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READ ME The State of the Nation

Luca

Luca

The Ultimate Badass
🎖️ Game Master
Inactive Member
Bewildering as it looks to have another state of the Nepleslia address so soon after the last, the way things have turned out, another must happen since the guard has changed.

I knew I had to write one of these corny speeches eventually, but I was up until three in the goddamn morning last night after a very intensive day at work moving enormous and sensitive files, conversing with lots, and lots of people, about many and varied subjects regarding Nepleslia and the state of SARP while trying to get my credit card unblocked due to trying to order a pizza online. I've just woken up and I'm already being bombarded with questions as to what to do with Nepleslia. So, I guess this is the answer.

In addition, a lot of good men I've been writing with have elected to move on recently. I'm practically the last man standing when it comes to the soul of Nepleslia, and it's lonely here. One by one throughout the years I've seen Nepleslian players who had the heart and soul of the race in them leave, and last night, four of them have moved on at once, and I suspect there'll be more people following them in the future.

I suppose this series of events gets me into perfect character for a Nepleslian: No time for the minutiae, straight to the point, not a care for the odds whatever they are, and no time to cry for the lost yet.

The most immediate hurdles I've managed to identify last night are thus:
  • Stable leadership has been a problem in 2016. I do not have any strong comment or opinion about the people involved, nor can I say I am entirely impartial. I will offer the best stability I can.
  • With previous Nepleslian players left, we are lacking manpower. We need new players, and new GMs to create new plots to bring life and vibrance into Nepleslia, whether cultivated from the new members, or from veteran volunteers.
  • With what I am currently running on my own as a GM, I will not have the time to run a fully Nepleslian Plot. This is a limitation I am aware of, but what I can do is provide mentorship for rookie GMs, and possibly run an Open RP with my schedule freeing up.
  • Nepleslia needs to remain Nepleslian at heart, unwilling to be sucked back and homogenised by empire it seceded from. It did so for a very good reason, smelling smoke on the horizon. We're not smoke and mirrors, we're the night train going full steam ahead.
  • I need to take audit with what Nepleslia has, and doesn't have since I've been sworn in so quickly.
  • With Yamatai pulling out of DATASS, we have a relationship with the Lorath to consolidate. We must keep DATASS strong, and show that it has good economic and political results.
For what I'm trying to do here in this role, a lot of community support has poured out from many, many people, and for it I am thankful. I understand that as a Faction Manager, I am upheld and accountable to the players who work under it. I haven't had time to read the FM oath, but I know it boils down to respect and integrity, and integrity has no need for the rules.

In general, I have respect for people who take time out of their day to be here. This way of going about business and treating the players with respect has been what has carried plots like the ISC Phoenix and LSDF Val'ta through so well. I am also impartial to whatever means of communication you use to get to me, whether its Site Chat, PM, IRC, email, dead drop messages, carrier pigeons, or Yahoo Instant Messenger. So long as there's communication between each other I'm not picky.

For the moment, I appoint @Gunhand4171 as my assistant manager for the Nepleslians. In addition, I nominate @Primitive Polygon as Freespacer FM. I believe they're having a hand at creating new Freespacer Technology like the Skeleton Ensemble, which may become its own plotship in due time. I offer my assistance as a veteran GM to help your plot be the best it can. I will be seeking out the assistance of other members too, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

Nepleslia isn't just a nation. Nepleslian isn't just a race.
Nepleslia is an idea. Nepleslian is a state of mind.

Together, Nepleslia will renew itself, and I will see to it that my predecessors will look upon what I will do, and be proud.
 
Only advice I can give is that if possible, given the distance between Lorath and Nepleslia, setting up a gate network between both sides to speed commerce and the redistribution of military assets between members of DATASS given Yamatai sits right in the middle and has no reason to allow easy access between us. (If this hasn't been handled already)
 
@Luca - I'd like to formally apply to be an "auxiliary" (read: additional Co-FM) for Nepleslia, given that I both am very detail-oriented (to the point of obsession, really, given that I have wasted obscene amounts of time creating/maintaining equipment pages for all of my manymanymany characters) and in possession of hilarious amounts of free time (courtesy of currently being an unemployed part-time college student) - thereby allowing me to (in my very humble opinion) be of good use in auditing the roughly 650 articles within the :nepleslia namespace.

I apologize for the textwall (wrote this at 12:45-ish in the morning >.<), I know it's not much, and I haven't the slightest idea how to wrap this up, but......I'd like to put what few talents I have to some good usage.

(Poor conclusion, I know ._.)

------------------------------------

@shadowclasper - Perhaps a combination of outposts and sensor "buoys?"
 
How far can artificial wormholes connect? That's the obvious answer. Declare some systems nice neutral ground for group staging areas and free trade zones between all signitors, put wormhole gates linked to one another in them.
 
We could do test gates in a series of rps. Defending them from terrorists and corporate criminals. Start small, just a pair of systems. Then link Nepleslia to the Nepleslian colonial front, so that Nepleslia isn't dependent on holding Himeko's gift against a two pronged attack.

From there, others are built, linking Nepleslia to it's allies, from the free spacers of the Blue Rift, to Lorath, to any other DATASS signitors that come aboard.

edit: why waste time with WIP articles? We got canonical wormhole gates already MADE by Nepleslia? https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=guide:ftl:wormhole_properties#gate_wormhole
 
I think this is the gateway to a worthwhile course of action. Hue, hue, hue.

In all seriousness, my boffins (or bunffins) have been working on the matter, and we have concluded that some gate-building RP is much in order. Luca will talk with my guys, I'll talk with you guys, we'll make a thing happen. Let's get some new blood in on it too, show them what IC engineering is about.
 
I'm busy being a medic, but once I got Rip nailed down I might join in if you guys want somebody who is into interplanetary/interstellar mega projects.
 
Thanks for the support, Luca! The whole player situation really changed overnight, huh?

Some new, more independent supply technologies were one of the major things I wanted to do for the remaining 'true' spacers, but I'm not so sure how this leaves those already having changed their lifestyles, living in Nepleslian territory... Given the new (relative) relaxation of Yamatai's attitude towards them, perhaps defining a new social group within them that relies on long-haul freight business opportunities would help with DATASS's logistical problems? Presumably they must have been doing something to survive, in the eight years since they were taken under NAM's wing.

The only other stable sources of income are tech support and gas giant mining, as far as I can see. It's not like I would personally be in command of such independent operations either way, but what the existing lore definitely needs is some more concrete definitions on a few things, particularly social reactions to newer political developments. It's all good and well calling them anarchists and giving players free reign with their characters, but simply providing zero information to what NPC organisations already exist (Beyond the late greats like the Wired Rovers, e.t.c.) is not opportune.

TLDR; Just drop me a line if you have any major ideas on what to do with Nep-territory spacers. I'm all ears.
 
We may not be treaty members but we're not enemies either. Yamatai doesn't mind if Nepleslian and Lorath ships cross its space. Military ships should ask for permission first (and you have my permission to automatically have a Yamataian NPC grant permission for groups of NSN or LSDF up to 3 ships at a time. For larger groups, ask me). The only DATASS ships not allowed in Yamatai are spy ships like the IPG one (the IPG isn't allowed in Yamatai, period).

Freespacers ships can (and have been) allowed to cross Yamatai space. The latest news announcement by Yamatai also means that Yamataian forces aren't going to bother them by stopping them to ask questions. So if they want to run cargo across the YSE, that's not a problem. In fact, the Yamataian government's desire to placate the spacers is such that they're sometimes treated with extra niceness. The Star Army may offer them free water resupply, other handouts, or offer unusually high paying jobs to their hackers.

Personally I think crossing the space could yield more RP opportunities than using a gate system. Let's not forget that Yamatai used to have a gate system (built by Novacorp) back in the mid YE 20s and we actually removed it because it was unpopular and uninteresting with players. Almost all ships already had such fast FTL drives, there was basically no reason to use the gates and in practice nobody did. On a related note, much of Yamataian space has some survival supplies in case ships break down while crossing it. Many frontier planets have a "lighthouse" on or orbiting them for emergency survival scenarios.
 
Wes said:
We may not be treaty members but we're not enemies either. Yamatai doesn't mind if Nepleslian and Lorath ships cross its space. Military ships should ask for permission first (and you have my permission to automatically have a Yamataian NPC grant permission for groups of NSN or LSDF up to 3 ships at a time. For larger groups, ask me). The only DATASS ships not allowed in Yamatai are spy ships like the IPG one (the IPG isn't allowed in Yamatai, period).

Freespacers ships can (and have been) allowed to cross Yamatai space. The latest news announcement by Yamatai also means that Yamataian forces aren't going to bother them by stopping them to ask questions. So if they want to run cargo across the YSE, that's not a problem. In fact, the Yamataian government's desire to placate the spacers is such that they're sometimes treated with extra niceness. The Star Army may offer them free water resupply, other handouts, or offer unusually high paying jobs to their hackers.

Personally I think crossing the space could yield more RP opportunities than using a gate system. Let's not forget that Yamatai used to have a gate system (built by Novacorp) back in the mid YE 20s and we actually removed it because it was unpopular and uninteresting with players. Almost all ships already had such fast FTL drives, there was basically no reason to use the gates and in practice nobody did. On a related note, much of Yamataian space has some survival supplies in case ships break down while crossing it. Many frontier planets have a "lighthouse" on or orbiting them for emergency survival scenarios.
Click to expand...
The issue is that the moment Yamatai pulled from the treaty, it becomes a road block towards swift military reinforcement of allies, as Yamatai is probably going to be LESS than enthusiastic about war fleets crossing through their core space for each side to get to one another.

The gate system could probably be argued to be so expensive to maintain or activate or whatever that it's prices are simply out of the reach of anybody but the richest corporations, as well as military vessels that are needed to be sent those TREMENDOUS distances as fast as possible. Likewise we could say that building such gates would require
1) Only 1 to 1 connections, so each set of locations MUST be a new gate pair, no building a massive network all located by a single hub.
2) Initially building them should be hideously expensive, so building more than a dozen or so total (not a dozen or so pairs) would get prohibitive even for the combined governments involved (shorter distance ones would be far cheaper, but still not so cheap as to outweight the costs when compared to the time it takes to travel those distances by FTL normally)
3) I'd imagine that turning them 'on' would basically consist of funneling fucktons of energy into a semi-closed artificial singularity to force the sucker wide enough for ships to go through. So even turning them on is prohibitive even with Aether Generators involved simply because of the large amounts of maintenance needed to repair and overhaul systems after each usage.

That way we have sufficient limits for WHY not everybody uses it, and also, make it so that the alliance can effectively exist without Yamatai.

edit: Further, such an action is absolutely NECESSARY for without such a method of travel between Nepland and Lor, the treaty becomes absolutely pointless. Even if Yamatai remains friendly in the short term, such alliances are predicated on the ability to give reinforcements at any and all times. Without Yamatai being bound by a similar agreement to allow Lor and Nep to reinforce one another, Yamatai can force whatever concessions they want on either side any time they are required by the treaty to assist one another. Neither side would find this acceptable, and would likely terminate the alliance themselves unless they could find a way to quickly provide military reinforcements.

That said, I agree Yamatai shouldn't completely lose it's advantage in position. It has enormous trade advantages in their central placement, and thus, the wormhole gates, should they be established, shouldn't remove that, and you are right that it removes roleplay potential. But we have to strike a balance between roleplay potential and logic in situations like this. Suspension of Disbelief is only possible when logic is maintained.
 
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The article doesn't really mention it, but I believe those are used primarily by blue rifters and piratical organisations... Both of which are pretty insular and hard to keep tabs on. NAM did support them in the past, but they also remained a separate political entities from those who settled in Nepleslian space after the schism, it's worth noting.

Perhaps negotiations could take place in-character, but I don't think it should be treated as an automatic deal.
 
Just worked out the math... given the speed of FTL involved, and the fact that unless you enter another star system, just can just hop and skip around them because of the vast distances involved between stars and the limited amount of space each interdiction zone takes up... entire military fleets could cross Yamatai's 'borders' and never even be at risk of being intercepted by Yamatai, let alone infringing on their sovereignty, and at such enormous speeds that I'm a little unclear on how it's effectively -any- different from having a wormhole gate network.

I mean, I was under the impression that you had to jump from system to system, that you couldn't just say, Jump from Nepleslia's capital to Yamatai's in a matter of an hour or so without making any stops. The two systems are functionally identical. Gates aren't even needed because artificial interdiction is apparently impossible.

edit: what this means is that it really doesn't matter if we use gates or not.
 
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shadowclasper said:
Just worked out the math... given the speed of FTL involved, and the fact that unless you enter another star system, just can just hop and skip around them because of the vast distances involved between stars and the limited amount of space each interdiction zone takes up... entire military fleets could cross Yamatai's 'borders' and never even be at risk of being intercepted by Yamatai, let alone infringing on their sovereignty, and at such enormous speeds that I'm a little unclear on how it's effectively -any- different from having a wormhole gate network.

I mean, I was under the impression that you had to jump from system to system, that you couldn't just say, Jump from Nepleslia's capital to Yamatai's in a matter of an hour or so without making any stops. The two systems are functionally identical. Gates aren't even needed because artificial interdiction is apparently impossible.

edit: what this means is that it really doesn't matter if we use gates or not.
Click to expand...
There is acutally still reason for gates, and that's setting a foundation for the future. SARP does have insanely fast travel times, but a considerable number of people want to increase the travel time at least a little. So if things do end up taking more time, it would be good to have something already in place instead of dealing with the problem then when it might be more difficult. Also what needs to be considered is however fast we can go, the enemy can go too. Even if it seems like hardly any time to get around Yamatai's borders for how far it is, the fight they're going to reinforce could move equally as far away in the same period of time.

So pretty much you gotta plan for the future, and while near instant reinforcements aren't always needed, it's good to have the option.
 
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