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Post by Nepty on May 13, 2014 20:55:15 GMT
March 5
2258 CE
Washington DC, United States of America
They’d left.
Mason looked up at the sky, streaked a dark grey and brown, with the barest pale shadow where the moon shone in through the layers of toxins floating in the atmosphere. Acid rain petered off the wide eye lenses of his hazard mask. He drew a rasping, filtered breath, and leaned back against the stones, formerly the Washington Monument. Last it had been the Washington Monument, what, a hundred years ago? More? He thought it was more like two hundred, but he’d never paid attention in history class. Whatever it was, it was a blackened spire of steel bars and stone now. He glanced back at it as he rose, and made his way towards the dead plains of the Spaceflight Launch Center. Trash littered the ground. Memories and broken dreams piled high in their thousands. He’d seen it all this morning. All the thousands of people, the last masses of humanity who still remained in what parts of the eastern coast could still have been called ‘civilized’ all having come in from the various quarantine zones, the atomics shelters, the pit-cities, all to this leveled land where twisted, fallen ruins were all that remained of the capital of a once great empire.
Unconsciously, as he kicked aside dolls and heirlooms and pictures as he passed, he started whistling. The sound coming through his mask to his ears sounded funny.
America, the beautiful, from sea to shining sea…
If America had been beautiful once, Mason hadn’t seen it. He’d been born long after the war. After the bombs and the rockets and the armies. After the peace and after the Change and after the Plague. After all the horror men said had visited humanity.
He felt like he had been born at the end. He knew humanity’s book was closing. The final chapter’s final end. Here on earth, the story was done. For all he knew there were only a dozen human beings left on this planet, if you didn’t count the sunsick or the plague-mad. The rest, he’d watched ascend to heaven, to find their future among the stars like angels.
Mason stopped and looked again. He could see this morning in his mind’s eye. The endless field, the dozens of massive landers that had waited in rows, the thousands that had climbed aboard, the soldiers who had waded among them, searching, taking any and all personal belongings and flinging them out onto the ground. He didn’t know why. Perhaps because they tied them too much to this dead, tortured world. Perhaps just because they took up precious space. All the people, in their hazard suits and masks, all clambering aboard the shuttles.
He remembered the last one leaving, rising on pillars of fire, to leave him here on earth. The Last American. They’d taught him to sing the anthem, to pledge allegiance, to live for his country, and fight for it, and die for it. And for himself, of course. But they’d never taught him how to die alone.
They’d left him his pistol at least. One magazine. Enough to find his own death. A more peaceful one that a bullet in the skull would bring.
He’d heard that poison-death wasn't bad. That it felt warm and sleepy.
Mason shuffled through the fallen refuse of humanity and across the field, and the giant skid marks and scorch pits that marked where the landers had taken off and towards a tall spindly tower. An old thing, used to communicate with the space stations when they’d been building the motherships, he’d heard.
It was a short walk to it. Mason leaned against a pillar for a moment to catch his breath. The mask made it hard to breath.
First, had come the war. Who started it? No one really knew, but some argued that it had started back when the US had invaded the bombed out glasspit called the middle east, looking to fight some foreign warlord, or maybe kill some terrorist. Who knew? Details were sketchy. Records were hard to get after the War, when they said cyberwar had killed the internet for good, just turned it into a pit full of unkillable viruses and hacks and malware, from top to bottom. The Overnet had replaced it, of course, and from what Mason had heard, the internet sounded primitive even to him, who used the overnet to communicate on a daily basis. Or had.
The bombs had fallen though, and the rockets had launched, and the countermissiles had fired too, and the sky was white, it was said, for three days, then the poison rain fell to earth, then the armies, and the war had gone on for twenty years. It had ended with the Peace, or maybe it hadn’t, because they were still fighting only five years ago, until a ceasefire was called to build the Fleet. Other things had come after. The Change. And now the industry of man had doomed the world, and acid rain fell, and no one could breath the air any more.
Mason started up the stairs. The War, the Peace, the Change. They had all been problems for people a hundred years ago, but the Plague, now that was something different. It had killed all the central control that remained, and then what people the war didn’t kill, the plague would. You couldn’t fight the plague. It drove people mad, sure, but you could kill a nutter running at you, screaming out what remained of his mind while the stalks and fungus ate his brain away, but he’d just puff into a cloud of spores and germinate instantly, and then there was the same problem again. So they’d quarantined what remained of humanity, because if you can’t kill the plague, well then, Mason guessed, I suppose you hide from it.
He finally reached the top of the stairs and entered the spindly, spartan room. Just a screen, some relays and a mic. And a chair, of course. He sat down in the iron folding chair and looked out across the blackened waste of the American plains.
Earth was gone. There was the old capital building, reinforced with bunkers and razor wire half a hundred years old, there was the white house, turned into a fortress and then a refugee shelter, then a military base, then, finally, a rest station for migrants headed up to the fleet.
Mason turned his gaze towards the screen and mic and tapped the screen. It flickered for a moment before connecting to the overnet. The image of a mass of metal, hanging in a dark blackness of space filled the screen. Mason blinked at it for a moment. He was used enough to the images of space to be nonplussed when he saw the lack of greys and browns and olive greens. He pulled on a cord near the mic and it turned on. He spoke.
“Ground command to US fleet. Come in Admiral.” His voice sounded horse after so long without use.
“This is Admiral Sherrer,” replied a formal, military voice, and the image onscreen was replaced by the bridge of one of the massive, beetle-like Carriers. The largest of them, and the only one with any actual flight crew. Mason had heard that the rest were slaved. He didn’t know if other countries did it differently. “Sir,” said Mason, saluting, even though he knew the man only saw a masked head with depressed looking eyes in wide vewslits. “Is everything ready?”
“We await your command, ground control,” said the admiral.
Mason looked around the empty room, the empty city and the empty countryside. That was him. Ground Control. He knew it for a formality.
The admiral lowered his voice. “Operator, I must say…you are the bravest man I have ever met.”
Mason shrugged. “Thank you sir. Just doing my duty.”
“Your sacrifice shall be remembered, operator Mason. To volunteer to stay behind on Earth…well you do know that you will die soon, of course.”
Mason raised an eyebrow. This man had no tact. He nodded. “As soon as I’m done seeing you off, I think,” he said slowly.
“You have my thanks. And the thanks of the rest of humanity. Shall I transfer you to the other fleet captains?”
“Yes sir.”
Mason greeted them, men of a dozen different nationalities and alignments, one by one. They all offered him condolences, which he didn’t need, gratitude, which he didn’t want, and praise, which he didn’t mind. When they were done commending him, they routed him back to his superior, who was standing in the same position he had left him in.
“Thank you again, operator Mason.”
Mason nodded. “Are you ready admiral?”
“Affirmative, ground control,” said the admiral stiffly.
“Then prepare for superluminal, admiral.”
“Already prepared sir.”
Mason took a deep breath. “Then enjoy your travels, admiral.”
“Thank you, ground control.” Mason opened a separate channel to the entire fleet. “This is ground control,” he said. “You may begin superluminal procedure.”
Affirmatives in dozens of languages crowded the response, but the message was clear.
Mason turned the few back to satellite to watch the fleet leave Earth forever and sent one last thing to the fleet.
“Good luck.”
When they were gone, and space was empty but for drifting dead satellites, Mason stood up, went to the windows where he regarded his battered world, and reached up and took off his hazard mask, feeling the cool, toxic air of Earth on his face for the first time in his life, and took in a deep breath.
Then he felt warm and sleepy.
Then he felt no more.
___________________A FINAL VENTURE
This is and will be, “A Final Venture” A story-based strategy work set vaguely in the Venture Command universe, where players used the Nations formula to control extrasolar corporations in mining precious ore from a planet who’s people didn't like giant holes dug in their backyards.
This one is different. World war, climate change and some kind of plague that was perhaps rooted in biological warfare have turned the earth into a desolate ruin, not fit for human habitation. The trees are mostly gone, the cities nearly all leveled, the seas poisoned, and humanity has dwindled from its once ten-billion strong population to more near perhaps a few million.
In recent decades, the star known as Alpha Centauri has been confirmed as having at least one planet on which humans can live. There may be more, and there is certainly more than one planet with water. The Hermes 49, the first superluminal probe to leave our solar system was a massive, mobile array that could monitor space, land air and water, and 12 years after it left, reports finally reached earth. Reports of a world on which Hermes had landed that shared much of earth’s characteristics, namely, clean air and clean water. They named it “Hydra” for its nine moons.
In a more rational time, this would have been treated differently, but now, humanity is on the verge of extinction, and willing to try anything, and do anything, to survive.
The world war, which had been being fought on and off between all powers, was halted in favor of all nations creating the Exodus Fleet, which would bear much of humanity from ruined earth to these new garden worlds.
But it is far from over, and humanity’s future still hangs in the balance. How long will these peace lasts once the Alpha Centauri system is reached? What has happened during the 7-year-long trip to the planet? What shall be discovered in the alpha-centauri solar system?
The answers are up to you, as leader of one of these factions of humanity. Your carriers will enter the system and disgorge your fleet, with which you will attempt to save humanity.
Every life is worth everything. Humans cannot be replaced aside from reproduction, which, as it is, is long and slow, and there will be no transmissions nor shipments from a dead earth.
Everything is on the line.
I am open to suggestions on human fluff, player-created factions, technologies and characters. Feel free to ask me or suggest ideas for technology or anything. Gratuitous image posting is just fine, as everyone needs a feel to their society. As for the solar system, Alpha Centauri…well you’ll just have to wait and see.
Gameplay will be done in standard strategic nations format, with PMs and a main event thread, aside from one addendum. I will frequently add a post from one-shot or recurring characters on the ground as they hear, execute and experience the results of your commands.
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Post by Darko on May 14, 2014 11:39:36 GMT
Moving to Strategic Games planning. And, of course, I'm completely on board with this like I said earlier.
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Post by Nepty on May 14, 2014 13:39:00 GMT
Thanks Darko. If anyone wants to join, feel free. Also, if you want, post ideas you have to make the history of humanity and their tech (hard sci fi, so fancy flashing lasers and hyperspace are out though(
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Post by Darko on May 14, 2014 14:09:25 GMT
I'll post some ideas in a bit, could you provide some details on ships and maybe a sheet of some kind assuming there even is one for signing up?
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Post by Darko on May 14, 2014 15:14:40 GMT
Final discretion is up to Nepty of course.
Technology of the Fleets:
Personnel Weaponry and Equipment
The majority of weapons have not changed too much since the early 21st century, with simple, easily-maintained projectile firearms continuing to be successful. Prior to the war, all firearms became strictly controlled. That and the fact that space is a premium on the ships, means that only a select range of guns still exist. They are some of the most efficient and deadly designs ever created, refined by the war.
However, these are kept under tight guard in the armouries as during the journey all that the security staff required were non-lethal weapons. Fast-charging pulse tazers and stun batons were the most common, though more esoteric equipment such as paralysis dart launchers and the infamous 'goo-guns' are often employed if necessary.
There are also extremely potent weapons available, although they are the most coveted and guarded of all: Rail rifles. These relics from the war cannot be reproduced now - the facilities simply do not exist any more. Greatly scaled-down versions of those installed on ships (primarily for destroying asteroids, but also as a precaution against other factions), these brutal weapons accelerate a projectile to immense speeds. If you want something annihilated, rail rifles are the tool for the job.
For protection, standard body armour is common, protecting against bullets and bludgeoning. More advanced alternatives do exist however, such as exo-suits - which have non-military cousins used for industrial lifting - that are heavily armoured, but difficult to use suits of armour, often with in-built advanced weaponry, as well as other almost-unique systems.
Perhaps the rarest of all, the eventual successor to the exo-suits developed in limited numbers near the end of the war, are the mechs. They are almost entirely impervious to damage, with even rail guns struggling to harm them. They can survive in conditions that would kill a normal person a hundred times over, be it intense temperatures or even the vacuum of space.
Their pilots are directly in control of the mechs through a neural link and can survive for a considerable amount of time without resupply, each mech possessing advanced life support systems.
They boast weaponry that is the final word in ground-based warfare. Battle tanks, aircraft, entire regiments of soldiers - a single mech in the right place with a skilled pilot could take them all on. Deployable directly from orbit onto a planet's surface if necessary (although only the boldest commander would take the chance with such an irreplaceable weapon), they are versatile, almost impenetrable and in the event that its armour is penetrated by sheer firepower, there is a good chance that its reactor will go critical. The resulting explosion is often compared to a nuclear blast in terms of sheer damage, except without the radioactive fallout.
The Arks
The great behemoth transports that carry the remnants of humanity to their last chance for survival - the worlds of Alpha Centauri - are hulking vessels, each one a self-contained city on the inside. It consumed all of the resources of the dying Earth to construct these arks and in a way they are a part of the home which we left behind.
While there was no standard design for such vessels, having been no precedent, they are all fairly similar. Spanning many kilometers, they possess everything needed to sustain the precious human cargo within. Vast food production facilities ensure everyone remains well-fed, although it is strictly rationed to ensure everyone gets only their fair share - no more, no less.
Everything is recycled by necessity. In these times, we can't afford to waste anything of value. Indulgence is almost non-existent, although some will always find a way to get what they want, even under the scrutiny of the hand-picked and ever-watchful security forces. The entirety of the design of these arks is as efficient as possible, by necessity.
There are however a few exceptions. Firstly, there are the archives - great stores preserving the most precious, irreplaceable and valuable artifacts from old Earth. Someone decided that it was important to preserve some culture and history. Although the databanks contain millions if not billions of files of such things - music, books, films and so forth - some things simply cannot be preserved digitally.
These can range from great works of art or one-of-a-kind technological marvels to ancient tapestries, even such things as a particularly fine vintage of wine or a beautiful instrument may have found their way into these invaluable vaults. No two arks have the same treasures within them and their existence, as well as the details of their contents, are secrets known only to the ship captains themselves. After all, that is room that could have housed more people, perhaps a dozen, perhaps a hundred, none can be entirely sure.
Each ark also has a number of smaller vessels on board, lumbering mining rigs, automated drones for exploration and sample-collecting, large shuttles for deploying equipment and people. Most can even field at least a squadron of inter-planetary sub-light ships, ideal for scouting and defence of the arks themselves.
Furthermore, while the vast majority of the people on each ark come from all manner of backgrounds, there are some who are simply more important than others. They are not distinguished by any past wealth or lineage, instead by possessing invaluable skill sets. As many of these gifted and intelligent people as possible are on each ship, doctors and scientists amongst their numbers. Without them, there would be little hope for humankind, as it is these men and women who will ultimately be able to ensure the species can adapt and survive on new worlds.
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That's enough for now I think, I may or may not add more.
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Post by Nepty on May 14, 2014 15:28:31 GMT
Awesome. All of that stuff is accepted. Gives the world some life.
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Post by Darko on May 14, 2014 15:30:44 GMT
Glad to hear it, I figured I may as well try and address the most obvious things first, which is tech and a bit of detail on how everyone survives. Of course there's a lot more that can be done, particularly the specifics of the arks themselves, the people, what each one contains (presumably decided by yourself Nepty). Hell, what the damn things look like is important too.
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Post by admiral9 on May 14, 2014 15:36:54 GMT
I shall lead das reich to the future and space! So ye ill join your funtime RP.
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Post by Nepty on May 16, 2014 17:47:17 GMT
Example faction sheet Faction The Union (Northern United States of America) Former lands: The North of America History (bio) The core of the united states of America, and the only lands held after the War, the northern territories of the united states still technically stretched “from sea to shining sea” but only the north part of that. In the beginning of the War, much of the world had just gotten used to the principle of hyperwar and small unit tactics, and such, the elite squads of American troops preparing in the various forts around the united states were unequipped to deal with the conventional war machine that the Chinese unleashed on the world. Select fireteams placed on street corners and other such tactics perfected in what is now called the Frontier Wars in the brush of Africa and asia, (before those technical territories were lost) were overrun by tank battalions and platoons of infantry. Stealth bombers, whose pilots had become used to fighting without any resistance from non-air-capable insurgents were shot out of the sky by high altitude interceptors. The Union lost the south, starting with the Chinese mass-invasion by landing largely unopposed in southern California and marching west, planning to take Washington in an unsettlingly Napoleonic maneuver. However, by the time the south had been subjugated, the US army had been restructured and reequipped to fight a conventional war, and managed to hold their own, though they never succeeded in getting back the south, even when Imperial China lost the southern American territories, they had relied on an overall provincial governor for too long to agree to instant reformation into the united states of old and federated to form their own sovereign nation- opposing the US military when they attempted to intervene and fighting a three-month border war until both sides agreed to settle matters peacefully. Following the War, the United States attempted to rebuild, but the ensuing nuclear war only three decades after the third world war had ended, smashed any hope of reconciliation, and nearly annihilated the world’s population. In the past years of climate change and quarantine from the spore-based biological weapon known as The Plague, which an eco-terrorist organization called “Gia’s Children” seeded into the waterways of major cities, the US contributed heavily to the Ark Fleet, and their nation left the world in three arks, named Liberty, Voyager and Mayflower Each made to keep their inhabitants frozen in cryogenic hibernation for a year, with half-year intervals for the hibernation bays to recharge, in which the residents live in cramped conditions aboard their vessels. The population of the Union is 100,000 people, roughly, with roughly 33,000 aboard each ark, spending one year in cryosleep then six months in cramped existence aboard their Ark. The Arks img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110124083500/jamescameronsavatar/images/6/62/Interstellarcomplete.jpgUS CITIZENRY The citizenry of the United States is made up of those peoples who make up the bulk of the workforce, but few of them are office-workers. Accountants, civilian miners, loggers, doctors, drivers, engineers and similar. The minimum working age is 14, and the people of the US value freedom of expression above most else. They are led by two groups, the Senate, and the Consulate. Post-war, the United States dissolved the presidency and instated a consulate. Two men of wealth known as military consuls, who controlled the Army, navy and air force directly through controlling resources and thus the money able to fund the military, but each Consul is set to watch the other, and often it is seen as best if both are of opposing minds, and as such, will be quick to sound the alarm if the other seems to be getting too powerful. The overall ruling body is the Senate however, and a consul must be a senator before he can be elected. The senate votes on major acts, such as war or higher taxation and the Consuls carry them out. US Military Army: The main ground force of the US military, contains the following types of technology and soldiers US Army Rifleman: A soldier equipped with hazard suit, body armor, service pistol, grenades, and Standard Infantry Rifle, an all-purpose rifle. s017.radikal.ru/i428/1112/6f/bb27fb676195.jpgUS Force Recon (commando unit) Troophttp://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090923002809/endwar/images/0/08/EndWar_JSF.jpger: lightly armed and armored with carbine, sniper rifle or light machine gun. US Combat Engineer: armored, armed with an assault rifle, grenade launchers, demolition equipment, construction equipment and servicing equipment. www.gamerdna.com/uimage/1y92BlC3/full/tom-clancy-s-endwar-rifleman-squad.jpgSupport Weapons Teams: A two-man team of a tripod or bipod-based, man-portable heavy 60. machine gun, tripod-mounted rocket or mortar. One gunner, and one spotter. Often used when drones are unusable due to EMP. Armored Infantry (mechs) Light Armored Mech/Battle (LAMB) img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100912232248/sciencefictionstarsystem/images/b/bd/Advancing.jpgCapable of matching the firepower of a light tank with it’s repeating cannon, the LAMB is far more versatile. Opposable thumbs and fingers allow it to climb and do acrobatics while the user is still synced with it, although it’s primary usage if for manual labor, the fleet carries 40 repeating cannons for them Medium Armored Warframe (MAW) www.playhawken.com/images/game-guide/mechs/bruiser/bruiser-screenshot-2.jpgA dedicated combat machine, the Medium Armored Warframe is equipped with a heavy cannon to combat armor and a double-barreled 50. Machine gun for combating infantry. It relies on one pilot, and unlike the ‘open frame clear cockpit’ of the LAMB, the medium warframe is heavily armored all over and features an ejection option, in which the pilot is explosively ejected from the vehicle and parachutes down to earth. It also has no hands, instead, the weapons are directly linked to the arms. Superheavy Armored Warframe (SAW) news.xbox.com/~/media/images/media%20assets/xbox%20one%20games/titanfall/20131223%20titanfall%20atlas/titan%20lineup.jpg?h=529&w=940The SAW is the final word in mech-based combat. With the dedicated combat system of the MAW and the opposable hands and deep-link of the LAMB, the SAW excels in all categories, except, perhaps, silence, as its massive fusion reactor can be heard for nearly a mile all around, never mind it’s footfalls, that can crush an infantry squad underfoot. Each SAW is equipped with a Heat-field explosives detonator, an energy field that intercepts and explodes any incoming warheads, 2 feet from hitting the SAW itself. It’s hands hoist tank weaponry, a repeating cannon known as a “Hell Cannon” that spits out explosive incendiary shells at 2 per second. However when the mech is breached, unlike others, that run on fuel and cold fusion respectively, has a much more catastrophic meltdown than mere gasoline explosion and localized lighting strike effect that happen when the reactors of the LAMB and MAW go critical, instead it detonates with force correlative to a tactical nuclear bomb, though a pilot hastily shutting down all systems via override may stop this, though it leaves him in a giant immobile statue venting off massive amounts of heat from all available ports unless he chooses to eject. Very few pilots are actually willing to allow their reactors to go fully critical, because the short-circuiting effect also negates their ability to eject, and on record, only two pilots have done so in earth’s wars, one because his SAW’s legs had been blown out and ejection would have catapulted him into a tank, and the other when he was not entirely trained and unaware of the danger. Armor 2.bp.blogspot.com/_zbFgOJL4VTQ/SwOLDBD0QfI/AAAAAAAAAC8/nHZzWUZP-K8/s1600/SamBrown-15-RF-Scout.jpgGoblin light recon vehicle. Seating for 6 infantrymen at optimum, one machine gun at top, heavy tracked tires for all terrain maneuvering, ram for vehicular combat. images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100806030860/tomclancy/images/2/23/BTR-112_Cockroach.jpgOrc APC. Capable of carrying 12 men, equipped with a 4-barrelled light cannon img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110621010124/tomclancy/images/d/d8/T-100_Ogre_02.jpgTroll main battle tank. Equipped with a heavy tank cannon, heavy machine gun and 2 light turret cannons, as well as foliage rams. Grond Heavy Tank. Armed with grenade launchers, 1 frontal area-denial weapon and rear machine gun. Main weapon, heavy explosive Long Range Bombard Cannon, capable of penetrating heavy armor and serving as artillery. img.photobucket.com/albums/v201/btwins/Future%20Tech/wooten_04.jpgAir Force
Ethersprite drone Small, dog-sized helicopter drones that can fly in most weather conditions and are equipped with a 30. Caliber 60-shot light machine gun and a single detonating charge to be dropped on hostile positions. Can be built th04.deviantart.net/fs70/200H/i/2012/273/a/f/modular_shuttle_k36_by_adamkop-d5gdtox.jpgRavenhawk Shuttle: a crew of 2, and the Crow is able to carry hundreds of men and tons of equipment to a planet’s surface from orbiting vessels. Comanche Close Support Gunship alienscollection.com/dropshipbymaxhitman.jpgAnd atmospheric craft capable of traveling long distances. These are buildable vehicles with 2 crewmembers, 1 rocket pod and 1 machine gun. Dragonfly troop carrier img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100115070455/jamescameronsavatar/images/c/c5/Samson_landing_at_halelulja_mountains.jpgA buildable atmospheric craft with 2 pilots and 2 gunners, one on each door gun, capable of carrying 12 men. Spacefleet
Hermes Space Ranger (6) 1.bp.blogspot.com/_1Tu6nsEVLvk/TKZqFtYE3bI/AAAAAAAAAVY/2ZyHgDYUuP8/s1600/3675547001_52cece8a40_b.jpgBuilt for long voyages within the solar system, the six Space Rangers are to extend themselves from their main rings upon the Ark’s entrance into the system to range ahead and scout out the planets. They have a crew of 7 astronauts and one doctor, and enough supplies and fuel and power to travel for three months. It is unarmed . Atlas Freighter i1.ytimg.com/vi/NisaVhJLOE0/maxresdefault.jpgThe main workhorse of the fleet, the Atlas is able to travel between distant planets, with massive amounts of supplies, or 2,000 human passengers. They are to be constructed from partially ready-made frames once the ships reach Alpha Centauri A. They have a crew of 20 and are armed with one rail cannon. Angel Destroyer www.igorstshirts.com/blog/conceptships/2013/eddiedelrio/eddiedelrio_03.jpgThe main combat vessel of the fleet, the Angel is a four-man vessel with half of it’s systems automated. One pilot capable of flying in both air and land operations, one engineer, one scanner station officer and one technical officer. It is the only vessel of the fleet small and hardy enough to survive traveling at extreme speeds in high orbit and even landing on the ground, as well as traveling between planets. (it has a bay, capable of holding 20 human soldiers, 4 light mechs or 1 medium mech) The Angel is armed with one nose-mounted light rail cannon, 2 rocket pods (10 rockets each), 2 missile bays (capable of carrying 3 missiles each) and four cycling rail-rifles mounted about the hull as point defense. All systems are automated, save for the rail rifle, which is fired by the pilot, and the rocket pods, fired by the sensors officer. Thor Gunship img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130711171916/nationceation/images/d/d4/Patrol_Shi-p.jpgThe Thor is a combat vehicle that cannot travel between planets and must be carried clamped to the hull of larger vehicles They cannot land on the ground, however, and are instead used space-war vessels, and can enter low orbit, above the cloud layer. They have a crew of 2, and all of their systems, save for 2 light rail cannons for ship actions, are automated. They are much slower and lighter armed than the Angel however. FULL LIST OF PERSONELLE (note: nearly all military forces are untested in combat, and most soldiers were in their teens when they left earth, and joined for the benefits of peacetime and longer stints in cryogenic storage.) Very few have taken part in exercises outside of simulated combat, as gunfire is under a zero-tolerance policy aboard the Arks. Civilians: 70,000 Riflemen: 12,000 Combat Engineers: 4,000 Recon Troopers: 2,000 Support Weapons Operatives: 4,000 (overall army infantry: 20,000) LAMBs: 800 MAWs: 400 SAWs: 40 Goblins: 500 Orcs: 400 Trolls: 400 Gronds: 100 Ethersprite: 60 Ravenhawk: 20 Comanche: 30 Dragonfly: 80 Hermes: 6 Atlas: 20 Angel: 12 Thor: 40
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Post by Nepty on May 16, 2014 19:15:41 GMT
Okay, a basic plot summary. In the latter years of the early 21st century, global panic was at an all-time high. Russia and China were making increasingly bold maneuvers, the west was recovering from the brushfire wars in the middle east (which they lost) and religious violence was skyrocketing in india. The war truly began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The west scrambled it’s NATO forces, but Russia and China joined north korea in “The Eastern Coalition” and nearly wiped south Korea off the map in a week. Furious, the west demanded answers, and the NATO forces send to South Korea were nearly rebuffed by NKA soldiers there, though without bloodshed. The civilized world was enraged and impotent, and finally, with a massacre of a garrison of British troops stationed in South Korean DMZ, World War Thee broke out. The fighting lasted, some say, for decades. The fighting was bitter and bloody, and the west, so used to small frontier wars was utterly unprepared for the vicious conventional warfare. Russia invaded germany and began, in a horrifying similarity to the second world war, divided the Balts, Jews and Serbs from the Ukrainians, Livonians and other people descended from the Rus of medieval Europe. This sparked even fiercer fighting (though there were no massed genocides save in the Balkans, where such was apparently common.) The war was fought to a standstill at the french border in Europe, but in the united states, China had steamrolled over the entire southern half, and annexed nearly all of mexico while it was at it. The fighting became a war of attrition, and each day, soldiers would look in fear of bright, white, lights, that would surely herald nuclear war, but none ever came. When the war ended with the Treaty of Urach, resulting in a cease-fire, hundreds of millions were dead in the costliest war in human history, not only for human life, but knowledge as well. For the first time, there had been war in space. Killsats had shot down countless satellites, viruses and malware had corrupted government databases, crime as at an all time high. Then, twenty years after everyone had begun picking up the pieces, no one had finished yet, and something happened, and the big red panic button was hit. World War Four, or the Atomic War, was fought for nineteen days, seventeen hours, fifty one minuites and twelve seconds, until the last doomsday weapon had detonated. The earth was a shattered shell. Not only atomics had been deployed, but dirty bombs, radiation agents, toxic chemicals, and so much poison that in most places, one couldn’t breath the air. Safe zones in cities sprung up, and those lucky few that made it there survived, but the greatest toll of the Atomic War was not those obliterate din nuclear fire, but those without protection, stranded in the charred wasteland that now covered 60% of the earth’s landmass. The livable areas were fought over by warring ‘nations’ only connected through shared ideals and nationality, until finally, it seemed some semblance of order had arrived, and humanity might once again have a chance, despite being decimated in numbers. Someone somewhere however, had had enough, it would seem though, and an organization called “Gaia’s Children” who had long staged terrorist attacks such as car bombings of factories and destruction of private property, got their hands the one weapon that had not been deployed in the Atomic War, the Human Parvovirus, or simply, “The Plague”. They seeded waterways with it and shot it into the brutalized sky, and where it landed, things changed. Landscape became strangely fertile again, but the crops were not wheat or corn or rice or potatoes, but massive fungal growths that let off spores. Any human who inhaled or drank water from these spores would go mad within days as the Plague grew a rampant fungal tumor inside their head and body, and eventually, would be driven into a mindless, murderous frenzy as the fungus compelled them to seek out sources of water. Once arrived, they would flop down to die in the mud, and the fungus would consume their body and grow to obscene sizes. Colonies the size s of cities were spotted, and if one grew big enough, it would wither and die, and jettison spores to drift among the clouds, falling on some horrifically unlucky land, which would then be gripped by days of violent madness, then become desolate and empty as its population sought out water and death. And among this, some few still lived and remained sane.
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