Solaris (TC)
| The following information refers to the Solaris universe and is therefore not canon for the FreeSpace continuity. |
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Solaris is a total conversion set in an original universe using the FreeSpace Open engine.
Contents
General Information
Solaris takes combat in the FSO engine to another level. Face down dynamic fighter enemies who weave and dodge incoming fire. Lead assaults against heavily armoured capital ships armed with relentless point defense cannons and powerful anti-ship missiles. Every dogfight is an event, every victory significant.
Use the right tools for the right job. Fighters are the hunters of enemy strike craft, agile and deadly. Interceptors cannot be beaten for raw speed and have the firepower to back up their boast. Strikers are well armoured, armed with heavy cannons for strikes against capital ship subsystems.
You are piloting an agile war machine with the ability to drift and strafe. Use every dimension to your advantage, but beware: your enemies will do the same to you.
Campaigns
Background
The 25th century should have seen the start of a new Golden Age.
Humanity did not launch itself to the stars unified. The web of international rivalries, alliances and intrigues prevalent throughout human history accompanied the first colonisation efforts out of Earth's orbit. To the stars humanity brought art, philosophy, technology, commerce...and war.
The Great War of the 2430's was the climax of Earth's efforts to maintain control of the colonies. The war forged the national identities of fledgling nations while past empires died.
The remnants of the Old World were swept away in nuclear fire and a new international order was born.
Factions and Organizations
Great Powers
Atlantean Federation
"Peace Through Strength"
The Atlantean Federation is the largest and most politically dominant of the Terran powers. Founded on liberal democratic values and forged in the aftermath of the Great War, the Federation sees itself as the vanguard of civilization—a stabilising force in an otherwise volatile galaxy. Its federal government, elected by a wide-ranging electorate, functions in concert with a powerful defense establishment and a sprawling network of corporate stakeholders. The Federation’s institutions are robust, its cultural exports omnipresent, and its fleet unmatched in size.
The Federation operates not only as a military bloc but also as a cultural and economic juggernaut. Member systems enjoy internal autonomy, but defense, foreign affairs, and trade are centralized under a strong executive. Federation citizens are raised in a civic culture that combines frontier optimism with post-industrial privilege. Critics argue this fosters complacency and hubris; supporters claim it’s the reason the Federation endures.
Its foreign policy is one of preemptive engagement and soft power projection. Officially, it promotes stability, free markets, and democratic values. In practice, it often intervenes to secure trade corridors, install “friendly” regimes, or counter threats from autocratic rivals. Peacekeeping deployments and military aid are routine, as are covert operations in systems deemed strategically fragile. Its navy is an enormous, carrier-led force designed for rapid response and long-range power projection.
Beneath the noble rhetoric lies a hard truth: the Federation doesn’t just lead the galactic order—it defines it. Whether viewed as a benevolent hegemon or a veiled empire, the Federation’s influence is everywhere, and its reach seldom questioned.
Sinarus Combine
"One people. One future."
The Sinarus Combine is a technocratic autocracy built on the ruins of the old Sol Combine, forged in the fire of collapse and civil war. Where the Federation champions liberty and identity, the Combine champions discipline, sacrifice, and the rule of systems. It presents itself as a society free from the chaos of populism, where the state ensures prosperity through centralized planning, social engineering, and unflinching authority. To Combine leadership, authoritarianism is not an evil—it's the only thing that works.
The Combine is governed by a collection of Directorates and Ministries under the oversight of the Archon, with all activity aligned toward a central Strategic Doctrine. Citizens are assigned roles based on aptitude metrics and are subject to rigorous social credit systems that measure productivity, loyalty, and “civic resilience.” Surveillance is ubiquitous but precise. Rather than brute repression, the Combine relies on predictive analytics and social conditioning to maintain internal cohesion.
Externally, the Combine projects strength through a doctrine of calculated deterrence. Its navy is mobile, hard-hitting, and optimized for pre-emptive strikes—especially in disputed border zones. The Combine seeks to reclaim territories it considers historically or strategically vital, and is unafraid to use economic blackmail or covert destabilization to achieve its aims. Unlike the Federation, it does not dress its actions in moral language. Efficiency is justification enough.
Critics describe the Combine as dystopian; its citizens, when asked, call it safe. To live in the Combine is to live under scrutiny, but with guarantees: shelter, education, order. The state may be intrusive, but it never forgets you exist.
Alban Commonwealth
"For Crown and Country."
The Alban Commonwealth is a constitutional monarchy that blends ceremonial tradition with hard-edged strategic clarity. Though smaller in territory and military strength than its rival Great Powers, it plays an outsized role in interstellar politics through cultural prestige, naval quality, and diplomatic finesse. Ruled by King Edward Wynson, a widely respected sovereign believed by many to possess a gift for political foresight, the Commonwealth positions itself as a principled middle path between autocracy and populism.
The Commonwealth’s internal structure is federal but loyal to the Crown. Member worlds are granted local autonomy within a shared legal and military framework, anchored by a deeply ingrained sense of civic honour. The upper echelons of society include hereditary nobles, knighted professionals, and elected representatives, all bound by a shared ethic of service. In the Commonwealth, one’s title is earned by action more than birth.
The Alban Crown Navy is renowned for its professionalism, discipline, and operational efficiency. It favours cruiser-led task groups and long-range strike platforms, prioritising quality over volume. Though often outnumbered, Commonwealth fleets routinely outperform expectations, especially in coalition environments. Commonwealth officers are in high demand as trainers, advisers, and diplomats.
On the galactic stage, the Commonwealth is a quiet kingmaker. It builds coalitions, brokers treaties, and offers sanctuary to reformers and dissidents from more extreme regimes. While not as aggressive as the Federation or as controlling as the Combine, it is no less ambitious. Its diplomacy is deliberate, its neutrality strategic, and its restraint a form of power in its own right.
Middle Powers
Republique Jacobine
“Through Reason, Liberty. Through Sacrifice, Justice.”
The République Jacobine is an authoritarian parliamentary republic forged in revolution and sustained by national myth. To its citizens, it is the truest expression of people’s sovereignty: a nation where liberty is preserved not through compromise, but through vigilant civic engagement, ideological clarity, and unwavering sacrifice. Governed by the General Assembly and led by the Citizen-President, the République practices an assertive, rationalised form of governance where public virtue is enforced, not assumed.
Its institutions operate under the supervision of the Bureau of Virtue, a powerful civic authority responsible for ideological coherence and social conduct. Political parties exist, but only within the framework of the revolutionary consensus. Education, media, and military training are geared toward cultivating the citoyen éclairé: the enlightened citizen. In the République, patriotism is a moral duty, and revolution is a continuous process.
The La Marina is compact, modern, and ideologically hardened. It is not just a fighting force but an instrument of republican idealism, often deployed in support of democratic uprisings, anti-monarchist insurgencies, and anti-corporate revolts. Jacobine officers are both soldiers and commissars, trained in both naval tactics and revolutionary philosophy.
To foreign observers, the République is paradoxical: a state that preaches liberty while surveilling its citizens, that seeks peace through continual struggle. But to its people, this tension is the Republic’s greatest strength. It is not a utopia; it is a crucible in which civic virtue is tested and refined.
Greater Yamatan Union
"Only in duty do we endure."
The Greater Yamatan Union is a techno-feudal empire, rigidly hierarchical and deeply spiritual, where technology serves not to liberate the individual but to perfect their role in society. Governed by the Shogunate under the rule of the High Kensei, the Union merges ancient Yamatan warrior traditions with advanced neural augmentation and biotechnological modification. Every citizen is born into a caste, every action is ritualised, and every war is sacred.
Citizens are stratified by service and obedience. Higher castes receive elite education and enhancements; lower castes perform logistical, agricultural, or menial duties, often in lifelong devotion to their local daimyō. While the system appears oppressive, many citizens embrace it—believing that honour, not freedom, is the highest human value. Education reinforces this through philosophical teachings, martial training, and programmed reverence for the Union’s hierarchy.
The Yamatan Navy is compact, elite, and heavily reliant on cybernetic command networks and autonomous squadrons. Each fleet operates as a self-contained shrine of battle—officers duel over disputed targeting solutions, and victory is not merely measured in territory gained but in ritual fulfilment. While the Union avoids foreign entanglements, it reacts with overwhelming force to threats or slights against its honour.
Externally, the Union is regarded as both enigmatic and formidable. Its refusal to modernise diplomatically frustrates its neighbours, but its cultural resilience and strategic discipline make it a long-term player few dare provoke.
Rheinische Kaiserreich
"A Reich of Steel and Spirit."
A constitutional empire that shares space borders with both the Commonwealth and Combine spheres of influence, the Rheinische Kaiserreich is a proud and industrious state emerging from decades of postwar retrenchment. Once a formidable military power during the Great War, the Reich was left diminished by peace treaties, domestic fatigue, and the loss of key colonial holdings. Under the current Kaiserin, Marianne Therese von Hohenrath, the Reich has embarked on a carefully managed rearmament and industrial modernization campaign, seeking to reclaim strategic autonomy without provoking its more powerful neighbours.
Geopolitically wedged between two superpowers, the Reich has become adept at balancing diplomacy and deterrence. It shares cultural and political affinities with the Alban Commonwealth and maintains cordial, if cautious, relations with it. At the same time, it exports raw materials and heavy industrial goods to the Sinarus Combine, an arrangement viewed as pragmatic necessity rather than ideological alignment. Though its navy is a fraction of its former size, the Reich’s forces are well-trained and increasingly well-equipped, favoring quality over quantity. The Kaiserin’s government walks a deliberate middle path (neither fully aligned with the Commonwealth nor hostile to the Combine) hoping to preserve stability while rebuilding national strength.
Non-State Actors
Malika People's Militia
"No lords. No chains."
The Malika People’s Militia is a diffuse revolutionary movement composed of miners, defectors, ex-intelligence officers, trade unionists, and disaffected civilians. Originally formed in the wake of a collapsed corporate regime in the Malika Belt, the Militia has since metastasised into dozens of cells scattered across neglected frontier systems. Its structure is loose, its ideology inconsistent, but its message clear: resist the return of oligarchy, seize local autonomy, and dismantle the mechanisms of systemic exploitation.
Militia forces operate out of asteroid colonies, derelict mining platforms, and half-abandoned orbital rigs. While lightly armed and underfunded compared to the navies of major powers, their agility and local support make them a serious threat to colonial garrisons and mercenary fleets. They rely on salvaged equipment, decentralised encryption networks, and sympathetic merchants for supplies. Some factions dabble in piracy; others govern liberated territories with varying degrees of order and legitimacy.
External powers see the Militia as a useful pressure valve—or a dangerous destabiliser. Regardless of what they are called, the Militia endures—fighting, fragmenting, and reforming wherever the promise of freedom collides with the reality of control.
Children of Renewal
“All Stars Lead to the Promised Land.”
The frontiers of Terran Space are a region of intense religious activity. The absence of established institutions and an overwhelmingly practical worldview in a hardscrabble existence divested traditional religious organisations of authority. Ad-hoc spirituality took hold in the region, democratising religion and legitimised individual spiritual expression. Hardship and strong community ties formed the basis of this egalitarian landscape.
The Children of Renewal are a pacifist spiritual movement with roots in frontier Christianity, neo-Mormon theology, and zen-like asceticism. Unlike most factions, they possess no standing army, no territorial ambitions, and no central command. Instead, they operate as a constellation of missionary fleets, humanitarian stations, and outreach settlements—bound together by faith in the coming “Promised Land” and the belief that all souls, regardless of origin, are equal before the divine.
Children of Renewal vessels travel the edge of settled space, providing medical aid, repairs, and guidance to stranded travellers. They fund their operations through a combination of donations, patronage from wealthy Federation sympathisers, and communal labor. While non-proselytising in tone, they distribute devotional texts, perform religious rites, and offer spiritual counsel to those who seek it.
Many dismiss the Children as eccentric cultists, and their pacifism as naivety. Yet they are quietly respected across the frontier. In lawless systems, a Renewal station is often the only source of order, food, or medicine.
Their influence spreads not through conquest, but through quiet presence. They do not seek converts—they invite wanderers.
Videos
Solaris introduction cutscene.
Video showcasing Solaris gameplay and visuals
Ships and Weapons Databases
Related Links
Solaris forum board | Hard-Light Productions
#solaris subchannel | Discord
