Etherstar Thersonia

Overview

A surprise breakout hit, the story of Etherstar Thersonia follows the adventures of the titular starship as it flees the destroyed world of Claxton, attacked by the unfeeling machine-servants of the Red Dawn. Critically panned while airing for FX errors, inconsistencies, plot holes and the lackluster acting talents of several of its catsuit-clad, former porn star actresses, the production nonetheless consistently achieved high viewership thanks to its flashy space battles, hunky faux-tactical action on the part of its male leads, the catsuit-clad former porn star female cast and voluminous nudity and sex scenes. More nuanced scholarship suggests that past these superficial elements, the overall story struck a social chord among many Thersonians, synthesising both the ancient cultural memory of the Suebi Althing's destruction and more recent geopolitical tensions and border skirmishes with COMINSTEL.

Etherstar Thersonia had a short-lived family-friendly sequel, Etherstar 1000, and there have been several rumored attempted to reboot the holoseries. Toys, video games and model kits based on the IP have been consistently solid sellers.

The Etherstar Thersonia

All of the following is condensed from authorized side material:

The Thersonia was the twelth Etherstar commissioned, a hybrid battleship/carrier/assault ship and externally resembles the real-life Thersonian Kriegsternmarine Konig command battleship, though substantially larger. Known sister ships include the Schliria and the Belmaria, and of all the Etherstars built, only the Thersonia is believed to have survived the Red Dawn's devastating sneak attack.

Primary armament of the Thersonia is two 3-gun turbo-laser destructor turrets backed by two 2-gun mass cannon turrets, along with a bow-mounted plasma accelerator. Secondary armament is a large number of multibarreled laser guns of varying caliber, primarily tasked for engaging enemy MiGG-Raiders. Multiple torpedo banks n various locations are loaded with proton, smoke and 'anti-etheric' warheads, along with various customized weapons whipped up in the ship's science lab. Finally, the Etherstar can deploy 'isotronic shockwave mines' at pursuers. (Editor's note: FX errors include beam weapon fire from the mass turrets, different colors and styles of main and secondary energy weapons and even at least one instance of a low-resolution studio model only having twin gun main energy turrets, not to mention weapon fire coming from locations with no 'official' weapon system) All Etherstars carry large complements of aerospace fighters and combat humanoids, most notably the Focke-Klein Fk 1090 Großsoldaten (Ed.: combat mecha) and the Archgelis Ag 457 Würger-VII snubfighter. In addition, a complement of utility craft are carried which cover roles such as long-range scouting, planetary landing and covert insertion.

The armored hull of the Thersonia is a 'depleted Atesium alloy' reinforced with molecular binding generators. The ship is further protected by a force field system which can withstand substantial punishment before failing. Power is provided by a network of distributed etheric energizers, with primary energization coming from a 'Volumetric Etheric Transfer' core. This is the ship's Achille's heel and provides a major plot driver throughout the series as the Thersonia needs regular refueling.

The Thersonia has various sensor systems, including a 'phase sonar' used to detect COMINSTEL sub-ether ships.

In addition to all these systems expected of a warship, the Thersonia also has a fully-fitted science lab which often comes up with novel solutions to the dillemas faced by the Etherstar; Ion bursts, gravity snares, etheric induction, negative spatial vortices, and cyclotronic decompression are only a few of the technobabble solutions devised by the crew of scientists. Later during the show's airing, a contingent of mages were also added to the crew, providing yet more options to the captain.

Hampshire Naval Werks Z-4 Schoemann-class Zerstorer

Small Warship

• Base Profile: 10

Heavy Armor

• Armor Rating: 5

5xBloss & Tishman Medium Anti-Armor Turbolaser Cannons

• 2 Single Medium Energy Turrets with Redundant 1

10xKaufman Quad Anti-Fighter Laser Cannons

2xHampshire Naval Werks Photon Torpedo Launchers ("Spear of Destiny"-class Torpedos: seeking,long range, anti-ship)

AG Reactionless Drives

ECM

Small Craft

Focke-Klein Fk 1090 Großsoldaten

Hyperadvance Armpr

• Heavy Metal

Arms

Legs

Light Armor

Boosters

Maneuverable

2xLight Missile Pods

Beam Rifle

Beam Sabre

Physical Shield

Beamzooka(optional)

Panzerfausts(optional)

Episodes

• Casting Call and Preproduction: 2015-05-04)
• Pilot Episode pt 1: Twilight's Last Gleaming (airing date 2015-05-11)
• Pilot Episode pt 2: The Sum of All Fears (airing date 2015-05-18)

OOC Information

The objective of this campaign is to build out the tactical rules for Ascend. As such it is required that the core cast (see below) be proactive in providing feedback, feature requests and the like. Also, to keep things manageable, any given session will only have three players (two core, one guest) - at least for now.

Core Cast

• The Captain: The shipmaster and the character who controls the Thersonia itself.
• The First Officer: The XO who controls the air wing of the Thersonia.

Guest Stars

Guest stars are (presumably recurring) characters that could be others onboard the Thersonia, friendly ship captains and the like. This is intended to a rotating position.

OPFOR guest stars are also acceptable, though not initially for simplicity.

FAQ

What's the deal, really?

Etherstar Thersonia is essentially Battlestar Galactica interpreted through the lens of Yamato 2199 and airing on HBO late-night primetime.