Editing Have Rocketship Will Travel (section)

== Setting Details ==

'''Weapons & armour:'''

The most popular ranged weapons in known space are radium-powered energy weapons, known simply as radguns, represented with the laser weapon rules. Monomolecular-edged melee weapons are also relatively popular among pirates & marines who fight in close quarters as well as the upper ranks of the FTC and alien monarchies, for whom duelling has come back into vogue as a popular sport.

Personal energy shields based on the energy skin modification on pg 72 of the rulebook are also available. They cost $100 and are wearable as belts. They are popular with FTC officers as they provide some protection from radguns over their uniforms without having to wear cumbersome armour. You can't wear them with military armour, though, only civilian body armour.

'''FTL travel'''

Travel between systems is handled by the Einstein-Rosenberg Drive, or simply the wormhole drive. This device opens a temporary wormhole in space, allowing a ship to make the journey from one star system to another in a short period of time.

The drive has an important limit in that it cannot be used when too close to a star or a large gravitational body; this means that if your ship is being pursued by an FTC warship you'll need to outrun it by conventional means before you can jump to safety.

'''AI'''

This is a 'low AI' setting where most robots are well below human intelligence and lack independence, only able to follow pre-programmed orders. Smarter machines able to think for themselves may exist but are rare and highly expensive.

'''Ships & vehicles'''

Ships in this setting are atomic-powered rocketships, so their internal deck layout is vertical and they land and take off engine-first.

Most earth-built vehicles are hovercraft and get Hover for free.

'''History & Culture'''

This world diverged from ours in the 50s-60s, when atomic powered rocketry took off and humanity began colonising the solar system and exploiting it's bountiful resources. This peace continued through the development of the wormhole drive which allowed mankind to spread to the stars and begin encountering alien civilizations.

Shortly after this however, many of the Earth's superpowers began engaging in imperialist ambitions towards their alien neighbours. This lead to a scramble for space, which resulted in wars not only between humans and aliens but also rival superpowers, eventually resulting in the Atomic War on earth.

After the war put an end to many of the old powers on Earth, an alliance of super-wealthy industrialists who had fled Earth beforehand (and had no hand in starting it, they claim) returned and formed the Directorate, an autocratic regime that favours the Board of Directors and their immediate circles of wealthy families and allies. If you are lucky to be part of Earth's upper classes life is near utopian, but for everyone else life is about learning to be a cog in the Directorate machine.

To manage the colonies and continue the process of extracting as much wealth as possible from the final frontier, the Supreme Director ordered the creation of the FTC. The FTC employs a large number of high ranking officials referred to as viceroys who command it's fleets and govern the sectors under it's control. The Directorate takes little direct interest in the FTC's activities so long as a steady stream of wealth and tribute flows it's way.

The FTC has a large fleet of warships and legions of robot troopers to enforce it's will, although the really cutting-edge ships and weaponry is reserved for the Directorate's own forces, which are only deployed in the event that the FTC proves too incompetent to handle a threat.

'''Languages'''

The most common language spoken in FTC-controlled space is Earthlang, an English-based creole of several human languages. Each race also has a common tongue that other races can learn to communicate with them.