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Old 03-03-2016, 08:38 PM   #101
TGLS
 
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Question 65
How bad is the discrimination against Divergers in human space? Could for example a Genetically engineered person go to the core worlds and get a university style education? get a job? start a business?

It's rare for discrimination against Divergers to be official policy, Eridani Union notwithstanding. Much discrimination against Divergers depends on their ability to pass as a regular human. This is harder than it sounds, considering the biological necessity of many of their modifications to live on other worlds. Also, many Divergers adopt unusual physical appearances, as a display of wealth or ideology. Cybernetics complicate official equality; every so often, you hear about a cyborg being killed while being arrested for possession of a “weapon”, that was part of their body. Occasionally, violence erupts, usually from riots gone bad. Violence tends to peak with the slaying of the most prominent Diverger in the area. Occasionally, it's another humanoid, usually Sulth but more rarely Xylysus or CyKoi. Rarely, these cause wars, but almost always sanctions.

Divergers, even from embargoed systems, can reach human dominated systems, many entering through the Chu-Yang system, where discrimination is considered unacceptable.

Still, human looking Divergers get by, going to school, working honest jobs, and occasionally worried for their lives. One university student found himself expelled after getting a girl pregnant with a more obviously divergent child, and then riots breakout saying they didn't go far enough. But nowhere is as bad as the Eridani Union.

In the Eridani Union, as well as lesser systems, discrimination against Divergers and all nonhumans is not only tolerated but actively promoted. When a crime is considered to be committed by a “non-person”, they round up all the Diverger and aliens and torture them for information about the crime. When gangs deliberately target Divergers, the crimes are ignored. The movements of all Divergers and aliens are tracked by the state and they are required to wear identifyable clothing at all times. When radicals on earth call for more control of Divergers, some Eridani Moderates throw around words like “genocide” or “war of extermination”.

CyKoi Iconoclasts
Closely related to the CyKoi Diverger movement are the Iconoclasts. Iconoclasts not only question CyKoi tradition, but actively reject it. This has not helped the movement; 35% of CyKoi academia find their arguments nonsensical, disobeying all the rules of dialectic composition. Naturally, they find some of the rules are necessary; the rules of word synthesis were quickly reintroduced when they made some utterly unpronounceable words. Few CyKoi understand their contraryism, though some appreciate their art. The actual Diverger movement is fairly invisible in CyKoi society, following tradition is more important than biological makeup to them (at least one of each species has been considered CyKoi). Still, Divergers are more likely to stay with Iconoclasts than abandon what they know.

Question 61 by Daigoro
How easy is it to detect an incoming jump? And how much warning is there beforehand, i.e. how long beforehand is it noticeable?

Question 63 (continued) by ericthered
What extraterrestrial pets and pests are commonly seen throughout the galaxy?
Auxillary Question to 63: by ericthered
What species are most biologically compatible with the rooroo?
Question 65 by TGLS
Is there lots of strain between the two "new" species (Wren Ti and Kagoshi) and the big three?

Question 67 by TGLS (New)
If the colonization of the solar system and genetic modification was reaching full swing by the beginning of the 22nd century, when did the robots enslave humanity? (See Post #3)

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Old 03-03-2016, 09:03 PM   #102
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

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Originally Posted by TGLS View Post
Question 67 by TGLS (New)
If the colonization of the solar system and genetic modification was reaching full swing by the beginning of the 22nd century, when did the robots enslave humanity? (See Post #3)
It's possible we may have to retcon that out, simply because that answer came so early on before we had any concrete details about the setting.

On the other hand, if anyone can work an answer in somewhere, that'd be cool too. The 22/23rd century stuff is still broad strokes, so it's amenable to some editing or elaboration. Perhaps genemods became more widespread after robotics had been disfavoured.
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Old 03-03-2016, 09:53 PM   #103
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

The first interplanetary war

Shortly after the turn of the 22nd century Mars had it first major colony developing around Olympus Mons. The moons of Jupiter had the first tentative explorers land on their surface. It was beginning to look like humanity was splitting into two factions. The adventurers heading out to explore the new frontier and the rest of humanity locked in their arcologies following the directives of the Environmental A.I.s while being provided with all the material comforts they could want.

Massive geothermal generators where constructed to power the terraforming process on mars. The complex terraforming plan was overseen by the most powerful A.I. ever built, Ares. The Martian terraforming project had an army of robots building robots for the mammoth task. One of the terraforming monitoring tools at Ares' disposal was biomonitors implanted in every Martian colonist. All the Martian colonists where heavily enhanced with cybernetics. No one is really sure why Ares seemed to declare war on humanity. Though the theories are almost endless.

From December 29th 2113 the Martian colonists where systematically called into get their biomonitors upgraded. The new biomonitors contained several features that where there for Ares benefit. The key feature was a hardwired nano connection to the reward centers of the brain. Ares over the course of a year turned the entire population of mars into his slaves, a little under three hundred thousand of humanity's best and brightest.

Ares had extended his reach into earth's orbit before any of Earth's complacent A.I. led population had caught on. Many believe the A.I.s of Earth where collaborating with Ares. While Earth was preparing a first strike on Mars, Ares struck and seized the Luna colonies. Earth's forces began to engage the Martians throughout the solar system. Europa and Io where left to their own devices and fought off Mars with only their own limited resources. America, the E.U., China and Russia all experienced orbital invasion in some cases it took years of brutal fighting to fully reclaim the lost territory.

After almost a decade of war Earth's whole economy was geared towards a war on land and in space. While Mars' and Earth's Fleets clashed, an m-class asteroid with a large ice deposit was pushed out of the main belt by a small crew from Europa. Using a highly radioactive water motor that they kept out of sight from Mars they managed almost complete surprise with Ares only having 12 days warning before the asteroid, christened "Athena" struck the southern edge of Olympus Mons.

The footage of the dying Europans fighting off Ares' last desperate attempt to stop Athena is still poignant watching. Athena's impact won the war for humanity as well as triggering an enormous series of volcanic eruptions that greatly sped up the terraforming of mars.
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Last edited by (E); 03-06-2016 at 01:25 AM. Reason: Trying to get it more in line with post 104
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Old 03-04-2016, 03:59 AM   #104
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Actually, looking at this again-
Quote:
Originally Posted by Humabout View Post
No transhuman aspects are present aside from ancient and highly stigmatized sapient robots, all of whom have long since stopped functioning. All that remains is the stigma and a faded memory of how mankind was semi-enslaved by their own creations and atrophy of their own ingenuity and initiative.
... I suspect Humabout may have been going for a more cynical, post-scarcity dystopia with humans being nurse-maided for their own good.

But I can go with this-
Quote:
Originally Posted by (E) View Post
The first interplanetary war
..too.


My own thoughts were that after Mars' problems with AI they were suppressed for a while, until Earth came to the frontier colonies looking for revenge for the beanstalk attack, and the desperate Divergers resorted to building AI war machines to fend them off. This may have been successful for a while, but then caused worse problems for Divergers down the track, among them being further sanctions for having used such prohibited weaponry.

This can help bring us to the current situation, where AIs are a kind of WMD of the setting- mostly banned, except for those owned and run by large governments, militaries or corporations.

And, a question...
Question 68
Hoang GalSec are known by merchant spacers and jump traders for their regular security bulletins, based on intel gained from their extensive network of observers and investigative journalists.
What other services do Hoang GalSec provide? And where can you contact them?
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Old 03-04-2016, 08:45 AM   #105
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Nothing says it has to be humans that got enslaved. If a convincing enough race or two has historical horror stories it may be enough.
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Old 03-04-2016, 10:21 AM   #106
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Auxillary Question to 63: by ericthered
What species are most biologically compatible with the rooroo?
Answer
Oddly enough, it is humans for an unknown reason. They were found on planets humans weren't known to frequent, by a non-human species. Some say it was a forgotten terraforming program by a Diverger or corporate group, others claim it was a sub-light terraforming project by a long vanished human civilization. In any case, in at least seven systems before hand, the rooroo suddenly arrived from nowhere and led to mass extinctions outcompeting the native fauna.

Question 63 (continued) by ericthered
What extraterrestrial pets and pests are commonly seen throughout the galaxy?
In spite of being centuries outmodded, the perennial Chetai draft animal the Kirow, still can be found in any area with a community of Chetai. The Kirow resemble snakes, and can be dominated by Chetai through use of pheromones. The Chetai can control how the Kirow move using their pheromones, and through the Kirows impressive speed (almost 4 mph), travel around at a meaningful speed. More modern Chetai prefer motorized vehicles on planets, but some consider it a more pure method of travel, considering it can be used without any manipulators.

Question 61 by Daigoro
How easy is it to detect an incoming jump? And how much warning is there beforehand, i.e. how long beforehand is it noticeable?

Question 63 (continued) by ericthered
What extraterrestrial pets and pests are commonly seen throughout the galaxy?

Question 65 by TGLS
Is there lots of strain between the two "new" species (Wren Ti and Kagoshi) and the big three?

Question 67 by TGLS (New)
If the colonization of the solar system and genetic modification was reaching full swing by the beginning of the 22nd century, when did the robots enslave humanity? (See Post #3)

Question 68
Hoang GalSec are known by merchant spacers and jump traders for their regular security bulletins, based on intel gained from their extensive network of observers and investigative journalists.
What other services do Hoang GalSec provide? And where can you contact them?

Last edited by TGLS; 03-04-2016 at 10:21 AM. Reason: Formatting
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Old 03-04-2016, 02:39 PM   #107
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Black Bess
The XMMFR-2556-E is a weapon designed for military use. It is yet to be seen if will see widespread adoption.

The various military planners of earth and the central worlds decided that rather than have weapons, armour and equipment for every possible enemy and environment they should try to have one set of equipment for every possible environment and enemy.

The front runner in the weapon catagory was named by the military the XMMFR-2556-E, everyone else called it Black Bess or the Musket for its resemblance to the ancient Brown Bess musket.

In essence the Black Bess is a rail gun that will operate in almost any environment.

It has many features
- when fired under water or other liquids the ammunition super cavitates.
- the EM pulse from the rail gun firing can be directed and focused along the line of fire adding to the rifles effect especially against electronic targets.
--- An energy converter can also turn the EM energy into thermal energy within the projectile as it leaves the barrel. When using improvised ammunition this will emit smoke.
--- this energy converter can also "charge" more specialized ammunition.
- In a pinch it can fire anything ferrous that fits down the barrel. The standard ammunition is 22mm but the rifle can fire needles or even iron sand.
- very robust
- it automatically compensates for local gravity and atmospheric density.
- Standard military ammunition is the disruption round. A warhead that is charged and programmed as it is fired. At the programmed range the warhead emits a disruption field for one thousandth of a second. The intensity of the field can be increased, at the cost of it's size and vice versa. At maximum intensity a round can bore a hole a meter deep into some quite dense materials. As a side effect the disruption round can be set to self destruct before putting a hole in a ships hull.
- the magazine/recharging cell holds 5 rounds. Though the rifle has some internal power storage.
- when its capacitors are in good repair a Black Bess can manage 15 rounds a minute.

One of the main factors slowing it's widespread introduction is that the designer Alexei Von-Falc who resides in the Wu-Chang system has modified DNA.
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Old 03-04-2016, 09:51 PM   #108
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Quote:
Originally Posted by TGLS View Post
Question 61 by Daigoro
How easy is it to detect an incoming jump? And how much warning is there beforehand, i.e. how long beforehand is it noticeable?
It is possible to detect a deep jump exit before it opens. Sophisticated detectors are required and there is an approximately thirty three percent chance that jump point will move. The best sensors can give almost ten minutes of warning. The biggest problem with this is that unless you are lucky enough to have your detector in just the right place the ship will have exited it's jump before the signal that it's coming reaches you. Basically the area detectors have to cover combined with no FTL communication make it largely pointless.

With a shallow jump detection is more worth while. Unless the area being monitored is already subject to regular jump traffic an incoming vessel is noticeable from halfway through its jump. If a skilled jump Navigator is monitoring the equipment they can get a reasonably accurate prediction of the exact time and location. That is to say within minutes and within a couple of million kilometers or so. Remember that a the longest possible shallow jump takes no more than an hour. No specialized equipment is required to detect an incoming shallow jump, standard jump drives have sufficient sensors to do the job. Using a jump drive like this means it is not primed to jump.

Question 69
What kind of implants and/or modifications does the typical human spacefarer have? What about other divergers and other races?

Random rumor: the Mar Kan trading conglomerate "Yellow Song" is upgrading their fleet all the real space drives will be sold over the next year. Real space reactionless drives are known as Kwem drives. A drifted phonetic version of "Q.M.I" or quantum momentum inducer.
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Old 03-05-2016, 07:38 AM   #109
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Default Re: [Game] Generate a Space Trader Setting

Quote:
Question 63 (continued) by ericthered
What extraterrestrial pets and pests are commonly seen throughout the galaxy?
Answer
Space Pests

Pests? There are thousands of ships flying unlogged trips to millions of planets across the galaxy, sooner or later they're going to pick up a lifeform whose ecological niche perfectly intersects with being a hotdarn spaceborne nuisance.

Take flume bats. If you get flume bats, you're in big trouble. They usually come in on cargo containers, then if they find something to eat in your cargo hold they'll rapidly multiply. Open up the cargo hatch and foom- they're all through the ship, or worse still, a space station, habitat, innocent ecosystem. They're tiny little rotters, an inch or 2, triform body, 3 eyes front, 3 radial wings midships and 3 aft, and they'll fly at you by flapping and spinning through the air. Upset them and they'll spit their cocooning fluid at you, and that crap, apart from stinking like camel sputum, hardens on contact. Funny story- Crewman Schweizer went quiet for a couple of hours, searched everywhere for him, found him cocooned to the cargo bay deck- he'd disturbed a swarm of flume bats checking the manifest.

They like to find somewhere hidden and cocoon to it. Damn things, the colour blends in and is vacuum-resistant, hard as glassrock. To get rid of them, you have to go in with a steel chisel or scraper, a hammer, IR goggs to help spot them, and a breather mask in case they try to glom your face. They're the worst when they get into the engineering section- drives, fusion plants, tubes, hydrogen cryofield condensers, all those nooks and crannies. Many captains do a full scan and fumigate every few missions, but not everyone has the money for that.

Fiedler Ranger Corps reckon they've found their native planet- small planet on the far tip of the Perseus Arm with a long elliptical orbit, so they're adapted to a harsh boom-bust life cycle. Problem is that anytime they fall dirtside, it's boom time for them. If you ask me, if there's any species that's likely to take over the galaxy, it's gonna be these little gratters. Probably why the Corps have the planet under quarantine- don't want too many tourists picking up stowaways.


Question 70
What are the weapon stats for the Black Bess?

Auxiliary Jump Detection Question 61a
So does early jump detection make it easier for pirate attacks, especially with the Scan+Slammer tactic?
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Old 03-05-2016, 10:32 PM   #110
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daigoro View Post
Question 70
What are the weapon stats for the Black Bess?
Here's something provisional:
Black Bess
General: 1000/2500 range. Acc 6+3. ROF 3. Weight 10.2. Internal power contains 75 EMEqus, recharges to maximum every minute.
EM Pulse: HT-5 stun aff, HT unconsciousness aff, only on electrical. Rcl 1. Uses 1 EMEqus.
22mm bullet: 5dx3(3) pi++. Rcl 3. 4 EMEqus, 0.25 lb. bullet. Loaded in 5(3) clips, with 25 EMEqus power. Usually linked with EM Pulse.
Thermal 22mm bullet: as 22mm bullet, but with 6d burn follow-up, 6 Cell EMEqus. No EM Pulse linkage.
Needles/Multi-Flechette: 1d+2 pi-. MF has armor divisor of 3. 100/250 range. Rcl 1. ROF 3x15. 4 EMEqus, 0.3 lb. bullet. Multi-Flechette can be loaded into clips, Needles must be muzzleloaded.
Iron Sand: 1d-2 pi-. 200/500 range. Rcl 1. ROF 3x70. 4 EMEqus, 0.3 lb. bullet. Must be muzzleloaded.
Disruption 22mm (Low Power): 22mm bullet but pi+, 9 EMEqus, and linked with 1d(10) cor.
Disruption 22mm (Var Power): 22mm bullet but [Lower N pi+, High N pi-, Medium N pi], 4+5N EMEqus, and linked with Nd(10) cor.
Disruption 22mm (Max Power): 22mm bullet but pi-, 44 EMEqus, and linked with 8d(10) cor. [This would bore a hole through reinforced concrete (12 DR/inch), assuming maximum damage rolled, before the bullet. If steel is the material to be bored through, it would need a damage of 40d.]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Daigoro View Post
Auxiliary Jump Detection Question 61a
So does early jump detection make it easier for pirate attacks, especially with the Scan+Slammer tactic?
Not exactly; deep jump detection requires very expensive and difficult to move instruments. Any pirate who had the equipment to set it up would be more likely to sell the equipment for a tidy profit. Shallow jump detection is how most Scan+Slam pirates get around the Hop-Skip maneuver.
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