((This is something that I'd put together as an introduction to the in-game roleplaying that I and a few of my friends will be doing. I thought I'd share it here. Enjoy, and please leave comments if you do!)) Project ASCENSION was started by NASA in the aftermath of Earth's evacuation. ASCENSION is, and always was, a failsafe in the event that efforts to repopulate Earth fell through. ASCENSION is made up of over one hundred fifty teams, varying in size from three to as many as twenty members, with the goal of finding a new planet that can sustain Earth's flora and fauna. Efforts to find Earth-like planets predate the Evacuation by centuries, but the prospects were sparse, and funding for such 'trivial' pursuits was even sparser. With Earth all but uninhabitable, however, establishing a new home was of primary importance. ASCENSION brought unexpected change to the meteor colony X-32, which itself had been a pipedream project cut short due to lack of funding. The colony had become the poster child for poverty in the preceding years, with ongoing bets as to how long the colonists could hold out without aid. X-32's colonists felt abandoned, and soon fell into open rebellion, stripping themselves of their city's designated name in favor of that of the project that created it. The WINGS project, a subsidiary of ASCENSION, was meant to be an olive branch, a chance for X-32's citizens to leave their derelict planetoid--to "spread their wings," as it were. Those who accepted the offer were branded traitors, several of whom mysteriously disappeared before their research shuttles arrived. Every research team is granted a NASA "R-Class" research shuttle. Its modular design allows several units to be linked together to form a single ship, which makes integration easy when a team's discoveries warrants the addition of experts in other fields to join them planetside. Often, the first researchers to step foot on prospective planets are those with knowledge of plants and bacteria, who stand to make the judgment of how well Earth's flora will survive there. These are known as "Expeditionary" teams, and are made up of no more than three researchers, accompanied by a militia escort. Once planetside, the raw materials required to construct their base of operations are transported to a teleportation beacon that the researchers place. Among these raw materials are prefabricated walls, windows, foundations, furniture, and any technology that will be required. Additional supplies can be ordered through the use of Pixels, an allowance of which researchers are granted periodically and upon the reporting meritorious discoveries. Assembly bots do the necessary landscaping and construction over the course of approximately three Earth days, though larger teams' living quarters naturally take longer to construct.
I must say, this was actually rather interesting to read. It flowed well, and each paragraph could host a whole story in itself. Very nice!
