What it says on the tin... I touched on this in the main thread but I think maybe we should have a split off topic to hash this stuff out.
My idea is to have, post Boskowar (at some point not necessarily immediately) a general "taking stock of things" and a decision to work together at a strategic level.  What I had in mind for PEPPER (Space Arms Limitation Treaty) is some form of agreement to limit the amount of strategic class assets everyone is keeping under their own chain of command.  I know RR and VVS (and probably a lot of others - Warsies and so on obviously and so on) have and are developing strategic level assets and I see no problem with that, IC or OOC.  But everyone sitting independent of each other doesn't do much good for anyone's peace of mind.
Note that details of what constitutes a "strategic level asset" and how many factions can keep for their own uses aren't important for now - and frankly I imagine this leading to a lot of IC bickering anyway.
My vision is the unified command (NATTO - Not Actually Terran Treaty Organization) having its chain of command independent of the interests of the individual members.  How this would happen I'm open for debate; I'm thinking something entirely separate from OGJ in concept and with some aspects determined by bickering committees.    In peacetime, it would be concerned with taking care of things bigger than the Space Patrol and running exercises to simulate various potential *cough*dirtside*cough* opposing forces.  Part of this is as a show of force to people who might think about trying to use force to dictate policy, part of this is legitimate training into a professional volunteer military (as much as is practical with the people involved) and part of this is to have the members of all the forces rotating in and out of the NATTO chain of command working alongside each other, seeing each other as comrades to be trusted and not potentially dangerous people from other factions.
Comments?

Harry Harrison has curled up all ten stainless steel tootsies.
http://io9.com/5934884/rip-harry-harris ... lent-green

Moria Mining - 15/Aug/2012
Mid Spring 2008-2009, UK/Luna.
Moria Mining started as a bit of a joke between Brains and a number of other heavily-built members of British 'Maker' fandom.  They'd all heard of handwavium, and some of them were experimenting with it, though keeping this pretty quiet.  Things came to a head when James Kaden remarked that both his parents had cancer, and were very likely to die within a year or so.  And, where were all those wonderful 21st century medical advances everyone had been promised?
This was mid-Spring 2008, and Brains got in contact with some friends, Maureen and Dave, who had recently 'gone up'.  They were still getting established, but they put Brains in contact with others still in the UK who were investigating medical uses of handwavium.  Another member of Moria Mining, Dora J., had leukaemia which was almost certain to kill her, and she volunteered as an experimental biomod subject.
Working on the theory that handwavium needed a theme, and dwarves were a pretty tough race rarely affected by disease, they dissolved everything they could find on the appropriate sort of dwarves in a medical variety of handwavium, which had produced the most reliable set of biomods (though mostly on animals).  Brains suggested they dress it all up with ritual, so they constructed chants, in Dwarven, to do with health, long life, and rebirth.  And included special, Dwarven, stout beer.  He was rather embarrassed that they insisted he lead the ceremony.
Everything went well, though Dora only revived after being fed the beer.  She said she was in excellent health, and all the waved medical instruments agreed with her.  Being only 5'2" her height hadn't changed, nor her overall appearance, though a few tests showed she was considerably stronger.  And, she hadn't been weak, before.
James parents talked it over with him, and agreed to take the risk.  His father was a retired mining engineer, of similar build to James, but his wife was slimmer and taller.  He was a devout Christian, and had his doubts about the ceremony, but accepted the word of "The Moradin" (the name they gave him for Brains) that it was for the handwavium, not the gods.
Again, all went well, though James mother lost three inches in height, and was skin and bones after the ceremony.  She rapidly put on weight, afterwards, though she commented neither would her old clothes fit her, nor her friends recognise her.  Both of them had shed years of age, and now were firmly mature, rather than elderly.
Jesse Kaden wanted to have something to do.  His wife looked so different that she didn't have any legal existence, any more.  Healthy members of 'Moria Mining' wanted to take the biomod.  Eventually, one of them did, but without the ceremony.  Brains and the others reluctantly completed things when he fell into a coma, and he revived, having lost six inches in height and wanting to get back to work.
All the tests that they could do showed the biomods to be stable.  Dora and Jesse had a full range of tests, some on the National Health, some paid for.  Though, the doctors wanted to know why Jesse looked so healthy, and didn't think his 'foreign holiday' sun tan was a good enough explanation.
Questions were being asked about James mother, though she could talk to her friends on the phone, as long as she was careful about her new deeper voice. Brains showed them maps of the Moon, and the idea of creating a new home, and mining, to fuel workshops, somewhere on the Far Side was attractive to most of the 'Morians', as they were now calling themselves.
Eventually a dozen people went up, via Brains invisible spaceship.  This included three children, though a marriage and a long-term partnership broke-up in the process.  Partly balanced by a new (Morian) marriage before leaving.  Another half-dozen joined them later.  It was agreed that the rebirth ceremony would only be offered to children when they reached the age of eighteen.  As became obvious, after a little more than nine months, the biomod bred true, between a pair of Morians, anyway.
So were established the (initially secret) Mines of Moria.
--
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" - Hawkwind

KJ Wrote:I thought we were trying to avoid grimdark... somehow the whole "slow heat death of hopes and dreams" and associated angst is even worse.

Nomar, from Spacebattles Wrote:The Boskone war ends in 2014. The war is important because it gives the Fenspace Convention credibility as a government on account of the Convention having done two very classical government–y things: it has enforced its monopoly on violence by waging a war. This means Fenspace is no longer viewed as the anarchic no–man's–land beyond the frontier where only complete nutters would go, it may be still a bit wild–westy but it's definitely a civilized place now. Also, by this time Fenspace has living space for rent, jobs to be filled and you can even buy regular commercial flights there (Swissair if I recall correctly). All in all, a recipe for a big immigration boom, especially if the first world's economy is still stagnating in the aftermath of the financial crisis (did that even happen in Fenspace? If not, why?). First contact happens in 2024, that's ten years for Fenspace to grow. Not very long, but quite enough if the economy is booming, especially given the miraculous properties of handwavium.

Briefly decribed in the now-locked thread, but doomboner free. I'll copy the previous bits here someday, but one of the things I want to remember to put in Borealis is a Wizards' Tower, which will house Odds End Gubbins & Bob's from the old not-quite-complete Guide to Fenspace arghticle. (the top of Horizont Alley is Evens End) The Pernie with mechadragon and the Escaflowne-r will also be residents, for the dragon/castles bit, and a YF-25 w/Macross: The Ride "Paladin Pack" lance equipped FAST.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

a few ideas/thoughts that have been bouncing around my head, that I wanted to put down before I forgot them/get deistracted (agan).
- Sometime between SOS-Con and the halfway through the Boskone War, B.5 manage to make weaponized lasers.  Haven't decided when, and I'm not too worried about them being 'first' (a close second or third is fine, since I'm sure many groups were attempting the same, and the War would have added motivation).
- In my write up for "Riding the Wave" I mentioned B.5 getting a defensive upgrade.  Part of that was adding a mess of point defence and offensive gun all over the hull, plus retractable sheilding for some of the more vulnerable spots.  Another was the creation of the Minifuries, 1/4 scale Starfury space fighters from the Babylon 5 series.  Each Minifury is 'piloted' by a non-sapient AI (more like a high grade videogame AI).  Like their sourcematerial, they are highly manuverable, and have an Accelleration based drive system.
One of their quirks is that they don't like travelling too far from B.5, unless assigned as escort to a person/craft, in which case then tend to stay close to their 'principle'.  Basicly, 'too far' means being beyond (human) eyesight.
- At the same time, the Starhawk also underwent a wartime upgrade, the gunturrents were upgraded, the passenger cabins under the cockpit were ripped out and replaced by a large laser cannon, along with a dedicated powersource and capacitor banks (fires a powerful beam for about a second, then takes several seconds to recharge), attachment points for 4 Minifuries, and armor plating (which did slow the ship down some, but the Crew were planing to act as an assault transport, so durability was more important).  After the war the cannon was converted back to passenger cabins and the armor plating was removed.
- and now a silly thought; a business of some sort named after the founders, who have the surnames of Wright and Wong. 8P
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

 
I got the inspiration for this small faction when Ace detailed Kickassia, and with the latest discussion about the future in fenspace I decided to flesh it further. I was originally going to create original club members, but then I realized that the Open Characters are there for something, so most of the named members are open characters (despite how unlikely the idea of, say, a french supermodel would want to be skulking around in secret conspiracies somewhere in Jupiter)

The Hellfire Club

The Hellfire Club is a secret organization -nothing is known about this group, except the fact that they uncovered a dangerous boskonian infiltration in the Marduk shipyards, sending word to Great Justice. This was the first time the name of the organization was made public -and the last.

But rumors of their involvement all over Luna, Cislunar space, and even Venus, Mars and ocasionally beyond, are plenty, and always present in any fen with conspiracy inclinations. They control the water trade in Venus, they secretly rule Marduk, tthey have infiltrated the Space Patrol, hey order around fen criminal gangs for their own interests. The list is almost endless, and often contradicting.

Any fen worth their name, of course, knows the origin of the name, so the one rumor that is said so often to be considered truth is the organization, with the members taking the names of chess pieces -16 members in the inner circle, and a seemingly endless number of Pawns (most of whom do not even known they are pawns). The colors of the pieces -Red, White or Black- are a matter of spirited debate in the bianual Conspiracy Convention at Marduk city.

Even more loudly debated in forums and the convention are the names of the members -given the original involvement of the Club in Marduk city, Vykos, with his white clothes, is often considered a shoe in as the White King, but others thing it is just too evident (unless that's what he wants you to think). Most BNF have found themselves placed as this or that member over the years, though of course Mal Fnord has always topped the list as possible Red King.

The Truth

In 2008, Michael Weston was one more college student in California, who spent his free time geeking over comic books and D&D campaigns, with a group of friends. Like many other geeks, he had all the marking to bug of out the old dirt ball and become a fen (well, that or go formal, find an accounting job and suburb home, but in fenspace we do not talk about those people).

One thing than set him apart from other fen was one of his internet contacts, a social worker named Tanith Curtis, which had build an internet friendship due to shared interests -and being born in the same town.

When Tanith, whom Michael considered a serious (if nice) woman, suddenly packed up and mover to the moon, he had a revelation. He gathered his gaming group, and they began to plan they super space station.

Their skills were, maybe, not up to the task, but there was nothing wrong with their imagination. The huge prank than would eventually become Kickassia Station was born, an amazing floating luxury manor in the sky for millionaires. Who cared if it was simply an outer shell with a few hovering drives? It was home, and cool.

Tanith found her friend's babbling about the prank cute, but that was when she was far away. After her first visit she was horrified about the suicidal danger the station posed to their inhabitants; two weeks after her visit, Oscar Vykos had appeared with a couple of construction droids and a building guide.

The Federation had helped Oscar when he first came to fenspace, a penniless explored with a badly designed ship, asking for no reward. Since then, Oscar had vowed to offer help to new fen who needed it, so when he discovered a group of girls trying to build a moon kingdom a few miles north of his home, he did not hesitate to lent then several temporary habitats, offering gossip and building tips as needed; he earned several lifelong friendships then.

So when one of his friends came ranting about insane stunts in L5, he was happy to lend a hand, and a couple old droids than weren't in use right then (there almost certainly is no truth in the rumor than Tanith has several blackmail photos about Vykos, a lost bet and pink flower dresses).

The year 2009 was a busy time in Kickassia, as they rebuild (rather, they built) the interior of the station. Michael and his group visited fenspace, geeked out with the super city of Kandor, made new friends, and in general joined the fen nation. Some of those friends had risen to high places indeed -Vykos had turned Genesis Construction into a mayor company, Hélène Aronnax became an international supermodel... and Tanith was now known as Her Royal Majesty, Queen Serenity the First.

Kickassia hosted a Christmas party that year, to celebrate the completion of the station, and the success of the prank; their closest friend were invited. Once the party had gone for long, and the eggnog and sugar had time to act, discussion mover to politics, handwavium, and their nature. Most of the guests agreed that handwavium thrives in imagination and dreams, and that's why 'danes were worse at it.

The next day the party broke up and everyone returned to their homes, but Michael kept thinkign about the debate on hanwavium and dreams. What would happen if the Factions grew up, matured and turned into normal nations? He kept coming back to this problem, so three months after the part, he summoned back his friends to a secret reunion.

That reunion went form a few hours to two days, and then a week, while Michael, which had woken up a newfound passion, convinced then to the danger. The group decided that the best path was to make sure that there were as much small factions as possible -but that was not enough. Fendanes, and eventually everybody back on earth, had to awaken their dreams -in short, everybody should eventually become fen.

The Dream Makers were born -fortunately, that horrid name only lasted the few minutes before someone joked that with Serenity present, they had their own White Queen, so they were renamed by acclamation the Hellfire Club. Kickassia Station is their (secret) base.

Goals

The Hellfire Club goals are to make sure fen, and humans in general, keep realizing their dreams, no matter how strange. Their eventual goal, should it be possible, is to turn everybody into fen, but for the moment they concentrate in 'danes living in space.

They do this by making sure there are as many factions as possible, so everybody can find their own place. They have sworn to help young factions withing their possibilities -but it is of note than this does not mean they are always altruistic; Oscar Vykos has made a fortune building (even if cheap, it's not free) habitats, Esposito has built a net of contacts (which he loves offering Deals They Can't Refuse), Michael himself has created a transport company.

But even thay they will always be on the lookout for new factions, ready to lend a hand -no matter the faction, if they will abide to the Convention, then they will help it (this is why, hidden in the deepest level of the Genesis Zigurrat, behind seven sealed doors, lies a set of templates and implants than would help a sentient pony to fly, manipulate objects, or trwo pretty lights. Osacr prays then he never will have to open the vault)

Despite the dark rumors -most of which are started by then- they try to remain firmly on the side of the law, and Great Justice has (mostly) full access to their dealings -one the OF-7 troubleshooters is a member, and he makes regular report to everything the Club discovers and he thinks his superiors need to know.

The Club is actually a firm defender of Great Justice and the Space Patrol: They know than by encouraging small factions, fenspace risks splintering, so they support interfaction groups than help unity.

Organization and Members:

The had adopted the chess names of the marvel Hellfire Club, though there is no actual leader, and all members are equal. There are White and Black pieces, and, despite rumors, no pawns; should they ever grow over 16 members, they will pick a new color, like red, and start a new “court”.

Members:

Black King: Michael Weston

Black Queen: Hélène Aronnax

Black Bishop: Anthony Esposito

Balck Knight: Kalyn Telana

Black Bishop: Tiamat Vykos

White King: Oscar Vykos

White Queen: Tanith Curtis (Serenity I)

White Rook: Erin Simmah

White Knight: Arthur Nkomo

There are seven unnamed spots -a few of then are filled by Michael's gaming club, which helped build Kickassia and are now members of other factions, like the Supers or the Federation, and a few of then empty for future members; those spots are left blank for future needs, like other background details (like how a french Monster of the Black Lagoon girl ended up joining a bunch of californians); those details may be filled in stories, or completed by another author.

Yes, it's nearly two months away, but some folks might want to prepare for it:

http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek]Banned Books Week is September 30-October 6 this year. Get a banned book (there's a list on the website) and read it! And do that again during the week!
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Something that occurred to me as I mused on the number of fans making their own Iron Man costumes and how things would end up in a world with the wave.
This is open to anyone to fiddle with. I have no plans for the Iron Fen,
but felt the current large Iron Man fandom needed representation.
The Iron Fen

The
Iron Fen aren’t a faction of their own, rather they are a large bloc
within the Supers. Composed of fans of Iron Man, and mostly inspired by
the representation from the 2008 Iron Man movie, the Iron Fen are
unified in that they have all built their own functioning Iron Man
armor.

Most Iron Fen work with or for S.H.I.E.L.D., splitting time between
active operations and technology research with Q Branch.

The
Iron Fen are as a majority baseline humans under their armor. A
minority have various cybernetic based mods, mostly with the purpose of
interfacing with their particular armor. This can set them apart from
most Supers and their pro-biomod mindset.

While
movie inspired suits are the most visible of the Iron Fen, due to the
nature of the fandom, there is a wide range of Iron Man armors suits
among the Iron Fen. It is not unusual to see armors inspired by War
Machine, Hulkbuster armor, or even original MkI grey armor.
Repeated
attempts of creating repulsor technology has been mixed. While
repulsors used for flight and stabilization seems to be well within the
wave’s capabilities, the no weapon policy has frustrated many Iron Fen.
The best result yet is a beam that upon contact with a living person
will give them a shove, enough to be move someone back or knock them off
their feet, but little more.

The beam, cups, and chains of these once fine scales are made of deeply tarnished silver, and though of precisely equal weight if measured separately one pan always hangs lower than the other when empty. When the same substance is placed in both pans, the quantities are automatically adjusted until they are level, with the 'more' pan holding twice as much as the lesser. The true horror however is that tokens prepared with the symbol of a particular trait, such as strength, endurance, or wit, and a drop of
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows