Darkness Between And Beyond:Main Page

Player Characters

• AnomaloCarla, the Fossil Goddess. Goddess of Time, Death, and the Earth. AC 2, HP 10/10. Hardiness 13+, Evasion 14+, Spirit 12+. (Scythe-Hand +4 to-hit, Damage 1d10+3, Range 200', does 1 damage even on a miss to the living or the undead)
• Brother Chain, the Master of Lore. God of Artifice, Knowledge, and Endurance. AC 2, HP 10/10. Hardiness X+, Evasion X+, Spirit X+. (Primary Attack +to-hit, Damage roll.) (Notes regarding primary attack.)
• Rocky, the Stone Fist. God of Journeying, Endurance, and the Sword. AC 2, HP 10/10. Hardiness X+, Evasion X+, Spirit X+. (Primary Attack +to-hit, Damage roll.) (Notes regarding primary attack.)
• Rosalind, the Huntress. Goddess of The Bow, Alacrity, and the Sky. AC 0, HP 9/9. Hardiness 14+, Evasion 12+, Spirit 12+. (Primary Attack +4, Damage roll (4*).) (Penetrates all cover, always does maximum damage (1d8+3 = 11, 4 damage), counts as magical.)
• Snake, the Shadow. God of Deception, Night, and the Sea. AC ?, HP ?/?. Hardiness X+, Evasion X+, Spirit X+. (Primary Attack +to-hit, Damage roll.) (Notes regarding primary attack.)
• Yela Iolam, the Witch-Queen. Goddess of Sorcery, Might, and the Sun. AC 8/2, HP 9/9. Hardiness X+, Evasion X+, Spirit X+. (Primary Attack +to-hit, Damage roll.) (Notes regarding primary attack.)
• Melody Zero, the Fugitive. Goddess of Passion, Endurance, and the Sky. AC 0, HP 11/11. Hardiness X+, Evasion X+, Spirit X+. Stormsword +4, 1d10+3. Range 200, Always deals at least 1 damage to wet or metal-clad enemies.

The Ship

I don't actually know much about our ship yet. Do we need stats? Deck plans?

Other Characters of Note

NPCs go here

Factions

Factions of broad importance, including PC cults, go here

Setting Information

Organized by sectors.

Starting Sector: Tutaregio's Broken Edge

Synopsis: the further sector that can be considered part of the Ancient Human royal empire, Tutaregio's Broken Edge looked to hold sufficient planets to establish a more enduring presence, but a number of them were either already claimed or proved less suitable than originally intended. Combined with sub-optimal arrangements of natural weak points, it was deemed undesirable to continue the work of fully integrating the sector into the royal empire. As a result, lesser noble and royal lines have tried to establish it as their own territory while fringe transhumanists and xenophiles flooded the sector seeking to avoid interdictions on their desires.

Native Inhabitants: no established space faring species in the system when Ancient Humanity arrived claimed it as a home system. The New Human stock cultivated out of the various worlds would have the closest claim in theory. Remnants of other species have been found on the various worlds of the system. There is suggestion in their design and in the analogous Darkness Beyond of full space faring civilization.

Map

Stars and Worlds

The Solastelo Star at 00.00

World of Note: Mallumon Situated near a major nexus of weak points (@ 01.00) , Mallumon refuses to be a way station even though it could provide a stable spot to resupply before going to other systems. It has a heavy patrol between itself and the nearby nexus of weak points. A council of Ancient Stock humans rules over and lives in communal splendor, served by neo human and false intellect piloted Shells. A mix of 'extraneous' children and ambitious neo humans serve as the border force, which is what most outsiders encounter of Mallumon. The rest of the system tends to dismiss complaints about things from beyond coming through from the Darkness Beyond.

Nominally Solastelo, and thus Mallumon, belong to Tutaregio.

The Proksimastrato Star at 01.08

World of Note: Malvarmenton One of the worlds that Ancient Humanity misjudged in seeding human stock, Malvarmenton never exited its "little" Ice Age after giving rise to humans. A rigid culture focused around surviving the cold formed, which gave relatively early access to space, and an encounter with the wider galaxy into which the planet was adopted haphazardly. It is a small world, a curiosity more than anything else, and also seen as a good place to retreat to for contemplation. Much of the income flowing into the planet comes from hosting off world individuals in special isolation areas clustered around the spaceport. Local religious sects are constantly agitating about this, among other things, and form a fair chunk of the lengthy travel advisories about Malvarmenton.

World of Note: Belavivon Rejected for seeding in favour of Malvarmenton, Belavivon was claimed instead by a splinter group of Ancient Humanity which saw potential in the rejected world. The splinter group engaged in extreme biological experimentation under the guise of observing / ensuring that the other livable planet would develop correctly. This pretense was abandoned as the reach of imperial law slipped from the system. The experimentation focused largely on the radical expansion of empathy in the pursuit of recreating the hypothetical Ur-Mind of Humanity—said to be the remnant of an ascended race that in turn gave rise to humanity's consciousness. As they have yet to enfold all of humanity into their ranks, the seekers of Belavivon have clearly not yet managed to achieve this goal. They remain distinct, if intensely synchronized, individuals on the planet.

The Null Ten Star at 02.03

World of Note: Mu A wreck when others arrived, Mu is populated only by the exploratory robots and more complicated artificial life that followed. Poison, irradiated air gusts out of vast rifts from the ground's near constant trembling. A few straggling survivors of the biosphere that preceded the catastrophe cling to bacterial mats near heat vents and similar extreme but energy rich environments. These are largely ignored by the robots who primarily engage in mining or accepting waste that nobody else wants anywhere near them but can't otherwise dispose of. A large moon of Mu, called Vin, hosts a small biodome and a very good data link to the ad hoc government network of the robots on the planet.

Jenda at 02.04

World of Note: Jenda Not much is known about the star or the planet confirmed to have life on it. History indicates that initial exploration of the planet by human separatists led to contact with a struggling Dryad colony; the genetic stock of the humans and human compatible species led to a unique ecosystem that closed down contact with the rest of the world with the last missive explaining it was to preserve the unique treasure that had been created there. A few Shell maintained satellites on the age of the star system serve as interface points when needs be, which is rarely.

The Dychan Star at 02.08

World of Note: Dychan Surrounded by mostly dead rocks, the nearly exhausted star of Dychan was almost overlooked until someone noticed one of its planets was composed of a single odd substance that existed as a solid, liquid, gas, and plasma on the planet. At first it was thought to be a purposefully extracted piece of the star, hence the naming, but it turned out to be more exotic matter. The primary industry of Dychan is the extraction and containment of the substance of the planet for export for the purpose of experimentation. The secondary industry is building and maintaining complex Shells, which are all that really dwell there. The shells are run by a single broadcasting intelligence cluster, which is generally fairly much in agreement with the right-think of its Overmind. However, the value of the Shells and the substance of the planet, means that there are rogue intelligence and body pirates. Primarily they insert false build orders and hijack the resulting Shell to ship it to sellers. The open, flexible nature of the Shell neural systems allow interface with broadcasting AIs and various other minds, and also makes them of dubious legality in many other places.

The Hmm Emm Star at 02.09

World of Note: Zygath The industrial heart of the sector, Zygath is a burning, toxic world not unlike the inside of a massive ancient forge. Here the Silicates have one of their guild-cults. The cult will accept any species able to endure the heat and the trials of entry. Custom parts of exquisite skill are designed and built here. There are a few amenities on planet and in orbit for those who cannot endure the burning, poisoned air. These are often offshoots of the required isolation chambers to keep out native microbes which catalyze undesired reactions, including causing problems for the Silicates and similar life forms if infections get established.

In the Darkness Between

The Broken Edge Nexus at 01.00

No stars or worlds of note. However, this region of space is filled with weak spots of varying thinness where helms have an easier time breaching the Darkness Beyond. Remnant beacons in the Darkness Beyond do point the way to the nexus; this along with other evidence in the Darkness Beyond suggest that it was a known and well used nexus before the Celestial Beacon was destroyed.

The Lesser Hub at 01.07

Situated near several stars, and with sufficient access to free floating trail beacons in the Darkness Beyond, the Lesser Hub was intended to serve as a secondary intra and inter system transit point. Instead it has become the primary point of departure from the system, hosting a few barebones functional satellites on in both Darks. The nearby stars have natural and artificial orbiters with a few more amenities for those who need such before a trip out of system.

Peoples of the Universe

They get their own section separate from locations.

Ancient Humanity

Synopsis: Claiming a mix of spiritual and physical descent from one of the Ancients, humanity has swept across a large swath of the galaxy. Various human empires and churches are fixtures of the universe, with offshoots of humanity being not particular uncommon and several having prospered quite well. Humanity has a tendency to consider itself directly related to the baseline (the Phoenix Kings were identical, superficially at least) for the universe and see the plethora of other species sharing their rough form as (poor) relations or otherwise offshoots from some distant point in the past. This does not endear them to those they share the universe with.

New Humanity

Synopsis: Part of the program of conquest of Ancient Humanity is seeding planets to generate "independent" human populations. A program that started before Ancient Humanity could regularly travel in the Darkness Beyond bodily, it continued a pace and has only recently slowed. The program seeds seemingly compatible worlds with biological and chemical agents that provoke the re-evolution of humanity there. These New Humans are largely identical but lack the advantages of genetic engineering and millennia of wealth accumulation that Ancient Humanity has. Most New Humans populations that achieve sufficient advancement submit to rule by their ancestors, largely as the alternatives to being a client planet are far less pleasant.

Neo Humanity

Synopsis: The collective term for all post- and trans- human expressions, these include groups that splintered long ago and aren't truly compatible any longer as well as more recent and deliberate offshoots. Neo Humanity tends to congregate in more cosmopolitan and less traditionalist spaces, and doesn't dominate any particular large body politic. However, strains of thinking that lead in their direction are common among other branches of humanity and it is Neo Humanity that most non-humans prefer engaging with.

Silicates

Synopsis: While most life in the universe is based on carbon and seems semi-related at least, there are odder branches of life. Silicates are an intelligent silicon based life form that is also mobile, which is generally the sticking point. They have sleek bodies that look permanently charred. Their hands can fold and fuse into tools from heavy hammers to micro-manipulators—a modification the species created for itself. They get on well enough with others, and internalized technology that allows for speaking / listening to the sort of language most others use. Many of their dominant strains of thought draw sharp distinctions between themselves and artificial forms of life, with some being out and out against artificial intelligence and the bodies such intelligences inhabit.

Robots, Golems, Other Artificial Life

Synopsis: Many cultures across various species engage in the attempt to create successor / children beings as part of their maturation. In many cases these are attempts to advance explicit tools to something more. The results vary, and many move beyond this, but even so the original attempts and replications of success have spread across the universe. Creating true new minds and souls is at once tricky and straightforward, as much an art as a science—at least in the original conception. Like biological reproduction, it can be reduced down to pragmatic rote and a focus on results instead of process. Some are entirely free of long dead creators while others still live in essentially slavery, however most places where slavery is not allowed draw no distinction between those born and those manufactured limiting the option of bringing such beings without disguising them as something else.

Shells

A body of manufactured sophistication, capable of being piloted by a mind but having no mind of its own, is called a Shell. Shells can be remotely piloted by organic beings with the right technology or psychic training, or by AIs broadcasting properly. They may have an internal AI that is not fully developed or be the temporary home of an internally installed AI. A Shell that is theoretically sophisticated enough to have a "native" intellect is analogous to a lobotomized organic life form or one grown in a tank and not given the chance to develop their mind. Just as brainless clones and similar organic constructs are generally acceptable, so are Shells that couldn't have intelligences acceptable while the other sort are more likely to provoke strong reactions.

Dryads

Synopsis: Beautiful to most organic life, dryads have various complex castes that seem to vary from planet to planet that is poorly explained to others. The Orchid caste is well known as the spiritual and temporal leaders, particularly Ghost Orchids. Dryads are humanoid, vaguely feminine, and seem to be constructed of flower petals. Their bodies are blooms and they are known to be able to go dormant and root themselves in desperate circumstances. They used to have a wider distribution and more control, dating back to before the Celestial Beacon was destroyed. Remnants of the Prism Hive show the Dryads of that time in better war with the Prism Hive's warriors of living light. However it is not thought that modern Dryads retain that scale of force.