[size=150]The year is 2382 AD, and war will soon consume all of the galaxy…[/size]
[b]Pandora: Flames of War is a WIP modification for GSB inspired in part by the ancient world, and takes inspiration from it in terms of some factions and some design of ships. Though it should be noted that in many ways it does not follow the history to the letter.
Warning: The following post contains a lot of text.
Notice: The main post here is still a bit WIP since I decided to overhaul it, but it’s mostly done.[/b]
[size=200]Planned Features:[/size]
When it is complete, my goal is for PANDORA: Flames of War to include a core set of 5 new ‘races’ (One of them is not yet mentioned at all, it’s a secret for now…) each with their own ships, and hopefully, playstyle. I also plan on adding new scenarios, allowing you to fight as one of the mods factions against another. The mod will include tons of new ships, all modeled by me. Each faction will have their own style of ship, just like in vanilla GSB. Below is a breakdown of all planned features for the mod, and information on how far into completion they are.
- Models = WIP
- Scenarios - Heavily WIP
- Modules - Heavily WIP
- Republic of Earth - Heavily WIP
- Republic of Athens - Heavily WIP
- Kingdom of Sparta - WIP
- Ziral Empire - Heavily WIP
- Secret Faction - Heavily WIP
(I’ll probably be updating this in the future and making it more detailed)
[size=200]Factions:[/size]
[size=150]Republic of Earth: [/size]
By 2165 Humans had begun to colonize across the stars, and soon found that it would be inevitable that there would be countless disputes over territory in the future. The proposed solution was the creation of a unified Republic of Earth. Initially it was rejected by most nations, but the proponents would continue to push for its creation. In 2167 the UN came together to vote on the matter, and the vast majority of nations accepted the proposal. On January 12th, 2168 the Republic of Earth was officially founded. The Republic initially granted the countries within it a vast amount of freedom, meaning that they could essentially run themselves however they wanted. In the years after its formation, the Republic quickly passed new laws that severely restricted the abilities of nations to run themselves however they pleased, and required certain laws of theirs to match the laws of the Republic. Though many countries were displeased - part of the reason they agreed on forming the Republic in the first place was that they would still be very independent - they could do little but protest the changes, as the constitution of the Republic forbid them from leaving without a quite large vote of all the countries being in favor of it, and they could not attempt to fight as the Republic already had a large military that did not belong to any country.
In 2190 the Republic passed a set of rules and regulations regarding colonization of new worlds, which among other things, made it easier for countries to get permission to colonize a world. It also established a court which was created solely to deal with disputes over ownership, should that situation arise. This saw the territory controlled by the Republic of Earth dramatically increase, and many new worlds would be under the banner of the Earth Republic. However, many of these colonies soon began to desire independence from Earth, but no legal system existed to properly allow this to happen, or even to be considered. Because of this, many colonies began to grow willing to fight for independence, and so in 2237 a group of colonies joined together to form the Colonial Coalition. The Colonial Coalition, which consisted of mostly border colonies, attempted to obtain freedom through war. This ensuing conflict would be the proving grounds for the military of the Earth Republic, which up until this point had been untested in an actual war.
The war officially began in 2237, but no fighting occurred for a year, when a large Colonial Coalition fleet set its sights on a colony that had refused to join their ranks. This colony, called Athens, wanted independence as well as the coalition, but did not wish to gain it through war and make an enemy of Earth. When the Coalition attacked Athens in 2238 they expected an easy victory, Athens was on its own with no support and only had a small fleet, but what they got was quite different. Upon the Coalition fleet arriving around Athens, they were greeted by hundredss of small defense stations, and the small Athenian fleet. While the coalition fleet was focused on the defenses, the small Athenian fleet charged through their formation, straight into the middle of the enemy fleet. They surrounded and quickly destroyed the command ship of the coalition fleet, and then attacked the other coalition ships. In the confusion the coalition ships believed the Athenian fleet was larger, and had jumped right into the centre of theirs. With their command ship gone, and the attack coming from both sides, their fleet was destroyed. Not only had they not expected the Athenians to win the battle, but they had their doubts that a battle would even take place. Athens had been one of the most fierce proponents of allowing colonies to become independent.
After this battle, the German 12th Fleet arrived at Athens, and with the Athenian fleet mounted a counter attack on the Coalition forces. Arriving at the Coalition controlled world of Knossos, the Earth fleet quickly defeated the small defending fleet, and sent forces down to secure the planet. The Coalition relied on nothing more than militia, and the better trained and equipped Republic troops were quite easily able to win. After taking Knossos, a much larger Earth fleet arrived and proceeded to quickly end this small civil war. Throughout the war Athens had been at the front of the Earth forces, and after its end campaigned for the creation of a proper means for colonies to gain independence.
Earth would soon pass new legislation that granted colonies the ability to leave the Republic, via a referendum. Athens was the first colony to have a referendum, and overwhelmingly voted in favor of become independent. Athens, and some surrounding worlds that were considered part of the greater territory of Athens, became independent, forming the Republic of Athens in 2242. Earth and Athens began to trade, and soon Athens began to establish colonies of its own.
In 2304 Earth would come into contact with a sentient alien race called the Unghen. The Unghen were native to the planet Ziral, far away from Earth and her present and former colonies. Like Earth, Ziral was once home to many independent nations, but in 2107 one of the nations began a conquest of the entire planet, relying on its colonies to support it. In 2134 it had taken over most of Ziral, and formed the Empire of Ziral. From then on it began to colonize rapidly. Ziral was quite different from Earth, as it had formed into an Empire, ruling with an iron fist. At first, most interactions between the Unghen and Humans were not conducted by any nation, and the two race shared information, and soon there were many who knew the languages of the other race.
In 2318 the two superpowers came together to decide a number of things, including a border between the two, and a trade language. Latin was choosen as the trade language, as it was well known to some on Earth, and was quite easy for the Unghen to learn and speak, unlike some other human languages which were much more difficult for them. What became a challenge was deciding on a border. Both the Earth Republic and Ziral Empire laid claim to some of the same worlds, which caused the discussions to grind to a halt. They finally agreed on a border, but the Ziral Empire was particularly unhappy with what they got. They believed that had rights to some of the worlds, and were not keen to go through a long boring process to attempt to get them. This dispute, and the events that followed began a cold war between the two superpowers, that would last for many years. Over the course of this cold war Earth realized it would need to gain an upper hand somehow, and so they turned to Athens, who had long been an ally of theirs. Athens had recently developed a series of highly advanced new military technologies, but had initially been reluctant to share them, largely due to the fact that many of the technologies were not really more than prototypes. However, knowing that they would also likely be target by the Ziral, as they had colonies in an area of space the Ziral once owned but abandoned, agreed to share the tech with Earth.
By 2382 both Ziral and Earth have amassed forces on the border, and tensions have reached a new high. Earth believes Ziral intends to strike first - and soon.
[size=150]Republic of Athens: [/size]
Formed in 2242, the Republic of Athens is the second largest human nation, and was once part of the Earth Republic until a referendum. When it became independent Athens quickly established trade with Earth. Athens began to focus heavily on development of technology, and of their planets. Athens would become home to many of humanities smartest minds, and they would have much of the most advanced technology in the galaxy. The Athenian military is relatively small, but is highly trained in very well equipped, and has a reputation of being able to win even against much larger enemy forces. In 2256 Athens began to colonize new worlds, and expanded its territory quite quickly. While not quite as large as the Earth Republic, Athens was still massive, and had many worlds under its control.
In 2263 a group from Athens, who were displeased at many of the policies of Athens, established the colony of Sparta. They focused on having a powerful military, though their defenses were somewhat lacking. By 2300 Sparta had grown rapidly, and soon began to set its eyes on the territory owned by Athens. In 2305 Sparta declared war on Athens, starting the first Athenian-Spartan war. The Spartan forces began to advance into Athenian territory, laying waste to many smaller worlds in their path, but pulled back after a large Athenian force began to pursue them. The Athenians began to push into Spartan territory, but the Spartans had dug in on the world of Corinth, and the Athenian besiegers could not easily take it. Seeing that this would be a problem, the Athenians came up with a daring plan: They would send ships through uncharted space, around to the other side of Sparta. The plan proved successful, though some ships were lost in the uncharted space, and the Spartans were forced to abandon Corinth. After Corinth fell the Spartans had little hope for victory, and were soon defeated.
Peace was declared in 2308, and Athens was the clear victor. Athens took only a few small territories from Sparta, but this was still enough to anger them greatly. To this day Athens and Sparta maintain a fierce rivalry, one that threatens to break out into war.
In 2312 Athens came into communication with a group of Unghen who formed an underground resistance movement against the tyrannical Ziral Empire. This resistance group had recently come under increased pressure from the Empire, and they had now uncovered information that showed that the Empire was going to destroy a colony of over 3 million Unghen, because it had been a major centre of the resistance. The Resistance requiested that, even though they did not know Athens and Athens did not know them, Athens help and take in the people from the colony, who were to be soon evacuated. Athens accepted, and soon the Unghen arrived in Athens. In the coming years Athens secretly worked with this group to evacuate endangered people, and those who simply wanted a life free from the Ziral Empire. This saw the population of Athens grow, and made Athens the first nation to have a large population of both Humans and Unghen.
Initially there were some in Athens who were not supportive of bringing in Unghen, but over time most were accepting of it.
In 2334 Athens created a set of laws to ensure that Unghen, and any races encountered in the future, would be equal under the law to the humans within Athens.
As tensions between Earth and Ziral grew, many Unghen joined the Athenian military, as they were well aware that Ziral would attack Athens, and likely would want to kill any Unghen in Athens, or force them into slave labor of some kind.
In 2367 Athens signed a formal military alliance with Earth.
As of 2382 Athens has established defenses along its territories bordering the Ziral Empire, and has fleets gathered at the border, all prepared to begin war at a moments notice. However, they also have attention diverted to their border with Sparta, who has amassed fleets along the border with Athens.
(Still WIP)
[size=150]Kingdom of Sparta: [/size]
Sparta was formed in 2263, and was originally a colony of people who were displeased with the policies of Athens. By 2300 Sparta had grown fairly large, and bold. Sparta’s society is heavily focused on the military, and they spend a large amount of money on their military. Sparta is the third largest Human nation, and the least developed. When it had formed, Sparta began to trade with Earth, as Athens had done. However, after the first Athenian-Spartan war, Earth cancelled all trade with Sparta. Sparta has made an enemy of Athens, and a rival of Earth, and stands alone among humanity.
Immediately after its foundation, the Kingdom of Sparta began to invest in military ships and weapons, their ambitions being to make war with Athens and conquer their lands. The King of Sparta would institute many harsh policies that would allow for more rapid growth of Sparta. Sparta did not have intellectuals to the likes of the Athenians, but had many trained military leaders - though none had seen real combat - and had plenty of people to conscript from. The first generation at least was quite supportive of the policies of Sparta, and made no real effort to see things changed. Sparta would colonize territory as Athens had done, though they colonized considerably less. They also did not develop their worlds as well as Athens had, since their main focus was military.
In 2305 Sparta declared war on Athens, hoping to expand their territory. They gathered up a large force and advanced into Athenian Territory, and laid waste to many small worlds in their path. However, a large Athenian force began to pursue them, and they pulled back into Spartan territory. They dug in at Corinth, hoping to stop any Athenian advances. Unknown to them, a group of Athenians traveled through uncharted space and began to attack Sparta from the other side, which was relatively exposed. Without having any way to properly defend themselves from both sides, the forces in Corinth were forced to retreat - and faced great losses in the process. Sparta was soon forced to surrender, and Athens took some of the territory along the Athenian-Spartan border, which angered the Spartans. Since then they have been building up their strength in hopes to one day reclaim their lost territory and take from Athens.
As of 2382 Sparta has signed a formal military Alliance with the Ziral Empire, and has amassed forces along the border with Athens. Sparta has also been building defenses along the border, but after Athens annexed the border territory they had spend decades fortifying, they are left somewhat vulnerable to attack.
(Still WIP)
[size=150]Ziral Empire: [/size]
Like Earth, Ziral was once covered in many small nations, until 2134 when one conquered all the others and formed the Ziral Empire. The Ziral Empire has long expanded its borders and rules with an Iron fist. Life in the Ziral Empire is harsh, and even minor dissent is punished harshly. The Ziral Empire is home to the Unghen race, who are a humanoid race quite similar in many ways to humans, though they do display some key differences. Ziral is a much harsher climate, with much less water and plant life, so the Ziral have evolved to have a stronger skin. They also have teeth made to bite through tougher food. The Ziral have a stronger skeleton as well, and their heads are quite strong (Not strong enough to stop a Magnetically Accelerated .50 cal bullet, though) and are of a slightly different shape than human heads.
As of 2382 the Ziral Empire has amassed its navies along the border with the Earth Republic and Athens, and has an alliance with Sparta.
(Still WIP)
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[size=150]Credits: [/size]
Textures used on models are royalty free and credit goes to the respective creators.
