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<center>{{Navbox New Player Guides}}</center>
<center>{{Navbox New Player Guides}}</center>
__NOTOC__
__NOTOC__
'''This is a new player's summary of the totality - or at least, as much as we can summarize quickly - of the Aurora server's most essential lore.'''
'''This is the first in a series of multiple guides connected to [[Guides/Character Creation]]. Once you're finished reading this, you are more than equipped with the knowledge necessary to create your character using that guide!'''
'''This is the first in a series of multiple guides connected to [[Guides/Character Creation]]. Once you're finished reading this, you are more than equipped with the knowledge necessary to create your character using that guide!'''


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= Welcome to Aurora Lore! =
= Welcome to Aurora Lore! =
Hello and Welcome! Aurora Lore is vast, and trying to get into it as a new player can feel overwhelming at times. Therefore to try and assist those new to the setting we've developed a series of pages that will assist with that issue, and this is one of them! This page is the shortest possible summary to the setting that still accomplishes the goal mentioned previously of helping new players get acquainted with the server's lore and help them understand the ins and outs of the Orion Spur in the 25th century and its history. After reading this page, and the page for the planet you choose for your characters background from those presented at the bottom, you'll know enough to start playing without issue.
Aurora Lore is a community writing project that has been continuously running since 2015 with the help of dozens of writers over more than a decade. As a result, the volume of lore written can at times feel overwhelming for first-time players and turn them off from the setting. This page exists as an incredibly condensed summary of the lore, focused entirely on delivering the most important information quickly so that you can feel comfortable joining a round.


== The Aurora Setting ==
= The Aurora Setting =
[[Image:Ipc scrapper violet dawn postprocessed.png|thumb|The Violet Dawn incident, an attempt to synthesize phoron, devastated the surface of Mars. Pictured is an encounter with a "scrapper" IPC in the Martian wasteland.]]
[[Image:Ipc scrapper violet dawn postprocessed.png|thumb|The Violet Dawn incident, an attempt to synthesize phoron, devastated the surface of Mars. Pictured is an encounter with a "scrapper" IPC in the Martian wasteland.]]
It is {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}} + 442}} C.E. and much of the Orion Spur has been explored. The spur is our wider setting, encompassing not only the medium of the game but also everything "happening" elsewhere. Our server takes place aboard a spaceship known as the SCCV Horizon, which is owned and operated by the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, an economic cartel made up of eight different megacorporations that combined control a majority of the spur's economic activity. It is not an equal organization, or one that all the megacorporations save for the leader joined willingly; it is dominated and led by the most powerful megacorporation ever known, NanoTrasen. Miranda Trasen is the CEO of NanoTrasen and the woman responsible for forming this cartel she now also leads; it was she who forced the others into line, using whatever coercive means she could as leverage. Luckily for her, the company she inherited came with a monopoly on the single most precious resource in the entire setting; '''Phoron.'''
It is {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}} + 442}} C.E., and it has been centuries since humanity left the gravity well of the Sol system to colonize the Stars. Their exploration and colonization would bring them into contact with all manner of different worlds, alongside many intelligent species. Today, the Orion Spur has been mostly explored, but must be explored again, as a crisis looms in the background. Our server takes place aboard the SCCV Horizon, an all-purpose response and exploration vessel, owned and operated by the '''Stellar Corporate Conglomerate''', an economic cartel made up of eight different megacorporations that combined, control a majority of the spur's economic activity. It is not an equal organization, or one that any of the megacorporations excepting its leader joined willingly; instead it is dominated and led by the most powerful individual in the spur, '''Miranda Trasen.''' CEO of NanoTrasen, the most powerful megacorporation to ever exist. Miranda is the woman responsible for forming the cartel she now leads, having forced the other seven into line using whatever coercive means available as leverage, regardless of legality. She was unique in her power to do this due to her inheritance of a monopoly over the single most important resource in the setting; '''Phoron.'''


=== Phoron ===
== Phoron ==
Discovered in 2352 by NanoTrasen, Phoron is a typically purple element that is only known to occur naturally (in economically significant quantities, anyway) in a few locations throughout an entire galaxy, either as a crystal or gas, and it is not an overstatement to say it is the most important element in the setting. This is because phoron in its elemental state, as a solid, is a naturally occurring room temperature superconductor and the only room temperature superconductor known to exist. It is a single resource that underpinned an entire century of rapid economic and technological growth, to the extent '''it's now a necessary material to maintain the economic and technological level of the Spur.''' Running out would be getting thrown backsliding more than a century.
Discovered in 2352 by NanoTrasen, phoron is a typically purple element that is only known to occur naturally (in economically significant quantities, anyway) in a set number of locations throughout an entire galaxy, either as a crystal or gas, and it is not an overstatement to say it is the most important element in the setting. In its elemental state as a solid, phoron is a naturally occurring room temperature superconductor and the only room temperature superconductor known to exist with no viable alternatives. It is a single resource that underpinned an entire century of rapid, exponential economic and technological growth, to the extent that '''it is now a necessary material to maintain the economic and technological level of the Spur.''' Running out would be akin to being thrown back more than a century economically and technologically.


A good way to visualize what this means for your average resident of the Spur: imagine that in the modern world we only have a few possible sources of silicon, a resource we rely on for the modern world to function, and there is nothing we can substitute it with if we run out. Moreover, if we ran out, we would go back to the technological and economic level of the early 1900s. Ontop of that - 99.9% of all the silicon is owned by a single corporation, which has been unsustainably mining it for over a century so now we're running out - and that's basically the situation of the Spur currently.
A good way to visualize what this means for your average resident of the Spur: imagine that in the modern world, we only have a few possible sources of silicon, a resource we rely on for the modern world to function, and there is nothing we can substitute it with if we run out. Moreover, if we ran out, we would go back to the technological and economic level of the early 1920s. Furthermore, 99.9% of all the silicon is owned by a single corporation, which has been unsustainably mining it for over a century; as a result, we are now running out, and that's essentially the situation of the Spur currently.


'''The Phoron Scarcity''' is an ongoing shortage of the precious resource primarily caused by over-consumption and unsustainable mining practices. Again, this is a material that is necessary to maintain the economic and technological level of the Spur, essentially all that growth since it was discovered, and has no replacements. It is a very dire situation, and due to its importance, it is still being actively mined, meaning that as every day passes, there is less phoron to go around, causing the situation to only worsen with time. There have been many attempts to find a solution, the most famous of which being Project Violet Dawn, a project undertaken by the Solarian Government in an attempt to find a synthetic alternative on Mars. Its fame comes from the fact that it failed so catastrophically that it quite literally set most of Mar's atmosphere on fire, burned down half the planet, turned the once red hue of the planet in the night sky to purple, causing the deaths of billions of Solarian Citizens. There has been some success in terms of finding new deposits, but they are merely bandaids on a bleeding artery, stabilizing the situation for a few months until they eventually run out.  
'''The Phoron Scarcity''' is an ongoing shortage of the precious resource primarily caused by over-consumption and unsustainable mining practices. It is a very dire situation, but due to the importance of phoron, the mines are still active, meaning that as every day passes, there is less phoron that can be mined later, causing the situation to only worsen with time. There have been many attempts to find a solution, although these have focused on finding new deposits, which is merely a band-aid on a bleeding artery, stabilizing the situation for a few months until they eventually run out. There have been multiple attempts to create a synthetic alternative to phoron, none of which have succeeded, some with disastrous results, which has put a damper on further research.


What exactly will happen as a result of this scarcity is currently unknown, as Aurora's setting is a continuous story that develops in real time. For more Information; join the lore discord [link]
What exactly will happen as a result of this scarcity is currently unknown, as Aurora's setting is a continuous story that develops in real time. For more information, [https://discord.gg/Sa48FBY join the lore discord server.]


== The SCCV Horizon ==
== The SCCV Horizon ==
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===Lore, your character, and the Workplace===
===Lore, your character, and the Workplace===
This section is entirely dedicated to trying to summarize what all this lore means in-game, in an easy-to-digest, informal way. For any new players, or returning players who have been away for a large period of time, the modern-day setting of Aurora is ''extremely'' vast, with hundreds of thousands of words dedicated to lore alone. This can be incredibly overwhelming, especially given incorrect assumptions about the expectations of the server, so this section will also serve to soothe minds. This section will also obviously primarily discuss how lore and your character interact.
This section is entirely dedicated to trying to summarize what all this lore means in-game, in an easy-to-digest, informal way. For any new players, or returning players who have been away for a large period of time, the modern-day setting of Aurora is ''extremely'' vast, with hundreds of thousands of words dedicated to lore alone. This can feel overwhelming at first,  


Simply put - everyone started on the server in the same situation you are now - every player, member of staff, and leader of staff teams were once in the same position when it comes to lore. However the best way to learn is to '''PLAY THE GAME''' and read wiki pages as through game interactions certain things catch your attention, desire to learn about, or similar. Don't try reading all the lore about a faction at once.
Everyone started on the server in the same situation you are now - every player, member of staff, and leader of staff teams were once in the same position when it comes to lore. However, the best way to learn is to '''PLAY THE GAME''' and read wiki pages as through game interactions, certain things catch your attention, a desire to learn about, or similar. '''Don't try reading all the lore about a faction at once.'''


====The Workplace====
====Characters====
Our wokrplace (the Horizon) is dominated by the Megacorporations. This goes over their departments and general barebones descriptions.  
The general position of the player base at large, and more importantly, the staff team is that '''THERE IS NO EXPECTATION FOR YOU TO KNOW ANY OF THE LORE BEYOND THE BASICS DESCRIBED HERE, AND THE BASICS OF YOUR ORIGIN BEFORE HOPPING INTO A ROUND''' as a new player. The basics of your origin can be found in the character creation screen in-game, as little blurbs when you select one. If you find someone 'lorechecking' you, say you are unsure of the lore but are willing to learn. If they continue to pester and argue, you can AHELP it using F1! '''Be wary that this stuff is all IC - and therefore subject to character bias when learning and similar - for a non-biased source, always use the wiki or ask someone with a purple name.'''
[[File:Bound working.png|thumb||Two Vaurca employees working to repair a wall aboard the Horizon.]]
Secondly, unless you are acting in bad faith - defined as acting with intentional dishonesty, violating the basic expectations of dignified human interaction, and harmful motives - staff will be incredibly understanding. Again, everyone here was once where you are. If you have any questions regarding the lore, new players, expectations, or '''any questions at all''' you are encouraged to reach out to any staff member either through Discord, or through the adminhelp command ingame. Staff members in the Discord can easily be identified by their funny colored names.


I dunno what I'm doing with this section, might just scrap it.  
Lastly, while the lore and wider setting can mean a lot to characters and to the ship, for new players, it means little to nothing, with one caveat. 90% of the time, it is a rationale for why x thing exists in the game, or why we're doing a special event arc. Your experience in-game will not be made worse by not understanding the lore, so '''GO AND PLAY''' is the best possible advice you can be given. If you keep playing, everything else will start falling into place after a few rounds, and a week or two in, you'll have a solid grasp on what's going on. That said, there is one aspect where lore and moderation intermix that should be discussed, CCIA.


'''Stellar Corporate Conglomorate:''' A cartel made up of all the other Corporations, headed by NanoTrasen. Works in Command and Command Support.
====CCIA====


'''NanoTrasen:''' The most powerful corporation known to man, basically entirely dedicated to Phoron. Works in Science, Medical, Service.
CCIA is a section of the staff team, within the moderation portion, which focuses on helping to create a more immersive, HRP setting through the creation and running of a system in which behaviors can be reported in character, handled in character, and then punished in character. This can throw some people off, and it is certainly not a perfect system, but at the end of the day, it is either have CCIA handle what they do IC'ly, or have it handled by the Moderation Team, OOC'ly. The first time you're contacted by CCIA can be unnerving for new players, as it is not automatically clear how they function and what might end up happening to your character. This section is dedicated to explaining some basic facts about CCIA, how it functions, and what you can expect.


'''Hephaestus Industries:''' The Industrial Titan, responsible for most of the spur's industrial output. Marketed as a big family. Works in Engineering and Operations.
Firstly, CCIA always tries to be as lenient as possible, especially with newer players. Unless you commit a horrific crime, it is very unlikely that anything serious will happen to your character. Moreover,  CCIA is not here to fire characters, nor are they here to make them unplayable by adding unfair limitations to play.


'''Zavodskoi Interstellar:''' The Merchant of Death, or Military Industrial Complex personified for every nation; freakish obsession with being professional. Works in Security, Science, and Engineering.
Secondly, while CCIA interviews can be annoying to do because of scheduling, they allow you to tell your side of the story and therefore be heard equally with whoever is accusing you of something. CCIA will weigh both testimonies before determining what the outcome of the report will be.


'''Zeng-Hu Pharmacuticals:''' Medical supplies, treatment, and everything in between; weirdly trans-humanist and likes prosthetics a lot. Works in Medical, and Science.
Thirdly, you should approach the game with the mindset that "this is my character's job." CCIA still has a duty to uphold the mantra "actions have consequences" IC'ly, but if you try your best and can explain why you got to where you did, usually a middle ground can be established.


'''Idris Incorporated:''' The bank, it's security, and the luxuries to spend stored money on; very secretive and almost mafia-esque. Works in Service, and Security.
Lastly, as they are staff, any decision made by CCIA can be contested on the Staff Complaints Section of the Forums in an OOC manner.


'''Private Military Contracting Group:''' A collection of PMCs from all over the Spur. Works in Security, and Medical
====The Workplace====
The Horizon is dominated by the megacorporations. This goes over their departments and general barebones descriptions. Will be expanded, as this basically already exists on the Guide to Character Creation page. Or scrapped IDK.


'''Orion Express:''' Shipping to sketchy locations, and minimum wage workers. Works in Operations and Service.
'''Stellar Corporate Conglomerate (or the SCC):''' The Trasen led cartel of which all the megacorporations are members of... to varying degrees of loyalty. They did not join willingly and chafe under Miranda's leadership, forcing her to continually devote time and effort to keeping the corporations loyal and in line; something that every employee of the SCC must do to some extent. One particularly crass captain compared it to herding cats, even at the ship level. SCC employees work in positions of Command, or in the Command Support category.
[[File:MirandaTrasen.png|thumb|Miranda Trasen, Leader of the SCC, and the woman who holds the spur in the palm of her hand.]]
'''NanoTrasen:''' The phoron industry titan, originally from a humble biomedical company on Mars. Now the biggest megacorporation ever, they have some stake in nearly every sector. From entertainment, synthetics, food, and even private security. However, NanoTrasens' greatest market and the one that will always be its priority will forever be phoron. NanoTrasen employees are found in Research, Medical, and Service positions.


====Characters====
'''Hephaestus Industries:''' The second largest corporation, Hephaestus Industries, has an unparalleled grasp on the industrial and manufacturing sectors of the entire Orion Spur. Hephaestus presents a picture that its employees are HARDWORKING, BLUE-COLLAR (even if managers make more than the entire operations department combined) WORKERS, fostering a sense that its employees are members of one big, happy family. However, complete loyalty to that family is expected, so attempting to start a union or other worker organizations is considered a betrayal and will result in almost immediate termination. Hephaestus employees are found in Engineering and Operations positions.
The general position of the playerbase at large, and more importantly, the staff team is that '''THERE IS NO EXPECTATION FOR YOU TO KNOW ANY OF THE LORE BEYOND THE BAREBONE BASICS DESCRIBED HERE, AND THE BAREBONE BASICS OF YOUR ORIGIN BEFORE HOPPING INTO A ROUND''' as a new player. If someone tries to "lorecheck" you (a term and action I hate) - normally done by bringing up a specific event and/or piece of lore that your character (in their eyes) should know - you can just say you're not familiar with it, and ask them to explain it to you. You can also say at the same time in LOOC that you're a newer player, and would appreciate them not expecting you to know specific events, but would love to learn more. If they're an asshole about it or refuse to acknowledge it because "Oh well you should have read before joining" ahelp about it and a moderator will likely talk with them about not being an asshole to new players. '''Be wary that this stuff is all IC - and therefore subject to character bias when learning and similar - for a non-biased source, always use the wiki or ask someone with a purple name.'''


Secondly, unless you are acting in bad faith - defined as acting with intentional dishonesty, violating the basic expectations of dignified human interaction, and harmful motives - staff will be incredibly understanding. Again, everyone here was once where you are. If you have any questions regarding the lore, new players, and expectations, ''any questions at all'' you are free to reach out to any staff, such as the current Loremaster - [[Triogenix]] - with any questions, concerns, or things you'd like clarified/just want to talk about; but please keep it specific to that staff members wheelhouse.
'''Zavodskoi Interstellar:''' The professional face of the defense and armaments industry, Zavodskoi Interstellar's weaponry is found in the hands of everyone from terrorists to soldiers across the Spur, as well as attached to the hard points of nearly every vessel. Given their primary industry, Zavodskoi obsesses over its respectable image and employees' professionalism, as reflected in the incredibly high standards to which Zavodskoi employees are held. Unprofessionalism or worse, incompetence, are the two quickest ways for an employee to leave the company. Zavodskoi employees work in Security, Research, and Engineering.


Lastly, while the lore and wider setting can mean a lot to characters and to the ship, for new players, it means little to nothing, with one caveat. 90% of the time it is a rationale for why x thing exists in game, or why we're doing a special event arc. Your experience ingame will not be made worse by not understanding the lore, so '''GO AND PLAY''' is the best possible advice you can be given. If you keep playing, everything else will start falling into place after a few rounds, and a week or two in, you'll have a solid grasp on what's going on. However, we must discuss the Cavaet mentioned earlier.
'''Zeng-Hu Pharmacuticals:''' The bleeding edge of biomedical science and cybernetics, Zeng-Hu promises the future is in elegant, synthetic bodies, and that every disease has a cure. Zeng-Hu is the pinnacle of the medical industry, and the members of its keiretsu reflect that in their adoption of its vision of the transhumanist future with heavily modified bodies. Zeng-Hu employees work in both Medical and Science.


'''CCIA'''
'''Idris Incorporated:''' All credits flow towards Idris Incorporated, being the largest banking institution and financial service provider in the Spur. Beyond simply owning the banks, Idris owns the premium methods of spending their partners' hard-earned credits with every luxury available being found in its many subsidiaries. Expensive, haute couture, and the emblem of the upper-class are the definitions of the corporation's domain, and behind their credit stands an equally well-founded security industry to ensure that the money keeps on coming. Idris employees work in Service and Security.


CCIA is a section of the staff team, within the moderation portion, which focuses on helping to create a more immersive, HRP setting by setting up a system in which behaviors can be reported IC, handled in an IC, and then punished IC'ly. This can throw some people off, and it is certainly not a perfect system, but at the end of the day, it is either have CCIA handle what they do IC'ly, or have it handled by the Moderation Team, OOC'ly. The first time you're contacted by CCIA can be scary for many newer players; however, there are a few things that will ease your mind.
'''Private Military Contracting Group:''' Born out of the utter necessity to keep a security guarantee and a gun behind it, the Private Military Contracting Group deploys its many members to protect corporate assets. Originating from the corporate crown of Eridani, the dozen-plus security and mercenary groups of the PMCG all work to enforce the needs and demands of the corporate world... and anyone with enough credits to afford their price. PMCG members work in Security and Medical.


Firstly, CCIA always tries to be as lenient as possible, especially on newer players. Unless you commit a horrific crime, it is very unlikely anything serious will happen to your character. Moreover, CCIA is not here to fire characters, nor are they here to make them unplayable by adding unfair limitations to play.
'''Orion Express:''' The logistics love-child of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, Orion Express ensures that every shipment is delivered on-time, intact, and right to the door, no matter where it is. Operating off of an immense workforce of couriers, miners, warehouse managers, and more, Orion Express is the youngest and fastest-growing member of the SCC. Outside of logistics, the corporation also has holdings in the food service industry with the extremely affordable (to its detriment) promise to deliver an edible product. Orion Express employees work in Operations and Service.
 
Secondly, while CCIA interviews can be annoying to do because of scheduling, they allow you to tell your side of the story, and therefore be heard equally with whoever is accusing you of something. Also, CCIA investigates an incident in it's entirety, and an accuser can easily become the one actions are taken towards if they're found in the wrong.
 
Thirdly, you should approach the game with the mindset that "this is my character's job." CCIA still has a duty to uphold the mantra "actions have consequences" IC'ly;  but if you try your best, and can explain why you got to where you did, usually a middle ground can be established.
 
Lastly, due to being staff, any decision made by CCIA can be contested on the Staff Complaints Section of the Forums in an OOC manner.


= Recommended Starter Planets =
= Recommended Starter Planets =
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[[File:Pixel Planet Biesel1.png|thumb|Biesel, the capital planet of the Republic of Biesel.]]
[[File:Pixel Planet Biesel1.png|thumb|Biesel, the capital planet of the Republic of Biesel.]]


'''[[Callisto]]''' - Callisto is a settled moon in orbit of Jupiter, and the most populated of the Jovian moons. It is the Alliance's single largest port, a feat accomplished by the massive Warp Gate Network it has in orbit, which was originally designed back in the late 2300s. Since then Callisto has been a hub of commerce, and is the de-facto port for the entire Sol system, one of the richest and most populated systems in the entire spur. As a result, Callisto is dominated by sprawling urban topography and is one of the most developed planets in the alliance. The culture of both the planet as a whole and the individual districts is very easy to pick up, and the page as a whole is fairly short. '''If you want to read the least amount, this is the planet for you.'''
'''[[Callisto]]''' - Callisto is a settled moon in orbit of Jupiter, and the most populated of the Jovian moons. It is the Alliance's single largest port, a feat accomplished by the massive Warp Gate Network it has in orbit, which was originally designed back in the late 2300s. Since then, Callisto has been a hub of commerce and is the de facto port for the entire Sol system, one of the richest and most populated systems in the entire spur. As a result, Callisto is dominated by sprawling urban topography and is one of the most developed planets in the alliance. The culture of both the planet as a whole and the individual districts is very easy to pick up, and the page as a whole is fairly short. '''If you want to read the least amount, this is the planet for you.'''


'''[[Biesel]]''' - Biesel is a temperate, oxygen-rich planet colonised in the mid-2100s, therefore making it one of the first. It is the capital of the Republic of Biesel and of the Tau Ceti system in general. One of the most populated planets in the Orion Spur, Biesel is one of the economic hearts of the known galaxy and boasts a large amount of urban development and resource richness - primarily in Phoron. It is also where the influence of NanoTrasen and the SCC is at it's strongest. The issue is, as it was also our setting for five-ish years, so alot of development occurred with it. '''If you're interested in reading a fair amount of lore''', love façade democracy, and also spreading the light of liberty, then this is the planet for you.
'''[[Biesel]]''' - Biesel is a temperate, oxygen-rich planet colonised in the mid-2100s, therefore making it one of the first. It is the capital of the Republic of Biesel and of the Tau Ceti system in general. One of the most populated planets in the Orion Spur, Biesel is one of the economic hearts of the known galaxy and boasts a large amount of urban development and resource richness - primarily in Phoron. It is also where the influence of NanoTrasen and the SCC is at its strongest. The issue is that it was also our setting for five-ish years, so a significant amount of development occurred for it. '''If you're interested in reading a fair amount of lore''', love façade democracy, and also spreading the light of liberty, then this is the planet for you.
   
   
'''[[Xanu Prime]]''' - The shimmering and vibrant planet of Xanu Prime (pronounced Ksa-noo), is the beating heart of the Coalition of Colonies. In nearly all ways, economic, political, and cultural, Xanu Prime holds almost unmatched influence over the rest of the Coalition. It is a cosmopolitan and multicultural hub where nearly anyone from across the Orion Spur can be found, a cornerstone not just in the Coalition but in the galactic community as a whole, and home to a thriving culture and democratic tradition which, along with the dedication and hard work of its citizens, has cemented its position of leadership and wealth which it currently enjoys. The primary page also tops out as the second longest page on the wiki, and it's one of three. '''If you're interested in super indepth lore''', reading a ton, the frontier spirit, and multiculturalism, pick Xanu Prime.
'''[[Xanu Prime]]''' - The shimmering and vibrant planet of Xanu Prime (pronounced Ksa-noo), is the beating heart of the Coalition of Colonies. In nearly all ways, economic, political, and cultural, Xanu Prime holds almost unmatched influence over the rest of the Coalition. It is a cosmopolitan and multicultural hub where nearly anyone from across the Orion Spur can be found, a cornerstone not just in the Coalition but in the galactic community as a whole, and home to a thriving culture and democratic tradition which, along with the dedication and hard work of its citizens, has cemented its position of leadership and wealth which it currently enjoys. The primary page also tops out as the second-longest page on the wiki, and it's one of three. '''If you're interested in super in-depth lore''', reading a ton, the frontier spirit, and multiculturalism, pick Xanu Prime.


'''From this point, you are again encouraged to move onto [[Guides/Character Creation]] provided you're at a loss for what to do.'''
'''From this point, you are again encouraged to move onto [[Guides/Character Creation]] provided you're at a loss for what to do.'''
 
<center>{{Navbox New Player Guides}}</center>
= General Setting Info Dump cause I haven't figured out a title =
Andddddd that's basically all you need to know before hopping into a round! It is encouraged that you start by learning through playing rather than reading - doing the latter immediately tends to overwhelm folks. Aurora Lore is the combined work of dozens of people over the course of over a decade, which means it cannot truly be defined in any one category - it is comprised of dozens of themes, narratives, and writing styles - if you can think of an origin that fits within the wide sandbox outlined above, it probably exists somewhere. That said, here are the primary human factions of the spur.
 
===The Solarian Alliance===
The Solarian Alliance was once the sole government of humanity, but after a devastating civil war and two centuries of decline, it has become a shadow of what it once was. All human nations are in some way breakaway states from the Alliance, including the Empire of Dominia which was founded by colonists sent from the Alliance before being cut off. Most of the planets of the Alliance have long and rich histories, rife with heroism, treachery, hope, horror, corruption, and tragedy. It is possibly the most populous nation, still holding most of the earliest human colonies close to the Sol system itself, and therefore also the largest.
 
===The Republic of Biesel===
The Republic of Biesel is the most recently founded nation in the spur, only coming into existence in (date). Since then, the young Republic has faced crisis after crisis, being beaten into the dirt only to get back up over and over. This perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds has seen the Republic through most crises, but it remains uncertain if it will see them through the Phoron Scarcity, given that the Republic's wealth, prosperity, and very existence are thanks to this rare element. Still, while they continue to hang on, ideals such as freedom, inclusivity, and a duty to protect those first two values from outside sources have all become tenets for the young republic's emerging culture - one that is still very young - yet exists all the same.
 
===The Coalition of Colonies===
The Coalition of Colonies was the second interstellar human "nation" to form, though to call it a nation is a stretch. There is very little centralized authority, and factitious infighting is a staple of Coalition politics. This is a result of its formation, as a group of disparate frontier rebels fighting against the Alliance's extortion of the colonies to try and soften the blow of a financial crisis in the core worlds. Governments of all types can be found within the Coalition, from the continual martial law of Gadpathur, the Democracy of Xanu, and the Syndicalism of Himeo; all operate under the umbrella of the Coalition of Colonies, but could not be more different from each other. The Coalition prioritizes freedom of above all - but the freedom of states and planets to choose as they see fit - rather than individual freedoms.
 
===The Serene Republic of Elyra===
The Serene Republic of Elyra came into being in the aftermath of the Interstellar War, as a wounded and battered Alliance continued to face civil unrest in its southern reaches. After the death of a scholar during a protest - the Elyran Revolution would occur, and the new nation would be formed. Isolationist in nature, it has maintained an ethnically homogeneous population and culture throughout its history, and it is next to impossible for outsiders to be granted Elyran Citizenship. As such, it people and culture are extremely similar to those peoples and cultures that can be found in the Modern Day Middle East, North Africa, Anatolia, and Persia regions.
 
==The Empire of Dominia==
The Empire of Dominia is an odd nation out when it comes to humanity, as it did not come to be through direct revolt against the Alliance, though its formation still saw plenty of bloodshed. After the disaster of the Interstellar War, Elyran Independence, and a continually worsening economy, the Alliance cut its losses, ceasing to try and expand into the Southern Spur. However, expeditions had already been sent, and would now receive no assistance from the wider alliance. It would not be until the 2300s that the planet Moroz would be united through a brutal series of wars (Known as the War of Moroz), under an autocratic, imperialist, and theocratic state, known as the Empire of Dominia. They are easily the strangest of the human nations, having very different cultures, religions, and similar due to developing in isolation for so long.
 
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Latest revision as of 18:13, 24 November 2025

New Player Section
This is a navbox. Pressing the links below takes you to the respective pages.

This specific navbox is tailored to new player guides and very important pages across the wiki for newcomers.

Character Starters Getting Started · New Player Lore Guide · Character Creation · Jobs
Alien Whitelist Starters Skrell · Synthetics · Tajara · Dionae · Unathi · Vaurca

This is the first in a series of multiple guides connected to Guides/Character Creation. Once you're finished reading this, you are more than equipped with the knowledge necessary to create your character using that guide!

Below is recommended reading if you are new to the server!

Welcome to Aurora Lore!

Aurora Lore is a community writing project that has been continuously running since 2015 with the help of dozens of writers over more than a decade. As a result, the volume of lore written can at times feel overwhelming for first-time players and turn them off from the setting. This page exists as an incredibly condensed summary of the lore, focused entirely on delivering the most important information quickly so that you can feel comfortable joining a round.

The Aurora Setting

The Violet Dawn incident, an attempt to synthesize phoron, devastated the surface of Mars. Pictured is an encounter with a "scrapper" IPC in the Martian wasteland.

It is 2467 C.E., and it has been centuries since humanity left the gravity well of the Sol system to colonize the Stars. Their exploration and colonization would bring them into contact with all manner of different worlds, alongside many intelligent species. Today, the Orion Spur has been mostly explored, but must be explored again, as a crisis looms in the background. Our server takes place aboard the SCCV Horizon, an all-purpose response and exploration vessel, owned and operated by the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, an economic cartel made up of eight different megacorporations that combined, control a majority of the spur's economic activity. It is not an equal organization, or one that any of the megacorporations excepting its leader joined willingly; instead it is dominated and led by the most powerful individual in the spur, Miranda Trasen. CEO of NanoTrasen, the most powerful megacorporation to ever exist. Miranda is the woman responsible for forming the cartel she now leads, having forced the other seven into line using whatever coercive means available as leverage, regardless of legality. She was unique in her power to do this due to her inheritance of a monopoly over the single most important resource in the setting; Phoron.

Phoron

Discovered in 2352 by NanoTrasen, phoron is a typically purple element that is only known to occur naturally (in economically significant quantities, anyway) in a set number of locations throughout an entire galaxy, either as a crystal or gas, and it is not an overstatement to say it is the most important element in the setting. In its elemental state as a solid, phoron is a naturally occurring room temperature superconductor and the only room temperature superconductor known to exist with no viable alternatives. It is a single resource that underpinned an entire century of rapid, exponential economic and technological growth, to the extent that it is now a necessary material to maintain the economic and technological level of the Spur. Running out would be akin to being thrown back more than a century economically and technologically.

A good way to visualize what this means for your average resident of the Spur: imagine that in the modern world, we only have a few possible sources of silicon, a resource we rely on for the modern world to function, and there is nothing we can substitute it with if we run out. Moreover, if we ran out, we would go back to the technological and economic level of the early 1920s. Furthermore, 99.9% of all the silicon is owned by a single corporation, which has been unsustainably mining it for over a century; as a result, we are now running out, and that's essentially the situation of the Spur currently.

The Phoron Scarcity is an ongoing shortage of the precious resource primarily caused by over-consumption and unsustainable mining practices. It is a very dire situation, but due to the importance of phoron, the mines are still active, meaning that as every day passes, there is less phoron that can be mined later, causing the situation to only worsen with time. There have been many attempts to find a solution, although these have focused on finding new deposits, which is merely a band-aid on a bleeding artery, stabilizing the situation for a few months until they eventually run out. There have been multiple attempts to create a synthetic alternative to phoron, none of which have succeeded, some with disastrous results, which has put a damper on further research.

What exactly will happen as a result of this scarcity is currently unknown, as Aurora's setting is a continuous story that develops in real time. For more information, join the lore discord server.

The SCCV Horizon

The SCCV Horizon undocking from the NTCC Odin for one of its first missions.

As mentioned previously, the SCCV Horizon is the spaceship that can be found in-game. It is owned and operated by the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate under Miranda Trasen, so all player characters are working for the organization(s) that caused the current catastrophic situation in the first place! Characters can pick to work for any of the eight corporations that make up the Conglomerate; however, each corporation is restricted to certain departments. The IC reason you are still working for and wearing the uniform of your parent company despite working on an SCC asset is that you are contracted out. Many jobs will have specific qualifications that can be found on their job pages. Additionally, the baseline qualifications to work aboard the Horizon can be found here: Stellar Corporate Conglomerate Occupation Qualifications.

Lore, your character, and the Workplace

This section is entirely dedicated to trying to summarize what all this lore means in-game, in an easy-to-digest, informal way. For any new players, or returning players who have been away for a large period of time, the modern-day setting of Aurora is extremely vast, with hundreds of thousands of words dedicated to lore alone. This can feel overwhelming at first,

Everyone started on the server in the same situation you are now - every player, member of staff, and leader of staff teams were once in the same position when it comes to lore. However, the best way to learn is to PLAY THE GAME and read wiki pages as through game interactions, certain things catch your attention, a desire to learn about, or similar. Don't try reading all the lore about a faction at once.

Characters

The general position of the player base at large, and more importantly, the staff team is that THERE IS NO EXPECTATION FOR YOU TO KNOW ANY OF THE LORE BEYOND THE BASICS DESCRIBED HERE, AND THE BASICS OF YOUR ORIGIN BEFORE HOPPING INTO A ROUND as a new player. The basics of your origin can be found in the character creation screen in-game, as little blurbs when you select one. If you find someone 'lorechecking' you, say you are unsure of the lore but are willing to learn. If they continue to pester and argue, you can AHELP it using F1! Be wary that this stuff is all IC - and therefore subject to character bias when learning and similar - for a non-biased source, always use the wiki or ask someone with a purple name.

Two Vaurca employees working to repair a wall aboard the Horizon.

Secondly, unless you are acting in bad faith - defined as acting with intentional dishonesty, violating the basic expectations of dignified human interaction, and harmful motives - staff will be incredibly understanding. Again, everyone here was once where you are. If you have any questions regarding the lore, new players, expectations, or any questions at all you are encouraged to reach out to any staff member either through Discord, or through the adminhelp command ingame. Staff members in the Discord can easily be identified by their funny colored names.

Lastly, while the lore and wider setting can mean a lot to characters and to the ship, for new players, it means little to nothing, with one caveat. 90% of the time, it is a rationale for why x thing exists in the game, or why we're doing a special event arc. Your experience in-game will not be made worse by not understanding the lore, so GO AND PLAY is the best possible advice you can be given. If you keep playing, everything else will start falling into place after a few rounds, and a week or two in, you'll have a solid grasp on what's going on. That said, there is one aspect where lore and moderation intermix that should be discussed, CCIA.

CCIA

CCIA is a section of the staff team, within the moderation portion, which focuses on helping to create a more immersive, HRP setting through the creation and running of a system in which behaviors can be reported in character, handled in character, and then punished in character. This can throw some people off, and it is certainly not a perfect system, but at the end of the day, it is either have CCIA handle what they do IC'ly, or have it handled by the Moderation Team, OOC'ly. The first time you're contacted by CCIA can be unnerving for new players, as it is not automatically clear how they function and what might end up happening to your character. This section is dedicated to explaining some basic facts about CCIA, how it functions, and what you can expect.

Firstly, CCIA always tries to be as lenient as possible, especially with newer players. Unless you commit a horrific crime, it is very unlikely that anything serious will happen to your character. Moreover, CCIA is not here to fire characters, nor are they here to make them unplayable by adding unfair limitations to play.

Secondly, while CCIA interviews can be annoying to do because of scheduling, they allow you to tell your side of the story and therefore be heard equally with whoever is accusing you of something. CCIA will weigh both testimonies before determining what the outcome of the report will be.

Thirdly, you should approach the game with the mindset that "this is my character's job." CCIA still has a duty to uphold the mantra "actions have consequences" IC'ly, but if you try your best and can explain why you got to where you did, usually a middle ground can be established.

Lastly, as they are staff, any decision made by CCIA can be contested on the Staff Complaints Section of the Forums in an OOC manner.

The Workplace

The Horizon is dominated by the megacorporations. This goes over their departments and general barebones descriptions. Will be expanded, as this basically already exists on the Guide to Character Creation page. Or scrapped IDK.

Stellar Corporate Conglomerate (or the SCC): The Trasen led cartel of which all the megacorporations are members of... to varying degrees of loyalty. They did not join willingly and chafe under Miranda's leadership, forcing her to continually devote time and effort to keeping the corporations loyal and in line; something that every employee of the SCC must do to some extent. One particularly crass captain compared it to herding cats, even at the ship level. SCC employees work in positions of Command, or in the Command Support category.

Miranda Trasen, Leader of the SCC, and the woman who holds the spur in the palm of her hand.

NanoTrasen: The phoron industry titan, originally from a humble biomedical company on Mars. Now the biggest megacorporation ever, they have some stake in nearly every sector. From entertainment, synthetics, food, and even private security. However, NanoTrasens' greatest market and the one that will always be its priority will forever be phoron. NanoTrasen employees are found in Research, Medical, and Service positions.

Hephaestus Industries: The second largest corporation, Hephaestus Industries, has an unparalleled grasp on the industrial and manufacturing sectors of the entire Orion Spur. Hephaestus presents a picture that its employees are HARDWORKING, BLUE-COLLAR (even if managers make more than the entire operations department combined) WORKERS, fostering a sense that its employees are members of one big, happy family. However, complete loyalty to that family is expected, so attempting to start a union or other worker organizations is considered a betrayal and will result in almost immediate termination. Hephaestus employees are found in Engineering and Operations positions.

Zavodskoi Interstellar: The professional face of the defense and armaments industry, Zavodskoi Interstellar's weaponry is found in the hands of everyone from terrorists to soldiers across the Spur, as well as attached to the hard points of nearly every vessel. Given their primary industry, Zavodskoi obsesses over its respectable image and employees' professionalism, as reflected in the incredibly high standards to which Zavodskoi employees are held. Unprofessionalism or worse, incompetence, are the two quickest ways for an employee to leave the company. Zavodskoi employees work in Security, Research, and Engineering.

Zeng-Hu Pharmacuticals: The bleeding edge of biomedical science and cybernetics, Zeng-Hu promises the future is in elegant, synthetic bodies, and that every disease has a cure. Zeng-Hu is the pinnacle of the medical industry, and the members of its keiretsu reflect that in their adoption of its vision of the transhumanist future with heavily modified bodies. Zeng-Hu employees work in both Medical and Science.

Idris Incorporated: All credits flow towards Idris Incorporated, being the largest banking institution and financial service provider in the Spur. Beyond simply owning the banks, Idris owns the premium methods of spending their partners' hard-earned credits with every luxury available being found in its many subsidiaries. Expensive, haute couture, and the emblem of the upper-class are the definitions of the corporation's domain, and behind their credit stands an equally well-founded security industry to ensure that the money keeps on coming. Idris employees work in Service and Security.

Private Military Contracting Group: Born out of the utter necessity to keep a security guarantee and a gun behind it, the Private Military Contracting Group deploys its many members to protect corporate assets. Originating from the corporate crown of Eridani, the dozen-plus security and mercenary groups of the PMCG all work to enforce the needs and demands of the corporate world... and anyone with enough credits to afford their price. PMCG members work in Security and Medical.

Orion Express: The logistics love-child of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, Orion Express ensures that every shipment is delivered on-time, intact, and right to the door, no matter where it is. Operating off of an immense workforce of couriers, miners, warehouse managers, and more, Orion Express is the youngest and fastest-growing member of the SCC. Outside of logistics, the corporation also has holdings in the food service industry with the extremely affordable (to its detriment) promise to deliver an edible product. Orion Express employees work in Operations and Service.

Recommended Starter Planets

Biesel, the capital planet of the Republic of Biesel.

Callisto - Callisto is a settled moon in orbit of Jupiter, and the most populated of the Jovian moons. It is the Alliance's single largest port, a feat accomplished by the massive Warp Gate Network it has in orbit, which was originally designed back in the late 2300s. Since then, Callisto has been a hub of commerce and is the de facto port for the entire Sol system, one of the richest and most populated systems in the entire spur. As a result, Callisto is dominated by sprawling urban topography and is one of the most developed planets in the alliance. The culture of both the planet as a whole and the individual districts is very easy to pick up, and the page as a whole is fairly short. If you want to read the least amount, this is the planet for you.

Biesel - Biesel is a temperate, oxygen-rich planet colonised in the mid-2100s, therefore making it one of the first. It is the capital of the Republic of Biesel and of the Tau Ceti system in general. One of the most populated planets in the Orion Spur, Biesel is one of the economic hearts of the known galaxy and boasts a large amount of urban development and resource richness - primarily in Phoron. It is also where the influence of NanoTrasen and the SCC is at its strongest. The issue is that it was also our setting for five-ish years, so a significant amount of development occurred for it. If you're interested in reading a fair amount of lore, love façade democracy, and also spreading the light of liberty, then this is the planet for you.

Xanu Prime - The shimmering and vibrant planet of Xanu Prime (pronounced Ksa-noo), is the beating heart of the Coalition of Colonies. In nearly all ways, economic, political, and cultural, Xanu Prime holds almost unmatched influence over the rest of the Coalition. It is a cosmopolitan and multicultural hub where nearly anyone from across the Orion Spur can be found, a cornerstone not just in the Coalition but in the galactic community as a whole, and home to a thriving culture and democratic tradition which, along with the dedication and hard work of its citizens, has cemented its position of leadership and wealth which it currently enjoys. The primary page also tops out as the second-longest page on the wiki, and it's one of three. If you're interested in super in-depth lore, reading a ton, the frontier spirit, and multiculturalism, pick Xanu Prime.

From this point, you are again encouraged to move onto Guides/Character Creation provided you're at a loss for what to do.

New Player Section
This is a navbox. Pressing the links below takes you to the respective pages.

This specific navbox is tailored to new player guides and very important pages across the wiki for newcomers.

Character Starters Getting Started · New Player Lore Guide · Character Creation · Jobs
Alien Whitelist Starters Skrell · Synthetics · Tajara · Dionae · Unathi · Vaurca
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