Post by Lord Harrab on Apr 1, 2016 12:49:41 GMT
Once more into the breach dear friends.
ANS Styx has been a special project for me, way back when i first tried to make this RP on the old forums, i was stuck by an almost limitless well of inspiration for supplemental fiction and other world details for this game, stuff that would ordinarily be added on later in some extra compendium for those interested to learn more about an Rp's world.
Except here its somewhat different, for players are sent into this world with the bare minimum of information, enough to understand the universe and to build a character, but everything else about the Titular ship they must discover, investigate and piece together on their own. I have on my external hard-drive, hundreds of in-character documents, voice logs, security footage, chat and emails from Npcs, all labeled and placed in the story at certain points for players to use as clues. Some are Important, some aren't, its up to you the player to figure out which is which.
ANS Styx is a story heavy roleplay, where players take the role of a frontier salvage crew, sent to recover critical data stores of a long lost Carrier-Colonial Generation ship, find out what happened, and if possible recover the ship.
The Game's structure for players is quite simple, laid out in a similar way to a choose your own adventure book, depending on who is present where, the player or group will be offered several courses of action or could even think outside the box to take a third, forth or even fifth option to a problem, these choices feed into each other and could affect other players elsewhere in good or bad ways.
Together they must solve a mystery using found data files, recording, security camera footage and their own brains, no dice rolls, no skill levels, just the right person in the right place and some inventive thinking required.
Mothership Concept alongside a Titan Class Warship for scale
"The ANS STYX, named after the river the dead must cross to get to the underworld, from one world to the next. Fitting then that this ship, the First of the Carrier-Colonial Generation ships, should carry that name. For we make this voyage knowing that we will never see our home again, nor see the world we will claim for The Alliance at Journey's end, but we know that one day in the future, under a strange sky and strange stars, our children will greet yours and welcome you to a new planet, a new system and a new future. " -Commodore James Stonewall, First Captain of The ANS Styx just prior to its launch.
the Year is 2711, Mankind has spread across the stars unopposed and undaunted, FTL tech expanding their reach from one edge of the galaxy to another, but even with this powerful technology, vast sections of the galaxy remain unexplored and un-mapped, and it is the work of unnamed probes to connect the islands of humanity's worlds and fill the darkness that lies between them.
It was not always like this, in 2250, still trapped within the Sol System with no way to cross the gulf between systems, Humanity was growing desperate. Overpopulation and pollution were predicted to shatter the Fragile Human Alliance with decades. Something had to be done, or mankind would tear itself apart.
The Carrier-Generation ships or "Motherships" were the answer. Gargantuan ships designed from the bottom up to be entirely self reliant and contained, a miniature world that would set out blind into the void in search of new worlds to call their own, pushed at sub-light speeds by the largest and most powrful Ion Propulsion engines ever built. The ship would have everything its colonists would need, and means to produce it. From Bootlaces to Entire fleets of escort ships, its production plant could make it all, the materials by Worker class harvesters from any suitable source they might find.
The ships would not be sent off and forgotten, every year the commander would use the powerful subspace comms array to sent regular reports and as the years trickled by every other Mother-ship kept regular schedules and even report successful founding of colonies, while back in Sol The First FTL was perfected and ties to these new worlds were made. From there mankind has entered a golden age of exploration, plenty and peace
All but the ANS Styx, first and largest of the Motherships. It vanished without trace roughly fifty years after launch, and only now, centuries later, you have found it dark and lifeless, orbiting a dying sun in an unremarkable system.
The Salvage Crew
Each Player takes one of the following roles,
Officer
Role: Commands the recovery Effort, trained to basic levels in all other roles
File Access: Limited all, Command, Personal.
Equipment: Medium Void Suit (20 mins air, Medium Armour, AutoSeal helmet, crew life sign HUD, Magboots.), M-25 Pulse Carbine and two reloads, M-29 Pulse Pistol and two reloads. Datapad with Motion Tracker
all classes can access files marked General
++ Whenever a decision will effect the mission or the safety of the crew, the officer has the final say, this is to prevent deadlock at critical moments, although players can of course try to convince the officer to favor their veiw IC, in addition, the officer is trained to a moderate capability in the roles of all other classes, although nowhere near as talented as their more dedicated subordinates. This functions to allow the officer to assist the others in tasks, helping speed up or reduce the challenge of an event, although if forced to perform a task better suited to another Role, they will be far less effective on their own.++
Medic
Role: Field Medicine and Surgery, Biohazard and Quarantine identification and containment
File Access: Medical Only
Equipment: Light Void Suit (20 mins air, Light Armour, Autoseal Helemt, magboots, Internal Radio) 2 Large Medical Kits, 3 Emergency Stims, Medi-tool. M-29 Pulse Pistol and one reload. Datapad
++ Players have six health states which the Medic and Officer can check at anytime, Healthy, Wounded, Poisoned, Stressed, Void Exposed, and Dead. Changes to a player's Status will be indicated in events. Wounded, Poisoned, Stressed and Void exposed characters have severe limitations placed upon them until treated, the exact penalty dependent of the circumstances of how the negative state was obtained. Players can temporarily counter negative health states with Stims, at the risk of suffering even worse penalties once the Stim wears off. Dead Characters are obviously out of the game++
Marine
Role: Security and Combat, trained in weapons both man portable and ship mounted
File Access: Security Only
Equipment: Combat Void Suit (30 mins air, Heavy Armour, AutoSeal Helmet, Magboots, Internal Radio, Shoulder mounted Light) M-99 Pulse Rifle and three reloads, M-29 Pulse Pistol and three reloads, Three Anti-matter demo charges. Datapad.
++ The Marine will need the Officer's permission to retrieve the Anti-matter demo charges from the salvage ship's Armory, unless the officer is dead or unable to communicate in some way, then the decision falls to the Marine himself. Anti-matter Charges are incredibly powerful explosives, designed for total destruction of a vessel. placed at key points in the Styx's structure, the Marine can scuttle the ship if needed.++
Data Miner
Role: Data recovery and security systems bypass, trained to access and overrule computer systems, Trained in Human-AI Relations.
File Access: Limited all, but can hack into others.
Equipment: Light Void Suit, Portable Terminal, 5 Data Recovery Cores. M-29 Pulse pistol and one reload.
++ The Data Miner will be given a set of codes they can use in any terminal to modify and access data and computer systems, success or failure will be dependent on circumstance and the task undertaken.++
Engineer
Role: Repairs ship systems, trained to reroute power and data lines physically.
File Access: Engineering
Equipment: Engineer Void Suit ( 1 Hour Air, Medium Armour with Powered exoskeleton, shoulder mounted light. Combitool, internal radio) Plasma Cutter, M-29 Pulse Pistol and one reload. Datapad, MEC Mk7 Repair Drone
++ The Engineer is accompanied by a semi-autonomous drone, it is capable of flight, void travel, and is immune to poison or lack of oxygen as well as fire, although high temperatures will damage it with prolonged exposure. Commanded via radio or directly with the datapad, it can allow the Engineer to perform repairs remotely, or be set to perform simple tasks without oversight. the Drone has no limit on how far it can travel from its master, but if it loses contact with him for any reason it will return to the engineer's last known location and wait. The drone is equipped with its own set of repair tools and a cutting torch.++
Pilot
Role: Uses Neural up-link to pilot the repair corvette, Trained in EVA maneuvers and limited repair work
File Access: Navigation
Equipment: Light Void Suit with EVA Pack and extended Air Tank (30 mins) M-29 Pulse Pistol and one reload. Neural up-link jack
++The pilot is the most mobile of the roles, and suffers no penalties due to sudden changes in gravity or motion. In addition, they can use their Neural up-link to control drones, mechs or vehicles from control stations with ease, using them like an extension of their own body. Sophisticated safety systems protect their mind from feed back from the systems they link to, and can turn their mind to hacking or repair computer systems from within if required.++
++ All events, combat and piloting event success will be dependent on GM approval and how prepared and/or clever players have been in their action posts. While i do have a general plot and "script" of sorts planned out, there is plenty of room for players to go their own way somewhat++
Void suits
Void Suits became Standard Issue for anyone with a lifestyle or job that required entering space, after several incidents where hull breaches, even minor ones, caused widespread loss of life. Voidsuits are protective suits worn over regular clothes and contain sensitive pressure and air purity monitors along with an auto-sealing helmet and internal oxygen tank. when the suit detects a sudden loss in pressure, entrance into a low gravity zone, or reduced O2 or a gas, it activates the sealant systems, turning the Armour into a void capable survival suit capable of protecting the wearer for as long as the internal air tank and battery lasts. Autoseal systems can also be triggered manually when Vacuum travel is expected. The basic model is only really designed for immediate evacuation of a damaged section, but more advanced suits can function as full EVA suits or Power Armour.
++Void Suits protect the wearer from most damage up to certain number of times, similar to Player status, damage to a suit will be displayed during events and can be checked at any time by anyone. Light suits protect only once, Medium twice, Heavy three times. Once these protection thresholds are exceeded, the suit is considered damaged. Players with damaged suits can be wounded or killed in the next event that causes damage, depending on the severity. The Engineer can repair damaged suits with the right materials, or a suit can be replaced should a new one be found. A character role is not limited to the suit type they start with, a pilot can wear a Heavy suit for example, but if they change suits they of course loose any listed advantages of their old suit for the new one.++
Pulse Weapons
With the Rapid advance of Technology, conventional firearms were replaced with man portable energy weapons, even while Railguns and Missile launchers became commonplace on Alliance warships. Called "Puse" weapons due to an inbuilt limiter that protects the focusing lens and prevents the firer from inadvertently draining the battery with sustained trigger activation.
Compared to conventional firearms, Pulse weapons can operate in vacuum and zero gravity with no loss in performance and while each shot lacks a solid projectile's kinetic force , the beam causes Armour or flesh stuck to be super-heated, causing severe burn trauma and can punch through thin cover.
The Internal batteries can be easily and quickly recharged at special power points aboard Alliance vessels, with a full charge taking less then ten minutes if needed, but such rapid energy transfer damages the weapon and will require repair. In combat, the Battery can be ejected using the release switch above the trigger and a new battery slotted in its place.
Of all Pulse weapons, the M-99 Rife is the most powerful, has the largest internal battery at 75 shots, longest range and can have a faster rate of fire.
The M-25 Carbine has only a slight reduction in battery-size at 65 and while the limiter is locked at single shot, the damage is similar to its larger cousin while being substantially more compact.
the M-22 Pistol has the least capacity, 30, and effective range, but is reliable, compact and retains the superior killing power over projectile weapons
++ A Player's weapon is used to defend themselves or can be used in whatever way a player wishes if they think it will help, ammo is limited however, and the success of defending oneself or attack another depends on the circumstances surrounding the use of the weapon. For example, if a character is surprised or unprepared, they miss the chance to fire. On the other hand, if a player is ambushing an enemy, they may kill or disable it with only one or two shots, again, it is event and circumstance dependent++
Drones and Mechs
Drones and Mobile Enhanced Constructs, MECs, are different from AI in that they lack a true governing, instead acting on preset conditions and programming with humans or AI's able to take direct control when needed. At the time of ANS Styx's launch, humanity's one major technological breakthrough was in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. All walks of life often included these obviously mechanical workers, performing jobs too dangerous or otherwise unwanted by humans and aboard ships it is no different. All ships are required to carry a contingent of repair drones and Alliance Military ships and facilities contain a company or more of security mechs to support Marine operations, some of the larger even doubling as power Armour or walking heavy weapons platforms.
The Human Systems Alliance
Once known as the Human Colony Alliance, and before that as the United Nations, the ruling body of humanity actually has little to do with the daily lives of its citizens. The Alliance Council of Nations sets laws, manages the military and generally takes a hands off approach where individual colonies are concerned. The Nations of Earth still exist, albeit with a single currency and under the watchful eye of the Council, and any colonies they found out in the galaxy are considered sovereign territory, bound both by the general laws of teh Alliance and any the homeland wishes to enforce.
This makes interstellar travel a bit of a red tape nightmare for civilians, but with regular passenger ships, FTL travel and up to date paperwork, it is very much like air travel back when humanity was bound only to earth.
The Alliance Navy is the Military arm of the Council, and all nations are required to commit to its upkeep and recruitment, no nation is permitted to arm or maintain their own body of troops or warships, frontier worlds are permitted their own Militia if no Alliance patrol or garrison is available, but for its part the Navy is quick to send support to new colonies and polices the space lanes of Mankind's interstellar empire thoroughly to keep down pirates.
Privately owned starships are common, and are permitted to carry weapons, but are regularly inspected and scanned by the Navy and must always keep their ID beacon active or else transmit a constant SOS until the beacon is reactivated, failure to do either would result in the vessel being labeled as pirate or smuggler and dealt with accordingly.
Only the most basic of interplanetary skiffs lack FTL drives int his day and age, allowing anyone with enough finance to buy and crew a starship can set out to explore to cosmos at will and in fact can be a lucrative business opportunity, as the Alliance and its member nations pay well for navigation data for mineral rich asteroid fields, potential colony sites and not to mention the thriving market for oddities found on alien worlds.
Sentient Alien life still eludes mankind however, a matter of some concern to those who study such things, but space is vast, and while the human worlds may be linked by regularly traveled FTL routes, there are still vast of unknown space separating them, and who knows what dewlls in such places?
Please post any interest or questions regarding the game mechanics below and i will answer what i can
ANS Styx has been a special project for me, way back when i first tried to make this RP on the old forums, i was stuck by an almost limitless well of inspiration for supplemental fiction and other world details for this game, stuff that would ordinarily be added on later in some extra compendium for those interested to learn more about an Rp's world.
Except here its somewhat different, for players are sent into this world with the bare minimum of information, enough to understand the universe and to build a character, but everything else about the Titular ship they must discover, investigate and piece together on their own. I have on my external hard-drive, hundreds of in-character documents, voice logs, security footage, chat and emails from Npcs, all labeled and placed in the story at certain points for players to use as clues. Some are Important, some aren't, its up to you the player to figure out which is which.
ANS Styx is a story heavy roleplay, where players take the role of a frontier salvage crew, sent to recover critical data stores of a long lost Carrier-Colonial Generation ship, find out what happened, and if possible recover the ship.
The Game's structure for players is quite simple, laid out in a similar way to a choose your own adventure book, depending on who is present where, the player or group will be offered several courses of action or could even think outside the box to take a third, forth or even fifth option to a problem, these choices feed into each other and could affect other players elsewhere in good or bad ways.
Together they must solve a mystery using found data files, recording, security camera footage and their own brains, no dice rolls, no skill levels, just the right person in the right place and some inventive thinking required.
Mothership Concept alongside a Titan Class Warship for scale
"The ANS STYX, named after the river the dead must cross to get to the underworld, from one world to the next. Fitting then that this ship, the First of the Carrier-Colonial Generation ships, should carry that name. For we make this voyage knowing that we will never see our home again, nor see the world we will claim for The Alliance at Journey's end, but we know that one day in the future, under a strange sky and strange stars, our children will greet yours and welcome you to a new planet, a new system and a new future. " -Commodore James Stonewall, First Captain of The ANS Styx just prior to its launch.
the Year is 2711, Mankind has spread across the stars unopposed and undaunted, FTL tech expanding their reach from one edge of the galaxy to another, but even with this powerful technology, vast sections of the galaxy remain unexplored and un-mapped, and it is the work of unnamed probes to connect the islands of humanity's worlds and fill the darkness that lies between them.
It was not always like this, in 2250, still trapped within the Sol System with no way to cross the gulf between systems, Humanity was growing desperate. Overpopulation and pollution were predicted to shatter the Fragile Human Alliance with decades. Something had to be done, or mankind would tear itself apart.
The Carrier-Generation ships or "Motherships" were the answer. Gargantuan ships designed from the bottom up to be entirely self reliant and contained, a miniature world that would set out blind into the void in search of new worlds to call their own, pushed at sub-light speeds by the largest and most powrful Ion Propulsion engines ever built. The ship would have everything its colonists would need, and means to produce it. From Bootlaces to Entire fleets of escort ships, its production plant could make it all, the materials by Worker class harvesters from any suitable source they might find.
The ships would not be sent off and forgotten, every year the commander would use the powerful subspace comms array to sent regular reports and as the years trickled by every other Mother-ship kept regular schedules and even report successful founding of colonies, while back in Sol The First FTL was perfected and ties to these new worlds were made. From there mankind has entered a golden age of exploration, plenty and peace
All but the ANS Styx, first and largest of the Motherships. It vanished without trace roughly fifty years after launch, and only now, centuries later, you have found it dark and lifeless, orbiting a dying sun in an unremarkable system.
The Salvage Crew
Each Player takes one of the following roles,
Officer
Role: Commands the recovery Effort, trained to basic levels in all other roles
File Access: Limited all, Command, Personal.
Equipment: Medium Void Suit (20 mins air, Medium Armour, AutoSeal helmet, crew life sign HUD, Magboots.), M-25 Pulse Carbine and two reloads, M-29 Pulse Pistol and two reloads. Datapad with Motion Tracker
all classes can access files marked General
++ Whenever a decision will effect the mission or the safety of the crew, the officer has the final say, this is to prevent deadlock at critical moments, although players can of course try to convince the officer to favor their veiw IC, in addition, the officer is trained to a moderate capability in the roles of all other classes, although nowhere near as talented as their more dedicated subordinates. This functions to allow the officer to assist the others in tasks, helping speed up or reduce the challenge of an event, although if forced to perform a task better suited to another Role, they will be far less effective on their own.++
Medic
Role: Field Medicine and Surgery, Biohazard and Quarantine identification and containment
File Access: Medical Only
Equipment: Light Void Suit (20 mins air, Light Armour, Autoseal Helemt, magboots, Internal Radio) 2 Large Medical Kits, 3 Emergency Stims, Medi-tool. M-29 Pulse Pistol and one reload. Datapad
++ Players have six health states which the Medic and Officer can check at anytime, Healthy, Wounded, Poisoned, Stressed, Void Exposed, and Dead. Changes to a player's Status will be indicated in events. Wounded, Poisoned, Stressed and Void exposed characters have severe limitations placed upon them until treated, the exact penalty dependent of the circumstances of how the negative state was obtained. Players can temporarily counter negative health states with Stims, at the risk of suffering even worse penalties once the Stim wears off. Dead Characters are obviously out of the game++
Marine
Role: Security and Combat, trained in weapons both man portable and ship mounted
File Access: Security Only
Equipment: Combat Void Suit (30 mins air, Heavy Armour, AutoSeal Helmet, Magboots, Internal Radio, Shoulder mounted Light) M-99 Pulse Rifle and three reloads, M-29 Pulse Pistol and three reloads, Three Anti-matter demo charges. Datapad.
++ The Marine will need the Officer's permission to retrieve the Anti-matter demo charges from the salvage ship's Armory, unless the officer is dead or unable to communicate in some way, then the decision falls to the Marine himself. Anti-matter Charges are incredibly powerful explosives, designed for total destruction of a vessel. placed at key points in the Styx's structure, the Marine can scuttle the ship if needed.++
Data Miner
Role: Data recovery and security systems bypass, trained to access and overrule computer systems, Trained in Human-AI Relations.
File Access: Limited all, but can hack into others.
Equipment: Light Void Suit, Portable Terminal, 5 Data Recovery Cores. M-29 Pulse pistol and one reload.
++ The Data Miner will be given a set of codes they can use in any terminal to modify and access data and computer systems, success or failure will be dependent on circumstance and the task undertaken.++
Engineer
Role: Repairs ship systems, trained to reroute power and data lines physically.
File Access: Engineering
Equipment: Engineer Void Suit ( 1 Hour Air, Medium Armour with Powered exoskeleton, shoulder mounted light. Combitool, internal radio) Plasma Cutter, M-29 Pulse Pistol and one reload. Datapad, MEC Mk7 Repair Drone
++ The Engineer is accompanied by a semi-autonomous drone, it is capable of flight, void travel, and is immune to poison or lack of oxygen as well as fire, although high temperatures will damage it with prolonged exposure. Commanded via radio or directly with the datapad, it can allow the Engineer to perform repairs remotely, or be set to perform simple tasks without oversight. the Drone has no limit on how far it can travel from its master, but if it loses contact with him for any reason it will return to the engineer's last known location and wait. The drone is equipped with its own set of repair tools and a cutting torch.++
Pilot
Role: Uses Neural up-link to pilot the repair corvette, Trained in EVA maneuvers and limited repair work
File Access: Navigation
Equipment: Light Void Suit with EVA Pack and extended Air Tank (30 mins) M-29 Pulse Pistol and one reload. Neural up-link jack
++The pilot is the most mobile of the roles, and suffers no penalties due to sudden changes in gravity or motion. In addition, they can use their Neural up-link to control drones, mechs or vehicles from control stations with ease, using them like an extension of their own body. Sophisticated safety systems protect their mind from feed back from the systems they link to, and can turn their mind to hacking or repair computer systems from within if required.++
++ All events, combat and piloting event success will be dependent on GM approval and how prepared and/or clever players have been in their action posts. While i do have a general plot and "script" of sorts planned out, there is plenty of room for players to go their own way somewhat++
Void suits
Void Suits became Standard Issue for anyone with a lifestyle or job that required entering space, after several incidents where hull breaches, even minor ones, caused widespread loss of life. Voidsuits are protective suits worn over regular clothes and contain sensitive pressure and air purity monitors along with an auto-sealing helmet and internal oxygen tank. when the suit detects a sudden loss in pressure, entrance into a low gravity zone, or reduced O2 or a gas, it activates the sealant systems, turning the Armour into a void capable survival suit capable of protecting the wearer for as long as the internal air tank and battery lasts. Autoseal systems can also be triggered manually when Vacuum travel is expected. The basic model is only really designed for immediate evacuation of a damaged section, but more advanced suits can function as full EVA suits or Power Armour.
++Void Suits protect the wearer from most damage up to certain number of times, similar to Player status, damage to a suit will be displayed during events and can be checked at any time by anyone. Light suits protect only once, Medium twice, Heavy three times. Once these protection thresholds are exceeded, the suit is considered damaged. Players with damaged suits can be wounded or killed in the next event that causes damage, depending on the severity. The Engineer can repair damaged suits with the right materials, or a suit can be replaced should a new one be found. A character role is not limited to the suit type they start with, a pilot can wear a Heavy suit for example, but if they change suits they of course loose any listed advantages of their old suit for the new one.++
Pulse Weapons
With the Rapid advance of Technology, conventional firearms were replaced with man portable energy weapons, even while Railguns and Missile launchers became commonplace on Alliance warships. Called "Puse" weapons due to an inbuilt limiter that protects the focusing lens and prevents the firer from inadvertently draining the battery with sustained trigger activation.
Compared to conventional firearms, Pulse weapons can operate in vacuum and zero gravity with no loss in performance and while each shot lacks a solid projectile's kinetic force , the beam causes Armour or flesh stuck to be super-heated, causing severe burn trauma and can punch through thin cover.
The Internal batteries can be easily and quickly recharged at special power points aboard Alliance vessels, with a full charge taking less then ten minutes if needed, but such rapid energy transfer damages the weapon and will require repair. In combat, the Battery can be ejected using the release switch above the trigger and a new battery slotted in its place.
Of all Pulse weapons, the M-99 Rife is the most powerful, has the largest internal battery at 75 shots, longest range and can have a faster rate of fire.
The M-25 Carbine has only a slight reduction in battery-size at 65 and while the limiter is locked at single shot, the damage is similar to its larger cousin while being substantially more compact.
the M-22 Pistol has the least capacity, 30, and effective range, but is reliable, compact and retains the superior killing power over projectile weapons
++ A Player's weapon is used to defend themselves or can be used in whatever way a player wishes if they think it will help, ammo is limited however, and the success of defending oneself or attack another depends on the circumstances surrounding the use of the weapon. For example, if a character is surprised or unprepared, they miss the chance to fire. On the other hand, if a player is ambushing an enemy, they may kill or disable it with only one or two shots, again, it is event and circumstance dependent++
Drones and Mechs
Drones and Mobile Enhanced Constructs, MECs, are different from AI in that they lack a true governing, instead acting on preset conditions and programming with humans or AI's able to take direct control when needed. At the time of ANS Styx's launch, humanity's one major technological breakthrough was in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. All walks of life often included these obviously mechanical workers, performing jobs too dangerous or otherwise unwanted by humans and aboard ships it is no different. All ships are required to carry a contingent of repair drones and Alliance Military ships and facilities contain a company or more of security mechs to support Marine operations, some of the larger even doubling as power Armour or walking heavy weapons platforms.
The Human Systems Alliance
Once known as the Human Colony Alliance, and before that as the United Nations, the ruling body of humanity actually has little to do with the daily lives of its citizens. The Alliance Council of Nations sets laws, manages the military and generally takes a hands off approach where individual colonies are concerned. The Nations of Earth still exist, albeit with a single currency and under the watchful eye of the Council, and any colonies they found out in the galaxy are considered sovereign territory, bound both by the general laws of teh Alliance and any the homeland wishes to enforce.
This makes interstellar travel a bit of a red tape nightmare for civilians, but with regular passenger ships, FTL travel and up to date paperwork, it is very much like air travel back when humanity was bound only to earth.
The Alliance Navy is the Military arm of the Council, and all nations are required to commit to its upkeep and recruitment, no nation is permitted to arm or maintain their own body of troops or warships, frontier worlds are permitted their own Militia if no Alliance patrol or garrison is available, but for its part the Navy is quick to send support to new colonies and polices the space lanes of Mankind's interstellar empire thoroughly to keep down pirates.
Privately owned starships are common, and are permitted to carry weapons, but are regularly inspected and scanned by the Navy and must always keep their ID beacon active or else transmit a constant SOS until the beacon is reactivated, failure to do either would result in the vessel being labeled as pirate or smuggler and dealt with accordingly.
Only the most basic of interplanetary skiffs lack FTL drives int his day and age, allowing anyone with enough finance to buy and crew a starship can set out to explore to cosmos at will and in fact can be a lucrative business opportunity, as the Alliance and its member nations pay well for navigation data for mineral rich asteroid fields, potential colony sites and not to mention the thriving market for oddities found on alien worlds.
Sentient Alien life still eludes mankind however, a matter of some concern to those who study such things, but space is vast, and while the human worlds may be linked by regularly traveled FTL routes, there are still vast of unknown space separating them, and who knows what dewlls in such places?
Please post any interest or questions regarding the game mechanics below and i will answer what i can