The Solar System
Star: Sol
# of Planets: 7

Type: Terra
Average Temperature: 70 F
# from Sol: 3rd
Natural Satellites: 1 (Bela)
Standard Hours in a Day: 23
Days in a Year: 390
Year of First Human Settlement: 3012
Humanoid Government: United Federation (U.F)

Type: Desert
Average Temperature: 100 F
# from Sol: 2nd
Natural Satellites: 2 (Galen ; Gavin)
Standard Hours in a Day: 48
Days in a Year: 172
Year of First Human Settlement: 3027
Humanoid Government: Planetary Alliance (P.A.)

History

In 3026, a cruising colony ship, headed twoard a neighboring system, became sidetracked and was accidentally transported through an uncharted wormhole. Lost and stranded in an unknown galaxy, the ship landed on a likely looking planet, Venhydra, and began settling down for life in the alien system. As the population grew and colonists began travelling to the other planets, a larger and more complex government began to form, and so the United Federation was born. Fifteen years later, a group of rebellious colonists, unhappy with the Federation's rule, split away and formed their own government upon the nearby desert planet of Tanari, set for a revolution ; the Planetary Alliance. The rival governments each have their own planets, colonies, forces, armies, and citizens. Each government seeks to abolish and destroy the other, and thus the battle reigns. [More on Lost Colony Governments]

Weapons

Weapons range widely and are constantly being updated and improved. Make up whatever you like in this area.. but keep it realistic. Most hand guns are short range, so you can't shoot ships out of the air, they can't blow up whole buildings, they can't blast your opponnent into millions of pieces. Guns are the most common, ranging from laser, phaser, solid ammo, blasters, grenades, and anything else you can think of. Remember that this is in the far future, solid ammunition (like bullets) is probably uncommon. Most would run on and fire energy or lasers.

- Chemical Weapons - these types of weapons are usually small, powerful and take on the appearance of a normal object. Powerful chemicals are somehow transfered to the opponent either through the skin or by inhalation, knocking them out. They may only be used at close range, usually no more than a few inches away and rarely are used to kill. Be inventive. These chemicals can be hidden practically anywhere and used whenever the attacker gets close enough. There is normally a limit to the number of uses. The smaller the storage object, the less usage..(ex: a ring would probably only be used 3-5 times) Be sure that the chemicals are contained.. they can just as easily afflict the carrier as the target...

- Light Sabres - These are rare, expensive, only useful in close combat, and not easily weilded without training. More of an ornament than an actual weapon.

Transportation

- Land Vehicles - All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), the most common on-land device, usually used for short distances and are easy to fix. Hover Bikes are less common, hovering about 2 feet off the ground, they are fast and good over rough and unstable terrain but are costly, and parts are not easily found. There are other similar land devices, less common, that are specialized for certain terrain or certain amounts of passengers. (ex: dune buggy for the outlands of Tanari)

- Shuttle - small transport vehicles, usually seating only about 30 for short trips. Short range weapons and a moderate shield.

- Fighters - These vary greatly, most are small and agile with sophisticated weaponry. Can seat anywhere from one to four. Fighters are constantly being updated and improved as technology advances. They have moderate shields but rely mainly on evasion of their opponent. Usually, only trained pilots have the skill to fly this sensitive type of machine.

- Carriers - Consider these ships cosmic yachts. Owned by the maurauding rich, impressively built, heavily sheilded, and the constant target of pirates. Most have decent speed and moderate weapons for defense.

- Cargo - These vessles are massive, usually at least twenty times the size of a small fighter. Also a target of pirates, but less so than Carriers.. these ships carry basic supplies from system to system but rarely anything of very great value. Although these giants are heavily armed, they are very slow and cumbersome, like a snail, relying on their armor instead of their speed as a defense.

- Transporter - Used almost entirely on equiptment or supplies, this device breaks down the energy of the object upon it's pad and reforms it upon it's set destination. It may be used with humans over short distances, but is generally not trusted with the human body, in case the molecules get mixed up and the person returns with an ear on their shoulder.. etc..

Sheilds/Protection

Sheilds, generally, are either solid or energy. Solid sheilds are made usually of tough metal or something similar, but do not hold up to a dedicated attack..they are more useful in deflecting the occasional misfire. Energy sheilds are more useful, deflecting OR absorbing any fire. Energy sheilds are generally very thick,layered and strong over large ships and buildings because there is room to house the sheild energies. Temporary sheilds may be set up quickly over a specific area, with conductors surrounding the area needed, with the energy source in the center, forming a bubble. Personal sheilds (that is, they surround a single person and move with them) are much weaker because in order to be carried about, the energy source must be small... so either personal sheilds are fairly strong, holding up to moderate weapons, but only last a a very short time,(2 minutes) or weak, holding up to lesser weapons (stun phasers, rocks..etc) for a longer period of time (15 minutes)

Food

Food, as always, ranges widely. Soldiers would be more likely to carry food supplements, or the nutrients that they would get from a meal, in case of emergency. Food stations can be presumed all over both planets which most things can be ordered by simply punching in, or saying what you want. The ordered meal will usually appear in the window. (as in Star Trek..) Liquids are essential, as they always have been, to the human body. There are few, if any, good substitues for water and some liquid should be carried, especially because of their active lifestyle.

Supplies

A large cargo ship from one of the neighboring systems passes through every two months. Yurteci, the (non-human) merchant is quite the dealer and anything for sale is usually over- priced, although the quality is usually reliable. He sells anything from food, and small, simple devices to used parts and ships. He will sell to anyone, Fed or Rebel and takes no intrest in the system war, except that it gives him good sales in weapons. He may buy but only at very low prices. Smaller carriers pass by, but less frequently.

Currency

Outright trade is one of the more common and cheaper types of buisiness transaction in intergalactic sales, used frequently on large freight ships which deal largely in used and illegal goods. Currency, however, is used more often with newer and larger purchases with which it would be difficult to find an equivilent trade and base materials used for the building of goods. Currency varies from system to system, but the universally accepted unit for long distance trade is the Intergalactic Bit, also called variously: IB's, IGB's, Bits, chips, and credits (a name used for many types of currency). Unit sizes can be practically any amount, and may either be used at their fixed value or programmed up to a specific amount depending upon it's storage capacity. The units themselves are usually small square chips, essentially undamagable and easily read by any scanner type.

Medicine

Ironically, like weapons, medicine is constantly being reinvented, improved.. remaining one of the most sophisticated areas of study. Small injuries, like muscle tears, lacerations, surface wounds, or even broken bones are easily fixed, some by injections to stimulate the natural repair process, others by a machine which actually sends particles through the skin too mend the problem in a quick fix.
Genetic enhancements are common, but not neccissarily flawless. Sight, hearing, and touch can be strengthened, bones can be replaced with steel rods. Organs can be replaced with machines that work the same way.. simply to stregthen the system... organ replacements will not make the person faster or stronger... With any enhancement of a sense, there is usually a small loss from another sense. For example, if a person's eyesight is enhanced, their hearing may decrease a small amount..and vice versa.

Technology

You cannot make something out of nothing. This should be remembered when making up any sort of technology. People cannot see through walls, neither can machines.. Machines can, however, be programmed to scan for certain things. Heat, weapons, life forms, the type of air , etc.. Some objects have deflectors to bounce these sensory waves back. I reccomend, that if you are unsure of whether your technology is too advanced, just leave a message in Badhbh's Lair, I will decide.

- Droids - There have been a few complications about droids. Exactly how smart can they be? Do they have a sense of good and bad? A sense of humor? So, with the generous help of the droid-players, we have made a set of basic rules for the droid-newcomer to follow.
1.) Droids have no sense of emotion. They can sense emotion in others but may not experience it themselves. This includes humor, love, hate, fear etc..
2.) Droids have no sense of good or evil. They may define it, but do not act upon it, because, like emotion, they cannot feel it. Therefore, no 'evil' droids getting out of hand and taking over the world. (*cough* Matrix)
3.)Droids are not magic. They are programmed to do specific things, whether that be attack any creature of a certain race upon sight, or clean bathrooms.
4.)Droids may reprogram themselves if they were damaged.. but only if they were programed to re-program themselves in the first place. They may, however, not change the way they were originally programmed.. only fix themselves. So they cannot make themselves smarter, stronger etc.. without the permission of their creator or programmer.
If you have any difficulties with these rules, please discuss them with me at Badhbh's lair and I will revise them if I see fit..

- Holograms - Regular holograms, unlike the Invisibility holograms (below) project creatures or objects that are not there, rather than hiding ones that are. Depending on the complexity of the device, a hologram may depict anything from ships, to landscapes, to people. However, holograms always have some defect to clue the watcher that the image is not real. This may be a slight wave in the image, a slight translucence, a speech defect or choppiness. Also, like sheilds, the projector has to be stored somewhere near the hologram in order to work. Holograms cannot simply wander about by themselves. Fortunately, holograms take up much less energy than a shield and last much longer, although they must be charged regularly if not connected to a continuous power source. Human holograms, while they may take the appearance of touching solid objects, may only actaully pick up pre-made holographic objects.

- Invisibility - Yes, there are devices that can make invisible or 'cloak' objects. They are very similar to shields and the same basics apply. This feature works by shining a hologram onto the chosen object, whether it be a ship, building, person or piece of machinery. However, it is much more difficult for these devices to work on moving objects, because it must take the time to recognize, scan and shine the backround image onto the target. Anything that moves, including ships and humans, will be seen a blurred and distorted image. These holograms do not disguise tracks (footprints), sounds, or the fact that the object is solid. From certain angles, shadows may be seen. The typical small human invisibility device works for only a few minutes at a time, depending on the size. The common hand-held device will grant invisiblity for only a maximum of 60 seconds...enough to get away but not enough to stay hidden.

Nothing will make a person invincible.. no matter if they have genetic enhancements, awsome guns, armor, or ships.. every character has their weakness and may be injured some way or another..