In a press conference held earlier today (GST) in Harmony City, Luna, Doctor Noella Lopez-Zhang, the current CEO of Einstein Engines, revealed that she and her company have created a new variant of warp engine referred to as a Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive. The Zhang-Suzuki is faster, cheaper, and more efficient than the typical warp drive in-use by the majority of human ships in the Orion Spur.
“Words cannot begin to describe how proud I am of Doctor Suzuki, our chief research officer, and her research team. Without herself and her team, we would have never been able to create the Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive. I am glad I can count on Doctor Suzuki not only as an innovative researcher, but as a friend,” said Doctor Lopez-Zhang of the new engine.
“The Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive is the latest, greatest creation from our research labs. While bluespace engines are still slightly faster, the Suzuki-Zhang is capable of reaching speeds close to NanoTrasen bluespace drives for a fraction of the fuel cost,” said a clearly proud Mio Suzuki at the press conference. “Plus, even the fastest engine is useless without fuel.”
Production is expected to begin tomorrow, and orders are already lining up to purchase these improved warp engines in the face of the Spurwide phoron shortage. Einstein Engines, which has shown steadily increasing profits and stock shares since the crisis began, is currently poised to have its best quarter in history while its major rival - NanoTrasen - is projected to have its worst quarter ever.
NanoTrasen legal director Mori Takachika has stated that the Suzuki-Zhang is “shockingly” close to a NanoTrasen drive currently in the testing phase, and has accused Einstein Engines of “classical industrial espionage.” The NanoTrasen CEO has promised “serious consequences” for Einstein Engines over the upcoming days. The Bugle will report on this story as it develops
This is the overview and timeline page for the KING OF THE WORLD arc which began on July 5, 2020, and pertains largely to Human, and galactic lore.
The arc is centered around phoron scarcity and the final decline of the Solarian Alliance.
Below is a summary of the arc's events, applicable news articles, and additions.
2462 - CHAPTER 2 - KING OF THE WORLD ACT 0 PART 1
This is the SECOND CHAPTER of Aurora's (tracked) story.
The Sol Alliance has begun its final decline. In this chapter, the galactic stage will be set for chaos as the largest player in the Orion Spur crumbles. Will the megacorporations elevate to become Humanity’s foremost authority? Will the Coalition take advantage of their sole adversary’s collapse? What will happen to Tau Ceti?
One thing is certain: this chapter will alter any concept of the modern starmap as a whole.
Meanwhile, Phoron begins to grow scarce - deposits across the galaxy are dwindling, especially under Nanotrasen Corporation control…
Phoron shortages set the galaxy up for catastrophe on the horizon.
Recent reports coming in from the megacorporation NanoTrasen have all shown a steady decline in the deposits of phoron located throughout the system over the past three months. Shipments, while still coming, have started to become slower and slower to fill their respective quotas.
While the supply is currently reaching the demands of the Republic, the line is getting ever closer to faltering, and officials are moving to find possible alternate solutions in the event phoron supplies run completely dry. In addition, outgoing shipments to the Alliance of Sovereign Solarian Nations have slowed dramatically, causing some tension between the superpower and NanoTrasen as the power tries to maintain a steady flow of resources to fuel their economy.
Shortages have been noted in the Romanovich cloud on stations such as the NSS Aurora, and in fields across Tau Ceti. Though NanoTrasen officials have promised that the supply will remain sufficient for now. Despite this reassurance, NanoTrasen stock prices have felt their most significant drop since the occupation of Tau Ceti.
Stay tuned for more information about whether this is a simple scare, or an impending crisis on the horizon.
REPUBLIC OF ELYRA REFUSES EXPORTS, SOL ALLIANCE PRICES RISE!
News Article
Publisher : MENDELL CITY BUGLE
Writer : NEWORIGINALSCHWANN
06/07/2462
The Republic of Elyra refuses to regard trade as an option in the dire situation surrounding phoron scarcity. Tensions skyrocket.
Despite recent reports of phoron shortages from both the Republic of Biesel and the NanoTrasen Corporation the Republic of Elyra, one of the Orion Spur’s largest producers of phoron aside from the Republic of Biesel, has announced today that it is not intending to commence exporting raw phoron to the rest of the Orion Spur. Citing their use of the fuel in many of their exported products, the Republic of Elyra has long guarded their ample phoron reserves from the rest of the Orion Spur. It remains doubtful that they will export raw phoron now, due to close government controls over the resource.
Outside the Republic of Biesel demand is rapidly beginning to outpace the supplies of the Sol Alliance, and emergency rationing is seriously being debated to assure that its military is able to meet its phoron requirements to maintain combat readiness. Prime Minister Frost has accused the Republic of Biesel of deliberately throttling phoron supplies in order to cripple the Sol Alliance. Shortages have been noted throughout the Sol Alliance, with major member planets without bluespace gates such as New Hai Phong and Silversun reporting particular concern.
The Republic of Biesel and NanoTrasen corporation have both decried the accusations of Prime Minister Frost as baseless and ridiculous, and a sign that the former Solarian naval officer has not let his dream of destroying Biesel’s liberty go. NanoTrasen stocks continue to decline in the face of a major phoron shortage, while EInstein Engines - the largest producer of non-phoron-powered warp engines - has seen its largest one-day stock price increase in a century.
Stay tuned for more information regarding this ongoing shortage.
2462 - CHAPTER 2 - KING OF THE WORLD ACT 0 PART 2
This is the SECOND CHAPTER, ACT ZERO PART 2 of Aurora's (tracked) story.
A whistleblower by the name of August Maldarth incites rioting across the Solarian Alliance.
The Coalition of Colonies Ministry of External Affairs has announced today to the greater Orion-Spur community that they have solid, hard proof that Solarian Allegations of Phoron hoarding by their outer ring planets is totally and completely false. This information comes as a large shock to known space at large as the scarcity of the vital element grows more and more dire by the day.
The information provided by the Coalition, sourced from an apparent whistleblower who defected from the Solarian Alliance, has given insight into not only just communications that prove Solarian statements of Phoron hoarding taking place in the Outer Ring as false, but has also provided photographs and documents that detail and prove numerous sentient rights violations from the Solarian military and police. In the words of the Solarian Armed Forces Public Relations Office, they had positioned troops there at the beginning of the scarcity to, “Secure and protect the previously low supply of Phoron in the Outer Ring from bad actors wishing to hoard it for their selfish gains and intents.”
The information revealed that the Solarian Armed Forces and police have been raiding municipal and provincial phoron reserves across the outer ring and repossessing or in the words of the Coalition source, “fucking stealing,” the resource for shipments back to the core worlds of the Solarian Alliance. The information released by this whistleblower also stated that any attempts to publicise or release information to the public about these operations were shut down and met with threats of imprisonment or in the gravest instances, cyborgification. This is in addition to the various measures officially disclosed by the Solarian Government such as curfews, rationing of other resources to citizens, and random searches of the population for “smugglers,” that are actually, according to the whistleblower, thinly veiled attempts to detain political prisoners or individuals who posed a threat to the secrecy of the Solarian operations by straying from the official Solarian position.
This whistleblower, Warrant Officer August Maldarth of the Solarian Naval Signal Corps, relayed this information to the Coalition of Colonies earlier this week after defecting to them via a covert shuttle dispatch after spending weeks gathering his evidence, reportedly alone. When questioned as to why he defected, his response was curt and to the point. “It’s not right!” He elaborated on this point further when given a press conference by the Coalition of Colonies Ministry of External Affairs, that he, himself requested. This was his primary statement to the press:
“Yeah, I know that, I might up an’ die soon. Sol wants me in a bodybag, and I accept that possibility as very real. What I know though, is that the tyrannical Solarian government is stealin’ from its own people and keepin’ them down with threats of a fate worse’an death. After spending weeks sendin’ messages back and forth and just listening to what was happening, I couldn’t live with m’self. I had to get the word out, and if that meant becomin’ a traitor an puttin’ m’self at risk, I would do it. I don’t have nothing anymore, which means I have nothing to lose too. I ain’t about to let some fat-ass admiral fuckin’ steal from the good people of the Outer Ring because some moron Cytherian bureaucrat wants to drink a Toxins Special! It’s not right, damnit! They’ve been keepin’ my Mars down for fuckin’ ever, and no more people are gonna have that happen to them if I can help it! My name’s Gus fuckin’ Maldarth, and I ain’t about to be silenced outta fear!”
When later asked about his remarks, Warrant Officer Maldarth said that he knew it was a dangerous move to go so public with this information, but also when asked for his thoughts, the Martian responded with, “I couldn’t give a shit about what Frost thinks of me. Fuck Frost.”
The Coalition has condemned the Solarian Alliance as a result of these actions and cover-up of them, and Mister Maldarth’s sentiments have sparked protests, civil unrest, strikes, and riots across Solarian space, with many calling for legal action to be taken against those responsible for the operation and the repossessed phoron to be returned to the affected planets. The Solarian Government has denied all allegations and has announced that their operations in the outer ring have reached completion and are pulling back all but the essential units that were stationed in the region before the recent occupation.
Those critical of SolGov have stated that this is nothing more than an attempt to save face, while various sentient rights groups across the Orion Spur have raised concerns of these new Solarian movements being used to reposition troops in order to crack down against the demonstrations occurring across Solarian space.
The Republic of Elyra and Empire of Dominia have both recalled their ambassadors and all non-essential embassy staff from Solarian space in protest of these actions, with both countries’ foreign ministries releasing condemnations of Solarian conduct as well. The People’s Republic of Adhomai has released a formal denunciation of the Solarian Alliance, going as far as to call them “paranoid imperialist crooks,” and “the enemies of sentient life everywhere.” The Republic of Biesel has responded with condemnation as well, and has partially mobilised their reserves in response to inward Solarian troop movements. The Izweski Hegemony and Jargon Federation have not commented on the issue.
Warrant Officer Maldarth is reportedly residing in an undisclosed location within neutral Tau Ceti space for his safety at this time. The Coalition has stated that they will use every reasonable resource available to them in order to preserve Maldarth’s continued health and safety from foreign agents and transport him to Coalition space.
INTERMISSION
Events
06/07/2462 to 10/3/2462
In the time between the official beginning of KING OF THE WORLD and 06/07/2462, the events ran can be found here.
7/28/2462 : The NSS Aurora was the center of a phoron transaction between Hephaestus Industries and NanoTrasen. The transaction went by smoothly, but Hephaestus Industries did not receive their quota.
8/4/2462 : The NSS Aurora was the center of a phoron transaction between Zavodskoi Interstellar and NanoTrasen. The transaction was bumpy, and a shootout occurred near the end of the shift. Zavodskoi Interstellar lost a large portion of its phoron to thievery.
8/9/2462 : The NSS Aurora was the center of a phoron transaction between Zavodskoi Interstellar and NanoTrasen. The transaction was smooth and, thanks to the efforts of a proactive crew, met its quota early.
8/22/2462 : The NSS Aurora was intruded upon by several phoron-eating monstrously bloated worms, seeking phoron amidst the scarcity and flocking to larger, more dangerous deposits. Two crewmen were killed in the ensuing chaos after the "black trident worms" attacked them.
8/29/2462 : The NSS Aurora discovered one of the first major moves of Einstein Engines that has become apparent to its crew. After a warp signature was located by deep scans from Central Command within the asteroid, an away team was launched from hastily picked crew. The outcome of this ended up revealing an Einstein listening shuttle, loaded to the brim with suited, armed men and a particularly heavily armored asset protection trooper. The NanoTrasen trooper spearheading the expedition to the shuttle was shot a great number of times until they were, in fact, a great amount of dead. After a reasonably confusing method of escape through multiple docks, the Einstein listener group managed to make their way out of the station.
9/19/2462 : The NSS Aurora drifted into an anomalous sector caused by a nearby phoron stockpile. The dangers of this sector became immediately apparent as phoron worms, golems, and other nasty critters began appearing stationwide. As well, spatial anomalies such as wormholes, portals and phoron displacement occurred. Amidst all this, a "phoron storm" occurred, leading to more confusion and the station being deemed too dangerous for the crew to remain. Evacuation proceeded shortly after and went as standard with no major injuries. One crewman committed suicide in the duration of this event.
9/22/2462 : The NSS Aurora was the stopping point of August "Gus" Maldarth, a Martian whistleblower who incited riots in the Outer Ring and created an uproar by revealing a sinister plot on part of the Alliance. They were tailed by individuals in Einstein Engines gear in an unmarked corvette, who landed and began jamming the NSS Aurora's outgoing communications. When Gus prepared a speech and separated himself from the crowd, the second party proceeded to brutally assassinate the man before escaping quickly, exiting the system.
2462 - CHAPTER 2 - KING OF THE WORLD ACT 0 PART 3
This is the SECOND CHAPTER, ACT ZERO PART 3 of Aurora's (tracked) story.
GUS MALDARTH ASSASSINATED! In a shocking turn of events, Einstein Engines has reportedly made its first major moves in the scarcity by seeing Gus Maldarth executed! Despite the corporation vehemently denying anything of the sort, NanoTrasen insists legal action will be taken for these events!
Due to RL complications, this portion of the arc was poorly catalogued! If confused, contact the responsible lore developers.
2462 - CHAPTER 2 - KING OF THE WORLD ACT 0 PART 4
This is the SECOND CHAPTER, ACT ZERO PART 4 of Aurora's (tracked) story.
EINSTEIN ENGINES MAKES ITS MOVE! The first megacorporation has made major moves against NanoTrasen with a new engine making its way to headlines! As well, they have begun their first, vile moves of espionage - attacking Hephaestus assets on the NSS Aurora! Will Einstein Engines climb its way to the top again, or are these moves its finale?
Einstein Engines Unveils New Engine
News Article
Publisher : MENDELL CITY BUGLE
Writer : NEWORIGINALSCHWANN
03/10/2462
Einstein Engines unveils a new nearly phoronless warp drive that rivals NanoTrasen bluespace drives in efficiency.
In a press conference held earlier today (GST) in Harmony City, Luna, Doctor Noella Lopez-Zhang, the current CEO of Einstein Engines, revealed that she and her company have created a new variant of warp engine referred to as a Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive. The Zhang-Suzuki is faster, cheaper, and more efficient than the typical warp drive in-use by the majority of human ships in the Orion Spur.
“Words cannot begin to describe how proud I am of Doctor Suzuki, our chief research officer, and her research team. Without herself and her team, we would have never been able to create the Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive. I am glad I can count on Doctor Suzuki not only as an innovative researcher, but as a friend,” said Doctor Lopez-Zhang of the new engine.
“The Suzuki-Zhang Hammer Drive is the latest, greatest creation from our research labs. While bluespace engines are still slightly faster, the Suzuki-Zhang is capable of reaching speeds close to NanoTrasen bluespace drives for a fraction of the fuel cost,” said a clearly proud Mio Suzuki at the press conference. “Plus, even the fastest engine is useless without fuel.”
Production is expected to begin tomorrow, and orders are already lining up to purchase these improved warp engines in the face of the Spurwide phoron shortage. Einstein Engines, which has shown steadily increasing profits and stock shares since the crisis began, is currently poised to have its best quarter in history while its major rival - NanoTrasen - is projected to have its worst quarter ever.
NanoTrasen legal director Mori Takachika has stated that the Suzuki-Zhang is “shockingly” close to a NanoTrasen drive currently in the testing phase, and has accused Einstein Engines of “classical industrial espionage.” The NanoTrasen CEO has promised “serious consequences” for Einstein Engines over the upcoming days. The Bugle will report on this story as it develops
EINSTEIN EVENTS
Events
10/3/2462
10/3/2462 : The NSS Aurora was attacked by Einstein operatives. After a covert operation to destroy contracted robots reached its end, the intruder's vessel was shot down by the Icarus. After the debris landed, there was an arrangement of evidence pointing to their illicit activity.
