Coming of the Reavers

So this is an idea for a high fantasy space role play I have been bouncing around in my head for a while. The basic premise is similar to what we usually do with our nation building RPs. Except instead of each player designing their own nation, they would pick from a list of pre-designed nations that I will be creating. These RP will focus less on technological development (there wont be any) and more on political intrigue, exploration, economics and warfare. 

Players can play as one of several races. There are multiple nations within each race, mostly just for variety. 

Humans: Your standard general purpose race. They have no real advantages or disadvantageous in combat. There space ships are well balanced between speed, protection and firepower. 

The Great Imperium: The largest and most prosperous nation of man, they poses dozens of star systems. The Imperium has a population numbering in the hundreds of millions with thousands of starships at its disposal. The Imperiam is massively militarized mainly due to its extensive border sharing a border with almost every other nation on the map. Including some very hostile species. The Imperium has a series of fortress worlds along its North Eastern border which protect it from the dangers of Wild Space beyond. The Empires is currently attempting to expand into wild space but in recent years, more of its ships have disappeared without a trace. Some suspect Pirates, some suspect spatial anomalies common to the region, others wonder if there is another unknown threat, lurking in the depths of space. 

The Kingdom of Andal: Andal is the smallest of the realms of men being roughly half the size of the Imperiam. However, the Kingdom of Andal has enjoyed much prosperity sharing a border with the Dwarves to the North and Elves to the South. As a result, Andal has become a major center of commerce within the galaxy with many precious ores mined by the Dwarves flooding across the border into Andal space. The main threat to the Andal Empire lies to the west where marauding bands of wicked men raid across the border. 

Western Coalition: Known as Westerlings or Wicked Men by the other realms of men, the Western Coalition is the second largest nation of men. They are also the most diverse. The Western Coalition is a hub of piracy and black market activity. It has an active slave trade with slave labor being used to build the Coalitions war machine. Despite this, they have a proud warrior and a code of conduct similar to medieval chivalry. Honor is valued among all else among the Westerlings. The Westerlings while united under the rule of a central government are often divided into their 12 constituent tribes. These tribes often fight amongst each other. When the Andals first broke from the Imperiam and invaded the Western regions, the Coalition found itself unable to stop them. As a result, the Westerlings have made repeated attempts to retake their lost territories. But the fractured nature of the alliance makes any large effort difficult forcing them to rely on raids and other harassing tactics. 


Elves: The Elves are the most technologically advanced race in the galaxy having achieved FTL capability roughly 200 years before the next race. However, despite this head start, Elven expansion was relatively limited. Due to their extremely long lives, the Elven populations remained relatively small with few Elves being born. As a result, the practical amount of expansion that could be done was limited. Most of the exploration done by the Elves was actually conducted by probes which made detailed maps of known space.  The Elves have the fastest ships in the galaxy, the strongest energy shielding and computers second to none. However, the Elves have become reliant on energy fields. As a result the hulls of their ships are thin and have the lowest structural durability of any race. They also prefer to use energy weapons on their ships forgoing the use of missiles and mass drivers entirely. Thus the Elves prefer to move quickly, strike from long range and then disengage before the enemy can bring down their shields. 


Dominion of Lothnor: Lothnor is the largest realm of Elves, ruled by High council, the Elves of Lothnor number only in the millions with any day to day tasks being conducted by constructs and artificial intelligence. The Dominion of Lothnor is bordered by Andal to the North, the Western Coalition to the west as well as a small border with the Imperium. Lothnor is also bordered by the realm of the Dark Elves to the east. 

Dark Elves: An offshoot of the Elven people, the Dark Elves have a noticably darker complexion than their Western brothers. These Elves are far more militaristic than the Elves of Lothnor. This is mainly due to being in a constant state of war with the Orc's to the North and East.