Backstory

Fluff (or more commonly referred to as Canon) is a collection of official statements about the world of BS12. You should thus get an overview of the information in this page, and make sure your character's backstory, or your statements in game, don't contradict with the statements here.

In The Past
Main Article: NanoTrasen: The 26th Century Giant

Present Day
The current year to 2557 AD (As of New-years 2013), a few years after the decommissioning of the NSV Luna. The NSS Exodus is one of NanoTrasen's newest research space stations.

It has been roughly 65 years since the beginning of the so called "Orange Rush." NanoTrasen Incorporated, BioTech Solutions, Einstein Engines Incorporated, and many other leading research corporations continue their struggle to research more uses of (and gain as much profit from) Thoron. And now, when Humanity thought they had been alone, other races are appearing - some friendly like the Tajaran, others dangerous. It is a brave new world.

Space Travel
Many spacecraft are operated by either a trans-stellar corporation or a colonial militia, but it is not uncommon to find vessels that are privately owned and operated. Large freighters transport cargo, guided by the best profit margins. Warships defend planets and trade lanes from harm. Piracy is uncommon in major systems, but is a fact of life in both distant and less populous systems. Transports and stations are the most common targets of pirate raids, but no ship is safe from attack by these menaces. To the citizens of most star nations, space travel is commonplace.

Commonly, spacecraft are classified by their deployment capabilities; that being how long they can go without being restocked, as well as their ΔV. (Delta-V, or the craft's total capability to change it's velocity) The vessels with the lowest endurance and ΔV are inter-ship shuttles and surface-orbit transports, and are classified as simply "shuttles." In order from lowest to highest, the classifications are: Satellite, Shuttle, Interplanetary, and Interstellar. There is lots of lee-way in each class of spacecraft, where a satellite could be either a orbiting communications relay or a massive battle fort deployed to oversee a major trade lane. Classifications are determined by the Institute of Spacecraft Engineers (ISE), a non-profit standards agency.

Space combat is usually in the form of missile exchanges punctuated by energy fire. The most important part of which is targeting, due to the massive ranges involved. Targeting is accomplished by a variety of methods; LiDAR, RADAR, passive thermal imaging, GrDAR (Gravitational Detection And Ranging; pronounced similar to "grader"), and a battery of passive emissions sensors. When not in combat, most vessels will use their passive senor suite for navigation.

Faster Than Light
While FTL was thought of as impossible in centuries past, it is now a reasonably well developed field of study. While expensive, some trans-stellars have opted to install bluespace derived communications arrays, allowing communications links that are approximately seventy times faster than traditional lightspeed links.

Humanity in the 25th Century
Many planets have been colonized during humanity's rapid growth. Hospitable worlds are largely inhabited, while less livable worlds are marked by heavy industrial presences. Space Law varies from region to region, planet to planet and station to station, as do punishments. The main form of currency is "Credits" which are represented by the symbol "Cr." (e.g. 130Cr) Credits are almost entirely digital, with some smaller stations (and the like) occasionally printing physical currency.

Other Characters
In regards to other peoples' characters, your character has no preexisting relationship with anyone without the other player's consent. If you do have the other players consent then you do not know their character from a previous round. Due to things like the station blowing up and people dying, inconsistencies can occur.

Trans-Stellar Corporations
While any company that operates in multiple solar systems could be considered trans-stellar, the term is usually used to refer to the biggest and most powerful businesses in known space. Typically controlling large fleets of vessels, multiple space-stations, and (rarely) whole planetoids; big trans-stellars (by which they are commonly referred) take advantage of the lack of enforced laws and regulations in space to turn massive profits, often cutting corners and disregarding ethical concerns. Often headquartered in in space, they are most commonly known for high salaries, good benefits, and a high chance of injury or death...

NanoTrasen
NanoTrasen (commonly known simply as "NT") is one of the largest corporations in known space, focusing on the development and production of medical technologies. Primarily based in deep space, NanoTrasen is most well known for their quick and brutal actions during the "Orange Rush," which gave them a lead over their competitors in researching Thoron. While this lead to much discontent from their competitors, as well as the ire of those harmed by their rash actions, the profits made off of Thoron (and derived technologies) is generally considered to outweigh the damage caused. However, half a century after the initial brutality, NanoTrasen is still feeling the repercussions of their actions; terrorist raids and sabotage seemingly have become an everyday concern for NanoTrasen officials. None of this is helped by the rumors of research being preformed which has been made illegal on most civilized worlds.

Overview: Large medical corporation, made people angry, has a lead in research on Thoron
 * NanoTrasen Rules and Regulations
 * NSS Exodus
 * Job Fluff

Other Trans-Stellars
Generally not as large as NanoTrasen (but as technically advanced), other trans-stellars are often highly jealous of NanoTrasen's success in plasma research and strive to overtake NanoTrasen in terms of profit.

Governments and Companies
While the trans-stellars are the big fish in the galactic pond, they are not alone. These are the corporations and governments that otherwise compete known space.

Governments
There are many governments ruling humanity, be they controlling a single colony or dominating a dozen star systems.

Union of Humanity
Near the beginning of the diaspora into space, the Union of Humanity ruled all human colonies. Within a half of a century, however, the union had splintered as it was unable to maintain timely communications with its distant colonies due to the lack of any Faster-Than-Light communications methods at the time.. Currently remembered as noble, but doomed to fall.

Federation of Sirius
Named for the star near the heart of its control, the Federation of Sirius is composed of four star systems and operates on a distributed representative democracy.

New Terra
Based on Mars, New Terra administrates the Sol system after Earth was deemed unsuitable for the seat of government.

Milky Way Federation
A loose governmental organization spanning a half dozen stars, the Milky Way Federation operates as a Unitary state, with most power over individual star systems delegated to the system's capital.

Colonial Governments
Many colonies are self-governed, and thus will have their own laws and regulations. However, they are not always able to enforce these laws, as many trans-stellars greedily exploit.

Corporations
These corporations are powerful, but not trans-stellar.

Huygens Hydrocarbons
One of the oldest continuously running operations in human, Huygens Hydrocarbons is a mining operation on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, that has been operating since the Union of Humanity was still in it's infancy. Providing water and hydrocarbons to spacecraft operating in the outer solar system, Huygens has almost always turned a profit, even during economic recessions.

"The Syndicate"
"The Syndicate" is a semi-secret conglomeration of groups opposed to the major trans-stellars, mainly due their disregard for human decency and governmental laws. Mostly this organization targets NanoTrasen, but not exclusively. This organization is composed of a "syndicate" of crushed rival corporations, criminals and pirates, opposing politicians, and others harmed or threatened by the power of the trans-stellars. Most NanoTrasen employees have at least heard rumors of this murky syndicate, while security personnel generally know of its existance.

''Overview: Murky group of people who hate trans-stellars. Especially hate NT.''

Space Wizard Federation
The Space Wizards Federation (commonly abbreviated to "SWF") is known to few people; generally restricted to NanoTrasen officials. While neutral to NanoTrasen from a political point of view, they will happily infiltrate NT's stations and ships if they desire something aboard.

Little is known about this organization except that it is composed of eccentric humans with a knack for 'magic'. The exact nature of this 'magic' is unknown, be it the result of advanced technology, bioengineering, or some other phenomenon. Either way, the Space Wizard Federation will periodically send out agents to find and (re)claim artifacts and other 'magical' objects; from enchanted crowbars to ancient alien machinery, they will not allow a 'lesser' man to possess these objects. Agents of this organization are considered extremely dangerous, and should be avoided if you so value your life.

Overview: Secretive group of people with special powers of some sort.

The Order of Nar'Sie
The Order of Nar'Sie an obscure and hidden order; little is known about them, and few know of their existence. Only those with extensive theological learning have any inkling as to their religion or methods.

Their magic is based around blood runes, sacrifices and ghostly constructs. They work to further the goals of Nar'Sie, and work to bring Him into our world.

Overview: Cultish religion, wishes to bring their god into our world.

Locations
Humans come from a wide array of planets and colonies. The entire Sol system has been colonized, as has much of the outer lying systems and galaxies beyond.

Earth
Planetary Capital - N/A. The home of the Human race, it has become a large poisonous ball of pollution and industrialism. Long, brutal wars have scarred it's surface and overpopulation has caused irreversible effects in the planet's atmosphere.

Luna
Earth's moon.

Mars
Planetary Capital - Lowell City. Primarily an industrial and mining colony, Mars has been supplying the fleets of Earth with resources for years. Home to the illustrious Martian Institute of Technology, it is the industrial and social capital of Sol.

Other Life
It is a well established fact that we are not alone in the universe. Multiple alien species have been discovered by the human race. Some are friendly and well understood, while some are rarely seen and never caught, presumed dangerous and usually avoided. Due to the significant scientific breakthroughs with alien research most NanoTrasen crews have at least one Xenobiologist.

Tajaran
The Tajaran hail from Ahdomai, the smaller of two twin planets. It is very cold and icy, and they possess fur for the purpose of self-heating and feline attributes for stability in their environment.

Soghun
Originating from the planet of Moghes, the Soghun live in an extremely sexist society, with women being considered property. War is common in the history of Moghes and is deeply ingrained into Soghun religion. Most who follow the religion shun dishonourable guns. All Soghun possess a strong family tie to their clan.

Most Soghun working for NanoTrasen seek safety and freedom from the Soghun military. Members of this military are part of a peon caste on the homeworld.

Outcasts are branded with crescents and generally considered pariahs on the homeworld.

Skrell
A amphibious space faring race currently more technologically advanced than humanity. They emphasize the study of the mind, over progressing in other fields.

Thoron
"Main article: Thoron"

Discovery
In 2490, the Mars Institute of Technology completed initial bugetary planning for an in-depth survey of the Gliese 229 system; thought to lack any resource that would outweigh the costs of exploration and commercialization, thus only interesting in an academic manner. Upon arrival in the Gliese 229 system—in early 2492, a month and a half after it departed MIT—the MITSV Venchenlitte-1 set about its 9 month remass-conservative system survey. About 4 months into the survey, they discovered irregularities in Gliese 229A's companion star, the brown dwarf Gliese 229B, during their survey of the moons and ring systems. The star was discovered to break from the previously defined stellar classification assigned to it, Class "T", reserved for a type of low mass brown dwarf; instead resembling something closer to a heavy gas giant, with abnormal cloud formations and an apparent "ocean" of some liquid deep within. Further investigation lead to both a reclassification of Gliese 229B and the discovery that the dwarf (and its satellites) harbored an unusual substance, dubbed "Thoron" that revolutionized spaceflight forevermore.

Properties
Thoron, as it turned out, existed in a before-unheard-of superposition in what amounted to two realities at the same time. Residing both in our universe, and the "parallel" reality dubbed "bluespace" (due to the apparent blue light radiating from all directions), thoron reduced the energy requirements for transitioning between the two planes of existence by an order of magnitude. Prior to thorons discovery, faster than light vessels were essentially one of three types; courier vessels, colony ships, and scientific scout vessels. This was due to the massive amount of energy and equipment required to punch through to the other reality, severely limiting both fuel supplies and cargo capacity. With proper use of thoron in FTL drive designs, volume and mas requirements dropped off massively, opening up faster than light travel to merchantmen and passenger vessels.

Chemically, thoron is highly volatile, and seems to never leave a liquid state. Even the airborne state of thoron seems to stem from its ease of aerosolization, essentially filling a volume of air with uncountable miniature droplets of thoron. Under temperatures above $TEMPERATURE, thoron will release ionizing radiation and transmute into $DECAY_MATERIAL, which scales exponentially with temperature. However, when in an environment rich in $REACTION_CHEMICAL, thoron will instead "burn," producing $BURN_WASTE_MATERAL and increase the temperature of the environment just as a normal fire would be expected.

Uses
Thoron is used in most spacecraft as a fuel source for their reactors (due to a high ratio of energy vs. volume and mass), and as a critical component of the (now prolific) artificial gravity technologies. In addition, Thoron is used as a reasonably clean power-source on heavily colonized worlds; where the citizenry require the prodigious power output thoron can provide.

History
After its discovery, the "Orange Rush" began. In the end, NanoTrasen ended up in control of 50% of Gliese 229B, while other corporations were permitted to mine the sattelites as well as harvest the other half of the giant.

Supply


Accidents
Most accidents, usually containment breaches or uncontrollable fires, were swept under the rug; much like how a addict will forgive his dealer for his character flaws. NanoTrasen the dealer; Thoron the next glorious fix.

Multispacial Thoron Crystal
Multispacial Thoron Crystals (commonly referred to as "MTC"s or "supermatter") are an exceedingly rare form of Thoron, a pseudo-stable crystallized form of the nearly-the-definition-of-volatile substance. The current supply in use originated from a scientific mission to SCR 1845-6357, where it was discovered that an asteroid belt around the binary pair had some irregularities. These irregularities were discovered to stem form a previously undiscovered form of thoron, which spawned what amounted to a smaller Orange Rush. Since this supply has been completely exhausted, the current supply in use is all that is possessed by humanity, and thus has a very high price.

OUT OF DATE FOLLOWS is extracted from the cores of super plasma giants, at great expenditure of effort and material, by robotic armored probes, shielded and designed to withstand the intense pressure that solidifies Plasma into a stable almost inert but highly volatile form.

The super matter has a similar density to neutronium and expels a massive amount of energy and gaseous plasma when properly processed. - Being super-dense, Zero Point Lasers are used to shave off plasma molecules from the crystal lattice matrix. These lasers can not interact with less dense matter in a significant fashion, such as organic tissues and are thus perfectly harmless. The Super Matter however is not.

Extensive and costly experimentation have determined that while stable at the near vacuous existence of hard vacuum or one standard earth atmosphere, super-matter begins to come unravelled when reaching pressure levels similar to its origins, - thus attributing to its expenditure in harvesting it. Heat further weakens the crystal matrix structure.

Should the matter come unraveled, it will do so extremely rapidly and explosively, ripping not only through the hardest alloys like wet tissues, but the very fabric of time itself, thus giving rise to the curious phenomena where one can in fact survive a Super Matter detonation by simply outrunning the explosive wave as it tears steel bulkhead to shreds. Slowly. It is still recommended to evacuate the site of such a explosion without delay.

Super Matter is currently only used in the NSV Luna for fuel and propulsion purposes. And is estimated to outlast the ships service period by a factor of 15. With proper care and maintenance. And barring any accidents.

OUT OF DATE ENDS

Death
With the advancement of science, new ways of cheating death became available. No longer potential victims of fate or luck had to hold on to life to be saved but now could be called back even after death. While many religions found some of those ways unethical, economical profits and mankind's natural fear of death helped them become regularly and openly practiced especially in environments where there was shortage of properly trained personnel, such as space colonies, stations or high-class star ships.

Cloning
Most controversial of them all, an idea stemming from the almost ancient past became improved upon to the extent allowing total recreation of organism from just a couple of samples, including general knowledge and skills of the subject at the moment of sample-harvesting. Additionally, newer models of DNA-restructuring equipment became connected to some of ship's components providing general outline of the events happening in the time-span between a person's DNA backup and their original death, allowing for, for example, technical personnel to quickly return to work.

At the same time though, cloning is being looked down upon by some as there is no way for practitioners of most religions or otherwise spiritual people to make sure whether it's really the person - including the soul - who gets another chance to live or just a copy, completely different human being with memories, raising, experiences and skills stolen from the individual who already passed permanently (or, depending on belief, is on his way to be reborn traditional way).

Cyborgization
See Also: Cyborgification Contracts, Cyborgification Regulations

Common name given to the process of transplanting subject's brain into machine body. If done properly, patient becomes half-machine and so, such procedure is being undertaken only in case of emergency and/or with both patient's and his commanding officer's permission. Reason for that lies in trauma caused by existence in the shell so different from regular human body. Because mechanical bodies are created with practicality and efficiency in mind, they lack substitutes of many organs or glands and so, have limited possibilities of feeling - both by senses and feeling of emotions. Additionally, to prevent situations where traumatized - or even brought to the brink of insanity - cyborg would start wreaking havoc, all standard models have coded blockades in the form of Laws (typically hard coded into artificial intelligence personalities). Aside from that, cyborgs created for specific tasks in the same facilities usually share their own communication channels and are permanently connected and commanded by main computer and it's AI, although they still possess some degree of autonomous behaviour in case of lack of any watcher (even if it's greatly limited as by default those machines often are to be just extension of an AI construct). It should be noted that to cut on costs of deploying specialized cyborg models, general frame is first constructed and then outfitted for it's job. This way, no new cyborg model series has to be created for every work necessary.

Becoming a cyborg is usually undertaken by desperate people, strongly driven by their devotion to their work and corporation, or simply those who take the perspective of losing a large part of their own humanity lightly.

Artificial Gravity
In early 2500, after several catastrophic losses of life caused by malfunctioning prototype gravity plates1, NanoTrasen stood at a minor crisis. Their entire fleet of ships and stations had been laid out with the decks parallel to the thrust provided, thus preventing the use of inertial gravity. With grav-plating proving unviable, and crews proving unwilling to work in zero-gravity2, a new solution had to be found. NanoTrasen approached this with a characteristically... Lateral.. Solution3.

NanoTrasen's fledgling Cloning Laboratory located the corpse of infamous 20th century reality bender MC Escher, and ordered him to find a solution. Applying his particular brand of insane genius, he was able to utilize inertial gravity in spite of the obvious physical difficulties. Despite some early psychological issues4, which resulted in the thruster units being sealed away from the crew to hide the issue, this solution worked wonderfully. Mr Escher - or a clone of him - is now happily working in the Blue Space Research Division, where he is very happy5.

1: See Incident Report 75-AXB-12H-FINEPASTE

2: Logged crew remarks include: "Oh Christ, the lab monkey's been sick again..." "GAAAH! Why do they not teach the difference between mass and weight at crate handling school?" and "Dear Christ pouring sulfuric acid in zero-g hurts!" The only positive evaluation was received from the Security division, who reported that with proper bracing it was now possible to knock a suspect the length of a primary hallway with a good baton swipe.

3: Cross-reference: Singularity Drive (destroyed); Crew Morale Program (abandoned following Clown Riots); Employment Pre-Screening Checks (still outsourced to Lucky 8 Ball).

4: Audio log: "CAPTAIN! Oh god!" "Remain calm, crewman, there's nothing to worry about.." "Captain, you just walked out of a light switch, and are now standing on the wall." "This closet is full of stars! Who BUILT this thing!"

5: Employee Happiness Measurement Accounting techniques not available at your pay grade - nevertheless, all employees are happy.

Psionics
Since ancient times people believed in forces and phenomena not tied to the material plan of existence and different orders, cults or research institutes were exploring notions and possibilities connected to such beliefs. Over years many occult paths leading supposedly to the ascension or command over mystical forces unknown to grey masses were developed but only one, grounded the most in scientific background surfaced and had drawn interest of corporation executives. Psionics, allowing access to the great power through rigorous training - usually backed up (and in even more extreme cases, substituted with) high-level grade implants connected to the brain and nervous system - offered greatness to those who were determined, possessing proper mindset giving them necessary potential, bold and rich enough to try to claim it. While as a serious area of research with importance big enough to grant industrial uses, psionic is young and so - very crude, recent developments in high energy systems and DNA restructurization (mostly discovered by NanoTrasen mega-corporation) are like a promise for it's bright future.

Space Sleeping Disorder
Space Sleeping Disorder (SSD) is a common condition affecting about 50-60% of humanity. It is caused by the combination of a lack of day/night cycle on board spacecraft, the presence of the inky black void in all directions, and long hours. In these conditions, in some individuals, adenosine production is stunted, and the human body "forgets" to become tired and want to sleep. When SSD occurs, the person afflicted, after working for long periods, suddenly has the overwhelming desire to sleep. This is caused by the body realizing that it needs sleep and producing vast amounts of adenosine. Once they fall asleep, the sleep is intensely deep, and they cannot be roused. The person wakes up normally about 8-12 hours later.

A variant of SSD is known as Rapid Onset Space Sleeping Disorder (or ROSSD). This occurs frequently in those working on extremely long shifts with a lack of stimulation. In ROSSD, the body, instead of creating an intense sensation of tiredness, instantly falls into deep REM sleep. This usually happens during periods of no stress or stimulation, but occurrences of this during more "exciting" times have been reported. Due to its resemblance to the popular conception of narcolepsy, ROSSD is occasionally mislabeled as "space narcolepsy". A somewhat uncommon term for people who have this occur is that they have been "rossed". Some sufferers have mistakenly been declared "brain dead", however, ROSSD causes no damage to the brain or body on its own, barring any external trauma from the sudden loss of control or the body hitting the ground. Once asleep, there is no fundamental difference between ROSSD-caused sleep and SSD-caused sleep.

Editing this page
The Fluff page is for IC additions to the world (which includes the backstory). Fluff is also used partially for game design decisions and is therefore relatively important. Due to this now being the de facto fluff, only specific users are allowed to edit any fluff pages. Please post any proposed fluff here: http://baystation12.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=767