Bad Moon Rising | Interest / OoC

[Olthenia]

Hello everyone!

I'm a history nerd, and the era known as the Gilded Age is a particular love of mine. I also enjoy science fiction, and I'm fascinated by alternate history. Add all these things together, and what you get is the below summary: A Gilded Age-conflict between Victorian-era Great Powers struggling to assert their dominance on the surface of Earth's closest celestial satellite; the moon. That's what this thread is about. Hammering out an RP for, well; this~

"How about a Game of Thrones-themed RP set on the moon? Where, instead of noble families, the belligerents are colonies from a steampunk flavored Europe that carved the moon between them in the 1870's? Things appear civil on the surface, right until contact with Earth is inexplicably cut off by a mysterious solar flare. Then the gloves come off and the knives come out. Before you know it, you have steampunk flavored trench warfare. With clockwork automatons and Lunar Anarchists! On the moon! How amazing would that be?"

If this sounds like something you'd like to get in on - even if it's just to ask a question, post an application template or describe the French Lunar Navy's most popular handgun design - post below to your heart's content.

The moon won't rise without us.

[Terminus Alpha]

I am ready to found the Lunar Commune.
Because the moon is the perfect place to start the end of the class struggle.

[Olthenia]

I am ready to found the Lunar Commune.
Because the moon is the perfect place to start the end of the class struggle.

Isn't it just?

We're probably going to need an application template.

Code: Select all

[b]Colony Name[/b] (Your colony's official name):

[b]Capital[/b] (Every colony has one.):

[b]Population[/b] (How many souls calls your colony home?):

[b]Leader[/b] (Who, or what, runs the show?):

[b]Garrison[/b] (How many men and women in uniform can you muster?):

[b]History[/b] (Self-explanatory. Write at least two paragraphs.):

[Prusslandia]

You'll be needing a proper group of gentlemen, I presume. Some sort of Lunar elite/nobility.

[Aidannadia]

Couple questions to drive discussion:

What droves European nations to head to the moon? Just nationalism? Is there some wealth of resources that would attract them to the moon that would drive mercantilist-esque policy?


How are settlements arranged? Are they in some kind of bubble with airlocks or have we terraformed the moon somehow or has the moon always been habitable?

[Olthenia]

You'll be needing a proper group of gentlemen, I presume. Some sort of Lunar elite/nobility.

Lunar nobility? I like that.

In the initial stages of lunar colonization, several Old World governments - Great Britain in particular - had significant trouble attracting private interest to their colonial ventures. The moon was, after all, very far away; and development of the moon's surface would have to be done from scratch. A daunting task for even the most hardy pioneers. To this end, the British parliament passed the Lunar Land Act in 1887. This piece of legislation was designed to attract wealthy investors as settlers to extra-orbital possessions by granting titles of land and nobility to anyone prepared to purchase a substantial amount of so-called 'Lunar Bonds'. Essentially, wealthy private subjects could now buy their way into a rapidly forming class of lunar nobility. Oil barons and shipping magnates on Earth could become counts and baronets in the British Lunar Colonies.

Just a thought, really.

[Olthenia]

Couple questions to drive discussion:

What droves European nations to head to the moon? Just nationalism? Is there some wealth of resources that would attract them to the moon that would drive mercantilist-esque policy?


How are settlements arranged? Are they in some kind of bubble with airlocks or have we terraformed the moon somehow or has the moon always been habitable?

Good questions, Aidannadia.

I think the moon should definitely hold something to fight over. Whether that 'something' is a mineral thus far unknown to modern science or merely tracts of terraformed farmland is up to debate. I like the idea of both, personally - but that's just how I roll.

As for how settlements are arranged; well, that is a key question. If we assume that the moon, unlike our familiar version of it, actually formed and retained it's own oxygen-based atmosphere I suppose it could've been terraformed in the decades following Europe's first successful attempt at escaping Earth's gravity. That would make movement easier to explain and accomodate. On the other hand, steampunk colony bubbles with gilded airlocks and brass valves studded with sepia-tinted viewports are cool beyond all argument.

[The Jonathanian States]

Just checking in.
Still would like to be a German North.

Also, I regarding Aidannadia's questions...
If we do also have tracts of terraformed farmland be something to fight over, I can't see how all of the moon couldn't have been terraformed, making bubbled cities ridiculous. And as said, such cities are quite nice.

[Olthenia]

True enough, Jonathanian. If the entire moon was terraformed then bubble colonies would indeed be obsolete. What if we decided that terraforming the entire moon just wasn't possible, though? At least not yet. The Great Powers would have to settle for just making 'bubbles' instead; a valley here, a river delta there. Prime land to fight over.

[Terminus Alpha]

True enough, Jonathanian. If the entire moon was terraformed then bubble colonies would indeed be obsolete. What if we decided that terraforming the entire moon just wasn't possible, though? At least not yet. The Great Powers would have to settle for just making 'bubbles' instead; a valley here, a river delta there. Prime land to fight over.

Sounds good, but the non-terraformed areas should still be important. Mining perhaps?

[The Jonathanian States]

True enough, Jonathanian. If the entire moon was terraformed then bubble colonies would indeed be obsolete. What if we decided that terraforming the entire moon just wasn't possible, though? At least not yet. The Great Powers would have to settle for just making 'bubbles' instead; a valley here, a river delta there. Prime land to fight over.

Sounds good, but the non-terraformed areas should still be important. Mining perhaps?

I second.

True enough, Jonathanian. If the entire moon was terraformed then bubble colonies would indeed be obsolete. What if we decided that terraforming the entire moon just wasn't possible, though? At least not yet. The Great Powers would have to settle for just making 'bubbles' instead; a valley here, a river delta there. Prime land to fight over.

True enough. But then I believe that such bubbles would have to always, or at least usually, be quite proximate to Urban bubbles (controlled by the same power).

This also raises the question of destroying/attacking bubbles. Would shooting an inhabited bubble be accepted as a legitimate military strategy? Would it even be possible?

[Aldelxane]

This looks fun...
I'm not sure what kind of a colony I'd like to RP, but I'll try to help with the world-building.

[Aldelxane]

Sounds good, but the non-terraformed areas should still be important. Mining perhaps?

I second.

True enough, Jonathanian. If the entire moon was terraformed then bubble colonies would indeed be obsolete. What if we decided that terraforming the entire moon just wasn't possible, though? At least not yet. The Great Powers would have to settle for just making 'bubbles' instead; a valley here, a river delta there. Prime land to fight over.

True enough. But then I believe that such bubbles would have to always, or at least usually, be quite proximate to Urban bubbles (controlled by the same power).

This also raises the question of destroying/attacking bubbles. Would shooting an inhabited bubble be accepted as a legitimate military strategy? Would it even be possible?

Bubbles would probably be very vulnerable to attack if they were possible, since they'd need to be made of some sort of transparent material to let sunlight in for photosynthesis, meaning that it'd have to be glass or plastic (neither of which are very resilient when hit with projectiles).

[Greater Soviet Ukraine]

I second.

True enough. But then I believe that such bubbles would have to always, or at least usually, be quite proximate to Urban bubbles (controlled by the same power).

This also raises the question of destroying/attacking bubbles. Would shooting an inhabited bubble be accepted as a legitimate military strategy? Would it even be possible?

Bubbles would probably be very vulnerable to attack if they were possible, since they'd need to be made of some sort of transparent material to let sunlight in for photosynthesis, meaning that it'd have to be glass or plastic (neither of which are very resilient when hit with projectiles).

Couldn't we just make the bubbles have steel plating and only have the top area transparent.

*Insert moon-base alpha image, circa 1870*

[Aldelxane]

Bubbles would probably be very vulnerable to attack if they were possible, since they'd need to be made of some sort of transparent material to let sunlight in for photosynthesis, meaning that it'd have to be glass or plastic (neither of which are very resilient when hit with projectiles).

Couldn't we just make the bubbles have steel plating and only have the top area transparent.

*Insert moon-base alpha image, circa 1870*

Then people would just bomb the top area.

[Greater Soviet Ukraine]

Couldn't we just make the bubbles have steel plating and only have the top area transparent.

*Insert moon-base alpha image, circa 1870*

Then people would just bomb the top area.

A) How would you get a plane on the moon without wasting a shitload of fuel flying it around?

B) AA guns, if you manage to get planes on the moon, would take care of it. Pilots need windows to see.

[Aldelxane]

Then people would just bomb the top area.

A) How would you get a plane on the moon without wasting a shitload of fuel flying it around?

B) AA guns, if you manage to get planes on the moon, would take care of it. Pilots need windows to see.

If you couldn't get some kind of a flying machine onto the moon, you couldn't get onto the moon in the first place.
Anyhow, anti-aircraft guns could be a solution.

[Greater Soviet Ukraine]

A) How would you get a plane on the moon without wasting a shitload of fuel flying it around?

B) AA guns, if you manage to get planes on the moon, would take care of it. Pilots need windows to see.

If you couldn't get some kind of a flying machine onto the moon, you couldn't get onto the moon in the first place.
Anyhow, anti-aircraft guns could be a solution.

Yeah, but traditional planes need air. We could have low orbit bombers, but then again....

Or we could have a moon hopper, which takes long jumps across the surface.

[Aldelxane]

If you couldn't get some kind of a flying machine onto the moon, you couldn't get onto the moon in the first place.
Anyhow, anti-aircraft guns could be a solution.

Yeah, but traditional planes need air. We could have low orbit bombers, but then again....

Or we could have a moon hopper, which takes long jumps across the surface.

I'm sure moon colonists would figure out some way to kill each other from above the surface. Given the moon's low gravity, some sort of hopper might end up being the best solution. Perhaps some sort of moon-hopper cavalry with weapons mounted on it?

[The Jonathanian States]

OP did talk about Steam-punkish tech, so unconventional vehicles should not necessarily be excluded.

[Greater Soviet Ukraine]

Yeah, but traditional planes need air. We could have low orbit bombers, but then again....

Or we could have a moon hopper, which takes long jumps across the surface.

I'm sure moon colonists would figure out some way to kill each other from above the surface. Given the moon's low gravity, some sort of hopper might be the best solution. Perhaps some sort of moon-hopper cavalry with weapons mounted on it?

Yeah, if you watched the Apollo landings, the astronauts had to hop for lack of traction. If the colonists notice that, then they could build off of that idea and have Hopper Calvary and such.

[Aldelxane]

OP did talk about Steam-punkish tech, so unconventional vehicles should not necessarily be excluded.

I wouldn't have agreed with the idea of giant metal battle frogs if I was excluding unconventional vehicles.

[Terminus Alpha]

If you couldn't get some kind of a flying machine onto the moon, you couldn't get onto the moon in the first place.
Anyhow, anti-aircraft guns could be a solution.

Yeah, but traditional planes need air. We could have low orbit bombers, but then again....

Or we could have a moon hopper, which takes long jumps across the surface.

WE'VE GOT LOTS OF AMMO.

Also.

[Greater Soviet Ukraine]

British Metal Frog Company, dismissed! Now, on to another thing: how do the colonists establish a link with Earth? Messengers? Some primitive form of radio?

[Terminus Alpha]

British Metal Frog Company, dismissed! Now, on to another thing: how do the colonists establish a link with Earth? Messengers? Some primitive form of radio?

Radio seems to be the only option. Messengers would take too long and you can't send a telegraph wire up there.