Eagle Takes Flight. No site yet (prods Hunter)
Here are some of the Tech Entries I've written up. ETF starts on June 24, 2336 (before the Shivans are dislodged from Enif/Adhara/Polaris and before the Antares Federation's formation), but some of these entries are date-specific, and will have the year next to their name.
--Phasing Jump Nodes--
(I just included this as my own possible explanation for why the FS1 nodes aren't on the official map.
All jump nodes fluctuate. They need to, to account for gravitational shifts in the systems they're in. To a lesser degree they also fluctuate to accomodate the ships that travel through them.
A few jump nodes fluctuate wildly, phasing in and out of alignment. When a node of this type is aligned, it can be stronger than a normal node, but when it's out of alignment it's often useless and impossible to traverse. This phenomenon also causes phasing nodes to often die off faster than the more stable nodes that are sanctioned for travel.
Because of their unstable nature, phasing jump nodes are not sanctioned for travel by the GTA or the PVN, and are thus not marked on the nodemap. A few phasing nodes are known to exist -- most famously the Deneb-Altair node that allowed a strike force to rescue the Altair scientists, the Delta Serpentis-Sirius node that allowed Terran colonization of the Sirius, Regulus and Polaris systems, and both of the now-defunct nodes to the Talnia system.
This is probably also how the Lucifer got from Ribos to Vega, by using a phasing node (although this node in particular has not yet been located).
There are probably more than twice as many more which the governments have not catalogued. For this reason, phasing nodes are popular smuggling routes when they are aligned. Civilians are strongly advised to avoid phasing nodes.
--Luyten 726-8 System--
Though the Luyten system was colonized by a pre-subspace sleeper ship in 2240 -- making it the first successful extrasolar colony -- its population remained very low until the first subspace ships made their way to the system in 2323, bringing with them news of the GTA's formation and contact with the Vasudan species.
Throughout the Terran-Vasudan war, Luyten Prime remained a popular destination for those trying to escape the horrors of the war. This is, of course, because it was the furthest known inhabited planet from the front lines, besides the decidedly inhospitable Planet Ymir, in Wolf 359.
--The Luyten Colonies, the 8th Fleet, Operation
Succor, and the LNA--
(LNA founded March 2335, tech entry 2336)
Note: Someone could make a good two or three-part campaign out of this. In November of 2334 the 8th Fleet, led by the newly completed GTD Uhuru, embarked on a long-term escort and protection mission for the colony on Luyten Prime, and the 9 million colonists who had just moved there. Little else was deemed necessary to protect a backwater so far from the front lines of the Terran-Vasudan War.
The plan promptly went straight to hell when the Shivans arrived a month and a half later. The Uhuru and its fleet was forced to defend itself against a foe both numerically and technologically superior. With communications spotty at best, and with factories short on the ground, the 8th Fleet needed new supplies badly.
The GTD Ithaca was an old
Reliant-class destroyer about to be decommissioned. Rather than sending it back to Sol and scrapping it, the GTA filled it with a shipment of the newest equipment they had available -- Flail and Avenger Cannons, shielding units, the latest aspect-seeking missiles, Medusa Bombers and Hercules fighters, and the new Tsunami bombs -- and sent it to resupply and aid the embattled 8th Fleet. This would come to be known as Operation Succor.
Unfortunately, the Ithaca and its fighter complement had to fight its way through Shivan forces in Ross 128 and Laramis, only to find that the Laramis-Luyten node was blockaded by Shivan forces. In Laramis the Ithaca found willing allies -- STX miners also running from the Shivans. Both groups took heavy damage, but managed to punch through the Shivan blockade.
Soon afterwards, communications between the 8th and the rest of the GTA broke down. They feared the worst had happened, and officially formed the Luyten New Alliance, dedicated to protecting the Luyten Colony and the systems beyond it from the Shivans.
Later that year, the GTA reeled from the rebellion of a sizable portion of their intelligence service -- the Rogue Terran Intelligence. The RTI was crushed. However, four cruisers and the remnants of a jump-drive equipped fighter complement fought their way past Shivan lines in Ross 128 and Laramis. While they lost the RTC Mombasa, the other three cruisers made it to Luyten successfully and asked for asylum with the Luytenese, offering their ships and information.
The RTI runaways explained the situation to the Luytenese -- the GTA was still alive, but reeling. The Luytenese opted to remain independent rather than depend on an emasculated government that was three systems away behind enemy lines.
The GTA has deemed it "unnecessary" to use military action to bring the LNA back into the fold. Nonetheless, the recent operation of the GTD Soyokaze in Ross 128 has people in the LNA worried that the GTA may eventually try to use force to reunite its wayward colonies. This is, of course, currently impossible due to the sizable pocket of Shivans in Ross 128 and Laramis.
--Regulus Syndicate--
(Founded July 2335, tech entry 2339)
The Regulus Syndicate is a conglomeration of a number of businesses, both legal and illegal, as well as the remnants of the Sirian Confederacy. In terms of political and military power, they have little to none, but they do have a large amount of very dirty money. This makes them dangerous because along with potentially being able to bribe everyone from here to Andromeda into doing their bidding, they have hired a large contingent of mercenaries to defend themselves. The mercenaries compete against each other frequently (but efforts are taken to avoid fatal results), making them well-trained despite the poor quality of their old equipment.
Perhaps fortunately, the Syndicate shows little interest in provoking anyone else’s ire. Regulus has become a go-to place for all sorts of shady deals, and the Syndicate understandably wants to keep such business going as long as possible. Nonetheless, the Syndicate and its mercenary allies are prepared to defend Regulus with everything they have – there’s too much money to lose otherwise.
In a recent war with the nascent Adharan Coalition, the Syndicate and their merc allies lost a few cruisers. Due to the anemic size of both nations, very little came of the war itself, but Polaris was declared a neutral system once the fighting was over.
That war, along with Sirius becoming a veritable no-man's-land after to the death of the Confederacy and the collapse of the Sirius-Delta Serpentis phasing node, was why so many from those three systems hated the GTVA and joined Bosch 30 years later. They saw the GTVA as corrupt, having legitimized the Syndicate via BETAC, and they resented the Vasudans even more for ignoring their plight for so long.--Antares Federation--
(Founded August 2, 2336; tech entry October 2336, but slimmed down to avoid massive spoilers
)
The Antares Federation only recently seceded from GTA control. Because of this, the GTA does not recognize them as a legitimate government. The VPE, on the other hand, does recognize the Antaran government – apparently the Parliament likes the idea of having a buffer state in between them and the GTA in case fighting ever breaks out again. The Luytenese also recognize them, most likely out of reciprocity (the Antarans are the only faction that currently recognizes the LNA).
The Antarans’ political motivations seem peaceful. Intelligence is currently trying to find this out for certain.
--Adharan Coalition--
(Not founded until 2338, tech entry from 2339)
In late ’37, after GTA forces drove out most of the Shivans from the outer systems, a number of corporations (among them the shady Regulus Syndicate) sponsored the formation of a number of Independent Colonies. The Syndicate in particular stood to gain enormously from the resources of Mirfak and Procyon, and the potentially large populations of Adhara and Polaris.
Fearing such a clandestine takeover, the governments of Enif and the systems surrounding it (sans Capella) appealed to the GTA for help in March ’38. As the GTA was a bit busy trying to fight the HOL and remaining Shivans, they essentially left the colonies to their own devices.
A number of local corporations (such as Procyon Metal Works and Mirfak Mining and Exploration) banded together with the regional governments and officially united in opposition to the Syndicate’s control and to the GTA’s “taxation without representation”, establishing a capital on the Adharan world of Avalon, orbiting Adhara IV. The Syndicate, of course, did not take kindly to this, so they launched a war, taking over Polaris easily.
The war lasted about half a year. The Adharans only hung on due to sheer determination and support from the Antares Federation, who recognized the danger of a Regulan hegemony. The AF bought a number of old Aten and Ne’arin cruisers from the Vasudans for the Coalition to use, as well as the Thanatos-class destroyer
Victory and three old Terran Atropos frigates. The Coalition has begun making its own cruisers and fighters at Procyon Metal Works, and is beginning to show signs of self-sufficiency in many regards (food included).
In time they might become a power to be reckoned with. For now, though, they aren’t terribly powerful, but they have entered into trade deals with the Antarans and the Vasudans, a needed boost to their nascent economy.
Heeyarr.
