A few notes on the Sol System

[george moromisato]

Wolfy and others have asked about Sol so I wanted to capture my thoughts. They are still fragmentary, but at least you can get some idea. [Feedback/questions are always appreciated.]

1. As you know, the Sol System has a single stargate (the Kuiper Gate) that leads to Centauri. Centauri has two aditional gates. One gate leads to a chain of systems including Kibo and Urak and terminating at St. Katharine's Star. The other gate leads through Sirius and Kitamura to Jiang's Star. [Collectively, excluding St. Kats and Jiang's, these systems are known as the Near Stars]

2. After the Syrtis War the center of power in Human Space shifted from Sol to St. Katharine's Star. Sol/Earth were badly affected by the war and took a long time to recover.

3. Note that Earth was never part of the Commonwealth--although they were allied. As you might expect, Earth is not a unified place. It is divided among several sovereigns, the largest of which are:

North Atlantic Union, which governs most of the Americas and Europe.
Asian Pacific Directorate, an association of asian countries.
United African States, the sovereign that governs Africa.

The last is the closest to a present-day nation and it spends a larger share of its budget on military assets than any other. The NAU and APD are much looser organizations (in practice most power is devolved to a local level); in some cases, citizens of NAU and APD feel closer to their Corporation than to their federal government.

And of course there are scores of micro-sovereigns, some mapping to present-day countries but most not.

4. For the most part, the people of Sol (and Earth in particular) are very isolationist. They do not care what happens in the other systems nor do they seek to profit from them.

5. There is an immense diversity of wealth on Earth. Some enclaves are among the wealthiest in Human Space (though most of those people made their fortune outside the Solar System). On average, people on Earth have a lower standard of living than the average Commonwealth citizen.

6. Of all the Earth-based sovereigns, the UAS is really the only one that could be said to have a fleet (e.g., with capital ships). UAS has a massive shipyard in the Kibo system. The others have gunships and other vessels, mostly used for local policing, anti-piracy, etc. In general, Sol relies on the Commonwealth for protection. Of course, the Corporations have their own defenses.

7. There is a "Ringer" presence around Saturn, but they are probably very different from the Ringers of the Outer Realm. [Perhaps there is even tension between the two groups.]

8. The Commonwealth still has a robust presence at Sol. The original Commonwealth was founded by Earth-orbiting stations, the Lunar colonies, and NEO colonies. Those are still wealthy colonies, mostly serving as trading posts between Earth and the rest of the Commonwealth. And of course there is a large Corporate Hierarchy presence.

[Arisaya]

Ah ok, so NAU and APD pretty much rely on NAMI and Pacifica for any real heavy lifting (considering the corporation has more real influence overall)

Also, I though the UAS went bankrupt ages ago?

I also seem to recall you saying that st.k's was the center of power for quite a while prior to the start of the syrtian war (I think starting in the late 2100's)

[RPC]

UAS has a massive shipyard in the Kibo system.

Do they use the same kinds of ships as the CW? It would be interesting to see UAS capital ships.

[Arisaya]

UAS has a massive shipyard in the Kibo system.

Do they use the same kinds of ships as the CW? It would be interesting to see UAS capital ships.

UAS would not, as they make their own ships: the CW uses Pacifica ships (mostly) and a NAMI/EI ship - as such, the NAU/NAMI and APD/Pacifica stuff is going to likely be pretty much what the CW has


Speaking of EI, they ARE Earth Industries, so what sort of role or precense do they have?

[Ttech]

We had a big discussion a few days back on IRC, one of the ideas was that there were corporate traiders (ships that you can dock with) and that there were some larger corporate stations there. What are your thoughts on this?

[Arisaya]

"And of course there is a large Corporate Hierarchy presence."

[Resident-Pyromaniac]

Hmm... I was hoping that earth was much more Isolated, without any CW presence at all. (and having her own, Enormous fleets.) That would allow a sidequest of delivering messages between the CW and the UAS. Though, I was thinking that the Earth Governments joined into a Alliance called the Sol Protectorate.(seperate in government, one in military terms.)

[Arisaya]

Considering that the NAU and APD are essentially civilian fronts for NAMI and Pacifica respectively, I suppose it does make sense that they never combined. (and the UAS is well, the UAS, which engages directly in business as opposed to having a 'parent corporation')

[shanejfilomena]

I built a NAMI & EI dealer for WHAT????
your killin me
Thats it: your getting the Centauri Drive in your cargo hold, buddy !!!

But I thank you for this because separate dealers is more in line with what this gives me to think of them.

it actually took me awhile to figure out how to make the EI dealer work properly: it "resisted" because 1.06 is nothing like 1.01
and simply loading it does not effect to what was created ( most of the time , but it has it's moments )
When I was bulding the Galactic Princess I had to start new games just to be sure of what I was seeing (I was moving weapon positions).

I never did appreciate the way the Fantastic Corporate Cruiser's weapons always appeared to be firing near the ship instead of from it:
so I got on a "thing" of reading and adjusting and watching for hours to adjust my Virkmar Cruiser and Galactic Princess .

((The drive is the tame version of the one designed for the Auviq : the original kind of was too evil for a Sapphire Yacht.))