The year is 117 SE.
Facing rising sea levels and overcrowding on Earth, mankind takes to the stars. First, orbital colonies grow up around Earth's Lagrange Points. Then, colony ships leave for Mars, the asteroid belt, and the Jovian moons, establishing human life across the solar system. United in triumph, the Earth Federation is born from mankind's greatest achievement to govern humanity's multi-planet empire.
Technology advances by leaps and bounds. Fusion reactors and high-capacity solar panels solve Earth's energy crisis, while the abundance of exotic materials coming in from space-mining operations permits the development of fantastic new alloys and propulsion methods. Processing power explodes with the development of quantum computing. These advances culminate in the creation of the Gear, a eight-meter humanoid machine capable of amazing feats of strength and designed to build the massive colonial megastructures in record time.
Nearly a century later, stagnation and corruption have replaced unity and peace. Earth multinationals and oligarch families, the new nobility, still dominate the solar economy and the Earth Federation is increasingly their tool for enforcing that dominance. The space colonies, once marvels of high-tech development and pioneers of new advances, languish with record unemployment. Anger rises among the colonists. Mars and Jupiter have had their own distinct cultures for decades, but until this point the colonists in the Earthsphere still considered themselves citizens of the mother planet.
The demonstrations against Earth authority start out small and peaceful, but they gain momentum faster than they gain organization, and soon protests turn into riots. The Earth Federation ships in police, then military units. Hundreds die in the November Days, and colonial self-government is replaced with military occupation. Public outcry on Earth is muted through censorship and propaganda, but sympathy for the colonial cause grows among anti-centralist groups and other dissidents.
In response, a radical anti-Earth terrorist group infiltrates an under-construction colony at L4 and attempts to hijack the super-structure with the intention of crashing it into the Earth. The heavily-armed terrorists repulse several conventional assaults using their repurposed construction Gears and almost succeed in unmooring the super-structure. Political pressure from the Earthcorp building the colony results in the deployment of a top-secret military Gear squadron, whose unexpected intervention crushes the terrorist plot. This is the first recorded use of Gears for military purposes, but their availability proliferates rapidly among Earth forces in the wake of this incident. It is from the L4 Incident that the modern usage of "Armored Gear" first becomes popularly known. The Earth Special Forces counter-terrorist group also traces its roots back to this incident and the black-ops Gear squadron involved.
Nine years later, the children of the November Days have come of age and with them comes a renewed fury tempered by discipline. A myriad of independent groups have been replaced by several dozen organized cells, all under the umbrella of the Colonial Independence Union. Loosely organized but mysteriously well-funded, the CIU eschews direct confrontation against the colonial occupation forces within the colonies themselves in favor of a more unorthodox strategy.
On the tenth anniversary of the first November Day, transports begin falling to Earth...
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Welcome to Descent, the (hopefully) first installment of War in Heaven, which should encompass several different eras of robot-on-robot conflict in the Solar Era. Inspiration for this game was drawn from Ranger900's game Mechanized Glory, as well as the probably troubling amount of mecha anime that I've watched.
In this game, players can choose to be in either the Earth Special Forces or the Colonial Independence Union. The game will start in November, 117 SE, when the CIU enacts Plan Descent and drops from the colonies to Earth. Where the game ends up, of course, is in the players' hands.
Players are responsible for submitting orders for their character at the beginning of each turn and for crafting relevant and interesting ICs. Any player who doesn't send orders or IC every turn without a valid excuse for not doing so is out of the game. Players are also expected to use IRC regularly; the server is irc.airlock.net and the room is #spacefight.
The different types of player characters are as follows: Each faction has one leader, who is responsible for coordinating the entire faction's efforts and answering to whatever superiors or backers they might have. Leaders get broad orders that aren't limited by location and can be used to build up the faction or alter the strategic situation. Additionally, each faction has up to six aces, each of whom serves as a combat pilot. Aces have substantial latitude in where and when they can act, but are limited in what they can do.
Rather than focus on territorial control or grand strategy, this game primarily depends on interpersonal conflicts carried out against the broader background of organizational conflict. Gear pilots are the knights of the modern age, with larger-than-life stature, and should build their personal legends by coming into conflict with their fellow pilots. Furthermore, while player characters exist within a chain of command, they are expected to be both competent and ambitious. The Earth Federation is bloated and corrupt, while the colonies lack any semblance of government or unity. These conditions are ideal for someone of talent and skill to make their mark on history.
The game will proceed turn by turn, with each turn lasting two weeks, until I determine that the political situation has changed sufficiently to warrant a skip; players will get forewarning of this and the skip will probably follow a climactic event of some kind. During the skip, I'll create a new scenario based on the status quo created by the previous era's actions. Afterwards, players will submit returning or new characters and we'll resume play in the new era.
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Earth: The mother planet. Home to much of the system's industrial and technological output, thanks in large part to discriminatory policies that have shuttered more innovative enterprises out in the colonies. Still recovering from the unstable climate of the previous era and immensely overpopulated. Growing unrest due to overcrowding and the increasingly authoritarian bent of the Federation.
Earth Federation: The trans-national government of Earth, claiming authority over all the solar system. Member states have agglomerated in the preceding century of the Solar Era and are often larger and more diverse than Common Era nation-states. All member states are required to operate their local defense forces and contribute forces to the Federal Military. The Federation is run by an appointed Federal President, who maintains a cabinet and answers to the Earth Parliament. The Federal Military is ostensibly commanded by the Federal President, but in practice run by the Federal Military Staff, who often use their command authority to maintain order and intervene on behalf of their political patrons in the Earthcorps.
The Colonies: Located at the Lagrange Points, the space colonies are generally either massive O'Neill cylinders or Stanford tori built using Build Gears and minerals mined from either the Moon or the asteroid belt. Previously hotbeds of new technologies and social developments, now economically depressed and under military occupation. The CIU draws its strength from these colonies.
Mars: Presently undergoing a generational terraforming project. The most populous inhabited body besides Earth. Distance from Earth makes direct control difficult and Mars enjoys valuable autonomy. A vital trans-shipment point between Earth and the outer system. There is a small Federal Military outpost on Phobos; assignment there is considered career suicide.
The Belt: The asteroid belt is mostly inhabited by Earthcorp-sponsored mining projects. Mining is lucrative for the corporations but dangerous for the people; miners are underpaid and underprotected.
Jupiter: The Jovian moons are home to a variety of research bases, energy extraction operations, and fringe political and religious movements seeking to escape the Earth Federation.
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Build Gears: Giant humanoid machines, typically eight meters tall, capable of lifting heavy burdens and building structures on a massive scale. They're typically used for large-scale cargo operations, space-based megastructure construction, and other heavy-duty industrial tasks. Build Gears used on Earth are typically Atlas models, while space-based Build Gears are generally Wrights. These are bare-bones Gear models, designed to operate a variety of tools and capable of being easily modified. Dissident groups typically steal these capable machines and modify them to use military or jury-rigged weapons.
Armored Gears: Purpose-built military machines designed for combat. They're well-armored and capable of using a variety of handheld and mounted weapons. They're also typically better-powered and more reliable than civilian Build Gear models, but heavy armor and weapons also render them somewhat slower. They compensate for this with integral jump-jets, which allow them to boost through the air over limited distances. Armored Gears rely on solid-state weapons -- their archetypal weapon is the handheld machine gun, which can saturate an area in armor-piercing bullets -- and most also have a utility blade for close-in defense.
The standard Armored Gear model in the Federal Military is the Type-III 'Hercules,' a reliable and easily mass-produceable design. The ESF typically operates the more advanced A- and B-variants of the Hercules, 'Hector' and 'Alexander,' respectively. The Hector is an modified Hercules design with additional modularity for unusual terrain or special weapons, while the Alexander is a commander-type Hector upgraded for greater power output and mobility; each Alexander is usually further modified by its pilot.
Wonder Gears: Cutting-edge prototype machines of unknown origin. Each Wonder Gear is unique, constructed using super-tough space alloys and armed with an exotic array of devastating energy-based weaponry. Each pilot's Wonder Gear is tailored to their unique fighting style or favored environment. Unlike most Armored Gears, which need to use special parts and modifications, Wonder Gears can operate as well in space as they can in atmosphere. As no two Wonder Gears are exactly alike, any further generalization is unhelpful, but they collectively represent a quantum leap in Gear design.
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The Earth Special Forces are a semi-autonomous branch of the Federal Military, responsible for dealing with separatist movements, colonial dissidents, and other potential threats to the Federation. The ESF is led by a general, who nominally reports to the Federal Chief of Staff and through him the President of the Federation. In contrast to the staid and somewhat unmotivated Federal Military regulars, ESF elites have high espirit d'corps and are known to be somewhat eccentric for an organization that otherwise prides itself on turning out square pegs for square holes. Assignment to the ESF is often a function of both talent and connections.
The ESF also has a substantial percentage of the Federal Military's Armored Gears and its pilots are the best in the military. Unlike most regular units, which are organized by locality, the ESF draws equally from the various member states of the Federation. ESF officers have the authority to requisition aid from Federal Military units and local defense forces.
The Colonial Independence Union is a loosely-knit umbrella organization bringing together several dozen anti-Earth and pro-colonial groups within the orbital colonies under a single banner. The Colonial Independence Union is not a governmental organization, but rather the armed wing of the ostensibly non-violent colonial independence movement. Their stated aim is the destruction of Federal authority outside Earth's atmosphere and the establishment of independent colonial governments. This is the extent of the agreement between the united groups, many of whom have divergent ultimate aims. The CIU's Earth wing is led by a coordinator, who is thought to report back to his superiors back in the colonies. Much of the CIU's internal workings are a mystery to outsiders, though the fractious nature of its internal politics leave it less disciplined than the higher-ups would otherwise prefer.
The CIU has relatively few military-grade Armored Gears and most of its cells use converted civilian Gears, often modified irregularly. However, the CIU has also come into possession of several Wonder Gears, which make use of highly-advanced technology unavailable to the Earth forces. The CIU has assigned these Wonder Gears to its most elite pilots and intends to use them to turn the tide in its favor. Moreover, the CIU has close ties with numerous Earth-based dissident groups and can call upon their aid when necessary.
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I'll open submissions until I feel I've got enough people. I'll pick faction leaders and deputies first, so prioritize those submissions if you're interested. Feel free to include a backup ace submission as well. I'll choose who gets into the game and I'm looking for balanced player numbers in each faction. Priority goes to interesting, ambitious, creative character submissions. I reserve the right to reject your submission for any reason.
Name: Self-explanatory. Feel free to go multi-ethnic or even make up something cool-sounding.
Faction/Role: ESF/CIU, leader/ace.
Backstory: As much detail as you like as long as it gives me a strong idea of who your character is.
Origin: Your character's home member-state or colony. Give me some detail on what it's like, your character's relationship to it, its relationship to your faction, etc.
Squad/Cell: Your character's subordinates, if playing an ace. For ESF characters, this is an Armored Gear squadron with military ranks and a chain of command. For CIU characters, this is a group of militants using modified Build Gears. Give me some detail on your character's relationship to his group. Note that an ace is not necessarily the commander of his group, though the player controls both regardless.
ESF squadron commanders will start with an Alexander-type Armored Gear and are free to detail their personal modifications to the unit; their squadron members will use Hector-types. CIU aces will be assigned a Wonder Gear; their groups will use a mishmash of units, primarily modified Atlas-type Build Gears.
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