Co-OPed by Bingellia and Arengin Union
Welcome to Andromeda Burning, a character RP set in a galaxy close to our own. In this RP you will have the option of playing a human or one of a variety of aliens who have signed up for the crew of the first human-helmed interstellar warship, the Defiance. There are a variety of factions vying for power in the Andromeda and Milky Way Galaxies; the Defiance is an independent ship, but you could belong to one of them or you might just be an adventurer along for the ride. The choice is yours.
Of course, no alien galaxy would be complete without lots of aliens! We have a few pre-made races below, but there is plenty of room in the galaxy for others. There are very few guidelines for creating your own race so, for the most part, be as creative as you like!
This is not going to be a spaceship RP in the sense of big space battles, this is an RP about the people on the ship and will mostly be set on a variety of strange alien planets... although there is scope for missions on the ship.
This RP is open to latecomers. Between missions the ship will return to 'Beachhead Station' and will, definitely be looking for more crew. If you join the RP after the IC is up and running we will manufacture a reason to bring your character into the plot as quickly as possible.
Finally, if you want to join and are looking for inspiration, feel free to join the Discord. This thread is a sequel to 'Voyages in Andromeda', the tremendously successful RP that we have been running for the last year. There is a strong, friendly, community that has built up around the Andromeda RPs and there are plenty of people who will be willing to help you create a character... or just have a chat!
SETTING
There and Back Again: The Vanishing of the Destiny and the Wormhole to the Andromeda Galaxy
In 2026, a multi-national mission to mars was launched from Earth on the spaceship, 'Destiny'. The voyage was expected to last 300 days, though on day 104, abruptly and without any prior warning, the ship disappeared. As far as the Governments of Earth were concerned, the Destiny and all her crew were lost. Eventually, it was decided it must have been some kind of mechanical failure, though no sign of the vessel was recovered.
Nine months later, and after many adventures along the way, the surviving crew members returned to Earth through the 'Wormhole' that nobody had known had existed piloting a highly advanced alien starship known as the 'Defiance'. They did not come alone though. The crew, it discovered had made friends and allies during their time in the other Galaxy. The crew had been supplemented by a number of aliens and they had ostensibly aligned themselves with an alien State known as the 'Gollar Confederacy'.
The Politics of the Andromeda Galaxy
The crew of the Defiance had, it turned out, become embroiled in the opening phases of a massive galaxy-wide war in Andromeda between the two Hegemonies of that Galaxy; the 'Ragon Empire' and 'Kiellar Command', both of whom were hellbent on conquest and both of whom, knowing about the wormhole, were now an existential threat to Earth. Earth was in control of the junction of the two galaxies and had suddenly become a planet of high strategic importance.
The Gollar Confederacy, who had assisted the lost human astronauts, was a minor player in Andromeda politics with aspirations of usurping the big powers. They had seized control of the Andromeda end of the wormhole, though had then been forced to negotiate a ceasefire with Kiellar Command and agree to allow Kiellar diplomats and observers along when the travelled between the two galaxies.
Earth and the Milky Way
While the Gollar Confederacy was keen for an Alliance with Earth, the UN Representatives sent to negotiate with them were less certain this was a good idea. Yes, the Gollar were technologically advanced and willing to share that technology, but did any Nations on Earth really want to get involved in a war in a whole different galaxy? Plus, the Gollar were nowhere near as strong as the Kiellar and their representatives were also offering 'Client Status' to Earth, which seemed to give more assurances of security, though this had to be balanced with the warnings of the crew of the Defiance that the Kiellar were not to be trusted.
Within weeks of First Contact, however, yet another alien coalition made their presence felt - the so called 'Federation of Civilised Worlds', a Milky Way faction who appeared to be big players in Earth's own galaxy. This group seemed keen on negotiating their own agreement with one of the Andromeda powers and threatened to make Earth irrelevant if it didn't play its cards right.
Where you come in
While the politicians and diplomats have talked and debated, the Gollar have moved an old battle station to orbit the wormhole in the Milky Way known as 'Beachhead Station'. Beachhead is the place where anyone wanting to move between Andromeda and the Milky Way needs to stop first. The Defiance has been docked here for the past three months taking on supplies and replacement crew. You are one of the replacement crew and the ship is just about ready to head back into Andromeda. While the crew are friendly with the Gollar, the ship is an entirely independent outfit with allegiance to none of the factions mentioned.
Captain Nathaniel Carter has vowed to do whatever he can to bring down the two Hegemonies and free the people of the Andromeda Galaxy, but what can the crew of one ship really achieve? They need friends and they need a mission, and that is about to come very soon...
The Defiance
The Defiance is a lightly armed, converted prison ship of around 100 metres in length, although only the front 50 metres or so is inhabitable, the remaining area at the rear is used for fuel storage, inaccessible parts of the engine etc. The main, inhabitable section is divided into four floors.
The Top Deck (Main Deck): contains the bridge at the front, a secondary armoury and sleeping quarters along two corridors leading to the rear of the ship.
The Second Deck (Engineering Deck): Contains controls for the artificial gravity and provides access to most essential ship components. At the rear of the deck there is a secondary control module which allows the ship to be piloted in the event that the bridge is destroyed.
The Third Deck (Utility Deck): Contains a gymnasium, recreational facilities, medical bay, galley and the main armoury.
The Lower Deck (Stasis Chamber): Contains a large zone for storage and a shuttle bay with a single shuttle and a rather large fish tank.
LORE
Politics in the Andromeda Galaxy
The known Andromeda Galaxy is dominated by two huge Empires, Kiellar Command and the Ragon Empire. The two Empires were at peace for fifty years, though after a particularly brutal raid by Kiellar irregulars on a Ragon colony fleet, the war has turned hot and the Andromeda galaxy in being bathed in blood.
The space controlled by Kiellar Command is not a very nice place to live. While Kiellar cities are beautiful and orderly, they are built on the labour of billions of slaves who live short, wretched lives in the mines, farms and construction sites of the Kiellar worlds. Most slaves are prisoners, criminals or conquered people. Others are born into it, though the poor life expectancy means that Kiellar Command is in constant need of more slaves. Above the slaves are the conquered species live within Kiellar space whose lives are governed by the arbitrary whim of the local Military Governor. There is one route to citizenship, which is to serve a period of 20 years in the Kiellar military as an 'auxiliary', though auxiliaries tend to be used as cannon fodder and completing 20 years of service is rare. While citizens enjoy a variety of rights protecting them from arbitrary punishments, they still enjoy no political freedoms - Kiellar Command is ruled by the military, with Grand Admiral Reinnarr being the final authority.
Perhaps predictably, Kiellar Command has a problem with unrest. Revolts are not uncommon and tend to be put down brutally, acting as the pretext to enslave more members of the rebellious race. Additionally, there is a growing Federalist movement within the Empire which calls for a Civilian Government and self-government for the planets. Thinkers in the Federalist movement often refer back to the long dead 'Dhasath League' as an example of how a just society could function. Promoting Federalism is regarded as an act of Treason and those who do so can expect harsh treatment.
If Kiellar Command is a bad place to live, the Ragon empire is even worse (unless you happen to be a Ragon). Huge, reptilian creatures, the Ragon do not view other creatures as their equal and have a tend to view them as a plentiful source of food. Within the Empire itself there are calls from some parties for better treatment of prey species, though the idea of not eating them at all is seen as a strange and radical concept.
The Ragon Empire is noticeably more technologically advanced than Kiellar Command and, on the ground, an individual Ragon is much more of a threat than a Kiel or any of their auxiliaries. Coversely, the Kiellar enjoy an advantage in numbers that have meant that the last war ended in an bloody and, ultimately pointless, stalemate and which has kept the two powers from focusing on the Gollar Confederacy and other 'Neutral Zone' states to this point. The growing hatred of the Kiellar and Ragon for one another almost guarantees that this war will be pursued to the bitter end.
Technology in the Andromeda and Milky Way Galaxies
As this is sci-fi, there are a number of pieces of technology that will be mentioned in the RP. Here is some info on them:
Skrim Drive: The Skrim Drive is the basic FTL drive used by all species in the both galaxies, allowing them to phase across to hyperspace where an object can travel faster than light. Opening a hyperspace window requires a lot of energy and several minutes to 'spin the drive up'. Skrim Drives are prone to overheating and longer hyperspace journeys will need to be made in hops. That, along with the speed limitation means that most journeys between stars will take days or weeks and movement between galaxies is believed to be impossible.
Most ships can detect a hyperspace window opening or closing a few minutes before the ship utilising their Skrim drive moves through it.
Translator Microbes/Nanites: In the Andromeda Galaxy, 'translator microbes' are used to get around the inter-species language barrier. These are injected into children at birth and inhabit the brain, allow people to understand most, though not all, alien languages. Some species are known to have a poor reaction to the microbes and cannot safely use them meaning they need to resort to more traditional means of translating an alien language.
The 'Federation of Civilised Worlds' uses 'translator nanites' which function in much the same way. As some people are not necessarily comfortable with injecting nanites into their brains, the Federation has also developed a translator-microcomputer-earpiece, which most humans in the setting will be using. This is nearly as good as the nanite/microbe treatment though there is a slight delay and it can make it hard to hear background sounds.
Energy weapons (Blasters): Most weapons used in warfare are energy weapons. Units that are not connected to a generator (such as handheld weapons) will require a battery pack that usually allows for around 100 shots to be fired before needing to be swapped over. A person struck by an energy weapon can expect serious, deep burns with a high chance of death if the discharge travels through a major organ.
Shields: Large ships are always fitted with energy shields to prevent damage from space debris as well as weapons from other ships.
Body Armour: Body armour is in use in Kiellar Command and the Gollar Confederacy, though it mostly minimises injury from handheld weapons rather than completely absorbing the energy from a shot. Ragon body armour is considerably more advanced and can take quite a few hits to a given area before failing. The Federation tends not to issue body armour, having not been involved in a serious war for several millennia.
Saboteur Implants: It has recently been revealed that Kiellar Command have the technology to implant a chip in a victim's brain which will lie dormant until a preordained time. Once the chip is active, and the victim has gone to sleep, the chip will take over their body, perform a preordained function, then cause a cardiac arrest, killing the saboteur.
Species of the Andromeda Galaxy
Species of the Federation
FACTION SUMMARY
This information is provided in detail elsewhere, this section is just here as a handy reference.
Earth: The planet at the gateway between Andromeda and the Milky Way. Technologically underdeveloped and on it's own at this point.
Federation of Civilised Worlds: Democratic Milky Way hegemony. Generally nice people but militarily inept.
Gollar Confederacy: Democratic minor power from the Andromeda galaxy. Fanatical emancipationists. Tend not to worry too much about collateral damage.
Kiellar Command: Military-dictatorship and Andromeda galaxy hegemony. Economy is built on the back of billions of slaves.
Ragon Empire: Corporate-dominated hegemony from the Andromeda galaxy. View other species as food.
THE RULES
And because it seems important to write these out, here are a few rules for making a better society:
- Decisions
My word and the word Bingellia and Arengin Union (and anyone else who gets appointed as a Co-OP) is binding. If you don’t like a decision, you can, of course, ask for us to reconsider it. Once. If we made a decision you don’t like, complaining for pages and pages is not going to endear you to anyone. Not me, not the Co-OPs and not your fellow writers.
On that note, I intend to run this thread as an anarcho-communist cooperative. This is an unnecessarily complicated way of saying that my word DOES NOT overrule theirs. If there is an appeal and a dispute amongst the Co-OPs we will take a vote on the matter. - Post Quality
I don’t have a problem with short posts but please use proper spelling (I don’t care what regional variant), grammar etc.
Ideally also try to include a 'hook' when you write a post, which is to say something that gives other people something to respond to. If your post is something along the lines of 'Bilbo Baggins stayed in his room and read a book while the world was ending', don't be surprised if nobody responds to you. - Posting Commitment: Nothing is worse than making an RP only for it to die. Please try to make at least one post every 48 hours or so. If you find yourself unable to post, please let me know in the OOC thread. If it looks like you've abandoned a character in the middle of a fight scene I might decide to kill them off if I'm feeling particularly malicious.
- Posting Speed On the flip side, blitz posting can also be infuriating. So, especially during the important scenes, I recommend giving your fellow players a reasonable time to make a reply. We all have real lives. That being said, if someone leaves everyone waiting for over 48 hours, feel free to carry on the scene without them.
- OOC thread Manners
Nothing annoys me more than bad manners on an OOC thread (apart from that 'Look at my horse, my horse is amazing' song). Swearing, passive-aggressive sniping or any other rude behaviour are not welcome on the OOC. I will warn you once. If you can’t control yourself I will ask you to remove yourself from the thread. - IC thread Manners
Remember, we are writing a story together, not playing to win. - Character Death
Player death is possible in this RP, though will be quite rare and easily avoidable. Please don’t write that you have killed another character unless you have OOC permission from the character's owner to do it. Beat them into a pulp or take them prisoner, but don’t kill them. Having said that, if someone does something really stupid, I reserve the right to announce your character has got themselves killed. Likewise, if someone goes inactive in the middle of a fight scene without explanation and cannot be raised, I may decide to kill their character off. - Godmodding
If your character is unfairly refusing to take any damage I will write them taking damage for you. You're welcome! - Keep it PG13
Shouldn’t need to be telling you this really but keep the erotica and gorn off the thread. Hopefully you all know how to write forum-safe stuff. I will be extremely disappointed if the mods have to pay us a visit. - Banning Players
I really don’t want to be doing that but reserve the right to do so if you cannot follow the (hopefully, rather simple) rules above.
APPLICATION FORMS
When filling in an application form, please delete everything in parentheses.
Character App
For returning writers: If you are bringing across a character from Voyages in Andromeda, provided you have written a wiki entry for the character, there is no need to fill in an app, just link your wiki article below so we know you are back! If you have, fill in the app so that other people can refer to it. Similarly, if you have a character from Voyages but want to make substantive changes to the character, you'll need to discuss it with me first.
The only current rules for characters are:
- No psychics.
- If you have an excessively overpowered weapon you might be asked to tone it down.
- No armour which makes you immune to blaster fire.
- If you want to have an allegiance to a faction, don't pick the Ragons, unless your character is one! Also, if you are aligned with either the Kiellar or Ragons you might want to ICly keep that secret.
Also please remember that for you to be a crew member you were hired to do something on the ship. Its a bit of a rough and ready ship, so the bar isn't very high, but if your character looks like someone nobody would touch with a barge pole then we might ask you to take another look at the app.
- Code: Select all
[box]
[size=150][b]Character Description[/b][/size]
[list][b]Name:[/b]
[b]Species:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b] [spoiler](Feel free to describe with text or put pictures in here. If you are using a picture, personally, I find it easier to picture a character who is shown in photo/realistic drawing though I'm not going to get funny about anything else. Unless it is your personal stick-man art. I might draw the line at that.)[/spoiler]
[/list]
[hr][/hr][size=150][b]Strengths and Weaknesses[/b][/size]
[list]
[b]Skills[/b]: (Is there anything you are significantly better at than most other people?)
[b]Weaknesses[/b]: (Is there anything your character is really rubbish at? Not essential you put anything in, but can be fun)
[/list]
[hr][/hr][size=150][b]Background:[/b][/size]
[list][b]Role on Ship[/b]: (What do you bring to the part?)
[b]Faction Alignment[/b]:(Are you an independent adventurer or do you owe allegiance openly or secretly to one of the big factions)
[b]Personality:[/b]
[b]Backstory[/b]:(How did you come to be here?)
[/list][/box]
Species App
I am going to assume that anyone making a species app would prefer the species be reserved for their use. If they would like their creation to go on the list of pre-designed races, let me know. Additionally, there are a few rules for new species:
- You cannot create a psychic race. There are a sufficient number in the RP already.
- Your race cannot be immune to blaster fire.
- Your race cannot be inedible to Ragons. This is to maximise the threat the Ragons pose to your character/s.
- Your race cannot be allied to the Ragon Empire. The Ragons regard all other species as animals and do not form alliances.
- Your race cannot be another great power. The two great powers (and the Gollar) are important plot elements. Extra powers make it too chaotic.
- If you want to make your race super long-lived, there should be a good narrative reason (there are quite a lot of super long-lived races already).
Also, please remember that your species app serves as background for your character, not the other way around.
- Code: Select all
[box]
[size=150][b]Species Description[/b][/size]
[list][b]Name:[/b]
[b]Singular:[/b] (what do you call one of your species on their own)
[b]Plural:[/b] (what do you call a whole lot of your species)
[b]Adjective:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b] (If you are using a picture, please include a bit of info on how much variation in appearances there is among the species) [spoiler](Feel free to use a picture here)[/spoiler]
[b]Biology:[/b] (what is special about your species that you can't tell by looking at them? Night vision? Super-strength?)
[/list]
[hr][/hr][size=150][b]Background:[/b][/size]
[list][b]Homeworld[/b]:
[b]Galaxy[/b]: (Andromeda or the Milky Way?)
[b]Alignment[/b]: (Is your species a client of the Kiellar, a member of the Confederacy/Federation or none of the above?)
[b]History[/b]:(Tell us a bit about your species)
[/list][/box]
CHARACTER VAULT
Due to the fact that we are a sequel thread, there are quite a few characters already established. We have been storing the character information in the Character Vault Wiki as a helpful resource for people wanting to refer to details of other people's characters (including the characters for the other Andromedaverse threads). For new writers, there is no need to read all of this! Though if you do want to find out anything about the officers on the ship, their articles are linked on the main page.
