Faction Name: Vorskel Confederacy (including any applicable initialisms).
Faction Type: 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.
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.
Species: The Vorskel are a humanoid race with digitigrade legs. The males have an average height of "5'6-"6'2 and females have a height of "4'10-"5'8. Their legs end in four toed feet with two large toes in the middle with two smaller toes on either side. Their hands have four fingers tipped with short blunt claws. They have thin furred tails that reach down to their ankles. A small pair of wings protrude from their backs. Their whole body is covered in fur. The fur is black, grey, brown, or white. It can be a solid color, spotted, or striped. Atop their heads are a pair of perky triangular ears. They can have either short slight snouts or long fox like snouts. Their eyes can be blue, yellow, green, or violet. They have human like secondary sexual characteristics, i.e. prominent breasts on females.
Scale & Territory: The Confederation lays claim to six star systems. Rakesh, Rorsch, Trir, Nasgarth, Daran, and Talyala. Rakesh is the home system. Rorsch is home to a developed core world. Rorsch is the international system in which everyone has territorial claims. Trir is solely owned by Sonique. Talyala belongs to Ghorak. Daran belongs to Mesenthia. Nasgarth belongs to Spetses. The most striking feature of Rakesh are five O'Neil Cylinder space colonies at the lagrange points. These are gargantuan 30km stations home to hundreds of thousands of people. They were constructed from material found in the belt, and materials launched into space with mass drivers. Hundreds of other smaller stations orbit the homeworld of Kesh too. Dozens of asteroid mining colonies dot the asteroid belt.
Culture: Vorskel culture varies greatly depending on where one goes within their territory. But for the most part can be seen as highly militaristic and nationalistic. In the West they are collectivist and do not value individual rights and are very secular. Polygamy is not seen as a sin in the west, and marriage is a custom absent from several of their societies. They are xenophobic and not that welcoming of outside influences. In the East however, the people are known to be more spiritual and individualist. They're also open and welcoming to outsiders. There are multiple religions but the majority of the religious follow monotheist religions.
History: Much like the League of Nations and United Nations on Earth, the Confederation was formed after a destructive world war. The inception of nuclear weapons motivated the nations of Kesh to begin working together. While the nations did oppose each other, nobody wanted to become a radioactive crater. Some didn't take the Confederation seriously at first however. The Imperium of Sonique, which had lost a lot of territory in the previous war suffered a revolution. The People's Republic of Sonique took over under the Industrialist Party. They spread outwards and started reconquering the lands they had lost. The other superpowers intervened eventually but this new war was indecisive and a ceasefire was signed. An uneasy peace began and the nations set their sights to space.
Technology: Vorskel technology is anachronistic perhaps, but cheap and reliable. The pinnacle of their power production is still nuclear. They use fusion reactors, which lack many of the drawbacks of the older fission reactors. For artificial gravity they use a centrifuge or simply spin the entire construct. They still largely rely on ballistic weaponry but have the means to make weaponized lasers, and particle beams. They can generate anti matter but still lack the means to store vast quantities of the stuff. They also have the means to carry out cloning, genetic engineering, and have cybernetics. They lack faster-than-light communication and must rely on couriers to spread information. Though, rumor has it that the new scientific field in subspace is close to changing that.
Military Forces: 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 (~40 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.
Then most importantly there are the Space Forces. Most nations use a cheap series of standardized space frames affectionately nicknamed the "Alphabet Soup Crew". However, the superpowers operate their own native designs. They're the only ones that have the resources to design their own ships. The space forces are very frugal to an extent and don't throw away much. It's not uncommon to see decades old warships or older in active duty. Many old ships are also kept around in a mothballed state.
The best way to describe Galactic Conquest is a "structured sandbox". The history is mainly written by player controlled nations and characters. However, the action is somewhat driven by game mechanics. What you can build is determined by the techs you've chosen and later research. You need to build shipyards to construct ships, which takes a certain number of posts. The yards and stations you can build is limited to the construction craft you have. It's like a real time strategy game in a way.
Despite some mechanics being there, a large part of GC is still left up to the intuition of the players. Combat is not determined by an in-depth stats system. You also don't have to worry about the every day routine of running a nation. Civilian traffic "runs in the background" you could say.
You are free to design a species and their backstory and world build to your heart's content as long as its not too OP. The only real limiting factor is starting ships, systems, chosen technologies, and shipyards.
This is a hybrid RP in a sense. Yes, you control an empire, but a lot of emphasis is on characters. Don't tell what your empire is doing. Show it by putting things in motion from a character's perspective.
Everyone starts in the Verion Star Cluster in the Ceros Galaxy. There are no humans here.
-1: Godmodding/Ubering is forbidden, doing so will result in being ignored and potentially banned from the thread. -2: Use Story Mode. No Chat style RPing. -3: "It's not in the rules" is not an excuse to do whatever you desire at any time. -4: Do not spam, troll, or post useless things (Such as "I like cheese"). -5: Do not tech-post (posting under four sentences of content when not in interaction with another player, just to obtain new technologies. Using posts unrelated to your faction to boost production and research counts also qualifies as tech-posting). -6: Arguing with the admins is not acceptable, period. If something you don't like happens, and the administration says "Too bad," then too bad, it happens. Debating is fine as long as said debate does not become a shouting match. -7: Threatening members, admins and the thread itself with hacking, physical harm, mental harm, etc. Is NOT acceptable, and WILL lead to a GC ban AND if carried out or GC has a strong knowledge it will be carried out, members of GC reporting said action to the necessary authorities. -8: Any technology deemed too powerful, efficient, or effective will be denied regardless of your scientific ability to create. Just because you can be creative does not mean your technology will be allowed, either. -9: Don't go overboard with romance/gore. Overboard will be determined by your forum ban, or by GC admins. In short, no explicit content/squick content. -10: Do not kill plots or storylines, and do not ruin plots or storylines for other players. If you do, instant-permaban is very likely to result from such action. -11: Do not harass members with the intent to drive them out of the thread. The most likely punishment for this is a permanent ban. -12: OOC prejudice may not be used as a reason for IC action. Only IC may be used for IC action except under very few circumstances which are dictated by the administration. -13: Balance over realism always, science may be bent if balance demands it. -14: Any administration member who violates a rule they are to be upholding will receive swift demotion from admin/mod status, and a temporary or even permanent ban from posting. -15: In special cases, the director may approve of bending or even ignoring a rule if need be. This is to be of somewhat rare occurrence. -16: You may not join the thread with a faction made up of humans, minor race or not. Doing so requires express approval from the Director and lore connections. -17: Total genocide of any race/faction requires owner/Director approval in order to avoid kicking someone from the thread. -18: Ragequitting during a war because you're losing is an instant permanent ban from GC. Don't do it. -19: No beginning research or construction on the same post as previous research or construction ends
--Roleplaying Guidelines/Information--
-1: All members start in the Ceros Galaxy's Verion Cluster or an adjacent sector unless otherwise approved. -2: Technologies are allowed to be submitted to the tech guides. -3: The UUF is not going to be surpassed technologically. -4: The series has a wiki, use it. Ask admins/active wiki-goers for info not found on the wiki's pages. -5: The starter system is capable of supporting a variety of different starting situations technology-wise and expansion wise. -6: There are a variety of different FTL types that exist and can be looked into, not all are available at a low tier. You decide which you use, and if none are chosen, you can create your own drive as long as you can propose pros and cons behind it, along with an explanation of function (Custom drives require approval) -7: High ESPER races and individuals require approval by Admins. -8: Newly submitted technologies must be approved by Admins. Do not start researching them before they are approved/before you are given a post count. -9: You are permitted to start with less technology than you are allowed to. If you want to use a lower tech race. Higher tech starts, however, require administration approval. -10: GC is a somewhat hard sci-fi RP with several soft elements, along with a tech tree that advances away from strict real world science over time. -11: If your CS is accepted, you have to start RPing with them within 50 pages, otherwise they will need to be accepted again. -12: The only sheets necessary at the start are the Star System, Planet, and Race. You decide your level, whether they have a government or not, if you have a character, the ship sheets, etc. -13: If help is needed with the ship sheets, please request aid from a veteran member or the administration. -14: Members from before the move need to repost their sheets as needed. -15: GC is not purely empire control. Expect characters to take center stage of many plots. -16: It is HIGHLY requested you make something of your own when joining, it is very much frowned upon to use something from an established game/show/movie/etc -17: In joining, you may start with up to seventeen star systems. Up to fifty shipyards and one hundred ships are permitted as starting equipment. This line is prone to edits as needed. -18: While plot locks are easily broken by GM action, it is very much appreciated for a warning to be given ahead of time if you are leaving for an extended period of time so preparations can be made. -19: When deciding ESPER, you should have reasons for why if it is above two or three due to the balance issues that come with that being a racial average. In order to have a character with an ESPER over 6, it 'must' be asked on. -20: Factional Theme is more or less just a track to set the mood for your faction. This is not required for joining, however. -21: If your race is speaking in their own language, please provide a translation in brackets/parenthesis for the convenience of other RPers. -22: It is highly advised to use notepad or a similar program to store all that you have to reply to. -23: Factions start with 50 tech points at their disposal for their starting technologies, this number will go up as time goes on. -24: Each thread in GC is a span of approximately four years in IC time, threads are locked and moved to archive upon completion.
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.