The Logo of the Terran Stellar Navy 

The Terran race originally comes from a planet in the Sol system, usually called Earth by its natives. The name "Terra" is more commonly used by offworlders. The inhabitants of this unassuming blue planet colonized their system, sent out probes to nearby stars, and eventually developed a primitive faster-than-light technology they called Warp Drive. With this technology, they began to spread to nearby star systems, exploring the vastness of space and meeting and making alliances with new lifeforms.

Most of the early races the Terrans encountered were not capable of space travel, but understood the value of entering into a partnership that was economically and militarily beneficial to all. Thus was born the United Space Faring Planets, or USFP, a representative democracy based on the success of Earth's own governments. Open and welcoming to all lifeforms, it strove to encourage scientific research and exploration, and economic trade and development between the Terran colonies and the other races.

Eventually it was inevitable that mankind would discover that it was not alone in the galaxy, or at least that there were other beings with technology as advanced as ours. In fact, we discovered that closer in to the center of the galaxy was a region dominated by several races. The Kraliens were the first to be encountered, in 2175 at the human colony of New Lhasa. In the decades that followed, wars were fought, alien races switched sides, and even the USFP split apart as several colonies rebelled against Earth-based control and sparked a brutal civil war.

After 65 years of almost constant fighting, the USFP is entering a new era of stability, with a revival of its military arm, the Terran Stellar Navy, and the development of many new technologies. Our new alliance with the Ximni, despite some differences in the past, has led to major discoveries in the field of Jump Drive, and the development of carrier-based fighter craft. The TSN has always been composed of the most advanced ships, with the most elite crews, but now our numbers are growing, and we can actually patrol the frontier and serve our colony worlds in non-combat missions.

Unfortunately, the threat of war still hangs over the fragile peace for the benevolent worlds of the United Space Faring Planets.

From the Terran Stellar Naval Academy Tactical Manual:

The USFP:

In the mid-22nd century mankind first found evidence of extra-terrestrial life. Instead of flying saucers landing on Earth or greetings by distant radio signals, we detected thermonuclear explosions in the constellation Aries. Someone must have fought a war near Teegarden’s Star twelve years earlier.

At the time Earth’s richest nations had sent a handful of unmanned probes to other stars, but the entire human race had never banded together to accomplish anything. Then the threat of interstellar war brought out the finest in us. Soon scientific breakthroughs came every day, and engineers were designing starships, terraforming planets, and building outposts in deep space. Even as we spread to the stars, our politicians devised schemes to gain allies. Thus the United Space Faring Planets was born. This united mankind in a single, benevolent government that was open to other races.

The scheme found some success. As we spread across the cosmos we made contact with a few intelligent races which joined us, but they ranged from stone aged amphibians to meditative balloons floating in a warm gas giant. They were eager to learn, but had no space fleets of their own.

Then in 2175 the human colony at New Lhasa received an ultrawave message from a race who called themselves Kraliens. The Kraliens claimed to own New Lhasa – later they claimed to own all planets everywhere – and demanded that the colonists pay rent. When a Kralien fleet appeared to collect that rent an Earth space ship was waiting. Within an hour we were at war.

Terran Stellar Navy:

The Terran Stellar Navy is built around a small core of elite space ships. With a competent Engineer, your TSN ship can outrun, outgun, and outmaneuver any enemy ship you will encounter. The following briefs will acquaint you with the naval forces of the TSN as well as our USFP allies.

TSN Base Stations: Deep Space Base - Command Base

TSN Ship Classes: Light Cruiser - Scout - Battleship - Missile Cruiser - Dreadnought - Carrier - MIne Layer - Juggernaut

USFP Base Stations: Civilian Base - Industrial Base - Science Base

USFP Ship Classes - Escort - Destroyer

Roleplaying and Cosplaying Suggestions:

There really isn't much to suggest for roleplaying a Terran; just be yourself. For cosplaying, you and your crew should develop a uniform. This uniform could be based on an inspirational sci-fi series such as Star Trek, or given a more military look. For some good ideas, check out the The Artemis Universe subforum on the forum site.

(It is not known why Thom changed the name of the player race from USFP to TSN in version 2.0 of Artemis. Possibly, he was concerned about the similarity to the Star Trek United Federation of Planets, or UFP, and was concerned about copyright. At any rate, in Artemis 2.3 the race was again changed to "Terran" for the civilian ships, even though technically those could be ally races and not Terran colonies. It is very likely that the colonies along the frontier are Terran colonies, though, not USFP races)

(The official TSN logo was designed by MarkBell, and officially introduced at Artemis Armada III)