More of a precis to get the feel across.
There are a few themes that I am exploring here. And I’m not being preachy about it.
- Western Europe is devastated and the USA is somewhat ruined but in recovery – this is due to a particularly nasty ABC war a couple of hundred years ago. As a result, most player characters will be coming from Africa or South America. This is a deliberate move to have the protagonists be predominantly non-white. This one detail actually has alienated one correspondant so far.
- The period after the war was harsh and Earth lost more than 3/4 of her population – due to considerable amounts of conventional warfare and skirmishing. A mix of more modern sensibilities as well as a need to utilise every hand to rebuild society has led to a much more equal society in terms of gender.
- Humanity is rebuilding but also extending and there is definitely a mood of exploration and innovation. At the same time, Humanity is cautious having encountered two hostiles in deep space already – one of which was a lost colony from a corporate Seedship and the other was a swarm intelligence that ‘harvests’ solar systems.
- Hardly anyone has SEEN an alien. Even on video. We have very little knowledge of their cultures, language, physiognomy. We do have a ‘universal translator’ algorithm which permits communications but this is a slow process which speeds up as the system learns more of the language.
- there is no FTL comms network. In this case, message relays are the quickest way to transmit. A relay accepts a message from an Explorer, sends a ‘message capsule’ through the wormhole and when it exits, it transmits the message to the next relay waiting at the gate of a wormhole. Relays only exist at major traffic routes but a couple are carried on Explorer vessels.
- We do have a ‘Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ of sorts. A massive repository of knowledge we traded for. Experts and humans alike stufy it around the clock and send instructions to Explorer vessels to check and re-check.
Regarding the message relays in point 5 – does the relay have a keyhole drive? The text seems to suggest this.
Yes, Relays would need a Keyhole drive. I think I’ll delete the but about tem being carried on Explorers though. In the light of day, that seems wrong now.
If keyhole drives are expensive then it might make more sense for there to be message stations at wormhole points along frequently travelled routes. Ships would receive messages and carry them along to their destination – or as far along to their destination as they were going.
Depending on how much traffic there is between ‘major destinations it might make sense to have the ‘ship’ and keyhole drive separate. Ships slow when approaching the wormhole, the keyhole shuttle attaches/takes them on-board, transits, offloads, waits for the next ships wanting to transit back. This may or may not be economic depending on the amount of trade.
One idea, similar to the old message buoy in old Trek would be a ‘breadcrumb’ beacon. An explorer going into the unknown could drop inexpensive microsats before each transit. If anything goes wrong the follow-up can follow the ‘breadcrumbs’ and see what ‘unknown’ has occurred.
Food for thought.