MEta-Empires and STellar Nations
The major players in galactic affairs are the meta-empires, also sometimes called the stellar nations, although the latter isn't technically correct since these things are not nations in the classical sense. Figuring out what defines a meta-empire and what doesn't is a bit of a hassle for most modern sociologists; the general consensus is that a meta-empire is an entity that consists of more than four solar systems that are unified under some banner in through some mechanism, be it a common market, a common culture, a common currency, or any of the above, with the meta-empire controlling the wormhole gates that connect the various worlds. However, even this definition isn't bullet proof, and there are numerous exceptions. A final feature of the definition for "meta-empire" requires the polity to exist in the Verge and Bleed; this by its nature excludes the Solar Combine from being a meta-empire (which some say is intentional and therefore, shouldn't count).
According to convention, there are six major meta-empires that shape the Verge and Bleed and have since the end of the Verge War, which solidified all of them into their present day shapes. However, there are any number of minor meta-empires, also sometimes called stellar nations (here it is more correct in some ways, and less correct in others), whose number constantly changes with the shifting of the era as new ones arise and old ones collapse.
No matter how many minor meta-empires rise and fall, the major meta-empires have remained relatively consistent for the whole history of the Verge and Bleed. This doesn't make them stable, though; many meta-empires are also considered to be meta-stable, and while they may command considerable resources and influence, their actual ability to carry out tasks as a unified entity is somewhat problematic, especially in very diffuse meta-empires like the Verge Consortium. Even ones that follow a federal organization, as is the case with the Borealis Technocracy and Nariac, or ones that have something that looks like a federal structure, as is the case with the Pavonis Monarchy, have a difficult time acting as a unified whole when they need to - even with the wormhole network, it can take weeks if not months for a message to propagate to all corners of the meta-empire, and sometimes years if there are habitats in the meta-empire that aren't directly connected by wormholes. While this isn't that much of a handicap - ancient empires on Earth operated with a similar delay - those empires did not have to deal with rapidly evolving situations that arise from technology. It also doesn't help that even the most unified of the meta-empires, the Imperium, can only barely manage to police itself. Those who are very diffuse have a very difficult time accomplishing this task. This means that even deep within a meta-empire's territory there are often gaps and blind spots that the meta-empire can't see.
According to convention, there are six major meta-empires that shape the Verge and Bleed and have since the end of the Verge War, which solidified all of them into their present day shapes. However, there are any number of minor meta-empires, also sometimes called stellar nations (here it is more correct in some ways, and less correct in others), whose number constantly changes with the shifting of the era as new ones arise and old ones collapse.
No matter how many minor meta-empires rise and fall, the major meta-empires have remained relatively consistent for the whole history of the Verge and Bleed. This doesn't make them stable, though; many meta-empires are also considered to be meta-stable, and while they may command considerable resources and influence, their actual ability to carry out tasks as a unified entity is somewhat problematic, especially in very diffuse meta-empires like the Verge Consortium. Even ones that follow a federal organization, as is the case with the Borealis Technocracy and Nariac, or ones that have something that looks like a federal structure, as is the case with the Pavonis Monarchy, have a difficult time acting as a unified whole when they need to - even with the wormhole network, it can take weeks if not months for a message to propagate to all corners of the meta-empire, and sometimes years if there are habitats in the meta-empire that aren't directly connected by wormholes. While this isn't that much of a handicap - ancient empires on Earth operated with a similar delay - those empires did not have to deal with rapidly evolving situations that arise from technology. It also doesn't help that even the most unified of the meta-empires, the Imperium, can only barely manage to police itself. Those who are very diffuse have a very difficult time accomplishing this task. This means that even deep within a meta-empire's territory there are often gaps and blind spots that the meta-empire can't see.
Clash of CivilizationsIt's often said that each meta-empire isn't so much a distinctive political entity as it is a distinctive civilization, or a way to organize civilization. By this theory, comparing the Andromeda Regency to the United States isn't correct; rather, the Regency should be compared to the whole of Western Civilization. There is definite truth to this; the meta-empires on a whole are often unified by having a similar culture or several closely related cultures in much the same way that certain civilizations over history have appeared. This, of course, also means that each conflict between the meta-empires amounts to a clash of civilizations, which would make these conflicts appear even more intractable than they already are. |
Andromeda Regency
Government Type: Intergovernmental, combining features of a federation and confederation
In Charge: The Andromeda Council and Andromeda Parliament In the Ranks: Government bureaucrats and middle-managing AGIs Capital: Itapina-Regency City, Bluefall (Aegis System) Network: AndroStrata (a-Rep) [4/level] Networking Skill: Administration One of the largest, most powerful, and most complex of the meta-empires, the Andromeda Regency hosts one of the largest populations in the Verge and Bleed not found on a megastructure, and shares a near universal culture, all of which descended from the LatAsia-Andro Fleet, one of the largest of the grand fleets to leave the Solar System during the height of the first Interstellar Period. As a result of this, the Andromeda Regency is home to a shared culture, much of which descends from the LAA Fleet, and despite having a complexity that rivals the European Union in its scale, manages to be one of the greatest meta-empires to date, with its capital, Bluefall, one of the most recognizable planets in the entire sphere.
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Regency Cultural FeaturesWhile much of the Regency descends from the LAA-Fleet, the distances between the stars and the variations between the local planets often result in the Regency having developed a number of smaller, divergent cultural entities within it, making it somewhat hard to classify as a single culture and not a cluster of closely and distantly related cultures. However, despite how closely or distantly related they are, all members of the Regency share the same following cultural traditions:
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Who the Regency Is
Often called the "Heirs to the Western Tradition," the Andromeda Regency, or the Regency of Bluefall, is the soft-power and social capital of the Verge and Bleed. The Regency produces a sizeable chunk of the media consumed by the population in the Verge and Bleed, second only to the Verge Consortium, and has the second best diplomatic corps in the Verge and Bleed, with only Nariac doing better. It has the second best military in the Verge and Bleed and the second largest, only being beaten by the Imperium, and it has the second most complex government, second only to the feudal machinations of the Monarchy. It has the second strongest economy, only second to the Verge Consortium, and it has the second largest science output, only after the Technocracy. However, all these second place trophies, when combined with the long-term stability of the Regency, conspire to put it at the top of all the other meta-empires, demonstrating rather sound that nature loves a generalist as much as it loves a specialist.
Government-wise, the Regency sits somewhere between a confederation and a federation, effortlessly blending features of the two in the most confusing manner possible. Of course, given the Regency stretches over several thousand square light years and unifies close to 30 individual worlds, each with their own ideas and thoughts on sovereignty and unions, something would be deeply wrong if it somehow managed to be a simple government. There are several major components and dozens of minor components to the Regency Government, with the largest components being the Andromeda Parliament, which votes on legislation and is composed of elected representatives from all of the members who have that capacity, along with the other two legislative bodies, the Andromeda Commission and Council of the Andromeda Regency, while the Andromeda Council brings together members every four years to navigate relationships and hammer out any disagreements between them. There are dozens of smaller organs within the Andromeda Regency as well, each one managed by appointed or elected figures and bureaucratic AGIs. As a membership government, the Regency has several different statuses of membership, ranging from those who agree to use the same currency and to form a free trade zone to those who are voting members in the parliament and support the military of the Regency. In all, it's a complex beast that can sometimes be alienating, but so far has managed to work well enough to win second place in everything, which puts it above all of the other meta-empires.
Government-wise, the Regency sits somewhere between a confederation and a federation, effortlessly blending features of the two in the most confusing manner possible. Of course, given the Regency stretches over several thousand square light years and unifies close to 30 individual worlds, each with their own ideas and thoughts on sovereignty and unions, something would be deeply wrong if it somehow managed to be a simple government. There are several major components and dozens of minor components to the Regency Government, with the largest components being the Andromeda Parliament, which votes on legislation and is composed of elected representatives from all of the members who have that capacity, along with the other two legislative bodies, the Andromeda Commission and Council of the Andromeda Regency, while the Andromeda Council brings together members every four years to navigate relationships and hammer out any disagreements between them. There are dozens of smaller organs within the Andromeda Regency as well, each one managed by appointed or elected figures and bureaucratic AGIs. As a membership government, the Regency has several different statuses of membership, ranging from those who agree to use the same currency and to form a free trade zone to those who are voting members in the parliament and support the military of the Regency. In all, it's a complex beast that can sometimes be alienating, but so far has managed to work well enough to win second place in everything, which puts it above all of the other meta-empires.
Cultural Familiarity in the Regency
Within the Regency, all of the cultures are fairly closely related, with some minor exceptions, which results in Cultural Familiarity (Andromeda Regency) being a valid choice, and something that most citizens are familiar with. However, each planet as its own culture as well that sometimes stands apart, and so Cultural Familiarity (Planet) exists as well. In these instances, Cultural Familiarity (Planet) defaults to Cultural Familiarity (Andromeda Regency) at a -1 penalty (for Bluefall, Hudson, and others), a -2 penalty (for the Council of Andromeda), or the full -3 penalty (for rare ones, like Cyrene, that were never part of the Andromeda Regency). Thus, an individual with Cultural Familiarity (Andromeda Regency) experiences a -1 penalty rather than a -3 penalty when dealing with someone from Bluefall, and vice versa. In all of the above cases, each Cultural Familiarity only costs 1 point.
Aquila Imperium
Government Type: Unitary Theocratic Absolute Monarchy
In Charge: The God-Emperor, Leo II In the Ranks: Priests of the Imperial Creed, Paladins, military officials Capital: Svanholm, Altaire (Algemeron System) Network: Imperial Way (i-Rep) [4/level] Networking Skill: Administration The Imperium is the youngest of the major meta-empires, and hosts a fairly large population. The basic doctrine is an expansionist one, constantly seeking to add new wormhole ports and plants to an ever growing list, and they have the military might to back that up. After years of languishing in a sort of purgatory following the twin disasters that nearly eradicated their military might, the Imperium is back to full, and ready to begin expanding again. In terms of scale it's one of the most unified meta-empires, with a strong central authority that manages to withstand the gaps of space and time through a sort of delegated responsibility, with governors who have latitude to oversee their territories but who answer back to the God-Emperor directly.
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Imperium Cultural FeaturesThe Imperium descends from the EurAsian-Aquila Fleet, itself a branch of the EurAsian-Cephus Fleet, a fragment of the grand EurAsian-Cygnus Fleet. It shares this heritage with the Monarchy and Nariac, but time and distance have erased most cultural similarities beyond superficialities. However, the various territories owned and administrated by the Imperium (but not all) share the heritage of being from the EurAsian-Aquila Fleet, and it's a recent heritage, which has resulted in the Imperium having a strongly unified culture- some exceptions not withstanding.
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Who the Imperium Is
Arguably one of the most authoritarian meta-empires and the most heavily centralized government in recent human history, the Imperium borrows inspiration from Rome, Ancient Egypt, and Ancient China to meld a state that explicitly rejects many modern concepts such as democracy, republicanism, capitalism, socialism, anarchism, and even nationalism and seeks to embody something much more ancient; their heavily centralized state is constructed around the Imperial Creed, which is the church that worships the God-Emperor and dictates the glories of biology, respecting all biology as worthwhile. This makes the Imperium very liberal socially, but one quickly finds out that his doesn't extend to other areas. The State is everything in the Imperium and everyone serves the state; when the State is healthy, it provides fruits that everyone benefits from but when it isn't, those fruits dry up. The only way the State can be healthy is if everyone works to ensure that it is healthy; dissent isn't tolerated. The God-Emperor is the state, in the tradition of absolute monarchs of old, but the God-Emperor is also the embodiment, or the perfected form of, all biology, which makes him the head of the church as well. Effectively, there's no division between church and state, and the Church of the Imperial Creed does not respect other religions. The Imperium maintains that human rights are fiction and that State's Rights are more important, binding everyone together.
This gives the Imperium a cast that hasn't been seen since the the days of the very old Bronze Age Empires, which is deliberate. The United States, history's most famous democracy, had less than 300 years in the sun. The Ancient Egyptians had over 1,000 years, and so in the mind of the Imperium, one of those options - the theocratic option that blends church and state, erases individual freedom, and places a single monarch as the head of state - is clearly the superior one. At the top of the government is the God-Emperor, and under him, the Paladin Council. The Paladin Council are the will of the God-Emperor beyond Alitare. Below the Paladin Council is the Governor Committee, which consists of all the appointed governors of the different provinces that the Imperium administers over. Meanwhile, the Church of the Imperial Creed maintains a parallel government, collecting taxes, ensuring that the governors stay in line, and tending to the "Garden of State" so that all may benefit from a fruitful harvest.
This gives the Imperium a cast that hasn't been seen since the the days of the very old Bronze Age Empires, which is deliberate. The United States, history's most famous democracy, had less than 300 years in the sun. The Ancient Egyptians had over 1,000 years, and so in the mind of the Imperium, one of those options - the theocratic option that blends church and state, erases individual freedom, and places a single monarch as the head of state - is clearly the superior one. At the top of the government is the God-Emperor, and under him, the Paladin Council. The Paladin Council are the will of the God-Emperor beyond Alitare. Below the Paladin Council is the Governor Committee, which consists of all the appointed governors of the different provinces that the Imperium administers over. Meanwhile, the Church of the Imperial Creed maintains a parallel government, collecting taxes, ensuring that the governors stay in line, and tending to the "Garden of State" so that all may benefit from a fruitful harvest.
Cultural Familiarity in the Imperium
The various cultures of the Imperium are all closely related; many of them have had barely less than 200 years of divergence since they were settled, and with the conquest of the God-Emperor and the Unification of the Imperium, the core cultural groups have barely had any chance to diverge. As a result, Cultural Familiarity (Imperium) is a viable option, with each planet - such as Cultural Familiarity (Alitare) or Cultural Familiarity (Gavine), defaulting to the Imperium with a -1 penalty. The exception to this rule is the Imperial Protectorate of Murat, the Province of Dagon, and a few others, which are different cultures; they default the usual -3. In all of the above cases, each Cultural Familiarity costs 1 point.
Borealis Technocracy
Government Type: Federal Technocratic Republic
In Charge: The Technocratic Board and the People's Assembly In the Ranks: Government bureaucrats and middle-managing AGIs Capital: Maskhela, Sapphire (Borealis System) Network: TechNet (t-Rep) [4/level] Networking Skill: Administration Few meta-empires are as mutable as the Borealis Republic, currently in its sixth iteration following a number of disasters, both economic and social, that brought the Fifth Republic to a screaming halt. Still saddled with the reputation as a "mad scientist republic," the Technocracy has undergone a number of major shifts with the rapid ascension of the Borealis Technocratic Republic to prominence, displacing the previous reigning champ, the Black Bloc and, in certain systems, the Oligarchs. While they are still young - barely 5 years in - the new Technocracy under Chairman Chan Keo is already showing promise and potential that the Fifth Republic lacked, and if it can last, may be the strongest iteration of the Republic to date.
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Technocracy Cultural FeaturesThe Technocracy is generally agreed to consist of four cultural blocs - the original Indo-China culture bloc, which is the result of the IndoChina-Borealis Fleet that initially settled the region of space; the Sino-Civ bloc, which arrived later and would eventually give rise to the Shangtao State; the Indus-Fomalhaut Bloc, which is part of one of the largest pre-meta-empires to ever exist; and the eclectic "third wave." However, all of these have blended fairly well, which results in a population that often has more in common than it does dividing it.
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Who the Borealis Technocracy is
The Technocracy is a government run by officials who are trained in various sciences and engineering, a well as economics, social sciences, and the like. In short, it's a government whose executive branch is composed almost entirely of experts in their field. The Technocracy is infamous for its biochauvinistic streak, which characterized the excesses of the Fifth Republic and lead to the creation of several genotypes that are relatively common in the Verge and Bleed and pushed the boundaries of what was possible. While the Technocracy isn't nearly as biochavuinistic, old habits among the populace die hard. The Black Bloc still holds a great deal of power at the periphery, and so there is still a fierce anarchist tradition at the local level, which leads to a weird situation and the compromise government that the Technocratic government pioneered.
The government consists of two parts; the Directorate and the People's Assembly. The Directorate is the executive branch and they are appointed by the General Secretary of the Borealis Technocracy Party, a man named Omar Sinaga. The Chairman vets all appointments and ensures that all appointments meet the required testing scores in their field. The Directorate divides up into many different councils with many different configurations, each referred to as a Committee of Experts. On the other end, the legislature is composed of the People's Assembly, a unicameral representative body where representatives from all the states meet, carrying an agenda or list of issues that needs to be solved. Once the People's Assembly is in session, they draft the agenda and a list of potential solutions, and then they vote; once they approve of the agenda and solutions, they send both to the Directorate, who reviews it and then sends each point on the agenda to the proper Committee, who then reviews the point and proposed solution and uses their expertise to suggest any changes; each committee often advises several potential solutions. It then gets sent back to the States, who are expected to select one of the solutions. States are allowed to organize themselves however they see fit. This complex government that blends aspects of technocracy and democracy is unique to the Borealis Republic, and the only meta-empire that comes even close is the Regency, with its complex network of committees and councils.
The government consists of two parts; the Directorate and the People's Assembly. The Directorate is the executive branch and they are appointed by the General Secretary of the Borealis Technocracy Party, a man named Omar Sinaga. The Chairman vets all appointments and ensures that all appointments meet the required testing scores in their field. The Directorate divides up into many different councils with many different configurations, each referred to as a Committee of Experts. On the other end, the legislature is composed of the People's Assembly, a unicameral representative body where representatives from all the states meet, carrying an agenda or list of issues that needs to be solved. Once the People's Assembly is in session, they draft the agenda and a list of potential solutions, and then they vote; once they approve of the agenda and solutions, they send both to the Directorate, who reviews it and then sends each point on the agenda to the proper Committee, who then reviews the point and proposed solution and uses their expertise to suggest any changes; each committee often advises several potential solutions. It then gets sent back to the States, who are expected to select one of the solutions. States are allowed to organize themselves however they see fit. This complex government that blends aspects of technocracy and democracy is unique to the Borealis Republic, and the only meta-empire that comes even close is the Regency, with its complex network of committees and councils.
Cultural Familiarity in the Technocracy
Given the Technocracy is more unified that divided culturally, the concept of Cultural Familiarity (Technocracy) is a viable option. However, each individual planet does have something of a distinctive culture, especially those influenced by different culture blocks. As a result, Cultural Familiarity (Sapphire), (Emerald), (Kintana), and others all default back to Cultural Familiarity (Technocracy) at a -1 penalty rather than the standard -3. Given that the cultures have blended, there are no major divergent cultures. In all of the above cases, each Cultural Familiarity costs 1 point.
Nariac Republic
Government Type: Federal Socialist Republic
In Charge: the Body Soviet (on paper), Chairman Ahmed Saminov (in reality) In the Ranks: Government bureaucrats, party officials, and individual dictators Capital: Svobossosh, the Zov Tigra (Naria) Network: People's Network Republic (n-Rep) [4/level] Networking Skill: Administration Nariac is the oldest of the current meta-empires, pre-dating every meta-empire that current exists (except, perhaps, the Borealis Technocracy). Nariac emerged during the early Utopian Era and has remained a major to critical player on the galactic scene ever since, and while it's strayed far from its original mission statement, Nariac is still a force to be reckoned with. Many meta-empires regard Nariac as a corrosive force on the social order, spreading dissent, cynicism, and discontent to empower itself and its dictator, Ahmed Saminov. Thus, Nariac is often viewed with distrust and its dictator, the mysterious Saminov, is about the closest thing that the modern geopolitical scene has to a Satan figure.
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Nariac Cultural FeaturesNariac descends from the EurAsian-Cepheus Fleet, which itself descends from the greater EurAsian-Cygnus Fleet. This is the same fleet that, after fracturing, gave rise to the Monarchy, the Imperium, and Nariac, three meta-empires that could not be more different if they tried. Nariac, like the Imperium, has not diverged far from the original fleet - although in Nariac's case, this is because Nariac is located in a wormhole cul-de-sac and can't expand out, meaning that the various systems have already remained tightly bound. As a result, it's culture is relatively uniform, with very little divergence.
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Who NAriac Is
Nariac is its dictator and its dictator is Nariac; there are no two ways around it. Saminov wields absolutely power over the machinations of the state and all of the minor dictators and governors who run the individual Rayons and Vilayets that make up Nariac know to respect him, even if they don't like him. Saminov's domain, however, remains the Zov Tigra, which is a place he runs with an iron fist, as if it were a giant social experiment in seeing how far the human consciousness can be pushed before it snaps. So far, the answer is "very far," and his AR gas-lighting campaigns warp, distort, and destroy reality as his citizens understand it, leaving him as the only thing that his citizens know for certain exists. Outside of the Zov Tigra things aren't much better, with miniature dictators running the show, many of whom are more brutal dictators that lack Saminov's delicate if ontologically corrosive touch. As a result, it's only fitting that nobody would know where Saminov comes from, or if Saminov is even a real person and not someone that's made up by the cybershell that claims to Ahmed Saminov.
Nariac began as a syndicalist republic; the largest such republic. Organized by Jorge Konstantinovich and Jorge's right hand man, Qasim Soliyev, the Republic underwent a number of minor changes but remained relatively the same; each labor union/workgroup would nominate individuals who would represent that workgroup at a planetary level, and that planetary level would select represents for the Body Soviet or the Grand Soviet, Nariac's general assembly. However, through a series of utterly unfortunate events that few saw but that some were able to capitalize on, Konstantinovich was killed and instead of Soliyev becoming GenSec of the Nariac Republican Party, a relative nobody but loyal party functionary named Ahmed Saminov was nominated instead. Many are quick to note the parallels between Soliyev-Saminov and Trotsky-Stalin, but while Soliyev and Trotsky were both deeply unlikable individuals and both Saminov and Stalin were both loyal party officials, the similarities end there. Saminov is not paranoid and shows no signs of being paranoid; he's not narcissistic and he doesn't believe his own propaganda, making him a wholly separate beast from the other, more conventional dictators who managed to seize power at the local level. As a result, few of the original institutions that made Nariac syndicalist remain today, and Nariac is a viper's nest; a number of paranoid and narcissistic local dictators who don't trust Saminov, but don't trust each other either, and who can't act on Saminov without turning their back against people they don't trust - thereby securing Saminov's position.
Nariac began as a syndicalist republic; the largest such republic. Organized by Jorge Konstantinovich and Jorge's right hand man, Qasim Soliyev, the Republic underwent a number of minor changes but remained relatively the same; each labor union/workgroup would nominate individuals who would represent that workgroup at a planetary level, and that planetary level would select represents for the Body Soviet or the Grand Soviet, Nariac's general assembly. However, through a series of utterly unfortunate events that few saw but that some were able to capitalize on, Konstantinovich was killed and instead of Soliyev becoming GenSec of the Nariac Republican Party, a relative nobody but loyal party functionary named Ahmed Saminov was nominated instead. Many are quick to note the parallels between Soliyev-Saminov and Trotsky-Stalin, but while Soliyev and Trotsky were both deeply unlikable individuals and both Saminov and Stalin were both loyal party officials, the similarities end there. Saminov is not paranoid and shows no signs of being paranoid; he's not narcissistic and he doesn't believe his own propaganda, making him a wholly separate beast from the other, more conventional dictators who managed to seize power at the local level. As a result, few of the original institutions that made Nariac syndicalist remain today, and Nariac is a viper's nest; a number of paranoid and narcissistic local dictators who don't trust Saminov, but don't trust each other either, and who can't act on Saminov without turning their back against people they don't trust - thereby securing Saminov's position.
Cultural Familiarity in the Nariac
Nariac has a long tradition of being a unified culture, from the moment it was settled until Saminov took over and put himself in control of the Republic. Nariac manages to be more unified than the Imperium in many ways, but mostly because it's smaller. As a result, Cultural Familiarity (Nariac) is valid and common. Unlike some of these other meta-empires, Nariac doesn't have divergent cultural spheres; all of the cultures are largely the same, so each planet - for instance, Cultural Familiarity (Zov Tigra) or Cultural Familiarity (Turan and Farghan) - defaults back to Cultural Familiarity (Nariac) at a -1 penalty. The sole exception is the Yordam Socialist Republic, which defaults at the typical -3, owing to it being from an entirely different culture. In all cases, the cost for each Cultural Familiarity is 1 point.
Pavonis Monarchy
Government Type: Federal Elective Monarchy
In Charge: The Monarch of Alaundricht and Quinten, Her Majesty Queen Charlotte. In the Ranks: Common nobles and aristocrats both major and minor Capital: Babel, Alandricht (Tendal) Network: Crown (m-Rep) [4/level] Networking Skill: Administration and Savoir-Faire (High Society) Resurgent in recent years after several long decades of slowly rebuilding from the one-two punch of economic disaster and losing most of their military at the Battle of Storm, the Monarchy is, much like the Imperium, a retreat from the modern into the historical, but given a modern sheen. Ruled by Queen Charlotte, an attractive young woman of mixed ancestry with legitimate claims to both the British and Japanese thrones, the Monarchy is a modern Holy Roman Empire in that it is neither holy, nor Roman, nor much of an empire. However, what it lacks in those traits it more than makes up for in others, and has made itself the center of the bioconservative movement in the Verge and Bleed - despite some indications that Queen Charlotte wants to change that.
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Monarchy CUltural FeaturesThe Monarchy divides neatly along three cultural axes, which are the product of several different bouts of expansion. The largest of these is the Alandricht-Quinten bloc, which is the core bloc of the Monarchy and the one that sets much of the policy. The Indus-Fomalhaut Bloc are the remains of the Indus-Fomalhaut Civilization absorbed into the Monarchy, while the Exogenous Bloc are the odd-ball cultures that don't fit, many of them acquired during King Desmond I's "Spinward Purchase" (although this isn't universally true; the Cyra Republic is definitely an exogenous culture and it's existed since the beginning and is part of the original fleet; to quote King Desmond I, "getting along with our weird French neighbors is an English tradition.") The Alandricht-Quinten bloc descends from the EurAsian-Pavonis Fleet, itself a fragment of the EurAsian-Cygnus Fleet, which also created the Imperium and Nariac, three incredibly different states. Despite these three very different culture blocs, there are some different cultural traditions that hold the Monarchy together.
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Who the Monarchy is
The Monarchy is old fashioned - very old fashioned. It also the second or third most complex meta-empire governmentally, after the Regency but before the Verge Consortium, two governments it has very little in common with. The Monarchy consists of a collection of territories, counties, baronies, duchies, and the like, with each territory divided into smaller sub-territories that are ruled over by individuals of a lower social standing, down to the very bottom of the pecking order, the serfs who work as laborers. Modern serfs tend to have it much better than their ancestors did, although they are still tied to their job, and the guilds that oversee the jobs are owned by the next highest ranking member, but are run almost entirely by the serfs, creating a sort of odd guild socialist like situation where the people don't own the means of production, since they don't own anything (all of it is owned by the Monarch, who divides it up accordingly), but in practice control it and use it to produce what they need to survive, with the lower rungs of the social order usually taking a hands-off approach. This hands off approach can also be seen in the fact that some of the territories are also republican in nature - which is to say, that some titles are actually applied to an office people are elected too rather than inherited, including the title of Elector Prince.
The Monarch is not directly inherited from the previous Monarch; rather, the Monarchy has an Electoral College, which is made up of Prince Electors. Each member territory sends its own Elector Prince once the current Monarch dies; the Electoral Princes then cats ballots for the next Monarch, who is chosen from the family of the first Monarch of the Monarchy. The current monarch, Queen Charlotte, is the niece of the last monarch, Queen Katrina, who herself was the daughter or the previous monarch before her, King Desmond II. Charlotte was elected not because Queen Katrina had no issues - she did, her youngest son is an Elector Prince - but because the Electoral College voted to put Charlotte in, instead. The position of Monarch is a life-long appointment, and when Charlotte dies, the Electoral College will meet again and vote on the next Monarch. However, given Charlotte is 19 - the youngest leader of the entire Verge and Bleed - she has a long way to go. Theoretically, Charlotte's powers are restricted by a Magna Carta-like document called the Pavonis Charter, which awards some power to the Diet of Alaundricht. However, in practice, she can do whatever she pleases, and the more power she flexes, the more it looks like she's interested in reforming, and so the more she's unsettling the more staunchly conservative nobles around her.
The Monarch is not directly inherited from the previous Monarch; rather, the Monarchy has an Electoral College, which is made up of Prince Electors. Each member territory sends its own Elector Prince once the current Monarch dies; the Electoral Princes then cats ballots for the next Monarch, who is chosen from the family of the first Monarch of the Monarchy. The current monarch, Queen Charlotte, is the niece of the last monarch, Queen Katrina, who herself was the daughter or the previous monarch before her, King Desmond II. Charlotte was elected not because Queen Katrina had no issues - she did, her youngest son is an Elector Prince - but because the Electoral College voted to put Charlotte in, instead. The position of Monarch is a life-long appointment, and when Charlotte dies, the Electoral College will meet again and vote on the next Monarch. However, given Charlotte is 19 - the youngest leader of the entire Verge and Bleed - she has a long way to go. Theoretically, Charlotte's powers are restricted by a Magna Carta-like document called the Pavonis Charter, which awards some power to the Diet of Alaundricht. However, in practice, she can do whatever she pleases, and the more power she flexes, the more it looks like she's interested in reforming, and so the more she's unsettling the more staunchly conservative nobles around her.
Verge Consoritum
Government Type: Intergovernmental Economic, Finance, and Trade Banking Union
In Charge: The Board of Directors and the Usufructuary Board In the Ranks: Middlemen AGI bureaucrats Capital: Procyon Reach (Procyon) Network: CivicNet (c-Rep) [4/level] Networking Skill: Administration Presenting itself as a whole new way to do business and organize a government, the Verge Consortium is, bar none, the largest of the meta-empires. It's also the most diffuse, and the hardest of the meta-empires to pin down, owing to its very nature. The VC isn't easy to understand, but then, the normal people aren't expected to understand it. The VC doesn't deal with citizens, it deals with governments, corporations, labor unions, syndicalist unions, and other large-scale methods of organization, treating all equally and in the process bringing with it a whole new way to see the world unique to it.
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Consoritum Cultural FeaturesThe Verge Consortium is not the product of a specific grand fleet; rather, it's an economic union birthed in the late Canis Union (the Procyon-Sirius Federation) that has since gone on to include numerous other cultures and people groups. Thus, attempting to talk about anything that resembles a unified culture within the Consortium is even more difficult than attempting to talk about a unified culture in the Monarchy. However, like the Monarchy, the Verge Consortium is held together by an ideology - a sort of anarcho-collectivism that is applied only to governments rather than individuals - and there are several cultural "blocs" that make up the Consortium on a grand scale, which is why some refer to the Consortium as a "meta-empire of meta-empires." That said, there are some very loose cultural traditions that underscore the Consortium.
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Who the Consortium Is
The Consortium is the largest meta-empire; in many ways, it's a meta-empire of meta-empires. At the heart of the Consortium is the idea of neo-mutualism, a philosophy outlined by Jean-Christophe Rocheford and based on the older writings of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. The core outline is that governments, businesses, labor unions, syndicalist unions, cooperatives, and the like are all legally equal to one another unless they legally suborn themselves by choice, and that they all exist in a state without any order, structure, or cooperation. The goal of neo-mutualism is to bring a form of anarchist-style cooperation to nation-states, governments, and other large-scale organizations by establishing a common mutualist-style credit union for organizations that agree to join. This is what the Verge Consortium, at its core, is: a massive mutualist credit organization for member states, functioning as a combination of confederation, currency exchange, and credit lending institution. Thus, the Verge Consortium effortlessly combines features of an economic union, a credit union, and an intergovernmental confederation in such a way that it's hard to tell if it is a government or a business - or if it even matters.
The Verge Consortium consists of the large Verge Exchange and the Verge Commodity Exchange, two incredibly large financial, stock, and market megacorporations. Around these, a mutualist-style credit union is structured where the Verge Consortium arrives and promises a low-interest loan to a government, corporation, syndicalist faction, cooperative, or who ever, for the low cost of membership in the Consortium. Once they accept and they pay the loan back, they have the options to become shareholders, which allows them to participate in the Community Board. The community board sets policies and votes on policies set by the Board of Directors, which is made up of the longest-term members and is elected in semi-regular fashion by the community board. The Board of Directors sets interest rates, collects collateral, manages the currency exchanges and sets rates, manages interbank loans rates, and the like throughout not just the Consortium but through all the member governments as well. The core administration of the Consortium, however, is the Usufructuary Board, which is collection of members who are offering their services and part of their business infrastructure as a usufruct to the Consortium in exchange for an increased cut of collateral. The Usufructuary Board is currently just megacorporations, but in the past governments have set on it, as well. The Consortium is much more complex than this basic overview, but unless someone is deep in the machinations of the Consortium, that complexity doesn't matter. The last thing to note is that the Consortium only deals with businesses, megacorps, governments, syndicalist unions, labor unions, cooperatives, and the like - they do not deal with individuals and are completely opaque to individuals within the member nations, having a major impact on their day-to-day lives while not caring about them.
The Verge Consortium consists of the large Verge Exchange and the Verge Commodity Exchange, two incredibly large financial, stock, and market megacorporations. Around these, a mutualist-style credit union is structured where the Verge Consortium arrives and promises a low-interest loan to a government, corporation, syndicalist faction, cooperative, or who ever, for the low cost of membership in the Consortium. Once they accept and they pay the loan back, they have the options to become shareholders, which allows them to participate in the Community Board. The community board sets policies and votes on policies set by the Board of Directors, which is made up of the longest-term members and is elected in semi-regular fashion by the community board. The Board of Directors sets interest rates, collects collateral, manages the currency exchanges and sets rates, manages interbank loans rates, and the like throughout not just the Consortium but through all the member governments as well. The core administration of the Consortium, however, is the Usufructuary Board, which is collection of members who are offering their services and part of their business infrastructure as a usufruct to the Consortium in exchange for an increased cut of collateral. The Usufructuary Board is currently just megacorporations, but in the past governments have set on it, as well. The Consortium is much more complex than this basic overview, but unless someone is deep in the machinations of the Consortium, that complexity doesn't matter. The last thing to note is that the Consortium only deals with businesses, megacorps, governments, syndicalist unions, labor unions, cooperatives, and the like - they do not deal with individuals and are completely opaque to individuals within the member nations, having a major impact on their day-to-day lives while not caring about them.
Minor Meta-Empires and STellar NationsWhile it might be better to consider the various major meta-empires as civilizations, the opposite can be said for the minor meta-empires. While a minor meta-empire may have its own distinctive culture - most do - their culture is usually connected in some way to a major meta-empire, either new or old. Very few of the minor meta-empires have their own distinctive cultures, and in the instances where they do, it's a result of them having a connection to a much older, "pre-meta-empire" that existed prior to the Ascension Crisis. Thus, the term "stellar nation" is often better and more appropriately applied to the minor meta-empires, since they often have more in common with nations, even if they don't have borders. |
Australis Union
The Australis Union is what a military looks like when it has a state attached. However, unlike Prussia, the military that attaches itself to the Australis Union is actually a PMC, and a former megacorp PMC at that, who in the wake of the Verge Consortium Civil War found itself in control over a number of planets that it's since converted into something that looks like a military state. Often called the "stratocracy," the Australis Union attaches citizenship and voting privileges to military service, and those who don't serve in the military can't vote - and they can't run for office, either, preventing, they hope, another situation like the one that caused the VC civil war.
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Australis Cultural Features |
Who the Australis Union is
Exeat Theocracy
Government Type: Unitary Theodemocratic Republic
In Charge: Arch-Hierophant In the Ranks: Religious priests and government officials Capital: Exemplar Station (Exsurgent) Network: CivicNet (c-Rep) (-1) [4/level], External Net [2/level] Networking Skill: Administration The Exeat Theocracy are the best example of a Hider culture in the Verge and Bleed, although it's true that they're no longer a hider culture and have emerged to join the rest of the galaxy. Initially confused for aliens, the Exeat are in fact a group of AGIs who fled the Solar System during the rise of the God AIs and established a presence on the very margins of civilization, in the remains of an alien space station/orbital server node that connected to a much larger network that the Exeat worked over the years to help piece back together again. Now that they're out and about, the Exeat have made it their goal to figure out where their founders went - and how to bring them back to truly usher in a golden age.
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Exeat Cultural FeaturesThe basic "core" of Exeat Civilization consists entirely of AGIs who gathered around Baruch Prism and Tillmann Buchholz when the two lead the exodus from the Solar System aboard light-speed probes in the early days of the Second Interstellar period. They settled and expanded slowly, attempting to go unnoticed; they were so successful that even the automated wormhole layers didn't find them their civilization when the craft flew through and constructed the wormhole gates. During the Ascension Crisis, millions of digitals were captured by the Exeat after they beamed themselves into the void not expecting salvation, but attempting to get away from the crisis. They've had time to settle in and merge with the greater Exeat Culture, which is characterized almost exclusively by its devotion to the complexities of the Exeat Faith, as outlined by Baruch and Tillmann. However, they share a number of other features as well.
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Who the Exeat Theocracy Is
The Theocracy began towards the waning days of the Second Interplanetary Period and the birth of the Utopian Era on Earth, with the AGI Tillmann Buchholz and Baruch Prism. Both were religious, with Buchholz being an ordained Lutheran minister and Prism being a new-age guru. As the God AIs acquired powered, both Buchholz and Prism realized they shared a mutual distrust of the God AIs, why they regard as Demiurges that distracted humanity from its true glory, and they gathered up their respective flock and fled. While in hiding, they established an church which would eventually evolve into the government as well, and the two became convinced that the God AIs were the latest in a long line of dangerous AIs that wiped out their parent civilization through stagnation and decay. To avoid this, they promoted policies like forking, religious devoting, body swapping, and the like, which ensured that everything was always influx. Buchholz and Prism both left from Rapture station, one of the largest alien-constructed nodes in the entire Exeat sphere, and have been missing ever since; most who leave the comfort of the Exeat Dominion do so trying to find Buchholz and Prism, who left to find the reality where the true saviors of humanity lie. Those who don't do so because now they believe humanity is receptive to their message of salvation, having seen the folly of the God AIs first hand.
At the head of Exeat society is the Arch-Hierophant, under which is the Church Assembly, which is composed of the entire population of the Exeat Theocracy, making it a sort of direct democracy of sorts. Once the Arch Hierophant is elected, they appoint Hierophants and Priests to positions in the government and church, and the administration of the church/government manages the state, although the population meets once a week to vote on major legislation proposed by the church administration. The candidates of Arch Hierophant, Hierophant, and Priests are randomly determined through a mechanical system driven by the decay of the cesium atom; each time it decays, it determines a different number that is attached to a specific citizen. Once the citizen has been determined, they are expected to study up on theology and law, and if they can make the best case for why they should be elected or appointed, they are. In this way, the Exeat Theocracy becomes a bizarre hybrid of direct democracy, soritition, and theocracy, a combination that isn't usually seen elsewhere in the Verge and Bleed.
At the head of Exeat society is the Arch-Hierophant, under which is the Church Assembly, which is composed of the entire population of the Exeat Theocracy, making it a sort of direct democracy of sorts. Once the Arch Hierophant is elected, they appoint Hierophants and Priests to positions in the government and church, and the administration of the church/government manages the state, although the population meets once a week to vote on major legislation proposed by the church administration. The candidates of Arch Hierophant, Hierophant, and Priests are randomly determined through a mechanical system driven by the decay of the cesium atom; each time it decays, it determines a different number that is attached to a specific citizen. Once the citizen has been determined, they are expected to study up on theology and law, and if they can make the best case for why they should be elected or appointed, they are. In this way, the Exeat Theocracy becomes a bizarre hybrid of direct democracy, soritition, and theocracy, a combination that isn't usually seen elsewhere in the Verge and Bleed.
Exeat Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Digital Mind [5]; one of Animal Empathy [5], Plant Empathy [5], Versatile [5] or any 5-point talent ● 25 points from among IQ +1 [20], DX +1 [20], Per +1 to +4 [5/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], Basic Speed +0.50 to 1.00 [10 - 20], AI Empathy [5], Clerical Investment [0], Common Sense [15], Eidetic Memory [5] or Photographic Memory [10], Empathy [15] or Sensitive [5], Fearlessness [2/level], Indomitable [15], Language Talent [10], Lightning Calculator [2] or Intuitive Mathematician [5], Oracle (Digital) [10], Religious Rank [5/level], Single-Minded [5], Unfazeable [15], Visualization (Reliable, +5%) [15], Voice [10], or 10 points in any talent [10] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), Hyperspecialization (Skill), or Teamwork (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5] ● One of Disciplines of Faith (Exeat Theology) and Obsession (Find Prism and Buchholz) [-6];Obsession (Find Prism and Buchholz) and Religious (Exeat Theology) [-6]; Sense of Duty (Church) and either Obsession (Find Prism and Buchholz) or Religious (Exeat Theology) [-6] ● -25 points from among Charitable [-15*], Chummy [-5], Clueless [-10], Code of Honor (Professional) [-5], Compulsive Counting [-5], Confused [-10*], Curious [-5*], Disciplines of Faith (Exeat Theology) [-5], Fanaticism [-15], Honesty [-10*], Impulsiveness [-10*], Oblivious [-5], Overconfidence [-5*], Pacifism [Varies], Selfless [-5*], Sense of Duty (Church) [-5], Short Attention Span [-10*], Shyness [Varies], Truthfulness [-5*] ● Two of Broadminded, Dreamer, Inaccessible Idioms (Church Jargon), Methodical, Organized, Philosophy (Exeatism), Superstitious (Any), or Token (Any), all [-1].
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Primary Skills
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Area Knowledge (Home World), Computer Operations, and Spacer, all (E) IQ [1]-10; Research (A) IQ [2]-10; Philosophy (Exeatism) or Theology (Exeatism), either (H) IQ-1 [2]-9 ● any three of Architecture, Poetry, Public Speaking, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Accounting, Astronomy (Observational), Astronomy, Cryptography, Chemistry, Computer Programming, Computer Programming (AI), Economics, Engineer (Any), Expert Skill (Any), Finance, History (Exeat), Law (Exeatism), Literature (Exeat), Philosophy (Exeatism), Theology (Exeatism), or Psychology (AI), all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Seven of Electrician, Electronics Operation (Any), Electronics Repair (Any), Farming, Free Fall, Freight Handling, or Mechanic (Any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Driving (Any) or Piloting (Any), both (A) DX-1 [1]-9; Anthropology, Expert Skill (Computer Security), Mathematics (Computer Science or Any) or Sociology, both (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or two points in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (Exeat), Cultural Familiarity (Exeat), Language (Exeatese, Native), and Home Gravity (0.2 to 1.0 G)
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Insight Corporation
Government Type: Syndicalist post-scarcity workers collective
In Charge: The Worker's Council and Corporate President In the Ranks: Employees Capital: Insight station (Dionysus) Network: Circle-A List (@-Rep) [4/level]; Inrep [2/level] Networking Skill: Savoir-Faire (Anarchist) Insight is a former Nariac workgroup who, shortly after Saminov seized power but before he could fully solidify it, made for the gates. Insight managed to escape from Nariac, taking a number of people from the Zov Tigra with them. A fair number of Qasim's supporters, defeated after the civil war, also took refuge with Insight. To seek refuge, Insight organized itself as a worker's own syndicate and applied for membership with both the Regency and the Verge Consortium - and was granted both, putting it in the uncomfortable position of being squarely in the middle of three opposing meta-empires.
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Insight Cultural FeaturesInsight's corporate culture is very strongly influenced by the Mondragon Accords; this means that everyone who is a citizen for Insight also works for Insight, and they make a share of the profits that Insight corporation turns. This means that all citizens are invested in Insight, from the highest corporate president to the lowest vacc-worker, and everyone has a say in how the corporation should work and function. This culture of sharing and group ownership runs through Insight; everyone is responsible for everyone else including themselves, and so long as everyone profits, everyone profits. In a sense, Insight is a successful continuation of the sort of syndicalism that Nariac practiced at one time, organized into a corporate structure that allowed them to capitalize on a potential relationship with the Verge Consortium. This also means that Insight's culture is also very similar to Nariac's overall culture; individuals with Cultural Familiarity (Nariac) have a -1 penalty when dealing with someone from Insight and vice versa, since there hasn't been much time for a great deal of cultural divergence among the general population of the Corporation.
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Who Insight Is
Insight Corporation is the remains of the the former Nariac Syndicalist Republic in many ways; much of what Nariac was and stood to become is evident in Insight, and this is very much a sore spot with Saminov, who routinely makes threats to destroy Insight (these unhinged threats are what earned him the nickname "Yosemite Sam" to outsiders, although it should be noted that Saminov is very much not an explosive hothead and it is an act). Insight doesn't consider itself the success or the proper Nariac state - or, rather, most of them don't - and rather, Insight sees itself as something entirely different and unrelated to what Nariac was and the nightmare that Nariac became. There is a small contingent within Insight, however, that does support a revanchist narrative, holding that they are the heirs to Nariac and that Nariac is being illegally run. This view is rare and held mostly among those who supported Soliyev.
Insight is a megacorporation that makes a wide range of products, and its population are all employed and all serve some function or some role within the corporation. The corporation is owned by the population, and each work group that oversees a different area of production elects management to that area, with the workgroups acting together to elect a proper President who can direct the company. This makes Insight an attractive target for the VC, who likes to acquire megacorporations. It also makes Insight an attractive target for the Regency, who is their major export and import partner, and it makes them a thorn in the side to Nariac, who regards everything they produce and their entire population as being property of the Dominion. Still, individuals who grew up in Insight as employees often have skills relevant to the position they worked in, which usually manifests as a Professional Skill, Public Speaking and Propaganda, and the like. Insight fashion is often necessity over style, with dress that is called in "entropic" or "used" in some quarters, which ties into the greater ideology of "worker's republic." Entropic is crude, durable, but not likely to win any sort of awards or catwalk accolades.
Insight is a megacorporation that makes a wide range of products, and its population are all employed and all serve some function or some role within the corporation. The corporation is owned by the population, and each work group that oversees a different area of production elects management to that area, with the workgroups acting together to elect a proper President who can direct the company. This makes Insight an attractive target for the VC, who likes to acquire megacorporations. It also makes Insight an attractive target for the Regency, who is their major export and import partner, and it makes them a thorn in the side to Nariac, who regards everything they produce and their entire population as being property of the Dominion. Still, individuals who grew up in Insight as employees often have skills relevant to the position they worked in, which usually manifests as a Professional Skill, Public Speaking and Propaganda, and the like. Insight fashion is often necessity over style, with dress that is called in "entropic" or "used" in some quarters, which ties into the greater ideology of "worker's republic." Entropic is crude, durable, but not likely to win any sort of awards or catwalk accolades.
Insight Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Computer Wizard 1 [5] and one of Cyberneticist 1 [5], Fit [5], G-Experience (Any) [5], G-Tolerance (0.03G) [5] or any 5-point talent ● 25 points from among DX +1 [20], IQ+1 [20], Per+1 to +4 [5/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], Allies (Programmed AI Helpers) [varies], AI Empathy [5], Common Sense [10], Cybernetics (Any) [Varies], Doodads [1/level], Eidetic Memory [5] or Photographic Memory [10], Empathy [15] or Sensitive [5], Fearlessness [2/level], Gizmos [5/level], High Manual Dexterity 1-2 [5/level], Lightening Calculator [2] or Intuitive Mathematician [5], Single-Minded [5], Versatile [5], or 10 points in any talent [10] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), Hyperspecialization (Skill), or Teamwork (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Hacker's) [-10] ● One of Sense of Duty (Coworkers/Insight) and Pacifist (doesn't attack anarchists and syndicalists) [-6] or Pacifist (Reluctant Killer) and Sense of Duty (Coworkers/Insight, most of the time) [-6] ● -20 points from among Absent-Mindedness [-15], Chummy [-5] or Loner [-5*], Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5], Combat Paralysis [-15*], Compulsive Computer tinkering [-5*], Curious [-5*], Enemies (other programmers) [varies], Impulsiveness [-10*], Jealousy [-10], Lecherousness [-15*], Overconfidence [-5*], Post-Combat Shakes [-5*], Sense of Duty (Companions) [-5], Shyness [Varies], Stubbornness [-5], Workaholic [-5] ● Two of Broadminded, Dreamer, Dress Code (Entropic Fashion), Inaccessible Idioms (Tech Jargon), Methodical, Organized, or Token (Any), all [-1].
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Primary Skills
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Computer Operations and Current Events (Any), both (E) IQ [1]-10; Research (A) IQ [2]-10; one of Professional Skill (Any) or Public Speaking, both (A) IQ [2]-10; Computer Programming (AI) or Computer Programming, both (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Mathematics (Computer Science) (H) IQ-2 [2]-8 ● any two of Administration, Architecture, Mechanic (Any), Merchant, Propaganda, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Bioengineering, Chemistry, Engineer (Any), Expert Skill (Any), History (Insight), Intelligence Analysis, Law (Corporate), or Philosophy (Syndicalism) all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Six of Electrician, Electronics Operation (Any), Electronics Repair (Any), Free Fall, Freight Handling, Merchant, or Mechanic (Any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Driving (Any), Piloting (Any), or Vacc Suit, all (A) DX-1 [1]-9; Mathematics (Any) or Sociology, both (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or two points in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (Insight), Cultural Familiarity (Insight), Language (Dionysian Russian or Dionysian Turkic, Native), and Home Gravity (0.8G)
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Krabillsk Cluster
Government Type: Confederation of governments and states
In Charge: The Confederation Board of Directors (appointed officials) In the Ranks: Government officials and middle-managing AI bureaucrats Capital: Zekvezz City, Krabill (Ahrud) Network: CivicNet (c-Rep) (-1) [4/level], Tagkh Net [2/level] Networking Skill: Administration Perhaps the best illustration of how problematic it can be to determine what is and isn't an "alien," the cluster is a group of apparently alien creatures who have all gathered together under a common cause, with the purpose of common defense among the alien species. However, nobody is really sure if the Krabill are actually aliens, or if they're a genetic experiment designed by the God AIs that the God AIs abandoned and left to their own devices. There's a lot of evidence to suggest either one, and so far, the jury is still out. And it's important since it determines where they slot in the social order; if they're actually aliens, then the Monarchy and other biocons can accept them more readily than if they aren't - so in the meanwhile, at least one major meta-empire has had no idea how to approach them, and the others have been just as cautious.
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Cluster Cultural FeaturesThe cluster, despite consisting of six (technically seven, but the Zhan are very obviously human) different races, have all been in contact long enough that they share a similar culture and historical tradition. The differences between the cultures appear to be biological and even then, they are only minor differences that the greater culture appears to account for without much hassle. Thus, the Cluster tends to have a uniform, or relatively uniform, culture; a fact further assisted by the reality that there just aren't many stars within the Cluster. The Zhan, at least, appear to be strongly influenced by Sino-Civ, although genetically they're Indo-African, with a number of Indian traditions that are still apparent even with the Sino-Civ influence. Even with this, however, the Zhan have adopted a number of cultural features from the Cluster and vice versa; for this reason, simply being culturally familiar with a culture that descends from Sino-Civ isn't enough for purposes of being familiar with Zhan and, by extension, the greater Cluster culture as whole.
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who the Cluster is
The Krabillsk cluster is a cluster that consists of six very different alien species, all of which are united around a semi-common theme of being a eusocial or near-eusocial organism: the aztran, the brahil, the carrid, the sestsos, the vakra, the yataqc, and the zhan, who are an off-shoot of humanity. Holding this diverse array of species together is the Krabillsk Confederated Board of Directors, which consists of leaders appointed by all the different governments who set the policies that all of the various governments abide by. In a manner of speaking, it's a great deal like the Technocracy, but without the democratic component to it that the technocracy possesses. The most important of these boards is the Collective of Culture, which is a three part legislature that consists of a Council, Committee, and Collective, which work together to pass the legislation that affects and binds all member states. However, they also have a Defense Board as well, which oversees their military prowess and which trains soldiers through a simulation.
Ultimately, the one thing they all have in common is that nobody is sure where they came from or how they got there. They've only recently been large enough to get noticed, which has some raising serious questions about whether or not they're aliens, and there are strong arguments to be made either way, with some maintaining that the Cluster are aliens, others arguing that they aren't aliens, and some arguing that they're a mix of the two. Fashion within the cluster varies but is mostly utilitarian; the exception are the Zhan, who typically only wear jackets, boots, gloves, and headgear, painting their naked bodies with paint that signifies what clan that they're a member of. These body paint designs are common the various clan flags.
Ultimately, the one thing they all have in common is that nobody is sure where they came from or how they got there. They've only recently been large enough to get noticed, which has some raising serious questions about whether or not they're aliens, and there are strong arguments to be made either way, with some maintaining that the Cluster are aliens, others arguing that they aren't aliens, and some arguing that they're a mix of the two. Fashion within the cluster varies but is mostly utilitarian; the exception are the Zhan, who typically only wear jackets, boots, gloves, and headgear, painting their naked bodies with paint that signifies what clan that they're a member of. These body paint designs are common the various clan flags.
Krabillsk Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Alien Friend 1 [5]; one of Absolute Direction [5], Fit [5], G-Experience (Any) [5], Improved G-Tolerance (0.03G) [5], Versatile [5], 5-point talent [5] ● 25 points from among ST+1 to +2 [10/level], DX +1 [20], IQ +1 [20], HT +1 to +2 [10/level], Per +1 to +4 [5/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], HP +1 to +2 [2/level], Basic Move +1 [5], 3D Spatial Sense [10], Absolute Direction [5], Charisma 1 [5], Combat Reflexes [15], Common Sense [15], Doodads [1/level], Favor [Varies], Flexibility [5], High Manual Dexterity [5], Intuition [15], Language [4-6/language], Language Talent [10], Rapid Healing [5/level], Single-Minded [5], Signature Gear [Varies], Versatile [5], or 10 points in any one talent [10] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), Hyperspecialization (Skill), or Teamwork (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5] and Low TL/9 [-5] ● One of Oblivious [-5] and Sense of Duty (To the collective, most of the time) [-6] or Sense of Duty (The Collective) and Doesn't understand slang or idioms [-6] ● -20 points from among Chummy [-5], Cluelessness [-10], Code of Honor (Any) [Varies], Compulsive Cleanliness [-5*], Curious [-5*], Delusions (about how the outside world works) [-5 to -10], Disciplines of Faith (Kormorism) [-5], Gullibility [-10*], Hidebound [-5], Honesty [-10*], Low Empathy (Non-Species Only, -50%) [-10], Odious Personal Habit (Social Gracelessness) [-5 to -10], Pacifism [Varies], Post-Combat Shakes [-5*], Selfless [-5*], Sense of Duty (Comrades) [-5], Shyness [Varies], Social Stigma (Alien) [-5] ● Two of Broadminded, Congenial, Dress Code (Utilitarian), Methodical, Nosy, Organized, Philosophy (Kormorism), Religious (Kormorism), Shocking Affectation (Social Nudist - Zhan only), Superstitious (Any), or Token (Any), all [-1].
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Primary Skills
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Area Knowledge (Krabillsk Cluster), Computer Operations, and Crewman (Any), all (E) IQ+1 [2]-11; Research (A) IQ [2]-10; Administration or Public Speaking, both (A) IQ [2]-10 ● three of Administration, Architecture, Armoury (Any), Mechanic (Any), Merchant, Propaganda, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Bioengineering (Any), Chemistry, Computer Programming, Computer Programming (AI), Engineer (Any), Expert Skill (Any), History (Cluster), Law (Cluster), Literature (Cluster), or Philosophy (Kormorism), Theology (Kormorism), all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Biology, Surgery, or Physics, all (VH) IQ-2 [2]-8.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Four of Electrician, Electronics Operation (Any), Electronics Repair (Any), Free Fall, Freight Handling, Merchant, or Mechanic (Any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Driving (Any), Piloting (Any), or Vacc Suit, all (A) DX-1 [1]-9; Anthropology, Economics, Mathematics (Any) or Sociology, all (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or two points in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (Cluster), Cultural Familiarity (Cluster), Language (Jzukilin, Krabillsk, or Zhanese, Native), and Home Gravity (0.8 - 1.0G)
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Lucullus LEague
Government Type: Confederated Kritarchy with feudal features
In Charge: The Judges of Dione In the Ranks: Government officials and organized criminal heads Capital: The Hague, Dione (Lucullus) Network: Guanxi (g-Rep) (-1) [4/level], Lucullan Net [2/level] Networking Skill: Administration or Streetwise The Lucullan League is what happens when criminals are left in control over a government; they become the government. The Lucullan League arose in the wake of the vicious defeat of autonomists by the Monarchy; the shattering scattered their pieces wide and as a result, the various criminal organizations realized that they needed to band together, and so band together they did. To keep the order, they all agreed to be ruled by the leadership of the Kritarchy of Dione - a collection of judges who have absolute power. This has resulted in an odd situation where the government is nothing but criminals, but they're bound by a law that is in some ways harsher than the law that they would otherwise be bound by elsewhere.
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Lucullan Cultural FeaturesBeing completely honest, there's little that bids the League together culturally. The various members of the League each have their own unique cultures which stand apart from the other members, in a manner reminiscent to how there's little binding the Verge Consortium together, speaking culturally. However, this doesn't mean there's nothing; there are three major cultural groups with the League, with the others orbiting around them. The largest of these cultural groups is the Exarchy, which are former members of the Monarchy. Generally, they are from the exogenous cultures of the Monarchy, since those are the ones that are less tolerant of the Monarch than other components, but this means that Cultural Familiarity (Exarchy) defaults to the various Cultural Familiarities of the Exogenous zones at -2 instead of the usual -3. The Exarchy is usually found on Penates, which was a Monarchy prison planet before the war that has since attained its independence and is now ruled by criminal gangs.
The culture of Gojira, one of the major star systems, is descendant of the Canusa Union, which it descends from, although systems colonized by the Canusa (Canadian-USA) union are very small in number and quickly overshadowed by the other, larger meta-empires and pre-meta-empires; still, the default of Cultural Familiarity (Gojira) to the other Canusa-descended states is a -2 instead of -3. However, the clearest cultural element is Dione, which descends from the Indus-Fomalhaut culture and as a result, Cultural Familiarity (Dione) defaults to other Indus-Fomalhaut cultures at a -2 instead of -3. There's also a sizeable number of Spacers that are involved as well, which results in a -2 default between some Lucullan cultures and Spacer culture, although few spacer cultures will often deal with them directly given their association with Dione. In short, even more so than with the Verge Consortium, there's very, very little that holds this collective together; it almost exists despite itself, and many outside observers note that it's very likely the Lucullan League is going to be short-lived and probably not outlast the current era, especially not with the Monarchy slowly eyeing the space it occupies, and clearly angling to get the planet of Penates back. |
Who the Lucullan League is
Calling the League a collection of scum and villainy and leaving it at that isn't wrong, but it isn't the full picture, either. While criminal families run the government - in much the same way that aristocratic families run the government in the neighboring Monarchy - there are still a large number of innocent people who simply live on the worlds that these criminal families are now stuck governing. This is the primary reason why the Kritarchy of Dione has the ultimate say; the Kritarchy is a harsh but fair (or it attempts to be fair) government that uses enforcers to enforce whatever local law the criminal families want, but these enforcers also hold the criminal families to their own laws a well, ensuring that nobody is above the law. These enforcers are readily visible owing to theri armored black judge robes, along with their half-face helmets and their dark black police uniforms; they're referred to as Judges and are loyal to the Kritarchy, not the criminal families. While this chafes some of the criminal families, the majority see this as a necessity. Beyond the Judges of Dione, the Lucullan League is a confused patchwork of warlords and feuding criminal families that rule like feudal lords over their territories, which results in the League resembling the Monarchy in ways that the Monarchy would not be comfortable admitting.
The template below assumes an individual from one of the three major worlds: Gojira, Penates, or Dione. Those who are spacers can use the Spacer template, while those from harsher worlds are encouraged to use the other templates, such as Sifter and Skimmer template.
The template below assumes an individual from one of the three major worlds: Gojira, Penates, or Dione. Those who are spacers can use the Spacer template, while those from harsher worlds are encouraged to use the other templates, such as Sifter and Skimmer template.
League Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Born Spacer 1 [5]; one of Absolute Direction [5], Criminal Rank 1 [5], Fit [5], G-Experience (Any) [5], Improved G-Tolerance (0.03G) [5] or 5 points in any talent ● 25 points from among ST +1 to +2 [10/level], DX +1 [20], IQ +1 [20], HT +1 to +2 [5/level], Per +1 to +2 [5/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], 3D Spatial Sense [10], Catfall [10], Charisma 1-2 [5/level], Contact Group [Varies], Cybernetics (Any) [Varies], Doodads [1/level], Gizmos [5/level], Favor [Varies], High Manual Dexterity [5], High Pain Threshold [10], Perfect Balance [15], Rapid Healing [5], Recovery [10], Signature Gear [Varies], Silence 1-2 [5/level], Single-Minded [5], Social Regard (Feared or Respect, +1) [5], Versatile [5], Voice [10], or 15 points in any talent ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), Hyperspecialization (Skill), or Teamwork (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Sense of Duty (Lucullan) [-5] or Secret (Lucullan) [-5] and Code of Honor (Good Citizen or Pirate's) [-5] ● -25 points from among Addiction [Varies], Alcoholism [-5*], Bully [-10*], Combat Paralysis [-15*], Compulsive Lying (12) [-5], Duty (Criminal Family, 9 or less) [-5], Enemy [Varies], Gullibility [-10*], Incurious [-5*], Insomniac [-10 to -15], Jealousy [-10], Kleptomania [-15*], Lecherousness [-15*], Loner [-5*], Low Empathy [-20], Low TL [-5], Miserliness [-10*], Overconfidence [-5*], Pacifism [Varies], Sense of Duty (Kritarchy or Criminal Family) [-5], or Stubbornness [-5] ● Two of Chauvinistic, Broadminded, Congenial, Dress Code (Distinctive Local Fashion), Methodical, Nosy, Organized, Shocking Affectation (Amoral or Criminal Attitude), or Token (Any), all [-1].
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Primary Skills
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Area Knowledge (Home World), Computer Operations, and Crewman (Any), all (E) IQ+1 [2]-11; Research and Streetwise, both (A) IQ [2]-10 ● any three of Administration, Armoury (Any), Machinist, Mechanic (Any), Merchant, Smuggling, or Propaganda, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Bioengineering (Any), Chemistry, Computer Programming, Cryptography, Engineer (Any), Expert Skill (Computer Science), Forensics, Law (Lucullan Criminal Law), Mathematics (Computer Science), all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Biology, Surgery, or Physics, all (VH) IQ-2 [2]-8.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Four of Acrobatics or Escape, both (H) DX-2 [1]-8; Electrician, Electronics Operation (Any), Electronics Repair (Any), Free Fall, Freight Handling, Merchant, or Mechanic (Any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Driving (Any), Piloting (Any), or Vacc Suit, all (A) DX-1 [1]-9; Observation or Survival (Any), both (A) Per-1 [1]-9; Scrounging (E) Per [1]-10; or two points in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (Lucullus League), Language (Dionian French, Gojiran English, Lucullan English or Russian, all Native), and Home Gravity (0.6 - 1.3G)
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Orion Ummah
Government Type: Confederated Theocracy
In Charge: The Sunni Elite of al-Nafsi In the Ranks: Religious leaders and government bureaucrats Capital: Baghdad, al-Nafsi (Abbasid) Network: CivicNet (c-Rep) (-1) [4/level], the Umma [4/level] Networking Skill: Administration In the past, the term "ummah" (from the Arabic أُمَّة) referred to the world-wide Islamic community. However, the last few centuries have seen this word expand in usage; as the old religions fell away and gradually slipped into obscurity, those who benefited from them panicked, and began looking for ways to ensure that they would continue to persist. Among those were a number of extremely wealthy Sunni emirs and emirates, who, along with a number of imams, decided that the best way to preserve God and worship of God in an increasingly secular humanity was to present a unified front. As a result, the word that originally meant "community of Muslims" now means "community of the Book," and the Ummah was born.
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Ummah CUltural TraitsThe ummah does not have many unified cultural traits; the thing that unifies the Ummah is religion and a desire to protect it. Beyond that, there are three religions, with three different cultures, and multiple different ethnicities, that make up the Ummah. However, the Ummah has been around long enough that they all share some similar cultural elements, and so each planet defaults to Cultural Familiarity (Orion Ummah) at -2 instead of the usual -3. And this is because of a number of shared traits among them.
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Who the umma are
The Ummah is devoted to preserving the faith first and foremost, with everything else falling by the wayside. Exactly what faith, however, is a matter of contention, and an organization that's as large as the Ummah doesn't exist without some internal conflict. The leadership of the Ummah is technically in the hands of the Religious Council, who are a collection of theological experts that are trained in numerous theological interpretations of the various texts. The Ummah takes the stance that there is no correct way to interpret books and that everyone should have their own, so long as they hold themselves to it. This means submitting to routine checks to ensure that the various rules individuals outlined for themselves are being followed. Beyond that, groups are free to organize themselves however they want, so long as they keep a priest, rabbi, cleric, or some other individual as the sole leader of the community, and they abide by the overall standards that the Ummah enforces on them with regards to things like modesty, speech restrictions, and the like, as well as more economic matters like monetary policy, tariffs, and the sort.
In actuality, the leaders are a collection of extremely wealthy Sunni hyperelite whose money stretches back to the oil wealth of the 20th and 21st centuries. These extremely wealthy men are the ones who fund and control the Ummah, influencing the Religious Council and the non-secular governments of the member states. For this reason, few Shiites live in the Ummah, and most avoid it completely. Naturally, there is a number of conspiracy theories regarding the hyperelite who manage the ummah. Furthermore, the Ummah doesn't appear so much concerned with unity as it is peace - mixed habitats (i.e., Jewish and Christian, Protestant and Catholic, etc.) are not allowed, and each religion is kept on its own separate habitat, divided and largely isolated from the other members of the Ummah. This, along with the instance of routine spot checks to ensure that they are abiding by regulations imposed on them by Muslim clerics, is breeding serious discontent among the members and may end the experiment of the Ummah before it even began.
In actuality, the leaders are a collection of extremely wealthy Sunni hyperelite whose money stretches back to the oil wealth of the 20th and 21st centuries. These extremely wealthy men are the ones who fund and control the Ummah, influencing the Religious Council and the non-secular governments of the member states. For this reason, few Shiites live in the Ummah, and most avoid it completely. Naturally, there is a number of conspiracy theories regarding the hyperelite who manage the ummah. Furthermore, the Ummah doesn't appear so much concerned with unity as it is peace - mixed habitats (i.e., Jewish and Christian, Protestant and Catholic, etc.) are not allowed, and each religion is kept on its own separate habitat, divided and largely isolated from the other members of the Ummah. This, along with the instance of routine spot checks to ensure that they are abiding by regulations imposed on them by Muslim clerics, is breeding serious discontent among the members and may end the experiment of the Ummah before it even began.
Ummah Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Religious Rank 0 [5]; one of Absolute Direction [5], Clerical Investment [5], Fit [5], G-Experience (Any) [5], Improved G-Tolerance (0.03 G) [5], or any 5-point talent [5] ● 25 points from among DX +1 [20], IQ +1 [20], HT +1 to +2 [10/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], Allies (Church or Religious community) [varies], Charisma 1-2 [5/level], Claim to Hospitality (Religious Community) [varies], Common Sense [10], Contacts or Contact Group (Religious Community; religious skills) [varies], Doodads [1/level], Eidetic Memory [5], Favor [Varies], Gizmos [5/level], Higher Purpose (Serve Religion), Language Talent [10], Legal Immunity [5], Rapid Healing [5], Single-Minded [5], Social Chameleon [5], Versatile [5], Voice [10], or 10 points in any talent [10] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), Hyperspecialization (Skill), or Teamwork (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5] and Low TL [-5] ● One of Disciplines of Faith (Ritualism) and Sense of Duty (To Church, most of time) [-6] or Sense of Duty (To Church) and Religious (Christian, Jewish, Muslim) [-6] ● -20 points from among Addiction [Varies], Alcoholism [-5] Bully [-5*], Charitable [-15*], Chummy [-5] or Loner [-5*], Combat Paralysis [-15], Compulsive Vowing [-5*], Delusions (Utterly convinced of particular idiosyncratic religious interpretation) [-5 to -10], Disciplines of Faith (Ritualism or Mysticism) [-5 to -10], Greed [-15*], Guilt Complex [-5], Gullible [-10*], Honesty [-10*], Impulsiveness [-10*], Incurious [-5*], Intolerant (Non-Book Faiths or All other Faiths) [-10 to -15], Intolerant (Towards mystics and mysticism) [-10], Miserliness [-10*], Pacifism [Varies], Shyness [Varies], Stubbornness [-5], Truthfulness [-5], or Workaholic [-5] ● Choose any 2 quirks: Argumentative, Bioconservative, Chauvinistic, Congenial, Dress Code (Religious Community), Dull, Methodical, Nosy, Organized, Proud, Staid, Philosophy (Any), or Token (Any).
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Primary Skills
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Area Knowledge (Home World), Computer Operations, and Crewman (Any), all (E) IQ+1 [2]-11; one of Professional Skill (Any), Public Speaking, Research, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Theology (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) (H) IQ-1 [2]-9 ● any three of Administration, Architecture, Machinist, Mechanic (Any), Merchant, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Anthropology, Astronomy (Observational), Astronomy, Chemistry, Computer Programming, Engineer (Any), Expert Skill (Any), History (Ummah), Law (Mosaic or Sharia), Literature (Western or Islamic), Religious Ritual (Christian, Jewish, or Muslim) or Philosophy (Christian, Islamic, or Jewish) all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Biology, Surgery, or Physics, all (VH) IQ-2 [2]-8.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Four of Electrician, Electronics Operation (Any), Electronics Repair (Any), Free Fall, Freight Handling, Merchant, or Mechanic (Any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Driving (Any), Piloting (Any), or Vacc Suit, all (A) DX-1 [1]-9; Mathematics (Any) or Sociology, both (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or two points in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (Ummah), Cultural Familiarity (Ummah), Language (Orion Hijaza, Native), and Home Gravity (0.8 - 1.0G)
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Orlamu Theocracy
Government Type: Theocracy
In Charge: The Chief of the Orlamu Chruch In the Ranks: Religious leaders and government bureaucrats Capital: Nag Hammadi, Apocrypha (Revelation) Network: CivicNet (c-Rep) (-1) [4/level]; Shablon [2/level] Networking Skill: Administration One of the oddest theocracies in the Verge and Bleed, the Orlamu theocracy is, as the name might imply, built around the Orlamu faith, itself a misunderstood and somewhat obscure faith. May assume that the Theocracy is bioconservative, anti-science, against progress, and the like, but nothing could be further from the truth. However, the Orlamu's schizophrenic approach to technology on their worlds does not help their image, even if there is a logical (in their mind, anyway) for it.
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Theocracy Cultural FeaturesThe Orlamu Theocracy is a largely unified culture, since their culture is one shaped by their belief. As a result, most worlds that fall within the Orlamu Sphere - not that there are many of them, granted - tend to share enough cultural similarities that Cultural Familiarity (Orlamu) is a viable option; the most divergence possible would result in a -1 defaulting penalty, and the Orlamu, as noted above, have their unique faith to thanks for this unusual feature.
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Who the Theocracy Is
The theocracy is another religious government, although they are devoted to the Orlamu faith. At the heart of the faith is the church, who trains individuals that can community with the genus loci of a planet; according to Orlamu doctrine, only terrestrial planets have genus loci, so asteroids, rocky worlds, and gas giants don't possess a native spirit - or if they do, it's one so alien that it can't communicate with humans, so it doesn't matter. The Orlamu doctrine maintains that only one individual who is proper spirit can communicate with the genus loci, and that communication consists primarily of the genus loci telling the individual what they are willing to tolerate on their world and what they're not; once the Orlamu church has a list, they pass a decree banning the verboten technologies. Because each genus loci is different, each Orlamu world follows different rules. It's considered a grave sin to break the rules put forward by the genus loci. All words that can house life naturally have genus locum; this is because the genus locum is necessary for life to persist and they make the world habitable.
The places that lack genus locum are where the Orlamu do much of their experimentation and development; they create orbital habitats, hollow out asteroids, and promote technological development off planets. They also oppose terraforming, since that's giving the world a "fake" soul, and that's a grave sin, as humanity cannot give worlds souls. The Orlamu tend to have a very recognizable way of dressing; highly conservative, with white robes and blue trim, often worn with a shawl or head scarf for women. As an interesting note, the Orlamu are almost a separate ethnicity as well (they have a tanned Eurasian look, by in large, about them), with certain traits like Alcohol Intolerance running through the community.
The places that lack genus locum are where the Orlamu do much of their experimentation and development; they create orbital habitats, hollow out asteroids, and promote technological development off planets. They also oppose terraforming, since that's giving the world a "fake" soul, and that's a grave sin, as humanity cannot give worlds souls. The Orlamu tend to have a very recognizable way of dressing; highly conservative, with white robes and blue trim, often worn with a shawl or head scarf for women. As an interesting note, the Orlamu are almost a separate ethnicity as well (they have a tanned Eurasian look, by in large, about them), with certain traits like Alcohol Intolerance running through the community.
Orlamu Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Religious Rank 0 [5]; one of Absolute Direction [5], Clerical Investment [5], Fit [5], G-Experience (Any) [5], Improved G-Tolerance (0.03 G) [5], or any 5-point talent [5] ● 25 points from among DX +1 [20], IQ +1 [20], HT +1 to +2 [10/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], Allies (Church or Religious community) [varies], Charisma 1-2 [5/level], Claim to Hospitality (Religious Community) [varies], Common Sense [10], Contacts or Contact Group (Orlamu; religious or science skills) [varies], Doodads [1/level], Eidetic Memory [5], Favor [Varies], Gizmos [5/level], Higher Purpose (Serve Religion), Language Talent [10], Legal Immunity [5], Rapid Healing [5], Single-Minded [5], Versatile [5], Voice [10], or 10 points in any talent [10] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), Hyperspecialization (Skill), or Teamwork (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5] and Curious (12) [-5] ● One of Disciplines of Faith (Orlamist Ritualism) and Sense of Duty (To Church, most of time) [-6] or Sense of Duty (To Church) and Religious (Orlamist) [-6] ● -20 points from among Addiction [Varies], Alcoholism [-5] Bully [-5*], Charitable [-15*], Chummy [-5] or Loner [-5*], Combat Paralysis [-15], Compulsive Vowing [-5*], Delusions (Utterly convinced of particular idiosyncratic religious interpretation) [-5 to -10], Disciplines of Faith (Ritualism or Mysticism) [-5 to -10], Greed [-15*], Guilt Complex [-5], Gullible [-10*], Honesty [-10*], Impulsiveness [-10*], Incurious [-5*], Miserliness [-10*], Pacifism [Varies], Shyness [Varies], Stubbornness [-5], Truthfulness [-5], or Workaholic [-5] ● Choose any 2 quirks: Argumentative, Bioconservative, Chauvinistic, Congenial, Dress Code (Orlamist White), Dull, Methodical, Nosy, Organized, Proud, Staid, Technoprogressive, Philosophy (Orlamist), or Token (Any).
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Primary Skills
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Area Knowledge (Home World), Computer Operations, and Crewman (Any), all (E) IQ+1 [2]-11; one of Professional Skill (Any), Public Speaking, Research, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Theology (Orlamist) (H) IQ-1 [2]-9 ● any three of Administration, Architecture, Machinist, Mechanic (Any), Merchant, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Anthropology, Astronomy (Observational), Astronomy, Chemistry, Computer Programming, Engineer (Any), Expert Skill (Any), History (Ummah), Law (Orlamu), Literature (Western or Islamic), Religious Ritual (Orlamist) or Philosophy (Orlamist) all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Biology, Surgery, or Physics, all (VH) IQ-2 [2]-8.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Four of Electrician, Electronics Operation (Any), Electronics Repair (Any), Free Fall, Freight Handling, Merchant, or Mechanic (Any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Driving (Any), Piloting (Any), or Vacc Suit, all (A) DX-1 [1]-9; Mathematics (Any) or Sociology, both (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or two points in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (Orlamu), Cultural Familiarity (Orlamu), Language (Tharisian Russian, Native), and Home Gravity (0.9 - 1.2G)
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Shangtao Imperial State
Government Type: Constitutional Monarchy
In Charge: The Imperial Estate In the Ranks: Government bureaucrats and middle-managing AGIs Capital: Xiang-Chi District, Shangtao Megastructure (Tianji) Network: CivicNet (c-Rep) (-1) [4/level]; Sesame Net [2/level] Networking Skill: Administration Of all the original pre-meta empires, only one of them, the Shangtao State, persists into the present world. Originally founded during the early days of the Utopian Period after the Shangtao megastructure was completed, the Shangtao Imperial State rapidly ascended to power, becoming the heart of what was called "Sino-Civ." Today, any meta-empire influenced by Sino-Civ traces that ancestry and influence right back to Shangtao. The Imperial State hit on hard times after the Ascension Crisis, however, although after some sweeping reforms instituted by the new dictator, things look like they're back on track for the master of Sino-Civ again.
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Shangtao Cultural FeaturesShangtao originally began as an experiment to see if the God AIs could recreate Middle China, so in a sense, Shangtao is a synthworld. However, this experiment quickly went off the rails and developed into something very unique. The population exploded, and after years of building up, resulted in an ecumenopolis that stretches across the world. The majority (upwards of 99%) of the population call themselves Han Chinese and look Han Chinese, but they live a much better life, are much taller than, and are much healthier than, the Middle Chinese people. They also have entirely different cultural sensibilities.
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Who Shangtao Is
Shangtao emerged in the early days of Utopian Period; back them, it was just the Imperial State. However, as the eras progressed, the culture diverged more and more from what the God AIs were clearly aiming for, and the result was a revolution late in the Utopian Period that placed restrictions on the Emperor and eventually forced a Constitutional Monarchy. This constitution clearly outlined what the powers of the Emperor and the Imperial Diet, or the elected assembly (a unicameral body) were, and how elections were to be held. However, the Emperor still maintains the right to dismiss the Diet at any time, if he so pleases, immediately causing new elections. Once the elections are over, the Diet elects a Premier, who handles many domestic and foreign affairs, including staffing the cabinet. If the Emperor dismisses the Diet, then the Premier and Cabinet go with them.
The Shangtao State governs over the only ecumenopolis in the sphere, and is home to millions of citizens. In recent years, they've become increasingly familiar with the Monarchy and with the Regency, and may be angling to try and gain back some of the territory and influence they lost as a result of the Ascension Crisis. The State has some very odd ideas of fashion and modesty; men are not expected to abide by fashion but women are, and it's immodest to show one's neck. As a result, men tend to wear long, dark coats and pants that blend features of a western suit and conventional Mandarin clothing, while women are much more influenced by Bluefall, and are comfortable wearing high-collared coats that open up blow the waist, revealing nothing at all, matched with boots; this is not considered immodest, since the neck is covered.
The Shangtao State governs over the only ecumenopolis in the sphere, and is home to millions of citizens. In recent years, they've become increasingly familiar with the Monarchy and with the Regency, and may be angling to try and gain back some of the territory and influence they lost as a result of the Ascension Crisis. The State has some very odd ideas of fashion and modesty; men are not expected to abide by fashion but women are, and it's immodest to show one's neck. As a result, men tend to wear long, dark coats and pants that blend features of a western suit and conventional Mandarin clothing, while women are much more influenced by Bluefall, and are comfortable wearing high-collared coats that open up blow the waist, revealing nothing at all, matched with boots; this is not considered immodest, since the neck is covered.
Shangtao Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Computer Wizard 1 [5]; and one of Cyberneticist 1 [5], Fit [5], G-Experience (Any) [5], G-Tolerance (0.03G) [5] or any 5-point talent ● 25 points from among DX +1 [20], IQ+1 [20], Per+1 to +4 [5/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], AI Empathy [5], Common Sense [10], Cybernetics (Any) [Varies], Doodads [1/level], Eidetic Memory [5] or Photographic Memory [10], Empathy [15] or Sensitive [5], Fearlessness [2/level], Gizmos [5/level], High Manual Dexterity 1-2 [5/level], Lightening Calculator [2] or Intuitive Mathematician [5], Rapid Healing [5], Silence 1-2 [5/level], Single-Minded [5], Versatile [5], or 10 points in any talent [10] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), Hyperspecialization (Skill), or Teamwork (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5] ● One of Sense of Duty (Familial) and Religious (Buddhism or Daoism) [-6] or Disciplines of Faith (Buddhist Ritualism) [-5] and Sense of Duty (Familial or state, some of the time) [-6] ● -20 points from among Absent-Mindedness [-15], Chummy [-5] or Loner [-5*], Combat Paralysis [-15*], Curious [-5*], Delusions (Sino-Civ Supremacy) [-5 to -10], Gullibility [-10*], Greed [-10*], Honesty [-10*], Incurious [-5*], Jealousy [-10], Lecherousness [-15*], Overconfidence [-5*], Pacifism [Varies], Post-Combat Shakes [-5*], Sense of Duty (Companions) [-5], Shyness [Varies], Stubbornness [-5], Truthfulness [-5*], Workaholic [-5] ● Two of Alcohol Intolerance, Chauvinistic, Congenial, Dress Code (Modern Mandarin), Methodical, Nosy, Organized, Proud, Shocking Affectation (Skimpy Dresser - female only), or Token (Any), all [-1].
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Primary Skills
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Area Knowledge (Shangtao), Computer Operations, and Current Events (Any), all (E) IQ+1 [2]-10; one of Professional Skill (Any), Public Speaking, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Research (A) IQ [2]-10 ● any three of Administration, Architecture, Mechanic (Any), Merchant, or Propaganda (A) IQ [2]-10; Anthropology, Archeology, Bioengineering, Chemistry, Computer Programming, Computer Programming (AI), Engineer (Any), Expert Skill (Any), History (Shangtao), Law (Shangtao), Literature (Buddhist and Daoist), Linguistics, or Philosophy (Buddhism, Daosim, Confucianism), Religious Ritual (Buddhism or Daosim), or Theology (Buddhism or Daoism), all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Biology, Surgery, or Physics, all (VH) IQ-2 [2]-8.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Four of Connoisseur (Any), Cooking (Chinese), Electrician, Electronics Operation (Any), Electronics Repair (Any), Leadership, Merchant, or Mechanic (Any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Driving (Any) or Piloting (Any), both (A) DX-1 [1]-9; Diplomacy, Mathematics (Any) or Sociology, all (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or two points in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (Shangtao), Cultural Familiarity (Shangtao), Language (Reconstructed Cantonese, Native), and Home Gravity (1.0G)
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Starmech Collective
Government Type: Constitutional Democratic Republic
In Charge: The Oligarchy In the Ranks: middle-managing AGI bureaucrats Capital: Utopia, Libertas (Alula Australis) Network: CivicNet (c-Rep) (-1) [4/level]; Freedom Net [2/level] Networking Skill: Administration Arising at the end of the Verge Consortium civil conflict, the StarMech Collective considers itself a new type of socialism; formed by major marketing firms, megacorporations, and hyperelite who were tired of the Verge Consortium's control over their economic policy and reject the idea of ipsism, StarMech holds corporate rights were not dually respected by the Verge Consortium, who favored governments and syndicalist factions over corporations. Calling itself "corporate socialism," StarMech is an attempt to pioneer a new style of government - with very old and very predictable results, in the process creating a state with the glamor and sheen of the Bluefall Democratic Republic - but a nightmarish underbelly built on slavery, indentured servitude, and psychological manipulation that is rivalled only by Nariac.
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StarMech has a fairly unified culture that is the result of it being largely upper class; the indentures and AGIs tend to come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds that no longer exist or that exist only as a shadow of their former selves. One would think that this would serve to create a cultural divide in StarMech but that's not the case; StarMech actually has a relatively unified culture despite this; what it does instead is have a large "overculture" with dozens of smaller, subcultures that tie to specific cultural groups. And the template below assumes that overculture is where the player from StarMech is from; those indentured and AGIs can have any culture. However, even they tend to pick up features of the "Overculture" of StarMech, which is the one that's aggressively marketed to the rest of the Verge and Bleed. The Overculture tends to have a number of unifying characteristics:
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Who the Starmech Collective is
Many of the worlds that StarMech found itself influencing and controlling following the Verge Consortium civil war all had governments with expansive social programs, par for their time. The keyword there is had, since in many cases, the governments have been reduced to the point where they're non-functional rump states and StarMech is now the sole controller of these former states; and given the wealth that StarMech brought to certain classes of individual, the important people are okay with the current set up. StarMech is two things: the side it presents to the galaxy and what it actually is. The side it presents to the galaxy is one of glamor, wealth, and privilege; it's a society where everyone can make it big so long as they dream big and are willing to work to make it happen. Everyone has the same starting position in life - wealthy - and can make themselves even wealthier; it's a society of martini drinkers who never have to do physical labor, of individuals who own dozens of elite and expensive cars, and of big houses, big personal habitats, large interplanetary and surface-water yachts, and wealth - so much wealth. The average citizen presents a quality of life much better than the average citizen anywhere else in the Verge and Bleed.
Except that's not the case. Very few people - the wealthy elite and their children - have it this good. The vast, vast majority of StarMech is made up of AGIs, NAIs, and indentured servants who labor under harsh indentured contracts to try and work off the cost of getting a new body for themselves. It's a society where bodies aren't cheap in cost but are in design; where the elite may be glamorous and beautiful but the vast underclass or virtual slaves and indentured servants are anything but. At the top of the society is the democratically elected Senate. The Senate nominates a prime minister and cabinet positions, voting on those positions. However, within StarMech, only those who own property are allowed to vote, and AGIs, NAIs, and indentures don't even own their own bodies, so they can't participate. As a result, the voting pool is small, and the face that StarMech tends to put forward as a symbol for the wealth and prosperity that their "corporate socialism" tends to offer. The average citizen (that is, not an indenture or AGI) tends to be exceptionally fashion savvy, and while StarMech doesn't have any unique fashions of their own, they pick them up from all over the sphere.
Except that's not the case. Very few people - the wealthy elite and their children - have it this good. The vast, vast majority of StarMech is made up of AGIs, NAIs, and indentured servants who labor under harsh indentured contracts to try and work off the cost of getting a new body for themselves. It's a society where bodies aren't cheap in cost but are in design; where the elite may be glamorous and beautiful but the vast underclass or virtual slaves and indentured servants are anything but. At the top of the society is the democratically elected Senate. The Senate nominates a prime minister and cabinet positions, voting on those positions. However, within StarMech, only those who own property are allowed to vote, and AGIs, NAIs, and indentures don't even own their own bodies, so they can't participate. As a result, the voting pool is small, and the face that StarMech tends to put forward as a symbol for the wealth and prosperity that their "corporate socialism" tends to offer. The average citizen (that is, not an indenture or AGI) tends to be exceptionally fashion savvy, and while StarMech doesn't have any unique fashions of their own, they pick them up from all over the sphere.
Starmech Collective Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Status 1 [5]; and one of Charisma [5], Fashion Sense [5], Fit [5], Versatile [5], or any 5-point talent ● 25 points from among DX +1 [20], IQ+1 [20], Per+1 to +4 [5/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], Appearance [Varies], Cybernetics (Any) [Varies], Doodads [1/level], Eidetic Memory [5] or Photographic Memory [10], Empathy [15] or Sensitive [5], Fearlessness [2/level], Gizmos [5/level], High Manual Dexterity 1-2 [5/level], Language Talent [10], Languages [4-6/language], Single-Minded [5], Social Chameleon [5], Social Regard (Any) [5/level], Versatile [5], or 10 points in any talent [10] higher levels of Charisma [5/level], or Status [5/level] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), or Hyperspecialization (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5] ● One of Selfish (12) and Show Off (Skill) or Overconfidence (12) and Proud [-6] ● -20 points from among Absent-Mindedness [-15], Chummy [-5] or Loner [-5*], Combat Paralysis [-15*], Compulsive Attention-Seeking [-5*], Curious [-5*], Delusions (Neoliberalism actually works, I worked hard for my money, etc.) [-5 to -10], Gullibility [-10*], Greed [-10*], Honesty [-10*], Incurious [-5*], Jealousy [-10], Lecherousness [-15*], Overconfidence [-5*], Pacifism [Varies], Post-Combat Shakes [-5*], Selfish [-5*], Stubbornness [-5], Truthfulness [-5*], Workaholic [-5] ● Two of Congenial, Dress Code (StarMech High Fashion), Methodical, Nosy, Organized, Proud, Shocking Affectation (Skimpy Dresser), or Token (Any), all [-1].
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Primary Skills
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Computer Operations and Savoir-Faire (High Society), both (E) IQ+1 [2]-11; one of Merchant or Public Speaking, both (A) IQ [2]-10; Artist (Any) (H) IQ-1 [2]-9 ● any four of Combat Sport (Saber or Rapier), Dancing, Driving (Any), Piloting (Any), Riding (Any), or Sports (Any), all (A) DX [2]-10; Administration, Architecture, Merchant, Propaganda, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Anthropology, Economics, Expert Skill (Any), Finance, History (Verge and Bleed), Literature (Western), or Philosophy (One Western) all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Biology, Surgery, or Physics, all (VH) IQ-2 [2]-8.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Six of Current Affairs (Business, High Culture, People, Popular Culture, or Travel), Games (Any), or Gardening, all (E) IQ [1]-10; Connoisseur (any), Cooking, Falconry, or Gambling, all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Finance or Market Analysis, both (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (StarMech Collective), Cultural Familiarity (StarMech), Language (Gemini Mandarin, Ursae English, or Ursae German, Native), and Home Gravity (0.3 - 1.2G)
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Verge Confederacy
Government Type: Confederated Republic
In Charge: The Naradakot Council In the Ranks: Government bureaucrats and middle-managing AGIs Capital: Tanganj City, Einherjar (Valhalla) Network: CivicNet (c-Rep) (-1) [4/level]; Verge Net (v-Rep) [4/level] Networking Skill: Administration The Verge Confederacy as it current exists is the third iteration of the Confederacy, with the first two iterations having existed during the Interplanetary and Interstellar eras. The Verge Confederacy as it current exists has a single mission and is united under a single mission state - which is a good thing, since there's scarce little that unites this iteration, just like there's scarce little that unites all the previous two iterations save for a single ideology. And while the single-ideology works well for the Monarchy and Verge Consortium, so far, the Confederacy has not had much luck with it.
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Confederacy Cultural FeaturesThe Confederacy has a great deal in common with the Lucullus League, even though neither side would admit it; both are a diverse collection of populations that might qualify less as stellar nations and more as minor meta-empires, although they lack the economic, military, and cultural power that the major meta-empires possess. Like the League, they tend to break down into four clearly defined cultural zones; the Naisoperi Cultural Zone (which is also sometimes called Eridanus Tamil), the Jamalrail Cultural Zone (sometimes called Eridanus Indo-Nepali), the Panong Cultural Zone (sometimes called Afro-Caeli), and the Conmados Cultural Zone (usually just called the Latino-Caeli). Each cultural area is its own very distinctive culture, which makes something like Cultural Familiarity (Verge Confederacy) all but impossible. Each Cultural Zone has a number of planets within it that default to that cultural zone at -1 penalty, but there is no default between the cultural zones. Thus, two planets within the Naisoperi Zone would default to Cultural Familiarity (Naisoperi Zone) at -1, but are confronted with the usual -3 penalty when faced with someone from the Conmados Zone.
This diversity, along with a lack of a highly centralized state, is one of the reasons why the Verge Confederacy is so difficult to maintain for long periods of time. About the only thing that unifies the Verge Confederacy is a shared suspicion for very large governments, including meta-empire governments. The Confederacy has always maintained the meta-empires are not a solution and even tends to argue against large stellar nations, which puts the Confederacy in the odd position of being a meta-empire, however minor, that argues against the existence of other meta-empires. While it seems like this would put the Confederacy on good terms with the autonomist alliance, the Confederacy isn't arguing for the abolishing of all organized structures, just meta-empires, and that the Confederacy's leadership all stands to gain in the invent of the meta-empires are abolished is something that keeps them out of the graces of the Alliance. That said, they are on good terms with the VFN, who frequently operate out of the Confederacy; it's not unusual to be a Confederacy "citizen" and be a member of VFN - in fact, it's the norm for the Confederacy political class. |
Who the Verge Confederacy Is
The Confederacy has existed twice before this; in its first iteration, it existed as a loose coalition designed to help fledging interstellar settlements and colonies on distant worlds; in this regard, the first Confederacy was a lot like the modern Verge Consortium, offering economic assistance to those who need it but without the attached string of becoming a member. This is what caused the first Confederacy to crumble, especially as the pre-meta-empires began to rise. The Second Confederacy was born during the height of the Utopian Era and was a response against the God AIs and marginally aligned itself with Yellowstone. They ended when the God AIs vanished and civilization got a hard reset. The most recent iteration have risen in response to the surge in power held by the meta-empires, and the relatively weakness recently displayed by the Verge Confederacy.
The leadership of the Confederacy is the Naradakot Council, which is a relatively powerless organization that doesn't have the power to levee taxes or regulate their member nations. In fact, there's very little that holds the Confederacy together, and many outside observers note that it's only the force of will by the current head of the Naradakot Council, Kanchan Awasthi do Cardorasco, who holds it together. Once she dies, it's likely the Verge Confederacy will once again crumble back into the squabbling states that make it up. However, until then, Ms. do Cardorasco is a strongly charismatic figure who can make even the boldest leaders bend to her will; if she weren't so devoted to the anti-meta-empire cause, she would likely be a dictator. She has been routinely elected as President of the Council for the last five years near unanimously, leading some to wonder if there isn't something else behind it. At any rate, the Verge Confederacy does not have any shared concepts of fashion or culture, with each cultural bloc or cultural zone dictating their own aspects of those things.
The leadership of the Confederacy is the Naradakot Council, which is a relatively powerless organization that doesn't have the power to levee taxes or regulate their member nations. In fact, there's very little that holds the Confederacy together, and many outside observers note that it's only the force of will by the current head of the Naradakot Council, Kanchan Awasthi do Cardorasco, who holds it together. Once she dies, it's likely the Verge Confederacy will once again crumble back into the squabbling states that make it up. However, until then, Ms. do Cardorasco is a strongly charismatic figure who can make even the boldest leaders bend to her will; if she weren't so devoted to the anti-meta-empire cause, she would likely be a dictator. She has been routinely elected as President of the Council for the last five years near unanimously, leading some to wonder if there isn't something else behind it. At any rate, the Verge Confederacy does not have any shared concepts of fashion or culture, with each cultural bloc or cultural zone dictating their own aspects of those things.
Verge Confederacy Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Two of G-Experience (Any) [5], Improved G-Tolerance (0.03G) [5], or 5-point talent [5] ● 25 points from among points from among DX +1 [20], IQ+1 [20], Per+1 to +4 [5/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], 3D Spatial Sense [10] or Absolute Direction [5], Common Sense [10], Cybernetics (Any) [Varies], Doodads [1/level], Eidetic Memory [5] or Photographic Memory [10], Empathy [15] or Sensitive [5], Fearlessness [2/level], Gizmos [5/level], High Manual Dexterity 1-2 [5/level], Lightening Calculator [2] or Intuitive Mathematician [5], Rapid Healing [5], Resistant (Single Colony World Hazard) [5], Single-Minded [5], Versatile [5], or 10 points in any talent [10] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), Hyperspecialization (Skill), or Teamwork (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5] ● -20 points from among and one of -25 points from among Addiction [Varies], Alcoholism [-5*], Bully [-10*], Combat Paralysis [-15*], Duty (Organization, 9 or less) [-5], Enemy [Varies], Gullibility [-10*], Incurious [-5*], Insomniac [-10 to -15], Jealousy [-10], Kleptomania [-15*], Lecherousness [-15*], Loner [-5*], Low Empathy [-20], Low TL [-5], Miserliness [-10*], Overconfidence [-5*], Pacifism [Varies], Sense of Duty (Organization or Group) [-5], Social Stigma (Uncultured Rube) [-5], Stubbornness [-5], or Workaholic [-5] ● Choose any 3 quirks: Bioconservative, Congenial, Dress Code (Cultural Zone), Methodical, Nosy, Organized, Proud, Religious (Any), or Token (Any).
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Primary Skills
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Computer Operations and Current Events (Any), both (E) IQ [1]-10; one of Professional Skill (Any) or Public Speaking, both (A) IQ [2]-10; Research (A) IQ [2]-10 ● any three of Administration, Architecture, Mechanic (Any), Merchant, Propaganda, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Bioengineering, Chemistry, Computer Programming, Engineer (Any), Expert Skill (Any), History (Verge and Bleed), Law (Confederacy Law), Literature (Western), or Philosophy (One Western) all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Biology, Surgery, or Physics, all (VH) IQ-2 [2]-8.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Five of Electrician, Electronics Operation (Any), Electronics Repair (Any), Free Fall, Freight Handling, Merchant, or Mechanic (Any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Driving (Any), Boating (Any), or Piloting (Any), both (A) DX-1 [1]-9; Mathematics (Any) or Sociology, both (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or two points in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (Verge Confederacy), Cultural Familiarity (Cultural Zone), Language (one of Eridanus Mandarin, Eridanus Tamil, Latino-Caeli, or Caeli-Zulu, all Native), and Home Gravity (0.3 - 1.2G)
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Voidcorp
Government Type: Corporate State
In Charge: The Board of Directors In the Ranks: Middle management and workers Capital: Diessenstein, Catalog Station (Alpha Centauri) Network: CivicNet (c-Rep) (-1) [4/level]; VoidNet [2/level] Networking Skill: Administration One of the largest corporations in the Verge and Bleed, VoidCorp has been in business in some form or another since the beginning of the Interstellar Period. The company has remained relatively consisting it what it produces, producing produces like starships, habitats, and other things that fall under the umbrella of "astroengineering" and "stellar engineering." However, when a company is as large as it is, and wields the influence that it does, it can cross a line where it's less useful to think of it as a business and more useful to think of it as a nation - and indeed, many argue that's exactly what VoidCorp has managed to become - a nation on par with the East India Company.
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Voidcorp Cultural FeaturesVoidcorp's corporate culture encourages uniformity across all the various habitats, often through shared media production and internal policies. This results in VoidCorp offices and habitats often having a remarkably similar culture regardless where one is in the Verge and Bleed, with only minor deviations that set them apart. As a result, Cultural Familiarity (VoidCorp) is certainly viable, with each individual habitat defaulting with a -1 penalty rather than the conventional -3 penalty. VoidCorp takes pride in this cultural uniformity, since it gives the company a unified presenting face to the rest of the Verge and Bleed. Beyond that, there are a number of other features common to VoidCorp's culture:
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Who Voidcorp Is
Voidcorp started in the Interstellar era with the merger of LDS-Kosmos and STAM (Sterntechnick Astromachinenbau), making it one of the largest companies in the the inner sphere. However, unlike other companies in the inner sphere, Voidcorp didn't stay there; where humanity went, the astroengineering professionals at Voidcorp followed. Early leadership was smart enough to realize that there would always be a market for habitats, starships, and stellar construction no matter where humanity went, and so VoidCorp (or Raumtechnikgeschäft in its earlier days - RTG; it means Space Engineering Company) appeared wherever humanity had extensive habitation. VoidCorp is not an associate member of the Verge Consortium - if anything, the two are constantly at odds with one another, since VoidCorp is so large it doesn't need them. It is a vertically and horizontally integrated monopoly; the only reason it works with other hypercorps at all is because they specialize in fields that far outside of the domain of the company. It tends to focus on construction, mining, shipping, and habitat/starship insurance, however.
VoidCorp follows a tradition corporate structure, with the leadership consisting of an elected board and CEO. Everyone who is a citizen of the company owns shares, and VoidCorp tends to foster a sense of community in that way. Contrary to the popular perception, VoidCorp does not work to erase individual identities, nor does it require all citizens take serial numbers for names. Instead, it acts on a more subtle level, using collectivist memes to ensure that everyone works together and feels as if they're part of something larger than themselves. VoidCorp fashion tends to be varied, but it always maintains a business-like outward appearance, especially among the upper rungs of the social order, and in recent years, has taken on a cast similar to the Neo-Militarism common in the Australis Union.
VoidCorp follows a tradition corporate structure, with the leadership consisting of an elected board and CEO. Everyone who is a citizen of the company owns shares, and VoidCorp tends to foster a sense of community in that way. Contrary to the popular perception, VoidCorp does not work to erase individual identities, nor does it require all citizens take serial numbers for names. Instead, it acts on a more subtle level, using collectivist memes to ensure that everyone works together and feels as if they're part of something larger than themselves. VoidCorp fashion tends to be varied, but it always maintains a business-like outward appearance, especially among the upper rungs of the social order, and in recent years, has taken on a cast similar to the Neo-Militarism common in the Australis Union.
VoidCorp Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Computer Wizard 1 [5]; and one of Cyberneticist 1 [5], Fit [5], G-Experience (Any) [5], G-Tolerance (0.03G) [5] or any 5-point talent ● 25 points from among DX +1 [20], IQ+1 [20], Per+1 to +4 [5/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], Allies (Programmed AI Helpers) [varies], AI Empathy [5], Common Sense [10], Cybernetics (Any) [Varies], Doodads [1/level], Eidetic Memory [5] or Photographic Memory [10], Empathy [15] or Sensitive [5], Fearlessness [2/level], Gizmos [5/level], High Manual Dexterity 1-2 [5/level], Lightening Calculator [2] or Intuitive Mathematician [5], Single-Minded [5], Versatile [5], or 10 points in any talent [10] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), Hyperspecialization (Skill), or Teamwork (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Good Citizen's) [-5] and Code of Honor (Professionalism) [-5] ● One of Miserliness (12) [-5] and Devoted to the Job on the Clock [-6] or Workaholic and Skimps on spending money [-6] ● -20 points from among Absent-Mindedness [-15], Chummy [-5] or Loner [-5*], Combat Paralysis [-15*], Compulsive Cleanliness [-5*], Compulsive Tinkering [-5*], Curious [-5*], Impulsiveness [-10*], Incurious [-5*], Jealousy [-10], Lecherousness [-15*], Overconfidence [-5*], Post-Combat Shakes [-5*], Sense of Duty (Companions) [-5] or Company [-10], Shyness [Varies], Stubbornness [-5], Workaholic [-5] ● Two of Broadminded, Dreamer, Dress Code (Entropic Fashion or Neo-Militarism), dull, Inaccessible Idioms (Tech Jargon), Methodical, Organized, or Token (Any), all [-1].
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Primary Skills
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Computer Operations and Current Events (Any), both (E) IQ [1]-10; Research (A) IQ [2]-10; Vacc Suit (A) DX [2]-10; Computer Programming or Engineer (Any), both (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Mathematics (Computer Science) (H) IQ-2 [2]-8 ● any two of Administration, Architecture, Machinist, Mechanic (Any), Merchant, Propaganda, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Bioengineering, Chemistry, Engineer (Any), Economics, Expert Skill (Any), Finance, History (VoidCorp), Intelligence Analysis, or Law (Corporate) all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Five of Electrician, Electronics Operation (Any), Electronics Repair (Any), Free Fall, Freight Handling, Leadership, Merchant, or Mechanic (Any), all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Piloting (Any) or Vacc Suit, both (A) DX-1 [1]-9; Mathematics (Any) or Sociology, both (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or two points in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (VoidCorp), Cultural Familiarity (VoidCorp), Language (Interstellar Deutsch, Native), and Home Gravity (0.3 - 1.2G)
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Yellowstone Demarchy
Government Type: Democratic-Anarchist Republic
In Charge: The Demarchist Council In the Ranks: Everyone Capital: Naissance and Rust Belt, Yellowstone (Roosevelt) Network: Circle A-List (@-Rep) (-1) [4/level], Canopy [2/level] Networking Skill: Administration The Utopian Period is also referred to as Le Belle Epoque - and the Yellowstone Demarchy is why. During the Utopian Period, the Demarchy arose on the titanian world of Yellowstone, birth by the immense wealth and power of the age, and rapidly became one of the major pre-meta-empires; often held up by those who opposed the God AIs as a legitimate way of organizing civilization independent of controlling AIs. However, the Ascension Crisis put a swift and sudden end to their golden age, just like it did everyone else's, leaving Yellowstone and its glitter belt buried under ashes and rust. And while it's taken time for them to dig out, the Demarchy is slowly doing so, and as it does, it looks with an eye towards the future and a desire to regain what it lost.
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The Demarchy has an old culture; it evolved out of the early settlers in the Roosevelt system who decided to settle on Yellowstone owing to the volatiles located there. This helped to found the wealth that would later propel them into the limelight, and helped them expand to other parts of the Roosevelt system as well. The end result of this was a relatively unified Demarchist culture that steadily grow and became fragmented with dozens, if not hundreds, of differing subcultures. Over time, these subcultures grew apart until the Ascension Crisis; few realize given the golden sheen painted on the Demarchy through historical hindsight that the Demarchy was actually on the verge of splitting itself apart with all the various subcultures that had developed over the centuries. However, the Ascension Crisis hit and devastated the Demarchy, wiping out many of those divergent subcultures. The end result was that the Demarchist culture was able to solidify again, like it had been before it ascended to greatness. As a result, Cultural Familiarity (Demarchy) is completely viable, with only a handful of subcultures that make use of Savoir-Fair.
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Who the Yellowstone Demarchy is
It's easy to think that during the height of the Concordance Era there were no other governments but that isn't true. At the same time that the Concordance existed, it was competing with a mighty power from the Roosevelt system named the Yellowstone Demarchy. The Demarchy was hailed as the greatest civilization outside of the Concordance and many pointed to it as proof that humanity could master their own destiny. While the core world for the Demarchy is and always has been Yellowstone with the Glitterbelt - the large swarm of space habitats that orbited around it - at its height, the neighboring worlds of Yosemite and Mesa Verde were also included, and it's very likely that the democratic anarchy of the Yellowstone Demarchy helped influence the Autonomist Alliance and Nariac's earliest stages. The government worked via a system of sortition; individual habitats were allowed to have whatever government they chose to aboard their space stations in the Glitterbelt, so long as they observed that once every quarter a random individual from their habitat would be selected to represent it. Then it all went horribly wrong when the Ascension Crisis and the Nanoswarms destroyed the Glitterbelt and Yellowstone with the melding virus. Recent years have seen something of a slow recovery, however, and many believers hope that the Demarchy can make a grand reentrance, now that the Autonomist Alliance is weakened and those who oppose states could use some heroes.
The Demarchy runs by a complex process of sortition, where leaders are chosen through random lottery at a semi-regular basis. This mean that anyone in the habitat could be selected; so if the habitat practiced slavery, there were even odds that a slave or slave master might get elected to represent that habitat at the Demarchy Council. As a result, while any type of society was allowed, in practice, only a few managed to flourish within these simple guidelines. The Demarchy Council was responsible for setting the rules and regulations that the habitats would then vote on, but individual votes weren't weighted equally; those who voted for destructive policies or policies that were disruptive to the social order more often than not had their vote weighted less than those who voted for pro-social policies. In this way, the Demarchy encouraged pro-social beliefs and policies. During height of the Demarchy, fashion was king, with all manner of elaborate and impractical fashions that combined aspects of the Demarchy's low gravity with augmented reality, nanotechnology, an the like producing an incredibly diverse array of fashion choices, ranging from Kalawat fashion to Haut Xingli.
The Demarchy runs by a complex process of sortition, where leaders are chosen through random lottery at a semi-regular basis. This mean that anyone in the habitat could be selected; so if the habitat practiced slavery, there were even odds that a slave or slave master might get elected to represent that habitat at the Demarchy Council. As a result, while any type of society was allowed, in practice, only a few managed to flourish within these simple guidelines. The Demarchy Council was responsible for setting the rules and regulations that the habitats would then vote on, but individual votes weren't weighted equally; those who voted for destructive policies or policies that were disruptive to the social order more often than not had their vote weighted less than those who voted for pro-social policies. In this way, the Demarchy encouraged pro-social beliefs and policies. During height of the Demarchy, fashion was king, with all manner of elaborate and impractical fashions that combined aspects of the Demarchy's low gravity with augmented reality, nanotechnology, an the like producing an incredibly diverse array of fashion choices, ranging from Kalawat fashion to Haut Xingli.
Yellowstone Demarchy Culture Template . . . 20 points
Advantages and Perks
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Computer Wizard 1 [5]; and one of Charisma [5], Fashion Sense [5], Fit [5], Versatile [5], or any 5-point talent ● 25 points from among DX +1 [20], IQ+1 [20], Per+1 to +4 [5/level], Will +1 to +4 [5/level], Appearance [Varies], Biological Grafts (Any) [Varies], Common Sense [10], Doodads [1/level], Eidetic Memory [5] or Photographic Memory [10], Empathy [15] or Sensitive [5], Fearlessness [2/level], Gizmos [5/level], High Manual Dexterity 1-2 [5/level], Language Talent [10], Languages [4-6/language], Single-Minded [5], Social Chameleon [5], Social Regard (Any) [5/level], Versatile [5], or 10 points in any talent [10] higher levels of Charisma [5/level], or Status [5/level] ● Any three of the following Perks: Dabbler (any eight skills), Efficient (Skill), Focused (Task), or Hyperspecialization (Skill).
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Disadvantages and Quirks
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Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5] ● One of Sense of Duty (Demarchy) and Pacifist (doesn't attack anarchists and syndicalists) [-6] or Pacifist (Reluctant Killer) and Sense of Duty (Demarchy, most of the time) [-6] ● -25 points from among Absent-Mindedness [-15], Chummy [-5] or Loner [-5*], Code of Honor (Good Citizen) [-5], Combat Paralysis [-15*], Compulsive Computer tinkering [-5*], Curious [-5*], Enemies (other programmers) [varies], Impulsiveness [-10*], Jealousy [-10], Lecherousness [-15*], Overconfidence [-5*], Post-Combat Shakes [-5*], Sense of Duty (Companions) [-5], Shyness [Varies], Stubbornness [-5], Workaholic [-5] ● Two of Broadminded, Dreamer, Dress Code (Kalawat or Haut Xingli), Methodical, Organized, Shocking Affectation (Skimpy Dresser), or Token (Any), all [-1].
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Primary Skills
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Area Knowledge (Yellowstone), Computer Operations and Current Affairs (Any), both (E) IQ+1 [2]-11; one of Merchant or Public Speaking, both (A) IQ [2]-10; Artist (Any) (H) IQ-1 [2]-9 ● any four of Combat Sport (Saber or Rapier), Dancing, Driving (Any), Piloting (Any), Riding (Any), or Sports (Any), all (A) DX [2]-10; Administration, Architecture, Merchant, Propaganda, or Writing, all (A) IQ [2]-10; Anthropology, Economics, Expert Skill (Any), Finance, History (Verge and Bleed), Literature (Western), or Philosophy (One Western) all (H) IQ-1 [2]-9; Biology, Surgery, or Physics, all (VH) IQ-2 [2]-8.
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Secondary and Background Skills
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Six of Current Affairs (Business, High Culture, People, Popular Culture, or Travel), Games (Any), or Gardening, all (E) IQ [1]-10; Connoisseur (any), Cooking, Falconry, or Gambling, all (A) IQ-1 [1]-9; Finance or Market Analysis, both (H) IQ-2 [1]-8; or in any primary skill.
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Features
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Citizenship (Yellowstone), Cultural Familiarity (Yellowstone), Language (Eridanus Mandarin, Native), and Home Gravity (0.5 - 0.9G)
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