Roger Davis
Marine Commander Staff
34 Years Old Major Aerilon Native
[brw1775|militaryapps]Sic Loquimur Omnes
Posts: 873
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Post by Roger Davis on Jul 16, 2013 23:55:59 GMT -5
Timeline For the sake of ease with character creation, as a general reference for the BSG universe, and for later keeping track of our RP events here is a basic timeline of events. - 0 - The Twelve Tribes leave Kobol and eventually discover and found the Twelve Colonies.
- ~200 - There is an unexplained cataclysm that destroys much of the past knowledge and technology. The space-fairing society that traveled many light years to reach their new homes will take over a thousand years to recover to that level of technology again.
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- 1890s - Gunship Hyperion is built and joins the Aerilon Fleet.
- 1911 - A massive civil war erupts on Tauron.
- 1927 - The Hyperion is reborn and becomes the flagship of the Aerilon fleet.
- 1941 - Thirty years later, another war threatens to consume Tauron.
- 1942 - Graystone Industries creates the first Cylon model.
- 1942 - The Monotheist Soldiers of the One expand their militant operations.
- 1952 - The First Cylon War begins when the servants of man revolt.
- 1953 - The Hyperion is disabled and abandoned after a major engaement with the Cylons. It will lay a derelict hulk until being scrapped a decade later at war's end.
- 1953ish - The Colonies unite to form a Unified Government and Military to fight against the Cylons
- 1954 - Battlestar Galactica is finished and joins the war.
- 1964 - The First Cylon War ends. The Armistice is signed and the Cylons retreat out of Colonial Space not to be heard from for forty years.
- 1984 - Tom Zarek's uprising on Sagittaron.
- 1989 - The "Titan Project" begins on paper.
- 1994 - The Titan Project is approved.
- 1994 - Sagittaron Uprising begins.
- 1995 - Construction begins on the Hyperion.
- 1995 - Fighting on Sagittaron ends.
- 1998 - Valkyrie Incident.
- 1999 - Hyperion is completed and joins active service.
- 2002 - Political unrest on Tauron brings back memories of past civil wars. Hyperion joins the peacekeeping force but serious violence never flares up.
- 2002 - Hyperion launches a lightning strike at terrorists forces on Pallas.
- Martius-Quintilis 2003 - Hyperion leads a Battlestar Group in annihilating pirates in the Erebos Asteroid Belt.
- October 2003 - War games are to be held at Ophion.
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- Martius 4, 2004 - Hyperion is scheduled to return to the Aerilon Shipyards.
- Martius 5, 2004 - The Cylon attack on the Colonies begins.
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Roger Davis
Marine Commander Staff
34 Years Old Major Aerilon Native
[brw1775|militaryapps]Sic Loquimur Omnes
Posts: 873
|
Post by Roger Davis on Jul 17, 2013 15:17:03 GMT -5
Somewhat Recent Backstory Plot
Alright, forty years of peace stinks. Sure we've got terrorists and some pirates and such but you can only go so far with those little skirmishes when we're playing as a massive military power. Therefore, we're going to flesh out a fullscale revolt/civil war. In the grand scheme of wars, it's not all too long, large is scope, high in casualties, or very wide in Fleet involvement, but it's something.
The Set Up The year is 1994. Sagittaron is once again resisting what they see as oppression from the other Colonies. Initial protests turn to fullscale revolution and civil war when the Unification-friendly government is ousted. Almost overnight 95% of the planet along with about 85% of all military assets fall into the hands of the revolutionaries. The loyalist faction continues to resist but is mostly on the defensive and fighting for what little they still control.
The Unified Colonial government claims this is merely a local political uprising and attempts to distance themselves from the entire mess. However, after a few weeks the loyalist faction is on the ropes and it is clear that there will be no peaceful solution should the revolutionaries completely seize power. The Colonial Fleet thus is called in to respond and support the failed Sagittaron government with operations starting in early October of '94.
The Fighting By the time the Fleet began to intervene, the revolutionaries had used the earlier inaction and were now much better organized, equipped, and dug in. The initial battles were fairly even and hard won fights. However, soon more and more Colonial troops arrived and the "top shelf" equipment, primarily aircraft, of the revolutionaries began to run out.
After about a month of fighting, the Colonial Fleet soon had complete air superiority and the ground war began in earnest. Hundreds of thousands of troops were deployed to the surface. Revolutionary strongholds were hit with overwhelming numbers of highly trained and well equipped fighting men. This force then quickly transformed into one of occupation as the war became one of guerrilla and insurgent tactics as it dragged into '95.
Aftermath Colonial Fleet casualties were fairly low (something along the lines of the First Gulf War) while nearly the entirety of the revolutionary faction was annihilated. Many Sagittarons are sill bitter about the war and distrustful of their government as a result. It is also one more reason why so few join the Colonial Fleet.
The war has become commonly known as the "Sagittaron Rebellion" although the politicians prefer to call is the "Tawa Incident" for the unseating of the pro-government faction in the capital city... as if that's all that happened over more than a year of fighting.
How do I work this into my character? Basically, anyone who has been in the military for ten years could have been involved or affected by it in some way. Those who have only been in for as low as eight might have caught the tail end of it if they were deployed there right from basic. Those who were in the military academy during this time would be greatly impacted by the "current events" nature of this war. Even those who were just civilians at the time would naturally have so impact from it.
As far as actual military participation goes? Pilots The first month = tons. It's no Cylon Raider turkey-shoot but the opening parts of the war saw lots of tough dog-fighting across the entire planet (N.B. this is atmospheric combat not orbital although most Vipers will have been launched from orbiting Battlestars and not planetary bases). By November, most of that tough aerial fighting was finished with the revolutionary air force in ruins. Vipers would thus change their focus to providing air support for the ground invasion first through large scale operations and then as the war slowed down they'd act more as on-call air strikes when the marines would run into trouble.
Combat Raptors would naturally be in much the same boat as the Vipers. Meanwhile the Raptors also saw considerable action as transport and reconnaissance. Early war would be more "hot LZs" while the later war would be more calm transport missions of troops. This would also include supply runs, medical evacuations, etc.
All that being said, not every single pilot in the Fleet was involved in this conflict. Actually, most of them were not involved with only maybe 10% of all active pilots at the time seeing any deployments to Sagittaron let alone fighting during the first month.
Marines Tons of involvement. Whereas only about 10% of flyboys were involved, more like 50% of all marines ended up being sent to Sagittaron. Small scale deployments in the first month to take out key targets during the air war, large scale battles in late '94 to capture much of the planet, and then months of occupation and counter insurgency operations.
Medical Depends. If you were still on your Battlestar then very little, maybe a few injuries for returning pilots or regular accidents that occur when a deck is working at top speed for war purposes. If you were down at a field hospital on Sagittaron then probably a lot of experience. There are friendly casualties of course, but also many enemy combatants would also be taken in especially toward the end of the war. There is also that "good will" type aid to the local civilians but keep in mind that Sagittarons are naturally reluctant to receive modern medicine.
Everyone Else Very little. There were no big orbital battles and no Battlestars were lost or even damaged during the fighting. The Fleet did serve as a platform to launch marines to the surface and run constant air patrols but other than that there was little going on for deck, CIC, gun crew, support, etc. personnel. Sure, it's more than your average peace time drills and war games but not much more than that.
As far as full ship participation goes, there were approximately 12 Battlestars (and their support ships) involved including: Battlestar Triton Battlestar Columbia Battlestar Mercury
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