Maybe not, but lore doesn't always have to be history (though thats usually what it is). We can fill up that huge empty hole of time with our ideas

well honestly i thought that instead of focusing on Earth id focus on how things spiraled into the Great Wars of Antiquity. Or as i call them the 2 Great Phase Wars. But as far as Earth goes, it just lost its influence, it was still there and was still apart of the warring factions. probably should have included that but with so much in my head and trying to put it down to make sense i kindof shot around that fact. for all we know Earth is very well apart of the Trade Order or the TEC now but they dont have the standing power they once held. theyd be more like a planet sized museum where they live off of tourism from other planets. tourists would want to come see where their ancestors branched out from. Anyway yeah the first five sentences did seem the same simply cause its kindof hard to imagine another way to explain how Earth lost its standing and other Terran Factions came to power.

As far as the mentioning of the Dynasty. Really theres no proof that that statement actually means an actual "Emperor". in todays society you might say that Mcdonalds is a Dynasty. it might just be eluding to how the central government of the TO was dominated by a primary Corporation or Political Party.  So really theres still space for us to fill in the empty space left by the lore.

I don't think there's any one person with the powers of an emperor in the TEC, or Trade Order, as we've decided they're two separate things, right?

I think there would be something like a committee of people, can't remember the word for some reason, who run each planet, a committee above them to run a region of planets (around one star), a committee above that and so on and so on. All elected. Things would still be streamlined because the committee on the planet level would focus on its planet issues, the system committee would focus on things the affected the system as a whole, as so on. Each group could give an opinion for an action that is decided by another committee, but they have no real say in any matter that goes beyond their committee's power. So instead of an emperor-type person, there's a committee of about 9-19 people (keep it uneven so there's never a tie) who discuss matters for the Trade Order as a whole. That would include a liason to the TEC heads (no name for them yet), who manage the entire war effort. Either way, nowhere is there a single person with all the power. There are groups that decide everything, and there are time restrictions for every issue so that no branch gets clogged up with a mountain of issues. They have say a week to decide on an issue of this importance, a day to decide on an issue of that importance, and a month for an issue of so-and-so importance. Do you get what I'm trying to say?

Well right now we're at the point where we're discussing how the Trade Order was created. The Aluxite Dynasty seems to be, in my opinion, a nation or group of planets that were taken by the Vasari on the Western perimeter of the Trade Order. So when the Aluxite Dynasty fell, along with perhaps all the strings they had tied around politicians, the Trade Order immediately sanctioned the creation of the TEC to fight of the alien threat. Even if that's not how we agree it'll actually have turned out, the Aluxite Dynasty is part of the formation of the TEC when the Vasari come, not the Trade Order. There is at least more than a thousand years of Trade Order time before this happens, because the TO discovers the Advent planet and banishes them, and the TO had been around for I'd like to think at least 500 years before that, at minimum.

I asked Carbon for permission to do some of this

The Dunvo

The Dunvo started out as a simple well built freighter used to carry goods through out the TO. Though there was a 1,000 years of peace there was still the threat of pirates. So to combat this many planets turned to an old standby, Q-ships. And the venerable Dunvo made a wonderful Q-ship. Armed with with Autocannons and Missiles, increase of armor and shields, plus a simple addition of a new found ability Shield Restore, two or three Dunvos were enough to protect any convoy they were put with while still carrying valuable cargo (admittedly not as much as before).

The coming of Vasari through the TO systems in to shock. Many a valiant Dunvo died striving to protect against the attacks on the convoys. Consequently many Dunvos were fitted with massive batteries of lasers and increased shielding and armor, though this sacrificed cargo space. Other abilties were soon found either through research or just ingenuity of a certain crew (such as the creative use of the magnetic cargo movers for the Magnetize abilty) to create the modern Dunvo support Battlecruiser that is essential to any well put together fleet.

The Marza

Mining has always had an effect on warfare. From the use of pick axes and mattocks as hand weapons to explosives such as dynamite and black powder, mining tools have always made good weapons. The Marza is no different. Designed to help with the mining of small planetoids, the Marza already commanded much firepower. With the coming of the Vasari and Advent, the TEC knew they needed a powerhouse ship to deal massive damage to a single target, whether that be a capital-class ship or a planet. Already outfitted with many powerful abilties from its mining days the Marza quickly became feared ship. When the crews of such ships figured out how to quick-fire the massive banks of missile batteries the Missile Barrage soon made the Marza heavily favored by many admirals, especially the ones that had to fight against the numerous but weak Advent frigates.

The Sova

Weak versions of the Sova had been around for centuries. Strike craft combined with Q-ships such as the Dunvo were very effective at keeping the pirates at bay. But the Sova was not very powerful. Its only enemies were pirates that could not truly stop a swarm of strike craft so only two to three Sovas were truly needed to be around. When the Vasari came knocking the Sovas were woefully underpowered.

Enter TEC ingenuity. They increased the the squardron support to six (newer versions will have eight) and developed many abilties that increased the survivability of the Sova and its strike craft. With Rapid Manufacturing to replace losses quickly combined with increased armor and firepower for the strike craft due to improved maintenance the Sova became important to a well balanced fleet, often sending many squads of heavy craft to either stop the Vasari bombers or destroy thier ships.

The Akkan

The galaxy is vast with much travel time between stars and planets. The need for massive ships that go forth to find new planets to settle is still very much necessary. The Akkan fulfilled this role well. Designed to carry a solid core of colonist to distant stars, the Akkans had many comforts of home. Some often carried more than just a core, often having carrying miners to some of the richer worlds found to begin immediate mining. Armed with an assortment of weapons for self-protection the Akkan was an ideal ship when the need to colonize a planet near pirate forces was necessary.

When the Vasari first attacked many Akkans were pressed into service to help stop the alien threat. Armed with an Ion cannon and heavily modified sensor computers the Akkans helped many a fleet hold their own against the powerful Vasari and the vengful Advent.

The Kol

The Vasari had come with powerful ships and impressive technology. Their missiles ripped past shields, their beams of coherent light cut through many a TEC hull. And they were all built for war. The TO had at best weapons to fight of pirates, which while being a menace were like mere gnats compared to the Vasari. The TO forces were thrown back mercilessly. The battles they won were few and far between, usually due to dumb luck or just a very determined fleet that was still brutalized even after they stopped the Vasari.

When the TEC was formed they realized the need for a dedicated warship. Using the greatest minds available the Kol was designed. Sporting the heaviest of armor, the most advanced weaponery, much garnered from the Vasari, and the finest crews every trained the Kols were the shield and spear point of the newly form TEC that stopped the Vasari, hard.

You shamless plugger you!

@Ryat: I like your ideas, although you do realize that it is the Dunov, not the Dunvo...  Dunvo brings up images of a baby elephant with big ears and a black feather and mouse in a yellow hat...

OOPS 80

guess I had a dyslexia with my problem that day

Sorry guys Ive not been on much lately having a second job takes all your time. I will try to keep up.

so....what else is there to ask about the TEC? anyone hav any ideas about what the Opulentsia is and what it actually does in the Trade Order?

"Advance exploratory waves from the Vasari Exodus Fleet, hastily crushed and colonized over a dozen worlds.  Political infighting amongst the Trade Order representatives and the independent Opulentsia, delayed the first military response by months." - Sins lore

I think it means rich guys...

it sounds like some sort of independent government to me. like not part of the trade order, but not against them. maybe some planets that didn't sign on to the Trade Order but live in "Trader" space?

Well, Opulentsia has the root word of opulent, meaning rich, so I'm assuming that it is some private trading organization that refuses to fund the TEC...

Opulentsia may be a political party in a similar vein like the Republicans or Democrats who hold massive political power in the TO and were worried about the war messing with their power base which would shift away from them to a more centralized government that while creating a more powerful force to fight off the Vasari but would weaken the Opulentsia

well the key word here is independant...........might be a name used by the TO to describe individual worlds or more likely multisystem governments that like CI said, they are like territories heavy in resources, which would mean their trade with the TO would heavily effect their political decisions. But because they dont want to become fullfledged Trade Order Worlds or because they lack population or even a constitution that ensures the TO's core valuses are met they remain territories. Opulentsia would basically be a name for Representatives from these territories. Just like today (because they concentrate on trade which equates to money) the Opulentsia would pretty much be members of uber rich families and corporations.

Another thing, no one commented on my TEC intelligence idea. As they need something to update the military and the TEC leadership on things going on in their occupied space. Their gonna need an intelligence agency.

well there is such a political group that goes by the term Independant, meaning theoretically they have no politcal party but over time they did develop into a political party some casting themselves for the rich, given the size of the TO there could be several "independant" parties with various names

Ok I will take a stab at that

Consider that commercial espionage probably took place constantly before the Vasari showed up, some intel member of the most-like small and insigificant intelligence agency for the TO figured if they are using merchant and mining ships to use as weapons of war why not recruit/conscript from the commercial intel groups in the TO

well what my earlier post was on the TEC's intel is on the first page.  It pretty much links Broadcast Centers and scout ships together as well as military labs.

I knew that, but Ryat and Allegiance already explained pretty much what I was thinking of. A rich group of territories which for some reason (could be any of those) are not part of the Trade Order, but still have a say in what the Trade Order does. I don't believe just a bunch of rich people would work, for if that was the case the Trader representatives would not have had month-long debates with the Opulentsia because although the rich guys could influence the government representatives, the ultimate vote would be the reps. So the Opulentsia would have to be a government group or set of independent territories (still kinda a government group) that did not just have influence over Trade decisions, but played a direct part in making them.

Well, unless the Opulentsia was a union of a bunch of CEO's that could crash the markets of the TO.  Then they would certainly hold quite a bit of power.

possibly.....but from the way they're mentioned, i just got the feeling they had a governmental atmosphere to them.