What is the current year?

Working on my history.  What is the current year/

The Raven

Marks the ships of the confederation.

Useful Site

Star Ranger shows a good comparison of the ships. I have a rather large collection of ships but most are on the smaller size, compared to Galactic Knights which are firmly on the larger side.  To be fair, if we did a space battle to scale I'd probably put a ship in my house, and one in my office, and then we could take shots at your ships in Richmond.  Scale is all a theory at this point.  Interesting site. 

The CoRpsE and Pardys

Space brought a new opportunity never seen before.

Before crazy political ideas could not survive the threat of a sane option across the border.  People voted for the best political options with their riots and revolutions.  

Space changed that.  Now you could have a planet all to your pivate ideology without anyone disrupting you for a hundred years.  Want an orthodox fascist state.  Easy.  How about a religous union of minds via cybernet? Admidtedly less easy, but doable.  A luddite return to our roots.  Done.  

Many, if not most, collapsed under the pressure of the further options. Many of these ideologs went screaming from the inner sphere to some outland bit of solar dust, a hundred years or more ahead of the next option.  However, eventually, the next option would come. It was just a matter of time, and that is if they stayed true to their roots instead of devolving into some tin plated dictator with delusions of adequacy.  

Here in this cluster there was a fair share of them, though the quality of the jump gates lead to rapid trade and healthy comunication. Two of them though thrived, against all odds, and would be players in the wars to come. 

The Corporate Republicans (Bryiancz-Stoyvic Solar Unity) aka CoRps

The Bryiancz-Stoyvic Solar Unity, built under the claim of a joint desire for union, rather than the hostile takeover by Stoyvic, ideally is little different than most representative democracies.  The difference is that Stoyvic built its strength under a simple idea, that a vote is the individuals right starting at 18, one they can rent, sell, or use themselves.  Of course upon their death, their vote is stricken from the records, but there is still a hearty secondary market for votes.  This results in several corporations built around the mode of building blocks to sell the votes for elections and the regular plebiscites that occur.  Twelve years ago the percentage of the vote owned by the initiatives passed 50%, creating strain, one not pushed too hard by the dominant supermonopolies after revolts that rocked the sphere not thirty years past.  

What is recognized on Stoyvic's hallowed halls is that, while the Unity is one of the larger political entities in the region, it is also one of the most resource poor.  They've driven strong growth and efficiency, but they realize it is only a matter of time before their peers push them into being a second order power.  

The Participatory Democracy (Acero Enlace) aka the Pardies

Perhaps one of the more unlikely players for the war.  Origianlly a single star of San Judas Tadeo, it has grown to eight ethnically diverse stars in a surprisingly effective federal state.  What makes them different is the fact that the vote is only held by individuals who have, in their eyes, "earned it".  This means military veterans, individuals who have extensive government service, those who have contributed to the state, or others as appropriate.  A unicameral house sits on each district, planet, and for the Acero Enlace in total.  

The Pardie fleet has historically been modest, but they've rolled out a large shipbuilding program, investing in increasing numbers of ships produced externally and building not one but two domestic ship yards. This has been a reaction to the threats from both their Scandinavian neighbors and the Corpses. 

Long Ago In A Galaxy Far Away

"Pap Leta, What's that?"

Idiot grandchild.  The lost Celeow they'd followed all morning laid before them.  Finding it was the good news, but it'd sheared one leg, broken another, and cracked the thorax.  Now the sun was starting to give up the sky and they'd not yet finished gutting the corpse they'd made out of the cattle and damnable son couldn't be bothered to teach his own blood how to field strip the herd.

He'd liked this Celeow.  Moxie he'd called her.  Her?  It?  Hell to tell on a six hundred hundred pound beetle. Harder than you'd think.

"Teo, what's what?"

He looked up from the gristle and the chitin to see Teoforo staring at a shard of metal, three times his height.  Teo turned around, and Leto realized he'd be shaving next year.  He just got cutting his umbilical cord.  Hell.

"That is the memorial.  Hasn't your father told you that story".

Teo just shook his mane of pale hair, "Dad doesn't tell much. Worried on the herd, right-culling and all."

"Since you could hear the story?" Morelike he shared most of the brood's doubt, black haired father with blond son was rare enough.  Especially with Leta's little Anarywin's.....propensities?  Hell, his fathers doubts was half the reason he was out with the spawner today.

Teo just shrugged.

"Alright Righter.  See up there, up near the top?" Teo nodded. "Anary taught you your letters?" Teo just shook his head.  What did this kid know?

"Back when my Pap was trying was trying to eek out in this scrabble, things were different." Leta got back to work, methodically cutting out the white meat. "This planet, Posit, was smaller then, few thousand folks, but occupied.  And to some, the CoRps, the ParDeps, and those Blondie Scandos (don't ask) wanted it."  Hell, he didn't know why he was still cutting, they had more meat than he could ever use, but seemed wrong to leave it on the corpse.

"Someone, don't know who, maybe CoRps, maybe the ParDeps, hell, maybe both if Pap's uncle was to be believed,  was showing the flag, patrolling in one of those ships.  You know, like you saw in the festival day back two naming days.  Longer than the herd and solid metal.  Scandos came in screaming through the gate, from another star they say.  Corpsers shot Pardys shot Scandos,until the sky started raining metal."

"Blood's been flowing since.  My Pap read a bit, back when the news still got here, and knew something was up, so he decided to mark it.  Hell, he also wanted to mark the fact that a new home had just fallen from the skies."

Teo just looked confused.  "The Metalhome, it's part of one of the ships-did you think it was natural.

Up there, rough etched into the metal with some form of torch read a few simple words: "And so it began".

First thoughts on my Faction

Volsungs Confederation

Principle Planets

Bragi – Named for the god of poetry

Brokkr – Named for the Dwarf who worked the bellows so that fire would not cool down nor get too hot.

Ëostre – Named for the goddess of spring

Forseti – Named for the god of justice, peace and truth

Hlín- Named for the goddess of consolation and protection

Indun – Named for the youth goddess, the goddess of the Golden Apple of Spring

Jola – Named after a Valkyrie

Kara – The Stormy One, named after a Valkyrie

Lofn – Named for the goddess of forbidden love

Yggdrasil – Named for the Tree of Life

Classes of Ships

Ragnarok Class Super Dreadnought – Doom of gods

Valhalla Class Dreadnought – Afterlife for Warriors

Ullr Class Battle Cruiser – god of Frost Glitter

Njoerd Class Cruiser – god of Space (waves)

Hnossa Class Missile Ship – goddess of Desire

Astrild Class Destroyers – goddess of love

Freya Class Destroyer – goddess of fertility

Dafn Class System Protection Ship – goddess of waves

Some inspiration.....

Random photos from the web.  I think most are from the Dreadnought game system... beautiful images.

Here is a link to the blog that got me to buy into this project.  Super Galactic Dreadnought.blogspot.com I spent a lot of time looking at this blog while I was in Afghanistan. 

Back in the dark ages when I was in middle school I had several friends who were collecting these. They still look pretty good to me and show up on ebay from time to time.  They are also available from Monday Knight games.

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