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* EnemyCivilWar: The Balcrusian People's Republic is the site of an ongoing civil war between the government and the Balcrusian Freedom Front, the only survivor of an [[TheAlliance inital coalition]] of rebels that tried to overthrow the BPR in the 960s. The rest of them were [[DivideAndConquer driven apart and slaughtered]] by the Scimitars. The Freedom Front survives only because of private aid from various groups in the UGF.
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* EnemyCivilWar: The Balcrusian People's Republic is the site of an ongoing civil war between the government and the Balcrusian Freedom Front, the only survivor of an [[TheAlliance inital initial coalition]] of rebels that tried to overthrow the BPR in the 960s. The rest of them were [[DivideAndConquer driven apart and slaughtered]] by the Scimitars. The Freedom Front survives only because of private aid from various groups in the UGF.
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* HomeGuard: The UGN divides its forces into two sections. The defensive arm is the Sector Defense Fleets, which are further subdivided into numbered battlecruiser squadrons. The [=SDFs=] have two main jobs: fighting off border incursions by other governments, and fighting piracy.
** Its offensive arm is the First through Thirtieth Battle Groups, each of which consists of ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation in story, at least]]) around 200 capital ships led by an ''Apache''- or ''Aegis''-class [[TheMothership command ship]]. The player is assigned to the Seventh Battle Group in the UGN mission string.
** Its offensive arm is the First through Thirtieth Battle Groups, each of which consists of ([[GameplayAndStorySegregation in story, at least]]) around 200 capital ships led by an ''Apache''- or ''Aegis''-class [[TheMothership command ship]]. The player is assigned to the Seventh Battle Group in the UGN mission string.
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* TheMothership: A UGN command ship is the flagship of an offensive battle group, the ship upon which the admiral in command has his/her/its offices. They're also eight-kilometer [[TheBattlestar battlestars]] capable of razing planets and savaging entire fleets. They're not invincible, however: within the past century, two have been destroyed and several more heavily damaged.
** Subverted in that destroying a command ship won't cause the fleet to collapse. Command immediately devolves upon a slain admiral's highest-ranking inferior, usually the admiral in charge of one of the battle group's subdivisions. The chain of succession is prearranged.
** Subverted in that destroying a command ship won't cause the fleet to collapse. Command immediately devolves upon a slain admiral's highest-ranking inferior, usually the admiral in charge of one of the battle group's subdivisions. The chain of succession is prearranged.
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* PardonMyKlingon: "Ftava" and "yi'dan" in Anz'kaldic, from the web novella ''Justice By Any Means'' set in this universe. "Arzakh" in Axorian (both versions), which means roughly "one without honor".
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* WeComeInPeaceShootToKill: Subverted with the Varellavites. Somebody ''did'' get trigger-happy at first contact with the Milky Way Union, resulting in a month-long border war, but the diplomats managed to solve the problem.
** Played straight with the Axe-tails. [[spoiler:Two of the storylines eventually subvert it with the signing of a peace treaty.]]
** Played straight with the Axe-tails. [[spoiler:Two of the storylines eventually subvert it with the signing of a peace treaty.]]
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* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Subverted in two instances. The UGF's primary antagonist, the Axe-Tail Star Empire, actually doesn't fit the definition of TheEmpire: they're a fairly democratic ProudWarriorRace whose only real beef with the UGF (among one faction at least; there's also political and religious conflicts involved) is that their current borders contain systems that were part of the Axe-Tails' ancient empire before it collapsed. Which makes them ScaryDogmaticAliens, but not really an Evil Empire. That trope fits better with the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Balcrusian Peple's Republic]].
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* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Subverted in two instances. The UGF's primary antagonist, the Axe-Tail Star Empire, actually doesn't fit the definition of TheEmpire: they're a fairly democratic ProudWarriorRace [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Soldier Race]] whose only real beef with the UGF (among one faction at least; there's also political and religious conflicts involved) is that their current borders contain systems that were part of the Axe-Tails' ancient empire before it collapsed. Which makes them ScaryDogmaticAliens, but not really an Evil Empire. That trope fits better with the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Balcrusian Peple's Republic]].
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* ProudMerchantRace: The Klavarese go so far as to view war as an economic venture. [=StarSword=] says they're somewhat inspired by the more warlike Ferengi of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', crossed with the [[StarWars prequel-era Galactic Republic]].
* ProudWarriorRace: The Axe-tails, for whom honor in war is supreme. Kinda subverted, however, in that they don't disdain scientists and merchants: said roles are just fine if you have no aptitude for warfare. And their idea of honor isn't just warfare for its own sake, either.
* ProudWarriorRace: The Axe-tails, for whom honor in war is supreme. Kinda subverted, however, in that they don't disdain scientists and merchants: said roles are just fine if you have no aptitude for warfare. And their idea of honor isn't just warfare for its own sake, either.
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* ProudMerchantRace: The Klavarese go so far as to view war as an economic venture. [=StarSword=] says they're They're somewhat inspired by the more warlike Ferengi of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', crossed with the [[StarWars prequel-era Galactic Republic]].
*ProudWarriorRace: [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Soldier Race]]: The Axe-tails, for whom honor in war is supreme. Kinda subverted, however, in that they don't disdain scientists and merchants: said roles are just fine if you have no aptitude for warfare. And their idea of honor isn't just warfare for its own sake, either.either: they're pragmatic, not {{blood knight}}s, and their preferred tactic is to strike fast, hard, and ''first'', to cause a minimum of suffering to their opponent.
*
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* ForeverWar: The Galactic/Balcrusian border conflict has been going on for 101 years at this point, starting with the aforementioned annexation attempt of Creedmore.
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* AntiAir: Many planets are equipped with surface-to-orbit weapons. As are all military {{space station}}s.
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* MilitaryAcademy: The UGF has at least one [=MilAcad=] per sector. Sol Sector's is on Europa.
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** Galactic laser cannons actually aren't lasers. Instead they fire a particle beam excited by a laser.
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* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Played with. The Ganba mainly use mass drivers (of the coilgun variety) on their smaller ships due to the fact that their power requirements are somewhat lower than neutron beams, and Ganba power generation technology is exponentially weaker when reduced in size. Ganba mass drivers do slightly greater damage than Galactic laser cannons, but at the same time have a slightly lower rate of fire.
** Galactic assault cannons fire 12.7 mm depleted uranium slugs using chemical propellant. They're mainly used for ground attack, point defense, and for attacking ships once the shields go down (better at penetrating armor than shields).
** Galactic assault cannons fire 12.7 mm depleted uranium slugs using chemical propellant. They're mainly used for ground attack, point defense, and for attacking ships once the shields go down (better at penetrating armor than shields).
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* WeWillUseManualLaborInTheFuture: Justified or subverted, depending on the example. Galactic prison worlds use manual labor as a punishment; prisoners spend their days at such tasks as mining. A news item mentioning the longshoreman's union is a subversion: NamesTheSame, but these longshoremen are skilled workers who use such advanced tools as cranes and exoskeletons to load and unload ships, or operate robots that do it for them (depending on the spaceport).
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** The UGF's staple fighter, the SF-81A Black Knight, is based on the Sith Infiltrator from ''ThePhantomMenace'' with a little TIE fighter technology thrown in for good measure.
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*** The UGF's staple fighter, the SF-81A Black Knight, is based on the Sith Infiltrator from ''ThePhantomMenace'' with a little TIE fighter technology thrown in for good measure.
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* MilitaryAlphabet: The UGN uses the modern US version. The most obvious example is the science/military stations ringing [[NegativeSpaceWedgie the Rift]], 26 stations labeled Rift Station Alpha through Rift Station Zulu.
** Klavarese orbital defense stations use a Klavarese version.
** Klavarese orbital defense stations use a Klavarese version.
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* AerithAndBob: Humans of Auroran descent, mainly.
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* AerithAndBob: Humans Among humans, those of Auroran descent, mainly.descent are the Aeriths, while those of Federation descent are the Bobs (stretching "Bob" to include ''all'' Earth-origin names, not just English ones).
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* ArtificialGravity: Omnipresent, used for both the obvious and for matter/antimatter reaction confinement. The Balcrusians are even known to use it in weapons: the fusion beam constrains a thermonuclear explosion into a plasma blast, while the singularity torpedo creates a momentary black hole upon detonation.
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* ArtificialGravity: Omnipresent, used for both the obvious and for fusion and matter/antimatter reaction confinement. The Balcrusians are even known to use it in weapons: the fusion beam constrains a thermonuclear explosion into a plasma blast, while the singularity torpedo creates a momentary black hole upon detonation.
* BreakableWeapons: An Engine Cleanup improves your ship's engine performance for six months, after which you have to buy another. Cheap fusion and matter/antimatter reactors will wear out in the first case, and become an explosion waiting to happen in the second.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Chief petty officer variant at Rift Station Sierra, bleeped-out ClusterFBomb and all.
* ReassignedToAntarctica: Rift Station Mike, one of the space stations ringing [[NegativeSpaceWedgie the Rift]], is nicknamed "Rift Station Misfit" because since it has little strategic or scientific importance, it's become the Navy's favorite place to stick professionals "incapable of holding a regular posting, but not abnormal enough to get thrown into an institution." The dësc mentions examples like a lieutenant who only got his bars because [[UpperClassTwit his uncle's the leader of some minor race]], or a scientist [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} who insists on all of his meals being served with exactly three sprigs of parsley per side, with one extra in case of extra unobservable dimensions]].
** As far as "punishment assignments", the UGN prefers to send people to places that are either way the hell out-of-the-way like the Long Eye Observatory or the Horsehead Nebula, or to downright dangerous postings like the Balcrusian border.
** The Axe-tails' High Admiral Lord Valdor Kurrukh is a MilitaryMaverick with no taste or talent for politics. Butting heads with the Imperial court and admiralty once too often got his command reassigned to the Pasad'na System, which borders Galactic, Klavarese ''and'' Renegade space.
** As far as "punishment assignments", the UGN prefers to send people to places that are either way the hell out-of-the-way like the Long Eye Observatory or the Horsehead Nebula, or to downright dangerous postings like the Balcrusian border.
** The Axe-tails' High Admiral Lord Valdor Kurrukh is a MilitaryMaverick with no taste or talent for politics. Butting heads with the Imperial court and admiralty once too often got his command reassigned to the Pasad'na System, which borders Galactic, Klavarese ''and'' Renegade space.
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** The word "Axe-tail" is a translation of the Sathuan name for the species. The Axe-tails call themselves something that roughly transliterates as "Axor'khel'arukh" (which basically means "the people"), but there's a couple sounds in there that English doesn't possess.
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** The word "Axe-tail" is a translation of the Sathuan name for the species. The Axe-tails call themselves something that roughly transliterates as "Axor'khel'arukh" "Axor'arukh" (which basically means "the people"), but there's a couple sounds in there that English doesn't possess.
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** Rift Station Mike's unofficial mascot is [[{{MASH}} Corporal Klinger]], which is pretty impressive considering ''Series/{{MASH}}'' first aired over three thousand years ago.
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* AIIsACrapshoot / RobotWar: Milky Way Union explorers arrived in the Andromeda Galaxy through the first long-jump hypergate during a war between the Meridian Star Republic and an experimental fleet command AI called [=QRC-A51=], which [[ZerothLawRebellion got it into its head that the best way to protect the Republic was to control it]]. The Union helped them take it out (the UGF was formed from the two governments' merger shortly thereafter), but the Andromedans have had an understandable distaste for fully sapient AIs ever since.
** The constant border conflict between the UGF and the Balcrusian People's Republic can be seen as a RobotWar, since the Balcrusians bolster their forces with robotics (particularly unmanned drone starfighters) since they have a much lower population and reproductive rate.
** The constant border conflict between the UGF and the Balcrusian People's Republic can be seen as a RobotWar, since the Balcrusians bolster their forces with robotics (particularly unmanned drone starfighters) since they have a much lower population and reproductive rate.
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* CallARabbitASmeerp: The Klavar Republic Navy's rank structure. After walking the names through TranslationConvention, you get Learner (Cadet), Pilot (Ensign), Squadron Leader, Task Group Leader, Force Commander, Fleet Marshal, and Chief Marshal.
** The Axe-tail Fatbird shuttle is named after Axor Drek's surprisingly similar equivalent to the chicken.
** The Axe-tail Fatbird shuttle is named after Axor Drek's surprisingly similar equivalent to the chicken.
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* CallARabbitASmeerp: The Klavar Republic Navy's rank structure. After walking the names through TranslationConvention, you get Learner (Cadet), Pilot (Ensign), Squadron Leader, Task Group Leader, Force Commander, Fleet Marshal, and Chief Marshal.
**The Axe-tail Fatbird shuttle is named after Axor Drek's surprisingly similar equivalent to the chicken.
**
* FantasticRankSystem: The Klavar Republic Navy. After walking the names through TranslationConvention, you get Learner (Cadet equivalent), Pilot (Ensign), Squadron Leader, Task Group Leader, Force Commander, Fleet Marshal, and Chief Marshal.
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** The Axe-tails were originally going to be the [[StarCraft Protoss]], and retain some similarities such as a frigate that can cloak ships in formation with it, as well as a cloaking probe droid that can spot cloaked ships.
*** Likewise, the Klavarese started out as a [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Chiss]] {{expy}}, and retain similarities.
*** Likewise, the Klavarese started out as a [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Chiss]] {{expy}}, and retain similarities.
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** ''StarCraft'':
*** The Axe-tails were originally going to be the [[StarCraft Protoss]], and retain some similarities such as a frigate that can cloak ships in formation with it, as well as a cloaking probe droid that can spot cloakedships.
*** Likewise, the Klavarese started out as a [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Chiss]] {{expy}}, and retain similarities.ships.
*** The Axe-tails were originally going to be the [[StarCraft Protoss]], and retain some similarities such as a frigate that can cloak ships in formation with it, as well as a cloaking probe droid that can spot cloaked
*** Likewise, the Klavarese started out as a [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Chiss]] {{expy}}, and retain similarities.
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** ''StarWars'':
*** The Klavarese started out as a [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Chiss]] {{expy}}, and retain similarities.
*** The Kyrzakagalans are basically the Vagaari with the serial numbers filed off.
*** The Klavarese started out as a [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Chiss]] {{expy}}, and retain similarities.
*** The Kyrzakagalans are basically the Vagaari with the serial numbers filed off.
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* {{Antimatter}}: In the interval between ''Nova'' and ''EVN:UGF'', the scientific community mastered matter/antimatter reactors for large scale power generation. It now provides the bulk of the power for Galactic heavy capital ships.
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* BatmanGambit: After the BPR overthrew the Balcrusian Empire, it demanded that the also-newly formed (but much larger and more powerful) UGF hand over the planet, which was a major source of [[{{Unobtanium}} kanium]]. Most of the kanium had already been mined, however, so the newly formed and much larger UGF decided to flip 'em the bird with Operation Red Clover. Most of the UGN and several private shipping companies evacuated the planet's entire population (including Balcrusian citizens who settled it under a power-sharing agreement with the Empire) and destroyed any usable equipment. While they did this, the rest of the UGN led what was left of the Balcrusian People's Navy after the civil war and subsequent purges on a merry chase through the southern half of the BPR. By the time the Balcrusian Ruling Council managed to get word to their field commanders that they were being played, Creedmore was uninhabited.
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* BatmanGambit: BatmanGambit / BullyingADragon: After the BPR overthrew the Balcrusian Empire, it demanded that the also-newly formed (but much larger and more powerful) UGF hand over the planet, which was a major source of [[{{Unobtanium}} kanium]]. Most of the kanium had already been mined, however, so the newly formed and much larger UGF decided to flip 'em the bird with Operation Red Clover. Most of the UGN and several private shipping companies evacuated the planet's entire population (including Balcrusian citizens who settled it under a power-sharing agreement with the Empire) and destroyed any usable equipment. While they did this, the rest of the UGN led what was left of the Balcrusian People's Navy after the civil war and subsequent purges on a merry chase through the southern half of the BPR. By the time the Balcrusian Ruling Council managed to get word to their field commanders that they were being played, Creedmore was uninhabited.
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** The BullyingADragon part comes in when you think about a government that's the size of the Federation in original ''Nova'' demanding that a government about a dozen times larger hand over Creedmore. Can you say "hubris"?
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** The word "Axe-tail" is a translation of the Sathuan name for the species. The Axe-tails call themselves something that roughly transliterates as "Axor'khel'arukh" (which basically means "the people"), but there's a couple sounds in there that English doesn't possess.
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* TheUnpronounceable: Humans simply do not have the vocal structures necessary to reproduce Varellan words. The transliterations of their system and planet names range from "pretty close" to "a ''very'' rough approximation", and the UGF doesn't even bother trying to write their starship names down, favoring ReportingNames.
** Then there's species where half the communication is bodily tics, pheromones, or even just plain outside the range of human hearing.
** This trope is a two-way street, of course. There's several alien species that can't produce the sounds of Basic and/or Meridian either.
** Then there's species where half the communication is bodily tics, pheromones, or even just plain outside the range of human hearing.
** This trope is a two-way street, of course. There's several alien species that can't produce the sounds of Basic and/or Meridian either.
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* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The planet Vampyra, a Baticlearan colony, has a native humanoid species called Tse'kren that is nocturnal and feeds on blood. Humans have been known to call them vampires (and, having a taste for irony, the Tse'kren have taken the word as an AppropriatedAppellation), but the similarities end there. They evolved to be nocturnal because their preferred prey is asleep at night. Sunlight, silver, garlic and crosses have no effect on them, and, being an actual mammalian species, they reproduce sexually.
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* EnemyCivilWar: The Balcrusian People's Republic is the site of an ongoing civil war between the government and the Balcrusian Freedom Front, the only survivor of an [[TheAlliance inital coalition]] of rebels that tried to overthrow the BPR in the 960s. The rest of them were [[DivideAndConquer driven apart and slaughtered]] by the Scimitars. The Freedom Front survives only because of private aid from various groups in the UGF.
** The Ganbar Empire and Churgos Revolutionary Front are an example as well, though it's unclear at game start what the CRF actually wants.
** In the Varellavite Imperium, a former adviser to the Emperor who was forced out of power by the Masterminds founded a rebellion called the Gryphon's Children.
** The Ganbar Empire and Churgos Revolutionary Front are an example as well, though it's unclear at game start what the CRF actually wants.
** In the Varellavite Imperium, a former adviser to the Emperor who was forced out of power by the Masterminds founded a rebellion called the Gryphon's Children.
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** The First Axe-tail Empire started out conquering worlds, which they saw as bringing the gifts of the gods to more primitive cultures, and in truth they did some good, some bad (like the Roman Empire). They mutated into a truer version of TheEmpire as time went on and corruption set in.
*** Then the Axe-tails were overthrown and [[BalkanizeMe reduced to squabbling tribes]] in the War of Retribution, which brought the Holy Sathu Commonwealth into existence. Out of the frying pan, into the fire... The Commonwealth was eventually brought down by the addition of the Ganbar Empire to the Andromedan political stage, which led the Sathuans' vassals in overthrowing them. This led to the formation of the Meridian Star Republic.
* EnemyCivilWar: The Balcrusian People's Republic is the site of an ongoing civil war between the government and the Balcrusian Freedom Front, the only survivor of an [[TheAlliance inital coalition]] of rebels that tried to overthrow the BPR in the 960s. The rest of them were [[DivideAndConquer driven apart and slaughtered]] by the Scimitars. The Freedom Front survives only because of private aid from various groups in the UGF.
** The Ganbar Empire and Churgos Revolutionary Front are an example as well, though it's unclear at game start what the CRF actually wants.
** In the Varellavite Imperium, a former adviser to the Emperor who was forced out of power by the Masterminds founded a rebellion called the Gryphon's Children.
*** Then the Axe-tails were overthrown and [[BalkanizeMe reduced to squabbling tribes]] in the War of Retribution, which brought the Holy Sathu Commonwealth into existence. Out of the frying pan, into the fire... The Commonwealth was eventually brought down by the addition of the Ganbar Empire to the Andromedan political stage, which led the Sathuans' vassals in overthrowing them. This led to the formation of the Meridian Star Republic.
* EnemyCivilWar: The Balcrusian People's Republic is the site of an ongoing civil war between the government and the Balcrusian Freedom Front, the only survivor of an [[TheAlliance inital coalition]] of rebels that tried to overthrow the BPR in the 960s. The rest of them were [[DivideAndConquer driven apart and slaughtered]] by the Scimitars. The Freedom Front survives only because of private aid from various groups in the UGF.
** The Ganbar Empire and Churgos Revolutionary Front are an example as well, though it's unclear at game start what the CRF actually wants.
** In the Varellavite Imperium, a former adviser to the Emperor who was forced out of power by the Masterminds founded a rebellion called the Gryphon's Children.
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* CommonTongue: Two main ones. In the Milky Way, Basic is a trade language derived from English (humans being the most numerous space-capable species in that galaxy). In Andromeda, Meridian is the trade language, and evolved from Sathuan (them being the first people to conquer most of the galaxy).
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* {{Uncoffee}}: Averted. Standard coffee is one of Earth's major exports. It even shows up in Earth's commodities trading dialog.
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** The Balcrusian People's Republic fits best with the "Nazi aliens" type, although they're actually more like the Soviet Union.
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** Two independent worlds on the eastern fringe of the Milky Way, even further east than the Balcrusians, have signed a mutual defense pact against the BPR.
* BatmanGambit: After the BPR overthrew the Balcrusian Empire, it demanded that the also-newly formed (but much larger and more powerful) UGF hand over the planet, which was a major source of [[{{Unobtanium}} kanium]]. Most of the kanium had already been mined, however, so the newly formed and much larger UGF decided to flip 'em the bird with Operation Red Clover. Most of the UGN and several private shipping companies evacuated the planet's entire population (including Balcrusian citizens who settled it under a power-sharing agreement with the Empire) and destroyed any usable equipment. While they did this, the rest of the UGN led what was left of the Balcrusian People's Navy after the civil war and subsequent purges on a merry chase through the southern half of the BPR. By the time the Balcrusian Ruling Council managed to get word to their field commanders that they were being played, Creedmore was uninhabited.
** Its success was mainly due to three factors. One, the Balcrusian high command didn't really care about the planet itself; they just wanted to show their larger neighbor they were tough. Two, the Balcrusian military, particularly the Navy's officer corps, was in tatters from the prior civil war and subsequent purges and defections. It was running at about a third of its modern strength, and most of the remaining ships were cleaning up the last of the Imperialists. Three, the UGN was jamming their long-range communications, forcing the Ruling Council to send a courier once they realized the UGN was leading them on a wild goose chase.
** Its success was mainly due to three factors. One, the Balcrusian high command didn't really care about the planet itself; they just wanted to show their larger neighbor they were tough. Two, the Balcrusian military, particularly the Navy's officer corps, was in tatters from the prior civil war and subsequent purges and defections. It was running at about a third of its modern strength, and most of the remaining ships were cleaning up the last of the Imperialists. Three, the UGN was jamming their long-range communications, forcing the Ruling Council to send a courier once they realized the UGN was leading them on a wild goose chase.
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* BinarySuns: The Galactic capital world Luminous has an elliptical orbit around two stars that orbit the Lagrangian point between them.
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* BinarySuns: The Galactic capital world Luminous has an elliptical orbit around two stars that orbit the Lagrangian point between them. Appropriately enough, the system is called Twin Stars.
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* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: If you're willing to look at the Balcrusian People's Republic as Cthulhu, then the planet Creedmore is an example. After the BPR overthrew the Balcrusian Empire, it demanded that the UGF hand over the planet, which was a major source of [[{{Unobtanium}} kanium]]. Most of the kanium had already been mined, however, so the newly formed and much larger UGF decided to flip 'em the bird with Operation Red Clover. Most of the UGN and several private shipping companies evacuated the planet's entire population (including Balcrusian citizens who settled it under a power-sharing agreement with the Empire) and destroyed any usable equipment. While they did this, the rest of the UGN led what was left of the Balcrusian People's Navy after the civil war and subsequent purges on a merry chase through the southern half of the BPR. By the time the Balcrusian Ruling Council managed to get word to their field commanders that they were being played, Creedmore was uninhabited.
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** Operation Red Clover (see DidYouJustScamCthulhu above) is a reference to an episode of ''Series/TheUnit''.
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** Operation Red Clover (see DidYouJustScamCthulhu BatmanGambit above) is a reference to an episode of ''Series/TheUnit''.
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* AerithAndBob: Humans of Auroran descent, mainly.
** Overlapping with FamousFamousFictional, United Galactic Navy battlecruisers are named for heroes and historical figures, including nonhuman ones. This means we get cruisers named UGNS ''Abraham Lincoln'', ''Nelson Mandela'', and ''Claus von Stauffenberg''[[hottip:*:the guy who tried to briefcase-bomb Adolf Hitler in 1945]], alongside ships named ''Vodai Kalan'', ''Keladu'chai'', and ''Ul'kan'sheenee''.
** Overlapping with FamousFamousFictional, United Galactic Navy battlecruisers are named for heroes and historical figures, including nonhuman ones. This means we get cruisers named UGNS ''Abraham Lincoln'', ''Nelson Mandela'', and ''Claus von Stauffenberg''[[hottip:*:the guy who tried to briefcase-bomb Adolf Hitler in 1945]], alongside ships named ''Vodai Kalan'', ''Keladu'chai'', and ''Ul'kan'sheenee''.
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* FrickinLaserBeams: Axe-tail photon beams.
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* FrickinLaserBeams: Axe-tail photon beams.beams, Ganba neutron beams. Varellavite heat rays (infrared lasers meant to melt the target).
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* PointDefenseless: Mostly averted. Most capital ships have point defenses of some sort. Galactic and Axe-tail warships mount [[MoreDakka rapid-fire cannons]], the Varellavites use [[BeamSpam automated heat rays]], and the Balcrusians fight fire with fire with an anti-missile system.
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* PunctuationShaker: Axorian and Klavarese, though you've got to remember they've been [[TranslationConvention transliterated to English]]. With Axorian (Common or High), apostrophes indicate a non-standard syllabic break ''a la'' transliterating Japanese to English.
** For Klavarese, you'd have to ask TimothyZahn. The Klavarese [[ShoutOut get a lot of stuff from]] [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse the Chiss]], including the language.
** For Klavarese, you'd have to ask TimothyZahn. The Klavarese [[ShoutOut get a lot of stuff from]] [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse the Chiss]], including the language.
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* ArtificialGravity: Omnipresent, used for both the obvious and for matter/antimatter reaction confinement. The Balcrusians are even known to use it in weapons: the fusion beam constrains a thermonuclear explosion into a plasma blast, while the singularity torpedo creates a momentary black hole upon detonation.
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*** The Balcrusian fusion beam is based on the [[StarCraft Terran Battlecruiser's Yamato cannon]].
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** [[spoiler:The Starbuster, an ancient [[StarKilling supernova weapon]] in the Andromeda Galaxy, destroys stars by jumping part of its mass into hyperspace, disrupting the equilibrium between nuclear fusion and gravity. This the technique used when [[Series/StargateSG1 Samantha Carter]] [[RememberWhenYouBlewUpASun blew up a sun]], only they used a stargate instead. And the name is a reference to TheCorellianTrilogy.]]
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* DidNotDoTheResearch: An InUniverse example in the backstory. The planet Vuran in Marathon Sector was supposed to be colonized by the United States and Canada, but the scouts somehow missed the fact that it was inhabited by a nearly FTL-capable civilization. When the American colony ship exited hyperspace, it nearly {{telefrag}}ged the Vurani prototype in a very-large-number-to-one accident.
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* FailedASpotCheck: In the backstory, the planet Vuran in Marathon Sector was supposed to be colonized by the United States and Canada, but the scouts somehow missed the fact that it was inhabited by a nearly FTL-capable civilization. When the American colony ship exited hyperspace, it nearly {{telefrag}}ged the Vurani prototype in a very-large-number-to-one accident.
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* SpaceIsAnOcean: Partial use. Most
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* SpaceIsAnOcean: Partial use. Most Nautical terminology is used, as are wet-navy logistical and command structures. But space itself is not an ocean. [[{{Two-DSpace}} Space is 2D]] and has [[SpaceFriction friction]] only because of the EVN engine, and [[GameplayAndStorySegregation narratives]] avert it. Ships have a recognizable top and bottom for simplicity of design (and because many are designed to work both in atmosphere and in space). SpaceClouds only hide the ship if your sensors can't penetrate the interference (which virtually any military-grade sensor suite is fully capable of). And ion storms don't toss ships around, they just play merry hob with the electrics.
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* DummiedOut: The game files contain additional governments that aren't in the game, such as a {{Sufficiently Advanced|Aliens}} {{Psychic|Powers}} alien race called the Conclave, and a triad of warring governments intended to be far east of Axe-tail space. Also the UGF's colonies in the Magellanic Clouds, when [=StarSword=] realized the universe was [[WideOpenSandbox insanely huge]] already.
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* DummiedOut: The game files contain additional governments that aren't in the game, such as a {{Sufficiently Advanced|Aliens}} {{Psychic|Powers}} {{psychic|Powers}} alien race called the Conclave, and a triad of warring governments intended to be far east of Axe-tail space. Also the UGF's colonies in the Magellanic Clouds, when [=StarSword=] realized the universe was [[WideOpenSandbox insanely huge]] already.
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* GoodColorsEvilColors: Played with. [[TheFederation Galactic]] ships are blue and gray, [[PeopleRepublicOfTyranny Balcrusian]] ships use lots of blood red, [[TheRepublic Klavarese]] ships are purple (for decadence), [[TheKingdom Varellavites]] are brown, and Axe-tails (good guy antagonists) are yellow. Then the Ganba (borderline TheEmpire) go and subvert it with gray, green and yellow.
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* GoodColorsEvilColors: Played with. [[TheFederation Galactic]] ships are blue and gray, [[PeopleRepublicOfTyranny [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Balcrusian]] ships use lots of blood red, [[TheRepublic Klavarese]] ships are purple (for decadence), [[TheKingdom Varellavites]] are brown, and Axe-tails (good guy antagonists) are yellow. Then the Ganba (borderline TheEmpire) go and subvert it with gray, green and yellow.
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''EV Nova: United Galactic Federation'' is an in-progress [[GameMod total conversion]] for ''EscapeVelocity Nova''. Written mainly by [[Tropers/StarSword StarSword]], it is basically a StandardSciFiSetting with some subversions and aversions thrown in.
The story is a thousand-years-later sequel to ''Nova's'' Rebel questline wherein the Bureau was overthrown and the Federation made peace with the Aurorans and Polaris in 1190 NC.
** [[http://www.freewebs.com/starsword Official EVN:UGF Website]]
** [[http://fav.me/d2m4to5 Official timeline of the interval]] between ''Nova'' and ''EVN:UGF''.
** [[http://starsword-c.deviantart.com/gallery/ Concept art gallery]]
** [[http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=115277 Progress log at the Ambrosia forums]]
The story is meant to read more like MilitaryScienceFiction than ''Nova's'' story: in most cases the player joins a faction's SpaceNavy and takes part in military campaigns, and the player isn't [[spoiler:the universe in human form]] as in ''Nova'', just a BadassNormal.
----
!!This plug-in contains examples of the following tropes:
* AlienNonInterferenceClause: The UGF has a law called the Evolutionary Noninterference Act whereby spacers are not allowed to contact cultures that have not achieved at least orbital space travel (and they prefer to wait until they develop FTL). But the law is written as "if we can keep them safe without their knowing, it's our duty". Such worlds within their borders receive naval protection, ranging from diverting planet-killing asteroids to preventing other governments from conquering them. The Axe-tail Star Empire has a similar law.
** The two Balcrusian governments (though not necessarily the general populace) are fairly infamous for averting this trope. Before its expansion was checked by the Milky Way Union in the backstory, the Balcrusian Empire turned several primitive species into vassal races. The People's Republic has continued this trend.
* TheAlliance: The Corunian Planetary Alliance, an important member government of the UGF.
** The Twin Stars Alliance in the backstory was this crossed with LaResistance.
* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: Played with. Many are Earthlike, while many others were terraformed. But there's a number of worlds that are very definitely not Earthlike.
* AlternativeCalendar: Galactic Standard Date (GSD) starts with '0' in 1237 NC, which in turn is 4016 AD.
* TheBattlestar: Again, heavy capitals are battlestars.
* BinarySuns: The Galactic capital world Luminous has an elliptical orbit around two stars that orbit the Lagrangian point between them.
* CallARabbitASmeerp: The Klavar Republic Navy's rank structure. After walking the names through TranslationConvention, you get Learner (Cadet), Pilot (Ensign), Squadron Leader, Task Group Leader, Force Commander, Fleet Marshal, and Chief Marshal.
** The Axe-tail Fatbird shuttle is named after Axor Drek's surprisingly similar equivalent to the chicken.
* CasualInterstellarTravel: Also Casual ''Intergalactic'' Travel by way of long-jump hypergates.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The Twin Queens Ra'kor and Ravirr were this to the Axe-tails, priestesses of the mother-goddess Khal'eth who led their clan in reuniting the Empire about a thousand years ago. One sect of Khal'eth's cult even worships them as demigoddesses.
* DeathWorld: Besides completely uninhabitable planets like Osiris, a couple of inhabited worlds seem to be actively trying to kill their inhabitants.
** Cyteen, a pirate-ruled planet in the Rift, is a desert planet that is only inhabitable because there's photosynthetic microbes feeding on chemicals in the sand. It might become Earthlike in a billion years or so.
** Delphi Prime is prone to outbreaks of deadly diseases. Evidence of prior habitation gave rise to the theory that it was the site of ancient biological warfare.
* DeflectorShields: In addition to shipboard shields, many planets have shield grids that can block access to the surface in the event of invasion.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: An InUniverse example in the backstory. The planet Vuran in Marathon Sector was supposed to be colonized by the United States and Canada, but the scouts somehow missed the fact that it was inhabited by a nearly FTL-capable civilization. When the American colony ship exited hyperspace, it nearly {{telefrag}}ged the Vurani prototype in a very-large-number-to-one accident.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: If you're willing to look at the Balcrusian People's Republic as Cthulhu, then the planet Creedmore is an example. After the BPR overthrew the Balcrusian Empire, it demanded that the UGF hand over the planet, which was a major source of [[{{Unobtanium}} kanium]]. Most of the kanium had already been mined, however, so the newly formed and much larger UGF decided to flip 'em the bird with Operation Red Clover. Most of the UGN and several private shipping companies evacuated the planet's entire population (including Balcrusian citizens who settled it under a power-sharing agreement with the Empire) and destroyed any usable equipment. While they did this, the rest of the UGN led what was left of the Balcrusian People's Navy after the civil war and subsequent purges on a merry chase through the southern half of the BPR. By the time the Balcrusian Ruling Council managed to get word to their field commanders that they were being played, Creedmore was uninhabited.
* DummiedOut: The game files contain additional governments that aren't in the game, such as a {{Sufficiently Advanced|Aliens}} {{Psychic|Powers}} alien race called the Conclave, and a triad of warring governments intended to be far east of Axe-tail space. Also the UGF's colonies in the Magellanic Clouds, when [=StarSword=] realized the universe was [[WideOpenSandbox insanely huge]] already.
* [[EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Earth Is the Center of the UGF]]: Played with. The Galactic military is headquartered on Earth, and it remains one of the most important worlds for humans. But the capital of the UGF is the planet Luminous halfway across the galaxy.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: The plug-in features weapons that can raze planets (although not destroy them). Doing so is considered a [[WhatTheHellPlayer war crime]] by all the major factions (except for the Balcrusians, who'll recruit you into the [[StateSec Scimitars]] if you can reach them without being killed by the naval forces hunting you).
** Note that SpaceStation-Shattering Kabooms are allowed, depending on the station (some are legitimate military targets). Each storyline has a mission that requires you to destroy an enemy space station.
* EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas: This trope is the reason the Axe-tails invented Common Axorian: High Axorian can be prone to this when you get an inflection wrong. Even native speakers (chiefly Axe-tail nobility) screw it up once in a while, potentially turning something like a RousingSpeech into {{Narm}}.
* EnemyCivilWar: The Balcrusian People's Republic is the site of an ongoing civil war between the government and the Balcrusian Freedom Front, the only survivor of an [[TheAlliance inital coalition]] of rebels that tried to overthrow the BPR in the 960s. The rest of them were [[DivideAndConquer driven apart and slaughtered]] by the Scimitars. The Freedom Front survives only because of private aid from various groups in the UGF.
** The Ganbar Empire and Churgos Revolutionary Front are an example as well, though it's unclear at game start what the CRF actually wants.
** In the Varellavite Imperium, a former adviser to the Emperor who was forced out of power by the Masterminds founded a rebellion called the Gryphon's Children.
* TheEmpire / PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: The Balcrusian People's Republic, ''full bleeping stop''.
** Oddly, all three titular empires avert TheEmpire. All three are constitutional monarchies (specifically parliamentary democracies with the emperor as chief of state) and fairly benign (although the Ganbar Empire is starting to drift into TheEmpire).
* FantasticDrug: 324-florazine iodase is an antidepressant for humans, and is regulated but legal under the brand name Covora. For several species of nonhumans, however, "stardust" is an addictive drug whose effects vary by species, and is highly illegal.
** Ketesh is a Balcrusian herb that is usually dried and smoked. It induces effects not unlike a cross between LSD and hashish. In the BPR it is legal and taxed, although the Scimitars do not allow it in their installations. It has little effect on most other species.
** One news item mentions a drug called "razorwind".
* FantasticSlurs: Balcrusians do not appreciate being called "Balkies". It looks like shorthand, but the word means something very rude in Balcrusian.
* FantasyPantheon: The example that's most story-relevant is the ''Axor Khel Ar'da'' (the Axe-tail pantheon), which has nearly thirty different gods and goddesses. The Empire's flag has includes the symbols of their three most important deities.
** Many Balcrusians are closet members of an outlawed animistic religion called Chien Zor, and the Klatuans believe in an OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness they call "the Great Ones".
* TheFederation / UnitedSpaceOfAmerica: The eponymous United Galactic Federation, right down to having a flag inspired by that of the United Nations. Its government is largely based on the United States.
* FrickinLaserBeams: Axe-tail photon beams.
* GoodColorsEvilColors: Played with. [[TheFederation Galactic]] ships are blue and gray, [[PeopleRepublicOfTyranny Balcrusian]] ships use lots of blood red, [[TheRepublic Klavarese]] ships are purple (for decadence), [[TheKingdom Varellavites]] are brown, and Axe-tails (good guy antagonists) are yellow. Then the Ganba (borderline TheEmpire) go and subvert it with gray, green and yellow.
* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Subverted in two instances. The UGF's primary antagonist, the Axe-Tail Star Empire, actually doesn't fit the definition of TheEmpire: they're a fairly democratic ProudWarriorRace whose only real beef with the UGF (among one faction at least; there's also political and religious conflicts involved) is that their current borders contain systems that were part of the Axe-Tails' ancient empire before it collapsed. Which makes them ScaryDogmaticAliens, but not really an Evil Empire. That trope fits better with the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Balcrusian Peple's Republic]].
** The other subversion is the Klavar Republic versus the Axe-tails. The Klavarese fit TheRepublic to a tee: a democratic government hamstrung by corruption, where the real power is in the hands of business leaders.
* HigherTechSpecies: The UGF is this to the Varellavites and Klatuans, the former because they're the new kids on the block, and the latter because centuries of religious warfare have stagnated their development. In turn the Axe-tails are the HigherTechSpecies to the UGF (though not enough to decisively sway the border war in their favor), mainly because they've been an FTL-capable people since the Renaissance on Earth.
* ISOStandardHumanSpaceship: Galactic ships. The exception is the Scallopshell bomber, which resembles something out of a '50s TV movie.
* TheKingdom: The Varellavite Imperium is a borderline example.
* [[LegacyCharacter Legacy Starship]]: Merlin Starcraft Corporation paid for the opportunity to study and reverse-engineer the Kestrel flown by [[AuthorAvatar Matt Burch]] in ''Nova'' (an import from the ''EscapeVelocity Classic'' universe by way of a NegativeSpaceWedgie). They now produce it as the CR-72 ''Kestrel''-class light cruiser.
* TheMafia: The Rosenberg Famiglia is one of the last Sicilian mafia clans, partly because they're no longer based in Sicily, but on an ancient {{space station}} in the far northwest of the Milky Way. In {{gameplay|AndStorySegregation}}, they behave like pirates, and they're among the most dangerous, even managing to hand the United Galactic Navy defeats on several occasions. They also have a shipbuilding operation.
** AllThereInTheManual: The official timeline explains how a Sicilian famiglia got a Yiddish name. Simply put, the don's only child married an offworld-born enforcer who was made the heir.
* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: It's harder than stock ''Nova'' (and harder than ''StarTrek''), but still pretty soft.
* NamingYourColonyWorld: Several variations ranging from "New-something" to "star-number". New Something is most prevalent among worlds settled by Terrans during the John Grimes Colonial Project, which attempted to reduce the populations of overpopulated worlds by transplanting inhabitants to newly discovered Earthlike planets.
** Isis and Osiris in the Princeton System.
* NegativeSpaceWedgie: The Rift, a chasm in hyperspace thousands of light-years wide where Polaris space was in ''Nova''. Nobody knows what caused it or what happened to the Polaris. One theory is that the Polaris did something funky to spacetime and switched places with part of an {{alternate universe}}. The Rift is filled with sensor interference and [[SpaceClouds murk you can cut with a knife]], and rife with smaller anomalies like ion storms.
* NoodleIncident: The Polaris simply disappeared from the universe just prior to the end of the United Powers War in the back story, leaving behind the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Rift]]. No explanation is given, though theories abound.
** PutOnABus: [[WordOfGod Out of universe]], the Polaris were removed to stop their ships from being {{Game Breaker}}s, as they are in the stock scenario.
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Masterminds, a cabal of {{Mad Scientist}}s and tacticians that have basically taken over the Varellavite Imperium.
* OneFederationLimit: Uses the Empire exception. The major factions are the United Galactic Federation, Balcrusian People's Republic, Ganbar Empire, Axe-tail ''Star'' Empire, Varellavite Imperium, Klavar Republic. Among minor governments, we have the Corunian Planetary Alliance, Orion League, Anz'kalarad Principalities, Baticlearan Federal Republic, Orizio Union, Turadoc Consortium, and the Klatuans (a triad of warring theocracies). The backstory adds the Holy Sathu Commonwealth.
* OneWorldOrder: Earth's planetary government is an outgrowth of the United Nations.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Averted. Plenty of Galactic citizens are religious, the Axe-tails are polytheistic, the BPR outlawed an animistic religion called Chien Zor, and the Klatuans believe in a heavenly OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness called "the Great Ones".
* PlanetLooters: The Kyrzakagalans. They're a species of nomadic tribes that frequently raids populated worlds, killing or enslaving the inhabitants and appropriating any useful technology. They also raid ships in space.
* PlanetOfHats: Efforts are made to avoid it, but the LawOfConservationOfDetail means it still crops up every once in a while.
* PlanetTerra: Humans from Earth are sometimes called Terrans ([[WordOfGod because "Earthling" sounds cheesy]]).
* {{Precursors}}: More evidence of Those Who Came Before has been found, ranging from the 10,000-year-old {{space station}} upon which the Rosenberg Famiglia makes its home, to a planetary shield system that is the only thing keeping one Kyrzakagalan world from being leveled by the UGN.
* {{Privateer}}: The UGF funds a privateer program. During wartime, they're used for commerce raiding against enemy supply lines. During peacetime, they help combat piracy. Galactic privateers get a paycheck and an auxiliary Navy rank, but they are required to obey Galactic law and follow orders from lawful superiors. Violating the code of conduct gets a privateer court-martialed.
* ProudMerchantRace: The Klavarese go so far as to view war as an economic venture. [=StarSword=] says they're somewhat inspired by the more warlike Ferengi of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', crossed with the [[StarWars prequel-era Galactic Republic]].
* ProudWarriorRace: The Axe-tails, for whom honor in war is supreme. Kinda subverted, however, in that they don't disdain scientists and merchants: said roles are just fine if you have no aptitude for warfare. And their idea of honor isn't just warfare for its own sake, either.
* RecursiveAmmo: The most powerful Galactic missile, the MIRV-CXVII ''Devastator''-class Strategic Arms Platform. It's a MIRV carried by the largest Galactic capital ships, used mainly for attacks on surface installations prior to ground assault. It can also be turned against other warships.
* ReportingNames: Humans are physically incapable of pronouncing the names of Varellavite ships, so they're assigned nicknames. The capital ships' nicknames (Kraken and Grendel) are close, though.
* RuleOfThree: Most abbreviations are three letters long (UGF, BPR, GIF, AIS, VIN, GSD, etc.).
* SacredLanguage: The Ganba use Meridian[[hottip:*:the Andromedan trade language]] most of the time, but official ceremonies use Ganbar. The Axe-tails use a particularly archaic form of High Axorian for religious rites, while modern High Axorian is used mainly by the nobility, and Common Axorian (a simplified version) is used by virtually everyone else including the military.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: Played with. The Axe-tails are the "religious fundamentalist" type, being very religious and strong believers in the supernatural. But their main sticking point with the Galactics and Klavarese is that those two governments currently control worlds that were part of the First Empire, rather than being driven by any holy war.
** {{Deconstructed}} with the Klatuans. Their leaders' religious fundamentalism has driven them into centuries of civil war that has left them disdained by their neighbors and technologically backward.
* SingleBiomePlanet: Subverted in most cases. An Earthlike planet that is described such is a victim of the LawOfConservationOfDetail (and the size of the planet dësc field): what's described is the region(s) where people actually live. Frequently played straight with uninhabitable worlds.
* ShoutOut: The planet Cyteen deep in the Rift is one InUniverse, to CJCherryh's ''AllianceUnion'' series.
** The UGF's staple fighter, the SF-81A Black Knight, is based on the Sith Infiltrator from ''ThePhantomMenace'' with a little TIE fighter technology thrown in for good measure.
** The Varellavite cruiser's {{reporting name|s}} "Grendel" is a reference to ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''.
** Operation Red Clover (see DidYouJustScamCthulhu above) is a reference to an episode of ''Series/TheUnit''.
** The Axe-tails were originally going to be the [[StarCraft Protoss]], and retain some similarities such as a frigate that can cloak ships in formation with it, as well as a cloaking probe droid that can spot cloaked ships.
*** Likewise, the Klavarese started out as a [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Chiss]] {{expy}}, and retain similarities.
** The design of the United Galactic Navy's ''O'Brien''-class battlecruiser is partly inspired by Hawk's fighter in ''BuckRogersInThe25thCentury''.
* SmallUniverseAfterAll: Played with. The UGF controls territory in two galaxies, and [[DummiedOut has colonies in the Magellanic Clouds]]. Note that this is only possible with "long-jump" hypergates that can cross the intergalactic void.
* SpaceColdWar: The UGF became embroiled in one with the Ganbar Empire after Emperor Tazzo broke off diplomatic relations when the UGF granted asylum to a dissident religious sect. It's also engaged in near-constant border warfare with the Balcrusian People's Republic and Axe-tail Star Empire.
* SpaceIsAnOcean: Partial use. Most
* SpaceIsCold: Averted by WordOfGod, referencing ''MassEffect'' and ThisVeryWiki. The reason Galactic capital ships have wings is to increase their surface area for radiating waste heat. Other tricks for getting rid of heat include honeycombing the ship with channels for liquid cooling agents that transfer heat to the outer hull. And the Axe-tails have AppliedPhlebotinum that lets them dump heat into hyperspace, which is the main reason their [[StealthInSpace cloaking devices]] are so effective.
* SpaceMarines: The United Galactic Marine Corps, natch. They have {{powered armor}}, and their primary roles among the Galactic armed services are boarding actions and ground invasions. The Army then holds the planet once it is taken.
** The other factions have the equivalent of marines as well. Except for the Balcrusians, who use battle droids instead.
* SpaceNavy: Every star nation has one.
* SpacePirates: Several different groups, as well as unaffiliated pirates.
** [[TheMafia La Rosenberg Famiglia's]] space forces raid Galactic shipping, including stealing ships.
** Rico's Revenants and the Vibroaxe Death Knights have a long-running blood feud because the Death Knights' leader Yapeel humiliated Affonso Rico in the former's days as a {{privateer}}. If they spawn in the same system, they'll shoot at each other instead of neutrals.
** Barney's Bandits are actually mercenaries, not pirates. They do some commerce raiding, but they mostly only hit other pirates.
** The Axe-tail Renegades, warriors and their descendants who were stripped of rank and exiled for certain crimes. They raid Axe-tail, Klavarese, and Galactic shipping and planets for survival.
*** Ditto the Houseless warriors, the Auroran equivalent.
* SpikesOfVillainy: Balcrusian fighters feature spikes that double as launchers for the Blade-Cutter flechette weapon.
* StandardSciFiFleet: Each faction has one. Though the individual names vary, they can generally be distilled down to fighter, bomber, gunship, frigate, light cruiser, heavy cruiser. Individual factions may drop one or two of these.
* StateSec: In the BPR, the Scimitars are this crossed with an intelligence agency. They also operate their own section of the People's Navy.
* StealthInSpace: The Galactics and Balcrusians have experimental cloaking devices, but the Axe-tails have mastered them (mainly because they've figured out how to dump heat into hyperspace, eliminating that limitation) and fit them to every ship bigger than a gunboat.
* TimeTravel: Averted. WordOfGod is that TimeTravel (barring travel to the future via TimeDilation, which plays no part in the story) is physically impossible in this universe.
--> '''[=StarSword=]:''' "The only time travel story I've ever really enjoyed was [[Series/StargateSG1 "1969"]], because it made sense. In all other cases I've seen, trying to work it out rationally gave me a headache."
* TranslationConvention: Used when the player speaks or understands the language.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Galactic military personnel have translator implants that convert languages the subject is not already fluent in to Basic.
* {{Unobtanium}}: Kanium, named for humanity's FTL inventor Omata Kane, is a superheavy element used in reactor shielding, warship armor, and hyperdrive components, among other things.
* WideOpenSandbox: Insanely wide. The map contains over 1,200 star systems intended to represent two galaxies, and that's ''before'' adding the duplicate systems for storyline changes. Hypergate use is effectively required to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time.
The story is a thousand-years-later sequel to ''Nova's'' Rebel questline wherein the Bureau was overthrown and the Federation made peace with the Aurorans and Polaris in 1190 NC.
** [[http://www.freewebs.com/starsword Official EVN:UGF Website]]
** [[http://fav.me/d2m4to5 Official timeline of the interval]] between ''Nova'' and ''EVN:UGF''.
** [[http://starsword-c.deviantart.com/gallery/ Concept art gallery]]
** [[http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=115277 Progress log at the Ambrosia forums]]
The story is meant to read more like MilitaryScienceFiction than ''Nova's'' story: in most cases the player joins a faction's SpaceNavy and takes part in military campaigns, and the player isn't [[spoiler:the universe in human form]] as in ''Nova'', just a BadassNormal.
----
!!This plug-in contains examples of the following tropes:
* AlienNonInterferenceClause: The UGF has a law called the Evolutionary Noninterference Act whereby spacers are not allowed to contact cultures that have not achieved at least orbital space travel (and they prefer to wait until they develop FTL). But the law is written as "if we can keep them safe without their knowing, it's our duty". Such worlds within their borders receive naval protection, ranging from diverting planet-killing asteroids to preventing other governments from conquering them. The Axe-tail Star Empire has a similar law.
** The two Balcrusian governments (though not necessarily the general populace) are fairly infamous for averting this trope. Before its expansion was checked by the Milky Way Union in the backstory, the Balcrusian Empire turned several primitive species into vassal races. The People's Republic has continued this trend.
* TheAlliance: The Corunian Planetary Alliance, an important member government of the UGF.
** The Twin Stars Alliance in the backstory was this crossed with LaResistance.
* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: Played with. Many are Earthlike, while many others were terraformed. But there's a number of worlds that are very definitely not Earthlike.
* AlternativeCalendar: Galactic Standard Date (GSD) starts with '0' in 1237 NC, which in turn is 4016 AD.
* TheBattlestar: Again, heavy capitals are battlestars.
* BinarySuns: The Galactic capital world Luminous has an elliptical orbit around two stars that orbit the Lagrangian point between them.
* CallARabbitASmeerp: The Klavar Republic Navy's rank structure. After walking the names through TranslationConvention, you get Learner (Cadet), Pilot (Ensign), Squadron Leader, Task Group Leader, Force Commander, Fleet Marshal, and Chief Marshal.
** The Axe-tail Fatbird shuttle is named after Axor Drek's surprisingly similar equivalent to the chicken.
* CasualInterstellarTravel: Also Casual ''Intergalactic'' Travel by way of long-jump hypergates.
* CrystalDragonJesus: The Twin Queens Ra'kor and Ravirr were this to the Axe-tails, priestesses of the mother-goddess Khal'eth who led their clan in reuniting the Empire about a thousand years ago. One sect of Khal'eth's cult even worships them as demigoddesses.
* DeathWorld: Besides completely uninhabitable planets like Osiris, a couple of inhabited worlds seem to be actively trying to kill their inhabitants.
** Cyteen, a pirate-ruled planet in the Rift, is a desert planet that is only inhabitable because there's photosynthetic microbes feeding on chemicals in the sand. It might become Earthlike in a billion years or so.
** Delphi Prime is prone to outbreaks of deadly diseases. Evidence of prior habitation gave rise to the theory that it was the site of ancient biological warfare.
* DeflectorShields: In addition to shipboard shields, many planets have shield grids that can block access to the surface in the event of invasion.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: An InUniverse example in the backstory. The planet Vuran in Marathon Sector was supposed to be colonized by the United States and Canada, but the scouts somehow missed the fact that it was inhabited by a nearly FTL-capable civilization. When the American colony ship exited hyperspace, it nearly {{telefrag}}ged the Vurani prototype in a very-large-number-to-one accident.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu: If you're willing to look at the Balcrusian People's Republic as Cthulhu, then the planet Creedmore is an example. After the BPR overthrew the Balcrusian Empire, it demanded that the UGF hand over the planet, which was a major source of [[{{Unobtanium}} kanium]]. Most of the kanium had already been mined, however, so the newly formed and much larger UGF decided to flip 'em the bird with Operation Red Clover. Most of the UGN and several private shipping companies evacuated the planet's entire population (including Balcrusian citizens who settled it under a power-sharing agreement with the Empire) and destroyed any usable equipment. While they did this, the rest of the UGN led what was left of the Balcrusian People's Navy after the civil war and subsequent purges on a merry chase through the southern half of the BPR. By the time the Balcrusian Ruling Council managed to get word to their field commanders that they were being played, Creedmore was uninhabited.
* DummiedOut: The game files contain additional governments that aren't in the game, such as a {{Sufficiently Advanced|Aliens}} {{Psychic|Powers}} alien race called the Conclave, and a triad of warring governments intended to be far east of Axe-tail space. Also the UGF's colonies in the Magellanic Clouds, when [=StarSword=] realized the universe was [[WideOpenSandbox insanely huge]] already.
* [[EarthIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse Earth Is the Center of the UGF]]: Played with. The Galactic military is headquartered on Earth, and it remains one of the most important worlds for humans. But the capital of the UGF is the planet Luminous halfway across the galaxy.
* EarthShatteringKaboom: The plug-in features weapons that can raze planets (although not destroy them). Doing so is considered a [[WhatTheHellPlayer war crime]] by all the major factions (except for the Balcrusians, who'll recruit you into the [[StateSec Scimitars]] if you can reach them without being killed by the naval forces hunting you).
** Note that SpaceStation-Shattering Kabooms are allowed, depending on the station (some are legitimate military targets). Each storyline has a mission that requires you to destroy an enemy space station.
* EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas: This trope is the reason the Axe-tails invented Common Axorian: High Axorian can be prone to this when you get an inflection wrong. Even native speakers (chiefly Axe-tail nobility) screw it up once in a while, potentially turning something like a RousingSpeech into {{Narm}}.
* EnemyCivilWar: The Balcrusian People's Republic is the site of an ongoing civil war between the government and the Balcrusian Freedom Front, the only survivor of an [[TheAlliance inital coalition]] of rebels that tried to overthrow the BPR in the 960s. The rest of them were [[DivideAndConquer driven apart and slaughtered]] by the Scimitars. The Freedom Front survives only because of private aid from various groups in the UGF.
** The Ganbar Empire and Churgos Revolutionary Front are an example as well, though it's unclear at game start what the CRF actually wants.
** In the Varellavite Imperium, a former adviser to the Emperor who was forced out of power by the Masterminds founded a rebellion called the Gryphon's Children.
* TheEmpire / PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: The Balcrusian People's Republic, ''full bleeping stop''.
** Oddly, all three titular empires avert TheEmpire. All three are constitutional monarchies (specifically parliamentary democracies with the emperor as chief of state) and fairly benign (although the Ganbar Empire is starting to drift into TheEmpire).
* FantasticDrug: 324-florazine iodase is an antidepressant for humans, and is regulated but legal under the brand name Covora. For several species of nonhumans, however, "stardust" is an addictive drug whose effects vary by species, and is highly illegal.
** Ketesh is a Balcrusian herb that is usually dried and smoked. It induces effects not unlike a cross between LSD and hashish. In the BPR it is legal and taxed, although the Scimitars do not allow it in their installations. It has little effect on most other species.
** One news item mentions a drug called "razorwind".
* FantasticSlurs: Balcrusians do not appreciate being called "Balkies". It looks like shorthand, but the word means something very rude in Balcrusian.
* FantasyPantheon: The example that's most story-relevant is the ''Axor Khel Ar'da'' (the Axe-tail pantheon), which has nearly thirty different gods and goddesses. The Empire's flag has includes the symbols of their three most important deities.
** Many Balcrusians are closet members of an outlawed animistic religion called Chien Zor, and the Klatuans believe in an OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness they call "the Great Ones".
* TheFederation / UnitedSpaceOfAmerica: The eponymous United Galactic Federation, right down to having a flag inspired by that of the United Nations. Its government is largely based on the United States.
* FrickinLaserBeams: Axe-tail photon beams.
* GoodColorsEvilColors: Played with. [[TheFederation Galactic]] ships are blue and gray, [[PeopleRepublicOfTyranny Balcrusian]] ships use lots of blood red, [[TheRepublic Klavarese]] ships are purple (for decadence), [[TheKingdom Varellavites]] are brown, and Axe-tails (good guy antagonists) are yellow. Then the Ganba (borderline TheEmpire) go and subvert it with gray, green and yellow.
* GoodRepublicEvilEmpire: Subverted in two instances. The UGF's primary antagonist, the Axe-Tail Star Empire, actually doesn't fit the definition of TheEmpire: they're a fairly democratic ProudWarriorRace whose only real beef with the UGF (among one faction at least; there's also political and religious conflicts involved) is that their current borders contain systems that were part of the Axe-Tails' ancient empire before it collapsed. Which makes them ScaryDogmaticAliens, but not really an Evil Empire. That trope fits better with the [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny Balcrusian Peple's Republic]].
** The other subversion is the Klavar Republic versus the Axe-tails. The Klavarese fit TheRepublic to a tee: a democratic government hamstrung by corruption, where the real power is in the hands of business leaders.
* HigherTechSpecies: The UGF is this to the Varellavites and Klatuans, the former because they're the new kids on the block, and the latter because centuries of religious warfare have stagnated their development. In turn the Axe-tails are the HigherTechSpecies to the UGF (though not enough to decisively sway the border war in their favor), mainly because they've been an FTL-capable people since the Renaissance on Earth.
* ISOStandardHumanSpaceship: Galactic ships. The exception is the Scallopshell bomber, which resembles something out of a '50s TV movie.
* TheKingdom: The Varellavite Imperium is a borderline example.
* [[LegacyCharacter Legacy Starship]]: Merlin Starcraft Corporation paid for the opportunity to study and reverse-engineer the Kestrel flown by [[AuthorAvatar Matt Burch]] in ''Nova'' (an import from the ''EscapeVelocity Classic'' universe by way of a NegativeSpaceWedgie). They now produce it as the CR-72 ''Kestrel''-class light cruiser.
* TheMafia: The Rosenberg Famiglia is one of the last Sicilian mafia clans, partly because they're no longer based in Sicily, but on an ancient {{space station}} in the far northwest of the Milky Way. In {{gameplay|AndStorySegregation}}, they behave like pirates, and they're among the most dangerous, even managing to hand the United Galactic Navy defeats on several occasions. They also have a shipbuilding operation.
** AllThereInTheManual: The official timeline explains how a Sicilian famiglia got a Yiddish name. Simply put, the don's only child married an offworld-born enforcer who was made the heir.
* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: It's harder than stock ''Nova'' (and harder than ''StarTrek''), but still pretty soft.
* NamingYourColonyWorld: Several variations ranging from "New-something" to "star-number". New Something is most prevalent among worlds settled by Terrans during the John Grimes Colonial Project, which attempted to reduce the populations of overpopulated worlds by transplanting inhabitants to newly discovered Earthlike planets.
** Isis and Osiris in the Princeton System.
* NegativeSpaceWedgie: The Rift, a chasm in hyperspace thousands of light-years wide where Polaris space was in ''Nova''. Nobody knows what caused it or what happened to the Polaris. One theory is that the Polaris did something funky to spacetime and switched places with part of an {{alternate universe}}. The Rift is filled with sensor interference and [[SpaceClouds murk you can cut with a knife]], and rife with smaller anomalies like ion storms.
* NoodleIncident: The Polaris simply disappeared from the universe just prior to the end of the United Powers War in the back story, leaving behind the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Rift]]. No explanation is given, though theories abound.
** PutOnABus: [[WordOfGod Out of universe]], the Polaris were removed to stop their ships from being {{Game Breaker}}s, as they are in the stock scenario.
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Masterminds, a cabal of {{Mad Scientist}}s and tacticians that have basically taken over the Varellavite Imperium.
* OneFederationLimit: Uses the Empire exception. The major factions are the United Galactic Federation, Balcrusian People's Republic, Ganbar Empire, Axe-tail ''Star'' Empire, Varellavite Imperium, Klavar Republic. Among minor governments, we have the Corunian Planetary Alliance, Orion League, Anz'kalarad Principalities, Baticlearan Federal Republic, Orizio Union, Turadoc Consortium, and the Klatuans (a triad of warring theocracies). The backstory adds the Holy Sathu Commonwealth.
* OneWorldOrder: Earth's planetary government is an outgrowth of the United Nations.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: Averted. Plenty of Galactic citizens are religious, the Axe-tails are polytheistic, the BPR outlawed an animistic religion called Chien Zor, and the Klatuans believe in a heavenly OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness called "the Great Ones".
* PlanetLooters: The Kyrzakagalans. They're a species of nomadic tribes that frequently raids populated worlds, killing or enslaving the inhabitants and appropriating any useful technology. They also raid ships in space.
* PlanetOfHats: Efforts are made to avoid it, but the LawOfConservationOfDetail means it still crops up every once in a while.
* PlanetTerra: Humans from Earth are sometimes called Terrans ([[WordOfGod because "Earthling" sounds cheesy]]).
* {{Precursors}}: More evidence of Those Who Came Before has been found, ranging from the 10,000-year-old {{space station}} upon which the Rosenberg Famiglia makes its home, to a planetary shield system that is the only thing keeping one Kyrzakagalan world from being leveled by the UGN.
* {{Privateer}}: The UGF funds a privateer program. During wartime, they're used for commerce raiding against enemy supply lines. During peacetime, they help combat piracy. Galactic privateers get a paycheck and an auxiliary Navy rank, but they are required to obey Galactic law and follow orders from lawful superiors. Violating the code of conduct gets a privateer court-martialed.
* ProudMerchantRace: The Klavarese go so far as to view war as an economic venture. [=StarSword=] says they're somewhat inspired by the more warlike Ferengi of ''StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', crossed with the [[StarWars prequel-era Galactic Republic]].
* ProudWarriorRace: The Axe-tails, for whom honor in war is supreme. Kinda subverted, however, in that they don't disdain scientists and merchants: said roles are just fine if you have no aptitude for warfare. And their idea of honor isn't just warfare for its own sake, either.
* RecursiveAmmo: The most powerful Galactic missile, the MIRV-CXVII ''Devastator''-class Strategic Arms Platform. It's a MIRV carried by the largest Galactic capital ships, used mainly for attacks on surface installations prior to ground assault. It can also be turned against other warships.
* ReportingNames: Humans are physically incapable of pronouncing the names of Varellavite ships, so they're assigned nicknames. The capital ships' nicknames (Kraken and Grendel) are close, though.
* RuleOfThree: Most abbreviations are three letters long (UGF, BPR, GIF, AIS, VIN, GSD, etc.).
* SacredLanguage: The Ganba use Meridian[[hottip:*:the Andromedan trade language]] most of the time, but official ceremonies use Ganbar. The Axe-tails use a particularly archaic form of High Axorian for religious rites, while modern High Axorian is used mainly by the nobility, and Common Axorian (a simplified version) is used by virtually everyone else including the military.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: Played with. The Axe-tails are the "religious fundamentalist" type, being very religious and strong believers in the supernatural. But their main sticking point with the Galactics and Klavarese is that those two governments currently control worlds that were part of the First Empire, rather than being driven by any holy war.
** {{Deconstructed}} with the Klatuans. Their leaders' religious fundamentalism has driven them into centuries of civil war that has left them disdained by their neighbors and technologically backward.
* SingleBiomePlanet: Subverted in most cases. An Earthlike planet that is described such is a victim of the LawOfConservationOfDetail (and the size of the planet dësc field): what's described is the region(s) where people actually live. Frequently played straight with uninhabitable worlds.
* ShoutOut: The planet Cyteen deep in the Rift is one InUniverse, to CJCherryh's ''AllianceUnion'' series.
** The UGF's staple fighter, the SF-81A Black Knight, is based on the Sith Infiltrator from ''ThePhantomMenace'' with a little TIE fighter technology thrown in for good measure.
** The Varellavite cruiser's {{reporting name|s}} "Grendel" is a reference to ''Literature/{{Beowulf}}''.
** Operation Red Clover (see DidYouJustScamCthulhu above) is a reference to an episode of ''Series/TheUnit''.
** The Axe-tails were originally going to be the [[StarCraft Protoss]], and retain some similarities such as a frigate that can cloak ships in formation with it, as well as a cloaking probe droid that can spot cloaked ships.
*** Likewise, the Klavarese started out as a [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Chiss]] {{expy}}, and retain similarities.
** The design of the United Galactic Navy's ''O'Brien''-class battlecruiser is partly inspired by Hawk's fighter in ''BuckRogersInThe25thCentury''.
* SmallUniverseAfterAll: Played with. The UGF controls territory in two galaxies, and [[DummiedOut has colonies in the Magellanic Clouds]]. Note that this is only possible with "long-jump" hypergates that can cross the intergalactic void.
* SpaceColdWar: The UGF became embroiled in one with the Ganbar Empire after Emperor Tazzo broke off diplomatic relations when the UGF granted asylum to a dissident religious sect. It's also engaged in near-constant border warfare with the Balcrusian People's Republic and Axe-tail Star Empire.
* SpaceIsAnOcean: Partial use. Most
* SpaceIsCold: Averted by WordOfGod, referencing ''MassEffect'' and ThisVeryWiki. The reason Galactic capital ships have wings is to increase their surface area for radiating waste heat. Other tricks for getting rid of heat include honeycombing the ship with channels for liquid cooling agents that transfer heat to the outer hull. And the Axe-tails have AppliedPhlebotinum that lets them dump heat into hyperspace, which is the main reason their [[StealthInSpace cloaking devices]] are so effective.
* SpaceMarines: The United Galactic Marine Corps, natch. They have {{powered armor}}, and their primary roles among the Galactic armed services are boarding actions and ground invasions. The Army then holds the planet once it is taken.
** The other factions have the equivalent of marines as well. Except for the Balcrusians, who use battle droids instead.
* SpaceNavy: Every star nation has one.
* SpacePirates: Several different groups, as well as unaffiliated pirates.
** [[TheMafia La Rosenberg Famiglia's]] space forces raid Galactic shipping, including stealing ships.
** Rico's Revenants and the Vibroaxe Death Knights have a long-running blood feud because the Death Knights' leader Yapeel humiliated Affonso Rico in the former's days as a {{privateer}}. If they spawn in the same system, they'll shoot at each other instead of neutrals.
** Barney's Bandits are actually mercenaries, not pirates. They do some commerce raiding, but they mostly only hit other pirates.
** The Axe-tail Renegades, warriors and their descendants who were stripped of rank and exiled for certain crimes. They raid Axe-tail, Klavarese, and Galactic shipping and planets for survival.
*** Ditto the Houseless warriors, the Auroran equivalent.
* SpikesOfVillainy: Balcrusian fighters feature spikes that double as launchers for the Blade-Cutter flechette weapon.
* StandardSciFiFleet: Each faction has one. Though the individual names vary, they can generally be distilled down to fighter, bomber, gunship, frigate, light cruiser, heavy cruiser. Individual factions may drop one or two of these.
* StateSec: In the BPR, the Scimitars are this crossed with an intelligence agency. They also operate their own section of the People's Navy.
* StealthInSpace: The Galactics and Balcrusians have experimental cloaking devices, but the Axe-tails have mastered them (mainly because they've figured out how to dump heat into hyperspace, eliminating that limitation) and fit them to every ship bigger than a gunboat.
* TimeTravel: Averted. WordOfGod is that TimeTravel (barring travel to the future via TimeDilation, which plays no part in the story) is physically impossible in this universe.
--> '''[=StarSword=]:''' "The only time travel story I've ever really enjoyed was [[Series/StargateSG1 "1969"]], because it made sense. In all other cases I've seen, trying to work it out rationally gave me a headache."
* TranslationConvention: Used when the player speaks or understands the language.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Galactic military personnel have translator implants that convert languages the subject is not already fluent in to Basic.
* {{Unobtanium}}: Kanium, named for humanity's FTL inventor Omata Kane, is a superheavy element used in reactor shielding, warship armor, and hyperdrive components, among other things.
* WideOpenSandbox: Insanely wide. The map contains over 1,200 star systems intended to represent two galaxies, and that's ''before'' adding the duplicate systems for storyline changes. Hypergate use is effectively required to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time.
