"First Contact" OOC

[Destructionator XV]

I have been discussing with Ra for some time and now KAN about a new game that will be an original universe game in the style of out Phoenix War threads.

I have tentatively called this "First Contact" because I suck at making up titles, and it seems appropriate for what we have in mind: first contact between our two universes and what happens after that. I can change the name if you can think up something better.

The style of PW was basically we all write up rather long posts of our own characters and what is going on internally, and then the interaction would be due to some shorter posts. This style is what we shall also be using here.

I've been focusing on only the two universes meeting, but it should be possible to add more, or more players as people in our universes if you want.

There are a couple things we intend to have:
1) The only things are our universes meeting each other for the first time. No artificial goals or enemies.
2) A language barrier between our peoples. After all, they are meeting for the first time; they won't have a common language.
3) We don't really want a giant space war going here, but it might come to that based on how the characters interact anyway.

That is all I have to say for now.

[Ra]

Indeed. As Adam will be playing as the A'millian Star Empire, I shall be playing as the Sanet Aldar'al. Just a heads up to say I'm in.

[Destructionator XV]

Here is a cut and paste of an email I shot to KAN with a quick overview of my universe:

Overview of the revised A'millian universe

Sections
1) Introduction
2) Universe layout
3) Available technology
3a) Weapons
3b) Defenses
3c) Space ships
3d) Medical
3e) Computers
4) Political structure
5) Places


---Introduction---
You know the A'millians from Phoenix War - forget almost all of that,
because nearly all the technology and much the background has changed.

I am now going for a more hard sci-fi setting, which means much of it
is based in some way on reality, and what isn't, is well detailed.

I am still in the process of revising things, so some of the details
here might still change, but it should be generally accurate.

---Universe layout---
The ASE universe has three major political powers around a small number
of habitable planets and a great deal of minor powers and independent colonies.

Habitable planets are somewhat rare, so there aren't very many of them;
this isn't Star Trek. Most people live in orbital space colonies.

These colonies are around the major planets, many between the planet and its
moon, but they can also be much farther out. They could be in the
asteroid belt, around Saturn, or even farther out. A colony could even have
a warp drive attached and wander to where ever it wants to go (see warp drive
in the technology section). They do not need a planet at all, so a colony
might even be around an otherwise dead star.

Areas on the planets and the colonies can belong to a government. They might be
independent, a part of a small country or alliance, or a member of one of the
big powers, like the A'millian Star Empire. There are hundreds of thousands of
them, so there are many possibilities.

There could also be colonies in domes on planets, or on a new habitable planet,
but these would be pretty much on their own.

There aren't really any aliens. There are humans who have spread out over 1500
years and artificial intelligences (androids and HAL 9000 like computers), and
some humans might have cybernetic alterations. There are also the A'millians,
who are not human, but there are only a handful of them left alive, so you
wouldn't be able to play as one of them.

Then again, there might be aliens, but we haven't discovered any, so you would
be pretty much making up your own universe at that point.

---Available technology----
--Weapons--

Most weapons are basically what we know of today. Guns, bombs, etc. Some
improvements can be there, like maybe computer assisted targeting, but nothing
really sci-fi like at all. One possible exception is the hand held coilgun.
That is basically an assault rifle that is electrically powered to shoot its
bullets instead of chemically powered. It would have the same characteristics,
but there would be no spent cartridges and it would be pretty quiet, but it
would need to have a battery pack attached. It might make a decent sniper rifle
or something though.

Spaceship weapons have missiles, nukes, guns, coilguns, and particle beams.
These work pretty simply: shoot them, hit the other guy. No technobabble, no
absurd power yield.

Also possible to use as a weapon are remote controlled robots, which can be
operated by radio.

--Defenses--

Aside from the kind of stuff we have today, there is one big thing here: one
of my pieces of technobabble: the shield.

It can be worn by a person or put on a ship or building and what it does is
stops incoming energy and then sends it harmlessly away as light.

The person sized ones can stop bullets, but only for a few seconds before it
needs to recharge, which takes about 15 seconds. It doesn't make you unkillable
but it can buy you a few seconds if you make a mistake.

The ship sized ones are the same idea, but bigger. They buy the ship a few
minutes of getting hit instead of being instantly destroyed by a missile.
They collapse pretty fast though, so it gives you room for one mistake, but not
any more.

--Space ships--

There are four types of ships that need to be mentioned:

1) Shuttles. These can land and take off from a planet. They aren't very big
and cannot take off or land very fast (it takes about half an hour to get up
or down), and also need refueling often.

2) Solar system ships. These are used to shuttle people and cargo between
places in the same solar system (like between earth orbit and moon orbit).
They cannot land on a planet, but might be armed to serve as a warship.

3) Warp ships. These can make FTL jumps to different stars, and while at the
star, generally acts like a solar system ship.

The FTL jump is instant, but takes a few minutes to prepare for the jump, and
hours or days to move around inside the solar system. They need to use
regular engines to get into orbit, which is not easy to do.

In the real universe, getting into orbit might take even months and cannot be
done at any random time; you need to wait for a window. I probably won't hold
you entirely to that in STGOD, since it might not be your style. Just make up
a travel time and stick to it, and if it isn't realistic, we'll just make up
some technobabble.

4) Lastly, colony ships. These are just space colonies - cities and parks in
space - with engines attached. They move very slowly, but can have a warp
engine to be able to jump to a different star.

They are just cities in space remember, not wanktastic battleships. If they
get into a battle, they will probably get their arses kicked.



Important to note that there is no artificial gravity in this universe. The
closest you get is rotation, just like in real life.

--Medical--

Medical tech is pretty advanced. Here are the most important things:

1) Human life extension is possible. A human can get treatment so he can live
for hundreds of years, almost all of them like he was 30 the whole time - old
age has pretty much been cured.

2) Limb and organ regeneration. If you lose a limb or organ, you can have a
new one grown for you that works just fine.

3) Cyborgs. The technology exists to augment or replace biological components
of a body with mechanical parts.

You could probably make up more if you wanted to.

--Computers--

Computers like today are there, and so are androids and HAL 9000 like
mainframes. The AIs are treated like people by law in the ASE (but if you
are an independent colony, that is up to you), and act like people who
know a lot and are good at math and doing many things at once.

They can also be small, like we have in the real world. Nothing too out there
with computer tech though.

--Political structure--

Again, as I said, there are many small independent colonies and some larger
alliances, all of which can exist on the same planet or same solar system.

The big one though is the A'millian Star Empire. They have assets in 4 solar
systems, but most everything is in just one and after that, their homeworld.
They are ruled by a King and Queen (Lord Adam and Lady Leila)

There is also another large political organization, the Wivillian Republic,
which is like the ASE but a democracy. They have only two solar systems of their
own. One is pretty packed with orbital settlements and a planet, but the other
is just a planet and resource bases in orbit. They started as a colony of
Koreallia (the main solar system of the ASE, where humans originated), and got
their independence 1000 years ago, so have grown a lot on their own since then.

There are others, but they are all pretty small.

--Places--

There are only 3 solar systems you need to really know about. All the names
here are the A'millian names; the locals might call it something entirely
different.

1) The A'millius system. This is homeworld of the A'millians, and Royal Capital
of the ASE. It has one space station and one city on its planet.

It has a total population of about 50,000, and is a quiet place that doesn't do
much. Everyone here works for the Royal government in some form.

2) The Koreallius system. This is homeworld of the humans, and main solar
system of the ASE. It has one earth like planet, and tens of thousands of
orbital colonies.

It has a total population of about 800 billion, people belonging to many
different nations and many different kinds of people doing many different
things. It is the main system of activity.

3) The Wivillus system. This one is like Koreallius, but younger (it started as
a Koreallian colony), and is mostly part of the Republic rather than the ASE.

It also has many independent colonies and countries in orbit and on the planet.

It has a total population of about 250 billion, people all very different.


The other solar systems controlled by the empires and republics are scarcely
populated and act mainly as scientific outposts or tourist destinations. Some
also mine materials and build starships or have little government schools, but
nothing significant at all.



Well, that about sums it up. It is pretty small and not terrible different
than real life possibilities for technology, but it is big enough to allow
lots of diversity.

And if you want some quick verses:

ASE vs modern earth: ASE wins without taking any losses - they win by tossing
an asteroid at them.

ASE vs Star Trek: Trek wins due to greater numbers and stronger tech.

ASE vs Star Wars: Star Wars just laughs as they easily win, probably no losses.

ASE vs Stargate: Stargate wins it probably. Their ships are stronger and faster.

ASE vs nBSG: This is close. nBSG battle strategies suck ass, and the ships are
about the same strength. ASE might just take it here.


Militarily, I was going for realism, which is pretty weak compared to most
universes seen on TV. I want to write more about a possible real, and somewhat
utopian future, not about wanking to war and destruction.

If you want to know more, check out my LibArc blog:
http://libriumarcana.com/blogs/index.php?blog=1&cat=24

Here, I talk in more detail about whatever is on my mind that day, and have
written a huge amount so far and will be writing much more as time goes on.

------------------------

This is pretty accurate. There are some things I will probably want to add later, but for the most part, this should tell you what I shall be doing. I also recently had an interesting discussion about space to ground attacks on SDN and learned quite a bit of things I want to incorporate, but space to ground war probably won't be an issue for a long time here.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Like I said, I particularly like the low-tech setting, because it reminds me of the Buck Rogers XXVC universe. Mind you, back in early 90's, I played a computer role-playing game called Countdown to Doomsday, followed by its sequel Matrix Cubed. The gameplay is the usual AD&D 'Gold Box', but the storyline and the atmosphere is unparallelled.

The problem is that I still have yet to determine what my character should be. Probably I won't even make up my own universe; just 'attach' my character to an existing universe.

However, since I played the Buck Rogers series, I've been always fascinated to be a Mercurian 'Sun King'; head of affluent billionaire families who got rich through the means of energy monopoly. Is the any equivalent of 'Sun King' in your universes?

[Destructionator XV]

Such a thing is possible I suppose. Most energy for the planets in the ASE is provided by government owned Solar Power Satellites, with the rest of the gaps being filled in by nuclear power plants.

Up in space, where the vast majority of the population lives, electrical power is entirely solar. Each colony has an array of mirrors that takes in sunlight and puts it to use for all their energy needs. This is feasible at any point in any solar system, so energy isn't a big problem - it is in abundance.

But one way for someone to potentially get rich is to have some independent colonies (away from the oversight and rather heavy taxation of the socialist A'millians) and charge the inhabitants for most everything.

The owner of the colony would be in control of the energy and the agriculture and would own all the real estate, and could actually build more real estate if he wanted to. So he could sell all this, then tax the industry in the colony to make more money to keep growing.

Of course, he would need some way to keep people from just moving out, but there are many ways to do that: lot's of people would rather not leave their homes and many may not be able to afford moving anyway.

So yeah, someone could be rich, probably by owning colonies and controlling everything and the industry. An independent country and megacorp all in one.

His biggest fear would be keeping the neibours from getting pissed off enough to come in and force a regime change. Or assassins.

[Ra]

I'm having to recalculate and consider toning down the Sanet a good bit for this game, but I'm working on it. Suffice it to say the canon Sanet would run over the A'millians, who seem to be around the tech level of the Earth Union from the same universe. I'm saying this because the Sanet were from the outset designed to be about a millenia ahead of 24th c humanity.

An Aldar'al from much earlier (in-universe time) would work well, say from around the Sanet-Kiir War era. They were just developing their vaunted drone weapons, space-folding FTL drives didn't jump as far, etc. Also having the Aldar'al in control of three or four systems would work in-game.

Also, the big thing is location. Is this set in the Milky Way? Canonically, the Sanet are located in the Sagittarius Arm of our galaxy.

[Destructionator XV]

Yeah, I am in the Milky Way as well. I figure the galaxy is a plenty big enough place for all of us to exist.

About getting run over, that doesn't bother me that much, so don't worry about making yourself smaller on account of that.

And with them having the whole solar system colonzed rather than just planets, the A'millians here would more like 80 planets if they are all Earth sized (though a good deal of them are weird or independent, so not all of them would strictly count). They are still very formidiable, and when it comes to battle, they have the technobabble shields and warp drive, and the more hard sci-fish capabilities of robot drones and intense orbital bombardment - they will give you a good run.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Wait, wait, wait....

I'm just thinking.....

See, this is the first STGOD where EACH PLAYER IS SUPPOSED TO CREATE THEIR OWN UNIVERSE!!

Well, not really. In Phoenix War I, the universe is an amalgam of various universes, but it is simply because PW I uses existing sci-fi; so we have Jon as the Goa'ulds (SG universe), Robert as the Borg (Trek universe), Josh as the Imperium of Man (WH40K universe), Dart as the Trolls (Discworld universe), and me as the Galactic Empire (SW universe). In fact, Adam is the only one who came up with self-made universe (except if we count Ace and his gnomes ).

But I believe, this time we just want to have a good sci-fi STGOD to play with. Should each of use create our own universe for that purpose? Can't we just share the universe and create our faction as usual?

See, NOT all planets in Adam's universe belong to the A'millian Star Empire.....

The ASE universe has three major political powers around a small number of habitable planets and a great deal of minor powers and independent colonies.

...............................................

Areas on the planets and the colonies can belong to a government. They might be independent, a part of a small country or alliance, or a member of one of the big powers, like the A'millian Star Empire. There are hundreds of thousands of them, so there are many possibilities.

See? So I don't see the need for each player to create her/his own universe; a faction in Adam's universe should be sufficient, I guess.

It could be something like this:

The A'millan Star Empire (Adam): A "socialist" Kingdom where everyone lives in a Trek-like utopia. Corporations are heavily taxed, Copyright law is applied with caution, and almost every piece of tech is open source

The Sanet (Jon): Elf-like society originated on a lush forest planet. The Sanet are long-lived people, brave warriors, and very skillful with plasma bow and laser sword (I just made up those weapons ).

The Energy Cartel (me): A cartel of energy corporations that monopolize sunlight collection througout the universe. The cartel is not particularly powerful in military terms, but it is quite powerful due its vast wealth and economic power. Right now, the cartel is led by House Nurzaman and its famous Sun King Kreshna.


By the way, Adam, I think there's still a way for the cartel to monopolize energy mining and distribution:

Up in space, where the vast majority of the population lives, electrical power is entirely solar. Each colony has an array of mirrors that takes in sunlight and puts it to use for all their energy needs. This is feasible at any point in any solar system, so energy isn't a big problem - it is in abundance.

Yes, sunlight is abundant, but it also tends to disperse with distance. The best harvest always happen near the sun where you will get the best energy intensity.

Meanwhile, in Buck Rogers XXVC universe, the Mercurian Sun Kings hold energy monopoly by grabbing the nearest planet to the sun: Mercury. Of course Venus, Mars, and Earth gets is fair amount of sunlight, but the Sun Kings have a distinct advantage by colonizing Mercury.

So what if it is told in the story, that the Energy Cartel gets their advantage by always having the planet closest to the star in every solar system?

Well, I don't know. That's just my idea though.

[Destructionator XV]

But I believe, this time we just want to have a good sci-fi STGOD to play with. Should each of use create our own universe for that purpose? Can't we just share the universe and create our faction as usual?

Well, either way works.

I (obviously) like my universe, and I also like what I have read about Ra's universe, and it would be conflicting for our stories to say they both exist in the same universe canonically (especially considering we both use Earth in one way or another), but it works just fine for a cross-over, which as I have outlined, has tons of potential.

We couldn't have a first contact scenario at all if both our universes were known to each other from the beginning, so having his universe and mine is much better than just having one or the other.

See, NOT all planets in Adam's universe belong to the A'millian Star Empire.....

Well, unless you are sticking to one of the three habitable planets or their orbital colonies I have described, you basically are just creating your own universe anyway. Though, you can use the same tech as me if you want.

And if you are sticking to them, the first contact premise becomes impossible.

The Energy Cartel (me): A cartel of energy corporations that monopolize sunlight collection througout the universe.

Throughout the universe is WAY big of a stretch. Even one star is stretching it. A star is a big thing.

Yes, sunlight is abundant, but it also tends to disperse with distance.

All you have to do is build bigger mirrors. 1970's Earth technology was enough to build mirrors big enough to but Earth like habitats out beyond Pluto. Size isn't too big a deal in space, since it doesn't need to be able to hold up its own weight nor deal with wind or anything like that.

The best harvest always happen near the sun where you will get the best energy intensity.

While this is true, it isn't a dealbreaker. Mirrors are cheap.

but the Sun Kings have a distinct advantage by colonizing Mercury.

Actually, they don't. Orbital solar collectors are better than planetary arrays in every way.

An orbital collector can really big: it doesn't need to hold its own weight.

An orbital collector doesn't need to worry about hills or rocks or the curve on the planet.

Planets can never have better than 50% efficiency, since they rotate: solar collectors are no good at night. There is not night time in orbit. Solar power satellites in high earth orbit can achieve a theoretical max of over 99% efficiency.

Orbital collectors can go anywhere you want: no need to worry about planet being there.

Orbital collectors don't have an annoying gravity well impeding maintenance guys from getting in or out.

Orbital collectors don't have an annoying gravity well pulling in meteors to impact the surface.



The fools who take the planet can be easily undersold by someone who builds in orbit, and the orbital ones can go anywhere, from inside Mercury to beyond Pluto or anywhere in between, and on any orbital plane. They are cheaper to build and maintain and provide better efficiency to boot. They also aren't dependant on their being a planet around the star at all: they can literally be built anywhere.


Most these same advantages, and many more also apply to orbital habitats over class-M planets, which is one of the many reasons why my universe has most everyone living in space colonies instead of planets.

[Ra]

The Sanet (Jon): Elf-like society originated on a lush forest planet. The Sanet are long-lived people, brave warriors, and very skillful with plasma bow and laser sword (I just made up those weapons ).

Replace "plasma bow and laser sword" with "micromissle rifle and sonic grenade" and you're just about on target.

Oh, and ironically enough the Sanet homeworld has huge oceans; they have a really big maritime heritage.

Anyway, regarding Adam's post, yeah, I'll keep them pretty much as-is, since I'm not wanting yet another "great war" STGOD anyway. If it does come to that, battles should be extremely brutal, destructive, and brief; A quote I had Volisar say in an article somewhere on my machine summed it up nicely:

"The Sanet-Kiir War was a brutal affair, one that cost both of our peoples much. Kiir fleets would jump in and exterminate all the life on entire planets before we could summon a proper defense; and the same would happen to Kiir planets. Battles were short and brutal, with hundreds of ships coming in and perhaps one lone ship limping home. Sometimes, not even one would survive. So bloody was that War that both of our peoples rejoiced at its end, for trillions had died."

The Kiir have no bearing on this game of course, but the quote was apt.

EDIT: Emphasis added.

[Destructionator XV]

Interestingly, my war is almost the opposite. Warp drives can be trivially nullified with in a large radius, taking away any FTL jump tactics. Thus, you are forced to do a real space approach and attack, meaning everyone can see you coming with plenty of time to spare.

This meant war was moving your pieces around, watching the other guy, and countering his moves. If you can't counter the move, you simply surrender. If you have a ship, you might fight, and the battles will last quite some time: both ships lobbing ordinance back and forth waiting about 20 minutes between each impact due to travel time. Repeat until one ship makes a mistake.

But wars would be not very deadly most the time due to the see it coming and just surrender plans. If killing was wanted, large amounts of death would be easy to inflict: which helps remind people they should just not even try.

But that would be entirely different if our two universes fought, since they wouldn't have the mutual understanding of our leaders, and also my FTL blocking might not work on your ships, and if you have no FTL blocking at all, I could also just jump-n-nuke you making a very deadly affair.

But that would be lame. I don't want a big war either.

[Ra]

Agreed. I just want to see how First Contact goes and the internal politics of the matter as both sides figure out what to do. You have your Hawks and Doves, people wanting technology exchange and people wanting to make a quick buck off of a new, virgin market. You have military leaders formulating potential war plans (hell, the US even made war plans for the UK) and political leaders formulating trade plans. You also have two cultures who don't understand each others' languages, so things will be very touch-and-go at first.

[Destructionator XV]

Yup. I also like how I can use it to talk about first contact between the A'millians and Koreallians (with the latter being the human homeworld in this universe, and humans being the actually dominate intelligent species in there (with the only other being the A'millians who have always been few in number). That meeting led to just about everything in my universe, and this would have many parallels, except for one big thing: the A'millians first had immense superiority over Koreallia. That won't be the same here.

Are you guys about ready to make an in-character thread? I think we have almost enough laid out right now to make the first few posts and start going from there. No need to get too much ironed out in OOC: ironing it out in character will probably actually be more fun.

We just have to decide what scenario we'll use: a ship meeting in the middle of nowhere, stumbling across a planet, or whatever.

[Ra]

I'm ready. For my part, some SETI radio/technobabblewave activity picked up by a Sanet cruiser might make for an interesting beginning, but if you would prefer a ship-to-ship meeting, that is excellent as well.

[Ra]

Bah, frack it. I'll start the game thread and then we can all post at our leisure.

EDIT: Done.

[Destructionator XV]

Very good. I think picking up signals is a good way to go. No need for ship to ship yet.

Just to get the ball rolling a little faster, I think it should be both of us receiving radio waves from each other at the same time. That probably isn't pefectly realistic, but whatever, it just kicks off the game anyway.

[Ra]

Excellent. We can just chalk that up to writer's fiat.

Here I'm gonna state who my major characters are. They won't be introduced immediately, but will show up. Also, people should remember the Sanet are bipedal aliens, not demi-humans or whatever.

Verishah

Appeared briefly in the aborted PW II, Verishah is the chairwoman of the Aldar'al Science Ministry. Obviously the first contact is of great interest to her.

Enmatal

A new guy, Enmatal is the High Commander of the Aldar'al Fleet.

Volisar

The Empress, or Ghervay, of the Aldar'al.

[Destructionator XV]

I enjoy the way in just our opening posts, you and I are already taking a different approach to exactly the same situation. This is going to be a blast.

I said the location of the signal is some random star, which I figure will be one of your older worlds (I obviously don't know which one... and I probably shouldn't know until I warp in a probe so don't tell me!). I haven't said a distance yet. I figure something like 150 light years. Big enough to feel distant, but not other side of the galaxy big (especially since radio signals coming from that far away would be way too weak anyway).

Naturally, since you have a ship picking up mine, you can be just about anywhere. A'millian Prime has had radio technology for some almost 4000 years, but theirs would probably be too few to pick up. Koreallia was at modern Earth time about 1700 years ago, so they are also good to pick up at just about any distance. We should probably use a distance number that is in about the same ballpark though, since that would make a little more sense I think.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

The fools who take the planet can be easily undersold by someone who builds in orbit, and the orbital ones can go anywhere, from inside Mercury to beyond Pluto or anywhere in between, and on any orbital plane. They are cheaper to build and maintain and provide better efficiency to boot. They also aren't dependant on their being a planet around the star at all: they can literally be built anywhere.

Got your point; I overlooked the fact that Buck Rogers XXVC universe don't have orbital solar collector (in fact, their technology don't allow them to wander far away from planets or asteroids), so which planet to take actually matters, while in our STGOD universe, it doesn't matter anymore. Correct?

By the way, I ain't pretty much interested in playing as a planetary government (space empire, etc). Right now I'll be more interested to play as mega-corporation, gigantic cartel, or such. You know, like House Ordos or CHOAM in Dune universe.

The problem is: what's the most plausible way for an economic domination to gain economic domination in our STGOD?
- in Buck Rogers XXVC universe, the Mercurian Sun Kings hold energy monopoly by residing in Mercury (closest planet to the sun), but that's because their tech level doesn't allow them to build anything far away from planets/asteroids.
- in Dune, the Spacing Guild hold monopoly because the universe's dependence of Spice Mutation (precog, etc) to safely navigate through space (they don't have computers, remember?).

So what is the most plausible way to gain significant economic power in this STGOD universe? Trade? Banking?

[Destructionator XV]

r (in fact, their technology don't allow them to wander far away from planets or asteroids),

That doesn't make any sense at all. Orbital solar satellites could be built with 1970's technology (and almost were until budget cuts hit NASA). They are no fancier than communications satellites or space labs.

I hate it when writers don't think things through.

so which planet to take actually matters, while in our STGOD universe, it doesn't matter anymore. Correct?

Correct. In fact, planets have numerous disadvantages over orbit.

The problem is: what's the most plausible way for an economic domination to gain economic domination in our STGOD?

The problem is there is no super domination without writer's fiat. The best you could do is offer a good product at a fair price and make money on the economy of scale. This civilization is 1600 times the size of the United States. You would be rich by today's standards running a McDonald's. Compared to everyone else in the universe, you would just be another company, of course.

Actually, that would be really funny. The owner of McDonald's gets involved.

But really, you could just pick a business and say you were successful. You don't need to be a megacorp to potentially have an influence. If you do want megacorp, habitat construction and sales and the rest of the manufacturing in space would be rather lucrative. You could be a warp coil manufacturer: high quality warp coils are often in demand since they need replacing somewhat often, and they are something that is hard to manufacture so you could make decent money off it.

[Ra]

I would say the best way to do what you are doing, Kresh, is to go the Microsoft route. You provide a product that is, at the time you had been founded, innovative. I can't say "new" because solar collecters would have been around since the days of the A'millians' version of Project Mercury or Vostok.

You had some revolutionary design of orbital solar collecter that put out more energy for less initial investment cost, and blew away your competition before they could adapt and keep up. By the time they did, KreshCorp or whatever was a household name, providing energy for literally billions of homes. Simply put, you're the Microsoft of solar energy, as much as that probably hurts to think about. You invested massively, like McDonalds, putting franchised or leased satellites up all over the Empire, and that investment payed off big. Now you've got money, mansions, space yachts, women, booze, whatever you want. You're not just a ruthlessly effective invester, you're a mothafukkin P-I-M-P, with a big space yacht that has a gigantic gold Cadillac logo bolted to the bow.

But you take it a step further, maybe taking pages from Robocop's OCP or maybe Weyland-Yutani, and go into real megacorporation territory. You've got political power and influence to boot, maybe even your own police force.

But then again, as Adam said, a lot of this does rely on Writer's Fiat; I'm just trying to put this into perspective.

[Destructionator XV]

Energy really isn't the way to go. 95% of the population lives in space in habitats that are mostly self-sufficient. The orange things in the sig pic are mirrors that gather sunlight for use in the colony.

At 1 AU, there is a 1.3 kW / m^2 solar energy flux, available over 99% of the time. The habitat depicted in my sig is 19 miles long and 4 miles in diameter. The two mirrors seen in the picture would therefore total to 400 million square meters. That makes incoming power around 530 gigawatts. Assume 50% of it is converted to usable electrical energy, and you have about 200 gigawatts. The cylinder would have a population of about 10 million. That works out to about 20 kilowatts per person, constantly - all generated on site at very low cost. 20 kilowatts is a huge amount of power for one person to use.

No one would need to import energy with that much available. A colony might actually sell its excess electricity packaged up as batteries or something for spacecraft however - which would be bought right up, but prices would have to be low: there are lots of people with excess energy to sell.

Now, the people living down on the planet's surface would probably be importing energy from space. They would have large solar power satellites in geosynchrous orbit collecting solar energy and sending it to collectors on the surface in the form of microwaves. This takes some investment to get started, but after it is up, the marginal costs and maintenance costs are rather low, meaning end user prices would be low as well - not terribly profitable at all.

We tend to think of energy as being a good business because it is scarce on Earth, but it is immensely abundant and very easy to get in space, so this is not true once you have space industry in place.

But about energy for spaceships: you could be involved in the production of super batteries that would be wanted. Not antimatter though: large amounts of antimatter is prohibited due to safety regulations (unless you operate outside the ASE, of course).

If you invented a new battery type, that could have been your ticket to richness: a government contract would eat that right up for military warships, and the civilian market would also love to have safe clean energy on their spaceships.


About having political power: you could have some smaller nations in your pocket, but the ASE itself is pretty much immune to that. You can't fund the King's reelection campaign or anything of that sort.

Attempts of bribery or extortion might get you a pass for some time on the local level, but it is just a matter of time before someone higher up realizes what is going on, then your assets are confiscated and you go to jail.

The all powerful megacorp I find rather silly: in real life, if a company is breaking the law, their leadership goes to jail. No private company can be more powerful than the government. If you try to resist arrest, you will lose. Your megacorp might even have a private army, but what are they going to do when the real army shows up? So if you do have a company operating in the ASE, you should be careful not to break any laws.

edit: One of these laws is very strict prohibitions on recreational drug use, sale, trafficing and manufacture. All non-medicinal drugs are banned in the A'millian Star Empire. Though, if you operate outside their reach (such as an independent habitat or nation on the ground), of course, this isn't as much a problem to you. There might even be potential for a black market smuggling drugs in to the ASE, but such things would almost certainly get you imprisioned or executed, and definitely fined and passports revoked, if you were caught.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

You had some revolutionary design of orbital solar collecter that put out more energy for less initial investment cost, and blew away your competition before they could adapt and keep up. By the time they did, KreshCorp or whatever was a household name, providing energy for literally billions of homes.

But about energy for spaceships: you could be involved in the production of super batteries that would be wanted. Not antimatter though: large amounts of antimatter is prohibited due to safety regulations (unless you operate outside the ASE, of course).

Hey, maybe I could combine the two ideas: becoming a ship battery manufacturer and blew away my competition due to "innovative" design, which, by the way, lead to monopoly. And I actually like the idea of the name "KreshCorp" --sounds like LexCorp of DC Universe.

However, while lying down with back injury yesterday (yes, my back is killing me since yesterday morning, but at least I can still sit and type), I was thinking about one particular idea: The Swivian Banking Cartel.

I've been thinking: no matter what tech level you have, MONEY is still an important concern. The Swivian Banking Cartel is like Switzerland in early 20th century (or today's Cayman Island, or Singapore); a small, albeit very rich nation state where everyone can put their money with ABSOLUTE secrecy. As consequences, the likes of drug lords, space pirates, and space dictators are also putting their dirty money in Swivian banking institutes.

However, despite the origin of the money, the Swivian people are highly orderly and civilized people --just like today's Switzerland or Singapore. The planet Swivia is probably the safest and most peaceful place to live, with the LOWEST crime rate throughout our STGOD universe.

Politically, the Swivians have been taking the stance of ABSOLUTE NEUTRALITY for centuries (just like Switzerland). Of course, a stance of neutrality means nothing without the capability to defend itself, and the Swivians, while not overly aggressive, have a strong martial traditions (but they are NOT Klingons, mind you.). The Swivians also make the most capable mercenaries throughout the STGOD (just like the Switzerland in 16th century --and IIRC the Vatican is guarded by the Swiss Guards, am I correct?). Swivian Hussars and Uhlans are among the best sci-fi ground troops you can get.

The Swivian Banking Cartel is also very rich; being the greatest source of money, they have been investing in almost every private entities throughout the solar systems. Swivian's presence in ASE, however, is minimal, due to the fact that most ASE corporations are state-owned (am I correct, Adam?)

By the way, the Swivian is both a nation-state and a corporate cartel --it is a plutocratic nation-state (just like the House Ordos of Dune Universe). The banking institutes that make up the Cartel are owned by various Swivian Noble Houses, and each decade, the Noble Houses elect a Baron Treasurer as the leader of the nation. Currently, the Cartel is led by the Baron Kreshna Aryaguna of House Nurzaman.

So whaddya' think? Is it plausible enough to be featured in our STGOD universe?

[Destructionator XV]

Hey, maybe I could combine the two ideas: becoming a ship battery manufacturer and blew away my competition due to "innovative" design, which, by the way, lead to monopoly.

That is almost like something I was thinking about myself. Here is a quote from one of the fluff pages I have been working on:

History


ED-Gel was first invented in AW 3528 by a private company on
Koreallia as a new kind of fuel cell for automobiles. The Federal
government quickly realized its potential, and contracted the
company to continue research into higher energy densities for
potential use in starships, turning the company from a relatively
small time car manufacturer into a wealthy interstate battery
business in the course of only a few yahren.

In AW 3534, the substance was built into its first starship, but it
was still not yet enough for military applications, which came in AW
3551.

I am currently working on refining just how this happened and what the substance does, but it is good enough for here, so just change the names there and maybe some of the details if you want and you have yourself a wealthy battery business to use, who also makes cars and private spaceships.

I was thinking about one particular idea: The Swivian Banking Cartel.

That works too. Hell, your character might even one two or three businesses.

where everyone can put their money with ABSOLUTE secrecy.

How would the money be transferred? If it is electronically, you'd be surprised at what the A'millian's NSA would know :P . Though really paranoid folks would probably travel in person.

The planet Swivia is probably the safest and most peaceful place to live, with the LOWEST crime rate throughout our STGOD universe.

Is this actually a planet or is it just one or a collection of orbital habitats?

If it is a planet, is it a country on my planet, a huge dome on something like Mars in the same solarsystem or is it an earth like planet in another solar system?

All those are possible. It just helps to know which one you want to use. Strictly, in the context of my universe, the best options are either orbital habitats or just an independent country on the same planet I use. An independent country on the same planet would put you in the best economic location: your customers are all close by and could visit or talk without needing a warp capable ship or FTL communication system. But it is your choice.

Also good to know is the ballpark of your population.

Real life Switzerland has about 7 million people.
For comparison, Canada has about 30 million and the US has about 300 million.

Swivian Hussars and Uhlans are among the best sci-fi ground troops you can get.

Yeah, if you spend the money to get them optimal gear, you can get them equipped with stuff like the Royal A'millian Space Marines - like the Master Chief in the game Halo. Full armor and a personal shield (the personal energy shield doesn't make you immortal remember: it just buys you a couple seconds under fire, but a couple seconds could save your life)

And of course they would have other equipment like cars and whatnot you could buy.

Swivian's presence in ASE, however, is minimal, due to the fact that most ASE corporations are state-owned (am I correct, Adam?)

Not most. There are many national corporations, but a great deal of private ones too. Like a cross between France and Canada, not like the USSR.

So long as your bank isn't breaking any laws, it can invest in companies in the ASE, and could possibly even loan money to the government (though, their budget is usually balanced thanks to the rather high taxation, so this would not be needed most the time).

So whaddya' think? Is it plausible enough to be featured in our STGOD universe?

Yeah, I think you have something pretty good here. Just a little more detail and it will be ready to go.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

so just change the names there and maybe some of the details if you want and you have yourself a wealthy battery business to use, who also makes cars and private spaceships.

It's a splendid idea, but since I'm a banking cartel, how about making the company being owned by the cartel?

I was thinking about one particular idea: The Swivian Banking Cartel.

That works too. Hell, your character might even one two or three businesses.

My character alone has about one or three business, but he is not the Cartel --he is merely the currently appointed Baron Treasurer of the Cartel. The Cartel itself is actually way richer, and more powerful.

I envision the Cartel is something like CHOAM or House Ordos in Dune Universe. And like those entities, the Swivian Banking Cartel is very subtle in exercising their power; size and manipulation are their weapons, not starships and space cannons.

where everyone can put their money with ABSOLUTE secrecy.

How would the money be transferred? If it is electronically, you'd be surprised at what the A'millian's NSA would know :P . Though really paranoid folks would probably travel in person.

Okay, okay, not THAT absolute , but as secret as Swiss banking institutes in early 20th century (of course Swiss banks are not that secret anymore today due to international pressure).

But I guess you have made a point here: electronic transfer is merely an option in my STGOD Swivian Banking Cartel; an option that compromises secrecy somewhat, but most of my customers are paranoid affluents (asteroid dictators, space pirates, mafia Godfathers, etc) who rather travel in person.

If it is a planet, is it a country on my planet, a huge dome on something like Mars in the same solarsystem or is it an earth like planet in another solar system?

All those are possible. It just helps to know which one you want to use.

I'm actually thinking about a small planet; green and lush like Naboo, but small parts of it are urbanized. However, instead of building ultra-modern Skyscrapers and such, the Swivian prefer to preserve old buildings and keep old-fashioned cities; paved street and such like in Europe.

However, I haven't exactly thought where exactly the planet should be located. It's supposed to be in the same universe with the ASE, so I leave it to you where the planet should reside.

Also good to know is the ballpark of your population.

Real life Switzerland has about 7 million people.
For comparison, Canada has about 30 million and the US has about 300 million.

Um, I haven't exactly thought about it either. I think its population, when compared to the ASE, is just like Switzerland (or maybe even Singapore) when compared to the US.

Swivian Hussars and Uhlans are among the best sci-fi ground troops you can get.

Yeah, if you spend the money to get them optimal gear, you can get them equipped with stuff like the Royal A'millian Space Marines - like the Master Chief in the game Halo. Full armor and a personal shield (the personal energy shield doesn't make you immortal remember: it just buys you a couple seconds under fire, but a couple seconds could save your life)

It's actually more of tradition instead of purchasing power. See, I want the Swivians to be like the Swiss as much as possible. IIRC, in Switzerland (as in Singapore) people are obliged to join the military for a brief period in their life (around 18 or such). I ever read somewhere that in Switzerland, people don't take such conscription as burden, but rather view it as tradition. People who escape the service tend to be sneered at by their neighbors. You know, such things.

Also, a predominant cultural tendency in Swivia Prima (hey, I just made up the name of the planet!) is responsibility, safety, and respect for the rule of law with people even hesitant to cross the street unless the walk sign is green.

Also, as in real-life Switzerland, the Swivians are reputedly known as the best watchmakers and chocolate-makers throughout the solar systems!


Folkloric dance demonstration of Swivian people

But despite the Cartel, the Swivians also have strong humanitarian value. The Inter-space Red Cross was founded on Swivia Prima, and it still receives the biggest donation from the Cartel.

And of course they would have other equipment like cars and whatnot you could buy.

Of course. The Swivians have probably the highest living standards throughout the solar systems.

The Swivian Banking Cartel, like I have mentioned, are a collection of banking institutions. The shares of those banking institutions are owned by Swivian Noble Houses and the Swivian Royal Family, while a small proportion of those shares are openly traded in Swivian Stock Exchange (SWSE). However, the Swivians have strict policy that only Swivian citizens can buy those shares.

Swivia Prima's government is what can be described as 'corporate monarchy'. It is NOT like Microsoft or Wal-Mart, though --it is more like King Fahd and the Saudis (filthy rich with oil) governing Saudi Arabia, or maybe like Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah governing Brunei. The Swivian Banking Cartel is arguably the biggest contributor to Swivia Prima (through taxation and the fact that the Royal Family gains the dividends from the Cartel. However, the relationship between the Swivian Banking Cartel and the Swivian nation is so blurred that in general, the nation is more popularly known as the Cartel.

Symbolically, the Swivian King Targaglia of Corino is the Swivian Head of the State, but the Head of Government is held by the Cartel's Baron Treasurer --which holds the role as Prime Minister. The Baron Treasurer is elected in every ten years by the Swivian Noble Houses, and the current one is Baron Kreshna Aryaguna of House Nurzaman.

So long as your bank isn't breaking any laws, it can invest in companies in the ASE, and could possibly even loan money to the government (though, their budget is usually balanced thanks to the rather high taxation, so this would not be needed most the time).

Don't worry. In general, the Cartel is benevolent. And remember, they are very subtle (even subtler than the Bene Gesserit in Dune Universe). Breaking the law is the very last thing they will commit.

However, there are things that can stir reasonable tensions between the Cartel and other governments (such as the A'millian Star Empire). First, the Swivian has been traditionally refusing to sign any extradition treaties with any other nations --that has been part of their tradition of neutrality, by the way.

Such fact, combined between Swivian law premise that 'nobody is a criminal unless he/she breaks law inside Swivian territory', makes Swivia Prima a safe havens for affluent criminals from around the solar systems. The famous interplanetary Godfather Giovani Boniface, for example, have found safe haven on Swivia Prima --untouchable even by space interpol. The rich ex-dictator of Bwana Asteroid Colony, General Kinkasa Mobutu, also found his safe haven on Swivia Prima --virtually untouched by the current Bwana government.

But of course, those criminals do not commit crime when they reside on Swivia Prima, for they will suffer permanent banishment from the lush planet for the slightest of lawbreaking attempt. And Swivian Police Corps are very strict in maintaining law and order on the small (albeit very rich) planet.


The second is the fact that the Banking Cartel maintains an absolute secrecy when it goes to the banking business. Such secrecy has kept law enforcers from other nations (like the ASE) to track and seize the assets of the criminals of their nations.


But hey! I just had an idea to 'spice up the plot'. IIRC, for years, other nations have been pressuring the Swiss government to change its banking policy:

Pressure on Switzerland has been applied by several states and international organizations attempting to alter the Swiss privacy regime. The European Union, whose member countries geographically surround Switzerland, has complained about member states' nationals using Swiss banks to avoid taxation in their home countries. The EU has long sought a harmonized tax regime among its member states, although many Swiss banking officials (and, according to some polls, the public) are resisting any such changes.

and this:

In January of 2003, the United States Department of the Treasury announced a new information-sharing agreement under the already extant U.S.-Swiss Income Tax Convention; the agreement is intended to facilitate more effective tax information exchange between the two countries. Said a Treasury official, "This Mutual Agreement should improve our access to needed information" under the terms of the tax treaty.

In our real world, Switzerland is no longer safe haven for illegal money and such (the likes of Cayman Island has taken up the role) due to international pressure.

However, in our STGOD universe, the Swivian Banking Cartel is STILL the safe haven for such money (criminal's money, tax avoidance, etc) --it is still the best and most favorite "offshore account" in our universe.

So to spice up the plot, what if we play it in such way that the A'millan Star Empire has been pressuring the Swivian Banking Cartel to change its policy? And of course, the previous Baron Treasurer had almost concede to the A'millian's demands. However, with the recent appointment the new Baron Treasurer Kreshna, all the negotiations go back to the square one, as Kreshna takes up the stance of 'traditional Swivian banker' --that is, maintaining the absolute secrecy and neutrality as any traditional Swivian would do.

Yeah, I think you have something pretty good here. Just a little more detail and it will be ready to go.

Well are the details above sufficient?