A New Universe Proposal

For 'verse proposals, random ideas, musings, and brainwaves.

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Magister Militum
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A New Universe Proposal

Post by Magister Militum »

Ever since The Solidarity Wars, I've had an increased appreciation for hard-ish science fiction and transhumanism. This has been particularly magnified by my exposure to more and more hard SF, as well as ideas floated on SDN (in particular, a very illuminating thread that showed the sheer scale that a hard SF society could create given enough resources). Of course, I'm also a fan of space opera, and for months I had been floating an idea for a far future version of TEG were things really got crazy from a political standpoint (namely, France dominating the galaxy as the Galactic Empire). Both concepts were appealing, so I pretty much said 'Hell, why not merge the two as a semi-hard space opera?' Now, I'm not aiming for diamond hard accuracy like The A'millian Star Empire, but I still want to create a 'verse that, barring a few cheats, is more or less grounded in plausibility. A good metric for comparison in regards to general hardness would be Ford's After, in the Dark or Zor's Terran Sphere, though this 'verse definitely has a much high tech level than the latter without sliding into pulp and madness. In terms of thematic influences, I've drawn some inspiration from such great works as Legends of the Galactic Heroes which inspired the main focus of attention of my 'verse, and Asimov's Foundation series. At the same time, though, I also wanted to explore transhumanism and its implications, as well as the dilemmas it creates in regards to managing an empire. Anyways, here's a bit of background:


It is the fifty third millennium, and the great and bountiful Empire of Sol rules unchallenged across the known galaxy. The ushering in of the technological singularity by Descartes and his children for humans in the 25th Century brought unparalleled advancement. Death was conquered, the lightspeed barrier was broken, the nigh-unlimited energy and resources of the galaxy were tapped, all societal ills and disease were wiped out... in essence, transhumanity and its derivatives essentially became gods. Expanding at a vicious rate, the various human (human in this case coming to include uplifts, genmods, and sapient AI’s) polities made their presence felt in the galaxy, coming into contact with truly alien civilizations and becoming a part of the galactic community. For a time, it was thought that the old balance of power, one dominated by a cabal of powerful, squabbling great powers, would dictate politics in the galaxy. Then the Empire of Sol made its presence felt.

The Empire was a weak state in the beginning, nothing more than a loose alliance of human and alien polities centered on the dominant Federated Kingdoms of Sol. A regional power at best, the Orion Confederation was built on the ruins of the long-dead Terran Republic, its power shattered and great dominion balkanized by the chaos of the Great Galactic War and the subsequent Terran Civil War. For the other, stronger powers of the galaxy, the Orion Confederation seemed nothing more than a weak and sad attempt to restore the old glory of the Republic. Such an outlook was more or less true until court intrigue resulted in a new King to take the Eagle Throne: King Justinian V.

Justinian was determined to not only restore the glory of the Old Republic, and, indeed, build on it, but also to bring peace and stability to a galaxy plagued by constant warfare among the great powers. The Sun King would aggressively pursue the further tightening of the Confederation around the Solar Kingdom, strengthening its bonds and the power of the Kingdom over the Security Council. Expansion would lead to new conquests, more resources to feed the ever growing Royal Solar Armed Forces, and greater economic power. Within a span of four centuries, a blink of the eye for both transhumans and the galaxy, the newly christened Empire of Sol and the Allied Territories had come to dominate its surrounding region, bringing stability and prosperity to its area of the galaxy and brining many other polities to its cause.

This was not enough for Emperor Justinian I. An avid historical scholar, Justinian would look at the ancient history of man and of many alien civilizations and would find one common thread: peace could only come across the entire world when a dominant hyperpower could enforce it. Now Justinian knew his ultimate destiny. To truly bring peace to the galaxy, it would be necessary to end the squabbling among the great powers, at the barrel of a gun if necessary. And so the Solar Empire went to work, building alliances, enticing those it could, and warring with those that stood for the old status quo. The events would usher in the Second Pan-Galactic War, a titanic five century long struggle between the Solar Empire and its allies and the Coalition of Vertoric, led by the ancient Sesperine Commonwealth. In the end, the Solar Empire triumphed, its vastly larger military and industrial machine trumping that of those who dared to stand in its way. The damage to the galaxy was not insignificant, but peace was finally achieved. That was six thousand years ago.

Not much has changed since then. The Solar Empire and its vassals keep the peace with its seemingly infinite military machine, while the average citizen enjoys a standard of living unparalleled to any other period of time. However, storm clouds are beginning to emerge on the galactic horizon. Those powers that were not brushed aside by the Empire continue to skirmish with it, working to weaken the Empire’s hold on the galaxy. Those major vassals that were once subservient to Earth will now seek more and more power and say over how the hegemony is managed. Fringe groups and splinter factions on the imperial rim seek to carve their own little havens out of the Solar sphere of influence. And, of course, there are the barbarians and raiders from the uncontrolled fringes of the galaxy, holding up in the galactic halo and the globular clusters and sacking those colonies it can reach. The Empire of Sol now stands at a crossroads; will the Imperial Court on Earth manage to preserve Imperial dominance, or is the sun beginning to slowly set? Regardless of the outcomes, the new era of intrigue brings great opportunities for those sapients who take advantage of the situation. Great fortunes can be made, great adventures can be undertaken, and great positions can be acquired for those who play their cards right.

Welcome to the Fifty Third Millennium
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Tangith »

Very nice, easy to read too. Can't wait to hear for more.
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

That was a cool description, mang. I'd like to see this fleshed out, and hopefully you can do something different and cool with those alien powers scheming against the manifest destiny of man.
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Magister Militum »

Thanks. My main focus with this project is playing around with what a semi-hard SF setting can give you, as well as elements of transhumanism. Really, the main thing I'll be trying to get across is the sheer scale; while I obviously can't match the 120 kilometer long warships and teraton spewing guns of The Eternal Game, I'm probably going to beat it in terms of the sheer scale of everything else, such as the billions of stars under the rule of the Solar Empire and the mind-boggling size of their military when you apply all that energy and raw materials (and that's not getting into things like habitats and other megaconstructs). And then there's the transhumanist aspect of it, like immortality for all, uploading at a person's whim, and the fact that the average standard of living would probably make a modern day billionaire look like a bum. Obviously, I'm not going to let 'lol transhumans and teh future' dominate everything, especially since realpolitik and such is going to play a big role, but, nonetheless, it will still prove to be a very exciting and fun challenge for me, especially since I've never done this before.
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Germania your game is through, now you're gonna answer to... The Freestates! Fuck Yeah! Now lick my balls and suck on my cock! Freestates, Fuck Yeah! Coming in to save the motherfuckin' day! Rock and roll, fuck yeah! Television, fuck yeah! DVDs, fuck yeah! Militums, fuck yeah! - Shroomy
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Magister Militum »

Let's talk about the Empire of Sol. Essentially, the affairs of the galaxy are dominated by two wildly different groups, the Solar Empire and its vassals (more on them later) and the Coalition of Vertoric, named after the habitat where it was signed into existence. Both share a few similarities in the sense that they would like nothing more than to overrun the other, but they differ in many fundamental ways.

The Empire of Sol, at a glance, looks like your standard semi-authoritarian monarchy, i.e., a ruling Emperor with broad powers checked by a potent legislative body, but that quickly falls apart when you look at its composition. Like its predecessor, the Orion Confederation, the Solar Empire is a complex federation of wildly different sub-components. Think of the Third Imperium of the Traveler series or even the Imperium of Man and you’ll start to get the picture.

Referred to as Dominions, the member-states of the Empire can range from virtual democracies, where uploads, AGIs, and connected organics practice direct democracy though constant polling via neural implants, to more traditional kingdoms with system barons ruling over their posthuman vassals. Unlike the old Confederation, though, the Empire has streamlined things a bit. The main territory of the Empire is divided up into a number of sectors (may change the name to something less generic), a fluid division that tends to encompass multiple Dominions, their colonies/protectorates, and systems retained as property of the Imperial Throne or a prominent noble House. These ‘sectors’ are basically the Imperial government writ smaller, with a sector governor, elected by the people of the Dominions, overseeing Imperial policy and a sectorial senate dealing with the issues of the Dominions within the sector. They also serve as a handy way of streamlining military operations and public service/taxation issues.

All of this is overseen by our good old friend His Imperial Majesty Justinian I, Emperor and King of Sol, etc. I’ll get into him in a later post, but suffice to say, he's been on the throne for a very long time. While he has a good amount of power, its limited by the reach of the Imperial Senate, a body made up of representatives from each sector of the Empire. The Emperor is aided in running his domain by the Imperial Council, a collection of chief ministers and important government/military officials. Their decisions are, in turn, funneled though the massive bureaucracy that binds the Empire together.

For the average citizen, life couldn’t be better, especially when compared to the primitive and depressing times of pre-Singularity Earth. People are, for all intents and purposes, biologically immortal (though you could still kill them), with the ability to upload to the infosphere either temporarily or permanently, be cloned into a new body from your preserved consciousness, done via a neural implant that acts as a final refuge in the event of massive trauma, make a back up copy of your mind should you screw up, or anything else you could care to imagine. The standard of living is as high as you could imagine thanks to the semi-post scarcity economy in place. The basic essentials, food, water, housing, energy, matter, and other utilities, are essentially free, with things that we would consider to be extreme luxuries being extremely cheap. Indeed, the average person would probably live in a home made of marble and other valuable materials and decorated with exotic furnishings if they so desired. If they ever get bored, then it would be a simple matter of programming the utility fog that makes up the bulk of the home to change into something more palatable (you can do the same thing with clothes and vehicles as well). Of course, what is considered luxurious for the average citizen has advanced considerably from our time. As such, people still work, either because they wish to be able to purchase said luxuries or just because they like to work.

Where do the citizens of the Empire live? Well, that depends on their preference. Some prefer to stick to the infosphere, where they can create their own little world as they see fit and venture into the ‘real’ world every so often. After all, why leave when your most exotic and fantastic dreams can be envisioned at a mere thought? Those that spend most or all of their time in the physical universe will live either on planets or habitats. The former can range wildly in terms of diversity; worlds ranging from ecumenopolises to pristine paradises where the cities that look like works of art blend into nature. Habitats can take things to even more exotic and specialty extremes, with the imagination being the only real constraint. Indeed, you can have everything from near-endless white sandy beaches in one habitat to Manhattan circa 1935 in the other (habitats and other megaconstructs will be described later).

Travel throughout the Empire is also quite diverse. At the planetary level, you have things such as monorails, giant airliners, kilometer long oceanic megaships, aircars and their nuclear powered and propelled ground-based siblings, and other fun and efficient ways to move about. Don’t have the time to take the leisurely route? Then just upload your mind and send yourself to a downloading station near your destination via a comm. laser or a hyperwave transmitter (it works for interplanetary distances and even nearby systems in the case of the latter method, as well). Once there, you can just download yourself to a cloned body or some other avatar. Want to go interstellar? Hitch a ride on your personal ship, or, for long range travel, a dedicated transport or even a mobile habitat. Civilians will tend to use the wormhole gate network in place for convenient travel, but it’s quite possible for a civilian ship to mount a hyperdrive, though civilian hyperdrive do poorly in areas that are off the beaten path in regards to the topography of hyperspace.

The Imperial Solar Armed Forces, consisting of the Imperial Solar Star Navy, the Imperial Solar Army, and the Imperial Solar Marine Corps, is the largest military force in the galaxy. The Imperial Solar Star Navy, with trillions* of warships in service (not including drone fighters and other parasites) and a broad mission statement, is the senior service, as well as the most important one. Said ships can range from simple, multi-hundred meter frigates to the gargantuan battleships that could be confused with mobile habitats from afar. With the exception of automated drone warships, most of the significant ships are crewed, though their crews tend to be small thanks to automation and are stored away in ultra-armored compartments buried deep in the ship, with dedicated marine detachments and internal defenses providing another layer of defense. ISSN warships are designed to be incredibly resilient and redundant, preferring large numbers of smaller reactors and capacitors over a huge super reactor and highly redundant ship systems. Such a setup, when combined with the extreme resiliency of most ISSN warships, makes them incredibly tough to destroy, allowing the ships to fight on even after suffering catastrophic damage. The Star Navy also controls the mighty star fortresses and vast naval support facilities spread throughout the Empire.

The Imperial Solar Army is also a similarly fearsome force. Despite what its name may suggest, the ISA controls both the maritime service and aerospace forces as semi-autonomous divisions. Much of the actual ISA tends to be automated, with vast robotic legions, commanded by AGIs and organic overseers, covering the entire spectrum of combined arms. Organic armies make up the elite core of the ISA, acting as the decisive tip of the lance. The sheer industry of the Empire has resulted in the ISA having a considerably large armor pool, with everything from simple scout cars to tanks that resemble Bolos in size and power. Infantry are also similarly lavished; the standard infantry battlesuit has all sorts of nifty tools, including point defense and ECM suites, high-mobility movement capabilities, medical and sensor systems, etc. As a rule of thumb, infantry are typically airmobile via their durable and well-armed gunship-transports, or, at the very least, are mechanized. The ISA also maintains a love affair with nuclear, and especially antimatter, munitions.

Finally, there is the Imperial Solar Marine Corps. Unlike the heavy warfare mentality of the ISA, the ISMC is geared more towards lighter operations, making them an excellent choice for rapid response operations. Indeed, the Marine Corps is readily capable of operating in every conceivable environment, albeit without the heavy firepower or logistics train of the Army (at least during peacetime). The ISMC, as in the grand tradition of the marines of the Old Republic, has a very strong esprit de corps, resulting in some of the most dedicated and talented soldiers around. In addition to the elite Guards Legions formed out of the most successful marine formations, the ISMC also has access to its own space fleet of assault ships and even full-fledged warships, much to the chagrin of the Star Navy.

In short, the Empire of Sol is a massive and diverse construct that is enjoying the fruits of its labor, at least when its rivals don't try to spoil the fun, like the Sesperine Commonwealth...

*I say trillions, but, realistically, given the scale and sheer amount of resources available, its quite possible for their to be quadrillions of ships flying about.
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Germania your game is through, now you're gonna answer to... The Freestates! Fuck Yeah! Now lick my balls and suck on my cock! Freestates, Fuck Yeah! Coming in to save the motherfuckin' day! Rock and roll, fuck yeah! Television, fuck yeah! DVDs, fuck yeah! Militums, fuck yeah! - Shroomy
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Destructionator »

Here's something that might change government. Your direct democracy was a good one (lol collective consciousness is the government!), but an AI could change a monarchy too.

Consider that an AI king could literally be everywhere at once, due to being able to copy his consciousness across the internet if needed, or just process huge sums of information coming in from his cameras at once. He could personally preside over every case in his domain.

There wouldn't be much of a need for written laws. If you want to look up the legality of something, just wirelessly connect to the datasphere and ask the king personally about your specific situation.

Calling this AI the king might not even be strictly accurate; it really doesn't need to be sentient at all, but this makes it easier to relate to.


It's just something you might want to play with in one part of the empire. Light speed lag means it doesn't necessarily work across huge distances (though it might; the king can clone himself in local terminals, but then those clones are a kind of agent, with their code being the laws they must follow), so I'd expect this kind of thing to be just one state at a time; the overall emperor might not fit into this kind of mold.

His local governors probably could though.
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Acatalepsy »

Direct AIocracy? Sweet. Go Helios!
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Magister Militum »

Destructionator wrote:Here's something that might change government. Your direct democracy was a good one (lol collective consciousness is the government!), but an AI could change a monarchy too.

Consider that an AI king could literally be everywhere at once, due to being able to copy his consciousness across the internet if needed, or just process huge sums of information coming in from his cameras at once. He could personally preside over every case in his domain.

There wouldn't be much of a need for written laws. If you want to look up the legality of something, just wirelessly connect to the datasphere and ask the king personally about your specific situation.

Calling this AI the king might not even be strictly accurate; it really doesn't need to be sentient at all, but this makes it easier to relate to.
Hmm, that's not a bad idea. While I generally don't like AIcracies, the idea of a monarchy ruled by a AI King is made up of all kinds of awesome, and would fit very well with the nature of this 'verse. Actually, now that I think about it, that giant bureaucracy I mention has no real reason to exist, as a collection of AIs could just as easily do all of that and remove any sort of hassle involved.

Anyways, changing subject, I've been considering how warfare will play out in this 'verse and I've essentially hit a dead end in regards to weapons. Staples like lasers, particle beams, and kinetic energy weapons would be quite common, but what other realistic or plausible weapons could be developed given the setting and the technology level?
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

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Magister Militum wrote:Anyways, changing subject, I've been considering how warfare will play out in this 'verse and I've essentially hit a dead end in regards to weapons. Staples like lasers, particle beams, and kinetic energy weapons would be quite common, but what other realistic or plausible weapons could be developed given the setting and the technology level?
I imagine all weapons would fall into categories of the staples (missiles and lasers will likely dominate). Or, maybe, combinations of staples. Like missiles that actually carry mirrors to focus lasers rather than to do the damage themselves, or a laser thermal rocket used as a missile.

Or the biggest weapon of all: dramatic speeches between diplomats!

But, the goal of a weapon is fairly simple, so I'd expect the weapons to be fairly simple too.
His Certifiable Geniusness, Adam D. Ruppe (My 'verse)
Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Magister Militum »

So, I've been considering the tech level of the setting and have been recently using the handy, if somewhat vague, Kardashev scale as a crude benchmark. In terms of power usage, I would expect that all major polities would be at Type II at a minimum, with big boys like the Solar Empire and Sespertine Commonwealth closing in toward Type III. In fact, the Empire of Sol may very well be at Type III. As such, what sort of technological advancement could I expect from such a mature Type II/Type III society? Any external sources on the subject would be much appreciated, especially given my desire to gain a better knowledge of such topics.
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Germania your game is through, now you're gonna answer to... The Freestates! Fuck Yeah! Now lick my balls and suck on my cock! Freestates, Fuck Yeah! Coming in to save the motherfuckin' day! Rock and roll, fuck yeah! Television, fuck yeah! DVDs, fuck yeah! Militums, fuck yeah! - Shroomy
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Magister Militum »

The Sesperine Commonwealth


The head of the Coalition of Vertoric, the Sesperine Commonwealth is an ancient polity whose predecessor state predates even the Galactic Republic. Having taken to the stars a few centuries before transhumanity, the Sesperines had built an impressive space empire even before their development of wormhole gates via lightsail technology. Contact with humanity was relatively peaceful, and, in due time, the Sesperine Commonwealth would join the Galactic Republic, the first pan-galactic government in over forty five millennia. For a time, the Sesperine Commonwealth would enjoy peace and prosperity as a major player in Republic politics, but, soon enough, trouble began to brew within the Republic. Regional differences and tensions began to emerge among the various constituents of the Old Republic, many of which would threaten to explode in the form of armed conflict. To make matters worse, the Republican government on Marathon became increasingly corrupt and authoritarian, ruthlessly suppressing dissent and calls for more autonomy by its member-states. When the habitat cluster of Trafcova was destroyed after declaring its independence, all hell would break loose.

The Sesperine Commonwealth, in the chaos of the Galactic Civil War, would quickly seize their opportunity and declare its independence like so many other polities. The independence would come at a high cost, as Loyalist forces swarmed into the Commonwealth, retaking the worlds and infrastructure it could and annihilating those it couldn’t. Rallying its people, the citizen government of the Commonwealth devoted its full resources to the defense of their home from its authoritarian neighbors. The Loyalists were eventually repulsed, and, in a brilliant maneuver by Commonwealth Star Forces Admiral General Virtulias Combor, much of its expeditionary force would be trapped in the Telcof Expanse, leading to its eventual annihilation. Coupled with the massive morale blow of the declaration of independence by Sol and the surrounding space (not to mention the loss in industry) and the inevitability of near-total defeat, the last remains of the Republic collapsed into nothingness, the stars under its control being annexed by neighboring powers.

From the ashes of the Old Republic rose dozens of major powers and hundreds of minor powers. For a time, the Sesperine Commonwealth found itself in a fortuitous position; the Long Night left it with the largest industrial and military base and surrounded by easy pickings, while its potential rivals, such as the Federated Kingdoms of Sol and the Orion Confederation, were essentially out of the picture. A new golden age would be born for the Commonwealth, as it gleefully took on the mantle of galactic superpower and expanded its influence at an unheard of rate. Alas, such good times would not last. New powers would dilute the influence of the Commonwealth, leading to a period of constant bickering and warfare, while the newly born Empire of Sol began making noise regarding its so-called ‘birthright’. Still, it seemed as if things would continue to go as the Commonwealth willed them to go... at least for the moment.

In reality, the Commonwealth made a grave error in ignoring the Solar Empire. In time, Justinian I would turn what was once a regional power at best into a full-fledged superpower, with the Commonwealth and its interests unable to halt its progress. When it became clear that the Solar Empire had nothing more than complete domination on its mind, the Commonwealth would flex its diplomatic muscles to create a grand alliance, the Coalition of Vertoric, of like-minded polities to oppose the Empire’s plans. While the conquest of the Empire was unlikely, at the very least, the Coalition hoped, their combined strength would expel Justinian’s armies and take the fight to him, forcing the Empire to the table. They were gravely mistaken.

Quntillions of ships swarmed over the Coalition’s border, devastating the defenders and taking star system after star system. The blitzkrieg across the galaxy swallowed whole star nations up in an instant, while taking big bites out of others. Eventually, the Empire ran out of steam, allowing the Coalition to strike back and gain some breathing room. The vast campaigns would last for thousands of years before Justinian I had enough. With his military machine stalemated, the Sun Emperor realized that complete conquest was no longer possible for the Empire, at least not right now. Despite that, the Empire had effectively neutered the Coalition, taking huge chunks out of it and guaranteeing Solar dominance of the galaxy. As such, the Empire’s ambassadors would offer a peace treaty to the Coalition. In exchange for a cessation of hostilities and recognition of the Solar Hegemony over the galaxy, the Empire would recognize the sovereignty of the remaining members of the Coalition, as well as their current territorial borders. For the Commonwealth and the Coalition, such an offer was the best they could hope for, and, as such, they would reluctantly sign away their influence to the Solar Empire.

Six thousand years later, the Sesperine Commonwealth and the Coalition have not forgotten their humiliating defeat. Having regained some of their power, the Commonwealth has noticed the troubles of the Empire and now works as hard as they can to undermine the Empire even more. The Empire of Sol is still a mighty foe, though, and the Commonwealth and the Coalition must tread carefully, lest their millennia of preparation be wasted. Only time will tell if the Commonwealth and her allies can shift the balance of power in their favor.

The Sesperine Commonwealth can be best described as a demarchy with strong meritocratic principles. All electable government positions are selected by lotto via the Digital College from the populace of the Commonwealth. Those that are selected serve a set term before being replaced by another individual. The most important body of the Commonwealth is the Universal Assembly, which consists of randomly selected legislators that represent a specific region of the Commonwealth. The selected Assemblypersons are kept aware of the needs of their constituents though the infosphere, where constituents can address their representative and present any grievances that they may have.

The executive of the Sesperine Commonwealth, the First Citizen, is selected from within the Universal Assembly. Compared to other executives, the First Citizen is a relatively weak position, with most power in the hands of the Assembly. Despite this, the First Citizen still maintains a considerable responsibility in managing the Commonwealth and its foreign relations. As in the case with the Assembly, the public can also address the First Citizen personally via the infosphere, while the First Citizen can use the same technology to keep tabs on the current issues and desires of the people of the Commonwealth. Major government departments are headed by their own secretaries, a position filled by either AGIs that are experts in the field, or organic officials appointed based on merit. The bureaucracy and lower level positions are headed by non-sapient but powerful expert systems so as to minimize the bureaucracy to its absolute minimum.

Sesperine territory is divided into a large number of communes, a region of space similar to the Imperial provinces in scope and use. The communes are basically a carbon copy of the central government, with their own digital colleges, legislatures, and governors. The communes are generally given a fair amount of freedom in determining how to deal with the specific needs of their people as long as it does not violate the core principles of the Commonwealth. In addition, they may also raise their own citizen militias, volunteer defense forces that protect their home commune from internal and external threats. The composition of said militias varies depending on what part of the Commonwealth they are located in, but the closer the commune is to the Solar Empire and its vassals, the more heavily militarized and better equipped it may be.

While the Commonwealth can't match the sheer size of the Empire, it does come close. A few billion stars are under the direct rule of the Commonwealth, with many more in the form of colonies and protectorates/minor allies. The core systems of the Commonwealth, those that formed the heart of early expansion, are the most heavily developed in Commonwealth space, with uncountable trillions living in the megalopolises and habitat clusters that populate said systems. They also tend to be the most well defended, with system fleets and stationary battlemoons armed with massive laser cannons and hypermissle batteries capable of blunting even the most vicious assault. Those core systems that don’t play a substantial role in housing populations are instead dedicated to tasks such as manufacturing, where titanic manufactories and megayards churn out massive amounts of material, while antimatter farms, dyson spheres, and other facilities generate the power that keeps the Commonwealth alive. Beyond the core systems lies the First Expansion Sphere and the Midrim Colonies, the area that marked the first major expansion efforts undertaken by the Empire and its original border (the Midrim Colonies). The colonies in the First Expansion Sphere in particular also tend to be well developed, as well as being home to the lion share of Sespertine industry. Finally, there is the Second Expansion Sphere and the Border Marches, home to the second wave of expansion undertaken post-Collapse and the militarized rim of expansion. It is worth noting that they used to be a Third Sphere, with the original Border Marches much farther out. However, the crippling defeat the Solar Empire brought upon the Commonwealth resulted in the loss of that territory, a fact that is bitterly remembered.

The Armed Defense Forces of the Sesperine Commonwealth act as one of the key tools in the Commonwealth’s diplomatic arsenal, as well as the one of the few things that keeps the Empire at bay. The ADF-SC is divided into three branches: the Commonwealth Space Forces, the Commonwealth Surface Army, and Commonwealth Intelligence. The Commonwealth Space Forces is the second largest spacey in the galaxy, as well as the most capable of the Coaltion of Vertoric. Unlike the more battle wall-centered focus of the ISSN, the CSF places greater importance on its carrier force, especially after its vindication during the Pan-Galactic War. Indeed, the most famous example of the carrier’s return, where a massed wave of bombers piloted by the uploaded copies of some of the best CSF pilots around overwhelmed the defenses of the ISS Vendetta, a Colossus-class large command battleship, and obliterated the forward half of the ship, decisively overturned the dismissive attitudes of starfighters. Of course, the CSF also maintains its own fair share of battleships and other dedicated warships, as well as its own expeditionary armies in the form of the naval infantry, which are under the effective control of the Admiralty.

The Commonwealth Surface Army, like the Imperial Solar Army, also commands all forces that operate within a planet’s gravity well. The CSA is a relatively competent force, its countless skirmishes with the Solar Empire and many more interventions over the millennia honing its expertise. While the CSF can’t claim to be the equals of the ISSN, the CSA can pride themselves in their parity with the Imperial Solar Army. The vast robotic armies of the CSA are, ton for ton, just as efficient and deadly as their Solar counterparts, as are their tanks, gunships, maritime ships, and any other weapon system you could care to imagine. Like its space-borne counterpart, the CSA can call upon the militias of the communes during wartime. Said militias often train specifically for the terrain of their world, making them some of the best in their branch of warfare. As such, the CSA can call upon specialty units, be they the Vasgof Pioneers or the Bordin Skyraiders, of truly elite caliber.

Finally, there is Commonwealth Intelligence. The youngest branch of the ADF-SC, Commonwealth Intelligence was the end result of the merger between four distinct intelligence branches, the Commonwealth External Intelligence Directorate, the Commonwealth Cyrptographic Agency, The Office of Military Intelligence of the Armed Defense Forces, and the Internal Security Directorate. While the loud screams of protest were well heard by the then-current First Citizen, the executive, the Assembly, and the advisors of the Digital College were all in agreement as to the increase in efficiency that the unification of the intelligence community would provide. A monolithic construct that is officially a part of the military (the OMI’s concession), Commonwealth Intelligence handles all aspects of intelligence, from external intelligence to internal monitoring to cryptography to the supporting of insurrections and many more unsavory actions. To this end, the CI has access to a virtual bottomless pit of resources, ranging from special agents and commandos that can seemingly do the impossible to whole partisan armies that can be raised at an instant. While much of its work is shrouded in secrecy, the activities of the CI have guaranteed the continued survival of the Commonwealth from its much larger foe.

In regards to the Coaltion of Vertoric, the Sesperine Commonwealth is the dominant member. While the Republic of Ostork maintains significant clout in the Coalition, even it does not match the strength and influence of the Commonwealth. While part of this has to do with the Commonwealth’s deliberate manipulation of the system to remain on top, much of it, in fact, has to do with the fact that the Sesperine’s are simply the strongest anti-Imperial force in the galaxy, making it a magnet for those that oppose the Empire’s expansion. However, despite their mutual foe, internal politics and the individual agendas of each member-state hinder the full power of the Coalition. This flaw is of major concern for the Sesperine Commonwealth, as, despite what many civilians believe, the entire combined might of the Coalition could never hope to defeat the Solar Empire in its current state. Indeed, the only thing that prevents even more loss of territory is their collective strength and political maneuvering, which could be jeopardized by the independent-minded attitudes of certain polities. The Commonwealth and the Coalition must tread carefully if they wish to continue to hold on to their sovereignty, let alone turn the galactic tides in their favor.
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Somes J
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Somes J »

Destructionator wrote:Here's something that might change government. Your direct democracy was a good one (lol collective consciousness is the government!), but an AI could change a monarchy too.

Consider that an AI king could literally be everywhere at once, due to being able to copy his consciousness across the internet if needed, or just process huge sums of information coming in from his cameras at once. He could personally preside over every case in his domain.

There wouldn't be much of a need for written laws. If you want to look up the legality of something, just wirelessly connect to the datasphere and ask the king personally about your specific situation.
That sounds rather similar to the Sysops Scenario envisioned by Eliezer Yudkowsky.

Although would it technically be a monarchy if the ruler is immortal?
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

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Somes J wrote:Although would it technically be a monarchy if the ruler is immortal?
Maybe. It can fit all the trapping except for actually invoking the line of succession (though such might be on the books anyway, even if unused).

In practice, the title is pretty arbitrary. Do people react better to being under a king, or a president, or a 'supreme autocrat'? The AI can pick whatever floats the people's boat.

But as for academically fitting the definition, I'd put it as a question of history: has the government traditionally been considered a monarchy? If yes, keep it; the AI is just the next in a long chain of kings. If no, probably not.
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

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Magister Militum wrote:In terms of power usage, I would expect that all major polities would be at Type II at a minimum, with big boys like the Solar Empire and Sespertine Commonwealth closing in toward Type III.
Irrelevant side note:

Depending how strictly you want to take the Type II definition, it might take mature civilizations around about 100 stars to really meet it.......

.....maybe.

The reason I was going with is the definition is to use the power output of a star. But, actually capturing the full output of a star is easier said than done; odds are you'll only get like 1% of it to your civ. Thus, 1% * 100 stars = 100% of one star, hitting the strict type II definition.


Of course, few people use the definition so strictly anyway.


But, I say maybe now because perhaps you can get a higher percentage more easily than I assumed. I wound run with 1% figuring that more than that in orbit would lead to eclipsing or collisions of the objects at different angles around the sun.

BUT, if they were at different angles AND different altitudes, it might just work... Collisions shouldn't be a problem anymore, and eclipsing wouldn't be 100% of the time. Maybe it could work out.

(An alternative to orbitting objects is light and/or solar wind pressure holding out stationary things. But I still doubt this would get a large percentage of the sun's power to useful stuff, since your mass is limited by the counter pressure vs gravity. You might cover the star, but with 99%* of that coverage being used to just hold your object in place, I'm not so sure it would count toward type II ing it.)

* Source: my ass


Anywho, this doesn't really matter, since a galactic civilization having a hundred stars under its control is nothing. They have billions to play with.
As such, what sort of technological advancement could I expect from such a mature Type II/Type III society? Any external sources on the subject would be much appreciated, especially given my desire to gain a better knowledge of such topics.
I don't really know. My assumptions tend to be conservative; stuff similar to what we have today, but scaled up both on total people (and thus total energy) and energy per person. The energy per person I like to assume is spent on doing the same shit people have done for centuries, only faster, longer, stronger, etc.

So instead of taking months to cross the Atlantic, we now do it in hours. Similarly, instead of taking years to cross the solar system, they do it in days. Instead of wearing more clothes in the winter, we just turn up the heat. They might spend the energy eliminating winter altogether (trivial in a space habitat anyway).

Etc. etc. etc.

But that's the idea I run with. Nothing revolutionary, just scaled up more of the same.

My conservatism might be way off track though :( I just don't know.
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

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Destructionator wrote:But that's the idea I run with. Nothing revolutionary, just scaled up more of the same.
An example of increasing energy usage not really being indicative of a huge change in things is commuting.


This was running through my head in bed last night. A friend of mine goes to college up north while still living down here. She has to drive, three times a week, 80 miles there and 80 miles back back.

It is a whopping total of about 480 miles a week, but she only drives for about 9 hours in that week, which she finds acceptable.


This is something only possible because of our society spending energy:

a) Manufacturing cars
b) Paving roads
c) Driving cars (refining oil, gassing up the car, maintaining it, and so on)


In the past, not all of these would add up. In the days before cars were affordable to take on long trips, people would have to do it by animal power (walking it or riding a horse, etc). A horse just isn't fast enough to make that trip each day: she'd spend every waking hour just traveling!

A bicycle on paved road could do the job. If you are Lance Armstrong. And even so, it'd take longer than the car. Bikes have been going upward in speed as time goes on too, since tech lets them get lighter weight, more efficient bikes (surely more energy intensive to manufacture too!). But anyway, Lance could probably keep up an average speed of about 25 mph, and make the trip without having to be on the road all day.

But us normal folks don't have that kind of strength. Now I've personally ridden on a 25 mile each way commute in reasonable time (~1.5 hours each way) - that isn't really too hard to pull off. The average speed there is about 15 mph.

Ten miles an hour doesn't sound like a big difference, but it is, because of air drag. The power to overcome drag through the air increases proportionally with the cube of your speed. The pro rider is about 65% faster than I am. But they have to be almost 5x more powerful than me to pull it off, thanks to the cubing equation! Then, of course, the pro can do it for 6 hours a day, every day, whereas I'm pretty well pooped after just 3 hours of it.


Well, anywho, the speed difference through air means a huge energy difference, and the bigger energy difference of having cars vs having to use your own or animal power means it is opened up to everyone, not just athletes. This lets people take jobs and do things they couldn't have done before.

On the individual level, you get to have more freedom. Want to go to the 4 year school 80 miles away without making your kids move? Done. Want to take that job 60 miles away without moving? Done. (her husband did this for a long time too)



On the macro level, this changes prices. The more convenient (and cheap) travel is, the more competition you have to face.

Nothing revolutionary, but a lot of little changes for a huge cost in energy.



But, even with all this, she can't come home for lunch. There just isn't enough time to make the drive.



Now, imagine individual energy use was 10x higher. Thanks to the cube law of air drag, this lets us double our travel speed. (Or do a pile of other things, but just talking about mundane commuting here.)

Ignoring traffic, my friend there just might be able to make it home for lunch. She'd also be back soon enough to pick up her daughter from school, saving me a walk (yay?). Or, she could drive the same amount of time, but get twice as far away. If the school 80 miles away isn't good enough, she no longer has to settle; she can just go to the one 160 miles away. The market becomes more competitive.



At 200x higher energy usage, the biggest change in our day to day lives might not be a fancy new tech, but instead just everyone taking high speed cars (or airplanes?) to work every day. They can live out in the suburbs a hundred miles away, but still make it to the office easily, AND make it home and back every day for lunch, all within the one hour!


Now, is it a safe bet that transportation will eat a larger and larger faction of total energy? Probably not, but it isn't out of the question: since 1950, the fraction of total energy spent on transportation in the US has risen from about 23% to 29%, and total energy usage has about tripled. So history doesn't favor a gap this big, but it does seem to like the gap. Also, there's the question of what the energy does. Over 50% of residential energy use is in heating and cooling. This curve gets shallower with home size - a large thing takes more energy to heat, yes, but it also retains it better, so the overall efficiency is higher. The next biggest user is hot water, and how much of that can a person use? It is probably going to be a smaller fraction too.

Odds are residential energy use will increase, but not nearly as rapidly as the other sectors. Commercial is in the same boat - probably scaling pretty close to linearly based on the usage. I'm not so sure about industrial.


But if you have a couple lines, and than a cubic curve, the lines are going to be less and less significant as time goes on. So this kind of prediction isn't completely absurd, though it is technologically conservative.






The thing that might throw a wrench into it is the curve need not be cubic. Transportation can be free, net energy wise. Something moving through a vacuum doesn't have to deal with air resistance, so it can launch, coast, then regeneratively break and make insane speed with almost zero net energy cost.

In space, this is trivial. On Earth, it has a large up-front manufacturing cost (you'd have to dig underground tunnels the whole way and pump all the air out. Can be done, but expensive.)

But some high energy usage can be used in space, since the efficient setup is really just for short ranges.

If you want to commute across interplanetary distances, the energy usage will scale at least with the square of speed, and since you want big speed for big distances, huge squared is even huger. It can still dominate the overall graph.




I've run with commuting in the ase verse, but don't recall if I've written it up much before. The most you'll probably see is the characters going to catch a train. That twenty minute train ride puts them across the country though! (Sit down, feel 1g pushing behind you, then it spots, your chair spins around, and it happens again. This is the underground maglev train in vacuum. Originally Gerry O'Neill's idea, not mine. Though, I think I'm going to edit this out of newer revisions for an above ground, and slower, train, due to cost concerns. It might change the commuting patterns, like I'm talking about above, but in reverse.)



edit: Last note: Telecommute can change the economies too. How could I forget that; that's what I do IRL! But it wouldn't replace all travel anyway.
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Re: A New Universe Proposal

Post by Magister Militum »

Destructionator wrote:
Somes J wrote:Although would it technically be a monarchy if the ruler is immortal?
Maybe. It can fit all the trapping except for actually invoking the line of succession (though such might be on the books anyway, even if unused).

In practice, the title is pretty arbitrary. Do people react better to being under a king, or a president, or a 'supreme autocrat'? The AI can pick whatever floats the people's boat.

But as for academically fitting the definition, I'd put it as a question of history: has the government traditionally been considered a monarchy? If yes, keep it; the AI is just the next in a long chain of kings. If no, probably not.
That's the general arrangement I've had for all monarchies. The rulers are immortal, but the line of succession is in the books. Besides, court intrigue can result in unfortunate monarchs to leave the throne, so death isn't necessarily the only way the line of succession can be invoked.
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