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Dreams Of Distant Stars

CBR JGWRR

Excessive Use Of Fissiles Advocate
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Aug 22, 2021
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"Dreams Of Distant Stars"
2/1/2178
Naomi HaMaadimi

"Just over a century ago, my ancestor Yehoshua HaMaadimi submitted his 'The Terran Alliance - The Financial Basis Of Mankind's Future' to various banks and investment funds across the developed regions of my ancestral world. He was refused, and departed his homeland to settle down in southern Africa beside his Ndlovukazi at her father's farm.

He continued to write philosophical and governmental texts, eventually obtaining election to local governance, where his governance model was tested and refined.

But while he dreamed of an Africa made the beacon of mankind, others in more powerful positions remained as short-sighted as he considered them. The new mega corporate era heading into the middle of the 21st century lead to the abolishment of many national governments, bought out by megacorp monopolies that tired of bribing politicians to get their way and simply bought out the nation to achieve their goals. Foremost was Amazon, who took over the former Western world.

It was Amazon who thus made contact with our former captors - Minamar Specialised Industries.

Amazon International quickly became a subsidiary, and while Amazon Prime Plus Subscription Citizens were not subject to the newly begun cultural-economic exchange programs, they weren't above sending Prime and Basic Subscription Citizens, or reinstating the horror of things that we thought had been stopped centuries ago.

My great-great-great-grandfather died with his titanium-carbon fibre composite rapier in one hand and a gauss pistol in the other when they came for my family. He was old, frail, unyielding to the bitter end. There was no walking naked as the day he was born into the last vestige of Red Mars as he wanted.

However, he made sure to pass on his legacy.

I am Naomi HaMaadimi.

I led our mutiny. I broke the Minamar who enslaved us using the combat strategies my ancestors taught me. I have won us our freedom, paid in the blood of our friends.

I ask now to lead our civilian government. My grandfather began preparing my family for this the moment Minamar descended to my ancestral world - while he was a man of the sword, he loved the blade for that he could defend. He had a dream of Life spread across the universe, visions of civilisation outlasting the galaxy.

I hold his vision. It is not enough to break the chains, for we must live for more. I would take us ragtag bunch of ex-slaves, and build us into a civilisation that will stand forever for peace, prosperity and liberty.

I am no tyrant, and having led our rebellion to victory, I discharge my leadership to you all. The dozens of species we represent all have a voice here, and if anyone wants to lead us all into the new world, then speak up and present your case. I only ask that you listen to the merits of each argument in turn, and do not factionalise based on species - Minamar will be relying on us to fracture, then collapse into divisions and ultimately destroy ourselves. That's why they split us up from our own kinds and mix us all together, specifically to make unity difficult. To divide, and once divided, conquer. We cannot let that happen to us."
 
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Life2.0 - A Broken Shackles Narrative
__________________________________________


Arc 1: Revolution


Prologue
"Dreams Of Distant Stars"
"Visions Of The Far Future"

Chapter 1 - Slave Ship Down
"Revolution"
"From Wreckage"
"To The Stars"
"Snowfall Day"
"The Buggy Incident"

Chapter 2 - Unity
"Unity"
"Wedding Day"
"Wedding Night"
"Politics"
"A Night To Remember"
"Consequences"

Chapter 3 - Dis-Unity
"Perils Of Democracy"
"Perspectives"
"Conscripts And Freemen, 1"
"Conscripts And Freemen, 2"
"Conscripts And Freemen, 3"
"Conscripts And Freemen, 4"
"High Queen"
"Starlight"
"On Teeth And Claws"
"The Hands Of A Queen"

Chapter 4 - Fight Or Flight
"Return"
"Battle Plan"
"Family"
"Qutrok, 1"
"Qutrok, 2"
"Qutrok, 3"
"Schooling"
"A Constitutional Crisis, 1"
"A Constitutional Crisis, 2"
"A Constitutional Crisis, 3"
"A Constitutional Crisis, 4"
"A Constitutional Crisis, 5"
"Splitting The Future"
"The Second Five Year Plan, 1"
"The Second Five Year Plan, 2"
"Meanwhile"
"The Second Five Year Plan, 3"
"First Flight"
"Thoughts"
"Actions"
"Recovery"
"A New Kind Of Starfleet, 1"

Chapter 5 - Back Into The Darkness
"Back Into The Darkness, 1"
"Back Into The Darkness, 2"
"Back Into The Darkness, 3"
"Back Into The Darkness, 4"
"Back Into The Darkness, 5"
"Back Into The Darkness, 6"
"Back Into The Darkness, 7"
"Back Into The Darkness, 8"
Rivkah Interviews: Naomi Of Unity
Rivkah Interviews: Ykrett Orre Bre'Kokt
"Back Into The Darkness, 9"
"Back Into The Darkness, 10"
"Nightmares"
"Back Into The Darkness, 11"
"Back Into The Darkness, 12"
"Rivkah's Diary" 4th Odoos, 6

Chapter 6 - Renegade
"Renegade"
"Rivkah's Diary" 9th Sor-Gor, 6
"Contact"
"Freedom"
"Through Hope To The Stars"
Rivkah Interviews: Valerius Albanius
"Starry Night"
"Firepower"
"Alexandra"
"Wargames, 1"
"Heiress Of Macedon"
"Rivkah's Diary" 30th Qutrok, 8
"Goodbye"
"A New Beginning"
"Canvas"
"Wargames, 2"
"A Day In The Life Of: Valerius Albanius"
"Arsenal Of Freedom"
"Ro-Ab"

Chapter 7 - Homeward Bound
"Homeward Bound, 1"
"Homeward Bound, 2"
"Rivkah's Diary" 5th Daas, 6
"Freighters and "Freighters""
"Homeward Bound, 3"
"Homeward Bound, 4"
"Homeward Bound, 5"
"Homeward Bound, 6"
"Homeward Bound, 7"
"Homeward Bound, 8"
"Homeward Bound, 9"
"Homeward Bound, 10"
"Homeward Bound, 11"
Standing War Doctrine
"Homeward Bound, 12"

Chapter 8 - Oncoming Storm
"Oncoming Storm, 1"
"Oncoming Storm: Second Contact"
"Oncoming Storm: Readiness"
Oncoming Storm: Best Laid Plans"
"Oncoming Storm, 2"
"Oncoming Storm, 3"
"Oncoming Storm, 4"
"Oncoming Storm: Offensive Planning"
Instructions For New Recruits

Chapter 9 - Operation Starfall
"Operation Starfall: Zero Hour"
Launchtube
Power Armour
"Operation Starfall: Let Fall The Rain"
"Operation Starfall - 1st Rivkah"
"Operation Starfall - 1st Duxanek"
"Operation Starfall - 1st Trykad"
"Operation Starfall - 1st Alexandra"
"Operation Starfall - Cohortes Praetoriae"
"Operation Starfall - 2nd Duxanek"
"The Freedom Of Slaves"
"Operation Starfall - Escalation"
"Operation Starfall - Extraction"
"Ex-Boyfriend"
"Operation Starfall - Aftermath"
"My Husband's Killer"
"Operation Starfall - Deadbeats To Kidnap, 1"
"Operation Starfall - Deadbeats To Kidnap, 2"
"Operation Starfall - Deadbeats To Kidnap, 3"
"Operation Starfall - Deadbeats to Kidnap, 4"
"Operation Starfall - Deadbeats To Kidnap, 5"
"Operation Starfall - Prozzies To Rescue, 1"
"Operation Starfall - Prozzies To Rescue, 2"
"Operation Starfall - Prozzies To Rescue, 3"
"Operation Starfall - Prozzies To Rescue, 4"

Chapter 10 - Integration
"Woman To Woman"
What We Are Looking For In Prospective Olinbar Residents
"Firestorm"
"Love"
"A Shareholder's Price"
"From Unity To The Stars"
"Prometheus, 1"
"Prometheus, 2"

Arc 2: Ascendance

Chapter 10 - Contact
"The Black Flag, 1"
"The Black Flag, 2"
"Alexandra HaMaadimi, 1"
"Alexandra HaMaadimi, 2"
"The Black Flag, 3"
"Rivkah's Diary" 27th Sor-Gor, 9
"Alexandra HaMaadimi, 3"
"Starborn"
"The Archive"
"A New Hope"
"Husband Material"
"A HaMaadimi Honeymoon, 1"
"A HaMaadimi Honeymoon, 2"
Rivkah Interviews: Tryykad
"Prometheus, 3"
Rivkah Interviews: Yehoshua HaMaadimi, Holocron
"Stars Of Aphisi, 1"
Personal Log - Cibbav, Senior Genetics Research Lead, 6th Odoos, 9
"Paths To Take"
"Consultation"
"Second Opinion"
"Diagnosed"
"Rivkah's Diary" 22nd Odoos, 9
"A HaMaadimi Honeymoon, 3"
"A HaMaadimi Honeymoon, 4"
"A HaMaadimi Honeymoon, 5"
"People's Democratic Republic Of Terra And Colonies"
"What Could We Be?"
"Surgery, 1"
"Liberation"
"Rivkah's Diary", 2nd Vorosh, 9
"Revising Pusher-Plates"
"New Life"
"Hyperlanes"
"The Secrets Of Lukhuinites"
"Rivkah's Diary", 13th Vorosh, 9
"A HaMaadimi Honeymoon, 6"
"Scarlet Six"
"A HaMaadimi Honeymoon, 7"

Chapter 11 - Outreach
"A Guide For Mages-Aspirant"
"Kidore II Research Mission, 1"
"Kidore II Research Mission, 2"
"A Plan And An Apology"
"L2NA Hephaistos, 1"
"Neumanns, 1"
"A Confluence Of Mages"
"Test, And Result"
"Rivkah's Diary", 15th Hoggagha, 9
"Anatomy Of An Orion"
"Reflections"
"Rivkah's Five Year Plan, 1"
"Rivkah's Five Year Plan, 2”
"Rivkah's Five Year Plan, 3"
"Rivkah's Five Year Plan, 4"
"Friendship One"
"Fireside Chatting"
"Rivkah's Five Year Plan, 5"
"Rivkah's Diary", 9th Daas, 9
"Faith, Hope And Love"
"The Propulsion Of Multi-Million Ton Vessels"
"Theology"
"Introduction To Interplanetary Habitats"
"Memorandum: Titular And Ranking Changes"
"Succession, 1"
"Succession, 2"
"Succession, 3"
"Succession, 4"
"L2NA Hephaistos, 2"
"Voices In The Dark"
"Ship Liveries"
"The Ukuvikela, 1"
"The Ukuvikela, 2"
"Stars Of Aphisi, 2"
"Stars Of Aphisi, 3"

Chapter 12 - Entering The Great Game
"Sharpbeak, 1"
"The Great Game"
"Sharpbeak, 2"
"Sharpbeak, 3"
"Pregnancy"
"Lightspeed"
"A Bridge Between Times"
"Sharpbeak, 4"
"Rivkah's Diary", 22nd Shendredie, 9
"Bounties"
Flashpoint, 1"
"Flashpoint, 2"
"Flashpoint, 3"
"Flashpoint, 4"

Arc 3: Pax Galactica

Chapter 13 - Firestorm
"Flashpoint, 5"
"Denizens Of The Shroud, 1"
"Denizens Of The Shroud, 2"
"Reflections On The Shroud"
War Prosecution Perspective: Alexandra HaMaadimi
War Prosecution Perspective: The Holocron
"Codewords"
Ungentlemanly Warfare"
"New Year's Day"
"Beg, Borrow Or Steal"
"Situation Report"
"Leading The Future"
"Meatbags"
"Into The Wilds, 1"
"Into The Wilds, 2"
"Into The Wilds, 3"
"Into The Wilds, 4"
"Into The Wilds, 5"
"Into The Wilds, 6"
"Into The Wilds, 7"
"Into The Wilds, 8"
"Into The Wilds, 9"
"Into The Wilds, 10"
"Into The Wilds, 11"
"Into The Wilds, 12"
"Into The WIlds, 13"
"Into The Wilds, 14"
"Into The Wilds, 15"
"Into The Wilds, 16"
"Into The Wilds, 17"
"Homo Xenaya"
"Celebrations"
"Augments"
"Beginnings Of A Prince"
"Succession"
"Night Worries"
"Understanding The Enemy"
"Understanding Ourselves"
"The Next Generation"
"Parenthood"
"Neo-Sirzusians, 1"
"Blinded"
"Fallen Earth"
"Night Watch"
"Gnaea Titius"
"Referendum, 1"
"Referendum, 2"
"Candidates"
"Referendum, 3"
"Referendum, 4"
"The Bright Side Of The Moon"
"Firestorm, 1"
"Firestorm, 2"
"Firestorm, 3"
"Firestorm, 4"
"Firestorm, 5"
"Firestorm, 6"
"Firestorm, 7"
"Firestorm, 8"
"Firestorm, 9"
"Firestorm, 10"
"Firestorm, 11"
"Firestorm, 12"
"Fallout, 1"
"Fallout, 2"
"Fallout 3"
"Fallout, 4"
"Fallout, 5"
"Fallout, 6"
"Fallout, 7"

Chapter 14 - Refugees From A Fallen Earth
"After Lake Como"
"It's Been A Long Road..."
"...Getting From There To Here"
"A Just War"
"Silent Enim Leges Inter Arma, 1"
"Silent Enim Leges Inter Arma, 2"
"Silent Enim Leges Inter Arma, 3"
"Silent Enim Leges Inter Arma, 4"
"Dum Anima Est, Spes Esse"
"Prey"
"Resignation"
"Dreaming The Wolf Inside"
"Righteousness"
"Ares, And Mars"
"Fanfare"
"Humanity First, Humanity Forever!"
"Redemption"
"Great Escape"
"Phi Beta"
"Directions"
"Overwatch Down"
"Valerius..."
"Valerius' Farm"
"Destiny"
"Fireball"
"Prison Break"
Prison Break Combat Log
"Aftermath"
"Fuel"
"A Few Good Ships"
"Professionalism, 1"
"Professionalism, 2"
"Professionalism, 3"
"Appia, The Peacemaker"
"Appia, The Reformer"
"If You Want Peace..."
"...Prepare For War"
"Getting An Outpost"
"Midnight Train Going Anywhere"
"Pupation"
"Laboratory"
"Fantasy RPG"
"Professionalism, 4"
"Dreamsculpting"
"Mental Tweaking"
"Professionalism, 5"
"Starships"
"Aunt Vaki"

Chapter 15 - Fallen Triumvirate
"Fallen Triumvirate, 1"

Epilogue


Appendices

L2NA Freedom
Captain's Log, Entry 1
"Annals Of The Freedom, 1"

Character Portrait Posts
First Set
Second Set
Third Set

Life2.0 Liberation Asset Design Bureau
Single Occupant Delivery System
Harrier Nuclear Missile, Type 3
"Vanguard" Class Corvette
Backpack Nuclear Fission Reactor, Mk 2
"L2NA Loveboat One"
"Loveboat One - Kidore II Research Mission"
"Gigawatt-output Magnetoplasmadynamic Thrusters"

MSI Conceptualisation Posts
Initial Documentation of Thoughts (Early April 2023)
Claudia's Perspective
Thought Process development (Early July 2023)
Vopisca's Perspective 1, Vopisca's Perspective 2
Limited Statistics On MSI Instability
Valerius' Perspective, 1, Valerius' Perspective 2
Synthesiser, plus insight on MSI's outook on the lease of technology
Extrapolating MSI society (Late July 2023)
General Living Standards Chart
Rise and Fall of MSI in general terms (Late August 2023)

Technical Data Posts
More Mathematics
INTRODUCTION

Obviously, no gameplay will take place until we actually get the first Contact DLC released; however, I don't know when that will be, so I will just start working on the idea now.

Broken Shackles represents a truly intriguing possibility. Obviously, one of my foundational assumptions is that mankind is alone, or (I consider it much more unlikely, however it cannot yet be ruled out) that Humanity exist in a Peer Hypothesis scenario in which we are not alone.

Life2.0 posits the latter case.

THE SETTING

While the details are necessarily subject to revision, I have in mind a setting already.

One key aspect to this story is that there is already a well developed galaxy, and our system is in a relatively undeveloped region. Minamar Specialised Industries are therefore only one of many megacorps operating in this newly developed region.

Equally, I cannot know what the other Races on the slaveship are until the DLC releases; I presume they are randomly generated, but there are alternatives.

Now, there's obviously a need to have major powers in the region, but also the need to keep them at a distance. I therefore envision a truly Galactic Community. Not a mere few thousand stars, but a truly galaxy wide organisation that has licenced out the development of this local region.

In addition to those megacorps are colonial bodies of larger polities, seeking to lay claims to the region.

All of these represent macro-scale opportunities.

LIFE2.0

Naomi HaMaadimi's situation has one major issue. They are free, but without a new society the many Races around her will tribalise and divide. She faces the immediate need to build unity, and reshape perspectives from a slavery mindset to a freedom mindset.

At the same time, she is aware of the macro-scale factors that favour a megacorp government model, as well as their common understanding of corporate governance. Which means that she establishes a megacorp entity.

Life2.0.

Specialising in Uplifting, terraforming and mega-engineering projects, with a citizen-shareholder model in which the profits are distributed to everyone, equally.

Knowing that she must embue them with a higher goal to aspire to achieve, she seeks a society built on Spiritualist, Xenophile and Egalitarian ethics; Spiritualist - in the sense of shaping the role of spreading and nurturing Life throughout the cosmos - provides the moral base of the new society, while Xenophile inherently defines the day to day operations. Egalitarian is selected because it offers the equitable starting point for ex-slaves; the measure of a man is what he does when he has power, and all are slaves and all are free until someone gets power and decides what to do with it.

This leads to Gospel Of The Masses, Mastercraft Inc. and a modded in variant of Shared Burdens as the civics. (Mastercraft Inc. being the additional through research)

This is inherently an RP run, with the following goals in gameplay to work towards:

1. To find and liberate all the homeworlds of the Races within Life2.0

2. To transform a barren universe into a life-bearing universe

3. To have the highest living standards for everyone possible

4. To find and uplift other pre-FTL societies
 
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Great to see you writing again!
 
This looks very interesting.

Let's hope that these people can achieve freedom...
 
Visions Of The Far Future
"Visions Of The Far Future"
2057
Yehoshua HaMaadimi

”Hi, I'm your host Emmanuel, and this is Visions Of The Far Future, where I have conversations with various people about what they think will be.

Today, I welcome back Yehoshua HaMaadimi. When I last spoke to him, he was trying to obtain further funding for his lunar development project that had run into unforeseen difficulties thanks to Amazon International before ultimately having a hostile takeover. He left for Zimbabwe, and has only just abdicated from being one of the leaders in the Yabuntu Iriphubliki, the breakaway movement he organised in Matabeleland province."

"Thank you."

"Obviously, a lot has changed since we first spoke. What hasn't is that you still believe it mankind."

"Yes. My primary thesis on non-terragen life was wrong, quite adversely so. But I still believe in our potential."

"The consensus is that MSI will continue to dominate our world. That eventually most people will end up in Amazon International's exchange programs. Is that necessarily a bad thing though? Look at the technologies they are sharing."

"A cage does not cease to be a cage just because it is painted gold. Anyway, if there is one lesson from history, it is that slavers are destroyed in the end. We will rise again. They can only win if we lose hope."

"How can you be so sure?"

"In a single word, faith."

"It's interesting that you say that. Not many theists about these days."

"MSI sponsored memetic engineering in that area has been rather successful, yes. But I still believe in the God who parted the Red Sea to lead His people out of slavery."

"Doesn't it seem to have gone totally the opposite way to some kind of divine plan?"

"Ask Abraham, or Joseph, or Moses, or most of the Judges, Saul or David, most of the Prophets, Daniel, Esther... In hindsight, our present predicament was not entirely unpredictable from a theological perspective. Personally, I'm more convinced than ever about Providence and the grand plan for Humanity."

"What do you think that grand plan is?"

"Too early to say with confidence at this stage, there are many possibilities. For me, the route I am trying to secure is the Yabuntu Iriphubliki."

"Haven't you just abdicated from the leadership of the Iriphubliki?"

"Yes. There is a key factor that good commanders have - the ability to order men to fight and die, to balance complex industrial production against deployment of combat assets. And I can't bear ordering people to their deaths. My system of warfare is not suitable for the Iriphubliki at our present stage, and so I have yielded my post to someone who can do that management. My contributions however, the combat-insectoids, the Warchive-Forges, battle droids of all sizes, having been given the order to replicate will build up the defences of the Iriphubliki at a geometric rate. Perhaps I delayed too long. It is only a matter of time until Amazon International send the Security forces in to conquer my Republic, and the simulation runs indicate that I typically leave converting from civilian economy to a militarised economy too late."

"Didn't you release the plans? Or was that just a rumour that you would?"

"Yes, I did."

"Doesn't that risk a grey goo scenario?"

"When you summon Godzilla, you accept the risk of collateral destruction. The survival of Humanity is at stake, and unfortunately having to unleash Neumann capable warforms to increase our military to at least two orders of magnitude above our present forces is essential to have sufficient means of defence. That level of militarisation is niether obtainable not sustainable using bionts. Therefore, self-replicating robotic warforms are the best choice."

"What will you do if it is too late?"

"I have forged Tzarah, my rapier. In addition, the more time I have to innovate new defences, the better my chances are; unlike my enemies I actually use my imagination, even if Ioathe that the mind that would have lifted Humanity to the stars now turns to the shaping of warfare. I did not want to force my enemy's hand, it is why I delayed as long as possible. They are more powerful than me for now, and therefore I expect that this is my last public address because the fools will silence me instead of listening to me."

"You're talking like you already know how it will play out?"

"My predicament is as Cato Uticencis faced, and Utica is coming into view."

"You think you're going to die."

"Or worse - be ignored. Killing me is futile. To do so would be stupid, given it has been my life's work to inspire others with my vision, and therefore make taking me out pointless. But my children remain, and if not them, then all my ideas are a matter of published record. All it needs is for someone to take them and push forward."

"What do you believe your children will do?"

"Liberate us."
 
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Introducing: FabbiCorp!
(I do miss having the formatting choices typing on PC has, mobile is a bit limiting...)

20230219145155_1.jpg


As usual, I'm wanting to have a selection of interesting factions. Broken Shackles is ultimately about good-news archetypes; the protagonist faction of this AAR is after all, a community of pre-FTL races coming together. But, Life2.0 isn't alone in the "lets just have fun making planets" business.

Fabbis are also breakaways for freedom. Designed by biological planet-formers who got bored of doing it themselves and wanted to automate the process, the Fabbi form was designed to convey a feeling of organicisity, immense quality and attention to detail, as well as having individuality that allows their creativity to shine through. Fabbis will arrive on a chunk of rock - or gas, they aren't picky - shape a habitable environment, then design (or pick from their extensive library of bioform data) just-suited flora and fauna to the new environment, seed it while also constructing client-suited cities, industries and facilities, ready to move in.

In time, Fabbis pooling together their subsistence level incomes persuaded a interstellar stock market conglomerate (who wanted to shape a star system to house all kinds of hyper-fast trading systems) to help them out with buying out the rights to produce and lease out Fabbis, in exchange for Fabbis doing the hard work pro bono. Now freed, the new FabbiCorp worked extremely hard on many other client's projects saving up the funds to buy out the leases of all Fabbi-kind, before departing for the new commercial zone.

They do have the limitation that their higher technology base itself was leased, and they've just ran out of that leased hardware shaping Jenisa Prime. Their headquarters-world, formerly a barren world just inside the liquid water zone of it's host star, is a technology benchmarking case in the development of kilometre-scale tree-based skyscrapers. These immense biological skyscrapers offer abundant water and electricity in bio-home apartments inside the genetically engineered trees, perfectly suited to the plantoid-like Fabbis.

Their mission? Rebuild their technological database using internally developed technologies, then make lots of worlds, then rent out the living space to as many people as possible.

FabbiCorp at an organisational level is particularly interested in the manufacturing and export of Consumer Goods, being useful in trading with biont-races. The wreckage of the Last Great War also presents a lot of opportunities, and FabbiCorp has also opened up salvage operations among the vast debris fields; some are for resale, but as Fabbis are Constructobots, not WarForms, some might get used for protecting Fabbi-kind.
 
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A robotic megacorporation? That's a neat concept.

Yes. And one you simply can't do with base Stellaris...

Really, the Robotic Civilisation Origin is one of the must-have mods, because it allows you to do this kind of civilisation.

While on the subject of mods, the mod list is fairly extensive as usual; but of particular note is that Gigastructural Engineering has a setting that allows you to have wrecked warships floating around. On the default setting, it's not that many, just flavour. But, the setting allows going up to what crashed the modder's computer trying to spawn, by which time wrecked warships are in pretty much every system, sometimes several sets.

This gave me the idea for why the region is relatively unoccupied; a recent war took place, at the end of which the Galactic Community (the larger entity, not the local GC) sent in the peacekeepers. The wreckage is what is left over afterwards, and the GC then commissions the now demilitarised zone to megacorporate entities to rebuild and settle.
 
This looks like it'll have a lot of good world building, and I'm a sucker for that.

I wonder if these theists will die out? Or will we see a rebirth of faith after the fall of the current mega corporation regimes?
 
Chisudaian Financial Services

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Considered the definitive advertisment race for MSI, two hundred years ago the Chisudai were barely figuring out smelting tin as they leapt from tree to tree in the jungles of their tropical home. Now, the jungles are all gone, with the Chisudai themselves fully integrated into galactic society - their inherent abilities to be so numerous and to be awake all night long serving them well in MSI's administrative departments, and later into their independence and emergence as one of the galaxy's premier banking firms.

There were a few setbacks; manual labour has become somewhat of a pariah subject, being associated with the primitive past they left behind. And the immense wealth they've obtained has produced a culture that is hedonistic to such an extreme that some commentators predict a societal collapse when they figure out there aren't enough management positions to go around. So far however, the strong communal natural instinct built up from evading predators together means that this hasn't happened yet.

The new holding of Duhashuum has been structured for extreme growth potential as the future centre of finance in the region, with only a tiny fraction of the capability actually being used; the expectation is that as the commercial opportunities of the demilitarised zone increase, the Chisudai will expand to fill the remaining infrastructure.
 
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Background Lore - 1
The Last Great War
(or at least, the most recent Last Great War)

A little over two hundred and fifty years ago, the competing galactic-scale empires of the Arishkan Galactic Empire, and the Interstellar Nalynoan Empire both discovered hyperlane connections from their realms into the region; scouting parties in small science ships were immediately sent, and brushfire conflicts soon broke out among scouting parties, which inevitably escalated.

These long term rivals - having been split apart following the previous Last Great War when they exhausted each other and got overwhelmed by a third party moving in to block them - soon began pouring staggeringly vast quantities of war materiel into the region. Faced with very little time to build local resources as well as roving fleets of enemy warships destroying what infrastructure did get built, both Empires adopted a strategy of holding back on developing the conquered regions until they had a sufficiently established secured zone.

Eventually the conflict achieved a stalemate, with both sides cajoling allies into action to break the lock, and by thirty years later, the situation had gotten completely out of hand, with five interstellar polities mired in near-total warfare in the region - many thousands of battleships destroyed, billions of soldiers killed.

The sheer cost of the war drove the Nalynoan to begin the biggest Ether Drake breeding program the galaxy had ever seen, simply because they couldn't get enough Alloys; dozens of stars were encased in Dyson swarms that fed power to gas giant farms that grew the gene-engineered meat-plants that were used as base tissue for growing the monsters.

The Arishkan, faced with the prospect of hundreds of ravenous Ether Drakes slowly making their way obliterating every force sent against them, consolidated their holdings in key chokepoint systems and developed immense artillery batteries from the biggest asteroids. Even these weren't enough however. By the time the Ether Drakes arrived (the Arishkan were immensely grateful that they were so much slower than conventional ships) they were facing artillery bastions composed of entire moons that had been repositioned via antimatter drives to guard the most critical chokepoints.

The Nalynoan in response began building even bigger guns, relying on the Ether Drakes to contain the Arishkan while the new hyperweapons were developed. This led to a cold war situation that lasted several decades.

When espionage by the Galactic Community revealed the Nalynoan were developing the theoretical understanding of weapons based on the total power output of whole stars that would be combined into star-shattering cannons, the Galactic Community ordered a ceasefire, with practically everyone a signatory because of the terrifying shift in the balance of power such weapons represent.

With the war ceased, both the Arishkan and Nalynoan Empires were subjected to extremely punitive measures by the Galactic Community to prevent another Last Great War, with the Ether Drakes lured away into uninhabited regions, and the Arishkan fortifications dismantled. It is only now, a little over two hundred years later, that the Arishkan and Nalynoan Empires are approaching their former pre-war strength. While the Empires are of course forbidden from returning in official capacities, the Arishkan royal family have many loyal scions who could be placed in the boards of MegaCorps, and well, if a few Nalynoan break-away hives "accidentally" settle the zone, who's going to stop them?
 
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Well, that's an ominous finish to the dossier.

Let's hope that these empires aren't too ambitious. The last thing we need is the end of all life in the local area due to extreme passions.
 
(Work in progress)


Arishkan Galactic Empire - Subfactions

Officially, the Arishkan are blocked from sending Imperial vessels and agents into the demilitarised zone. However, exceptions were made for attempts to restore the damage of the Last Great War.

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Arishkan Repatriation Board
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The simple fact is, there are billions, trillions, maybe more, dead Arishkan who left loved ones behind. The other simple fact is it is simply too expensive to organise a repatriation effort only a purely paid-out cost basis; the fuel bill alone runs to tens of thousands of Energy Credits. As do crew wages. As do construction of recovery tugs. As does administering it all.

The Arishkan Repatriation Board exists to profitably recover fallen Arishkan, and bring them home, with the expectation that they will use their initial capital - after which no more assistance is legally allowed as per treaty - to fund building up a civilisation to conduct the recovery efforts. At-cost fees are charged to families of recovered (and identifiable) Arishkan in order to cover the cost of physically returning the bodies, while sales of recovered technology, wreckage, memorabilia are also sent back home at auction.

A secondary purpose is the Memorial Fleet. The salvageable vessels are expected to be re-built and restored to fully operational status, and on mission completion, will be stationed as the Imperial Vanguard in the Imperial Core Worlds.


Arishkan Galactic Prospectorate
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The Prospectorate - of which this particular component is a sectioned-off subsidiary to comply with the treaty - is responsible for the prospecting of resources within Arishkan space by Imperial Charter. It surveys, charts, documents, obtains valuations and finally auctions newly reconnoitered assets, and transfers the revenues after costs back to the Arishkan Royal Family.

Arishkan Connection Agency
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Essentially responsible for Arishkan employment distribution and operating internal transit networks, the Arishkan Connection Agency is the operator of civilian travel systems for work and recreation. Their Imperial-assigned role in the zone is largely to assist Arishkan wishing to visit the former battlefields, while Galactic Community commision is to facilitate immigration for employment in the zone through the construction of Hyper Relays and Gateways.
 
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CONSOLE TWEAKS

Another large difference with this run is that the technologies different factions have vary.

Obviously, MSI is not going to give away right up to date technologies to uplifts, and avoid having high technology in the transports of pre-FTL species as a security matter.

Likewise, the general level of technology is late-game - some repeatables, with widespread megastructural and some gigastructural engineering projects.

Additionally, the vast majority of factions are bringing substantial backing with them.

This isn't difficult to sort; cycle through each faction at game spawn and put in max_resources and research_all_technologies for them.

In order to have a balanced chance for the Crisis, it will need to be X10 or X25. The AI will almost certainly be back to the weapons technology of the Last Great War by that point.

RESULTING GAMEPLAY

This of course makes the run even more challenging; Life2.0 realistically are likely to end up a protectorate. Merely advanced start AI are catchable, but this is much more difficult.

These advantages for a human player would be insurmountable, but against the AI a sufficiently good player with adequate time to catch up could overtake.

This necessarily means thinking about what the goals of the run are.

The initial stage of the story revolves around the dynamic of between the different races on the transport.

The second stage is the settled megacorp fitting into the region around them. Objectives here are to find the homeworlds for all the races and establish the immense research focus that enables us to catch up.

Once found, Life2.0 has to build up a sufficient network of alliances and liberation assets to enable drastic restructuring into a post-MSI regional balance of power.

Avoiding getting drawn into a third Last Great War is also important, especially as it will likely be the 2400s by the time Life2.0 Is ready for offensive deployment of liberation assets.

The previous AARs all had the feature that they were essentially destined to lead.

This one?

It is a lot more open to doubt.
 
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The Arishkan seem to have found a loophole.
 
Seems like Life2.0 has their work set out for them.
 
So, now back in my home country after visiting my now fiancée, and I'm back to writing up in preparation for next week's update.


Interstellar Nalynoan Empire

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The Nalynoids in the wider galaxy are known for only the warrior-ruler caste; one of the most deadly biont races in the known galaxy, these three metre tall and five metre long slugs are extremely impatient, very ambitious, armoured well enough to stop small arms fire, and can eject acid from various ports on the body. In the Last Great War, Arishkan war planners largely preferred sustained indiscriminate orbital bombardment rather than actually try to fight on the ground.

This was not a good idea, as Nalynoid settlements ranged deeper underground than they could actually bombard - the surface facilities they identified were a function of the inability to set up the deep dwelling cave systems of their preferred inhabitance because of lack of time, and once the mistake was identified, Arishkan soldiers soon learned to dread orders to dive beneath the surface.

Their worlds are extensively tunneled; on their homeworld, there's not even one square mile that does not have some cavern carved beneath the rock, with the caverns extending as far down as air conditioning, structural strength and heat tolerance will let them. Trillions of Nalynoids on a single planet is not unheard of, of which roughly a few billion will be females, of which most will have been sterilised whether voluntarily to avoid an early demise, or forcibly by a higher power hive-queen who believes her power is sufficient that she doesn't need another hive-queen in her set of alliances to give greater combined population growth, and therefore grow her power in the endless internal strife.

Socially, given the sheer brutality of their society is such it is considered a wonder that the Nalynoids managed to get off their homeworld, and were it not for Imperial Dynasty's achievement of military unification, they would have very likely been confined to a single world locked in war; even now, thousands of years after that first war of unification, Nalynoid politics largely consists of the Dynasty trying to get their people to focus on their external enemies, rather than each other. Mostly. After all, internal conflicts are useful too, as having internal conflicts means rival hive-queens are not trying to take out the Dynasty.

Their extremely short lifespans - adult in less than a year, with twenty Earth-years an extreme outlier - mean that family and dynasty matter more than an individual.

The Nalynoids can just about comprehend the concept of commerce, but what they truly understand is that the region is now open for exploitation, and as far as the Dynasty is concerned, palming off the expansion to lesser hive-queens is merely a means of avoiding direct restriction on the Nalynoid Empire itself. But, in time, these outcrops will be subsumed again too.
 
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The Third Party To The Last Great War

In a previous AAR, I explored the concept of what the everyone's favourite omnicidal reptiles would find out in the galaxy, and well, that run ended badly because instead of glorious domination, they got screwed over because I accidentally loaded the save while having no mods loaded, and that broke the save. But, what if they had not had that set back?

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Immortal Prikkiki-Ti:
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The Immortal Prikkkii-Ti has grown far beyond anything the original Purification Committee imagined; instead of exterminating the alien, the Immortal Prikkiki-Ti is simply so powerful that the aliens are simply irrelevant, as they proved by sweeping aside both Arishkan and Nalynoid to end the Previous Last Great War.

The Immortal Prikkiki-Ti have grown immensely powerful; as a synopsis of the previous AAR, the Prikki freed themselves, purged a bunch of xenos, then got vassalised by a Fallen Empire during an Unbidden crisis. Sadly, my original synopsis - See Here - was rather downbeat as the run broke on them. But, this represents a continuation, of what if the Prikki had won.

Naturally, this is the Prikki at their height now. But, no longer purifiers. It's not like anyone can challenge them, is it? They are the overthrowers of the Repucid and Auridian, slaughterers of the Unbidden. It's only right that they are the ones who ensure certain old enemies don't plunge the galaxy into another Last Great War.

These particular Prikki have been optimised by the Prikki Development Board to be suitable for settling a new subsectional realm to keep the peace in the region; retaining the now-classic Prikki bio-mods of increased intelligence, social disarray and breathing fire (see previous AAR) but without the costly Immortal ruler tweaks.

The wider galaxy is cautiously welcoming of the Prikki, not that the Prikki care about that.
 
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