BEYOND: Proposal

STAR FLEET: BEYOND Concept and Outline

First Draft

Credits

This concept was largely developed by Marco Mueller, with help from Jeffrey Jenkins, Ed Bell and Scott Lusby.

Concept

Theme

The setting that is ambivalent. The Federation still presents a monolithic political structure on the outside and still explores new worlds and new civilizations with zest. On the other hand the UFP seems to have reached the limits of IDIC. Too many too different members create friction. Perhaps too much friction for the Federation to handle in the on run. Extremists - some of them wearing Starfleet uniforms - already whisper the word secession.

Settings

The main setting is the galaxy M81 aka Messier 81 or Bode´s Galaxy or as the "Shiny B".

Save for a space station that guards the Tholian wormhole (TROY STATION), a nearby colony world (Bode´s Needle) and a few superficial cartography missions M81 is a big question mark. Starfleet is just beginning to take the first baby steps into the great unknown.

The Tone

In the real world, things go in cycles: theories dominate, fade into the background, and then resurface again, sometimes under a different name...but the cyclical nature is apparent. So goes the Federation and, by extension, Starfleet, vacillating between dovish and hawkish elements.

In PRIME, we have a Starfleet that has become a defensive cooperative first and an exploration arm second; this is appropriate for the time, as it was a turbulent time. In ORIGINS, we find a less-militaristic Starfleet...but, after the destruction of Vulcan, the Hawks find a foothold...and begin tipping the balance in the direction of PRIME.

In BEYOND, we find that the tone has again shifted, back towards a more purely-explorative and diplomatic arm. The primary focus is on exploration and first contact once again, and less on defense. The makeup of everything in BEYOND will reflect this: the billets of the crew, the makeup and technology of the ships, and the very missions in which the players participate.

Major Players

MILKY WAY

Federation

As the Federation pushes its borders further and further even into other galaxies the huge UFP becomes perhaps too big for it's own good. Rough-and-tumble frontier people have little use for the refined and often lethargic core worlders. To many Federation member worlds the founding members and their history is merely a myth. Before long the greatest and most successful experiment in political and economic utopia may break apart.

Ferengi

Part of the Federation now, have lost much of their economic "ears" in the last few centuries

Orions

Still fiercely independent and with the Ferengi being good citizens now the Orions are once again the cutthroat merchants of the Milky Way and beyond

Klingons

Sccording to treaty, Klingons are a part of the Federation...but perhaps this is part of the 'internal strife' the Federation is dealing with. The drums of secession beat loudly here...

Romulans

Just a shadow of their former might the Romulan Empire is now reduced a few dozen Star Systems precipitated by the destruction of Romulus in 2379. Weakened by the loss of its home planet and central base of power, the Star Empire became a target of opportunity for their most dangerous of neighbors (the Klingons) as well as opportunists from within. All of this strife succeeded only in weakening the Empire, eventually coalescing into what it is today. Technically listed as a Federation "Protectorate."

Gorn

The Gorn nation finally unified under a single banner- the Hegemony. Then, re-asserting their aggressiveness, they fought a series of battles against the Klingons, more or less to a draw (likely due to the Klingons' split focus between pouncing on the Romulans and defending themselves against the Gorn.) Eventually, the Gorn came to peace under the rising tide of the Federation, and today the Gorn are a member of the Federation.

Dominion

Maintained a politic of complete isolation for centuries at the behest of the Founders.

Borg

Largely destroyed by Captain Janeway's destruction of the Borg Queen in 2378. All that is really left of the Borg- aside form a few isolated pockets of independent drone colonies- is a portion of their transwarp conduit system.

Tholians

Have vanished from the Milky Way. What remains of them is a scattered Dyson sphere and a wormhole that leads to their original home galaxy M81

ANDROMEDA

One of the frontiers ASR: BEYOND proposes to let players develop.

MAGELLANIC CLOUDS

Another of the frontiers open to ASR: BEYOND players.

GALAXY M81 (NGC 3031) aka Bode´s Galaxy or the "Shiny B"

Locations

Bode´s Needle

The first class M-world colonized in the galaxy M81, named for the astronomer Johann Elert Bode and for its most remarkable landmark, a fifteen kilometers tall needle-shaped mountain.

The Needle's Thread

A string of super-hot stellar matter left over from an exploded star, filled with plasma storms and gravitational anomalies, much alike the Badlands in the Milky Way. Due to its string-like appearance and it's length of approximately 54 light years it is compared to the ancient textile measurement. It is visible with the naked eye from the surface of Bode´s Needle.

Races

Some of this will be player-created...and some of this will be a surprise.

Units

TROY STATION (NPC space station)

The guardian of the wormhole in M81. Like its counterpart ITHACA STATION in the Milky Way, TROY was assembled from fragments of the Tholian Dyson Sphere. It is almost purely a Starfleet installation with a small trading post attached that caters to the needs of the colonists on Bode´s Needle. It is a Western Fort in space, the last outpost before the wilderness. The station is guarded by two light cruisers and a couple of combat shuttles named after Trojan heroes.

Proposed motto: "Illium fuit, Troja est" (Troy was, Troy is)

USS ODYSSEY (PC unit)

First of the new ODYSSEY starships, the ODYSSEY is an exploration vessel, proud descendant of the famous GALAXY class starships. Under the command of the Medusan Captain Vertinax the USS ODYSSEY came to Bodes Galaxy to do what Starfleet had been doing for centuries - to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations.

Proposed motto: "To Search The Stars Is To Search Ourselves"

Billet Descriptions

NOTE: only changes from ASR Prime billets are mentioned here

CO and XO

Mostly unchanged regarding responsibilities and role-playing functions. A subtle shift is occurring from military to exploration though. You find more cross-trained scientists in the center chair now than 350 years ago.

OPS

Also mostly unchanged except that a good OPS might want to take additional computer classes in 2771.

CMO/MED

The Chief Medical Officer or Chief Surgeon is still a jack-of-all-trades with a strong focus on emergency medicine and surgery. The CMO is supported by a staff of specialists, both organic and holographic, who sacrifice versatility for in depth knowledge of a certain medical fields.

COU

The counselor of the 24th century still exists but the department now branches into more specific areas as well. In an age where semi-organic computers are toeing the line to true sentience, the Computo-Psychologist combines the skills of a programmer with those of a psychologist to understand the increasingly complex thought processes of the ships computer and of artificial intelligence in general. Aside from being psychologists the First Contact Specialists are extensively cross-trained in cultural and linguistic skills. They accompany away teams whenever contact with a new intelligent life form seems likely. Many First Contact Specialists belong to races with empathic or telepathic abilities.

TAC/SEC department

This department too has undergone several changes in the last few centuries. Duties formerly carried out by the Marines have been reintegrated again into TAC/SEC where they originally started out almost 600 years ago. Marines are no longer part of a 28th century Starfleet crew.

TAC/SEC also handles damage control procedures (working in conjunction with engineering) and rescue missions. Holographic security details are available for emergencies and basic grunt work but wherever original thinking is required the department still relies on real organic members to get the job done, proving every day that mindless drones and combat monsters are not the backbone of TAC/SEC.

ENG

Although very little remains of the blue-collar roots of the engineering profession the members of this department still wear "engineer" on their sleeve with pride. The QuanDim Drive specialist needs to be an excellent physicist and mathematician as well as a skilled mechanic. As computer grow more sophisticated almost by the hour, more and more members of the Binar species can be found in the main computer cores of starships.

Treknology

Uniforms

The basic uniform is a gray pants & long sleeved shirt combination with broad color bars along the sleeves, shoulders and collar to indicate department. The com badge is still worn on the left side of the chest with rank insignia displayed on the collar and the sleeve.

Departmental colors:

Gold - Command
Silver - Operations
Sky Blue - Medical and Counseling
Royal Blue - Sciences
Maroon - Tactical and Security
Orange - Engineering

Boots are black and run two-thirds up the shin.

Uniform belts are black too with a pale golden oval buckle. Depending on their Captain many officer dispense with the belt shipside until they are assigned to away team duty. On the other hand, many doctors and engineers are known to carry a belt pouch with basic equipment at all times.

Propulsion

By the year 2771 the Federation is capable of creating stable artificial wormholes monitored from a space station and powered by the energy and gravitational fields of local stars.

Engines

QuanDim drive (using the higher dimensions of quantum physics) for interstellar travel and wormholes for travel between galaxies.

At maximum QD warp it would take 72 days to travel between the Milky Way and M81.

Transporters

The principle behind transporter technology stayed pretty much the same but range and reliability increased and the process of dematerialization and rematerialization is almost instantaneously now.

Starships can be moved over a certain distance via huge transporters. However, these transporter gates draw considerable amounts of energy from local stars and the long-tem effects of this practice may not be fully understood yet.

Replicators

The replicators are now so efficient that even large-scale replicator projects are possible and economic. In the Milky Way galaxy replicated gold-pressed latinum (in other words counterfeit money) is the latest vogue among the criminals so many economists and soldiers-of-fortune have set their sights at M81 for something that resists replication to serve as the latinum of the dawning 29th century.

Terra-Forming

Still a profession for hard-headed and hard-nosed individualists, only that it works much faster now. You can actually hire companies (provided you have enough latinum to spare) to terraform a planet or a part thereof for you.

Holo technology

Holo projectors can now be found everywhere on the ship, effectively turning every given section or personal quarter into a holodeck that can be changed according to specific needs. Since computer capacity is still a concern, the "scenarios" available are limited. In public areas the computer is programmed to simulate holographic emergency sickbays or to create holo-security and holographic damage control details as needed. Officers quarters can usually be changed around by selecting from a range of possible interiors.

Computers

A vastly advanced version of bio-neural networks and positronic matrixes created computers that can truly be called artificial intelligence. It is common practice now that the ships represent themselves not only by a well-modulated voice but also by a holographic avatar that holds a rank and position in Starfleet

Phasers

It's basically the same old versatile particle beam of old but with greater power and longer range, and capable of multiple settings (beam or pulse) and frequencies. The effective range of the phaser is more an issue of targetting and lag to target. A phaser is subluminal and can't be steared. Therefor, it isn't useful at much more than half a light second even in the 28th century.

Quantum MDM Flux Torpedo

Quantum MDM Flux Torpedo is an enhanced version of the venerable matter-antimatter torpedo. It created a directed energy pulse which overloads systems and can, at close impact range destroy hull material. As with any antimatter weapon, direct hull contact is catastrophic. The quantum MDM system is a multi-drive module that allows the flux torpedo to phase into quantum drive and skip back into normal space on its way to its target. This greatly increases the range of the weapon and makes intercepting it with counter-missile systems considerably harder. The most advanted version of the Quantum MDM system contains three drive modules, each with a maximum endurance of 50 million km. Effective engagement range against a shielded target is 500,000 kmA torpedo that creates a strictly localized and short-lived black hole at the point of detonation. During it's existence the black hole violently compresses all matter in its vicinity.

Diffusive armor

Diffusive armor is a layer of organic superconducting fibers grown into the nanomolecular structure of the outer hull that distribute the energy of incoming attacks over a larger area of the hull where it an be more safely disipated. Direct hits can still overload the armor and damage the superconducting fibers. They fibers can heal after damage if fed proper mineral componenets and energy. Their healing is enhanced by shipboard nano-repair drones.

Shields

The enhanced deflector system is actually a network of three systems. The first is a traditional gravitic shield that diffuses incoming energy and can even bend directed energy weapons so that they miss the hull entirely. The second layer is a cloud of nano-sattelites that ablate the effect of incoming weapons fire by absorbing the energy into themselves, destroying the individual sattelites which can be rapidly replenished from ship stores. The final level of the deflector system is an electromagentic field which works in concert with the diffusive armor to expand any energy that reaches it over a larger area of the hull.

Medical Equipment

Complete organ and tissue regeneration - except for a small percentage of the population that does not accept regens. Otherwise prosthetics have been completely replaced by actually regrown organs and tissues. That includes the heart and the spine/nervous system with the brain still being the only organ that defies regrowth.

Diseases and Medication

to be decided as we go

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