Thinking Of A New Story Thread

[Sprayber]

I've been thinking of an idea set in SMAC but far into the future. A storyline in which the most SMAC factions have left Chrion(no transcendence) to forge their faction identies on an interstellar scale. There would still be a council(maybe called the human league) but they would be very much independent. Leaders would be different most likely. Maybe the grandchildren of the current leaders. Or maybe some of the old leaders are still around. The blood feud with the Progenators would still be there. A few other alien species, but not too much of that. Same basic interaction but on a larger scale. Spartans and peacekeepers will still fight wars for a planets resources. but just on a larger scale. Kind of like Dune in a way. Would have to have faster than light speed but could be controled by morgan interstelar maybe and the factions must buy time on the morgan devices. There could be all the old factions or maybe a few new ones

here is an example of a possible make up

Spartan Federation
17 planets spread across 5 star systems
5 Heavily populated planets
10 military planets (garrisons only)
2 Colony Planets (small population)

Peacekeeping Forces
31 planets spread across 13 star systems
10 heavily populated planets Including Chiron
21 Colony Planets

Morgan Interstellar
36 planets spread our across 20 star systems
10 heavily populated planets
17 Colony Planets and Mining operations

this is just a rough first thought. Don't even have a name for it yet. I was going to write a story about it, but realized what a giant task it would be for one writer. this would be along the lines of the CC and Spartan Chronicles.

[Sprayber]

Spartan Command Carrier meets up with Morgan crusier.

[Mr. President]

What an awesome idea. If you write it, I will read it. If you feel the need for collaborators, I would be happy to volunteer.

[Sprayber]

Yeah, I was hoping to generate support for a multi-author thread. The scope would be really big and would be hard for little ole me to do by myself.

Some possible titles

Alpha Centauri Legacy
Alpha Centauri: Above and Beyond
Beyond Alpha Centauri *
Beyond Chiron
Chiron Legacy

Beyond Alpha Centauri * is my favorite right now.

This would be a group effort of course.

[hypocrites]

I have few proposals. If you like you can take them under consideration:

1)I like your idea Sprayber
2)It is altogether fitting that we who have sailed the deeps of
SEA now return again to the SPACE so I think that what should be an index of factions' power is not a number of planets but power/number of space crafts.
3)Therefore I don't like an idea of giving a 'space-travel-monopoly' to Morganites. With that and so many planets they would be the most powerful faction. Maybe it should be a domena of very little faction whose exsistence would be determinated by a doctrine of BALANCE. More powerful factions wouldn't allow one of them to seize this knowledge, because it would be equal with their doom. This faction would be everything but also nothing...
4)Another thing is, that giving Morganites this 's-c-m' would leave Pirates unemployed! Of course there are other factions, but not so rich.
5)Pirates shoul be a kind of nomads, with no planets but the strongest fleet and maybe some... space bases? Slow and not very mobile but still with posibility of changing its locations.
6)My proroposal for a new faction - Mercenaries (deserters from other factions). As I said Morganites are rich...
7)Why do not create something like Missionaria Protectiva (on Believers filed)?
8)Believers without Miriam? Miriam without Zakharov? War without Santiago???

that's all.
hipokrytes

[Kassiopeia]

Weee!

I always thought the AC area was slightly restrictive. I have always been better at writing something happening on several celestial bodies.
The University would be quite powerful and maybe under protection from someone, since they would have the best weapons and ships.
The Believers is a tough call... Maybe they have begun to worship the space or something... Not anymore so Christian?
This sounds nice: "Why do not create something like Missionaria Protectiva (on Believers filed)?"
Making Morganites the Guild sounds interesting, but like said before it would tip off the scales too much.

Maybe fusing factions into one? Gaians and Cult, Cyborgs and University (Think of that! Whoa!), Domai and Morgan?

Now, will writing be from the view of a single person (like a faction leader, fleet admiral, fighter pilot?) or like an invisible third part, calmly reporting of the events? Or any of the above?

[History Guy]

If you don't mind my interrupting (I usually just go to CivIII forum, but I'm an AC fan as well), I sincerely doubt the Believers would ever give up Christianity, or that Christianity would ever be given up in the future. The Believers are too firm in their faith to abandon it (though they do manage to go a bit over the top), in my opinion.

[Kassiopeia]

Well... I doubt they would last that long when Miriam dies IMHO. But I'm definitely not an expert, so who knows? Maybe some event could profoundly shake their beliefs. Or maybe they could engage in some horrendous civil war over doctrines. Everything is possible, though. Maybe a Christian faction can be squeezed in.

[History Guy]

LOL, you never know...you could have...The Crusaders!! ;-)

[Raging Mouse]

Actually, christianity in space has been thought about. See Enki Bilal's nice comic-book about an android with a soul. The title is NR. 74 or something.

[Sprayber]

First some replies

hypocrites: Your right on the monoply thing. I want some reason for the factions to still be around more or less intact. While they may fight over specific planets and regions, there is something that prevents the Spartans from merely troucing the smaller less powerful factions.

Maybe its that the University has the key to the technology to faster than light space travel. at first they kept it a secret while the factions were still on chiron. some other factions found out(data angels?) and spread the information across the factions. The University was forced by a coalition of factions to give up the technolgy but not before ensuring that no one else could decipher the info without continued University help. So that by the time our story is set up, the University is protected(thanks kass) from war by the other factions and has its own smallish territory( 5 or 6 planets) but extremely powerful for their knowledge.

After Morgan lead his corporation off world and became Morgan Interstllar, profits were low at first. But 50 years after leaving chiron Morganites found a planet rich in the one mineral that drives the FTL drives. Thus ensuring Morgan Interstellar as a major power in the future SMAC universe. He didn't have a monoply in the trade of the mineral, but he sits on the single largest source of it. and he has had enough time to fortify that planet with enough weapons and troops to ensure it remains morgan territory.

Spartans(the ones i want ) left chiron to find their own worlds after seizing working FTL drives from Morgan and Universty test ships. Spartans went from planet to planet searching for the right one. Finally found one and named it Sparta(go figure) and begin to forge their empire. didnt go very well at first. lots of hardships and heavly in debt to Morgan Interstellar until a Spartan scout ship happened upon a small planet and moon surrounded by asteroids. on the moon and asteroids the Spartan found supplies of the mineral that powers the FTL. But they had a problem. They didn't have the equipment or the detailed knowledge to utilize it to its fullest potential. So they were forced to negotiate with morgan intersellar and allowed them to mine the ore with most of the profit and ore going to Sparta but MI getting rich as well. This way MI has a way of controlling the second richest deposit of the ore as well as the largest. But they must deal with the Spartans and the Spartans must deal with MI.

Hive. So much can be done with the Hive. They should have a high population just like in the game spread out over a very large area of space. They are on again off again enemies of the Spartans, Peacekeeping forces, and the other factions. They were roumored to have supported an alien race in attacks on human factions.

Peacekeeping forces. they are a large space commuity spread our across a wide area of space. they also have chiron which may be there capital. they have fought the Spartans numerous times over their border planets. they have fought the hive many times as well. They have the misfortune or fortune to be in the center of human space.

Gaians. Small faction but almost impossible to attack on their homeworld of Gaia. they took chiron mindworms and adapted to a new world. Their territory may include 4 or 5 planets, but they have been given the honor of nursing Earth back to health. They control the Earth Protectorate.

Pirates. like hypocrites said they would be nomads with space stations in various place. they would have at least one homeworld that is mostly a water planet. they would be excelleant star pilots and would be extreamly tough to find let alone defeat.

Believers. Like History Guy said, I doubt that they would give up christianity but I beleive that the way we see chritianity would be different. Maybe it would go back to the less centralized version or over time bring in ideas from other groups, but maintain a core belief in ONE GOD. this has happend in its history on earth. The core belief in one god would be the same. but there would be other things too. I see the believers as prospering on at least 6 or 7 planets. Nothing on a large scale except on their homeworld. but mostly simple population areas. Now their military would be smallish but very devout. +25 attack bounus anyone That and i think that they would have settled kind of on the edge of human space. they still have contact and do business with the other humans but are still kind of remote.

hypocrites. Like your idea about the new faction. It would only make sense that people would get tired and leave the established factions and form new one. But the chiron factions would look down on them just for being new. but that doesn't mean that the new factions couldn't rise to challenge the old ones.

[History Guy]

I like the ideas. Maybe the Cult, Cyborgs, Datatechs, and Drones were all eliminated anyway (none of them are particularly powerful when compared to the others).

[Sprayber]

And please keep the ideas comming in.

I didn't mean to leave the other factions out. they would be there some of them and some more maybe

The cyborgs would most definity be there. They relocated to their new planety Alpha Prime. That way the could establish their collective without interference.

The drones Im not sure as to how to describe their future socitey

data angels could merge of change their name or stay the same

The cult may have one planet of their own but still have a presence on chirion with the PK. They could also be spread out across human space.

Aliens would play a very small role in the story. just as a backdrop in the beginning.

Alien
Despite centuries of dreaming the humans went to space and found it remarkably empty of intelligent life. They find evidence of ancient ruins but only 3 or four current intelligent civs. Alliances with aliens are extremley taboo. After the bloody war on chiron against the Progenators, aliens are not to be trusted. Over time roumors about Hive help to the Bree and another race have only increased the Hive's unpopularity. there is no direct evidence yet but the Spartans and Peacekeepers are keeping an eye out. Recent finds indicate that until recently( 2000 years or so) there were many intelligent races, but something happened and that only the Bree, Progenators, Gorn and Tarn survived. And of course Humanity.


the progenators

Humanity united to defeat the bugs on chiron, but they had to know that there were many many more out there somewhere. All still looking for the sixth maifold.

the Bree
(thanks to the Networknode for this idea)
A large alien civ on the edge of human space. On occasions they search the factions for weekness. they are one of the reasons why the factions don't totally destroy each other. One faction is not strong enough to defeat the Bree. So while humans may still fight one another from time to time over planets and other things, they know they must cooperatat against the Bree and Progenators. They inhabit the area around the Hive, Spartans and morgans. They also border Gorn space. Blood enemies of the Gorn

the Gorn
(somthing along the lines of the Star Trek Gorn)
Illusive race. Not much is known about them. They trade occasionally with the humans and are believed to be apart of a massive civ. They inhabit the area around the Spartans and Morgans. Blood enemies of the Bree

The Tarn
Almost human like but still very alien. The Tarn inhabit the area near Believer space. They are reclusive and have never have stayed along long enough to talk.

[hypocrites]

Talking 'bout monopoly.
Somebody here monopolize spartans...

I want pirates. or believers.
of course if i may join writing.
Sprayber, may i?

[Sprayber]

I love the spartans

Yes everyone is invited. I could never, ever do it the justice it deserves just by myself.

[Sprayber]

Perhaps the decendants of the Drones could operate a couple industrial planets that are covered in factories. Other factions will on occasion contract some of their products to be assembled on the Drone planets. Cheep military units, prefab colonly ships, and other massed produced goods.

[hypocrites]

Missionaria Protectiva (org. from Chapterhouseune): the arm of bene gesserit (we can work on that)order charged with sowing infectious superstitions on primitive worlds, thus opening those regions to exploitation (conquest, conquest!!!) by bene gesserit.

we need someone primitive - of coz if we decide to use this idea

[Clear Skies]

The Missionaria Protective are mentioned in passing in Dune itself, I believe.

A most intriguing idea, Sprayber! I look forward to seeing the results of your labours...

As for primitives, the Spartans or the Believers will do just fine.

[Natan]

This could be very interesting.

[hypocrites]

Fanatic!!!!
M.P. (or something close to it) would be an arm of Believers!!!!

but Spartans indeed sounds great!

[Sprayber]

Got an idea


There can be some planets that have no faction affiliation. But without faction protection they loose most of their techonogies and are more or less planet bound. These planets are supposed to be protected by treaty, but the believers use these planets as grounds for future colones. You could have a believer planet in peackeeper territory or in morgan territory. This could be cheep way to gain territory.

[History Guy]

I'd love to help in any way I can as well.

I am interested and I have been thinking about something like that... but Earth hasn't blown itself back to the stone age thought......


Way your talking Sprayber, that would be like year 3000 or something....

Lets say the factions, after defeating the Proginators on Chiron, started spreading throughout the Alpha Centauri system... setting up mining/etc colonies on the moons around chiron, moons of other planets likle the gas giants, the asteroid belt (if there is one in alpha centauri, will check the manual).

Ships will be like the ones in Starlancer, Babylon 5 earth ships, and Battletech like a bit. after a few wars among the factions in the solar system, some faction, University for example, discovers and invents a FTL drive...similar to Warp engines, just no special crystals or etc please.... Any Reactors or whatever can power the FTL, but the art in building a FTL drive is complicated mastered only by University, and then learnt via diplomatic trade or espionage...... Which begins the Morganites near monopoly of FTL technology...and University keep to themselves.... Morganites can also operate big Large Jump Ship carriers, just no sails like in Battletech.... Those Big Jump Ships creates big enough warp field or whatever for several other ships.... thats how the morganites could make huge profits like that. How about the Cyborgs be the one developing the FTL communications? They could be like Comstar, joint with the Morganites, or whatever.
Anyway, after the discovery of FTL drive and some factions launch some expeditions to other systems... one sent to the Sol System didn't went to see the condition of earth, so simply jump back to alpha centauri.... The Factions agreed that no more wars will be wage on Chiron....else rest of the factions will declare mandatory vendetta on the faction who violated and completly eliminate them. So that would leave room for smaller factions like the Free Drones, Cult, and etc to stay home...but don't have as much influence in the Council (after going into space, they drop the Planetary thing....)

I would like to keep Earth alive....where they did have WW3, but only few nukes were shot...which is a miracle....but world is still devastated by nukes, just not enough to completly wipe out humanity and pushing back tot he stone age......... While the Factions on Chiron builds up and eventually fight the proginators... Earth rebuilds while naturally putting a complete ban on nuclear weaponry and way more open to Repair Earth....but still have minor little wars over remaining resources, and etc.... because of the limit of resources, they started going into space... establishing various mining/etc colonies on the Luna (the moon), Mars, Mercury, Venus(later on when they discovered how to contruct a colony on it and survive the harch volcanic climate), moons of Jupiter, moons of Saturn, Uranus/Neptune moons, Pluton and possibly a 10th planet further away from pluto...the Dark Planet from Battlezone2? Oh, and the Astoroid belt gets actively colonized and mined too....
Eventually, the Sol System gets into all out war while agreeing to ban any combat on Earth... Humanity in the Sol system eventually ends up meeting a new alien race...the Fraal (Alternity). Throughout the Sol system Wars...there was reports of unknown ships in a distance...like they were simply observing. eventually, a human ship made a close up contact with one and tried hailing....when they didn't respond, the stupid captain ordered to fire on the saucer like ship.... but Saucer "poofef", going into Warp... Sol wars wage on, where only a few big factions waging it... a Chironian expedition ship, trying out its FTL drive showed up out of nowhere at teh edge of the Sol system and several minutes later, poofed. Unknown to the Chironian ship, some Sol ships detected it and saw that...it wasn't another Alien UFO ship.... the Fraal detected that too and was able to trace it back to Alpha Centauri... and discover a world populated by Humanity...on a world originally controle by the Proginators a long time ago... The Fraal didn't contact the Chironians....but eventually started "observing them aswell". Seeing that the Chironians are also instate of inter-faction wars in their system, but not big of a extent as Sol. Fraal realizes that the Humanity at Sol will probebly discover FTL too as they are not to far in tech with the Chironians. So Fraal contacts Sol, in hope to show them the peaceful way..... after a proper First Contact with the aliens, the groups in Sol nearly stoped their silly wars among themselves.... eventually forming the Terran Alliance, comprised of various survived groups/factions/nations. They also gain some tech from Fraal and after succeeding in contacting and eventually capture some Chiron ships, developed their own FTL. At first, some of the Chiron Factions wondered what happened to their expeditions and sent a small task force to check on them at Sol while they started spreading into other systems. They get into Sol and discovered that humanity didn't wipe themselves out.

anyway, can continue with that where the loose Terran Alliance and the Chironian factions on and off have skirmishs for worlds, resources and etc... Terran Alliance believe that Chiron should join the alliance, but the Factions at the Council don't agree.......


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


Now, after so long...... I would think the factions naturally gave up their names like the Spartan Federations, Morganite Industries, University of Planet, etc...... and started simply calling each other as Spartans, Peacekeepers, Morganites, University, Cult, Hive, etc...............

I would like the Pirates :P Pirates would be quite use to cramp bases/colonies, so would go on constructing Starbases, ships, and etc... but the Pirates wn't be completly united.... sometimes fighting among themselves like Gangs and eventually becoming a nuisance to other factions in space like they were back on Chiron in the earlier days. But if someone else interested in taking the Pirates, then I would like to take charge a "faction" from the Sol system or all fo the Terran Alliance.

As for races........ the main ones will be the Terrans (Sol just decided to call themselves Terrans instead of Humans :P), Fraal(Ancient race who have been nomadic for last 10 to 20 thousand years or so. They also been observing Humanity since its early days, occasionally "kidnapping" for further studies, but stoped doing that when humanity started to notice), Proginators(use to be a large empire spread out many systems, but internal turmoil cause self-destruction of the Empire), and so on.............


what do you think and just ideas.

-LMP

After Miriam passes away, Believers become more true loving Christians, and become more open minded and less fanatical :P
but still quite religious....... but won't be expanding as some of ther other factions maybe?



Another thing i would like to mention........in the SMAX game, was mentioned in one of the Cult briefs of the Secret of Manifolds that Dawn "felt" other Manifolds elsewhere in space? Maybe Chironians discover some of them, and also maybe get into more wars with the Proginators for those worlds.

-LMP

[Sprayber]

Rough Timeline for the early days. Not set in stone, just a vague guide. Of course the factions would go on to expand over the centuries. Factions would reestablish contact with each other.

2221-Progenators Land on Alpha Centauri
2301-Combined Spartan-Pirate-Peacekeeper-Hive armies overrun the last Progenitor stronghold. Conqueror Marr interred in a punishment sphere. University instrumental in providing technological support to Human Alliance.
2303-Morganites-Gaians-Believers are given back lands formerly liberated by Human armies.
2336-Universty and Morgans become the first factions to colonize Nessus and Pholus.
2354-Spartan and Hive forces attempt take over of Nessus mining operations.
2355-Moon Accords are finalized allowing Spartan and Hive to mine small portion of Nessus.
2379-Unversity scientist field first prototype FTL drive.
2381-Improved version of FTL drive is completed. Data Angel probes steal design for first prototype drive. Information is spread across Chiron.
2382-Spartans and Hive threaten war if all information on the new FTL is not released.
2384-University is forced to release information but withholds vital specifications about minerals need to power the drive. At least four different ores are found to work but University only mentions Kalciate as mineral needed.
2388-Peacekeepers attempt to get the factions to agree on equal shares of the FTL drive technology. Spartans and University refuse to cooperate with each other. The Hive-Spartan alliance crumbles and the two factions start small scale fighting. University is relieved of the Spartan Hive threat.
2390-University, with Morgan financial backing, produced the first fully operational FTL ship.
2399-Morgan and University begin production on Colony and Mining ships.
2400-Spartans and Hive launch separate attacks on University territory. Peacekeepers intervene on behalf of the University.
2401-Spartans launch first space attack on a University-Morgan space station. Two completed FTL ships are captured.
2402-Ceasefire is declared and peace returns to Chiron. FTL treaty is signed.
2406-Cyborg Scientists prefect first FTL Comm device. Information is shared to all factions but gets little fanfare initially. (Cyborgs will always seem to be able to communicate better than every other human faction.)
2417-Morgans move their headquarters off of Chiron and become the first faction to leave Chiron. They retain a few assets on Chiron and Nessus, But majority of Morgan employees move with Headquarters.
2420-University sets up their headquarters off world as well. Find out of the way planet to continue research. They maintain relations with Morganites and Peacekeepers.
2424-Spartans join exodus off planet. They wonder for years to find the right planet to take.
2428-Spartans land at Spartan Point on a planet they name Sparta.

[Sprayber]

Just becuse i didn't list a faction in the timeline doesn't mean they aren't there. I just listed the major players. The beauty is, its vauge enough for you to develope your factions early history.

[Mr. President]

This sounds great! I would actually like to try my hand at being the Free Drones. In fact, I've got some ideas for their far future:

The Free Drones' industrial prowess allowed them to enter space with other factions as soon as they received the relevant knowledge. But their leaders failed to grasp the consequences of the Free Drones' growing affluence and the emergence of a large middle class. Running the society on working-class and labor values was no longer practical; in the year 2421 internecine strife broke out, almost on the scale of civil war. The country came within a whisker of dissolution, but the Foreman and his inner circle put down the trouble. Domai was forced, however, to all but abandon his dreams of a socialist paradise [Future Society, Eudaimonic, INDUSTRY] and adopt interstellar capitalism, of the Morganite model. In 2445 the Free Drones and the Morganites signed a Joint Venture Treaty by which the Drones produce ships and machinery for Morgan Interstellar, and in return are given commercial bonuses such as most-favored-nation trading status. In 2453 a colonization fleet leaves Chiron for the star known as Vega. There the Free Drones discover the remnants of an extremely advanced, but apparently extinct, civilization. Vega I, as the planet comes to be known, is rich in natural resources; population, economy, and industry boom. But the colonists find they must contend with the rapidly-awakening alien machines.

The Free Drones do not have many planets; no more than about five or six. They have a strong military-industrial machine, largely due to the Joint Venture with the Morganites. They have been at war with the Bree, a conflict which ended in stalemate after significant losses to both sides; they have also tangled with Progenitor scout ships from the other side of the galaxy. Counter to expectations, they maintain cordial relations with the Hive and the Spartans. The Pirates and the Data Angels are kept at arms length; the newly conservative-capitalist Drones distrust their anarchistic outlook. The main military threat is still considered the Planet Cult, which dwells on the border of their lands on Chiron and has launched several wars of dissolution against them (Xenofungus War, 2321-22; Ten Days War, 2339; First Mountain War, 2341; The Silent War, 2345-49; Second Mountain War, 2389-2401). The launch of space-based weaponry in the 2440s helped deter the Cult from further infractions.

[Sprayber]

This is starting to come together.

2510-Spartans reestablish contact with chiron and with whatever factions that kept in touch all these years.
2515-Gaian Scout craft enters Sol system and finds human civilization flourshing. Returns to Chiron and informs those that have remained.
2518-Spartans come in contact with the Bree and begin 50 years of war.
2525-Spartans link up with Drones and sign alliance to fight the Bree.
2529-Spartans discover new materials to feul new type of FTL drives, but cannot exploit them without Morgan Interstellar support.
2530-Morgan Interstellar supports Spartan-Drone war with Bree
2568-Human-Bree war finally ends in a stalmate. Buffer zones set up between human and Bree space.
2572-Morgan ships encouter the Gorn. Limited contact is made. Gorn informs Morganites of the Bree, their sworn enemy. Morganites neglects to tell Spartans.
2575-Spartans encouter Gorn. Again limited contact is made. Spartans learn of Gorn hatred for Bree and the Morganite encounter.
2580-The body of Colonel Santiago dies. Mind is transferred to a cloned replica thanks to University technology that was stolen from their labs on the University homeworld. Spartan Federation comes out in support of a Datatech homeworld.
2582-Spartan scout ships encouter and battle Progenator scout ships. Boths sides withdraw.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by Sprayber
Yeah, I was hoping to generate support for a multi-author thread. The scope would be really big and would be hard for little ole me to do by myself.

Some possible titles

Alpha Centauri Legacy
Alpha Centauri: Above and Beyond
Beyond Alpha Centauri *
Beyond Chiron
Chiron Legacy

Beyond Alpha Centauri * is my favorite right now.

This would be a group effort of course.

Im leaning towards Beyond Alpha Centauri.

Some things I will put in the history

A Spartan-Hive war
A Spartan-PK war
A PK-Hive war

Starting time would about 2700.

question
Do the dates seem logical?

[Sprayber]

Spartans attack Coventry(PK Planet)