Let me first preface the fact that this setting isn't meant to be totally realistic, on the Mohs Scale Of Science Fiction Hardness it's at best a 3. All Science within setting is entirely consistent with what it states, it's moreover a setting for telling stories. So some things are covered by the Rule of Cool, but I still want you to poke any holes you can find, ask questions, and criticize anything you can find within the internal logic.

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The Setting itself

The setting is of course largely spacebound, Humanity has branched out to the stars and is colonizing solar systems, at the start of everything Earth has 6 and is well under way to colonizing the 7th system.

This is done with gigantic spaceships the size of small cities, called Capital Ships or Capital Class Cruisers. Capitals can hold over 5,000 people onboard, the size is meant for the reactors needed to generate power for the setting's only form of Ship FTL, Jump Drives. Jump drives are not pinpoint accurate and often place the users right outside the nearest gravity well of the Solar System they enter.

Once inside the new system they have a few tasks to accomplish, first is to look for habitable planets and asteroid belts filled with resources needed for building colonies, and finally building a Central Governmental station.

If a planet is habitable enough, (IE has a working atmosphere) then effort is set about terraforming it, with machinery meant to fertilize the soil and genetically engineered plants to help make it safe for human existence, though this may take years so a few domed cities are established for colonies to begin.

O'Niell Cylinder colonies are also constructed using resources gained from the system for Civilian use. While Government Stations are largely Toroid, or Stanford Torus in design.

Governmental Stations are there for largely trade, commerce, governing local colonies, and setting up Jump Gates for smaller ships.

FTL is somewhat casual in that you can jump from system to system easily with either a big enough ship or a Jump Gate, but it still takes a long time, and only after 2 hundred years Humanity hasn't reached the point of just flying around the Universe at Warp speed.

The Factions

What would a Space Opera be without factions to fight over? Largely though this setting is less Gray and Black and more Gray and Gray, truly evil people exist but rarely are they in control of massive amounts of power.

The first off is the United Colony Space Federation, often called the UCSF for short. It's essentially the largest governmental body and has been around the longest, the Federation has had a long and spotty history that quite a few in charge are not proud of, but they aren't interested in causing trouble and rather just want to keep humanity alive.

They got a few heads in charge that are generally unpleasant people but for the most part the Feds are generally interested in being decent people. Especially since the alternative means possible wars and countless human lives lost.

The next faction is the Jovan Empire (Pronounced Yoh-vaun), born out of the colonies around Jupiter, it's a rising power that's captivated at least 1/3rd of colonized space with promises of independence from the UCSF, despite being proclaimed as a empire it's at best a Constitutional Monarchy with Prime Ministers in other colonies receiving their power from the royal family.

The family itself is a bit dysfunctional, The Emperor and Empress along the lines of rational, 3 sons and 3 daughters, one of whom is a runaway thanks to the eldest. But ultimately the Emperor does mean well and wants to give the people a leader they can look up to, while the Eldest Son is only interested in power for his own means. If this seems familiar, it's meant to be.

For the large part the Jovans and UCSF have a set treaty going to prevent all out war, the two of them are largely uninterested in causing massive amounts of bloodshed that could lead to destruction of years worth of effort. Conflicts arise and sometimes blood is shed but the two really do wish to do what's best for humanity... even if they have their own ideas.

History

How this all came to be was during the early 22nd Century, Humantiy was faced with a dying world due to their own selfishness, greed, and wrath. But fixing it wasn't exactly easy as the governments of the planet rather than work out a solution began infighting for resources hoping to prolong themselves.

Eventually they came to realize that this was only worsening the situation and banded together. The result was the first space colonies, which they set about moving people into to help lighten the load off the planet and give them more room to work.

Suffice to say this did not go over well with the people removed from their homes and put into the colonies. But it was a solution, for the time being, and eventually the governments formed into one body, which eventually became the UCSF.

Earth was dying and it seemed the only solution was to extend out to the stars to find a new home planet, one that could support life. So with the colonies in place, the Federation set about working on deep space exploration, from new thrusters to last longer to studies into Faster Than Light Travel and artificial gravity.

They were successful and managed to extend the colonies beyond Earth and Mars, eventually moving onto Alpha Centurai to be colonization work there. With experimentation into Terraforming.

Afer a few hundred more years Humanity has 6 Solar systems with at least 4 fully colonized. And Earth is now vibrant and filled with life again, the work on terraforming being used to help repair the damage to Earth, with the Federation now the UCSF.

Everyone who officially joins the UCSF is taught all the details of it's history, and most colony civilians generally don't care about being moved into space anymore. Things aren't perfect but it's a little better than it was.

Technology and Minovsky Physics

This is where the Rule of Cool stuff can come into play.

Artificial Gravity in Ships is different than in colonies, it's produce by particle emitter systems, the particle in use is the Triton Particle, which is only useful in gravity-lacking environments. The particle when given a electric current emits a sort of "wave" reaction that will pull objects towards it, thus emitters are lined along the floors of ships to produce artificial gravity.

TPEs are also placed along the hulls of smaller ships to be used as "breaks" and use less propellant when actively turning the ship.

All ships and large enough machinery hold Fusion reactors to produce power for the thrusters, emitters and life support, Helium 3 being a commonly collected resource in setting, meaning plenty of power to be used.

Weapons technology hasn't changed much, but particle Beam weaponry does exist after extensive research.

Beam weaponry is split into 3 classes, Beam, Blaster, Cannon. Particle Beam weapons are often mounted on smaller ships, with Beam Types on Jovan ships. Blasters are rapid fire weapons that fire particle beam bolts instead of a continuous stream and are often fitted on UCSF ships. Beam Cannons are just what the name implies, best put on large scale Battleships or even Capital Class Cruisers due to the Power generation needed.

A.I.s also exist extensively in setting, actually as the result of study into Artificial Intelligence. Originally the plan was to make advanced computer systems dedicated to running most automated systems and even drones in case of warfare, unintentionally researchers made Digital Sapience, who were largely happy with the idea of assisting out humanity, deeming that for them to be active was to be alive.

But of course it didn't exactly stay that way, it was discovered that when a AI backed itself up and the current one died, the backup didn't show any trace of the personality before, and was deemed a new person. Horrified by the conclusion, the AI systems held a revolution. Surprisingly enough it was benign.

They didn't want to actively cause any harm and noted they would be happy to still help, but they just wanted to be treated with human decency and respect. The UCSF rather than let things go outright Robot War decided that enshrining basic human rights for Artificial Intelligence was the better option. A.I.s now actively chose which jobs they wish to preform and are given honors when they "die" in the field like any other human trooper if they have chosen a militaristic role.

A.I.s if they must interact with the physical realm use robotic bodies called "Frames" which vary in design and purpose.

Finally to cover the Rule of Cool stuff.

Both the Jovans and the UCSF make use of Space Fighter craft. Armed with standard weaponry, machine cannons, missiles, and occasionally either a Blaster or Beam Weapon.

The Most common fighters are the UCSF Falcon which holds a simple but sturdy design, with modular needs in mind and can actively be used as a Atmospheric Fighter if need be. And the Jovans have the Longsword Model, it's a speedy craft and very durable, but nowhere near as modular.

Finally on the Rule of Cool list are the Mechs, the Motungs. 21 foot tall humanoid robots.

Motungs were originally a Jovan Invention, in use as Colony Law Enforcement and construction work. However they soon saw use outside of those environments as military machinery, the Jovan Knight being the first in line on Motung developments.

Motungs see use in both Space and Land as a varied assault machine, but are often outpaced in the respective environments by Fighters and Tanks, they are however useful for Recon and heavy infantry, especially in Land environments. That and their size means they can fit larger and more powerful Fusion reactors than most small end machinery ensuring more power for use in weaponry and activity.

As the Technology improved eventually A.I.s could make use of Motungs as large end body frames.

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I think that covers everything on here. Any questions, comments, critiques?

EDIT: A small Album of a few Mechs in setting.

edited 23rd Feb '16 5:54:21 PM by EchoingSilence

I see you didn't mention alien life, do you intend to include non human life (aside from ai)?

What is civilian life like, in such artificial environments where do they go/ what do they do to relax?

What do they eat?

What happened to the earth's various cultures when the human race went into space?

Do they still speak different languages?

How well has the human race kept in touch with its past?

How well connected are people as spread out as they are, is there a cross planet internet, or are they fairly cut off from most outside news?

edited 28th Jan '16 2:13:08 PM by zoraxbrooks

"Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?" -Sun Tzu-

Alien life is not included, no one has met any Alien life just yet, this is because I find the setting more interesting when it's about Humanity and it's creations more than anything. The closest you'd get to Alien life are a few unique species on a world set for terraforming.

Life is largely unchanged, people live and die on the colonies as they would on Earth, they work day to day in jobs that can preformed upon the colonies, start families. And largely the same thing for entertainment, sports, movies, games, etc. Golf actually gets interesting when you have the literal curve of the colony to account for.

Food is split up into two categories, Real and Block. Real food is grown within certain environments (very specific colonies or even nearby planets) and Blocks are essentially nutrients turned into edible block form and often flavored. Blocks are most common with deep space assignments and even militias due to the fact that they can last a long time. However they are relatively unpopular due to their structure and taste.

Culture is a tough one because I want to say it didn't change but that's not true. Cultures did get altered a bit when humanity became space bound. Phrases and terms were phased out, religions underwent questioning and some changes were made. And new fashions arose when it all started for the new "space age".

Yes people still speak different languages. Everyone though is now required to learn from a young age a universal one I call "Base", which allows most people to communicate better, some people don't keep up on base though and occasionally forget.

History is big, humanity has kept in touch with it's past to learn from it and try to avoid the mistakes they made, however they aren't always successful, conflicts, fighting and war still happen. You can't eliminate the bad from humanity so easily, or at all really.

Interplanetary internet, Jump Gates made FTL communication so much easier for everyone. Specific news stations were even created for general news across colonies. News that wouldn't count is local colony problems, such as reports of a explosion at a local building.

Any other questions?

edited 23rd Feb '16 5:59:22 PM by EchoingSilence

You mentioned jump gates as a form of FTL travel but are there alternatives to jump gates? Can jump gates be destroyed or disabled? Do they need to be active on both sides?

I'm thinking that if you want to capture a region then controlling the jump gate would be essential. Infiltrators capturing the control system could hold an area hostage and invading via the jump gate runs the risk of being bottle necked.

Could make a good story but you'd need to manage the implications.

Jump Gates can in fact be destroyed and disabled, but generally it's avoided as then your only way out is to use a Capital ship or get a big enough cruiser.

Jump Drives are the main FTL travel, Jump Gates are large ring based machinery that provides ships too small to accomadate the reactors needed for jump drives, Interplanetary travel is somewhat casual but the Jump Gates make it easier to make what would be a 1 week trip into a 1 hour trip.

As for opening gates. The first gate to open is always the one being entered, with your desired gate on the other side being the result.

Jump Gates also work as beacons for larger ships, typically Cruisers use the Gates as a homing beacon for their own Jump Drive to lock on.

And what do you mean by Region Control?

Let's say you've got a small, extra-solar colony. Say, one on Alpha Centauri. Traveling to Alpha Centauri conventionally would take years but a jumpgate can make it months. The colony it'self is barely self sustaining with little in the way of protection.

A hostile faction could capture this colony in short order but as long as the colony has a jump gate reinforcements can arrive in short order. However, if you turn off the jump gate reinforcements will need to travel that distance conventionally, giving the hostile faction plenty of time to pillage, dig in, or both.

Of course, since capital ships can open gates on their own, I'm guessing that this isn't really an option.

It's not really a option at all, Capital Class Ships just jump to the next Solar System themselves.

Can't set up the Gates without first getting there.

But hey, it was a interesting idea to cover.

Any other questions?

edited 30th Jan '16 6:06:37 PM by EchoingSilence