Space Cruiser Amahara

Space Cruiser Amahara is a game about the eponymous ship and its adventures through the cosmos in a journey to save besieged humanity from destruction at the hands of the Lunarians. It is a soft (very soft) science space opera with fantasy elements.

Background

First Space Race

Following the conclusion of the Sixty Years War, the countries of the world settled into the Cold War, a military, economic and political staring contest between countries and power blocs across the world. Though hostile to one another, each side was held back by fear of more global war, the awesome power of the spin bomb and fresh memories of the self-destruction wrought by the previous three generations. The Cold War was thus about more about proxy conflicts, political maneuvering, economics, and ideology. At the same time, knowledge gained over the Sixty Years War had advanced human sophistication by leaps and bounds. Across the world, scientists sought to conquer outer space in a race to prove the technological superiority of their countries.

Lunarian Attack

The communist People's Confederacy of Lotus Asia first gained an upper hand in the Space Race by launching a series of attempts at lunar flyby and impact missions. Soma-1 was apparently successful as a flyby and announced in communist media with significant fanfare. However, much of the information on the probe and the data it collected were classified. A series of impact attempts followed but were all said to have failed mysteriously during the final approach phase of their operations. The first non-communist mission, with a much publicised launch ceremony presided over by Napoleon X and the Princess of the Church, was the Luna α mission of 24 April 1999. On that day, the Lunarian fleet emerged from the surface of the Moon. Without warning, the aliens launched an all-out attack on the Earth, bombarding the surface and decimating most life aboveground by the end of the year. The Hollow, a layer of caverns deep beneath bedrock and previously of little interest besides the tapping of spin wells, became humanity's last refuge.

Alien Technology

Although forced to dwell underground, humanity continued to resist the invaders, using the close confines of the caverns to intercept and destroy Lunarian robotic units before they could approach the hidden underground settlements. Without the direct support of their fleet, the Lunarian onslaught ground to a halt. The war stalled for many years with the Lunarians lacking either the will or the means to meaningfully escalate the conflict now taking place many kilometers beneath the surface. Instead, the multitudes of destroyed robotic units and even sunken ships on the seabed have become common salvage for their alien technology. Less common, but even more mysterious, are strange ruins being sporadically confirmed in the vast unexplored stretches of the Hollow.

On 21 December 2012, a mysterious, unmanned alien ship impacted in the North Ectasian Ocean. The event drew a massive response from both sides of the war resulting in a pitched battle where humans prevailed against the Lunarian forces for the first time. NEET forces secured the underwater wreckage and immediately began salvage operations, removing the ship, piece by piece where necessary, through undersea rifts to Hollow Amahara.

For the countries of the North Ectasian Economic Treaty, the Ectasia Impact had profound technological consequence. Although hardly intact after its (possibly unintended) crash and the ensuing battle for control of it, the wreck still contained massive amounts of usable data as well as advanced technology that could be reverse engineered for the construction of starships unlike any before contemplated. After examining the wreckage and leftover data, it was concluded that the alien ship was launched by a sympathetic alien power and represented an aid package intended for salvage by humanity.

The international A Project was quickly organised by the member states of NEET with several goals in mind:

1) Contact the alien power and attempt to gain further assistance.

2) Survey the cosmos for habitable planets that might be suitable as a replacement for Earth.

3) Acquire any technology or assistance that might, in any way, alleviate the desperate military situation on Earth.

4) Represent the North Ectasian Economic Treaty as a diplomatic emissary.

Other Space Projects

Amahara is not the only country to launch a ship into outer space. The other countries in NEET will also be launching vessels with technology from the A Project: the Albish Union is building the Albion and the North Middle Republic is preparing the All Under Heaven. Additonally, all known governments are in negotiations with the NEET Governing Council to share the technological advances acquired from the Ectasia Crash Site from which the A Project ships are derived.

There are also separate space programs that predate the Ectasia Impact. The Francian Empire launched a ship, the Flower of Orleans earlier in the year but it was quickly shot down by the Lunarians before it could complete its surface launch sequence. Various sources claim they were able to salvage a number of critical components and/or that a sister ship is nearing completion. It is unconfirmed what sort of superluminal propulsion this ship might have utilised. If the prevailing opinion of the global intelligence community is correct Francia may have created the first independently developed superluminal drive. The country does have unique access to the Vatican Hadron Collider, a massive installation that had already become operational deep beneath the surface from the mid-90's.

Danuby has a larger ship under construction. It is believed they have power and propulsion systems for it, though their nature is unclear.

Consistent rumours place the People's Confederacy of Lotus Asia in the lead of the Second Space Race, supposedly having placed ships there in secret already. It is not known whether their superluminal propulsion is stolen A Project technology (known to have been compromised to some extent by communist spies) or from some other source.

Space Cruiser Amahara

Amahara class superdimensional starcruiser
operator: Dominion of Amahara
length: 130m
mass: 9100t
crew: 99
power: K-0N 2.5th generation quantum dynamo
propulsion: Suijin superdimensional drive

The Amahara is the first ship to be completed under the "A Project" between member states of the North Ectasian Economic Treaty.

Propulsion and Power

Unlike all other ships in history since the age of steam, the Amahara's propulsion system and its power core are completely independent systems. The "Suijin" propulsion system is properly a superdimensional lifeform - what pre-industrial cultures recognised as gods, spirits, angels or demons - contained within a ship to move it through space at faster-than-light speeds.

By comparison, the ship's power system, while technologically cutting-edge, is relatively mundane in concept - 2nd generation quantum dynamos already provide virtually all the power for human civilisation surviving in the Hollow.

Weapons and Defenses

Laser Cannons

Spin Weapons
Spin weapons are weapons of mass destruction that cause destruction via quantum effects rather than chemical explosions. They were first used towards the end of the Sixty Years War, after which their existence led to a period of peace between the great powers due to fear of their overwhelming power. First generation spin weapons were dangerous to handle, too bulky to easily deliver, and engineered only to generate very large amounts of electromagnetic radiation though they always had poorly understood side effects. Second and third generation weapons continued to improve on yield while overcoming various logistical deficiencies and expanding into a variety of effects which could be produced. Experimentally, it has been demonstrated that spin weapons can be tuned to intentionally produce gravitational anomalies Earth or obliterate all life in an area while leaving structures intact amongst other things.

While extremely powerful, spin weapons have the distinct disadvantage of very rarely working against

Complement

The Amahara is crewed by 99 individuals and assisted by a limited number of ASI droids.

In addition, the Amahara carries a squad of four XSTA-00/Type A16(A) Tatehaya spatial tactical armour. These bear some resemblence to the terrestrial Tanto 4 currently in service with NEET forces but are vastly uprated and capable of independent space flight. They are highly experimental, cutting edge mecha named for the antediluvian founding king of Amahara who fought the celestials in the mythic era.

Where conditions permit, the Type A16(A) can be teleoperated, though the controls are reportedly less responsive in this mode. An ASI package is included and can be installed to take control of the machine if necessary, though its tactical performance would likely be subpar. The preferred control method is a human pilot.