A Primer on the Races of Humanity – Branan

by on August 11, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The greatest problem the Branan thought they had to surpass was the fact that the stars they wanted to colonize were simply so far away. The true problem was that they were actually far too close to each other. Hyperspace is affected and built by our physical universe. Our gravity holds it together. From a star to a grain of sand, every piece of our universe affects hyperspace. Betelgeuse is a massive supergiant star, and the effect it has on hyperspace is magnitudes beyond our tiny little sun. And the five companion stars it has captured simply magnify the inconsistencies for lightyears in every direction. The Branan truly did try to find hyperspace. Generations of their best scientists searched for centuries. But Betelgeuse’s chaotic nature and its effects on hyperspace stymied their best efforts. They never knew it was their home that denied them. And in one of the universe’s greater practical jokes, they chose to colonize systems with multiple stars, gas giants, and dozens of planets that further churned hyperspace to a froth. It took Albion knowledge to navigate hyperspace through their stars, and the Albion took their knowledge when they left.

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Megan

by on August 10, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

I first met Megan before she joined the Wolfenheim Project. Sorta. She had a different name back then. Different partner, different hair. And unlike most American fighter cybers, she had a physical body. A robotic avatar. She had a new one built when she joined Wolfenheim with an appearance subtly different enough to confuse standard scanners. But it was still her, and she still liked to carry enough firearms to overthrow a third world government. And thanks to a certain incident in which she was nearly destroyed that news accounts did not accurately depict, she tended to disregard New Earth laws when it came to carrying those firearms. It might surprise you to know that she was on excellent terms with the local police despite this. Or maybe because of it. They were very respectful when they met her while she was working. One might almost say diffident. That might be due to the odd jobs she sometimes performed for Old Man Callahan.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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Jackie White

by on August 9, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

One thing that few people know is that only one of Wolfenheim’s starfighter pilots came from the mainland United States. One came from Mars and two were favored children of the Star Kingdom of Hawaii. Jackie White was one of those two, a conclusion I came to the first time she and John Anderson met. It was obvious that they knew each other, and not in the ways of fellow servicemen. They grew up together, and he was surprised to see her. He thought she was dead. That’s all I managed to hear before they realized I was within earshot and clammed up like guilty school children trying to keep a secret from their homeroom teacher. But that was enough. There was a Cowboy who died at Alpha Centauri back in The War’s first few months. She was from Hawaii. I met her cybernetic partner years after that. Yeah. I know how rare it is for a cyber to outlive her pilot. But there it is. Charles certainly recruited a unique team to defend Wolfenheim.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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A Primer on the Races of Humanity – Branan

by on August 8, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The Branan sent their first colonization ships to a trinary star system outside the greater Betelgeuse system at one tenth of lightspeed. The six-lightyear trip took only six decades to complete, starting with a year of acceleration and ending with another year of deceleration down to the local system speed. That’s another way of saying they spent six decades drifting through the interstellar void, hoping they didn’t hit something large enough to destroy the entire ship. It was not a trip devoid of tension. But at least they knew what they were flying into. Earlier robotic probe swarms had explored the system and told them what planets were ready and waiting for them to come. They knew what the colonists would need to survive, and they knew what they needed to bring with them. The Branan were not flying out in the great unknown in hopes that something would be there. They knew their destination quite well. It was only the space between that destination and their home that was the hurdle they needed to cross.

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Forge of War

by on August 7, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

“The Shang are painting us with sensor sweeps,” Betty reported and glanced towards one of the displays where it showed a complex diagram of colors. “We’re scattering and jamming below detection levels. But I think they’re getting suspicious.”

“Prepare to break and attack on my order,” Charles transmitted as they continued to close the range. “Use old weapons packages only. Let us keep our full capabilities to ourselves for now.”

“Roger that,” Jack returned with an approving smile.

“Approaching detection levels,” Betty reported as the sensor display began to flash. “I can’t keep them in the dark much longer.”

“Break in three,” Charles ordered.

Jack tightened his hands on the controls and ran his hands over a display.

“Two.”

A T&J song about bad guys biting the dust began to play.

“One.”

Power flowed from capacitors, flooding defensive and offensive systems with enough power to light up small cities.

“Break! Break! Break!” Charles ordered and the world exploded in time to the screaming of a steel-stringed guitar.

Deflection grids came alive and fire control systems locked onto their targets. Gravitic cannons reached out and twisted the very fabric of gravity between the Shang formation and the incoming Cowboys. Deflection grids collapsed and armor buckled as focused gravity tore the plates apart. Laser turrets pulsed into unshielded flanks, vaporizing armor and weapons alike…

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