A Sci-fi Adventure and Politics RP Brainstrom

Sure.

Whew, glad to know one of my ideas doesn't suck! TBH they'd probably be the ones that would be easiest to implement/cause fewer issues due to their technological level (the Space!West civilisation I mentioned like to mess around with more exotic and unusual technologies, for example). I was just worried that the concept would sound silly and/or it would be too similar to what others are offering (which was entirely unintentional, BTW).

Ah, don't worry, you're not the only one who had potential ideas that ended up sounding very similar to somebody else's. (Granted, so far it's only been the back tentacles stuff for me—they're some of my favorites.)

edited 12th Sep '13 4:37:09 PM by NaomiHansen

-awkward-five~!-

I need to work on some aspects of the canine race anyway, so this should be a grand opportunity!

• Name: The Rakasha (but often are referred to as Ratkin, Ratmen, or Rats colloquially)
  
• Appearance: Ranging from, on average, 4'9" and 5'5", the Rakasha are often seen as slightly shorter than Humans, due to their rather bent posture. They have a thin fur covering their sallow skin, coloured black, brown, and red. Occasionally white albinos are born but they are considered bad luck. They have prehensile tails that allow them an improved sense of balance. Their teeth grow long and sharp but are too cumbersome to use as weapons. Their bones are light and brittle, meaning their ability to take and throw a punch is significantly low but their agility and quick-footedness is quite above the norm. Their eyes allow effective vision in the dark but do better with light. They wear surprisingly human-styled clothing, such as shirts and pants. All in all, they do appear somewhat as if a Human and a rat were somehow cross-bred, with more of a Human base with rat features.
  
• History: The history of the Rakasha is one plagued with failures and missteps. It is unknown if this was the case prior to space faring, as any documentation of Rakasha history prior to the First Civil War (translated) has been lost.
  • The First Civil War: After capturing their first planet, the Rakasha faced a massive civil war known as the First Civil War that ended up with the rebels, led by the High Priest Rrrreti who had proclaimed himself Rrrrrrivar in Rakashian form capturing their home planet of Ras Utiku. Forced to now live on their newly conquered planet of Ras Abiza, the Rakasha dug through the planet to build their cities. Feeling a burning desire to grow again so that they could return home, the Rakasha capture the predominantly swamp planet of Ras Orkto from a now nameless reptilian civilization.
  • The Second Civil War: A few years after settling in to Ras Orkto, the Rakasha of Ras Utiku (calling themselves the Rrakasha in a sign of egotism), attempted to take the planet, resulting in the Second Civil War. No planets changed hands during this conflict, with both sides drawing back to their own planets, but with the Rrakasha with the upper hand.
  • The Plague of the Prideful: As the Rrakasha prepared to go to war with the Rakasha while they still had the upper hand, a devastating plague broke out seemingly simultaneously on Ras Utiku, causing the numbers to dive down to 10% of their original population. This would be called the Plague of the Prideful. Shortly afterwards, a humanoid species that potentially came from outside the Ras solar system claimed Ras Utiku as their own, killing off the remaining Rrakashians.
  • The Horrid Humbling: A few decades later, after claiming the final unclaimed planets of the solar system, Ras Oq'ito and Ras Eyrire, the Rakasha sent fleets back to lay claim to their old home world. What they found was a planet without sentient life. Whether this meant the humanoid invaders had been pirates or if they had fell to the plague as well is unknown. However, some of their technology remained and with it the Rakasha finally were able to leave their own solar system. This was a time of pride and sorrow for the Rakasha, as shortly after leaving their own system, they encountered [Flanker's canine alien race]. After a brief attempt at diplomacy, the Rakasha declared war on their strange new acquaintance. The war was quick and brutal and the Rakashian war fleet was turned to space dust. This short war, known as the Horrid Humbling, caused the Rakasha to withdraw back into their home system. From this point forward, their interactions with other space-faring civilizations was done through scout and diplomat ships.
    
• Government: While formerly a form of monarchy, the Rakasha are now controlled by the Council of Claws. Seated amongst the council is the Revered Magister of each city-world, the Revered CEO of each harvest-world, the Revered High Priest of Rrrrrrivar, the Revered Spymaster of Ras Orkto, the Revered Warlord-General of the Rakashian armies, and the Revered High Master of Peace. Currently, the Revered High Master of Peace, Rrrriskith, is considered the head of the council. As such, it is her duty to put laws up for discussion and must hear out the other members in their discussions and suggestions.
  
• Military: After the Horrid Humbling, the Rakasha have turned away from military pursuits almost entirely. All their military power remains on their own planets or in the area around, as a defensive measure.
  • Space Fleet: The Rakasha favour large spaceships to defend their planets since they do not require a great deal of propulsion and allows for larger arms and armour. Their main ships are Lightning Claws, large battlecruisers that defend the planets by being armed with lightning cannon batteries. They are designed with very little room for fuel, only enough to complete a circuit of Ras Oq’ito, the largest planet they have to defend. Ras Oq’ito and Ras Abiza each have three stationed while the remaining planets each have two. Aside from unarmed diplomat and trade vessels, that is the entire space fleet.
  • Ground Force: The Rakasha do not possess a standing army, instead preferring to have their citizens trained to be disciplined levies, should they need to defend the planet. There is a hierarchy of command that all Rakashians are aware of in case of emergency. The preferred weaponry are rightning rifles with bayonets. The Rakashians have no tanks or other ground based military vehicles at their disposal.
  • Rightning Gloves: While not traditional warfare weaponry, rightning gloves are the main weapons of the Rakashian spies. Tight, fingerless gloves that conduct a miniature rightning charge across the knuckles. They are, to date, the sole piece of equipment to use rightning stably. The source of stability is unknown, as the original creation of the gloves dates back to before the First Civil War. It is unknown if it is the materials or certain techniques but the Rakashian have yet to duplicate the successful stabilizing of rightning except with these gloves. If the wearer strikes an organic target with the gloves, the rightning charge quickly shoots through the opponent's nerve system, overloading it with high-level signals. Depending on the fortitude of the opponent, the effects range from losing all feeling in the body for a few hours to unconsciousness to unconsciousness and permanent nerve damage to organ failure. However, these charges are limited and the gloves must be repaired after approximately seven uses. Charges normally last for a dozen but the stability weakens exponentially after seven.
    
• Infrastructure:
  • Ruling a Planet: There are two main kinds of planets owned/operated by the Rakasha: resource planets and home planets. Each of these operates differently. On resource planets, a CEO controls the company that harvests the resources of the planet. As such, they are responsible for the payment of workers and all their living requirements, the upkeep of the equipment, and multitudes of other tasks both on and off the planet, as long as it relates to their products. CE Os rarely live on these planets, usually operating from a home planet. Workers live there as the housing is free for them and commuting to and from work is a tad more difficult when they are on different planets. On home planets, the planet Magister oversees. Only a single Magister is required due to the fact that Rakasha prefer to live underground and rarely make more than two or three underground cities per planet. Of course, they have a council, each of which is specialized in an aspect of running the planet, so that the Magister is not overloaded with duties. Home planets are expensive to live on so most Rakashians find themselves either related to an important figure and thus live a lucrative lifestyle, spend their lives working on a resource planet, somehow escape the poor life by becoming accomplished at some important technical skill such as diplomacy or stewardship, or find themselves sent to Ras Orkto. The exception to the home/resource planet classification is Ras Orkto, which is controlled by the Spymaster, who uses the planet to train recruits in the dangerous swamp planet.
  • Science and Technology in Every Day Life: The Rakasha are not the most technologically advanced civilization but they are far from the least. A bizarre form of lightning that is found in their weaponry is used to power most of their society. It is sickly green and is an incredibly powerful energy source but is volatile. As such, the Rakasha have quickly learned how to prepare a great deal of safety precautions but will still have a bad explosion every now and again. The lightning is actually a chemical reaction of a group of chemical compounds, usually rare but plentiful in the Ras system. In fact, the discovery of this reaction is both the spark of most of their progress and the most important. While Rakashians have good vision even in darkness, they see easier in light, so their cities and work environments are all brightly lit. In addition, all their weaponry works by releasing the reaction within their weapons at the enemy. There is a lot of transportation made to deliver Rakashians from within the planets but they haven’t successfully found a safe way to power it on “rightning” so they import other forms of fuel from other civilizations. As you may have guessed, this is a recent modification in Rakashian culture. They are capable of long-range communication through comm-links and other devices which run on regular electricity, but these are kept to the rich and powerful.
  • Law Enforcement: The Rakasha live rather simply and follow only a few rules. As such, law enforcement is actually based on a volunteer program. Or rather, that’s the claim but the few law enforcement positions are usually given to the sons and daughters of prominent members of Rakashian society, due to an underlying mistrust between the rich and the poor. This is because when the First Civil War broke out, most of the lowborn and poor sided with the High Priest and are often seen as having a major hand in that dark time for the Rakashians. Rakashian police also serve as mid-ranking military officials, keeping them trained and ready should an attack shatter the brief peace the Rakasha have with the outside races.
    
• Culture: Rakashian culture is above all centered around rightning; it is an important discovery that contacts all parts of Rakashian life and society.
  • Religion: Rakashian religion, known as the Church of Rightning Rrrrrrivar, is the only one that the race worships on any real scale. The High Priest of the Church, currently Rrrrroose, sits on the Council of Claws and serves as the spokesman for the citizens of the Rakasha. Each planet has numerous churches with priests who preach of the Rightning Rrrrrrivar and listen to grievances from the working class. The word of Rightning Rrrrrrivar is one focused on knowledge and wisdom. It discusses how the wonderful lives that the Rakashians have is due to it and how all who die will become one with it. So it is known. Other religions will be met with cold indifference in the Ras system, especially since even the Church of Rightning Rrrrrrivar is beginning to fall out of favour. However, even still, religion is a big part in Rakashian society, even if it is no longer the commanding juggernaut it once was under the Rrakash.
  • Sports and Athletic Entertainment: While the Rakashians practice a number of primitive sports, their main source of entertainment is from watching the planetwide Training, broadcast from Ras Orkto. The Training, as it is simply called, is the survival training of prospective spies on the harsh planet. Ras Orkto is a dangerous planet with both flora and fauna dead set on ending intelligent life on it. Prospective spies are merely given a black cloak, a pair of rightning gloves, and their wits. They must survive a full year above ground. As a result, the Training is streamed to a specific comm-link channel and many of those living on home worlds place bets on who will survive and other possible chances. However, it is rare for the Rakashians to open this part of their culture to foreigners, as it might raise suspicions about the true capabilities of the trained spies.
  • Class and Naming: All Rakashians have their name beginning with an R. The number of Rs indicate the position of the citizen on the hierarchy. A single R is a lowborn worker. Two Rs is for an apprentice in a trade such as a spy-in-training or a squiring diplomat. Three Rs, a member of medium level importance like a manager on a resource planet or a council member on a home planet. Four Rs, a member of the Council of Claws. Five Rs used to signify royalty. Finally, six Rs are only used for Rrrrrrivar, the Rakashian god. Those found naming themselves with more Rs than their station indicates are killed, for the hierarchy is sacred even to those without faith.
  • Singing, Dancing, and Literature: Rakashians have become a shrewd people, taking solace in their quick wits over strength. The race is traditionally very quick to learn new things such as languages but lack creative drive themselves if the pursuit doesn't involve rightning. Their own culture tends to revolve around the fascination with the reaction in some way, usually religious, scientific, or militaristic. Most song and dance they import from other cultures and even then, they do not find such activities terribly interesting. Literature, however, is a fascination that is quickly spreading through the population, both high and lowborn. Many Rakashian scientists and theologians are embracing text and attempting to document thoughts, theories, and discussions while a few would-be authors are even beginning to spring up. It has been difficult due to the Rakashian language lacking a traditional written form but an agreed upon written form is beginning to rise. It is estimated that within the next twenty years, written Rakashian will be known and understood by around 60% of the Rakashian populace.
  • Spies and Trade: Due to the Rakasha's new outlook as a peaceful people, they are heavily involved with trade. Due to their quick ability to learn, they make skilled traders and diplomats by learning new languages in a rather short amount of time. With a taste for harvesting resources, especially ones that are hard to come by outside of their system, the Rakasha take pride in merchantism. However, they traffic in more than just chemicals and ores; Rakashian spies are skilled and respected. They are often sold to other civilizations who wish to learn more about enemies in a high-risk area that they would rather keep their own men away from. They never speak and are as silent as the wind on a still night. They also serve as couriers and other jobs that involve obtaining or passing along information. What isn't known outside of the Rakasha is that Rakashian spies are also extremely skilled assassins who fight using rightning gloves, poisons, daggers, and their wits. They do not kill for anyone except the Spymaster of Ras Orkto and do the killings in secret.
    
• Territory: The entirety of the Ras System is under the control of the Rakasha. It is a five planet system with a single star, Ras Iqi.
  • Ras Utiku: The original home world of the Rakasha. Has fallen out of graces due to its scarred history of both the Civil Wars and the Plague of the Prideful. A small planet with a great deal of deserts. Home to the Grand Shrine to Rightning Rrrrrrivar. Seat of Magister Rrrrytik, a former merchant prince with blood traced back to the last Rakashian king.
  • Ras Abiza: Current capital of the Rakasha. Home to the living quarters of the Council of Claws. A large planet with a great deal of biodiversity, such as tropics, taiga, and rainforests. Seat of Magister Rrrrolihf, son of the previous Magister of Ras Abiza.
  • Ras Orkto: Home of the Spymaster and the Training. Incredibly dangerous swamp planet to live on or under. Filled with dangerous beasts and plants such as death bears*
    Carnivorous bears four times larger than grizzlies with incredibly dense bone and teeth structure
    and lilly-gants*
    Grass with small yellow bulbs that pumps your body full of saline and leeches your blood
    . Seat of Spymaster Rrrrevite, rumoured to have assassinated the previous Spymaster.
  • Ras Oq'ito: An enormous gas giant that is filled with rasikium and raswst, the two key chemicals used to create rightning. While the other planets of the system have these materials, Ras Oq'ito has such a large supply that the Rakasha do not believe they are capable of exhausting it. In addition, its moon is also a source of valuable minerals, mainly for construction of buildings and supports for the underground cities of the home planets. Seat of CEO Rrrronniey, a former employee who was adopted by the former CEO so that the seat could pass by "blood".
  • Ras Eyrire: An aquatic planet which is a valuable source of food for the Rakasha. Fish is another important trade good plus is a greatly desired food dish especially on the home planets. Seat of CEO Rrrrimmust, the son of the former High Master of Peace and suspected xenophiliac.
    
• Trivia:
  • Marriage is only granted to those in the High Priest's favour. It does not confer any real benefits in Rakasha society except that it is seen as a mark of your wealth and power.
  • It is believed that the Rakasha had been space-faring before the First Civil War, as found within tunnels in Ras Orkto, prior to the initial colonization. Within these tunnels, numerous illustrations show a people of similar appearance to the Rakashians dragging many others in chains. This supports the hypothesis that the Rakasha once practiced slavery of both their own race and others.
  • Living above ground in many worlds is dangerous for the Rakashians due to their fur and its tendency to react to direct UV rays after extended periods of time.
  • Rakashians can breathe through their tails, if their mouths and noses are covered.
  • The belief of albino Rakashians bringing bad luck is believed to have originated from the First Civil War as the High Priest Rrrreti was an albino himself.

Think I got everything now.

edited 12th Sep '13 11:53:57 PM by EviIPaladin

@Paladin: Could also use some line breaks. My eyes hurt trying to read that.

@Akash and Parable; Human faction: The only requirement for my faction's back story to work is that some time long prior to the RP start, Humans not only had contact with, but were starting to get somewhat friendly and buddy buddy with at least one alien race.

My faction were originally a bunch of people who decided they didn't like that, believing in some kind of Human superiority and just generally xenophobic as all hell. (In other words, their back story is that they were basically the KKK IN SPACE!) But when they realized that trying to kill all the aliens would be too costly and hard, not to mention they couldn't get the other Humans on board with it, they decided on a different solution. Leaving to go make their own civilization with blackjack and hookers! with a big "NO ALIENS ALLOWED" policy.

It gets a bit more complicated after that, and ends with them not being so xenophobic anymore but still choosing to keep being their own separate faction. I'll detail more with that sheet Parable put up sometime later.

edited 12th Sep '13 5:40:35 PM by FirockFinion

I think I could make that work, actually. I'll think about it - the furthest I've really gotten into my faction's history is that they turned inward suddenly during/after their Singularity, which could certainly have happened since yours split off, which would allow for mine to have been the nice, friendly diplomat standard sci-fi humans (ugh) at some point in the past. For that matter, maybe your departure was the catalyst?

Also, has nobody else noticed the "brainstrom" typo in the title? Or is that sort of thing normally mentioned by PM or something around here?

Lastly, I'm writing really, really slowly here. Should I go ahead and post the chunks that I have in the hope that it'll spur me onward, or do I have some time before everybody else is ready?

edited 14th Sep '13 12:45:26 PM by Locoman

I'll be posting one race now and more races later. Gotta sleep soon today. But first, some backstory for all the races...

• Way way back during the first years of time itself, a galaxy started forming, like any other galaxy. But a mistake was committed by the imperfect nature of the universe itself. Different types of life that were supposed to be appear in different planets appeared in the same one, all at the same time. And at first, they joined their forces in a sign of peace. These were the First Years, when the species were all the same, even if they all looked different. There aren't any visual recordings from these times, but scientists have predicted that back then, every species had some characteristics in common. That is, until the Divide came.
• After years of peace, one member of one of the four species discovered violence, and the power its had. This member has been referred to on the history books as the First Speaker. He spoke of differences, of barriers, of concepts the species had never heard about before. And he glorified them, in ways that made other Speakers appear, Speakers that focused on their own species and how they were special, and not the others. They focused on mental differences, on how each species followed their own idea of what was perfect, even if these ideas had been co-existing peacefully up until now. The Speakers lead to the war, and soon, the peace treaty was broken, and the species spread across the globe, travelling through water and earth to find new lands.

These species formed four different civilizations...

• Name: The Tul'Gar
• Appearance: Imagine the Argonians from Skyrim. Just like that. Their skin is hard and their claws are sharp, ready to fight.
• History: The first species moved to the wet and damp plains, surrounded by forests and by the eternal gray sky. The Tul'Gars settled down in this land and built strong tribes, before moving out in order to obtain more materials, at which point their technologies started to advance, and advance, and advance. They were getting into a Golden Age, but their leader feared that technology would soon replace him. Why would they need a leader when they could run the government all by themselves? This lead to the Invasions, a period where the leader and his troops, under the disguise of foreign troops, started attacking the tribe periodically, which allowed him to constantly drive in how weak they were. On the last Invasion, the leader destroyed his own tribe, convincing his people to move into darker areas of the forest. Pointing out how they failed when they focused on technology, the leader decided it was time to focus what was really important: on their bodies. A Cultural Revolution began, which sent the Tul'Gars into the government they are still operating under today.
• Government:
  • Tul'Gars live in tribes spread across the continent, and they operate under a form of government similar to feudalism. There is a King, and he controls all the lands and all the tribes, who work and trade together in order to protect their own borders. There is, however, a catch: the Tul'Gar government, like everything else, is focused around the idea of physical perfection. The King is not the King because he is a military genius, but because he is the strongest Tul'Gar in the world- and the people believe he is the strongest being in the universe.
  • The King controls the Tribe Lords, the leaders of each tribe. Together, they decide when it is time to farm, time to kill or time to wait. And they are the only figures in the government- all the other Tul'Gars respect and see the King as a God, and the Tribe Lords as their messengers.
• Military:
  • The Tul'Garian military is not technologically advanced. The minds behind it are smart, but not geniuses. So why is it that they survive against much more advanced enemies? Simple. Faith. For the Tul'Garians, to serve in the military is like working directly with god. To die fighting for your lands is a gift. While Tul'Garians do have some vehicles (like catapults), armor and weapons that barely reach up to what the other nations have, their best weapon is their love of fighting. A Tul'Garian may have lost his leg, his arm and may have an injured stomach, but if he can, he will keep on fighting, and chances are, he will get you. At close quarters, a Tul'Garian is extremely dangerous on how unpredictable they are. Which means that when a Tul'Garian army is spotted near a city, all this city can do is run.
  • They're not stupid, of course. The Tul'Garians, surprisingly, have a missile protection system, and they even have a few missiles of their own, spoils from multiple wars against other nations. But most of the public isn't aware that these exist, and even if they did, they wouldn't care. The Tul'Garians also have strategists, although they are more like intelligence officers, telling what enemy the soldiers will be fighting today. All male Tul'Gars work in the army- those that don't are either old war heroes, who have fought many wars and earned their rest or Tribe Lords. When they reach the age of 16, they join the army, train, and then go wait for a battle in their tribes, where they wait some more.
• Infrastructure:
  • Law: The only law is the King's word. Disrespecting the King's orders is like asking to have your head cut off- and they don't need an executioner for that. To be more precise, laws also do not exist in their land. If someone thinks you committed a crime, no matter what crime it is, they can go to your land and attack you. If you die, that means the attacker was stronger and, therefore, right. If you kill someone and get caught, a Tribe Lord can either just kill you or force you to fight to your death. But what keeps everyone from killing each other? Strength. We'll get into more details later, but if you're a strong Tul'Gar, you will immediately be respected by the others. Strength equals honor, which in turn equals respect. That is one of the unspoken laws of the land, and no one has ever even thought about defying it. That is just the way it works.
  • Tribes: Each Tribe is divided into a few simple parts. The part dedicated to agriculture, where the food for the people is produced. The part dedicated to the market, where people sell their products, their weapons, their armors. And the part dedicated to entertainment, where Tul'Garans go to either fight, watch people fight, drink, enjoy their lives and other people. Scattered across these parts are homes, simple wooden homes where a Tul'Gar and their family lives. Each Tribe works and looks like a fief, obeying a Tribe Lord, who in turns collects food, taxes, and other things the King requires.
  • Economy: The money is either only used to pay up personal services (a tailor, etc), to buy something or to pay the Tribe Lord. Most Tul'Gars don't see the use for collecting copious amounts of money, for everyone has the same house and has access to the same commodities.
  • Communication: Some soldiers are turned into messengers, and they ride on top of horse-like creatures with six legs, delivering messages across the nation. The Tul'Gar's determination made it so a letter only takes one or two days to reach its destination, as a messenger will not stop to rest.
  • Transportation: Hope you like walking.
  • Industry: The only people who work in something that isn't the army are the women and the retired soldiers. A Tul'Gar leaves the army after a certain number of wars, and the rare soldier that manages to reach that number gets a new home and is allowed to live out his life doing some other job. These retired soldiers either go into hunting, blacksmithing or entertainment, turning into wrestlers with intricate backstories and fun motives or move onto other jobs and become artisans. These retired soldiers are seen as disappointing, for they are so strong, yet they waste their time with a woman's job.
• Culture:
  • Religion: They don't have an official religion, or a god, but the King is the closest thing to one they have. They love him, they glorify him, and they wish they could all go to war in his name.
  • Family: Since Tul'Gars are so violent and so focused on their strength and bodies, the concept of family is very different, yet similar to the ones that existed in humanity's past. In their society, the man is the one who makes the world run- the woman is simply there to make sure he has a meal on the table and someone in his bed. In fact, the Tul'Garian males are quite lustful creatures, with some historians saying that all they need is "faces to break, some food to eat, and a woman to sleep with". The result is a society where family sometimes doesn't exist: while you're bound to see one with a mother, a father, and at least three children, you will more often see a man with at least eight children he had with different women. This is also because the man is the one who's responsible for training his children. A boy will start training on the art of fighting by the age of six, and his training is no different from the one the soldiers receive. A girl will be often sent to a home, where she'll live with other girls and work with farming or other jobs the man are too busy to handle.
  • The Arts: Non-Existent.
  • Customs:
    • Tul'Gars are extremely proud of their bodies. As a result, the concept of clothing hasn't been developed that much. It is customary for males, outside of a fight, to wear only leather shorts or pants, while females are the only ones to wear shirts. Children also only wear shorts. Shoes do not exist.
    • Tul'Gars first fight with the weapon chosen for the battle- be it a sword or a club. Then, they fight with their fists. And then, once the fist part is gone, anything goes.
    • A Tul'Gar that gives up or flees during battle is considered a bastard and is either sent to the dungeon or killed on the spot by his "comrades".
    • Dock cities in Tul'Gar land are known as being the home to those retired soldiers who wish to follow a path in a career that "only women should follow", which is why most of the soldiers stay in land while waiting for a new battle.
    • It may sound like Tul'Gars go around killing each other because they don't like the looks on their faces, it's actually not like that. Most cases of Tul'Gars killing each other come from a strong one killing a considerably weaker than the rest one. If you're a strong member of the race, you certainly won't be killed, unless you do something to piss off someone stronger than you.
• Territory: The Tul'Gars control the biggest continent in the planet, a patch of earth the size of all three Americas combined. From sea to shining sea, it's all Tul'Gar territory. This continent occupies at least 75% of the North Hemisphere of the planet
• Trivia: A Tul'Gars love for battle doesn't restrict itself to the battlefield. It expands over to everything, including daily life. If you think that guy is weaker than you and he just got a tasty mug of beer, you can punch him until he's unconscious to take it for you.

I'll post the next race tomorrow.

edited 12th Sep '13 7:34:26 PM by Stratofarius

I know that if I get things sorted out, I might be a little while myself. Hopefully no more than a few days, though.

All right then, I should have something cohesive to post within that time. Faction named, and Government and Military first drafts are ready now.

edited 12th Sep '13 7:48:10 PM by theAkash

I think that should do it. Until I get into diplomatic relations and such.

I'm certainly interested! Room for one more human civilization? I'm thinking of adapting a version of the human nation from one of my other sci fi verses

@Akash:

Could be if you want. My idea is that at the start of the RP, my guys are somewhat secretive about themselves. Most of their interaction with other space faring civilizations is through just their military, who pretend to simply be well-armed, well-trained independent mercenaries instead of the army for some Human faction. But interaction with your faction could be interesting since they may still have old records of some xenophobic extremist group that called themselves by the same name as this apparent mercenary organization...

Anyway, I'm working on my faction's sheet in a word document. I just started the military bullet point when I realized it's already reached four pages. So uh... Maybe I should post it in chunks? What does everyone else think?

EDIT: To be specific, 1,728 words amongst 10,297 characters, according to the word count tool. And I'm not even halfway through the bullet points yet... Yeah. (Though to be fair, I don't think any of the second half will be as big as the first half.)

edited 13th Sep '13 4:28:39 AM by FirockFinion

Posting in chunks is fine so long as you have on post that links to the others. Don't go too overboard with everything just yet. You might want or have to rewrite things later and then you'll have just wrote a bunch for nothing.

• Name: The Sirians
• Appearance: Sirians are very tall, ranging from 6' to more than 7' in height. They resemble humanoid canids, being entirely covered in fur and possessing traits such as tails, canine ears and facial structure, as well as digitigrade feet. Sirian females are taller and have a stronger musculature than males, though both genders are powerfully built by human standards. They have sharp claws and teeth, but the former are mostly a by-product of their ancestry and the latter are a consequence of their carnivorous diet.

Fur colours, thickness and patterns vary depending on where the Sirian in question was born, but the most common colour is brown and fur tends to be of medium thickness. Clothing again varies depending on the climate, but due to their fur coat it is almost invariably made of extremely lightweight material, with those from hot climates favouring loose fitting garments that let air circulate easily. Clothing similar to thin shirts and trousers or t-shirts/vests and shorts are generally popular choices (though in cold environments the clothing is a good bit thicker and is almost always long sleeved to reduce exposure). Their similarity to human outfits are perhaps not surprising due to their humanoid nature: after all, there's only so many ways to clothe a humanoid!

• History: The Sirian home planet is called Siria. The climate is extremely varied, with some regions and island chains sweltering under the system's star and others buried under deep layers of permafrost. The temperate areas of the planet - which are slightly on the cool side - experience changeable weather, with it not being unusual for a bright day or week to be followed by several days of rain, fog, etc. as air masses shift and move across oceans, mountain ranges, and other significant geographical features. It has been suggested that the Sirians first evolved in these temperate regions, remaining deep in the ancient forests and occasionally venturing out to the open meadows and mountains when resources permitted. Generally, the early Sirian societies followed the migrations of prey animals (whilst simultaneously avoiding predators; part of the reason they evolved their great strength and height was to deal with the constant harassment by animals at the apex of the food chain). Curiosity and an unrelenting need to keep feeding their families kept the Sirians pressing on to the next horizon.

At some point in the distant past, however, the tribes settled down where they could, and it was here that the seeds of their current society were sown. Conflict after conflict between territorial neighbours wore down those who could not keep up, and shortly after inventing nuclear weaponry the largest nations found themselves locked into the grim struggle for global dominance referred to simply as "The Silent War". Much like Earth's own Cold War, this was a battle waged via proxies and brinksmanship, a nuclear sword of Damocles poised to end the Sirians forever in an apocalyptic war of annihilation. Limited spaceflight had been achieved, and a tiny colony had been established on Siria's moon.

Just as tensions seemed to reach their breaking point, an old alien empire decided to intervene. What happened next is not clear - the Sirians' documents of this time period were intentionally widely dispersed, aside from those referring to the movement of materiel and soldiers - but what is known is that the empire found a solution to the Silent War and accepted the Sirians into the fold as warrior vassals, a race whose only purpose as far as the aliens were concerned was to be ready, willing and prepared to fight.

To this end their technology was artificially fast-tracked and the race genetically modified by their benefactors to be more physically capable. They participated in many of the empire's campaigns with great success. However, an unknown event (vaguely referred to as "The Great Dissolution" in Sirian archives) caused the Sirians to be abruptly discharged from their service, leaving them to grope their way blindly back home. It was during this time period that some systems were conquered in the name of empire by disparate fleets - though this time not under the banner of the precursors, but the Sirians' own. Whether they could hang on to these far-flung assets was the elephant in the room, but they soldiered onward because war and conquest was all they had known for a long time. Biological warfare, chemical weapons and nuclear means were all employed to scour resistance from planets. Eventually the Sirians reconsolidated in their home system; the loss or damage of records makes it difficult to ascertain how many of the newly acquired systems they actually retained.

Thus began a long period of demilitarisation, along with grappling with a new issue: namely, as part of their genetic modification the aliens had skewed the male-female birth ratio significantly in favour of the latter, short-sightedly reasoning that they made superior physical specimens and thus superior soldiers. This is a problem that has dogged the Sirians to this day.

At some point in the past, a Sirian patrol fleet sweeping an area of space near a former Sirian colony world were stumbled upon by the Rakasha. Attempts at peaceful communication failed, and the patrol fleet were fired upon.

From the Essllean Incident began the Essllean War, a conflict that ended as abruptly as it started as the Sirian Packs outmaneuvered the Rakashan war fleet and struck at will. Perhaps foolishly emboldened by the war, the Sirians began a slow expanse, pointedly ignoring the sectors from which the Rakashan had emerged. After all, they seemingly no longer posed a threat.

They are still eager to flex their muscles as a (seeming) rising power, though there are still unresolved issues at home and abroad.

• Government: The Sirian government is run by the Sirian Assembly, a conglomeration of Sirians from various nations/tribes that convenes frequently to discuss major issues. Above them is the Sirian Council, which consists of several individuals on a rotational basis from each nation and colony. The leader of the Sirian Union is simply known as the Chairwoman - to date there has never been a Chairman, though there have been male representatives on the Council and in the Assembly.

There have been rumbles of displeasure on occasion from the constituent nations - the colonies are for now at least too awed by their home planet's military might to cause any serious ruckus - especially from the Queen of Efiem, a country that had been one of the major power blocks in the Silent War and later. For the most part, the Sirians present a relatively united face to the rest of the galaxy.

• Military: Feted and feared in equal measure, the Sirian Army is the premier Sirian fighting force, drawing upon the combined experience of previous campaigns to prosecute further wars. They are extremely well funded thanks to their pride of place in Sirian life. The Army Space Corps controls the various Packs, which are usually designated "[#] '[name]' Pack" - i.e. the X "Ossear Highlanders" Assault Pack. They rely upon extreme durability and their relatively hard hitting weapons to carry the day - a trait that is present to a greater or lesser degree throughout the Army. The Army Air Corps deals with the airborne element of an operation, whilst the Army Naval Command has control over the seas.

The Tactical & Strategic NBC Squadrons are responsible for the oversight and employment of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, as well as the development of defences against such strikes - indeed, one of the Sirian Army's stated objectives is to maintain a high tempo of operations in heavily contaminated environments. After enjoying a high point during their time in the empire, their funding has been cut somewhat as the need for these weapons has fallen. Delivery methods include spaceborne, airborne, naval and missile deployment.

On the ground, the Sirians have precisely two advantages: thanks to their immense strength, they can wield large railguns that might otherwise be crew served or vehicle mounted in other militaries, and they also make use of powered armour to protect and enhance their infantry. They come in all sorts of forms to suit different roles, such as the "Fox" Scout Armour and the "Wolf" Combat Armour.

The command of Sirian military forces is surprisingly simple, with an Alpha at the top and an Omega at the bottom. Colour coding is used to differentiate different branches; a Red Alpha is in charge of an armoured unit, for example.

Despite all of these advantages, there is one significant area in which they lag behind: the employment of energy weapons. Though there are some in service, they are predominantly vehicle mounted and it looks like it will stay this way for now. Secondly, due to their use of powered armour, the tank has become less prominent than it used to be; therefore, there is a good chance that alien designs might be superior to them.

Soldiers are either professionally recruited or taken from a conscription list on a case-by-case basis.

• Infrastructure:
  • Law and Order: There is a strong tradition of lawfulness in Sirian space, not least because disobeying it often leads to harsh penalties. The police, if not loved, are at least respected. Foreigners are often given a lighter sentence or just a warning as an allowance for the fact that they may not be familiar with the Sirian justice system.
  • Economy: The Sirian economy is a patchwork one - a good chunk of it is supported by the proliferation of Sirian owned or led PMCs, which are often in demand in wartorn systems. Secondly, Siria and its colonies are rich in material wealth, bringing extra cash into the Union's coffers. Heavy industry is one of the prime movers of the Sirian economy, particularly weapons manufacturing.
  • Telecommunications: Sirian telecommunications often make use of a video/audio hybrid function; in public places it's generally considered polite to use only the audio function when talking using cell phones (which are generally rather small and compact). At home and at work video conferencing programs are often a popular method of communication, using a semi-holographic projector to display the image.
  • Transport: Sirian vehicles are generally forced to rely on tyres made of advanced polymers and rubbers rather than "flying cars", which are mostly the preserve of the elite.
• Culture: The Sirian culture is as varied as its creators, though the one constant is that it is rather matriarchal as a by-product of the physical differences between genders. Less physically taxing pursuits are seen as the ideal choice for men, whilst women are encouraged to take more active roles. This can lead to some culture shock when, say, interacting with humans.

The military is almost venerated in Sirian culture; almost anything and everything has some sort of military connection (it is not unusual for major corporations to offer workers a chance to visit the local base, for example). Insulting the military is usually seen as more than a little rude - and a bad idea as many Sirians are armed (albeit only with things such as pistols or knives, both of which are widely available on Siria and its colonies).

The arts tend to be overshadowed by the obvious military connection; Sirian art usually makes use of various scents in conjunction with very high frequency sound and images. Music also uses frequencies that humans and similar races struggle to hear. This has often failed to strike a chord with races that do not perceive the world similarly to Sirians.

The major religion revolves around the creator-goddess Eben and her sister Ataf, the first creature to experience death. In a fit of pique after realising that society had moved on after her death, she cursed all of Siriankind to die as well. She is associated with wrath and vengeance. There are several religious festivals related to her and Eben, who is associated with the sun and lives in the paradise of Eid, a world of perpetual daylight. Ataf lives in a world of eternal night and holds the keys to the underworld - she is associated with the moon.

• Territory: The Sirians hold fifteen or so systems outside of their home system, though not all of these systems have more than a couple of planets (or less) that can sustain life.
• Trivia:
  • Sirians have a tendency to over-emote when they first learn non-Sirian languages to make up for the fact that they cannot rely on non-verbal cues to the same extent as they normally can. As they adjust this gets better, however.
  • Despite occasionally being painted as a base warrior race, their mythology contains many scientists, diplomats and strategists.
  • Due to the aforementioned shortage, Sirian males are rarely let out of Sirian space; when they are, they are almost inevitably accompanied by a female.

And there; I'm only too happy to change whatever is necessary (I'm worried I made their military too powerful, for example, and certain parts strike me as a bit iffy). There's a good chunk more than what I put down, but I didn't want to turn this into a marathon post.

Hopefully this doesn't suck too hard.

edited 21st Jun '14 12:40:24 PM by Flanker66

Evii, the Rakasha are accepted.

Flanker, the Sirians are fine except for the fact that 10 feet tall is kinda pushing it considering you'll need to be zipping about on the ships of species who by and large are a lot smaller than that.

Okay, I think I'm done with the sheet, though I'm gonna go over it at least one more time to make sure I didn't miss anything important. It ended up being... 4,689 words with 28,387 characters, according to the word count tool. (For comparison, Flanker's entire post above is apparently 2,208 words with 13,215 characters.)

Yeeeah, this is what happens when I re-use something I already developed long ago instead of coming up with something on the spot. >_>

I don't think I'll want to be rewriting anything, but I should be good to change anything if you deem it necessary. And since I was mostly going from memory, it was no big deal.

Anyway, once I check it, then it's just a matter of deciding how I want to split it up for posting, if I will do that.

I've got the general species appearance of mine down mostly, but now I'm trying to bounce ideas over how the hell to incorporate the empath/Mental Fusion abilities that I want in this setting. So far, the best idea I've got is that they as a species had started out with a fairly high amount of empathy already, before having some biological/technological advancements that allowed them to have the near-psychic capability of reading the emotions of other sentient creatures (provided that other aliens even have emotions and that they're translatable enough to my species), and to have the potential to Mind Meld with one or two—maybe even three—other beings*

edited 13th Sep '13 8:18:11 PM by naomihansen

Hey anyone wanna be BFFs with a race of robots that just chill out on those uninhabitable planets in your solar system (that you weren't going to use anyway)? They're just there having fun mining all day and not hurting anyone unless maybe your enemies pop into the neighborhood, and then hey, robot BFF's got your back.

Well, I currently have a sparsely populated colony planet and a vague idea for a home world, but considering that I probably wanna have a few more planets in my solar system, I could add in a planet for them if you'd like..?

It's cool, they don't need any extra planets, they've got their own homeworld and stuff. I was just thinking one of the things about robotic alien dudes is that they'd be more likely to care about the materials and surface area of a planet than about any sort of atmosphere (somewhat, at least), and because of that I'd assume that sometime in the past they'd have made an alliance or something to just hang out on some of those planets, and that might be something interesting to write about if someone was up for it. So it's up to you.

edited 13th Sep '13 9:52:02 PM by nman

I wanted to have at least three or four planets in my solar system, so you wouldn't be asking too much to take one of them (probably the furthest one from the local sun). Besides, I'd like to have somebody have interactions with my aliens-who-have-no-surefire-name-yet. They'd probably want the robots to at least tell them every now and again what that deserted planet is like, though, if I make it hostile enough for them to not be able to safely study it themselves.

edited 13th Sep '13 10:10:09 PM by naomihansen

Oh hey! I'd kind of forgotten that you wanted to play a robotic faction, Nman. (sorry!) Note that mine is probably going to be chilly to covertly hostile towards you - still working on that history, but basically it's had bad experiences with sentient AI. Oh, and the one that secretly runs it doesn't like competition. Yes, that's supposed to make - hopefully - more sense in context.

edited 13th Sep '13 10:16:12 PM by theAkash

Sweet.

Oh, well they're a little more than just sentient AI, so when I finish up, I bet "covertly hostile" will be how your dudes feel on a good day.

edited 13th Sep '13 10:20:57 PM by nman