The Vorskel Confederacy is an alliance of nations created to avert a catastrophic nuclear war. Since then the Confederacy has taken center stage in administrating colonization and interstellar trade. It also still acts as an intermediary in international disputes. The Confederacy has quite a lot of influence but the nations are still sovereign and maintain their own militaries and government types. All three superpowers, Ghorak, Mesenthia, and Sonique are members as well as many other minor nations. Since its creation wars have been a rare occurence. The Confed's mission to maintain world peace and foster international cooperation has been largely successful. Whether this will last, or if this is simply temporary remains to be seen.
Species
Vorskel
Biology
The Vorskel are a mammalian humanoid race whose average height ranges from four feet six inches to five feet eight inches. They have digitigrade legs ending in four toed feet. A short coat of fur covers their bodies. The Vorskel's fur is usually tan, brown, or black; their underarms and belly have lighter tones usually. With age it becomes gray, silver, or even white. Some have long fox-like snouts while others have short blunt snouts. Sharp triangular ears sit atop their heads. Their eyes are yellow, orange, brown, or green. Their hands have four long fingers (one of which is an opposable thumb) ending in short blunt claws. A pair of small vestigial wings sprouts from their back. They were once like bats, but since they increased in mass the wings fell into disuse. At current the wings are mostly useless and its not uncommon for some to be born without them altogether.
Government
Vorskel Confederacy
The Vorskel Confederacy is a non governmental organization or NGO that exists to facilitate the peaceful resolution of conflicts between nations and negotiations between said nations. It also offers financial assistance to developing nations as well as medical care and foodstuffs to particularly impoverished areas of Kesh. It is composed of several branches including the General Assembly, Security Council, International Court, and the Tripartite. The General Assembly is where all members meet to decide on budget, accepting or denying new applications, and elects bureaucrats in other branches. The security council is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has representatives from the four permanent members, the superpowers of Ghorak, Spetses, Sonique, and Mesenthia. The court is where disputes are resolved and international laws are drafted. The Tripartite is the defacto leader of the Confederacy. The General Secretary, Lord Marshal, and Merchant General along with their cabinets reside here. They are responsible for social, military, and economic matters respectfully.
Military
The Confederacy doesn't have a standing military technically. The closest thing is the Peacekeeper Corps which is composed of military units provided temporarily from member states to deal with a dispute that has failed to resolve itself peacefully. There is also the council chamber guard, but they're considered more law enforcement than military. But the guard aren't pushovers, they have the skill of professional soldiers. The Peacekeepers can be composed of ground and space units and are deployed off world when the need arises. But generally the nations are responsible for guarding their holdings.
The forces on Kesh are designed for large conventional conflicts and as a whole number in the millions (~20 mil personnel). They are split between atmospheric air forces, ground forces, and 'wet' naval forces. They also have a fair number of ballistic missiles and surface to orbit batteries. The threat of mutually assured destruction keeps the peace. Though proxy wars do happen from time to time. Due to the Confederacy most wars are small in scope and limited. These conventional armies can be used off world but require heavy transports and orbital and aerial superiority at the target zone.
There are also small elite forces specialized for fighting on other worlds. The Mesenthian Storm Troopers, Ghorakian Janserii, Soniquien Guard, and Spetsen Marines make up this force. They focus on surgical strikes rather than large battles. They can also board enemy spacecraft and fight within a vacuum if needed. They are all professional career soldiers. They operate a wide range of equipment including autocannons, high velocity missiles, lasers, good old fashioned guns, and in some cases railguns.
Technology
The pinnacle of Vorskel technology is perhaps the warp drive, which allows travel to the stars in days or weeks rather than years. This miracle of engineering is the most expensive piece of machinery ever produced. For power generation they use nuclear fusion reactors. Additionally they have highly advanced capacitors for power storage. Other than that however, they are rather conventional. Energy shielding is something not yet used by the Vorskel. So for protection they rely on armor or agility. For weapons they use particle beams, lasers, railguns, coilguns, and missiles. Their computers are far more advanced than what 21st century humans would know, with 512 bit operating systems. Their ground forces just use old fashioned guns and missiles that wouldn't be out of place on a modern battlefield. Some specialist units use railguns, however.
Culture
Culture varies from place to place but generally the Vorskel are a conservative people. Bodily augmentation is frowned upon for one. Secondly, traditional gender roles are observed, and deviating from them isn't encouraged. They aren't a particularly pious people, many opting for agnostic atheism. Though, religious followers aren't that uncommon. They generally form life long monogamous pairs and having multiple romantic partners is highly frowned upon. There are exceptions with certain nations, however. As a result they do practice marriage to cement a union. Homosexuals are tolerated but not all that liked. They do not have a rigid caste system, but they still do have class differences.
History:
The Vorskel started like any other race, with rocks and sticks. They were nomadic for a long while and spread to every continent. A couple of coastal communities settled down, but generally they were on move. Eventually someone had the bright idea for agriculture and soon many villages popped up everywhere. Towns formed in high traffic areas which entered in coalitions with surrounding villages. Tribal warfare raged periodically, but it was often indecisive. Nobody had the numbers to fight a pitched battle.
This changed as agricultural techniques became more sophisticated and cities formed. The increased manpower and the ability to maintain supply lines allowed extended campaigns and sieges that were not possible before. With this the first empires formed. These empires took over only took over the most fertile areas and had little contact with each other. However, they were often short lived as greedy kings overextended themselves, and barbarians raided from the outside. Eventually even these barbarians figured out agriculture was a great idea.
With increasingly improved agricultural techniques civilization was able to spread to all but the most inhospitable climates. Wars became ever more common and many millions were slaughtered over the centuries. This was the theme of Vorskel history up until mechanized industrial war. A few large wars were fought before people realized before long the species would wipe itself out eventually. The Union of Kesh was formed by the superpowers. This failed as a few wars were fought over land disputes, and in space. It was then replaced by the Confederacy which was more powerful and centralized.
By this point the Vorskel had spread to space and a patchwork of mining stations, small colonies, and solar energy 'farms' were all over the home system. With some sense of unity with the formation of the Confederacy, people began to look outward. With that an STL, slower than light, ship was sent to colonize Markuras in the neighboring star system of Rorsch. A colony was set up sucessfully, but in fighting broke out and the viceroy was overthrown. The colony fractured into conflicting nations. While this was going on, the warp drive was invented.
The first warp craft, the VSS Iseia checked in on the colony. The superpowers were horrified and built an expeditionary group. It arrived and intervened and the powers secured territory and gave the various groups of colonists the rest of the planet. After this there was an explosion of colonies. Mesenthia established four colonies, Sonique made five, Ghorak made four, and Spetses made three. Rorsch remains the 'international' colony.
The Vorskel Confederacy is an alliance of nations created to avert a catastrophic nuclear war. Since then the Confederacy has taken center stage in administrating colonization and interstellar trade. It also still acts as an intermediary in international disputes. The Confederacy has quite a lot of influence but the nations are still sovereign and maintain their own militaries and government types. All three superpowers, Ghorak, Mesenthia, and Sonique are members as well as many other minor nations. Since its creation wars have been a rare occurence. The Confed's mission to maintain world peace and foster international cooperation has been largely successful. Whether this will last, or if this is simply temporary remains to be seen.
Species
Vorskel
Biology
The Vorskel are a mammalian humanoid race whose average height ranges from four feet six inches to five feet eight inches. They have digitigrade legs ending in four toed feet. A short coat of fur covers their bodies. The Vorskel's fur is usually tan, brown, or black; their underarms and belly have lighter tones usually. With age it becomes gray, silver, or even white. Some have long fox-like snouts while others have short blunt snouts. Sharp triangular ears sit atop their heads. Their eyes are yellow, orange, brown, or green. Their hands have four long fingers (one of which is an opposable thumb) ending in short blunt claws. A pair of small vestigial wings sprouts from their back. They were once like bats, but since they increased in mass the wings fell into disuse. At current the wings are mostly useless and its not uncommon for some to be born without them altogether.
Government
Vorskel Confederacy
The Vorskel Confederacy is a non governmental organization or NGO that exists to facilitate the peaceful resolution of conflicts between nations and negotiations between said nations. It also offers financial assistance to developing nations as well as medical care and foodstuffs to particularly impoverished areas of Kesh. It is composed of several branches including the General Assembly, Security Council, International Court, and the Tripartite. The General Assembly is where all members meet to decide on budget, accepting or denying new applications, and elects bureaucrats in other branches. The security council is responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has representatives from the four permanent members, the superpowers of Ghorak, Spetses, Sonique, and Mesenthia. The court is where disputes are resolved and international laws are drafted. The Tripartite is the defacto leader of the Confederacy. The General Secretary, Lord Marshal, and Merchant General along with their cabinets reside here. They are responsible for social, military, and economic matters respectfully.
Military
The Confederacy doesn't have a standing military technically. The closest thing is the Peacekeeper Corps which is composed of military units provided temporarily from member states to deal with a dispute that has failed to resolve itself peacefully. There is also the council chamber guard, but they're considered more law enforcement than military. But the guard aren't pushovers, they have the skill of professional soldiers. The Peacekeepers can be composed of ground and space units and are deployed off world when the need arises. But generally the nations are responsible for guarding their holdings.
Technology
The pinnacle of Vorskel technology is perhaps the warp drive, which allows travel to the stars in days or weeks rather than years. This miracle of engineering is the most expensive piece of machinery ever produced. For power generation they use nuclear fusion reactors. Additionally they have highly advanced capacitors for power storage. Other than that however, they are rather conventional. Energy shielding is something not yet used by the Vorskel. So for protection they rely on armor or agility. For weapons they use particle beams, lasers, railguns, coilguns, and missiles. Their computers are far more advanced than what 21st century humans would know, with 512 bit operating systems. Their ground forces just use old fashioned guns and missiles that wouldn't be out of place on a modern battlefield. Some specialist units use railguns, however.
Culture
Culture varies from place to place but generally the Vorskel are a conservative people. Bodily augmentation is frowned upon for one. Secondly, traditional gender roles are observed, and deviating from them isn't encouraged. They aren't a particularly pious people, many opting for agnostic atheism. Though, religious followers aren't that uncommon. They generally form life long monogamous pairs and having multiple romantic partners is highly frowned upon. There are exceptions with certain nations, however. As a result they do practice marriage to cement a union. Homosexuals are tolerated but not all that liked. They do not have a rigid caste system, but they still do have class differences.
The Vorskel are multi-ethnic mammals that resemble Earth's bats; they are humanoids with digitigrade legs. Their feet have four toes. They have perky triangular ears that are always shifting towards any noises they pick up. Their eyes are usually orange of yellow and are of a decent size. They have hog-noses much like the hog-nosed bat. However, another race of the Vorskel have long fox like snouts. The Vorskel usually have short vestigial tail stumps. However, the fox like Vorskel have longer tails than the hog noses. The tails are lizard-like except furred. They are usually around five feet tall. Their hands have four long fingers (one of which is an opposable thumb) ending in short blunt claws. The hands have pads on the palms and fingertips like paws. Vorskel have leathery membrane wings attached to their underarms like bats. The Vorskel's fur is usually tan, brown, or black; their underarms and belly have lighter tones usually. With age it becomes gray, silver, or even white.
Description of government:
The Confederacy is a multinational organization made up of all Twenty One nations on Kesh. In practice it is a representative democracy where all nations still have their own identity and government types. Each nation has two senators in the General Assembly. The senators have annual meetings and pass laws that affect the entire Confederacy. In order for a ruling to be passed one side must have at least 50% support. Senators are elected by popular vote in each nation for five year terms with a maximum of two terms. The General Assembly elects the Triumvirate, which are the three de facto leaders of the Confederacy. The three positions are the Lord Marshal, Secretary General, and the Merchant General. The third part of the Confederacy is the Security Council, which is the martial arm of the organization.
Description of military:
The Armed Forces of the Confederacy is made up of the Space Forces, Army, and Space Security. In practice, the Space Forces hold most of the power. The Space Forces control the FTL capable warships of the Confederacy. Each of the branches have their own responsibilities and tactics but they have cross-branch strategies for when they need to work together, which is often. In general they focus on long ranged combat in space, preferring to pound the enemy from afar with missiles and beam weaponry.
The aforementioned Space Forces have the powerful FTL capable warships. They lack battleships and dreadnoughts for the most part, preferring the versatility and speed of smaller ships. The use of strike craft like starfighters is considered anathema to the powers in control. Strike craft lacked the range, thrust to weight ratios, and durability of large ships. For the most part they were considered useless, except for specialized planetary invasions. As stated before, long ranged beam weapons and missiles are favored. Still, most ships do have railguns to retain some versatility.
The Army is the main terrestrial fighting force of the Confederacy. Army troops with zero-g training are also seen in detachments on most military spacecraft. On the ground the army is a versatile force having forces capable of both defensive and offensive operations. However, it is generally a defensive force that makes a large use of crew served weapons such as mortars, anti-tank launchers, and autocannons. The offensive minded units are highly mechanized with a large array of infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, and armored cars.
Space Security is what the title states really. It's purely for internal defense and operates light patrol ships. Space Security checks the cargo of civilian ships for illegal contraband, fights pirates, and upholds the laws of the Confederacy. Space Security is mainly stationed on the frontier and in the colonies. It has a secondary role of acting as the first line of defense and an early warning force. They're more or less a space police force.
Name: Bulwark Designation: InterStellar Heavy Assault/Defense Vehicle Role: Cruiser Armament: 40x missile tubes, 6x 200mm two barreled railgun turrets, 6x 120 MW lasers, 4x 550 MJ neutron beams. Size: 500 meters long Powerplant: 2x fusion reactors, 8x molten salt reactors, solar panel arrays
Name: Meridian Designation: Heavy Combat Assault Vehicle Role: Battlecruiser Armament: 64x missile tubes, 7x 250mm two barreled railgun turrets, 8x 120 MW lasers, 6x 550 MJ neutron beams. Size: 700 meters long Powerplant: 3x fusion reactors, 12x molten salt reactors, solar panel arrays
Technological Overview:
The Vorskel are relatively advanced, being an interstellar entity in control of several star systems. Still, they are a relative newcomer to the scene and are primitive in some areas. They're comparable to Earth's 21st century in a lot of ways. The Vorskel still rely on nuclear power, but have made breakthroughs in power storage such as room-temperature superconductors. They also still rely on radio, radar, and optical sensors. They lack energy shields for the most part, instead relying on armor and speed. For weapons they use firearms due to ease of maintenance, and low cost. Spacecraft make use of lasers, particle beams, and railguns. They do possess faster than light drives in the form of the warp drive which is capable of approximately 3 light years a day.
Spacecraft are built like a skyscraper with propulsion on the bottom with the thrust parallel to the decks. This is to prevent disorientation when the spacecraft is accelerating. For when they're not accelerating they have rotating segments called centrifuges. Vorskel spacecraft are modular with distinct sections that can detach and get replaced. Spacecraft of similar sizes often have interchangeable sections and parts. They're made in a utilitarian fashion with little to no regard for aesthetics. The spacecraft are made with redundancy in mind with back ups for most systems.
For 'shields' they use a system called Super-Capacitor Armor (Reactive). This technology, known as SCAR for short, involves placing a cloth-like layer of super-capacitor under the armour a vehicle or spacecraft. After charging the super-capacitor, the energy can be readily discharged into the armour when a threat is approaching. For a split-second, this forms an electromagnetic field around the spacecraft, which can redirect kinetic energy weapons and cause missiles to detonate. It is not a perfect technology, however. Missiles have a chance of bypassing the shield if timing is wrong, and it can only turn a glancing blow from a KEW into a near-miss. A KEW's direct hit can be, at best, turned into a glancing blow, which would still be fatal for most non-capital vessels. The shield's effectiveness can be increased by having a more powerful reactor. It will decrease when more armour is used.
There is also another shield system that sees limited use due to drawbacks. R&D calls it the IonoSpheric Protective Shield. It creates a magnetic field around a spacecraft, in which plasma is suspended. This plasma recreates the effect of a planetary ionosphere, reflecting electromagnetic signals. It can effectively block lasers, and can muffle the effect of plasma weapons. It has the downsides of not affecting any other weapons system, preventing or severely disrupting communications, and does not discriminate between incoming and outgoing weapons fire. While this shield is in operation, a spacecraft cannot return fire.
Power generation is mainly fusion reactors, but fission still appears on smaller craft and on outer colonies. Chemical reactors show up on many ships as a backup. Solar panels are often used as a tertiary power source.
Sublight engines are a mix of fusion torches and nuclear pulse drives. The fusion torch ejects plasmatised gas. This form of propulsion is liked because it has variable thrust and thrust vectoring. Nuclear pulse drives detonate nuclear bombs behind the spacecraft. The energy from the detonation presses on a pusher plate at the rear of the spacecraft. This turns into forward velocity change. This form of propulsion throws out versatility for pure power. For this reason many spacecraft have both methods of propulsion.
Cultural Overview:
The Vorkskel are historically a patriarchal race, and in some places still are. Generally the two genders are equal for the most part though. Vorskel culture places a great deal on family. They live in extended nuclear families. Groups of families are often in clans and adoptions are commonplace. Adoptions occur for a variety of reasons such as employment, notoriety, education, or simply bringing new blood into the family group. Whilst the family usually comes before the state, joining the military is usually seen as a positive thing. Vorskel religion is mainly polytheistic, but monotheism isn't unknown. However, in the current age, atheism is pretty common too.
History: When the Vorskel were beasts they were social creatures. They congregated into large family groups in caves or large dens. This tribal behavior carried on into sapience. They eventually started villages that grew up around these cave communities. The Vorskel discovered agriculture which allowed these groups to grow even more. They became city states with the founding tribal families controlling them. City states fought other city states. Clans got absorbed, assimilated, or outright destroyed in wars. Other clans started confederations and empires crumbled occasionally. When nuclear weapons were invented, the largest clans made a treaty in a neutral city, Iseia. This created the Iseia confederation.
Other:
Rakesh - (Home System): Planets of note: Kesh (home world)
Rorsch - (Colony System): Planets of note: Markuras (colony)
I got back into AvP again, and the Aliens universe and I got to thinking of making an RP on that. I was in one awhile back that was rather large. Alot of people left and got bored of it. So the forum it was on died. The original creator has too many things going on in their life to resurrect it.
But I'm inexperienced with running role-plays. I haven't been in many AVP RP's. The ones I went into after that first one didn't last long.
The first one I was in was called The New Hive. It mostly focused on a xenomorph hive that was on the same planet the AVP game in 2010 was on. It was after the events of the game. The remains of the old research facility were there and everything. A new human facility was built. The RP was character based and revolved around the xenomorphs fighting off human attacks and predators alike. It culminated in a massive predator attack at the end. After that final battle the RP died due to alot of people leaving. We could do an RP like this or something new. I'm not sure yet.
Players will be able to be humans, predators, or xenomorphs.
There's two settings.
Modern: Like the AVP movies. Self-explanatory. Future: With the Colonial Marines, FTL, and human colonies outside the Sol system. I'd recommend this.
We also have a few options for the focus of the RP.
Combat heavy (Focusing mostly on the battles.) Character-driven (Character-driven RPs tend to be the most interesting and longest lasting.)
Sorry to muddy the water abit.... buuuuuuuuuuut. What about Elder Scrolls (ESO IS NOT CANON AND NEVER WILL BE IN MY HEAD) in Space? I'd love to play as a Khajiit or Argonian.
Could be either one really. Or a mix of both where people control their empires and some characters. But I think I'd like this more if it was from the perspective of individuals. The Lord of the Rings and indeed The Hobbit were about some tightly knit groups on high stakes quests. If you want it to have the feel of LOTR, an individual based RP would fit that vibe best.
Then again there's the mix, like I said. People would control empires in the background, but the main group would take center stage.