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Persean Sector: Alternate Planet Descriptions

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Weezer:

Primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gases. The temperature and pressure at the core are extreme, but not enough to sustain the deuterium fusion that would turn the planet into a brown dwarf star. Naval administration conducts regular severe weather flight training within its depths, where hotshot pilots learn how to avoid deadly storms and hyper-turbulence.


Primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gases. The temperature and pressure at the core are extreme, but not enough to sustain the deuterium fusion that would turn the planet into a brown dwarf star. The Shimmering Needle is a great sprawling complex, with various room modules attached at chaotic intervals; the end result being a beast of undulating limbs, its life composed of the many sparks within, traversing the great giant of Barad. Miners pray before leaving, knowing both Ludd and the lights of their cluttered home will guide them to safety.


Primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gases. The temperature and pressure at the core are extreme, but not enough to sustain the deuterium fusion that would turn the planet into a brown dwarf star. The demolition of defunct stations and derelict frigates is a common sight for those who point sensors to Barad; pilots learn to treat their ship as an extension of their own body, while young recruits learn to breach and clear a variety of enemy environments.


Primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gases. The temperature and pressure at the core are extreme, but not enough to sustain the deuterium fusion that would turn the planet into a brown dwarf star. A mining company, Grayson Manufactories Ltd. has been formed to harvest Barad's resources. Fleets come and go to transfer volatiles, and the occasional contract miner.


Primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gases. The temperature and pressure at the core are extreme, but not enough to sustain the deuterium fusion that would turn the planet into a brown dwarf star. The Ministry of Labor oversees regular functions of the gas giant, which has instituted a bonus system for miners who exceed quota. Fabulous prizes include double rations, luxury rations (alcohol, cigarettes, etc.), and even license to raise children.


Primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gases. The temperature and pressure at the core are extreme, but not enough to sustain the deuterium fusion that would turn the planet into a brown dwarf star. Corporate headquarters has instituted branch competition, whereupon those who underperform face significant penalties to encourage productivity. Management has instituted an open door policy for those with concerns, which they will be shoved out into space.


Primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gases. The temperature and pressure at the core are extreme, but not enough to sustain the deuterium fusion that would turn the planet into a brown dwarf star. Various tourism ventures offer affordable packages for those seeking a sense of adventure and wonder, from exploring long dead cruisers to mock battles on a small scale.


Primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gases. The temperature and pressure at the core are extreme, but not enough to sustain the deuterium fusion that would turn the planet into a brown dwarf star. The atmosphere flashes as pirate fleets meet and duel to the death; for honor, leadership, rights to rare artifacts, and to alleviate boredom.


Primarily composed of hydrogen and helium gases. The temperature and pressure at the core are extreme, but not enough to sustain the deuterium fusion that would turn the planet into a brown dwarf star.

Supplius Maximus:
Man, these descriptions are awesome. Jangala in particular is very detailed and interesting. Though, one has to wonder what all the various rebel cells/undead/demons do when the planet is conquered by another faction.... Do they take turns?

Also, I kindly request the Aztlan, Hybrasil or Gilead systems!

Weezer:

--- Quote from: Supplius Maximus on November 19, 2019, 07:04:05 AM ---Man, these descriptions are awesome. Jangala in particular is very detailed and interesting. Though, one has to wonder what all the various rebel cells/undead/demons do when the planet is conquered by another faction.... Do they take turns?

Also, I kindly request the Aztlan, Hybrasil or Gilead systems!

--- End quote ---
Oh, its the same group of Hegemonic Remnants! They inspire new horrible rumors of what they are with different occupants. Psychological warfare!

And Gilead, Terran World, coming right up!

Weezer:

Little has changed in the lives of the faithful. The Church still exists in a capacity in the promised land of Ludd's children, but their leadership is limited to local communities. Priests report to the planetary administrator and the military council's rulings on all matters. The waters run pure still, the game rambles abundant yet; care has been taken to preserve the pearl of humanity.

Crown of the Pilgrim's Path and cherished by the Luddic faithful, Gilead is a paradise rumoured to rival that of Old Earth - that which was given to humanity by God; which humanity desecrated; from which humanity was, in sin, exiled to suffer amongst the stars. That such a world could be found again is the promise that humanity may be redeemed.

The dead swing from streetlights, masked enforcers of the True Path on every city corner as loudspeakers blare the Truth on the hour, every hour. The Pathers have torn into the church denizens in their home more ferociously than one might expect, making examples of those who would compromise, or harbored sympathy for the faithless. The High Crusader offers no redemption but that of a clean death, for these are the end times.

Colony ships escape the orbit of Gilead on a nearly daily basis, headed for anywhere but the shattered peace of the promised land. Now a League member, true control of the planet is fought for by three prominent League factions, who engage in open warfare on the planet for full economic ownership of the vast fields of food, burning what they cannot take. All that matters to the freshly minted League civilians is their temples are now field outposts, their homes are charnel houses, their fields lit aflame. Unity has come at a great cost.

The promised land is wrapped in a shawl of smoke, heavy industry pushing out the communes, the Ministry of Environment finding new ways to exploit the natural wonder of Gilead in the name of productivity. Images of Ludd have been brought into the street and shattered, replaced with concrete forms of the Lion of Sindria. As native fauna and flora die out, they are replaced by new hybrid specimens from the labs of the Ministry of Science and Technology. This is worse than the End Times for the faithful, for this new era shows no end in sight. God help us all.

Shining pillars of glass and steel erupt from the planet like cancerous growths, as the devils within repeat the desecration that exiled humanity from Old Earth. Farms are bought out by new oligarchs, and corporate citizens of Gilead find themselves pushed towards extreme action to keep their homes, their very way of life. Corporate Pacification Forces now regularly exchanges fire with fresh Pather cells, with no end in sight to the conflict.

The verdant pearl of faith is abuzz with excitement, transport shuttles bringing pilgrims to and from the surface. While industrialization is slow, a great burst of religions spring forth from the vault of Terran relics held on Gilead. Hundreds of faiths find new followers, while the emergency council warns citizens of the danger cults pose. Officially religion is restricted from government, yet many council members boast of their faith as they build the foundation for a permanent administration. Gods both old and new rub shoulders in this Mecca of the Persean Sector.

The once beautiful garden world of Gilead has been overtaken by what the Luddic faithful consider to be godless barbarians. The collection of mercenary groups currently looting the planet do not care to administrate, but simply take what they can and sell it before offloading the crumbling ruins and scattered survivors on anyone dim enough to buy a slice of paradise. Entire forests smolder and roads run thick with red as the faithful hide from the raiders or fight for what little remains of their home. Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. All things must come to an end.

Crown of the Pilgrim's Path and cherished by the Luddic faithful, Gilead is a paradise rumoured to rival that of Old Earth - that which was given to humanity by God; which humanity desecrated; from which humanity was, in sin, exiled to suffer amongst the stars. Small tribes of humanity exist in simple conditions upon its surface, leaving the greater world pristine. From the view of orbit, one could truly believe the planet to be untouched by human hands.

Supplius Maximus:
This is great, thanks for accepting one of my requests! To thank you I'll do a few planet descriptions for my own faction: the Damani Directorate.



(This is my faction description, keep in mind it's a heavily modded game so there will be mentions of mod factions and the like)

The Damani Directorate. The most mysterious and alarming power of the sector, all of the Big Five (Hegemony, Diktat, League, Luddic Church and Try-Tachyon) keep a keen eye on it, and an even keener aim, as the rise of this shadowy polity was as quick as it was shocking. The black ships of the Directorate dominate the stars to the direct galactic west of the Core Worlds, and none can even approach Damanist space without seeing at least one military detachment at any time. The Directorate has a strong tendency to colonize far-off planets in isolated systems, no matter the cost, if they think the long-term benefits are worth it. Trying to attack a colonial expedition by the Directorate is considered suicidal indeed, even by the most reckless of Pather Crusaders, as they are always accompanied by guard fleets that wouldn't look out of place in an invasion force. Even the Lethia system, home to the Kassadari Houses and long since separated by the sector, so far to the north-east it is, has been colonized by this nation.

The Directorate is known for its rampant use of lost and forbidden technology. Ship, weapon and other technological patterns long though lost appear frequently in their armies and worlds, and their hunger for blueprints and Domain ruins outmatches that of the the rest of the sector combined. Dozens of expeditions and spy operations are launched every month in the search of further technological marvels. But the Damanists do not rely solely on the Domain's leftovers, for Omega Bastion and one its space stations, the Omega Division R&D Headquarters, are home to some of the most extensive and well funded research operations in the sector, always testing and analyzing any tech they find, perfecting it, and if they can't, move on to create something entirely new. Some research has been wildly successful, like that in in cheap and mass produceable cybernetic implants, now common among even the poorest in D-space, as the Directorate territory is colloquially known, that in genetically enhanced fruits that can grow by the billions in mere months, though the taste and health prospects are doubtful, that of controllable, though inflexible, nanites, harvested and researched from those released by the Mess in HMI territory or the most successful of all, the mass production of AI cores thanks to Kletka simulators.

Such wonders are almost divine in their greatness, but such relentless and almost unrestrained research has created many failures and issues, and some venues of intellect can be useless yet extremely costly endeavors, or useless and extremely dangerous to any carbon-based lifeforms. Example A: Research in massive psychedelic beacons to sabotage enemy operations through wild hallucinations. Useless and costly. Example B: Finding an efficient way to open a small, stable wormhole through only human thought to use whenever a Directorate scientist wishes to punch the High Hegemon in the face. Useless and costly. Example C: Genetically engineering Volturnian lobsters to create a soldier slave-race that have now all escaped and the Board Of Intelligence is pretty sure have created a genocidal communist commune in the outer rim. Useless and wildly dangerous. Example D: Somehow contacting a being from another dimension, letting it enter our universe so, and I quote, "Dr. Derexi can *** it", finding out it can travel through space, letting it loose and there is now a slight chance Andrada is being possessed by it. Useless and wildly *** dangerous, and Dr. Derexi can't stop talking about getting genital holos from the Lion of Sindria.

All the more conservative factions of the sector are outraged by such lack of respect for their laws regarding AI and technological research and the only reason the Hegemony and the Church haven't yet declared outright war is that the resources of the Directorate are too useful, not to mention the massive political interference created through mass bribery and the Board Of Intelligence, possibly the biggest spy network in the sector. It is a common joke in Hegemony and League intelligence to not bad-talk Damanists, as 2 out of 5 of their colleagues are one. Only the Scy Nation manages to outmatch the Directorate in sheer information absorption.

The Prime Director, Francesco Damani, rules his dominion from the Omega Bastion, the skeleton frame of what was supposed to be a Dyson Shell of the Dominion, situated around a volcanic planet. What reasons the old nation of mankind had to build such a thing in such a place are unknown to all but the Prime Director himself. What is known is that even before colonization on his part the "world" was filled with heavy industries, meant to help in the building effort, and waiting only for someone to operate them. Now the Bastion produces untold amounts of ships, weapons and high-tech machinery, surpassing the production of the entire Aztlan system despite being inhabited only by a few tens of thousands of people. It is surprising that such enormous a structure has so small a population, but it is justified, for the Bastion was never truly meant for human inhabitation and its corridors and halls are tight and unwelcoming, though those that are inhabited have been turned in truly luxurious and technological marvels despite it all. The only thing stopping further building efforts is that the Bastion has millions of hallways, passages and vents meant to be used by drones and machines, all which are hazardous and difficult to explore. Not to mention the myriad things that hide in the dark.... The Sandman, the Omega Protocol and the Shining Ones are only a few of the abominations from experiments long past that make the corpse of the Domain's hubris their home....

With all of this known, it is almost unthinkable that the Directorate had such humble beginnings. Born in the year 208, in the Shanxi system, capital system of Tiandong Heavy Industries, the Directorate was then baptized as Damani Laboratories, a sub-corporation of Tiandong founded on the planet Baru, on the outer edges of the system, by Francesco Damani, who was found by the company and, after finding out he used to be a Domain scientist (reasons why he was cryofreezed in the Persean Sector during the Collapse are unknown), immediately gave him a commission and after a few years of work to show his competence let him create his own company with headquarters in their own main system. Some reports declare that he built up a fleet suspiciously fast and that he spent millions of credits in but a few years after waking. Apparently his old Domain financial account was still valid after all this time, though none know how a scientist could possess such riches, even at the time of the Domain.

After a few years of financial success, extensive research, colonization and mild terraforming of a few planets, Damani separated the company from Tiandong on amicable terms. Reports say that this may have been because of aggressive tactics on part of certain Tiandong executives, unlawful reclamation of Damani hyperwave equipment and attempted aggressive acquisition, though nothing has confirmed this. Cordial relationships are mantained to this day. Succeding that, the future Prime Director found Omega Bastion and after another few years characterized by massive secrecy and colonization of far-off worlds, only another company amid the thousands of them, on the First Day of Cycle 215, he declared the founding of the Damani Directorate polity and revealed to the sector his full technological capabilities. What had been fleets of low-tech, Tiandong or pirate pattern ships seemingly overnight were joined by fleets of powerful and advanced warships that would have made an Hegemony AI inspection blush, and armies of volunteers were expanded with cyborgs enforcers, war robots and in special cases, controlled nanite swarms. Some ships were even found to have been turned into now-deactivated nanite colonies!

Various planets were revealed to have AI administrators and the only thing that kept the Big Five from invading en masse was the presence of the Interstellar Imperium, the Outer Rim Alliance and the Legio Infernalis near Directorate territories, not to mention the recent alliance the Prime Director had gained with the Approlight Council. The Imperium was ecstatic to suddenly gain a new neighbor favorable to AI use, the Alliance was forever grateful to Damani for having personally saved Poincare, their capital, from a massive pirate invasion led by a warlord, he and four other of his fleets repelling the vandals and strengthening the defenses just long enough for the main Alliance fleet to arrive and mop them up and the Legio Infernalis, tolerating the presence of the Directorate and not so much that of other powers, would have jumped into the Core Worlds like a shark at the slightest sign of weakness. The fact that many Try-Tachyon executives had suspiciously close relations with Damani didn't help either.

And so the Directorate marched on, undaunted. To this day, the Directorate maintains its revolutionary stand on technology, ignoring the outrage of the old powers. Tri-Tachyon has seen the way the solar wind blows and has taken a fully friendly stance with Damani, just short of an alliance, and the rest of the Big Five are kept at bay by the Directorate's non-aggression policy and its actions against pirate invasions and Pather sabotage. Only Diablo Avionics has dared wake the giant and they lost the entire Martinique system because of it, the war not even lasting 3 months. The Damanists find allies in the most unlikely of places, having close relations even with the Independents, the Kadur Remnant, the Persean Democratic People's Council and, some conspiracies say, the [REDACTED]. Respectively a non-unified vaguely ideologically anti-authoritarian non-force, the last, death-obsessed vestiges of a fallen theocracy, an anarchic, almost always on the verge of collapse union of anti-corporate, anti technocrat revolutionaries and [REDACTED]*

*Why are we censoring this? The Directorate literally has nanites and genetically engineered war beasts but this is too much?*

The Directorate is governed by the Prime Director, Francesco Damani, who is aided and counseled by various Alpha-Level AIs, who are reportedly close friends with him, and, so say the more uncouth, lovers. All such claims such as the latter have been violently denied through bountiful application of precision bombardments. Each AI controls one of the Boards, gigantic administrative entities that serve in controlling a certain aspect of governance and maintenance of its citizens' wellbeing, like the Board Of Education, which controls academic programs, public school funding and a hundred other related things, the Board Of Health, which makes sure all Directorate planets have a healthy citizenship, in both mind and body, through control of medicine and food production, two aspects which encompass so many things that it results in the Board being split in two sub-departments, the Board Of War, which is self-explanatory, or the Board Of Blasphemy, which is not self-explanatory but Directorate authorities refuse to disclose its intended purpose.

Damani society is very unique. First of all, it is the only power which allows complete freedom of speech, to the confusion of most other powers in the sector. Even the most ardent Luddites are tolerated as long as they don't engage in violent actions. The only suspicious thing about this is that any insult towards the government is tolerated but any who loudly and directly denounce Damani as a person of poor character tend to disappear. Some uncertified testimonies say that the victims are apprehended by Equilibrium-pattern Warbots, which is positively ludicrous as Equilibrium-pattern Warbots are bodyguards to the AI Directors and why would they send them to kidnap someone and risk a security breach just because they insulted their leader?

Despite this freedom, it is clear that the polity encourages secularism, technocracism and AI rights. Its society is rich and varied, but most people share an extreme enthusiasm for the future and skeptical eye towards the more conservative factions of the sector, along with a very laissez-faire attitude regarding technological research apart from human or AI experimentation. They embrace rationalism, to a point that might seem almost cynical to a foreigner, but even the most skeptical Damanist is somewhat spiritual. This oxymoron develops from the fact that various sects have formed around the worship or reverence of technology, the AI Directors, and in the most extreme cases, Damani himself. The latter has ruthlessly tried to stamp out such movements and decried them as unnecessary and foolish but to no avail, as the wonders of the Directorate seem almost godly to the common Persean. It doesn't help that some AI Directors have joined or founded such groups. The sects and churches value rationalism and observation of the real world, but also express a wish to achieve contentment, comprehend the inner self, the meaning of all things and think that technology and progress are the way to achieve this.

The most popular of these religions, which encompasses all these ideas at their fullest, is the Star Sect, which has tens of millions of members and was founded by the Director of the Board Of Technology, the most powerful Director and closest assistant to Damani. Damani is not happy with the Director of the Board of Technology. The military in particular has massive amounts of sect members, mostly members of the Iron Fist, which was founded by the Director Of War and which exposes a militant ideology in defense of their ideals and the enlightenment of all mankind, despite its even stricter tenets regarding an adherent's actions regarding his duty. Damani is not happy with the Director Of War either. But the most egregious of all is the Path Of Excellence, which declares Damani the One True God and worships him as the rightful ruler of all mankind and the alien races that inhabit the sector. This sect is not very popular but worryingly, and despite the Prime Director pretty much engaging in open warfare with it, it has taken a hold in the higher strata of Directorate society. Its specific founder is unknown but it is certainly one of the AI Directors. Damani is REALLY not happy with this unknown Director.

All of this spirituality combined with a self-righteous conviction to rationalism and progress results in a military that, while trying to avoid civilian casualties as much as possible, has never heard of the concept of war crimes against enemy military combatants. All is fair in war and lobster-slave-race-creation, as the saying probably goes.

The Directorate will move to greater and greater heights, and all the powers in the sector might be unable, or even unwilling, to stop their ascent to complete domination. Will it then be their hubris that destroys them? Or will the children of the Domain end their madness united on one front? Nothing is certain, all is possible. The Directorate grows but its glory is not assured. The Big Five grow restless, reports of lights coming from the Gates are sending ripples across the intelligence world and all ships that go beyond Lethia to the east have stopped returning or responding to any sort of hail. Mysterious lights are seen shimmering far to the galactic north and ships with the mark VI on their hulls are seen wandering the most dense nebulas of the northern sector. A previously inexistent jump point has appeared, far below the galactic plane and unreadable signals come from it.

The End is near. The Rebirth is now.



Gilead:

WOE BETIDE! The Arch-Heretic himself has taken the cradle of God in his hands! Fear and dread fill the hearts of all true Luddites as the blacks ships of the blasphemous unbelievers of the Directorate land on their hallowed ground. The hymns of sanctity are replaced by the roar of industry as land previously left untouched is prepared for the future factories that are to occupy it. All farming production is to be expanded with use of robotic helpers, drones and safe-to-use enhancing chemicals and the temples where the youth of the world learned the word of Ludd will soon be made obsolete by the the Board Of Education and its massive budget, resources and academic program. Dissent and protests are tolerated by the forces of the Directorate, and most of the time resolved peacefully, but any violent action on part of insurgents is answered with extreme prejudice by cyborg enforcers, war robots, and in the worst cases, swarms of Murder-Nanites. The Temple Of Calid dared stage a rebellion and in response it was completely dissassembled by a merciless iron tide, including its rebellious occupants.

Most Luddites are enraged by the dominion of these mechanical abominations, some are pleased that they are being tolerated at all, and a few are even optimistic regarding their future with the Directorate, a rather reasonable power compared to the Hegemony, Tri-Tachyon or the Diktat. But one thing is for certain: Their idols to technology and the hubris of man will not soon be forgotten.


Jangala:

Jewel of the Corvus system, now controlled by the Damani Directorate, Jangala possesses a lush native biosphere. The world's farms and seas, now only sometimes hidden by the churning cyclones of megastorms, which have been greatly weakened by the use of weather stations and mild terraforming by the Directorate, are a major source of organic feedstock, food products, and exotic xenobiological materials, which are now used to feed the Board Of Genetics' endless research and the Board Of Health's general food reserves. The Luddic sects of the planet are outraged by the constant usage of such heretical technology and the blasphemous purpose given to the planets' resources but any complaint or protest is ignored by the Directorate, as it separates itself from any matter of religion. Many Luddites have started to emigrate and Francesco Damani, the Prime Director himself, has allowed this and even facilitated the process.

Jangala Station has now become somewhat obsolete, as the ever-hungry vegetation is held back no longer by its laser, but instead by gigantic swarms of non-self-replicating nanites, which have opened great swathes of territory that are even now being colonized and civilized. Only one thing stands in the way of the Directorate's complete taming of the planet: the Emerald Crusade, a mysterious force of jungle fighters which makes wide use of psychological warfare and Pather tactics, though it is of little use against the cyborgs and robots that form the backbone of the Directorate's main army. The lower, non-enhanced ranks are instead terrified of them as every night they witness bright, green lights burning deep within the jungle, just as their equipment starts malfunctioning, and all those that investigate them are never found again. Rumors abound, but even the massive spy network of the Damanists has not managed to gain any significant information.

A silent, secret war plays itself under the canopy of the jungle as machine-men tear through any resistance they find and jeweled angels evade grey clouds of relentless hunger. Murderous engines of war and rebel bases alike are lost and made every day, and the Crusade shows no sign of ending, even as the Directorate chews through more and more jungle to flash them out. Forward bases are sabotaged, supporting insurrectionists in the civilian population enact acts of terrorism even as they are executed by the dozens and the Field Marshal, once presumed dead, has been giving speeches on secret streaming and radio channels to incite rebellion as giant swarms of Murder-Nanites annihilate any open insurgency outside of the jungle. For the first time in its history, the Directorate is considering to let the Board Of Apocalypse loose upon its enemies and Church and Hegemony hostilities are greater than ever before.

Jangala has been conquered, but the war is not yet over.

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