For countless generations - perhaps for as long as travelers were willing to dive to the depths of their memory - the Gamma Quadrant has carried with it a reputation of hazard - if not outright horror. Be it as a site of innumerable battles of cosmic preponderance, or - as was, for a time, more likely - the crawling hive of eldritch and otherworldly vectors which loomed like gods in the black swathes between the stars, the region of space sometimes arbitrarily determined to sit in the north-west quarter of the Galaxy has, on more than one occasion, served as ample inspiration for the drug- and alcohol-addled minds of the surveyor, miner, speculator, wayward adventurer, mad prophet, and free trader. Yet, within the last decade, that has grown to change.
After the inexplicable disappearance of not merely the vector fleets of the dreaded Pathogen - also known as the "Rethast Pathogen" - but also the nomadic, star-consumer neo-feudal hegemony of the Ciehne Abrahene (otherwise known as the "Ikrahk"), the Gamma Quadrant became the latest victim of an even more potent and virulent threat which, until now, had spared the abyssal quarter of the Galaxy from its contamination. The Gamma Quadrant, in a word, has fallen victim to civilization; at least, some semblance of it.
With the last scrawling epistles of the mad prophets of the horrors which once befell the Gamma Quadrant falling into obscurity, if not having been outright destroyed by the factions and ventures within galactic civilization that has taken it upon themselves the mantle of such a crusade, beyond the deeply classified and confidential reports of those stellar nation-states which were so unlucky as to witness them first-hand, all that remains to deter the entrepreneur and the tilted free trader from seeking fame and fortune in the Gamma Quadrant is a few, disparate reports and the ever-more-embellished drunken fairytales of their kin in age far superior.
Of course, as with any instance of civilization, the prospect of wealth, power, territory, and discovery has driven it to expand to fill this void of cosmic ignorance with the enlightenment of its own bias and causes. Within the heart of the more entrenched worlds of Gamma Quadrant, stellar empires such as those found within the Totalitarian Systems Absolute Regency spar and struggle with the ever-expanding investment- and capital-driven hegemony of the Raumreich and the Alpha Centauri Accords; yet, newer stellar regimes - like that of the sun-worshipping Uthani - now claw and scrape at the blackness that once held them at bay, pushing into regions of space once held beyond their grasp by the terrible foes which had called such sectors home. Even so, these dramas have played themselves out since even before the great vector squadrons of the Rethast fleet began their march to the gilded gates of the Alpha Quadrant.
It is along the periphery - the border regions - of the Gamma Quadrant, often more rimward than not, that the new fortunes and new highlights of fame are to be found. Even yet still, while certainly the pressure from the Alpha Quadrant into this new frontier is hearty and driven, it is the eternally expanding stellar states of the Delta Quadrant that have seemingly taken initiative. All along the Gamma-Delta divide, small single- and several multi-system confederations and coalitions - unions of miners, prospectors, rogue traders, and all manner of spacer ilk - have been founded within but the last decade, generating pockets of intensely profitable trading outposts, mining depots and settlements, and even the rare, sparsely populated habitable world - seeds for a new generation of colonization and conquest.
These small empires, built on the blood, sweat, and desperation of their denizens, serve as the entry-points - the bridgeheads - between the ever-more bloodied battlefields of Delta and the yawning unknown of deep Gamma. They are the frontier towns and railroad settlements of the mythic and legendary "Old Terra" given new life amongst the stars. Of course, like their spiritual ancestors before them, the frontiers and hinterlands of civilization are fraught with dangers and hazards and horrors - both seen and unseen, known and unknown, new and old.
It is to one of these small, frontier states - a "prospector's haven" - that the cosmic eye now turns. A small, seven-system mandatory settlement called the Avaikan Mandate, settled along and controlling (through a modest defense force and a far-more experienced collection of mercenary firms and their mining, prospecting, and trader benefactors) a trade route spur known as the "Avaika Spur". The Avaika Spur stretches from the Amphina System to the Avaika System, which in-turn serves as a final waypoint between the hardened worlds of the Delta Quadrant and both the vast and innumerable dark stars of Gamma and the far more entrenched, greater investment and capital-turnover ports of the primary Gamma trade lanes, connecting the heart of the Sol Belt to the outer fringe of the Gamma Quadrant.
The Avaika Mandate, little more than a confederation of competitive interests finding mutual benefit in the semblance of civilization they call a "mandate", is - by far - mostly little more than a string of systems with traffic monitoring stations, mining outposts, artificial satellites, stations, and blasted and rocky worlds. Even so, the alignment of these systems serves a purpose; the purpose of conveying the brave (or mad) of Delta through Avaika and into the heart of darkness itself. Of the total amount of territory under its dominion, the Avaikan Mandate hosts but two truly "inhabited" worlds: Avaesia in the Avaika System, a naturally habitable, terran world just now becoming marred by the demands of industry which seek to supplant its otherwise viridian expanses and serving as the capital of the Mandate itself; the other is Tavoss IV in the Tavoss System, a rocky and barren terrestrial - like its three, star-ward siblings - which has, within the past three years, initiated an expansive (but troubled) terraforming operation.
Beyond these small semblances of life taking hold, the systems of Alavain, Khradur, Nemon, Orphain, and Amphina remain. Though each, no doubt, serves a purpose along the road of the frontier, each are but diminutive specks compared to the mandatory capital and Tavoss IV. Even so, it is to a small, barren world in the Amphina System that the eyes of history first turn: Amphina II.
Specifically, time and space now come to stall and focus on a small bit of land - a mining outpost turned traffic monitoring station - on the barren and gray-black surface of its home. The cosmic eye of perspective turns to focus and gaze upon the carbon scoring and ruptured metal from which screams a single, repetitive, emergency distress beacon.
Welcome to the Gamma Frontier.
Unexpected Guests: An Introduction
Necessary Information and In-Character Thread
First and foremost: there will be death. There will be fire. There will be fiery death. Secondly, for those of you who do not know, this is the new main account of Kyrusia. Yes, this is Kyru.
Now that we've got that over with...
This roleplay is going to be slightly different than most "introduction threads". How will become apparent in time, but I obviously don't want to spoil things. If you haven't gathered, this means that there is an actual plot in place with a (somewhat) set beginning and a (somewhat) set end; obviously things will be subject to change based upon the actions of the characters involved, but I do have a general idea of - in the least - how things will begin and how things will come to a close. After all, this is an introductory thread, so the entity in question has to get a bit of screen time.
That being said, the genre I might classify this roleplay as is that of a mystery. On the Gamma-Delta divide, due to the absence of the "dragons" in the "Here Be Dragons" trope as of late, prospectors, free colonists, and the simply crazy have begun to encroach into the proverbial "wild quarter" of the Galaxy. This hasn't been going on for long, but as I see it, the Avaikan Mandate (and the free colonies in general) first started to get traction within the last decade. As indicated, this roleplay will be taking place within the Avaikan Mandate: a loose confederation of small settlements, founded by free colonists on the world of Avaesia in the Avaika System, growing to include six further systems with increasingly diminutive centers of population.
The Avaikan Mandate, further, constitutes what has become known as the "Avaika Trade Spur" and, as described, is a fairly new and recently potentially highly profitable venture for free traders, corporations, and stellar nation-states - in addition to the wild pirate or two. The territories of the spur are filled not merely with rich mineral resources, high-density HII regions, and stellar bodies which could potentially serve as ample sources of lifted coronal matter, but also with a myriad of small, mercantile stations and seasonal trader settlements which ebb-and-flow in size based upon prevailing market conditions between the Gamma and Delta Quadrants.
At least, that's what the Avaika Spur was known for.
Rather abruptly, however, the rather constant - but modest - flow of traders, resource freighters, miners, etc. which flowed through the Spur into and out-of Gamma has been disrupted. A superluminal distress beacon originating from the second terrestrial body in the Amphina System, Amphina II, has been switched indicating to any nearby parties that assistance is required. The only information that is available is provided by an automated broadcast system, seemingly indicating that much of Amphina II - or, at least, Monitoring Outpost Number Four (a major traffic control and relay station in the system, comprising at least two surface floors and four sub-surface floors) - has fallen to a calamitous incident. By all accounts, Monitoring Outpost Number Four may be destroyed, with the potential for survivors being slim - but not zero.
Of course, this poses a problem: Monitoring Outpost Number Four served as a major traffic monitoring and control station in the Amphina System and served as the primary entry point to the Avaika Trade Spur. Its apparently compromised state is, as a consequence, going to inevitably stall trade to the Avaikan Mandate and, further, the flow of trader and commercial traffic between Gamma and Delta.
Players are, therefore, urged to create characters which would fit archetype for individuals which would be affected by this or otherwise likely to investigate a distress beacon of such magnitude. This means players can craft an entourage of their choosing: be they free traders, a corporate group, or even a forward scouting party from another star-state. All I ask is that, first, players do not bring in more than three vessels and none of major military capacity. By the time this roleplay begins, understand that it has only been an hour or two since the distress beacon was first activated, meaning unless a player provides a fairly legitimate (and story-appropriate) reason for a massive military convoy to be in the area, I'm likely not to approve it.
Further, as I have already stated: this thread will involve the death of characters. So, adjust yourself accordingly, but understand: you are likely to be "in over your head", so to speak, when the glove gets thrown. I will not be being particularly kind in this roleplay; understand that I'm not going to willie-nillie go around killing characters, but I'm not going to lie and say that all of the characters players create will survive. Act accordingly and bring an assortment of meat-shields and cannon fodder. I, of course, reserve the right to some degree of executive license as the original poster of this thread, but I'm not out to butcher everyone's creations; just understand that the theme of this roleplay will be that of "going into the unknown" and all the dangers that accompany that situation.
Lastly, this roleplay is by application or invite only. Further, I have extended at least one invitation to a player whose identity, for now, will remain obscured for the sake of plot. So, if you see someone posting that hasn't applied, check the player list and you will likely find their name there and unobscured.
If you have any questions, feel free to send a telegram to this account, my main account (Kyrusia), or drop by #NSLegion as I am usually available there. Otherwise, information about specific locations as players travel along the spur will be provided via exposition in the In-Character thread. Remember not to get in a rush, in all likelihood you will get to explore much of - if not all - of the Avaika Trade Spur before the end arrives.
Thank you, and have fun, and remember: keep your friends close, or you'll have to make new ones.
Application
Many thanks to Rethan for inspiration in the formatting.
Players
• Serukta Sehkrisaal (Kyrusia)
• Revealed Invited Player No. 1: The Uthani Imperium (Grat)
• Revealed Invited Player No. 2: Vocenae
• Revealed Invited Player No. 3: Valinon
— — — — —
• Azura
• Feazanthia
• Huerdae
• Nyte
• Red Talons
• Rethan
• Storm Gard
• Tarsas
• Telros
• Vernii
•-The West Coast- (Unable to Participate. Reason: Real-world necessities.)
After the inexplicable disappearance of not merely the vector fleets of the dreaded Pathogen - also known as the "Rethast Pathogen" - but also the nomadic, star-consumer neo-feudal hegemony of the Ciehne Abrahene (otherwise known as the "Ikrahk"), the Gamma Quadrant became the latest victim of an even more potent and virulent threat which, until now, had spared the abyssal quarter of the Galaxy from its contamination. The Gamma Quadrant, in a word, has fallen victim to civilization; at least, some semblance of it.
With the last scrawling epistles of the mad prophets of the horrors which once befell the Gamma Quadrant falling into obscurity, if not having been outright destroyed by the factions and ventures within galactic civilization that has taken it upon themselves the mantle of such a crusade, beyond the deeply classified and confidential reports of those stellar nation-states which were so unlucky as to witness them first-hand, all that remains to deter the entrepreneur and the tilted free trader from seeking fame and fortune in the Gamma Quadrant is a few, disparate reports and the ever-more-embellished drunken fairytales of their kin in age far superior.
Of course, as with any instance of civilization, the prospect of wealth, power, territory, and discovery has driven it to expand to fill this void of cosmic ignorance with the enlightenment of its own bias and causes. Within the heart of the more entrenched worlds of Gamma Quadrant, stellar empires such as those found within the Totalitarian Systems Absolute Regency spar and struggle with the ever-expanding investment- and capital-driven hegemony of the Raumreich and the Alpha Centauri Accords; yet, newer stellar regimes - like that of the sun-worshipping Uthani - now claw and scrape at the blackness that once held them at bay, pushing into regions of space once held beyond their grasp by the terrible foes which had called such sectors home. Even so, these dramas have played themselves out since even before the great vector squadrons of the Rethast fleet began their march to the gilded gates of the Alpha Quadrant.
It is along the periphery - the border regions - of the Gamma Quadrant, often more rimward than not, that the new fortunes and new highlights of fame are to be found. Even yet still, while certainly the pressure from the Alpha Quadrant into this new frontier is hearty and driven, it is the eternally expanding stellar states of the Delta Quadrant that have seemingly taken initiative. All along the Gamma-Delta divide, small single- and several multi-system confederations and coalitions - unions of miners, prospectors, rogue traders, and all manner of spacer ilk - have been founded within but the last decade, generating pockets of intensely profitable trading outposts, mining depots and settlements, and even the rare, sparsely populated habitable world - seeds for a new generation of colonization and conquest.
These small empires, built on the blood, sweat, and desperation of their denizens, serve as the entry-points - the bridgeheads - between the ever-more bloodied battlefields of Delta and the yawning unknown of deep Gamma. They are the frontier towns and railroad settlements of the mythic and legendary "Old Terra" given new life amongst the stars. Of course, like their spiritual ancestors before them, the frontiers and hinterlands of civilization are fraught with dangers and hazards and horrors - both seen and unseen, known and unknown, new and old.
It is to one of these small, frontier states - a "prospector's haven" - that the cosmic eye now turns. A small, seven-system mandatory settlement called the Avaikan Mandate, settled along and controlling (through a modest defense force and a far-more experienced collection of mercenary firms and their mining, prospecting, and trader benefactors) a trade route spur known as the "Avaika Spur". The Avaika Spur stretches from the Amphina System to the Avaika System, which in-turn serves as a final waypoint between the hardened worlds of the Delta Quadrant and both the vast and innumerable dark stars of Gamma and the far more entrenched, greater investment and capital-turnover ports of the primary Gamma trade lanes, connecting the heart of the Sol Belt to the outer fringe of the Gamma Quadrant.
The Avaika Mandate, little more than a confederation of competitive interests finding mutual benefit in the semblance of civilization they call a "mandate", is - by far - mostly little more than a string of systems with traffic monitoring stations, mining outposts, artificial satellites, stations, and blasted and rocky worlds. Even so, the alignment of these systems serves a purpose; the purpose of conveying the brave (or mad) of Delta through Avaika and into the heart of darkness itself. Of the total amount of territory under its dominion, the Avaikan Mandate hosts but two truly "inhabited" worlds: Avaesia in the Avaika System, a naturally habitable, terran world just now becoming marred by the demands of industry which seek to supplant its otherwise viridian expanses and serving as the capital of the Mandate itself; the other is Tavoss IV in the Tavoss System, a rocky and barren terrestrial - like its three, star-ward siblings - which has, within the past three years, initiated an expansive (but troubled) terraforming operation.
Beyond these small semblances of life taking hold, the systems of Alavain, Khradur, Nemon, Orphain, and Amphina remain. Though each, no doubt, serves a purpose along the road of the frontier, each are but diminutive specks compared to the mandatory capital and Tavoss IV. Even so, it is to a small, barren world in the Amphina System that the eyes of history first turn: Amphina II.
Specifically, time and space now come to stall and focus on a small bit of land - a mining outpost turned traffic monitoring station - on the barren and gray-black surface of its home. The cosmic eye of perspective turns to focus and gaze upon the carbon scoring and ruptured metal from which screams a single, repetitive, emergency distress beacon.
Welcome to the Gamma Frontier.
Unexpected Guests: An Introduction
Necessary Information and In-Character Thread
First and foremost: there will be death. There will be fire. There will be fiery death. Secondly, for those of you who do not know, this is the new main account of Kyrusia. Yes, this is Kyru.
Now that we've got that over with...
This roleplay is going to be slightly different than most "introduction threads". How will become apparent in time, but I obviously don't want to spoil things. If you haven't gathered, this means that there is an actual plot in place with a (somewhat) set beginning and a (somewhat) set end; obviously things will be subject to change based upon the actions of the characters involved, but I do have a general idea of - in the least - how things will begin and how things will come to a close. After all, this is an introductory thread, so the entity in question has to get a bit of screen time.
That being said, the genre I might classify this roleplay as is that of a mystery. On the Gamma-Delta divide, due to the absence of the "dragons" in the "Here Be Dragons" trope as of late, prospectors, free colonists, and the simply crazy have begun to encroach into the proverbial "wild quarter" of the Galaxy. This hasn't been going on for long, but as I see it, the Avaikan Mandate (and the free colonies in general) first started to get traction within the last decade. As indicated, this roleplay will be taking place within the Avaikan Mandate: a loose confederation of small settlements, founded by free colonists on the world of Avaesia in the Avaika System, growing to include six further systems with increasingly diminutive centers of population.
The Avaikan Mandate, further, constitutes what has become known as the "Avaika Trade Spur" and, as described, is a fairly new and recently potentially highly profitable venture for free traders, corporations, and stellar nation-states - in addition to the wild pirate or two. The territories of the spur are filled not merely with rich mineral resources, high-density HII regions, and stellar bodies which could potentially serve as ample sources of lifted coronal matter, but also with a myriad of small, mercantile stations and seasonal trader settlements which ebb-and-flow in size based upon prevailing market conditions between the Gamma and Delta Quadrants.
At least, that's what the Avaika Spur was known for.
Rather abruptly, however, the rather constant - but modest - flow of traders, resource freighters, miners, etc. which flowed through the Spur into and out-of Gamma has been disrupted. A superluminal distress beacon originating from the second terrestrial body in the Amphina System, Amphina II, has been switched indicating to any nearby parties that assistance is required. The only information that is available is provided by an automated broadcast system, seemingly indicating that much of Amphina II - or, at least, Monitoring Outpost Number Four (a major traffic control and relay station in the system, comprising at least two surface floors and four sub-surface floors) - has fallen to a calamitous incident. By all accounts, Monitoring Outpost Number Four may be destroyed, with the potential for survivors being slim - but not zero.
Of course, this poses a problem: Monitoring Outpost Number Four served as a major traffic monitoring and control station in the Amphina System and served as the primary entry point to the Avaika Trade Spur. Its apparently compromised state is, as a consequence, going to inevitably stall trade to the Avaikan Mandate and, further, the flow of trader and commercial traffic between Gamma and Delta.
Players are, therefore, urged to create characters which would fit archetype for individuals which would be affected by this or otherwise likely to investigate a distress beacon of such magnitude. This means players can craft an entourage of their choosing: be they free traders, a corporate group, or even a forward scouting party from another star-state. All I ask is that, first, players do not bring in more than three vessels and none of major military capacity. By the time this roleplay begins, understand that it has only been an hour or two since the distress beacon was first activated, meaning unless a player provides a fairly legitimate (and story-appropriate) reason for a massive military convoy to be in the area, I'm likely not to approve it.
Further, as I have already stated: this thread will involve the death of characters. So, adjust yourself accordingly, but understand: you are likely to be "in over your head", so to speak, when the glove gets thrown. I will not be being particularly kind in this roleplay; understand that I'm not going to willie-nillie go around killing characters, but I'm not going to lie and say that all of the characters players create will survive. Act accordingly and bring an assortment of meat-shields and cannon fodder. I, of course, reserve the right to some degree of executive license as the original poster of this thread, but I'm not out to butcher everyone's creations; just understand that the theme of this roleplay will be that of "going into the unknown" and all the dangers that accompany that situation.
Lastly, this roleplay is by application or invite only. Further, I have extended at least one invitation to a player whose identity, for now, will remain obscured for the sake of plot. So, if you see someone posting that hasn't applied, check the player list and you will likely find their name there and unobscured.
If you have any questions, feel free to send a telegram to this account, my main account (Kyrusia), or drop by #NSLegion as I am usually available there. Otherwise, information about specific locations as players travel along the spur will be provided via exposition in the In-Character thread. Remember not to get in a rush, in all likelihood you will get to explore much of - if not all - of the Avaika Trade Spur before the end arrives.
Thank you, and have fun, and remember: keep your friends close, or you'll have to make new ones.
Application
Many thanks to Rethan for inspiration in the formatting.
- Code: Select all
[b]Player Account:[/b] (Name of the account you are applying with.)
[b]Primary Reason for Location:[/b] (Simply a reason why your characters are in the general vicinity of the Avaika Trade Spur.)
[b]Cannon Fodder Count:[/b] (Amount of "cannon fodder" or "meat-shield" characters.)
[b]Vessel Name:[/b] (Name of vessel; repeat up to three times.)
[b]Vessel Description:[/b] (Description of the accompany vessel; repeat up to three times.)
[b]Character Name:[/b] (Name of a main or "non-cannon fodder" character; repeat as necessary.)
[b]Character Biography:[/b] (Biography of a main character; repeat as necessary.)
[b]Roleplaying Samples:[/b] (Provide at least three links.)
[b]Note(s):[/b] (Optional field for anything else you might feel is beneficial for me to know.)
Players
• Serukta Sehkrisaal (Kyrusia)
• Revealed Invited Player No. 1: The Uthani Imperium (Grat)
• Revealed Invited Player No. 2: Vocenae
• Revealed Invited Player No. 3: Valinon
— — — — —
• Azura
• Feazanthia
• Huerdae
• Nyte
• Red Talons
• Rethan
• Storm Gard
• Tarsas
• Telros
• Vernii
•
