Virgon, The Emerald Planet
What is Emerald Dreams?
Emerald Dreams is a military space opera role play centered around a unit of pilots operating Armored Mechanized Infantry Suits or more colloquially known as Mobile Suits. The key to military dominance. The players will all belong to the same unit, the 99th Combat Suit Team, as newly minted pilots. The story will be character driven and follow the pilots of the 99th in their service with the Royal Armed Space Forces of the United Constitutional Star Kingdom of Virgon (RASF) as it struggles against the tyrannical Earth Sphere Federation and the Imperial League of Arkona. The two other principle great powers of the setting. While also dealing with insurrections, rebellious new extra-solar settlements, religious conflict, and all manner of strife plaguing the war torn, divided, Humanity of the late 24th Century.
Thematically, the Role play is at heart a space opera, focusing on the characterizations of the individual player's creations. It is also a military RP and therefore the risk to character's lives is to be expected. So typical genre rules don't apply of your character bulldozing through battalions of enemy forces without a scratch.
The State of Mankind
Mankind in the late 24th Century is primarily divided between three major great powers along with numerous small planetary polities and space colonies spread throughout the Orion Arm. The Earth Sphere Federation is the oldest of the two and while founded on Earth is primarily based out of old colonies of Luna and Mars. The Earth itself having become a wartorn battleground between Federation forces, breakaway states, and resurgent insurrectionist movements in the wake of the Seven Year's War.
Aftermath of The Seven Year's War
The Seven Year's War was a devastating and protracted conflict fought on over a dozen planets and numerous space colonies. Virgon, either by luck or diligence of its government, remained out of the conflict until 2370 when it mobilized to intervene in the invasion of the neutral colony world of Arcadia by both the Federation and Imperial League. The Virgonese military, smallest of the three great powers, came to rely heavily on its Combat Suit teams and mobile carrier strike group doctrine. Basing its smaller Navy around dedicated Carrier Groups that would move Army and Navy assets together to conduct decisive strikes against numerically superior forces. Allowing the out numbered but not necessarily outgunned Virgonese soldiery to hold its own and score impressive victories till the Armistice of 2373.
The Military of Virgon, as reflected in the Character Application, is the smallest of the three Great Powers and relies extensively on its dedicated Combat Suit teams to amplify its Army, Marine, and Naval assets. As such Combat Suit pilots are allowed greater customization and variance to help ensure the survivability of its pilots and create specialized units to deal with variable battlefield situations.
Technology Guide
Combat Suits are known by various names but can be categorized across five distinct generations. Generation 1 are machines that appeared in 2354 as essentially oversized Exo-Skeletons. Standing about four to six meters in height and powered by a miniaturized industrial battery allowing several hours of operation, and ability to be refueled by solar panels capable of being deployed form its back, the Generation 1 mecha were basic, comparatively fragile, but provided the basis for Combat Suit warfare. Operating as part of Federation Project: AMIS (Armored Mechanized Infantry Suits) the Generation 1 suits managed to show their superiority in engagements throughout Federation Space throughout the 2350s. Yet, their shortcomings were very apparent by 2360 and before even that year was reached engineers and scientists were working on the next phase.
Generation 2 are machines that were truly autonomous. Utilizing Miniaturized Nuclear Fusion packs, the Generation 2 suits were the first real Mecha. Standing 7-10 Meters tall the generation 2 machines were less fragile, sporting defenses capable of matching conventional tanks in head-to-head confrontations, and more streamlined to kit out entire companies with less logistic support. Another characteristic invention of the Generation 2 and later used in more advanced forms for the later generations, was the use of Muscylmar. An artificial muscle that when electrical power was run through its fibers it would operate much like biological muscle. Allowing a high degree of dexterity, strength, and cost-effective power to weight ratio.
Generation 3 was a breakthrough in Virgon. The Versatile Aerospace General Purpose Fighter or Variable Fighter were essentially the hybrid of a conventional aerospace fighter and that of a mech. Able to configure itself between both mods, hence the 'versatile' nature of its design, the Generation 3 broke out onto the scene in 2364. Soon copied by Arkona and the Federation into their own series of weapon systems. With the Federation managing to marry the design with a miniature Nuclear Fusion Reactor essentially negating the need for refueling or a clunky 'backpack'-style power plant. It was the Gen 2 and Gen 3 mechas that entered the first few years of the Seven Year's War in their hundreds.
Generation 4 were invented on Arkona as 'Mobile Suits'. Larger, quick yet even less fragile than the previous three generations, less expensive than the variable designs, and operating Deuterion-Fusion Reactors, the Generation 4 mecha were primarily designed by the Arkonans for mass production. As such while several designs were put into service, with some models reaching over a thousand units produced during the course of the war, they never varied much from the 20 to 60 tonne range and usually two to five stories in height. The Generation 4 designs also incorporated better Muscylmar designs, some even utilizing simple heat to increase functionality, and allowing heat sinks to serve as boosting speed and mobility.
While not an official generation, the last years of the Seven Year's War and the rest of the 2370s saw the emergence of what some engineers call the 4.5 Generation. Larger, weapon platform oriented, models; advanced recon and stealth designs; long range aerospace marks; and even suits fully capable of operating in aquatic environments for extended durations of time.
Generation 5 did not appear until after the Seven Year's War in the 2380s. The invention of the Chernenkov Mass Reactor on Virgon allowed for superb speed to weight ratio, better thrust, strength, and endurance. While also sporting better AI, with some prototypes operating under a Singularity system to merge pilot and machine via neurological connections (requiring a pretty unethical surgery and training regimen starting before teenage puberty). Generation 5 machines on a performance basis will outstrip all previous generations by a significant magnitude once they mature. But for now, remain as prototype systems.
Virgon
Virgon is a world of Nine Continents and Eight Oceans. Possessing polar ice caps and four seasons similar to Earth. Virgon was originally settled by French, Slavic, and Japanese colonists which initially shaped its culture and traditions. When the second wave of colonists arrived nearly a century later it was primarily North American, Brazilian, German, and Native English-speaking populations (Britain, Ireland, and Commonwealth). Finally, in the Post-Seven Year's War Era there is a smaller but prolonged third wave of migrants coming from primarily Luna, Mars, and other extra-solar or space colonies negatively affected by the war.
Virgon architecture is known as Belle Kremskaya and is a blend of French Baroque and Russian Revival aesthetics. Cuisine is a strong blend of Japanese and sauce-based entrees in the Francophone world fashion. While clothing and dress is an eclectic mixture of traditional Japanese for formal wear, western style suits and casual clothing, and Russian country clothing for colder regions (furs, Ushankas, and so forth).
The world is a mixture of languages in its cities, which the major ones have cosmopolitan districts, but also home to an official language. Virgon Creole. Virgon Creole is written in either Cyrillic or Kanji but able, with some difficulty depending on word or expression, being transliterated into Latin Alphabet for usage in the Terran borne languages of English, Spanish, French, and so forth still popular on many colonies. Virgon Creole is a gendered language like French but bears a more flexible structure for verbal expression like Japanese while possessing grammatical and patronymic similarities to the Slavic languages (namely Russian). Phonetically, it can be described as a melodic language mixing the best of French and Russian while possessing the authoritative austerity of Japanese linguistic discipline. As such, mastery of Virgon Creole, is often used as the true sign of one being considered 'Virgonese'. An often necessary demarcation in a nation which extends citizenship to colonies which voluntarily joined with the Emerald World.
The capital of Virgon is known as Lyonskva with other major cities including: Sankt Bonnedieu, Osakaseille, Normanshima, Le Virgon Raion, and Vostokyo.
