Space RP Info (New)

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Revision as of 20:37, 11 October 2006

This is the page for the new Space RP going on in AC. You may add a piece of information sorted by correct letter (last name first for characters). You an also request a definition or clarification of a term by adding it to the proper section, and perhaps specifying who would know the specifics. If you want to know what something is or how it works, you should refer here. Please add definitions that could be helpful, and add requests. Feel free to add to or clarify existing definitions as well.

Feel free to retool anything that is no longer accurate, or even to delete definitions that no longer apply. Let's make this awesome.

Request a Definition

Mosquito (Tydraad's ship)

Federation def needs to be expanded

Sandman's character needs to be added

Retool entry "Karyuudo, Tydraad"

A

Astronomical unit - Commonly referred to as an AU, this is the distance from Sol III to its sun. One AU is equal to approximately 0.5 lancyrds.

Asuka - Mysterious ship under construction by Veinslay. It is said to be an offshoot of the Katana-class.

Autocannon - A large automatic cannon that fires rapidly and accurately. Fires various kinds of shells, including depleted-uranium, Inferno shells, Frag shells, etc. Usually uses armor-piercing rounds. Is good for both tread-fething and meat-grinding. [See Warhammer 40K Jargon.] Also common in Eve Online. On ships, they are usually fairly large, with SUV-sized shells.

B

Brotherhood of the Maggot - A group of religious zealots much like the Chaos Space Marines, they worship the ancient Babylonian gods, with an emphasis on Nergal. Their organization originates from a region called the Eye of Terror, at the center of the galaxy. Their purpose is to serve their gods by crusading against non-believers and securing tactical warp-points, where they construct temples to their gods on captured worlds. They wish to preserve the basic integrity of the universe so that certain unnamed horrors imprisoned by their gods will not escape and wreak greater havoc, but they still wish to increase the influence of their gods. Due to the outward appearance of their ships (which is deceiving) and their tactics, they are often mistaken for Executioners.

C

Creation cannon - A cannon that harnesses creation energy that work differently depending on whether it is constructed as a primary or secondary cannon, but both work on the same prinicple - catalyze a dimensional rift so that creation energy can be focused into a beam and fired. Secondary creation cannons are mounted in pairs and are similar in construction to most laser- and photon-based beam weaponry. However, main creation cannons give so much output that a physical cannon cannot be created for it - instead, a catalyst is mounted somewhere on the ship that will generate an aimed dimensional rift some distance away from the front of the ship that spews forth a straight stream of near-uncontainable creation energy. Primary creation cannons are equally effective against energy shielding and armor due to the sheer output they generate (and are usually the most powerful weapon on the ship), but secondary creation cannons are designed to combat energy shielding more than armor.

Creation energy - Energy harnessed by drawing upon another dimension. Perhaps the most famous use of creation energy is the creation cannon, capable of penetrating conventional shielding (even dimensional shielding) by virtue of its origin and incredible output. Creation energy is named the way it is because when originally discovered, it was looked at from a single-dimensional perspective - it seemed to violate the laws of mass and energy, as the resulting energy seemed to have come from nowhere - or "created". Creation energy is incredibly efficient since only a small gate to the alternate dimension is needed to tap into massive amounts of energy, but the materials required to harness this energy are incredibly expensive.

Crnebog - Pronounced "ZAIR-nay-bog." Title of a wandering priest.

D

Dark matter cannon - A weapon that's standard on most higher-end starships. The name is actually slightly misleading - it does initially fire a ball of dark matter (not unlike a gravitic cannon). However, once it reaches its detonation point, it inverts itself into white matter, and essentially creates a reverse gravitic that will quickly and forcefully push everything out from the epicenter. If it manages to penetrate shielding and get into the interior of a ship, the effects can be devastating. This type of cannon fire is easily stopped by shielding, but wreaks havoc on ship armor.

Despoiler class starship - The third highest rank of starship among pirates and the Brotherhood of the Maggot. Heavily armed and armored, with a high carrying capacity. Often relatively slow, but can slip in and out of warp at will.

Dimensional energy - Similar to creation energy in reverse, but used for different purposes. One is dimensional shielding, which will take the energy of whatever strikes it and effectively sends it to another dimension. (Dimensional shielding may be penetrated by using a weapon that harnesses energy from another dimension such as a creation cannon, or by using an attack with enough energy to overload the shielding systems so it cannot keep up with the massive amount of energy.) The other common application is dimensional warp, by using a dimensional gate to proceed at speeds exceeding fifty times the speed of light, with a fifteen kilometer margin of error. The distinction between creation energy and dimensional energy is that creation energy draws upon energy from another dimension for use in this one in which we exist, whereas dimensional energy sends matter/energy from one dimension (this one) to another. The materials and technology required to harness dimensional energy ae considerably cheaper than those needed for the similar creation energy.

E

Energarg - It's everything you want it to be.

Executioners - Felysians often mistake the Brotherhood of the Maggot for these space pirates due to their similar ships, structures, tactics, and even language.

F

Federation - To be retooled.

Federation standard - An old standard used by the Federation to express the output of a normal phase laser. Weapon output is sometimes expressed in multiples of this archaic standard.

Feds - Perjorative term referring to members of the Federation. Commonly uttered by space pirates and anti-Federation organization members. More likely than not used with the word "bastards".

Felys System - Pronounced FAY-liss, this system is one of the cores of anti-Federation activity, as a few organizations dedicating to resisting the Federation have bases here.

Felysian - A humanoid that lives within the Felys system. While they may look completely human at first, they in fact are three times as dextrous and agile as the average human due to the conditions on their homeworld. However, their agility comes at a cost - Felysians cannot break down the sugars in thir body as effectively as humans can. This means that their physical stamina and strength is lower than that of the average human. Reilina Sylpheed and Elisa "Elly" Rosiel are both examples of Felysians.

G

Gravitic cannon - A cannon that fires a densely packed piece of dark matter at lightspeed. Due to the properties of dark matter, it can be imbued with several wave-cancelling systems made to interfere certain parts of the ship such as the weaponry, life support, etc, much like an EMP does. It also creates a gravitic sphere which, at low power, will cause all objects a certain distance away to be rapidly drawn into the center of the gravitic sphere. At high power, the dark matter will create a small black hole that is almost guaranteed to lock an enemy ship in place regardless of shielding. Ships with gravitics have a resonance effect with the cannons, and so are immune to the effects. A ship may send the frequency of the gravitic to other allied ships in order to make them immune. The frequency must be extremely precise in order to be immune to the effects - hence, an enemy ship has only a 1-in-537-trillion chance of guessing the correct frequency in order to be immune to any given gravitic. (It should be noted that gravitics can affect the path, or even suck in, weapon fire, from missiles to most forms of energy (even creation cannons), essentially rendering said weapon fire basically harmless. When the gravitic dissapates, the weapon fire usually no longer has the energy to travel at a speed that can harm ships. This is a tactic frequently used by Captain Break Miyama when taking a defensive position, and ever since its first use in the Battle of Thanes, has come to be known as the "Miyama black hole".)

H

Haars effect - A phenomenon that is caused by applying both creation and dimensional energy onto matter, essentially keeping said matter in between two dimensions. Because of this, matter under the Haars effect can be affected in the alternate dimension but not on the one in which we exist - however, the matter itself can affect things in this dimension but not on the alternate dimension. (Using this concept, one can power a machine under the Haars effect with dimensional energy.) Matter under this effect can travel very quickly, because technically, it no longer has any mass in this dimension while under the effect. It is not feasible nor possible to put an entire starship under the Haars effect, due to the following problems - the amount of energy needed to sustain the effect goes up exponentially with the amount of matter, and that organic matter has extreme difficulty going under the Haars effect. The Haars effect is named for the Federation scientist that discovered it, Dr. Joachim Haars. This type of energy is currently under development, and the equipment required to sustain it are currently in their prototype phases.

Brother Haemus - A member of the Brotherhood of the Maggot, he captains a Despoiler class warship and considerable land forces.

K

Karyuudo, Tydraad - Ex-Federation captain, Tydraad's actual physical age is unknown due to overexposure to the warp. Most of Tydraad's files from his 15 (official) cycles of military service (though it can be disputed that he deserted much earlier than reported, and his connections in the Fed higher ups are the only thing that kept him under the radar) are under lock-and-key following his betrayal. Released information reveals his impressive combat histroy in the piloting of assault frigates, and dozens of instances of his acts of space piracy. A tad unstable, egocentric, and violently against any authoritative figure that would reign over him, he can now be found flying for the Veinslay organization.

Katana-class starship - One of the most powerful classes of starships in the Federation due to its great attack power, speed, and shielding. Due to the resources necessary to construct one, there are only five hundred Katana-class ships in the Federation's fleet at the time of the RP's beginning. Katana-class ships generally have great attack power, speed, and shielding with many support systems at the cost of armor. Captain Break Miyama of the Federation commands his own Katana-class starship, named the Kusanagi.

Kusanagi - The flagship of the 86th Strike Division of the Federation. It is currently owned by Captain Break Miyama, and has a crew of twenty. The Kusanagi is a Katana-class destroyer, built to take its class to an extreme - it is mounted with many weapons, shielding, and support systems, but has even lower hull armor than most other systems. Because of this, the Kusanagi requires a rather large capacitor, since it does not use conventional weaponry (which do not drain capacitor energy) to attack, and often has an energy link to a battleship or other large starship to keep it running effectively in battle. Notable systems on the Kusanagi include its four modfied gravitic cannons, three photon torpedo bays, one "Reality Shifted" rift wave cannon, four secondary Thunderbird creation cannons, the version 0.98 "Reality Fractured" System, a powerful Guardian-class energy shield (complete with modules for quick recharging and resistances to being instantly taken down short of a powerful strike or a well-placed EMP) and its main weapon, the Phoenix-class main creation cannon.

L

Lancyrd - Units of measure for expressing distance. One lancyrd is equivalent to approximately two AU. The decimal approximation for one lancyrd is 1.9674893 AU, or the absolute minimum distance a Federation battleship can warp using conventional warp technology.

Lieber, Marcus - Twenty-five year old human male who is the second-in-command of the Kusanagi, and acts as the secondary gunner. He is more commonly referred to by his last name. He is a brash, easily angered man. Amazingly, the crew of the Kusanagi doesn't mind his antics as long as he isn't an asshole, or doesn't insult Break's taste in starships. He is also known for being superstitious, and always keeps a salt shaker with him in case he ever drops anything.

Logical shielding - New type of dimensional shield developed by the Federation's R&D. It acts as normal dimensional armor, but with one key difference - if the amount of energy from the attack is low enough or if the energy types between the attack and the defending ship's systems are compatible, the logical armor will send the energy of the attack to the ship's systems for later use, or to immediately improve the output of the defending ship. If the logical armor cannot do this, it will then function as a normal dimensional shield.

M

Maneater - An interstellar organism that eats other space-faring organisms, as well as consuming asteroids and debris for fiber and comets for water. It resembles a giant mollusk with a hard protective shell on it's back, a circular mouth at the front with innumerable razor-sharp teeth and a long, prehensile tongue, two long tentacles with large claws at the ends near the front of it's underside, and six legs along it's underbelly that are usually folded beneath it, but extend to grapple food, other Maneaters, and ships. Sizes range from that of a large stadium or normal frigate to that of a Titan. It has a lifespan of millenia.

Maneater-class Frigate - A small ship built upon the shell of an interstellar organism known as a Maneater. Generally lightly armed and armored, with appendages such as arms, tentacles, claws, and a mouth with many razor-sharp teeth. Crnebogs usually use this type of ship, with gun batteries, EMP missiles, 50 mm armor, jamming equipment (jams sensory arrays, targeting, locking, radar, etc.), medium armor repair equipment, and damage control modules. It is good for hitting and running, and slipping past ships unnoticed.

Mar Sara - Eagle-class assault frigate primarily noted for its remarkable speed, the ship has a frightening arsenal of four small missile launchers, a "webber," warp disruptors, a mass of laser turrets, and two incredibly powerful Phoenix-class creation cannons. The truly remarkable aspect of the Mar Sara is the built in RFS system, capable of making warp jumps with near flawless accuracy within 1 AU, making it perfect for a variety of tactical maneuvers. Although originally a Federation design, it has been retooled numerous times by space pirates because its systems make it perfect for their line of work. Variants of the Mar Sara are common in lowsec areas.

Miyama, Break - Twenty-three year old human male. He is secretly the leader of the anti-Federation organization Veinslay, but works undercover as a reasonably-high ranking Captain for the Federation. He stands at 5'11", has brown hair, blue eyes, and a constant look of observation on his face. He's almost always seen wearing his trademark black longcoat with a patterned navy blue headband over his forehead. As a Federation captain, he uses his high position to make surgical strikes on the Federation without them noticing anything, or even spreading misinformation and calling off attacks made by the Federation on his allies. He is known for being a skilled tactician and diplomat, but he knows little of piloting, acting as a gunner, or actually causing the ship to function by himself. However, he's able to see things on a more mathematical plateau, and can draw up interesting plans and efficiency diagrams all in his head. Commands a Katana-class ship when in the Federation, named Kusanagi. He owns four more ships when carrying out operations for Veinslay - two of these are also undercover within the Federation.

N

Nergal - A deity in Babylonia with the main seat of his cult at Cuthah represented by the mound of Tell-Ibrahim. Nergal is mentioned in the Hebrew bible as the deity of the city of Cuth (Cuthah): "And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal" (2 Kings, 17:30). Nergal actually seems to be in part a solar deity, sometimes identified with Shamash, but only a representative of a certain phase of the sun. Portrayed in hymns and myths as a god of war and pestilence, Nergal seems to represent the sun of noontime and of the summer solstice that brings destruction, high summer being the dead season in the Mesopotamian annual cycle. Nergal was also the deity who presides over the netherworld, and who stands at the head of the special pantheon assigned to the government of the dead (supposed to be gathered in a large subterranean cave known as Aralu or Irkalla). In this capacity he has associated with him a goddess Allatu or Ereshkigal, though at one time Allatu may have functioned as the sole mistress of Aralu, ruling in her own person. In some texts the god Ninazu is the son of Nergal by Allatu/Ereshkigal. Ordinarily Nergal pairs with his consort Laz. Standard iconography pictured Nergal as a lion, and boundary-stone monuments symbolise him with a mace surmounted by the head of a lion. Nergal's fiery aspect appears in names or epithets such as Lugalgira, Sharrapu ("the burner," perhaps a mere epithet), Erra, Gibil (though this name more properly belongs to Nusku), and Sibitti. A certain confusion exists in cuneiform literature between Ninurta and Nergal. Nergal has epithets such as the "raging king," the "furious one," and the like. A play upon his name -- separated into three elements as Ne-uru-gal (lord of the great dwelling) -- expresses his position at the head of the nether-world pantheon. In the late Babylonian astral-theological system Nergal is related to the planet Mars. As a fiery god of destruction and war, Nergal doubtless seemed an appropriate choice for the red planet, and he was equated by the Greeks either to the combative demigod Heracles (Latin Hercules) or to the war-god Ares (Latin Mars) -- hence the current name of the planet. In Babylonian ecclesiastical art the great lion-headed colossi serving as guardians to the temples and palaces seem to symbolise Nergal, just as the bull-headed colossi probably typify Ninurta. Nergal is now worshipped by the Brotherhood of the Maggot.

Nika - Nickname for the Maneater-class frigate Veronika.

O

Open ship - Refers to a ship in a fleet that is captained by no-one in particulur - hence , a captain may be assigned to an open ship as necessary for the fleet's needs. The Silvance, a Federation ship, is an example of an open ship.

P

Photon torpedo - A six-foot adamantine torpedo with a high-temperature, highly reactive isotope of Photonic uranium. This is used in place of missile launchers on Federation ships. Instead of being directly fired, photon torpedoes are dropped, and remain inactive anywhere from one-and-a-half to two seconds before finally completing a charge and jetting off at speeds approaching lightspeed. The disadvantage of the photon torpedo is that it may be destroyed before completing its charge, and cannot be fired in secret due to the bright flash of blue light that occurs after a torpedo has completed its charge. However, craftier generals have been known to start a photon torpedo charge while the torpedoes are still in the bay (and dropping them shortly before the charge completes, since photon torpedoes launch the instant their charge completes - they cannot 'retain' a charge), therefore reducing the chances of the torpedo being destroyed during its charge time. A photon torpedo in flight appears much like an azure spear, with the long trail of the torpedo acting as the 'shaft'. They are useful in taking out the armor of ships due to their blast radius, and can be fired as fast as they are dropped. Photon torpedoes can be detonated in mid-flight with reasonable accuracy.

Piercer lasers - Usually referred to as simply 'piercers'. These are usually installed in numbers over several hundred on large starships. Each individual laser does not do much damage to simple matter like hull armor, but works wonders on energy shielding if a focused assault is used. This is because the total energy output on a focused assault of piercers is greater than most other weapons if used on energy shielding (such massive output is generally enough to disable, or at least severely damage, even most dimensional shielding). Piercer lasers generally have above-average homing capabilities, and can also be used well enough when a split attack is necessary. Piercers are standard weaponry on Realis- and Katana-class starships.

R

Realis-class starship - A starship class that is rather balanced - a rarity when it comes to Federation ships. The Realis-class is the fifth most common class of starship amongst the Federation fleet, with above-average categories across the board. It is approximately the size of a destroyer, and has many support and defensive systems. However, this means that its attack capabilities are not as great as it can be - with all of the lesser weapons and defensive/supports systems installed, Realis-classes tend not to have higher-end weaponry such as creation cannons aboard. An example of a Realis-class ship is the open ship Silvance.

"Reality Fractured" System - Commonly referred to as the RFS, this system was developed by two of the best minds in Veinslay's RnD, 'Moritsune' and 'Sandman'. Essentially, it is an extremely efficient micro-warp drive that is also able to affect matter outside of the ship - a system that allows for limited teleportation of a ship, but Tydraad has been able to use it to teleport anything within a two-thousand meter radius (or even area of effect). It does this by catalyzing a dimensional warp - instead of manually opening a dimensional gate for warp, the RFS keeps a small one open within the generator at all times, ready to be used. However, this gate is extremely short-range, but with its lack of range comes great accuracy and speed - it is able to warp the ship or anything within two kilometers of it anywhere in a 1 AU (~0.5 lancyrds) radius with a five millimeter margin of error, and this process happens almost instantaneously (often making the entire warp within a tenth of a second), making the RFS perfect for ship takeovers and evasive maneuvers with minimal strain of the ship's energy reserves.

Rift wave cannon - This cannon is more of a support system than an actual offensive weapon - it distorts space in an area depending on how the cannon's firing patterns are set. Matter passes through a rift wave without being harmed (this includes organic matter), though this has not been scientifically explained. Anything that passes through a rift wave may reappear anywhere where solid matter does not already exist from one kilometer to (very rarely) one lancyrd away from the rift wave itself, depending on the settings. Because of this, the rift wave cannon is a strategically useful device for performing feats such as redirecting weapon fire to evasive maneuvers - however, this system cannot be used with any measure of accuracy yet due to the chaotic and unpredictable nature of rift waves.

Rosiel, Elisa - Usually referred to her nickname, 'Elly', she is a nineteen year old female Felysian. Acts as the navigator for the Kusanagi. She is about 5'7" and has long, mid-back length light brown hair. She also acts as the manager of RnD and Engineering for Break's division, managing all of the ship's current equipment and supplies, and making sure everything is on schedule.

S

Saffire - An Observational-class android who works for Veinslay, named for the light blue color of her eyes and hair. She specializes in simulation, allowing her to give a rough chance of operation success. She stands at 5'5" (5'7" with her heels on), and is fully installed with emotive vectors, giving her the look and (at times) part of the emotional levels of an eighteen-year-old Felysian woman. She is often assigned as the second-in-command of the Realis-class Silvance.

Security Ranking (Galactic Standard System Security Rating) - A system rating solar systems by how secure the area is in terms of government control, it's mainly of concern to the vast number of pilots. It is rated on a scale of 0.0 to 1.0, 0.0 being total anarchy and 1.0 being all but impenetrable Federation strongholds. The slang term "lowsec" is often used by the less sophisticated of pilots to refer to the 0.0-0.4 regions, where bandits and pirating organizations have the majority of control over a system. Due to the Federation's incredible size following decades of incredibly successful military ventures, nearly half of "Federation" space is "lowsec" owned in name alone. 0.5-1.0 space is typically safe to fly through for more law-abiding ships, with any pirate in the systems having to be suicidal to even attempt direct action against other ships. (It should be noted that saying "highsec" makes you sound like a n00b.)

Sigmar V - A planet recently conquered by Brother Haemus of the Brotherhood of the Maggot.

Silvance - To be added.

Sol System - Formerly known as the simply the solar system, the Sol System has nine planets. You people should be familiar with this system, as you live in it - put simply, Sol III is Earth, Sol IV is Mars, Sol V is Jupiter, etc.

Sylpheed, Reilina - (name pronounced ray-LEE-nuh, as most who see the name do not notice the first 'i') Nineteen year old Felysian female. Acts as the skilled gunner for the Kusanagi (her dexterity allows her to make sniping shots from seemingly impossible distances - once, she was able to shoot a battleship from half an AU out without computer assistance). She is agile even in Felysian terms, and prefers unarmed combat in a man-to-man situation. She is strikingly beautiful, and stands at 5'8", with deep blue eyes. Her hair is raven black, and runs down to her waist.

T

"Twinbeam" - Twenty-one year old human male, real name Andres Ryptika. He tends to be one of the more lighthearted inividuals aboard the Kusanagi, contrasting with the more serious or angry personalities of people like Break and Lieber. His nickname stems from the fact that he used to be a gunner for the Silvance, and always manned the twin Breaker laser. Although he is no longer a gunner, he still occasionally mans the turret that controls the gravitics. He now mainly acts as a technician for the Kusanagi. Although it doesn't seem like it, Twinbeam is the secon cousin of Marcus Lieber.

U

ULR - Short for 'ultra long-range', a class of weaponry with ranges going outside half an AU (approximately 0.25 lancyrds).

V

Veinslay - Small anti-Federation group based in the Felys system, led by Break Miyama. They have their main base in Felys III. Veinslay's race spread is 56% human, 3% Felysian, 11% Klausian, 10% android with emotive vectors, 7% Newman, and 13% other races, spanning the entire gamut. Currently Veinslay has five ships - the Kusanagi, Suzaku, Seiryu, Silvance, and Ragnarok, with one more under development. The group was named for the legendary sword said to have slain several cruel lords in medieval times, and even had the power to destroy negative emotions.

Veronika - The Maneater-class frigate used by Crnebog Veles. It has the standard armaments, etc. for a Maneater-class frigate. It's name means "Bringer of Victory.

W

Warhammer 40K Jargon - Words used by Warhammer 40K players. Includes "treadfething" (vehicle destruction), "Meat-grinding" (infantry slaughter), and "Dakka-dakka" (firing of automatic/semiautomatic firearms, derived from Ork onomotopaeia).

Z

Zero - The name of a character removed from the RP; also used to refer to some occurrences that were very bad things that happened a very long time ago, and are best forgotten.