HaMaadimi Imperium

[CBR JGWRR]

Beginnings:

"Mars. Our Ancestor Yehoshua HaMaadimi came to this world; a barren wasteland with air too thin to breathe, too cold to live. He left behind a world at the apex of it's power to travel to a world with none of the luxuries of his former life. Why? In his own words, he believed the barren wasteland had more potential than the corrupt and backstabbing Earth he left behind. An idealist, and a pragmatist. believer in the inherent equality of man, yet also that man couldn't cope without a guiding hand. Or at least, a guiding vision. A pacifist by nature, but he understood thousands of years of war, knew how to manufacture just about any weapon between a club and an atomic bomb. Logical in his way, although no one would ever accuse him of being rational. A dreamer.

We HaMaadimi carry on his legacy. When he came to Mars, he had a plan for the world. He began with assembling the 150km altitude equatorial orbital ring to lift material to space, for his construction projects required it. Then came the solar collector to focus sunlight on the planet to Earth-like standard. Then the upper atmosphere collector to focus the light to a beam to vaporise the regolith. Venus exported energy from the solar panel he had constructed to block the Sun's heat which was used to power the electric field that protected Mars.

Within a few decades, the first HaMaadimi Imperator had brought life to a dead planet, with Venus on it's way too even if it would take longer. But, he was acutely aware of his body's failing strength; in 2063, he handed over to his son, Elkhanah HaMaadimi, and devoted his remaining days to planning for the future generations.

Elkhanah carried on governing according to his father's designs, turning to the outer gas giants and bringing life to lifelessness. When he too grew old, Humanity reached across the Sol system, dwelling from Mercury to out past Neptune.

Tipheret HaMaadimi the second, his daughter (named for Elkhanah's sister, the Imperatrix of Venus) began to send ships to the outer reaches of the Sol system, plotting the rise of the long-predicted habitat ships that would liberate Humanity from being confined to worlds, and researched the faster than light travel that gave us the discovery of the hyperlanes.

I am Naomi HaMaadimi, Imperatrix of Sol. My Great-Grandfather foresaw this day, when Humanity would leave this solar system behind. Granted, he did figure it would be sooner, but as he was fond of quoting, 'I may have been early but I'm not wrong.' The Enterprise - a name chosen for this ship over a hundred and eighty years ago to call on the best attributes of our kind - our first faster than light Science Ship, will depart today.

We step boldly into the future."

~ Naomi HaMaadimi, 2200/1/1.

 

[Nikolai]

And he's back! What happened to Earth in this world?

 

[Macavity116]

What happened to Earth in this world?

Fingers crossed for an Earth-shattering kaboom.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

And he's back! What happened to Earth in this world?

By Naomi HaMaadimi's era, Earth is a natural wildlife reserve essentially from pole to pole, with only traditional native tribes and scientific endeavours and a few stragglers who haven't moved offworld remaining on the surface. Honestly, Earth just isn't important to my imperium; gravity and minimum orbital velocity are both higher than is desirable, and as we turn to 21st century economics - as Cicero once wrote, the sinews of war are infinite money - that puts Earth into the shadow. Earth is a wonderful cradle, but mankind cannot stay on the cradle forever.

Before that? If I explain that the setting is exploring the premise of what if I posess Imperium - in the classical Roman Republic sense of the word, I am a Shepherd-King, not an Emperor - over 21st century Humanity, then that covers most of it. But, basically the premise begins with me starting an investment fund that builds a lunar manufactory, orbital rings around Luna and Earth and a transfer ring between the two, and uses the profits to first pay off the investors, then fund the expansion to the rest of the system as part of what starts as a MegaCorp through sheer economic growth from opening up space to commerce, to normal peope, and then goes from there according to my vision for the future of the remainder of the 21st century.

Obviously, it's unlikely - although not impossible, our research into DNA repair and cellular life extension means that there is the possibility of my surviving to 2200 - that I will survive to 2200. And therefore, I must document everything for my descendants to study. The scenario therefore assumes that I went more than a hundred years before present day, and therefore part of the narrative intrigue is that the characters in the story are not me directly, but inspired by me.

Thankfully, I am thinking not mere decades, or even centuries, but millennia ahead.

Fingers crossed for an Earth-shattering kaboom.

Well, the Prikki under my command did not destroy planets, and they were Prikki. That's not to say I would never destroy a planet, just that it needs to be worth more as minerals than it is as housing space.

And in a universe which is governed by me - where I have no problem with harnessing a star's energy and firing it through a microwave antenna/rectenna to power a gigantic light to substitute a star, for example, in order to bring light to an outer edge of solar system world - my definition of planet suitable for habitation is much wider than the definition of planet worth more as minerals, which is largely only ones with higher than Earth gravity.

Weaponising the destruction of a planet is even less likely, and Stellaris doesn't even have the option for the easiest way to do it of just firing a large asteroid at a planet, which is the only way I'd generate an Earth-shattering kaboom in this timeframe.

Understanding the Imperium:

Feudal Society - By Naomi HaMaadimi, the Imperium has adopted a Feudal-like structure in which largely independent states that are generally republic structured answer to Imperator/Imperatrix charter. My plan is the transformation of Humanity from bickering over rocks on a single world to growing into the hundreds of billions of star systems, realising a future in which sheer prosperity drives the destiny forwards. To get there however, I need to have a lineage of leaders who I can trust to follow the plan. I would like to think my children will follow the path I outline, and therefore the premise of this run assumes that the governance system is... one in which my descendants are still in charge.

I'm not a fan of inherited governance - it's inherently anti-meritocratic, and anti-meritocratic creates inefficiency that could lead to defeat. Plus, as someone keenly aware of the histories of European monarchs, 99% of them should be culled. Naturally, this lesson - that the Mandate of Heaven can be withdrawn - is essential to be passed down to my children.

Equally, a central government is itself a very inefficient tool for the management of an interstellar civilisation where journey times are measured in years, and autonomous operation is essential. Therefore, my plan for the Imperium at this time relies on the central Imperium supporting vassal states as they grow. Unfortunately, this does limit them to being Imperial governments in turn, a restriction that for now, must be considered a gameplay/lore segregation.

Which means this is not a permanent arrangement, but only temporary, to be revoked into a much grander alliance when the situation is ready.

Philosopher King is a choice that is so obviously suitable, that I won't explain it further.

Xenophile - Do I believe aliens exist? In my view, what we know and can verify is that it is impossible to say. One of the unfortunate characteristics of our universe is that while it supports life, the probabilities are so incredibly low that the very fact life exists necessarily implies a Creator, and whether that Creator would create life on multiple worlds is necessarily unknowable at this stage. It is not unreasonable to presume we are alone in the universe. Presuming aliens exist however, the reasonable premise is the peer hypothesis - that circumstances will be carefully arranged so that civilisations develop together to create interesting events between civilisations. (instead of brutal curb-stomps of stone tools vs lasers) This is compatible with observations, and therefore it forms the assumptions about alien civilisations for the sake of gameplay. Therefore, in this peer hypothesis universe, the rational interaction is partnership of equals.

Militarist - Pacifism, in the face of a threat committed to your destruction, is effectively suicide. Tyranny fears only armed revolution, and the Imperium is a breaker of chains. And if it ever breaks from that role, it invites it's own destruction. Plus, in the event the aliens haven't worked out that cooperation is optimal, the ability to defend ourselves is a necessary objective. I would like to think an Imperium shaped by my ideals would surrender if they become unworthy of command.

Spiritualist - Very non-meta; the penalties to robotics are extremely punitive. But, the Imperium is founded on beliefs shaped primarily by Judaeo-Christian heritage, and while I have no doubt a machine could be made that is meritorious of a soul - we too are machines, just of a different type - to create such a life is an extremely dangerous technology in the hands of Humanity at this stage.

Who Else Is Out There?

While I would be happy to play a game in which it is just me building civilisations, I realise that you guys probably don't want to read that.

So, there are other Human factions, and then a RNG decided number of aliens to interact with.

As I outlined in the Iriphubliki AAR, I do not believe for one moment that Humanity will be united when we go to the stars. It definitely wouldn't be the case in my Imperium because I have no desire to conquer anyone else, and unlike the iriphubliki, this premise assumes that I had Imperium over Sol, and I wouldn't be interested in going beyond Sol without the economic and propulsion technology to sustain it.

Anyone else wanting to have a go and just set off is fine with me however; my Imperium is not to restrict Humanity, but to show the way to go. To lift us past the pointless fighting over a single hunk of rock.

If you've read the Iriphubliki AAR, then you're familiar with the concept; some Old Earth nations, some dissidents, an expanded variety of Dreamers. I have thought of the possibility of bringing some of them back, but the main candidate I want to bring back is the New Republic, and I feel that the New Republic as I envision it, deserves it's own AAR. And that one will be a one nation at the start of the game run, which is something I'm not sure there's interest in...

Question - is this a self-insert RP AAR?

Honestly, yes. It's either going to be quite interesting, or quite ludicrous. The main goal is I want to be thought provoking. I dream of planets, that my children will dream of star systems. I know how I'd accomplish it - I outlined the process above, which is essentially using the economic growth of space to drive a huge increase in Solar GDP, which mainly flows through my trade network giving me the influence and resources needed to make the premise work - but I think one of the most important questions we should all ask ourselves is this:

"If I ruled the world, what would I like to see change?" ​

 

[Nikolai]

Excellent write up so far. I like your rationalw, although I believe humanity is too flawed to be true to this ideal.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Excellent write up so far. I like your rationalw, although I believe humanity is too flawed to be true to this ideal.

It is the flaws - most especially greed - that makes the plan work.

The plan relies on investors being greedy for the returns on investment, and people choosing to come work for me because of the benefits to them. Investor greed is what supplies the upfront capital that makes it possible, because the costs are close to five trillion USD at today's value, but the result is new economic growth that could legit be a hundred times that; just imagine the market value of terraformed Mars and Venus, and dome colonies on Mercury (the sheer mountains and valleys of Mercury make doming a better solution) and an inhabited Luna.

And normal people benefit directly too, see below:

Origin - Ehyeh Ventures:

This goes back to the beginning; a MegaCorporation.

Mastercraft Inc. - Hopefully self-evident; with the exception of Ehyeh Financial - which is a hedgefund and investment arm - the rest of the Ehyeh Ventures group either designs or builds things. Mining equipment, manufacturing equipment, spaceships, architecture; it is in the business of finding a hunk of rock and building a civilisation on it.

Private Prospectors - Not exactly the one I wanted (I want Functional Architecture because it is very appropriate, but it's not available to Corporate governments) but it is still very appropriate. There is no state-backed colony program, instead employees come to Ehyeh Ventures because of our extremely good corporate benefits package; we offer reduced working hours relative to Earth standard, paid personal development time such as higher and further education packages and sports programs, a wide variety of apprenticeships, internships and other opportunities to progress in careers. After all, we are literally building civilisations on three planets and one moon, there's no shortage of room to grow.

Egalitarian - Fairly self-explaining.

Xenophile - Again, cooperation is better for everyone; I'm interested in uplifting Humanity.

Spiritualist - It's not just about the money, but about laying the foundation of a society.



Life in an Ehyeh Ventures settlement:

Figure 1 - Conceptual Reference Image for an inner-envirosuit

One of the key matters of life on the settlements were the requirements for environmental suits. These suits contained air, food paste and water reserves in armoured sections, and the suits were laden with mass extras in an effort to mimic the muscle strain of Earth - so, a Lunar suit was ballasted at around 500 kg in order to give people similar movement to what they were used to from Earth. (due to Lunar gravity being a sixth of Earth gravity, a simplistic and temporary solution was to multiply the mass on the body by 6x) It wasn't a perfect match, finger and toe strength needed additional muscle training, but in general the suit functioned as a second skin that kept the feeling of gravity consistent. Additionally, there were magnetic boots for zero-g environments.

A key concept was the premise of personal development - employees were employed on the basis of shifts of six hours in twenty four hours, however, they were also paid to do an additional hour of gym activity to maintain muscle strength to Earth standard, and paid for two hours of additional personal improvement. Personal Improvement was deliberately left vague in order to encourage people to think through how they wanted to better themselves; community activities, additional education, sports, writing, reading, dancing, medical checkups, job training, whatever. The remaining hours were free time.

Sport of choice was fencing, being Yehoshua's own preferred sport; alongside the traditional foil, epee and sabre joined Martian Greatsword, where fights were conducted in low gravity with swords more than two metres in blade length and masses in excess of 4kg. Alongside was the right to wear one's blade at the hip, if desired.

 

[Nikolai]

Six hours work, nine hours pay? So, eh. How hard work is those six hours?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Anywhere in space - go outside the habitation vessel without an envirosuit, you die.
Venus - go outside the habitation vessel without an envirosuit, you die when your breath runs out. (we're high up in the atmosphere and therefore at reasonable temperatures, so it's the atmosphere that kills you; same with Mercury, as the regions of Mercury chosen are ones in the shade most of the time thanks to it's tidally locked orbit)
Luna - go outside the habitation vessel without an envirosuit, you die.
Mars - go outside the habitation vessel without an envirosuit and it's not particularly comfortable. (the initial constructions give the planet shielding against radiation, heat and a oxygen-based atmosphere, so it isn't immediately lethal like the others are)

While Venus can be almost gotten away with as it isn't as far from Earth-like, any of the other locations your long term health is adversely affected by the low gravity:

"Long-term exposure to the zero gravity causes multiple health problems including redistribution of fluids and loss of bone and muscle mass. Over time, these effects can compromise astronaut performance, which can increase the risk of them being harmed, as well as reduce their ability to absorb oxygen, which slows down their cardiovascular activity." ~ Davidson Institute

It's nothing we can't deal with today, let alone ~20+ years from now, but we are dealing with a very hostile environment and building a civilisation out of it.

The actual work itself is easier than it would be on Earth because of the low gravity - if you can lift 20kg one handed on Earth, then you can lift ~60kg on Mars, or ~120kg on Luna for example.

In addition, the main building material is all around, and we already know we can build stuff from the regolith and Lunar surface. The vast majority of the early period takes place underground as the easiest form of radiation shielding (but, we do have the principles of electromagnetic deflectors figured out, and a chunk of the 5 trillion dollar amount mentioned before is on putting the principles into hard engineering) which means there is a lot of heavy mining machinery on Luna, Mars and the asteroid belt for obtaining building space.

The jobs themselves are generally much the same as on Earth, just you are wearing an envirosuit if you aren't inside most of the time. Water and air recycling is far more important, as is food production. (while growing food on Earth and exporting it is cheaper, the liability is people starve if the transports stop; every habitat must be able to grow at least emergency rations level of food) Venus' economy is dominated by energy exports and materials imports, Luna by mining, Mars can be made Earthlike quickest and therefore will develop fastest, although a terraformed Venus is better long term.

The six hours thing is not because the work is hard, but because it is important to have time available for people to think, to aspire, and you can't easily do that if you are exhausted because you're on 12+ hour shifts. Hence why it is actively paid to do the essential gym activities for muscle development and healthcare checkups, and actively paid for personal development - it is a strong financial incentive towards practices that I want to encourage in a population that responds well to financial incentives.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

For those wondering when this will start:

I have successfully gotten Mars and Venus to be terraformed. But, it seems to have broken all the planets further out...

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Space Economics:

Mining vehicle extracting materials from an asteroid, circa 2055.

One of the most important economic advances was the development of space-based industry, most especially in the area of space only operating vessels. Prior to the Orbital Ring and the Lunar manufactory, if something was to get to space it needed to be built on Earth and then lifted to orbit via rockets. Rockets which could only be reused several times before being scrap at best.

The advent of space operation only vessels - built in space from space-obtained material - drastically cut the costs to produce new ships, and gave rise to ever greater economic wealth as Luna in particular became the mining hub for the inner Sol region for the 2030s and 2040x owing to it possessing the lowest minimum velocity to orbit.

Luna was only a temporary measure; the millions of asteroids in the Sol system presented much more opportunity, and by the 2050s carriers deployed mining vehicles from asteroid to asteroid, while transport vessels hauled material back to Earth/Luna, Mars and Venus. (Mercury dominantly relied on it's own mineral wealth)

Soon, as a means of discouraging piracy, the first corvettes entered service:

These corvettes were fairly sizable vessels of mass into the hundreds of kilotons, and between a hundred to two hundred metres in the largest dimension measurement, Equipped with deflectors, light gas-guns and torpedoes. An armoured habitation ring provided a safe place for the crew of the vessel with Martian gravity equivalent from the rings angular velocity.

On the whole however, the limitation to chemical reaction thrusters still meant these vessels were highly limited in hull strength.

On Venus:

Venus was undoubtedly the better long term option for future Human settlement thanks to it's relatively Earth-like gravity, simple, and extremely profitable terraforming process of a massive solar panel that blocked the planet. (which stops the heating effect, causing temperature reduction to acceptable for Human habitation levels around 2200, causing the CO2 to condense, then rain and freeze on the ground in the process; water is imported from one of the water moons of the gas giants later) But, at this stage, habitation was limited to colonies in the skies, floating on the more than seventy times thicker atmosphere than Earth's.

By the period of the HaMaadimi Imperium, Venus had been finished to a standard of a slightly smaller Earth, at the cost of using the moon of Saturn, Hyperion as the water source. (well, what remained of it after using intense focused heat to vaporise steam as the thruster reactant for accelerating the moon anyway)

Venus, 2200.

 

[Nikolai]

This is so exciting!

 

[CBR JGWRR]

This is so exciting!

Exciting? For me, it is sad.

Nothing in the thread so far is outside the economic and industrial capability we have. Dozens of nations could individually afford most of the spending required to achieve what this thread outlines, and there are even private companies that could afford to start the process the way I outline with Ehyeh Ventures. The USA alone could afford nearly everything in the thread for the dollars spent on the military since the start of the cold war.

Ehyeh Ventures relies on ideas that were figured out conceptually and could have been begun before the founder was even born.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

To New Horizons:

Expansionist and A New Generation are both really good. Hopefully Warlike will be unnecessary.

Discovery to open the Traditions. I'm not a fan of starting with no Traditions really, because the civilisation will be almost guaranteed to have some background to represent, and therefore the first set of Traditions - for the Imperium, Discovery, Expansion and Macroengineering - are really just representing what was attained in lore.

View from the Enterprise as the HaMaadimi reach the first solar system beyond Sol.

First Alien Life Discovered:

It was a most interesting event, the discovery of life that probably didn't originate on Earth. (there were no guarantees that some previous ship didn't temporarily settle after all)

Shortly after the discovery of life on Sirius III, it became important to decide how the Imperium would respond to alien life. The Plan called for a proactive, friendly contact procedure, even if Naomi had her doubts.


First Interstellar Colony Ship:

The Imperium Naval Asset Abundance departed for Sirius III, to be renamed Sirius Prime.

The Enterprise views Alpha Centauri.

Naomi knew it was not because she was the smartest, or the strongest, that the Imperators held command, but because they understood people. Research, war, artistry, finance; the HaMaadimi could do them of course. Every HaMaadimi grew up trained in the process of the scientific method, it's strengths and flaws, and in the principles of logic. Likewise, all wore at least one publicly visible weapon that they were proficient in. All of them understood the need for the faculties of expression and creativity, and the Imperium started because of the pursuit of profit, and evaluated every decision on the basis of economics and value for investment. But the most important trait was to understand people. While ultimately unimportant, Naomi knew the Plan meant monitoring the whims of the people.

INA Abundance arrives at Sirius III.


Grunur, Part 1:

The discovery of the Grunur, although long gone, was a huge moment for the Imperium. After all, it was reasonable to assume any civilisation that made it to being interstellar would be able to survive anything below systematic genocide, and therefore they were likely out there, somewhere.

It was decided to make Sirius Prime into a mining world in view of the pressing need for more minerals.

Titanic Life:

Of course Naomi understood the potential upside to researching them. But she wasn't prepared to risk antagonising them.


Disappearances:

The first crisis of the new interstellar era was upon the Imperium, and Naomi immediately committed everything to bring them home.

As a result, it did not take long to figure out what happened, and to find a solution.

Soon, they were safely home.

Grunur and Baol, Part 2:

The Baol were an intriguing concept; sapient plants were strange indeed.

Unfortunately, it was now reasonable to assume the Baol were gone.

Commission of four new Science Ships.

Feral Behaviour on Centauri Prime:

First Mars, now Centauri; quite an interesting series of events. Ultimately, Naomi decided the research benefit was outweighed by the need to restore normality.

Grunur and Baol, Continued:

Sifting through the pieces of the past, Naomi felt disappointed in the Grunur. They had failed the test by opting to cheat by stealing from the Baol, and it was disappointing that the Baol lost. She contemplated how there had to be a balance between peace and preparing for the threat of external aggression.

Sentinels, Part 1:

The discovery of these strange statues was certainly more interesting than putting another district up.

First Contact:

It was only briefly on sensors before it departed the system, but the data indicated a ship. Living interstellar aliens, at last.


6th Habitable World:

The latest advances in terraforming technologies had massively reduced the time taken for the process to work, and it would only be several years before this planet would be a continental world.

With the prospect of first contact came the need to fill out the fleet from simple anti-piracy roles to potential full-scale conflict if first contact turned ill. Thando HaMaadimi - a careful and thorough Admiral who placed emphasis on engagement at range - was chosen to command the 1st Fleet, with plans for a 2nd mixed force fleet like 1st Fleet and a Flight Deck Cruiser based fleet drawn up.

At first, the process was a matter of peace, but it didn't last:

The loss of the Fahrenheit was a major morale blow for the Imperium. The Plan had considered the potential for hostile interactions with aliens, with the First Imperator arguing that conflict between advanced interstellar Races should be resolvable without recourse to interstellar war, and that even the destruction of a ship need not be considered an immediate declaration of war; for all we know, we might have unknowlingly offended them, or they might be conducting a test of strength to evaluate relative merits and not deliberately trying to antagonise an interstellar species.

Imperatrix Naomi however, thought very differently, and ordered all naval ships to the hyperlanes that led to this region.

It would be the aliens who translated the language first - the proactive first contact process had already given them helpful data before the destruction of the Fahrenheit, which itself was a cause for concern among the Admiralty.

The conversation was brief, as they cut the channel first. Fortunately, they were far enough away that it shouldn't be a problem for a while.

Factions:
In the wake of the first contact, Imperatrix Naomi opened up a forum for the debating of policy within the Imperium as part of expanding the function of governance to better respond to the ideas of others than the HaMaadimi dynasty.

As the Warlike commander in chief of the armed forces, Imperatrix Naomi took charge of the Militarist faction.
Tensions Ease:

One of the immediate policies was the dispatching of three Envoys to these strangely familar wolf-like creatures, which led to improvements in relations, and opening of borders.

The Near Region, 2230:

Not much discovered, yet.

 

[Nikolai]

Much happening in a short time span! Hopefully the wolves can become friends, or outpaced into obscurity.

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Hopefully. Although, as you correctly realise the events their ancestors faced means that forgiveness might be an issue.

 

[youstas]

Subscribed!

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Naomi contemplated the holodisplay shown from her wrist, feeling pride. In just thirty years, they had spread out from Sol to form an Imperium across seventeen star systems. Six worlds had populations into the billions, with dozens of much smaller enterprises operating throughout Imperium space.

Yet, the games of court meant she governed them all without ever seeing them. It was what she had read to expect - Imperator HaMaadimi felt the same about governing settlements on Mars; at the start of the process when they first arrived, he walked for hours in the dull glow of midday - this was years before the sunlight focusing array made it as bright as Earth - across the regolith, knowing that it was the Imperator's fate to be stuck away from the action, to be sealed in the structure of command.

Naomi contemplated how it was only now that she truly understood what he had said then; in much the same way that it would have taken Imperator HaMaadimi years to visit every settlement on Mars, it would take Naomi years to visit every planet. She looked around this small office that was his solution; a memory vault, filled with objects he used to trigger memories.

Naomi dusted off a small canister that had rested on the shelf since long before her birth. Inside was one of the last fragments of genuine pre-terraforming Martian regolith; Imperator HaMaadimi's reminder of where he started, in case the chain of command ever made him forget where he began. Next to it was a similar canister from Venus, another from Mercury. On the shelf below were canisters from the Gas Giants from before their atmospheres were atmosformed to be habitable, and ones from the most notable moons.

She looked back at the top row, of Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury, and saw there was another canister, an empty fifth that she had never looked at before. She dusted it, and found a label for Proxima Centauri b. He never got the chance to fill that one.

"Would he have been surprised to find it was habitable, I wonder? I'm sure he would have assumed it wouldn't be, not that he would have let it stop him from colonising it."

She thought about the shelf. Originally, it was one of the few indulgences the old Imperator allowed himself - he cared very little for luxury, hadn't done since he had slept on a pallet in a shed as a young man on Earth - but she realised it could be the inspiration for so much more. She called one of her governors. "Bruce, are you busy?"

"If you mean as a job, no. You put Kara in charge of running the Sol Sector this year."

"Good, because I need you to run the Imperium while I go fulfill one of old Imperator HaMaadimi's ideas that he never got to do."

"He would have abhorred the indulgence you know."

"Yes. Yes he would. But I'm not him."

 

[Nikolai]

Not him, but for better or for worse?

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Later that day, Naomi entered the holochamber to meet Feli Lewiczkacz, current President of the Grand Commonwealth.

"Imperatrix HaMaadimi." He looked at her dark-ringed eyes, visible even against the dark skin she inherited from her great-grandmother's side of the dynasty. "You are weary."

"Very." Naomi assessed him - one of the key skills Imperator HaMaadimi insisted on his descendants learning was how to get a sense for a person quickly and accurately - he was calm, and potraying a content demeanour. "As you know, relations with the wolves continue to get worse."

"Indeed, we are fortunate that you are between them and ourselves."

"They will be much less inclined to attack a closer alliance."

"Precisely why I asked for our Non-Aggression and Defence Pacts."

"But these agreements aren't really enough, are they?"

"How so?"

"My ancestor's vision was of an alliance of Human nations."

"A grand idea."

"Here is my proposal then - the Terran Alliance."

"Not so fast, Imperatrix. You are able to decide such things because your great-grandfather decided that your Imperium would put foreign policy entirely on the Imperator to decide, and trust his descendants would be wise. I must put it to the people. I need lists of policies you wish to propose, and my government must have your binding agreement not to declare wars of aggressive conquest or there will be a veto."

Naomi pressed keys on her console, dispatching the file. "Done."

"I will let you know the outcome."

----

Naomi greeted the Envoy - Elastirel Unomiele - personally. Which was a nice touch after so many comm channels. His apartment had been configured to be a verdant forest, much like his homeworld.

It made Naomi think. Now, Imperator HaMaadimi had never been opposed to the Dreamers - he was one, in his heart - but some people had rather pushed beyond what Naomi was comfortable with. The idea of restoring the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Space was a goal Imperator HaMaadimi had been happy to allow, but the Starborn Elves were... something else entirely, as far as Naomi was concerned. Bred to have the pointed ears before genetic engineering really got off the ground, the Starborn were deep in her uncanny spot. Again, Imperator Elkhanah saw no reason to stop them, so they left to build their Elven culture.

Still, they maintained favourable links to Earth, and were friendly with the Poles already. And the whole reason why it was the Terran Alliance was because of Imperator HaMaadimi's view that Humanity should not close out others; he foresaw in time that Humanity would not be alone. Sooner or later, Human technology would advance, and others would be made to join Humanity.

And those who left Earth, changed themselves into something else and then came back would still be welcome. At least in principle.

"...would you not agree, Imperatrix Naomi HaMaadimi?"

"I'm sorry, I got distracted. Could you repeat?"

"I see my commentary on the budding flowers was not interesting."

"I don't mean that, it's just there's a huge amount of things on my mind."

The elven man raised an eyebrow. "Shall we get to that business then?"

"Yes. The Terran Alliance. You know what it is."

"Yes, we know. I presume you have the Polish delegation on side? They are closest to you."

"They vote on it shortly."

"So that means two of three of us, yes?"

"You are welcome to make it a crowd."

"I will bring your proposal to the other Starborn immediately."

----

Naomi entered the communications junction, accessing a panel. The link patched through to her Envoys in the Carbaran Defence Authority. "What have you managed to learn?"

"Very little, sadly. At this point, it's like talking to a brick wall." The Envoy sighed deeply.

"Without an atmosphere to carry the sound." Added another, nodding as he spoke.

"Well, you will be coming home soon. I've been talking with the leaders of the Starborn and the Commonwealth, and we are ready to declare the Terran Alliance. I need you guys and your teams home to smooth things over as we get started."

"How bad are things, really? We haven't been told the military situation."

"Right now, just over thirty warships and six starbases are all that keeps the Carbaran from attacking. I don't know how much longer diplomatic immunity will keep you safe. Our research teams are working round the clock on developing new weapons systems, because it looks like war is inevitable."

"We tried our best."

"I know, and I am grateful - your efforts might well have delayed them going on the attack earlier. Were you able to find out why they hate Humans so much?"

"No, we weren't. We tried asking, but the best outcome was they all went silent. Worst was one of them tried to bite."

"Well, we've tried to be peaceful, and we must hold our heads high. But, they have chosen to continually push aggression, and they have started making claims on star systems."

"Oh no."

"So please, I want you all home, safe."

----

A now very tired Naomi entered the last room. A fortified bunker, where the military of the Imperium planned the contingency scenarios; the Imperium didn't want war, but just as the Imperator wore a sabre on one hip and a pistol on the other, the Imperium didn't spend thousands of units of Alloy on a fleet and starbase network for nothing.

"Imperatrix on deck!"

Everyone stood at attention at the crier's call, and turned to the doorway. Finally Naomi felt comfortable; these were soldiers. Dedicated. Ruthless. Goal-orientated. Every single one of them trained as a Praetorian. Another double-meaning quirk named by the old Imperator; he intended them as the legacy of the Republic Praetorian guard of course, but the name was as much a warning against the decadence of the Empire in a very particular example. Much the same as the usage of Imperator.

But, the true nature of Imperium was to command, and Naomi had a war to plan. And these handpicked Martians - a planet named for the Roman god of war - were the most talented soldiers in the Imperium. This was another reason why the old Imperator wanted a monarchy; wars run by committees that answered to other committees that cared more about votes and luxury would lose to disciplined, meritocratic stratocracy. And at the top?

Naomi wore her great-grandfather's sabre. "We have a problem."

 

[CBR JGWRR]

Imperial Navy, 2250's:

Some named ship classes for important historical figures, or for attributes of merit, or by selling the rights to the highest bidder. The Imperium however, had functional names based on a large number of quantitive and qualitive assessments to ensure the right ship for the right job, as the convoluted naming scheme was developed for GalCiv2 and refined for GalCiv3 and Space Empires V, where ship design can get highly complicated, especially in the last of those three. I also have in mind the system extended to cover my own Speculative Fiction series, which covers vessels from power armour through to Dyson Sphere hyper-weapons.

Unfortunately, Stellaris - even modded by Gigastructures - is a bit limited by comparison. So, for Stellaris it is reduced a little.

Hull type | Role | Revision Number | Variant Alphanumeric

Hull Type - CV, DR, CR, BA, TTN, JN and DP, IC
Role - Artillery, Interceptor, Hangar, Missile, Gunboat
Variant Alphanumeric - capitalised for things like Laser or Neutron Launcher, lowercase for simple alternative types like a self-healing armour variant vs an afterburner main-line

So, CV-I6 is a straightfoward Corvette Interceptor with all my standard options, but a CV-I6b-D-R is a Disruptor and Regenerative Hull Tissue variant of the sixth iteration Corvette.

So: