Lore/Story Lore of the Phoenix Universe

This topic is dedicated to the ongoing story-writing for the lore of the Phoenix Republic, its corporations, alliances, and enemies.

You can view the guide of all lore pertaining directly to the Republic here

Tristavius has also set up an Overall Timeline which includes lore about the universe the Republic is in (more lore that doesn't pertain directly to the Republic). This gives good information about specific corporations, what Earth has been up to all this time, and so on. It is currently outdated, however, but all the information is ultimately still relevant.

If you wish to get involved, you can post here or PM me. The point of this topic is to allow everyone to collaborate together so each person's faction can blend together with as few canon conflicts as possible.

Aside from the lore, we also have a Collection of Short Stories that we would love to see people get more involved with.

 

I'll try and post the full 2015 - 2082 timeline I wrote soon... making the edits as suggested by you and Tyriosh and fleshing certain things out a bit, along with reworking the bit that were a little silly.

The temptation is always to keep fleshing things out more and more, but actually leaving lots of jumping off points serves a better purpose as people can take those leads and run with them.

 

Hello,

Is it possible that an outside person like myself could write a short story for you?

 

definitely. that's what this topic is here for! what did you have in mind?

 

Looks like I need to get CDI's history/timeline drawn up so we can add them all together.

Just gonna wait until Tyriosh and Tristavius have theirs completed so I can make sure it follows the whole time line of everyone else.

 

Tyriosh didnt have a timeline, he just wrote some general fluff for his faction. Tristavius wrote the main timeline, the "final" update of which we are still waiting on. there's little to restrict you from writing your own stuff though. you could gather several events and just leave off the dates until later. there's also a more PFS oriented timeline on the guide i linked above if you want that for a reference.

both timelines lean a bit more towards their respective faction, however. so it's simple enough for you to write something specific to CDI without having much conflict

 

Well then, I guess I'll get on my timeline soon then.
It's about time I contribute some more stuff to PFS.

Loving your new designs by the way haven't had much time to comment on all of the newer vessels but they're all awesome. As always.

 

I wanted to write a story about my own fiction combined with yours. I wanted to ask if that'd be ok.

 

sure. i was mainly looking for more specifics as to your actual subject matter, but if you are wanting to put that off until later then i guess thats fine too.

 

Nah, I just wanted to ask before I started.

Basically the story will be set around a couple of main protagonists and will at the same time tell a story about a corporation from mars having its first contact with your faction.
I wasn't sure if that isn't too much freestyle for you though.

 

no, sounds good. look forward to seeing the results. let me know if you have any questions lore wise along the way

 

I have published the first story for Phoenix lore at a new guide here

let me know what you guys think!

I will also use the same guide to post any works that others contribute to the Phoenix lore

 

Loving the first story man. Managed to fit a lot of detail and excitement into a relatively short story.

Keep it up.

 

Lord, Im thinking of possibly writing a "First Contact", title subject to change. Basically covers the time when my Shivan Empire re-establishes contact. The pair of us write it or parts of it from our PoV. Or I'll think up something else, I got an idea that includes the Repenters

 

@Skeloton sounds good. i'll let you write the first part and then produce my response to it, since that seemed to work when we wrote the lore overview of that situation

@Conradian that sounds like a good idea also, just let me know if you have any questions or want ideas throughout

also, does anyone know how to change thread titles in this time of new forum technology? i would rather call this "Phoenix Short Stories" as it sounds alot better than the current title.

 

Extremely Rough suggested timeline with a general overview of the politics between 2015 and 'now' (approximately late 2070's and moving forward as we go).

https://www.tvsi.engineering/se/files/Timeline Rev 1.pdf

A lot of the concepts sprung from the very short pieces I wrote for a lot of my ships lore (hence some seemingly odd stuff about Barracuda etc) but these helped to set the scene. In summary..

Technology
Portable scale cold fusion in the near future revolutionizes the energy industry in developed nations and allows for much easier space travel. Low earth orbit is rapidly developed and long term teams are sent to the asteroid belts to begin sending materials home, further increasing the rapid expansion. Colony ships become a possibility but with no faster than light travel they are restricted to sub-light crawls lasting decades. Cryo-suspension is possible but will likely cause many in-flight deaths. Many ground to orbit cargo railguns are built on earth. During the colonization of Mars several space elevators are installed providing easy and inexpensive access to the surface. Terraforming tech initially starts as a decades long process on Mars and Europa. Later developments allow for much more rapid development (though incompatible with any world already started with the old system). Titan is teraformed by the Phoenix Republic like this.

Earth
Naturally much of the timeline starts on Earth. Environmental issues come to dominate a lot of word politics and after fusion takes over as the main power source, most fossil fuels are banned, further increasing poverty in the low-tech nations. A series of events around the world both political and natural begin to ignite small wars and push the world towards WW3, though this never actually fully happens. Several traditional nations end up fractured and others join together. At the end of the near-WW3 an overseer body EarthGov is formed and takes control of much of the military, though nations also retain a good deal of independence and still exist (EarthGov is not a worldwide total government, more like a slightly more powerful UN). Environmental collapse continues over the course of the timeline. Even after acknowledging the independent rights of colony worlds like Mars, Earth tends to act as a greedy bully (from a certain perspective) or a stern parent (from the other). After Mars' refusal to trade advanced weapons technology, Earth is implied to have started raiding ships, eventually leading to the First Colonial Rebellion where Earth's brutal crackdown on Mars plays an enormous role in the future politics. After the Second Colonial Rebellion, Mars is implied to become a puppet state of Earth. Earth orbit is full of heavy industry with enormous facilities in orbit and at the Lagrangian points. The fate of many nations is very open after the early EarthGov setup and a good jumping off point for future lore.

Mars
Mars initially plays a major part in the cessation of WW3. After a failed attempt at a manned landing using traditional chemical rockets, several nations all race to be the first with more modern technology. When the conflicts on Earth nearly destroy the missions at the last minute, the crews rebel and put aside their differences, landing together (and it's never revealed who was 'first'). This show of humanity largely ends the conflicts on Earth. Later Mars is opened for colonization with the construction of three space elevators and huge numbers of colonists are shipped there to ease earth overcrowding. With access to an untapped planet of resources, easy access to asteroid belts and water mining necessary for the outer system developments, Mars quickly becomes an industrial powerhouse and is granted full rights as an independent colony. After developing high end weapons technology and denying it to Earth, Mars begins to loose ships to piracy and blames Earth. Earth responds with a blockade and after a terrorist attack destroys an EarthGov ship one of Mars' space elevators is destroyed along with many cities beneath it, officially starting the 1st Colonial Rebellion. Much of Mars is taken but insurgents continue to attack from the rural areas and much of the military retreats to the asteroid fields and begins to fight back, even managing to take the conflict to Earth orbit at one stage. Many refugees flee to the outer system, often living as nomads and barely surviving. Eventually EarthGov looses popular support for the war, declares victory and simply leaves. A new government is formed by a moderate faction but deep political divisions continue and few refugees are welcomes back. Eventually the First Senator is assassinated and a civil war is triggered. EarthGov intervenes but uses the opportunity to install a puppet government. Mars is left socially broken and divided. Again there's a lot of scope for Mars... what happened to some of the other refugee groups who didn't end up in the Phoenix Republic... what about the different rebel groups and how they now fit in... what about current politics under an Earth puppet government.

Jupiter
Mankind's second colony is build in orbit and named FarCloud station. Originally for hydrogen cloud mining, FarCloud rapidly becomes a center for science and engineering, being mostly funded by Universities and having recruited many space engineers from the belts. They begin terraformation of Europa (expected to take decades) but after ecological collapse on Earth are forced to accelerate the plans, leading to Europa being covered in hundreds of lake-seas, each with a different configuration of gene-adapted life. The conflict on Mars leads to fewer deliveries of food, and massive rationing keeps FarCloud out of the war and unable to assist refugees. Not much else is said, but they are a major faction with a small but extremely high tech population and run by the most senior academics (effectively a technocracy). Again a lot left open as jumping off points. They are extremely close to the Phoenix Republic but having turned away the initial refugees, there's bound to be some tension. Not a hostile or aggressive faction, but arrogant and self centered. The Phoenix republic, formed from Mars refugees after the first rebellion lays claim to several moons around Jupiter, focused on Titan. Plenty of moons though - could be other factions! There's plenty of Phoenix lore already without me mentioning it here.

Saturn
Not much mentioned, other than TVSI are headquartered on Tethys, giving the Republic a reach into Saturn as well.

Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Neptune and dwarf planets
Totally open and little mentioned other than Phoenix recently sending a colony team to the outer system.

Asteroid Belts
The concept of 'Space Engineers' first comes about when mining teams are dispatched to send resources back to earth (effectively propelling asteroids to be aerobraked into earth orbit). They are tough, independent and rely on their own skills to survive in such a pioneering environment. The engineers are ordered to attack their home nations enemies during the conflicts on Earth and begin a long term war in the belts. They refuse to cease hostilities at the end of the war and continue to fight. As long as Earth received their resources, little attention is paid. Over time the home nations become irrelevant and three loose factions come into being (unofficially called red, blue and green by their usual markings). Green is eventually largely destroyed, with the remaining members scattered and turning to piracy to survive. Not too much is said after this, but Engineers are recruited from the belts for many projects by most of the main factions (many of whom then stay and join). Massive scope for growth here - what has happened with blue and red? what about other break off factions? What is the culture like?

Deep Space
Throughout the decades mentioned, many colony ships (and even more follow up supplies) are sent to the closest few habitable stars. Only three are mentioned specifically but at least 4 are implied. Due to sublight speeds, the first is only due to be formed in 2079 (round about 'now') with the first signal back not due for another 12 years or so. While these are effectively not a part of the main system any more due to the huge distances, there is the possibility to explore what happens when they arrive (or en route). The two specifically mentioned worlds are Tau Ceti, due to be colonized in 2079 by a joint China, India and Russia program and Kapetyn-B should be been by the EC, but the rUK will get there first having jumped the claim. GJ-667C ('Raleigh's World') was opened to any nation that wanted it, but nothing is ever said about who did go.


Finally, this as I said is all a very, very rough draft. My first attempt really had a much too 'cheesy' and obvious political conflicts on Earth, especially with regards to the US which I felt had to undergo some sort of change. With no clear enemies capable of making a mess, other than China/Russia (which would create too big a mess!) the split had to come from elsewhere. The first ended up as a north Vs south thing, but it was too stereotype. Economic collapse and a government using it to seize power leading to a complicated social/political split seemed more interesting. The UK/Scotland thing is a bit tounge-in-cheek... decided to leave it in despite being a bit obvious as it's a political situation I don't think is resolved by a long way (speaking as a Brit). Other conflicts are maybe a bit stereotype and based on current affairs - but then again those are the most likely things to happen if anything does. Still, I'd be interested in more ideas or see more depth given to the current ones.

 

General noob here, not so many hours on SE and this is my first post so bear with me here.
I felt like the Tristavian Shipyards was left out of the lore post on the Steam page. I was wanting to write about them but since Tristavius is also writing about them I understand if I am told not to. I was mostly wanting to write about a small group (battalion, company) of the Navy or about another Corporation or expanding upon one's lore. Whatever you guys feel would better expand the universe I'm up for; really I just want a topic to write for to practice writing again as on my other projects I've have had a bit of a writer's block.

 

Now that I finally have gained control of my account again...

I would like to contribute, if that is fine, so let me know if this fits.

Pyrite Starfield is a young(ish) Space Engineer viewed by his local community and coeworkers as an engineering prodigy (which he doesn't see as true). He works for a small mining and industrial company called InfernoTech Industries as a Pioneering Engineer, which sets out into the Asteroid Belt and builds mining facilities for workers to inhabit and use to bring precious ores back for refining and turning into parts for machines and such. InfernoTech Industries is based inside the Asteroid Belt at the edge of a small mining colony on a barren but made barely habitable asteroid (Mining Town name Needed). Pyrite is Husband to Elizabeth (Also called Beth) and Father to Lyndsay Starfield. They all live on this small mining village.

Sorry for the horrible story structure but I'm crampt for time and have to go now I'll fix it later.

 

@Tristavius i do like the stuff written about Mars and most other things. I'll also note that the timeline has expanded to 2081 and some basic fortification settlements on Triton and around Neptune due to the alliance struck with the Shivan Empire (see his entry on the guide)

I will say though that i do not like what you wrote about Jupiter. it makes sense by itself, but Phoenix would not have anything to do with it. It wasn't until the inclusion of TVSI that Phoenix stopped being highly isolationist, and they only accepted TVSI because they were seen to share similar ideals. until that point, Phoenix is in a rather paranoid and secretive state, not making themselves known unless absolutely necessary, so that no one from Mars or Earth comes looking for them. As time goes on and they get more allies as well as more military power, this isolation policy decreases as people begin to feel more secure.

I'd also hold off on Jupiter because Conradian is planning to write his faction starting with that system. you might want to collaborate with him a bit on this.

however, given that farcloud was mankind's second colony Phoenix would likely be suspicious of them, unsure if they were still loyal to earth or not. they would therefore have no contact in any way to ensure the security of the Republic. As far as the terraformation of Titan, give Xercorp the credit for that one, since they are the big sciency people of the Republic and Zeratul has written his faction in more fully by this point.

@TankFlyboy not much attention was given to TVSI because the lore focuses on the Republic and TVSI doesnt show up until relatively late in the timeline. I'm also waiting on Tristavius to get his faction summary for the guide in so i can add it. once we all find a timeline that is agreeable, i might make a separate guide for the whole thing... unless Tristavius wants to do that, of course, since it is mostly his work.

@PyreStarite as stated above, Phoenix doesnt usually find people, you would find them. that being said, you could have a kind of intrigue type of plot where InfernoTech sends Pyrite towards the saturn system to scout, or he thinks there is better resources there, or the company wants to expand, whatever. They would then encounter Phoenix, who would quickly demand they state their business. the next bits of the story could be about trying to not get blasted as diplomacy with a government that tends to stay very suspicious of outsiders takes place. eventually inferno tech could become one of the major corporations through assimilation, or enter into a contract as some sort of ally for either the Republic itself (less likely) or one of the corporations of the Republic.

Another option is to try and secretly mine resources from Saturn, be successful for a time (As Phoenix remained mostly on Titan at the beginning), but eventually get caught and have the negotiations/conflict that would later ensue

 

Copy that - everything you've said makes sense now that I see it written down - will do a revision and rewrite a lot of that stuff. Most of that sprung from what I wrote about Barracuda and the teraformation of Europa initially, but the majority can really be changed to fit. Good idea with the Xercorp credit as well.

 

as far as the terraformation goes i did like that you slowed it down. since it's all so theoretical these days i really had no idea what kind of timeline to put on that, but your inclusion of the gene-seed advancement and all that allows us to make progress on Titan while keeping things realistic. also has the added bonus of keeping Titan an orange Nitrogen/Methane ball so that it keeps its unique personality lol.

That being said, we still accomplished the basic level in only 2064-2067. should we say we completed terraformation in 2075ish?

or i suppose another option is that we could say that the equatorial belt is allowed to hold the main civilization (like Taris in Star Wars) while the rest of Titan remains a "wilderness" this would allow the Republic to devote resources to more "necessary" projects. It also avoid the fact that you just melted or boiled a whole planet full of Methane and now how are you going to keep yourself from going up in a flaming ball of toxic gas? Actually now that i think of it, I like the equatorial civilization idea. I'll go with this unless you have a better idea.

Threw this together in GIMP. not the best looking, but it shows the idea i had. Equatorial metropolis with clouds of liquid water in the habitable zone

 

Yeah, the timescales are a huge problem for a game set only 70 odd years in the future. A lot of the timeline is very pushed for speed - a lot of stuff happens very, very quickly - the growth of Mars for example would probably take generations to get to the point it does, let alone Phoenix etc. I guess though that we just don't know where things will go... combine cheap, near infinite power with near infinite metals etc and throw in genetic engineering for crops and live stock and a need to get people off an overcrowded, damage Earth and getting so many people into space might just be feasible. Terraforming is likely to take hundreds of years with our current theoretical understandings so I at least made sure it was decades here and the used partial as an option to explain Titan. The only thing happening slowly in the next 100 years is interstellar travel (and yes I did the acceleration/deceleration curves and relativity calculations for getting to systems with some of the currently believed most likely Earth-like candidates)

 

Well terraforming, I'd actually say that maybe Titan has a VERY little habitable ring at its equator, and pretty much every other colony is pretty much a pressurized spacebase. I agree with Tris here.

 

if we needed to really get into the mechanics of things, i was just going to say that it was a mixture of terraforming and paraterraforming around the metropolis strip. laser walls or some sci-fi stuff like that were constructed around the equator to help divide the atmospheres of titan, while the ring was pumped full of oxygen and other goodies.

the good news about Titan is that there is (theorized) that a subterranean liquid ocean of water exists, so we have a ready supply of oxygen on the moon to harvest. the biggest problem is we need to get from -170 C to 20 C and not cause planetary hurricanes, floodings, and other fun things in the process

 

@Tristavius i added all you martian lore to the guide. i could only do 2036 onwards because of Steam's guide section limit. (i could of course make additional sections, but then it would get messy).

hopefully, this will allow newcomers to the lore to write their factions in a bit more easily as they could be off-shoots of mars or whatever. Swanicus has already begun mixing his CDI into the martian rebellions.

 

Love the short story. Of course now I have to add my own too!

Also liking the additions of the Tazawa assisting the blockade runners; good tie-in there.

Titan section is also looking great!

 

good, that's the point - to get other people writing their stories too

 

Naturally this is getting out of hand immediately...

 

not necessarily. the more gets added to the guide the more canon gets established. anyone who writes for us will have to conform. i never ret-con what i write, though i might add to it or explain it differently to help accomodate.

if you're worried about that timeline of yours, don't be. once you officially post it i'll do my best to make sure you don't have to make adjustments