The Unified Republic of Stars - A Sci-Fi World Building Podcast

Welcome back to another episode to the Unified Republic of Stars!

This week, rather than dive into an individual story, we tour a few worlds of the star cluster that have, more or less gone unmentioned or with very little mention up until now. And we compare them to the cities we’ve already been introduced to and some of the quirks many of them have.

We start our tour on Galileo where we board a Tomcat and take it to the world of Columbus and a major city on it called Matthew.

From there, we hop over to Darwin, where we discuss the founding of a town by the name of Taos-On-Darwin that strove for almost total independence from the rest of the world until the events of the Second Defensive and the Battle Over Darwin basically forced them to join up.

Then it’s off to the Fenghuang System and the planet of Shaanxi and the town of Cobanito, where a man by the name of Pedro de Santos established the largest drug operation in the star cluster, the Santos Recreational Pharmaceutical Corporation, and in the process made Cobanito one of the most urbane cities in the Republic.

And then it’s to Yong Nam and the artistic city of Kim Muyan, that was transformed by a mixture of cheap housing, a bursting creative class, and a sense of new found freedom.

Lastly, we explore the general world of Al Gharbiyah, a world that seemed as if it should have exploded from tensions when both jews and muslims decided to settle it but, for some reason, didn’t.

It’s a bit of a long episode but we really hit a lot of things I’ve been meaning to do for a while and hopefully you’ll find it all enjoyable.

As always, you can email me at [email protected], find me on Twitter @republicofstars, or visit our Facebook page.

Our theme is by Ryan Houser and our score is by Darren Solomon.

Welcome back to the Unified Republic of Stars! This week, we continue our “rivalries” series with a piece comparing the brothers Warner. (See what I did there?) Stewart Todd “Dutch” Warner and his brother but also future Fleet Admiral Bradley.

This week, as we discuss them, we touch on a lot of different topics, including how one becomes a “shipper” by joining the crew as a “ship’s kid“, the events of the First and Second Defensives, and how both men became NOVA masters with very different styles.

We also touch on the differences between Galileo City in the west and New Chicago in the east and how they’d advanced since Liz Carter’s time.

It’s a pretty packed episode with fist fights, major battles, pretty much the works.

If you want to contact me with comments or quests, as always, you can do so by emailing me at [email protected]. I’m also on Twitter @republicofstars. And, of course we have a facebook page that I’d love for you to like.

The theme, as always, is by Ryan Houser of the band Slim Wray and the score is by Darren Solomon.

Welcome back to the Unified Republic of Stars podcast!

This week, we discuss Admirals Hugh Sims versus Alexander MacGregor, the founders of first the Independent Fleet and then the Republican Fleet which, I hope as been telegraphed enough at this point, will play a major part within the Unified Republic of Stars story world.

The admirals, as you’ll find out are very different men. From the religious, abstemious, older, military, and colonial port veteran to the younger, vodka swilling, cigar smoking, former school teacher, atheist Sims. Yet, without both making their contribution, the Republican Fleet may not have turned out the way it did, from MacGregor’s idea behind the Five Fleets to Sims’ recruitment of Dutch Warner.

We also touch on how an early hiring decision by Ivan Boldyrev, prior to his becoming mayor, much less governor or president, almost ground the whole partnership to a halt.

As always, if you have questions, comments, whatever, feel free to drop a line at [email protected]. Or, find me on Twitter @republicofstars. And, of course, there’s our Facebook page that I’d love for you to like.

But, please, do think about rating the cast on Stitcher or iTunes. It really does help bring people to the storyworld.

The podcast theme is by Ryan Houser of the band Slim Wray and the score is by Darren Solomon.

This is no doubt the podcast you’ve been waiting months for: an explanation of where the hell the Unified Republic of Stars podcast has been all this time and why it went on an unexpected break.

Well… for those of you who have been patient enough to keep this in your feed the whole time, this will explain everything.

But, for those who don’t have the patience, fear not. The gist is that the URS podcast will be back starting next Sunday night. So… following your Game of Thrones party, you’ll have something about a fictional republic in space to listen to while cleaning up.

As always, you can contact me at [email protected], on Twitter at @republicofstars or on Facebook by visiting the Unified Republic of Stars page.

Special thanks to Darren Solomon for the music in this week’s episode (and moving forward!) and to Ryan Houser of the band Slim Wray for the theme.

This week, we discuss the Republican Fleet. What it is, how much it costs, what exactly it does, and some of the culture within the Fleet.

Along those lines the topics touched on are:

It’s not the longest episode done so far but it covers a pretty complex topic without diving too hard into the complexities.

Also, apologies for the relatively poor sound quality this time around. I hadn’t realized it until editing but apparently some vibrations from my desk were coming through the mic. I’ll work on it the next time around.

You can always find the Unified Republic of Stars on Twitter @republicofstars, on Facebook, and, of course, at the website itself.

Listener discretion advised. This week, we go into depth about a couple of topics that are very adult including: sex work, rape, prolific drinking, drug use, and murder. Also, various ethnic slurs are used in a casual way.

Because this week we discuss the tale of Liz Carter, Jimmy D’Addario, and James Adams. And it’s a violent tale about the early days of colonization within the Star Cluster.

The three started out as partners for one of the earliest and, later, most notorious bars in Galileo City (map), The Welshman & The Wop. But, after years of watching her partners allow the treatment of the prostitutes they had working for them get worse and worse, she left to start her own business, Liz’s Dinner & Cabaret, an upscale dinner club and brothel.

But leaving, and wanting her partners to cash her out, just incited an event known in Galileo City as the Bar War, a series of counter retaliations between the two establishments that culminated in one seriously violent act.

However, we’ve never discussed these characters before. So why are they important? Because not only do they represent many of the cultural differences between Earth now and the Colonies then but because they were culturally important to the story world. Liz would go on to hire a young man named Ivan Boldyrev as a busboy. And The Welshman & The Wop would create one of the defining Galilean Whiskies.

This is a tale of mistreatment of women, murder, money, and betrayal. But it’s also a story of how people managed to survive out in the colonies where laws were not allowed.

As always, email your questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected] and a response is guaranteed. Also, follow us on Twitter @republicofstars or like us on our Facebook page.

We’re back, with Season Two of the Unified Republic of Stars podcast. This week, I outline some of what I’ve got planned for Season Two, including a series I’m pretty excited about called “Rivalries” in which we compare and contrast some of the various characters that inhabit the story world, some of which we’ve met, and some we haven’t.

But, this week, we discuss the cultural differences between the Unified Republic of Stars and the world we know now. We touch on four differences, guns, tobacco, drugs, and social safety nets and explain how each area is maybe different than you might expect.

Next week will be the first in our Rivalries series, comparing and contrasting Liz Carter, owner of the famous Liz’s Dinner & Cabaret against her former partners Jimmy & James at the notorious Weshman & Wop bar in Galileo City.

Unfortunately, though, that might just do us for the year here at the podcast because of the holidays. But I’ll be back in the new year, ready to go with even more interesting podcasts that go in depth into other areas of the story world.

However, if you want any topics specially covered or have questions or comments, please, send them to [email protected] and a response is guaranteed. Or… if you email an MP3, it will be played as part of the cast itself!

With this episode we wrap up A Short History of the Unified Republic of Stars, in which, for the first time, with the NOVA standing watch, the Republic finally knows some peace from Earth. Of course, just because they have peace from Earth doesn’t mean everything will go swimmingly. For those reading ahead, the next age of the storyworld is called The Age of War, after all.

However, we do wrap up this age with, basically, the obits of several characters we’ve been following for the last several episodes. And those include:

But those aren’t the only characters within the Unified Republic of Stars storyworld. In fact, the most important are the ones you contribute.

As always, if you have questions or comments about anything you hear on the podcast, or just want to share something interesting you’ve discovered, you can email [email protected] and I’ll read your feedback on the air.

And, we’re social! You can find us on Facebook or at Twitter @republicofstars.

I’ll be back following a short break after Thanksgiving with Season Two of the podcast! Can’t wait!

This week, we discuss the event known as The Battle For the Republic. A massive event in which a force larger than either the First or Second Republican Defensive enters the Galileo system, no doubt with the intention of entering others. But they encounter six NOVA class ships, and destroy two.

But the Republic survives…

However, our story challenge this week isn’t generated by the generator. It’s by the content of this week’s episode:

Consider contributing a story based on a new character you create that served aboard a NOVA during the Battle For the Republic and telling the tale of their duty station, from being beat to quarters to the end of the invasion. Or a Razorback pilot… Bonus points if you set your story aboard the Woodcutter or the Gangwon, the two NOVAs that were destroyed.

Write a story and have it read by a professional voice talent.

Interested?

In the meantime, some links from this week’s episode:

As always, you can find the Unified Republic of Stars on Facebook or as @republicofstars on Twitter. And, of course, you can contact us and email us questions or comments or with an mp3 of both to urspodcast at gmail dot com.

This week, Chapter 10 of a Short History of the Unified Republic of Stars, The NOVA Sets Sail!

As is our thing, the story generator suggestion: “”A woman (48) is on the verge of being caught price-fixing the Athena Stock Exchange in Athena City when the UUHA invades.”

And, as we mentioned in this week’s episode, think about writing a story and sending it to us! The first two stories set in the storyworld will be read by a professional voice actor for a very special podcast episode. Or, think about submitting to the interesting new podcast we discovered, MedusPod.

The links that were promised:

And that’s it! Short show notes.

As is usual, you can send comments and questions (even in MP3 form which I’ll play) to urspodcast at gmail dot com. Or, you can find us on Facebook or at Twitter @republicofstars.