Réunion: New House Q&A

[Igiss]

Reunion: New House Q&A

Q: Will there be a new House in Discovery 4.85?
A: Yes. A French house, like many of you already guessed.

Q: What name will the new House bear? Will it be unlawful, similar to what Outcasts and Corsairs are, or more like lawful Houses?
A: The name will be "Gallia", latin name for Gaul/France. Adjective is "Gallic", people who inhabit Gallia refer to themselves as "French" or "Gauls". Structure of the new House will resemble lawful Houses. It will have its own Police and Military, corporations, and unlawful factions.

Q: Why France and not any other country/countries?
A: Many reasons. France has interesting historical and geographical background. Also, it's one of the most powerful European nations that were part of the Alliance. UK, Germany and Spain all had their own sleeper ships, with a large portion of Italians obviously present on the Spanish sleeper ship. So, France was the next logical choice.

Q: How many of the new House systems will be accessible in 4.85? What are the names of those systems?
A: 5 systems will be ready for 4.85. Those systems form the Gallic Border Worlds, although more densely populated than the original Tau, Sigma and Omega systems. Names of systems will be: Languedoc, Dauphine, Burgundy, Champagne, Lorraine. Core systems of the new House will not be included into this release. Jump holes that connect Gallia to known systems are located in Languedoc and Lorraine.

Q: What is known about regime of Gallia? Are there any historical prototypes?
A: Gallia is a constitutional monarchy, in some ways similar to Bretonia. However, the kings and queens of Gallia has significantly more powers and privileges than observed in modern-day constitutional monarchies. As for historical prototypes, I'll leave them for you to decide.

Q: It was hinted in the teaser that the French were betrayed and seek revenge for something. Can you tell us more?
A: In this version, not much information will be given on the ancient events that the French consider treachery. Only hints will be provided on what could've happened. Also, it's important the French are aware that not all nations who currently reside in Sirius participated in this treachery.

Aware of possible treachery, France built its own sleeper ship secretly from other nations that formed the Alliance. This sleeper ship was different from others: it was larger, poorly defended (they had to rely on conspiracy, not heavy defenses), and slower (no access to advanced engine systems). The sleeper ship followed the course of other ships heading to Sirius, but the journey took much longer. The first Gallic colony was founded only in 84 A.S., almost one hundred years later than other colonies.

Q: Is Gallia as technologically advanced as the rest of Sirius?
A: Yes. Moreover, in many ways Gallia is more advanced than the other Houses. To achieve technological superiority, Gallia used spies to collect data on various technologies that were used in Sirius. Technology of jump gates and trade lanes, for example, was successfully implemented to build Gallia's own space transit system.

Gallia was not set back by delayed colonization. In fact, larger sleeper ship allowed to transfer about twice more people than other nations could transfer, and right now the population of Gallia is the largest of all Sirius houses.

Q: How was Gallia isolated from the rest of Sirius? Why was it never discovered?
A: Gallia spent decades to construct four huge mine fields to hide both paths, and disguise them to look like ancient mine fields present in other areas of Sirius (for example, in Newcastle). Radars were unable to detect jump holes that lead into Gallic systems. This is why Sirius explorers were never able to find paths between known Sirius systems and Gallia.

Q: What was the purpose of isolation?
A: Purpose was to achieve technological and military superiority over the rest of Sirius Houses. Using information collected by their spies, along with their own research, Gallic engineers and scientists have indeed surpassed the current level of Sirius technology in many areas. However, this also meant that wellbeing of simple citizens was far from being number one on the government's priority list.

Q: The Gallic agents who come to and from Sirius should somehow pass through the mine field. How do they do it if no one else is able to?
A: They use special ships and narrow pathways between the mines that only they know of. Ships and paths are held in secrecy, and players won't have access to them (at least not in the next version). Many of the paths were destroyed anyway during the events that indicated breach of the 7-hundred-year isolation.

Q: It appears that Gallia had an extensive espionage network in Sirius. Do we know anything about the spies?
A: Espionage network was built by a well-known faction currently present in many areas of Sirius. This faction was initially founded in Gallia by a group of colonists who had anglo-saxon origins. Later, Gallic intelligence took the faction under close control. Presence of this faction was extended to Sirius, namely Bretonia and Liberty; nowadays, most members of this faction are completely unaware of its true origins and goals.

Q: How was the isolation breached?
A: Many citizens of Gallia did not want to live their lives in preparation for the great war that the Royal Dynasty was planning to fight. Considering the isolation harmful for both Gallia and the rest of the Sirius, the future war being a catastrophe that could potentially ruin the whole humankind, they united into political parties and secret societies plotting to breach the isolation. Ideas of those who supported peace finally became too popular, and thus too dangerous. After the government attempted to silence their voices in Parliament, they turned from political struggle to war.

A powerful faction named Council eventually arose, comprized of people who believed that fighting an all-Sirius war would bring nothing but death and despair to their new homeland. The Council gained ground in Gallic Border Worlds and had millions of supporters on various Gallic planets. In 783 A.S., after over 50 years of preparations, Coucil started a war for domination in the Border Worlds, attempting to gain control of the systems where jump holes into the rest of Sirius are located. This war became known as the Second Gallic War.

Q: How did the Second Gallic War end?
A: It did not end and continues till present day, although there were calm periods of many years between the periods of active fighting. The Council has fully conquered only one system - Champagne, achieved no success in Lorraine, and partly controlled Languedoc. In 817 A.S. the Council launched an offensive against the heavily guarded mine field in Languedoc system. This move was not expected by Gallic Royal Navy, and Council eventually won the battle and breached the mine field. Despite heavy casualties, their goal was achieved: path into Sirius was now clear.

Q: What awaits Gallia now, once the isolation is breached?
A: Technological superiority of Gallia is very far from being sufficient to wage a full-scale war in other parts of Sirius. Besides, the only path into Sirius is currently guarded by Council, who are ready to defend it by any means necessary. So, preparations for the future war now became useless, and Gallic government will have to seek new ways to deal their new neighbors.

Military power of the Council was severely weakened by casualties they suffered. They are still a force to be reckoned with, but Gallic Royal Navy will use the moment to strike back. Few believe that isolated Council forces remaining in Languedoc will be able to hold back the Navy long enough to fortify their positions.

Q: Will the Council prevent any ships from Sirius to go into Gallia?
A: No, they won't. In fact, they'll encourage pilots to come to Languedoc and join their cause. However, Council are aware that Sirius has various factions, some of which will be hostile to them or will try to steal their technologies from them. So, they will be precautious. As for the Gallic Royal Navy, it is rumored that their pilots received an order to open fire at any unidentified ships, regardless if they are hostile or not. Council recommends to avoid contact with Gallic Navy or Police for any ships venturing into Gallia systems.

Q: What does "Reunion" mean?
A: Geographically, Reunion is a French island in the Indian ocean. See this page for more information.

In-game, Reunion will be the name of a station that the Council built near the mine field in Orkney. It is a symbol of an actual reunion between Gallia and the other Sirius colonies, reminder of a war fought in the sake of peace.

Q: Will the new House have its own ships, weapons, voices, NPC costumes?
A: There surely will be custom ships and weapons. Unfortunately, we don't have resources to provide new voices or costumes, at least for this version. Original ones will be re-used.

Q: What is the estimated release date? What about other changes for 4.85, except for the new House?
A: There will be quite a lot of changes in addition to the new House. That's one of the reasons why the release date was delayed. I cannot announce exact date now, but it would take months to complete, that's for sure.

Q: Will there be a player wipe on Discovery RP server?
A: Currently, we don't see any need for a player wipe related to installing the next mod version.

----

This is all for now! Feel free to discuss, comment, ask questions etc. in this very thread.