NationStates Jolt Archive

[OCC: Comments are welcomed, I'm new to NS but not to rping. This is supposed to be a relatively "hard" sf, so feel free to offer any constructive criticism you have.]

The Interstellar Ersatian Empire Part 1 - Early History

History of the Terran Colony of Ersatia

Pre-Interstellar Period of Earth
This is a rich and epic period of Earth’s history. It sees the advent of agriculture and the beginning of human civilisation in Mesopotamia. Humans first begin to fashion tools, work metals and farm crops. It witnesses the rise and fall of great empires and cultures throughout antiquity, the medieval era, and Earth’s era of imperialism. It sees the dawn of the industrial age and the birth of the nation-state. By the end of the 20th Century mankind has already begun, tentatively, to explore beyond the borders of Earth. Humans have journeyed to the Moon, sent robotic probes throughout the solar system, established artificial satellites in orbit around Earth and begun to form the first space stations.

It is not until the early 22nd Century, however, the mankind truly begins to explore space. Humans travel to Mars, the first planet to be reached by mankind. Permanent space stations are constructed, and a race to explore Earth’s solar system begins. Between the 23rd and 25th centuries mankind fully expands out into the Solar System, colonising Mars and establishing mining operations and bases on asteroids and moons of note. During this interplanetary period mankind learns many spacefaring lessons that will be useful for later on, and scientific and research facilities throughout the solar system yield huge results and an increase in understanding of how the universe works.

By the mid 26th Century, as the population of Earth reaches truly gigantic proportions, projects are put in place which will see the seeding of human culture on faraway worlds. One such plan, is Project Ersatia.

The Golden Age of Interstellar Exploration – The Generation Ships
This is the dawn of mankind’s colonisation of extrasolar worlds. The Ersatia sector is selected by the Earth government as an excellent candidate for establishing Terran colonies due to its relatively high number of systems with Earth-like habitable worlds in close proximity to each other. Unfortunately, the Ersatia sector of the galaxy is roughly 75,000 light years from Earth, and since at this time no method had yet been found for superluminal communications or movement, the Ersatia colonies need to be completely independent and autonomous of Earth.

Five gargantuan generation ships are constructed, the Paradox, Enigma, Wayfarer, Nomad and Origin. Light travel is impossible so the journey to the Ersatia sector will take a staggering 88,235.29 years (from Earth's point of view) to complete at the maximum speed of 4/5th the speed of light.

Each generation ship needs to be completely self-sustaining, possessing its own biosphere so as to provide food, air, and water for everyone on board. It is also made to have extraordinarily reliable systems that will not fail even over the trememndously long period of time, and which can be feasibly repaired by the ship's inhabitants in deep space during the long journey. The generation ships are all gigantic constructions, designed to house millions of people as they live and die for generations aboard the vessel. When not under power (which is the case during relatively long periods of high speed travel) artificial gravity is provided by gigantic spinning habitats (sufficiently large to minimise the Coriolis effect).

In order to increase the population that the ships carry and yet conserve the consumption of life support, still more people are cryogenically placed in suspended animation, to await the millennia of interstellar travel in cold sleep. The process of suspending animation is finally perfected in the late 25th Century with blood being drained from the patient’s body and replaced with a special ice cold solution in the circulatory system, allowing the subject to survive for indefinite periods despite drastically slowed vital life processes. However, this procedure is never designed to last for so long, and its ultimate results are uncertain. The cryopreserved colonists have their metabolism and decay almost completely halted, and advancements in medical science mean that hopefully more then 70% of all those placed in stasis can be reanimated.

This is by far the most controversial aspect of the Ersatia Project, as it is widely believed by Earth scientists at the time that as many as twenty percent of the subjects will die from the prolonged periods of suspended animation before any attempts to reanimate can even be made and still more will suffer severe debilitating effects such as brain damage even if reanimation is a success. One of the many function of the millions of people who are not be placed in stasis is to take care of this large cargo of frozen passengers.

As a final measure, an emergency precaution designed in case of mass loss of life on the generation ships in order to hopefully save the project from failure should mass death occur, thousands of frozen early-stage embryos are carried aboard. The Ersatia Project worse-case scenario contingency plan dictates that, as a last ditch plan, fully autonomous robots can build the first settlement on the exoplanets and start growing crops. After this the first embryos can be unfrozen and can develop in artificial wombs, to be raised automatically by the robots and then found the colony. This is deemed an extreme and unlikely to succeed plan, and it was obviously hoped that this would not be necessary.

The Interstellar Drive - Making Extrasolar Exploration Possible
Einstein’s famous theory of relativity means that superluminal travel is not even theoretically possible by the mid 26th Century. The most advanced propulsion system, the Bussard interstellar ramjet is used instead to power the vast generation ships.

However, this is not the only form of propulsion used on the generation ships. In order to exit and enter orbit, to manoeuvre and to make adjustments to course, beamed-core matter-antimatter engines are used. By the mid-26th Century the significant difficulties with using antimatter propulsion have been solved, it can be produced relatively efficiently and stored safely inside advanced Penning Trap containers (supercold, evacuated electromagnetic bottles).

The generation ships, of course, are so massive that they could only be constructed in Earth orbit. The first phase involves leaving orbit via use of the beamed-core engines. During the second phase of travel to the exoplanets of the Ersatia system, the generation ships accelerate to 6% the speed of light using their massive Project Daedalus engines. This system utilises fusion rocket propulsion powered by several hundred micro-fusion nuclear explosions every second. Using fuel pellets (of deuterium/helium-3 mix) that are ignited in the reaction chamber (by inertial confinement using electron beams), the resulting plasma is directed by a magnetic nozzle to produce thrust.

After the critical speed is reached, the Bussard catalysed ram-augmented interstellar rocket can be activated.

The interstellar ramjet avoids the theoretical problem of needing absurdly huge amounts of fuel in order to accelerate to decent fractions of light speed to complete an interstellar journey by scooping hydrogen for use as a propellant from the interstellar medium itself. Gigantic pulse magnetic collector fields with a diameter of 100km scoop up ions which have been formed by powerful lasers on the generation ships. The pulse magnetic fields are constructed by a huge mesh structure but extend far beyond the physical structure of the scoop. Matter-antimatter reactions are used to power the scoops and ionising lasers.

The harvested ion mass stream is compressed, and amounts of antimatter is added. The reaction produces huge amounts of energy compared to fusion micro-detonations, and occurs at lower temperatures, conserving energy. By this method of propulsion, the generation ships can accelerate to 85% the speed of light, so that the journey to the Ersatia sector takes only 46,480.83 years for the Colonists and 88,235.29 on Earth (factoring in relativity). The ram-scoop also provides a method of harvesting anti-matter and hydrogen, for use in the reactions that provide power for the colonists on the ship

A Note on Relativity - A Curious Problem
The interstellar journey of the gargantuan generation ships of Project Ersatia is conducted by accelerating to 85% the speed of light and travelling at this speed for a distance of 75,000 light years. Due to relativity, however, the distance to the Ersatia sector is actually quite shorter to the colonists then it is as observed from Earth. In fact, it the generation ships only travel 39,508.7 light years to reach the Ersatia exoplanets, from the perspective of the colonists.

But what of time? Due to relativity, the colonists on the generation ships observe time on Earth to elapse more quickly then it does on the starship. In fact, only 88,235.29 years elapse on Earth as they observe the journey of the colonists on the generation ships travelling to Ersatia, however 161,498.47 years appear to elapse on Earth to the colonists traveling at 85% light speed during their journey. Not only that, but due to relaticistic time dilation the journey of the Colonists takes them only 46,480.83 years to complete, significantly shorter than the time they observe elapsing on Earth, but also shorter than the actual time that elapses. If the generation ships had travelled at an even greater velocity, this time dilation would have been even more pronounced. [OCC: And it would be causing me even more problems, damned relativity ;) ]

Of course, the fact that so much time went past during the enormous journey, and that the Ersatian colony is so far away from Earth that no communications of any kind are possible at all (even at light speed it would take 75,000 years for a message to reach Earth), means that it doesn't make much of a difference at all that 88,235.29 years past during the journey on Earth and "only" 46,480.83 years on the generation ships.

The Interstellar Ersatian Empire Part 1 – Basic Stellar Geography

The Stellar Geography of the Terran Colony of Ersatia

Why the Ersatia Sector?
By the mid 26th Century, mankind was ready to begin the journey to the stars. Resources in the Solar System had become increasingly depleted and the human population had reached gigantic proportion. Scientists conceived that, in order to ensure humanity’s survival, humans should seed their culture on other worlds.

The difficulties faced in such an endeavour, however, where quite huge. Space is vast, and naturally habitable worlds are relatively rare. Even at light speed, which the most advanced space vessels had not yet been able to approach the velocity of light, a journey to the nearest star system (Centauri) would take 4.22 years to reach. Gargantuan generation ships would be needed to journey to far away stars, and in any such epic undertaking planning was critical.

The Ersatia sector was selected amongst many thousands of candidates for colonisation. However, Ersatia was significant, it had important advantages which could be exploited to build a real spacefaring empire. High powered telescopes, radioscopes and other instruments determined it had a relatively dense amount of stars, and more importantly it was very rich in resources. Most importantly, however, it contained not one or two but at least four Earth-like star systems within a 2.5 to 8 light years from each other and several other habitable planets within a 25 light year radius. Even without light travel, with the fastest spacecraft available at the time (capable of accelerating to nine tenths the speed of light) it would be feasible to found an empire in this region (something not possible around Earth). There was, of course, a drawback. The Ersatia sector was roughly 75,000 light years away, so not only would the journey take an absurdly long amount of time, but all communications with Earth would be lost forever.

Major Ersatian Systems
The first Human space settlements were founded in the four Coreworld systems. The Ersatia system, first to be reached by the generation ships was colonised by the Origin and the Paradox. This system, despite being on the fringe of the empire and not the centre, unlike Tarsis, was nevertheless made the home system because it contained two habitable planets, named Ersatia (colonised by Origin) and Persus (colonised by Paradox).

Ersatia orbited the Ersatian star (a yellow dwarf, slightly less intense than Earths sun) much like Earth does, at a slightly closer distance. Persus orbited at a slightly further distance, 5 million km away. There were also five other planets in the Ersatia system, none capable of supporting life, two rocky planets at orbits closer to the star then Ersatia, and three gas giants beyond Persus.

The Enigma generation ship colonised Tarsis, the central Coreworld system. The Tarsis system contained 12 planets, 3 rocky ones at extremely close distance to the Tarsis star (also a yellow dwarf star, though slightly greater in luminosity then the Sol star), a hot Venus-like planet beyond them with a terribly thick atmosphere, then the habitable Tarsis Coreworld, three super gas giants further out, two smaller gas giants beyond them and finally two lonely and ice worlds on the edge of the system.

Several years later Wayfarer arrived in the Helicon system (also a yellow dwarf star system). This system contained relatively few planets, a large rocky world before Helicon, the Helicon world itself (which, out of all the Coreworlds, most closely resembled Earth as its star is almost exactly like our own and it orbits at almost exactly 1 AU) and two other rocky worlds after it, with one blue gas giant as the extreme end of the system. Of note is that this system contains two asteroid belts (as opposed to all the other Coreworld systems, which contain one), one between Helicon and the first rocky planet beyond and the other after the last rocky plant but well before the gas giant.

The final generation ship to arrive at its distant destination, technically the furthest colony from Earth at the time, was the Nomad. The only remarkable thing about this system was that, unlike the other Coreworld systems it possessed a binary star, with a tiny white dwarf (Xygnus B, to small to provide much light and no heat to the exoplanets) orbiting at extremely close distance to the Sol-sized yellow dwarf. The Xygnus system contained four main planets two barren worlds between the habitable planet Xygnus and the star, and a relatively small gas giant beyond.

Implications for the Future
Of course, the Coreworlds themselves were not the only significant reason why Project Ersatia, was selected to proceed. The significant point was that all these systems were very close, facilitating relatively rapid communications between one another and making possible the beginnings of an Ersatian Empire. There were also many star systems nearby which might one day be colonised and could be exploited for resources.

The following are the distances between the Coreworlds:

-Ersatia (Tarsis – 2.2 LY, Helicon – 6 LY, Xygnus – 8 LY)
-Tarsis (Ersatia – 2.2 LY, Helicon – 4 LY, Xygnus – 6 LY)
-Helicon (Ersatia – 6 LY, Tarsis – 4 LY, Xygnus – 5.5 LY)
-Xygnus (Ersatia – 8 LY, Tarsis – 6LY, Helicon – 5.5 LY)

The following is a star chart of the Interstellar Ersatian Empire [OCC: Note, not finished yet]:

Star Chart (http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a25/Dennis134/starmapErsatia.jpg)

[OCC: Maps of individual star systems will follow later]

“Relativity”-Class Ultra-Long Range Interstellar Star Destroyer

The “Relativity” was the first major military vessel constructed by the Ersatian Interstellar Empire. It began to enter service roughly 400 years after the gargantuan Bussard-drive generation ships first arrived in the Ersatia sector. At the time it was the fastest ship ever built, capable of accelerating to over nine tenths the speed of light and making travel between the Coreworlds cheap and feasible. At maximum speed, a “Relativity” Star Destroyer from the Ersatian Homeworld could travel to the most distant Coreworld of Xygnus (8 light years away) in just 8.42 years from the perspective of the exoplanets (and merely 2.63 years from the Star Destroyer’s perspective due to time dilation). The “Relativity” was also the most powerful warship of its time, capable of neutralising any target.

The “Relativity” has long since been retired, as modern Ersatian Starships are capable of faster-than-light travel. However, since many of these nimble scouts were sent out to far distant sectors of deep space to reconnoitre, it is believed that some of these relics may still be operational and yet to be recovered.

Classification: Extreme long-range deep-space Star Destroyer
Length: 740m
Tonnage: Classified
Shields: Deflector Shield
Armour: 410mm-1870mm
Maximum Velocity: 0.95c
Maximum Acceleration: 5-g
Crew: 175
Propulsion: Antiproton initiated microfusion drive
Armament:
4X 10,500MT matter-antimatter warhead missile launchers (powered by beamed-core matter-antimatter long range rockets)
12X 35MT thermonuclear warhead missile launchers
16X Heavy quad-45mm defence turrets (high velocity armour-piercing/explosive depleted uranium shell firing)
8X High yield KE-missile launchers
Time Dilation Factor at Maximum Velocity: 3.2 (That is, time travels 3.2 times more quickly on a stationary world then it does to the "Relativity" when at maximum speed)

The Deflector Shield
Details are classified by the deflector shield is an energy force field that surrounds the starship. Functioning much like a magnetic field generator (only far more sophisticated) it is capable of repelling physical projectiles (such as space debris, enemy weapons).

The Antiproton initiated microfusion drive
In this system, a small concentration of antimatter and fissionable material are used to spark a microfusion reaction with nearby material which powers the craft. This technology was already feasible at the time of the generation ships by advances in techniques which led to the easy and cheap creation and storing of antimatter. However, further advances in the decades after the generation ships arrived meant that it could be used to sustain a one-g acceleration for long periods of time, allowing the vessel to approach high fractions of light speed quickly. This negated the need for the Bussard ramjets used on the generation ships, which expended huge amounts of antimatter.

An image of the "Relativity" Star Destroyer ESS Damocles on long-range trip to a nebula:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a25/Dennis134/space-craft.jpg

nice write up, don't know if you know about it but there is a region for nations who are on Mars, you are welcome to join us if you wish:

http://s4.invisionfree.com/The_Planet_Mars/index.php?

enjoy

Just one thing. Most nations prefer their own version of the history of Earth, so it's generally best to leave things a little vague, in order to make sure no confliction occurs. Of course, we can always assume that in every instance it's multiple universes, but it's generally better to leave very little in the way of an actual timeframe. (No criticism, just an observation that has niggled at me many times.)

Just one thing. Most nations prefer their own version of the history of Earth, so it's generally best to leave things a little vague, in order to make sure no confliction occurs. Of course, we can always assume that in every instance it's multiple universes, but it's generally better to leave very little in the way of an actual timeframe. (No criticism, just an observation that has niggled at me many times.)

OCC:

Hi Hyperspatial Travel.

I considered that. However since so many thousand years elapsed while the Ersatian colonists were on the generation ships (and there is evidence that technological advancment slowed and may even have regressed slightly during the long journey) we can naturally assume that any inconsistencies regarding Earth's history are due to the fact that it is in the deep past of my nation and knowledge may be hazy or even incorrect. The Ersatians feel they know Earth's history fairly well, but over a period of 40,000 years any manner of errors may have crept into Ersatian histiography (even computer memory may not be infallible over such a gargantuan span of time!).

I'll continue to post here about Ersatia's history as if it is "truth", but once again I stress it is what the Ersatians belive, it may not necessarily be true.

Best Regards


nice write up, don't know if you know about it but there is a region for nations who are on Mars, you are welcome to join us if you wish:

http://s4.invisionfree.com/The_Planet_Mars/index.php?

enjoy
OCC:

Hello Pilon.

Thank you for the offer. However, at present the Ersatian empire is 75,000 light years away from Mars (in a distant corner of the galaxy) and, without superluminal capabilities, could not even communicate with your region in under 75,000 years. :)

I don't plan on leaving it like that forever though, however I'm fleshing out my empire's history while I think of how they are going to gain FTL capabilities.

We will meet sooner or later!

Best Regards.

The Interstellar Ersatian Empire Part 1 – Basic Stellar Geography (II)

Minor Star Systems of the Terran Colony of Ersatia

It needs hardly be said that the majority of systems in our Galaxy do not contain Earth like exoplanets. However, often such stars and planets will contain other features that make a presence their system worthwhile. The following list [OCC: To be further updated] details those Ersatian worlds occupied in systems unsuitable for large colonies, or failed colony experiments in the Ersatian sector. This list refers to Ersatian outposts established before the development of FTL travel.

Erdris B
One of two exoplanets orbiting a typical yellow dwarf star much like Sol. The other, Erdris A, is a gas giant. Erdris B is a hellish world with burning hot days and freezing night due to its proximity to the Erdris Star and very thin atmosphere. It is made bearable only because of a unique coincidence: the period of rotation of Erdris B is such that one side always faces the star, leaving the possibility of a human settlement being constructed on the far side. The Erdris System is only 2.5 light years from Xygnus, one of the Coreworlds of the Ersatian Empire.

Erdris B would be an unremarkable world except for two reasons. The first is its proximitiy to Erdris A, which is rich in certain valuable gasses which are harvested and transported back to the Coreworlds. The second is its large deposits of useful minerals, which are mined.

Erdris B was one of the first exoplanets settled outside of the Coreworlds by the Ersatian Empire. Its population was only ever extremely small, a rugged people as a result of having to endure on such a hellhole in the middle of nowhere.

The hellish world of Erdris B. Boiling days and freezing nights:
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/objects/images/55cancri_500.jpg


HD872112-E
One of the moons of HD872112-A, a red Gas Giant that orbits an O-Class Blue Giant 22 light years from the Ersatian Coreworld. At one time HD872112-E was considered an excellent candidate for terraforming, having a fairly uniform 24.5 hour day/night cycle, a breathable atmosphere, a reasonable climate and large amounts of water. Eventually the program was abandoned due to a lack of funding and a realisation that the short life cycle of the Blue Giant star would make it non cost-effective. Concerns were also raised over the abnormally high levels of radiation HD872112 produced, showering the plant even at its great distance. HD872112 continued to be used as a mining colony and military base for the Ersatian Interstellar Empire.

One of the key moments in HD87221’s otherwise uneventful history was its revolt only 200 years after its founding. A light Star Frigate was dispatched to deal with the insurgents but lost under mysterious circumstances, never to be heard of again. Fearing that the rebels may have destroyed the vessel, and that defences would surely have been improved during the 70 year period of independence from the Coreworlds, a more substantial contingent was sent to deal with the uprising. Eventually, almost 100 years after the beginning of the rebellion, the ESS Furious arrived in the system, ending HD87721’s long lived independence.

The Blue Giant HD87721. Note, distances not show to scale. Also, HD872112-E is not visible orbiting its gas giant:
http://www.cielosur.com/mensajero/images/b024/b024exoplanet.jpg


Xertham
A bleak, icy world. Xertham's star, a white dwarf simply named H77812, long ago shed its outer layer and has been cooling for millions of years. Xertham is a frozen world, a planet inhabiting a doomed system that is dying. Little is known about this mysterious Ersatian outpost, 4 light years from the Xygnus Coreworld. Its chief point of importance is a top-secret science research station that is maintained there, out of the way and unlooked for. Few ships ever venture to this depressing system.

It is known that it is at the Xertham research station that the Ersatian Interstellar Empire eventually develops superluminal travel, over one thousand years after the first gargantuan generation ships arrived in the Ersatian system.

A nearby gas giant viewed from the gloomy reaserach station on Xertham:
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0209/18planet100/planet.jpg

Ictrium
Ictrium is a dead world. Destroyed in a massive antimatter holocaust, the once thriving colony here is no more. All that remains is a lonely Ersatian outpost. It's sun is a typical G-class yellow star. Primary industry is the harvesting of rare gasses from the system's leftover whisps of a nebula.

The Interstellar Ersatian Empire Part 1 - Early History (II)

History of the Terran Colony of Ersatia

The Ersatian Civil War

The story of Ictrium is a tragic one filled with loss. At one stage, Ictrium had been a thriving colony of many hundreds of thousands and growing. Located only 8 light years from the Ersatian Coreworld of Helicon, the Ictrium system was (astrologically) a young one and still held the remains of a small nebula nearby, which could be exploited for rare resources. It was the first world colonised after the Coreworlds with the aim of establishing a large human settlement there. Ictrium’s sun is a yellow star of the spectral type G6, 1.5 times larger then Sol. The system contained six planets, two small rocky worlds near the sun, two gas giants of roughly similar size, and an icy exoplanet well beyond the last gas giant (as well as Ictrium itself).

Ictrium grew in power and importance rapidly after its founding, soon coming to rival even the Ersatian Coreworlds themselves. The Ictrians demanded Coreworld status and became increasingly autonomous over time, fielding their own military. The Ersatian Empire had hoped that Ictrium would be just the first of many colonies to extend the power of the Empire throughout the Ersatia sector, and was not alarmed by these events. Unfortunately, the high hopes of the Ersatian Interstellar Empire were dashed when Ictrium declared its independence from the Coreworlds 360 years after it had been colonised, citing its second class treatment by the central Ersatian government as a major grievance. Due to the limit of the speed of light, the message that the Ictrium colony had rebelled did not reach Helicon for 8 years (and it took roughly 14 years before it arrived on Ersatia itself). The event sparked the Ersatian Civil War, still the most divisive conflict Ersatia has ever been in. The results of this watershed continue to be felt today.

Three “Infinity”-Class Star Destroyers were sent by the Ersatian Coreworlds to bring the exoplanet back under the Ersatian Empire’s influence. The last and most advanced Star Destroyer class to be designed before Ersatia achieved superluminal travel, the “Infinity” was capable of a maximum velocity of just under c (though, of course it could never reach it), with no theoretical limit to how long it could accelerate for due to its highly advanced Bussard drive. The fleet arrived in Ictrium just over 8.04 years after having set out (though, due to relativistic time dilation, the journey would have taken barely 9 months for the crews of the starships, as they travelled at an average velocity of 99.95% of light speed).

In the Battle of Ictrium, fought in high orbit around Cadus, the furthest gas giant of the Ictrium system, the Ersatian taskforce was roundly defeated by Ictrian warships (though Ictrian losses are unknown). The message of the Ersatian taskforce’s defeat was broadcast by the ESS Indestructible Star Destroyer, which indicated it would pursue a damaged Ictrian starship which was fleeing the system. Neither the "Infinity"-Class Star Destroyer nor the Ictrian warship were ever heard of again. The message of Ersatia's defeat arrived slightly after 16 years had passed on Helicon since the Ersatian fleet had first set out. It seemed inevitable at the time that Ictrium would indeed secede from the Empire.

The response to this threat has been one of the most hotly debated courses of action ever taken in Ersatian history. It is still highly controversial, and many view it as a complete overreaction, but it did show the futility of resisting the Coreworld’s dominance over the Ersatia sector. After the war, no major rebellion of a colony ever occurred again, and the Ersatian Empire did increase the equality of the outlying colonies and the Coreworlds, which is what the Ictrians had wanted all along.

Several thousand 80,000-MT matter-antimatter high-yield warheads (with roughly as much antimatter as a 266-MT nuclear device has weapons grade fuel) were launched at the small exoplanet by the Ersatian Coreworlds. Travelling at over 99.95% of c, the interstellar strategic missiles were virtually impossible to intercept and struck without warning. Indeed, if the Ictrians had observed the missiles they would have appeared highly compressed, though to the missiles going at 0.9995c it would be the rest of the universe that is compressed (by over 31.63 times). All life on Ictrium was completely extinguished in the strike, the surface of the planet becoming molten while superhot ejecta was launched high into orbit. Over time, this ejecta coalesced into rocks and asteroids that formed the two rings that remain today.

One of the Bussard ramjet powered, extreme high-yield, long-range interestellar missiles:
http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/images/bussard_ramjet.jpg

The Ictrium exoplanet became a dead world, shattered and devoid of life. Ersatia eventually re-established a tiny colony there, a symbolic move to show the supremacy of the Empire.

The Ersatian Civil War also saw the rise of Ersatia as the indisputed capital of the Empire (despite the fact that Helicon was the main exoplanet involved in the war) and primary Coreworld, something that would never again be questioned.

The dead world of Ictrium, viewed from inside its outer ring:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a25/Dennis134/Ictrium.jpg

OCC:

Hi Hyperspatial Travel.

I considered that. However since so many thousand years elapsed while the Ersatian colonists were on the generation ships (and there is evidence that technological advancment slowed and may even have regressed slightly during the long journey) we can naturally assume that any inconsistencies regarding Earth's history are due to the fact that it is in the deep past of my nation and knowledge may be hazy or even incorrect. The Ersatians feel they know Earth's history fairly well, but over a period of 40,000 years any manner of errors may have crept into Ersatian histiography (even computer memory may not be infallible over such a gargantuan span of time!).

I'll continue to post here about Ersatia's history as if it is "truth", but once again I stress it is what the Ersatians belive, it may not necessarily be true.

Best Regards





Hey, fair enough. I'm not whining, I'm just saying I've seen it happen once or twice, and I wouldn't want a promising young newbie like you to be flamed.

OCC: Coming soon

"Eternity"-Class Star Frigate

"Infinity"-Class Heavy Star Destroyer

OCC: Any comments are welcomed. I decided I'd need to develop FTL if I actually plan on RPing with anyone in FT, so this is what I've come up with. I wanted to try to keep it "realistic" though, so I've added in some severe handicaps (like degraded accuracy over longer distances, requiring sublight travel to targets after wormhole jumps) in the effort to keep my technology from becoming "uber". The technology is also used now for instantaneous long range communications, I've had enough with my coreworlds at the heart of my Empire taking years just to send reports to each other ;) .

IC:

“Stephen Hawking”-Class Extreme Long Range Superluminal Star Cruiser

History was made when the Ersatian Interstellar Empire finally completed the “Stephen Hawking”-class warship, the most ambitious starship ever built (at the time). The vessel was the first Ersatian military spacecraft capable of superluminal travel, using a Einstein-Rosen bridge, or wormhole, technology. Representing the culmination of millennia of painstaking research and development, the “Stephen Hawking”-class was a radical departure from previous subluminal starships, opening up previously unimagined quick travel between the worlds of the Ersatian Interstellar Empire. It entered service roughly 30,000 years after the first gargantuan generation ships had arrived in the Ersatia sector, and was monstrously expensive to develop. It changed the fundamental nature of the Ersatian Empire, meaning that virtually autonomous systems could finally become fully unified in a pan-Ersatian Empire.

It had long been known by humans that Einstein’s special theory of relativity precluded the possibility of accelerating any object of non-zero mass to the light barrier. The primary reason for this is that faster-than-light speeds would lead to violations of the fundamental principle of special relativity, which is that all inertial reference frames are equivalent, in other words that none are favoured (each reference frame has the right to consider itself "stationary", even a high velocity starship). With FTL, instantaneous communication would allow readings of separate clocks in separate inertial references to determine which reference is favoured by the universe, violating special relativity. Another problem was that, as an object approached the light barrier it would gain infinite mass, and therefore require infinite energy to accelerate it to that velocity.

However, general relativity offered the faintest glimmer of hope. General relativity suggested that, as long as local speed limit restrictions were applied, general relativity might offer some solution. Two such solutions were the ALcubierre warp drive and the Einstein-Rosen wormhole.

The first was dismissed almost offhand by Ersatian physicists, considering it unfeasibly difficult to implement in reality. The second was not so easily dismissed, and for the next millennia they worked to solve the technical problems needed to use wormholes to circumvent the light barrier.

A wormhole is best described as a tunnel in the very fabric of spacetime itself, which connects two different points. Using such a phenomenon, a starship could travel through a wormhole in much less time than a journey between the same starting and ending points in normal space, even at light speed. Thus, while travelling between distant stars in only a fraction of the time it would take light to do so conventionally, a starship using an Einstein-Rosen bridge as a gateway would not need to locally violate special relativity, remaining well within the light barrier.

Ersatian scientists on Xertham determined that, in the quantum vacuum of outer space, ultra-small wormholes continuously wink into and out of existence. Exotic matter with negative energy could, theoretically, be used to expand the wormhole, so that EM waves or even solid objects could travel through it.

Exactly 22,373 years after the first of the generation ships arrived in the Ersatia sector, a top-secret test was carried out where a wormhole was created from one end of the dying Xertham system to the other. It lasted 0.3s and was 2cm wide. The discovery caused a sensation, spuring on more work. It was followed by numerous other tests, and in 22,869 the first successful transmission of an EM wave was sent from one end of the system to another, through an invisible microscopic wormhole, beating the light barrier and ushering in the superluminal age. Communication had suddenly become FTL.

Wormholes had been considered dangerous by Ersatia, viewed as a threat to the stability of spacetime, and for this reason all tests with them were conducted in the remote Xertham system. However, after it became feasible and easy to communicate instantaneously and over great distances, the Ersatian government caved in, sanctioning their use throughout the Interstellar Empire. By the 24th millennium after the arrival of the generation ships, year long delays between the worlds of the Ersatian Empire were a thing of the past. Ersatia experienced a renaissance of sorts, as ideas and news could finally spread quickly throughout the vast distances of the Empire.

Sending an object, rather than a wave, through the wormhole was considered a particularly more difficult task. It was not until 27th millenium that the first robotic probes began to travel at FTL velocity using wormhole technology. The wormhole jump drive was found to be fairly inaccurate, a result of the wormhole being governed by the unpredictable laws of quantum mechanics. This problem would never be completely resolved, as it was one of the very atributes of a wormhole.

By the 29th millennium the first manned superluminal flights were conducted, and the inaccuracy of the wormhole jumps weres reduced to a 0.25 light year radius.

Further refinements continued to be made, and a wormhole jumpdrive was installed on a warship by the 31st millennium. By this time goods, trade and travel was already begining to occur at FTL, and warships were the next logical step.

“Stephen Hawking”-Class Star Cruiser Stats
Classification: Ultra long-range deep-space heavy Cruiser
Length: 540m
Tonnage: Classified
Shields: Electromagnetic Deflector Shield
Armour: 820mm-3820mm (not including armoured plate, for shielding against the radiation of catalysed-ram-augmented antimatter-matter reaction)
Maximum Velocity:
Superluminal – Near instantaneous
Subluminal - 95% of c
Maximum Acceleration: 30-g
Maximum Range: Unknown (accuracy decreases markedly with longer jumps)
Crew: 420
Propulsion:
Superluminal - Einstein-Rosen bridge jumpdrive
Subluminal - Catalysed-ram-augmented antimatter-matter ramscoop
Low velocities - Antiproton initiated microfission/fusion drive (for sub-Bussard ramjet velocities)
Armament:
8X 12,000MT matter-antimatter warhead missile launchers (powered by beamed-core matter-antimatter long range rockets)
16X 35MT thermonuclear warhead missile launchers
22X Heavy quad-48mm defence turrets (high velocity armour-piercing/explosive depleted uranium shell firing)
12X High yield KE-missile launchers
1X Neutral Beam Particle Weapon
3x High Intensity LASARs
Time Dilation Factor at Maximum Sublight Velocity: 3.2 (That is, time travels 3.2 times more quickly on a stationary world then it does to the "Stephen Hawking"-class starship when at maximum velocity)
Jumpdrive Inaccuracy Value: Maximum range of 0.25 light years at optimal ranges. Inaccuracy directly proportional to distance.
Guidance system: ASPUS II (a computer of substantially increased intelligence was required to calculate the wormhole jump variables needed to navigate the ship successfully during superluminal travel, so the original ASPUS model was upgraded considerablly)

Propulsion
One of the primary reason for the large bulk of the starship is the massive jumpdrive that it houses within the safety of the “Stephen Hawking”-class ships' hull. This wormhole jumpdrive is too inaccurate to be used for travel in the general area where a starship is located (precluding FTL travel within or to just outside one's system) and its accuracy degrades over extreme distances. Since the wormhole jumps can be quite inaccurate even when used over optimal distances (sometimes serious fractions of a light year away from the intended destination) a powerful Bussard ramjet is also installed on the "Stephen Hawking"-class Heavy Star Cruiser, giving the starship significant sublight velocity. At the more conventional velocities, highly efficient antimatter initiated microfusion explosions are used to power the craft, and this is why it posses a substantial radiation shield.

Both the inlet of the Bussard ramscoop (the hole at the top of the starship) and the microdetonation shield (the plate at the bottom of the starship) can be clearly seen in this photograph of a “Stephen Hawking”-class Star Cruiser escaping from the planet's surface. The "Stephen Hawking"-class starship is at a velocity too low for initiating the Bussard ramscoop, so fusion microdetonations are propelling the warship. The superluminally-capable ESS Nicolaus Copernicus starship is seen conducting its maiden wormhole jump shortly after being commissioned, from Tarsis (an Ersatian Coreworld) to Xygnus, and the rapidly expanding wormhole has just torn open:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a25/Dennis134/relativity2.jpg

OCC: Any comments are welcomed. I decided I'd need to develop FTL if I actually plan on RPing with anyone in FT, so this is what I've come up with. I wanted to try to keep it "realistic" though, so I've added in some severe handicaps (like degraded accuracy over longer distances, requiring sublight travel to targets after wormhole jumps) in the effort to keep my technology from becoming "uber". The technology is also used now for instantaneous long range communications, I've had enough with my coreworlds at the heart of my Empire taking years just to send reports to each other ;) .


OOC: Ah, yes. FT is partially an arms race, with us all competeting to draw attention away from our horrifically sma-! AH! Did I say that out loud?!

......Aaaaaannnnyways, starting out small is a good way to go. Of course, this certainly isn't 'hard' FT, with people like Chronosia using a daemon-filled chaosy-thing to travel, and myself using a grey foggy dimension, somewhat parallel to realspace, which inhibits all but extremely minor energy emissions, and others use many things equally absurd. Essentially, you'll try to be reasonable at first, but, in the end, we all slip into the sheer silliness of ub3rness, trying to outdo one another. While you're still in this innocent and untried state, I'll watch your RPs with enjoyment, however.

OOC: Although I normally wouldn't role-play with FT, I must say Ersatia, good factbook on your nation. Do you have any puppets?