Coalition Maps

[Graham Kennedy]

THE MILKY WAY GALAXY

First note that this map is largely incomplete, and merely shows a handful of selected features.

Major features :

The Void Ring : The thirteen Great Voids are midspace features only, invisible within out own universe. Within midspace, each void is a volume in which the energy filamets which permeate that realm are in a state of constant heavy turbulence; essentially, a region occupied by a permanent midspace filament storm. As such, they are next to impossible to traverse. The speed of midspace drive systems is typically reduced by about 80% within a void - the precise effect varying with filament density as normal. Worse, the turbulent filament motion renders travel in a void extremely difficult and stressful for both pilots and equipment - whilst at the same time making transitions into or out of midspace impossible. In short, even the most powerful of ships enters one of the Great Voids at considerable risk.

The voids are highly mysterious. Stars lying within them tend to have an abnormally high fraction of giants and supergiants, whilst planetary systems tend to be far rarer than is average outside of the voids; small, rocky planets are rarer still. It is speculated that Voids exert some effect on stellar and planetary formation... or, perhaps, that areas of unusual stellar and planetary composition give rise to voids! Either way the implication is that voids have existed in approximately their present size and position for many billions of years, far different than the more mobile and transitory midspace filament storm effects which can arise elsewhere.

The Archipelago : A string of systems occupied by the Beneth along the rim of the galaxy in the 10-11 o'clock position. The Beneth originated in another galaxy; they first entered the Milky Way some two million years ago as part of a large scale and very nearly successful invasion. Eventually beaten back, the Beneth managed to hold onto a scattering of planets on the edge of the galaxy. In the intervening time the Beneth have become peaceable and non-expansionist, but there remains considerable dislike and distrust of them in many parts of the galaxy, especially those areas near to the Archipelago. The Coalition trades with the Beneth, and maintains a series of refuelling stations through the Deep Range and out to the Archipelago which are known as the "Donkey Chain".

[Mikey]

Nicely thought out. I like the idea of the Deep Range, and it's placement; you have it in a perfect position for a place for the Coalition to interpose itself.

[Graham Kennedy]

A zoom in of the area around the Coalition itself.

[Mikey]

What are relations like with the Coalition's immediate neighbors: Pymara, Kolzon, Areldeni?

[Graham Kennedy]

The Areldeni hate, hate, HATE the Coalition with a passion. The Areldeni are at the bottom end of the Major Power group, a step behind the Coalition even. See how Areldeni space is all hemmed in on all sides (and above and below too, though you can't see it). They are an expansionist power that can't expand. They're overcrowded, desperate for space, desperate for resources.

Now look at the Coalition. A big area of space, all nice and densely populated. At the bottom is a great void (in red) that stops them expanding that way. And at the top, there's another void area that stops them going that way. Except there's a little narrow path through that void, a place called the Teeva Gap. The Coalition went through it, and found a nice big area of space that they grabbed, right next to the Areldeni. That blue area is called the Fabriana Sea. It's occupied by the Coalition, but lightly populated as yet. Most of the Coalition holdings in that area are habitable planets that have a little five man outpost on them, maintained there purely to allow the Coalition to hold a legal claim that they might get around to actually colonising in a few decades or even centuries.

The Areldeni aren't a match for the Coalition, as a whole. In an all out war, they'd be pretty certain to lose. But they look across their border and see a huge area full of perfectly useable planets that the Coalition claims, but has little real need for. And while the Areldeni aren't a match for the Coalition as a whole, they might be able to match the Coalition's Fabriana Sea forces. Their objective is to try and create sufficient advantage that they can smash the Coalition forces in the Fabriana Sea and roll through it to reach the gap. Once there they would be able to plug it pretty damn effectively; even a much larger force would suffer badly coming through. The Areldeni figure that they can hold the area if they can just take it.

The Kolzon are a failed power, once a mighty empire that spanned a lot of that map. They fragmented, fell to civil wars. What's left of them is hugely divided, split by rivalries and jealousies. They're noisy, arrogant, headcases for the most part, and the only thing that ever stops them fighting one another is if somebody else comes into their space. A lot of people have sent forces into that area for one reason or another, only to find themselves bogged down and fighting an endless war against people who just never give up no matter how badly they get beaten. The Coalition has mostly cordial relations with them, but they aren't really friends as such.

The Pymara are friendly towards the Coalition, dislike the Areldeni, but they have their own concerns and aren't interested in getting involved militarily with anybody else on that map.

The Evidrian commonwealth are Coalition enemies. Not outright shooting enemies, but they regard the Coalition as a bunch of newbie upstarts and wouldn't mind seeing them fall flat on their face one little bit. They really do not like the fact that the Coalition operates so extensively within the Deep Range, which is on their doorstep, but they aren't politically inclined to spend the money to do that job themselves.

The Tilgarni Confederacy are Coalition allies and trading partners. They are galactic powers, but they don't have a powerful military; they are more trading and financial giants.

The Janan Union are enemies of the Tilgarni. They don't particularly dislike the Coalition, but are unfriendly towards them as Tilgarni allies. They'd love to take the Tilgarni down, but they worry whether the Coalition would intervene, and they look at the Zaketh over the Tilgarni border and wonder whether a war on the border would wake the sleeping giant.

The Zykan are mysterious folk. They have a large volume of space, and many planets, but they are fairly xenophobic and nomadic in nature. Most of their planets are empty of people... cities standing deserted, maintained by machines. They're very advanced, and a lot of people try to sneak onto their planets to steal stuff. Most of them never come back, but a few do. There's every legend and rumour you can imagine about Zykan space and what you find there.

[Monroe]

I think you said there were 9000 powers of the Galaxy. For small powers like the Areldeni to be near bottom of the barrel and still control that amount of space it makes me wonder how all the powers can fit?

[Captain Seafort]

Given the sheer size of the galaxy, a power could count millions of star systems within its bounds and still only control less than a tenth of a percent of the total stars.

[Monroe]

Given the sheer size of the galaxy, a power could count millions of star systems within its bounds and still only control less than a tenth of a percent of the total stars.

Still its OVER 9000!

Also I'd like to see some of the older Empires be more speghetti stringed as the stars they own drift at different rates and their Empire stretches out.

[Tsukiyumi]

...its OVER 9000!

Is that DBZ quote inadvertent or on purpose?

[Mikey]

Hmmm. Thanks, Graham, but maybe next time I ask a question you could put some thought and detail into an answer.

JK. Love it!

[Graham Kennedy]

For numbers, the Milky Way has a volume of 17.6 trillion cubic light years. Divided by 9,000 species that's an average of just under 2 billion cubic light years each. Some, like the Zaketh, control a volume far larger than that. The Coalition controls a volume of about 7 billion cubic light years, 3.5 times larger than average, a result of an expansionist mindset and the fact that they keep recruiting and absorbing whole interstellar civilisations (the Coalition would regard Star Trek's Federation as an excellent candidate for membership, by the way).

There are others who are smaller than average - the Areldeni occupy a volume of around 750 million cubic light years, about nine times smaller than the Coalition and less than half the size of an average major power. Even amongst the more powerful races there are those who occupy a small area of space but fill it very extensively, by building megastructures like big-ass orbital grids, rings, or Dyson spheres. Not everybody favours setting up colonies all over the place and playing the "big area on the map" game. A species with even a hundred systems with a Dyson sphere around each would be a very significant power in the galaxy, but wouldn't even show on this map.

[Teaos]

Very cool. So which power is it that had the type 25 battleship and wants to fight the Coalition?

[Graham Kennedy]

The Areldeni

[shran]

What benefits does the Federation offer to the coalition to want them into the coalition?

As I noticed from the rest of the forum, it is not because of their ships (GCS anyone?), their warp drive is, I believe, slower than midspace drives, as well as some sail drives.

Replicators and transporters would come in handy though, as well as holodecks, but considering how often they fail, I don't think the coalition would want such technology.

Would it be able to cross the voids with sail drives in a more efficient way?

[Reliant121]

I imagine that the Coalition would take Replicators for instance and build upon them, making them far more robust.