Shared space setting

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Frost

OK today's questions:

19) The typical colonial government controls:

A) an entire system.

B) a terrestrial planet, large moon or a large grouping of small bodies or habitats.

C) a single region (or equivalent) or 1-5 small bodies or habitats.

19C, governments are still regional on planets. Fallback onto 19B if necessary to avoid resulting in an a.

Originally Posted by Frost

20) How much autonomy does a typical colony have?

A) all but the newest colonies are independent entities.

B) colonies control their internal affairs but remain subordinate to outside interests.

C) most colonies remain under the direct control of their initial sponsors.

20A, pretty autonomous.

Originally Posted by Frost

21) Is there a single authority controlling the gates? If so who are they?

A) no.

B) yes, an inter governmental body.

C) yes, a private corporation.

D) yes, a consortium including both governments and private bodies.

21A: no, some gates are owned by singular entrepreneurs, others by the government of one of the states on a nearby colony (taxing all passers-through), yet others are communally-funded nonprofit projects made by clear-eyed idealists who wanted to prevent a monopoly on providing travel (after witnessing what happens in some monopolized system).

[TGLS]

19B) Colonial governments are granted charter by the UN on an entire celestial body, Hirayama family of asteroids or Lagrangian point.

20B) The charter is usually held by whoever lobbied for the charter in the first place (Earth governments/corporations), and with that they control substantial influence over the government by being able to organize sanctions and police actions with approval by the UN. Given the numbers of UN nations with colonies, these motions rarely fail.

21A) No, though the corporation to develop gates is still the position of technical monopoly, by owning over half the gates in Human Space (though they do receive less than half the traffic.) Other gates are run by governments, non-profits, or competing corporations.

[Flaco76]

19) The typical colonial government controls:

A) an entire system.

B) a terrestrial planet, large moon or a large grouping of small bodies or habitats.

C) a single region (or equivalent) or 1-5 small bodies or habitats.

Vote: C


20) How much autonomy does a typical colony have?

A) all but the newest colonies are independent entities.

B) colonies control their internal affairs but remain subordinate to outside interests.

C) most colonies remain under the direct control of their initial sponsors.

Vote: B, due to time and distance most colonies have internal autonomy but have a Governor or Director sent by the home office to represent the owners.

21) Is there a single authority controlling the gates? If so who are they?

A) no.

B) yes, an inter governmental body.

C) yes, a private corporation.

D) yes, a consortium including both governments and private bodies.

Vote: d, at least for the earth to x trunk routes. Gate travel makes for natural monopoly but no group was either able to edge the others out or willing to give up control. Some inter colony routes are owned either by local governments or private bodies outside of the Gate Trust's jurisdiction.

[ericthered]

19C: colonies are composed of people, not land, and an established system will have several colonies.

20B: colonies belong to their sponsors, be they a company or a government. Independent colonies just don't make that much sense when you have that close of a connection to earth. I see this as working like a state/federal relationship: some of your organizations report to the national capital (on earth), while others are locally administered. When you don't have a direct line to earth, things are different, but you usually don't have the size to become independent until the gates arrive.

21D: A consortium. Much like the internet, cell phone network, or airline system. This makes lots of room for conflict within the gate system, and thats good for stories.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Frost

OK today's questions:

19) The typical colonial government controls:

19c. That has the most potential for conflict.

Originally Posted by Frost

20) How much autonomy does a typical colony have?

20b. This means an established colony has native-born experienced leaders, but must answer to a distant corporation, church or government. This situation is the one most likely to result in revolutionary movements.

Originally Posted by Frost

21) Is there a single authority controlling the gates? If so who are they?

21d. A consortium guarantees intrigue, corporate espionage and nasty infighting amongst consortium members as they jockey for power and influence.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Frost

19) The typical colonial government controls:

A) an entire system.

B) a terrestrial planet, large moon or a large grouping of small bodies or habitats.

C) a single region (or equivalent) or 1-5 small bodies or habitats.

19 C There's a good mix of national, corporate and miscellaneous ownership of bits of system

20) How much autonomy does a typical colony have?

A) all but the newest colonies are independent entities.

B) colonies control their internal affairs but remain subordinate to outside interests.

C) most colonies remain under the direct control of their initial sponsors.

20B- for the sake of the vote, but there would also be a lot of (A) independent states too

21) Is there a single authority controlling the gates? If so who are they?

A) no.

B) yes, an inter governmental body.

C) yes, a private corporation.

D) yes, a consortium including both governments and private bodies.

21A- Different nations and corporations have set up gates- a few but not a lot

[Emerald Cat]

Originally Posted by Frost

19) The typical colonial government controls:

A) an entire system.

B) a terrestrial planet, large moon or a large grouping of small bodies or habitats.

C) a single region (or equivalent) or 1-5 small bodies or habitats.

19) C. Buying entire planets is prohibitively expensive.

Originally Posted by Frost

20) How much autonomy does a typical colony have?

A) all but the newest colonies are independent entities.

B) colonies control their internal affairs but remain subordinate to outside interests.

C) most colonies remain under the direct control of their initial sponsors.

20) B. Becoming an independent colony takes time. Some of the older colonies have become fully independent.

Originally Posted by Frost

21) Is there a single authority controlling the gates? If so who are they?

A) no.

B) yes, an inter governmental body.

C) yes, a private corporation.

D) yes, a consortium including both governments and private bodies.

21) D. A consortium consisting of the UN Gate Council and the Interstellar Gate Company (IGC). Under the Universal Gate Network Treaty, the IGC builds and maintains the gates at cost. Per gate licensing fees are IGC's main source of profit.

Gate building and licensing fees are regulated by the UN Gate Council. The UN Gate Council is a committee consisting of representatives from the Security Council nations (whoever they are in this time period). Anyone with the funds to finance gate construction can request them. The UNGC has 180 days to approve a gate request. Direct connections to Earth must be approved unanimously by the Security Council members. Gates connecting non-Earth systems can be approved by a simple majority vote by the Security Council members.

A system's gates are typically run by whoever bankrolled construction. While a gate is largely autonomous, they still have to follow local and interstellar law. Most gates have space stations nearby with warehousing, recreational, and ship maintenance facilities. Customs is often handled at these stations for convenience.

[Frost]

Before we go any further with the questions on politics and society we need to have some sort of feel for how the finished setting should work as a price of writing.

It is probably still too early to have definite answers but I would like to know where people are looking to go at the moment.

What tone do you think best fits the setting?

What is our default campaign(s) likely to be?

Is there anything obviously missing, from our (admittedly very crude) sketch of a setting?

[ericthered]

Its weird to realize this, but I kind of want a deconstructed cyber-punk. Heroes use amazing technology in a very urban setting, and it turns out looking very human. Great big corporations run things, but its not about hiding from them, its about working with them and twisting them into doing what you want.

The default adventure is a series of heists.

This was an odd realization for me. I did not realize that is what I was voting for until I sat down and asked myself that.

[Flaco76]

Originally Posted by Frost

Before we go any further with the questions on politics and society we need to have some sort of feel for how the finished setting should work as a price of writing.

It is probably still too early to have definite answers but I would like to know where people are looking to go at the moment.

What tone do you think best fits the setting?

What is our default campaign(s) likely to be?

Is there anything obviously missing, from our (admittedly very crude) sketch of a setting?

I think a Space Campaign setting between something between Terradyne (Solar System), Transhuman Space (Solar System, Near Future) and Traveller (Far-Future). Players are not overwhelmed with locations, polities, groups but there is enough space to create your own. This setting should be a framework for everything from Horror to Espionage to Cinematic and Western.