Fluff

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NOTE: This is taken directly from the Baystation Wiki, this is not offcial fluff on Baystation anymore due to recent changes, anything posted here is brought from bay for use by Us.


The Fluff page is for IC additions to the world (which includes the backstory). Fluff is also used partially for game design decisions and is therefore relatively important. Due to this now being the de facto fluff, only specific users are allowed to edit any fluff pages. Please post any proposed fluff here:


Present Day[edit | edit source]

The current year to 2559 AD (As of New-years 2015), a few years after the decommissioning of the NSV Luna. The NSS Horizon is one of NanoTrasen's newest research space stations.

It has been roughly 51 years since the beginning of the Orange Rush. NanoTrasen, BioTech Solutions, Einstein Engines Incorporated, and many other leading research corporations continue their struggle to research as many uses and profit as much from phoron as possible. And now, where Humanity thought they had been alone, other races are appearing - some friendly like the Tajaran, others dangerous. It is a brave new world.

Space travel is common place. Rich civilians, colonial militaries and huge corporations all incorporate large fleets of various ships. Large freighter ships transport cargo from planet, to station to colony. Warships defend planets and trade lanes from harm. Pirates are uncommon but present (many of these join the Syndicate) and often use cheap, abandoned or stolen ships and equipment to raid transports. Space combat is usually composed of energy weapons due to the fact that projectiles would never cease travelling while energy projectiles faze out after a certain distance.

Law varies from region to region, planet to planet and station to station, as do punishments.

Credits are the currency of the universe. They are represented in a figure with either Cr or cR at the end. For example: 11,500Cr. Credits are entirely electrical and each person receives a payment into their personal accounts at the end of a working month.

Many planets have been colonized during humanity's rapid growth. Hospitable worlds are largely inhabited, while less liveable worlds are used as waste dumping grounds and industrial planets.

There is no such thing as a "radar" in space. The device used is called the Gravidar, or Gravdar. It is a 3 Dimensional, "minimap" if you will, view of a sector. All ships and stations are equipped with one. They show the locations of other ships, debris, stations and other things.

Most ships and stations have shields to protect them from hostile fire and collisions. Some shields are stronger than others. To measure this we use kJ, MJ and GJ.

Kilojoules are an individual shield unit. For example 10kJ. Megajoules are to the thousandth shield unit. So a shield with 200 MJ has 200,000kJ. Gigajoules are to the millionth shield unit. So 1GJ is 1,000,000kJ, or 1,000 MJ.

Your Shift[edit | edit source]

All rounds begin at 12:00pm station-time. This is the beginning of the shift and it is generally accepted that everyone who spawns at the beginning of the round knows each other from previous shifts aboard the station.

All employees live on the station. While personal dorms are not set it is usually accepted that whoever binds their ID to the personal locker owns the dorm it is in.

Meal times are not usually set and the chef feeds people as they come.

The ship is divided into five 'wings'. The port wing; containing arrivals, primary tool storage, the locker room and disposals. The starboard wing; containing the escape dock, Medbay, R&D, the chapel, botany, the cafeteria and others. The aft wing; containing engineering, robotics and atmospherics. The fore wing; containing security, the armoury and the courtroom. Finally the central wing; containing the bridge, custodial closet, crew dorms, mining dock, cargo bay and EVA.

The directional terminology used is developed from nautical and architectural terms. North, east, south and west are also applied colloquially.

Other Characters[edit | edit source]

In regards to other peoples' characters, your character has no pre-existing relationship with anyone without the other player's consent. If you do have the other players consent then you do not know their character from a previous round. Due to things like the station blowing up and people dying, inconsistencies can occur.

Major Organisations[edit | edit source]

NanoTrasen[edit | edit source]

NanoTrasen is one of the largest corporations in the galaxy. They own a large fleet of ships, multiple stations and posses businesses and factories on many colonies. They are primarily based in deep space, due to the lack of enforced government law, which allows them to perform otherwise illicit research without fear of reprimand. Their quick and brutal actions in the Orange Rush have given NanoTrasen somewhat of a head start in phoron research than their competitors, making them the target of much jealousy and - more importantly - enemies like the Syndicate.

The Syndicate[edit | edit source]

The Syndicate is a semi-secret conglomeration of groups opposed to the NanoTrasen corporation. NanoTrasen employees have not heard of the syndicate and security personnel are not familiar with them. The Captain and Head of Security might be aware of their existence, but this information is on a need to know basis. The syndicate is made up of rival corporations, criminals and pirates, opposing politicians and many others.

Space Wizard Federation[edit | edit source]

The Space Wizards Federation is known to few people. NanoTrasen officials and ship captains may know of them. They are neutral to NanoTrasen from a political view point but will happily infiltrate their stations and ships if something is needed from them.

Little is known about the SWF but they are all eccentric Humans with a knack for 'magic'. In the future magic is a loose term. It could donate to genetic mutations or highly advanced science. Either way the SWF will periodically send out agents to find and reclaim mystical artefacts and magical objects. From enchanted crowbars to ancient alien technology the SWF won't let lesser men posses any of it. The SWF is extremely dangerous and those who know of the Federation know not to mess with a wizard.

The Order of Nar'Sie[edit | edit source]

The Order of Nar'Sie an obscure and hidden order. Little is known about them, and few know of their existance. Only those with extensive theological learning have any inkling as to their religion or methods.

Their magic is based around blood runes, sacrifices and their ghostly constructs. They work to further the goals of Nar'Sie, and work to bring Him into our world.

Human Governments[edit | edit source]

There are many governments ruling humanity, the larger ones including the Federation of Sirius, the Milky Way Federation, and New Terra. At the beginning of the Space Age, humanity was a united nation called the Union of Humanity - however, this dissolved fairly quickly into the many nations of today.

Competing Corporations[edit | edit source]

NanoTrasen's main competitors include BioTech Solutions, Einstein Engines Inc, and many others. These corporations are just as large, powerful, technologically advanced and greedy as NanoTrasen, and equally paranoid. Like NanoTrasen, they are primarily based in deep space due to the lack of stable law and order, giving them free reign to do as they wish and remain on good terms with most governments. They are highly jealous of NanoTrasen's success in phoron research and continuously strive to one-up NT.

Locations[edit | edit source]

Humans come from a wide array of planets and colonies. Almost any entity in the Sol system has had someone at least try to set up a building on it, as has much of the outer lying systems.

Mars[edit | edit source]

Planetary Capital - Lowell City. Originally humanity's first industrial and mining colony, Mars has been supplying the fleets of humanity with finished products for years and become the new seat of human government, with Sol Central Government and New Terra governmental offices making their homes and hubs. Home to the illustrious Martian Institute of Technology, it is the industrial capital of Sol. While certainly not matching the sheer human biomass of earth, Mars is home to innumerable amounts of people- The average joe probably hails from a middle class martian family at some point or another.

Earth[edit | edit source]

Planetary Capital - N/A. The ancestral home of the Human race, Earth has become a large poisonous ball of pollution and industrialism. Long, brutal wars have scarred it's surface and overpopulation has caused irreversible effects in the planet's atmosphere. Earth may have long since lost it's former splendor, but it remains a bustling hub of lower class humanity as borders and governments fall and restructure.

Luna[edit | edit source]

Earth's moon. Originally bought out in the mid 2100s by corporate moguls as terraforming became a possibility. When tensions rose to all time highs amongst terran countries, the wealthiest bought out governmental charters to vast swaths of Luna, originally for personal use. As time went on, many of the wealthier denizens of earth left the chaos not for the budding industrialism of Mars, but for the elegant, planned regions of the moon. In the modern day, the moon is a relatively contolled wealth-meritocracy, with the big 'Ivy League' schools currently on Luna. Most residents are either wealthy, related to the wealthy, academics/students, or part of the lower class that engages in the day to day tasks of keeping Luna running- The majority of the 'poor' on Luna are about the wealth of the lower-middle class elsewhere. With access contolled heavily by visas and with a reputation to maintain for a sanctuary for the wealthy in the heart of human space, criminals, the unwanted, and rabble rousers have a habit of 'disappearing'. It isn't uncommon for martian politician to have a 'summer estate' or 'extended family' on Luna.

Outer Sol System[edit | edit source]

Jupiter's moons were oftentimes considered heavily for colonization and speculation, for the most part it's refurbishing has fallen by the wayside as opposed to looking for garden worlds outside of the solar system and smaller mining installations when Mars and Luna showed humanity how much work had to go into full terraforming. Much of the outer solar ended up heavily chartered out by different scientific groups and corporations, some more stable than others, leading to distinct and 'odd' cultures forming in those regions. Most of the moons are dwarf planets are still heavily undeveloped and unpopulated, many bases and colonies ignoring each other in preference of either isolationism or relying on external trade/corporate and academic imports. They are not often traditional settling areas, generally being chosen for being within the protection of Sol's heart from piracy and outlying phenomena while escaping the crowds of the inner solar system for operations.

New Magnitka[edit | edit source]

Planetary Capital - Labourtown. A mining colony with a handful of NanoTrasen research facilities. Violent civil war in 2548 was forced to end 4 years later by NanoTrasen in order to protect its facilities.

Tau Ceti[edit | edit source]

A young, yellow G-class star system containing several colonized planets. It is considered to be on the edge of human-occupied space and is home to the NSS Horizon.

Surgiss System[edit | edit source]

(WIP)

A spinward system from Tau Ceti, the Surgiss System is the last major outpost of humanity before deep space. The majority of the population live on the fourth planet, by the name of Surgiss IV, with small mining outposts scattered throughout the system. Pirates haunt the shipping lanes, and are frequently hunted by military operations.

Other Life[edit | edit source]

It is a well established fact that we are not alone in the universe. Multiple alien species have been discovered by the human race. Some are friendly and well understood, while some are rarely seen and never caught, presumed dangerous and usually avoided. Due to the significant scientific breakthroughs with alien research most NanoTrasen crews have at least one Xenobiologist.

Tajaran[edit | edit source]

Finriv is a butt, Mewth was here. Page reserved for Jamie and other lore masters to write.

The Tajaran (ᴛᴀʜ-jaw-run, singular ᴛᴀʜ-jaw-rah') are a species playable in BayStation 12 whom posses cat like features. They come from Ahdomai, which is the smaller of twin planets. Their fur is insulative and their felinoid stability allows them to better survive in the harsh conditions of Ahdomai.

Mechanics[edit | edit source]

Like all (or most) species, Tajaran possess their own abilities based on their species. These include:

  • Siik’maas, the Tajaran spoken language on the station. This can be spoken with :J (Keep in mind, humans can not speak this due to it having a vocal tone they can not reproduce).
  • Tajarans have claws, which by code will scratch instead of punch, and deal 10% more damage.
  • Tajaran can see better in the dark than humans, allowing better maneuvering in the dark.
  • Tajaran can not use human gloves by lore, but our server has disabled the restriction and the cutting of so gloves.
  • Tajaran are restricted from head roles unless you have incredibly good RP reasons (Please consult an admin, and update your employment records for such reasons)

Biological Classifications[edit | edit source]

Cunabula: Ahdomaris

Kingdom : Animalia

Phylum : Chordate

Class : Mammalia

Subclass: Eutheria

Order : Primacreodonta

Family : Coetidae

Genus : Tajara

Species : T. Sapiens

Naming[edit | edit source]

In order to communicate with multi-species crews better, most Tajaran have taken arabic first and last names to allow for better communication. Most Tajaran clans and given names tend to have a distinct east asian slant to them as to begin- Due to their facial anatomy, sharp lip-based mora tend to be less present. (i.e.: Ha’varika, Du’ri Vantani)

Biology[edit | edit source]

The Tajaran are a species of omnivorous, bipedal mammals with features that strongly resemble Terran felines in structure. Their body is covered almost entirely with a thick fur coat, the only exceptions being the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet, directly around their various orifices, and their eyes. On many individuals the fur near their neck and head grows into a shaggy "mane", not unlike a lion or horse's mane, which is made of even tougher, wiry hairs. Tajaran fur colors tend towards monochrome, with the mane generally being significantly darker than the rest of the fur. Patterns of all types have been observed: flat, spots, stripes, and many variations in-between. Tajara males on average range between 145 cm and 185 cm in height and 55 kg and 90 kg in mass, while females on average range between 135 cm and 180 cm in height and 35 kg and 75 kg in mass.

The Tajaran have two fairly large and well-developed eyes set above a slightly elongated "muzzle". Their pupils are generally large, but can contract significantly faster than most other species. Their eyes also possess a refractive layer very similar to a tapetum lucidum which greatly enhances their night vision and causes their eyes to shine when illuminated in dim light. Tajaran teeth are sharp and needlelike in the front and slowly grow thicker towards the back. The closest analogous animal to their tooth structure would be a terran raccoon. On the top of their head Tajara possess two normally erect ears. Tajaran ears have a wide range of motion, and are capable of rotation up to ninety degrees and folding entirely back to the skull. Because of the structure and wide range of motion, Tajara have a noticeably more fine range of hearing than other crew species.

The Tajaran hands and feet both have five digits and are somewhat stubby and thick compared to human extremities. A set of retractable claws originate from the second knuckle are always visible and are always visible at least slightly from the tips of tajaran fingers and toes. Tajara are digitigrade, and most equipment that interacts with the feet requires modification to fit. All Tajaran also possess a flexible tail. This appendage is muscled and is capable of a exceedingly large range of movement.

Tajaran have a notably longer sleep cycle than humans, the average wake period for a Tajara is between 36-48 hours with a subsequent 20-28 hours of sleep. This wake period is often punctuated by short (15-30 minute) naps.

The tajaran body is generally lithe, slender, and extremely flexible. Sexual dimorphism, except for overall size, is low between males and females, the only real exception being the presence of mammary glands, which externalizes slightly while the mother is caring for her children. Internally their gastrological, cardiovascular, and lymphatic systems are eerily similar to terran species, leading a few scientists to speculate that the Tajaran may have originated from microbe cultures on meteors that brought life to the earth, with more radical individuals suggesting they had been influenced in their genetic development by outside forces.

All medical equipment aboard NanoTrasen vessels will be compatible with Tajaran biology with only minimal modifications.

Behaviour[edit | edit source]

Tajaran have a strong tendency towards loyalty and cooperation from living in what was overall a collectivist society. Younger Tajaran tend to be significantly more forward and expressive than older adults as the world and education have expanded for most Tajaran - The current generational gap in education and so forth is fairly enormous. Overall, however, they have been observed to have as wide an emotional range as humans, by extensive neurological investigation, although some reports from dubious sources state otherwise. Stimuli may vary compared to humans.

It is advisable for staff to make use of this mindset. NanoTrasen does not openly advocate for non-human command staff, although often times workers from Ahdomai are enticed with the prospect of upward mobility, as it is not a full lie - there are no direct regulations that prevent this. However, such is heavily frowned on as a corporate liability and PR move - A Tajaran would have to work twice as hard and be willing to bow and scrape his way to a headstaff position. A Tajaran would never be appointed Captain beyond an interim move.

Clothing[edit | edit source]

While uniform is an important part of employee unity, Tajaran are authorised to forgo the need of shoes and gloves in most cases, due to physiological differences. Sandals and Fingerless gloves are also acceptable alternatives for Tajaran crewmembers. Many ear mounted items also prove difficult, for reasons that should not need explanation. Tajaran should also be excused from duties which require contact with increased temperatures, due to an increased susceptibility from heat.

As Ahdomai is still a fairly arctic planet, most clothes are heavy and cloaks are common, and almost always split back, to allow for freedom of tail movement. Pants and skirts are common as well, often very wide cut and puffy looking. Skirts are usually worn by females. Boots tend to be of an open-toe design. An excess of sashes/inserted waistcloth is used for decor purposes, particularly for formal events.

Layering tends to be almost universal in Tajaran fashion, no matter the clan or region. Aside from an underwear layer, usually consisting of tap pants along with some form of loose fitting undershirt for both male and females, most Tajaran clothing consists of some sort of scarf and jacket, usually a cloak for outdoor wear, and about 3 proper layers of clothing.

Tail accessories tend to be used by individuals within a relationship, although this has changed since 50 years ago, and more tail decor is less of a taboo for just anyone to wear- Historically, it was generally a way of showing off courting favors, the less bound up version of wedding rings. Several sorts of ribbons bestowed by a significant other is considered as showing a status of being in a committed relationship, with marriage in Tajaran society primarily being reserved for legal bloodlines. Traditionally it was made of childhood garments offered to one's significant other, to signify giving away a piece of yourself and your past, although naturally in the modern day a Tajaran would buy such from clothing shops, the more elegant and intricate ones having price tags akin to the inflation of plain diamond rings in human society.

Language[edit | edit source]

All alien races in active employment must have passed a prerequisite test of Common fluency to allow them to converse at a minimum level with other crewmembers, as required by HR due to corporate hiring standards. However, use of their own language has been shown to be used to communicate in private with others of their race. The primary language spoken is Siik'mas, with Siik'tajr a secondary.

Siik'mas was the traditionally employed tongue that is in common use in Ahdomai, enforced by the ruling class as a standard educated language 250 years ago for ease of beaurocracy and understanding. It is spoken by humans, although many inflections are almost impossible for a human mouth, and body language from the ears, eyes and tail, which are respectively less flexible, less marked, and somewhat nonexistant for humans to communicate with, causing occasional communicatory difficulties, with humans coming off as incredibly somber and stilted. Siik'mas tends to be spoken as a common language in the same way English is, although many regional pride groups developing in the post slavemaster era have attempted to once again re-establish old languages such as Nal'rasan, Devahhi, Ya'ssa and Resheha.

Siik'tajr was formerly an informal pseudo sign language employed by the lower class prior to the revolution as a variant of Siik'mas with old Nal'rasan equivalents(Spoken in the equatorial region of the trade hub of Nalyar, already a mixture of old languages) mixed in for the less educated at the time, being used originally in the cramped spaces when Siik'mas was introduced but still unused in family life, incorporating an incredible amount of tail movements, with many 'homophones' only barely distinguishable by either context or tail movement allowing for double communications during the rebellions, with very little verbal noise. It is incredibly unfriendly to non tailed speakers, almost unable to be replicated due to the factor of tails by human and skrell. Siik'tajr is an informal, lowbrow method of talking, common for the older members of the newly established clans who were heavily involved in the rebellion.

Cyrillic/latin characters are the most common in use as a transcription of spoken Siik'tajr and Siik'mas, rather than the old Siik alphabet - Usage of such is usually restricted to 'official' documents within the old clans such as the Hadii and Alfarsi, and is generally frowned on due to its association with the old regime. It is still known within the aforementioned clans, but in active use it is linguistically dead.

Note that Tajaran commonly may extend the "R" sound of words, and all Tajaran generally adopt the third person in referring to themselves (Example: Rather than "I have completed my work", a Tajara would say "He has completed his work".) A Tajaran speaking in first person is considered to be giving a display of extreme trust, although due to the stresses of space, Tajaran can 'slip up' occasionally when speaking languages other than their own due to the examples of first person used around them from human crew.

Background[edit | edit source]

For hundreds of years, Ahdomai was simultaneously united and oppressed were oppressed by a ruling class, referred to in the modern day by the epithet 'the Slavemasters', although in their day they went by terms that roughly translated to 'The Overseers'. The Overseers ruled with a heavy hand. Speaking when not spoken to first by an Overseer would be potentially punishable by severe beating or death. Nonetheless, their united front managed to bring an unpreceedented fruition of knowledge... For the ruling class. A relatively younger civilization than humanity, under various clans of Overseers, prior to human intervention, the first world era rulers had an approximate technological basis to the late nineties, with their communications equipment on par with the late 2000s, having had ample encouragement to cement their government with unified comms. Much of the methods used by the Slavemasters are lost, as during the revolution, taking down towers and sabotaging equipment they no longer had the blueprints for was strategically key to the rebellion. Meanwhile, the average Tajaran lived on par with the early 1900s in terms of tech for the lower/middle class, with illiteracy rates incredibly high.

50 years prior to present day, a small academic exploration funded by Sol Central, unaffiliated with megacorps, discovered Ahdomai and the Tajaran. The exploration team spent five years learning the Tajaran language and culture, taking samples, with their efforts guided towards a positive reaction by the Overseers, showing them the sort of peaceful society they had attempted to cultivate, trying to have them gloss over the class disparity and poverty. Eventually, the team returned to Earth with their findings.

Soon after, multiple megacorporations took interest in Ahdomai: Much of the mineral, agricultural, and biological wealth of the planet remained untapped. "Aid" was quickly dispatched to Ahdomai in an attempt to gain the trust and cooperation of the indigenous species. Over the next ten years various megacorporations set up small laboratories and outposts to map Ahdomai out, geologically, biologically, economically.

Not long after the first laboratories had been set up, one of the intellectual revolutionaries of the oppressed majority escaped from confinement and found asylum off-planet on a NanoTrasen facility for five years. During his time in the facility, he saw how a truly collaborative effort could improve everyone's living conditions and wrote a manuscript on his ideas- "Gazing Upwards". While his original name was lost to time as he abandoned it in interests of not being targetted by Slavemasters for immediate censorship, his pen name was Harimah Ranjiira.

After his return, Ranjiira began to distribute his manuscript, and the few literate Tajaran spread it's word by mouth like wildfire- Sparking revolts across the globe. The Slavemaster response was swift, uncompromising, and harsh. Soon the rebels found themselves in a full-blown war with their masters.

The megacorporations with facilities on Ahdomai, interested in maintaining their investments and seeing a chance to profit, began to provide the two factions with monetary and military aid. The rebel forces, with their superior numbers and a technological boost from their supporters, began to overtake the Slavemaster forces. However, the final blow to the Slavemaster forces was the defection of the Hadii. The Hadii, seeing the cracks in their regime, turned coat and chose to support the rebels. While several rebel clans opposed this, the Hadii support network, records, and tactical knowledge were the final push that won the war for the rebellion.

A provisional government was propped up by the various megacorporations that supported the rebels, and over time Ahdomai naturally re-splintered with it's primary central government gone into Clan alliances. Medical corporations focused around the equatorial region, while mining and production corporations focused on land near the northern and southern areas. The largest corporate influence on Ahdomai is NanoTrasen, due to their affiliation with Ranjiira, who have supported the Hadii clan- Although they are by no means alone.

Aggressive mining operations have started on Ahdomai by the megacorps, and in a century it will be long on its way to mirroring Earth - A somewhat unpleasant prospect. Many prominent scientists, doctors, and a few political groups on both Earth and Ahdomai have protested this action.


Culture[edit | edit source]

Tajaran Culture The arts are held highly in Tajaran culture, with music being the most prominent, a renaissance coming in the post slavemaster era. Older Tajaran are generally more accomplished in the arts while younger have turned to newly-available education.

Ethnicities[edit | edit source]

Much like humans, Tajaran have various "sub-species", which differ in some form in physiological traits.

Hharar

Zhan-Khazan

Njarir'Akhan

More ethnicities soon

Home Planet[edit | edit source]

Ahdomai

Tajarans hail from Ahdomai, the smaller of two twin planets. It is very cold and icy, and they possess fur for the purpose of self-heating and feline attributes for stability in their environment.

Current Day[edit | edit source]

See: Tajarans and Humans

Tajaran currently exist in a limbo between being accepted into the galactic community and a source of cheap labor used by the megacorps. They are seen as newcomers and as somewhat backwards, ignorant, and (especially) easily exploitable. They are second-class citizens, for the most part, due to their dependency on other, more advanced races for the technology that allows them to even get off of Ahdomai, though people on both sides attempting to take steps towards full integration. Human smothering is a legitimate danger to Tajaran society, as quiet as it is, and several corps do their best to 'humanize' Tajara in behavior and imprint on them. A lot of corporate and independent activities taking advantage of and brutalizing Tajaran are still present in the modern day, with several outposts on Ahdomai being condemned for atrocities and straining relations on occasion.

Corporate-sponsored border skirmishes still occur frequently on Ahdomai between various clans that are supported by different megacorporations. Travel alone over long distances is discouraged.

Species on BestRP
Station Crew
Human - Tajaran - Unathi - Skrell - Dionaea - IPC - Aviskree - Kidan
Antagonists
Vox - Xenomorph - Cortical Borer - Assimilation Borg

Unathi[edit | edit source]

Unathi

Skrell[edit | edit source]

Skrell

Vox[edit | edit source]

Vox

Blobs[edit | edit source]

A mysterious life form similar to Earth fungi, but much more destructive. The term 'Blob' is an informal one, as no one knows much about them. They are gelatinous, translucent green organisms that have immensely powerful enzymes capable of dissolving steel and almost everything else, and can somehow survive in the vacuum of space.

Blobs begin their life as tiny spores floating through space. When they land on a suitable surface - for example, a station - they will grow, consuming the material. Many blobs can grow to be kilometers across. When they are large enough they will eject more spores to continue the process. Blobs are complex organisms and are composed of several different 'organs' - Blob Cores appear to act as the energy sources for growth, for example, and other nodes can discharge small 'mini-blobs' that patrol the organism and attack any intruders.

Their composition and origin is unknown, but classified as a biohazard under NanoTrasen classification. If any NanoTrasen vessels happen to come into contact with it, research on its structure, and prevention of damage, is utmost priority.

Space Carp[edit | edit source]

Space-dwelling, four-eyed, gigantic pink carp. Supposedly a genetically engineered weapon designed by either NanoTrasen or the Syndicate, the experiment failed and the carp were ejected into space. However, the carp proliferated and have become renowned pests, stalking space facilities and attacking those unwary enough to venture outside.

Xenomorphs[edit | edit source]

Xenomorphs are not an intelligent civilization, but predatory creatures with no higher goals than the propagation of their species and the destruction of life that could pose a threat. Like wasps or termites, Aliens are eusocial, with a single fertile queen breeding a caste of warriors. The Aliens' biological life cycle, in which their offspring are violently implanted inside living hosts before erupting from their chests, is in many ways their signature aspect

Religion[edit | edit source]

Over the years religion has come and gone. Some faiths have faded out entirely on one colony but remain strong on another. Due to this many religions have been founded. Some worship gods, others, technology. Atheism is perfectly acceptable and common. However, not all faiths are permitted by NanoTrasen. As time has progressed, so has the religious community. Many of the “Old Religions” of Earth have long since died out, or merged into others. As of today, 2559, there are a total of seven options generally listed on most surveys.

Major Statistics[edit | edit source]

  • Atheism/Agnosticism - This is the current largest of the “beliefs.” About half of the current human population sticks to the idea that there is no higher power or anything of that sort, at least on surveys.
  • Deism - The belief that through observation and reason, there is infact a “Creator,” but with how vast “Creation” itself -is-, he does not do anything towards it, and lets everything work on the natural laws of creation, so on and so forth. It became a very popular belief in the mid-21st Century, and has continued to grow since then.
  • Buddhism - One of the few “Old Religions” to have not only survived, but thrived. Buddhism is not as well spread as the other three, but is still one of the larger religions among humanity today. It still follows the same principles as always, its' teachings of moderation having a universal appeal still unmatched.
  • Unitarianism - Unitarianism is the general demographic under which followers of the Abrahamic religions are grouped. Officially, Unitarianism was created out of the merging between the Christian belief and the Islamic belief - It was officially formed some time in the mid-22nd Century. It is the belief that God is the all-father, Jesus is his son, and Muhammad is their prophet. There are still radical groups of the original religions, but they are too tiny to actually be noticed outside of Earth. Practicioners of individual Abrahamic faiths are generally plopped under this statistic as well, much to chagrin. Most of their numbers come from the inner Sol system- The farther out from earth, the more these religions have died down.
  • Shinto - Another of the “Old Religions” to have survived to the 26th Century. Shinto is fairly popular in the more oriental colonies among the stars due to financial backers. It also has a fairly large presence on the Moon due to Japanese/American moguls owning a majority of it.
  • Taoism/Confucianism - The final of the “Old Religions” to still be popular among the stars. The chinese indigenous religions tend to be the least considered of the big religions, though certainly a big factor - After escaping Earth post the political turmoil, many chinese emigrators from Earth tended to take to buddhism, but it remains a very strong faith out in many previously chinese mining colonies in the various asteroid belts.

Colonial Religious Systems[edit | edit source]

Colonial Religious Systems (or CRSs for short) are religions and/or belief systems created in the colonial systems. Usually they don’t go much farther than their home colony, system, or small sector of space that contains 1-3 systems. CRS range from a large number of beliefs, ranging from the old religions of say, Hinduism, or the belief in a great “Dragon Mother” being the creator of the universe, and make up a relatively large percentage of marked religious practices. Transhumanism is popular in the odder scientific colonies around the jovian and saturnine satellities -an international cultural and intellectual movement with an eventual goal of fundamentally transforming the human condition. Nonetheless, due to causing quite a few issues moral issues(Such as the returning concepts of genetic fitness and so forth often ascribed to these groups), public practice off of these environments is generally politely discouraged, filed under CRS.

Phoron[edit | edit source]

When phoron was new, it was hailed as the new Oil, relatively easy to extract, required almost no refining, and burnt like a Roman candle out of hell. Everyone wanted it, only one corporation could supply it fast enough, and eventually outbid all competition. Enter NanoTrasen. With phoron monopoly established, prices shot up and profits soared, despite increasing reports of its excessive toxicity and difficulty to contain the substance. The arcologies of Earth /needed/ energy. Any energy, to stem the inevitable collapse of society just a little longer, phoron was a godsend. And NanoTrasen its prophet.

Most accidents of containment breaches or uncontrollable phoron fires were swept under the rug, much like how a addict will forgive his dealer for his character flaws. Falling apart even as he craves his next fix.

Super Matter[edit | edit source]

Super Matter is extracted from the cores of super phoron giants, at great expenditure of effort and material, by robotic armored probes, shielded and designed to withstand the intense pressure that solidifies phoron into a stable almost inert but highly volatile form.

The super matter has a similar density to Neutronium and expels a massive amount of energy and gaseous phoron when properly processed. - Being super-dense, Zero Point Lasers are used to shave off phoron molecules from the crystal lattice matrix. These lasers can not interact with less dense matter in a significant fashion, such as organic tissues and are thus perfectly harmless. The Super Matter however is not.

Extensive and costly experimentation have determined that while stable at the near vacuous existence of hard vacuum or one standard earth atmosphere, super-matter begins to come unravelled when reaching pressure levels similar to its origins, - thus attributing to its expenditure in harvesting it. Heat further weakens the crystal matrix structure.

Should the matter come unravelled, it will do so extremely rapidly and explosively, ripping not only through the hardest alloys like wet tissues, but the very fabric of time itself, thus giving rise to the curious phenomena where one can in fact survive a Super Matter detonation by simply outrunning the explosive wave as it tears steel bulkhead to shreds. Slowly. It is still recommended to evacuate the site of such a explosion without delay.

Super Matter is currently only used in the NSV Luna for fuel and propulsion purposes. And is estimated to outlast the ships service period by a factor of 15. With proper care and maintenance. And barring any accidents.

Death[edit | edit source]

With the advancement of science, new ways of cheating death became available. No longer potential victims of fate or luck had to hold on to life to be saved but now could be called back even after death. While many religions found some of those ways unethical, economical profits and mankind's natural fear of death helped them become regularly and openly practised especially in environments where there was shortage of properly trained personnel, such as space colonies, stations or high-class star ships.

Cloning[edit | edit source]

See Cloning.

Most controversial of them all, an idea stemming from the almost ancient past became improved upon to the extent allowing total recreation of organism from just a couple of samples, including general knowledge and skills of the subject at the moment of sample-harvesting. Additionally, newer models of DNA-restructurizing equipment became connected to some of ship's components providing general outline of the events happening in the timespan between a person's DNA backup and their original death, allowing for, for example, technical personnel to quickly return to work.

At the same time though, cloning is being looked down upon by some as there is no way for practitioners of most religions or otherwise spiritual people to make sure whether it's really the person - including the soul - who gets another chance to live or just a copy, completely different human being with memories, raising, experiences and skills stolen from the individual who already passed permanently (or, depending on belief, is on his way to be reborn traditional way).

Cyborgization[edit | edit source]

See Also: Cyborgification Contracts, Cyborgification Regulations

Common name given to the process of transplanting subject's brain into machine body. If done properly, patient becomes half-machine and so, such procedure is being undertaken only in case of emergency and/or with both patient's and his commanding officer's permission. Reason for that lies in trauma caused by existence in the shell so different from regular human body. Because mechanical bodies are created with practicality and efficiency in mind, they lack substitutes of many organs or glands and so, have limited possibilities of feeling - both by senses and feeling of emotions. Additionally, to prevent situations where traumatized - or even brought to the brink of insanity - cyborg would start wreaking havoc, all standard models have coded blockades in the form of Laws (typically hard coded into artificial intelligence personalities). Aside from that, cyborgs created for specific tasks in the same facilities usually share their own communication channels and are permanently connected and commanded by main computer and it's AI, although they still possess some degree of autonomous behaviour in case of lack of any watcher (even if it's greatly limited as by default those machines often are to be just extension of an AI construct). It should be noted that to cut on costs of deploying specialized cyborg models, general frame is first constructed and then outfitted for it's job. This way, no new cyborg model series has to be created for every work necessary.

Becoming a cyborg is usually undertaken by desperate people, strongly driven by their devotion to their work and corporation, or simply those who take the perspective of losing a large part of their own humanity lightly.

Research[edit | edit source]

Artificial Gravity[edit | edit source]

In early 2500, after several catastrophic losses of life caused by malfunctioning prototype gravity plates1, NanoTrasen stood at a minor crisis. Their entire fleet of ships and stations had been laid out with the decks parallel to the thrust provided, thus preventing the use of inertial gravity. With grav-plating proving unviable, and crews proving unwilling to work in zero-gravity2, a new solution had to be found. NanoTrasen approached this with a characteristically... Lateral.. Solution3.

NanoTrasen's fledgling Cloning Laboratory located the corpse of infamous 20th century reality bender MC Escher, and ordered him to find a solution. Applying his particular brand of insane genius, he was able to utilise inertial gravity in spite of the obvious physical difficulties. Despite some early psychological issues4, which resulted in the thruster units being sealed away from the crew to hide the issue, this solution worked wonderfully. Mr Escher - or a clone of him - is now happily working in the Blue Space Research Division, where he is very happy5.

1: See Incident Report 75-AXB-12H-FINEPASTE

2: Logged crew remarks include: "Oh Christ, the lab monkey's been sick again..." "GAAAH! Why do they not teach the difference between mass and weight at crate handling school?" and "Dear Christ pouring sulphuric acid in zero-g hurts!" The only positive evaluation was received from the Security division, who reported that with proper bracing it was now possible to knock a suspect the length of a primary hallway with a good baton swipe.

3: Cross-reference: Singularity Drive (destroyed); Crew Morale Program (abandoned following Clown Riots); Employment Pre-Screening Checks (still outsourced to Lucky 8 Ball).

4: Audio log: "CAPTAIN! Oh god!" "Remain calm, crewman, there's nothing to worry about.." "Captain, you just walked out of a light switch, and are now standing on the wall." "This closet is full of stars! Who BUILT this thing!"

5: Employee Happiness Measurement Accounting techniques not available at your pay grade - nevertheless, all employees are happy.

Psionics[edit | edit source]

Since ancient times people believed in forces and phenomena not tied to the material plan of existence and different orders, cults or research institutes were exploring notions and possibilities connected to such beliefs. Over years many occult paths leading supposedly to the ascension or command over mystical forces unknown to grey masses were developed but only one, grounded the most in scientific background surfaced and had drawn interest of corporation executives. Psionics, allowing access to the great power through rigorous training - usually backed up (and in even more extreme cases, substituted with) high-level grade implants connected to the brain and nervous system - offered greatness to those who were determined, possessing proper mindset giving them necessary potential, bold and rich enough to try to claim it. While as a serious area of research with importance big enough to grant industrial uses, psionic is young and so - very crude, recent developments in high energy systems and DNA restructurization (mostly discovered by NanoTrasen mega-corporation) are like a promise for it's bright future.

Space Sleeping Disorder[edit | edit source]

Space Sleeping Disorder (SSD) is a common condition affecting about 50-60% of humanity. It is caused by the combination of a lack of day/night cycle on board spacecraft, the presence of the inky black void in all directions, and long hours. In these conditions, in some individuals, adenosine production is stunted, and the human body "forgets" to become tired and want to sleep. When SSD occurs, the person afflicted, after working for long periods, suddenly has the overwhelming desire to sleep. This is caused by the body realizing that it needs sleep and producing vast amounts of adenosine. Once they fall asleep, the sleep is intensely deep, and they cannot be roused. The person wakes up normally about 8-12 hours later.

A variant of SSD is known as Rapid Onset Space Sleeping Disorder (or ROSSD). This occurs frequently in those working on extremely long shifts with a lack of stimulation. In ROSSD, the body, instead of creating an intense sensation of tiredness, instantly falls into deep REM sleep. This usually happens during periods of no stress or stimulation, but occurrences of this during more "exciting" times have been reported. Due to its resemblance to the popular conception of narcolepsy, ROSSD is occasionally mislabelled as "space narcolepsy". A somewhat uncommon term for people who have this occur is that they have been "rossed". Some sufferers have mistakenly been declared "braindead", however, ROSSD causes no damage to the brain or body on its own, barring any external trauma from the sudden loss of control or the body hitting the ground. Once asleep, there is no fundamental difference between ROSSD-caused sleep and SSD-caused sleep.