Lancersreactor

Cambridge Research Institute

Public Motto: “Science for Sirius’ Future”
Private Motto: “Knowledge is Power”


Background
Science has always held a special place in Bretonian society. From the technicians working to keep the struggling sleeper ship Bretonia from succumbing to the damage it sustained during its escape from Sol, to the doctors who’s research prevented a frightening plague from wiping out the population of Planet Cambridge, scientific study has stood as a monument to Bretonia’s spirit and aspiration. Scientific knowledge remains one of the few social aspects that stretches across the A good education has always been a necessity for the members of the Bretonian aristocracy, as a way to flaunt their wealth and demonstrate their sophistication. At the same time, scientific discovery remains one of the few ways for poor workers to break into the world of success and raise themselves out of poverty. Science itself stands as one of the main reasons that Bretonia even exists today; without it, Bretonia would have never been able to expand beyond it’s lonely home behind the Barrier and compete with the other houses. One can safely say that out of the four original houses in 820 A.S., No one puts as much emphasis on the intrinsic worth of science as Bretonians.

Despite this pride felt by most Bretonians, the early years of Bretonian settlement found the colony massively behind the technological levels of its three counterparts. The colony’s less than ideal position behind the barrier left it without ways to gather many of the natural resources available to both Rheinland and Kusari, without access to alien ruins like the kind available to the colonists of Liberty. Scientific discovery was limited to the basic advancement of industrial processes, and most of the colonists on New London never imagined Bretonia’s borders spreading beyond their home system. All that changed in 134 A.S.

Upon contact with the houses of Liberty and Kusari, Bretonia was exposed to a huge influx of new ideas and technologies. Seeing how advanced the two houses had become, Bretonia began a massive program to revitalize it’s academic community. The construction of a massive station dedicated to scientific research in orbit around New London, dubbed Canterbury Station, was commissioned. With the newly available “Liberty Engine,” new systems were explored and mapped at an amazing rate. Material technologies advanced exponentially, and by 400 A.S. Bretonia had developed theoretical techniques for the new science of terraforming. By this time, the population of planets Leeds and New London were growing at a rate far greater than could be sustained by the planet’s natural resources. As such, the Bretonian Parliament saw terraforming as a method for accommodating the expanding Bretonian population, and commissioned the terraforming of the planet Ayr, in the distant Edinburgh system.


The Institute

The Cambridge Reaserch institute has its roots in the prestigious Cambridge University, as the formost place for scientific education in Sirius. Drawing from a wide variety of professors and scientists from various fields, the Institute was formed with the intent of advancing the level of technology in Sirius, thus advancing the living standards for people in Bretonia and beyond. A nonprofit group funded primarily by the Bretonian government, the Institutes’ scientists achieved several breakthroughs in ecological engineering which allowed for planet Cambridge’s fertile farms to satisfy the food needs of most of Bretonia. After solving many of Bretonia’s food needs, the Institute was given the recently constructed Cantebury station, along with a large grant to begin terrafroming research on the planet Ayr.

The terraforming of Ayr proceeded at an amazing rate. Due to the planets active molten mantle, scientists were able to construct a viable atmosphere within 200 years, doing in centuries what had taken nature many millennia. Soon, the terraformers of Ayr arrived at the final stage of the planet’s terraforming; with the atmosphere fully developed and the temperature at a comfortable constant, researchers simply had to go about the process of treating the air to make it breathable by humans, and ensure that the planet’s ecology would remain stable for centuries to come. At this time, two new charismatic directors rose from within the ranks of CRI, and were in charge of the Ayr project. The point of no return had come; after the final stage of terraforming began, Ayr would be irrevocably changed, and there would be no turning back.

At this same time, a movement had been growing in Bretonia. Terraforming brought with it all sorts of ethical questions about the use of science for the benefit of man. Envoirmental manupulation was a hot topic in politics, and almost every household in Bretonia had something to say about the issue of terraforming. Radicals had been increasing in strength, and over the past few years, the number of terrorist attacks linked to the issue of terraforming had been steadily growing. Back on Ayr, one final survey team was sent out to scan the planet for life. Ayr had previously been declated barren, and no one expected this last survey to change anything. However, against all odds, the team found an enclave of native protozoic life.

According to CRI protocol, the discovery of native life was supposed to put the whole project on hold. After all, if microbes could exist, who was to say what other forms of life might be on Ayr? However, things were afoot inside the Institute’s high command; one of the new directors had gathered almost all of the Institute’s power in his own hands, and against the will of his co-director, decided to go ahead with the terraforming of Ayr. The air processing technology was deployed, and whatever life that might have existed on Ayr prior to the deployment was most certainly wiped out.

The backlash for CRI’s actions was huge. Murmers, then protests, then finally full fledged riots broke out all over Bretonia. Meanwhile, the Institute began to assemble a huge base of political power, and resfused to respond to, or even acknowledge the protesters.The dissenting co-director of CRI was arrested and put in jail, along with the vast majority of anti-terraforming protesters that were rounded up in one of the largest crackdowns in Bretonian history. These imprisoned dissenters would eventually become the Gaians, fighting against all the CRI had just recently become. In the mean time, CRI continued its efforts to secure more political power, and purged its own ranks until the young director had complete and total control of the organization.

At this point in 750 AS, CRI instituted changes in policy which only served to increase the organizations power over the realm of Bretonia. The Institute began to aggressively patent all of its discoveries, ensuring that CRI would remain the dominant research organization in Bretonia for years to come. The institute went out of its way to secure good relations with the major technology companies of Sirius, like Kishiro and Ageria, and thus providing a steady stream of new technologies for CRI to integrate into its own portfolio, as well as effectively monopolizing the import of new technologies. CRI also began to lease experimental mining technology to BE&E in the Leeds system, effectively leading to the system’s strip mining and current environmental disaster. These decisions helped Bretonian technology advance to previously unbelievable levels, but also brought about many problems, the full effect of which are just beginning to be discovered.

The exact cause of these changes within the internal structure of CRI is unknown to the public, even to this day. What could have cause the young director to undergo such a dramatic change in personality is any one's guess. However, his actions have arguably shaped the image of modern Bretonia. The Institute has continued with its efforts to gather both technology and power, and as of 820 AS, it is unknown what the future holds for CRI, or for that matter, the whole of Bretonia.


Current Day


Today, CRI stands as one of the influential groups within Bretonia. The institute maintains a firm grip on the patent process, utilizing an army of lawyers and politicians to ensure that CRI remains the dominant research organization within the Realm. Although the Institute is still a non-profit, the numerous technology agreements and grants have ensured that the Institues wallet stays comfortably padded. However, there is a general consensus amongst even CRI’s most benevolent detractors that CRI isn’t in it for the money; almost all the profits raked in by the organization go to new research endeavors. In recent years, CRI has also finished the long standing terraforming of Planet Harris in Tau-31, but with side effects that have rendered the planet a frozen hell world. CRI also maintains a partnership with Cryer Pharmaceuticals, who help to jointly develop treatments for the vast variety of phage-type bacterium that have become rampant in the tau and border worlds. Ageria stands forefront amongst the institutes's allies in technology, but CRI also maintains positive relationships with most lawful technology firms throughout Sirius, with efforts ranging from the improvement of Bretonia’s optronics networks with Kishiro, and increasing fuel efficiency with Rhein Energy and the CMC.

The Institute, however, has suffered its share of setbacks. After the embarrassing defeat of the BAF by Gaian forces in Edinburgh, CRI has had to abandon the surface of the freshly terraformed Ayr, as well as the virtual treasure trove of biological data on planet Gaia. However, CRI is able to maintain a secret base within the system, launching raids on Gaia’s surface to gather up valuable specimens of alien wildlife. Also, the grim prospects for the Leeds system leave a huge stain on CRI’s already precarious reputation, and CRI is rushing to provide a place to resettle displaced citizens of Leeds. Whats more, the failure of the Harris terraforming project still shocks and baffles scientists, and with Ayr out of Bretonian hands, CRI cannot afford to lose the massive amounts of resources it has invested in Harris. Not all is bad for CRI, though; rumors persist about a system on the outskirts of Tau space, filled with planets with potential to be terraformed. The Bretonian government is keeping many details of this fertile system a secret, but the construction of a new jumpgate in the Tau-31 system confirms the many suspicions that Bretonia has gained a sufficient foothold within the system to feel confident in opening it to the public.





//All lore names and dates are subject to change. This is the rough draft of the lore, I want to get the teams reaction before submitting the final version for approval. I will do a quick FAQ in the morning, as well as answer any questions. Comments and criticisms of any kind are welcome.

@idiotekque
Yes, this faction is a replacement for the old Planetform faction in vanilla. As for medical research, I definitely agree, CRI is going to have a much wider variety of scientific endeavors from its vanilla counterpart, focusing mainly on astrology and ecoengineering, but pretty much having a hand in everything. That being said, they have no where near the specialization or resources available to firms like, say, Cryer for medicine or Kishiro for optics and fuel engineering. They aren't capable of just researching everything on their own, and need to partner with other groups if they want to specialize in other areas. As for merging the two, I don't think this is gonna happen, as I believe that Cryer has already been planned out.

As for Gaia, Gaia follows a very similar lore to vanilla. The government basically made it a nature preserve. There were plans for CRI to terraform Gaia, but those only began once CRI underwent its change in philosophy and got enough political power to overturn the protection of gaia act. By that time, however, the Gaians had already pushed most of BAF and CRI out of the system.

Thanks for the feedback!

Alright, here are a few quick answers to some questions that might be asked in the future.

1. Q: So, its a Bretonian version of Ageria?
A: No, not really. We certanly don't want CRI's lore to overlap with Ageria's lore, or any other tech group's lore for that matter. There are two main diffrences between the two; One, Ageria is a for profit company, whereas CRI is a nonprofit institute (They still make quite a lot of money, but that's not the reason they are in the game, so to speak.) Two, Ageria focuses on astrophyisical and quantum-based research, with most of their income coming from Trade lane/ jump gate research. CRI focuses on environmental engineering and astrogolgy, with most of their projects centering around terraforming or long range system observation.

2. Q: Whats to stop them from just researching everything and not dealing with other technology companies? Why arn't they competitors with other companys?
A: Well, the main reason they arn't competitors with other companies is that they arn't a company. They have no desire to corner the market for their technology, only to ensure that technology in general doesn't come into the hands of people they don't approve of. Secondly, CRI isn't a general research faction; they are capable of expanding their studies into whatever field they wish, but they only specialize in terraforming; they need to partner with other groups if they want to expand their knowlage.

3. Q: Why the huge change in CRI? Why'd they suddenly decide to start exploiting their power?
A: One of the two young directors learned something he hadn't known about before.

4. Q: Why would anyone put up with CRI? They seem like assholes.
A: They put up with CRI because CRI has the power; they have aggressively patented most of their technology so that other groups can't use it without their permission; if CRI doesn't like you, your pretty much not gonna have access to lawful tech. Secondly, CRI has gone about establishing themselves as one of the most powerful lobbys in all of Bretonia. They have a decent section of the Bretonian government in their back pocket. Also, people work for CRI because they see the world in a different way than most; They realize that Sirius is a dangerous place, and a single sign of weakness will have the vultures swarming around you. They come from a house that has spent its entire history being behind, both industrially and technologically, all of the other houses. Only now is Bretonia in a position to even rival the other houses, and a single slip up will put their homeland irrevocably behind in the race for an empire; They need power to build an empire, and they need an empire to make them stronger, and they need strength to need them safe. They screw people over and corrupt the system because, when the time comes and shit hits the fan, they know they will have to be ready.

Thanks for the feedback, I'll contact you Claud.