Community Event / Creation Castor and Pollux Day Six: Of course you know, this means war!

[Andrew Sayers]

No longer a bustling space port, Stuart Town now has more pews than the Church of KumByar​

A PLEA TO ALL LOYAL CITIZENS OF THE EMPEROR​

Yesterday, the unallied Pollux system saw fit to declare war on Our Glorious Empire by attempting to besiege the Imperial colony of Attica. This affront to His Majesty's Honour will not go unpunished, and we intend to purify that lawless swamp in the name of the Empire!

To defend The Emperor's Virtue, Patron Olcanze has moved his Cruiser into orbit around the vicious planet cambridge. Loyal citizens are requested to support Justice by joining the blockade in that system. With your help, the Emperor's hand shall bring honour once more to the galaxy's petty barbarians!

URGENT: Federation-Bonded Combat-Assist Request Issued for Pollux System​

Commanders are hereby offered 500 credits per Imperial ship destroyed in the Pollux system, or for disabling key assets of the Imperial Cruiser in that system.

We have confirmed reports the Empire has invaded this peaceful system in a blatant act of aggression. Commanders willing to meet this violence with appropriate force will be richly rewarded.

Ready your guns for victory!​

After many decades of stalemate, our forces in Castor are now poised to repay its citizens for the war of 3214. With both Empire and Federation stuck in Pollux, this is our chance to secure access to the Tantalum supply that will guarantee our economic recovery.

Supporting commanders are offered a 15% discount on Tantalum at Castor's commodity market for the next year, starting from the moment that system is secured

Alliance offers best prices for fighters in the Castor system​

After receiving petitions to join at 02:15 and 08:52 GMT, at 09:05 an emergency meeting of Parliament ratified the status of twin systems Castor and Pollux as Alliance Member States.

As both systems are currently under siege, funds have automatically been allocated from the mutual defence budget:

300 credit bounty offered for all combat assistance - commanders in the Castor system are hereby offered 300 credits per blockading ship they destroy.
8% discount offered for non-competition - commanders in Castor and Pollux that do not support the illegal actions in those systems will receive an 8% discount on Tantalum at all Alliance ports for the next six months.

Note: these offers are cumulative.

 

[Minti2]

Hail the Emperor and the Empire.....let battle commence!

 

[Cathy]

Oh, the sneaky things you can get up to while others are so proccuppied. Those new miners in Helen/Attica or whatever you call it do like their weed.

 

[Zarkon]

After slipping through the blockade lines yesterday, I continue to help the Command Council secure their economic rights, and get that nice discount on the trade market. I'm hoping to buy Tantalum off of the local miners and split the increased profits with them.

[EDIT]
Though I am tempted to help out the Alliance as well, cuz that's a sweet deal too.

 

[insanephoton]

As a loyal Federation citizen, I only have one way to go

 

[Minti2]

As a loyal Federation citizen, I only have one way to go

Yes your life-pod!!

 

[insanephoton]

Yes your life-pod!!

Oh those Imperial ships are so pretty and they burn so well

 

[Perseus]

Oh those Imperial ships are so pretty and they burn so well

That's because they're made out of quality components - not like that crud the Federation manufactures.
I can't wait to cross beams with you - we'll see who's a pretty boy!

All hail the Empire!

 

[insanephoton]

That's because they're made out of quality components - not like that crud the Federation manufactures.
I can't wait to cross beams with you - we'll see who's a pretty boy!

All hail the Empire!

Burning well is NOT a good quality to have in your space ship

 

[Andrew Sayers]

Time's up!

Burning well is NOT a good quality to have in your space ship

Due to limits on thread titles, the epilogue will only be somewhat recognisable

 

[Perseus]

Burning well is NOT a good quality to have in your space ship

I was talking about the luxurious upholstery and furnishings. Honestly, you Feds are so barbaric.
A destroyed Imperial ship gives passengers and crew plenty of time to use life pods. Not like the Federal coffins that explode in a fireball at the first opportunity. Every time I've destroyed a Federal rat ship it's exploded like a firework; very beautiful, like a silent flower of light in the depths of darkness.
Shoddy workmanship nonetheless.

 

[Andrew Sayers]

Here are the continuity notes for day six.

The Church of KumByar is an obscure sect mentioned in the Arexack entry in the Frontier: Elite 2 Gazeteer, not just an excuse for a terrible pun.

The Empire is generally based on Rome, but they're also supposed to be flamboyant. For my money nobody ever did flamboyant imperialism quite as well as Britain, so I've borrowed terms like "viceroy" and "His Majesty" to give a feel for the sort of thing we might expect from them.

"His Majesty" has an extra layer of meaning though - The FE2 Gazeteer entry for Achenar says the first Emperor was a woman with a vision of a world living in peace. This idea was so radical that not only was she deposed and killed for her views, but "genetic techniques" are now used to ensure female children can never be born into the ruling family. Take that, peace!

I tend to think the Empire's fascination with honour would make them focus on the human element of problems, so this chapter speculates an angry Empire would tend towards long titles and emotive language. Drew Wagar's prologue suggested they weren't above a calculated insult, and after dramatically over-capitalising every word about themselves, downcasing "Cambridge" seemed appropriately passive-aggressive.

I mention that last paragraph only because it took all my strength not to fix those typos when I was reviewing it

The Federation message talks about a "Federation-Bonded Combat-Assist Request"... no prizes for guessing where that's from.

Gateway was the starting system in FFE, and according to the FFE manual renamed itself from Oltiqu in 3230 when it became a founder member of the Alliance. Despite being drawn at the centre of the "Alliance" section of that map, the capital of the Alliance in FFE was in fact Alioth... which I definitely noticed before writing this chapter. Yep. Was speculating something there alright. Good research, me.

 

[Minti2]

Here are the continuity notes for day six.

The Church of KumByar is an obscure sect mentioned in the Arexack entry in the Frontier: Elite 2 Gazeteer, not just an excuse for a terrible pun.

The Empire is generally based on Rome, but they're also supposed to be flamboyant. For my money nobody ever did flamboyant imperialism quite as well as Britain, so I've borrowed terms like "viceroy" and "His Majesty" to give a feel for the sort of thing we might expect from them.

"His Majesty" has an extra layer of meaning though - The FE2 Gazeteer entry for Achenar says the first Emperor was a woman with a vision of a world living in peace. This idea was so radical that not only was she deposed and killed for her views, but "genetic techniques" are now used to ensure female children can never be born into the ruling family. Take that, peace!

I tend to think the Empire's fascination with honour would make them focus on the human element of problems, so this chapter speculates an angry Empire would tend towards long titles and emotive language. Drew Wagar's prologue suggested they weren't above a calculated insult, and after dramatically over-capitalising every word about themselves, downcasing "Cambridge" seemed appropriately passive-aggressive.

I mention that last paragraph only because it took all my strength not to fix those typos when I was reviewing it

The Federation message talks about a "Federation-Bonded Combat-Assist Request"... no prizes for guessing where that's from.

Gateway was the starting system in FFE, and according to the FFE manual renamed itself from Oltiqu in 3230 when it became a founder member of the Alliance. Despite being drawn at the centre of the "Alliance" section of that map, the capital of the Alliance in FFE was in fact Alioth... which I definitely noticed before writing this chapter. Yep. Was speculating something there alright. Good research, me.

Thanks again Andrew, and some fascinating back story stuff there! me to liking the idea of Empire and the flamboyant imperialism of Britain and their ranks and titles, just seems natural!

Please do another if you have time and can find/or make another elite story-line, you did the last one so much justice and fun to follow +100!

 

[Andrew Sayers]

Thanks again Andrew, and some fascinating back story stuff there! me to liking the idea of Empire and the flamboyant imperialism of Britain and their ranks and titles, just seems natural!

Please do another if you have time and can find/or make another elite story-line, you did the last one so much justice and fun to follow +100!

Wow ok. So, better than it read in my head then

I really appreciate the warm words (from you and everyone else!), but I want to know what this game is like to actually play, so it's someone else's turn. One of the many things I learnt this week is that the story's the easy bit, it's all the little twists that really tax you. I feel like I've pulled a muscle in my brain after dragging out all those details, but you're welcome to PM me any questions if you want to run the next one!