In regards to Game_Templar posts. Your characters will be a part of the discoveries as they are pioneered. However, with war appearing out of nowhere, contractors and other naval personnel will be pulled to help fight the new threat. No fapping off, since it would become a military command structure. More on your post here in a bit.
In regards to HouseRoman posts. The United Nations have direct command of the most government proceedings concerning Earth and her colonies. However, it does not directly control the EDF (Earth Defense Force) and the ESN (Earth Space Navy). All three have their own councils and are regulated by a set of codes that require a majority vote from three to do anything extreme or large. They act like a triumvirate in this regard.
The game universe does not have an ansible, like some other sci-fis that have near-instantaneous communications. I am taking a leaf from Mass Effect in which laser comm-buoys are used. It is a large network of automated satellites that take input and sends it along to the correct destination. The laser communications works by pulsing a type of Morse Code faster than is humanly possible. However, there are always ways to improve this network and is entirely up to the character if they want to try and find a new way or improve the current.
Warp Drive is the way FTL occurs. The method used: two super magnets are suspended above and below a piece of etherulium (this is a fictional element for purposes of this game. It is quite common on asteroids). When activated, the magnets begin to spin around the metal, creating a very powerful magnetic field that is amplified by the positive and negative energy field that the metal begins to emit. The metal in question is the catalyst in this, as the magnets only serve to generate the field necessary to make the positive and negative fields. Due to how the magnets are rotating, the poles of positive energy and negative are always changing. This oscillating energy field reduces the plane of space-time in front of the vessel while raising it behind it. The faster you travel, the greater the depression/ascension is. I suppose it is possible to generate a large enough field that other smaller ships can "ride the wave" so to speak, but that is up to the characters.
Now in the regards to the "aliens" question. Currently, there are only two sentient species that will begin this game. They are the Humans of Sol and the Augums (AH-gums). The latter was once the humans of the ship Nostrodamus. They still retain their human shape and look almost entirely human. Except for a few things. To survive long-time exposure on a ship that had not the greatest protection, they had to develop technology in ways that would make most scientists have a fit. One of the technologies was nanites. Once these nanites were created, they were implanted. The Augums, in a way, became the perfect life-form. They were resistant to radiation of all sorts, including solar radiation. They could survive a few minutes longer in a vaccuum than a normal human. And they possess a faster healing rate, able to heal most wounds within days instead of weeks although very serious injuries may still take a long time to heal.
They do, however, still need to eat and drink water but they can go longer than most humans without it. By now, why Augum? It is what they decided to call themselves after finding a new world, since they no longer considered themselves entirely humans.
As of this time, no other species can be allowed to be played. That is not the same as finding alien species on other worlds but they are not allowed to be sentient. That being said, there is a race that will come into the story later on that is not Human or Augum. But that depends if we can reach the milestone. And most importantly, once we have reached a certain threshold in the story, I will open the Augum race to be played. However, and I suspect I will have to make another stop at the rules page, this race is considered restricted. My definition of this: a restricted race is limited to only a few players and MUST BE CONFIRMED FOR APPROVAL by the GM.
The reasons for restrictions on playable races until certain story requirements are met is to limit the ridiculousness that appears in games. By having only one and unlocking the rest, I am hoping to not only keep the players from just running rampant but also giving incentive to continue playing. I also tend to view games as a TV series with episodes. As such, I try to mirror reveals and important plot arcs over time through several "episodes". Just how I have DMed IRL.
Also, the intro was meant to ask more questions than answer.
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