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[stoirtap]

The year is 2206, and the evidence for an alien presence in the solar system is getting harder and harder to deny. Strange radio signals with no astronomical explanation are being detected with more frequency, and even amateur astronomers are seeing comet-like objects in the night sky with no history in star charts. As of now, no governmental organization has discussed the possibility of alien life in the solar system but as the evidence mounts, healthy skepticism begins to look a lot like denial.

The silence on behalf of the people in charge might be because of rumors of aliens on Earth, using a vast array of camouflaging techniques to breach high security governmental and military installations. Right now, there is no evidence of them breaking into anywhere sensitive, nor is there any known motive. The presence of aliens on Earth is unknown to the general public.

Why are they here, and what are they doing? What do they want, and what are they willing to do to get it?

___

This game takes place on Earth in our solar system, but the geopolitical landscape can look different. Each player represents a nation with space-faring capacities. (Nation can be interpreted generously, if you want to be a megacorp or university with enough influence and resources to be a player on the global stage, go ahead.) Manned missions to the moon, landing robots on rocky bodies, establishing manned bases in orbit of terrestrial planets and large moons, and putting probes in orbit around planets are within reach of any of the powers.

Each turn, you can describe what action you're doing. Each turn will last about a month in game time. Any checks/rolls to be made will be made by me behind the scenes: you won't know the numerical outcome of the roll, but I will describe the in-game outcome.

___

Nation Creation:

You will be playing as an organization with the capacity to interact with the aliens i.e. has a space program. This is probably going to be a country, but it doesn't have to be.
   
   You will also define the borders, name, and recent history of your nation. This is mostly aesthetic, but if you border another player's nation that may influence your relations to each other. Any area on the globe that is not run by a player nation will be run by minor (NPC) nations, who may or may not have their own role to play in the story.

You must choose two traits for your country to excel in, and one for them to do poorly in. Use this in tandem with your background to give your country more flavor. If attempt something your country does well, you will get a bonus to your roll. If you attempt something your country does poorly, you get a malus.

The traits are:
   - Militaristic: Projecting force across the planet and, when the technology becomes available, in space.
   - Clandestine: Sending, intercepting, and decoding intelligence within a nation, from other nations, and from the aliens. 
   - Diplomatic: Negotiation, particularly with minor nations and - perhaps - the alien, if such a thing is even possible.
   - Industrial: Manufacturing, particularly space tech such as satellites and telescopes, for quality and quantity.
   - Scientific: Researching and developing new tech, as well as integrating discovered foreign/alien tech for your purposes.
   - Economic: Access to material wealth or rare resources, or else means to acquire them reliably.


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Example Nation:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: The United Kingdom of Texarkana


Area: Modern Day Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana
   
History: After decades of petty squabbling and skirmishing between nobles, a series strategically planned marriages brought the various polities and fiefdoms of these four former states under one banner.
(Feel free to elaborate into your history as much or as little as you wish).

Traits:
   
   - Diplomatic, Clandestine, not Economic

Looking for 4-6 players, but if things are going smoothly and there's more demand as time goes on, we could slot people into influential minor states.

[Maximum Spin]

Rust Belt

Stretching from Michigan's lower peninsula through Upstate New York, and including parts of southeastern Canada, this area was once the epicentre of manufacturing and technology in the United States and North America as a whole. Although it fell into a century of decay, the Archivists made it their stronghold and revitalized the region with their preserved ancient knowledge, lighting up the factories and putting the railways and canals back into operation once more. However, the more advanced natural resources were stripped bare long ago, even before the age of decay, so the burgeoning new civilization has had to supply itself by picking over the scrap of bygone days.

The Rust Belt is controlled by the hereditary oligarchy of the largely endogamous Archivist clan, which treats the region as a business. Collateral political positions are awarded to successful community members and their families.

Industrial and Scientific, but not Economic.

[Rockeater]

PTW

[Magmacube_tr]

New Ottoman Empire

Area: Anatolia, Syria, Caucasia, Iraq, and Thrace

History: Shortly after 2022, The Republic of Turkey rapidly expanded it borders and transitioned into an absolute monarchy, with a goal of becoming Ottoman Empire of old, once more.

Traits: Militaristic, Economic, not Scientific

[Glass]

Name: Bifrost Transit and Computing, LTD

Area: Based in Scotland, with branch offices in the Scandinavia and New England regions

History: Bifrost T&C started as Bifrost Transit, a company primarily focused on the transportation of goods in the Northern Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. Over time, they branched into air and land transportation - and then into self-piloting vehicles. In the process of constantly improving their AIs, the company found themselves increasingly depending on internally-designed hardware and software in order to push the boundaries of their abilities. Eventually, a decision was made to start selling their computers just as much as their vehicles, and as time has gone on, the computing department has grown above and beyond the original mission, and is now Bifrost’s main focus, with transportation being used to supplement and fund R&D.

Traits:
-Scientific
-Economic
-No military

[TricMagic]

Name: The Socioeconomic Republic of Australia


Area: Australia
   
History: Australia started as a prison for undesirables, became a country, then another war happened. Australia went mostly ignored as other major powers fought in the north, mostly cause no one wanted it with it's dangerous wildlife. Of course, then a certain country decided it wanted it for that purpose, as a place to develop spacefaring technology in secret, declaring an invasion. No one talks about that nation anymore, as Australia spent it's time ignored building up it's industrial ability to become the toughest among the world to crack, and the invaders eventually bled enough resources that a nearby nation invade them.
 After the war ended, it built outward, creating cities on the waters and underground, expanding it's industrial  and economic might. And launched an economic expansionist war of it's own to take over the nearby island chain in all but name. Followed by actual name through a number of aggressive treaties, with the entire area being converted to what is now know as the Socioeconomic Republic. Needless to say, no one ignores them now, but they were mostly content to build up their oceanology efforts and space defense platforms.
As a side note, they are the only country in the world to have sent a kangaroo to space.

Traits:
   
   - Industrial: Manufacturing, particularly space tech such as satellites and telescopes, for quality and quantity.
   - Economic: Access to material wealth or rare resources, or else means to acquire them reliably.
   - Not Diplomatic: Negotiation, particularly with minor nations and - perhaps - the alien, if such a thing is even possible.

[Egan_BW]

Name: Ameripol

Area: Central America and Mexico
   
History: In the midst of the north american 'troubles', an ousted executive branch and their allies gathered an army and marched south to invade mexico. A long and bloody war ensued, but by the end a "true american" state had been formed, one which would remain pure and not tolerate any of the 'unloyalty' which had 'caused' the crisis in the first place. This "True America" would eventually, over the course of a century and a half, morph into Ameripol, a fiercely xenophobic police state.

Traits: Militarist and Industrial, not Diplomatic

[Kashyyk]

Name: Institute for Extraterrestrial Communications (IETC)

Area: Campuses in Oxfordshire, California, and Nagano Prefecture
   
History: Originally multiple separate research and Communications centers operated by national and private space agencies, their dissolution during the great politics shake up led to a union of minds as the evidence for Extraterrestrial Intelligence increased.

Traits:
   
   - Scientific, Diplomatic, not Militaristic

[notquitethere]

The New Republic of Greater Pacifica

Area: Pacific Islands (Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, Fiji, Niue, French Polynesia, Pitcairn Islands, Hawaii)

Pacifica is heir to generations of land-reclamation projects among the pacific island chains from Guam down through Micronesia, all the way to Polynesia, Hawaii and beyond. Floating seasteads and reclaimed garbage patches interlink the island chains into a vast archipelago. The space program has been going for many decades, with the miners who scour the vast stores of centuries old garbage also using their expertise in manned asteroid mining missions.

With some islands contested with Australia, the Pacifica exists in an uneasy position. Their technological base is based on scavenged scrap, with very little industrial base. Their continued existence surrounded by greater powers relies on savvy diplomacy and, where that fails, subterfuge.

Traits:

Diplomatic, Clandestine

Not Industrial

(Ninja'd! Might be too late...)

[stoirtap]

I'll allow the New Republic of Greater Pacifica in.
___

The Global Monthly - DEC 2205

COUP IN ANDALUSIA SUCCESSFUL!
The Sultan of Andalusia, who had been dealing with unrest in territories from Central Iberia to Morocco, was ousted from power earlier this month as an armed mob overran the Royal Palace in Marrakech following indifference and disloyalty from the armed forces. The Sultan and his staff and officers were forced to flee the city, and outspoken radical astronomer Dr. Farida Salem was placed into power by the insurgents. "No longer will the people of Andalusia tolerate the suppression of a truth that they see with their own eyes," said Salem. "There are extraterrestrial visitors in this solar system, and rather than deny that fact we will attempt to contact them and find out the reason for their presence here." The unrest caused by insurgents across the country has sometimes bordered on mass hysteria, and repairing the damage caused by rioting will be top priority for the new regime, regardless of their stance on alien presence. The Sultan has since been sighted in Porto, as he tries to rally what remains of the loyalist faction to retake control of the country, but being vastly outnumbered and without resources it appears to be very unlikely they will be able to restore the previous order. With the installation of Salem and her regime, Andalusia becomes the first nation on Earth to officially recognize the existence of alien life.

PUNJABI LUNAR TELESCOPE DELAYED!
Following difficult weather and system failures on the launch pad, the launch of the Guru II Space Telescope for lunar orbit was delayed until February of 2206. Chief Mission Officer Setal Benipal said, "This project represents a significant fiscal investment, as well as the culmination of almost a decade of research and design. Its success will lead to a lunar base and eventually a lunar observatory - so no compromise can be made for its launch." Critics of the delay argue that every day is crucial, and a project that could be used to study the solar system for locations for future colonies can brook no delay especially given the geopolitical climate. Furthermore, some whistleblowers within the program itself are claiming foul play, although at the moment there appears to be no evidence for such a claim.

___

In general, you should describe what you are doing here. Ideally, every turn should only require one roll to resolve (although when skill checks begin to roll over from previous turns or contested rolls become a thing this will likely not be feasible.)

If you have any questions about what to do or about the game in general, please let me know.

___

It is now JAN 2206.

[Egan_BW]

Build! Spaceport! Moar rockets, more places to put them! Glory to Ameripol comrade! Death to The Traitors!

[notquitethere]

Thank you kindly.

Greater Pacifica sends a diplomatic mission to Andalusia, opening relations with the new government with the offer of sharing intelligence on the possible existence of alien life.

[Kashyyk]

Institute of Extraterrestrial Communications

The first step in any successful relationship is actually being able to talk. There are no doubt many reports, anecdotes and studies on where various extraterrestrial and unexplained signals are originating. We will start studying where the primary locations are in our system, what their most common emissions types consist of, and schematics for a new Communications array that can send and receive to those locations, using said frequencies.

[TricMagic]

Hold a Press Conference on the major two points of world news, vowing to reach for the stars and find the Truth.
The Socioeconomic Republic of Australia puts forth it's considerable resources, human and otherwise, towards their own lunar observatory. A station that will be set to orbit the moon to map it for resources, it comes with human-manned probes for regolith landings, and enough supplies to last a while without the resupplies route that will be set up to keep it running.

[Magmacube_tr]

By the decree of the Sultanate and the will of Allah, a اي وسسو (lunar base) shall be built!