[i]Human history is a history of revolutions. Revolutions against authority, against tradition, against faith, and against their own deficiencies and inabilities. No matter how strong, how entrenched, how powerful an empire, its time has always come for it to fall. No matter how formidable an obstacle, human ingenuity has found a way around it or at least a way to weaken it. This is how nations such as Rome and the Third Reich fell. This is how a man was able to set foot on the moon.

This is not the story of human history. But the lessons human history teaches us are no less relevant in this new world.[/i]

[b]~City of Sylvnor, Planet of Cindorya~[/b]
[i]December 2056[/i]

“Down with the Emperor! Up with Cindorya! Down with the Emperor! Up with Cindorya!”

The crowd made its way forward, brandishing signs and makeshift weapons alike. The sky was orange with both the sunset and the occasional fire. A Molotov cocktail was thrown, adding another orange blossom to the world. Against all this cacophony, a deeper and more menacing sound could be heard. It was the sound of marching.

A wall of men advanced down the street. Riot police, bearing the sigil of the Cindorayi Empire on their shields and guns in their hands. A spotlight pierced through the orangey gloom and illuminated the center of the crowd, as the police commander shouted.

“Imperial citizens, you are hereby ordered to disperse! By Imperial Edict 347, this is an illegal gathering. Put down all weapons and disperse at once or we will fire!”

This warning seemed to only embolden the crowd.  Several more blossoms of fire erupted against the police’s shields and behind them, and they surged forward. The police looked at one another anxiously, and then prepared to fire.

In the precise moment when the commander’s mouth began to open, a jet streaked by and a bomb fell right down into the center of the police lines. The police line wavered, then shattered without leadership.  Some were beaten, some were pushed aside, but the crowd kept advancing, as a landslide does heedless of obstacles in its way.

Nearby, a reporter, trying to retain some decency as the cold wind gusted past and billowed up her dress, was shouting into the microphone to be heard.

“These are by far the largest protests ever seen in Sylvnor, or indeed on all of the Cindoryan Imperial Colony!” The reporter pointed to the advancing crowds. “Unrest has been rapidly increasing over the Imperial taxation policies and draconian restrictions over the last week, but only now have we seen such a massive public outcry! Protesters are demanding the Viceroy be replaced with a democratic, autonomous govern…” The reporter trailed off as she listened to her earphone. “We have breaking news that the Colonial Army has sided with the protestors and is currently attempting a coup. I repeat, a coup is in progress.”

[b]~Imperial Palace, City of Lunysvet, Planet of Nova Mondial~[/b]

The viewscreen powered down and there was nothing but silence.

“As you can see, Your Imperial Highness, the situation is… escalating quickly. The Viceroy reports he’s virtually lost control of the situation. We may have to grant the Imperial Col-“ A nervous Cindorayi civil servant twitched his tail nervously.

“May I ask if you are going to seriously present such a ludicrous proposal to my face? Shall I have you executed for treason right here and now?” A man clothed in luxurious robes leaned forward slightly, his pointed face half-illuminated by the light.

“No, Your Imperial Highness, I was merely-“

“Then enough of this foolishness. The Imperial Colony will be reclaimed, and our empire will continue to expand. This was merely… an unfortunate setback.” The Emperor chuckled and leaned back once more.

---

Greetings, and welcome. This is likely my third attempt at GMing a RP, as I don’t usually come up with concepts that occur so evocative to me as to warrant it. I can only hope that this is the most successful one yet. If you had the patience to read through the above, I welcome you to Novira. The basic premise of this RP is as follows:

[b]Setting:[/b] This is a roleplay which primarily takes place on a habitable world much like our own, called Nova Mondial. The primary difference is this: multiple sentient species have developed on the world, and exist in competition with each other. Most species exist as independent, unified nation-states. The RP takes place at a technological level in the near future, with these nations beginning the process of interplanetary colonization.

[b]Style:[/b] This RP is ideally very open-ended in terms of how you choose to carry it out. Some people prefer to narrate large-scale events, others to look at everything within their nation from an individual character perspective. You’re perfectly free to do either or both.

[b]Backstory:[/b] The world of Nova Mondial emerged after the year 2036 in the Cindorayi calendar from a major war, known as the Void War (2034-36) as it involved the first use of space-based weaponry systems. In this time, the world was split into two major alliances, one spearheaded by the Cindorayi Empire and the other by the Aldabetan Republic. The Cindorayi soundly and completely defeated the Aldabetan Republic, ending with the dropping of nuclear weapons on several Aldabetan cities and the wholesale annexation of their territory.

In the twenty years since, the Cindorayi Empire and their allies, known collectively as the Nova Dominion, consolidated their control over outer space. Having uncontested superiority after the Void War, rival developing nations had no choice but to seek Cindorayi permission to launch spacecraft or colonize, or risk being blown out of the sky on the way up. While the Empire and its allies collaboratively settled Nova Mondial’s habitable moon, Lunoi, the Empire reserved for itself the closest habitable planet, which they named Cindorya. In the last decade, they initiated a massive colonization drive to move a million people over to the new planet via a space elevator, the first of its kind. In order to enforce order and ensure maximum expansion, the Cindoryan Imperial Colony enforced heavy rules and regulations on the populace, as well as taxes to fund its efforts back on Nova Mondial. This, understandably, provoked heavy backlash and in December 2056, the Celestial Republic of Cindorya declared independence from the Empire. The resulting war resulted in the destruction of the majority of the Cindorayi Empire’s space infrastructure. The RP begins on the first day of 2057. The way is now open for rival nations to begin to take on - and potentially surpass them - in the great race for colonization of the rest of the Novira System.

[b]Nation Sign-Up Sheet:[/b]

[i]Name of Nation:[/i]
[i]Nation Characteristics:[/i] (Government, culture, anything you see fit to explain about how your nation operates)
[i]Nation Location:[/i] (Feel free to indicate a general place in text and I can add you to the map, or add yourself.)
[i]Nation Initial Population:[/i]
[i]Species Name:[/i]
[i]Species Characteristics:[/i] (Basic physical features, anatomy, etc. Nothing too outlandish or overpowered, please, and preferably no humans)
[i]Side Chosen in Void War:[/i] (Cindorayi, Aldabetan, or neutral)
[i]Technological Level:[/i] (The baseline for this is like standard modern technology. The Cindorayi Empire is the most advanced at present, with several advanced technologies such as a space elevator, laser and railgun weapons, and nuclear fusion power. Allies would have been given some of these technologies, but not all. Also include what level of space presence your empire has, if any. Most nations should at least have communications satellites and a space station, however Cindorayi allies would have been allowed to arm their stations/satellites and also to have a moon colony.)
[i]Special Resource:[/i] (It’s an alien planet, and so correspondingly I’ll allow each applying person to say there’s a unique resource not found on earth that they have large deposits of, provided again it’s not too overpowered. Example: The Cindorayi have Cindor crystals, which are capable of storing much larger quantities of energy than conventional batteries.)

I intend to balance the technological/space advantage given to the Cindorayi allies by being more permissive with the other categories (population, land area, species and special resources) to those who chose the Aldabetan side.

[b]Maps of Nova Mondial:[/b]

[u]Political:[/u]
[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/399055277782990862/399335060714553364/NovaMondial-Political.png[/img]

[i]Current Claims:[/i]
Dark Red: Cindorayi Empire (Mihndar)
Light Purple: Grand Protectorate of Lithla (Predawnia)
Dark Green: Vaspen Empire (Ben1730)
Light Green: Famsidian Union (Aweirdgamer)
Yellow-Orange: Union of Kor (Neruu)
Salmon: New Auslassia (Dinh AaronMK)
Dark Purple: The Gestalt (Arawak)
Dark Brown: Dominion of Isalka (Cheetuhman)
Dark Blue: Rafinid Technocracy

[u]Physical:[/u]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/wKzw2Sl.png[/img]

[b]Celestial Bodies (in order from the star, Novira):[/b]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/UBKlg8Z.png[/img]

[u]Irkalla:[/u] A desolate, Mercury-like volcanic planet, which is completely uninhabitable on the surface and possesses no atmosphere. An underground colony would be theoretically plausible, but difficult. Roughly the size of Earth’s moon.

[u]Europia:[/u] Lying on the inner edge of Novira’s habitable zone, this is a hot desert/savannah like planet which has no oceans, only small seas and lakes. Roughly 1/2 the size of Earth.
[i]---Nachbar:[/i] The sole moon of Europia, uninhabitable, no atmosphere and hot, 1/6 the size of Earth’s moon.

[u]Nova Mondial:[/u] The home planet, of a similar size to Earth.
---[i]Lunoi:[/i] A habitable, temperate moon with a single large sea. Suffers severe tidal effects due to Nova Mondial. Colonized by the Cindorayi Empire and a few other major Nova Dominion powers. Of a similar size to Earth's Moon.
---[i]Edhya:[/i] An uninhabitable, cratered moon much like our own, but with ice caps at the poles that could be utilized for water. Approximately a fourth the size of Earth’s moon.

[u]Cindorya:[/u] Lying on the outer edge of Novira’s habitable zone, this is a cold, mostly tundra-arctic world with a thin temperate band around the equator. The ice caps consist of nearly a third of the surface, though there are oceans that separate the continents along the temperate band. Approximately 2/3 the size of Earth.
---[i]Duiria:[/i] A rocky, uninhabitable moon with a thin atmosphere made almost entirely of carbon dioxide, of similar climate to Mars. Most hospitable of the uninhabitable bodies and potentially able to be terraformed with enough time and effort.

[u]Asteroid Belt:[/u] The asteroid belt here is very similar to that of the Sol System’s, essentially the fragmented remains of what could have been a planet, endless rocks drifting in the void.

[u]Sapia:[/u] This final habitable planet lies well outside the habitable zone, but possesses an extremely thick atmosphere with a high concentration of carbon dioxide, creating a greenhouse effect that keeps the surface relatively temperate and the oceans liquid. This planet is approximately twice the size of Earth.
---[i]Felinis:[/i] Similar to Cindorya in climate, but no oceans, and due to the vertical rotation around Sapia, only one side of the moon is habitable at a given time. As the rotation slowly changes, the habitable side moves circularly around the equator, making one rotation every four years. Approximately the size of Earth's moon.

[u]Kharok:[/u] A gas giant at the outer edge of the solar system of similar size to Jupiter. The gas giant has seven small, uninhabitable rocky moons, some of which are closer to asteroids.

[i]Note:[/i] I’m considering allowing civilization(s) native to Sapia to apply, in some kind of industrial-era level technology, since it would be very interesting as the RP progresses to see that sort of interaction, as well as to make taking Sapia more difficult as it it is by far the most valuable of the planets.

[b]Please tell me what you think and feel free to give recommendations![/b]