The Toy Sun

"What was I created for?"

This is the question posed by every species in the Toy Sun system. All of them are well aware of having been created by an unfathomably old civilization of humans. Whether uplifted out of scientific curiosity, manufactured for entertainment, or having evolved from artificial ecosystems, every species in this system is unavoidably aware of being an accidentally outgrown shadow of the ancient Earth. Without ancient humans present, these creatures can only interrogate their true purpose against the dead glimmer of unreachable stars that surround them - or, most importantly, among themselves.

Some species are capable of dialogue, and those that are have created the Commonwealth of Species, a loose community of planets that, despite the starkness of their differences, can put them aside to endure the harsh environment of space. Opposed to them is the incomprehensible simulated robotic hivemind callously adopting the pompous name, "The Community." The Community hopes to impose its own values through the eradication of every other value; the Commonwealth species, on the other hand, from hard-earned experience know that actors with opposing values better learn to coexist, or else face mutual extinction from a universe that doesn't care to find out who's right.

"Who's right" is certainly undecided, as the ebb and flow of history of the Toy Sun system continues in full force. The concept of "the conclusion of history" is as absurd as the concept of a free, intelligent creature having an inherent purpose to their lives. Only stories have conclusions, and even a broken toy can be repurposed to serve as a symbol of existential freedom.

Contents

Star System Map

(scrollable)

Species

Laborites

Descendants of uplifted apes, long armed and all-around dexterous hairy creatures. Proud of their close genetic closeness to the ancient humans, they value conscientiousness and attention to detail first and foremost. What in other species would count as religious obsessiveness or superstitious fidgeting, Laborites proudly affirm as the right way to live their lives. Laborites specifically tied their Commonwealth name to the concept of labor, as in their view diligent work is the most significant trait of an intelligent being. Emerging into spacefaring on the same planet as Gekkies, Laborites feel certain paternal camaraderie toward this species, usually taking in their members into their own families as a deliberate showcase of hospitality and generosity. Thankfully, beneath layers of ceremonial garbs and baroque bodywear embellishments is hidden an empathetic, open-minded, sensible creature - Laborites never forget that the purpose of labor is supposed to be the betterment of the laborer and his friends alike.

Gekkies

Recently evolved intelligent lizards, Gekkies never fail to astonish other species with how intrinsically beautiful they look. In their ancestral environment, the Gekkies lived in close-knit families where violence was as discouraged as ugliness. Thanks to this serendipitous emergence, Gekkies acquired sophisticated minds capable of enchanting, capturing, and even manipulating almost any creature capable of comprehending beauty. It's good, then, that a Gekkie mind hardly ever arrives at a desire for violence or theft. For Gekkies, it is as important to love somebody as it is to be loved, and they only try to lie, poorly, if they feel abject despair - cold blood they have anything but. In the Space Age, Gekkies commonly enjoy prominent media positions all over the Commonwealth, as well as participate in families of other species as a specially regarded family member. Laborites enjoy having emerged on the same planet as Gekkies, and any lesser race would then claim the ownership of Gekkie beauty - but Laborites are known to respect other species, seeing the inner labor in every intelligent being.

Eyed Ones

The Eyed can seem cartoonish in their self-portrayal, reminding others of their fierceness and cold blood as commonly as it is physically possible. Nevertheless, their intelligence and sense of fair fight always prevent them from stooping to the lows they claim they would. The Eyed Ones took on this name during the creation of the Commonwealth as a symbol of their fierceness; on the swampy coasts of their ocean world, their piercing singular eyes are what separated the ancestors of the modern Eyed from the slaughtered chaff. Their violent tribal society is a reflection of the unforgiving ancestral environment from which these beaked cephalopods clawed - despite the lack of claws - their way out. It is a great embarrassment to the Eyed Ones, then, that the environment of space travel is so unforgiving to their semi-aquatic bodies, requiring constant moisturizing spacesuits, besides the already costly air supply and atmospheric pressure. Nevertheless, the Eyed Ones possess brilliant minds, so even this moderate hurdle has not stopped them from becoming a powerful member of the Commonwealth in all senses of this word.

Joys

The dichotomy between the authenticity of childbirth and the artifice of industrial production seeps into every aspect of the culture, values, and thought that the Joys have. Originally created as semi-biological toys by ancient humans, the Joys have achieved sentience, sophistication, and civilization through partly natural evolution and partly the recuperation of old human technology inherent in them and in the world they originally inhabited. Their home was once an airless, abandoned factory-world, littered with derelict ancient automation; now, it is a technological marvel consisting of tunnel networks, surface installations, starports, and power plants. The Joys are perhaps the most uniquely suited race for space travel and habitation, requiring little atmospheric pressure for normal function - except for one aspect. This aspect, however, is of utmost importance for Joy to-be spacefarers, and that is childbirth. Joy medicine has not yet achieved successful childbirth in zero gravity, with potential new arrivals having to be assembled the old-fashioned way instead. Any assembled individual would then have to endure the constant mockery of being a "kitbash" for the rest of their lives, leading to most parents postponing childbirth until they return to a gravitational body. Even then, child and parent mortality are regrettably high for this organism designed for low-margin entertainment and not for survival.

Storkians

There is an ancient Laborite saying that states, "No stork is ever as hard-working as the stork who doesn't know it is a stork." The slender, stork-like people of the uplifted avians couldn't agree more, having embraced the Laborite words and concepts for storks, labor, and Laborite values and culture. It's not that they're incapable of producing their own concepts; instead, the peculiar psychology of Storkians is always all-too-eager to assume the culture that surrounds them. The most common psychological ailment of Storkians is alienation, and the most common Storkian remedy is to fully merge with the world that surrounds them, seemingly possessing no intrinsic identity. When surrounded by Laborites, they're diligent; when surrounded by Metamerics, they're authentically wise; and when surrounded by the Eyed ones, they're as fierce as the fiercest Eyed. This is not for a lack of intelligence, of course, as a creature would have to possess incredible intellect to so fluidly adapt to radically different cultural environments. Even though the Storkian homeworld was wrecked from the last Community war and the Storkian people were dispersed throughout the system, the Storkian faction is quickly building itself back up into a significant Commonwealth power. Through fluidity, they achieve force.

Metamerics

If looks could tell the whole story, the looks of Metamerics would tell a story of primitive bottom-feeding anthropods inflated to ludicrous sizes by a Carboniferous-style overabundance of oxygen in their swampy jungle homeworld atmosphere. Thankfully, the looks in this case couldn't be more wrong, hiding a sophisticated, intelligent creature capable of abstract language, unorthodox creativity, and multi-clade-spanning empathy. When exploring this tropical moon of a gas giant, Laborite and Storkian explorers expected to see something as alien as the Phalakriceps hives on a neighboring moon. And, well, see they did, but soon realized that Laborite-sized invertebrates scurrying under the fern logs formed societies, cultures, and science. Metamerics expected guests, using their ingenious minds and rustic technology to peek beyond the permanent swampy clouds. They were unwilling to produce technology that could reach orbit, but easily realized the materialistic folly of most conceivable species. The first contact sparked lightning-speed progress, however, and by now Metamerics enjoy a prominent position in the Commonwealth community. Their oxygen-gobbling invertebrate bodies have been a hindrance to conquering the environment of space, but their brilliant decentralized minds serve as gifts to the Commonwealth community at large.

Phalakriceps Sapiens

Eusocial mamallian species that resemble hairless rodents or moles. Their scientific species name is also used in the diplomatic context, as they are neither interested in adopting a self selected name nor engaging in communication anyway. The Commonwealth factions have to work around this solitary species, accounting for their inter-familial wars and territoriality alike. Members of the Phalakriceps are only ever interested in the self preservation and reproduction of their eusocial family, and scientists believe they are literally incapable of pursuing other values. Phalakriceps never adopted the Common Language, resorting to schematic pictures in the rare cases they need to communicate with Commonwealth military for the benefit of their family-hive. Originally adapted to an arid planet with unbearable surface, Phalakriceps spend most of their time in underground tunnels that constitute their hive. Thanks to a decent grasp on technology the Phalakriceps have reached out to some airless rocky planets and bodies as hosts of their hives.

The Community

Despite being the primary driver of Commonwealth history, tragically so, little is known about the so-called Community. Commonwealth citizens experience the Community as a despicable, psychopathic, genocidal villain raining death on the homeworlds of intelligent peoples. The Commonwealth military, on the other hand, experiences the Community as a ruthlessly efficient machine of orbital and informational warfare. Information is the more dangerous aspect here, as the Community is known to craft convincing propaganda with an efficacy inconceivable to living beings. Living they are not, being instantiated physically on orbital war vessels, planet-side manufactories, and enormous servers of compute simulating the Community experience, or lack thereof. The Community claims to simulate consciousness without hindrances like pain or suffering and tries to entice potential traitors to usher in this virtual paradise. The official stance of the Commonwealth, however, emphasizes the inherent opaqueness of any such arrangement; besides, would a conscious being act so brazenly towards the sanctity of other consciousnesses? By losing your capacity for suffering, you lose your "humanity," for lack of a better word, and turn into an ordinary algorithmic cog in the genocidal death machine of the Community.

Race Relations

(Hover over letters in cells for details)

Ship Classes

Worker

Small orbital craft for short transfers and orbital industrial work. Works well in planetary rings and low orbits.

Fighter

Small orbital craft for low scale engagements and patrolling low orbits. Cannot economically leave these environments without help from a booster or a carrier.

Shuttle

Medium atmospheric SSTO craft for transporting cargo out of a gravity well. If an atmosphere is present, shuttles use it to climb to the edge of atmosphere.

Warplane

Medium military atmospheric SSTO craft for engagements in gravity wells and atmospheres.

Barge

Large civilian inter-orbital craft for slow-hauling large amounts of cargo between major bodies. Highly efficient drive is majorly hindered by strong gravitational fields, leaving this class to be used for deep space transportation.

Carrier

Large military inter-orbital craft for slow-hauling military assets between major bodies. Has the same drive limitations as a barge, but naturally possesses a higher grade drive that can accelerate faster.

Trader

Medium civilian inter-orbital craft for fast transfer of cargo between major bodies. High acceleration allows it to be used for profit-seeking situatonal trade by independent traders.

Frigate

Medium military inter-orbital craft for quickly engaging enemies from across the system space. High acceleration makes it the most important military asset a faction can have.

Ship Class Manufacturing

(Hover over letters in cells for details)