For Those of You Who have No Idea What's Going On
Some of you may have entered this thread with absolutely no idea what this is. For those of you not familiar with the concept of forum RPs, it works like this - each player has a character (or set of characters) whom they role-play. In each post, they describe their character's actions, interacting with the characters of the other players. There are no dice or numbers, and the results of a conflict between two characters works on an honor system.

Overview
This RP starts in January, 2224, exactly one year before the beginning of the Terran-Drengin War. Eventually, it may wind its way into that war, but for now we are working on a Just Pre-Campaign basis. The Thalan Empire and the Iconian Refuge have yet to appear in force on the galactic stage, but there are rumors of their existance, and some have begun to appear on the fringes of the known galaxy.

Although no formal war has been declared, tensions are high between the Drengin Empire and the Terran Alliance. These two mighty superpowers have already started on the rocky road to war, and even without official orders, Terran and Drengin patrol ships occasionally exchange fire. The organized crime of both nations is rising in power as more and more government forces are dedicated to holding the Terran-Drengin border. Among this, the people of the galaxy struggle to deal with the coming storm - some fight to ensure the dominance of their organization in the new world, others simply to survive.

Characters
Your character sheet should look something like this:

Name:
Race:
Gender (if applicable):
Age:
Affiliation (if any):
Appearance:
Background:
Personality:
Skills and Equipment:

The Rules
You can tell this section is important because I bolded, italicized, and underlined the title. These are some rules you must follow. Not following these rules means banning from the RP and a very messy death for your character. No exceptions. Banning from the RP does not mean that you cannot post in this thread (we don't administer the boards) but we will ignore you, and your character will be dead anyway. So there. Haha!

(Note that if you plead to me enough, I might be willing to grant you a second chance. I'm nice that way.)

1. No God-modding. This means that A, you cannot control another player's character for them, unless you have special permission from that player, and, B, that you cannot dictate whether an attack succeeds. For example:

Bad
Joe111:
Joe fires a blaster at Bob. It smashes through Bob's head, which explodes, killing him.

Good
Joe111:
Joes fires his blaster at Bob.
Bob222:
Bob dives to the side, taking the blaster in his shoulder, and takes cover behind some crates.

Note that as GM, I have the right to break this rule in order to punish players for violations. This is the only major exception to any rule, and will be used rarely, if at all.

2. No Dread Lords. No Arnor. The Mithrilar are Right Out. All of these guys are busy somewhere else, and, in any case, are so incredibly powerful that their presence would just screw up the game. Possibly as NPC enemies in the future, if we get to the release of the Dread Lords, but certainly not as player characters.

3. No playing as a canon character, such as Alan Bradley or Lord Kona. Playing as a Mithrilar violates both this rule and Rule 2, since all five Mithrilar are canon characters. There is no sixth Mithrilar. There isn't a seventh one, either. They may make appearances in your posts as NPCs. Nothing else. No playing as a relative of a canon character, either. No, you're not the first one to think of it, and you probably won't be the last. It's tiresome and takes away from creativity. Make a real character, please.

4. There are some major open gaps in the GalCiv canon to allow for the replayability. In almost every case, the canon from the two campaigns (Altarian Prophecy and Dread Lords) takes priority. If you need to invent something, such as a particular branch of the Drengin government, do so, so long as it makes sense. Future players should pay attention to the "canon" built by older players. Seniority and how much I like it determine priority.

5. A.K.A., Arilias's Law - This is a forum, not a chatroom. You have plenty of time to proofread your post. I'm not expecting Shakespeare, and the occasional typo is alright - nobody's perfect. whatiwanttoavoidistxtthatlokslikth1swthnospac3sorpunctationrandommisspellinzandjustgeneralaffrontstowr1t1ng

Could you read that? Neither could I. Take the time to make your posts legible, or you will suffer the consequences.

Arilias's Character
Just to get this started...

Name: Jacob Hunter
Race: Human
Gender (if applicable): Male
Age: 25
Affiliation (if any): Terran Secret Intelligence Service
Appearance:
An average looking young human male, Hunter has brown hair and brown eyes. He almost always wears a dusty brown trenchcoat, and occasionally wears sunglasses.

Background:
Jacob Hunter was the son of a War Party politican in the Terran Alliance's capital city of Chicago. Rather than take over the family business of roundly declaring everything President Alan Bradley and the aliens did to be the root of all evil, he decided to put his skills in the art of doublespeak to work in service to his country, and joined the Secret Intelligence Service.

He was assigned a cover as an independant trader, hauling goods from world to world onboard a small, one-man freighter. He is currently on Gladstone IV, a Korx colony, following up on a deal with one of the Korx.

Personality:
Hunter loves his job. It allows him to be sneaky and manipulative, and while he nominally has to report back to Windsor, his cover gives him more-or-less free reign over his movements in the galaxy.

In person, he comes across as a rough-and-tumble, slightly slow starship captain - an exterior designed to cover for a devious mind. He enjoys messing with people's heads, but tries to keep it reigned in except when the mission calls for it.

He bears no malice towards any of the aliens, despite his heritage. However, he is a firm believer in the principles of the Terran Alliance, and will gladly sacrifice anything - even his closest friends - to ensure that those goals are met.

New characters will be added as they are posted.