ACCEL

Alpha Centauri Crafts Excellence League (ACCEL)

Location: Alpha Centauri Bp
Colloquial: ACCEL, the League
Demonyms: Centauri, Leaguer, Crafts(wo)man
Official Languages: Acceleranto
Summary: Distant aestheticist artisan-engineers.

The Alpha Centauri Crafts Excellence League, or ACCEL, is a minor nation nestled within the terraformed, once-hellish world of Alpha Centauri B Prime. They are a society which emphasizes the arts and crafts, with nanotechnological cottage industry and great institutions of performance, philosophy and craftsmanship dominating the political landscape.

The nation is (or sees itself) as the cultural and political heart of Alpha Centauri, and near-solar orbitals operated by the country produce substantial exotics and antimatter fuel that make travel both inside and out of the system viable. It is also the home of the Alpha Centauri Communication Council (AC3) and the bulk of its offices, the international body where the various Alpha Centauri powers meet.

History

Founded as a colonial society on the nearly Earth-size world of Alpha Centauri Bp, ACCEL was founded by a longshot sleeper ship carrying a cabal of craftsmen, scholars and artists who desired to have a hand in shaping a new world. The planet was at first nearly a thousand degrees too hot for even remote colonization, requiring a vast array of solar shades with parts shipped in on successive colonization ships from Sol.

A century of near-constant construction projects saw the planet first cool to something habitable beneath the penumbra of a constellation of shade structures, allowing the first structures to be built. By the end, the small but growing population had seen successive generations of intensive labor, and collectively desired some means to never be obligated to live in such conditions again. Much of the intellectual and economic capital created by the people was poured into the task of automating the economy to remove the need to use human labor of any sort again so that the people could live in leisure away from a tumultuous Sol. Once the projects of stabilizing the environment and making it viable for terraforming were complete, Alpha Centauri Bp saw the first enclaves of settlement begin.

Despite the elation of a decades-long project being completed, an ennui followed the masses as all but the scholarly and the civil services were replaced by automatons. People couldn't be obligated to work as the existing system already provided for them without consequence and the fledgeling educational system could not respond to the needs of every person desiring some sort of retraining into a professional. Worse still, it was simply impossible for every person to be employed. Thanks to substantial endowments from the various colonial governments, people developed small arts and crafts societies to fill the time, which over the decades expanded to large institutions of aesthetics and multi-disciplinary design

People filled their time with creatively and mostly-visual work and subsequently aestheticism became the foundational philosophy of society, coloring all other modes of thought e.g.: individuality became regarded in the sense of 'personal aesthetic', conformity as 'group aesthetic', the practice of certain skills became judged by their visual qualities as equally as their utilitarian value.

When efforts were undertaken to create a solid national government to tie together an increasingly diffuse and disparate system, it was ultimately these institutions (to which nearly all of the population were eventually party) that formed the basis of a national dialogue, rather than the offices of cities and terraformed territorial zones. The umbrella national organization, ACCEL, was formed.

Culture

ACCEL is an open society with very little secrecy, with all members at all levels privy to valuable information. Research organizations quickly make their results known so that others can adopt their innovations, allowing for extremely rapid society-wide technological development.

The population is almost entirely transgenic, with a baseline of involved genetic tailoring to greatly increase tolerance to radiation as well as a slew of neurological improvements that greatly improve the ability for language, memory and socialization. Many are likewise modified to be synaesthetic and have broader sensory ranges of taste, hearing, sight, smell and touch, allowing them to perceive and experience profound aesthetic phenomenon. Many can perceive broader electromagnetic wavelengths than normal thanks to kaleidescopic nodules in their eyes and taste particles that would only be smelled by a normal human, but as a consequence of these sharper senses are prone to sensory overload and 'art attack' from overly intense aesthetic experiences. Post-natal genetic therapy, cybernetics and pharmaceutical augmentation are common, although the human body-plan is generally preferred. Aging members of society or those desiring further cognitive boosts often engage in partial cyberneticization of the brain and pseudo-uploading of the mind to become AI-human hybrids.

The official national language of the country is Acceleranto, an adapted Old Esperanto with quickened verbal syntax and a vastly-expanded vocabulary for conveying aesthetic components and sensory qualities. It possesses a much smaller number of prepositions, postpositions and determiners and many additional nouns, adjectives and adverbs to describe sensory experiences unique to their transgenic genotype.

Statistics

Minor State (32 Points to Spend, +1 Advantage)

Advantages: Rank 3 (4)

Excellent Diplomats: Sophisticated social practices and cultural tradition coupled with excellent foreign policy makes ACCEL a respected nation beyond its own borders, able to exert substantial soft power on neighbors and distant relations.

Load-Bearing State: In addition to carrying the trade in exotics in Alpha Centauri, ACCEL's cultural output has a noticeable effect on neighboring paradigms. ACCEL media broadcasts are often pre-translated into the languages of its neighbors as a means of making its culture as accessible as possible.

Transhumanoid: A majority of the ACCEL population is transhuman, a minority pushing into early stages of cognitive (but rarely physical) posthumanism as pseudo-uploads.

Disadvantages: Rank 0 (0)

Infrastructure: Rank 4 (4): Orbital industry and resourcing is the treasure of ACCEL, dating back a thousand years when the first orbital shades were being built to tame the molten world bellow.

Growth Potential: Rank 5 (5): Alpha Centauri B Prime is a world rich in resources, geologically active and largely barren. Terraforming processes give the current and small population incredibly room to grow and expand.

Military Size: Rank 3 (3): ACCEL has long since recognized the value of military force, even if it refuses to engage in it on the same ideological terrain as its neighbors.

Military Support: Rank 2 (2): Domestic support for the military is not ideal, but passable logistics trains and a substantial ardor for the creation of functional sculpture has not prevented the building of yet more warships.

Military Quality: Rank 1 (1): ACCEL's various military traditions emphasize doctrines of personal excellence and victory through superior equipment and individual units. A mob of heroes, really.

Superweapons: Rank 5 (8): Repetition in art is boring, unless a point is to be made. All ACCEL ships are unique, but those that are especially unique eat up a disproportionate amount of the logistics train.

Espionage: Rank 1 (1): As they breach into the open ACCEL societies, hardened foreign agents find it easy to steal information from ACCEL's academies and research facilities. Blending into a society of aesthetes, philosophers and artists, however...

General Advancement: Rank 1 (4): Many innovations that have been made in singular instances have not seen widespread implementation due to a need to ensure its safety for use in the harmonious ACCEL society.

FTL Drives: Rank 1 (1):A certain incident has placed FTL drive in the hands of the ACCEL's artisan-engineers. Its implementation is a priority.

Outsystem Colony: Rank 0 (0): For reasons of extremely limited interstellar influence.

Military

Support Total: 590 (500 Base + 40 Infrastructure + 30 Size +20 Support)

Current Upkeep: 935 (158.4%)

Infrastructure Output: 90

Superweapons

1x Great Astrolith peza/BARO (National Superweapon; 150 Points/300 Upkeep): A massive spherical battlestation with long glass-like vanes extending out, the Astrolith was one in a series of megastructures built to deflect solar flares by the multiple stars in the system. Mobile out of necessity, it acts as an extremely powerful solar shade, in a pinch it could be employed as the vanguard of a fleet as a lethally effective mobile fortress. The very same shield arrays it posesses are capable of disintegrating asteroids and other space refuse by modulating shield frequencies in the barrier's area of effect.

+Absolute Defense Line

+Zone of Annihilation

+Too Huge To Kill

1x Lesser Astrolith reveni/MONDO (Strategic Superweapon; 37.5 Points/75 Upkeep): The reveni/MONDO is the newest FTL-capable warship built by the ACCEL, designed to carry four lernato/MONDO-type orbital frames and a number of other aerospace vehicles. It features a state-of-the-art rapid prototyping lab that when coupled with the equipment the lernato/MONDO carry allows for extremely quick engineering solutions, military or purely environmental in nature.

+FTL Drive (Class-III)

+Rapid Prototyping Lab

+Prototype Unit Carrier

1x Standing Astrolith fino/SENKULSPECO (Strategic Superweapon; 75 Points/150 Upkeep): In a class of its own and matched by a sister unit, the Standing Astrolith fino/SENKULSPECO is a deadly war machine with a semi-humanoid form and the mass of a small battleship. Advanced reactor systems allow it nearly unlimited combat runtime and power an FTL drive that allows it and a small transhuman crew to transit between the Alpha Centauri and Sol star zones. Worse yet, its size belies incredible combat maneuverability, with agility more akin to an aerospace fighter and a zero-shift module that allows it to deftly move in, out and around combat zones with ease.

+FTL Drive (Class-III).

+Stealth Field

+Unlimited Endurance

+Graviton Implosion Cannon

+Transorbital Strike

+Zero-Shift

1x Standing Astrolith fino/IDOLO (Strategic Superweapon; 75 Points/150 Upkeep): The fino/IDOLOJ unit is nearly identical to the SENKULSPECO-type, featuring extremely powerful transorbital strike-capable gravity weapons. While the other model is equipped with a long-range, wide area implosion cannon designed to disrupt and destroy aerospace formations, the IDOLO carries a set of elegant shearing beams that allow it to vivisect and cripple ships.

+FTL Drive (Class-III)

+Stealth Field

+Unlimited Endurance

+Graviton Shearing Beams

+Transorbital Strike

+Zero-Shift

1x Least Astrolith lernanto/MONDO Test Squad, la/MULOJ (Tactical Superweapon; 18 Points/36 Upkeep): A unit of three field-testing weapons stationed to the reveni/MONDO supercarrier, with an extended support staff numbering in the dozens and ten regularly-rotated pilots. Each unit is a cutting-edge piece designed to be rugged and easily adapted, with sophisticated sensor and problem-analysis suites that allow for rapid deployment of solutions in various high-risk scenarios. Each unit features a stealth system and the same high-maneuver zero-shift modules carried by the far larger SENKULSPECO and IDOLO models.

+Superb Support Staff

+Elite Pilot Pool

+Rapid Prototyping Gear

+Rapid Recovery and Redeployment

+Stealth System

+Zero-Shift

1x Least Astrolith verda/TERO (Tactical Superweapon; 24/48 Upkeep): The brainchild of a respected ACCEL ecological artisan, the verda/TERO is as much a sculpture as it is a weapon. It features richly sculpted lines in a stylized humanoid form with ridges and patterns evocative of plant life, anatomical models of humans and animals and an elaborate cockpit enclosure which is effectively a gravity-controlled peace garden for the pilot. As a mobile weapon designed to beta-test a number of extremely experimental nanotechnological systems for ecological programs, it could ostensibly also be a weapon of terrible nanobiological warfare in the wrong hands.

+Newtype Waif Pilot

+Unlimited Endurance

+Harvest Beam

+Regenerative Structure

+Terraforming Weapons Devices

+Nanomachine Effectors

+Medichine Cloud

+Zero Shift

1x Special Cultural Ambassador R-Adorinda (Tactical Superweapon; 18 Points/32 Upkeep): A high-ranking government official and ostensibly chief ambassador, attached to the reveni/MONDO's showcase around Sol. She is allegedly the daughter of a previous foreign ambassador and a highly transgenic mistress, educated in an elite social arts institute and serving as an aide to the previous ambassador before her posting.

+Cute Memetic Hazard

+A Face To Launch A Thousand Ships

+(Absolutely Not) Trained In Lethal Counter-Assassination Techniques

+(Probably Not) A Posthuman Killing Machine

+Newtype Naked Space Disco

+Savvy Cultural Idol Singer Ambassador

1x Special Military Representative L-Miela (Tactical Superweapon; 18 Points/32 Upkeep): A mid-ranking young military officer placed in charge of the reveni/MONDO and its complement of experimental mecha. Official records indicate she is a designer baby made in the genetic mould of an old war hero from Earth and raised by the ACCEL fleet admiral.

+Bold Memetic Hazard

+A Voice To Lead A Thousand Ships

+(Absolutely Not) Trained In Lethal Counter-Assassination Techniques

+(Probably Not) A Posthuman Killing Machine

+Newtype Intuition

+Passionate Military Idol Singer Representative

1x Special Science Representative C-Vespera (Tactical Superweapon; 18 Points/32 Upkeep): A high-ranking but inexplicably youthful government official attached to the attached to the reveni/MONDO's to assess the technological conditions of Sol. Rumored to be the result of a special artisan society that specializes in crafting designer children built first genetically and then formatively with precise childhood experiences and education.

+Infectious Memetic Hazard

+A Mind To Build A Thousand Ships

+(Absolutely Not) Trained In Lethal Counter-Assassination Techniques

+(Probably Not) A Posthuman Killing Machine

+Newtype Mind Crushing

+Brilliant Multidisciplinary Idol Singer Artisan-Engineer

Regular Forces

x10 League Defense Brigades (Army Brigade: 5 Points/5 Upkeep)

x4 League Mobile Brigades (Space Marines: 4 Points/4 Upkeep)

x10 malpeza/GARDISTO Guardian Astrolith Divisions (Frigate Squadron; 10 Points/10 Upkeep)

x5 peza/GARDISTO Guardian Astrolith Divisions (Destroyer Squadron; 10 Points/10 Upkeep)

x10 lerta/CENTAURO Oracle Astrolith (Scout; 10 Points/10 Upkeep)

1x Fueling Posts (5 Points/5 Upkeep): Sol