Also, @Sigma, your claims are overlapping mine. My claims; 0915, 0815, 0715, 0716, 0916, 0816. But, I do approve of the migrant idea. You can have Vorskel people. My nations have not made contact with aliens at this moment, but they do have reason to believe aliens are close. But some generational colony ships were sent out in the STL era. Perhaps one got lost and ended up in your territory?
He eyed the rows of books, tracing the edges of the book case with deft fingers. The man then stopped, and backed up two books back. "Hm, this one is new isn't it?" he asked in his usual deep baritone. He pulled out the thick tome, quickly flipping through pages. "'The Eraehni War, by Halek Dryfuss', I heard this one was good," he commented. "Please don't go through my things, Vic, you always do this," another man says from behind the desk. "And you sound like a broken record, friend," the first man says with a chuckle. He shut the book and slid it back into place where he found it. "Mm, Admiral Trnka, First Lord of the Admirality, never would've thought I'd see the day."
"What is it? I'm a very busy man now days; and I don't think you came here for small talk," Trnka replies. The man turns his attention to Trnka fully. "Yes, you're right. You've seen the reports from Daran right? The one about the unusual thermal readings a few parsecs out?" he asks. Trnka nods, "Yes, I have. And you want to check them out?" Videric, or 'Vic' nods, "Uh-huh. You understand as well as I do the implications of this. We can't be caught on the backfoot here." Trnka looked skeptical, "True, but I don't want to show our hand so soon. We need to shore up our defenses."
"Against what? We don't even know what's out there. And besides, you know the council won't act on anything less than concrete evidence," Vic scoffs. Trnka nodded, "I thought of that, the chance that whatever threats that may be are so unexpected that our defenses are unsuited to fight it." Vic interjected, "And that's why we need to gather intel." Trnka looked up from his terminal, "Okay, you've made your case. I didn't factor in the council in my initial assessment. I was thinking purely military. But who do we send?"
Vic grinned, "I'm glad you asked. He produced a folder from his uniform jacket and placed it on the desk. You've been following Daria Varskaan, yes?" Trnka opened the folder, "Branko's girl? Yes, she made Lieutenant Commander right." He looked at her personell record in the folder, "High marks, adaptable, shows ability to act defensively and offensively depending on the situation..." Vic nodded, "Yes. I propose promoting her and sending her out in courier ship with a light escort." Trnka closed the folder, "Alright do it."
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.
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.