[b] Star Map[/b] The star map is used to determine relative positions along with be a useful indicator of where players are. Characters and factions will get symbols assigned to them. Here's a sheet for any symbol you want specifically. Association: (which character or faction is the symbol used for?) Description/Picture: (Give a picture or describe to me the symbol you want) So far there is 29 stars on the map, 21 of which are United Front controlled. As more factions are added, there will be more stars on the map. [img]http://i.imgur.com/F0Anu6O.png[/img] [b][u]Factions[/u][/b] [b]United Front[/b] The United Front is a powerful, but decadent civilization that has "control" over more star systems than it can plausibly manage. The United Front on Earth is said to be a paradise, but said paradise is the result of over two centuries of persistently reaping the fruit of the off world colonies. Each world is treated uniquely, with Earth notably being a republic where multiple political blocs compete to gain control of the ministries. The rights citizens have on Earth do not extend to the colonies and despite efforts to change this unfortunate fact, none have yet to succeed. The United Front is semi-NPC in nature, for while it is a handpuppet of the GM to some degree there is quite a bit of freedom on what people may do with the United Front and their activities throughout known space. The United Front does not recongize any names for stars or planets that aren't in the IAU's handbook circs 2017. The Commons Heritage of Mankind policies from the 20th century have long since been reinterpreted to justify colonization of space. The current World President, elected once every decade is Wade Bezik. [u]Solar System[/u] The prime star system of the United Front. The solar system contains Earth, the home planet of humankind and it is from Earth that the United Front runs a massive interstellar polity. The sun is a GV2 class star (or a yellow dwarf) that consists of eight officially recognized planets (this is in spite of a mars sized kuiper belt object has been discovered over 120 AU out). The Solar system is perhaps the most urbanized star system in human space, with Earth having over eight billion people as of 2375 while millions of people live on other celestial bodies in other parts of the Solar System. The sun itself has nearby "Vulcan" stations whose sole purpose is anti-matter collection. Mercury is pretty low in populations, acting as a relay point for the solar collection units around the sun. Venus has a several sky habitats, but is otherwise uninhabited. Earth however, is bustling with people. Split between not nationalities, but by ideology. For the United Front despite the high and mighty speak of unity is quite politically divisive as mentioned above. The current political party that dominates Earth are the Socialists, who have dominated for half a century now. There is other political parties which are gaining massive momentum who seek to overthrow the decadence of the Socialist Party. Earth is however, not actually characterized by these politics as it is characterized by the high life Terrans enjoy. Only 45% of people on Earth actually have jobs, for the standard of living on Earth is so high that manual labor has been unheard of for centuries. Most people on Earth truth be told, just party their asses off and have all the time in the world to do so since the Bureaucracy is least intrusive on Earth. Leaving Earth to the stars is however, quite difficult since the United Front is only apt to allow citizens leave Earth on Colonization missions which are based around volunteering and lottery winnings. (You need to volunteer to be a colonist, than hope your number gets picked. You probably have a 1/84000 chance of being selected thankfully, since many people prefer to live on Earth anyways). Anyone who seeks to go onto Earth must first go through the moon when immigrating. For those with personal vessels be warned: You must land on the far side of the moon, any closer to Earth and your ship will be seen as a invading force and be dealt with as such (you get two warnings until action is taken). For those who arrive on transport vessels from sol to the colonies, please bring your paperwork! The Lunar Bureau has a habit of rejecting off-worlders with absolute rigidity; even the slightest error on your document means you may find yourself stuck on the moon for a couple years until transport back to your home world is available. Generally Thankfully the moon is well known for Spaceland, a massive themepark which sprawls across the Mare Nectaris notable for holding over a million species of alien creatures from around the galaxy. It is recommended you visit Spaceland to pass the time. You will get a ticket to Spaceland and a free apartment module as compensation for being rejected. Please not that you must go to Earth and get Permits to go visit other planets in the solar system. The interplanetary permit act applies to Terran citizens as well. Mars has been converted since early colonization in 2076 into a massive industrial center where much of the United Front's space fleet is assembled on massive industrial plants that employ over 2.5 million people. About 70 million people live on Mars, 60 million of which live underground who are known to have their own internal markets. The Basalt Cult's origins are said to have come from Mars, as generations of living underground led to people who have never seen the surface to believe that space does not exist and that the surface is a hellish realm where sinners go. Such lunatics are never allowed onto the surface out of fear they may cause trouble for the workers up above. Martian Industry is perhaps the best in the galaxy with hundreds of ships from policing vessels, relay ships and massive military cruisers. However, the pride of martian Industry is "Terra's Finest", built in the course of vie years from 2345 to 2350 to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the United Front's benevolent governance. Peacekeeping forces also station themselves in orbit of mars. Mars has never been terraformed since mars without terraforming means pollution is far less a problem. The asteroid belt is a lovely place. Multiple asteroids are docking bays for travelers where trade between pilots and Earth-based markets is possible, of which is an exception in a normally restrictive solar system. These asteroids tend to be used as trade stations because terrorist attacks are easily contained to Asteroids should any incidents occur (as has happened all too many times in the past century). The asteroid belt also consists of multiple patrol brigades stationed whose job is to track and monitor anyone passing by and act as a the third line of defense against any intrusions into sol. Jupiter is used pretty much as a glorified resource bay. After all, Jupiter's helium mines are why you get to have balloons. Ganymede is pretty much used for terraforming experiments. Three million people live around Jupiter, most of which are concentrated around Europa and Ganymede, which not only has a subglacial ocean but also is nearby Io, where geothermal plants dot the surface as Sulfur mining is ongoing. Europans live on the suface mostly, with mining plants stationed in the extreme and abyssal depths of Europa. Saturn is characterized by being a major Tourist destination thanks to the vast springs of Enceladus and the massive rings of Saturn which have not been strip mined due to common heritage restrictions being specifically rigid when dealing with Saturn. Titan has been used as a planet sized plastics refinery regardless. Uranus is pretty much of little interest with only a couple outposts stationed there. Neptune has energy mines to harness the violent winds that propogate the skies much like Saturn. Triton is used as the gateway world to Neptune's mining facilities and shockingly enough is home to over a hundred people living off energy from cyro volcanoes. However, what makes Neptune truly notable is that Neptune has a Pizzeria stationed in one of those wind and methane gas harassing sky mines. It is the most isolated restaurant in the Solar system by far. It's a mystery as to who built it, it was likely built in the 22nd century but no one actually knows. It is believe that the Pizzeria was set up by aliens or is actually a front for some deep government conspiracy. Out in the Kuiper belt, on a extremely distant mars sized KOI object there is a small preservation structure has been placed filled with the genome of thousands of species from Earth along with a several pre-recorded messages should anyone visit KOI 27746 in the distant future. [u]Alpha Centuari[/u] The closest star system to our sun. Alpha centuari is actually trinary star system with Alpha Centuari A and B orbiting each other while Proxima Centuari orbits at a much, much greater distance. There is a somewhat habitable desert world around Alpha Centuari named Alpha Centuari ABc. Named such because it orbits both Alpha Centuari A and B. This world has over a hundred million colonists who live off handouts from Earth and energy from both stars of Alpha Centuari. They are concentrated in a few cities on the polar caps of the Alpha Centuari ABc Alpha Centuari is pretty much a star system full of barren worlds and lava worlds outside of Alpha Centuari B. Despite being once the pride of human achievement when the first interstellar missions were carried out, with space travel being the norm now Alpha Centuari is pretty much a glorified backwater system. They have some great monuments in spite of their comparative irrelevance due to only having some minerals worth mining. [u]BD+50 1725[/u] ((If anyone wants to be BD 50°1725, please tell me in the OOC, for now what I have is a NPC placeholder)) BD+50 1725 is a G-class star much like the sun. The native offworlders have referred to BD+50 1725 disturbingly enough as "Concordia". This means they are suspect of secessionist thought. BD 50°1725 consists of 11 planets with the forth planet from BD 50°1725 being a world much like Earth. It is 1.2x the size of Earth and was colonized 140 years ago. BD 50°1725 despite having 15000 colonists when it first was seeting now has over 1.7 billion people. Such massive explosion of population pretty much came out of nowhere with BD 50°1725 now numbering nearly 2.5 billion. The United Front believes these population explosions to the product of difficulty regulating human populations outside of the solar system. [u]Bernard's Star[/u] Bernard's star is a dim red dwarf with no planets, just a few icy bodies that float around the star in a void. Bernard's star is notorious for being the site of numerous maximum security prisons holding millions of criminals. The prisons do not get proper names, instead are assigned numbers. Bernard's Prison 17 is probably the most violent of the prisons and is notable for being the site of a total collapse. In 2314, the inmates of prison 17 in a fit of rioting destroyed the openly accessible life support systems, killing everyone within the Prison in a matter of minutes. The prison was reopened in 2317 with more security around the life support as if nothing really happened. [u]Beta Hydrae[/u] [u]Delta Pavonis[/u] Delta Pavonis is the site of a quite life and death filled "Jungle World"- a world extremely overgrown in life. Colonization of Delta Pavonis d has proven to be one of the greatest nightmares ever. [u]DX Cancri[/u] [u]Epsilion Indi[/u] [u]Epsilion Eridani[/u] [u]Eta Cassiopae[/u] [u]EZ Aquarii[/u] [u]Inne's Star[/u] Inne's Star is known for being the site of a several insurrections, all of which crushed. Inne's star is a impoverished mining colony around a dim star which has suffered at least three population collapses in the 100 years. There's about ten worlds in orbit of Inne's star. The first three worlds and barren and orbit in extremely compact orbits. The three Inne's are rather metal rich. Inne d is the most notable world, being a cool, dim world with icy peaks and cold savannas full of mold. The populations despite cyclic collapses from supply failures keep rebounding, holding a population that is steady at around 270 million people on Inne d. It is thanks to Opal mold that surprisingly high populations on what is a oxygen poor world have developed. Opal mold grows easily, is everywhere and despite the drab taste is quite nourishing. Inne d culturally however, is very depressing. There's drab architecture everywhere repetitively built of the same plans while most people live in communal apartments. Richer people get personal estates out by the equatorial coasts. Advertisement billboards and electronic ghettos fill the alley ways and block factions are quite common. The next three worlds are cold, lifeless worlds which are known as shepherd worlds because they concentrate the dust around Inne's Star into multiple asteroid rings around the central star. e, f and g all being quite small and lifeless. f has three asteroid sized moons, Inne g however is a binary planet system and is beyond the ice line. Inne h is the only gas giant orbitting Inne's star, it orbits at a distant 7 AU and is freezing cold. It has two icy moons. A third "moon" exists in tow of inne h which is tugged around by Inne h as a trojan world. Inne i is a large ball of ice. As is Inne j. [u]Kapetyn's Star[/u] [u]Luyten[/u] [u]Luyten's Star[/u] [u]Procyon[/u] [u]Sigma Draconis[/u] [u]Sirius[/u] [u]Tucanae[/u] [u]Tau Ceti[/u] [u]UV Ceti[/u] [u]Wolf 424[/u] [b]True Order[/b] A rogue world state that is a bit far to reach. Has been rogue for over two decades now. What actions to take on these successions around HIP 57443 have so far been pending ((I am for the sake of creative supremacy and the fact that 50% of exoplanets don't exist anyways will ignore the fact there's believed to be a hot neptune here)). "Cian IV" is what they refer to the star as. The True Order is a world-state based on HIP 57443 b and has since claimed control over all of the star system. The True Order's Ideology is Cleanism and their "independence" has so far been tolerated to a minor degree just to see how their experiment goes. Yet, because its foundations in terrorism there are factions within the United Front who believe it to wiser just to crush it before it grows any further or one of the rogue organizations ((other human factions)) starts propping them up. Analysts are not sure whether or not Cleanism is a revolutionary or a reactionary ideology. [u]Cian IV[/u] A yellow dwarf equal to that of Sol, Cian IV, as the only star with six planets, an asteroid belt surrounding the system at its farthest reach. Highly unstable, high solar flare warning. Delta Fire 0.45 AU away from the sun with a solid metal core, average surface temperature at 165 degrees Celsius. 6.89k miles in diameter. No atmosphere, uninhabitable. Asus 1.1 AU away from the sun with liquid outer core and solid metal core, average surface temperature at 85 degrees Celsius. 9.9k miles in diameter. Atmosphere, Oxygen-nitrogen, 75 percent of surface is land, 23 percent salt water, 2 percent fresh water in ice caps. Potentially habitable. Capital of the True Order Ashen 1.9 AU away from the sun with liquid metal core, average surface temperature at 186 degrees Celsius, due to high planetary volcanic activity and occasional meteorite impact. Atmosphere primarily made of carbon dioxide. Uninhabitable but may prove useful for metals once planet is done with volcanic activity, unknown time when planetary cooling may began. 3.5k miles in diameter Icarus V 5.4 AU away from the sun, hydrogen gas giant, orange and rustic looking color, with a ring of small asteroids. 1,856k miles in diameter. Westero 7.3 AU away from the sun, mainly methane-ammonia gas giant, light blue color. 1,222k miles in diameter Harmonia 7.9 AU away from the sun, with solid metal core, average surface temperature at -154 degrees Celsius 7.3k in diameter. Covered in ice. Uninhabitable but can potentially provide water for a growing populous. An Asteroid belt surrounds Cian. [b]Arcandia[/b] Property thieves and reactionaries who are pending reintegration into the United Front. They are believed to be working with rogue organizations. Located at HIP 15371, reintegrating Arcandia into the greater matrix of worlds has proven signfiicantly more difficult than the papers suggested it would. [u]Arcandia[/u] A star almost exactly like Sol, Arcandia is slightly hotter. [i]Arcandia I[/i] A small planet,approximately the size of Mercury. Being only .15 AU away from the star, its nickel and iron surface is constantly boiling. It has no moons. [i]Arcandia II[/i] The second world in this system is slightly less harsh then the first world, and is about a mile greater in diameter. It is exactly .35 AU from the star.It remains too hot to colonize, however for limited periods of time, specially equipped craft can harvest the molten metal that flows in rivers upon this planet's surface. It has no moons. [i]Arcandia III[/i] The only habitable world in the system, Arcandia III is about the size of Mars. It is exactly the same temperature as a moderate Earth climate, on average. It rests 1.1 AU away from the star. Two moons keep her tidally locked. Both moons are nothing spectacular, being little more then a rock in space. [i]Arcandia IV[/i] A massive gas giant, larger then Jupiter plus its moons (([url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zKVx29_A1w]which is astronomically impossible[/url])), this world is 3 AU away from the star. Her gasses are toxic to humans and as far as anyone can tell, it has no surface. It does however have a beautiful set of rings. It has no moons. [b][u]Contested Star Systems[/u][/b] ((None as of yet. This will change rapidly))