Important Notice
Although this RP is based off of a roleplaying tool known as Aurora 4x created by Steve Walmsley, knowledge of Aurora 4x is not required nor recommended to participate in this role-play. I'm using Aurora 4x as a roleplaying tool, not as a game.
It is, however, strongly recommended that you read the backstory presented in this original post before you write an application.
The Roleplay
The Final Frontier, the roleplay whose original post you are currently reading, is a character-based, alternate-history, space science fiction roleplay based off the Aurora 4x model. Aurora 4x, a free software available online, is primarily used to resolve military or economic disputes in the course of storytelling.
At the beginning of the RP, three superpowers - AtCon, SocIntern, and PanPac - are in a state of rivalry with each other over Earth in 2025, and the adaptation of Trans-Newtonian technologies have just sparked the beginning of a second space race, and possibly the first wave of human colonisation into the cosmos. With the superpowers' nuclear arsenal suddenly starting to become obsolete, paranoia is starting to rise.
A description of each of the three superpowers and of Trans-Newtonian elements may be found in relevant sections below.
This is very much intended to be a slow, long-term RP. I'm fine with people coming and leaving as they please, but if you apply for a leadership position, I will expect you to show reasonable commitment in staying active both OOC'ly and IC'ly.
At the beginning of the RP, three superpowers - AtCon, SocIntern, and PanPac - are in a state of rivalry with each other over Earth in 2025, and the adaptation of Trans-Newtonian technologies have just sparked the beginning of a second space race, and possibly the first wave of human colonisation into the cosmos. With the superpowers' nuclear arsenal suddenly starting to become obsolete, paranoia is starting to rise.
A description of each of the three superpowers and of Trans-Newtonian elements may be found in relevant sections below.
This is very much intended to be a slow, long-term RP. I'm fine with people coming and leaving as they please, but if you apply for a leadership position, I will expect you to show reasonable commitment in staying active both OOC'ly and IC'ly.
Whenever a character makes a decision to do something relevant to a superpower's military or economic development, I will do my best to model it within the Aurora 4x system, then present the results. Note that this does not in any way constrain player actions to things of a military or economic nature.
If the player representing the character is inactive when a character needs to make a decision to propel the story forwards, the decision of the character's superiors will be followed. A player will be considered inactive if a player does not respond to a situation demanding his or her character's attention in 36 hours (during weekdays) or 24 hours (in weekends).
As with any other kind of structured RP, if characters take action not allowed for within the system, I will do my best to model its effects instead. Feel free to be creative. Creativity is what drives good RPs, after all.
Discuss what has been done and what you're planning to do in the OOC thread. That's why the OOC thread exists, after all. Collaborate and communicate with players of your same superpower, and maybe even those from other superpowers too.
If the player representing the character is inactive when a character needs to make a decision to propel the story forwards, the decision of the character's superiors will be followed. A player will be considered inactive if a player does not respond to a situation demanding his or her character's attention in 36 hours (during weekdays) or 24 hours (in weekends).
As with any other kind of structured RP, if characters take action not allowed for within the system, I will do my best to model its effects instead. Feel free to be creative. Creativity is what drives good RPs, after all.
Discuss what has been done and what you're planning to do in the OOC thread. That's why the OOC thread exists, after all. Collaborate and communicate with players of your same superpower, and maybe even those from other superpowers too.
Separate IC and OOC knowledge! Just because you know something doesn't mean your characters do!
Before you do something game-changing and important, build up to it. Huge changes to everything should take more than one IC post to complete.
Before you do something game-changing and important, build up to it. Huge changes to everything should take more than one IC post to complete.
The World in 2025
Map
The Trans-Newtonian Elements, first discovered by British physicist Jane Richardson in April 2017, are a set of eleven elements that have completely revolutionised physics as the world understood it. Fundamentally, the Trans-Newtonian Elements are different from regular matter in the way that they almost seem to exhibit Aristotelian behaviour. This is because the Trans-Newtonian Elements interact strongly with the mass-space field, and consequently experience drag when in relative motion against a large celestial body.
Despite the fact that these elements were only found in significant quantities deep underground and was therefore technically challenging to extract in commercial volumes, given the obvious industrial applications, large investments were rapidly made available, and Trans-Newtonian Elements as well as associated technology was soon integrated in more and more meaningful ways into the complex and volatile mesh that was world industry.
It was these elements that sparked the beginning of the second space race. With sufficient energy, Trans-Newtonian Elements could "push" on the mass-space field as well as be dragged down by it, and human spacefaring was liberated from the tyranny of the rocket equation. Space travel on a large scale was suddenly viable, and the previously ignored natural resources of space were suddenly the forefront of international policy. As of 2025, the United Confederation has already constructed ships to survey the solar system for more Trans-Newtonian Elements with which to feed both their domestic industries and their growing space program, and the other two superpowers are rapidly following suit.
The mass-space field was, as its name may suggest, closely tied to the structure of space itself, and thus Trans-Newtonian Elements could, on the scale of quantum mechanics, distort distances across the cosmos. With a relatively straightforward method of faster-than-light communications now available, the global telecommunications network was completely revolutionised, with a predictably positive effect on the global economy. Furthermore, the control that this communication gave Earth over probes across the solar system was vital in the creation of a more effective space exploration program.
For better or for worse, the discovery of Trans-Newtonian Elements have pushed humanity into a new and interesting era...
Despite the fact that these elements were only found in significant quantities deep underground and was therefore technically challenging to extract in commercial volumes, given the obvious industrial applications, large investments were rapidly made available, and Trans-Newtonian Elements as well as associated technology was soon integrated in more and more meaningful ways into the complex and volatile mesh that was world industry.
It was these elements that sparked the beginning of the second space race. With sufficient energy, Trans-Newtonian Elements could "push" on the mass-space field as well as be dragged down by it, and human spacefaring was liberated from the tyranny of the rocket equation. Space travel on a large scale was suddenly viable, and the previously ignored natural resources of space were suddenly the forefront of international policy. As of 2025, the United Confederation has already constructed ships to survey the solar system for more Trans-Newtonian Elements with which to feed both their domestic industries and their growing space program, and the other two superpowers are rapidly following suit.
The mass-space field was, as its name may suggest, closely tied to the structure of space itself, and thus Trans-Newtonian Elements could, on the scale of quantum mechanics, distort distances across the cosmos. With a relatively straightforward method of faster-than-light communications now available, the global telecommunications network was completely revolutionised, with a predictably positive effect on the global economy. Furthermore, the control that this communication gave Earth over probes across the solar system was vital in the creation of a more effective space exploration program.
For better or for worse, the discovery of Trans-Newtonian Elements have pushed humanity into a new and interesting era...
There exists eleven known Trans-Newtonian Elements. Perhaps fortunately for humanity, all eleven can be found in abundant quantities on Earth itself, although it remains to be seen just how long this might last with human industry's increasingly ravenous appetite for these elements. The eleven known elements are as follows:
Duranium, which is commonly used as a basic construction material due to it being both resilient and abundant,
Neutronium, which is a very dense material used for orbital shipyards and certain advanced armaments,
Corbomite, which is used in various shielding and electronic systems due to its semi-conductive nature,
Tritanium, which is a versatile material that can theoretically be used for missiles,
Boronide, which is a chemically reactive element that is used heavily in power systems,
Mercassium, which is a rare element used heavily in research and human life support,
Vendarite, which is used primarily for the construction of small craft due to its lightness,
Sorium, which is a highly energetic element used as a portable fuel,
Uridium, which in an electronic wafer can be very sensitive to its environment,
Corundium, which is an element exhibiting strange behaviour in the presence of energy used for mining and energy weapons,
Gallicite, which is used in propulsion due to its versatility in the mass-space field.
Overall and in total, it is estimated that Earth contains somewhat higher than four million tons of Trans-Newtonian Elements.
Duranium, which is commonly used as a basic construction material due to it being both resilient and abundant,
Neutronium, which is a very dense material used for orbital shipyards and certain advanced armaments,
Corbomite, which is used in various shielding and electronic systems due to its semi-conductive nature,
Tritanium, which is a versatile material that can theoretically be used for missiles,
Boronide, which is a chemically reactive element that is used heavily in power systems,
Mercassium, which is a rare element used heavily in research and human life support,
Vendarite, which is used primarily for the construction of small craft due to its lightness,
Sorium, which is a highly energetic element used as a portable fuel,
Uridium, which in an electronic wafer can be very sensitive to its environment,
Corundium, which is an element exhibiting strange behaviour in the presence of energy used for mining and energy weapons,
Gallicite, which is used in propulsion due to its versatility in the mass-space field.
Overall and in total, it is estimated that Earth contains somewhat higher than four million tons of Trans-Newtonian Elements.
The United Confederation
Population: 1,185 millions
The United Confederation, abbreviated AtCon due primarily to the Confederation being known as the Atlantic Coalition in colloquial speech, is supposedly a free association of democratic nations banded together to protect their common ideal of freedom. How real that freedom that the United Confederation stands for, however, is rather questionable. Even in those parts of the Confederation where democracy is not simply an overused catchphrase, an increasingly heavily armed police continue to bear down on the dissenting populace while the impoverished continue to drag themselves into the workhouses, with no more real freedom to switch jobs than slaves in the days of old.
The United Confederation is arguably an indirect descendant of a pro-western military organisation known as NATO, which existed in the Cold War. After NATO shattered under the pressure of pro-Soviet socialist governments and was finally officially disbanded in 1989, what remained of the free governments in Washington and London nonetheless continued to recognise strong common interests, banding together as the United Confederation. Geographically, the United Confederation covers almost all of the English-speaking world. Indeed, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada were its first three members. In addition, despite some countries that officially insist that they are not a member, Latin America is for all intents and purposes firmly within AtCon's sphere of influence.
When the Trans-Newtonian Elements were first discovered in 2017, the United States possessed by far the most advanced space program on the planet, allowing the United Confederation to take full advantage of the new propulsion techniques made possible by these Trans-Newtonian Elements immediately in a way that the other two superpowers could not. As a result, almost ten years later, NASA remains the world's most successful space program, having just launched three interplanetary geological probes, while the ambitious orbital spaceport commissioned by SpaceX is now just coming online.
The United Confederation is confident that its brave spacefaring souls will buy it the future, but only time will tell if it will.
The Pact of Collective Security
Population: 1,215 millions
The Pact of Collective Security, abbreviated SocIntern after the Socialist International, the Pact's governing legislature, is supposedly a co-operative pact of an economic and military nature between governments of the people. A closer look, however, reveals that the strong men who rule these nations often have very little concern for the actual welfare of the people in whose name they speak and act. While in the socialist governments of Western Europe, the government has to at least take care of the people enough to win re-elections, in the proletarian autocracies of the former Warsaw Pact even this much is not granted.
The Pact of Collective Security binds together the socialist nations that occupy most of the northern parts of the Eurasian Continent. It was originally a small administrative body the purpose of which was to reduce diplomatic friction between the nations of the European Commonwealth and the nations of the Warsaw Pact, but over time came to represent the co-operation of both sides. Geographically, SocIntern stretches from Spain in the west to Siberia in the east, covering the European Continent and the Asian territories of the Soviet Union. Although the Soviet Union still supports and has always supported like-minded regimes in various proxy wars, guerrilla struggles, and terrorist insurgencies across northern Africa and the Middle East, these efforts have by and large failed at binding these regions to the Pact of Collective Security.
Having inherited the advanced public education systems of the European Continent as well as its extensive and mature scientific resources, SocIntern's educated minds and research facilities are second to none. Although it may have dropped the ball to the United Confederation when it came to the initial discovery and exploitation of Trans-Newtonian Elements, their achievements still cannot be underestimated.
The Pact of Collective Security is confident that its scientific superiority will buy it the future, but only time will tell if it will.
The Asian Defence Coalition
Population: 1,790 millions
The Asian Defence Coalition, abbreviated PanPac after the Pan-Pacific Security Coalition from which the modern Asian Defence Coalition emerged, is supposedly a collaborative effort to protect Asia's developed resources, populations, and developments from being exploited by the western powers for their own gain. One immediately notices, however, that there really is no such thing as an "Asian" resource or an "Asian" people. There are Chinese and Koreans, Japanese and Thai, and half a dozen other nationalities that would not be together if not for the efforts of the Coalition authorities.
The Asian Defence Coalition finds its origins, surprisingly, in the various international anticolonial and third-way movements that grew between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War. It was from these sentiments - that every people have a right to nationhood - that fueled the co-operation leading to the formation of the Asian Defence Coalition. Ironically, it is now this very same Coalition that frustrates national aspirations in its territory, stretching from Mongolia in the north to Thailand in the south. Although its predecessor, the Pan-Pacific Security Coalition, included a much larger section of Southeast Asia, successful interference by the other two superpowers combined with religious and nationalist identities in Oceania and the Asian Defence Coalition's inability to project serious naval power has pushed PanPac out of this region.
With a population approaching 1.8 billion people and a network of heavy industries surpassing any other in the world, PanPac's strength lies in its sheer size. Its unmathced population and industry produce economic wealth on an unprecedented scale, and the Asian Defence Coalition can thus consider ventures that many other nations, even the other two superpowers, would find outrageously expensive.
The Asian Defence Coalition is confident that its industry will win it the future, but only time will tell if it will.
The Developing Countries
Population: ~3,000 millions
Between the three superpowers, in a rough quadrilateral occupying most of Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Asia, lies the developing world. Although the nations in this region vary greatly in political stability and alignment, military strength, economic development and diversification, as well as technological advancement, they are ultimately irrelevant to global politics except as useful pawns and the occasional irritating neutral power standing between the superpowers, and what little industry they have cannot support any kind of a meaningful space program or take advantage of the new wave of Trans-Newtonian technologies. This, combined with the fact that the superpowers can meddle in the developing world relatively freely without fear of nuclear retaliation, means that the developing world is often a chessboard contested by all three superpowers.
The developing world, however, still contain a very significant minority of the world's population. Hundreds of millions pine for a life out of poverty, and if a superpower can successfully attract these masses to a new life in one of their extrasolar colonies, they could enjoy a significant advantage in acquiring a labor force for interstellar colonisation. On the other hand, decades of conflict has left this region quite militarised, and should a superpower cross one of these neutral powers, they will find that every division of infantry stuck in a quagmire in the developing world is a division of infantry that is not contesting the military might of the other two superpowers.
Although weak and unstable, the developing countries are still worth keeping in one's sphere of influence, and hence out of somebody else's.
As of 2025, the United Confederation holds a definite lead in the race to exploit the abundant resources of space. Whether this lead equals an advantage, however, remains to be seen.
The United Confederation possesses NASA, capable of building two 3,000t vessels at a time, and SpaceX, capable of building one 10,000t vessel at a time. The United Confederation also possesses 3 ships of the Explorer class.
The Pact of Collective Security possesses ESA, capable of building one 1,000t vessel at a time, and Roscosmos, capable of buildling one 1,000t vessel at a time. The Pact of Collective Security does not possess Trans-Newtonian spacecraft.
The Asian Defence Coalition possesses CNSA, capable of building two 1,000t vessels at a time. The Asian Defence Coalition does not possess Trans-Newtonian spacecraft.
The United Confederation possesses NASA, capable of building two 3,000t vessels at a time, and SpaceX, capable of building one 10,000t vessel at a time. The United Confederation also possesses 3 ships of the Explorer class.
The Pact of Collective Security possesses ESA, capable of building one 1,000t vessel at a time, and Roscosmos, capable of buildling one 1,000t vessel at a time. The Pact of Collective Security does not possess Trans-Newtonian spacecraft.
The Asian Defence Coalition possesses CNSA, capable of building two 1,000t vessels at a time. The Asian Defence Coalition does not possess Trans-Newtonian spacecraft.
The Players
- Code: Select all
[box][align=center][b]Personnel Report[/b][/align](delete everything in brackets; delete optional items if you are not filling them)
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b] (roughly; I may not be able to give you an exact match)
[b]Allegiance:[/b] (one of the three superpowers)
[b]Class:[/b] (one of the four standard positions)
[b]Desired Assignment:[/b] (not much choice early in the RP, but will be more important as time goes on)
[b]Office:[/b] (optional; if you wish to apply for one of the five command positions of each superpower)
[b]Appearance:[/b] (optional)
[b]Biography:[/b] (your character's life story, basically)
[b]Personality:[/b] (at least a few short words)
[b]Goals:[/b] (no character is a slave to his or her nation; what does your character actually want?)[/box]
[b]RP Sample:[/b] (if you are applying for a leadership position, I expect a good one)
AtCon
Secretary-General
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister of Research
Minister of Development
Naval Officers - 30
Ground Forces Officers - 14
Civilian Administrators - 2
Leading Scientists - 4
SocIntern
Minister of Defence
Naval Officers - 33
Ground Forces Officers - 10
Civilian Administrators - 1
Leading Scientists - 4
PanPac
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister of Defence
Naval Officers - 27
Ground Forces Officers - 10
Civilian Administrators - 9
Leading Scientists - 2
Secretary-General
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister of Research
Minister of Development
Naval Officers - 30
Ground Forces Officers - 14
Civilian Administrators - 2
Leading Scientists - 4
SocIntern
Minister of Defence
Naval Officers - 33
Ground Forces Officers - 10
Civilian Administrators - 1
Leading Scientists - 4
PanPac
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Minister of Defence
Naval Officers - 27
Ground Forces Officers - 10
Civilian Administrators - 9
Leading Scientists - 2
AtCon
Minister of Defence, Ground Forces Officer - Joshua P. Riggs - The Manticoran Empire - Application Page 2
Naval Officer - Jonathan Reed - Aghrabia - Application Page 3
Naval Officer - Chris Drake - Duestchstien - Application Page 6
Leading Scientist - Isabella Lafaille - Bentus - Application Page 3
SocIntern
Premier of the International, Civilian Administrator - Allaryce Kaiser - The Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune - Application Page 2
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ground Forces Officer - Tetyana Konstantinovna Yurilov - The Free Territory of Makhnovia - Application Page 1
Minister of Research, Leading Scientist - Mikael Saari - Caltharus - Application Page 2
Minister of Development, Leading Scientist - Vladimir Rurikovich - G-Tech Corporation - Application Page 4
Naval Officer - Charles Gifford Girard - The Grim Reaper - Application Page 9
PanPac
Supreme Chairperson, Civilian Administrator - Timur-Alta Khan - Ulls - Application Page 2
Minister of Research, Leading Scientist - Chen Liaozhen - The Knockout Gun Gals - Application Page 1
Minister of Development, Naval Officer - Rhiannon Huel - Great Confederacy Of Commonwealth States - Application Page 3
Ground Forces Officer - Angelo Lopez - Vulkata II - Application Page 8
Minister of Defence, Ground Forces Officer - Joshua P. Riggs - The Manticoran Empire - Application Page 2
Naval Officer - Jonathan Reed - Aghrabia - Application Page 3
Naval Officer - Chris Drake - Duestchstien - Application Page 6
Leading Scientist - Isabella Lafaille - Bentus - Application Page 3
SocIntern
Premier of the International, Civilian Administrator - Allaryce Kaiser - The Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune - Application Page 2
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ground Forces Officer - Tetyana Konstantinovna Yurilov - The Free Territory of Makhnovia - Application Page 1
Minister of Research, Leading Scientist - Mikael Saari - Caltharus - Application Page 2
Minister of Development, Leading Scientist - Vladimir Rurikovich - G-Tech Corporation - Application Page 4
Naval Officer - Charles Gifford Girard - The Grim Reaper - Application Page 9
PanPac
Supreme Chairperson, Civilian Administrator - Timur-Alta Khan - Ulls - Application Page 2
Minister of Research, Leading Scientist - Chen Liaozhen - The Knockout Gun Gals - Application Page 1
Minister of Development, Naval Officer - Rhiannon Huel - Great Confederacy Of Commonwealth States - Application Page 3
Ground Forces Officer - Angelo Lopez - Vulkata II - Application Page 8
