3 replies to this topic

[Zakatak]

I understand that when you put something on the internet, somebody can steal your idea and use it for their own purposes. But I've have a problem with procrastination anyway, and I've had at least 5 great ideas for books I never wrote past the first chapter. But I figure maybe I could put this forward as an idea for other forms of entertainment (books, TV, movies, video games, tabletop, comics, etc). This is a science fiction universe with alot of obvious BTech inspiration, as well as an idea for a blackhole powered starship set forth by the famous Stephen Hawking. Would you think it would be interesting in any of the entertainment mediums?

Unlike many sci-fi shows that argue one side or another, I intend on keeping it neutral on matters like the neccessity of war, religion, advancing of technology, and so on. It is hard sci-fi, but I want to avoid technobabble like Star Trek Voyager, because I feel it removes the human factor.

Setting:
2300 A.D, January 1st
Sphere of Mankind (WIP)
Humanity numbers at 42 billion citizens, a third of them living on Earth and terraformed Mars. The other two thirds live within an sphere 150 lightyears across. While ships cannot go faster-than-light on their own, and the rate of expansion is limited to the speed of light, instantaneous travel is possible via solar gateways. Solar panel arrays between many kilometers across closely orbit stars, powering massive portal that, with sufficient charge, can send somebody through to another solar system in seconds. 1500 systems, and about 150 habitable planets, are only ever 2 astronomical units away and can be reached within a day.

Factions:
Northern Nations Federation: United States, Russia, Canada, Mexico
Socialist States Pact: Siberia, China, Mongolia, Korea
Middle Eastern Alliance: India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, North Africa, Saudi Arabia
European Union: England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, France, Ukraine, Turkey, Italy, Spain
Non-allignment Compact: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil

Some nations have formed as one or split apart, for better or for worse. Siberia and Russia DO exist as seperate entities, during the Antimatter Crisis of 2107 when a Russian scientist discovered means for economic and fast generation of AM. Because there was a heated election at the time, the two parties had different opinions on how to use it to climb out of an economic rut. I'll cover that a bit more later.

Backstory:
Old rivalries between the 5 governments of Earth are slowly whittling away. Mankind, whom many thought was doomed to continue its ways of warfare, has gone without a major war for 60 years. The United Nations proposed to form a unified government for all of mankind and her colonies by 2280. Of course, the process of disarming the nations was a cautious game of "you lose your fleet first" which carried on 20 year longer then expected. The dawn of the 24th century was set to be the date when humanity would join together, leave behind old prejudices, and enter a golden age. Militaries would be disarmed, and what was left would be given to 15 large and advanced Peacekeeper fleets, who would keep a watchful eye on the worlds and be prepared to provide aid or action if needed. To commemorate the first day of this golden age was to set forth a massive, multi-nation, multi-trillion dollar project known as Pathfinder. A ship powered by a blackhole, with enough power to go faster-than-light on its own, and explore the galaxy for potential alien life.

Summary:
Some colonists inhabiting the border worlds (sometimes derogatorily known as 'border collies'), whom had trouble achieving equal rights in the past (under-terraformed worlds that were difficult to live on, for example) doubted the good intentions of Earth. A quiet, organized movement on Terram Solis (which had been used as a graveyard for spaceships and scramjets) managed to create a small fleet of SSA spaceships, boarded a control room of Solar Gateway and opened up a portal to Sol System. A fast strike on the massive blackhole facility destroyed the Pathfinder as it was ready for send-off. It was seen as a strike from the Socialist State Alliance, and the governments were furious. But a bigger problem questioned everyone else. A blackhole of that size took a month to evaporate, where did it go? And then, over the course of 30 minutes, the Sun began to shrink, and shrink, and shrink. And then it went dark, never to be seen again. Gateways and Portals lost power, cutting off communication from the rest of colonies, and no ships with interstellar capability were readily available. Over the course of a few days, 14 billion humans froze to death, and the economic center of civilization fell off the grid.

Riots on the streets consumed every world. The economy was in total and utter collapse. The 5 governments of humanity lost control of their own populations. Sol was the only system with 1000+ portals, and now space traffic was clogged, and supplies for food and materials were stuck in space. As conditions worsened, the flow of food slowed to nearly a halt, and materials to build gateways and tachyon relays began to whither. Garden worlds became both military targets, and targets for hungry mercenaries. Pirates who had looted graveyards stalked the spaceways for supplies to feed their families. On the ground, many cities had come under control of warlords, whose weapon was hunger. War broke out between the 5 nations once again, and soldiers who had never shot a living thing had to pull the trigger on people fighting for their survival of their families at home.

But the 1st Peacemaker Fleet had been completed a day before the incident. A single massive Battlecruiser, 5 relief dropships, a battalion of the best trained troops, 3 corvettes, 2 frigates, 2 destroyers, 3 wings of Scramjets, journalists, diplomats, men and women of all religions and ethnicities and a commander who intended on doing the work he was trained to do. The Sphere of Mankind is in anarchy, but many are willing to finish January 1st, 2300. Whether that is through peacekeeping or peacemaking, is something they will have to risk through experience.

[Steve Varayis]

I have a novel waiting in the wings, Icehaven, but i am currently stuck . Mine takes a more of a Total annihilation theme than BTech. So I say try with short stories, then maybe a fully fledged novel. And then we can be competitve novel writers... Or something

(I call first dibs on a Crossover...)

[Insidious Johnson]

I had to go with "other" since I'm very familiar with a different 'Dark Star'

[Zakatak]

Insidious Johnson, on 05 July 2012 - 08:21 PM, said:

I had to go with "other" since I'm very familiar with a different 'Dark Star'

Well I was going to call it "Black Hole Sun", but dammit, same problem.

Ideas never look as good when you write them out, I just found.