Colonial Corps

[Psion]

This is a story that spawned a "hard-fi" science fiction universe I've had on the back burner for a bit. About a hundred years into the future, mankind manages to travel the stars. To better facilitate the exploration of colonizable worlds and reduce casualities during early settlement, a special cadre of pioneers and explorers are trained to serve as the first wave of frontiersmen (and women,) the titular Colonial Corps (like everything else, the title is subject to change.)
The Corps is set up as an extranational paramilitary organization with training camps all over Earth and the inner solar system. Recruits can come from all backgrounds but the Corps are notorious for accepting the misfit, the persecuted, and the desperate. And while the timeline is looking at getting rewritten, the political situation produces plenty of hopefuls.
Without getting into too much of the plot, yes there are furries. There are furries and they will play an important part in the plot. But they are generally not recruitable by the Corps although the two groups do not have an antagonistic relationship.
Technology for the most part is hard sci-fi. Corpsmen have access to a few weapons but they're more for defending against dangerous predators then anything else. Standard uniforms vary depending on the environment, based on traditional clothing of people who lived in a certain climate (the CEC desert uniform bears a number of Arabic and Mexican influnces for example) and include a nanomesh weave for heating/cooling the wearer. However, the Colonial Corps lacks the technology to support sustained "traditional" military actions (their tech and doctrine emphasis is on establishing forward outposts for future settlers to build colonies, not large-scale warfare) putting them at an initial disadvantage when teams first encounter the "big bad."
Given some of the thought and speculation I've seen in my last discussion thread, I'm curious to see what our more cerebral members think as I've hit a bit of a wall (currently working on other projects) and wonder if a fresh pair of eyes could give me new perspective.

[Iscin]

If the content of the story is "adults only" then the thread itself should be labeled accordingly Psion.

[Psion]

If the content of the story is "adults only" then the thread itself should be labeled accordingly Psion.

Alright then, would you mind changing it back?

[Iscin]

Alright then, would you mind changing it back?

Very well but remember that the thread's rating is not merely for what kind of discussion you are going to have but what the story itself is. So if the story or related and linked material is of a mature or adult nature then you must set the entire thread as such

[Psion]

Very well but remember that the thread's rating is not merely for what kind of discussion you are going to have but what the story itself is. So if the story or related and linked material is of a mature or adult nature then you must set the entire thread as such

Understood you the first time, thank you and good day.

Moving on, any one have any questions to get us started?

[DigitalEcho]

It's got the potential, I quite like the flaws and advantages of the Corps, makes it a more interesting concept, I think that you need to maybe reveal a few details about the plot that you have in mind though Just to give an idea of what is going to happen in your story.

[Psion]

It's got the potential, I quite like the flaws and advantages of the Corps, makes it a more interesting concept, I think that you need to maybe reveal a few details about the plot that you have in mind though Just to give an idea of what is going to happen in your story.

Well, the original short story that spawned this universe was a piece of vent art but you know how that can go...
A fair influence behind the Colonial Corps idea was the Martian Chronicals, particularly how they described the fictional colonization of Mars in five (I think) major waves. The stories involved generally focus on the kind of people who would have made the first two waves of Martian colonists; thrill-seekers and born-explorers rubbing shoulders with social deviants, political exiles, and the desperate to escape by any means necessary.
I haven't quite worked out the details behind the verse as I'm not particularly happy with my current timeline draft but the basic gist is this: Politics have made Earth a very unpleasent place to live, forcing an exodus of colonists to Luna, Mars, and a terraformed Venus. The Colonial Corps maintains a presence on all four worlds to recruit able-bodied explorers for extra-solar survey and colonization.
Without giving a great deal away, the Corpsmen (and women) run into their (hostile) alien counterparts on top of dealing with increasingly bleak politics back home. The primative nature of their FTL and communications technologies means the Corps runs into their alien enemies no less then three times in three seperate environments before HQ is even aware that there's a serious problem.
In the end, the story revolves around three groups; humans, their insectoid rivals, and a loose collective of four anthro races mass abducted and kept by the insectoids as slaves. Each have their own advantages and weaknesses as well as an increasingly complex relationship with the other two.

[DigitalEcho]

A diverse series of charcters I like that, I'll be looking forward to read this story!

[Psion]

Thanks, note me and I'll give you the link.

Moving on, I'm fairly settled with how I have the Colonial Corps set up but I suppose someone could point out something I missed. For the most part, recruits are trained in one of four possible climate zones for three to four months before being shipped to a speciality school for an advanced MOS. Technical training, medicine, botany, and advanced survival training are available for trainees who have the knack for it.

[DigitalEcho]

No probs I appreciate it ^^

I must ask however, is their any type of armoured or airborne force for the Colonial Corps

[Psion]

I must ask however, is their any type of armoured or airborne force for the Colonial Corps

Interesting idea, never really considered it. The CC is mostly an exploration agency and never really had to engage in open war with anyone before. Before they encounter the bad guys, the worst they had to defend against is non-sapient predators.

[DigitalEcho]

More of a sort of exploration defence force kind of group does their firepower match against the bad guys?

[Psion]

More of a sort of exploration defence force kind of group does their firepower match against the bad guys?

In some ways yes, in some ways no. The insectoid aliens have microwave beam-based weaponry, the humans have stuff the Colonial Marines from the Aliens series would be at home with. Human weapons are generally reliable for a multitude of situations, easy to use and maintain, but slightly underpowered. The alien guns are focused on one situation (slowly abusing disobedient slaves with horribly painful beams of microwave energy) and require frequent (and fairly technical) maintainance.
So to answer your question directly, yes there is a mismatch between tech levels but it's not as bad as a cheap furry fic with tree-hugging shamanistic furries armed with spears fighting off "ebil whomons" joyriding in steampowered tanks. The two powers that are facing off (humans and furries versus sapient space bugs) are more or less even in terms of pros and cons.