Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Ekreture
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Earth was doomed to die, but Humanity was not, for they set upon the stars. For a thousand years, the Humans colonized the system of Sol, as wall as many of the near by Solar Systems, and the region of the Galaxy inhabited by these humans become known as Humania. But the humans were not unified, for their leaders were greedy, and the peoples were disunified, founding independent Planetary States. Disparate and corrupt, they remained at odds with each other until the Ancient Scorpine Empire sought to conquer Humania. In the face of subjugation, they were united by the hunter Orion, who founded a great empire in the midst of the human stars, which became known as Orion's belt. Emperor Orion then united the various human religions under one religion, Kineticism, where energy was worshipped as a divine being known as Spiritus. Soon, this empire began to expand, shooting out across the galaxy, conquering the entirety of not only the Scorpine Empire, but much, much more, forming the great Orionic Empire from their capital on Mars.

For centuries, the empire experienced the great Pax Orionus; the great Orionic Peace, which brought stability and prosperity to much of the galaxy, only fighting wars to expand into much smaller powers. The people were content, and the various alien species were made citizens and integrated into the empire, while humans expanded and colonized every corner. Kineticism turned to two sects; Universal and Divine. Universal Kineticism, the smaller sect, teaches that Spiritus, often referred to as Ein-Sof, is vast and complex far beyond mortal comprehension, and much of their practice is through mysticism and meditation. Divine Kineticism, the larger sect, and the state sect of the Empire, teaches that Spiritus has a divine will, greatly cares about the affairs of mortals, and uses prophets to teach his will. The Orionic Empire began to build up, and the arts and sciences flourished under a code of laws and ethics. Though there were mass voices of dissent from among the populace, these dissenters were exiled past the reaches of the Empire, creating a great buffer between them and the foreign menaces.

But as the leadership of the Empire grew contented, so too did they grow corrupt, ineffectual, and the military lazy. The conditions of the empire began to fall, and the people knew it. Meanwhile, in the southeast reaches of the empire, beyond even the lonely stars to which the exiles had been pushed, a force was rising that would eventually bring the great empire to its knees. Formed by the prophet Avostin Zuuk, the Zuukid empire gradually spread its central faith of Anchorism to its neighbors, absorbing them through faith and firepower as they slowly pushed their territory towards the holy galactic core. The first blows dealt against the Orionic empire as a result of this new power were not dealt by the encroaching Zuukind themselves, but by those fleeing religious persecution, populations of exiles and aliens deciding that they’d take their chances breaking into Orionic space instead of trying to hold their ground, in addition to exiles pushing down from the northern borders. These migrants disrupted local economies and clashed with Orionic forces, leaving the empire unprepared for what was to come. It was a pattern that was repeated throughout the Zuukid expansion, a wave of refugees and migrants driven ahead of their forces in a sweeping wave of anarchy.

When the Zuukid forces finally hit the Orionic Empire proper, humanity was totally unprepared for them. Fighting with unyielding zeal and willing to utilise what might be considered unethical technology and tactics, the Zuukind cleaved through the human empire with frightful speed and ruthlessness. The Orionic forces were unable to concentrate themselves to offer proper resistance without leaving other areas vulnerable to the spreading uprisings and migrations that were occurring in response to the empire's weakness. Yet the Zuukind’s rapid success was their own undoing, as their emperors destructive conquest took her far from her core worlds in the outer rim. There conspirators seized the reins of power for themselves as chunks of the outer edges of the empire declared their own independence. The Zuukind crusade fleet halted its advance and returned home, only to be consumed in civil war, but it was too late for the Orionic empire. Its authority and power utterly undermined by the incursion its former territories disintegrated into a vast number of minor kingdoms, each ruled by those who claimed they had the power and will to protect them from the chaos that had engulfed half the galaxy.



Finally, in the year 5500 CE, or 500 Era Imperium, an invading fleet of marauding Scorpine Exiles sacked the capital city of Olympia on Mars, and the final Emperor, Ego I, was executed, and the empire died with him, his children being sold into slavery. The next three centuries were a chaotic mess of war, migration, and resettlement, but now, things have changed. The Migration Period had ended, and national borders have become definite. The question now is what happens next.



Premise

In case you couldn't tell, Dark Matters is an Advanced NRP set in a future where a great Galactic Empire has fallen, and now, the galaxy is at a stage where they are rebuilding from the ashes in a Sci-Fi Dark Age. It is the year 800 Era Imperium (EI), or 5800 Common Era. For now, we're going to be relatively sandbox, without a centralized plot unless the need for one arises. We're still accepting applications and will be until the map is full, so if you're interested make sure to ask any questions you may need to! Right now, it seems like there's a few basic classifications for nations, though this doesn't necessarily have to do with political alignment.

Imperial Successors: Imperial Successors are successor states to the Orionic Empire, who have largely copied their military and governmental systems. Successor states are largely dominated by humans, although tend to enjoy a large degree of species diversity. Some successor states, or factions within them, seek a reformation of the Empire, and many, if not most, will align themselves with the Martian Coalition, a military and economic alliance headed by the Martian State. Kineticism tends to be the most-followed religion in successor states.

Human Realms: Human Realms, though will sometimes speak well of the Orionic Empire, are most focused on Human Supremacy and a hatred of Alien diversity. Any alien presence whatsoever exist in complete subservience to the human population. Though relations with Imperial Successors may be cordial, and the Realms may even join the Martian Coalition, a degree of separation will always exist both due to a differing view of Imperial history and a difference in tolerance of Alien life.

Alien Revivalists: Revivalists are alien-dominated states from formerly Imperial Space who either seek to reclaim their heritage and destiny and distance themselves from their imperial past, or to forge empires of their own. Revivalists may be friendly to Imperial Successors, or may place themselves in opposition to them, depending on their view and experience as part of the Orionic Empire.

Alien States: Areas that were never conquered by either the Orionic Empire or Zuukind, the Alien States are the hardest classification to make generalizations of, due to a lack of coherent goals, beliefs or alignment. Some may be isolationist, others expansionist, but in the wake of the massive chaos experienced by much of the Galaxy, these countries were left largely in tact.

Zuukind: In the areas of the former Zuukid empire, the Zuukind are the species who were friendly and aligned themselves with the encroaching Zuukid empire, initially (and largely still) dominated by the Centaur-like Rodorphins. There's a mixture of opinions in the Anchorist Zuuk space, opinions and goals which are largely a mystery to the rest of the Galaxy.

Rules/Guidelines


Planetary destruction without permission from both a GM or Co-Gm and the person who's planet is being destroyed is not allowed; please don't just say you're blowing up someone's capital. That's not cool. But weapons capable of planetary destruction are allowed as a plot device, but again, please ask for permission.

When it comes to other weapons, pretty much anything's okay. Y'all should get creative! I'm excited to see what you come up with. The same goes with species; there's going to be a constantly-updated database of species, so when deciding on demographics, always take a peek over there to check ideas for other species which can get added to your nation. Remember that much of the map was once united under a single empire, and that demographics were greatly effected by this. When creating species, keep in mind that even if your species was artificially engineered, there has to be a trade off; no 'perfect' species. Disease exists. Physical weakness exists. Low intellects exist. Common imperfections have to be existent in every species.

Faster than Light (FTL) travel is covered by two methods; Warp Drives and Warp Gates (Wormholes). Warp Drives are much, much slower than the latter, and to cross the entirety of the galaxy using the best quality warp drive possible would probably take a year, but, Drives can be used freely and in every direction. Warp Gates are costly and take time to build, but once two warp gates on opposite sides of the galaxy are built and connected, one could reach the other side in less than a month. Near-light travel is also possible in ships, but I want to make clear that all other methods of FTL are forbidden. Most ships at this point can enter wormholes, and there's some tiny ships with very low-level drives. But it does take a somewhat bulkier ship to get a decent one on. Stealth and cloaking technology exists, but only up to fighter-sized ships. Megastructures are approved on a case by case basis.

I'm open to a wide range of species life spans. While immortality itself is not forbidden, unless a species is super small in its population, all species have to be mortal. That said, no individual is allowed to have been born before the year 3500. All species also have to have their origins in the Milky Way. No outside galaxies allowed, sorry Andromeda. Try to keep claims relatively small (this is a space dark age after all), but there'll be some relatively large nations in the mix I'm guessing. This should go without saying, but don't harass people, don't bully, don't do all of the obvious dick moves that people seem to forget are dick moves. Either PM me or post your NS applications to the OOC. Finally Psionics and other Space Magics (telekinesis and most forms of telepathy) are banned. Also no nanomachines.

Also, if you don't want to join as a nation, you don't have to. Whether you just want to be a faction or a single character, I'm down to let a wide variety of player types join.

Map

Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Sigma
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(Sheet moved to Character Tab).
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Dinh AaronMk
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Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by DracoLunaris
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moved
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Sierra
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What is the plot significance of the rules around FTL? Given the ramification such a stringent limitation will have on the way the roleplay will progress, and the amount of things it would require the temporary retcon of in my sci-fi lore, I expect it's very important to the story.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Ekreture
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@Sierra Given that wormholes cannot be found, and that their use in travel requires two man-made entry points, it limits travel entirely to the Milky Way. It also means that historical expansion was pretty slow, given that exploring new lands required the use of warp drives, which for a very long time were not at the standard they are now.
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Isotope
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Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Willy Vereb
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I think this game still has the problem with scale. Being limited to "just the Milky Way" still means 400 million star systems out of which at least 4 million of them are somewhat habitable, not to mention technologies which could allow you to settle on lifeless star systems. Add the fact the Orion Empire owned nearly half of the galaxy, it can lead to rather weird consequences. Similarly I don't feel the FTL is really something you'd consider slow, albeit limiting to only these two is a good idea to help making a more consistent setting.

This is why it's encouraged to rather take a tiny slice of the galaxy as the "map" and perhaps even slower FTL with gate travel providing the "fast enough to be convenient" method. But I digress. There are a myriad of sci-fi stories that fail to take the sheer scale of the galaxy into account. Why should we? I'll try to think of this more like Star Wars than say Mass Effect or especially anything more serious.

Anyways, I might at least try to join as my Martian faction. They're going to be inspired by the War of the Worlds book and 50s sci-fi with some modern influences. Would it be okay if my history involves the Martians trying yet failing to invade Earth?
The story would be that the Martians fled to the distant corner of the galaxy with a primitive warp drive and by the time they have arrived humans already created their Orion Empire. So they are now all too eager for revenge as the mighty empire collapsed.

EDIT: Oh, we have human Martians? That's going to be fun. My species are referred as the Martians but they are more properly called as the Sarmakth. The conflict between the "fake martians" and "true martians" could be fun.
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Willy Vereb
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And here's my nation sheet. I still need to fill in the military section and need to think about territory claim but otherwise I'm finished.
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@Willy Vereb I wanna nail on a few of your points because I think you raised some good issues that I have a take on.

Similarly I don't feel the FTL is really something you'd consider slow, albeit limiting to only these two is a good idea to help making a more consistent setting.

You're right about the consistency, but the consistency is applied inconsistently. Weapons, species, every other technology aspect isn't even bound to half-realistic physics, led alone given any consistency. When you see how slowed-down its supposed to be, as well, you get this one random element that seems to completely contradict the whole sci-fantasy space opera construct the RP is going for. (It's also a tech aspect for which I've developed no less than 6 systems for my own work that I greatly dislike throwing out without very good reasons and so far I am unconvinced.) It also has an interaction problem in that - unless the RP works on greatly accelerated timetables, which is not implied - players are rather limited in who they can interact with to only relatively nearby neighbor factions.

I think this game still has the problem with scale. Being limited to "just the Milky Way" still means 400 million star systems out of which at least 4 million of them are somewhat habitable, not to mention technologies which could allow you to settle on lifeless star systems.

There are a myriad of sci-fi stories that fail to take the sheer scale of the galaxy into account. Why should we? I'll try to think of this more like Star Wars than say Mass Effect or especially anything more serious.

For one I would not consider scale to be one of the things Mass Effect handles comparatively well either but I digress. The estimation on semi-habitable star systems also is way low and modern astronomy has brought that number up from 1:100 to closer to 1:5 but I digress again.

You're kinda being slightly contradictory. "This RP has a problem with scale." "We should disregard scale entirely." Your points are both valid, but pick one. I sense you're leaning towards the second statement as a proposed solution which I think is somewhat fine. I think invoking scale where relevant is important, but scale should also not ever be a hindrance to gameplay/story progression. (This can also be brought full-circle into another argument against the FTL thing earlier.)
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Willy Vereb
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I know that the scale is a problem but I also admit that it isn't something most space opera can handle well, either. Rather than just showing up and ordering the GM to change his setting I just acknowledged this problem and moved on. Hoping it would never become an actual issue. I agree that some flexibility is good but as somebody who pleaded for special permissions in the past I know it'd only set up problems.

As for consistency of tech levels. While that sounds fine on paper in effect it throttles creativity. If I were the GM I'd also give special exceptions to some rules when I see it does not hurt but I have no such authority. The reason why limiting the FTL drive to known variant is preferable because these devices determine the scale of the game. On the other hand if there's a reasonable alternative which keeps the scale, I'd personally allow it. But I do understand when a GM wishes to stick to the guns.
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Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by Dinh AaronMk
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Did you lads know you misplaced where Orion is?

It's not that far to the left. It's not even left of the sol system at all. It's actually at the bottom of the Sol system's territory. Or at the least at the very lower-left edge.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Ekreture
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@Dinh AaronMkThat's the Orion-Cygnus arm. Sol is on the Orion Spur.
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@Ekreture

Per all the sources I can check, they're not all that far apart. As they're showing on Earth Sky:

Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Sierra
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Is this really in the category of things worth arguing about? I didn't even press my FTL grievances and I would consider this to have far less bearing on the roleplay at large.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Ekreture
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@Dinh AaronMk@Sierra Just get on the flippin discord!
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Dinh AaronMk
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@Dinh AaronMk@Sierra Just get on the flippin discord!


Start up the IC posting
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Arawak
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Give it 12 days and i'll have an app.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Isotope
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Lets just pretend the map is right.

And Aaron is right, IC > Discord
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