*ahem*
Anyway.
It was not meant to happen.
Again.
For if there is one thing that can be universally said about the human race, it would be that we never learn. Not from history, not from the erring of others, not even from our own mistakes. As the great Scandinavian statesman, philosopher and writer Ayre Onia uttered, "People with adequate intelligence avoid a root after tripping over it. People with glowing intellect watch their neighbor tripping over the root, then know to avoid it. The people who see their neighbor tripping laugh heartily at him, then proceed to trip over a different root and fall into the conveniently-place cesspit on the other said are you and me." Mr. Onia was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2089, but was never chosen because, in the words of the jury, he was "kind of a dick."
But I digress.
It is they year 2121, over six hundred years since a relatively well-known Genoese sailor was credited with finding a landmass that turned out to be several times greater than the "world" he had known. Historians have since disputed this "discovery", first saying that a certain Scandinavian did it centuries before, then that prehistoric Asians settled if way before that, and finally arriving at the quite sensible compromise that the identity of the discoverer is a moot point anyway, since no matter how far back we look, there have already been people living there and since the discoveree is a huge fucking mass of land. Pretty hard to miss and all that. To quote Senior Archaeologist Yeshua Carpenter of the University of Baden-Baden, "Frankly, we don't know, and nobody gives a shit about an ages-long dick-waving contest. Plus the government just cut our funding in order to finance research for a way to cram more explosive material into a smaller space. It's way more fun, anyway."
Ahem. Do excuse me. I tend to ramble.
Where was I? Oh, yes. Am I boring you yet? No? Good, I'd hate that. Anyway, the events after 1492 (I like to call it "The Europa Universalis, or EU Effect for short) repeated themselves in 2103, when the first natural wormhole was discovered in the Sol system. Like the colonial empires of old, Earth's leading nations begun a mad scramble for unclaimed virgin lands, except this time, they weren't battling territorial natives, terrifying predators or terrible diseases but cosmic radiation, zero-G and absolute boredom. Things were going along nicely, until a starship under European Union colors opened fire on a Scandinavian Commonwealth vessel. Until that, nobody had known that there were armed spaceships scurrying about the wild black yonder.
And so, it all started again, only except of Spanish and English galleons trading broadsides, it was EU and Polish starcraft exchanging missile volleys. Thank [REDACTED] that spaceships are too expensive to waste away in pointless wars, so all sides are forced to do a lot more angry glaring and name-calling than actual fighting. Yep, you guessed right, that's where we are now.
Oh, why was Ayre Onia called a dick? Mostly because he mentioned it being ironic that he'd get rewarded with a peace prize named after a guy who invented dynamite, and for calling surströmming the "most disgusting, degenerate food ever come up by man."
[This voice recording was found aboard the European Union exploration vessel UCS-17DAGAMA, found drifting in orbit around PROXCNT-3-2. The hull was breached at several points, evidently by proton-core warheads, commonly found aboard [REDACTED] vessels]
WTF, Aye?
Yes, the title is taken from an Isaac Asimov novel. I'm shameless and uncreative like that.
I hope that little intro I wrote will give you, potential player, a rough picture of what I have in mind. Basically, to create a world that is believable and makes sense. Let's call that the First Commandment of this RP: Realism is Expected. However, I don't want carbon copies of modern-day nations that can into space. Neither do I want factions that are basically the Empire from Star Wars, the Federation from Star Trek, the TEC from Sins of a Solar Empire, or Equestria from My Little Pony.
Following this, the Second and Third Commandments, respectively, would be:
Creativity is Cool
and
Originality is Awesome
Technology
What I want is plausible tech. Primitive artificial gravity that has a ton of restrictions and consumes lots of power. Cloning of individual organs. Early energy weapons, with missiles and projectile cannons being the mainstay. Ships are probably small and cramped, certainly not Enterprises or Executors. Voyages take a long time and are boring. We will name the Fourth Commandment as Space Travel Sucks.
Examples of good et bad technology:
What I'd like to stress at a point as early as this is that space is not the ocean. I wouldn't like anybody thinking it's two-dimensional, where ships have to line up right next to each other at perfectly equal angles and blast away at each other for an hour for one to go down. Engagements would probably be conducted from further afar than visual range. Avoid nautical terms if you can. Fifth Commandment is Space is not Sea.
The World
Basically, this RP is about the Space Race never ending. Earth as we know it is kinda like a twisted mirror image of itself. Everything is ruled by soulless megacorporations and heartless superstates (although you can play as any faction you want). Relations between nations are more tense than in our time, yet wars are very uncommon. Everybody is more interested in exploring and exploiting extraterrestrial exploits. Some have even gone expatriate and okay I'm stopping here.
This is more a personal wish than a rule per se, but I'd be happy if the RP kept to the satirical, tongue-in-cheek style I used in the intro. This won't be a heroic space opera where sailors on huge starships line up next to arr space pirates and fire broadside volleys from their starboard batteries. This will be about people on cramped spaceships that look like MIR had sex with a missile array, needing to be strapped down unless outside gravity wells and having to shit in a toilet-shaped vacuum cleaner to prevent their produce floating all over the cabin. And I mean writing style, not goofy events à la HHGTTG.
The Wormhole
The wormhole that was discovered in Sol was found to lead to the star Proxima Centauri, the closest one to Sol. Note that this is an approximation: since no star maps of that area have existed before, cartographers are going for educated guesses when trying to determine its exit point. Either way, the new system was quicly dubbed Proxima due to its most likely star and its estimated closeness (relatively) to Sol.
Physically, the Sol side of the wormhole is located in the outskirts of the system, somewhere between Neptune and Pluto. It was discovered when an unmanned probe craft reported unusual gravitic disturbances in the area, followed by loss of contact. Its signal was found again in 2103, four years after its disappearance. It was quickly deduced that the wormhole had transported it away to Proxima, and the SOL (speed of light) comm equipment's signal had taken four years to reach Earth.
Realizing the effects this discovery would have on the delicate balance of power among Earth's factions, the wormhole and its surroundings were quickly declared a demilitarized area. It was agreed that each nation would establish a permanent space station in the wormhole's orbit, at an equal distance from one another. The stations themselves are armed with identical weaponry, but no other armed craft are allowed closer than three astronomical units (448793612.073 km). This way, nobody is able to establish hegemony in Proxima, and armed conflicts are hoped to be avoided.
The wormhole (officially, a "superluminal higher-dimensional topographical space-time anomaly"; people just call it a wormhole because SLHDTSTA is not a very catchy acronym) is invisible to the naked eye, most likely because there's nothing on the other side it would reflect. In theory, wormholes are supposed to show a warped view of the other side. It seems to be orbiting the Sun instead of Neptune, which is puzzling, considering the mass difference between the two. The wormhole's mass has been estimated by its gravity well, but it quickly became clear that physics as understood today are useless when it comes to studying it.
Proxima
Proxima is the system of planets that are orbiting what is commonly thought to be Proxima Centauri. The system is generally inhospitable to life, with a very narrow biosphere that only contains the third planet, PROXCNT-3 and its moons, PROXCNT-3-1 and 3-2. The one closest to the star is highly volcanic and too hot to be a realistic target for colonization, although orbital scans have suggested that the omnipresent magma rivers might contain valuable minerals. So far, nobody has been crazy enough to try and extract them. The second one is completely barren. As far as anybody knows, it's just rock and sand, with no notable elevation differences. From space, it looks like a dazzlingly beautiful white pool ball, with no valley nor mountain ridge breaking its perfect surface.
Just like in Sol, there's an expansive asteroid belt separating the third and fourth planets, but unlike our home system, the fourth planet is not a humongous gas giant but a tiny, insignificant rock with an all-encompassing liquid methane sea. While Jupiter has protected Earth from stray meteors with its huge gravity well, thus contributing to making life possible there, PROXCNT-3 has no such guardian and is just as subject to remorseless celestial bombardment as all its siblings in the system.
The fifth planet, on the other hand, is a gas giant that's remarkably similar to Uranus. It is, however, too far from the inner ones to offer any significant protection. The sixth and last one is actually a double one, so small, cold and far away from its star that it has already been dubbed "Pluto's lost brother". The exit of the wormhole is right next to it.
So the Five Commandments are as follows:
Realism is Expected
Creativity is Cool
Originality is Awesome
Space Travel Sucks
Space is not Sea
These aren't the rules. These are ideals that you will follow if you want to stay on good terms with me.
These are the rules (that nobody ever reads):
1) And you will know that I am the AYE when I lay my okay I got a little carried away there. You get the point.
2) And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the AYE; because he is good and goddamnit did it again. Co-OPs will sing together, their voice echoing mine. They'll kick your ass if need be.
3) Shout at Time, and command it to obey, as the World around you stands still I mean, there's no rule about the passage of time. We'll let things progress naturally, initiate timeskips when needed, etc.
4) For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the AYE will inherit the land, meaning that trolling, flaming, flamebaiting, metagaming, godmodding, etc. will not be tolerated, and people who engage in these activities will be ejected IMMEDIATELY. Also, be nice to your fellow players. You might not agree with their beliefs, religion or sexuality, but don't argue about that here.
5) And AYE will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. Your nation can be defeated, looted, raped, nuked, pillaged, burned to the ground, fieldsalted, decimated, annexed, subjugated or glassed from orbit (not the gum). Should this happen, you are allowed to apply for another and enjoy priority over other applicants.
I'll post more info, rules and an app sheet if there is enough interest. For the moment, please ask me anything about the RP if you're interested, hate the very idea of it ever starting or get any of the references I've strewn around this post.
Apps
Important note: In order to prevent mindless wankery, I've decided that apps will not be binding, and are subject to change. What does this mean? Simply put, imagine you're applying as a multi-national superstate (many will), but later on, someone else applies and wants a part of your big booty empire. Simple, isn't it? You applied first, so the land is yours. Wrong, bitch! The land goes to the nation whose claim is stronger and/or has more bark to back it up. You have an overseas colony also claimed by a bordering state, but can't spare the expenses to maintain it properly? Prepare to kiss it goodbye. A frontier region whose inhabitants feel more tied to the guys next door? Well, it's been fun.
Important note v.2: However, if two nations claim the same area, it will always become a contested region. Even if the international community disagrees with you, if you are in a better position for controlling said area, you will.
Important note v.3: Please don't murderfuck each other over this. I will be reasonable and listen to all parties in a territorial dispute, but I'd prefer players finding a compromise themselves (preferably IC).
And now to the good stuff!
