional matter of any kind flash-vaporizes within this region, so be very careful about moving around it. If everyone is fortunate, the region should hopefully dissipate within several hundred million years.[/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/3mCcsb5.png[/img] A [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_remnant]Supernova Remnant[/url]! Don't let that calm eye fool you, the stormwall is still capable of baking entire planets into balls of molten slag and is only now starting to to dissipate. Ships can still move through it, but they'd better have good armor and excellent shielding. While dangerous to maneuver around, the inner system is a cornucopia rich with otherwise rare protoplanetary matter and aggregate floating about in loose, nebular clouds.[/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/HIi2riJ.png[/img] This rare sight is a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetar]Magnetar[/url]. A neutron star that is so magnetic, it actually polarizes the surrounding vacuum, rendering it birefringent, and all sorts of other weird and incidentally horribly lethal things. It may be dangerous, but it's an excellent site of study for high-energy physics, and may help you to better understand the new True Vacuum Universe if you analyze it carefully.[/center] [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/04lbCYn.png[/img] An inexplicably stable [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole#Schwarzschild_wormholes]Schwarzschild wormhole[/url]. Assuming you can pass the event horizon and survive close proximity to the singularity, you should be able to 'fall' past its maximally extended terminus boundary and be ejected from the event horizon of another wormhole somewhere else. Just be careful not to be immediately pulled back into the event horizon you just shot out of.[/center][/hider][/hider] [hider=The Premise]Every nation in play has been displaced from the false vacuum universe and finds themselves in an entirely new universe at a random coordinate location (which, for our purposes, occurred four weeks prior to the start of the RP). This involves a bit of weirdness, since every civilization has been displaced in a cookie-cutter fashion - every planet and star that was a part of each respective power remained in the same place respective to each other, but every other star and celestial body in the universe was thrown to a new spot. Amongst other things, this means there are no galaxies or star clusters in the new universe - everything is just floating around in an unorganized jumble right now. The True Vacuum universe is therefore rife with rogue planets, surprise singularities, supernova remnants, massive gamma bubble fields, and more. Lots of room for esoteric space adventures in other words. If, for any reason, one poster or another is forced to withdraw, or is simply inactive/AWOL, it will be said that their entire nation -mysteriously vanished' due to anomalous events due to shenanigans involving the new universe. Similarly, new nations can be placed anywhere they like on the map without having to worry about pre-established history. It's a new universe and there is lots of uncategorized weirdness drifting around, so new nations appearing out of the blue will not be entirely surprising.[/hider][hider=Rules]-This is a Collaborative Roleplay. If you're here, that means that you are trying to play with others. Make sure you play well. Keep things civil, and remember that it costs you [i]nothing[/i] to be polite. If you find yourself in an argument anyway, please try to confine it to PMs. Do not clutter the OOC with personal grievances. -Follow the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/531-fundamental-rules-of-the-guild/ooc]standard guild rules[/url]. -Obey the Dark Lord Sauron's [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/77197-moderation-policy-in-the-rp-sections/ooc]rules[/url] as well (just to cover all the bases). -This is a soft science Roleplay. I prefer Hard Science myself but will not be enforcing rigid technological functionality. If you say your super laser is powered by exotic super duper matter, I will take your word for it. However, my patience for the ridiculous is limited. Your stuff does not need to make scientific sense, but make sure it is at least internally consistent and reasonable within the expectations of the genre. If you aren't entirely sure what that constitutes, that is perfectly ok. Ask about it here in the OOC or contact me directly.[/hider][hider=General Rulings]Here is a list of general rulings on points of contention common to most Space NRPs. These are /general/ rules, and I am open to occasional exceptions as long as there is good reasoning and intent behind them. These will be judged on a per-case basis. Also note, some of the figures listed here are subject to change. -There is a speed limit on FTL travel. It takes a full week to travel 10,000 lightyears (for reference, the Milky Way is approximately 80-100,000 lightyears in diameter, so this is fairly high for a speed cap). -Local Area FTL Jamming will exist as a defensive measure to prevent Alpha Strikes on Homeworlds and similar nonsense. Blitz can still be run since the range for Jammers will be limited to (relatively) small areas of space, and will be severely limited in number. It's mostly intended to give strategic planets time to brace themselves.[hider=Jamming Elaboration]Jammers, for the purposes of this RP, are to be stationary structures - space stations or planetary facilities. They are [i]relatively[/i] short ranged. Specifically, I'm going to say as a general rule of thumb that they have a maximum range of One Astronomical Unit, or approximately 150,000,000 kilometers. A fleet of ships moving at a constant velocity of 50,000 kilometer per minute would be able to cross that distance in two days. In essence, jammers buy you a little bit of time to brace for an impending attack fleet. Jammers can be discriminatory - targeting only a specific form of FTL - or they can be Nondiscriminatory - targeting EVERY conceivable form of FTL. Both forms have their advantages and disadvantages, which should be apparent enough. Jammers should be hard and time consuming to produce due to reasons, and so it is encourage that factions make use of only a limited number of jammers that are strategically employed at critical locations, such as your capital or homeworld. For your convenience, here is the description for a Nondiscriminatory Jammer that was co-developed by [@Darkmatter] and myself. It is 90% hard science, and reiterates the basic expectations outlined here. [hider=Nondiscriminatory Jammer]Here is a direct copy of the basic functionality of the FTL Jammers. ------------ -In principle, Jammers have to be very expensive/time consuming to make, so that people don't just spam them everywhere. -Space volumetrics and high production costs encourages strategic placement of a limited number of Jammers. -Jammers should halt incoming FTL at its edges and prevent it within its range. -Jammers should be nondiscriminatory. First we identified as many methods of FTL as we could think of. We divided these broadly into three categories. Rushers: Ships somehow improbably accelerated to faster than light speeds in the literal sense, moving through regular space faster than light, or that distort spacetime around them (Gravitics or otherwise) in order to move faster than light within their frame of reference relative to the rest of the universe. Drillers: Ships that either open wormholes, enter hyper/subspace or another equivalent, or phase out of concert with matter/energy while still moving through spacetime. Poppers: Ships that vanish and immediately reappear elsewhere, via superpositioning and discontinuous wavefunction collapse. Then we tried to find a way to stop all of them at once, with as few different methods as possible. What we came up with is a field possessing Non-Newtonian properties. The idea is that the universe has a number of different, interacting fields which we define using mathematical equations representing how changes in one field interact with others, and that these fields have different sources and originations (such as the Higgs Boson 'causing' particles to have mass). Ultimately, stopping FTL from working takes some pretty impressive space magic no matter what you do, so we decided to provide a hypothetical mechanism by which our space magic is reasonable within the boundaries of how our mechanism interacts with regular spacetime and matter. The field (generated by each individual Jammer) possesses Extra-Newtonian properties, and interacts with spacetime in a way that affects the motion of matter and energy across it. Akin to non-Newtonian fluids, the idea is that the motion of matter and energy across spacetime affected by the field changes in a non-linear fashion proportional to the strain that motion causes (strain being generated by the field) - particularly in regards to matter and energy moving faster than the speed of light. With Rushers, the idea is that a vessel enters the field, and strain caused by the vessel moving faster than light (either literally or simply within a different frame of reference; as the field would also stretched across distorted/stretched spacetime and generate stress due to the difference in motion of matter inside distorted area from the motion of matter outside of it) forces the field to deform. The deformation causes the field to stretch space out in a direct, geometrically proportional relationship to the overall speed of the vessel. Since the Jammer can't project this hypothetical field beyond a certain absolute boundary (determined by its power generation), the deformation caused in the field also forces it to press inwards on the sides of the vessel as it advances. The deformed field thus traps the vessel inside an ever-increased, localized area of space that stretches infinitely while the vessel continues to move faster than light - only by dropping out of FTL does the field stop being deformed and movement become possible. With Drillers, the field prevents the deformation of spacetime that allows wormholes and breaches into hyper/subspace to form. The idea is that the field stretches timespace in order to continue to occupy the same area of space at all times despite deformation caused by matter moving through it faster than light (thus generating strain). Since this field cannot be projected beyond a particular, absolute limit (defined by the power generation of the Jammer being used), but since the space is being deformed and stretched without any strain being produced (which means the field itself isn't being deformed), the field keeps the space it occupies from deforming, thus preventing the formation of wormholes or breaches in spacetime. With ships that have phased out of concert with matter/energy, it's a simple matter that the field interacts with the motion of matter through spacetime - the phased ship cannot move through the field without producing strain, since it would have to be phased out of concert with spacetime in order to avoid producing strain while moving faster than light. If the ship does not occupy spacetime, it cannot move through spacetime, at which point one presumes it behaves similarly to a vessel attempting to move through hyper/subspace. This is where our idea breaks down, because now we have to try and stop Poppers. I tried wrestling with the Pauli Exclusion principle a little to see if there was a way to cause a sort of lockout effect in the wave function of superpositioning/discontinuous motion. We were sort of hoping you might have some ideas - and also whether you might critique/analyze/review our idea. -Terminal Darkmatter's Response Here are my thoughts on how it works for poppers, based on what you've said and my contemplations. How I'm picturing itself is the field as highly volatile viscous fluid which reacts to any kind of tension on it. It seems like the closest analogy as far as I can tell. Popper pops in, bringing an instantaneous and large impulse onto the field resulting in an equally large and instant distortion of the field and thus the connected space essentially 'throwing' the craft off course. More specifics can be given; take the concept that some infinities and some nothingnesses are more vast than others. For example, one infiniy divided by another infinity is never one, it is another smaller infinity. With this is mind, take into consideration that though poppers are instant, relativistic changes mean that the field, relatively non-moving, actually exists at a stationary time reference point whereas the popper is a changing reference point. As such there is a 'delay' in relativity upon arrival of the craft. In layman's terms the field knows the craft is there before the craft does, meaning that although the instant of arrival and instant of reaction are the same moment relative to either reference point, relative to each other there is a discrepancy. ------------ -Terminal[/hider][/hider] -Tactical FTL Jumps will be permitted as an additional layer of tactics for naval warfare, but tactical FTL Jumps must have sufficient power consumption/recharge/detriment so as to prevent its frequent abuse. No ship should be able to pull off two consecutive FTL jumps without some kind of downtime, drawback, or limitation. -FTL Weaponry is also permitted, although such weapons are subject to the same limitations as regular ships. This means no multi-drive FTL missiles that can perform multiple consecutive jumps. -No dyson spheres or similar megastructures. Space elevators are ok. -In order to keep things consistent, everybody will stick to starships and space structures that are less than ten kilometers in diameter.[/hider][hider=Nation Sheet]Check the Raw for this post (upper right hand corner) for the BBcode formatting. Also note, this template is just a base. If you're more comfortable with another format or style, use that - just make sure you cover all the bases listed below. This template is based on the same one that was used in a prior NRP. I'm still working on my own Faction for the moment, so if you want to see an example nation sheet arranged in this format, check out [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/73437-amongst-living-gods-sci-fi-nrp/ooc#post-2272120]this[/url]. [center][b][u]Faction Name Here[/u][/b][/center] [img]Faction flag/imagery here (optional)[/img] [hider=General Overview]Give us a holistic synopsis/summary of your nation. Hit the important points and give us a good exterior view or first impression.[/hider][hider=Territory]Describe important star systems or areas/zones of control here. Including your Capital System/Home System would be a good start.[/hider][hider=Governance]Describe your nation's system of governance here. How do your politics work?[/hider][hider=Species]Describe the dominant or most prominent species within your nation here - just their physiology and relevant psychology though. Describe their lifestyles and such in the culture section.[/hider][hider=Culture]Tell us about important Social and Population demographics and dialectics. Castes, classes, social hierarchy, standards of living, cultural norms, that sort of thing. Give us a broad overview of society as a whole and a bit of a more personal look at the life of the individual.[/hider][hider=Organizations]Are there any large, powerful, or prominent subgroups, political, religious or otherwise within your nation? Tell us about them here![/hider][hider=History]Describe the history of your nation prior to its transition into the True Vacuum universe.[/hider][hider=Outlook]Your nation was randomly gobbled up by an undetectable FTL phenomenon and displaced into an entirely new universe surrounded by completely unknown alien powers in a geopolitical landscape you know nothing about. Do you know what happened? Are there any theories flying around about what happened? What has been the general reaction of the public? What do your scientists and military specialists think? Describe in general how the move to the True Vacuum universe has influenced your nation.[/hider] [b]Technology:[/b] Give a brief summary of the state of your nation's technological advancement and standards. [hider=Important/Noteworthy Tech]Describe important and noteworthy technological innovations here. You can either describe everything in this one hider or, if individual bits and pieces are particularly long/important, you can stash them all in multiple hiders. Military technology, while important, is not the only thing that should be covered. Show us technology as it is used throughout your civilization.[/hider] [b]Military Structure:[/b] Give a brief summary of your Military hierarchy's structure/arrangement. [hider=Military Organization]Describe the different structures within your military here! Again, you may benefit from using multiple hiders for separate structures.[/hider][/hider] [hider=Accepted Roleplayers/Nations][@Nilesapa] has been approved, writing for [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/2839985]The Verdant Sanctum[/url]. [@Eschatologist] has been approved, writing for the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/83127-true-vacuum-new-universe-space-nrp-open-and-accepting/char#post-2815380]Transhumanist Memory Harvesters[/url]. [@Monkeypants] has withdrawn from the roleplay. [@Facepunch] has been approved, writing for the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/83127-true-vacuum-new-universe-space-nrp-open-and-accepting/char#post-2821972]Grykian Union[/url]. [@AbysmalDemon] has been approved, writing for Abysmallia. [@Willy Vereb] has been approved, writing for White Interstellar Corporations. [@Keyguyperson] has been approved, writing for the Empire of Four Species. [@Mihndar] has been approved, writing for the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/2837475]Noviran Socialist Union[/url]. [@Terminal] has been approved, writing for the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/83127-true-vacuum-new-universe-space-nrp-open-and-accepting/char#post-2835012]Ennedi Legacy[/url]. [@AmongHeroes] has been approved, writing for the Valeth Unified Republic. [@SgtEasy] has been approved, writing for the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/2835379]Fay'Ran Jik Democracies[/url]. [@Durandal] has been approved, writing for [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/2835563]The Unity of C'ran[/url]. [@Ascendant] has been approved, writing for [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/2846027]The Arms of the All-Mother[/url]. [@Beach Burrito] has been approved, writing for The Bituman Adipicracy. [@Grisette] has been approved, writing for the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/2856331]United Valaran Empire[/url]. [@Isotope] has been approved, writing for the Sevromahi Aggregate. [@Apollo26] has been approved, writing for the The Septonium Concordant. [@Darkspleen] has been approved, writing for The Sentinels. [@duck55223] has been approved, writing for the New Roman Empire. [@eemmtt] has been approved, writing for the [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/2818299]Irodien Empire[/url]. [@Heartfelt Gamer] has been approved, writing for the Aerues Regency[/hider]