Table of Contents
Rules
This is an overview of the current rules.
Setting
Notes on several setting topics are gathered on this page. Most of these offer direct insight into the setting, and give guidelines for both players and storytellers on how we view the setting.
World Requirements
We encourage every player to make up their own world, with their own races and original characters. If you want something that is not in the rules, we will try to find ways to help you make the race, world and characters you like.
We have some guidelines about worlds which should help you make sure the world will fit in with the rest of them. These guidelines are not set in stone, but if you go outside of them, please check with a Storyteller first to see how we can make it work.
You can play the game at different levels of participation. Next to the overall requirements We distinguish five levels of participation:
- Protectorate - If you only want to roleplay
- Minor World - If you want to roleplay and have a vote
- Inner World - If you want to roleplay, have a vote, and run an economy
- Core World - As an inner world, but in the cabinet (you can not start as a Core World)
- Fringe World - An inactive world
The sixth level of participation is only necessary to have a status before the player is ready to play. This level is only used to indicate that the world is being judged for entry into the Union.
Sovereignty
If a faction is the only faction with a System in a sector, that faction is said to have sovereignty in that sector.
If a faction has sovereignty in a sector they can do the following things:
- Block the use of any non-combat object in the sector. This includes blocking the use of holonet relay stations, hyperspace lanes, etc. The owner of said object still has to pay upkeep.
- Block the construction of any object in their sector. This includes blocking the construction of holonet relay stations, outposts, space habitats, the scanning of outpost sites, etc.
- Block the passing of any non-combat object through the sector. This includes blocking trade fleets, survey fleets, etc.
If multiple faction have a system in a sector or if factions share a system, the construction, passage and use can only be blocked if all factions block it. This means that multiple worlds might want to come to an agreement on how to handle such things.
Jedi
A Jedi is a member of the Jedi Order, who studies, serves and uses the mystical energies of the light side of the Force. A Jedi Character has access to Force Powers, which makes them stronger and better at most things than non-Force users and even allows them to break commonly accepted laws of physics. While the term Jedi is technically only true for those force users associated with the Jedi Order, the rules use this term interchangeably with Force User.
Besides a name and race and other common bio information, Jedi Characters have some basic statistics shared by all. These are:
Races
A Race is a subgroup of a species with similar characteristics. In the context of the game, a race is a group of individuals that shares the same set of Racial Characteristics. Each race has three such Racial Characteristics, with the exception of races subjected to the Augmented Species Special, which grants some of the population a fourth Racial Characteristic.
System Creation and Improvement
System Creation
This page describes the rules and requirements for new System. A system is created by spending 50 
, 100 
, 200 
and 5 
.
- Use to buy Specials
- Finish the system by placing the starting zones and population.
Population
Population ( 
) is the number of sentient beings in your system. While building a system each player gets 2 billion sentient beings free of charge, and additional population can be purchased for 1 bio-mass per 0.1 billion people. The Population may be composed of a single race or of multiple races at the players discretion. Each world keeps track of its population of each race separately. Each player may assign population to different worlds at system creation and you get 2.0 for free during this stage.
Racial Characteristics
Each race has three racial characteristics, chosen from the list below. You may choose each characteristic only once. Racial bonuses on planets usually apply only to worlds with at least 1.0 inhabitants and only once per full . Smaller worlds and fractions do not grant benefits.
You cannot change your racial bonuses once they have been selected, though you may attract population of other races as immigrants. Additionally, you are not bound by the examples or by choices made by other players - you can make your own racial variations if you wish.
Economics
Economics
The Economic System comprises the production, modification and sale of products. Certain sets of products can be exchanged for taxes, which in turn can be used to purchase things. Both goods and taxes are transient and represent flow rather than actual objects: all raw materials not used to make products are lost and all products not used to generate taxes are lost as well. Taxes not used by the end of the turn are lost.
- Taxes (
)
Trade
Trade represent the flow of goods between different systems. Since not everyone can be the best at producing everything, trade is a good way to get rid of your excess goods, earn more tax and find what you need. Trade is done through the Trade Fleets, the Holonet Relay Stations and the Open Market.
Open Market
Besides direct trade between worlds, it is also possible to trade with the Open Market. Trade with the Open Market represents trade with independent minor worlds, civilian organisations and any number of other groups and individuals.
As a general rule, the open market offers worse conditions than producing your own goods, or trading with other players. This is intentional. The Open Market helps to overcome unbalanced production and help players get temporary access to goods they need until they can set up a better arrangement - it is not intended as a replacement for regular exchanges.
See Trading with the Open Market for the rules regarding the actual goods transfer. This page explains how the Open Market determines what you have to pay, or how tax you get for selling goods.
Power
Zones require power ( 
) to operate. So long as zones have power, they function normally. When there is no longer sufficient power, Brownouts would result, which is harmful to equipment so instead, localized Blackouts are created. This means in effect that zones for which there is not enough power will not function.
Zones require 10 to operate (even power zones require this). Additionally, every 0.1 people require 1 (so if the total population is 5.0 , they would require 50 ).
Power is calculated on a per orbit basis. That means planets, moons, and asteroids in the same orbit all share in the same power supply. Population costs are paid on their orbital location in the system.
Piracy
Piracy occurs everywhere in the galaxy, and is one of the symptoms of the Times of Chaos. For the purpose of the rules we model piracy as a deterent on facilities and systems in a sector. While pirate activities and daring vary from location to location, we model only two levels of piracy: Piracy and No Piracy. This doesn't mean that any sector without Piracy is suddenly devoid of pirates. They're still there, but not active and daring anough to hinder the galactic economy. A sector with Piracy sees pirate activity, daring and organisation of a high enough level to actually damage the galactic economy.
Friction
When the income of an economy grows very large a part of the income is lost without being useful. Taxes lost in this way are called friction. Friction models the fact that, when a faction has large amounts of spendable tax, internal friction starts eating away at this amount. Where these taxes go depend on the culture of the faction, but it invariable disappears.
As some examples, think about increased bureaucratic councils for Socialist Republic of Niom, lavish feasts and large estates for the nobles of the Veolian Commonwealth, or extremely high bonusses for the upper echelons of all Praetorian Empire corporate boards, etc.
Extra Options
Influence Points
Besides getting economic benefits, factions who participate in the intergalactic community can gather influence. Influence represents soft power, or the ability to attract and co-opt without using force of finances as a means of persuasion.
Influence is represented by 
Influence Points, which function similar to 
Experience: it is acquired by roleplay, saved up over time and spent to gain certain advantages. Influence differs from experience in that it is acquired by member worlds rather than Jedi and is spent on different things.
Minor Worlds, Inner Worlds and Core Worlds can all gather IP. Fringe Worlds and Protectorates cannot gather or spend IP, as they do not participate in the political arena. They do however retain any they acquired before or afterwards. Worlds cannot give or trade their to other worlds.
Technologies
Technologies break or bend the regular rules in specific ways, allowing you to create zones that are more productive than regular zones, start special projects not available to most factions or gain special advantages.
Special Projects
Special Projects are player created idea's to modify their system or break the regular game rules in new and interesting ways. Examples of Special Projects include Planetary Shielding, a Dyson Cloud or the Star Forge.
The first step in creating a Special Project is to research them. This has a set cost in and time, identical to other Technologies. Once developed, the Special Project must be paid for in resources. For example, a project might cost 2000 
and 1000 
. You may pay this cost over multiple turns.
The exact rules and cost of Special Projects should be discussed with a Storyteller. Once established, other players will be able to research and construct the same Special Project.
Terraformation
Terraforming of a planet, moon, or other body is the process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be habitable by terrestrial organisms.
Terraformation requires technology, for initiation research and 
for the actual terraformation.
Colonization
As a nation grows, so does its hunger for resources. As such, they seek to expand beyond the borders of their system. Such plans are not to be undertaken lightly as only the strongest economies can bear the cost of such operations.
To start colonization, you first need to scan to find a proper site to colonize. Next, you'll need to set up a base there, which can subsequently grow into a full colony.
Military
If diplomacy fails, it might be necessary to turn to violence.
Worlds can defend themselves by being developed, by constructing Planetary Defence Zones, and by maintaining Defence Forces.
Military Fleets and Armies serve a more offensive role, and can be used to blockade trade routes and attack worlds.
Union Budget
[ Union Rules ]
This page describes the rules with regard to the Union budget when PCs are ministers or the chancellor. While some of these things could be defined IC with a Law, they are currently a Rule for simplicity.
Other Rules
Completions
A completion is the final payment or investment in a project. Whether this payment is pure , special goods like 
or , or even normal products like 
or 
doesn't matter. Once a project is completed it will provide its benefits starting next 
.
Your faction is limited in the things it can do at once. This is expressed as the 'completion limit'. There are different types of projects, and each has its own rules with regard to how many completions you can have.
Sector Capacity
Space is really empty. Unfortunately, not all space can be used in an economical fashion. The amount of usable real estate in a sector is limited. These rules explain how space is limited, and how to calculate how much real estate is still left.
We take into account two seperate measures: realspace and hyperspace. Realspace is the amount of normal space available for economic usage, and hyperspace is the amount of hyperspace available. Hyperspace is used both by ships flying through it, and by transmissions made through it.
Orbital Capacity
The amount of spots in a system where orbital projects can be deployed is limited. To represent this, each orbit has a certain amount of orbital capacity. The amount is determined by several factors, and (system wide) projects use up this capacity.
Normally, simple projects (such as the Planetary Defence Grid) take up a single orbital capacity, while system-wide projects (such as the Lagrange Point Conduit Stations) take up a point of orbital capacity in every planetary orbit. Of course, projects can have different specifics.
Locations
In the IC forums, you can choose a location for your post. Common locations can be selected from a list. Topics will automatically be marked with the actual location name once you post. If your chosen location is not in the list (this can happen especially for uncommon locations), please use [ LOCATION NAME ] at the start of your topic title and select 'None' as a location.
As a general rule, locations are somewhat broad - so for example a location might be a planet, rather than an individual building. Exception is Union, since its a rather busy place with lots of roleplay.
Anyone with access to the roleplay location may enter a RP scene and contribute or even just roleplay in the same general area. When entering a scene, please make a post to enter your character, rather then just hopping into the discussion. The exception here is the main Senate Hall, where public discussions take place at all hours and any Senator can enter and leave at their leisure.
Union Rules
This page describes exceptions to the normal rules that are in effect for Union. Because the Union is a superpower, some things work a bit differently. Such differences are usually explained with superpower technologies, though we do not detail them.