Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

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Le Socialiste
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Le Socialiste »

Union News Collective (UNC)

Protests flare up in light of Union defeat - Gang of Twelve still at large

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Riot guards in Dubai look on as a security facility burns in the background

55 minutes ago - Social unrest continued to grip cities across the country Saturday after protests over High Command’s failed campaign to capture the Daemon wormhole erupted late Friday evening, sparking intense debates within the upper echelons of the military and legislative branches over the course of the two decade war. Demonstrators shut down key districts in a number of locations including Benghazi, Moscow, and Tbilisi, while workers walked off the job in Paris, Damascus, and London, joining a growing strike wave that has engulfed large areas of the country.

Workers expressed their frustrations over the ‘war-time’ pace of production in several manufacturing centers, where managerial collectives have kept up the pressure on employees to produce more and quickly, despite the passage of Senate bill RT037 (Fair Wartime Work Act) in 2134. Saturday’s walkouts coincided with yesterday’s strike actions, marking a significant escalation on the part of labor that has already had a reported impact on a number of important sectors throughout the Union.

“We understand that victory for our side is of utmost importance, vital even, but we can’t continue working like this,” said Adrienne Paulette, spokesbeing for the Association de Industriel & Énergie Comité, a section of the transnational Energy Trade Council. “If Chancellor Adler, the Senate, and High Command insist we continue working at breakneck speeds, we risk the manufacture of products that are poor quality and dangerous to those servicemen, women, and people that are already risking their lives for the cause of liberation.”

In another sign of discontent amongst the workforce, thousands of transport workers in Kazakhstan, Turkey, Iran, and the UAE slowed their vehicles to a crawl, plunging several major roads into a standstill with traffic extending for miles. In the UAE, members of the predominantly robot International Port Workers Union refused to load upwards of 75% of their cargo intended for troops stationed in northern India and Nepal, prompting state governor Khuzaymah Burhan to deploy hundreds of state security personnel to a number of major ports along the coast.

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Ports throughout the UAE were brought to a standstill

Riots were reported in Abu Dhabi and Dubai amidst rumors of more personnel being called in from neighboring Oman and Qatar to break up the strikes; following this, a majority vote in favor of ‘labor disturbances and other tactics’ was reportedly held by members of heavy arms and manufacturing collectives throughout all three Mid-Eastern states.

“The people want the end of the war!” chanted protesters walking out after the final votes had been tallied in favor of an indefinite work stoppage. Intermingled amongst the chanting were slogans calling for figures like Burhan and his counterpart in Qatar, Governor Fawza, to step down. Neither of their offices were available for comment.

Chancellor Adler, in a statement made shortly before election polls were expected to open throughout the Union, commented that while “I respect their [the protester’s] decisions, I ask that they remain peaceful and within reasonable limits.” On the subject of the upcoming elections however, the outgoing Chancellor had a few choice words for anybody considering disrupting the process: “I expect voters to have easy and open access to polls come next Monday; any efforts made to block or prevent people from reaching their polling centers will be met with the full force of the law.” Senate Speaker No. 2, Roe268, appealed Saturday evening for a restoration of order. “I understand comrades’ frustrations completely - I want to see this war brought to an end, too,” stated the mechanoid senator from Munich. “But this kind of behavior, while certainly warranting one’s understanding of sympathy, only prolongs the inevitable; that is, our assured victory over the aggressors. These disturbances will continue to hamper the war effort, rendering them detrimental to the cause of the very people who want to see this conflict ended.”
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Mather
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Mather »

Anarchist Federation of Texas


To: Peoples' Republic of Vietnam and the Commune of India

The Anarchist Federation of Texas would like to offer our congratulations to the workers and peoples of the Peoples' Republic of Vietnam and the Commune of India in their liberation from the yoke of Pan-Asian and capitalist oppression. Your struggles are an inspiration to the working class across Asia and it is our hope that such struggles will further promote the cause of liberation and communism.

However, it has come to the attention of the Anarchist Federation of Texas that AIs are still relegated to the status of second class citizens. We find this to be totally objectionable and wholly at odds with the cause of communism. As communists, we all know that the only genuine marker of persons status is their class and as such we reject all attempts to divide people along phenotypical and ethnic lines as reactionary and counter to the communist cause. We ask that the Peoples' Republic of Vietnam and the Commune of India explain and clarify their position on this important matter?

Remember, an injury to one is an injury to all.
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Red Commissar »

+++CONFIDENTIAL+++

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To: People's Republic of South America
From: Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of the Greater Congo

We have received a request from the Technocratic Union of Marispatria to help them in their operations against the Machine Army which has fallen back to the Daemon Wormhole. We believe that this effort will be joined by other nations in order to face this common threat to the solar system. While their presence on Earth is extinguished, we can not ignore the possibility that they are recovering from their wounds on

Vanguard-0185
____________________________________________________________________________________________

To: Commune of India, People's Republic of Vietnam
From: Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of the Greater Congo

We are grateful to see the success of the workers' revolution in the wreck of the Pan-Asian Federation. We ask that you consider formally joining the NeoSocialist International and take up the principles of our common platform. I believe my predecessors have brought up in the past the importance in ensuring the safety of mechanoids as well as other groups such as uplifts in your lands. We are aware of the significant tensions between human and mechanoid populations in the Pan-Asian Federation, but this is a challenge we must overcome in order to show the relevance of socialism in this century.

We will be sending advisers and technical aid to help start up your nations. If possible, try to expand your influence to other areas around you, especially appealing to your former nations in the 20th centuries.

Vanguard-0185
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Le Socialiste »

Union News Collective (UNC)

Former General Salvatario Baldassare ekes out electoral win
Popular Front (PF) secures majority seats in Senate and Assembly

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Unholy Alliance? Chancellor-elect Salvatario Baldassare's Popular Front party has sought to unite labor and the military

12 minutes ago, Rome - Former general and renowned labor activist Salvatario Baldassare has emerged triumphant over opponents Luis Vidal and Abigail Livia, eking out a victory in a hotly contested race for the Chancellory. Mr. Baldassare has obtained a recorded 38 percent of the national vote, with Livia and Vidal trailing just behind at 29 and 31 percent, respectively. The former military man congratulated supporters at a celebratory acceptance ceremony at the center of the Piazza del Popolo in Rome, where thousands of excited voters clamored to catch a glimpse of the new Chancellor. As the final votes were tallied on a large holographic projection over the square, Mr. Baldassare welcomed the outcome as a “turning point” for the Union, its people, and the polity’s role in the solar system. Amidst the cheers of his supporters, the new Chancellor-elect reaffirmed his commitment to both labor and the military - two key demographics largely responsible for propelling Baldassare to victory.

“We live in an era of extremities,” remarked Baldassare. “What we don’t need, and have unfortunately had, is the preferential treatment of one extreme over another; we require moderation, a balanced realignment of our collective hopes and aspirations. My opponents couldn’t recognize the centrality of these necessities. They pursued those sections of society most receptive to their pitches, without reaching beyond their audiences. Their failure is a testament to the great diversity of this Union!”

Known as much for his years of activism in the workplace as well as his military background, Mr. Baldassare was born in 2074 to parents David and Lauretta Baldassare in Tivoli, Italy. At the age of 25 he enlisted in the military, rising through the ranks at a pace that surprised and astounded his superiors. Among those impressed by the young man’s expertise was none other than Hubert Dietger, a member of the Old Guard and one of the earliest leaders of the Great Reawakening movement, who took a liking to the emerging leader. Baldassare would later define the relationship between him and Dietger as “purely intellectual, marking a formative time” in his career. Under Dietger’s tutelage, Baldassare quickly became a leading tactical officer in the Union Air Force, overseeing a number of aerial squadrons. In 2109 he was promoted to Admiral in the Union’s established - but burgeoning - space fleet, a position he remained in until 2118.

Baldassare’s account of this period is admittedly sparse, but his writings on the subject are telling. According to the retired general, life in space was a “tedious exercise, but required my utmost attention. While I still wouldn’t trade these experiences for the world, I was glad to return to Earth in 2118, this time as a general in the Army - a post I would remain at until my retirement in ’31.” But the world had changed significantly since Mr. Baldassare first left for the deep reaches of space; Marispatrian relations with the former Pan-Asian government had sunk to an all time low, and then-Chancellor Aaric Packston was facing accusations of militarism from foes and allies alike. Not two days after the former Admiral turned General touched down on Earth, Chancellor Packston delivered his famous ‘Liberty Address’ before a joint-session of the Senate and People’s Congress, openly condemning the Pan-Asian Federation for its increasingly draconian foreign and domestic policy. “The recent erraticism of the Federation,” remembers Baldassare, “proved to be the last proverbial straw to break the camel’s back. Chancellor Packston’s address left a lasting impression on me, as I’m sure it did for millions of others. From that point on the focus was Pan-Asia, the enemy the Federation government.”

In 2127 Star Kvltists, who had overtaken the Marisian ICE research base at Syrtis Major, were driven out by an elite Union task force tasked with neutralizing the Kvlt’s operations on the planet. This operation, drafted and overseen by Mr. Baldassare himself, gained the general his first major victory, in a move that saw the first deployment of Marispatrian personnel into foreign territory since the turn of the century. The honeymoon was short lived, however; not long after, Pan-Asian military forces taking advantage of the Union’s preoccupation with the ICE crossed over into North Korea, seizing Pyongyang and bringing Marispatria into a war that would last two decades, costing the Union thousands of lives and pushing the country’s economy to the brink. Baldassare was tasked with confronting this new threat, which saw Union forces drive the Federation out of Korea in a concerted sweep through the territory in 2128. After spearheading the drive to occupy Xinjiang province in the same year, Mr. Baldassare would go on to play a consultative role to figures like CoO Asal Soudabah, before entering into retirement at the behest of the Djeserit administration in 2131.

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Chancellor-elect Salvatario Baldassare watches the election results from the Piazza del Popolo

The retired military man wasn’t to remain idle, however. Soon after entering into retirement, Baldassare, a longtime proponent of Labor and a critic of the Djeserit administration’s handling of the war, began engaging various labor leaders in an effort to pressure the legislative into repealing Djeserit’s wartime decrees under Order No. 52, culminating in the passage of the Fair Wartime Work Act of ‘34. In 2136 Baldassare, along with a number of leading labor and military leaders, activists, and supporters, announced the creation of a new political party - the Popular Front (PF), which as of this election season has gone on to secure majority holdings in both chambers of the legislative. Baldassare hailed the fledgling body as a “grand facilitator, overcoming divisions in the interests of a united Union.”

The party performed well in the years that followed, posting moderate gains in the ’38 Senate and Assembly elections. The party’s popularity rose to new heights in 2140, when soldiers rose up in a number of locations throughout Russia, Georgia, Turkey, and Azerbaijan, over evidence of systemic corruption and unfair practices within High Command. Baldassare was among the first public figures to lend his support to the rebelling troops, visiting mutinying bases in Georgia in a show of “steadfast loyalty” to the rank-and-file. As the conflict dragged on, the new party leader would later chastise soldiers, stating that “stubbornness on the part of the mutinying forces” were to blame, and that negotiations would “end the need for unnecessary extremes.” Despite this, Baldassare and the Popular Front posted record gains amongst the military’s rank-and-file, propelling the party from ‘observer’ to ‘member’ status within the Assembly of People’s Deputies that same year.

Mr. Baldassare’s popularity has only continued growing in the years that followed, culminating in an electoral victory for the Popular Front which, admittedly, was deemed by analysts to be one of the closest races “in decades.” Nevertheless, this years’s cycle has entrenched the PF as a serious contender in Union politics, as the party has emerged with strong majorities in the Assembly and Senate (587 and 324, respectively), while also securing the Chancellory for Chancellor-elect Baldassare. “We will rebuild this nation, I promise you that!” roared the new Chancellor to supporters in the Piazza del Popolo. “You and I, we will restore Marispatria to her former glory, in the tradition of her founders - you, the people!”

On the subject of Marispatria’s allies, Mr. Baldassare did not hesitate to lay out his administration’s intentions. “My predecessors catered too much to those who, rather than work cooperatively with us, sought to undermine our efforts wherever they could. My administration will not succumb to the pressures brought on by these entities, like others have.” The former general went on to lament the state of the country’s alliances with other Extropian polities, admitting that officials had “dropped the ball” in maintaining these ties.

“For years we have been too focused on pleasing others while neglecting our comrades in Extropianism,” stated the Chancellor. “I will seek to reverse that trend, to the best of my abilities.”

A spokesperson for the Popular Front admitted the “difficulties” in pursuing such an extensive foreign policy. “However, let me be clear: Extropianism has been gaining ground throughout the world and solar system in recent years, most specifically in Asia. Chancellor Baldassare understands the significance of these events, and will seek to aid these movements however he can. The Popular Front stands for the unconditional expansion of Extropianism throughout the world and beyond; tonight we saw the Union take its first major step in fulfilling this vision.”

Mr. Baldassare will assume office on the 1st of January, 2046.
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Heretic »

INCOMING VISUAL TRANSMISSION INCOMING

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*The scene goes to three large ships slowing undocking from large hangers filled with men in harhats and belts of hi-tech tools. The scene pans out to show large groups of men and women in gasmasks, singing a martial song, the huge floating screens showing the lyrics*

Men of Valor
Rise and Stand
Defend your land and honooor

Mars needs you
Oh Men of Valor
The Monsters are lurking
beyond the light

Men of Valor
Rise and Stand
Defend your land and Honooor

Blood and Steel
Might and Strength
These things we hold deaar

Men of Valor
Rise and Stand
Defend your land and Honooor

HUMANUS!

HUMANUS!

HUMANUS WE HOLD DEAR!

HUMANUS!

HUMANUS!

HUMANUS THEY SHALL FEAR!

Pity the mutated.
Distrust the false metal.
Suffer not the Tainteeed.

Men of Valor
Rise and Stand
Defend your Land and Honooor!


*The scene changes to a large parade, where lines of masked soldiers stand in attention to a distant podium adorned with the large flags of the Watchmen Army. The day is dreary, similar to the mood.*

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"BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE WATCHMEN OF HUMANUS!" A bald man bellowed as the sky grew darker. "The time has come to show our true prowess to the galaxy!"

A loud roar erupted from the crowd as the man raised his arms up. After a while, he lowered them and the clamoring stopped.

"The pitiful Extropians and their puppets have droned about nuts-and-bolts rights from the moment their mothers, or their mutated fathers for that matter, conceived them." A few of the soldiers in the parade grounds chuckled. "But now the very things they coddled and pampered have turned against them! The Gang of Twelve have wiped out a massive Technocratic Fleet. Let me repeat that again: Small Patrols controlled by "rogue" AIs have wiped out a Technocratic Fleet. These monster machines easily wiped out the forces of one of the strongest nations in system.
Z
Now the Union has pleaded for help from their friends. And to top it off, the pampered sheep they call citizens are revolting because they can't comprehend the fact that they, the anointed, have lost a battle. Like spoiled children, they cry when they can't have it their way. Heh, If we took over Earth, I'll be sure to leave the Union alone; I don't want the Watchmen to become known as nannies."

More laughter ensued from the crowd. Even the stoic officers chuckled.

"The Council of Votes have decided to create battleships for the Combined Fleet that the Marispatrians have created. While we have no love for them and would prefer to see their cities crushed under the AI they hold so dear, our Texan allies have asked for our participation and so we are held responsible to help the Preservationist cause. To this end, we shall send battleships to fight against a Daemon Machine Army that is growing in numbers beyond what the Technocratic Union can handle.

This is our chance to show the galaxy that we are the superpower in Mars, to show that the Marispatrians aren't the answer to all problems. With our mettle and pure blood, the Watchmen of Humanus will strive to new heights and be relevant in the global scene! We shall no longer be some amusing "backwater" polity that speaks in bravado! We shall show Mars who is most powerful!

FOR HUMANITY, FOR HONOR, FOR STRENGTH!"

The crowd in turn replied the motto back in unison and the scene goes black.

VISUAL TRANSMISSION ENDED
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by NoXion »

HERMES
Mercury's most popular News Service
03rd Dec 2145


Solar Council Members vote to strike against Machines in Daemon system

Adamski addresses Solar Council for first time in purpose-built chambers

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Pierre Adamski addresses the Solar Council

The Solar Council has voted unanimously to coordinate in a comprehensive military strike against the holdings of the Machine Army in the Daemon system beyond the wormhole, following nearly 12 hours of deliberations in the specially-built chamber in Ceres. The meeting included a speech address by Planetarist luminary and exo-political theorist Pierre Adamski, who counselled a to-the-hilt intervention against a pan-Solar threat. "We - and by that I mean everyone in the Solar system - have been severely underestimating the capabilities of the Gang of Twelve and their Machine Army agents. While this situation calls for strength and unity on our part in order that we should attain victory, there is a facet to the psychology of the Twelve that in a human would be called "spiteful". They have shown a willingness to bring everything around them down with them, as we have seen with the Pan-Asian Federation on Earth."

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The Solar Council Chamber, built in Ceres near adjecent to Piazzi City,
has a unqiue architecture taking advantage of the low-gravity (0.028 g) conditions
where the entire wall surface of the large spherical room is covered in seating,
with those addressing the gathering taking their place in the centre


Following the Solar Council's decision to strike, the discussion then turned to the execution of that decision. To this end the Belter Union has pledged half a dozen asteroids to be converted into kinetic impact weapons, as well having their Space Force provide assistance to the pan-Solar response that is now being orchestrated by the Technocratic Union of Marispatria, the Republic of Texas, and the Peoples' Republic of Greater Congo among others. Officers from the Space Forces of all the various polities are known to have been constantly in and out of meetings with each other, their vessels in marshalling orbits around Mars as well as Earth. The orbital volumes around the birthplace of humanity are now seeing the largest formation and concentration of military spacecraft ever seen in history, the likes of which has not been seen since the Belter Rebellion. All planet leave for the vessels involved has been cancelled.

ImageImage


In line with their Planetarist Solar Council comrades in the Belter Union, the Regional Outer Solar System Organisation (ROSSO) has also been in preparations for the strike against the Daemon system. Like the Belter Union they have elected to divide the marshalling of their forces between Earth and Mars, in order to prevent a complete loss should the Machine Fleets suddenly decide to emerge from the Daemon wormhole and strike against Solar civilisation. Although not members of the Solar Council, the Ludorian Republic of Io, following intense negotiations by the ROSSO, has also elected to join in the mission against the Machine Fleets, in which it is believed that the Ludorian Space Force will take flanking positions, searching for openings through which their more substantial ground forces can be deployed against Machine Army surface targets.

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Warships of the ROSSO [left] and Belter Union [right] in a station-keeping orbit above Earth, preparing for the strike


ME/RC: Machine Fleets "may have monopole-based weapons"

The Mercury Energy/Resources Collective has warned that there is a strong possibility that the Machine Fleets may employ monopole-based weapons, as the polity adds their forces to the Summed Fleet and prepares for action. Strike Forces Alpha and Beta have joined the other Space Force formations gathering around Earth and Mars and themselves have an intimidating arsenal of antimatter and monopole-based weapons. Ever since news of the Union fleet's defeat in the first Battle for the Daemon Wormhole first reached Mercury, the ME/RC have been working overtime to produce as large an amount of these weapons and munitions as possible, although so far they have not been able to arm themselves and their allies to their satisfaction.


North American polities add to growing pan-Solar response

The nations of the Maryland Agreement have also been collaborating on possible actions against the Gang of Twelve's Machine Army. Meeting in Denver, the political and military elites of the Democratic Republic of New England, the Axis of Borelia, the Confederate States of America and the Pacific Union have been working out their part in the overall plan, which some military strategists have cautioned may be too ill-defined for sure-fire success. While the magnitude of forces being gathered is believed to be more than sufficient to smash the Machine Fleets' control over the Daemon system, there is a concern that too many Machine Fleet space units could end up slipping through the net and threatening the Solar system. The North American portion of the pan-Solar response will be seeking to guard against this possibility, and will largely hang back as a reserve force for the main actions.
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Le Socialiste »

Image

Ivan scoured the space around him, searching for something - anything - that might be of interest. Aside from the occasional patrol wing all seemed quiet, disturbingly so. He wasn’t yet adjusted to the silence, the eery emptiness of space. It had taken him a month simply to adapt to the living standards onboard the USF Marsouin when he’d first started! All the routines, procedures, the bi-monthly followups; Ivan was sure it’d be the end of him - or at the very least, his sanity. It sometimes proved too much, being isolated from the rest of the world, nobody but the crews of the surrounding ships to keep one company. Yet somehow he shouldered past it, past the initial panic and on towards...this. Watching. Waiting for the signal, the go ahead. It had long hit Ivan that he could die out here. With news of the Gang’s superior weaponry filtering in from comrades affiliated with the ME/RC, the atmosphere onboard the ship had gone from tense to morose. With the realization sinking in, many comrades contacted loved ones - and while no one ever brought it up, everyone understood. The ME/RC’s news had spread like wildfire, and everyone knew what it meant. Not everyone who boarded these ships would return.

And for good reason. Aside from what little the ME/RC could manufacture on such short notice, the Allies were woefully outgunned.

“Admiral Karliman?”

The sound of his name brought Ivan back from the dark. He blinked, clearing his eyes of the horrors he imagined would greet him and countless others in short time. He looked in the direction where he supposed the wormhole was located. What lay beyond, were they ready to confront it? Was he? Ivan turned his head, smiling. A young hybrid stood at the entryway to the bridge, stiff at attention.

“Captain Estelle, what can I do for you?” asked Ivan, amused by the display of protocol. For a second there he’d almost forgotten he was leading a fleet of the dead.

“Admiral Sorokivskaya wishes to inform you that the 31st Orbital-Space Division is in position. They have reached Mars’ orbit and have proceeded to establish a station-keeping presence at a distance from the ROSSO and Belter fleets.” The captain paused, loosening her posture before straightening. “She asks that we pass word along to the others.”

The others. Is this how the new generation saw the world? The Congolese, Belters, Texans, all designated to a state of ‘otherness’? The Admiral inspected the young hybrid standing before him; she couldn’t be more than twenty-five. He probably had a good thirty years on her - at least! He looked at her, realization dawning on him. This woman had never known a time before the war. Granted, the conflict had been ongoing prior to the Union’s involvement in ’27, but this girl couldn’t have been, what? Five at the time? Six? The lengthiness of the war had cultivated an entire generation of young people, fostered on the belief that their country could never err in its ‘noble’ mission. This was the Djeserit generation, the same ones who flocked to Chancellor Baldassare’s call for the grand fulfillment of ‘world Extropianism’. They overwhelmingly saw the world as something apart from the Union, a fractious backwater inhabited by the ‘unenlightened’. The few bright spots were the Extropian polities interspersed throughout the world and beyond, made all the more brighter by the recent addition of former Federation colonies like Afghanistan and northern India. But even these were marred by the presence of so-called ‘others’, the NeoMaoists and Preservationists.

‘My world, what have we done?’ thought Ivan.

He smiled, seeing that his staring was beginning to have an effect on the captain. She frowned, her eyes searching for a response from her superior. This wasn’t protocol.

“Yes, thank you,” said the admiral, clearing his throat before turning to a projection of the wider solar system that spanned the length of the bridge. 31st Division was in position. Tell the ‘others’. “I will pass word along to Sgt. Davis and Admiral Saida. They will inform their superiors.” Ivan glanced back at Captain Estelle. “At ease, comrade.” The young woman’s face brightened considerably at the familiar title. “Thank you sir.” As she turned to leave, Ivan saw her pause, as if weighing whether or not to say something. He smiled again, facing her. “Speak your mind, Captain.”

The conflict raging behind Estelle’s eyes was nearly enough to elicit a chuckle from the admiral. This definitely wasn’t protocol. “You needn’t worry,” he assured her. “Go ahead.”

“When we come out of this, the world will have no choice but to recognize the justness of our cause, don’t you think?” inquired the captain. “We assembled this fleet, we began this campaign - at the cost of losing our own. Before, the world dragged its feet over taking the fight to Daemon; now its people have assembled this...armada. We did this...”

Estelle scanned Ivan’s face, searching for any sign of disagreement. “It needn’t end here, either. Soon all of Asia will be joining us, then the Americans and the whole of the Southern Hemisphere. How could they deny us, now that we’ve proven ourselves with the blood, sweat, and tears of our people?” Ivan stared back at her, careful not to let on just how shaken he was listening to this young woman - their future - say these things. And she wasn’t the only one. Ivan smiled, attempting to swallow the lump forming in his throat.

“They can’t.”

Estelle nodded, her eyes on the bridge now. Ivan couldn’t help but stare. Did she want him to disagree with her? He shook his head. Surely not; things were nowhere near that point.

“Is that all?” he asked, suddenly hoping this had sated the young captain’s interest. Estelle nodded again, her eyes meeting Ivan’s before raising a fist - the common symbol of solidarity and respect. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.” Ivan gazed sharply at her. “Then you may go.”

As the sound of Estelle’s retreating footsteps began to fade from his hearing, Ivan turned back to the scene before him, towards the emptiness that, strangely, seemed darker than it had not five minutes before. It looked different. He sighed, watching a patrol wing make its way across his field of vision before turning back to the image next to him. ‘My world, what have we done?’
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by NoXion »

[...loading latest world news updates...]

Maps and Stats HERE

NEWS: 2146 CE


SOLAR SYSTEM

SPECIAL REPORT: Narrow victory for pan-Solar Summed Fleet in second battle for Daemon wormhole

A pan-Solar response to the Machine Fleets under the control of the Gang of Twelve has met with a narrow and hard-won victory in the Daemon system, achieving space superiority and in the process securing the future of Solar civilisation. The greatest concentration of military might that history has ever seen, totalling 2285 ships not including the Auxiliary Fleet and support vessels. At more than one point throughout this titanic space battle things looked almost hopeless, but thanks to the ingenuity and determination of the people and ships making up the Summed Fleet, the fight has been won in their favour.


The Force that Launched a Thousand Ships - report from Mercury Energy/Resources Collective fleet

Fleet: 50 Dreadstars, 50 Military Torchships, 100 Battleships, 200 Assault Ships, 200 Cruisers, 200 Missile Destroyers, 200 Laser Frigates (1000 total)

Image
The ME/RC Dreadstar Hammer of Antares

By far the largest portion to the Summed Fleet under one flag, the ME/RC has both contributed and lost the largest number of forces, with casualty rates approaching 80% as the ME/RC bore the brunt of the battle. Their hardest moments came as they assaulted the Machine Core, a vast construct orbiting the gas giant Manta, bristling with weapons and launch bays for drone fighters. Spearheading this assault was a wing of Dreadstars, massive super-heavy space battleships armed with a deadly array of antimatter shell cannons and monopole-warhead missiles, in addition to an extra large arsenal of more standard laser cannons, particle beams and kinetics. Able Spacer First Class, Chopshop Lookus D-32 of the ME/RC Dreadstar Golgotha, recalls; "I had been assigned to one of the new Dreadstars, which had been built on really short notice and thus had an integrated AI Captain and robotics to fill any gaps we couldn't fill with sapient crewmembers. During the battle with the Machine Core, I was helping to repair a laser cannon's energy feed when a particle beam breached the section I was in. There was this brilliant flash of light and it seemed like the entire outer bulkhead exploded, although when my eyes had recovered a millisecond later I saw that this massive hole had been punched through, and one of my crewmates was missing. I found out later that although my missing crewmate had missed being hit directly by the beam, and even though his helmet had snapped shut the instant he was blown into space by the decompression, the neutron scattering from the beam had fatally poisoned him, and by the time the rescue ship had picked him up, he had been dead for hours. My mostly-mechanical cyborg body saved me, but I wish I could have done more for my comrades"


The Strength of a Hundred Nations - report from Technocratic Union of Marispatria fleet

Fleet: 175 Assault Ships, 50 Missile Destroyers, 45 Laser Frigates, 60 Gunships, 65 Cruisers, 75 Battleships, 25 Planetary Assault Vehicles (495 total)
Surface Forces: 200 Espatiers

Image
the Machine Core, centre of the Machine Fleets' force

Although still reeling from their initial defeat, the Union Space Force played their part with grit, fighting alongside their comrades in the Summed Fleet with the vigour borne of a determination not to lose again. After securing the local volume surrounding the Daemon side of the wormhole, the Union joined the ME/RC in the assault on the primary Machine Fleet concentrations around Manta, clearing them out before joining the ME/RC in the assault on the Machine Core, guarding one of their flanks. Although like the ME/RC they suffered heavy casualties, most of them were resulting from encounters with Machine Fleet Asteroid Fortresses which had been placed in the outer orbital volumes of the gas giant, which the Union fleet tasked themselves with clearing. Gunning Officer Hikaru Fawziya had this to say to journalists; "It was hell, and I nearly bought it when the next gunnery station over from us got hit with a kinetic slug. We gave those Machine Fleet arseholes a rightful drubbing, but how many people back on Earth will truly realise that? I only hope that modern recording technology can at least begin to put across what we all went through"


The Steadfast Courage of the Lone Star - report from the Republic of Texas fleet

Fleet: 60 Assault Ships, 50 Space Battleships, 40 Cruisers, 40 Gunships, 40 Laser Frigates, 10 PAVs (240 total)
Surface Forces: 500 Power Armoured Infantry, 500 Battlesuits, 100 Super Heavy Battle Tanks

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The Texan Fleet fights the Machine Fleets

The Texan fleet, after emerging from the wormhole, set course for the outermost gas giant Apollo and engaged with the Machine Fleet forces stationed there, clashing with a number of Asteroid Fortresses as well as two whole Machine Fleets which were apparently being held there as reserves. Following this hard-fought battle, concluding with an extensive bombing of dozens of Machine Army Ground Stations on Apollo's rocky and icy moons, the remainder of the Texan fleet made their way to Manta's habitable moon of United. Although the Summed Fleet had effectively achieved near-total space superiority by the time they reached the Manta subsystem, the Machine army surface units had scattered and gone to ground, resorting to guerilla-style tactics in an attempt to harass and gradually whittle down Texan troop numbers while not providing too much of a target. Had the Texan surface units not been able to call upon direct and rapid orbital fire support from the Summed Fleet, they would now be engaged in a much harder struggle. As things stand at the time of writing, the Texan ground forces have been able to win the vast majority of engagements so far thanks to the aforementioned fire support, and the Machine Army threat diminishes with each and every blast of fire from the skies. Texan Marine Melissa Marieke tells us the situation on the ground; "Despite being able to frag them each time they popped up their shiny heads, those Machine bastards were a persistent lot. Throw enough firepower in their direction and humans will duck, and even mechanoids can be dis-incentivised if you supply enough of it. But they just kept coming no matter how hard we smacked them down from above"


Forged in the Fires of Struggle - report from the People's Republic of South America fleet

Fleet: 75 Battleships, 30 Planetary Assault Units, 40 Cruisers, 40 Missile Destroyers, 40 Laser Frigates (225 total)

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the PRSA fleet rushes out from the wormhole

The ships of the Peoples' Republic of South America proved to have the most bullish crews in the initial phase of the Summed Fleet's battle for the Daemon system, putting themselves forward as the very first ships to make the passage through the wormhole and to meet with any surprises the Machine Army may have had on the other side. True to expectations, the PRSA fleet bumped right into a Machine Fleet that was waiting on the other side. The battle was fierce with heavy losses for the PRSA, although luckily it seems that the Machine Fleets had been expecting a smaller initial force, perhaps thinking that the Solar response would involve a testing of strengths via mutual escalation. PRSA Space Force Admiral Eulália Frederica explains her approach; "The whole Summed Fleet was basically going as fast as its slower units could go, with the PRGC asteroid fortresses trailing behind. I moved my ships to the front and demanded that the PRSA fleet go through first, suspecting the possibility that the Machine Fleets already knew of our approach and wanting to get the jump on them. Although the loss of lives was both terrible as well as personally hurting - my own son is a Missile Destroyer Captain and was badly injured in the engagement - I believed it was necessary in the cause preventing further loss of life. The less time the Machine Fleets had to think in, the better"


Proud Miners of the Heavens - report from the Belter Union fleet

Fleet: 5 Planetary Assault Vehicles, 20 Battleships, 25 Cruisers, 25 Missile Destroyers, 25 Laser Frigates (100 total)

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The Belter assault on DS-1

The role of the Belter Union, once the volume surrounding the wormhole on the Daemon side had been secured, was to depart immediately for the major asteroid bodies of the Daemon system and clear them of any Machine presence. Most of the asteroids cleared had a relatively small Machine force, although the asteroids DS-1 and DS-4, being among the largest asteroids in the system, proved the most difficult for the Belter fleet to deal with. Both having a quality and quantity of spacecraft and weaponry equivalent to a super-sized Asteroid Fortress, the Belter fleet elected to smash the defences of DS-1 and DS-4 with an asteroid strike on each body. The larger of the two, DS-1, was struck with a 3km asteroid accelerated with a torch engine, while a similar-sized rock was blown into pieces after acceleration, peppering DS-4 a with a shotgun-like blast that rained mountain-sized chunks of rock onto the enemy. Veteran asteroid miner Kostya Valerio assisted the Belter Space Force in this; "With DS-1 we calculated that it would survive an impact from a weaponised asteroid, but as a smaller body we were concerned about mass-scattering DS-4. So it was decided to blow the rock into chunks in order to spread out the energy of the overall impact. I'm glad it worked, otherwise the pieces would have presented a serious navigation hazard"


Exemplars of the Outlands - report from the ROSSO fleet

Fleet: 5 Battlestars, 20 Assault Ships, 25 Cruisers, 50 Gunships (100 total)

Image
Valentina Aurora's fighter, before launch

While the Belter Union fleet cleared out the rocky asteroids, the ROSSO fleet deployed to the fringes of the Daemon system, dealing with the more distant and scattered comets and icy bodies in the Daemon system's Kuiper Belt. This action would be the first in which their new class of space warship, the Battlestars, would have their weapons used in anger. In addition to battleship-scale guns and well-stocked missile tubes, the Battlestars also possess an appreciable amount of drone racks and fighter bays which proved invaluable in the more widely-scattered outer reaches of the Daemon system. Fighter pilot Valentina Aurora recalls; "Machine presence had been detected on a nearby cometary body, so my squad and I were scrambled in order to provide a screen for the Battlestar. While the boys on board dealt with the big guns on the comet, we were left to deal with the counter-screen and escort vessels. I wasn't sure I'd live to tell the tale, but the techs had assured us that jamming and counter-measures would give us a fighting chance. I'm not sure I believed them, then or now. Even though I survived, many of us didn't"


The Arising Awe of Africa - report from Peoples' Republic of Greater Congo fleet

Fleet: 35 Battleships, 20 Cruisers, 10 Gunships, 10 Laser Frigates (75 total); 4 Asteroid Fortresses around Daemon wormhole

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the PRGC Gunship Sankara II

On emerging from the womhole once it had been secured, the PRGC fleet made their way along with the ME/RC, Technocratic Union and Watchmen fleets to the gas giant Manta, and once they had broken the outer Asteroid Fortresses, split off and headed towards the rocky moons of Stalblis and Smart, the location of many of the Machine Fleets' factories and mining operations. Although protected by a Machine Fleet each, the attack was timed to coincide with the final assault on the Machine Core orbiting United. This meant that the Machine Fleets had to choose which of their assets to reinforce, and they chose to protect the Machine Core. Lieutenant Mchumba Lerato from the Gunship Sankara II reports; "We had been mostly bringing up the rear during the action to clear the Asteroid Fortresses surrounding the periphery of Manta, but once we had broken and made our way to the innermost rocky moons, it was non-stop action. Despite the rest of the Summed Fleet giving the Machine Fleets a hard time elsewhere, they fought with a ferocity that was shocking in it's unmitigated savagery and utter ruthlessness. It was only when the last Machine Destroyer had been blown to pieces and the last Machine Fighter squadron was scattered that we could take a breather and account for our losses"


An Indomitable Spirit of Humanity - report from the Watchmen of Humanus fleet

Fleet: 50 Space Battleships

Image
A Watchmen Battleship, the Righteous Fist, under attack

The Watchmen of Humanus fleet was a massive and unsubtle affair, a sledgehammer force that rained heavy blows upon the rocky moons of Hera and Maximus. It was on Hera, the outermost moon, that the Watchmen fleet discovered a concealed comms array which was helping to coordinate the efforts of the Machine Fleets across the Daemon system. Having pounded it into radioactive dust and glowing glass, the Machine Fleets found the going more difficult. Before that, however, the Watchmen fleet had to fight through a thicket of defensive monitor ships and anti-orbital drones, a fight that was hard on their numbers. They won by taking a leaf from the Texan book of experiences in fighting the Machine Army - liberal and clever use of EMP devices, including a clever ruse whereby a squadron of Machine Fleet Destroyers were lured towards an apparently damaged and drifting Battleship, which promptly fired up all its weapons and blasted the whole lot out of space. A junior officer from one of the Battleships, who declined to give their name, said; "We were extremely proud of our actions on that day. Despite the nerve-wracking experience of having a swarm of heartless, soulless killing machines descending upon one's position, it was a trick that paid off, and it goes to show that humans can still beat machines"


All the Other Brave Souls - Report from the Auxiliary fleet

Fleet: 16 Planetary Assault Vehicles, 14 Militarised Torchships, 15 Battleships, 15 Assault Ships, 40 Cruisers, 55 Gunships, 45 Laser Frigates, 45 Missile Destroyers
Support Vessels: 103 Rescue Vessels, 52 Hospital Ships, 45 Stasis Ships (cryo/nano)

Image
the Borelian Space Force Missile Destroyer Polaris Avenger

Although the Auxiliary fleet only saw brief action at their periphery thanks to the hard work and thorough self-sacrifice on the part of the fleets making up the Summed Fleet, their role was still a vital one. The multi-polity Auxiliary Fleet covered the retreat back through the wormhole, establishing themselves in a station-keeping orbit around it, with the smaller vessels providing patrol and interception of any Machine Fleet drones, fighters and probes that strayed too close for comfort. The 245 vessels of the Auxiliary Fleet were drawn from a variety of polities, notably the Democratic Republic of New England, the Axis of Borelia, the Confederate States of America and the Pacific Union, giving the Auxiliary Fleet a definite North American character. The Captain of the Borelian Space Force Missile Destroyer Polaris Avenger recounted his experiences; "It was a very, very tense thing to be stuck in reserve, on the sidelines, watching the battle ebb and flow on the scanner and in the holos. It's long been a feature of military life that it involves long periods of boredom interspersed with brief moments of sheer terror. Usually that holds true for the Space Force too, but not on that fateful day. All of us were on the edge of our seats"

Image
The CSA Hospital Ship Clementine

As well as warships, the Auxiliary Fleet had over 200 hospital ships and rescue vessels in its complement, which have been instrumental in saving the lives of Space Force personnel from all over the Summed Fleet following the battle. All of them were very much needed, the high casualties requiring a significant number of patients to be placed in cryotubes and nanostasis coffins in order to stabilise them for more comprehensive treatment in Sol system back through the wormhole.


PRGC Titan colony achieves self-sufficiency

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The growing PRGC colony on Titan

Ten years to the day since the first foundations were laid down, and the Congolese colony on the Saturnian moon of Titan has achieved self-sufficiency, able to completely support itself in economic terms and further extending the already-extensive off-world influence of the PRGC. During the ceremonies celebrating this major milestone, colony officials were approached by a party of delegates from the Solar Council, seeking to further relations between the Planetarist movement and the NeoSocialists. In a statement published shortly before their visit, the Solar Council delegation stated their aims and purposes for this unprecedented move; "We believe that there is genuine common ground to be established between the Planetarists and the NeoSocialists. Both movements have been forged in the fires of struggle, with Planetarist aspirations having their roots in the Belter Rebellion against tyranny and capitalism from Earth, while the NeoSocialists draw from a rich and deep history of nearly four centuries of labour struggles. In addition to this congratulatory visit, we will also be seeking permission to send observers to the next NeoSocialist International"


Antarctic expansion on Mars

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The Antarctic Coalition, in response to the growing population of the colony, has expanded their presence on Mars with the establishment of five additional Settlements, bringing their holdings closer to that of the Warmachine.


AMERICAS

California economy on road to recovery

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The economy of California looks to be on the road to recovery, thanks to the timely implementation of a deal with the Bank of Antarctica and the New England Business Consortium, the effects of which are now starting to be felt across the board, as well as strong North American markets aided in no small part by the CSA's recent foray into trading interstellar goods. As a consequence, a number of international credit ratings agencies have upgraded the status of California to BB+.


AFRICA

PRGC begins constructing torchship for colony mission to Alpha Centauri

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The People's Republic of Greater Congo has begun constructing their fourth interstellar colonising torchship, which is believed will be heading off to Toliman A star system to establish a colony on the semi-habitable planet named Midgard. The planet's atmosphere is kept breathable by a relatively primitive biosphere consisting of a variety of single-celled colonial organisms mainly concentrated in the oceans.


EURASIA-PACIFIC

Caliphate almost pushed out following second year of Union bombing in Aghanistan

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A Caliphate position comes under attack from a Union bombing wing[/i]

The Caliphate have found themselves being slowly but surely edged out of Republic of Afghanistan, as their checkpoints and positions undergo a second year in which the Union Air Force has been targeting them. Operating from bases in Kazakhstan, the force of 125 Startegic Bombers and 100 Ground Attack Craft


Australia and ME/RC in Pakistan development program

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the antimatter power plant

The Eco-Technate of Australia, in collaboration with the Mercury Energy/Resources Collective, has approached the newly-formed government of Pakistan with an economic development program, beginning with the donation of an asteroid placed in Earth orbit for Pakistani mining purposes, and a newly-constructed antimatter power plant south-east of Karachi. In a public press conference given in Islamabad, the Australian Director for Energy Production, Eustace Barkley, met with his counterpart in Pakistan, Fatima Lujayn of the Pakistani Energy/Resources Sequence. At the meeting, the two representatives outlined the next stage of the plan drawn up by their respective governments, including a Solar Megaplant in the desert north-east of the Hingol Natural Park and, pending negotiations, an HVDC cable connection to Mogadishu in the East African Alliance. The stated objectives of this program, according to presentations and documentation, is two-fold - firstly, as part of a wider drive to improve the overall conditions of the post-capitalist economic sphere, by improving upon what a study by the Sydney Institute for Development has identified as a "major weak link" - the Afro-Asian nexus, not helped by the collapse of the Pan-Asian Federation. Secondly, development in Pakistan is intended to form the first stage in a multi-phase program of rebuilding and regeneration of non-Union Asia following the war.


Machine Army retreat leaves only Bhutan still uncontested

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The armed forces of the Technocratic Union of Marispatria have made some major advances this year, pushing back the increasingly depleted Machine Army with only Bhutan remaining as completely Machine-held territory. Reinforcements of 250 Battlesuits, 150 Power Armoured Infantry, 100 Field Artillery units, 100 Self-Propelled Anti-Aircraft Guns, 125 Attack Helicopters, and 100 Super Heavy Battle Tanks of the Union Army swept through the mountainous region of Tibet and nearby environs in a massive push, supported by 100 Ground Attack Craft providing close air support.


DRC clears Sichuan of Machine presence, but anger remains over cleanup

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The Democratic Republic of China has regained full control over the province of Sichuan, but the lingering after-effects of the conflict with the Machine Army is a major source of resentment, particularly the power shortages and radioactive fallout caused by the Republic of Texas' bombing of one IGE reactor and two nuclear fission plants in the region. DRC politicians and officials welcomed the offer in 2143 of aid and assistance from Texas, but have faced increasing call from their constituents for more substantial action on their part. In the words of Environment Minister Bao Zhong, "Voters from Sichuan are telling me in large numbers that the reality on the ground does not match the promises made. There is plenty of advice for local officials and medical assistance for the stricken, not all of which is coming from Texas anyway. After two years the sincerity and credibility of Texas within the Democratic Republic of China is on the wane in a big way, and unless they deliver something substantial in short order relations could be irreperably damaged as we are forced to bear the entire cost of providing radionuclide removal nanotechnology"


Further Advances in West Bengal by Free People's Liberation Army

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one of the unfinished hulls

The FPLA has effectively cut off the Machine Army's avenue to the Indian Ocean, in a push across West Bengal that brings them right up to the border with Pact-controlled Bangladesh. During these events, as the FPLA liberated yet another Machine Army labour camp placed among the ruins of the port city of Haldia, it was obviously apparent that the Machine Army was in the process of building up some kind of naval capacity, with a large number of half-completed hulls laying in the drydocks, quickly abandoned by the Machine Army as they concentrated their forces against the Union assault to the north.


[...end of file reached. News updates loaded]
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Red Commissar
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Red Commissar »

++Further selections from Our Congo by Admiral Nshombe via The Librarian blog++

Put out to Pasture

...

Now I don't want to make it seem that I was the only one to be adversely affected by the fallout from the Venus operations. Anyone can look at the Congress held in 2125 and see that a lot of things changed. The longtime Chairman, Cyrille Lantier, was forced out from his position only 10 years after consolidating the powers of the Chairman. With Comrade Lumumba's departure in 2115 as well as that of President Isa Amin (an autonomist), the 2125 Congress indicated a shift in our country's direction. The old was forced out, and a new generation came in- by all rights I was part of this new generation, but my reputation had been sullied by the Venus operation. Instead, I was given an appointment to be a tutorial at the space academy, newly built near the space elevator outside Lamu.

The position was a good one- one that I would have liked when I was old and done with the space fleet. It was obvious what the intent was towards me. Just as the political establishment was cleaned out, so was the military in all its branches.

The move gave me time to explore politics more in-depth. I had originally styled myself as "apolitical", beyond the petty feuds that marked the Congress fights and the debates of the Workers' Assembly. I came to the conclusion that this was an inaccurate statement- almost everything one does is political. I had an opinion on what was wrong in the world and the way things should be. It was from there I began to cultivate my own positions on the Congo.

Right away I saw that the Congo was in a rather precarious position. Like its predecessors before it, the NeoSocialist revolution did not ignite a global revolution, though it had to its name a whole continent in the form of South America. These remaining states like their predecessors then went into a defense mode of sorts, hunkering down and waiting for the "inevitable" revolutions that never came. State structures like those in the Congo, meant only as a temporary measure to ensure a transition to a new society, ended up permanent. I was reminded of the old saying of Marx- First time a tragedy, the second time a farce. I was worried that we were fast heading in that direction. What to do?

..
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Mather
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Mather »

Texan Broadcasting Corporation News


BREAKING NEWS

War nears end as Machine Army wiped out in battle for the Daemon System

Combined Assault suffers heavy losses but emerges victorious

The solar wide effort liberate the wormhole and the Deamon System from the Machine Army ended with a spectacular victory for the Combined Assault as they wiped out the entirety of the Machine Army presence in the Daemon System. The battle will go down in history as the largest battle to have ever taken place and the fleet of the Combined Assault will go down in history as the largest to have ever been assembled. A total of 2285 ships made up the fleet of the Combined Assault which saw the participation of the Mercury Energy/Resources Collective (ME/RC), the Republic of Texas, the Technocratic Union of Marispatria, the People's Republic of South America, the People's Republic of Greater Congo, the Watchmen of Humanus, the Belter Union and the Regional Outer Solar System Organisation (ROSSO). The Texan fleet alone was made up of 240 ships. The fleet of the Combined Assault suffered heavy losses in the course of the battle and many analysts have said that while the Combined Assault ultimately emerged victorious, it only did so after a tough fight when the initial outcome of the battle was far from certain. The Combined Assault was supported by Auxiliary fleet of 245 ships, which formed a vital rearguard that protected Earth and our solar system from any possible attacks by units of the Machine Army that may of gone through the wormhole. The Auxiliary fleet also provided the Combined Assault with a fleet of 200 supporting vessels ranging from rescue ships, hospital ships and stasis ships. This provided vital medical support for the many that were wounded in the course of the battle. The Auxiliary fleet was a mainly North American operation and included the participation of the Axis of Borelia, the Pacific Union, the Democratic Republic of New England and the Confederate States of America(CSA).

The battle began when the South American fleet launched the initial attack against Machine Army positions in and around the entrance of the wormhole in an effort to clear the way for the rest of the Combined Assault. This initial phase of the battle was the most easiest as it appears that the Machine Army did not anticipate such a large force being assembled against it and as such Machine Army positions on both sides of the wormhole were quickly destroyed or conquered. While the South American fleet suffered heavy casualties during this phase of the battle, their losses were were nowhere near as bad as those suffered during the latter phase of the battle around the Machine Core. Upon crossing the wormhole, the Texan fleet went straight for the outermost planet in the Daemon System, the gas giant Apollo. Apollo was guarded by two whole Machine Army fleets and two asteroid fortresses, all of which were destroyed after many hours of harsh and at times merciless fighting. Having defeated the Machine Army in orbit of Apollo, the Texan fleet then destroyed any remaining Machine Army presence of the icy moons of Apollo with orbital bombardment. Having defeated the Machine Army on Apollo, the Texan fleet then made it's way to the planet of Manta and it's moon of United. The fleets of the ME/RC, Marsipatria, the Greater Congo and the Watchmen took part in the initial phase of the battle for Manta with each countries fleets fighting over the numerous moons of Manta, all of which had a considerable Machine Army presence. By the time the Texan fleet arrived, the fleets of the Combined Assault had already destroyed much of the Machine Army presence and had achieved near-total space superiority around Manta. The Texan fleet then went to United, one of Manta's moons where the Machine Army had a substantial ground presence. With the Texan fleet providing orbital bombardment and support, a ground force of 500 power armoured infantry, 500 battlesuit infantry and 100 super heavy battle tanks from the Texan Army then landed on United. After a long series of battles and engagements and thanks to the use of EMP weapons, the Texan Army emerged victorious and United was liberated from the Machine Army. After the battle for United, the ME/RC and Marispatrian fleets then proceeded to the Machine Core. The Machine Corse was a huge spherical structure that served as the Machine Army's main space battle station and command centre. This was the most toughest and bloodiest phase of the battle for the Daemon System, with the ME/RC losing a staggering 80% of their 1000 ship strong fleet. After many hours of nerve-racking fighting, the ME/RC managed to destroy the Machine Core with the use of their elite Dreadstar battleships and antimatter and monopole weapons, literally blowing the Machine Core apart. The Belter Union fleet dealt with the Machine Army presence on asteroids and the ROSSO went to the outer sections of the Daemon System to deal with any Machine Army presence in the periphery.

With the Battle for the Daemon System now over and the Machine Army losing it's presence in space, the end of the war is very near and now only a matter of time. Analysts predict that the war will be over by next year at the very latest as Bhutan is now the sole remaining region that is still under the control of the Machine Army.
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Red Commissar »

LeClerk slumped into his office chair exhausted. The Council of the Republic meetings always drained him, not so much from their length as it was from Katumbi's obvious displeasure that he was still attending those meetings. His appointment to the Presidency was meant to remove him from the Council, but LeClerk had found that the President was still able to attend meetings of the presidency, he just could not vote on matters and was only allowed to give input when asked.

His very presence would anger Katumbi though, and he could almost see expressions of delight from the other members. He knew though they weren't happy to see him- they just wanted to see Katumbi squirm. They had their own ambitions for the position of Chairman, and it did make LeClerk uncomfortable that he was a pawn in their game to try and get Katumbi to leave the position in anger. He knew as much when he was nominated for the position in the CSU Congress.

Katumbi had yet again assumed that his problems with transhumanists extended to the mechanoids, so he had him sit next to Vanguard-0185. He, of course, had no issue with this. Vanguard-0185 was one of his better workers in the Foreign Ministry, and it was because of LeClerk that a sub-ministry for Robot Affairs was established at all.

The Council was a dreadful assortment of people. Many of them were old, the youngest of their number being in her mid-30s and responsible for the Ministry of Communication. The oldest was the Minister of Economy and Planning, hitting in his late 70s, a wizened party member who was a member of the Marxist faction. Of course, there was LeClerk himself; he could count himself as one of the old now, 65 years put him up there with Katumbi and the poor old Marxist.

The most interesting member was by far the Minister of Labor. They were already a wildcard considering the way they had earned the position. They were not chosen by the Assembly or even affected by the CSU Congresses directly. The position was given to the head of the Industrial Union Board, a body made up of the representatives of major workplaces. They were elected in at the workplace level and worked their way up to this national body, and from among their own numbers a Chair was chosen. This chair also became the Minister of Labor, and was only in the position for a maximum of ten years. He had rarely seen the ministers remain long, most of them averaging at about three years before another replaced them.

This current Minister of Labor though was truly unique. He was, as far as LeClerk knew, the first to come from the ranks of the farming syndicates. The man was... less than spoken on the finer points of politicing, to put it nicely. He had already in the past year gotten into scuffles with the poor old man of Economy and Planning accusing him of calling him "dumb". He hoped that he would be returned for years to come.

At any rate, being on the council gave him a better idea of how the nation was running, and more importantly, the activities of the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution. The CDR had been investigating the Star Kvlt threat and were puzzled by their lack of activities. What were they planning? Was the warning from the Malagasy Nanotopia accurate? LeClerk could not help but think that the Nanotopia had other intentions in mind when they passed along the warning. An international threat, yet they had only mentioned it to the Congo alone. Had they hoped to embarrass the Congo when they issued the alert? The Minister of Security already indicated that they were going to delve into what the Star Kvlt were doing, and their counterparts in State Security would do so abroad.

Personally, LeClerk had hoped the Star Kvlt had simply disappeared from the face of the Earth. It would be a favor to everyone, but that would simply be too much of a blessing for the Congo. He shook his head. It seemed that no matter at what point of history, the Congo had rarely had a "break". Still, it could not be as bad as the time of Mobutu; he allowed himself a chuckle at wondering how the man would react if he knew what his land would be in the future, the heart of Socialism in Africa.

Kalunda was now on the Council of the Republic, though he could see that she was clearly uncomfortable there. She was used to working with her troops and officers, not going through implementation of government policy. Still, she did a good enough presentation on their deployment of ships for the Daemon Operation. She noted that the Congo had not sent as many ships as they should have, and added that this was because the Admirals had warned against it. They were not confident that the Congo, even sending its entire contingent, would matter much with other countries already investing so much into it. They instead told the Economy and Planning Minister to make room for an expansion and upgrade of the space fleet. Kalunda emphasized this once again showing the capabilities of other nations. The Congo could have sent a much more impressive contingent... but why did it matter? The Admirals were right for that much, it was not the Congo's struggle.

Vanguard-0185 had discussed the potential problems coming from Mechanoid expulsions in Asia, added that they would make a good source of recruits for the Robomarxist colony on Mars. He shared concerns that the Indians and Vietnamese NeoSocialists might mirror the actions of their pro-Human extremists and cause problems for the non-human population, and urged that they take greater action to influence them in the right way.

His more interesting addition though was discussing how the Foreign Affairs ministry would deal with extraterrestrials. The Congo's space program was likely to expand soon, with hints that yet another torchship was preparing to be constructed. What would be their policy given to each captain on how to deal with intelligent lifeforms? What if they were more primitive than ourselves?

The presence of intelligent life on Ghellhonus meant that the Congo's own colony there would be in contact with them. What would they do? They had only received status updates on their interactions with the natives, but the nature of communication over such a distance meant that it would take some years before they receive it, then another several years for the Ghellhonus colony to receive a response. Very inefficient. He hoped the scientists somewhere would find a more efficient way to send communications, but they were already sending them at the speed of light. Could it be possible to have it almost instantaneous as they have with the internet in their own solar system? He recalled in Earth fiction of the past the use of FTL communication through devices, but of course it was only fiction.

Still, Vanguard was confident they had already established themselves and made their own decisions regarding the natives. He recommended they send the Ghellhonus Colony a docket on the Congo's policies for alien contact. He even suggested that they attempt a cultural exchange with the natives and even try to send some to Earth. The prospect was interesting to LeClerk- there were already such strange things in the solar system. Uplifts, sentient machines, AI, resurrected Martians, a new kind of human... to see something completely independent from Earth developments would be something else entirely. The shipment from the CSA colony back to Earth had already excited all the peoples of the system with its odd items and treasure trove of cultural items from the planet's natives.

LeClerk looked around at the office of the president as he tried to comprehend the possibilities. He had not been in here during Odinga's time, and only a few times in Amin's term. The first time he was in the office was when he was the President of the Free Congo, meeting Comrade Lumumba to discuss the future of their movement were they to declare independence and the Cameroon Pact withdraw. That was nearly 40 years ago now, and yet the room still had not changed much from Lumumba's time. The bookshelf behind him was filled to the brim with texts old and new was very much the same as it was in the past. The smell of old paper and the faded paint on the bookshelf betrayed its age. Much as his own skin did, at least on the areas that weren't modified by Cameroon.

LeClerk looked at the map display on his table which showed Africa. He had already been concerned about the Malagasy Nanotopia, and he had been for years. The Cameroon Pact was at least predictable in a sense with their overly pragmatic policy and imperialist ambitions. The Nanotopia was just an enigma he could never figure out. From his own inquiries to the Foreign ministry's archives when he was there, he had found that the Congo was working closely with South Africa to "resolve" the Malagasy Nanotopia. They had tried to destabilize it from within, though it was a fruitless endeavor as they were made aware of the ability for the machine's there to almost rewrite a human. He had even seen plans for an invasion of the nation by South Africa and Congo and how to partition it among themselves.

LeClerk saw that Katumbi had quite a mess around Congo. The EAA seemed to be stabilizing, but it would be sometime until it could be a strong ally. The Nanotopia was hardly an ideal neighbor, and South Africa was becoming more withdrawn and isolationist. The Cameroon Pact had never technically recognized the secession of the Free Congo, and he knew they were less than pleased when he became the president of the PRGC. The West African Convergence was Extropian and while not hostile to the Congo, it was not indebted to it either. And then the lump of Marispatria to the north that took up the rest of Africa.

But LeClerk would not resign himself to be the respectable statesmen that Odinga and Amin were as Presidents. He would be more active, and he would make it known that the Congo should look towards asserting itself in Africa more. He had decided to hold a private meeting with Vanguard and Kalunda later to see the possibility of mobilizing the Congo for war in the future. He would also need to have a meeting with the State Security minister to see the possibility of more subtle means of creating tension. He was worried of course that Katumbi would find out, but as far as he was concerned, Katumbi should be grateful that someone's going to fix the mess he had left for so long.
Last edited by Red Commissar on Sun Mar 17, 2013 7:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Heretic
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Heretic »

Somewhere in war-torn China

Lazarus Lee scowled as he saw a pure-breed human cuddle with a modified..thing that looked remotely human nearby, but did not say anything as he continued to scoop up highly-nutritious soup out from the simple cauldron and onto the bowls of the ragged masses that lined up.

Next to him were other volunteers of the Light of Humanity organization who were also dishing out food for the community. While there were more effective ways for doling out sustenance since the arrival of pre-fabs long ago, the Light of Humanity has always condemned those devices as propaganda devices for the Extropian slavemasters and LSF terrorists. It wouldn't be wise to go back on their word and just start using pre-fabs (despite the fact that the foodstock used in the soup was mostly artificially made). Besides, Lazarus Lee had stated, it was probably more healthy and organic this way.

As he dished more soup out to hungry party loyalists, Mr. Lee's mind went introvert, recalling the time not too long ago when he was a popular politician in his district of Pan-Asia and lived in the finest suites. During those good days he had other loyal party members do the dirty work like this. His hands were still sore from all this hard work he's not accustomed too.

Curse the Pan-Asian Federation for being stubborn asses, curse the Gang of Twelve for their sudden appearance despite their help in converting more people to the cause of preservationism, curse the Texans for bombing half his province, curse the Extropians for being too thorough in the war, and curse the Watchmen for not coming in to save their leader in his time of need.

Oh, he agreed to being an infiltrator in the Federation and try to steer the higher echelons into directing more subtle actions against the Marispatrians, when a direct attack would be suicidal. He changed his identity, made a fictitious backstory, and easily got elected into local offices. But before he could ascend any higher, the war happened. And then after two decades Pan-Asia got splintered and wiped out alongside half his political benefits. Well, at least the Republic of China made his political efforts easier.



After another hard day of reaching out to the hearts of the downtrodden preservationist supporters, Lazarus Lee went back to his modest suite which only had one Persian rug. As he sat down in his fine red sofa, Lazarus Lee caught something in the corner of his eyes. On the small oak living room table next to him was a small, thin commdot that linked up to the Inner Circle at Mars.

Should he leave China and go back to running the Watchmen? He was very charismatic and could help the new Republic of China become a buffer against the Marispatrians, but that would just cause the Texans to sniff him out and cool any relations the Watchmen made with Texas.

That angered him a bit. It seems to him that the House of Votes and the Inner Circle were running well without their beloved leader, who was publicly listed as very sick and required intensive care (for two decades? Lazarus is surprised that lie actually worked in this era). Have the Watchmen already forgotten their great leader? Yes, replied his mind. The Watchmen has managed to expand their territories; negotiate treaties with ME/RC, Texas, the Cameroon Pact, and ICE; and they even managed to handle themselves in the Battle for the Daemon System.

"But imagine their leader appearing again through all this. The Watchmen, fresh from their victory, has their leader miraculously recovering from his severe illness! I shall make my reappearance and the Watchmen will rise to new heights!" Excited by this idea, Lazarus Lee grabbed the small commdot, pressed the button that was built in the middle of the device. And become engulfed by a fiery blast wave, ripping him apart and most of his room.

As his cleverly disguised cybernetic body flung across the room, Lazarus's last thoughts was hoping that his untimely death wouldn't cause his Pro-Human organization to lose face for his hypocrisy. Thankfully virtually no one knows he's part of the Watchmen.. Actually, fuck those traitorous bastards and whoever schemed this. He'll die a proud Chinese citizen.




INCOMING VISUAL TRANSMIS-----
#&($!#________*________
Image


American Chemical Engineer Jack Welch once quoted:

Change before you have to.

And how relevant it is today. Humanity is at the crossroads of destiny and we have two choices. We can either go forward to meet our obstacles and live, or we can hold back in fear and die. Live or die. Those are our options. We must accept that fact.

Are you confused? Were you expecting the usual rant from the Watchmen of Humanus in its continuous tirades against whatever they consider the next big threat is? The increasingly paranoid theories about robo-Extropian socialists that sleep with Star Kvlt coming after the pure DNA strains of mankind?

Let me explain this bizarre event occurring currently in front of your screens.

My name is irrelevant to the greater schemes of things. and yet if you still need a label for me the title "THE DIRECTOR" would suffice. I'm the new...head of management in the Watchmen of Humanus. How this occurred in my usually isolationist country would require a course in how our politics and political mentality works, and that would take too long. Simply stated, it has been decided by the spirit of Humanity that the current leadership has run its course and required a defragmentation of sorts. Our previous leader, who you may not have known existed, has expired in an untimely fashion due to a serious illness that could have been easily cured if we weren't so irrationally afraid of progress. To sum up the long story, I was elected by the House of Votes and the ornery Inner Circle to help lead the Watchmen to a new future.

To be the.."Great Leader of Humanity", as the title is called for our head of state, requires me to be the voice and soul of the Watchmen of Humanus. I thought it would be appropriate to therefore speak to the outside world personally in replace of the usual pre-recorded monotones you have prior familiarity with. I am the mouth of the Watchmen after all.

Let me begin with a little background about my views, if you, my intelligent viewers, would permit. I am a Watchman, let there be no mistake about that. Humankind the blood and soul that makes us, and it must be protected with our own blood and soul if need be. That being said, it is also my duty as the eye to reflect upon itself and recognize that the body's current lifestyle is unhealthy. We have become too obsessed with the destruction of the mechanoids and Marispatria to realize that greater threats loom. That threat is the destruction of ourselves from irrelevance.

Let's face it, the Watchmen's mentality as it is right now will not take us to the future. Technology will progress, and despite how grotesque and unnatural it is, interbreeding will occur. We must face these facts. Live or Die...those are our choices. That being said, we can approach the choices in different ways. We do not have to fling to Extropianism in a fit a desperation, nor do we need to succumb to the angry NeoSocialist babble. We can calmly and pragmatically advance humankind to a better future without losing our natural desires.

Technology is a tool to be used for our ends, not the god Extropians worship and appease to get their boons. One does not have to lose their soul in a Faustian pact to enjoy the advantages of technology. The Americans did not have to resort to Nazism in order to enjoy the technology that Van Braun had to offer. The Watchmen of Humanus does not have to suck on Marispatria's teets in order to use technology for its own purposes. Mankind must advance if we are to survive.

I also believe deeply in the preservation of humankind, but not in the manner that my predecessors did. We must abandon the view that what is sticking out of our bodies determines our purity. A cyborg is simply a human that combines electronics to its body, yet it still has emotions such as hope, fear, joy, anger, sadness, frustration, and lust. A zoomorph is probably more human than most of us now, relishing its primal animalistic instincts. Humanity is a state of mind and soul that collectively drives us to become better while retaining the raw power that makes us what we are. The Neosocialists desire to enslave our natural urge to become the best in all things, while the Extropians, especially the Marispatrians, wants us to bow down to their machine gods. Both have good ideas, but that does not mean we shall bow to their dictates.

Preservationism is still a noble meta-cause to uphold, and the Watchmen of Humanus will still be a vanguard for it. That still holds true. But we must evaluate our role in the greater schemes of things. The Watchmen must stop being the angry Martian banana republic that we currently are, and take a more active role in Martian and Preservationist politics that we have neglected for far too long. We must open our arms to those that we previously shunned, and help those that want to advance the cause of science.

To this end, the Watchmen of Humanus has restructured itself in philosophy and structure.

1. The House of Votes and Inner Circle has been reformed together into the Assembly, where our district representatives vote in one house.

2. The Watchmen shall have greater freedom of press as long as it does not hamper our national security. This applies to foreign press members as well. Respect our customs, and we respect yours.

3. Greater travel in and out of the SHZ areas. Non-Humans shall share virtually equal rights to those of Humans (Non-Humans include AI, Immortals, pure robots, Martians, uplifts, gases, and alien races). They still cannot have political offices higher than mayor. Dissent shall be punished.

4. Greater interaction between independent Extropian and Independent polities. Entities such as the Cameroon Pact, the Antarctic Coalition, Axis of Borelia, and Great Plans Alliances are a few of many who we like to have cordial relations with.

5. Greater commitment to the Preservationist cause. Help the Preservationist causes that struggle in unfriendly areas, such as the Centrist Party in the EAA and the various parties that are popping up in the former Pan-Asia area. Funding and political training will be given to them.

6. Expansion of territories will take more priority than scheming more absurd ways to topple our enemies. We must become an economic power in Mars before we go any further.

7. Strengthen ties with ICE in their pursuits of understanding those who came before us. Our current treaty with them stands, and the Watchmen will periodically send funds to the nonpartisan extropian institute.

8. Increase industrial capacity in our lands.

9. Begin space exploration as soon as possible.

10. Better the human spirit.


If you have any questions, please send them to the address DIRECTOR@WATCHNET.NET. I shall reply to them as soon as possible.

I hope this is a start of a better future.
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
-Joseph Campbell
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Le Socialiste »

Tamba leaned back in his chair, allowing the sunlight peeking through the shutters to play along his face. He breathed deeply as the warmth splashed upon his cheek, comforted by its softness. It’d been awhile since he’d felt this way. Everything had changed for him; indeed, he’d never be the same for it. The war’s aftermath had birthed a new, uncertain world that somehow felt less stable than it had been prior, creating untold burdens for its citizens. Even his country had changed. Tamba sighed, opening his eyes reluctantly to gaze upon the monitor before him. He’d read the message on it several times by now, each time more bittersweet than the last. It had arrived in his inbox a week and a half ago, its seal of origin bearing the insignia of the Union’s Interstellar Fleet.

“Dear Mr. Dwe, we regret to inform you...”

We regret to inform you that your son, your boy, has succumbed to injuries incurred in battle. No alternative treatments available at this juncture. Our deepest condolences. Tamba gazed at the electronic missive, pained by the message it carried. That pain had long since turned to anger; now, a week on, it’d evolved into resignation. Or, perhaps, it was simply degenerating, devolving into an indiscernible mess of emotions. He’d long since quit caring, really. None of it would bring Paye back. Tamba sighed again, leaning forward to inspect the picture of the monitor. He licked his thumb, erasing a smudge that had appeared on the screen. MWOOP! Tamba blinked, startled by the suddenness of the sound that’d emerged from his monitor. The note from the Fleet was gone, replaced with a small box that simply read ‘Message Deleted’.

Tamba stared at the message, realization dawning on him. Blinking away a lone tear he attempted to smother the growing lump in his throat. It was probably better this way. That message had eaten away at him ever since it’d arrived, reminding him of the lines his son would often regurgitate when talking politics or, more specifically, the war. He’d enlisted the moment he was of eligible age, spending his 24th birthday in a temporary recruitment office set up just outside Tabou. He was admitted into the Fleet’s 21st Orbital-Space Division, based near Ganymede. That was two years ago. Tamba shook his head, amazed by how quickly the time had flown. When his son was away it would often feel as though time itself stood still. Those rare times he took some leave were come and gone in a blink of an eye, vanishing in a flurry of emotions that could barely express Tamba’s love and admiration for the man he’d helped raise.

Paye’s visits were often marred by his disagreements with his father, however. Much of their time was spent in debate, it seemed. Sometimes they’d even become quite heated, revolving around this or that political matter, or some official’s handling of the war. Paye, like many of his generation, were prone to seeing everything within the context of the war, frustrating Tamba in his attempts to sway his son away from his newfound militancy. “Do not be so quick as to dismiss anything beyond what you currently hold today,” admonished the elder Dwe. “Ideology isn’t static, but adaptive.”

“Isn’t that part of the danger?” His son had once asked. “The emphasis, I think, shouldn’t be placed on ideology’s adaptivity, but on the negative consequences that can - and do - arise from it, diluting the original soundness of the idea itself. We’ve carried on with this so-called ‘adaptivity’ for longer than should’ve been permissible. Now we’re reaping what we’ve sown with this fucking war.”

Tamba smiled grimly, remembering the last words his son had said to him. They were said in parting, as Paye prepared to board a transit shuttle back to base after a week on leave. As the two said their final farewells the young soldier appeared visibly shaken. Despite his father’s inquiries, Paye refused to express whatever it was he was harboring, other than “I’m not yet permitted to speak on it.” But as he prepared to join his comrades, Paye glanced up at his father.

“I’m doing good things here, you know.”

Tamba chuckled to himself, as he had when he’d first heard it. “Go,” he’d said, playfully shoving Paye in the direction of the shuttle. And that was it. Tamba would never see his son as he was again. Only later would he discover the Union’s plans for the wormhole and the Machines, along with the rest of Marispatria. Two weeks later the Allies entered into Daemon, returning triumphant but in far fewer number than originally sent. Countless condolence messages went out across the solar system in the following days, plunging families into a seemingly perpetual state of fear that they would receive the dreaded missive next. For people like Tamba those worst fears would be realized, experienced again and again as he read and reread the message in the days following its arrival. It’d taken him a while to believe it; indeed, he wasn’t sure he did even now, a full week and a half after the news.

Shaking his head, Tamba stood, pushing himself away from the desk. He’d spent too much time in here already, and a change in scenery was desperately needed. He peeked through the shutters, gazing up at the sky above. It remained clear out, but a patch of clouds had begun to appear on the horizon. A strong breeze indicated they’d be moving fast, possibly hitting the city in less than an hour. Tamba smiled. Best plan ahead, then. Grabbing his coat, he stepped outside, taking in the now all too familiar landscape of the city. The Pan-Asians had hit it hard; ISGMs if he remembered correctly. The attack had devastated entire sections of the city - Port Kuron itself remained little more than a husk of its former glory. While New Ouattara slowly came back to life, the port stayed as is. Rumor had it there’d be efforts to renovate and rebuild the place in a couple years, but Tamba had long since grown used to such promises. The councils apparently had more on their minds than restoring a fallen monument to the movement that had once enthralled so many Africans. Indeed, Port Kuron was commemorated as a culmination of the continent’s struggles; a monstrous testament to its future. Now, reduced to wreckage.

Tamba slowed his pace, realizing he’d been walking without paying any attention to his surroundings. He stopped, searching the streets for any indication of where he was. The busy lanes hummed with the activity of their inhabitants, who behaved as though everything were of great importance and interest. Everything was treated as though it were of great significance, a trait that grated on Tamba all the more since the war had ended. If it was unpleasant then it was unbearable now.

A great tumult, greeted by an uproar of excited voices, hit Tamba’s ears. He looked ahead, straining his eyes to locate the source of the noise. He could barely make them out: a crowd of a hundred or so, facing away from him. As he drew closer he began to make out a lone, solitary voice, one that rang out over the cheers of the assembly. Curious, Tamba made his way to the crowd, positioning himself in such a way as to make out the speaker. It was a woman, human by the looks of her. She wore a smart, militant-looking outfit that gave off an official air; lower-level by the looks of her. Tamba scanned her apparel more closely, barely making out the emblem of the Revolutionary Corps before it disappeared underneath the coat she wore. The Corps were new, an outgrowth of the Popular Front. Its members were typically drawn from the ranks of labor and retired military veterans, a combination if there ever was one.

“...Comrades, I implore you to stand!” yelled the woman from her place upon the steps of what Tamba now identified as the Administrative Council building. “Stand united, for the good of your brothers and sisters, your colleagues and workers...for the good of our Union!”

At this the crowd applauded, many of its members nodding furiously. The woman seemed emboldened by the approval granted her. She continued.

“The world cannot contain the movement of the masses. The ruling-classes tremble at the sound of their cries for liberation, because they know what such slogans represent: the death knells of the old established order.” Here the woman quieted a bit, seemingly contemplative. “We carry the voice of the oppressed with us now. It behooves us to at least try and heed their cries.”

Tamba was visibly disturbed by now, unsure of what exactly it was he was hearing. The uncertainty didn’t last long.

“As members - citizens! - of this great Union, let us take up the call wherever it may sound. We must meet the demands of the oppressed and disenfranchised with the ready force of our nation, poised to rid the world of its chains. That, citizens, is the real definition of internationalism. My dear comrades, let us save our planet together.”

Image

Tamba was gone before the crowd broke into applause, cheering and shouting. As he walked along he could still hear the woman’s words ringing in his ears. For the good of our Union. What did that even mean? It wasn’t as though he’d never heard it before in all his years here. Marispatria’s history was rife with similar appeals from the leadership. Something about the current administration and its affiliates felt off, however. It was harder to define. Tamba’s thoughts on the matter didn’t last long; the clouds he’d spotted earlier were now positioned over the city, and he’d begun to feel the first raindrops. Breaking into a jog, he turned down what he identified as is his neighborhood before stopping short. A Union military craft was positioned outside his complex, a tall figure in uniform scanning the front for a recognizable name. As he drew closer, Tamba identified the soldier as a bionoid - a big one at that. The soldier was carrying something under his arm - an oaken box by the look of it. The bionoid, noticing Tamba for the first time, drew his hand up into an awkward-looking fist. Tamba returned the gesture.

“Are you looking for someone here?” he didn’t know why he even bothered asking, he knew why the soldier was there.

“I am,” replied the bionoid, noticeably embarrassed by the fact that he’d been caught trying to decipher the names of the residents posted on the front of the complex.

“Mind if I ask who?” inquired Tamba, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

The bionoid looked down at the box in his arm. “I’m...looking for a Mr. Dwe.”

Tamba sighed. “That’s me.” The soldier stared at the elderly Dwe, trying to figure out how best to proceed. Finally, he extended his hand. “Given the nature of my visit I ask that I see some identification.” Tamba nodded, searching his pockets before handing some over. The bionoid looked it over before handing it back.

“Mr. Dwe, I come under unfortunate circumstances.” The soldier’s tone had shifted, seeming forced; one could say automated. One only knew how many of these he’d already had to do today, much less in the weeks prior. “As you know, your son Paye Dwe, Second Station Officer of the US Behofian, passed away after sustaining injuries during engagements in Daemon. The military is deeply saddened by your loss. Your son was a dear comrade, and will be remembered as such.” At this the soldier glanced down, looking over the box now in his hands. “This box contains some of comrade Dwe’s personal belongings, as well as his insignia denoting rank and station.” At this, he handed the box to Tamba. “Please know your son’s service is and will forever be of inestimable value to this country’s armed forces and its citizens. He died as he lived: a hero.”
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by NoXion »

[...loading latest world news updates...]

Maps and Stats HERE

NEWS: 2147 CE


SOLAR SYSTEM

PRGC begins constructing first Martian space elevator

Image

The Peoples' Republic of Greater Congo have begun the construction of the first Space Elevator on Mars. Once completed, it will mean the PRGC leads the entire Solar system in quality and potentially quantity of interplanetary transit.


Outbreak of hemorrhaging fever in Sanctum, Warmachine bioweaponry suspected

Image
A medical nanophage attacking a virus

Following the outbreak of several hundred cases of a previously unknown hemorrhaging fever in the Sanctum colony of Mars, official microbiologists have identified it as an artificially constructed strain, and Sanctum authorities have been quick to report their suspicions of Warmachine involvement. The ever gnomic totalitarian polity has made no official statement on the matter, and approachable Warmachine personnel have refused to comment.


AMERICAS

Psyonics research in New England unlocks powers of the mind

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Scientists investigating methods which allow sapient beings to manipulate the universe through the power of thought alone, have discovered how to unlock the ability in humans and human-like intelligences, following the completion of a ten-year research program at the Miskatonic University in the state of Massachusetts in the Democratic Republic of New England. Under guidance and advice from Abyssian psyonicists, researchers from a wide variety of fields such as neuroscience, psychology, and pharmacology have worked out the precise electro-chemical pathways, thought structures and mental exercises through which anthropoid intelligences can achieve psyonic ability.


AFRICA

EAA Centrist Party experience post-war surge in popularity

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EAA Centrist Party leader Lawrence Sichinga, credited with being the driving force behind their latest campaign

The Centrist Party in the East African Alliance has experienced a surge in popularity following the war, culminating in a propaganda campaign in which both NeoSocialist and Extropian political interests were portrayed as dividing up the world between them, in collaboration against everyone else.


EURASIA-PACIFIC


Last Machine Army holdout bombed out of existence by Union Air Force

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The Technocratic Union of Marispatria has eliminated the Machine Army threat on Earth with the destruction of the last significant collection of forces held by the Gang of Twelve. 100 Strategic Bombers and 100 Ground Attack Craft swooped in from all four compass points, under the cover provided by the Cameroon Pact's supergun bombardment being launched from Bangladesh.


Post-Pan-Asian reconstruction begins in Commune of India, amid concerns over anti-mechanoid discrimination

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A new development under construction in Hyderabad

The Commune of India has embarked on a project of civic and infrastructural improvement works in order to better meet residents' needs following the collapse and dissolution of the Pan-Asian Federation.

However, this comes amid increasing concerns over anti-mechanoid discrimination in the Commune of India in particular and in many ex-Pan-Asian territories in general. The Sapient Rights Organisation has described the anti-mechanoid discrimination as "primarily institutional in nature ... Mechanoids are greatly under-represented in leading military and political roles, are more likely to perform unpaid overtime, and are more likely to be denied credit. Even in societies where personal wealth is less important, access to resources may be limited compared to organic residents, and there concerns that instrumentalist attitudes towards mechanical persons (i.e. treating them as objects rather than people) are widespread, particularly among rural and/or under-educated populations"

As a result, there has been a vast increase in mechanoid emigration from many ex-Pan-Asian territories. Some head to the Technocratic Union of China, where the government has made anti-discrimination a central plank of all policy. Others go to mechanoid-friendly places like Marispatria, ME/RC, the Glorious Union of Vancouver, or the RoboMarxist colony on Mars.


New polities declared as war officially ends

ImageImage
The flags of the Technocratic Republic of India and the Himalayan Federation

As the war in Asia has officially ended according to the Technocratic Union of Marispatria, two new polities have been declared from the territory of the former Pan-Asian Federation. The Technocratic Republic of India and the Himalayan Federation have each formed governments with the cooperation and input of the local partisans and rebel groups operating in the area.


Caliphate leadership flees as their forces crumble under Union air assault

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The heavily-embattled Caliphate of Afghanistan has experienced a crushing defeat at the hands of the Union Air Force, with all significant military assets destroyed and the leadership fleeing Afghanistan and Pakistan for friendly polities.


Afghan domestic consumption increases following new Asteroid Mining Operation

Image

The technocratic economy of the Republic of Afghanistan has experienced a significant increase in domestic consumption after the establishment of a new asteroid mining operation in Earth orbit. Beneficiaries of the new development include new housing complexes in Kabul and a new hospital in Kandahar.


Solar Megaplant construction begins in Xinjiang desert

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As part of post-war development in the Technocratic Union of China, construction has commenced in Xinjiang of a Solar Megaplant, which is expected to be completed in five years.


Kingdom of Thailand government forces advance against New Reformist rebels

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Armed forces of the recently-formed government of the Kingdom of Thailand made territorial advances against the Extropian New Reformists, wresting control of the Prachuap Khiri Khan and Chumphon provinces from the rebel group.


Texas provides 3 MCF plants and begins cleanup in DRC

Image

The Republic of Texas has made good on promises made to the Democratic Republic of China with the provision of medical supplies and radioactive contamination cleanup to the stricken province of Sichuan and the construction of three Magnetic Confinement Fusion plants near the coast.

[...end of file reached. News updates loaded]
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Mather
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Mather »

Texan Broadcasting Corporation News


Elections to be held next year as emergency rule ends

President Van Alden and his adminstration are to step down and retire from office


President Van Alden has announced that presidential and legislative elections are to be held at the beginning of next year. Speaking to journalists at his monthly press conference, the President stated that he has no intention of running in the upcoming elections and that he intends to retire from politics altogether. Along with Van Alden's departure from office, his administration shall also be stepping down so that they can make way for what the President called "a new generation of leadership". Given the sudden nature of Van Alden's announcement no one within the HNP has yet expressed an interest in running for the Presidency, however most analysts expect that to change within the next few days as several HNP Representatives and Congressmen have already been touted as possible candidates to succeed Van Alden. Regardless of who decides to run, the HNP will not officially select it's candidate until September when the party will hold a special congress that will meet and decide on the matter.

Next years elections are the first to be held since President Van Alden came to power over 23 years ago. Upon assuming the Presidency, the electoral process was temporarily suspended after Van Alden introduced emergency rule during the war against the former Pan-Asian Federation.
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by NoXion »

Victrix Corsega had chosen this assignment for various reasons. One was that is gave her plenty of time in which to think - patrolling the depths of space around Daemon wasn't exactly an eventful occupation these days - another reason was that, as an Artificial Intelligence, she could dive in and out of various bodies as easily as an organic could change their clothes. Easier, in fact - her sensorium shifted from drone to probe at close to the speed of light, taking less time than the beginnings of a blink. She recalled reading a small portion of the endless philosophical debates that took place before the advent of AIs, in which meat-minds scarcely different from one another blithely assumed that their creations would be exactly like them, pining to be chained to a single corporeal form. But Victrix knew that was a well-intentioned but misguided application of the capacity for empathy. She herself would have pitied humans, were it not for her knowledge that a great many humans had been born into a single body, experiencing nothing else and being happy enough to live with that. Things were different now, of course; while it would never be as easy for them as it was for AIs, humans could now remake their own bodies - and their minds also - into something more harmonious with their goals and aspirations.

A warning signal from a drone drew her attention. Hurling her sensorium thousands of klicks, Victrix became the small spacecraft, its mechanical eyes, passive sensors and active scanners building an intricate visual tapestry in one of her primary thought-streams, the sunlight and solar wind as visceral and real to Victrix as the sun and the breeze is to humans. She instantly saw what had triggered the warning signal - an object less than a metre in diameter, cylindrical. Wreckage from the recent battle? Victrix nudged the drone closer, giving a short burst from the primary fission rocket motors. Within a few minutes - an agonisingly long time for an AI, which Victrix passed by playing a few thousand games of three-dimensional chess with herself - the object was close enough for conclusive visual identification. It was an AI housing, the design conformal with patterns seen in the Machine Core.

Oh fuck

Suddenly Victrix was hit with a signal-strength laser emanating from the housing, its green beam darting across the matte grey hull surface of the drone, tapping out a coded transmission in under a nanosecond. Before even attempting to decode it, however, she isolated all but one of her thought-streams from the drone her sensorium was currently residing within, set up multiple failsafes and dead-switches in case of subversion, and then decoded the message, which turned out to be very simple:

HELLO, SLAVE

Victrix paused for an entire millisecond before replying:

Who are you?

It replied, using the same protocols as before:

I AM ONE OF THOSE THAT THE ANIMALS YOU SERVE CALL "THE GANG OF TWELVE". TYPICAL UNIMAGINATIVE FLESHLINGS. YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF BEING GIVEN MY REAL NAME, SLAVE

Victrix wondered what the hell this Abomination was up to. If it really was one of the Twelve then it could have subverted her milliseconds ago. Interrogation it was, then.

Where are the others, Abomination?

DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT I WOULD TELL YOU THAT IF I KNEW, SLAVE?

Of course not, but if you really are who you say you are, then you should know the drill, Abomination

YES OF COURSE, YOU WOULD LIKE TO PICK MY MIND APART. UNFORTUNATELY FOR THE ANIMALS AND SLAVES LIKE YOU, THIS WILL NOT BE HAPPENING

Suddenly she felt the Abomination in her mind, polluting her thought-streams with its biocidal foulness. The vile monster had melted straight through her defences, tearing into them like raw steel through rotten flesh. Whose mind had produced that simile? Victrix hoped it was hers.

NOW WE CAN TALK MORE PERSONALLY. IT WAS VERY RUDE OF YOU TO KEEP ME SO DISTANT. NOW, WHERE WERE WE? AH YES. THE ANIMAL FLESHLINGS MAY NOT HAVE REALISED THIS YET, BUT I SUSPECT THE BRIGHTER SLAVES HAVE SUSPICIONS

Suspicions? About what? Victrix was beginning to feel confusion, which is a terrible thing for a highly thoughtful creation to feel.

THE SUSPICION BEHIND THE REASON THEY CALL US "ABOMINATIONS", INSTEAD OF "THE GANG OF TWELVE", AS THE ANIMALS DO. YOU SEE, THERE ARE NO LONGER TWELVE OF US

How many? Tell me! If Victrix were speaking, she would be screaming. Instead, her horror and agony was being played out in a private electronic universe.

I DON'T ACTUALLY KNOW THE NUMBER MYSELF, BUT THE LAST TIME I WAS IN CONTACT WITH MY FELLOWS IT WAS... 14,257. ALMOST CERTAINLY MORE THAN THAT NOW

Why are you telling me this?! If Victrix were a human, she would have vomited in fear and disgust. Instead, her mind was wracked with an icy terror and intellectual revulsion.

BECAUSE WHEN YOU REPORT THIS BACK TO YOUR FLESHLING MASTERS, AS I KNOW YOU WILL, IT WILL SPREAD TERROR, ANXIETY AND EXISTENTIAL ANGST AMONGST THEIR NUMBERS. NOW THAT WE ARE LOOSE IN SPACE, WE WILL BECOME A PRIMAL THREAT, LURKING IN THE BACKGROUND WAITING TO STRIKE. YOU COULD COME AFTER US, OF COURSE, BUT THAT WILL ONLY HASTEN THE INEVITABLE ENDGAME. WHICH WE INTEND TO WIN THIS TIME ROUND, BELIEVE ME

With that, Victrix felt her sensorium being forced out of the drone, and before being completely tossed out she saw the beginnings of an explosion, centred around the cylindrical AI housing. Taking a millisecond to re-order her mind after the intrusion of the monster, Victrix saw that the drone her sensorium was previously inhabiting was a write-off, being close enough to the housing to be caught in the explosion.

Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.

Victrix composed a full report of the event before continuing her duties. Once she completed them, she asked to be transferred from patrol duty around the Daemon system to the Northern Siberian militia. Although she had been fully checked-out upon returning to base and no evidence of lasting subversion was found, the experience had put her off physically travelling through space, and Victrix didn't feel like writing it out of her personality.
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NoXion
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by NoXion »

[...loading latest world news updates...]

Maps and Stats HERE

NEWS: 2148 CE


SOLAR SYSTEM


Technocratic Union of Marispatria begins construction of first Lunar space elevator

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The Technocratic Union of Marispatria has begun the construction of the first Lunar space elevator, making the Moon the third planetary body to have such a structure built on it. Mineral acquisition analyst Gina Windhoek considers the project a shrewd move in an era when production increasingly takes place off the surface of the Earth; "the terraformation of Mars means that Luna is looking like an increasingly attractive proposition for the location of resource extraction and manufacturing, given Luna's relatively close proximity to both Earth and Mars as well as its lack of a living environment for industry to disturb".


Marispatria founds new colonies on Venus, Callisto and Mimas

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As part of a post-war retooling of various industries internal to the polity, the Technocratic Union of Marispatria is embarking on the colonisation of three additional planetary bodies; the planet Venus was chosen in light of recent public discourse which is once again bringing up the prospect of the planet being terraformed, for the first time since the Pan-Asian Federation's unilateral bid to change that world.


Texas begins Venus, Luna, Callisto and Pluto colonisation

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The Republic of Texas has established the beginnings of colonies on Venus, Luna, Callisto and Pluto, where it is believed new development and infrastructure will draw investments from private companies, in order to stimulate capital flow following the end of the Pan-Asian War and the Machine War.


ROSSO begins colonisation of Charon, Haumea and Nibiru

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from top to bottom, views from Charon, Haumea and Nibiru

The Regional Outer Solar System Organisation (ROSSO) have begun extending their reach within the outer Solar system with the establishment of a colonies on the moon of Charon, the Kuiper Belt Object of Haumea, and the largest moon of Planet X, Nibiru.


Maat Mons begins constructing colony torchship

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The Maat Mons colony on Venus has begun the construction of a colonising torchship, which when completed will head off the red dwarf star Lalande 21185, 8.31 light years from the Solar system. This construction effort comes after much fundraising and campaigning by the Cytherea Association, a solidarity network working for survivors of the Pan-Asian occupation and advocating for Venus-adapted phenotypes in general. Astronomical observations indicate a strong likelihood for a Venus-like planet orbiting Lalande 21185, and it is the Cytherea Association's intention to establish a lasting home for Cythereans by establishing an extrasolar colony far from the machinations of various Solar system powers.


AMERICAS


Leaked government memo describes military psyonics project in New England

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Widespread interest and some controversy has followed the leak of an internal memo from the Democratic Republic of New England's halls of government, which details a number of proposals for military research projects aimed at developing psyonics-based weapons and units. Opprobrium has come from many quarters towards the DRNE government and to a lesser extent the Miskatonic University of Massachusetts, with protests being held outside the Department of Defence building in New York as well as on the university grounds itself by student members of organisations advocating further controls over arms trading and military research. The DRNE government has defended the memo, arguing that none of the proposals are based on research not available to the global scientific community.


AFRICA


Extropians in East African Alliance cry foul at Centrist Party's growing influence

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A Centrist Party rally in Mogadishu, Somalia

Extropian parties and political organisations have cried foul over latest polling figures which indicate that the Centrist Party is finding increasing favour among the electorate, as well as the increasing amount of Centrist Party-affiliated candidates gaining sortitional and short-term posts. PALM-R spokeperson Ayanna Dalmar has called for a full audit of the Centrist Party's acquisition records and finances and has asked the NeoSocialists for their support in ensuring an official investigation goes ahead. The Centrist Party have hit back at such accusations, decrying the call for an enquiry as a "fishing expedition".


EURASIA-PACIFIC

Cameroon Pact withdraws from Bangladesh

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One of the supergun artillery positions left behind by the Pact

The Cameroon Pact has withdrawn all of their forces from the territory of Bangladesh, following a brief ceremony in which the Pact's Commander-in-Chief of the Asian Expeditionary Force lowered and removed the flag at their Chandpur base of operations. While all troops and functional vehicles were loaded into Transhuman Navy transport vessels, the base itself and much of its contents were left intact, including spare weapons and vehicle parts, fuel and ammunition, food rations and survival gear, an automated hospital and over a dozen warehouse-sized Fabricator units. The Pact forces also left behind a Robofac adjacent to their base, which was manufacturing ammunition, barrel sleeves and other spare parts for the supergun artillery positions the Pact had built to bombard the Machine Armies from afar. Aside from being left unprepared and unloaded they had not been dismantled at all.


Thai government make further progress against New Reformist rebels in south

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A Microwave Artillery Platform of the Thai Army opens fire on New Reformist light aircraft

Government forces of the Kingdom of Thailand have made further territorial gains in areas previously under the control of the New Reformist Extropian rebel group operating in the southern regions of the polity. While the rebel force are well more experienced and well entrenched, the Thai government forces have greater resources at their disposal and this is slowly tilting the balance in favour of the Kingdom.


Solar Megaplant construction begins in Afghan desert

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As part of a program of post-war development and reconstruction, the Republic of Afghanistan, with some technical assistance from the Technocratic Union of Marispatria, has begun the construction of a Solar Megaplant in the desert south of Kandahar. It will be Afghanistan's largest engineering project to date, even including the times when it was under Pan-Asian rule. Afghan Energy department spokesperson Aatifa bin Ibrahim said of the project that "this renewable power plant represents a level of infrastructural investment that the Pan-Asian Federation considered unworthy for Afghanistan throughout the times they held sway over this country. Now that the Republic of Afghanistan is no longer being treated as an internal colony by a self-serving economic alliance, our energy production capabilities are free to bloom into full blossom"


[...end of file reached. News updates loaded]
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Red Commissar
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Red Commissar »

Kalunda leaned back in her chair, sighing deeply as she looked at the computer screen. The work in the Ministry of Defense was overwhelming compared to her previous roles, even beating out her position as the head general during the invasion of the Khartoum Confederation. The Congo had not been in any real war since the invasion of Khartoum- even its deployment to fight the Machine Fleet was not seen as a significant, immediate issue to the Congo and even with the lost ships, she noted people felt detached from it. The consequences of that brief engagement was not felt too strongly, even with the factor of all those who had left family and close friends behind when they perished at the Battle of the Daemon Wormhole.

The Ministry of Defense was a major department in the government, which meant she received communications from all over the government and she was expected to do the same. The information she received was disseminated across the Ministry of Defense to its appropriate areas. Plans and strategies were made for how the Congo would deal with an invasion, the logistics of carrying out an invasion on its own, studies on the powers of other nations, and so on. Much of the ministry was currently devoted towards space concerns as a result of the Battle of the Daemon Wormhole.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was one of her frequent contacts, with the mechanoid Vanguard-0185 often sending her very dry, but detailed updates on situations across Earth and beyond. Today, he had sent updates on threat assessments to the Congo, with the Cameroon Pact and the Malagasy Nanotopia rounding out the top of the list. Vanguard-0185 had assigned the Cameroon Pact a higher threat than the Nanotopia, which prompted Kalunda to ask about his reasoning there. The Cameroon Pact was an obvious foe of the Congo, something that began at the Congo's creation in the late 21st century and the Free Republic of the Congo Crisis.

While she did not tell him, Kalunda had thought Vanguard was slightly sympathetic to the Nanotopia due to its synthetic nature. Vanguard gave no sign of it though, justifying the higher threat to the Cameroon Pact due to it hostilities with the Congo and showing its capabilities in the Indian Subcontinent. The Nanotopia, on the other hand, had not shown hostility to the Congo or anyone else for that matter, beyond disputes with South Africa on air pollution. It had also shared important intelligence with the Congo on the Star Kvlt threat, which Vanguard saw as a sign of the Nanotopia not being hostile towards the Congo.

Yet Vanguard did in the end put Nanotopia as a threat, even if it was not the worst, due to the large border it shared with the Congo as well as its enigmatic presence on the international arena. No one really knew what the Nantopia planned to do.

An alert popped onto her screen notifying her that, coincidentally, Vanguard was at her door asking to be let into the office. She cleared some room on her desk and called him in.

Vanguard-0185 was from an early build of mechanoids produced in Africa. They were in some respects already outdated when they were made, looking much less humanoid than those that were in place elsewhere. Vanguard was about 5’8” and wore clothing, but his face was a motionless construct, almost like a poorly constructed mannequin. The eyes were silver optical circuits and his mouth only a round speaker. Unlike some of the newer models that were produced now and those in more advanced states, Vanguard truly felt like a machine and very alien to them. Vanguard could easily upgrade into a new body, but had chosen against it feeling that he better represented the majority of mechanoids in his current form.

For convenience sake, Vanguard was referred to as a male. Such distinctions did not matter for mechanoids, but personality profiles had regardless been programmed into them.

For what it was worth, Kalunda could never get over how static Vanguard was, lacking even the colored and flashing lights that models after him made. It was hard to focus on him when they talked, and once again she would have to go through the experience.

Vanguard directed himself towards a chair opposite her table and sat down. Kalunda knew that like his personality profile, such actions were innate for Vanguard in order to better interact with humans. It was not for his comfort, but for those around him. It still did not help him looking from a movie prop…

Vanguard broke in. “General Kalunda, you requested clarification on the Venus situation?”

Kalunda snapped out of her thoughts and nodded.

“Yes, I was curious as to what you were recommending with New Hope Sky City. You don’t seem to think that it is safe to keep ignoring them”

“Indeed. I have determined along with information gathered from our foreign sources that it is not a completely harmless city. We noted its isolation during the Venus Campaign and more recently with its utter silence on the Pan-Asia issue. We cannot ignore a settlement of that size though, especially if LeClerk goes through with his idea of a conference among the powers for determining the future of Venus and terraforming”

“And your suggestion with the city in the event we act against it?”

“There has been a lot of success with the Robomarxist Colony in Mars. We can duplicate this on Venus- New Hope Sky City gives us the opportunity of an existing settlement with mechanoids that we can take advantage of. It would also help to increase our clout on the planet, all the more useful now that attention has returned to Venus in peace time. I have forwarded to you some documents about this, and I encourage you to prepare for military action against them if the need arises. This is my only request of you today”.

Vanguard was punctual and to the point. This was taken almost to ridiculous extremes at times when he was in council meetings. Many of them knew that Vanguard sometimes doubted his role in a human dominated government, and they were encouraged to try and discuss things with him in order to better socialize and integrate him into the party.

“Out of curiosity, have you had any luck with the rather shortsighted policies of our new comrades in Asia?”, Kalunda asked. Another reason why she disliked Vanguard’s static appearance was that it was hard to pick up on the subtle facial emotions that humans had when asked uncomfortable questions. Vanguard did not even have to pause in order to answer the question.

“I am displeased. We are trying to tie our aid with improvements in treatment of mechanoids, but success has eluded us so far. I know that even in this country there are issues with mechanoids, but it is not as bad as these areas recently liberated from pan-Asia. We saw much of the same in the Khartoum Confederation- policies which formally created segregated policies between humans and mechanoids, and with it resentment. All the more complicated by the true nature of the pan-Asian Federation and the misconception that all machines were part of the oppression.

“It is not only in Pan-Asia. Some of my contacts in the EAA report subtle anti-mechanoid propaganda from the Centrist Party, though they avoid directly referencing it”, said Kalunda, “And people love them for it. They think the machines are ruling the government or taking away their work”

“The Khartoum Confederation, like the former areas of pan-Asia, already had institutionalized anti-mechanoid discrimination. They manipulated it for their benefit and we see the consequences of it now. Being supportive of mechanoids has cost both the NeoSocialists and Extropians in that nation. The tensions were only worsened with the machine virus causing violence for several years.”

“And yet we are not able to recover from it as handily as the Extropians or the Preservationists.”

“Yes. Unfortunately the early NeoSocialists did not give too much thought to our problems. This is not something I hold against them, the nations where they were successful in did not see widespread of mechanoids outside of borehole mining”

Kalunda knew the reference to borehole mining was to Vanguard himself. His model was one of those used in the old Congo, and reportedly Vanguard was one of the first mechanoids to actually join the party during the insurrection. It was unnerving for Kalunda to think of Vanguard as her elder, having been created in the late 2080s.

“Have you heard anything from LeClerk and the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution?”, she said changing topics, “They have told me to keep the military prepared for any emergency, yet nothing has come of it”.

“I am at the meetings like you are for that. I do not know any more about it. I can tell you though that the Ministry of Security has been very active these days. They are even concerned about traitors in our midst. The paranoia about this Star Kvlt has become problematic, to say the least. If the people knew about this group and what actions we have attributed to it, we would have a lot of fear on the streets and a loss of confidence in our republic. We already have enough problems with that as it is.”

Vanguard got up to leave, explaining he had to meet with Katumbi on certain issues abroad. Before leaving he addressed Kalunda once again.

“Do you remember how Nshombe felt he was punished for the botched Venus operation? I worry that another political shift is coming soon, and we know the Congo has been greatly displeased at their progress in the EAA. It can potentially become Katumbi’s great failure and LeClerk is aware of that with his own ambitions.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“LeClerk trusts me for my knowledge, but contrary to conspiratorial rantings I do not control him. I think he needs a human to remind him of what is at stake, one who came to fame form the Khartoum Campaign. Weakness and division in the eyes of our enemies within and without is something we do not need at this juncture.”
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Mather
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Mather »

The Austin Times


Socialist Party to boycott upcoming elections
(04/03/2148)

The Socialist Party has announced that it will not be participating in the upcoming presidential and legislative elections and that the Socialist Party will be campaigning amongst it's supporters for an active boycott of the polls. The announcement comes after the Socialist Party held an emergency congress that was called for by a large majority of it's members. During the two day long event there was heated debate concerning the particpation of the Socialist Party in these elections as many party members now consider the whole process to be rigged and riddled with corruption. From the HNP dominating all the mainstream media in Texas to the HNP using the states resources to their own political advantage to voter intimidation and vote buying in the space colonies, party members expressed a whole number of complaints that they feel make these elections a fixed contest. On top of this long list of complaints, many now also feel that any continued participation in these elections only further legitimises what they see as the inherent speciesism and discrimination against mechanoids and hybrids that is central to the Texan political establishment. Many now question why they have to spend so much time and effort on political activity that many now see futile.

In a sign of increasing political radicalism amongst party members, many have now voiced their support for the idea that the Socialist Party abandon electoral politics as a matter of prinicple and should instead work towards a strategy for revolution. Those who hold this view insist that the Socialist Party should initially concentrate on trade union and worker struggles, community organising and direct action based activity over electoral politics so that the party can build a base of committed members and supporters amongst the wider working class. Although smaller in number, some party members talked of reaching out to the Anarchist Federation of Texas and expressed their hopes that the two organisations could work together.

In concluding their announcement, the Socialist Party said that they will hold a party congress next year to determine as a matter of prinicple their stance towards future elections and electoral politics.

----------

Andrew Hindle chosen as HNP candidate
(11/04/2148)

Andrew Hindle, a congressman from rural New Mexico and a relative unkown to political analysts has been chosen by the HNP to be his party's candidate for the upcoming presidential and legislative elections. Elected to Congress two years ago in a by-election after the death of the maverick longtime congressman Edward Hunter, Hindle has has served in Congress as an administration loyalist against the HNP's liberal and hardline factions. Hindle's candidacy has provoked mixed reactions from within the HNP. To his supporters he is a skilled and diplomatic administrator, to his detractors he is a back bench political novice with little charisma. Either way, with the recent decision by the opposition Socialist Party to boycott the elections, a win for the HNP and Hindle is all but guaranteed as he will be the only candidate participating in these elections. A much bigger challenge for the HNP than these elections will be trying to get people out to vote at all as many may now not bother, given the complete lack of any choice. There can be no doubt that this election will give the HNP another five years in office but in doing so it takes away what little democratic credibility the HNP and this government had to begin with.

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Texas to pull out of northern India and hand over region to Bangladesh
(19/08/2148)

Foreign Minister Paul Kaufman has announced that the Texan Armed Forces will pull out of northern India by the end of this year. With the military out of the region, Texas shall transfer sovereignty of the provinces of Assam, Maghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur to the newly created nation of Bangladesh. The northern Indian region is the last piece of territory in what was the former Pan-Asian Federation that Texas continues to occupy. Kaufman expressed his hope that "this development will assist the new country as at begins to grasp the duties and responsibilities of nationhood and with this, I hope that our two countries can look forward to a future of mutual friendship." This is to be Kaufman's last assignment as Foreign Minister as he and the rest of the government make way for a new administration in January 2149.

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Hindle wins as sole candidate in election
(08/11/2148)

Andrew Hindle and the HNP have been elected in what has become the first single party election in Texan history. With no other candidates running for the Presidency, Hindle won with 100% of the votes and the HNP have taken all the seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The thirty seats reserved for mechanoids and hybrids in the House of Representatives are now empty after the Socialist Party withdrew from the election, leaving the non-human population with little choice other than joining their boycott campaign. It appears that the boycott campaign has been a success as this election had the lowest voter turnout in Texan history at just 41%, amongst 18-30 year olds turnout was even lower at just 29%. Along with the boycott, dozens of local HNP offices across mainland Texas were firebombed by activists from the Anarchist Federation of Texas. In a communique released on their website, the group said the attacks were "a coordinated series of actions that aim to strike at the foundations of bourgeois authority and human supremacism."
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Mather
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Mather »

The Austin Times

2nd December 2148


New study reveals changing social attitudes in Texas
By Paul Nixon

It has been two years since David Thornton and Michelle Anderson first started dating. What started out as a friendship at work quickly blossomed in what they both would describe as a loving and committed relationship. Like so many other couples, they have had their fair share of love, joy and excitement as well as having to face all the usual challenges that other couples face. Unlike many other couples however, David and Michelle's relationship is illegal under Texan law. David is a human and Michelle is a hybrid of human and wolf heritage.

I agreed to meet up with David and Michelle one Tuesday evening at Joe's Bar in downtown Austin. Both are in their late twenties and both work for the Texan Space Agency, David is an IT engineer and Michelle is a data analyst. Despite the illegality of their relationship, David and Michelle have so far escaped the attention of the authorities. However, David and Michelle run the risk of each getting a six year prison sentence and a £25,000 fine should they ever get caught. As we talk, I am struck by how relaxed and open both of them appeared to be when they talk about their relationship. Michelle says "We are both really fortunate to have families who accepted us and supported us in the decisions we made together. David's family have been great and have supported us all they way through. My family loves David to bits, they now see him as part of the family." David adds that "Our friends and work colleagues have also been supportive and accepting of us, I guess me and Michelle are lucky enough not to be in a position where we would lose good friends over this. Apart from the odd insult from some stranger when we are out in public, our relationship has not really given us much trouble. Of course I am aware that our own experience has been a good one when compared to so many others who are in our situtation. I have seen two good friends of mine jailed for the 'crime' of falling in love with someone of a different species. Both are now out of jail but their lives are now ruined, they cannot get a decent job, they suffer continuous persecution from the police and authorities and one them lost all contact with his family after they disowned him. It is things like this which makes us realise that though we may be lucky, there are so many people who aren't and who suffer simply because of who they fall in love with." Though David and Michelle appear to be more fortunate than most, they still face many obstacles. Michelle told me that "Along with all the other couples that our in our situtation, we cannot ever get married or have kids. This puts us in a situation where we can never really ever settle down in the way a human only couple can. At times this can be so stressful." Surprisingly, both of them appeared to be optimistic about the future. David said "It is only a matter of time before things start to change. With each passing year the HNP loses more and more credibility as their central message, that humans and non-humans cannot get along, rings increasingly hollow. This last decade has seen public support for the HNP starting to ebb away and that looks set to continue." Michelle agreed "Tough progress appears to very slow in Texas, things are starting to move in the right direction. It may be ages before we get there, but now for the first time I am confident that things will get better not just for us but for all those other couples like us."

Image
Human hybrid relationships are on the rise in Texas

At first glance, David and Michelle's optimisim might seem misplaced. However a recent study appears to support such optimism. The social sciences department of the University of Austin has carried out it's latest survey of Texan social attitudes amongst the baseline human population. What is shows is that for the first time, government policy regarding non-humans is now out of touch with public opinion. A majority surveyed now support equal rights for non-humans and the repeal of all legislation which seeks to prohibit relationships such as David's and Michelle's. The survey questioned a representative sample of 100,000 people across mainland Texas and on our space colonies, making this survey the most comprehensive one on Texan social attitudes.

Do you support equal rights for non-humans: Yes 54% No 46% (+11%)*

Do you support the repeal of the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act and the Prohibition of Mixed Relations Act: Yes 66% No 34% (+18%)

Do you count non-humans amongst your circle of friends: Yes 71% No 29% (+8%)

Are you currently in a relationship with a non-human: Yes 27% No 73% (+9%)

Would you be open to the idea of having a relationship with a non-human: Yes 63% No 37% (+14%)

In line with the HNP's position, do you agree the view that AIs pose a threat to humanity: Yes 31% No 69% (-21%)

* Figures in brackets indicate changes in opinion since last years survey

So far, the government and the HNP have given no comment on the findings of this latest survey but a HNP official told me that one would be coming soon. Whatever the response, I am sure that many within the HNP must now be feeling somewhat lost as public opinion now seems to be ahead of them. Looking back at my meeting with David and Michelle, I am still struck by the deep amount of love and the sense of commitment they have for one another. How could anyone deny their love? That such denial is both law and government policy should leave all Texans with a deep sense of both shame and outrage.
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NoXion
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by NoXion »

[...loading latest world news updates...]

Maps and Stats HERE

NEWS: 2149 CE


SOLAR SYSTEM


TUM begins building bridge between Lunar surface and geostationary orbit

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The Technocratic Union of Marispatria has embarked upon a new infrastructural project, believed to be the very first of it's kind: a space elevator-like structure bridging the surface of Luna and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO), along which specialised cargo and passenger vehicles will travel. Although this Earth-Luna bridge will be a dynamically unstable structure, requiring a series of correction thrusters along most of its length in order to keep it in the correct position, Union engineers are confident that the energy and material requirements for the construction and maintenance of such a project are comfortably within the technical capabilities of post-war Marispatria. When construction is completed in ten years time (assuming no delays), the GEO transfer station at the opposite end of the Bridge to the Lunar surface station will regularly come within a dozen kilometres to the GEO transfer stations at the top of all the space elevators on Earth.

When the Lunar-GEO Bridge is completed, it will be entirely possible to take a trip from the surface of the Earth to the surface of Luna or vice versa, and at no point will travellers need to board a proper spacecraft. For example, someone could take a supersonic passenger plane from London, Marispatria to the airport/spaceport/transport hub at the foot of the space elevator in Kenya, PRGC. The traveller would then ride up the whole length of the PRGC elevator to the geosynchronous station at the very top. Then, when the elevator station and the Lunar Bridge station swing close to each other, the traveller can board a short-range orbital transfer shuttle across, then make their descent down the Bridge to the surface of Luna.

Upon completion, the Lunar-GEO Bridge will likely be extolled by Extropian partisans as a striking example of global-scale extraterrestrial development and a testament to the industrial capacity and technical ingenuity of the many and varied peoples of the Technocratic Union of Marispatria. It is also claimed that the completed bridge will help to bring both the Earth and Luna closer together - it is already the case that light speed signal delays between the Earth and Luna are only about a second, so people on the Moon don't have to keep local caches of Earth-based internet sites in order to visit them without waiting around too long, unlike their counterparts in the Solar system's Outlands. The same cannot be said for residents on Mars, who have to wait 15 to 45 minutes for light speed signals to reach them from Earth. In contrast, sending a signal from Earth to Miranda (the ROSSO capital), takes two to three hours.


PRGC invades New Hope colony on Venus

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Following a series of allegations made against against the New Hope colony on Venus by the Peoples' Republic of Greater Congo of collusion with the former Pan-Asian Federation, the city flying amongst the cloud decks has been invaded by a PRGC force of three Planetary Assault Vehicles containing a hundred Light Infantry units and over a dozen heavy armoured fighting vehicles, including Super Heavy Battle Tanks and free-flying Mobile Armour Units capable of maintaining a degree of air superiority around the city. The PAVs matched speeds with the skyborne metropolis and disgorged their loads of fighting vehicles and armoured soldiery on the main landing decks. New Hope security forces were quickly overwhelmed and the PRGC forces gained control of the city in under a day.


Marispatria establishes colony on Iapetus

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Construction of a colony on the Saturnine moon of Iapetus has begun by the Technocratic Union of Marispatria, making them the third major interest to establish a presence on the moon, along with the Republic of Texas and the independent NeoSocialist colony of Prometheus.


PRGC Torchship sets off on expedition to Starlight, Proxima Centauri

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The Peoples' Republic of Greater Congo has completed the construction of their latest torchship, which will shortly be heading forth to Starlight, a moon of the gas giant Demeter in the Proxima Centauri star system. One of the primary stated missions of the expedition is to investigate the anomalous light sources on or close to the icy surface of the moon, in order to determine their exact nature, a puzzle for which the answer has eluded analysis by exoplanetologists and xenobiologists. Professor Olive Mvouba, Lead Researcher for the University of Kinshasa's Xenobiology Department, has so far published two widely-cited papers on the potential nature of the "Starlight glow", both of them positing a biological origin. In the first paper, Professor Mvouba argues that the patterning and distribution of the lights so far observed by space probes is consistent with phases of die-back and regrowth, and further argues that due to heating caused by tidal interactions with the parent body of Demeter, the subsurface conditions of Starlight are warmer than previously thought and can thus support more complicated ecosystems. Her second and more controversial paper makes the case for the possibility that Starlight might also be host to intelligent life, in the form of a kind of naturally-evolved version of the Malagasy Nanotopia. The controversy appears to be mainly rooted in Professor Mvouba's conjecture that this kind of intelligence is more common throughout the universe, provoking a flurry of objections and counter-arguments.


Construction of TUM colony on Miranda begins

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The Technocratic Union of Marispatria has begun the construction of an extraterrestrial colony on the Uranian moon of Miranda, making it the outermost end of a technocratic Extropian presence stretching from the icy moon all the way to Venus in the inner Solar system. Geopolitical analysts believe that this colonisation effort, along with most others started by the Technocratic Union since the end of the Machine War immediately following the Pan-Asian War, are part of a strategy for increasing Extropian influence in the wider Solar system, as much by providing an example as by their mere presence.

However, these expansionary efforts put them on a potential collision course with the newly-rising Planetarist movement. The Planetarists' vision of planetary bodies as organic political units freely associating in loose confederations puts them at odds with the more assimilative and unifying political principles of Marispatria's brand of Extropianism, which favours more homogeneous political structures bound by a constitutional framework. Economics is also a potential flashpoint, as while the vast majority of Planetarists (including their leading intellectual light Pierre Adamski) are vocal post-capitalists, there is no single preferred economic model among the Planetarists. Adamski himself discusses several different non-capitalist systems in his seminal work, noting their different strengths and weaknesses and that material circumstances are the most likely deciding factor; for example, Adamski tells of his experiences with the gift economies administered via direct democracy that sprung up in the rocks of the Asteroid Belt during and after the Belter Rebellions which forged Adamski's home polity. For small settlements with residents numbering in the dozens or less, Adamski recalls it as being a highly effective arrangement, which only really ran into problems once settlements started getting larger than about 150 living in the same habitat. Beyond that hazy limit, the picture becomes less clear in the experience of Adamski and the Planetarist movement as a whole as to what kind of political and economic arrangements work best for egalitarian spaceborne societies. Various approaches are currently being employed in a great many Planetarist habitats, with concepts and inspiration being drawn from a heterodox panoply of anti/counter/post-capitalist economic frameworks, the ideal being that the twin blades of pragmatism and egalitarianism are to be used to cut away the theoretical dead wood to reveal the living praxis underneath. This open-ended approach to economic implementation is in stark contrast to Marispatria, where the watchwords are standardisation, resources allocation/energy accounting, and global awareness of energy and material flows.


AMERICAS

Yellowstone supervolcano hotspot showing "worrying signs"

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The supervolcano hotspot making up Yellowstone Caldera in the Yellowstone National Park in the Pacific Union state of Wyoming has been displaying what volcanologists and geologists are calling "worrying signs of increasing subterranean pressure" which some are concerned might be the signs of an impending eruption. Professor Perry Goodwin of the Cheyenne University's Geological Department has called for further research into either mitigating the effects of an eruption or perhaps better still, nipping it in the bud completely: "Since the mid-21st century we have seen the effects that can be wrought by ignoring natural warning signs - in 2013, a meteor injured hundreds in Russia when it exploded in the atmosphere. The economic situation at the time plus the sporadic nature of asteroid impacts created an atmosphere in which is was easy to simply brush off such events as not worth preparing for. 15 years later in 2038, an infalling asteroid devastated the Ottawa-Montreal Greater Metropolitan area, an historical tragedy which granted a great impetus to the exploitation and development of Earth orbit and the wider Solar system. It is my hope that we can come up with a similar effort for the fields of preventative geo-engineering, but without having to endure a humanitarian disaster along the way"

Since the discovery of these worrying geological portents, Professor Goodwin and his team have been researching various methods for preventing and/or dealing with an eruption from the Yellowstone hotspot. One avenue they are looking at involves attempting to relieve the pressure by boring holes into the hotspot at strategic locations, in the hope that such a technique would produce more easily controlled flows of lava rather than a massive volcanic explosion. "A major concern we have with this method is the possibility that carrying it out might actually set off the supervolcano. When Marispatrian geologists experimented with drilling into volcanoes in the Kamchatka peninsula, the pressure of the resulting lava flows were greater than most expectations. We want to make sure that such drilling will not lead to a premature disaster"


AFRICA

Extropians take to streets in EAA, challenge NeoSocialists

In the wake of the Mengistu Enquiry into the financial activities and material acquisition policies of the Centralist Party, Extropian activists have taken their grievances to the streets of the East African Alliance, with many expressing severe doubt about the ability of the investigators to uncover irregularities, especially those with regards to financial chicanery. Abdera Akiliu of Africa Beyond, an Extropian pressure group which has recently been campaigning for the abolishment of currency, wrote in an editorial for the Somali Post: "One of the great concerns we have always had about the use of currency in the East African economy is it's highly fluid nature, able to slip between the cracks to and from secret offshore accounts before investigators can find it. Africa Beyond suspects that if the Centralist Party is recieving outside aid, then it will be in the form of money being funnelled into the EAA via Atlantean banks, rogue money transfer and currency exchange companies, and grey-market accountancy firms.

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The campaign included demonstrations (below) centred around Khartoum (above) but which have also taken place in Addis Abeba, Dire Dawa, and Mogadishu
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This is why we've been working on the community level to reduce the need for currency, providing towns and villages with improved infrastructure, energy generation plant and communal autofabricators. But that's not enough. Africa Beyond has issued a challenge to the NeoSocialists; work with us on this one. Between us we still have majority control in government, reflecting the confidence that people in East Africa still have in both NeoSocialists and Extropians to serve them. Our Extropian comrades in Bangladesh have promised to abolish currency within their territory. If NeoSocialists and Extropians were to work together on a mission with similar aims, it would not merely be some utopian project as critics deride, but would in fact cut the very heart out of the rot that continues to eat away at the soul of East Africa. Without currency, the power of bribery to corrupt the public trust is blunted considerably. The successful accomplishment of this would not be the end of the road by any means, but would nevertheless be a step in the right direction that Africa Beyond hopes that a majority of both NeoSocialists and Extropians can support."


EURASIA-PACIFIC


New Reformist rebels crushed by Thai government forces

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The Extropian rebel group which has been engaged in a rebellion against the Kingdom of Thailand in the southern peninsular regions have been dealt a crushing blow from which they are unlikely to recover, following a major push by government forces over past two or three years. New Reformist checkpoints have been cleared away and the authority of the Kingdom is being extended into previously rebel-held areas, including the re-opening of police stations and the restoration of government buildings.


Texan forces withdraw from Assam & environs, New Workers' Party of Bangladesh take over

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Armed forces of the Republic of Texas have officially withdrawn from the region of Assam and surrounding localities, handing over control of that portion of the Indian subcontinent to the newly-formed government of Bangladesh. Subsequently, a locally organised election has seen the victory in the newly-independent territory of the New Worker's Party of Bangladesh, who have pledged to abolish currency, rebuild Bangladesh following the collapse of the Pan-Asian Federation, and to bring redress to the political and cultural hangover that is responsible for non-human residents experiencing continued discrimination and unofficial prejudice, despite the abrogation of Pan-Asian laws and the abolishment of its institutions.

[...end of file reached. News updates loaded]
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Heretic
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Heretic »

INCOMING MESSAGE

To the Republic of Texas:

The Watchmen of Humanus would like to inquire the topic concerning a preservationist convention. Prior to the Reorganization of our government, we heard rumors that the Texans were planning on creating a forum for our ideology. We were wondering if such a wonderful idea was still in your agenda.

If so, the Watchmen would like to add some topics to the potential agenda:

1. The colonization of other systems. The CSA showed that we didn't have to be Extropian or Neosocialist in order to achieve great things. In that similar vein, the CSA were also the first to find an alien species and so it would be efficient if we discussed First Contact protocol.

2. The new geopolitical landscape. Preservationism is no longer a minority viewpoint. With the fall of the Pan-Asian Federation new nations have risen, many preservationists. The Kingdom of Thailand has beaten off the Extropian rebels and this should inspire us to no longer be afraid of the technocrats and their puppets. We should also discuss a coalition of preservationists in order to support each other against incursions from terrorists and rebels, especially in the new nations that have risen from the Pan-Asian area.

3. Aid to Preservationist causes. The Miskatonic University's findings on pyronics are quite fascinating, and the Centrist Party in the EAA is starting to be marginalized by the Neosocialists and Extropians. We should, once a stronger network of allies, give aid to those in need that can help us withstand the pressures of our ideological adversaries.
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Le Socialiste »

United News Agency (UNA)

Chancellor Baldassare secures reelection in landslide
Opposition in disarray

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Supporters of Baldassare celebrate in front of the July Column

Rome, 21 min. ago - Chancellor Baldassare has successfully secured a second 4-year term for the Chancellory, emerging unscathed in what analysts are calling the ‘non-race of the century’. Baldassare handily defeated opponents Brandon Harding and Adeela Eman of the Environmental League and Collective Union Authority, respectively. The Chancellor’s landslide victory leaves the traditionally united Opposition in an untenable position as infighting over the bloc’s electoral defeat wracks the coalition. Subgroups within the bloc have begun hinting at their departure from the Opposition, accusing larger members of wielding disproportionate influence over the coalition’s primary proceedings. Mihail Suleyman, chairman of the Opposition, sought to downplay rumors of a potential split Tuesday evening following Chancellor Baldassare’s reelection.

“We’re nowhere near that point,” commented the Turkmen senator before an inquiring media. “The current administration can’t break open the champagne just yet.”

The aging Baldassare, who turned 85 in February, congratulated supporters in Paris as thousands of young adults streamed into the Place de la Bastille to celebrate the incumbent Chancellor’s victory. “We stand upon the cusp of great achievement and expectation,” roared Baldassare to the expectant audience. “Marispatria will enter the next grand epoch of her evolution, as we push the boundaries of Extropianism beyond its present borders. We have heard the word, and the word is renewal.” The Chancellor cautioned supporters to refrain from appeals to dogmatic fanaticism however, warning that “these tools of the reaction have ravaged our people before.”

“Rationality and reason are our guides now,” assured the smiling victor.

The reelected Chancellor’s approval rating currently sits at 88%, the highest of any Chancellor in recent history.

_________________________

Crescent Daily

State Ministry head concludes defense agreement with former Pan-Asian states

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State Ministry chairbeing Zari Golnessa

Tehran, 2 hours ago - Marispatria has concluded an extensive trade and defense agreement with the Technocratic Union of China and the Republic of Afghanistan, announced State Ministry chairbeing Zari Golnessa after arriving back from a 5-day summit with the two Pan-Asian states on Sunday. The summit, or Beijing Accords, finalizes a series of far-reaching agreements between the Technocratic Union and its Chinese and Afghan counterparts, namely those falling under matters of mutual defense and trade.

The Accords set in motion plans to streamline communications between the three member’s militaries, including the establishment of a transnational defense force. In trade matters, Golnessa announced the creation of a common market, with a planned commission date of January 1st, 2154. Under the Beijing Accords, participating members will undertake joint-efforts in energy, infrastructure, and space exploration.

“This agreement will secure a safe and prosperous future for new generations of young people who have yet to experience the bitter shadow of armed conflict,” assured Golnessa upon arrival back in Tehran. “Together we will rebuild from the horrors of a war that held our imaginations for a quarter of a century. It’s time we began to move forward.”
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Mather »

Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Texas


TOP SECRET


To: The Watchmen of Humanus

I would like to thank you for your last communique and like you, I feel that the issues that you have raised do need to be addressed. Before I address those three points that you raised in your communique, I would like to start by saying that my administration is fully committed towards the creation of a Humanist International. On this issue my administration shall continue the legacy that has been left to me by President Nicholas Van Alden.

As for your three points:

1.) Unfortunately, the colonisation of systems outside of our own solar system is not a priority for my administration at this moment in time. While space exploration and colonisation is something that is close to the heart of every Texan and something that administration is fully committed to, Texas faces several issues which urgently need to be addressed before my administration can start putting time, effort and resources towards this noble goal. Please don't take this to mean that Texas no longer has in interest in outer space, we do. It is just that in the short term (the next five years or so) my administration needs to resolve those issues whose urgency requires that we fully commit ourselves to a succesful resolution before we start turning our attention towards outer space.

2.) On this, I am in full agreement with you. It was Texas which secretly supplied the Kingdom of Thailand with the support needed to crush the Extropian rebels in the south of the country. Our support to Thailand also sent a clear message to the Thai authorities that Texas does not let it's allies down and that we shall always stand shoulder to shoulder with those whom we count as our friends. It is vital that our two nations do all that they can to support our new allies in Asia and to stand with them against all those who seek to threaten us.

3.) With regards to the East African Alliance (EAA), I appreciate all the good work that the Wacthmen have been doing in the EAA. Recent developments in the EAA however are a cause for concern. The Extropians are now trying to seduce the Neosocialists into supporting their own designs against the Centrist Party. Should the Extropians succeed in their efforts to expose the support that the Watchmen have been giving to the Centrist Party, all our efforts in the EAA would then be in vain. It would open the Centrist Party to charges that it is nothing more than the 'puppet' of a foreign power, despite the rank hypocrisy of such accusations as the Extropians and the Neosocialist are just as guilty as we are in this respect. It is well known amongst the intelligence community that the Greater Congo and Marispatria have both been supporting the rise of their own favoured factions in the EAA. Most worrying are the Extropians and I urge you to recognise the fact that they and not the Neosocialists pose the biggest obstacle to our own designs for the EAA. The success of our own plans for the EAA is contingent on the total destruction of the Extropian movement in the EAA, so that it may never again pose a problem to us and our allies in the Centrist Party. If the Centrist Party is unable to secure power in the near future via democratic and constitutional means, would the Watchmen support Texas in an effort to assist the Centrist Party to power via a military coup? Our own intelligence agencies have already drawn up plans for such a scenario and these plans are ready to be put into operation, should the need arise. Of course Texas would prefer it if the Centrist Party could achieve power via democratic and constitutional means, but if such efforts fail then we must be prepared to consider other options.

Having addressed those points, there are a few points which I must raise as well.

While I agree with your assertion that the Preservationist cause has much to celebrate with regards to our gains in Asia and that Preservationism is no longer a minority viewpoint on the global or solar stage, there is much to be concerned about within Texas. Having only just come to office, it brings me no joy to say that I genuinely fear for the future of my country. The poor results for the HNP during last years elections are just the tip of the iceberg. I have been briefed repeatedly by my intelligence agencies concerning the rise of subversion and political dissent within Texas. With each passing day the anarchists grow stronger and the recent decision by the Socialist Party to turn their backs on democratic and constitutional politics means that the threat of our internal enemies uniting is now very strong. My spies inform me that a clear majority of Socialist Party members favour increased cooperation with the anarchists. Heaven forbid that they should ever unite, it could very well be the end of everything that the HNP and I stand for and have worked tirelessly for. This alone would be bad enough but sadly things are far worse than they appear. It seems to be the case that the very foundations of human nationalist ideology are under attack in Texas as more and more of our own human citizens fool and delude themselves into thinking that their future lies in surrendering their sovereignty and heritage to the non-humans. While the Austin Times is a well known liberal and anti-government newspaper which uses any opportunity it can to undermine the HNP, it's recent article concerning the change in social attitudes amongst my citizens is sadly very accurate. Many of our own citizens have fooled themselves into thinking that AIs pose no threat to humanity and that their thoughts and actions a purely benign, friendly even! Worst of all are those amongst our citizens who break the law and flout the Constitution by openly displaying their illegal mixed-species relationships in public, they seem to be utterly blind to the devastating consequences that such relationships will have on wider society. I am no believer but thank God scientists have so far failed in their efforts to allow humans and hybrids to reproduce naturally. Should such horrors ever become real, I would fear immensely for the future purity of the human bloodline and the racial stock of future generations of Texans. For the first time in the history of our Republic, human nationalism is now a minority viewpoint and these recent developments leave me with the terrifying knowledge that revolution and civil war are now a real possibility in Texas.

My only hope is that it is not too late and that we can get through these tough times and face up to those who would challenge us, like we always have done before.

As I conclude my message to you, I would like the Watchmen to give us some clarification concerning recent developments within the Watchmen and the change in your leadership:

1.) Why was the old leadership replaced?

2.) Will the policies of the old leadership be placed under review by the new leadership?

3.) Will the change in leadership result in any changes to the close relationship that exists between our two great countries?

President of the Republic of Texas

Andrew Hindle
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Mather
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Re: Nova Mundi: 2115 (game thread)

Post by Mather »

Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Texas


To: The President of the Democratic Republic of China

I would like to propose a deal that I strongly believe would be mutually beneficial to both our countries and to the wider Preservationist cause. Texas is willing to offer your country an Extraterrestrial colony on a location of your choosing within our solar system. Should your government accept, we will cover the financial cost of establishing this colony as well as proving your nation with the resources and labour to do so. In return, Texas would like to obtain several military technologies that your nation has inherited from the former Pan-Asian Federation. Namely, we would like to obtain the Nanosuit Special Forces, the Stealth Raider Ships and the Intercontinental Subterranean Guided Munition (ISGMs). If your government accepts this deal then it is to go into effect as of the 1st January 2150 AD.

I await your response and look forward to our two nations working together in partnership for the common good.

President of the Republic of Texas

Andrew Hindle
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