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-INTRODUCTION-
“We men are wretched things.” - Homer, the Illiad
In the year 2026, life on Earth officially ended in a violent nuclear holocaust. The reason why this happened is lost to time. All we can say is that we screwed up. We screwed up pretty bad to missile ourselves out of existence. This appeared to be the end of our miserable existence, but lo and behold, the Better Living Infinity project had started but six years before this cataclysmic event. Six hundred thousand people had already colonized the large network of space stations that were the Inner Sanctum. But humanity was still not safe from itself, even in space...
Years passed, and the founding stations gradually grew in population, size, and industry. It seemed in those fifty years after mankind's exodus from that blighted planet, that at least one good thing had come of all that death: the end of war. Yes, it was a period of peace, a sort of pax romana for the space age. It was a time not unlike the years after WW1 and 2, only lasting longer. But end it did, and it did not end prettily.
The first war in the Inner Sanctum started, as do most wars, over resources. The two belligerents were Infinity Hill and its sister station Chrome Falls, over the succession to the BLI Corporation CEOship, and all its assets. The conflict was drawn-out and bloody, they had fought each other to a standstill. A truce was eventually declared, one of the terms of which was that the ruler of Infinity Hill's daughter , a young raven-haired beauty known as Dianneus, would be married off to the ruler of Chrome Falls. And thus, a new period of peace was born.
But it too would not last. The people of Chrome Falls had, over time, had come to use collected Mutant PoWs as slaves. One of these mutants, a particularly educated specimen from The Chapel, had come to serve in Ceo-Emperor Agoston of Chrome Falls's court as an advisor. He had numerous interactions with Dianneus, and through tales of his fortunes in war he seduced her. One day, they snuck out of the station on a top-of-the-line ship. When Agoston discovered where the mutant and his bride had fled, the declaration of war was swift to follow. Now the collected forces and allies of Infinity Hill and Chrome Falls move swiftly through space, all to insure the safe return of Dianneus, or the destruction of The Chapel with her.
And here you are. You live on this inter-connected series of stations, trying to make sure you don't die to the horrors of space. What you'll make of this is up to you. Try not to die to the space whales.
-GOVERNMENTS OF THE INNER SANCTUM-
"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." -Benjamin Franklin
In spite of the Better Living Infinity project's motto of international co-operation, mankind brought its predjudices from earth with it. Barely had the last refugee from earth set foot in a space station, when alliances were brokered, plans formed, and lines drawn in the dirt. Those stations of the same nationalities clustered and grew together. These three mega-stations eventually became known as "The Founders". They are not the only space stations, but they are the most powerful, both in the internal politics of the Infinity stations, but also in sheer size and technological strength.
Phobos (Neutral)(Founder)
The secluded inhabitants of this station seem to have access to incredibly advanced technology, with high degrees of automated machinery. Rarely does one see these people, and when one does they are always fully attired in hazmat suits and masks. They seem to want as little to do with the outside world as possible, as their main industry (ship repair) is also completely streamlined to allow for as little interaction as possible with men and women operating the repair drones. The cantinas are manned by robots. These strange mannerisms and stranger mechanical contrivances has given rise to the theory that they are actually beings from another solar system or robots, or something equally as far-fetched.
They have occasionally been known to intervene in major wars, though their exact reasons for doing so are not usually known. They have chosen to remain neutral (so far) in this one, and people from both sides have been known to frequent the robot-operated bars as a safe haven.
Infinity Hill (BLI Remnants)(Founder)
The two stations that comprise the last bits of power the BLI corporation has have historically shared many similarities in governmental structure and economic focus: both were ruled by a board of directors lead by a CEO, both wished to dominate inter-stational trade. Both also, for a time fought each other over corporate succession. It was first along the lines of Infinity Hill and Chrome Falls that wars were fought in the Inner Sanctum. Long after their allies had deserted them, these two were still fighting. When the dust finally settled, they agreed that the BLI corporation would be jointly administered by the rulers of both nations, with the former board of directors of the two consolidated to form a mega-conglomerate.
Infinity Hill is the larger and older of the two stations, with slightly more weapons platforms. Its primary industry is manufacturing.
Infinity Hill and Chrome Falls are joint allies in a war against The Chapel.
Chrome Falls (BLI Remnants)(Founder)
The breadbasket of the Inner Sanctum. It has a higher population of the two stations. Chrome Falls provides the food and men, Infinity Hill the guns and ships. The two are now jointly admnistered by the CEO-Emperor Agoston, formerly just ruler of Chrome Falls.
Infinity Hill and Chrome Falls are joint allies in a war against The Chapel.
The Chapel (Church of the Dark God)(Descendent)
The god that the people of The Chapel worship goes by many names: Darwinian, the True Nous of the World, and most commonly Psyche-Antaeus. Nothing that this cold and uncaring deity is called is unwarranted, each name is justly earned and describes him perfectly in one aspect or the other. It is an enigma, nobody knows from whence it came and about its life before its ascension to godhood. All that is known by outsiders is that it changes its followers in odd ways, first mentally, then physically. These physical abberations can take diverse forms: Extra eyes, limbs, legs, glowing skin, shortness, tallness. Any and all changes in physiology you can think of, all made at the discretion of an incredibly intelligent and malignant lifeform. At the end of this "Evolutionary" process, the mutant is pretty much unrecognizable as the human it once was. It culminates into a full assimilation with the mind and body of Psyche-Antaeus. But whatever its true intentions are, it cares for its followers. The Chapel may not be a land of milk and honey, but it is a better place to live than many space stations.
They are currently under siege by the BLI Remnants.
Deimos (Neutral) (Unknown)
Though its exact origins are unknown, it is readily apparent that that Deimos is different from the stations of the Inner Sanctum. For one, unlike the other stations, it orbits the sun seperately, free of connections. It's also colossal, larger by several orders of magnitude than Chrome Falls. These two things alone would not have made it the the dreaded figure it is. What truly makes Deimos feared is the periodic raids its inhabitants make on the stations of the Inner Sanctum. Deimos orbits the sun oddly (not unlike pluto, but with crossing shorter distances) and every five years it crosses the the line of stations circling the sun. The inhabitants, decked out in curiously spiral-patterned spacesuits (in each ship a different color and configuration of spirals) and solar-sailing ships covered in paint-skulls. Attired thusly, they proceed to launch devestating raids against the Inner-Sanctum Stations, stealing men, women, children, food, water, and anything that isn't attached to the floor. Why do they do this? A look inside the political system of Deimos yields an answer...
The station is so large as to be unable to completely be administered by one overarching government, or even just several. All told, there are over fifty petty kings contained in Deimos alone. The reason for this rampant feudalism stems from the fact that their agricultural and medical systems are not working at full capacity, causing feuding over what little food and medicine there is. This, in turn, tends to keep their population and technological growth fairly stagnant. Thus, the antique sunsailers and the baby-snatching. The reason they steal grown men and women is for slavery, and essentials are for bolstering their flailing economy. These frequent raids are so integral to life on DEIMOS that all the petty kings unite for such a momentous undertaking.
Deimos is currently at war with I- EVERYONE, YA DUMB-ASS, INCULDING DEIMOS, CAUSE DEIMOS DOES WHAT DEIMOS DO
-CS-
0-BETTER LIVING INFINITE-0
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