# The Trial: Campaign **URL:** \ **Category:** Campaign Reports - pappy\_reen\ **Created:** [August 29, 2026, 5:38pm UTC](https://aurora4x.com/t/the-trial-campaign/1055 "2026-08-29T17:38:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 13
**Author:** ![pappy\_reen](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/user_avatar/aurora4x.com/pappy_reen/32/2205_2.png) [@pappy\_reen](https://aurora4x.com/u/pappy_reen)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 9:56am UTC](https://aurora4x.com/t/the-trial-campaign/1055/13 "2026-09-22T09:56:40Z")
# Report 3: 5 Jan 0021 This report has been long delayed by my indecision and biases. I understand as a scientist I should be objective and clear, regular and structured. Every living thing carries assumptions, however, and mine have sent me into a tailspin. I was taught that the military was the ultimate societal luxury. Every soldier on the frontline was a house un-built, a river un-dredgd, a hungry child un-fed. Somewhere between the ego contests of tyrants and the obsession of violent anti-intelectuals. I had expected, therefore, some problems to emerge. The military have been in partial or total command of the civil apparatus of StarBorn for a long, uninterrupted decade. Military capacity has increased exponentially - research, manufacturing, recruitment. There’s an entire planet devoted exclusively to the training of troops! ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/aurora4x/original/2X/6/6b318d0d550b2b36019c921ffe14e6bcbfaa1166.png) Despite this, or maybe because of it, industrial capacity, wealth, productivity have all grown. Far from being a ball and chain dragging everything backwards, it seems the military have been a spur, cutting waste and driving ever forward. It’s no wonder that citizens are so willing to sacrifice liberties that I would see as essential. Police forces, enhanced with drones, equipped with UV sidearms, watch every street corner with the ruthless efficiency one would expect from a dictatorship. Where are the protests? The cries of alarm? Their expansion, while high risk, has been an unmitigated success. Every colony is protected and policed. A military outpost has even been established in the neighbouring system, _Elysium_, for advanced warning and a staging point for harassing retreating forces. ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/aurora4x/original/2X/1/1ff7484cd0865f94961e9414120eed43cb566a9b.png) ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/aurora4x/original/2X/a/abcabc71b39f70d0493f7479905afe81b72587a5.png) The incursions into their space have grown more ambitious, but have always been thrown back. Perhaps it is these victories keeping the people content? Perhaps it is the terrifying size of these craft that keeps the people docile? ![image](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex011/uploads/aurora4x/original/2X/9/92a691ff31b984f0f76e6c90ca15ede5139bccca.png) I can’t understand how this has happened, and so quickly. I have been spending months searching for the signs of fracture and decay the ever-growing parasite of militarism should bring. Perhaps I have already wasted too much research time trying to detect the failures I want to see rather than challenging the beliefs I have? Or maybe the problems are only just starting to emerge? * * * _Following such a long period of militarism, societal norms and taboos have appeared_ _Already existing:_ _- No military construction or recruitment on Garden (homeworld)_ _- No garrison or STO on Garden (homeworld)_ _- At least 50% of research capacity must be applied to weapons system development_ _- All colonies have STO and all populated colonies have police (except Garden)_ _Which of the following should be added? (or suggest your own in the comments thread) Note: I am sure there are some smart ways to make these taboos less severe - but when I play I’ll take them seriously and follow them_ - Every inhabited colony must be **teraformed to max fort bonus possible** (usually Jungle) before terraforming stops - Every civilian (stations included) must carry: thermal sensor, EM sensor, CWIS proportional to tonnage - Every inhabited system must have a designated **military capital,** where mines, factories and research labs **cannot** be built. **All resources go to the military capital first** before distribution to civilians _Poll ([view on site](https://aurora4x.com/t/the-trial-campaign/1055/13))_ --- _[View the full topic](https://aurora4x.com/t/the-trial-campaign/1055)._