From The Ashes of the Imperium - my Sci-Fi setting

[Predatorpt]

My other thread became cluttered with lots of pictures of my 40k tanks (and I sold them anyway) so I've decided to create a new one, with my own setting and all the forces I want to use in it. Of course my setting is a mishmash of stuff taken from other settings - yeah, very original, I know

If you just want to see the minis, click here
For AARs, click here

From The Ashes of the Imperium - A Timeline

(2023-2230) - The Big Push
Mankind expands into space, colonizing hundreds of planets. This is possible due to the discovery of ancient aliens ruins on Mars and on the Moon. Further study of the ruins paves the way for the discovery of an old warp gateway network in space, that connects thousands of planets. Most of them are abandoned/destroyed or are simply unable to support Human life. There are several outposts similar to the ones on Mars and the Moon on some of those planets and Humankind starts calling those mysterious aliens "Heechee". Some factions on Earth don't support the use of the Heechee network and bet on the creation of FTL engines. In 2045, the first Alcubierre drive ships start crossing the vast depths of space, in directions other than the ones accessed through the Heechee network.

This split in efforts creates the notion of "Arms of colonization":

- Heechee Arm (explored by the American Union; Commonwealth Union;United States of Europe; Neo-Soviet Union; Pan-Asian Combine, plus several megacorporations) - it only uses the Heechee network and subdivided into several smaller branches according to the power blocks involved. Sometimes those branches come into contact, bringing colonizing efforts to the same planets - that leads into conflict.
- Brazilian Arm (explored by the Brazilian Empire; Greater Israel; the Nordic Federation and some smaller corporations) FTL ships only
- Mecca Arm (explored by the Islamic Federation and the African Union and some smaller corporations) FTL ships only

During the expansion, Humanity came across several small, low-tech, alien civilizations (namely the Kroots) and absorbed them. There are rumors that in several cases, the corporations have destroyed some of those alien cultures because they got in their way. The only known case was in the planet Pandora, where, in 2154, the natives - called Na'vi - were exterminated from orbit, after staging a successful revolt against the Resources Development Administration (RDA) corporation.

First contact with a hi-tech alien civilization occurred in 2230, when several American Union and USE colonies came under attack from an alien force that bypassed the Heechee network and attacked the planets using FTL-equipped ships. That race was known as the "Marro". That year marked the beginning of the first Interstellar War.

Click for Part 2

Click for Part 3

Click for Part 4

Some notes on the setting

[Andrew May]

I assume this is set in the 40k timeline?
I'd always liked the idea of gaming the wars on Terra or great crusade, loads of imagining to do outside of current cannon.

[Predatorpt]

I assume this is set in the 40k timeline?
I'd always liked the idea of gaming the wars on Terra or great crusade, loads of imagining to do outside of current cannon.

No, it's no way connected to the 40k timeline. I'll borrow some things from GW, but it's more of a mix of Traveller; 2300AD; Alien Universe; Battletech plus much more, including sci-fi novels that I really like 

[workerBee]

I assume this is set in the 40k timeline?
<snip>

Depends on how much is "original" (is it ever really original is a fair counter question) which is my biased preference.  I can see where "based on 40K" is probably easier for those who are familiar with said game system.

Gracias,

Glenn

[workerBee]

No, it's no way connected to the 40k timeline. I'll borrow some things from GW, but it's more of a mix of Traveller; 2300AD; Alien Universe; Battletech plus much more, including sci-fi novels that I really like 

Superb!  Hopefully you will keep us updated?

Garcias,

Glenn

[Momotaro]

I loved 2300AD back in the day, although I've not picked up the new Mongoose book.  Looking forward to following this thread now.

Could you "fix" the Ewoks and the Gungans as well as the Na'vi ? 

[Predatorpt]

Superb!  Hopefully you will keep us updated?

Garcias,

Glenn

Glad you liked it, I'll try and update this more regularly than my other thread. Of course I need to paint figures to keep up with the setting, .

I loved 2300AD back in the day, although I've not picked up the new Mongoose book.  Looking forward to following this thread now.

Could you "fix" the Ewoks and the Gungans as well as the Na'vi ? 

I've got the new 2300AD book and the old 2320AD and they were part of the inspiration. As for taking care of the Ewoks and the Gungans...ermmm...I won't be taking much from the Star Wars Universe, so I'll just let those guys fade into oblivion, . But I had to take care of the Na'vi - I still can't understand why the RDA couldn't simply gas/nuke/drop rocks on those pesky Na'vi from orbit. That was one of the things that made me hate Avatar 

[Predatorpt]

Forces of the Big Push (or the miniatures I'm planning on using. When I have painted figures, I'll edit this topic):

American Union (US/Mexico/Canada) - right now I'm going to use the Defiance Games UAMC:


I know they aren't that great, but they are cheap and I bought 2 boxes on a sale. Of course they'll be Marines, for the Army, I'll use the AT-43 UNA soldiers:



To support both, I'll use the TACArms, Toads and other variants. My AU Army Forces will be something like this (not my minis, pic taken for the net, but this is at I'm aiming for):



Commonwealth Union (UK, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand) - For these forces I'm going use the Mantic Corporation forces:



And I'll also use, in 25mm, the Oceanic Union forces from GZG (they are going to be the regular army). As for the vehicles, I don't really know what to use, maybe some Old Crow vehicles...

United States of Europe (Wallonia, Flanders, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, República Española, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Republica di Alta Italia) - I'll use the old Viridian Veteran Colonial Marines:


And for vehicles, I'll use these conversions of mine:




Neo-Soviet Union - that's a easy one, I'll use the Red Blok from AT-43. I don't have pictures of my figures, but I have pictures of part of my Neo-Soviet Mechanized Army:


Pan-Asian Combine (China/Japan/Unified Korea and India) - still don't know what minis to use. Maybe some Infinity ones, with lots of remotes and drones.

Brazilian Empire - EM4 and Copplestone Future Soldiers, supported by some ONI vehicles like these:


Greater Israel - Heresy troopers are go!:


To support them, I'll use some 1/48 Merkava conversions and at least one of these:
http://www.antenocitisworkshop.com/aw-grav-tank.html


Nordic Federation For these guys I'll use the Heavy Infantry soldiers from Pig Iron. As for support, I'm still looking for options.

Islamic Federation and the African Union - don't know what to use, maybe Infinity figures for the IF? No idea about the vehicles/mechs.

Alien opponents/allies No need to show you guys the Kroot, I think everyone knows them by now. As for the Marros, they are old Heroscape figures (called the Marro ). All in all - 33 aliens that were cheap, easy to touch-up with some washes/new bases and look great





I'm working on getting them some extra support - some biomechs and such.

[Predatorpt]

(2230-2242) - First Interstellar War

After 2 years of brutal invasions that left most of the colonies on the Heechee Army cowering in fear and waiting for the day when the Marro bioships would appear over their planets, the American Union, the Commonwealth Union and the United States of Europe joined forces and decided to go on the offensive. With the backup of the FTL Main Fleet from the Brazilian Empire, the Human forces made a two-pronged attack - by FTL and by the warp gateways - on the main axis of the Marro invasion. The operation - called Overlord - was considered a success until the moment, in 2234, when the forces that used the gateways found a section of space where the gates didn't work. All the Heechee gates on that particular zone of space had been deactivated, creating a vast gulf that could only be crossed in FTL ships. Fortunately, there weren't any Marro forces there and a splinter of the main force was diverted onto crossing it and exploring the other side.

From 2234 until 2239, the war was one of attrition, with the Human forces closing on the Marro from two sides. It was now known that the Marro and their bioships couldn't use the Heechee gateways (crossing one killed them) so it was relatively easy for the Humans to use the gateways and bypass the main lines of resistance, crushing the Marro from the rear. By 2237 it was easy to see that the Humans forces were now deep into Marro-controled space. It was also in that year that it was found that these aliens were an constantly evolving species and that their bipedal form was something fairly new, just some centuries old. There wasn't any inkling to what their initial form was.

Some scientists theorized that the Marro had adapted that form after being confronted by an advanced bipedal race who had almost wiped them out. That would explain they had such hate for everything bipedal. That theory was used to support one of the most controversial orders on that war - Xenocide. It was agreed that all the Marro forces what be destroyed to the last being. If there were some commanders who opposed that idea, most of them agreed wholeheartedly with it, taking revenge for all the Human lives destroyed. From 2239 to 2242, all the remaining forces of the Marro were hunted down and destroyed. XV(XenoVictory)-Day was declared on the 21st of February, 2242, Earth Date.

Reports of lost bioships and small bands of Marro continued to appear from time to time, but most of them were considered old-wives tales told by weary space travellers and bored colonists. As far as the public knew, there wasn't any increase on the number of small colonies/spaces transports that disappeared on that particular zone of space, the zone that was formerly Marro occupied space.

(2242-2244) - The Simmering Peace

While the Big Four (American Union, Commonwealth Union, United States of Europe and the Brazilian Empire) had been waging their war against the Marro, the Neo-Soviet Union, the Pan-Asian Combine and several megacorporations had taken the opportunity to expand their interests and their colonies. Several colonization sub-branches had been breeched and when the XV-Day was declared, the victors were surprised to find that they now shared systems, and sometimes even planets, with NeoSov and PanAsian colonies. And the Brazilian Arm was now home to several industrial colonies from different MegaCorps (including the infamous RDA one), who were strip-mining whole planets.

All this lead to several low-intensity conflicts between these factions, that lasted for 2 years and killed almost 3 millions people. While there was never any fighting on Earth or on the Solar System colonies (shared between all the power blocs) there were several outworld colonies who were destroyed, while others were simply abandoned or divided between opposing forces. There was never a declaration of war between any of the parties involved, so there wasn't any official treaty to end that same war. But there were some winners - the Pan-Asian Combine got to hold all of its new colonies and even grab 2 from the Neo-Soviet Union; and the Brazilian Empire absorbed most of the RDA assets on their colonization arm and on Earth (in what was considered the first hostile-takeover made by a State against a Megacorp).

2244 was also the year that marked the return of the splinter fleet that had crossed the Damocles Gulf. Their voyage of exploration had taken 10 years and marked the first time the Human race faced the Empire of The Stars.

[Predatorpt]

(2245-2290) The Contact Years

Although the ships that returned from across the Damocles Gulf were immediately isolated, the news they brought spread as fast as the Courier Boats could travel, both in FTL space or in the Heechee network. There were other Humans in the Universe, part of a vast Empire!

The repercussions were immense. For the first time in almost 200 years, the United Nations had a meeting, with all the power blocs on Earth attending. The negotiations went on for almost a year (from 2244 to 2245) but unfortunately there wasn't an agreement on how to contact the so-called "Empire of The Stars". In the end, almost all of the blocs decided to try and make contact using their own means, passing up the opportunity to present Earth as an single entity:

- Several MegaCorps decided to send colony ships to the new frontier, trying to open colonies on Imperial space. Most of those colonies didn't succeed, falling prey to Imperial and alien pirates; inhospitable planets; unknown lifeforms/virus or just plain bad luck. The most successful ones were created by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and Stark-Fujikawa. By 2286, there were 3 full-fledged planetary colonies on systems shared with the Empire of The Stars.

- 5 fleets of FTL colony ships were launched across the Damocles Gulf by the Pan-Asian Combine in 2250. Their plan was to seed colonies in several planets  across the Gulf, paving the way to the frontier with the Empire. These efforts served as a way for the Combine to get rid of its excessive population, who was shipped from Earth and from some overpopulated colonies, at gunpoint. By controlling the Damocles Gulf, the Pan-Asian Combine was trying to control all the FTL commercial shipping that had to pass through that zone of space. In 2290, most of the colonies with spaceports/starship repair facilities in the Gulf, were Pan-Asian ones.

 -The Big Four of the First Interstellar War decided to join efforts and launched a combined colonization/exploration fleet that quickly followed the path laid by the fleet that had found the Empire and established 4 planetary colonies in a system previously chartered by that same fleet. That planetary system had also a planet that was part of the Empire, so the Big Four were the first blocs from Earth to have direct contact with the Empire of the Stars. By 2276, they had established solid commercial relations with several Imperial Merchant Guilds and independent traders.

-The Neo-Soviet Union decided for a double approach - they sent a colonization fleet, similar to the Pan-Asian one, to seed colonies in the Gulf but at the same time, they sent an exploration fleet into the frontier itself. But they weren't just interested in having commercial relations with the Empire. They hatched a plan with the main objective of removing all of the other Earth competitors from the frontier and, at the same time, assume the premier spot when it came to dealing with the Empire.

Through sabotage; covert attacks on Imperial Merchant Guilds ships and even a Spetsnaz attack on a small Imperial listening post, the Neo-Sovs tried to create the impression that the Big Four were attacking Imperial interests. Unfortunately, their plan backfired on a tremendous scale and in 2190, the Empire of The Stars finally took notice of the new Human arrivals.

[ink the troll]

Brazilian Empire - supported by some ONI vehicles like these: The paint jobs on those look ace and they look ace too. Where did they come from?

Rackham's At-43 line of pre-painted placcy minis. One of the armies was called ONI.

[Predatorpt]

Rackham's At-43 line of pre-painted placcy minis. One of the armies was called ONI.

Yep, what he said  I had to spend a small fortune on some of them on Ebay (they go for insanes prices now).

They are great little vehicles.

[ink the troll]

Yep, what she said  I had to spend a small fortune on some of them on Ebay (they go for insanes prices now).

They are great little vehicles.

They are, the Red Blok stuff as well. I'm still a bit sad that Rackham's dead and gone.
Regarding the prices- I keep thinking I should have bought more than just two of the army boxes when Ludik Bazar was flogging them, but at the time it didn't occur to me that I could buy something to re-sell later on.

[Predatorpt]

They are, the Red Blok stuff as well. I'm still a bit sad that Rackham's dead and gone.
Regarding the prices- I keep thinking I should have bought more than just two of the army boxes when Ludik Bazar was flogging them, but at the time it didn't occur to me that I could buy something to re-sell later on.

Sorry about the he/she mistake 

When Rackham went away, I made the huge mistake of looking at the ONI stuff and thinking - "wow, they are really fugly!" and I didn't buy them from Ludik Bazaar. And then I decided to sell my Red Blok army...

Of course now I've spent the last 2 years slowly buying everything again 

[von Lucky]

Nice background meshed together. Just happy to see the Brazilian Empire, and that the Swiss finally saw the light and joined their German brothers