Hael — Roleplayer Guild

Fade

Come for the space-murder, stay for the culture.
GM: @Hael, Co-GM: @Lauder

Interest Check: roleplayerguild.com/topics/125494-fade..

Sitting on the bridge of your Medusa Class Battlecruiser, you grip the leather armrests of your Captain's Chair until your knuckles turn white with stress. 

The sound of your voice rises above the chaos of intergalactic battle. "Damn it all to hell, why won't they just leave us alone?"

The answer comes from your second-in-command, a pretty young blonde who may have loved you, if things had been different. "We're imperfect, sir." 

Even knowing she couldn't possibly be a spy, you take the time to shoot her a questioning glare. "I mean, by their definition," she says, "Captain."

You were on your way to provide support for a colony of humans when you were ambushed by a Xim starship, a race of mutants, whose ultimate goal is to eliminate all imperfection in life. And as far as you can tell, they seem to view humanity as one gigantic imperfection, which must be either forcibly altered or simply scrubbed off the face of their galaxy.

A violet ray of energy emanates from the Xim vessel to strike your cruiser's key systems with the same unnatural precision those freaks did everything with.

"Captain," your tactical officer cries out at the ray makes contact, "they knocked out our shields! We're defenseless!"

It's warm in your Starship, but a chill runs down your spine. In the fifty years you have been at war, the Xim never once showed mercy to an open target. 

Another flash of dazzling light from the Xim, this time carrying with it a Plasma Torpedo that will surely tear your ship into scraps.

There's no escaping it now. Your shields are down, your weapons are malfunctioning, your crew is in panic. You're doomed.

As the agent of your death draws closer, visions of a better world flash in your mind- a world where the war is over, a world where the Xim can finally shake the hand of the human, a world where different races work as one for a grander future... a world of peace and co-operation.

A world that can never exist.

The torpedo hits.

Welcome to Fade!

I apologize for the dramatic second-person intro, but I couldn't resist.  I needed to be sure I had your attention!

This is a fairly sandbox sci-fi NRP and Adventure fusion, where you will switch back-and-forth between playing as an alien or human nation of your own creation and as an explorer in the employ of that nation. 

I have a lot of rules, but only because I want to keep everything fair and balanced. Anything not mentioned in the rules should be assumed to be allowed. I mainly want this to be a sandbox, afterall.

On the state of the world:

The date is October 30th, 2323 A.D. The Chinese say it's a year of the Rabbit. The Alpha Quadrant of the Milky Way Galaxy is populated with dozens of sentient species- possibly more- each of them thirsty for knowledge, and hungry to carve out their little slice of the universe. It is a new world, dotted with stars as bright as the future, and voids as deep as the past. 

Empires have long-since formed across the galaxy, and ships are being launched already into foreign territory, sometimes for diplomacy or exploration but all too often for war and espionage. 

Of these empires, one stands out in strangeness, if not in power: the Xim Initiative. A semi-militant nation bent on creating the perfect organism at all costs, typically through genetic engineering. To the Xim, there is no question that cannot be answered with progress, no species which cannot be improved with bio-engineering, and no state of being which cannot be altered. They are perhaps the most dangerous opponent one could possess, for while their weaponry is far from cutting-edge, they are the only organization who does not simply defeat their enemy, but changes their enemy into a reflection of themselves.

Humanity was at war with the Xim for a grand total of fifty years before, just one decade ago, both sides finally put aside their deep-seeted hatred and agreed to a peace treaty.

But what of your people? Will they survive in this brutal world of crashing whims? Our will they fall to a greater empire, and be reduced to a mere footnote in the long story of history?

That is for you to decide.

On posting:

Often times, the goal of NRP becomes to destroy all other nations, and as our intro suggests, a lot of that is gonna be in here, two. But there is more to it than that. I feel strongly that the real potential of NRP does not lay in waging war, but in exploring the culture and life of the nations we create. 

Therefore, I am going to strongly recommend that, while you totally invade other nations and fuck everything up for the other players as much as possible, also remember to delve into your own nation. I love nothing more than those random little posts about the day-to-day life of someone in one of our nations. 

I also need at least 1/4th of your posts to be the "Explorer Posts", which will be explained in detail further down. 

But regardless of what you post on, you must do so at least 2 times a month, and every post must be at least 4 paragraphs long, or the wrath of the ban-hammer will come upon you. I require decent grammar, some character development (for long-term characters), and lots of detail. You do not have to be a great writer, but you do have to put forth some effort.

On humanoids:

Pictured: not what an alien being should look like in any reality

Logically, it makes no sense whatsoever for any alien to appear even remotely like a human being. We evolved on different planets, so how much of our DNA should really match? That's right: exactly 0%

Of course, I realize that the reason we have such a fondness for bipedal, human-like aliens is because their resemblance to us allows us to empathize with them. It's much more difficult to feel a bond for a giant slug than it is to feel one for a semi-human girl.

As a result, it would be dictatorish of me to tell you not to use humanoid aliens.

But the only way this could happen in reality is if all humanoid species were somehow descended from a single, common ancestor. How is this possible, you ask? That will have to be explored IC, I cryptically answer.

On non-humanoids:

I know that some douchebags will see creating a non-humanoid species as a method to get away with anything and everything, by simply making up the rules as they go. Someone fires a plasma beam at one of your soldiers? Your species is suddenly immune to plasma! Some place can only be reached through flight? Your species can suddenly levitate!

One word: No.

I love, love, love non-humanoid species, and if it were possible, I would have nothing but non-humanoid races in this RP. But that doesn't mean that non-bipedal is suddenly an excuse for perfection (unless you're the Xim, because the Xim are totally perfect), so I must create some rules.

1. All non-humanoids are different but equal to humans. They can't be superior or inferior in every imaginable way, but they can be inferior in some and superior and some. Keep it balanced.

2. Non-humanoids can't act exactly like humans. Their personality and behavior should be just as strange as their appearance.

3. Non-humanoids are awesome. This is simply a law of the universe, and as such is beyond refutation.

4. I'm more tolerant of non-humanoids using unlikely or implausible technologies than I am humanoids, because they think in different ways, and thus may be able to find solutions to problems that we cannot. But, no matter what, it must remain balanced.

On tech:

I am an open-ended person, but I need to lay down a few ground-rules for technology to ensure that all of our nations are on somewhat equal footing.

1. Warp drive is the general way of getting around. Other ways can be used, but I would prefer it if you stuck to warp.

2. All of our nations exist within the 1/4th of the Milky Way around Earth (i.e. the "Alpha Quadrant"). Only this quarter of our galaxy has been explored.

3. Virtually everyone is aware that all humanoids descend from a common ancestor. If, for some reason, your nation is too blissfully oblivious to have noticed the clear relations, then they should realize it very early into the IC.

4. Technology must be at least somewhat realistic. If I know for a fact that it can't happen, I won't allow it. Use common sense.

5. Explorer Characters may have slightly more advanced technologies than the rest of their nation, as it stands to reason that they would be supplied with high-end equipment by their government.

On the RPG elements:

This RP will still be 90% Nation-roleplay, but I fully intend incorporating some adventure elements through "explorer-characters".

What is an Explorer Character? I'm so glad you asked! It was very intelligent of you to inquire such of me.

This universe is an odd one, brimming with unexplored territory, hostile aliens, unexplained anomalies, and (much) more. With this in mind, how could any nation focus solely on conquest? 

Therefore, every player-nation will have a Captain Kirk esque player-controlled-character who's goal is to boldly go where no *insert species here* has gone before! It will be the job of me and my co-GM to decide what exactly they encounter when they go exploring, but suffice to say, it will be some fairly weird shit. Giant aliens, wormholes to other dimensions, parasites that take control of the captain (*gasp*), and so on. Every "Explorer Post" will be like an episode of Star Trek, if Star Trek was written by RPers 

I will RP any alien species or sentient creature you discover in the Explorer Posts.

It should also be noted that only some of your posts should be Explorer Posts, while the rest will be typical NRP style posts.

However, everything your Explorer does will impact your Nation. If your Explorer genocides a group of primitive sentients, you can expect other player-Nations will hear about it and most likely respond xD

When deciding what your Explorer encounters, I'm going to try my best to give you some difficult scenarios that may not always have an obvious answer. It is possible for your Explorer to die. If you provoke a more powerful entity, I will not hesitate to RP as that entity tearing your Explorer to bits.

So, you know, have fun and try not to die! 

Notes:

Please note that the following is required reading to participate in the RP. In fact, this entire OP is. If you ask a question or pose a problem that is covered at any point in this post, I'll just passively-aggressively quote it, while judging you silently.

The following is a list of those techs which are often excluded in "hard sci-fi" for being too unrealistic, and my opinions on them. I'm not particularly strict on tech, as this does take place in the future where certain technologies are available/possible that may seem silly to us now, but I do need a certain believability. I am not a "the only limit is our imagination" type of person, but I'm also not a "we don't know how this would work, so it must be impossible" person.

Before you create a nation that utilizes any of these technologies, please be sure you've read this. Some of these techs are straight-out banned, while others are allowed but only with certain conditions. None of these, however, are accepted without restriction.

Biological Ships:
A.K.A. Living Ships, Organic Ships, Cyborg Ships, Bioships, and so on

If you are considering using bioships, I suggest you read this article, though it is not required: sfworldbuilding.blogspot.com/2015/07/m..
Whoever wrote that was far better than me at explaining this^^.

I'll admit, I have a love-hate relationship with this entire concept. On the one hand, it can be implausible and hard to accept from a scientific standpoint, but on the other hand, holy fuck is it cool. 

After spending 3 days attempting to decide whether bioships should be allowed or not, and stopping a few times to question the very definition of life, I've decided- almost against my better judgement- to accept bioships. I will, in all likelihood, be using bioships in my own nation, but I will limit them to be realistic. If anyone else would like to use bioships, the following will apply.

I'll be going over whether this concept is even possible, the advantages/disadvantages that bioships would have, and the differences between biological and technological systems. Not necessarily in that order.

Disadvantages of bioships:

First off, as previously discussed, I'm going to make the assumption that- for the purpose of this R.P.- all living things must be made from cells or cell-like structures. Therefore, a "bioship" is defined as an inhabitable, cell-made structure which can traverse space efficiently.

This has some obvious repercussions, due to the difference between the molecular structure of biological and nonbiological substances. 

For one, it is unlikely that a warp drive could be made from any organic material. I'm not going to go as far to say impossible, but it is so absurdly implausible that I won't allow it in this RP. A warp reactor like those scene in most sci-fi would totally and utterly destroy organic cells. The same goes for "hyperdrive", nuclear reactors, ion drives, and virtually any other normal propulsion system. It simply wouldn't work. Therefore, I must conclude that any ship made of only organic materials is either extremely slow, or it moves through other means. I'll leave it up to you to decide what those means are, but you must check with me first. It can't be magic.

Furthermore, most conventional weapons (mass-drivers/guns, lasers, plasma beams, and so on) would be difficult to make function properly. I might allow a bioship using these sorts of weapons to exist if your nation is extremely advanced, or if you can give me a good explanation of how it works. More unusual forms of weaponry will be allowed, however, so don't be afraid to get creative. Maybe your ship has giant teeth? 

Finally, cells are generally just weaker than metal. A lot weaker. Depending on the weaponry your opponent is using, they would probably be able to tear through your bioship like a knife through butter. Also, there's always the looming possibility of bio-weapons such as disease, poison, and the like- all of which a metal ship is immune to.

To recap: bioships are, in general, slow as a snail, weak as a snail, and defenseless as a snail that doesn't have a shell.

Advantages of Bioships:

After I just spent several paragraphs tearing down the idea, you may wonder why anyone (especially me) would even consider a nation using bioships.

Well, stop and consider it for a moment. What do cells do best? That's right: they replicate themselves, and do so with relatively little energy. If you get certain types of living cells and provide it with the correct environment, you'll soon have two cells, then four, then eight, then sixteen... and so on. 

This means that the first main advantage of bioships is fairly self-explanatory: self-healing. Although not all cells have this property, one could probably assume that any nation using bioships would have utilized replicating cells. As a direct result, the ship could heal damage fairly easily. If someone blasts a hole in the side of our dear bioship, it could gradually heal itself without the need for a repair crew. I don't think I need to tell you why that's a good thing.

The second advantage is perhaps not as obvious but far more important to a nation. A standard metal-and-composite hull would take tonnes of technology, resources, and effort to construct, making it an expensive item. Likewise repairs are probably difficult without the resources used in construction, and may never return full strength or performance. A bioship cleverly side-steps these problems. For construction it might need only a vat of nutrients, and can self-repair to a high standard.  More advanced types might literally grow from eggs or embryos placed in the correct environment. If so, a fleet could require only time to construct (and probably less time than a metal ship), vastly reducing the cost and increasing the number of ships available.

To recap, bioships can heal themselves, and an entire fleet can be constructed at low cost. Think of the Zerg from Starcraft: they aren't the best but they come in swarms upon swarms.

How to fix the disadvantages:

Now, if one wants to use a bioship, it will be possible to fix two of the mentioned disadvantages (lack of speed and difficulty with weapons) by making the ship a "cyborg"- allowing parts of the ship (weapons and warp drive, for example) to be made of metallic material while the rest of the ship is still organic. This way, you can have a warp drive for speed, but still somewhat benefit from the self-healing and cheapness of biological vessels. Unfortunately, nothing will ever completely fix their vulnerability.

I'm going to allow bioships, but only if you remember to adhere to the weaknesses. Even a "cyborg" ship will still be weaker in most ways than a metallic vessel, though it may make up for this in cheapness and healing. Bioships, I believe, may end up becoming the "dime a dozen" ships of this RP: they are easy and inexpensive but simultaneously weak and simple.

Replicators:

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Picard is often seen ordering a cup of Earl Grey Tea from a "replicator": a device that can instantly create anything by converting energy into matter. Food, weapons, people- you name it.

I'm not a physicist, and to be honest, I don't fully understand even half of the shit that would go into making a replicator. Therefore, since I am utterly unqualified to make a ruling in one direction or another, I'm going to allow replicators, but with several conditions.

1. Nobody starts off with replicators. It would be unfair. Replicators will have to be developed in-game

2. Replicators require a shit ton of energy, so much so that they can't be used on a day-to-day basis, as they are in Star Trek.

3. Replicators can only create simple patterns. Don't be tryin' to summon up an entire Starship, complete with crew and ammunition

Telepaths:

Ah, telepathy. It's the closest thing to magic seen in most Sci-fi. It's an amazing idea, but unfortunately, it has some limitations.

Most sci-fi with telepathy excuse it by claiming that the species evolved to possess this ability naturally, and thus is capable of reading the thoughts, or at least feeling the emotions, of every living thing they encounter (see: Deanna Troi). I call bullshit. Yes, I believe it would be possible for telepaths to exist, but I cannot think of any logical reason why they could sense the thoughts of other species. I imagine that any telepathic species would communicate by sending mental signals out using an organ presumably located in their brain, which another member of that same species would "hear" using a similar organ. 

Now tell me, what if Species A is able to telepathically communicate through these organs, but Species B does not have them, and therefore does not send out mental signals? How would Species A pick up on the thoughts of B?

Hint: they wouldn't.

Use telepaths all you want. Telepathy is cool. But don't attempt to say that your species can read the thoughts of every other species. It makes no sense.

The only possible exception is if the telepathy worked through some sort of technology, but we'll cross that bridge if we get to it 

God Beings

There is not a single civilization in all of Earth's history which did not believe in some type of spiritual existence- at least, not for thousands of years. However, the general approach of sci-fi is normally atheistic or agnostic, as it is science-based and none have yet managed to prove the existence of a deity to the satisfaction of the general scientific community.

Yet, every now and then, a sci-fi will incorporate a nigh-omnipotent being, which is so beyond us (either due to technology or biology, who can say?) that it can only be described as God-like. It does not seem follow the rules of logic, nor the laws of physics- it simply does as it pleases, by some immeasurable force that we cannot understand.

The idea has potential, but it is not something I plan on doing within the scope of Fade, unless this RP goes on so long that we get bored and need a Q to keep us on our toes 

Therefore, you are not allowed to create one. None of our nations should have any contact with one, nobody should have undeniable have proof of one, and nobody should let one enter at any point in the RP without my express, clear permission.

To recap: no Gods.

Universal Translators:

There are hundreds of different species, all with different cultures, different biology, and different brains... and some device can magically understand them all instantly?

Please tell me you're joking.

Even with the most advanced Sci-fi technology, I see no way this could be possible save over-powered telepathy, and we already discussed the limitations of telepathy.

Furthermore, even if it were possible, I don't like the idea of everyone just understanding eachother off the bat. It's too convenient, too easy, and too boring. 

So universal translators, although I WILL allow devices that can translate a language after being given some time and a lot of samples to work with. Thus, if you desire a machine that can translate speech for you, I will allow it granted that the machine does so only after spending several days or weeks attempting to understand the new language- and can translate it afterwords.

To recap: Universal translators are only allowed if they work slowly, over days or weeks.

I may add to this list as time goes on, so feel free to check every now and then. As a general rule, if you ever see me deny someone the right to create a certain tech, there's probably going to be a section on it here within the next fifteen minutes. I don't fuck around when it comes to limiting tech. I've seen it get out of hand before, and I really don't want that to happen here. Never, ever have your nation invent any new tech that 
hasn't already been explained to me in it's entirety. Otherwise, the ban hammer is coming to fuck you up. 

Warp is not just a fictional tool: it's a real idea that some scientists have toyed with, though nothing has ever come of it. Therefore, like any real ideas, it has limitations even in theory. I will not allow any warp drive that can accelerate an object beyond roughly 5 light years per day. Anything faster than that may not work at all, or have massive repercussions if done improperly, and I don't want to be the gal responsible for letting you break our universe 

Character Sheets:

I will be playing the role of the previously mentioned Xim Initiative- humanity's bitter enemy- and I need someone else to play as humanity. What human society is like, how it has been shaped by the war, the form of government in use, and most other major details will be up to the player- just try and keep it realistic. I also need whoever plays as humans to be a fairly good writer. Everyone else will RP as a nation of their own creation.

Now, as for the CS:

Nation Name:

Population and Demographics:
For human-like species, no more than 18 billion people per inhabited planet, no more than one inhabited planet per 3 solar systems, no more than 100 solar systems in your domain. 50 Solar Systems should be the "average" player nation, 2 or 3 Solar Systems will be the average non-player nation. If your species is not humanoid, then these rules do not have to apply, but I'm still counting on you being responsible enough to limit your population and size to whatever makes sense for your species. 

If your nation has tech that allows its population to be higher than normal, you may up to double the pop. per planet, but ask me first. Same goes for anything that would allow your nation to be really big, or capable of inhabiting more planets than normal.

Many of our nations should be more like EMPIRES, so it should be expected that not everyone in your nation is the same species. Please list your population demographics like so:

Human: 30%
Vulcan: 20%
Xim: 50%

(That's just an example: there aren't many places where humans and Xim could live together peacefully like that )

Now, I ruled that a nation could have up to 100 solar systems in its domain, and one inhabited planet for every 3 solar systems. 18 billion people can live on each inhabited planet.

This means the maximum population an empire can have is a little under 600 billion. 

Of course, the "average" empire should be about 50 solar systems, meaning a little over 300 billion people.

Species:
Please spend at least 4 paragraphs describing the species that make up your nation in as much detail as humanly possible. Appearance, biology, and such are all important. If you're the person who has volunteered to play as humans, this needs to be only 2 paragraphs.

System of Government:
Spend at least 4 paragraphs explaining what form of government you use and how it works. You may include any details you feel needed. Be creative!

History:
Spend at least 4 paragraphs telling us the general history of your nation. Important wars, how it came to be what it is today, and so on. 

Culture:
This is super-important. At least 6 paragraphs on culture. This includes religion and the such.

Important people, places, and organizations:
This is self-explanatory.

Military size:
For the typical species, a military cannot be larger than 7% of the total population. But if you have some special reason that it should be higher, I'll most likely allow it.

Military details:
Describe the strength, organization, command-structure, and any other necessary details of your military. 3 paragraphs minimum.

Weapons tech:
Go nuts!

General Technology:
Really go nuts! For at least 3 paragraphs!

Economy:
Are your people poor and starving? Rich and fat? Are you economically powerful enough to control other nations through wealth? Can you be controlled through wealth?

Spaceships:
Please describe, in as much detail as possible, the sort of space vessel you use and how they operate. Don't forget to include the general size of these vessels, how many people they can carry, and what sort of weapons they use. This should be at least 4 paragraphs long.

Name:

Species:
If you have not previously explained your species in the N.S., you should do so here in at least 4 paragraphs.

Gender:
Assuming your species has gender, anyway.

Appearance:
Descriptions are greatly preferred over pictures.

History:
At least 4 paragraphs on the background of your character, how they came to be in their current position, and so forth.

Weapons:
At least 2 paragraphs should be spent explaining, in detail, the sort of weaponry they carry

Personality:
At least 4 paragraphs detailing the type of person your Explorer is.

Skills:

Starship:
I hope I'm not assuming too much when I figure your explorer will need a spaceship to get around. Describe it, or face the ban-hammer 

Strengths and Weaknesses:

5/3: Created the map

5/4: In response to questions regarding which nations knew eachother, I answered with the following:

"Who you've had contact with is up to you and whoever you are claiming to have contact with, but yes, you can assume most empires are generally aware of eachother, at least to some degree. Some may even have shared history, like the Federation/Xim war.

Empires who are on opposite sides of the map (I still need all of you to do the map, by the way ) may have only heard rumors of eachother and never actually met, while isolationist empires (Kazzlehorf, for example) is probably known to exist by MOST other nations, but not all of them. If an empire is really isolationist and not near anyone else, than it is fully possible that many player-nations have simply never even heard of you. 

But for the most part, you can assume that the majority of empires have had at least some contact or heard rumors of most other empires. Space if big, afterall, but rumors of giant nations tend to spread pretty fast."

5/4: In response to anti-graviton techs and positron weaponry, I ruled the following.

I'm with @Lauder: the gravitons/anti-graviton techs are impracticable as weapons or engines, as are the positrons (plus they're just plain OP). You'll have to do something different, unless you're okay with your ships weapons constantly destroying themselves and being overall a pain-in-the-ass to operate 

I'm not saying positron weaponry is impossible, just... unlikely.

If it helps, here's a short list of weapons I've seen people using thus far:
-Particle weapons
-Plasma weapons
-Railguns/mass-drivers
-Lasers
-Missiles
-NUCLEAR missiles
-Nuclear shit in general
-Torpedoes
-Coilguns
-Techno swords
-Possibly sound?
-Bioweapons, such as disease
-And probably a few others that I've forgotten. Our weapon field is very diverse.

5/4: I decided that no humanoid race can be immune to disease or live past 1000 Earth-years of age

5/5: Brink_ left the R.P.

5/6: It was decided that the Coalition would take the New Republic's position on the map

5/6: Only those who have finished their NS may post in the IC

5/6: Isotope posted her very W.I.P. N.S. in the O.O.C.

5/6: Kazzlehorf's name is apparently a distorted version of the name of some "superhero who can do anything" character Arawak thought of when he was a child. How fitting.

A special "thank you" to @Brink_ for creating the original outline.

And a special "boo you" to Lauder for somehow shrinking it, then enlarging it again but making it blurrier than it was before.
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