O
O|NoSoul
Guest
Original poster
"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds..."
~
Vishnu, Bhagavad Gita, Spoken by Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer
~
Vishnu, Bhagavad Gita, Spoken by Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer
Welcome to another century gone by, people of 2700 AD. Two-thousand and seven hundred years since a carpenter was nailed to a cross, countless more than that since the ancestor of the same carpenter clambered down from the high branches. As soon as that first primate toe touched the hard earth beneath it, the story of humanity has unfolded. We have outlasted countless species, destroyed civilizations and built empires. In those moments, we were closer to the gods we bowed to than we could ever hope- or so we thought. From the great and awesome Kings of Babylon and Hammurabi the Lawgiver to the Empires of the Age of Colonialism, we hailed ourselves as the masters of all. In those moments, we thought ourselves paramount, that we had come as far as we could go. Nations came and borders undulated across the maps at the wills of powerful men.
And then the atom was split.
Humanity would never be the same. These weapons tucked away, the nations of the world held such power to destroy their brethren. Shifty-eyed, they shook hands to ensure weapons of such caliber and terrible power could never be used again, lest the sky bleed away its oxygen, the seas turn to steam and the very bedrock of the earth burns to glass. The Cold War saw such advancements that humans slipped the bonds of earth to mingle with the stars. Space has captured the imaginations of both child and scientist for centuries and from the colonisation of Mars in 2050 to present-day New Empire of Humanity, as some call it, of 2700 AD our will and our claws and our ambitions have carried us far. What was once a clawing through the skies with clenched jaws and sweat to the moon is now but a sunday walk.
But no matter the naive and nostalgic tales of mankind through science, science turns a cold shoulder on the morality of man. New weapons are made for every cure. Great and terrible power comes to us as tests of faith and will by God. We frail apes fail, for our fickle goodness gutters at the prospect of power, of being able to be stronger than the next man, than the next tribe than the next nation. An understandable thing, still embedded in us from the first ape.
In 2676, Sigmund Frundmark, the patriarch of the powerful Frundmark family of Old Earth and the owner of Frundmark Defense & Research, ltd. developed the ultimate weapon. And just like Dr. Oppenheimer, the Roman Emperors, the Pharaohs, Alexander and Hammurabi before them all, Robert Frundmark stared at his creation and felt his will become a God's. It was never known by anyone other than Frundmark and the scientists present at the unveiling in his private labs on Hund Station, orbiting the dead-world Nh-156. Legend had it that he had created a portal to heaven, while others had it that it was the gates of hell he'd created a spyhole into. In honesty, the latter was not far from the truth.
One thing was sure, Frundmark was so frightened by the power of the machine he had created that he locked down Hund Station. He took every employee working there and sent them elsewhere with orders to never talk of what had been done there. Hund Station was left derelict and he made sure to never notify those in power, lest lesser men than he learn of such terrifying power that could be wielded at one man's fingertips. Frundmark thought that his actions were enough. He thought that Hund Station would be the end of it all and humanity would forever be ignorant as to what had been discovered.
The year was 2699 when the Colonial Union, the governing body of the Human Worlds that lists the UN as a precursor, was absolutely stunned. Mars, the oldest planet to be terraformed and settled and a great momunent to the ingenuity and renewed pioneer spirit of the Human race crumbled before the very eyes of the world on interplanetary live news. Fissures in the ground split, deep valleys were torn into cities and the countryside was torn asunder in what was akin to the biblical end of the world. The deaths numbered in the millions. entire bloodlines were extinct. Humanity was dealt a harsh blow to its hubris.
And Sigmund Frundmark wept.
He received a transmission from an untraceable address on his Personal-Assistant-Device. His maid found him dead, a glass left empty and the bottle half-gone. His body slowly swayed, attached by the neck to the ceiling of his multi-million dollar home in his study. The later scene of paramedics and cleaning crews was interrupted by black-suited men who wished to remain nameless. Upon Sigmund's PAD, the last message received at 12:00 am was read again by one of the black-suits.
"Repent."
The year is 2700, the dawn of a new century. By 2700, mankind has managed to scramble to multiple star systems around our original home in the Milky Way, setting up successful colonies. The more you go towards Old Earth and the Sol System that envelopes it, the older the colonies will be and the more civilized the populace you will find. Infrastructure is thriving and strong. The farther out you go, the less infrstructure there is and the more sparsely populated the colony is. These colonies are home to outlaw gangs and are too far-flung to fall under Colonial Union law. Some Frontier-Worlds, as they are called, are lucky enough to be approached by a mining or tech research colony to earn partnership revenue and afford mercenary crews at the least while others can afford to rely on any of the multitude of Private Security Companies.
Other worlds, deemed Nonhabitable, like Nh-156 are bought at low prices by companies as staging areas for any number of morally and legally ambiguous projects and endeavors. The people of Mars know full well what some of these companies do with their research projects that are performed here. Overall, the Colonial Union has done much to keep the different planets and Frontier-Worlds from erupting into a war. The Colonial Union acts as a platform for the heads of planetary governments to voice their concerns to the wider audience of their peers and to avoid large-scale, force-on-force conflicts, as well as passing laws that try to limit what companies may do. Companies like Frundmark Defense & Research, ltd. always seem to find loopholes or outright disobey laws, but the Colonial Union can only do so much.
In the wake of the 2699 attack on the Mars colony, the Special Research and Analysis Organization formed a group comprised of elements from the Central Earth Gov Military Command to investigate Frundmark Defense & Research, ltd's connection to the attacks and to track down the weapon that was used, as well as who is behind the attack. Their sole purpose is to hunt down those responsible and kill or capture them. This team goes under the name Task Force Gray Fox.
Other worlds, deemed Nonhabitable, like Nh-156 are bought at low prices by companies as staging areas for any number of morally and legally ambiguous projects and endeavors. The people of Mars know full well what some of these companies do with their research projects that are performed here. Overall, the Colonial Union has done much to keep the different planets and Frontier-Worlds from erupting into a war. The Colonial Union acts as a platform for the heads of planetary governments to voice their concerns to the wider audience of their peers and to avoid large-scale, force-on-force conflicts, as well as passing laws that try to limit what companies may do. Companies like Frundmark Defense & Research, ltd. always seem to find loopholes or outright disobey laws, but the Colonial Union can only do so much.
In the wake of the 2699 attack on the Mars colony, the Special Research and Analysis Organization formed a group comprised of elements from the Central Earth Gov Military Command to investigate Frundmark Defense & Research, ltd's connection to the attacks and to track down the weapon that was used, as well as who is behind the attack. Their sole purpose is to hunt down those responsible and kill or capture them. This team goes under the name Task Force Gray Fox.
Earth - Humanity's home in the vast void of space. Dotted with megacities and veined with old roadways and skylanes, this is the most densely populated of the planets of the Sol System. Its moon is not terraformed but does have a permanent human presence as home to the CEG Navy's 1st Fleet. The Naval Training and Doctrine Command Station orbits this celestial body and serves as the training ground for those future Sailors.
Mars - Mars was the first colony of mankind and the oldest celestial planet to have a permanent human presence. The Mars Colony was 300 years old and boasted a thriving economy and lively cityscape. Mars was home to many of the wealthy, locked away in their orbiting stations and finding many reasons to go planetside. Mars most closely resembled Earth and there was seldom something one could find on Earth that one couldn't find on Mars. The poorer citizens of Mars often lived in favelas located in places around the inner and middle rings of the mega-cities, eking out a squalid existence in the many factories out in the offsite working areas in the wilderness.
The 2489 Workers' War, in which communists and other left-wing extremists attempted to wrest control of Mars' cities from the underpaid and corrupt corporate militias made up of freelance mercenaries and shadier Security Companies prompted the Colonial Union to partner with the CEG Military Command to create the Martian Self Defense Force, a practice that has since become routine for the keeping of laws and defense of colonies the Milky Way over.
It met a tragic and horrific end in 2699. The attack has been hailed as the single most horrific event in human history.
Jupiter's Moons - Titan and Europa have become a mining colony that exports precious fuels to the rest of the Sol system. Over the course of its history, it has experienced no shortage of unrest and those prospectors hired on by Greyson Cosmos Mining Company and other space mining companies have been known to engage in corporate warfare in the past, making the moons into a place where freelance mercenary crews thrive. The mercenary culture on Titan and Europa has become one of posturing and almost non-violent confrontation, as different crews found that they could live without much bloodshed but a lot of pay when they entered into an oligopoly of sorts and set up a system of controlled violence called the Blood Pits. It is rumored that this practice accounts for 5% of Titan's yearly profits, a truly unique phenomenon.
The security of civilian assets and the legal peacekeeping force of Europa's three colonies' colonial government is the Europa Internal Defense Force. This force is authorized and subject to the laws and regulations set forth by the Colonial Union and the Central Earth Government Military Command. The corporate wars of the past have been all but eradicated since the formation of the EIDF.
Mars - Mars was the first colony of mankind and the oldest celestial planet to have a permanent human presence. The Mars Colony was 300 years old and boasted a thriving economy and lively cityscape. Mars was home to many of the wealthy, locked away in their orbiting stations and finding many reasons to go planetside. Mars most closely resembled Earth and there was seldom something one could find on Earth that one couldn't find on Mars. The poorer citizens of Mars often lived in favelas located in places around the inner and middle rings of the mega-cities, eking out a squalid existence in the many factories out in the offsite working areas in the wilderness.
The 2489 Workers' War, in which communists and other left-wing extremists attempted to wrest control of Mars' cities from the underpaid and corrupt corporate militias made up of freelance mercenaries and shadier Security Companies prompted the Colonial Union to partner with the CEG Military Command to create the Martian Self Defense Force, a practice that has since become routine for the keeping of laws and defense of colonies the Milky Way over.
It met a tragic and horrific end in 2699. The attack has been hailed as the single most horrific event in human history.
Jupiter's Moons - Titan and Europa have become a mining colony that exports precious fuels to the rest of the Sol system. Over the course of its history, it has experienced no shortage of unrest and those prospectors hired on by Greyson Cosmos Mining Company and other space mining companies have been known to engage in corporate warfare in the past, making the moons into a place where freelance mercenary crews thrive. The mercenary culture on Titan and Europa has become one of posturing and almost non-violent confrontation, as different crews found that they could live without much bloodshed but a lot of pay when they entered into an oligopoly of sorts and set up a system of controlled violence called the Blood Pits. It is rumored that this practice accounts for 5% of Titan's yearly profits, a truly unique phenomenon.
The security of civilian assets and the legal peacekeeping force of Europa's three colonies' colonial government is the Europa Internal Defense Force. This force is authorized and subject to the laws and regulations set forth by the Colonial Union and the Central Earth Government Military Command. The corporate wars of the past have been all but eradicated since the formation of the EIDF.
Hellena - Most known for being one of the first extra-solar colonies, Hellena was found by Hilde Gotte Industries and was a primarily civilian effort with financial backing from Hilde Gotte. Hilde Gotte was bought out by the larger Henry & Assoc. deep space mining company and the Hellena colonies sought continued support from Henry & Assoc., receiving it after guaranteeing a place in all three colonies for Henry & Assoc. survey drones. After an abundance of precious metals and gems were found to be located on the planet, Hellena experienced a rapid growth of population and wealth for its citizens. It would have threatened Mars as a place for the wealthy but for its lack of immediate vicinity to Earth.
The Miners' Revolt helped in cementing Hellena's self-governance, as before widespread coverage of the conflict, Henry & Assoc. conducted a pacification war using freelance mercenaries and blacklisted security companies. This conflict erupted into the Burnestown Bush War, in which Hellenaen nationalist offshoots of the initial Miners' Revolt spread into the other colonies on Hellena that surrounded Burnestown, a large mining town in the saharan zones on Hellena. In the interest of peace and the stability of the colonies as well as with the objective of establishing a permanent and uncontested colonial government and defense force for Hellena, CEG Military Command, by request of the Prime Minister and the CEG Council, dispatched the Navy's 5th Fleet Carrier Group to deliver the Army's 5th Special Forces and the 707th Basic Orbital Insertion Regiment to Burnestown, and a detachment of Marines to the city of Vega.
Hellena is still home to minor rebel groups but the presence of Henry & Assoc. has been eliminated. Once the Hellenaen colonial government was established and the Hellenaen Internal Defense Force created by officers trained by 5th Special Forces and the 707th BOI Regiment, the peacekeeping force sent by CEG slowly but steadily withdrew. Hellena remains a largely well-to-do planet with its four rich colonies of Burnestown, Vega, New Judea, and Victoria.
Cities -
Burnestown - The first colony to be established on Hellena, the people in this colony are primarily Caucasian from the UK and France with a smaller but still significant presence of East Asians from China, Japan and Korea. Burnestown is the richest of the settlements, being the prime exporter of rare precious gems to the jewelry markets of humankind.
Vega - Vega's mines have all but dried up and it would have ceased Vega's growth if it wasn't for the newly-elected Mayor being part of the Gung family, one of three families of Old Earth's Golden Dragon Triad. Vega is now home to a plethora of casinos, hotels, nightclubs and many other attractions appealing to anyone who gambles, fornicates, parties or uses. The Golden Dragon Triad have operated quietly but have steadily begun to spread to the other colonies on Hellena, peddling their synthetic drug called Cat's Eye, a trade that troubles the HIDF to no end.
New Judea - Originally settled by ethnic Jews, New Judea has become a melting pot of different cultures. New Judea is a quiet town on the edge of Hellena's oceans on the main continent and makes a living both mining gems gems from the bottom of the Hellenaen oceans or from fishing.
Victoria - Originally Fort Victoria, Victoria was settled by a menagerie of malcontents from less stable colony planets. Over the years and through the help of Hellena's colonial government and the strong presence of HIDF, Victoria is slowly becoming a better area to live and work, with its mines expanding across the mountains, the financial circumstances of Victoria, as well as the new influx of jobs has turned Victoria from a dingy town in the mountains filled with unfavorable individuals to a slowly growing city. It is rumored that Victoria's surrounding mountains are home to insurgent groups being funded by the Golden Triad's drug money. For what purpose the Golden Triad supposedly gives them income is unknown.
The Miners' Revolt helped in cementing Hellena's self-governance, as before widespread coverage of the conflict, Henry & Assoc. conducted a pacification war using freelance mercenaries and blacklisted security companies. This conflict erupted into the Burnestown Bush War, in which Hellenaen nationalist offshoots of the initial Miners' Revolt spread into the other colonies on Hellena that surrounded Burnestown, a large mining town in the saharan zones on Hellena. In the interest of peace and the stability of the colonies as well as with the objective of establishing a permanent and uncontested colonial government and defense force for Hellena, CEG Military Command, by request of the Prime Minister and the CEG Council, dispatched the Navy's 5th Fleet Carrier Group to deliver the Army's 5th Special Forces and the 707th Basic Orbital Insertion Regiment to Burnestown, and a detachment of Marines to the city of Vega.
Hellena is still home to minor rebel groups but the presence of Henry & Assoc. has been eliminated. Once the Hellenaen colonial government was established and the Hellenaen Internal Defense Force created by officers trained by 5th Special Forces and the 707th BOI Regiment, the peacekeeping force sent by CEG slowly but steadily withdrew. Hellena remains a largely well-to-do planet with its four rich colonies of Burnestown, Vega, New Judea, and Victoria.
Cities -
Burnestown - The first colony to be established on Hellena, the people in this colony are primarily Caucasian from the UK and France with a smaller but still significant presence of East Asians from China, Japan and Korea. Burnestown is the richest of the settlements, being the prime exporter of rare precious gems to the jewelry markets of humankind.
Vega - Vega's mines have all but dried up and it would have ceased Vega's growth if it wasn't for the newly-elected Mayor being part of the Gung family, one of three families of Old Earth's Golden Dragon Triad. Vega is now home to a plethora of casinos, hotels, nightclubs and many other attractions appealing to anyone who gambles, fornicates, parties or uses. The Golden Dragon Triad have operated quietly but have steadily begun to spread to the other colonies on Hellena, peddling their synthetic drug called Cat's Eye, a trade that troubles the HIDF to no end.
New Judea - Originally settled by ethnic Jews, New Judea has become a melting pot of different cultures. New Judea is a quiet town on the edge of Hellena's oceans on the main continent and makes a living both mining gems gems from the bottom of the Hellenaen oceans or from fishing.
Victoria - Originally Fort Victoria, Victoria was settled by a menagerie of malcontents from less stable colony planets. Over the years and through the help of Hellena's colonial government and the strong presence of HIDF, Victoria is slowly becoming a better area to live and work, with its mines expanding across the mountains, the financial circumstances of Victoria, as well as the new influx of jobs has turned Victoria from a dingy town in the mountains filled with unfavorable individuals to a slowly growing city. It is rumored that Victoria's surrounding mountains are home to insurgent groups being funded by the Golden Triad's drug money. For what purpose the Golden Triad supposedly gives them income is unknown.
Dutch - Dutch is a recently settled frontier-world on the edge of human-space in the Milky Way. Known for its untouched world dotted with ancient cities of yet unknown age or origin, Dutch is a unique find. Mapped from the neighboring Van Hurst System's colony world and settled by South African explorer Francis Dutch, Dutch is a purely private effort and a relatively successful example of a private colony. Little of Dutch has been explored save for the areas that eventually became the two colonies on Dutch. What is known is that Dutch's continent of Nuwe Paradyse was once home to an intelligent species that had not yet made it out of the equivalent of their medieval age. Stone or timber-wall fortified cities and castles veined with cobblestone or packed-dirt streets are all that remain of the original inhabitants, making Dutch a place where archaeologists, anthropologists and adventurers flock to in droves.
A far-less intelligent species nicknamed Raptors by the local populace for their reptilian features are both feared and hated, as they are known to abduct settlers, archaeologists, anthropologists and adventurers for gruesome and macabre practices. These Raptors live in tribal communities and seem to war amongst themselves as often as they raid human settlements. Raptors have also become an interest to the archaeologists and anthropologists, who will sometimes hire hunters from the settlements as guides, a risky venture for both parties that rarely end up succeeding, but remain a very lucrative opportunity for the famously hardened and adventurous hunters and woodsmen and women of Dutch.
Another, more friendly species has recently been discovered in the frigid northern island of Skjulteland but remain reclusive and sightings of them are rare. Nicknamed the Huldúfolk or Hidden People, after Faroese folklore. Huldufólk are said to be tall and pretty, and always dressed in grey. They are neither good nor evil, dislike crosses, churches and electricity, and live in big rocks or mounds. The similarities between the Huldúfolk of Skjulteland and Faroese folklore is that from the rare sightings, the Huldúfolk are said to have skin of grey, stand at an estimated height of 3 meters or roughly 9-10 feet tall and have heads of what appear to be long and amazingly white hair, large and pointed ears and a lack of distinguishing features on their long and angular faces. Skjulteland has one research base belonging to Dr. Edward Hazel and his team.
A much more hospitable species is located on the other side of the world from Nuwe Paradyse and Skjulteland, named B'ikfit by its people. Human mingling was discouraged by Colonial Union officials, but it has not stopped some offworlders from trading gold and other minerals and superior steel to the B'ikfiti in exchange for furs and tusks of local game to sell on the black market for small fortunes apiece. There is a small shanty town in the swampy jungles of southern B'ikfiti called Smuggler's Rest where an outlaw smuggler going by the alias Humboldt and his crew have set up shop to trade with the B'ikfiti.
Cities/Settlements -
Nuwe Paradyse - Nuwe Paradyse is a fort-town located near the coast on the planet's largest continent. The continent shares the name of the fort-town, as it was the first established settlement in the region. Nuwe Paradyse has a strong culture of fishermen, hunters and woodsmen. The forming of the Nuwe Paradyse Rangers, or known by their more famous colloquial name "Greencoats", by former CEG Army Special Forces officer Gregory Burke was out of a common need for protection against Raptor raids. In the tradition of Francis Marion and other famous rangers, Burke's Greencoats are usually the ones to mount rescue missions for abducted persons and will track troublesome Raptor tribes through the jungles and use their techniques against them. Their lack of modern military technology like MCUs and higher-end weaponry does not hinder these hardened men and they are the only ones standing between the people of Nuwe Paradyse and the Raptors. Among some of the inhabitants, Francis Dutch is still their elected leader and continues to live on the world both in Nuwe Paradyse and visiting the ruins at the age of 90.
Skjulteland Outpost - A small camp established on the northern island of Skjulteland, the largest and northernmost island in a snowy archipelago, created to observe the inhabitants of Skjulteland, the Huldúfolk. There is not much here for those who are not in the field of anthropology, being a purely scientific endeavor.
Smuggler's Rest - Though not an official settlement on the planet of Dutch, Smuggler's Rest is not often visited by those who are not privy to the outlaw lifestyle and Humboldt and his crew are not quick to trust outsiders. Humboldt is there for one purpose only: to get rich from selling contraband.
A far-less intelligent species nicknamed Raptors by the local populace for their reptilian features are both feared and hated, as they are known to abduct settlers, archaeologists, anthropologists and adventurers for gruesome and macabre practices. These Raptors live in tribal communities and seem to war amongst themselves as often as they raid human settlements. Raptors have also become an interest to the archaeologists and anthropologists, who will sometimes hire hunters from the settlements as guides, a risky venture for both parties that rarely end up succeeding, but remain a very lucrative opportunity for the famously hardened and adventurous hunters and woodsmen and women of Dutch.
Another, more friendly species has recently been discovered in the frigid northern island of Skjulteland but remain reclusive and sightings of them are rare. Nicknamed the Huldúfolk or Hidden People, after Faroese folklore. Huldufólk are said to be tall and pretty, and always dressed in grey. They are neither good nor evil, dislike crosses, churches and electricity, and live in big rocks or mounds. The similarities between the Huldúfolk of Skjulteland and Faroese folklore is that from the rare sightings, the Huldúfolk are said to have skin of grey, stand at an estimated height of 3 meters or roughly 9-10 feet tall and have heads of what appear to be long and amazingly white hair, large and pointed ears and a lack of distinguishing features on their long and angular faces. Skjulteland has one research base belonging to Dr. Edward Hazel and his team.
A much more hospitable species is located on the other side of the world from Nuwe Paradyse and Skjulteland, named B'ikfit by its people. Human mingling was discouraged by Colonial Union officials, but it has not stopped some offworlders from trading gold and other minerals and superior steel to the B'ikfiti in exchange for furs and tusks of local game to sell on the black market for small fortunes apiece. There is a small shanty town in the swampy jungles of southern B'ikfiti called Smuggler's Rest where an outlaw smuggler going by the alias Humboldt and his crew have set up shop to trade with the B'ikfiti.
Cities/Settlements -
Nuwe Paradyse - Nuwe Paradyse is a fort-town located near the coast on the planet's largest continent. The continent shares the name of the fort-town, as it was the first established settlement in the region. Nuwe Paradyse has a strong culture of fishermen, hunters and woodsmen. The forming of the Nuwe Paradyse Rangers, or known by their more famous colloquial name "Greencoats", by former CEG Army Special Forces officer Gregory Burke was out of a common need for protection against Raptor raids. In the tradition of Francis Marion and other famous rangers, Burke's Greencoats are usually the ones to mount rescue missions for abducted persons and will track troublesome Raptor tribes through the jungles and use their techniques against them. Their lack of modern military technology like MCUs and higher-end weaponry does not hinder these hardened men and they are the only ones standing between the people of Nuwe Paradyse and the Raptors. Among some of the inhabitants, Francis Dutch is still their elected leader and continues to live on the world both in Nuwe Paradyse and visiting the ruins at the age of 90.
Skjulteland Outpost - A small camp established on the northern island of Skjulteland, the largest and northernmost island in a snowy archipelago, created to observe the inhabitants of Skjulteland, the Huldúfolk. There is not much here for those who are not in the field of anthropology, being a purely scientific endeavor.
Smuggler's Rest - Though not an official settlement on the planet of Dutch, Smuggler's Rest is not often visited by those who are not privy to the outlaw lifestyle and Humboldt and his crew are not quick to trust outsiders. Humboldt is there for one purpose only: to get rich from selling contraband.
Sirius Station - Orbiting the large gas giant of Victus is the mining station of Sirius. Established by Vicksby Fuels, Sirius Station exports the largest amounts of gas from Victus and ship material metals from the surrounding asteroid fields to rival Jupiter's moon colonies, owned by Vicksby Fuels' competitor company. Sirius Station has since become more than just a mining platform, as it has evolved into a place of living for many of Vicksby Fuels' employees. Shopping stations and restaurants are among the facilities afforded to keep Sirius Station a viable living option for the inhabitants and a source of profit for Vicksby.
Orion Station - Floating in the asteroid belt and built out of the hollow innards of an asteroid is Orion Station. Orion Station was originally a mining facility that stripped the massive piece of rock of its ore veins to ship to any number of shipyards in the number of systems of mankind. Now a haven for malcontents, mercenaries, a place to hire blacklisted security companies, assassins, drug manufacturers, spy rings and any number of lawless and shady entities and individuals, Orion Station is a hive of scum and villainy in the Milky Way. The Soto Murai Syndicate of Old Earth and Hokotei are known to operate here, using Orion Station as their first stop for their synthetic drug, Angel's Blood.
Hokotei - This planet is twice the size of Earth and orbits the twin stars of the Van Hurst system right in the middle of the goldilocks zone. Settled originally by powerful members of the Soto Murai Syndicate, Kinsberg has become a hub for party-goers and fast-livers. With a selection of decadences to rival Vega on Hellena, Hokotei is a grand dreamchild of Tokyo and Las Vegas. One of few extra-solar megacities made up of:
Old Hokotei - A place that houses the hotels, casinos and neighborhoods of the Old Money. Old Hokotei is where most of the business of the Soto Murai syndicate is done. This is the most dangerous part of the city and one where the hand of the Soto Murai are far less benevolent than in the Four Great Rings. One wrong step and one is apt to become a cold case. The Soto Murai are known sex traffickers as well as one of the largest drug syndicates.
The Golden Ring - The last stop before Old Hokotei. This is the place with most of the street vendors, bootleggers, low-cost street prostitutes, better-run brothels, bars, smaller clubs, diners and other tastes of the slower-paced have planted themselves. The Golden Ring also holds the Hokotei Spaceport, where visitors are offloaded from the Spacestation after long trips. Some don't go home.
The Four Great Rings - the four outer rings that grew out from Old Hokotei to rise higher than the inner-city that birthed it. This is where the New Money stays, as well as where most of the tourism goes, hiding the fact that if one were to go beneath these four outer layers, they would find the dark heart of Hokotei. Nightclubs, casinos, hotels, restaurants, any number of amenities to indulge in one's vices are available here for all.
Orion Station - Floating in the asteroid belt and built out of the hollow innards of an asteroid is Orion Station. Orion Station was originally a mining facility that stripped the massive piece of rock of its ore veins to ship to any number of shipyards in the number of systems of mankind. Now a haven for malcontents, mercenaries, a place to hire blacklisted security companies, assassins, drug manufacturers, spy rings and any number of lawless and shady entities and individuals, Orion Station is a hive of scum and villainy in the Milky Way. The Soto Murai Syndicate of Old Earth and Hokotei are known to operate here, using Orion Station as their first stop for their synthetic drug, Angel's Blood.
Hokotei - This planet is twice the size of Earth and orbits the twin stars of the Van Hurst system right in the middle of the goldilocks zone. Settled originally by powerful members of the Soto Murai Syndicate, Kinsberg has become a hub for party-goers and fast-livers. With a selection of decadences to rival Vega on Hellena, Hokotei is a grand dreamchild of Tokyo and Las Vegas. One of few extra-solar megacities made up of:
Old Hokotei - A place that houses the hotels, casinos and neighborhoods of the Old Money. Old Hokotei is where most of the business of the Soto Murai syndicate is done. This is the most dangerous part of the city and one where the hand of the Soto Murai are far less benevolent than in the Four Great Rings. One wrong step and one is apt to become a cold case. The Soto Murai are known sex traffickers as well as one of the largest drug syndicates.
The Golden Ring - The last stop before Old Hokotei. This is the place with most of the street vendors, bootleggers, low-cost street prostitutes, better-run brothels, bars, smaller clubs, diners and other tastes of the slower-paced have planted themselves. The Golden Ring also holds the Hokotei Spaceport, where visitors are offloaded from the Spacestation after long trips. Some don't go home.
The Four Great Rings - the four outer rings that grew out from Old Hokotei to rise higher than the inner-city that birthed it. This is where the New Money stays, as well as where most of the tourism goes, hiding the fact that if one were to go beneath these four outer layers, they would find the dark heart of Hokotei. Nightclubs, casinos, hotels, restaurants, any number of amenities to indulge in one's vices are available here for all.
*More colonies may be submitted here. Please Include a condensed history of the colony world and any important cities.
Central Earth Government - Central Earth Government is the central civilian government that administers Earth. It houses the Colonial Union, the Central Earth Gov Military Command and the United Nations. Handling any matters of Earth Gov foreign policy and planetary security falls to the Planetary Response Staff, which is an arm of the Special Research and Analysis Organization.
Colonial Union - The Colonial Union is the governing body that handles all matters colonial. The Colonial Union also keeps extensive records on every colony that describes every colony in near excruciating detail, from population to a given city's sewer system.
CEG Military Command - The CEG Military Command is the organization that handles all military matters concerning humanity and its colonies across the stars. The CEGMC is capable of undertaking peacekeeping operations and any matters of planetary security for Earth and any colonies. It is comprised of the departments of the Central Earth Gov Army, Central Earth Gov Marine Corps, Central Earth Gov Navy and Central Earth Gov Air Force.
Special Research and Analysis Organization, Planetary Response Staff - The SRAO has three traditional principal activities, which are gathering information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals; analyzing that information in order to provide a planetary security intelligence assessment to senior Earth Gov policymakers; and, upon the request of the Prime Minister of the CEG, carrying out or overseeing covert activities and some tactical operations by its own employees, by members of the U.S. military, or by other partners. It can, for example, exert foreign political influence through its tactical divisions, such as the Planetary Response Staff. The Planetary Response Staff handles all clandestine paramilitary operations on behalf of the SRAO as well as the collection of clandestine HUMINT, SIGINT, MASINT and IMINT.
Task Force Gray Fox - Task Force Gray Fox is a joint task force assembled and headed by the Special Research and Analysis Organization's Planetary Response Staff with direct support of CEGMC-SOCOM. Made up of operators from the CEGMC-SOCOM's Special Compartmented Element as well as contractors from the Planetary Response Staff.
CEGMC-Special Operations Command, Special Compartmented Element - CEGMC-SOCOM is the Unified Combatant Command charged with overseeing the various Special Operations Component Commands of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps of the CEG Military Command. The command is part of the CEG Ministry of Defense and is the only Unified Combatant Command legislated into being by the CEG Council. CEGMC-SOCOM is headquartered at Cambridge Air Force Base in South Africa.
CEGMC-SOCOM pulls from each branch of the CEG Military Command to staff its Special Compartmented Element, the Tier-0 Special Mission Unit tasked with only the most sensitive of assignments, simply called "The Element." Operators in the Element are allowed and encouraged to have a liberal grooming standard, able to wear their hair long and go unshaven if they so choose.
Colonial Union - The Colonial Union is the governing body that handles all matters colonial. The Colonial Union also keeps extensive records on every colony that describes every colony in near excruciating detail, from population to a given city's sewer system.
CEG Military Command - The CEG Military Command is the organization that handles all military matters concerning humanity and its colonies across the stars. The CEGMC is capable of undertaking peacekeeping operations and any matters of planetary security for Earth and any colonies. It is comprised of the departments of the Central Earth Gov Army, Central Earth Gov Marine Corps, Central Earth Gov Navy and Central Earth Gov Air Force.
Special Research and Analysis Organization, Planetary Response Staff - The SRAO has three traditional principal activities, which are gathering information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals; analyzing that information in order to provide a planetary security intelligence assessment to senior Earth Gov policymakers; and, upon the request of the Prime Minister of the CEG, carrying out or overseeing covert activities and some tactical operations by its own employees, by members of the U.S. military, or by other partners. It can, for example, exert foreign political influence through its tactical divisions, such as the Planetary Response Staff. The Planetary Response Staff handles all clandestine paramilitary operations on behalf of the SRAO as well as the collection of clandestine HUMINT, SIGINT, MASINT and IMINT.
Task Force Gray Fox - Task Force Gray Fox is a joint task force assembled and headed by the Special Research and Analysis Organization's Planetary Response Staff with direct support of CEGMC-SOCOM. Made up of operators from the CEGMC-SOCOM's Special Compartmented Element as well as contractors from the Planetary Response Staff.
CEGMC-Special Operations Command, Special Compartmented Element - CEGMC-SOCOM is the Unified Combatant Command charged with overseeing the various Special Operations Component Commands of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps of the CEG Military Command. The command is part of the CEG Ministry of Defense and is the only Unified Combatant Command legislated into being by the CEG Council. CEGMC-SOCOM is headquartered at Cambridge Air Force Base in South Africa.
CEGMC-SOCOM pulls from each branch of the CEG Military Command to staff its Special Compartmented Element, the Tier-0 Special Mission Unit tasked with only the most sensitive of assignments, simply called "The Element." Operators in the Element are allowed and encouraged to have a liberal grooming standard, able to wear their hair long and go unshaven if they so choose.
Common Transportation - For all of the worlds with a decent and strong infrastructure, the most common form of transportation is a futuristic version of Old Earth's concrete roadways. Skylanes are roads that are projected across an expanse between two computers. The signal given off by these computers renders the road to a holographic HUD inside sky-cars, the fabled "flying cars of the future."
In addition to this, public transport for those who prefer or can not afford a sky-car are the light-rails that line the mega-cities of the different worlds inside the Planetary Union. The only walking that takes place are usually within shopping centers and plazas or the insides of the cloud-scraping apartment complexes or the lower-levels of the cities that house the vagrants, criminals and other unsavory characters.
Personal-Assisstant-Device(PAD) - PADs are most simply compared to 21st century smart phones.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)/AI Drones - UAVs come in two classes, Fighters and Darters, and are operated using either an operator at the joystick or an AI computer, in the case of Drones. Fighters usually have bodies that are 6 - 10 meters in length with an appropriate wingspan and are used to patrol an airspace and can engage in interceptor roles to take out unauthorized aircraft, spacecraft or Vacuum/Atmospheric-Craft. Darters can be anywhere from the size of a dragonfly to the size of a seagull and are used for reconnaissance and espionage purposes.
Vacuum/Atmospheric-Craft(V/A-Craft) - Vacuum/Atmospheric-Craft are winged vehicles capable of taking off from a land-based platform to engage in space flight. These craft are often used for the loading and off-loading of commercial freight or transport vessels as well as a long-range fighter/interceptor model in use by the CEG Air Force and Navy. These vehicles are also used in heavily modified versions by the Global Response Staff and The Element to deliver their personnel to the area of operations, sometimes via High-Atmospheric Low Opening* technique.
Humanoid/Non-Humanoid Automata - In the world of robotics, much has been achieved. The industry of robotics has made huge leaps and bounds in the 700 years after the one we live in now. The advancements of AI and robotics have inevitably merged some time in the past and the child of these two is Humanoid Automata. Humanoid Automata is only restricted by a few laws that coincide with the Artificial Intelligence act of 2120, stating that Artificial Intelligence outside of military use must not exceed the IQ range of 50-70. Some have started to take a stand against this and there is a large black market for AI smarter than the average. Some Private Military Companies function with the use of humanoid and non-humanoid automata working as their frontline security rather than risking the lives of humans.
Liquid Armor - In the year 2100, Liquid Armor was made available in large quantities to both the military and civilian sector. It started out as kevlar layers soaked in a special fluid that hardens within milliseconds upon experiencing certain levels of physical trauma. In 2700, this works in the same way, except now weapons systems have come up with certain measures to negate the liquid armor. These thin layers of kevlar soaked in special fluids are still in use in 2700 and are used in tandem with hardened ceramic plates made of a material highly resistant to penetration.
Modular Combat Uniform - Units within the military will use hermetically sealed g-suits, especially when boarding V/A-Craft or spacecraft, operating in aquatic environments or inserting via H-ALO drop. These combat uniforms are called the Modular Combat Uniform. The Modular Combat Uniform utilizes a special system within its helmet that gives the wearer an increased field of view that widens the peripheral vision of the wearer. It takes some time to get used to but wearers are exposed to this system early on in their training for periods of time to get them used to it.
Modular Combat Uniforms also possess the ability to utilize an active camouflage system for thirty minutes at the longest before the internally housed battery within the suit needs to recharge itself. In addition to this, to further lessen the possible footprint of operators wearing the MCU, when the visor's sound nullifying field is engaged, no sound can escape the helmet and to cut down on the use of comms to enforce commsec, operators can still transmit their voices over line-of-sight voice-link web. By synchronizing their suit's computers before a mission, the suits will transmit vibrations picked up by the visor to any operator in the web as long as they are within sight when the sound-nullifying-field is engaged.
The Mk. IV and V variants of the MCU that is available to well-funded Special Missions Units like CEGMC-SOCOM's Special Compartmented Element and the Planetary Response Staff are fitted with integrated motorized exo-skeletons to supplement the strength of the wearer and to support the joints where it is needed, especially helpful during airborne insertions like High-Altitude Low Opening or Military Freefall and High-Atmosphere Low Opening. Since the Mk. IV and V variants have a hermetically sealed skin capable of controlling the wearer's body temperature during strenuous activity or to guard against the extremely low temperatures of space, the exo-skeletons are equipped with air jets to facilitate the ability of operators to carry out VBSS operations on spacecraft.
Guns and Ammunition - In 2700, cartridges are a thing of the past, both caseless and those that come with a metal casing. Instead, another form of ammunition is in use by the military: the weapon working off of an action that makes use of projectiles shaven off of dense-block nanomaterial. The advantage is that while caseless ammunition was taken over due to the lighter weight of the caseless ammunition and resultant higher ammunition capacity of weapons, using the experimental dense-block nanomaterial takes this concept to another level. With perhaps one or two extra blocks of ultra lightweight nanomaterial, the soldier is able to fire for extended periods of time and cut down exponentially on the weight of their field kit. The tradeoff is that these weapons are prone to overheating quickly as prolonged periods of fire are experienced by the weapon.
This still gives the caseless ammunition of the recent past a place in the hands of soldiers, who sometimes prefer the caseless ammunition kept in magazines to cut down on the possibility of putting their weapon out of action for a long period of time by overheating it. The tradeoff here is that their kit will have more weight, but many are willing to shoulder the burden.
In addition to this, public transport for those who prefer or can not afford a sky-car are the light-rails that line the mega-cities of the different worlds inside the Planetary Union. The only walking that takes place are usually within shopping centers and plazas or the insides of the cloud-scraping apartment complexes or the lower-levels of the cities that house the vagrants, criminals and other unsavory characters.
Personal-Assisstant-Device(PAD) - PADs are most simply compared to 21st century smart phones.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)/AI Drones - UAVs come in two classes, Fighters and Darters, and are operated using either an operator at the joystick or an AI computer, in the case of Drones. Fighters usually have bodies that are 6 - 10 meters in length with an appropriate wingspan and are used to patrol an airspace and can engage in interceptor roles to take out unauthorized aircraft, spacecraft or Vacuum/Atmospheric-Craft. Darters can be anywhere from the size of a dragonfly to the size of a seagull and are used for reconnaissance and espionage purposes.
Vacuum/Atmospheric-Craft(V/A-Craft) - Vacuum/Atmospheric-Craft are winged vehicles capable of taking off from a land-based platform to engage in space flight. These craft are often used for the loading and off-loading of commercial freight or transport vessels as well as a long-range fighter/interceptor model in use by the CEG Air Force and Navy. These vehicles are also used in heavily modified versions by the Global Response Staff and The Element to deliver their personnel to the area of operations, sometimes via High-Atmospheric Low Opening* technique.
Humanoid/Non-Humanoid Automata - In the world of robotics, much has been achieved. The industry of robotics has made huge leaps and bounds in the 700 years after the one we live in now. The advancements of AI and robotics have inevitably merged some time in the past and the child of these two is Humanoid Automata. Humanoid Automata is only restricted by a few laws that coincide with the Artificial Intelligence act of 2120, stating that Artificial Intelligence outside of military use must not exceed the IQ range of 50-70. Some have started to take a stand against this and there is a large black market for AI smarter than the average. Some Private Military Companies function with the use of humanoid and non-humanoid automata working as their frontline security rather than risking the lives of humans.
Liquid Armor - In the year 2100, Liquid Armor was made available in large quantities to both the military and civilian sector. It started out as kevlar layers soaked in a special fluid that hardens within milliseconds upon experiencing certain levels of physical trauma. In 2700, this works in the same way, except now weapons systems have come up with certain measures to negate the liquid armor. These thin layers of kevlar soaked in special fluids are still in use in 2700 and are used in tandem with hardened ceramic plates made of a material highly resistant to penetration.
Modular Combat Uniform - Units within the military will use hermetically sealed g-suits, especially when boarding V/A-Craft or spacecraft, operating in aquatic environments or inserting via H-ALO drop. These combat uniforms are called the Modular Combat Uniform. The Modular Combat Uniform utilizes a special system within its helmet that gives the wearer an increased field of view that widens the peripheral vision of the wearer. It takes some time to get used to but wearers are exposed to this system early on in their training for periods of time to get them used to it.
Modular Combat Uniforms also possess the ability to utilize an active camouflage system for thirty minutes at the longest before the internally housed battery within the suit needs to recharge itself. In addition to this, to further lessen the possible footprint of operators wearing the MCU, when the visor's sound nullifying field is engaged, no sound can escape the helmet and to cut down on the use of comms to enforce commsec, operators can still transmit their voices over line-of-sight voice-link web. By synchronizing their suit's computers before a mission, the suits will transmit vibrations picked up by the visor to any operator in the web as long as they are within sight when the sound-nullifying-field is engaged.
The Mk. IV and V variants of the MCU that is available to well-funded Special Missions Units like CEGMC-SOCOM's Special Compartmented Element and the Planetary Response Staff are fitted with integrated motorized exo-skeletons to supplement the strength of the wearer and to support the joints where it is needed, especially helpful during airborne insertions like High-Altitude Low Opening or Military Freefall and High-Atmosphere Low Opening. Since the Mk. IV and V variants have a hermetically sealed skin capable of controlling the wearer's body temperature during strenuous activity or to guard against the extremely low temperatures of space, the exo-skeletons are equipped with air jets to facilitate the ability of operators to carry out VBSS operations on spacecraft.
Guns and Ammunition - In 2700, cartridges are a thing of the past, both caseless and those that come with a metal casing. Instead, another form of ammunition is in use by the military: the weapon working off of an action that makes use of projectiles shaven off of dense-block nanomaterial. The advantage is that while caseless ammunition was taken over due to the lighter weight of the caseless ammunition and resultant higher ammunition capacity of weapons, using the experimental dense-block nanomaterial takes this concept to another level. With perhaps one or two extra blocks of ultra lightweight nanomaterial, the soldier is able to fire for extended periods of time and cut down exponentially on the weight of their field kit. The tradeoff is that these weapons are prone to overheating quickly as prolonged periods of fire are experienced by the weapon.
This still gives the caseless ammunition of the recent past a place in the hands of soldiers, who sometimes prefer the caseless ammunition kept in magazines to cut down on the possibility of putting their weapon out of action for a long period of time by overheating it. The tradeoff here is that their kit will have more weight, but many are willing to shoulder the burden.
