To Conquer the Stars (Retro atompunk sci-fi quest)

[Penwriter]

It is the stellar year 1722 of the Third Solar Empire. Having finally put down the last rebellions of the core worlds and defeated the forces of the Usurper, the Divine Emperor Clemetas XII has declared a new wave of expansion into the periphery and techno-barbarian fringe worlds of the former Second Empire to bring them back into the light of civilization. Bringing order to the barbarian periphery and opening a New Frontier to usher a new era of glory for the Empire.

However you recognize this "New Frontier" endeavor for what it really is. A means to get rid of up and coming young nobility such as yourself as the Emperor consolidates his hold on a throne he barely holds after getting half the fleet shot up in retaking it from the usurper while having severe difficultly in keeping it in good repair while the nobility are plotting and scheming like no era before. You aren't one of the doom-sayers that believe the Empire is dying of decay and decadence, but things have been getting very cutthroat as of late and there has been encouragement for you to either "Take the Black" with the Emperor's blessing or get stabbed in the back because of some old family grudge or a jealous rival.

Still, the Emperor's blessing is not entirely insubstantial as you stride into the shipyard containing a capital ship gifted to your command, along with the modest forces your House and vassals are able to muster to support you. And it is also an opportunity to rise beyond your previous station and rank.

Venture forth, and conquer the stars. And more if you dare.

* * * * * *

This is a pulp-science atompunk sci-fi adventure/conqueror/warlord quest thematically styled after retro science fiction such as Asimov's Foundation or Buck Rogers, with gameplay akin to Rogue Trader.

 

[Penwriter]

*Reserved for personal data*

 

[Penwriter]

Before one begins planning how to conquer the stars, one must know thyself. Who are you that seeks a new life on the periphery?

Name:
Gender:
(Optional: Can add a picture. Given advancement of Empire Prolong, re-sleeving, and medical tech; appearance can have little relation to actual age and abilities)


Archetype
(Will influence available traits and flaws)

[ ] The General
A veteran of the civil war and an able commander and fighter alike. Well versed in warfare both in space and on the ground, there is no battleground you fear. You will bring the sword to the periphery, and none will be able to stand in your way.

[ ] The Playboy
An heir born to endless luxury and extravagance, not even your exile can deter your life of hedonism. But such a lifestyle needs a retinue and resources to support it, such as the considerable circle of friends and retainers you are able to bring together.

[ ] The Merchant
A scion of a great merchant house, now taking to the stars seeking new profits and opportunities. Your strengths lie less on the battlefield, and more in the subtleties of economic power and trade. As well as being able to profit from unusual opportunities as they arise.

[ ] The Inventor
You are unusual for a noble in your preference for learning over courtly intrigue, tinkering with gadgets instead of learning methods of war, even attempting scientific advancement in an age of comfortable stagnation. Your learning has also made you acutely aware of the Empire's growing rot, but also of potential ways to confront it.

* * * * * *

Starship Selection

While not a first-rate ship of the wall, the gift of a second-rate capital ship is still nothing to take lightly. With some of the heavier weapons and more exotic technologies that are reserved for the Royal Fleet's first-rate craft, these former warships now have space for components that can be used for other potential purposes on the frontier.

[ ] Nova-class Battlecruiser

The vaunted vanguard of the Royal Fleet, battlecruisers are the loftiest and more respected class of the fleet and the first choice of ambitious officers and aggressive crews. A well-honed instrument of war, but difficult to convert to other purposes.
Loadout:
Weapons- B (Proton batteries, Pegasus Missiles, and grapeshot. The humble triad of battle and victory.)
Defenses- C (Respectable force-screens, but limited armor to save weight)
Engines- A (This battlecruiser can dance like a destroyer)
Endurance- C (Repairs, refueling, and maintenance are constant issues.)
Customization- D (Space at a premium)
Crew- Crack (Battlecruiser crews are notoriously aggressive yet highly competent)
Special Choice: Hypernucleic Motors/ Cold-Core Turbines/ Cyclodynamic Screens

[ ] Guardian-class Battleship
The Guardian is a juggernaut of a starship. Second only to the dreadnoughts of the Wall in durability, they can face the worst the galaxy can offer and come out guns blazing. However they are also slow and difficult to convert to nonmilitary purposes without serious refits.

Loadout
Weapons- B++ (Extended broadsides of Heavy Proton cannons, Metal Storm grapeshot batteries, racks of Halcyon Missiles, an arsenal waiting to be unleashed.)
Defenses- A (Ten layers of Battleplate from prow to stern with triple-redundant force-screens)
Engines- C (For all their power, even these engines struggle to propel the weight of a battleship.
Endurance- B- (The great guns demand great toil and maintenance, but the supply vaults are deep.)
Customization- D/B+ (A hard choice awaits: to strip a gun deck for space or not?)
Crew- Green. (Half landsmen conscripts and cadets fresh out of the academy.)
Special Choice: Adamantium Prow/ Triple-deck Broadsides/ Onboard Flotilla

[ ] Agenvian-class Heavy Cruiser

The humble Agenvian heavy cruiser is the workhorse of the Royal Fleet, and arguably its foundation more than the battlecruisers and battleships of the wall. While unable to match them in absolute firepower or strength, they are far more versatile and well-built for the Long Patrols they were originally intended for.

Loadout:
Weapons- C+ (Proton cannons and grapeshot. Simple yet reliable weapons of war.)
Defenses- C+ (Mixed force-screens and battleplate)
Engines- B (Standard military engines)
Endurance- A (Considerable reserve stores, equipment rarely breaks down to need it)
Customization- B (Considerable space was freed by removal of the missile bays and some creative internal rearrangement)
Crew- Veteran (Experienced crew that actively mentor new recruits)
Special Choice: Elite Crew/ Null-field Generator / Star Lounge Quarters

[ ] Resplendent-class Noble Cruiser

A older cruiser design converted to the purposes of nobility with more riches than sense. While short on martial prowess, these cruisers are easily converted to suit the whims of its fickle noble owners whilst maintaining high standards of comfort and luxury.

Loadout
Weapons- C+ (Proton cannons and grapeshot. Able weapons paired with less than able gunners)
Defenses- C (Gilded plating looks shiny, but isn't as effective as true battleplate in providing solid protection.)
Engines- C+ (Solid engines, but simply not the military-grade motors of the great warships of the Royal Fleet)
Endurance- B (Some spare part lockers make way for reserves of fine provender and luxuries.)
Customization- A+ (Built to the whims of fickle nobility, easily refittable for new purpose of new owners)
Crew- Green (A crew based upon appearance and connection rather than merit and ability yields predictable results.)
Special Choice: Star Palace/ Ostentatious Displays of Wealth/ Biosynth-Tailored Crew

(NOTE: To put some of these stats in perspective, most periphery warlords have D or F-level hardware while more organized independant states have C or limited B. A-level tech is solely limited to Royal Fleet's first and second-rate ships. These stats can be modified by modules added by customization)


* * * * *

And what are your true dreams and ambitions upon the periphery?

Goal:

[ ] To obtain glory, honor, and fame as a conqueror.
[ ] To gain riches and wealth, both in money and lost technology.
[ ] To find a peaceful place to build your dream pleasure world.
[ ] To create a grand domain of your own among the barbarian stars bent to your will.
[ ] To ascend to the Emperor's throne yourself and rule the galaxy. (Hard mode)
[ ] Write-in

 

[Penwriter]

[X] Name: Her excellency, Lady Haru of House Hi, Duchess of the Sagittarius Cluster.
[X] Gender: Female

You are Lady Haru of House Hi, or more simply Lady Haruhi to spare lesser peoples the breath to speak the rest of your assorted titles as Duchess of the Sagittarius Cluster, Arbiter of the Sempkin Watch, etc, etc.

Boring titles of a boring duties you didn't have to do a thing for to obtain or hold onto. While they had their novelty for the first couple of decades of your life as a noblewoman of the Galactic Empire, immortality and eternal youth mean even such duties end up losing their novelty. The recent civil war has blown new spark into the noblewoman however, along with personal interest in the Emperor's recent decree and intentions for the periphery.

Following her is her ever-beleaguered yet for some reason loyal retainer/seneschal Kyon. Hello. -Kyon.

Archetype
[X] The Playboy

Perhaps the most defining aspect of yourself is just how bored you are living within the confines of the Empire. After over fifty years of court games, indulging in the wims and fancies of romance, re-sleeving into a youthful body as the current Empire fashion, exhausting even the capacity of the Emperor's Summer Pleasure Worlds to amuse and entertain, you are simply bored with what the Empire has to offer.

Okay, maybe not everything. Catgirl maids never go out of style for sure. But boredom is the fuel for a desire to go out and find new kinds of diversions. Like aliens (that are not human manufactured lookalikes) that are really alien! Or an entire race of robots! Or some fringe branch of techno-barbarians out to conquer the universe that require an epic quest to put down!

And you have just the right crew to find these strange anomalies with the eccentric collection of figures, retainers, and trusty servants you have accumulated ready to follow you to the far frontier.

Pretty, youthful, extremely rich, extremely bored. This is neither an unprecedented nor unique circumstance in this universe. In fact it is a quite worryingly common combination nowadays. But she stands to give new meaning to why it's an extremely bad thing. - Kyon.

Starship Selection
[X] Resplendent-class Noble Cruiser

To aid Lady Haruhi in her new endeavor into the frontier, the Royal Court has gifted a Resplendent-class Noble Cruiser from the Emperor's own summer pleasure flotilla. A shining gem of a starship with a gilded hull, opulent and imperial quarters suited for the highest of the aristocracy, and a deck configuration well-suited to constant refits and changes of internal components based on its owner's whims. A ship well-suited for a playboy noble.

Made for nobles with more wealth than sense. Still, can't complain about getting a luxury suite for myself, on top of whatever else her highness wants to haul with her.- Kyon

Goal:
[X] To create a grand domain of your own among the barbarian stars bent to your will.

The other nobles say there is nothing strange or unknown on the periphery. That the only aliens that exist are those mankind has created out of biosynthesis and laboratories. That psionics, time-travel, transmutation, sentient robots, and magic are things of starstuff and theater.

To them you retort that of course there are no true aliens, they have no reason to be attracted to such boring peoples or boring worlds. Out on the frontier, there is space to make a proper place to welcome strange alien beings, and gather resources to fulfill other endeavours necessary to the task. Among other things you can do with a couple dozen worlds under your direct control and without the Imperial Bureaucracy's inane restrictions.

It was either this, or take over the Emperor's Throne. And the latter would probably been less effective in curbing her boredom. But really? Aliens, robots, magic? No way such things exist. Right?- Kyon

* * * * * *

Urgh, figures she leaves me with all the paperwork. Grumbled Kyon as a maid stacked another pile of actual hardcopy papers in front of him as part of the Duchess' "housecleaning" before she left for the frontier. The fact she was giving up most of her old titles and holdings didn't really matter to her, but it made for a lot of work for him in transferring them to their new holders as he looked over the latest decrees and orders.

If the Empire is dying, its more likely dying of too much red tape and bureaucracy regardless of anything else.

"ATTEN-SHUN my loyal retainers!" The noblewoman declared as she entered the library chamber. "The Emperor's courier has arrived with the starcharts to begin planning our expedition into the periphery!

Courier? Oh, she must be referring to the person she's dragging along by the collar while waving a data-codex canister around like its a toy, and not the high-security data container it is.

"I want everyone to weigh in their opinions. We're looking for the kind of place that aliens are sure to be at! Or failing that, at least some robots or magicians or espers or other fantastic creatures in this galaxy!"

Region Selection
(Majority Vote)

[ ] The Cold Stars

A collection of largely uninhabited and uncolonized worlds, despite the prevalence of habitable planets that require little to no terraforming for human life. While one may dismiss it as the Empire having enough worlds already, even the aggressively expanding First Empire or the war-stressed Second left these worlds alone besides some nominal far-ranging colonization attempts that never reported back. A point of suspicion, but of also opportunity to exploit untouched and exceedingly resource-rich worlds if they can be reached before rival nobles also chartered for the region.

[ ] The Burren Steppes

A collection of several large clusters of stars with a high density of habitable worlds. The area fell into anarchy centuries ago, and is infested with dozens of warlords, independant states, and remnants of the Second Empire locked in near endless conflict over a myriad of causes. But where there is war, there are assets worth fighting over. And there has to be some reason why conflict keeps going decade after decade despite the limited techbase of barbarian states.

[ ] Stars End

No one is quite sure why this particular quadrant of the periphery received the title of Stars End, but it is an apt name for a quadrant on the very edge of the galaxy and extremely distant from the Core Worlds. Lost since the late Second Empire era and its barbarian worlds isolated unto themselves, nobody knows just what awaits at Stars Edge besides ancient ruins of long past glory and some old scientific expeditions sent out and lost a long time ago. But there has always been patrols on its border by the Royal Fleet, as if watching for something despite the posting being mostly a dumping ground.



"Furthermore, we also need to be prepared for anything. And we got plenty of space onboard our new ship to be prepared with! Kyon, start taking notes!"

Shipbuilding Focus: Vote for ship part focus per category.
(Individual voting, every vote adds up.)

[ ] Weapons/Martial Power/Troops
[ ] Defenses/Shields/Command
[ ] Engines/Reactor/System Augmentations
[ ] Luxuries/Trade/Commerce
[ ] Support Ships/Archeotech
[ ] Write-in component category. (More detail = better)