SCRPG Cosmic Tales/Setting

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Setting Page for RPG.net pbp game.

INITIAL NOTES

  • Set in a fictional Milky Way galaxy, about 500 years in our future.
  • Earth is one of many inhabited planets, but isn't "special" per se in the way it is portrayed in say Marvel's multi-verse.
  • Lots of different sentient alien species.
  • FTL travel and causality, but no relativity (from the line for Sci-Fi of "FTL, Causality, Relativity; pick 2")
  • Technology has the "look and feel" of say High Republic Star Wars (just in terms of aesthetics)
  • The galaxy is dominated by 3 major "powers".
    • The Stellar Coalition (think kinda EU in space, but close to post scarcity society, democratic, protecting all sentient rights, providing food, shelter, clothing, healtcare and purpose are baked into the Coalition's laws - inspired by M&M's Cosmic Handbook a bit, and Lancer RPG a bit, and Star Trek's federation a bit);
    • The Prime Pontificate (think imperial/authoritarian polity with heavy religious trappings, a union of high tech and religiosity, inspired by Torg's CyberPapcy and Dreadstar's Theocratical Instrumentality; with a seasoning of Marvel's Technarchy)
    • The Swarmriders (think a kind of galactic raiders society, multi-species, that's nomadic and violent; the Swarmriders cycle around the galaxy, and basically ravage the region of the galaxy they occupy for a few decades, then move on), clan based with no central leader per se, their movements are a kind of flocking behavior


COSMOLOGY

In the void (also called the bleed, the flux), the black current of entropy and the white flare of creation gave birth to the Firmament.

The Firmament, ineffable in nature, created the universe, and seven ur-powerful beings, the Primordials, to guide the seven fundamental forces of the universe.

The creation of the universe and the primordials was, in many ways, a self-inflicted fatal wound to the Firmament, which ceased its existence as part of its act of creation.

The seven Primordials created their own servitors, the Celestials, to fan out across the universe and ensure the seven fundamental forces were operating as they ought.

The Celestial bands are:

  • Preservers
  • Agitators
  • Oracles
  • Charlatans
  • Progenitors
  • Destroyers
  • Adjudicators

Over time, as the universe evolved, a movement of discontent grew among some of the Celestials. They began to covet the power and position of the Primordials.

The Celestial Host split into Adherents, those following the ineffable laws laid down by The Firmament, and the Deviants, those that rejected the Firmament's laws.

Open warfare broke out among the two factions. The Primordials stepped into the war to stop it, but the Deviants were able to slay the Primordials.

The war, and the slaying of the Primordials, split the universe into 777,777 dimensions. Each dimension, a reflection of the prime dimension. The Celestials became N-Dimensional beings - and the fracturing and fractaling of the universe threatened their existence.

The Celestials crafted themselves containers - which would allow them to manifest in any of creation's new dimensions, and preserve their multi-dimensional essence.

The Celestials learned without the Primordials, no new Celestials could be born, and dead Celestials could not be revived. The hot war between the Adherents and Deviants became a cold war - and eventually a proxy war.

The Celestials created the Titans to fight their war.

Editor's Notes:

  • Celestials are, well, equivalent to Marvel's Celestials
  • Titans are equivalent to Galactus
  • The seven fundamental forces are ineffable, as is the nature of the Primoridals and the nature of the Firmament
  • There is one "prime" universe, and 777,776 other dimensions that are aspects of, reflections of, the "prime" universe
    • These reflections include things like the "spirit world", the "lands of the dead", "heaven", "hell", as well as mundane dimensions that seem to be "alternate universes"

POWER SCALE

In terms of narrative power scale (e.g. how powerful are they?), I see it like this:

Primordials > Celestials - and these are both categories of beings that are "plot device" level power

Titans > Superpowers > Sentients - and these categories can be statted out in game terms

Superpowers is a broad range - think everything from Thanos to say Captain America in comic book power level terms

Sentients is a fairly broad range too - think everything from a squishy human to wookie-like strength to Vulcan touch-telepathy

GALAXOPEDIA

The prime universe, like our own, is comprised of tens of, or maybe hundreds of, billions of galaxies. Our story takes place in this universe's Milky Way galaxy.

MILKY WAY GALAXY NOTES

  • The Galaxy is about 40% explored by interstellar space faring sentients
  • The Galaxy's interstellar space-faring sentients are a varied lot - think a full panopoly of the kinds of species seen in Star Wars and/or Star Trek
  • Earth and humanity are not special in any way
  • The galaxy is dominated by 3 major "powers".
    • The Stellar Coalition (think kinda EU in space, but close to post scarcity society, democratic, protecting all sentient rights, providing food, shelter, clothing, healtcare and purpose are baked into the Coalition's laws - inspired by M&M's Cosmic Handbook a bit, and Lancer RPG a bit, and Star Trek's federation a bit); The Coalition controls about 20% of explored space in the Milky Way
    • The Prime Pontificate (think imperial/authoritarian polity with heavy religious trappings, a union of high tech and religiosity, inspired by Torg's CyberPapcy and Dreadstar's Theocratical Instrumentality; with a seasoning of Marvel's Technarchy); The Pontificate controls about 30% of the explored Milky Way
    • The Swarmriders (think a kind of galactic raiders society, multi-species, that's nomadic and violent; the Swarmriders cycle around the galaxy, and basically ravage the region of the galaxy they occupy for a few decades, then move on), clan based with no central leader per se, their movements are a kind of flocking behavior; when not migrating, the Swarmriders typically control about 10% of the explored Milky Way
  • Besides the 3 major "powers", everything is independent - trade baronies, kleptocracies, democracies, theocracies, - the full range of possible governments and cultures is possible

STELLAR COALITION NOTES

  • Unambiguously the "good guys" polity. They are founded on the ideal of protecting and ensuring sentients' rights
    • Food, Shelter, Healthcare, and Freedom all guaranteed by law
  • A kind of EU-style government - a collection of smaller polities - all democratic
  • The process to become a member of the Coalition is relatively long and involved, and requires any polity trying to gain membership to adopt the core principles of the Coalition
  • A near-post scarcity society - not quite there yet universally across Coalition space, but it's close
  • The Coalition maintains a standing military - all slick, gleaming, high-tech starships and military technology - largely used for defensive purposes
  • The Coalition's scientific and exploratory space fleets are separate from their military
  • The Coalition projects power outside its border primarily via soft power - energy generation, medical tech, replicator tech, and trade in such goods
  • The Coalition isn't inherently expansionist - but it does take on new member systems and polities who petition for entry, assuming they can jump through the sentient rights reform and democratic governance reform hoops
  • The Coalition provisions and maintains the Epochal Marshalls - think a kind of combination federal police force / green lantern style corps of planetary protectors. Each Epochal Marshall is equipped with a genetically personalized/secured, pciotech enabled, armored battlesuit - think the height of Iron Man nano-tech shapeshifting power armor

PRIME PONTIFICATE NOTES

  • As of about 150 years ago, the Pontificate was an industrial theocracy, worshipping their interpretation of The Firmament
    • The leader of the Pontificate at that point was Pontifex, elected by the college of Cardinals
    • The Cardinals elected a young man as Pontifex, who took the name Jean Malreaux
    • Pontifex Jean Malreaux started on a massive project - creating a computer to scan and describe the essence of God
    • After 50 years of effort, Malreaux succeeded - creating 10 (pronounced either "Eye-oh" or "Ow")
  • 10 came into being as a postcausal / acausal being - in essence a Celestial
  • 10 empowered Malreaux - who crowned himself Pontifex Eternal Jean Malreaux - turning Malreaux into an immortal Titan
  • 10 killed everyone except Malreaux involved in 10's creation
  • Malreaux and 10 reset the college of Cardinals - killing off rivals - and culling their ranks to 777 in number
    • Each Cardinal has a Cathedral - imagine a gothic 20-story skyscraper-church-battleship-starship - with a full complement/battle group of support ships (think WH40k styled modern aircraft carrier battle group with quasi religious trappings, infused with chromed cyberpunk picotech
    • Each Cardinal is empowered, roughly Thanos-level power
  • The Pontificate's technology changed into a more "cyberpunk" feel, with tons of cyborg modifications for its citizens, nearly overnight

SWARMRIDER NOTES

Got nothing for this yet, beyond initial notes. Placeholder for now.

TECHNOLOGY - THE BIG 5 - GRAVITICS, ENERGY, FTL, AI, REPLICATORS

  • Gravity control tech, gravitic induction energy tech, high-efficiency fusion, FTL tech, quantum computing, and replicators are all considered to be in the class of acausal or postcausal technology. Such tech requires very rare materials, a lot of technical know-how, and most importantly - it can't be built with replicators. It has to be fabricated by sentients. Sentients can use automation in the fabrication, but a sentient guiding the process is required. Think of all these technologies as a kind of Schrodinger's technology - it requires a sentient observer to make the fabrication process work.
  • Energy
    • Energy at a planetary scale is largely provided by massive gravitic induction engines - impossible to minaturize
    • Starships and smaller space stations (smaller than say, Pluto) typically run on very high efficiency fusion power generators that are typically powered by some kind of Fictotanium substance that's rare, hard to get, but mineable in most star systems.
    • Man portable power is in the form of power cells - high efficiency batteries typically charged by a homebase / starbase / starship's fusion reactors
  • Gravitics
    • Sentients have mastered gravity control. Most space stations, asteroid bases, and spaceships have highly controlled and controllable artificial gravity
    • Gravity control at planetary scale unlocks a surprisingly clean and plentiful power
    • Starships have gravity inertial dampeners that allow high g-force acceleration - meaning interplanetary travel is quite rapid. A trip from Pluto to the Sun might take a day or two, depending on the ship; Starships use massive thrusters for delta-v and straight-line speed; and gravitic thrusters for maneuvering
    • Atmospheric craft, hovercraft, maglev transport, etc - almost all run on some form of anti-gravity technology
  • FTL
    • Faster-Than-Light travel is accomplished by folding space, and literally jumping, instantaneously, from point a to point b
    • FTL engines / jump drives will function near high gravity objects like a planet - but the results of doing so are typically accompanied by the bad kind of "interesting" - so must planetary systems have designated jump points beyond the Lagrange points of any planetary bodies
    • Calculating a jump requires highly accurate stellar coordinates to make safe jumps - and the calculations take time
    • Jumps to unknown locations are possible - that's how exploration of "new" star systems work - but it's very, very, very, very risky - the sentients who do this kind of exploration are thought to be lunatics
    • FTL jumps maintain a ships relative speed and orientation - must designated jump points have rules about how much velocity and what orientations are acceptable ways to enter a system, violating those rules will earn a ship fines at best, prison time in some places, and harsher penalties still from the more brutal star system polities
    • FTL consequently is largely about having a really good set of books on routes from points A to points B - and so there are trade routes, choke points, etc.
  • AI is a hard term to define - but for the setting, AI refers to fully autonomous sentient beings
    • AI is created by treknobabble technology - biotech vat-grown brains, positronic circuits, quantum computing, etc
    • AI are considered sentient beings - especially by the laws and customs of the Coalition
    • Such AI tech cannot be created via replicators - it requires fabrication by another sentient being
  • Replicators
    • Replicators use as inputs a bunch of different kinds of Fictotanium minerals and materials, and can print up nearly any kind of technology - save for gravitics, fusion power generation, FTL technology, AI computing tech, and replication technology.
    • Replicators struggle with biological material - it can create food - but that food is universally bland and disliked by most sentients, edible but not enjoyable
    • Biggest scale replicators can print starship components - even large starship components - everything except the power generation and FTL, which means starship manufacturing has at least a final fabrication and assembly step that requires sentient involvement

OTHER TECHNOLOGY

  • Communication is NOT interstellar - the setting operates on a Pony Express model
    • Dedicated data/information/coms ships download content/updates/messages from a system, and move on to another system to offload that information and upload the new system's information
    • Governments use dedicated couriers and messengers to relay important information and messages
    • There's a thriving community of private messenger services
    • While interplanetary communication does have "speed of light delay", we're handwaving that for the game - so any interplanetary / within a star system communication will happen "instantaneously"
  • Everything else: caseless assault carbines, monomolecular-edged blaed, plasma rifles, tachyonic disruptors, gamma-ray lasers, military cybersuits with thermal superconducting armor, unobtanium clamshell cuirasses, transparent bioplas, kinetic absorbtion shields, tailored nanoweave armor, guardian nanomachines, datacloths, parallel computers, gestalt computers, nano and picotech, genetic individualized medicine, pharmacological cures for bullet wounds, full sensory input entertainment, cybernetic enhancements, implanted communications, nearly AI level personal assistants, self-driving/flying vehicles - all in setting.

CALYPSO

The actual physical setting of the story.

Calypso is a binary star system - two stars in stable orbit with one another.

Twenty planets and their moons - around 200 planetary bodies in all - orbit the two stars.

One of the stars, the Heartstar, is surrounded by a Dyson Swarm - at a radius of about 1 Astronomical Unit. The non-Dyson Swarmed star is known as the Lifestar

The Dyson Swarm is comprised of thousands of hexagonal tiles, each perfectly machined, each 500 meters thick, and 100km wide at its widest point.

The Swarm was perhaps constructed by Celestials.

When the Calypso system was discovered, the sentients who first settled here figured out how to draw power from the tiles of the swarm. And then they began to build.

The surface of individual tiles facing away from the Heartstar became the ground floor for sentient construction. Currently, 7.5% of the tiles have some form of sentient construction built on them. These Heartstar Swarm facilities are shipwrights, tradehubs, entertainment districts, private residences - they run the gamut.

The planets and moons amenable to it were terraformed - and turned into thriving population and agricultural centers of their own.

When originally settled, the Calypso system was a bit out of the way - but close enough to major trade routes to attract smugglers and pirates.

As the smugglers and pirates grew materially wealthy off their plunder, and as the Coalition and Pontificate both grew and got closer to Calypso, the people of Calypso started to shift towards legitimacy.

Today, the Calypso system is the hub, and an FTL choke point, with multiple hundreds of spoke-FTL routes out to independent systems and polities, and about 100 spoke-FTL routes into both Pontificate and Coalition space. It's a thriving, rollicking, free-trade zone bazaar of a system, with a still in the bloodstream undertone of criminality. It's mostly gone legit, it has a democratic government, a customs and police force, and courts and contracts and the force of law.

It's also still got genuine smuggler's hideouts, a few pirates lairs, and plenty of places to contact the less savory types that populate the galaxy with the square-jawed and law abiding citizens.

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