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UNITY

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  A united, coherent, galaxy-spanning government encompassing all of humanity and countless aliens granted human status, Unity has come to be synonymous with “galactic civilization” to most humans. To the loyal, it stands as the beacon of all that is lawful, orderly, and uplifting. To the cynical, it is the embodiment of suffocating control and enforced conformity. To the extremist, it is deviation from mankind’s right to rule by fire. For most- it is simply a way to live, a necessary mechanization of bureaucracy that ensures the slow, grinding progress of mankind. Tasked with a broad charter of “Defending the interests of humanity at large and in detail”, Unity functions as government, military, and culture. To ensure social cohesion, active measures are taken to encourage approved cultural trends, allowing a degree of monoculture to exist across a thousand worlds. Backed by massive military force, whether you live within its Core Worlds, in uncontrolled Fringe space, or in an alien p

Martin's Fault - Turn 6

The door hissed open, bringing a waft of fouled air into the adjacent room.  Five faces were looking up at them, beaten, exhausted, but with a definitely sane look in their eyes. "I am the Captain of the Harvest of Yellow " said a middle-aged woman, blinking sudden tears from her reddened, hollow eyes.  "This is what is left of my crew and passengers", she said, gesturing to the others. "Not quite", replied Jen.  "We saved as many as we could.  There are two more out there, well trussed up for now pending medical help, and three others managed to run for it.  You should send search parties out for them, however, before the police get called in to restrain them". "What the hell happened", asked Dart, adrenalin making her even less empathic than usual.  The story was told.  An EM pulse had hit the Harvest of Yellow just as it was moving through the Weak Point.  A lot of the ship's systems had been knocked out, and above all, it caus