A Splendid Little War

[Charley]

So, some folks have chimed in recently that what we could really use in Star Wars was some star wars. As in, bring war back to all the stars.

To springboard off that need, we're considering opening an all-fronts conflict that may have both the Empire, the Alliance, and their proxies fending off threats from one or more Big Bads (no Vong, shut the fuck up Donnie).

The Ssi-Ruuk are certainly an option since we played with them in the Vanguards and never really got a written resolution, but I was also wondering about the Chiss. Is anyone currently putting the Chiss to work in a storyline that would be contradicted by them engaging in a war against the known galaxy? Please let us know. We'd definitely like to get the blue folk involved, but we want all hands on deck.

Thanks in advance.

[Amos Iakona]

I definitely like the idea of the Ssi-Ruuk. They're relatively straight forward, they can potentially be an issue for everyone from Moffs to Captains to smugglers to people going on vacation - and Charley's right, we have some history via Vanguards, so it's picking up a dangling thread.

The Chiss are interesting. Currently, the Alliance is in a tough spot because they're sandwiched between the Empire and the Hutts. The Chiss have the potential to be that same secondary slice of bread for the Empire, so whether they side with the Empire, the Alliance, or stay a third party has ramifications.

We've also got threads dangling about the Tion Cluster, Corellia, Hutt-Alliance relations, groundwork for the New Republic and First Order in our future, etc.

Maybe a "yes and" option would work? Something like the Ssi-Ruuk has the power to be a super simple catalyst that triggers all of the above. The Chiss break their isolation looking for allies in the face of the Ssi-Ruuk threat. Fledgeling First Order types start building their stockpiles and hidden enclaves just in case. Cooperation between the Empire and Alliance lays the groundwork for the New Republic. It might be enough of a kick in the pants to provide that "excuse" that some things need to get rolling?

[Charley]

I like that. Sort of a WW1 way of one little thing leads to a lot of big things.

So, with the current plan I had involving stumbling across some kind of big bad in our midst, it went something like this:

In this thread (https://www.theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?57639-A-Splendid-Little-War&p=1061174#post1061174), the Cizerack are hiring an independent contractor to try and discover new hyperspace lanes to planets that are relatively nearby and known, but currently inaccessible. Whoever goes along eventually gets there, but finds out one or more planets are occupied by an Enemy (possibly the Ssi-Ruuk, possibly another). This is a threat.

Whether this threat leads to the others is a possibility. Maybe the Ssi-Ruuk bases force the Chiss into making contact with the Empire, the Alliance or Both. There are also destabilizing factors in both of those factions that could be courted by these enemies. The Sons of Coruscant, the Martyrs of Fey'Dann, to name a few.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

To the best of my knowledge, Reshmar is our resident Chiss guy. I'll shoot him a message with a link to this thread :)

[Park Kraken]

The Ssi-Ruuk love using slaves for their entechment. Perhaps an alliance is formed between mutual enemies of the Chiss, the Ssi-Ruuk and the Vagaari? And to add a little military muscle to their alliance, they also enlist the aid of the previously unheard of Duskhan League? It would be a triple front assault between Bakura in the Outer-Rim, various worlds for the slavers, and the core for the Yevetha.

[Park Kraken]

And then the Vagaari send overtures to the Hutts and Thalassians after learning about them from their captured subjects?

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

So the Ssi-Ruuk, Vagaari, and Dushkan League all press, and force the Chiss into some kind of action? I'll have to read up on the Vagaari and Dushkan league, but seems plausible.

[Sadie K'Vesh]

I'm fully on board with having the nasty space dinos make another appearance. I can get a lot of my brain folks involved in various ways (even if it's just acknowledging they aren't "over it" *cough*)

I'd love to see how this effects the Cadets, to be honest since while we've had fun with "Space Hogwarts" (shut up, you've all called it that, don't pretend) - I think it'd be awesome to have a real viable threat to force them into action.

[Two-Blades]

I've not used this Yevethan near as much as I should, so I'd be happy to throw him into the mix if folks are wanting the Yevetha involved. Xenophobic hunters unite!

[Park Kraken]

The Vagaari were slavers in the Unknown Regions and were featured as villains in the novels Outbound Flight and Survivor's Quest.

The Duskhan League (Yevetha) were the primary antagonists in the Black Fleet Trilogy. The question is do they have Black Sword Command or in our timeline do they just have their thrustships? A Super Star Destroyer always adds another degree of danger and excitement.

[Zereth Lancer]

Also located in uncharted space (granted, it is a large space) is the Guardian homeworld of Leh'ben. It's currently primed for a hostile takeover by the bitter traditionalist Mr. Slate who has been pulling an Attack of the Clones-esque plan and has a massive starship being built privately and unknown to his government. This could develop in two ways with this plot, where the Slate-run war-centered Leh'ben could be an ally to the likes of the Chiss, Ssi-Ruuk, and others; or they could come under attack by those same factions and Slate will bring the starship into play like the second coming and repel the attack; further cementing his control of the planet or laying the seeds for a takeover in the future.



There are a lot of small to medium baddies in the known galaxy. If a big bad hits somewhere in the galaxy that'll pull a lot of resources into that direction and will create weakness that the smaller baddies can exploit. The Sons of Coruscant, The Droid Liberation Front, The Sith Order, and Tear's Suicide Squad, and any others, could pop out of the woodwork to sow chaos elsewhere in the galaxy. This could create opportunities for non-military characters to step up and be heroes, or run kicking and screaming from the danger.



Something else to put out is the Kaaren: [ https://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?57268-Kaaren ] A species I've been developing for awhile who's re-emergence into regular space seemed like too big of an event to do in a regular thread. Perhaps this sort of big picture thing is more suited. The idea would be that they finally fire up their horribly patchworked hyperdrive and shotgun themselves violently out of the Bubble of the Lost to emerge randomly into regular space. Their cobbled together society is very Warhammer 40k Cult of the Machine meets Halo's Covenant. They are xenophobic and believe in machine gods. They've been lost in the Bubble of the Lost for thousands of years, have a rabid slave army, and want to retake a place in the galaxy that they feel that they deserve. They are definitely not a huge threat in themselves. They don't have overwhelming numbers or starships or great technology. They just have a relentless desire to see their desires met. If not a big enough bad on their own, they could always become an ally, or a pawn, to other devious factions such as the Ssi-Ruuk, Chiss, Yavetha, etc.

[Captain Untouchable]

An alliance of alien antagonists is a fascinating idea, but therein may lie the problem. If our goal here is to create opportunities and momentum for the characters we already have, creating some new hotness faction may end up splitting our focus, and pulling us in more directions than we can handle.

The great thing about the Ssi-Ruuk is that they are (from a writing perspective) pretty simple. They're space dinosaurs who want to assimilate everyone: that's the kind of straightforward simplicity that you want from an NPC adversary. Also, since Vanguards established that they were able to get a foothold in the Goridan Reach, they're an adversary that can be anywhere/everywhere without any need for a complicated explanation, or worrying about borders and maps and all that jazz.

Perhaps we could start off with the Ssi-Ruuk as the basic plot hook, and races like the Yevetha, Vaagari, and Chiss can be potential allies or adversaries that the Empire and/or alliance seek out or encounter along the way? That keeps things mostly focused on the core Empire/Alliance war, but we also get to branch out into all of these other possibilities as our narrative radiates outwards.



There are a lot of small to medium baddies in the known galaxy. If a big bad hits somewhere in the galaxy that'll pull a lot of resources into that direction and will create weakness that the smaller baddies can exploit. The Sons of Coruscant, The Droid Liberation Front, The Sith Order, and Tear's Suicide Squad, and any others, could pop out of the woodwork to sow chaos elsewhere in the galaxy. This could create opportunities for non-military characters to step up and be heroes, or run kicking and screaming from the danger.


Yeah, basically ^ that.

[Park Kraken]

After mulling it over the Yevetha would definitely be one of the ones to take advantage of the distraction rather than engage in an alliance; their consideration of all other races being inferior/infidels would make it far less likely for them to be in an alliance.

I do like the idea of the Vagaari assisting the Ssi-Ruuk in boosting their military power pre-conquest launching through the sale of slaves but once the Ruuk took over their first planet they wouldn't need the Vagaari anymore and might actually turn on them in stride. In that instance if any of the Vagaari were to escape then they would probably try to take advantage of the subsequent conflicts as best they could while trying to stay hidden in the shadows.

[Stela'shlit'nuruodo]

The Chiss would either have to be threatened by or think it will come under threat in the future to attack or take part in a fight against any enemy. That being said they see the Ruuk and Vagaari as constant threats to the Ascendancy. The CEDF would be out watching anything going on in the area and if the situation was right would assist in fighting the Ruuk or Vagaari for sure. The Yevetha would be a different story. Lash has always had a close relationship to The Empire. Mostly with Telan but SInce his departure Lash has been in and out of things mainly dealing with Chiss refugees on Thule. I would be interested in doing some writing if we can work a way for the Chiss to rationally be involved.

[Captain Untouchable]

I feel like there's maybe some interesting potential to connect together the Chiss, the Tion Cluster, the origins of the First Order, and some of the stuff that's been going on with Cloud City / the Greater Javin.

The headquarters of Santhe/Sienar is in the Tion Cluster, which right now is deep in the heart of Alliance territory. That's both embarrassing, and inconvenient, and so they're establishing new footholds in different places. On Cloud City, we're slowly working towards the development of the TIE/D droid fighters as a replacement for the "pilots are disposable" Imperial mentality, now that their recruiting pool/etc is much smaller. Another likely foothold will be out at Jaemus, in the part of the galaxy that becomes the Pentastar Alignment in the EU: Jaemus is already where Galentro Heavy Works builds the Enforcer-class cruiser for Sienar, and "Sienar-Jaemus Fleet Systems" is the name of the company that makes TIE Fighters for the First Order, so there's room for some sort of First Order origin stuff going on there.

Since the Nssis Clawcraft is one of the iconic aspects of Chiss/Imperial cooperation from the EU, perhaps that is another potential foothold/facet as well? Perhaps the Clawcraft is something that is specifically developed in response to our Ssi-Ruuk threat? Having the Chiss and the Empire share technology to develop a new ship isn't as extreme as the Ascendancy committing to military action, but is a situation that could benefit both... and technically, if it was some sort of deal between Santhe/Sienar and the Ascendancy rather than between the Empire and Ascendancy, it avoids becoming any sort of formal military treaty. It's just a business deal, and adds a bit of a bonus corporate intrigue conspiracy type vibe to things, that could potentially be an early step towards an eventual alliance or arrangement down the road.

[Halajiin Rabeak]

Y'all do what you want. I don't see myself getting involved in this. I don't really follow how a large war will bring us together instead of creating a lot of different events going on with a bunch of new focuses, half of which will likely go unresolved (we're bad at finishing threads), so I'll stick to the sidelines and simply be reactionary to elements which might happen to cross my current storyline path, and otherwise proceed as normal.

Not that I'm actually posting, these days... =P

[Captain Untouchable]

We aren't talking about having a large war here.

This idea initially came up because people were feeling a bit stagnant. We've had the cold war for a while, and we've done plenty of reacting and coming to terms with that, but we haven't reached the next "story arc" that is going to help move things forward. We've moved into Season 2, if you like, and the idea is to create some sort of plot hook that is easy for everyone to latch onto, and helps give a common direction/theme rather than stories shambling around in all different directions.

Something like a series of Ssi-Ruuk attacks gives us exactly that. It's a new enemy for pilots on Jovan Station to do missions against, to have briefings on, and to worry about. It's a new threat for the Imperial Knights to focus on, for missions, and training, and other things. It's a big galvanising issue for political characters to talk about. It's a menace to civilians travelling the space lanes. It's something for worlds to get paranoid about. It's a source of fear-mongering to help push forward R&D, and business agendas. You don't have to participate if you don't want to, but for those who do want to participate, it's something that we can work on collectively as a community.


I do like the idea of the Vagaari assisting the Ssi-Ruuk in boosting their military power pre-conquest launching through the sale of slaves but once the Ruuk took over their first planet they wouldn't need the Vagaari anymore and might actually turn on them in stride. In that instance if any of the Vagaari were to escape then they would probably try to take advantage of the subsequent conflicts as best they could while trying to stay hidden in the shadows.

Something to consider here is where/how do we start?

Having the Vagaari involved, or adapting the threat Charley mentioned definitely has a lot of potential for providing context (in a prequel novel/comic sort of way), but in terms if the core plot hook - whatever it ends up being - we probably need something really specific and simple, that we can post about as an OOC mission statement, or title crawl, or whatever. I think one of our struggles in the past has been coming up with a great idea, but then relying on an intro thread to define what actually happened. With the Cold War, Corellia, and things like that, everyone was able to jump in immediately.

The main reason that the Ssi-Ruuk activity in Vanguards was successfully covered up (aside from the fact that the Empire was still in power, and they're really good at hiding atrocities) was because it happened on a bunch of backwaters in the ass end of nowhere. Perhaps what we need as a starting point is some sort of incident on a world that is a little harder to ignore? Maybe one of the Rebel worlds that's still in Imperial space (Ithor, Chandrila, Duros, Devaron, etc) for a bit of added "the Empire didn't do enough to protect them because they're racist" spice? Or, maybe a world that is neither Alliance or Imperial, to frighten neutral worlds into wanting/needing protection - which might help with these Chiss/Yevetha/etc ideas?

[Halajiin Rabeak]

To springboard off that need, we're considering opening an all-fronts conflict that may have both the Empire, the Alliance, and their proxies fending off threats from one or more Big Bads (no Vong, shut the fuck up Donnie)

Dunno, that sounds like having a large war, to me. *shrugs*

[Captain Untouchable]

What Charley means by "all fronts" is "that everyone can get involved in". If you read the rest of the threads, none of the options being discussed are remotely in large war territory.

[Morgan Evanar]

I think we would need to scope this a bit more specifically. I think we're mixing up a bit "All Factions" with "All Fronts".

[Halajiin Rabeak]

I apologize for coming off as dismissive. That was not my intent, it's just part of my shtick and I need to get over that. What I meant is that I worry that while this may inject new life into the boards, it will also spread out a new mass of characters which may lose their vibrancy quickly, to their authors, causing more unfinished threads and further stagnation if there is not a clear focus. Look at how many characters and threads we each have which has basically petered out because we distract ourselves to the next new thing instead of finishing out a story. Sometimes it's because life gets busy, sometimes we just lose interest, but it happens.

I support those of you who who want to make this work, and I wish you the best with it, and hope it can bring life back into the board. But as it has pointed out, we do need a proper scope for it, to help us all keep it from getting out of hand, and another spread of activity before we overwhelm ourselves and burn out. That's my worry, and why I am choosing to hang back, sticking to established realms and settings for now, at least until things can cement themselves in place. I am not against a new expansion, but I do want us to be cautious not to over-extend ourselves while doing it, leading to a possibly larger problem. I also announced my intention to hold back so that people would not count on my characters being involved in situations where I can't promise I have the time, drive, or interest to be part of the story, at the level of quality you deserve from me. I'll try and play along where I can, so if you really do need me, let me know and I'll try and make it work. I just won't be spearheading anything at this time. That's all I meant.

[Captain Untouchable]

I don't think "All Factions" quite covers it. It is possible for something to create stories for all factions, without creating opportunities for all players. I think we are trying to create a hook that can be activated by anyone, anywhere, any time - which is something that's evident over the course of the thread. Lets not derail things by nitpicking Charley's word choices. ;)


I apologize for coming off as dismissive. That was not my intent, it's just part of my shtick and I need to get over that. What I meant is that I worry that while this may inject new life into the boards, it will also spread out a new mass of characters which may lose their vibrancy quickly, to their authors, causing more unfinished threads and further stagnation if there is not a clear focus. Look at how many characters and threads we each have which has basically petered out because we distract ourselves to the next new thing instead of finishing out a story. Sometimes it's because life gets busy, sometimes we just lose interest, but it happens.

I can definitely empathise with this concern. That said, whether or not people's attention drifts away from threads or characters is really down to us as individuals. If you're concerned about a particular thread or arc falling by the wayside, I would encourage you to talk to the writers involved, and make sure they understand that you are still keen to write them: that way, any momentum that is gained by this new activity can be pumped into those threads as well. We should definitely be conscious that we aren't abandoning valuable stories, but I don't think we should shy away from progress because of that - those threads have stalled out for now, and they're going to stay that way until we get the ball rolling again. This is one possible way of doing that, though if there are others those are certainly worth exploring as well. :)

[Park Kraken]

Y'all do what you want. I don't see myself getting involved in this. I don't really follow how a large war will bring us together instead of creating a lot of different events going on with a bunch of new focuses, half of which will likely go unresolved (we're bad at finishing threads), so I'll stick to the sidelines and simply be reactionary to elements which might happen to cross my current storyline path, and otherwise proceed as normal.

Not that I'm actually posting, these days... =P

We're all just throwing out ideas at this point bud, it may seem a bit big at first glance through the thread but we're just tossing around ideas at this time.

I didn't even think about the origins of the First Order, that's a good point to bring up. That's something that could even involve Kraken since he's retired from the Empire but still wants to crush the Rebels/New Republic.



Something to consider here is where/how do we start?

Having the Vagaari involved, or adapting the threat Charley mentioned definitely has a lot of potential for providing context (in a prequel novel/comic sort of way), but in terms if the core plot hook - whatever it ends up being - we probably need something really specific and simple, that we can post about as an OOC mission statement, or title crawl, or whatever. I think one of our struggles in the past has been coming up with a great idea, but then relying on an intro thread to define what actually happened. With the Cold War, Corellia, and things like that, everyone was able to jump in immediately.

The main reason that the Ssi-Ruuk activity in Vanguards was successfully covered up (aside from the fact that the Empire was still in power, and they're really good at hiding atrocities) was because it happened on a bunch of backwaters in the ass end of nowhere. Perhaps what we need as a starting point is some sort of incident on a world that is a little harder to ignore? Maybe one of the Rebel worlds that's still in Imperial space (Ithor, Chandrila, Duros, Devaron, etc) for a bit of added "the Empire didn't do enough to protect them because they're racist" spice? Or, maybe a world that is neither Alliance or Imperial, to frighten neutral worlds into wanting/needing protection - which might help with these Chiss/Yevetha/etc ideas?

Yanking out my atlas, Endor is downwind of Bakura and is full of easy lifeforms for entechment. Would the New Republic feel compelled to save the Ewoks?

[Untaaura Verratoa]

That’s about as far from alliance space as you can get

[Park Kraken]

Where is our Factional Galaxy Map? I thought we have one pinned to the OOC section but I'm not having any luck finding it, even with the search function.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

It's in Introductions and Adverts :)

https://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?55894-TheHolo-Net-RP-Quick-Guide

[Park Kraken]

Ah Thank You. Hmm, perhaps the Ssi-Ruu launch their new invasion from a new angle and come in from Terminus? That would give them two potential invasion corridors to work from, one moving into Imperial space and the other Republic space.

[Captain Untouchable]

Looking over the map and what-not, a few possibilities that could be interesting -

Tatooine
Everyone has heard of it. It's part of a neutral sector pretty close to the edge of the galaxy, but it's next door to the Alliance so it's sure to worry them. The planet is populated, but sparsely: if the Ssi-Ruuk hit a particular population center, and/or the Tuskens and Jawas, it isn't necessarily going to decimate the whole planet, so it shouldn't be too disruptive for anything that people have actively going on. It's also a nice thematic fit with the KOTOR lore about Tatooine, it's inhabitants being taken as slaves by the Infinite Empire, etc. On the downside, there's a comfortable buffer of Alliance space between Tatooine and the Empire: that may make the situation feel less all-affecting, or it may work out nicely as an impetus for the Empire to take a more methodical "getting prepared" approach - pursuing relations with the Chiss, etc. Something like a Ssi-Ruuk entechment raid on Mos Eisley could be our basic headline.

Terminus
A very populated planet, that's a melting pot of different cultures. It's considered to be the "edge" of the galaxy, and it's at the meeting point between two major space lanes running through the Empire and the Alliance. It's close to Cloud City, it's at the Bakura side of the Empire, and it's definitely the kind of thing that is going to send big ominous shockwaves. Being in Imperial space (and being a populous world) might make the Ssi-Ruuk attack more worrying (breaking through Imperial defenses is more impressive than breaking through Alliance ones), and maybe plays into the Empire feeling that they need to seek out allies and new technologies, and into the Knights, Corellia and Cloud City, etc taking this threat seriously. On the flipside, having the Alliance worrying about a threat that struck the Gordian Reach last time (their territory) and may come for them again in only a matter of time... that could play nicely with the fact that we have more political/senator characters over on the Alliance side of things, and could be good synergy with Tion Cluster, Hutt, Cizerack, Circle, etc type plans.

K'til
Story-wise, K'til is an independent power, and was the neutral territory where the Treaty between the Alliance and Empire was negotiated. It's right in the heart of the galaxy, so if we want to cultivate a sense that the Ssi-Ruuk are a threat that could manifest anywhere, that might have more impact than a world out on the fringes. Because it's neutral territory (and a pretty minor/undeveloped world in the grand scheme of things) neither side is obligated to protect it, which makes it pretty vulnerable, but thematically it's quite a blow to everyone's ego to have a political "safe space" attacked in that way. I guess it depends on how much intent and malevolance our attackers have: if they want to strike a blow that is going to send maximum ripples, this is probably the best bang for their buck - easy to attack, optimal fallout. But, if they're just snatching people from assorted locations, it might be more cunning than is appropriate. Or maybe that's the point, and there's some deeper mystery behind it?


Not an exhaustive list by any means, but they were the first ones that leapt out.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

I like Terminus personally. It’s not a place that has a lot of real import to many stories but it has an enormous population, which can lead to an enormous body count. Definitely something that would get everyone’s attention I think.

[Droo]

After mulling things over for the best part of the day, I feel I'm finally in a position to share a thought or two on this matter. Sounds a bit weighty, that, doesn't it? I've probably been overthinking things, but I've also been fighting at the nagging frustration I've been experiencing in trying to discover a middle ground between the things that I'm looking for in a story and the things people have already discussed.

When it comes to creating characters and writing stories on these forums, I tend to think on the smaller scale because that is where I'm most comfortable. Big schemes are not only a bit daunting to me, but, as a matter of personal preference, I don't find them particularly interesting. So when the idea of us working on a new narrative to affect change, generate stories, and drive character development turns into the discussion of factions (many of which I'm unfamiliar with), systems, borders, fleets, and so on, I find myself both apprehensive, for fear of us making it too big and getting nowhere with it, and rather disengaged, too. I'll concede that my lack of enthusiasm stems from a point of personal preference for what I like, and I appreciate that no one way of doing things is better than any other, so, while I do struggle to find my own hook, as it were, I am very pleased at the degree of engagement we've had in the discussion so far and the level of detail people are going into here.

What I'm looking for is something that will change up the status quo in each of the little story-telling corners of the galaxy; change that will impact on a character level and push us all in new directions. A new threat represented by the Ssi-Ruuk will do that. My concern is that too much focus will go into the Ssi-Ruuk, or the conflict itself, away from all of the pieces of the puzzle that we already have in place, and rather than enriching the fictional environments we already have, we end up sewing our creative seeds in new fields instead. Hence my apprehension at the mention of third parties and extra factors and threats and so on. I've tried to peel away the layers and figure things out on a level that makes sense to me.

So, if it's a cold war, what kind of changes might we see? An escalation of tensions between the Empire and the Alliance, first of all, alongside dramatic and tenuous collaborations between Imperial and Alliance forces in the unusual circumstances. I know: so far, so obvious, right? In terms of the change that each character can see in their daily lives, I like the idea that both the Empire and the Alliance may be forced out of their comfort zones to accommodate each other, perhaps changing the way citizens are governed, infrastructures are run, military is used, etc. And those kinds of things happen during wartime, anyway, I guess.

Regarding the Chiss, however, a scenario I had in mind was their allegiances being uncertain, and up-for-grabs, so to speak. This is something that has already been touched in this thread, I believe. What would both sides be willing to do to curry favour with this potential new ally? Having the Chiss on your side might just tip the scales of power at last. What kind of concessions would both sides be willing to allow, what sacrifices would they make, how dirty would they be willing to get their own hands to win? How does this impact the way the military is used? Does it spark civil unrest? Protests? Violence? Terrorism? Do desperate times call for desperate measures?

And on that note, we have a massive catalyst in the Starkiller missiles. If this is a cold war, perhaps we could have our own Cuban Missile Crisis. How would that look? Do the Ssi-Ruuk manage to get their hands on a missile? Is it a race against time before they are able to slave the missile to their computer systems and use it towards their own ends? Was the missile being transported in an underhanded kind of way (ie. the US in Turkey, or the Soviets in Cuba) and, if the truth got out, what would that do to Alliance and Imperial relations?

I don't know what the Ssi-Ruuk conflict might look like, but is there scope for our own Vietnam War? Do the Alliance and the Empire get into bed with each other to engage in some gross war of attrition with this unconventional alien force? How do the people feel about that? What is the cost financially, strategically, ethically, etc? Would the Alliance agree to a show of extreme force to subdue the enemy, even if it meant sacrificing civillian life? I'm thinking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of course, and I'm well aware I'm now mixing up my wars.

Apologies for the stream of consciousness brand of thought I've gone on, here. I'm still struggling to wrap my head around it, and I'll never pretend to fully grasp the finer details of politics, borders, factions, and so on, but I'm trying to think of it in a way that will allow me to make something of it with my characters. I suppose I'm thinking of the ramifications of such a conflict down on the street level, and how it effects the way people think and act, what they talk about at water coolers, how it influences prejudices, crime, security, law enforcement, and what they might be able to do about it. I'll contribute more as I think of more, and hopefully, manage to make my thoughts more intelligible. I appreciate what I've said here may be way off the mark, but that's where I am right now, and I'm trying to figure a way in.

[Tear]

I echo Mitch's sentiments on this. For those who were curious this discussion sparked from a conversation in Slack:


tear [12:27 PM]
I've become rather disillusioned whenever I try to write on the boards. I think Swfans has evolved in a great way and that character development and interaction being the corner stone of the story telling is the mature evolution of RP writing. For me personally though, character interaction and story telling come as results to major events and changes to the universe. There's not a whole lot of that going on. So for me the living space feels static and dry.

sanisprent [1:25 PM]
You’re limiting yourself. You can definitely find the right pivot that you need to tell a story, even in a Cold War setting.

droog [1:41 PM]
i think he has a point though, up to a point, at least
change does drive character development, and we could perhaps benefit from a bit more of a driving narrative collectively. something we could all feel we have a stake in.
perhaps we might want to consider a joint effort that drives us ahead, or to the side, or whatever direction you want to go in. it doesn't have to be something that tips the scales dramatically, but an event which affects significant enough change, driving character development, all the while being something we can say we achieved together
i'm not for one second suggesting a big thread
they almost always stutter to a halt
but a collection of threads perhaps? focused around a - to coin a star wars term - a single episode of the story, that everyone can play a part in (well, whatever character someone wishes to submit to it)
i'm not suggesting this as an alternative to the challenge already planned, but merely something for us to consider, and potentially work towards together

tear [1:46 PM]
I would like to subscribe to Droo's brochure.
I like the idea of episodic content that drives a narrative arc toward ...something. It presses my buttons in the gooiest of fashions.


What I really liked about Droo's comments was the idea of a collective narrative. The notion that we, as a community, can come up with an overall arc with an episodic start and finish. A story where everyone can involve themselves and be a part of a grand star wars story.

My original comments on our galaxy being static and dry, wasn't strictly aimed at the Cold War. I was also talking about the way we handle writing here as a whole. I suppose some of this could be due to the setting of the Cold War, but it doesn't feel like we're rocking the boat in terms of pressing the boundaries of our shared universe.

I'm hoping that whatever story we come up with here will have some epic, long lasting effects on our environment.

---

I agree with a lot of Droo's comments.


A new threat represented by the Ssi-Ruuk will do that. My concern is that too much focus will go into the Ssi-Ruuk, or the conflict itself, away from all of the pieces of the puzzle that we already have in place, and rather than enriching the fictional environments we already have, we end up sewing our creative seeds in new fields instead.

I understand the Ssi-Ruuk have been established and as Jace put it, represent a simple starting point that can be easily accessed by all parties. He's not wrong.

However, in my opinion, there are a lot of great options where people have written interesting villains/groups that could be the catalyst we are seeking. These options already have ties to many of our characters so there would be less spread and more enriching of existing content. We discussed this a bit in Slack and there was apprehension.

Some points brought up were:

Writer availability becoming a choke point. Vs. NPC factions can be, obviously NPC'd.

This is easily solved as anyone putting forth an option to be considered should be open to having their faction NPC'd in threads and used to further the overall story line.


Writer ownership of established faction.

Again, anyone interested in offering up their group to take part should be fine with sharing it with the community (If you don't want to share, don't offer it up, easy). We're all friends here.


Faction history and Character lore Vs. Simple NPC background.

I think this one may be the only actual rough terrain but as Emilie stated in slack,


that's...kinda the nature of the beast. People know the intimate details of what's happening with folks they tend to write with. I can't say I know every little detail about a lot of the characters out there...but I don't feel like I couldn't find out with a simple asking and taking interest, either?

I think most of the groups I've seen suggested so far have already been well documented on the boards, but if you don't know something, as Emilie stated above, just ask? Or, if we decide upon a group in this thread we can always pound out missing details here.

I'll hold off on sharing my options for a bit to give more people time to weigh in and share what they would like to see.

[Stela'shlit'nuruodo]

I dig this idea of working with Siener on the Claw Craft thing. And await whatever you guys decide on he Ruuk. My mind cranked on ideas today for how to get the Chiss in a position to interact with the story. The Chiss do not like people and think we are better than everyone, so some reason would be needed for the Chiss to even approach Siener in the first place. As far as the Chiss being a faction I do not think it would come to that. If there was any action on the Part of the Chiss it would be very limited and involve maybe a House Phalanx or CEDF patrol group so nothing major. Lash would try to stay as far away as possible but would not just watch as it happened either. Something like a Ruuk attack On Terminus would prompt the Chiss to at least monitor things. 500 billion people on the planet make for alot of slave drone fighters, and that is bad business for everyone.

[Charley]

I’ll be upfront and say that do not like the idea of a pre-existing faction being the destabilizing agent in all this. Assurances that it can be NPC-farmed are nice, but it’s a tough row to hoe to have to call and repeat every single time you want to reference something that isn’t already hashed out in the universe. It’s nice to trust other storytellers, but there’s a risk for some terminal incongruenies if there is any confusion. Honestly, I think a small group like Tear’s group or the Sons of Coruscant or some other group would be much better utilized by turning the chaos of an NPC event to their advantage.

That being said, I’ll at least entertain the possibility. Tear, can you give the thread a synopsis of your group? History, composition, territory, assets. Nothing over precise or hinging on data crunching. It would be good to have a conceptual look at what we might use if we go that way.

[Captain Untouchable]

I'm starting to get worried that we are seriously over-complicating this.

The appeal of the Ssi-Ruuk to me is that they are simple. Their motives are simple, their actions are relatively simple, and there's not (or doesn't have to be) any complicated twists, schemes, or puzzles. They want slaves, they attack a planet, and boom: that's it. We can explain that quickly and easily in a couple of paragraphs of a stickied thread, and then we are left to take the narrative in absolutely any direction. If Droo wants to use it as a hook for a character driven Gunner story, if Tear wants to use it as a catalyst for his machinations, if Senators want to backroom deal, if corporate types want to R&D, if Titan Squadron wants a fight, if the Jedi or Knights want to walk through the ashes of Terminus... anything goes. It is a spark, it's easy/accessible for all, and we can continue to do our own thing in our own way, but working from the same page.

Using a player faction is more complicated. We're dealing with intellectual property that one (or some) of us have created for starters, but it is also much harder to explain. Even if the creators are happy for their content to be NPC'd, you need much more understanding of the various elements in the Tear/Geoff/Vince conglomerate to understand what's going on, and how they work. I wouldn't feel comfortable using the Sons of Coruscant as NPCs, because their style and motivations are very specific to Geoff's imagination, and out of respect I wouldn't want to risk ballsing that up, and I think that's how most people feel - just look at how few of us have Cizerack for example, despite Charley telling us for years that he eagerly welcomed people creating characters, lore, and all sorts. Given the way our community is wired, I don't think a player led faction is the right fit for a catalyst, if we want a casual and care free free-for-all participation vibe.

Starting with a single news headline "Ssi-Ruuk Attack On Terminus" sort of situation seems like the keep it simple stupid option here. We don't need to plan out a complicated reshaping of our political landscape (though if that happens organically, great!), we just need a nudge.


And on that note, we have a massive catalyst in the Starkiller missiles. If this is a cold war, perhaps we could have our own Cuban Missile Crisis. How would that look? Do the Ssi-Ruuk manage to get their hands on a missile? Is it a race against time before they are able to slave the missile to their computer systems and use it towards their own ends? Was the missile being transported in an underhanded kind of way (ie. the US in Turkey, or the Soviets in Cuba) and, if the truth got out, what would that do to Alliance and Imperial relations?

A Cuban Missile Crisis story is a great idea, and I am all for seeing it done. However, the reach is very small. It is definitely the sort of thing that would make people worry, but once the situation is resolved, it is resolved. Unless you're one of the people directly involved, it's going to be like Agents of SHIELD or a Netflix show referencing the latest Avengers movie but not actually doing anything with it.

Definitely a great story to explore, but perhaps not an initial trigger sort of scenario.

[Maggewetok]

One of the things that I've enjoyed about this site is the diversity in characters and factions. Amazing that it only seemed to take one or two posts to breathe life back into it after being so quiet for so long. One of the things that I've noticed over the years of writing on two sites is everyone has their own ideas and usually cooperate with someone else's. Writers - in my opinion - are usually intuitive, analytical and sympathetic. I love the Star Wars galaxy and have since seeing the first movie hit theaters. Roleplaying sessions have offered up an amazing amount of muse food over the years and nearly all of my characters have come from those campaigns.

Another thing I've noticed is many seem to be eager to get involved in epic storylines, but lose interest soon enough in getting involved in them. "Ten percent of the people do ninety percent of the work." The world's culture has become so fast and distracting that most find it hard to focus on one thing for very long and when those things that once held their attention aren't moving as fast, they move on to something else. The other site that many of us came from was the same way. An idea was posed by a very respected writer, many would offer ideas and post maybe once, then the thread faded after two weeks. I understand that this post may ruffle some feathers, and that's not the intention - far from it, so I apologize for that.

I've written many threads on my own because they move at my own pace, even though having another's thoughts on the flow of the narrative would be preferable. Many times another injects a scene or moment that you weren't thinking about and it offers up more life to the story. A twist that makes things more interesting.

I definitely understand that people have lives outside of this site and things that come up that keep us away for a while and I've come to understand that this site is very laid back, and open to nearly everything. One of the things that's kept me here for so long now. I've enjoyed reading many of the other threads that many of you have written. There's no lack of deep storylines and that excites me. I guess my main point is everyone has their own areas where they feel most comfortable and are entitled to their opinions and the fact that we're all individuals also means collaborating requires compromise.

As an aside, I'd be happy to help out wherever I can in this idea.

[Tear]

I’ll be upfront and say that do not like the idea of a pre-existing faction being the destabilizing agent in all this. Assurances that it can be NPC-farmed are nice, but it’s a tough row to hoe to have to call and repeat every single time you want to reference something that isn’t already hashed out in the universe. It’s nice to trust other storytellers, but there’s a risk for some terminal incongruenies if there is any confusion. Honestly, I think a small group like Tear’s group or the Sons of Coruscant or some other group would be much better utilized by turning the chaos of an NPC event to their advantage.

That being said, I’ll at least entertain the possibility. Tear, can you give the thread a synopsis of your group? History, composition, territory, assets. Nothing over precise or hinging on data crunching. It would be good to have a conceptual look at what we might use if we go that way.

I'll hold off for a moment in doing that just yet. Geoff and Vince are equal partners and I wouldn't want to throw our hat into the ring if its not what they're looking to do. I'll see where they stand. I know Geoff had offered up some of his groups but Vince is busy getting buff, he probably hasn't even seen this thread.

[Zereth Lancer]

As much as I would like the Tear/Geoff/Vince alliance to get some action, I don't think that they are enough on their own to create a big event that will draw in a lot of people and/or create enough change that the galaxy as a whole is different for it. They could do a lot of damage, believe you me, but it would be against a singular target or a close proximity group, like a star system or collection of planets.

I don't know what the full range of Tear and Vince's forces are, but what I can say for the Sons of Coruscant is that they have a small fleet worth of ships composed of Star Destroyers and, for lack of a better term, Scum ships like Gozantis and miscellaneous smaller support craft. The Sons strength is not in their navy but in their ground forces. Once they get boots on the ground they are a formidable force, but that really only allows them to entrench themselves in a few worlds with little hope of ever escaping since their navy will never survive against a full Imperial and/or Alliance battle group.

Not a very compelling story on their own. Obviously if combined with Tear and/or Vel Aath's forces they would be more rounded out but they would still struggle against numerous fleets called in on them. That would leave subterfuge and guerrilla strike and fades, which is not something that's going to bring in a lot of writers with the exception of those who are victims of these strikes and those who respond to them.

I think it is important to bare in mind that this Ssi-ruuk idea is just one concept they've brainstormed and nobody should feel penned in with it. If you have other ideas, completely divergent ideas, than pitch those and we can discuss all of them.

Only thing I can thing of off the top of my head is a Marvel's Secret War/XCOM scenario. Secret agents/aliens/something that has been planted through the entire galaxy. They could be shapeshifters or wearing disguises like XCOM thin men. Unassuming people who are actually the enemy, waiting to strike. This would cause mass paranoia. Who's real, who's a spy? Maybe they're clones of people that they've replaced, perhaps even unknowingly, until activated. Maybe they're droids (Fallout Synths). There would be witch hunts, people dragged out into the streets because they might be "one of them". And of course, horrifying attacks on the populace that can crop up at a moments notice.

This is a very unrefined idea, and I don't have any particular canon or OC force to be responsible for this sort of thing. It would have taken years to get so many undercover agents in place. personally I like the idea of some kind of gross horror that rips out of the fleshbag of a human disguise (XCOM2 Faceless) or the unwitting clone/synth/sleeper that thinks they are a real person until suddenly they are not.

[Untaaura Verratoa]

Well Clawdites are a thing and they’ve been used for this purpose at least three times in canon. I don’t see the Ssi-Ruuk putting clawdites to use, not their style. Wouldn’t put it past the Chiss though.

In any case that’s more of a topping and less the whole pizza. With Tear shelving the faction option at present, are we at consensus that we can work with either a Ssi-Ruuk, Chiss, or some combination of each as a galactic destabilizer? If we can, we can build a simple start to the crisis.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I like the thought of the Ssi-Ruuk, but in a sort of 'upping the ante' kind of way. We've had them invade once already, so what if - for this second go-round (should we decide on that) - they've banded together with another race for a little bit of help. Maybe they've formed an alliance with the Chistori, and in doing so created a sort of Saurian Coalition Empire of sorts? Would allow a bit of variation in fates that's not just entechment; maybe the threat of planetary stripmining and population enslavement, where vast swathes of people are conquered and put to work building the Saurian engines of war. It may be that entechment is this galactic third reich's version of the gas chambers?

It could be that the use of the Clawdites is more of a gestapo role-filling?

I know this is heavy on the WW2 notes, but I think it might be a neat thing to have a sort of Axis and Allies angle to this.

[Captain Untouchable]

I really like the #TeamDino idea. Having more than just entechment as a goal is a really good shout - it adds some flexibility without too much extra complexity - and sticking with lizard-like races is a neat touch. Almost an "all aliens are inferior, but you're less inferior" sort of vibe.

I really like the idea of doing things with the Clawdites too, though it is more of an intrigue / destabilising government's sort of vibe, which may not be on brand with the resource stealing and people snatching that the Ruuk and Chistori have going for them.

Perhaps the Clawdites would jive well with the Hutts? We've talked about how our crisis could open the door for people to exploit the situation - Imperial/Chiss stuff, and all that jazz. The Hutts don't have their own spy agency to do that sort of thing, but perhaps they can employ some sort of Clawdite assassin's guild to infiltrate for them. A pizza topping rather than the whole pie, like Charley said, but there's definitely some intriguing possibilities.

[Droo]

I don't have much to add, other than I'm behind this idea of the Ssi-Ruuk being the catalyst to this new season/episode/story arc, for all the reasons mentioned. I think their main draw for me, after some consideration, is their simplicity. It won't take a lot for people to understand who they are, what they want, the threat they represent, and how to incorporate that into their own narratives. The addition of the Chistori is an interesting proposition, and it had me wondering if they would potentially become the Vorta to the Ssi-Ruuk's Jem'Hadar in this Saurian "Dominion," or, in other words, the humanoid face of this invading force?

Also, as a side note, with this entechment technology, would it be possible for the Ssi-Ruuk to create their own sleeper agents by removing the consciousness of a person and replacing it with something else, or rewriting the original consciousness and putting it back?

[Charley]

I don’t see why not? It’s not a huge leap to consider that entechment could be used to brainwash (or worse, delete a person and install a different one). It’s a cool hook and it’s exfremely creepy

[Captain Untouchable]

Alternate uses of entechment opens a whole bunch of new options. I can think of more than a few Imperials who'd love to abuse the hell out of that. (Did someone say Framework, Droo? :mischief )

I like the idea of the Chestori as the Vorta-style mouthpiece for the Ssi-Ruuk. It slots in nicely with the caste system the Ruuk already have. I've been reading up on Saurian races on Wookieepedia, so I'll throw up a few links later if I find anything else that feels like a good variation on that theme.

[Charley]

So do we get the Trandoshans on Scaly Squad to be the Jem’Hadar?

[Prael Atalon]

Well, the Ssi-Ruuk already have a fiercely loyal warrior cult that probably works as the Jem'Hadar - the Reds are the military caste; the Blues / noble caste are probably the Founders.

The Trandoshans have the potential to be something more interesting than footsoldiers, though. Traditionally, they've been on top of the pile in their area of space, but now they're smack bang in the center of the Alliance of Free Planets, and the Alliance will absolutely have flipped things so the Wookiees are on top. Given the Trandoshan's slaver sensibilities, they're definitely a thematic fit for the Saurians, and the Alliance Senate would know that... so potentially (to stick with the Deep Space Nine analogies) we're looking at our Romulans or Cardassians, a race that may or may not join the Saurians in the long run, and the Alliance is going to be in the position of trying to keep that from happening. It depends on whether people want to play out Trandoshan politicians and what-not, but I think there's some potential there that we might not get from other avenues, and it'd be a shame to miss out on that.

There are also some ties (ish) between the Trandoshans and the Tenloss Syndicate. Since we've done very little related to organised crime within Alliance borders, it could be really interesting to see that angle explored. Perhaps riffing on the Orion Syndicate from DS9 - a criminal organisation that the Dominion used for political machinations and what-not within the Federation? That's perhaps a best of both worlds scenario: on the one hand we've got the politics angle trying to prevent the Trandoshans from openly joining the Saurians, while on the other hand we've got them clandestinely helping as bounty hunters and traffickers to aid the Saurians towards more subtle objectives.

[Rev Solomon]

You guys are making Deep Space Nine worldbuilding references now? FINE I guess I'll come out of the woodwork!

I've been lurking around this thread, and honestly, the idea of a Saurian alliance is really what piqued my interest. I know nothing about how the Ssi-Ruuk are developed in the EU, and if they're just going to be invading alien monsters to kill, then as far as I'm concerned they might as well be the Vong, or xenomorphs, or the Borg - just an implacable force with no personality and no hope of relating to them. But making them a league gives them a greater sense of ambition, as well as a scope that makes it more believable they could go toe-to-toe with the Empire and Alliance. I can dig this.

Several people have asked how Starkillers will figure into this. Here's a suggestion: What if the Ssi-Ruuk have developed a way to protect their systems from Starkiller attacks? They know that the threat of mutually assured destruction is keeping the Empire and Alliance from all-out war with one another. They may have delayed their own offensive until they could develop their own countermeasures - whether it's a satellite point defense system that can intercept incoming missiles, or some kind of planetary energy field that disrupts hypermatter warheads - to ensure the Empire and Alliance couldn't team up and wipe out their home systems, or their new conquests.

Such technology would also be a huge destabilizing factor should either the Alliance or Empire get their hands on it. Given time, it could even make the Starkillers obsolete.

The nature of this technology would certainly be open to discussion. If it's coming from the Ssi-Ruuk, I'd be in favor of it being suitably exotic and alien, and difficult - though not theoretically impossible - to adapt to Alliance and Imperial systems. It could even be related to their entechment technology in some way, which would produce some interesting moral quandaries. Should we sacrifice a few beings to ensure the safety of an entire system?

[Halajiin Rabeak]

I like this idea, as it really would ramp up tension between Empire and Alliance, and the Ssi-Ruuk could bask in the attempts of both to try and sway them. This sort of heightened tension could play out easily most everywhere, even places not remotely close to the border, so all characters could be involved in it in some way, but still respond naturally to their surroundings and existing plot points.

[Maggewetok]

With the direction that this is going, you could even allow that the Ssi'ruuk are using their entechment tech to infiltrate sleeper agents in various positions - not all have to be high level - and point it toward a more "Sum Of All Fears" direction. Not having to develop their own tech for defenses against Starkiller weapons, but maybe using subtlety to slip in some code or something that would reroute the missile before it reached their home system. Also, they could begin destabilizing relations between the Empire and Republic even more and create events that would start a war between the two while the Ssi'ruuk plan to clean up what's left by using their agents that are already in place, plus outside groups. Maybe the Hutts have been coerced or bought and become fodder for the end goal. Black Sun and other syndicates like them could also be used - perhaps with an entechment-created agent - to ensure their complicity, as well as promises of a big payday afterward.

I think this sort of avenue would also allow for a lot of intrigue and chaos which other professions in both major factions would be able to get involved with: Agents, political figures, etc.

[Rev Solomon]

Either way, I think it could be a powerful inciting incident if, provoked by brazen attacks along the border, the Empire orders a Starkiller strike on Ssi-Ruuk systems, and the missiles are all intercepted. The Empire and Alliance would realize their Starkiller arsenals are not unstoppable, and would be deterred from ordering more strikes until they figure out what went wrong. Meanwhile the Ssi-Ruuk could trumpet their victory to draw more saurian races to their cause against the cowardly and murderous humans, and may even boast that they have neutralized the greatest threat in the galaxy.

I like the technological angle because it's more straightforward and it opens a path for the Starkillers to fade in their influence over galactic politics. But I'm also interested in other ideas!

[Captain Untouchable]

Are you suggesting we include Starkillers as part of the initial trigger for all this?

I'm a little hesitant, because this all seems like a lot to explain. Rather than starting off with a title crawl, this Starkiller business sounds more like the plot for an entire movie: something we would want to take the time to do properly, so we can do the idea justice. That is great, but it's also slow, and it makes it hard for people elsewhere in the galaxy to jump onboard because we won't know what happens until it gets written - either that, or we're going to need a wall of text detailing things, and I don't think that's quite the level of simple we were after initially. Or is this just an idea for something we can shoot for as a goal, rather than a beginning?

Also, while I love the idea of building on the plot device we already have with the Starkillers, I'm also wary of the fact that they are the only thing allowing our Cold War to exist. The Empire absolutely has the resources and manpower to crush the Alliance into submission if they wanted to: it's the Starkiller pointed at their head that makes them think twice about it. Mutually assured destruction is what this is all about, but we're talking about introducing a technology to our narrative that means that destruction isn't assured. What is the fallout going to be? Do we run the risk of rewriting our Cold War into an arms race, since whichever side gets this technology first will be able to hold the other to ransom?

The Cold War needs to end at some point, absolutely, but in the past (and in discussions for TFA storylines) we've talked about the New Republic being the endgame. On the one hand, we have the chance to use a common foe to help push the Empire and Alliance together towards that goal... but on the other, we run the risk of forcing them apart if it turns into a competition.

Edit:

Sorry if it seems like I'm trying to step on ideas. Mostly I'm just eager to sink my teeth into something new, and that can't happen until we're all agreed on what our beginning is going to look like. :dance

[Charley]

What if, since the Empire represents the larger share of conventional military might, they end up taking the brunt of the damage in this war, so that when the starkillers are nullified, we're left with our factions in parity or even with the Alliance holding a slight edge? That might help to speed up the process of the New Republic happening, and the First Order forming.

[Rev Solomon]

Are you suggesting we include Starkillers as part of the initial trigger for all this?

I'm a little hesitant, because this all seems like a lot to explain. Rather than starting off with a title crawl, this Starkiller business sounds more like the plot for an entire movie: something we would want to take the time to do properly, so we can do the idea justice. That is great, but it's also slow, and it makes it hard for people elsewhere in the galaxy to jump onboard because we won't know what happens until it gets written - either that, or we're going to need a wall of text detailing things, and I don't think that's quite the level of simple we were after initially. Or is this just an idea for something we can shoot for as a goal, rather than a beginning?

Not necessarily an initial trigger - possibly even a mid-season cliffhanger, as it were. There's intense pressure on both the Alliance and the Empire to avoid using Starkillers, but it's a natural question given what we've set up. The Ssi-Ruuk aren't part of the treaty that created the current armistice, and they don't have Starkillers of their own. If they're going to be that big a threat, why not nuke the lizards?

I like the idea of answering that question straight up, and I think it could be accomplished in a single thread, depending on whose perspective we want to tell it from. Maybe we see a General Hux figure delivering a screed against the odious reptilian barbarians and promising that the might of the Empire will wipe the stars clean of their scum. We cut to an Alliance ship receiving intelligence that an Imperial Starkiller strike is imminent, and they need to stand ready to respond to a Ssi-Ruuk counterattack. They wait at the border monitoring communications. They hear Imperial chatter tracking the missiles' progress... and then the missiles disappear. Maybe we also have Alliance spy ships in range to see the missiles shot down in flight. Either way, it's a big OH SNAP moment for everyone on this side of the border. No one really knows how they did it. They just know the Empire tried to hit the Ssi-Ruuk with Starkillers, and it DIDN'T WORK.


Also, while I love the idea of building on the plot device we already have with the Starkillers, I'm also wary of the fact that they are the only thing allowing our Cold War to exist. The Empire absolutely has the resources and manpower to crush the Alliance into submission if they wanted to: it's the Starkiller pointed at their head that makes them think twice about it. Mutually assured destruction is what this is all about, but we're talking about introducing a technology to our narrative that means that destruction isn't assured. What is the fallout going to be? Do we run the risk of rewriting our Cold War into an arms race, since whichever side gets this technology first will be able to hold the other to ransom?

There are a few possible answers to this. Maybe the Ssi-Ruuk technology is too alien to be duplicated, and its secrets simply disappear behind their borders when the war ends. Or maybe it depends on harvesting bio-energy, and the Alliance finds it morally repugnant, and makes sure the Empire never gets their hands on it. Maybe as Maggewetok suggests it wasn't tech, but espionage and sabotage. Maybe the tech is effective against interstellar ballistic missiles, but could be defeated by ship-to-surface bombardment. Maybe new Starkiller advances supersede the defense tech. It's not like anti-missile defense systems ended the real Cold War.


The Cold War needs to end at some point, absolutely, but in the past (and in discussions for TFA storylines) we've talked about the New Republic being the endgame. On the one hand, we have the chance to use a common foe to help push the Empire and Alliance together towards that goal... but on the other, we run the risk of forcing them apart if it turns into a competition.

Edit:

Sorry if it seems like I'm trying to step on ideas. Mostly I'm just eager to sink my teeth into something new, and that can't happen until we're all agreed on what our beginning is going to look like. :dance

No worries! This is a brainstorming thread, and I'm just chipping in a few, um... thought... squalls? Now that I've talked through it a bit, I'm thinking the question of Starkillers wouldn't arise at the beginning of the conflict. It's something we could build to naturally as the stakes get higher and higher, and the conflict between the pro-Starkiller warhawks and the anti-Starkiller idealists could add to the tension among the allies. That said, if we ultimately end up going in another direction, I'm fine with that! I'm excited to see the board reinvigorated one way or another.

[Captain Untouchable]

What if, since the Empire represents the larger share of conventional military might, they end up taking the brunt of the damage in this war, so that when the starkillers are nullified, we're left with our factions in parity or even with the Alliance holding a slight edge? That might help to speed up the process of the New Republic happening, and the First Order forming.

Having the Alliance win out over the Empire is certainly an option, but it feels a little off brand? Vanguards and Truce At Bakura are both about the Alliance and Empire being forced to work together against a common foe, which is something that we've wanted to do with our Cold War scenario since the start. It seems like a shame to abandon that trajectory, in order to go back to a "the Alliance wins" scenario - it would be a shame if our Cold War never amounted to anything except a historical footnote.


What if instead, we treat the anti-Starkiller technology as more of a midseason or season finale sort of discovery? (Edit: Damn it Andrew, you snuck in and suggested this while I was typing!) Having tried to fight the Ssi-Ruuk on their own, the Empire and Alliance decide that they grudgingly need to work together, and in true Nineties action movie fashion, the only plan they can think of is to nuke the shit out of their problem. A coordinated strike against the Ssi-Ruuk is planned, but oh shit, it doesn't work! That can be a central episodic storyline, building up from the initial attack to working together to the joint strike (something that Tear was after when he initially suggested this, if I understand correctly) that we can strive towards over the course of our first "season", and then when we get there and see how that has all taken shape, we can reconvene and decide what happens during "Season 2", in the wake of this technological or espionage twist?

That way we aren't getting too ahead of ourselves in terms of determining the fate of the galaxy, we give ourselves the opportunity to let certain things happen and evolve organically, we reserve the right to completely change direction if something inspires us in a different way... and while our central episodic storyline is advancing, we still have the wider / more general Ssi-Ruuk threat so that people can interface with our prevailing theme without us needing to juggle a dozen different writers and their complex schedules and commitments in those central episodic threads.

Essentially, it would be like the MCU, or the Marvel/DC comics approach. We have our central Avengers storyline, our Crisis on Infinite Earths, our Civil War 2, but we also leave room for Netflix shows, Agents of SHIELD, solo titles, etc, to match the theme and participate on the edges of that storyline without overloading the central narrative.

[Park Kraken]

Early on, I can see a serious Imperial response to the attack on Terminus as it's still in their territory and is a significant crossroads. Due to the events leading up to the armistice much of the stronger Imperial firepower will be dedicated to the Core worlds but a significant number of smaller to medium assets would still be deployed (and subsequently lost) and should slow the invaders down some. The immediate Alliance problem would likely be refugees fleeing into their territory, especially if the heavier fighting is occurring in the Imperial portion of the space lanes. Ssi-Ruuvi picket forces will likely chase these refugees into Alliance space to capture as many as possible for entechment, leading to several small engagements.

I know the Ssi-Ruu are meant to primarily be an NPC but I already have plans to play a Ssi-Ruu Admiral helping out on the fleet and logistics side of things, since most others would probably like to not have to worry about that kind of stuff.

[Park Kraken]

….I'll run with this idea if no one else will. Are we waiting for someone to formally kick it off at this point?

[Lúka Jibral]

I don't think we're at a consensus yet.

Bear in mind that folks have been away and/or busy for the long weekend, so we've not really had any feedback on the last batch of ideas. We more or less seem to be on the same page that Terminus is a good place to start, but we're not even 100% on what our objective is (are we doing an episodic arc leading to Starkillers not working?) let alone finished figuring out who the Ruuk might be working with, or what shape the war might take - whether the Ruuk can be anywhere or whether it's a traditional front war that the Empire is bearing the brunt of, etc.

I don't think we should wait too much longer to get things moving, just so we don't lose momentum, but it would be nice to hear from some other folks from the thread first, just to make sure we're all on roughly the same page. Otherwise it's going to be a very lonely war. ;)

[Charley]

So my take on it is that we will start the Ssi-Ruuk invasion with action at Terminus. That gets the galaxy-as-we-know-it to pay attention. From there, we have something in which the Chiss react to being invaded by the dinos themselves. This will be step one.

Step two involves the dinos creating their evil scaly alliance with other lizard people. At this point the Alliance/Empire stops playing nice and uses starkillers, and they fail.

Step three...

Step four profit, or we beat the evil scaly alliance with combined arms, working together to bring about a galaxy that is free of both dinosaurs and starkiller missiles.


So I think we're probably fine with kicking this thing off Saturday? Remember, broad strokes, don't choke on the details. Sound good?

[Holonet News]

I like the idea of the Ssi-Ruuk gaining allies after Terminus, rather than having them already. Gives some good content options for the episodic threads, and lets us have some Cardassians and Romulans in the mix, whose alliance (or non-alliance) with the Ruuk can be a process rather than an event.


Also, I (Jace) just remembered that I have this account! Whenever we do one of the big chapter/episode threads I can do a tie-in post for the front page to draw extra attention to it.

In Slack, there was some talk of how best to keep track of this stuff. Some of the suggestions:



A Central Thread, providing the basic premise, and a chronological thread list and/or a link to this and other resources elsewhere. This would require staff/mod attention to keep the initial post up to date. Possibly an Announcement thread so it is extra visible?


Wiki Content, possibly including a timeline of this story arc (with thread links), and other life and info as we develop it. As our resident wiki addict I am happy to take point on that, but the wiki can be edited by anyone, so people can add in threads/etc themselves.


A User Group, like the ones we have for all the factions/settings/etc. These are opt in groups, and give a place for multiple discussions to happen on the go. Once we kick things off with Terminus, we can have a discussion going for who makes up the Saurian Alliance, a separate one for what our first episodic thread(s) is/are going to be, people can start a "how do I get involved?" discussion, and hopefully it might be a bit easier to follow than a single thread where all the topics are tripping over each other.


Start 12 ABY. When we began the Cold War, we decided to consider that the start of 10 ABY. Since then, we decided that 11 ABY had probably started. Using Terminus to mark the beginning of 12 ABY will make it a lot easier to organise a timeline, work out specific dates for important events, etc.


Personally, I feel like all of the above would be great?

[Satkia Beltrak]

I thought I had missed just a few posts. Whelp. I'll be traveling for the next few days and even while in France, I'll have a lot of work to do, but I hope to be able to toss a character or two into this epic project.

I also like the idea of tie-in post, for those like me who may fall behind/get confused. >.>

[Charley]

I like the idea of the Ssi-Ruuk gaining allies after Terminus, rather than having them already. Gives some good content options for the episodic threads, and lets us have some Cardassians and Romulans in the mix, whose alliance (or non-alliance) with the Ruuk can be a process rather than an event.


Also, I (Jace) just remembered that I have this account! Whenever we do one of the big chapter/episode threads I can do a tie-in post for the front page to draw extra attention to it.

In Slack, there was some talk of how best to keep track of this stuff. Some of the suggestions:



A Central Thread, providing the basic premise, and a chronological thread list and/or a link to this and other resources elsewhere. This would require staff/mod attention to keep the initial post up to date. Possibly an Announcement thread so it is extra visible?



Wiki Content, possibly including a timeline of this story arc (with thread links), and other life and info as we develop it. As our resident wiki addict I am happy to take point on that, but the wiki can be edited by anyone, so people can add in threads/etc themselves.



A User Group, like the ones we have for all the factions/settings/etc. These are opt in groups, and give a place for multiple discussions to happen on the go. Once we kick things off with Terminus, we can have a discussion going for who makes up the Saurian Alliance, a separate one for what our first episodic thread(s) is/are going to be, people can start a "how do I get involved?" discussion, and hopefully it might be a bit easier to follow than a single thread where all the topics are tripping over each other.



Start 12 ABY. When we began the Cold War, we decided to consider that the start of 10 ABY. Since then, we decided that 11 ABY had probably started. Using Terminus to mark the beginning of 12 ABY will make it a lot easier to organise a timeline, work out specific dates for important events, etc.


Personally, I feel like all of the above would be great?

This all looks gravy to me. Let's try and kick it off on Saturday.

[Maggewetok]

I definitely like the idea of having a thread keeping track of the events for those who need to be able to keep track of things. OOC threads to work out details is also nice.

[Lúka Jibral]

So how are we going to kick this off on Saturday?

Are we going to do a title crawl as part of the OOC thread, and leave it at that? Do we want to do something similar to how Corellia kicked off - a big narrative post, and the opportunity for folks to do "where were you when you heard the news" posts? Are we going to try to do an actual thread for this, somehow?

Either way, we're going to need to figure out some details. We've vaguely said that the Ssi-Ruuk are attacking Terminus. Is it a raid, that cut through their defences and took a percentage of the population? Is it an occupation, with enteched portions of the city? Are the Ssi-Ruuk going to be staging out of Terminus, in a conventional war/invasion format that doesn't threaten the Alliance all that much, or is their next attack going to pop up in an unrelated location to up the threat factor? Is Terminus going to be an ongoing dangerous location, is it going to linger as a decimated place of interest for salvagers/etc, or is the Empire going to respond to the Ssi-Ruuk threat with a fleet to sterelise the planet from orbit?

It's great that we're eager to start, but I don't think we've actually figured out quite what we are starting.

[Park Kraken]

In regards to the wiki I've started adding some of the Ssi-Ruuvi ships but they have a few more classes then I had previously remembered so it'll take a while to get everything sorted in while trying to remember how the wiki formatting works.

https://theholo.net/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Ssi-Ruuk&action=edit&redlink=1

[Charley]

Stay tuned for ~*~info~*~ tonight. I will post an initial summary of what to expect in the first encounter.

[Lúka Jibral]

In regards to the wiki I've started adding some of the Ssi-Ruuvi ships but they have a few more classes then I had previously remembered so it'll take a while to get everything sorted in while trying to remember how the wiki formatting works.

https://theholo.net/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Ssi-Ruuk&action=edit&redlink=1

If you get the basic info up there, I can swoop through and handle the formatting. I'm slowly working my way around the wiki trying to get everything to match, so if folks let me know when stuff is added, I can prioritise my focus there so all our current / active stuff is up to code.

[Tear]

So how are we going to kick this off on Saturday?

Are we going to do a title crawl as part of the OOC thread, and leave it at that? Do we want to do something similar to how Corellia kicked off - a big narrative post, and the opportunity for folks to do "where were you when you heard the news" posts? Are we going to try to do an actual thread for this, somehow?

Either way, we're going to need to figure out some details. We've vaguely said that the Ssi-Ruuk are attacking Terminus. Is it a raid, that cut through their defences and took a percentage of the population? Is it an occupation, with enteched portions of the city? Are the Ssi-Ruuk going to be staging out of Terminus, in a conventional war/invasion format that doesn't threaten the Alliance all that much, or is their next attack going to pop up in an unrelated location to up the threat factor? Is Terminus going to be an ongoing dangerous location, is it going to linger as a decimated place of interest for salvagers/etc, or is the Empire going to respond to the Ssi-Ruuk threat with a fleet to sterelise the planet from orbit?

It's great that we're eager to start, but I don't think we've actually figured out quite what we are starting.

I agree with the above in regards to sorting out the finer details. Tear is Executor (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Executor_(Imperial_rank)) of the Empire, so he should have some say in how the Empire responds to reports coming out of Terminus (What will be the reports coming out of Terminus for that matter)?

Is Miranda around? We could do a thread where the top Imperial brass discuss options/reactions and present them to the Empress.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

I made a graphic to put into the threads.

[Park Kraken]

BTW, would you say the enemy ship encountered by the crew of the Novgorod in the Vanguard series was a Wurrif class Light Cruiser or a Shree class Battlecruiser?

[Charley]

I agree with the above in regards to sorting out the finer details. Tear is Executor (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Executor_(Imperial_rank)) of the Empire, so he should have some say in how the Empire responds to reports coming out of Terminus (What will be the reports coming out of Terminus for that matter)?

Is Miranda around? We could do a thread where the top Imperial brass discuss options/reactions and present them to the Empress.

The Executor should certainly have a say in how the Empire responds. That sounds like an excellent idea for a thread that follows in the wake of the initial incident. I'm certain there are a few Imperial policymakers that would want to meet and discuss their next moves, so consider that as a thread idea in the short term aftermath.

As for Miranda? The person who plays her is here occasionally though she mainly posts OOC. Coaxing the Empress back would be cool, but it's up to her.


I made a graphic to put into the threads.

I love it :) nice little way to distinguish the invasion threads.


BTW, would you say the enemy ship encountered by the crew of the Novgorod in the Vanguard series was a Wurrif class Light Cruiser or a Shree class Battlecruiser?

There was a sizeable Ssi-Ruuvi fleet involved in Vanguards, and all known classes of Ssi-Ruuvi ships would have been involved.

[Charley]

Okay, so here is the groundwork stuff for the opening act:

Invasion: Terminus

At the edge of the galaxy, a city-planet called Terminus sits at the junction of major hyperspace lanes. One of the largest outer rim trading hubs of the Galactic Empire, Terminus hosts billions of Imperial citizens looking to make their livings and fortunes. With the cold war between the Empire and the Alliance drawing into its second year, the citizens of Terminus enjoy an uneasy peace. But that peace is about to be shattered. Beyond the fringes of known space, an enemy is coming.

Invasion: Terminus is the flashpoint incident for the galaxy-wide Invasion story arc. It can be told from the perspective of a few player characters who find themselves on Terminus. Citizens going about their business? Smugglers looking for a chance to make a profit? A homesick Imperial posted far away? No matter who participates, you can expect the peaceful buzz of city life to be shattered by the arrival of thousands of ships from the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium. It will become readily clear that the planet is going to be completely overwhelmed. The Imperial military garrisons and naval assets in orbit will be quickly destroyed through brute attrition, and the planet will soon swarm with hostile invaders that seem particularly interested in taking the people of Terminus alive. Our participating players will have one paramount objective - escape at all costs. Those that don't leave Terminus will be killed or - maybe even worse - captured. To what ends? Nobody knows.

What is known is that once the events of Invasion: Terminus conclude, the planet will be firmly and totally in control of the Ssi-Ruuvi invaders. They will quickly begin work on fortifying the world as a galactic beach head, preparing the way for what can only be an invasion of the rest of the known galaxy. Our few intrepid survivors may then find themselves racing to safer points in the galaxy, custodians of some terrible news about this calamity. This incident will serve as a way of putting the galaxy on notice, and serve to springboard other threads that delve into other aspects of this broadening conflict. As to what those might be, that will be up to us all!

[Charley]

Gonna try and keep Invasion: Terminus tidy as far as the size and depth of the thread. To that end, I'm proposing we keep this thread capped at four player characters. I will supply one if needed for narrative effect, but the key thing to remember here is to advance the action and the big picture. This isn't the thread for an excess of dialogue or internalized navel-gazing. It's to set the mood of run for your lives.

[Captain Untouchable]

I have a couple of characters who could be interesting for this.

Charley and I chatted earlier about him possibly having Sanis Prent involved, in which case I might be interested in writing Elias Akasha as an Imperial operative sent to apprehend him. It could be interesting to see two individuals on obviously opposing sides, forced to work together to escape this situation alive - a bit of a microcosm for the whole shindig, really.

I also have Ouran Akasha who is Captain of a SpecOps-ish ship. If there are four other writers eager to take part, and/or if people are going to need a ride off-planet, I would be happy to sit out most of the thread and show up at the end to be the SSV Normandy that flies you away from this ME3 intro style scenario, and/or be there to offer a "what's going on in orbit" perspective to help give context to whatever you folks are up to on the ground.

I'm not married to either option though, so if there are four other folks who are super-keen to take part in this, I'm fine with waiting for a different opportunity to take part. :)

[Park Kraken]

Don't really have anyone too established for the breakout thread. I have plans for one character for each faction after the breakout begins, but only one is an existing character.

[Maggewetok]

I can throw in either my Imperial deputy director, Akilah, or my government employee, Isamaya. I was also thinking of Madeleia, my smuggler who could offer a ride to those nearby, or already trying to get aboard just to escape - a situation which could introduce some interesting drama amid all the other chaos. :)

[Captain Untouchable]

As discussed/mentioned before, I have set up an Invasion Story Group (https://theholo.net/forum/group.php?groupid=55) for this arc, so we can discuss all the ins and outs without trying to keep it all contained to one OOC thread.

I think I have sent an invite to the main(ish) account of everyone who has posted in the thread thus far. Sorry if I missed you! ^_^;

[Zereth Lancer]

I want to make it clear that this is incredibly low priority, but if nobody else jumps into the four man event then I would like to involve Zereth. I feel he will bring a different perspective to the event, and his combat abilities will prove useful as he helps others escape the planet.

Is the idea that all four characters should be interacting. EG: helping each other, and likely a bunch of NPCs, escape the planet? Or is it a more freeform do what you want kind of thing?

[Charley]

I want to make it clear that this is incredibly low priority, but if nobody else jumps into the four man event then I would like to involve Zereth. I feel he will bring a different perspective to the event, and his combat abilities will prove useful as he helps others escape the planet.

Is the idea that all four characters should be interacting. EG: helping each other, and likely a bunch of NPCs, escape the planet? Or is it a more freeform do what you want kind of thing?

I think as a reader, having each pair of participants meet up and team up to escape might be fun. I don't think any hands need holding though so its up to you how you'd like to tell that angle of the story.

[Captain Untouchable]

If we're trying to keep a fast pace, and focus on an escape, pairing off might get confusing in the long run: two action packed posts from one pair then two from the other and back and forth might get into narrative whiplash territory.

Sanis being away from Cloud City (and thus exposed) seems like a good excuse for both the Alliance and the Empire to be after him. Maggie might be there trying to get face time with a former friend of the Rebellion in the hopes he might become an ally within Black Sun, and Elias might be there hoping to exploit an opportunity to "deal with" a Black Sun bigwig away from his protections and support structure. Those seem like good excuses for at least three of these characters to be in the same vicinity, and I imagine that once shit hits the fan, Zereth is not the sort of person who'd be hard to notice if he's fighting back. That might be a bit easier and a bit more linear (and a bit easier to compensate for people's schedules too), and we get the bonus aspect of a criminal, a rebel, an Imperial, and a Force user all working together to survive - kind of a nice foreshadow for the arc at large?

[Charley]

That sounds good to me

[Sanis Prent]

Oh also, I posted (https://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?57649-Invasion-Terminus)

[Maggewetok]

I can definitely throw Madeleia into that and have her there as the pilot with the ship that gets us out. :)

[The Shreeftut]

Yes, good. Flee vermin, lead my forces to your hiding places. You have only delayed the inevitable. >D

[Svl'Pikilis]

No, don't flee. We needs your life energies. :pp:

[Charley]

Yes, good. Flee vermin, lead my forces to your hiding places. You have only delayed the inevitable. >D

Ahahaha this is great

[Jaden Luka]

Yes, good. Flee vermin, lead my forces to your hiding places. You have only delayed the inevitable. >D

https://i.imgur.com/ysGDgZU.gif