Then Judgment made history. Another race, fellow starfarers sharing the galaxy. Humanity was prepared, and the language barrier was breached by linguists who had spent their whole lives waiting for this moment. The peace talks went without any trouble, humanity was not alone and it had peace. Peace though it had, no friend was made. These fellow starfarers had no interest in others or unity, choosing isolation and security. Humanity kept searching.

Again it was Judgment that made history for a second time. A new race. Introductions did not go as smooth this time. The other species did not take kindly to having company and wanted nothing more than to be alone by any means. Full scale war was seen by humanity for the first time in three hundred years, inexperienced though they were humanity was not unprepared. The Guardian class were still in their prime, and served as flagships in the First Man-Prawn War. After years of stalemate, the tide turned in favor of humanity and the front line started moving into Prawn space. Peace talks were held on the Judgment, the ship that had led the final fleet engagement in the war. The campaign was not without loss, however. The Guardian took a crippling shot in the war and was barely able to limp back to dry dock. The sisters had fought well; humanity again knew peace.

Hell yes, more Valiance.

For generations humanity was back to business as usual, twenty more planets were terraformed and added to the burgeoning empire. Long ago the term 'United Nations' had been dropped in favor of a more appropriate title, the United Systems of Sol. Assisted by new breakthroughs in AI, the half a trillion humans of the USS went about their lives with the smallest bureaucracy relative to population in hundreds of years. The three sisters, vanguards of humanity, never took well to attempts to update their AI systems. Every attempt was met with bouts of insanity, invariably ending with the new additions to the AI fried and a reversion to backed up data. The Guardian class were not to be personified like modern AIs. They were machines of war. Cold, calculating, precise, powerful. Those not used to the old ways of computers did not take well to the 'outdated' systems of the Guardian class. The ball was set in motion, and it was only a matter of time until humanity decided it no longer needed its staunch defenders.

The second Man-Prawn War was inevitable, as a species the Prawns were unable to cope with sharing the universe. Humanity had hoped that their fundamental differences could be resolved in a matter of time, but their gestures of unity were seen as a sign of weakness and bribes to dissuade the wrath of the Prawns. Specially raised Prawns were presented as the face of their empire to humanity, chosen for their insane repeatability to the humans. Meanwhile the empire grew strong. Their ships became modular, ships of peace waiting for the right moment to suddenly shed their vast cargo holds and luxurious spaces for tools of destruction and death. Few saw the first strike coming and humanity was hit hard. Again humanity struck back, and again they won. There was no mercy for the Prawns this time. They had shown their true colors and would never again be trusted. The war was not won by the Guardian and her sister ships, however. New technologies had come out since the last war and those that had once led the fleets of mankind were left behind as the last line of defense, the old guard who were too decrepit to trust with fighting in full engagements. That is not to say that they went without honor, each served well and lived up to their legacy as flotillas broke through the USS lines. The Guardian class had taken another step towards the bone yards, however. The powerful ships that had long been at the forefront of war were now outdated. Shield and thruster technology had advanced enough that small, fast, cheap cruisers were now in favor. The Guardian again took heavy damage, and was refused the same care it received in the first war.

Undertones of revolution had long been rooted in humanity since they were unified under the USS. There were elements in the USS that had not taken well to the unequal drafts that had left entire worlds missing a generation. The recovery was slow, as populations grew so did their resentment. Less than a century after the extinction of the Prawns, civil war broke out. The Guardian class served for their final time. The Judgment was captured by the separatists early in the war, restored to its former glory as a flagship. The Valiance almost failed to live up to its name this time around, having been stripped for retrofitting when captured it was good for little more than acting as a decoy. This lack of glory did not suit the Valiance, it still destroyed three cruisers despite its complete lack of conventional weaponry. As a 'reward' for its service to humanity for over a millennium and being the flagship of the victorious fleets the Judgment was refitted as a parade ship to ferry admirals around the newly formed United Confederation of Systems. The Valiance was mothballed after it was deemed more expensive to deconstruct it than the total value of materials it contained. The Guardian was sold off to private interests, too expensive to repair and too damaged to survive long enough for military salvagers to get to it.

This is mostly all consolidated fluff from the previous threads, with the horrible shoving of Prawns into the setting. Having the aliens be generic would have been far better.

>>7789831
Not sure if I like this new addition to the fluff at all.

I'm using some silly/generic names/species as placeholders, the general shape is the important thing. Bear with me.

>>7789874
Terribly sorry, I just threw that in because I got stuck. I'm hoping this thread will flesh out the alien races that the Valiance has fought.

>>7789910
nokoF5F5F5F5F5

Might as well ask this now.

Would /tg/ like a Valiance Quest? I'm part way done prepping stuff for it as an IRL game but it'd require little adaptation. Would probably be run in much the same format as Lord Quest, possibly using MapTool screenshots for battles. Would be using as much hard science as possible without it getting in the way. I'd use quite a bit of the fluff from the first two threads, and possibly some from this one, but there's no way I could use it all.

Mind you, this wouldn't be starting immediately, I'm running a couple games and a quest as it is, but it looks like I might be having my schedule free up in the coming future.

During the civil war a new race made contact with humanity. Diplomatic relations were made, but never strengthened. Nervousness after the Man-Prawn Wars meant that the UCS admirals made sure to keep the fleet strong. A cold war brewed between the spiderling and humans, a tradition of animosity developed as time wore on. Then in the mid-41st century pirates fired on a spiderling diplomatic vessel. Before the UCS government knew the ship was destroyed a spiderling fleet was rallied and en route to a human boarder world. Attempts to explain failed, and the UCS fleet was called to arms. With each engagement more fuel was added to the fire. Blood ran hot, and no end was in sight. Neither side had the advantage, and a stalemate held for decades.

>>7789998

This thread is bad and so are you.

>>7790039
So says the tripfag.
Minimize the thread if you don't like it.

Without warning the long-isolated starfarers became conquerors. Political changes within their government turned their attention to expansion, and the undefended worlds of humanity were too tempting of a target. Almost exactly on the opposite side of the UCS as the spiderlings, there was no hope of sending reinforcements from the main fleet even if it would not cripple their defensive capabilities. It was decided that the reserve fleet would be called up. Bone yards all across the confederation were picked over for salvageable vessels, and a ragtag flotilla of ships were quickly brought into battle readiness. Forefront in this fleet was the Valiance, somehow still functional after 500 years of disuse. Despite its obsolete technology, the mere fact it could fly meant that it was put into service.

So, to go further would be to write the story of the Valiance, which I dare say would be quite rude to those who want to role play it. As I doff my tripcode and slip back into anonymity, I task 4chan with coming up with some proper races for humanity to kick the shit out of.

Fuck prawns, OP. Just rip of the Kzinti, it would fit the personality better.

>>7790125
A species who does nothing but interrupt other people's conversations and make completely unrelated and mostly idiotic comments.
All REAL communication happens telepathically.
Not sure what to call them, though.

>>7790125
Potential quest guy here.

Well, I'm not going to reveal what I'd planned as the enemy attacking from the rear, but the main foe was going to be an AI rebellion, with the Fleet positive that anything else wasn't worth tasking major resources to. And the reason AIs in general had quickly become distrusted.

Of course, in the prep I've been doing there are some other major fluff differences, including the presence of something like Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium for a good portion of human history.

The "haha, now we're hostile" idea for a race is a rather delicious alternative though.

>>7790153
Channers. Seriously though, maybe they do sign language and are jerks to non-psychic folks. I'm picturing earth-tone scrawny fuzzy things with a simple mouth.

>>7790183
The problem I have with an AI rebellion is that it would be very unlikely be about half the resources that go rogue. I'd think that either too many go rogue and be too much to handle, or few enough that they're dispatched. The over-reliance on AIs that previous threads have established make it hard for AIs to be stopped from going rogue once it starts.

>>7790257
New breed of AI, widely celebrated and implemented into much of the new fleet construction.

Humanity begins a move to H.A.N.A. units for new ship models after the rebellion starts.

>>7789998
Please, not a quest. It works best as a setting idea for traditional games. A quest would violate the outdated, but magnificent spirit. I, for one, would sagebomb it.

>>7790328
Agreed.

>>7790328
>>7790352

I think a GAME would violate that spirit.

I'd use the ship in a setting akin to Babel-17. Communication with aliens isn't just a matter of linguistics, it's a matter of finding a communication base. Naval actions are normally carried out by carrier ships and their fighters, or quick strike destroyers and cruisers. Battleships are largely obsolete - or so they think.

>>7790374
The Valiance is a meme. The idea is magnificent, and someday it will be used. It's just that it should be used for a movie or something. Don't let it go to waste.

>>7790417
>>for a movie or something

So naive, anonymous. Like this will ever get used, superb idea as it may be.

Like a movie director would make anything with this that wouldn't have every fa/tg/uy who worked on it crying fowl.

And nobody is going to write a book about it either.

Use it, do your best, enjoy it for what it is, because otherwise it's just a wonderful idea that will gather dust on a shelf.

>>7790448
OP here. Actually, I'm working on the framework for one right now. I was hoping that my suggestions would get a bit more fleshed out or replaced with better ideas to keep it flowing. I'm liking the AI explanation. Then I can move the arachnoids to replace the Prawns.

Haha, oh wow. I just realized I accidentally called the Justice the Judgment.