Heroica: Glory Amongst The Stars - General Discussion

[Endgame]

On 6/8/2021 at 2:14 AM, Kintobor said:

Let's build characters who don't accidentally wind up being incredibly distance relatives this time, okay?

Hey, that wasn't a planned thing. The fact that undead exist in this universe tempts to reprise Cyber Sorrow, but... Nah.

In terms of canon-ness of Mission Zero, I'm with WBD on this one. The events as you saw them (minus maybe the part with Lord Metatron at the end... although nobody 'saw' that) generally happened, but I would keep mentions of it relatively vague. I wouldn't go a-speculatin' about what Ophaniel Jezero's deal is, for example, because I don't know what Jezero's deal is, and I don't know if I'm ever gonna figure it out. I hope to get back into Mission Master-ing one day, but I've started a new job, so... we shall see.

I ought to have my character introduced by this evening.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Endgame

[Waterbrick Down]

4 hours ago, samurai-turtle said:

I feel like I answered @Classic_Spaceman question. That he (or she) was probably not going to get much out of the "cyborg". The only thing I am hinting at it wasn't working alone. 

Mostly what I was going for is a background story for my character. (Witch I just told some more of). And I liked the idea of a street fight breaking into the "bar" it usually seems to go the other way, a fight in the "bar" spills out into the street. What is a story (or tall tail) if not quasi adventure? Alright I won't fight you on that. So no capital ships smashing into the space station (not that I have that planned at any point). 

Besides I am starting to get the idea that if some of you don't like the idea. You will just scream "it is not cannon".  And then part of wants to say I will show you a cannon... 

I think how you handled it is exactly what I had in mind. The point about quasi adventures was more, I'd prefer folks don't bring in multiple NPC's to interact with/go on adventures with, in the hall thread itself. If you'd like to write personal fiction for your character and what they do outside of their time in the hall or outside of missions that's ok, but the hall thread isn't really the place for it. Your character can certainly tell other characters in the hall what they did in their time away, but writing lots of detailed stories occurring in real time in the hall thread itself doesn't really allow for other players to interact with what your creating. The hall thread is really for what happens in the hall, not what characters did down at the docks or blocks away or at their personal apartment. Not that you can't write that down somewhere else, we'd just prefer to role-play with you instead of just read how you role-played with yourself. 

10 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

Could we have a section devoted to the unique foods and beverages of the universe? I ask, since between the number of references to foods/drinks, the fact that one of our PCs is a chef, and my own personal interest in food, the culinary lore of the game is going to expand quickly! I would like a place to describe things in more detail (outside of RP), and that can facilitate a degree of continuity. 

 I'm not too keen on creating a section quite yet, we're a little early for hammering any sort of details like that down. Again, we don't need a Wookiepedia of everything in the game.  Plus, leaving it loose allows for other players to creatively develop their own unique culinary additions without having to feel constrained by the "canon" foods. If characters are really interested I'd imagine the players will be keeping an eye on other player's dialog and it feels so much more valued when another player reference's your creation because they read your previous posts rather than just referenced a library/wiki article. See Flaming Gumdrops from Heroica 1.0 for example. 

13 hours ago, Kintobor said:

I based Zaria's character concept around the concept of "everyone's cool mom", but I'm also totally cool if Valesia and Zaria are "everyone's cool aunts".

 We may have inadvertently created the same character concept, though I was honestly going more for southern diner counter worker who listens to people's problems and makes a mean gumbo.

[Duvors]

10 hours ago, Classic_Spaceman said:

Could we have a section devoted to the unique foods and beverages of the universe? I ask, since between the number of references to foods/drinks, the fact that one of our PCs is a chef, and my own personal interest in food, the culinary lore of the game is going to expand quickly! I would like a place to describe things in more detail (outside of RP), and that can facilitate a degree of continuity. 

The foods of this universe are very peripheral to the need-to-know category that main library entries are intended for. If a player wants to write a 'common dishes' entry they're free to do so, but that's 'soft cannon' that no-one is obliged to adhere to. Really, they're just words on a screen - 'fluff' if you will.

4 hours ago, samurai-turtle said:

Besides I am starting to get the idea that if some of you don't like the idea. You will just scream "it is not cannon".  And then part of wants to say I will show you a cannon... 

I personally enjoyed it, but my character isn't present to interact with the scene.

[Kintobor]

31 minutes ago, Waterbrick Down said:

 We may have inadvertently created the same character concept, though I was honestly going more for southern diner counter worker who listens to people's problems and makes a mean gumbo.

I think they're different enough once you get past the "everyone's cool mom" aspect. It's pretty clear Zaria and Valesia have had pretty different experiences growing up.

[Duvors]

Library - Provisional Nation Entry

Liberty Begets Prosperity

General Overview

Spoiler

  Rather than being a single nation, the League of Independent Planets is a loose confederation of smaller nations joined in a 'free association'.  Formed primarily from various Republics, Democracies, and Constitutional Monarchies, the League has been pervaded since its founding by an ethos of individual liberty, and seeks to spread that ethos throughout known space by whatsoever means necessary.  How free the nation truly is is a matter for debate however, as the largest founding nations and powerful multinational corporations hold outsize influence in the Grand Assembly.
  It was just two decades ago the League and its allies fought a major war against it's largest rival, the Pluravvian Empire.  The Five-Year War, as it would later be known, would become the defining event in modern astropolitics.  From the first many members of the League were against the war- sentiments that only grew as the tide turned against them.  But, unexpectedly, a reprieve came when the Pluravvian advance suddenly ground to a halt.  While there were those who wished to press this sudden advantage, the anti-war faction finally won out- especially once the Empire offered to sign a treaty with the League and end the war.  This treaty would become known as the Drandora Accords, and it soon grew from a treaty to end the war to a document to permanently secure peace in the Arm.  Following these negotiations however, over a third of the League's members chose to withdraw from the body, stating that the League's pursuit of such a violent, destructive conflict was unacceptable and that they no longer wished to remain associated with it.
  Now, with the League's Bicentennial fast approaching, they find themselves in an uncertain position.  The League is economically prosperous but politically divided, it's armies humiliated but still influential, it's members united even though many seats in the Chamber of the Grand Assembly remain unoccupied.  The League is in an era of growth, but many wonder how long the good times can last.

 

Government

Spoiler

  The central legislature of the League is a unicameral parliamentary body known as the Grand Assembly.  Directly elected from League member states in proportion to population, the Assembly is supposedly the highest level of League government.  They are responsible for managing foreign relations and drafting inter-member legislation that does not fall under the purview of more specialized bodies- which is very little in practice.  They also maintain the 'power of the purse', the legal authority to regulate League finance, which they have often used as leverage over other bodies in the League even when denied more explicit means of regulation or oversight.  The Leader of the Assembly, known as the Prime Minister, is selected from its members via sortition- a process some claim is designed to undermine the power of the Assembly, while others say it preserves the equality of its members.
  The next two bodies of the League government are the Unified High Command (UHC) and the Economic Oversight Committee (EOC).  Both share the same structure- members are appointed directly by sub-League governments to a fixed number of seats divided equally between those permanently assigned to the main founding nations and seats that cycle between the other League members every five years.  It is these bodies that possess the most power in League government, though they still require the Assembly's approval to enact any legislation.  They do however have the power of veto over any legislation that impinges their respective areas of concern.
 The UHC is responsible for coordinating between the various national militaries and intelligence agencies of the League, as well as operating a small fleet of warships donated by member states- in practice most of those warships are unofficially commissioned by the UHC beforehand- and the so-called 'New Model Army' comprised of volunteers from across the League.  Their duties normally consist of border patrols and pirate hunting, but in times of war they become the logistical center of one of the most diverse militaries in the Arm.
  The EOC on the other hand are responsible for the League's internal commercial activity.  In charge of the regulations on corporations, labor unions, customs, and civilian transportation throughout the League, the EOC is the beating heart of the bloodstream of League commerce.  They work closely with sub-League governments to ensure economic prosperity, and operate a number of think-tanks to devise more efficient methods of securing economic growth.
  In recent years both of these bodies have come under fire- the UHC for it's mishandling of the Five-Year War and perceived jingoism, the EOC for being overly favorable to rich corporate lobbies, and both for being effectively dominated by the interests of the founding nations- with their detractors wishing to devolve more power to the elected legislature.
 There have been occasional attempts to establish similar bodies to coordinate police forces and scientific research, but with the former now covered by the ITA and the latter not being very popular to begin with this is not likely to occur.

 

Society

Spoiler

  Most people would say that the League is a pretty good place to live.  While this is true, it's not all there is to the story.  The League has no single official language, no proscribed cultures, and no overarching structure enforcing cultural conformity.  As a result, while there has been a degree of homogenization through sheer proximity, most League members have maintained their individual customs without much difficulty.  The largest cities and space-habitats of the League, on the other hand, are true melting pots.  The streets are lined with signs in hundreds of languages, and the sounds of hundreds more fills the air- whether they originated in the League or not.  Legally speaking citizens are guaranteed the rights of freedom of speech, of worship, of equality before the law, and of private ownership.  This is not to say that the League is a utopia- far from it.  Access to health services, anti-poverty measures, and the sanctity of personal privacy are all things that vary wildly across the League's members, something the richest members of society have been known to abuse to their advantage.
  Indeed the richest members of League society have an undue influence on League politics, with the pride of place going to the largest international corporations.  Their influence is felt in government policy, their presence reflected by the many advertisements lining the city streets.  Many times have high-ranking members of these organizations been accused of major financial crimes, only for the charges to be quietly dropped, or investigation stymied by the lack of large-scale coordination between the various national police forces.  The latter issue is only just beginning to be rectified by the existence of the Space Police, though time will tell how effective they really are.
  One enduring stain upon the League's history is that, although accession to the League has always been a voluntary process, in the period prior to it's foundation many of the states that would go on to join it engaged in what can only be described as imperialism, on their own planet or others.  The forcible subjugation of other peoples has ended since the founding of the League, and many of the formerly-conquered have gained independence, but not all have.  There are still those who feel they are in a state of subjugation - despite League-wide laws against discrimination.  After all, just because laws exist to ban something does not prevent it from happening, or change the fact that it has happened in the past.
  Politically the League's population is divided between several major factions.  Firstly there are the Prosperatists, an anti-war, pro-trade faction that currently forms the majority in the Assembly.  They believe wholeheartedly that peaceful interactions, cultural and political, between different peoples inevitably leads to economic growth and the creation of a peaceful consensus between rival groups, pointing to the League as an example.  They also believe that the role of the League is simply to maintain it's current structure and allow it's members to govern themselves as they see fit, though they also believe in maintaining individual rights.  However they have been criticized by their opponents for having an overly romantic view of the League's 'consensus' that doesn't match with reality, and for promoting policies favorable to large corporations instead of smaller businesses or individual workers.
  Next largest are the Consolidationists, who share their anti-war stance the Prosperatists but are otherwise very different. For one thing they are much more firmly anti-UHC and EOC, arguing that they have far too much power that should be devolved to the Assembly.  Another talking point of theirs is the goal of peacefully readmitting former League members who seceded following the war.  They're also distinctly against the current structure of the League, arguing for a more centralized, 'federal' model with proper departments and government services.  This is not so popular amongst people who take the founding myth of the League to heart, or amongst people who like how their particular nation is being run and worry that a federalized League will actually be less responsive to their needs.  It doesn't help that the Consolidationists seem to be more than a little enamored of the government structure of the Pluravvian Empire, particularly it's more technocratic elements.
  The third largest faction in the Assembly are less of a single party and more of a coalition of smaller parties with broadly similar goals.  A generally anti-corporate pro-worker faction divided on the issue of League centralization and exactly which branch of the economy is the most important.  There are the Statists who comprise the 'intellectual' faction who are in favor of centralization, the Unionists who represent industrial workers and wish for decentralization along 'cooperative' lines, and the Agrarians who represent agricultural workers and are more concerned with reforming the existing League than making sweeping changes.  The lack of internal cohesion has lead to a new divide forming between those who sympathize with the Pluravvian rebels and those who found the bloodshed impossible to support, with only the Agrarians being firmly in the latter camp.  The rest of the parties in the Assembly are minor interest groups (regional, cultural, and religious).
  One political faction that has no major party to represent them are those who feel betrayed by the secessionists, those who feel robbed of victory against the Empire, and who wish to reunite the League into a single unitary body.  This 'New Force' as they call themselves are starkly militaristic and believe in the idea of the League as a single state, a concept without historical basis.  Devoid of any clear policies they only seem unified by a desire to 'punish the traitors and smash the Empire'.
 Thankfully this brand of militaristic insanity is not very popular among the League's citizens.
 May it stay that way.

 

History

Spoiler

 The modern League had its beginnings in two very disparate organizations.  One was the Hesperian Pact, a military alliance comprised the victors of the short but destructive War of the Seven Colonies.  The other was the Demosthenes Customs Union, a loosely associated trading bloc that straggled across it's namesake star-cluster.  Whilst these organizations were founded separately, they shared many members between them, and the external allies of one were often also the economic partners of the other.  Over the years of their separate existence the two organizations grew both in size and their entanglement with one another.  Thus it was that when, approximately two-hundred years ago, they and their external partners decided to unify their various agreements and compacts into a single structure it was less a sudden development and more an official acknowledgement of this process.  The date of this agreement would later become celebrated throughout the League as 'Foundation Day', a symbol of unity for all it's members.
  There was a reason for this unification besides simple convenience though, or even a desire to project influence.  For on the horizon, just beyond the edge of the League's influence, lay the mighty Pluravvian Empire.  For centuries the Empire had been slowly but steadily expanding in both territory and influence, and it was thought by the League's founders that the unification would allow them to better resist Imperial influence than if they stayed apart.  This worked better than expected, as the newly founded League proved highly appealing to star-nations that wished to avoid falling into the Empire's sphere.  As more and more of these nations joined, the League slowly became more hostile towards Pluravvia, all while slowly growing until they had become the Empire's greatest rival.
  This state of tension came to a head twenty years ago, when a small League flotilla on pirate-hunting operations in neutral territory was accused of violating Pluravvian space.  The League naturally responded with the assertion that no such violation had occurred, with the discussions grinding to a halt as both sides refused to give an inch.  The situation deteriorated further when the League flotilla in question were fired on by an Imperial squadron sent to 'escort' them from the area.  This would ultimately prove the final straw, with the Empire officially declaring war two days later.
  The Five-Year War, as it would later be known, would prove to be the most destructive war in League history.  Although the first year of the conflict went well for the League, with the aging Imperial fleets pushed back across all fronts, they soon found themselves overextended and boxed in by the Empire's superior strategic capabilities.  Slowly but certainly the League's offensive collapsed in on itself, until it became a rout following the disastrous Battle of Van Ferde when the center of the League's line, led by Admiral Enwillion Calferion, was outmaneuvered and destroyed by a much smaller force.  By the fourth year of the war the League had not only been pushed out of Imperial space, but significant portions of the League were occupied by invading Pluravvian forces.  By this point the constant string of defeats had soured much of the population's opinions towards the war, and already there were calls to end it not only from the electorate, but also significant portions of the Assembly.
  Towards the end of the war's fourth year however the Pluravvian advance began to slow, with several ships being recalled to Imperial space throughout to deal with internal unrest.  It was early in the fifth and final year of the conflict that the Imperial advance not only stopped, but their forces began a rapid withdrawal.  The reason for this soon became apparent, as news reached the League that a major rebellion had erupted in the Empire.  While there were those who advocated striking back while the Empire was distracted it was clear by this point that the League was in no shape to continue the fight.  When Pluravvia offered not only a ceasefire, but an opportunity to come to terms and end the war once and for all, the Assembly ultimately leapt at the chance.  The negotiations to outline the treaty were held at Port Drandora, a neutral space-station well away from the territory of either nation, and would eventually result in the creation of the Drandora Accords.  The terms of the treaty were defined both by the Empire's need to secure military assistance to defeat the revolution, the League's need to secure economic aid to rebuild, and their various allies' and trading partners' desires for a more stable and prosperous Arm.  By the time the Accords were signed, both major combatants had committed to mutual military assistance and membership in the newly-formed ITA.
 Though the war was over, the political turmoil it engendered continued to persist in the Assembly.  Some of the League's members had felt little enthusiasm for the war even before it began to turn against them, with this number only growing as it dragged on.  Others found themselves objecting to the fact that they were now obliged to assist the Empire in crushing the revolution, feeling a greater degree of solidarity with the republican rebels than with the empire they'd just been fighting.  And of course there were those who simply resented having to shoulder an oversized (to them) part of the burden of paying for reconstruction efforts.
  When the first one of these states succeeded the immediate response was sheer confusion.  When the second followed them the reaction was more subdued.  By the time the seventh left the announcement was greeted with an air of resignation.  While nearly all of these newly re-independent states willingly and rapidly reaffirmed their commitment to -and continued membership of- the ITA, they made it clear that they no longer felt like the League was looking out for their best interests.  This left a feeling of resentment in the minds of those who remained, who felt that the secessionists wished to reap all the benefits of the Drandora Accords while shirking the costs of remaining with the League.  Indeed, the sudden withdrawal of over a third of the League's members seriously hampered reconstruction efforts in damaged territories, leaving the people there especially hostile to the secessionists.  Unfortunately for the League the right of any member to withdraw was enshrined in it's founding documents, meaning they had no legal recourse to prevent it save bureaucratic delaying actions.  There were a few who suggested leveraging military force to make them reconsider, but at this point the remaining leadership was unwilling to risk another war so soon.  And so they were left with no recourse but to sit back and watch as the League was diminished.
  As an unexpected consequence of this, the League was forced to seek greater cooperation with the Empire in rebuilding the territories they had damaged in the first place.  This, along with the pivotal role played by League Expeditionary Forces in defeating the rebellion, proved only the first step towards even closer cooperation between the two powers.  By the time reconstruction was completed and the rebellion was destroyed the two had become firm partners, to the point that the League's recently-established 'New Model Army' is modeled heavily on the Imperial Armed Forces- to the point of possessing near identical officer training programs.
 Nowadays the League is richer and more influential than ever before, though at a terrible cost.  Whether this can last however, remains to be seen.

 

The Stars are our Birthright

General Overview

Spoiler

  Ruled from the planet Hi-Pluvvon, from the Imperial capitol of Strivvec-An, The Empire of Pluravvia and Her Most Loyal Protectorates is the largest (and some would say most prestigious) contiguous nation in known space, it's influence and power only rivaled by the League of Independent Planets.  For centuries the various castes that make up the Empire have been lead by the guiding hand of a procession of divinely-mandated Empresses and Emperors - with only the occasional disasters and wars to disrupt things.  Not all citizens were satisfied with this arrangement however, and over time discontent would slowly grow amongst the lower castes.
  Twenty years ago, Pluravvia and her client states were driven to defend themselves against League aggression in what would become known as the Five-Year War.  It was partway through this war that the tensions boiling beneath the surface of Pluravvian society would erupt in revolution.  No longer capable of fighting a major war, Pluravvia made peace with the League at the now-famous Drandora Accords, turning the full might of it's armies to crush the uprising.
 Today the Empire is at peace. The economy is strong, the rebels are (mostly) pacified, and their former enemies -the League- are now firm allies.  Still, issues persist.  Underground societies plot against the throne, criminal elements are on the rise, and the Margraves have become dangerously independent. Still, Pluravvia has faced worse before, and the Empire, like a phoenix, has always been born anew.

 

Government

Spoiler

  The highest authority in the Empire, the Anointed Absolute Ruler of all Pluravvia, is of course Empress Zimaar herself.  Ascending to the throne less than a month after the end of the Five-Year War she has yet to face any major challenges in her reign, and after the chaos of the war it is hoped this peaceful course will continue.  According to Imperial doctrine the Empress (or Emperor as the case my be) rules on behalf of the gods by divine mandate, and the monarch is merely an interpreter of their will.  In practice the gods aren't very communicative and the Imperial Throne is left to rule as it sees fit.  The succession is determined by appointment, with the appointee usually being chosen either by the monarch or someone with influence over them.  The succession is so important to the Empire that civil wars have occasionally been fought over it.
  Under the Empress's direct authority are the Imperial Censors.  Led by an appointed Seneschal (who is also the designated regent) the Censors are charged with rooting out corruption in government. They possess absolute authority to dismiss, arrest, or execute officials they find guilty of abusing their position.  Although officially they are only answerable to the Empress many of the more unscrupulous members take bribes either to ignore corruption or find it where it does not exist.  Also under the Empress's command are the Imperial Guard, who are separate from the national armed forces and posses their own versions of its many branches.  Their most infamous soldiers are the Resplendent Guard, the Empress's personal bodyguard and (occasional) secret police.
  The Empire's executive branch is the Imperial Chancellery.  Led by a Chancellor appointed by the throne, the Chancellery is divided into six ministries whose leading ministers are also appointed by the Empress.  These appointed officials together form the Cabinet, which administrates the ministries and proposes legislation to the Convocation.  The ministries and their responsibilities are:
  The Ministry of Personnel - In charge of promotions, demotions, and appointments of Chancellery officials, as well as the granting of titles.  They also direct the Imperial Education Service and the Propaganda Bureau.
  The Ministry of Revenue - Responsible for collecting taxes, minting money, conducting the census, and overseeing agriculture, customs and tariffs, the Border Security Bureau, and the Revenue Crime Investigation Bureau.
  The Ministry of Ceremonies - Oversees the official religious rites of the nation, maintains a register of licensed priests, monitors protectorates, and conducts foreign relations.
  The Ministry of War - Controls the national armed forces.  This includes army, navy, aerospace, intelligence, and gendarmerie branches - as well as the postal service.  They are also responsible for the appointment of Margraves.
  The Ministry of Justice - Administers the judiciary and the penal system.  They also run the Public Force - the national police - and the Public Safety Bureau - the Chancellery's secret police.
  The Ministry of Works - Maintains public infrastructure - public transportation, hospitals, orphanages, firefighters, waste disposal - as well as the official weights and measures.
 The national legislature of the Empire is the Convocation, a unicameral body divided between a small number of appointed seats representing the Margrave-ruled military districts and the feudal sub-kingdoms of the Empire, and a larger number of elected members representing the Departments that form the Empire's main administrative divisions.  In addition to passing legislature and possessing power of the purse, the Convocation also holds some power over the Chancellery.  They can recommend appointments to the Empress, conduct interpellations of officials, and force members to resign via votes of confidence.  The General Secretary, an official selected by the Convocation to act as it's head, is responsible for maintaining order in it's proceedings.
  Following the recent war and subsequent rebellion the number of Margraves - appointed rulers of special 'Military Districts' deemed too unruly or depopulated to be governed normally - has risen following the creation of new military districts in areas that rose in rebellion against the Throne.  This has caused the number of Convocation seats held by Margraves to rise proportionately, while diminishing the number assigned to elected officials.  While not enough to form a majority, this expansion to their numbers has turned them from a archaic oddity into a faction that must be appeased - to the chagrin of many.
  It is important to note that, although officially possessing absolute power, the Throne's actual authority is often more dependent on the cooperation of the Convocation and the Chancellery than anyone would like to admit.  Indeed throughout the Empire's history the are many examples of Empresses and Emperors who were effectively held hostage to the whims of one or more powerful figures in either body due to either personal obligation, emotional manipulation, the threat of force, or the ruler simply lacking political clout or a desire to rule.

 

Society

Spoiler

  Caste is everything in Pluravvia, it determines what work can you do, what education you receive, where you can live and even who you can marry.  Founded along with the Empire, the system supposedly divides society based on the necessity and moral value of each occupation.  In practice, while it once allowed much more social mobility, the system has solidified into an extremely rigid hierarchy based mainly on ancestral decent.
  The pinnacle of this hierarchy is the Throne and the Empress (or Emperor) who occupies it.  A being without equal (even should they choose to marry their consort remains a lower caste), their role as intermediary of the gods gives them absolute authority over the Empire and its inhabitants.
  Immediately beneath Her is the Priesthood, a category that includes everyone from the poorest mendicant to the richest pontiff.  While the Empire has no state religion, all members of this caste are required to profess the Throne's divine mandate.  However despite their pride of place the priests do not rule the Empire (though some may dabble via proxy), indeed they're barred from worldly politics altogether.  Government instead falls to the next lowest castes, who are commonly believed to possess the training and education needed for the task.
  These castes are the Aristocracy (ranging from high nobility to the servants of other aristocrats) and the Merchants (who can be anyone from shopkeepers to the heads of powerful family businesses).  These two castes have the right to vote, to hold government office, and to assume commissioned rank in the military.  However there are some differences between them.
  Aristocrats are the old blood nobility of the state, a warrior-scholar-bureaucrat class where each individual is expected to be able to command troops, administer territory, and be skilled in the arts.  Not all attain this height, but this cult of Artaan, 'excellence', is the defining feature of the caste.  The merchants were, by contrast, once the lowest caste. Concerned with the buying and selling goods other people had made, they were once held as little better than criminals.  However the total monopoly on the filthy business of commerce granted to them eventually allowed many merchants to acquire immense power and wealth.  Most of this wealth is concentrated in the Raikaan, massive family-owned cartels each controlling their own banks, trading companies, and criminal organizations.  The power the merchants had amassed threatened to destabilize the system, and they were eventually raised to the same status as the aristocrats- creating a cultural divide in the upper class that still persists to this day.
  The lowest castes are, in descending order, the Peasants and the Artisans.  The peasants are the agricultural laborers and resource extractors of the Empire, granted marginally higher status due to their role in providing the nation with the raw material it needs to survive.  Socially the peasants themselves range all the way from rich landlord farmers to poor migrant workers, with many stages of wealth in between.  Artisans are the lower of the two, tasked with turning the raw produce of the peasants into finished goods.  While many are still self-employed most nowadays are factory workers with little hope of advancement.
  It is these two castes, the most populous in the Empire, that formed the main body of the rebellion.  Though minor uprisings against unjust local nobles have occurred in the past, and every caste has fought in wars to overthrow one Emperor for another, fears of damnation for going against the true divinely-appointed monarch and centuries of cultural conditioning saying that the aristocrats are indeed superior had previously stymied any thought of removing the Emperors entirely.  However extended contact with the League, and events such as the Elevation, have somewhat undermined the legitimacy of those ideas.  They have prompted such questions as 'Why are things this way? Is this really the best way of running things? Is the Emperor really appointed by the gods?'.  Although the rebellion is crushed, these ideas remain.
  In the Convocation there are two major factions, which do not necessarily fall along the Merchant-Aristocrat divide.  The first, who were in power before the war, are the Reformists.  While they share some of the populist ideals of the peasant revolutionaries they are considerably more moderate, wishing to gradually abolish the caste system, extend the franchise to the lower castes, and grant language and cultural rights to suppressed national identities while keeping the same economic structure.  They are also extremely militaristic and pro-Empress in their ideals, wishing to preserve the power of the throne and establish a Pluravvian hegemony in the Arm.  Following the war they have largely been abandoned by their supporters due to the perception that they are responsible for a pointless, bloody war and subsequent rebellion.  The other faction, the one currently in power, are the Rationalists.  A distinctly anti-war, pro-commercial faction, they swept into power on their promises to reform the caste system to ensure there would never be another rebellion.  How exactly they plan to accomplish this is uncertain, but the lower castes are not particularly enthusiastic about these promises.
  While not an official policy of theirs, it's a well-circulated rumor that they wish to establish a written constitution and restrict the powers of the Empress- and placing most of it in their hands.  These rumors obviously have no substance to them though, the Empire just fought a civil war to maintain Imperial authority, and it's not like they'd be able to go against the Empress so blatantly.
  Right?

 

History

Spoiler

  Prior to the founding of the Empire, the planet of Hi-Pluvvon was occupied solely by scattered polities of the Ytaxxi, a species that was notable for it's degree of sexual dimorphism and little else.  Divided as they were, they proved unable to form any lasting alliance on even a near-planetary scale.  Unlike some of their closest neighbors, who took advantage of this situation to prey on the relatively weak Ytaxxi.  This state of affairs remained unchanged until the arrival of an alien species known as 'The Benefactors'.
  These Benefactors, as they called themselves, possessed technologies and magics far beyond anything the Ytaxxi had encountered before.  The official histories state that, upon first encountering the Ytaxxi and seeing their sorry state, the Benefactors took pity on them and came to their aid.  They taught them their science and magic, they built new infrastructure on a planetary scale, they brought an end to the thousands of years of division that had plagued the Ytaxxi, they created the cultural institutions that would maintain stability in the new state, and - finally - they genetically modified the leaders of the Ytaxxi to enhance their 'superiority'.
  Having completed their work, the Benefactors informed the Ytaxxi that they were no longer needed and, with a final blessing, left for parts unknown.  Whereupon the Ytaxxi, armed now with the gifts of the Benefactors, turned upon the neighboring species that had once exploited them, subjugating them under the rule of Arvvir, the first Empress.
  Following its initial expansion, the Empire would enter into an extended period of 'organic' growth, more focused on the cultivation of tributary states than on military conquest (though they were never afraid to dabble in that area too).  Most of the Empire's accessions during this period were nominally peaceful, with local aristocratic traditions being fairly easily absorbed into the Empire's feudal structure.  Indeed, aside from the occasional campaign to 'pacify' the neighboring O'Kor'uk, most of the armed conflicts the Empire suffered during this period were internal in origin.  This was a side effect of the aforesaid feudal structure, as while the reliance on local leadership made the administration of such a large swathe of space that much easier, the private armies raised and the bureaucrats appointed by these local rulers were often more loyal to them than to the Throne.  The most disastrous of these internecine conflicts were the succession wars, fought whenever the heir to the Throne had a claim weak enough that someone else could challenge it.
  Two-Hundred years ago one such war, known as The War of the Six Pretenders, would bring an end to the feudal system following the ascension of its victor - Emperor Calaxxis - to the throne.  Seeing the destruction wreaked upon the Empire and wishing to prevent anyone from challenging his rule or that of his successors he set about dismantling the feudal fiefs and replacing them with the Convocation, the Chancellery, and the Departments - with only his most important supporters being spared the loss of power and territory.
 However not all was well, as at the same time in a different part of the Arm a group of disparate states, fearing the continued growth of the Empire's power, united to form what would become Pluravvia's greatest rival - The League of Independent Planets.  At first the Empire was not particularly concerned with the existence of this upstart coalition somewhere far from their borders, but as the League grew in members and economic clout the Empire was increasingly forced to treat it as an equal.  This proved rather contentious within Pluravvia itself, as it implied that Imperial society wasn't the supreme form of civilization.  But not all Pluravvia's troubles were external.
  Since the Empire's founding the merchants had been considered the lowest caste, known for consorting with criminals and being little better than thieves themselves.  But as time went on more and more wealth became concentrated in the merchant caste, especially in the hereditary Raikaan cartels.  By the time of the League's founding the merchants were so wealthy that they surpassed many aristocrats, who often found themselves in dire need of loans only the merchants could provide.  It was a hundred-and-twenty-four years ago that Emperor Tharvirmontilasis, having suppressed any dissenting voices in the Convocation, decided to 'solve' this problem by granting the entire Merchant caste a status equal to the aristocracy.  This 'Elevation of the Merchants' was the defining event of its generation, overturning the existing political establishment of the Empire and leaving aftershocks still felt today.
  Externally however the relations between Pluravvia and the League only continued to worsen, until - inevitably - they reached the breaking point.  The event that set off what would become known as the Five-Year War happened just twenty years ago when a League flotilla on pirate hunting operations became suspected of violating Pluravvian territorial void.  The League was quick to deny any such violation had occurred, but refused to order their ships to withdraw and soon discussions ground to a halt.  The situation would only deteriorate further when the League flotilla fired upon the squadron sent to escort them away from Imperial space.  This would prove the final straw, with the Convocation voting unanimously to declare war with the blessing of Emperor Haltaarzim.  Two days later, the most violent war in living memory began.
  At first things did not go well for the Empire, despite having more materiel and troops at their disposal the severely outdated Imperial Navy and Aerospace forces were decisively trounced by the League's modern navy at every turn.  However even as the League's fleets penetrated further into Pluravvian territory they found themselves unprepared for an extended campaign.  Undersupplied and outnumbered, the war's fortunes began to turn against them, while the Empire's destroyed ships were replaced by new, modern ones that could fight their enemies on an equal footing.  Finally, in the war's second year, things would turn fully in the Empire's favor following the victorious Battle of Van Ferde when a squadron led by Commodore Hypaxxus VIIIth outmaneuvered and destroyed the fleet spearheading the League advance.  By the end of the fourth year of fighting not only had the League been pushed out of Imperial space, but the Empire had occupied many of the League's planets.
  It was then, however, that disaster struck.  For years discontent had been growing amongst the lower castes and ethnic minorities of the Empire, with the Elevation only serving to make them more aware of how few rights they had.  Now, with the war claiming more lives every day and the peasants and artisans forced to take ever more of the burden of fueling the Imperial war machine, they had had enough.
 The first riots had occurred the previous year and had been subsequently crushed with little effort.  The rulers of the Empire were not particularly concerned, such events had occurred throughout the Empire's history and had usually come to nought.  However as the months dragged on and the riots became larger and more frequent they began to fear for their safety, even withdrawing troops from the frontlines to protect centers of the Imperial war effort.  Finally, near the end of the fourth year of the war, an uprising occurred on Hi-Pluvvon itself.  Though it was swiftly put down, news of it spread throughout the Empire in spite of the Chancellery's best attempts to prevent it.  Soon the Empire was up in arms and local garrisons were swiftly overwhelmed throughout it's territories.
  Almost at once the Imperial advance ground to a halt, entire fleets and planetary garrisons were recalled to the Empire to put down the revolt, and by the third month the League had regained all their lost planets without firing a single shot.  The rebels had not been idle in the meantime either.  Though many isolated uprisings were quickly snuffed out, the largest groups had been able to consolidate control over vast swathes of territory and had built up a sizable arsenal.  The loyalist forces were in desperate need of allies and- in an ironic twist- decided to petition their former enemies, the League of Independent Planets.
 To their shock the League proved more than willing to meet with them to discuss terms, and after a short period of deliberations they chose Port Drandora to be the site of negotiations.  In what would become known as the Drandora Accords, the League committed itself to providing mutual military aid in return for the creation of a unified international body for economic regulation and policing unclaimed space - the ITA.  With their former enemies now on their side the Empire possessed an advantage that it proceeded to leverage with ruthless efficiency.  Within a year of the signing of the Drandora Accords the rebellion was decisively crushed.
  Emperor Haltaarzim would not live to see this however, dying of a stroke shortly after the Drandora Accords were signed.  It would be his niece - his chosen successor - who would oversee the end of the rebellion and the reconstruction of the Empire.  Under her rule the Empire has strengthened ties with the League and the ITA, creating the most formidable power bloc in known space.  The economic recovery programs pursued under her rule have played a major role in the Empire's rebuilding - and allowed them to aid the League with their own reconstruction.
 How much of this is actually attributable to her though is a matter of debate, as many of these programs were devised by General Secretary Haskarinvospertensis with no input from her.  As to the former rebels, despite being pacified and divided their initial grievances have not been addressed.  Instead they are now ruled over by a series of new Margraves with essentially unchallenged power over their districts.
  The Empire's future, once so bright, is now uncertain - one can only hope the shades of night do not close on it forever.

 

For the Senate and the People

This entry is currently incomplete. We thank you for your patience.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Duvors

[The Legonater]

6 hours ago, samurai-turtle said:

Besides I am starting to get the idea that if some of you don't like the idea. You will just scream "it is not cannon".  And then part of wants to say I will show you a cannon... 

2 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

I think how you handled it is exactly what I had in mind. The point about quasi adventures was more, I'd prefer folks don't bring in multiple NPC's to interact with/go on adventures with, in the hall thread itself. If you'd like to write personal fiction for your character and what they do outside of their time in the hall or outside of missions that's ok, but the hall thread isn't really the place for it. Your character can certainly tell other characters in the hall what they did in their time away, but writing lots of detailed stories occurring in real time in the hall thread itself doesn't really allow for other players to interact with what your creating. The hall thread is really for what happens in the hall, not what characters did down at the docks or blocks away or at their personal apartment. Not that you can't write that down somewhere else, we'd just prefer to role-play with you instead of just read how you role-played with yourself. 

It's kind of akin to watching a cutscene. It's difficult to engage with a block of text, especially when it doesn't seem to directly impact any of the other characters. For what it's worth, I thought everyone did a decent job in trying to engage with the brawl in our conversation, but if there's something more we could have done @samurai-turtle I'd be interested to hear what you were thinking!

 

[Waterbrick Down]

1 hour ago, Duvors said:

Library - Provisional Nation Entry

Added, thanks. :)

[samurai-turtle]

4 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

I think how you handled it is exactly what I had in mind. The point about quasi adventures was more, I'd prefer folks don't bring in multiple NPC's to interact with/go on adventures with, in the hall thread itself. If you'd like to write personal fiction for your character and what they do outside of their time in the hall or outside of missions that's ok, but the hall thread isn't really the place for it. Your character can certainly tell other characters in the hall what they did in their time away, but writing lots of detailed stories occurring in real time in the hall thread itself doesn't really allow for other players to interact with what your creating. The hall thread is really for what happens in the hall, not what characters did down at the docks or blocks away or at their personal apartment. Not that you can't write that down somewhere else, we'd just prefer to role-play with you instead of just read how you role-played with yourself. 

(I think another problem is I was trying to add stuff for a future quest no matter how little it might be...I think). 

 

2 hours ago, The Legonater said:

It's kind of akin to watching a cutscene. It's difficult to engage with a block of text, especially when it doesn't seem to directly impact any of the other characters. For what it's worth, I thought everyone did a decent job in trying to engage with the brawl in our conversation, but if there's something more we could have done @samurai-turtle I'd be interested to hear what you were thinking!

I think part of the problem is I had this idea in my head for some time and I just did to get it out of the way. As for what I expected everyone else to do I really did not have anything in mind. It seem like they did want they want to do here. Plus, I think it is better than saying " I walked in the doorway to join Heroica." That sounds a little boring. Maybe part of me sometimes feel I don't get the attention I want sometimes (like some social media star). Then their is times I feel like I am a cat knocking everything off the table. Besides it can be hard to tell what people want some time especially when you (or me in this case) feels like an outsider and probably never will feel like fitting in an crowd.  

4 hours ago, Duvors said:

I personally enjoyed it, but my character isn't present to interact with the scene.

It does seem like every one is fine with the "cut scene". (Witch is not the dumbest way to induce a character.)

As for my "cannon" comment I will see the term used in other media (or fan) spots. And I get a little annoyed with "what is cannon" and "what is not cannon". So sorry about being a "something" about it. 

[Waterbrick Down]

@Endgame Please don't forget to put your character's stats in the statistical registry at some point. :)

[The Legonater]

Only a few days in and there's a philosophical debate in the Hall, this is the Heroica I remember. 

[Kintobor]

42 minutes ago, The Legonater said:

Only a few days in and there's a philosophical debate in the Hall, this is the Heroica I remember. 

"Heh, you're here to roleplay and get enjoy a light combat system? Pathetic. The real Heroica players stay in the hall thread and argue about philosophy and politics while staying in character."

[samurai-turtle]

@Waterbrick Down Did you ever put the station map on this site? I was looking for it here and couldn't find it. 

[Kintobor]

21 minutes ago, samurai-turtle said:

@Waterbrick Down Did you ever put the station map on this site? I was looking for it here and couldn't find it. 

I believe it's in the Library thread.

 

[samurai-turtle]

18 minutes ago, Kintobor said:

I believe it's in the Library thread.

I must be blind. I swore I looked there earlier and didn't see it. Maybe I was to impatient and zipped past the thing.  

[Waterbrick Down]

2 hours ago, samurai-turtle said:

I must be blind. I swore I looked there earlier and didn't see it. Maybe I was to impatient and zipped past the thing.  

Yep it’s in the library under Locations of Interest.

[Khorne]

I've been checking up on the forum every now and then and was delighted to see Heroica: GATS to have launched! So cool! It all looks very neat and well-thought out. There's a lot of information and background to digest, but I love the worldbuilding so far. The idea of science fiction fantasy is still somewhat alien to me (no pun intended), but the style looks really interesting and unique.

I'm itching to come up with a character and join in once more . I don't think I still have the time to invest like I used to, though. I hope that a lot of new blood finds its way here to give Heroica 2.0 a bright future like its predecessor!

[Waterbrick Down]

36 minutes ago, Khorne said:

I've been checking up on the forum every now and then and was delighted to see Heroica: GATS to have launched! So cool! It all looks very neat and well-thought out. There's a lot of information and background to digest, but I love the worldbuilding so far. The idea of science fiction fantasy is still somewhat alien to me (no pun intended), but the style looks really interesting and unique.

I'm itching to come up with a character and join in once more . I don't think I still have the time to invest like I used to, though. I hope that a lot of new blood finds its way here to give Heroica 2.0 a bright future like its predecessor!

Hi Khorne, great to hear from you.  You're always welcome to join and participate as little or as much as you want. Also a big thanks to you for the logo and rules page formats. They were super helpful when drafting things up.

[Khorne]

20 minutes ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Hi Khorne, great to hear from you.  You're always welcome to join and participate as little or as much as you want. Also a big thanks to you for the logo and rules page formats. They were super helpful when drafting things up.

Thanks! No problem! If I can help with other stuff graphics-wise, feel free to reach out and I'll see if I can help.

I'm not sure if this is the right place or if I need to post this in the Rules & FAQ thread, but I don't really understand the different weapon types. Perhaps I glanced over it, but what's the gaming difference between Kinetic, Energy and Elemental weapons? Does one do more damage vs a certain type of enemy or how does it work?

Also, Energy weapons are probably lasers and the like, while Kinetic are the more "traditional" weapons and Elemental ones are the fantasy magic weapons; did I get that right?

[Duvors]

7 minutes ago, Khorne said:

Thanks! No problem! If I can help with other stuff graphics-wise, feel free to reach out and I'll see if I can help.

I'm not sure if this is the right place or if I need to post this in the Rules & FAQ thread, but I don't really understand the different weapon types. Perhaps I glanced over it, but what's the gaming difference between Kinetic, Energy and Elemental weapons? Does one do more damage vs a certain type of enemy or how does it work?

Also, Energy weapons are probably lasers and the like, while Kinetic are the more "traditional" weapons and Elemental ones are the fantasy magic weapons; did I get that right?

The different weapon types have to do with how armor works. Each weapon type has a corresponding armor type, if a person's armor is the same type as the weapon attacking them they gain a flat bonus to their defense roll equal to the armor's quality.

And, while I was hesitant to ask this before you brought it up, it would be nice to have some diagrams for the Pluravvian and League governments (I believe you did the one for Oleon in BotBS and I found it very impressive).

And, sorry to leave this till last, I'm glad to see you again.

[Waterbrick Down]

23 minutes ago, Khorne said:

Thanks! No problem! If I can help with other stuff graphics-wise, feel free to reach out and I'll see if I can help.

I'm not sure if this is the right place or if I need to post this in the Rules & FAQ thread, but I don't really understand the different weapon types. Perhaps I glanced over it, but what's the gaming difference between Kinetic, Energy and Elemental weapons? Does one do more damage vs a certain type of enemy or how does it work?

Also, Energy weapons are probably lasers and the like, while Kinetic are the more "traditional" weapons and Elemental ones are the fantasy magic weapons; did I get that right?

Duvors is right regarding the matching of the weapon types with the armor types. There is no longer just a set armor stat like Heroica 1.0, that way one player doesn't become impossible to damage compared to his fellow players.

The typing is correct, the FAQ has example weapons for each category, but the general breakdown is:
Kinetic is anything that physically impacts something, whether it be a bullet, or a slug, or a hunk of metal/wood/claws/fists/etc.
Energy is any form, whether it be radiation, laser, sonic, photon, etc. there could be some overlap with elemental
Elemental is your basic fire, wind, lightning, ice, water, etc.

The actual aesthetic is totally up to the player and while we'd like for their to be consistency, you could easily have one player call their heat phaser an elemental weapon and another an elemental weapon.

[Khorne]

22 minutes ago, Duvors said:

The different weapon types have to do with how armor works. Each weapon type has a corresponding armor type, if a person's armor is the same type as the weapon attacking them they gain a flat bonus to their defense roll equal to the armor's quality.

And, while I was hesitant to ask this before you brought it up, it would be nice to have some diagrams for the Pluravvian and League governments (I believe you did the one for Oleon in BotBS and I found it very impressive).

And, sorry to leave this till last, I'm glad to see you again.

Great, thanks for the information! I didn't really catch that in the Rules topic, but I maybe I just read over the explanation.

For the maps, you may send me a PM so we won't derail this thread.

11 minutes ago, Waterbrick Down said:

Duvors is right regarding the matching of the weapon types with the armor types. There is no longer just a set armor stat like Heroica 1.0, that way one player doesn't become impossible to damage compared to his fellow players.

The typing is correct, the FAQ has example weapons for each category, but the general breakdown is:
Kinetic is anything that physically impacts something, whether it be a bullet, or a slug, or a hunk of metal/wood/claws/fists/etc.
Energy is any form, whether it be radiation, laser, sonic, photon, etc. there could be some overlap with elemental
Elemental is your basic fire, wind, lightning, ice, water, etc.

The actual aesthetic is totally up to the player and while we'd like for their to be consistency, you could easily have one player call their heat phaser an elemental weapon and another an elemental weapon.

I also didn't see the examples in the FAQ/Rules topic, I must be going blind . Thanks for the explanation here!

[Waterbrick Down]

37 minutes ago, Khorne said:

Great, thanks for the information! I didn't really catch that in the Rules topic, but I maybe I just read over the explanation.

For the maps, you may send me a PM so we won't derail this thread.

I also didn't see the examples in the FAQ/Rules topic, I must be going blind . Thanks for the explanation here!

It's in one of the FAQ questions regarding weapons, but it was somewhat vague. I've updated it to call out more concrete examples. 

[Duvors]

@Waterbrick Down

A new question for the FAQ:

Q: How much 'fluff' do I have to read beforehand?

A: As much as we'd like to say 'none', that's unfortunately false. We recommend you read at least the Startravel and the Æthergates and Ætherspace entries in the Library. If you're playing an existing species, we recommend reading their entry in the Embassy, as even standard species (Elves, Dwarves, Humans) have some different assumptions here. If you want to incorporate AI into your character or their backstory, the Adamite entry in the same thread explains how the setting handles that.

[Duvors]

And I just found out that the customizable kit in the rules includes 'calbirated'. We can't catch a break can we?

 

Edit: "Standard Target Numbers Basd..." ^#$%&@! DAMMIT.

And the explanation of what Strength does has 'Knetic' and the Engineer kit has 'Elmental'.

Edit again: In Equipment, 'succssefully' In Essence of Glibness 'persuassion'.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Duvors

[Classic_Spaceman]

@Waterbrick Down: While we are making minor corrections; I noticed that the Training Center thread has the following text: "I’m currently assembling a training regime" - While 'regime' can actually be used here, I assume that this is a typo of 'regimen', as that is the more common word to use in this context.