[hider=The Ordered Dominions]

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[b]Who are they?:[/b] The Ordered Dominions

[b]What do they value?:[/b] The Dominions are – or were – a post-scarcity society, with their culture and values deeply rooted in this state of being. The citizens, both organic and artificial, love games and artwork, poetry and riddles, all the convoluted meanings of language and its subtle nuances; they often do things simply for the beauty of their creation, rather than any other motive.

The Dominions prize intelligence well above physical strength or appearance, especially since – historically, at least – genetic alteration and body sculpting were commonplace; anyone could have near enough whatever form they desired. As a general rule, though, members of the Dominions tend to the lithe and graceful, well-adapted to space and its rigours, rather than stocky and muscle-bound, readily contending with the tyranny of gravity.

Despite – or perhaps because of – this fluidity of form, family is very important to the Dominions' citizens; they are arranged into great Houses, or clans, of related groups with similar interests and genetic makeup, each with their own slice of the greater whole. Any crime which disrupts the family is considered heinous - fratricide, for example - and the punishments, in this otherwise relatively lax polity, are dire.

[b]What do they despise?:[/b] Coming from a post-scarcity environment, the Dominions despise restrictions on their freedoms. Their body-fluid forms have culturally inoculated a certain regard for family, and the permanent elimination of a family member is considered a particularly despicable thing. 

[b]What kind of state are they?:[/b] Technically, the Dominions are a constitutional monarchy, with the Empress as the Head of State, a state of affairs that has lasted for many centuries. However, the powers of the royal family, while vast, are always circumscribed by the Parliament of Stars, the Dominions' main political organ, and more effectively but less obviously by the Exigent Gathering, a council comprised of the heads of the most powerful Houses in the Dominions. These oligarchs advise the monarch regnant on all matters too serious to be dealt with by the Parliament of Stars' legion of Ministers. However, the Exigent Gathering has not been called for many years; the ordered pace of life in the Dominions is ably managed by the Parliament and the imperial throne is really more of a ceremonial relic and a rallying point for the citizens.

[b]What is their population?:[/b]  Dominion citizens are heavily-modified humans, in the main, with a plethora of extra organs and glands that are primarily used to synthesise a cornucopia of pharmacological substances, from stimulants to sedatives to mental accelerants. Historically, the Dominions have been maintained by a set of advanced AIs, controlling many subsentient drones to do the manual labour and work necessary to maintain the organic citizens in the style to which they are accustomed. However, the key AI gestalt on board [i]Illustrious[/i], their mothership, is a shattered shadow of what it once was, and legions of drones still hang in their racks, bereft of a directing intelligence.

[b]How many 'people' do they have, if applicable?:[/b] 182.2 million organic humans and core AI.

[b]How much infrastructure have they set up?: [/b]The Dominions have established control over their capital planet, Tenefuge, and have begun construction on a substantial set of orbital infrastructure. Being formerly planet-averse, they aim to transition back to an entirely orbital-based society when their technological levels can support it. Currently, the glittering ring of orbital habitats, manufacturing facilities and science labs are based around the mothership which brought them to Andromeda, now repurposed as an orbital capital and the centrepiece of their construction efforts. The galactic gate at the heart of the mothership might be entirely incomprehensible without the complete database, and may well be utterly ruined, but it still serves as a powerful symbol.

[b]How much technology have they already salvaged or developed?:[/b] The vast main power systems of the mothership remain shuttered and dark to the Dominions, relying as they did on an understanding of mass/energy conversion and gravity fields far beyond the understanding of any remaining citizens, but many of its ancillary reactors remain active and undamaged. Whilst secondary antimatter annihilation chambers are also currently beyond the reach of the science of the Dominions, the tertiary fusion reactors have been the focus of intensive analysis and research, piecing painstakingly together exactly how they work, with the result that the first Andromeda-built reactors are just about to come online. Aside from this, salvage has been very tentative; no-one wants to risk damaging advanced technology that may be needed one day through ignorance.

[b]Who leads them?:[/b] [i]Anticipation of Victory[/i], by grace of the stars Empress, rules the Ordered Dominions.  

[b]What sort of bloke is s/he/it?: [/b]The Empress is considered mildly unusual in Dominion circles, but not excessively so – and never to their face. Poised perfectly – and by conscious choice – exactly between male and female, they present a perfectly androgynous front to the world. [i]Victory[/i] is outwardly whimsical, fond of games and fun, but their delight in frivolity is merely skin-deep; iron has been bred into [i]Victory[/i] down the generations, an iron that was hidden in the times of peace and plenty back in the Milky Way, where almost any wish was a mere request away, but has now come to the fore in Andromeda. 

Their concern is for their nation, first and foremost, for the people who saw them crowned and who, in a very real sense, [i]are[/i] the Dominions.

[b]How does s/he/it actually command?:[/b] The Empress rules through their government; the Parliament of Stars, with one elected chamber and one hereditary. Ministers are appointed from either Chamber and are led by the Prime Minister.

[b]What does s/he/it have to deal with to do stuff?:[/b] The citizens of the Dominions are not well-adapted for planet-bound life, in the main. They arrived in Andromeda expecting their mothership to be fully-functional, an advanced vessel capable of bootstrapping a powerful industrial and technical base to begin immediate lifting of stellar material and mass-energy conversion in order to produce vast orbitals and megascale engineering projects which could be perfectly tailored to requirements. Instead, they arrived with a crippled mothership and governing AI, with limited resources and functionality available. 

[b]FTL Technology:[/b] The Dominions operate two key FTL systems. Principally, they establish permanent wormhole gates to allow for virtually instantaneous transportation between the areas under Dominion control. These structures are the lynchpin and symbol of Dominion control, allowing for unparalleled integration of the nation. Distances are collapsed to almost nothing; freighters and trade vessels can flit between the worlds of the Dominions at a breakneck pace and security forces can respond to threats to the ordered peace of the nation very rapidly.

Their secondary FTL system is a much more standard hyperdrive, utilising exotic matter and precisely-lensed gravitational fields to accelerate their vessels to superluminal speeds. This mode of travel is principally used by exploration vessels, any military forces, and by the vessels which tow the wormhole gates into position.

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[hider=The Mothership, HMS Illustrious]

[b]What was it's name?:[/b] HMS [i]Illustrious[/i]

[b]What type of ship was it (aside from being a colony ship)?:[/b] A construction vessel wrapped around an enormously powerful hyperspace gate, equipped with powerful disassembly arrays and many construction bays.

[b]What defended it?:[/b] Powerful gravity shields and energy fields, coupled with a dedicated AI to fine-tune its shields and anti-meteor defence systems. 

[b]How advanced was it?:[/b] An advanced vessel from the late 5000s, much of it remains entirely incomprehensible to its creators, without the unified guiding hand of its AI gestalt and the research databases it carried.

[b]Do you think it should still have more to salvage from it?: [/b]In terms of knowledge, there is a great deal left to be salvaged – as a result, the Dominions have not cannibalized a great deal of it, for fear of damaging advanced technology through ignorance.

[b]How long do you reckon it should theoretically take to get it running again, after acquiring all of the relevant technologies?:[/b] Decades, even if the ship could be detached from the spiderwork of orbital structures which now surround it.

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[hider=The Planet, Tenefuge]

[b]What type of planet did they land on?:[/b] The Dominions landed on a relatively Earthlike planet, a moon of a vast and storm-wracked gas giant. A vast flux tube links the planet and its parent giant, dumping enormous amounts of energy into the atmosphere, energy that discharges itself in enormous aurorae and, rarely, spectacularly violent storms. 

[b]Aside from the "Star name: Number" designation, does it have a special name? :[/b] Yes; Tenefuge, from an ancient language. It means 'Refuge from darkness' – fitting, since the whole planet blazes with light.

[b]Do you think it should have the remnants of any previous inhabitants?:[/b] No.

[b]Do you think it should've been already inhabited, and your Nation had to waste resources invading it?:[/b] No.

[b]What sort of atmosphere does it have?:[/b] Tenefuge has an oxygen-rich atmosphere, as a result of its abundant plant cover, several times higher than Earth's natural.

[b]How many continents?:[/b] One, with innumerable smaller islands and archipelago groups scattered across its surface.

[b]How big is it?: [/b]10% smaller than Earth

[b]How bountiful do you think it should be, in terms of biomass and materials?:[/b] Bountiful, but without particularly unique materials.

[b]Does it have any unusual materials or minerals in its' surface?:[/b] Tenefuge is a fairly average planet, in terms of materials and minerals; there is nothing outstandingly unusual in its natural resources.

[b]Does it have any other unusual features?:[/b] Most of the natural life on Tenefuge is radiantly bioluminescent, filling the planet with light and turning its darkside – such as it is – into the most intricate glowing filigree imaginable. Night never truly falls on Tenefuge, partly because of this all-pervading glow, and partly because of the crackling aurorae which wrap the planet in veils of glimmering electrical fire, the result of the flux tube stretching between it and the gas giant it orbits.

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[hider=Ships and Stations of the Stellar Service]

[hider=Ships]

[hider=Gatherer-class Mining Carrier]

[b]What sort of vessel is it?:[/b] Mining and Refinery vessel
[b]What sorta guns, if any?:[/b] 2x 'Constellation' triple-ring missile launchers, optimized for mining charges.
[b]What sorta defenses? [/b]
[b]Hangars?[/b] None for fighters; six specialised docking bays for its mining drones
[b]How big is it?:[/b] 1.5km
[b]What's it look like?:[/b] Sleek and oddly graceful, with an engraved hull and a flowing form.
[b]What sort of engines, sublight and FTL?:[/b] 6x 'Camina' fusion torch engines, 1x civilian-grade hyperdrive

Virtually obsolete in the Dominions of the Milky Way, the [i]Gatherer[/i]-class of mining ships were designed and deployed in times before widespread mass-energy conversion technology made obtaining rare minerals and construction material trivial. Most were mothballed; some were maintained by hobbyists, others as museum ships, and a few more as artistic vessels, carving planets into artworks with their powerful, precise cutting beams, disassembly arrays and semi-autonomous mining drones.

A set of [i]Gatherer[/i]-class mining ships now form the very backbone of Dominion orbital construction efforts, returning to their original purpose to fuel the desperate scramble of the Dominions, sending megatons of materials back to Tenefuge and the voracious construction yards in orbit.

In keeping with Dominion aesthetics, the [i]Gatherers[/i] are not blocky and unlovely, bluntly industrial - they are shaped and moulded, curves and glimmering hulls, the screaming molecular furnaces and forges hidden behind an elaborately-engraved skin.

They have a complement of six heavy drones which can further be specialised for asteroid or planetary work, strip-mining valuable resources with powerful cutting beams and storing the rubble in capacious holds for further refining back at the mothership.

[i]Gatherer[/i] vessels are equipped with a low-grade hyperdrive system, and are entirely capable of using the Dominions' gate system, should it prove necessary. Their defensive armament is limited; they are civilian mining vessels, not military assets. 

Weaponry, then, consists of two triple-ring missile launchers that are primarily designed to crack open large asteroids. 

Defensively speaking, [i]Gatherers[/i] have a low-power static screen designed to deflect charged particles, micrometeorites and debris from mining operations, as well as a strengthened, armoured hull to resist the occasional collision.

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[hider=Stations]

[hider=Eris-class Gas Mining Rig]

Sprawling and tenuous, Eris rigs are a new design, forced by necessity rather than whimsy. Adapted from idyllic habitats that once drifted through particularly beautiful gas giants in the Milky Way, they are designed to hang in the upper atmosphere of these enormous planets.

Their principal function is to suck in vast amounts of hydrogen and helium gas, compressing these elements into thick liquids which are then pumped into pressurised canisters for export to the expanding and hungry construction and power projects. With the recent re-engineering of fusion power, these stations are something of a lifeline, providing the fuel for the first stage of fusion reactions.

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[hider=Gateway]

[img]http://img11.deviantart.net/ae03/i/2013/029/7/c/asteroid_fortress_by_julian_faylona-d58kud4.jpg[/img]

Gateway is the orbital capital of the Dominions, currently in orbit over Tenefuge. Its core is the crippled mothership HMS [i]Illustrious[/i], and around it the Dominions have anchored their principal orbital infrastructure, expanding the construction bays and shipyards, linking together strings of habitats until a vast city glitters in space.

Substantial amounts of orbital traffic clutter its nearspace; shuttles and small spacecraft skittering and skimming very close to its shimmering skin, the radio bands clogged with a thousand thousand transmissions. There are freighters bringing in resources from outsystem resource operations, tankers from the gas giant with vast pressurised containers of rare gases and civilian ships galore, people slipping the bonds of gravity to glory in the stars that were once their home and will be again.

It might be a faded shadow of the glory of the Dominions of the Milky Way, but it is also a melting-pot, a hotbed of new and exciting things as the nation scrambles hell-for-leather to lift themselves up out of the mud.

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[hider=History]

The Dominions originated from a pleasure-loving polity near the core of the Milky Way, initially focused on a pocket of garden worlds that nestled within a vast nebula just beyond the Dead Zone where the central black hole's pull, astronomical hazards and other inimical phenomena prevented life.

Short travel times, because of the density of stars, and abundant resources due to supernovae and the dense nebulae of the region meant that the Dominions wanted for little, building up a sizeable body of knowledge and a large - though not excessive or exceptional - industrial base, enough to keep them comfortable, certainly, but without great excess that characterised some of their neighbours.

With the close proximity of several other highly-industrialised nations - descendants of megacorporations, in the main, the Dominions wisely decided not to compete in the realm of sheer industrial output; their citizens turned their attentions, instead, to the arts and the sciences.

Where others found mastery and lordship through conquest, the military might of starship fleets and orbital bombardment, the Dominions were subtler; theirs were the memetic weapons, the slow infiltration of culture and ideals, the gentle bending of minds and values across entire nations - they aimed to win, where possible, without the messy and expensive and gloryless bloodbath of war. 

Where words and culture failed, the Dominions had their science, their knowledge - the iron claw in the velvet glove. Knowledge had sent them forth from Earth, long ago, found them their garden capital, kept them safe and secure and serene - small wonder scientists and researchers vied with artists and cultural icons for reverence and fame.

It was the advent of AI, and the neural filigree, that really cemented the Dominions as a major power in the Core, and further brought about an enormous paradigm shift in the nation. Suddenly, with the breaching of the transapient barrier, manual work was a trivial thing, a hobby, almost. Legions of drones under the auspices of an AI could do those jobs, the thankless task of piloting a heavy mining rig, or making endless supply runs from one world to the next, or filing planning applications...a million and one dull, administrative or dangerous jobs could be done by a single AI, freeing up vast swathes of the population for other things.

The pace of technological advancement accelerated, too, as AI researchers supplemented the organics, their computational substrate thinking thousands of times faster than their creators, bootstrapping the Dominions relentlessly ever upwards, towards the idyllic post-scarcity state which they occupied peacably for centuries.

HMS [i]Illustrious[/i] was supposed to be the triumphal banner of the Dominions, a spreading of their ideals of Peace and Prosperity. To that end, it was stuffed to the gills with their most advanced technology, a great AI core mind to guard and guide the organic delegation in the new galaxy, and every conceivable contingency and comfort. 

The plan was to immediately begin construction of orbitals, Rings and Spheres to house the organic population, assemble sufficient industrial infrastructure and then to open the great Gate that was the centrepiece of the ship, allowing instantaneous transit between the Milky Way and Andromeda. Expansion by conquest was not the Dominion way; Andromeda offered a fertile new frontier in which to spread their influence.

Unfortunately, somewhere in the silent centuries of speeding hyperdrive, the Plan went out the window. 

Upon arrival in Andromeda, the ship's crew and passengers awoke to a wreck. The controlling AI, Rapture, was a shattered, near-incoherent, fearful shadow of its former power and glory. Vast swathes of databases and sensor logs were fuzzed and inchoate, terabytes of corrupted nonsense sprawled through the quantum-state server banks of the ship, and, worse, many of the racks of cold-sleep pods and refuges were offline or unreachable, the way blocked by defensive shields and barriers that the newly-awoken colonists had no idea how to operate, not without the guiding hand of the AI which could not help them. The Gate at the centre of their ship, too, was dark and offline, and they had no way of contacting Home without it.

On their own, each of these concerns was a setback but not a catastrophic failure. Rapture's degeneration could have been restored from backups and cyber-repair sequences, if the databases had been functional. Rapture could have restored the databases, had she been at full capacity, and the shields and barriers and cold-sleep pods could also have been easily maintained and accessed. All together, though, the calamities plunged the HMS [i]Illustrious[/i] into a harsher reality than even the most ardent hobbyist amongst them could have wished for.

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