Diaspora - The Great Filter - Main Page

This is the main page for the play by post The Great Filter, using the rules of Diaspora (a FATE variant).

Rules

• For any and all questions, I (GM Daniel) can be reached via PM via my RPGNet profile
• I intend a roughly 24h turnaround - if someone has not reacted to a post within that time frame, I default their behavior to something sensible, but at best mediocre in result.
• Players must post a minimum of 3 times per week to participate in any meaningful way and to keep the game moving (unless on OOC-announced vacation etc).
• Players need not necessarily be familiar with rules up front, but should be willing to learn and read up when required. I'll try and provide links to appropriate places in the SRD where possible.
• Mature topics are ok if handled maturely (sex, violence, drugs). Please refrain from going overly and needlessly graphic, there are other places for that.

Creative Control

• There will be a story and a meta plot (in the background, if the characters decide to not follow it), controlled by the GM
• Diaspora explicitly encourages players to take part in the world-building, e.g. designing the solar systems the campaign takes place in, given some restrictions on resource abundance, tech level and inhabitable planets.
• Lots of setting detail, even PC-NPC relations or complete NPCs will be made up on the spot. In that case I could give the player a prompt along the lines of "Tell us where you know this guy from, why you owe him money, and how you want to convince him to lend you MORE money to upgrade your ship's point defense lasers".
• I hope for players who are not afraid to take this creative license and narrate a scene by themselves, but have a feeling for when to check in for possible rolls or tie-ins of other PCs
• Creative control does not extend to other PCs' actions, unless granted by other player in OOC thread AND other PC actions stay reasonably in character
• World building will be a cooperative endeavor: every player will be expected to design the bare bones of 1-2 solar systems in addition to their character (who may or may not hail from that system).

Resources

Game Threads

Recruitment, initial discussion, setting and character design go into the meta thread. Systems can be fleshed out directly in the wiki as well.

OOC and IC posts go into one thread (TODO: link), please hide OOC in spoiler blocks (sblock).

Web resources

Diaspora SRD - content is identical to my PDF core book, as far as I can tell

We will use an online dice roller (to be agreed on). That way, players can roll, see they fail, decide to spend a FATE point, and roll again in one post without requiring GM interaction to slow everything down. TODO: link to dice roller

StarGen - a nice realistic solar system generator

Star System Generator @ donjon - another nice star system generator

Planet Generator @ donjon world map generator

Tone / Tech Level Guidelines / Recommended media

• I'll be upfront: I tend to be more of a dark/horror guy and intend to run that kind of game, but not all needs to be darkness. No flower fairies please, though.
• Cosmic horror will probably make an appearance (but not in a cthulhu mythos sense).
• Sunshine is T0 on the verge to T1
• The Expanse series of novels would be T1 on threshold to T2 (discovering interstellar travel)
• Terrans from StarCraft are T2
• Prometheus or generally, all of the Alien franchise, would possibly be bordering on T3 (Android, depending level of autonomy and intelligence), otherwise T2 (interstellar travel), ship and equipment could be T1

Setting

An integral and enjoyable part of Diaspora is that there is no fixed setting. The bones of the setting are created cooperatively according to these rules. Whatever is not defined will be defined during play (subject to GM approval). Please don't make design choices based ONLY on what helps you most at the time (some of that is ok, but let's keep it sane).

The Cluster

The Great Filter takes place in The Cluster, made up of seven solar systems connected by a phenomenon called the slipstream, allowing instantaneous, faster-than-light (FTL) travel between special points in neighboring systems. Scientists speculate other systems might also be connected in clusters, but this discussion is pretty much moot, since even the highest tech ships would take incredibly long times and/or unfeasibly large amounts of reaction mass to reach even the nearest stars without FTL slipstream travel. No one has yet figured out how to create or extend slipstream nodes.

Brief History

The slipstream was discovered only about 25 years ago by scientists of the Alku-based Rautaa megacorporation, making contact with the inhabitants of the other systems shortly thereafter. Unexpectedly, all systems were inhabited by genetically closely related humans, speaking virtually the same language. Genetic, sociological and linguistic research came to the conclusion that there must have been common ancestors some 15000 years ago, meaning the cluster had previously been connected - and there must have been space faring civilizations of humans well before recorded history! Technology had reached, or maybe decayed to, different levels across the systems. Some were barely able to receive and transmit radio waves, some were already actively exploiting their solar system.

Philosophers are still wrapping their heads around the implications, but one theory is that civilizations tend to break down past a certain level of advancement. This theory is called "The Great Filter", and it has spurred on a gold rush to find evidence (and possibly high-tech artifacts!) of civilizations that came before.

An UN-like body, the Permanent Cluster Summit (PCS), made up of representatives of all systems, has since been established. The PCS has agreed to systemic sovereignty rules similar to modern-day Earth exclusive economic zones of the sea: what's in your system is yours to exploit. In practice, there are many violations of this rule, especially in systems that have not yet reached a space-faring level of development on their own. Bulky material can not be feasibly smuggled through the gates though (or bribes are so high that it's not really worth it), so either you sell in-system, or you "export" small and extremely valuable material only.

The PCS is on the verge of launching Project Origins, a joint "official" archaeology mission (cf. below), gathering many of the Cluster's best and brightest (and some others) to search for evidence - or lack thereof - of ancient civilizations and possibly why they are not around anymore - or are they?

Star Systems

          Corelum             Kedesh
          /     \            /
Ardo - Alku - Tranquility - Elequoy
                             \
                              Gallimandry

The systems in the cluster are described by the tech, environmental and resource levels (on a scale from -4 to +4, here prerolled by GM), please consult this table for interpretation. Concerning technologies separate from space travel: take into account that present day Earth is a T0 civilization - some things that sound fairly high tech might not necessarily be that far off, and be available to a T1 or T2 civilization. One exception is true artificial intelligence (T4), others might come up during system creation.

Ardo/Helvan Commonweal

The planet of Ardo, 100 years ago, was a T1 multipolar world in a MAD Cold War situation, that went hot with custom viruses, crop plagues, outright poisons, teratogenic or mutagenic chemicals, crude killer drones, and even some nukes. When the combatants had run out of nukes, the viruses had run out of non-immune survivors, and the drones ran out of fuel and parts, the small democratic nation of Helva emerged from their whole-population shelters as the world superpower by default. Since then the Commonweal has assimilated a large chunk of its continent; remediation of the ecology therein is in progress.

The Helvans have built their own advanced space program, with solar power satellites, platinum-group metal asteroid prospecting, and minor space colonies, more ecologically robust than their predecessors. Technically the Helvan economy is self-sustaining and growing -- they know what to do and have abundant mineral resources -- but quick remediation of their ruined world is beyond the combination of their biotech and size, and Alku has much to offer them.

The politics of the Ardo system are complicated. Pre-Contact, Helva outright claimed only a growing portion of their continent, though was a hegemon to any of the surrounding warlords. One of the biggest sources of conflict in Helvan politics is the tension between their egalitarian ideals and their reluctance to quickly grant full citizenship to traumatized populations. After Contact, Helva quickly threw together enough of an armed fleet to plausibly claim control of their system, and only Helva sends representatives to the PCS, for all that some Alku megacorps might want to cut deals with warlords directly (or even take what they want, ignoring the local non-powers; see Tech Level.) The Helvan population has multiple levels of citizenship, scaling over a few generations from "permanent resident" to "full federal voting rights". Keeping the ratio of full citizens high is as big a brake on growing the borders as remediation limitations.

As a random note, one common trope in modern Helvan fiction is finding some pre-Burn space colony that has kind of still survived. Stories are split between heartwarming (or cloying) tales of rescue and reunification with civilization, and horror stories of some implausible zombie-virus, chestburster construct, or killer AI. As far as the public knows, all actual such colonies died of radiation, decompression, or starvation before Helvans managed to leave Ardo's orbit.

One point of culture clash between Helva and other societies is their attitude toward children, who are given a large degree of independence, and from age 10 are invited and expected to find some adult job to apprentice at half-time, with the other half being general schoolwork. Voting and age-of-consent are guaranteed by 20, but many claim those rights much earlier. Alku views Helka as being a step away from child labor and exploitation, Helva views Alku as stifling children with a lack of responsibility.

• Tech Level: T1 for the Commonweal, with space colonies, credible warships, cloning, exowombs, gene-cleaning, and 100+ year expected lifespans. The rest of Ardo ranges from T-4 to T-3, with T-2 found mostly just outside Helvan borders. Helva wouldn't trust anyone outside the Commonweal with atomics and has neutrino detectors capable of revealing any precocity in that field.
• Environment: qualified E0. Nuclear winter is long gone, and Ardo is a healthy garden world for life in general. Radiation and weapon-spores mean much of it is not very healthy for humans or pre-Burn crops and livestock. Core Helva and the surrounding lands are fully habitable with rare surprises, but the same paranoia that built whole-population shelters also runs a redundant system of greenhouse farms.
• Resources: qualified R-2. Helva is rich in things of automated metal and plastic, and capable of rebuilding their world, but that'll take centuries to finish at the current rate. There's a big demand for more advanced bioremediation, longevity treatments, and immigrants who don't have to be taught what peace and self-determination are.
• Aspect: None shall serve nor starve.
• Aspect: Democratic empire.
• Aspect: (work in progress)

Alku

Alku is a lush green world. About 3/4 of its surface is covered by water, the rest is one ring-shaped mega-continent spanning the globe. Some small to medium sized islands can be found in the northern and southern oceans. There is a planetary government, the Alku People's Authority (APA), ensuring basic amenitites for everyone. War is a thing of the past, regional conflicts are kept in check by the Protectors (a relatively small, global security force so ridiculously over-equipped they basically squash any uprising against the "common good" by their mere presence) and then arbitrated by a hierarchy of APA legal courts. Hunger and poverty are non-existent among the legally registrated populace, who have the option to live a calm life of moderate comfort on basic provisioning ("basic") provided by communally owned and run facilities for food production, housing, healthcare, education and transportation. The expected life span on basic is about 130 years in good health.

Those with higher aspirations are free to move to any one of the metropolises, homes to eponymous megacorporations specializing in diverse areas such as bio technology and genetic engineering (Kukka), aquatic research and exploitation (the artificial floating megacity of Mesi), space exploration and prospecting (Rautaa) and about two dozen more. Megacorps give their employees access to higher education and more exclusive goods and services, provided by their respective subsidiaries, in exchange for work (mostly creative, scientific and highly specialized skilled labor). The megacorps are granted 25 year "leases" of their metropolises, with limited legal and executive authority, based on their merit to society as a whole by the APA (back in the unification days, preexisting industry giants of former nation states mostly remained in the places of power they previously held). In theory, they could be replaced if a new corporate player has surpassed them during the last lease period, but in practice this is almost unheard of due to the current concentration of brain power and resources in established megacorps. Metropolises are provided with basic services from their surroundings, in exchange for worldwide access to useful specialized products or services (their aforementioned "merit to society"). People in places of power and responsibility can expect to live for very long times indeed, with the age of several CEOs being estimated well in excess of 2000 years.

This system has been stable since the unification, some 5000 years ago, and there are fairly reliable historical records for another about 500 years of the nation-state period prior to that. There are some conspiracies aiming to overthrow and replace the current "rule of the few" with a variety of alternative societal models, none of which currently pose any real threat to the APA and the megacorps.

Local rare-earth etc. resources have been exploited for most of Alku's recorded history and have run out thousands of years ago. System wide resources are also on the verge of running out, which prompted the research scramble toward other stars that resulted in the (re-)discovery of the slipstream, and following that, the connected systems of the cluster. Since then, several megacorps have entered trade agreements with other system entities, exchanging raw materials (or mining rights) for products and services (notably, maintenance of other systems' slipstream nodes).

• T 2: Slipstream capable ships. Exploitation of system starting to decline (what's needed isn't there, and what's there isn't needed all that much).
• E 1: Pleasant climate. Abundance of (mostly) benign local flora and fauna. Multiple research bases on, or orbiting, other planets in the system.
• R -3: Essential raw materials for high-tech production have basically run out locally.
• Aspect: "You can get that off basic"
• Aspect: Starving for raw materials
• Aspect: Amazing restorative medicine

Corelum

Corelum is primarily characterised by high population pressure resulting from the recent discovery of a cure for a medical condition that has long plagued it with high infant mortality. Adopting fewer-child policies is complicated due to a delicate stalemate between Adaram and Obertam, the two dominating nation states that have historically fought for supremacy on Corelum. The current situation could be described as a cold war of population control.

Facing environmental limits and the shared danger of other more advanced systems taking advantage of them, the states have agreed to a "twinning" program: every citizen is assigned two "twins" in the other state, one at birth (birth date and time closest), one on starting their higher education (most similar degree). This program is marketed by both governments as a sort of fraternization effort, because we are all buddies now and need to close ranks against potential political threats from other worlds, but it is really intended to ensure basically equal population sizes and qualifications to prevent each of the mutually mistrusting nations from one-upping the other secretly. "Surplus" births are taken into foster care in the other state, "surplus" applicants cannot enter their desired programs. This system has led to coordinated quota systems for higher education admission, in turn leading to very competitive admission restrictions (if you can only have a given number of engineers, you want the very best) and harsh tax penalties if a student drops out or cannot finish their degree. Generally speaking, people from Adaram and Obertam have always been very hard working (after almost continuous war efforts for many centuries) and are very competitive.

Because, officially, the twinning program is a fraternization effort (and the not-so-jaded actually believe this), people are encouraged to keep in touch with their twins via subsidized annual visit programs. They are also encouraged to write reports of special achievements or qualities of their twins and submit them in essay form for the "Twinning Program Yearbooks" both governments have set up, with an attached prize if your articles are selected for publication (generally speaking though, the really interesting articles are not made public). Despite the program's more cynical origins, some people are actually starting to overcome old border thinking and have genuinely good relations with one or both of their twins.

With imported star ships for intra-system travel becoming more readily available, Corelum has started joint (strictly twinned) colonization programs for the two neighboring planets towards the hot and the cold end of the habitable zone (desert and tundra type). With Corelum's states using the colonies mostly to take population pressure off the homeworld, the output of the thorium and rare-earth mines is mostly exported, enabling them to stock up on interplanetary and intersystem space ships and equipment.

• T -1: Atomic power.
• E 1: One settled garden world (also named Corelum). Starting colonization of desert and ice worlds using bought Alku tech.
• R 2: Established mining operations on Corelum's close-orbit moons (thorium and rare earths), leasing asteroid belt mining rights
• Aspect: Population pressure towards new frontiers
• Aspect: Cold war twin culture
• Aspect: (open)

Tranquility

The events that turned Tranquility into a hellish wasteland are not discussed in polite company. The ladies and gentlemen who run the society use euphemisms -- the Unpleasantness, the Incident, the Dust Up. The last is particularity apt. In addition to the massive radioactivity that still plagues much of the planet, one of the weapons used was to hurl asteroids at the planet from space. Generations later, they still drift in, hurled from erratic orbits, or perhaps from an enemy who set them up to bombard the planet for generations. Many burn up in the atmosphere, but enough get through. Some cause massive damage on impact; others leave unhealthy amounts of rare earth metal compounds floating around, making breathing outdoors without a respirator unhealthy.

Tranquility's society also spins what most would view as technical regression or ecological disaster into positives. When the electric engines that pumped air to the underground facilities (once war bases, now vacation spots for the wealthy) failed, and men and women were brought in to operate bellows manually, this was called an increase in employment for the working class. That wasn't an unusual incident. Workarounds using industrial age technology for the old and slowly failing high tech artifacts are common.

The technology is failing, but Tranquility's science remains fairly strong, since it's a necessity, albeit an unpleasant one. The ladies and gentlemen who run the finance of the town would never admit to studying the effects of terbium poisoning on the body. Instead, they surround themselves with scientist-servants. A butler is likely to know how to craft a geiger counter for madame to take on her jaunt to the ruins; the head chef likely knows a good deal of biology as well as how to make the limited selection from greenhouses sufficiently elegant for a banquent.

Among children and the lower class, there is a recurring rumor that the unpleasantness was caused by aliens. It may or may not be a "George Washington chopped down the cherry tree" legend but the story goes that the day before the asteroids began hitting the world, scientists operating a giant radio telescope announced they had made an important discovery they would soon make public. (This is partially to fit in with the theme of the game.)

• T -2: Industrialized, polite society, between gas lamps and electrical air filters. Some slowly failing high-tech artifacts (T3) keep underground cities alive.
• E -2: Near-barren, toxic surface due to asteroid bombardment; no fauna and few plant species.
• R 0: Overabundance of rare elements in kicked-up dust (not much else though).
• Aspect: What civilization-ending catastrophe, old chap?
• Aspect: Watch out for falling (space) rocks, and their side effects.
• Aspect: (open)

Eloquoy

A pleasant, lush world envied by three barren sisters (home only to some research outposts), Eloquoy was a seemingly vibrant and competitive society back when the early days of space exploration turned into a corporate mad dash for the outer planets. All that changed eighteen years ago when the first ships from Alku made their appearance. Now the Eloquans are in an ever heightened frenzy to upgrade their ships, technology, influence, wealth … nearly everything imaginable as they come to recognize their proud, but not proud enough, status within the cluster.

One thing they do have, an astronomically strategic position. With Kedesh becoming a rising technological competitor, and Gallimandry attracting many wealthy tourists and immigrants, Eloquoy quickly seized up on this opportunity to become the other systems' de-facto gateway. Landing berths, market places, hotels, and other traveling amenities quickly sprung up around The Commons … all available for a price.

The Eloquans are a united culture with a strongly centralized government. This has led them to some stagnation in the past, and is slowly being challenged by the influx of transients introducing their own customs. Some of these outside “rituals” are frowned upon, but tolerated in the grander scheme of expanding their own power to the stars.

• T0: Exploring the system (higher end: small research bases on several barren planets)
• E0: One garden world and some airless rocks
• R-1: Almost viable
• Aspect: “There’s … um … dirt on dem dar planets” (work in progress)
• Aspect: Welcome to Kiasu-Land - Subconscious need to catch up, and fear of losing out (work in progress)
• Aspect: “Toll, please”

Kedesh

Editor's note: The history of Kedesh is poorly understood, so parts of it could just be legends.

Kedesh is perhaps the first world in the cluster to have been colonized, with a history dating back at least 10,000 years (the exact amount of time is still a subject of controversy). At one point it was a rich and fertile world, home to a civilization at least T3 level, which explored and collected tribute from the other systems in the cluster. Eventually a cataclysmic war, thought to have been either a revolt by subject worlds or an invasion from outside the cluster, laid waste to the system, leaving all but one world uninhabitable. The survivors then isolated themselves from the rest of the cluster, while still maintaining a fairly advanced level of technology, until a series of devasting intercine wars destroyed what was left of civilization on the remaining world (by then known simply as Kedesh), bringing about a period of intense technological regression.

Eventually, Kedesh was conquered by invaders from outside the system, believed by most modern scholars to have been exiles from ancient Alku. The invaders ruled for about a millenium, restoring technology such as fusion power and space flight to the system, before yet another devastating conflict, thought to have been both a native revolt and a civil war among the invaders, brought an end to their rule and caused an ecological catastrophe on the planet. The social and technological regression that followed was even more drastic, at one point bring Kedesh down the level of a T-3 world, with the inhabits of a handful of sealed arcologies being the only exception.

Editor's note: This doesn't quite align with the cluster history as recorded by other planets: Alku did not develop slip drives until some 20 years ago, so the invaders a thousand years back couldn't have been from there. Alku historians also point to thousands of years worth of records from their libraries to back that claim. Their theory is that some Kedeshi splinter group must have survived in an arcology, the asteroid belt or on a now lost station in the outer system and reconquered their home planet. A genetic screening of the Kedeshi population has been proposed to seach for evidence of historic introduction of genetic variants usually associated with Alku, but the project has yet to come through due to the current slightly complicated political situation.

The survivors were left to slowly crawl their way back up to modernity. Petty kingdoms ruled over the planet, and whatever advanced technology remained was so poorly understood that it became mired in superstition. Expeditions into the pre-cataclysmic ruins became the primary engine of technological recovery. These expeditions were frought with danger, and would often unearth dormant war-machines or hostile engineered lifeforms which would emerge to wreak havoc before having to be destroyed with some other ancient weapon, often at great cost. Eventually, various secretive societies emerged to study and managed to study and control the recovered technology, and what little scientific knowledge remained on Kedesh became a religious mystery for the initiated. Kedesh had only managed to progress back to a T1 society a few decades before the slipstream travelers from Alku arrived. The technological societies had used their control over the planets industrial infrastructure to surpass the various kingdoms in political importance. With the arrival of the slipstream travelers, an alliance of some of the most powerful of these societies formed a united body known as the Restoration Council, which, with the aid of technology acquired from the off-worlders, was able to unify the planet for the first time in millenia. As it's crowning achievement, the Council was even able to subjugate the sealed arcologies, which had held out for millenia.

Modern Kedesh is still fractious. The control of the Restoration Council is only nominal in some areas, and the vast networks of ruins under the surface are still largely unknown. Ancient machines, un-contacted arcologies, and even exotic lifeforms may still be awaiting discovery deep underground. The Council is mainly focused on engagement with the rest of the cluster, hoping to acquire technology that it can use to solidify it's control over Kedesh. The various initiatory societies dominate society on Kedesh, although family ties still have some importance, particularly amongst those of aristocratic lineage. A multitude of nations still legally exist under the rule of the Restoration Council, most are monarchies of some kind, although many are controlled directly by technological guilds.

The biosphere of Kedesh is a legacy of its long and tumultuous history. Most of life on the planet has undergone genetic modification at one point or another, and a great deal of the animals are the descendants of species created by ancient humans. There are even myths of sapient non-human lifeforms created by an ancient empire of genetic engineers that existed shortly after the fall of the extra-stellar invaders millenia ago, although these lifeforms are likely long extinct if they ever existed in the first place. The planet has a warm climate, tending towards desert and jungle, and mammals are somewhat less dominant among the fauna, with large reptiles and avians being correspondingly more common.

• T1: This is the level of technology possessed by the Restoration Council. Many areas on Kedesh are on a lower level, and much more advanced technology may lay buried deep under the surface.
• E0: Only one inhabitable planet.
• R-2: Any easily accessible resources on Kedesh have long since been depleted, and exploitation of off-world resources has only begun very recently, making the system dependent on imports.
• Aspect: Secretive guilds control technology and dominate society.
• Aspect: Society is still fairly primitive compared to the level of technology.
• Aspect: Ancient secrets buried beneath the surface.

Gallimandry

Gallimandry is a cool orange star with five populated orbits: three inner barren rocky planets, an asteroid belt, and a massive super-Jovian (called "The Host" by the locals) with forty-one moons. One of these moons is a lush garden world, while several others appear to be promising locations for future colonies for those willing to undergo moderate hardship. Being tidally locked to The Host, a day and night cycle comprises roughly ten earth day equivalents of light and dark, with occasional eclipses. The Host is prominently visible in the day and night skies if you're on the side facing it, or not at all otherwise.

Gallimandry is populated by a hermaphroditic strain of humanity. A Gallimandran is expected (though not required) to become both a father and a mother in a lifetime and then, upon retirement, age into a fully male or fully female gender phase so that all young ones have role models of diverse types. A few elders, typically those without living children or grandchildren, retain a state of full hermaphroditism.

Gallimandry is a boring place. "Slowness" in all aspects of life is virtuous, and those who dive pell-mell into a life of ambition and manic accomplishment are viewed with pity if not distaste. The present government is a global union of states with an intricate bureaucracy, and has been in existence for eight decades. Prior to that was a three-century cold war among three blocs of federated states that ended in a brief nuclear war of assimilation, a deeply embarrassing part of Gallimandry’s history that has been sanitized from its history books and educational system. Gallimandrans began exploring their system within the last fifty years.

Their plant-based medical science is advanced (nearing T1) and recreational drug use is common, especially for spiritual development. Gallimandrans welcome visitors with open arms and are happy to help others achieve enlightenment. This, combined with the unusual position as a surface-habitable moon, has led to Gallimandry becoming an attraction for alternative tourists looking either for spiritual growth and enlightenment, and/or legal drug availability, and/or certain recreational activities that are banned or looked down upon on other worlds.

• T0: Exploring the system
• E2: One garden and several survivable worlds
• R-1: Almost viable
• Aspect: Slow and Steady
• Aspect: A Place at the Table for Everybody (work in progress)
• Aspect: Welcome, guest (work in progress)

Project Origins

All player characters are initially assumed to be affiliated in one way or another with a PCS-initiated and funded research effort called Project Origins. Its mission is to search for, excavate and study any and all traces of prehistoric high-tech civilizations in order to understand what happened to the previous slipstream-capable civilization(s) and, if successful and possible, recover artifacts to further current scientific knowledge.

The Devon

(design post, only summarizing the results here)

Project Origin's main vessel, accompanied by additional smaller ships on guard detail and for "quick" exploration runs, is a decommissioned Alku military transport named "Devon". Its primary capability is storage decks upon storage decks, now partly repurposed as living quarters, meeting rooms and labs, with the remainder crammed full of excavation equipment, inflatable geodesic domes and most anything else that is expected to be of use to the mission. Some more of its storage has been dedicated to extra reaction mass, effectively quadrupling its range over what is usual (habitable zone to slip stream node and back, a total of maybe 10 AU), enabling it to reach the outermost fringes of any of the systems and make it back to the habitable zone (or the slipstream nodes) with some fuel to spare. It can also act as a refueling station to its smaller guard ships.

The initially modest weapon systems have mostly been stripped. All that remains is a small beam weapons array to possibly deal with meteorite showers, a torpedo launcher for custom fit reconnaissance probes. The electronic warfare array remains almost in its original form to assist in any cryptography-related tasks.

Aspects

• Cargo hauler
• Decks full of digging equipment
• Lumbering giant
• Cryptography expert system
• not yet determined

Fate Points

[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Ship skills

• V-shift: 2
• Beam: 1
• Torpedo: 1
• EW: 2
• Trade: 3

Stress tracks

Hull: [ ] [ ] [ ]
Data: [ ] [ ] [ ] + [ ]
Heat: [ ] [ ] [ ]

Stunts

• T2 Slipstream Drive
• Interface Vehicle
• Extended Range (x4 range, but cannot use Overburn)
• Refuel accompanying smaller ships mid-flight, granting them Extended Range.

Characters

Characters are created according to these here rules, that also are cooperative to some extent. Most notable mechanical features are the character's ten aspects, 15 skills arranged in a pyramid (1 skill at level 5, 2 at 4, 3 at 3, 4 at 2 and 5 at 1), three stress tracks (modified by some skills) to track abstracted "hit points", and three stunts (ranging from "own a thing (that the GM can't just take away)" such as a spaceship, to "do something special with some skill", and some other options).

Concerning equipment, note this section of the rules: equipment is not explicitly tracked in minute detail. If your character has a skill, you can assume to initially have access to appropriate "automatic equipment" as per this list. The higher the skill, the shinier the equipment you can assume to have. Note: pilots do not automatically own spaceships, take these as have-a-thing stunts! Also note, you do not carry your bulky stuff on your body at all times, unless you explicitly haul it along to meet Mr. Smith at the bar. Let's be reasonable.

Player Characters

When editing your character, please use the edit button next to their name, so the document can more reliably be merged on concurrent edits in different sections. If you want to post lengthy edits, please finish them up in a text editor first and then paste here. Feel free to link to detailed IC posts if you summarize something, we don't need the full IC detail here.

"Experience" in Diaspora means "change". Please keep your entries up to date (including fate points and stress tracks), as this page is the primary "character sheet".

Example PC

Please post characters according to the following template (after GM approval in the meta thread) - template can be deleted once a finished player character takes its place! Story write-up here: Maybe summary of episodes visited during character creation, maybe continuing as the story progresses (although that will mostly be in the play thread)

Aspects Growing up (Flavor text or link to IC post in meta thread)

• Aspect 1
• Aspect 2

Starting out (text or link)

• Aspect 3
• Aspect 4

Moment of crisis (text or link)

• Aspect 5
• Aspect 6

Sidetracked (text or link)

• Aspect 7
• Aspect 8

On your own (text or link)

• Aspect 9
• Aspect 10

Fate Points

[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Skills Chosen from this list, unless specifically greenlit by GM

1. Assets, Resolve, Science, MicroG, Slug Throwers
2. Communications (space), Medical, Oratory, Brokerage
3. Demolitions, EVA, Intimidation
4. Charm, Arts
5. Profession: Nerf Herder

Stress tracks

Health (+Stamina):    [ ] [ ] [ ]
Composure (+Resolve): [ ] [ ] [ ] + [ ]
Wealth (+Assets):     [ ] [ ] [ ] + [ ]

Stunts

• Military Grade skill: Nerf Herder
• Own a thing: Grandma's electric Nerf Prod (used for herding)
• Take a bonus: Nerf Herder

Significant Equipment

• Grandma's electric Nerf Prod (stunt)
• Set of paint brushes
• T1 EVA pressure suit (used)

Sophie Strorm

Played by Felix

An (in)famous archaeologist from Tranquility, whose skills at finding ancient tech in dangerous situations are admired, and whose attitude that there are suspicious cover-ups and possibly extraterrestrial life out there is not.

Aspects Growing up

Everyone was quite surprised when mother gave birth to twins, you and David. It wasn't until you went to university, the Tranquility Institute for Science and Civics, that you realized how rare multiple births were on this planet, and the low fertility rate. You're afraid it took you a bit too long to realize just how impolite it was to bring up these subjects, and your reputation never recovered. But you can't stop asking yourself why this happened -- could the people of Tranquility or any other world in the cluster really have caused this devastation, or was there something more?

• The truth is out there.
• I (pretend I) don't give a damn about my bad reputation

Starting out

Once, like David, you wanted to be a scientific advisor to one of the great families. But of course that was quite out of the question. So your academic skills got put to use outside of the domes, finding areas of Tranquility that are more or less usable, recovering old fashioned goods that don't have the charm of modern things, but arguably bring some convenience, and making some other interesting finds. It's barely respectable, and hardly the safest profession, but it is lucrative. And, truth be told, you spent time searching for evidence of what made your world this way. Your argument that old observatories and laboratories contain helpful equipment is only part of the reason you scour their records.

And then you found it.

• Things can be repurposed
• Discovery is worth the danger

Moment of crisis

It looked like an old Kadeshian device, but given how long the area had been untouched, it shouldn't have been on Tranquility. This could be proof of something big -- such as an unknown power having had FTL technology before Alku. Of course, no one on Tranquility would listen to that theory; you had to get it off planet to get it examined. And you'd worked with a Kadeshian guild before, so you had some idea who could help with the analysis

Living on Tranquility, you forgot that other systems have monitoring devices everywhere. Someone must have seen you bring the device, and while you were consulting with Ningirsu, holding It, unpleasantness ensued. It's a good thing that you have a first aid kit, because minutes later you and he were hiding in an alcove your pursuers missed as they tried to find you, and you were taking out your medical kit to take care of the shrapnel in his leg.

• The walls have ears
• You have to be prepared

Sidetracked

Even when fleeing an unknown enemy with an ally you’ve just met/been forced to team up with, you notice details. A ship not designed for passengers is willing to take you on. Alan runs away at the mention of a “warrant” rather than cooperating, before finding out if you’re the one authorities want. You may be in trouble with some Shadowy Conspiracy, but at least you’ve found a useful ally.

• Everybody’s got something to hide.
• Sometimes, you've just got to trust your colleagues

On your own

You sit in your cabin on the Void Wanderer, sipping a pilsner (beer is quite popular on Tranquility, pretending it’s safe and easy to grow plentiful grain; even if you’re willing to acknowledge the truth, you still like it). Thinking back on what happened since you found It you feel you should be worried about your future, but instead, you feel invigorated. There is a coverup out there; the attack on you after your find proves that. You may have strained relations with your family, and forced to be discreet in your business dealings at home, but you were right. Things may not be safe, but you’re onto something big.

• It's wrong to gloat, but...
• A rush from danger

Fate Points

[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Skills Chosen from this list, unless specifically greenlit by GM

1. Agility, Arts, Assets, Intimidation, Medical
2. Engineering, Charm, Science, Slugthrower
3. Alertness, Culture/Tech (Alku, Kedesh, ?? in addition to Tranquility), Resolve
4. Repair/Archaeology*, Survival
5. Repair/Archaeology*

   Note: *Apex skill still in discussion. Will be one of those two and wiki will be edited when finalized.

Stress tracks

Health (+Stamina):    [ ] [ ] [ ]
Composure (+Resolve): [ ] [ ] [ ] + [ ] [ ]
Wealth (+Assets):     [ ] [ ] [ ] + [ ]

Stunts

• Has a thing: an ancient T3+ artifact discovered during her archaelogical studies of an old lab on Tranquility from during the Unpleasantness. Its uses are unknown at the present -- but people want it.
• Unsavory reputation (Black Market Charm): Sophie has easy access to gray market contacts and unsavory anti-government/conspiracy groups.
• They don’t want you to know (Skill Substitute): Use Culture/Tech for Oratory, but only when trying to convince people of unorthodox ideas.

Significant Equipment

• TBD

Ningirsu, son of Enmerkar

Played by Jagreen Lern

Alan Vanterlin

Played by Carsten

Aspects

Growing up (IC history)

• Trust no one but family.
• The two most important tools are duct tape and WD40!

Starting out

• Well, firing the engines JUST before impact saves a lot of fuel, mom!
• If it ain't bolted down you can sell it for a profit!

Moment of crisis (IC history)

• Trust your guts.
• There is always a deeper story.

Sidetracked (IC history)

• If you can hide, so can they.
• Watch out for the wolf wearing sheeps clothing!

On your own

• Travel is life, life is travel.
• Oh what I could do if I only had the money!

Fate Points

[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Skills (Skill Reference)

1. Agility, Micro-G, Repair, Slug Throwers, Brokerage
2. Alertness, Navigation, Culture, EVA
3. Pilot (Military), Communication, Profession: Burglar
4. Charm, Stealth
5. Aircraft/Interface

Stress tracks

Health (+Stamina):    [ ] [ ] [ ]
Composure (+Resolve): [ ] [ ] [ ] 
Wealth (+Assets):     [ ] [ ] [ ] 

Stunts

• Military Grade skill: Pilot
• Own a thing: Starship 'Void Wanderer'
• Good friend on Eloquoy

Significant Equipment

The Void Wanderer

The "Void Wanderer" is a small trading ship that has a spotty past of being used as a pirate and smuggler's vessel. It was built on Alku 35 years ago by the Saathu mining corporation as a fast courier transporting valuables between corp HQ and the mining sites. The corporation over-extended itself when slipstream travel became available and went bankrupt. The ship was sold several times until it ended up with a small group that used it for piracy.

A few years ago they attacked the 'Gypsy Moth' shortly after Alan had left it, and Alan took this attack on his family very personal. He used the connections his family and he made over the years and after some time found the crew. Using this knowledge he struck a deal with the administration on Alku: he would expose them if he got to buy the ship at a greatly reduced price.

Despite the ships age it is very well maintained and looked after. The living areas are brightly lit and have been decorated to feel almost like a planetary dwelling. There is a lot of furniture not really suitable for space travel, the chairs for instance have no safety harnesses, anyone caught there in the event of sudden acceleration need to rush to the jumpseats bolted to the walls. Still, everything is equipped either with velcro or magnets to keep in place when the ship experiences zero-G. Even the technical areas like engine room and bridge have some pictures and other decorations which make working there for an extended time more pleasant.

Aspects

• Shady Past
• Old but well maintained

Fate Points

[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Ship skills

• V-shift: 3
• Beam: 2
• Torpedo: nil
• EW: 3
• Trade: 2 + 1 (hidden compartments)

Stress tracks

Hull: [ ] [ ] [ ]
Data: [ ] [ ] [ ] 
Heat: [ ] [ ] [ ]

Stunts

• T2 Slipstream Drive
• Interface Vehicle
• Skeleton Crew

Crew

I've generated some crew from https://donjon.bin.sh/scifi/random/#type=space_npc to be used if necessary. At the end of Phase 3 only Teisha was present, the other two might have been hired if there is a longer time until the start of the campaign.

• Engineer: Teisha Madi: Teisha has copper hair and dark green eyes. She wears black cargo pants and a Section 9 t-shirt, and carries a combat knife.
• Cargo/Gunnery: Denny Walkins: Denny has thick red hair and brown eyes. He wears a silver jumpsuit and carries a tablet computer. Denny wants to be left alone.
• Navigation: Randy Erson: Randy is short and overweight, with auburn hair and large green eyes. He wears a utility jumpsuit and carries a tablet computer. Randy suffers a paralyzing fear of blood.

NPCs

NPCs typically have less skills (Pyramid going to 2 or 3, depending on importance) and aspects (as many as highest skill level). Just post a quick summary and some sensible assumed skills if you expect to reuse that NPC. NPCs might become more detailed as more of them comes to light in the course of the story.

Crew of the Devon

Captain Arymo Warders

• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)

1. Unknown, Unknown, Unknown
2. Charm, Unknown
3. Unknown

Pilot Rence Morra

• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)

1. Unknown, Unknown, Unknown
2. Pilot, Unknown
3. Unknown

Navigator Shara Thompson

A classical family man who loves his wife, Emily, and daughter, Renee, Shara has the unique distinction of being one of the first non-Alkuan students to graduate from navigation school. He was previously a pilot, but the new skill was (and is) in much higher demand. Shara wasn’t about to pass up on an opportunity to make money and move his family off that volatile, backward-thinking Corelum.

Shara’s love for his family is a mixed bag for Project Origins. He hates being away from home for long periods of time, and he lacks the passion to become the best in his field. But he does have a good work ethic, and he recognizes the importance of his job in improving his family’s conditions.

• Aspect: "Have you seen these pictures of my family?"
• Aspect: "Let’s get this job finished!"
• Aspect: (open)

1. EVA, Repair, Resolve
2. Navigator, Pilot
3. Profession: Family Dad

Gunnery Officer Kathria Rezal

Kathria is obsessed with TwinBall, an Alku sport that is quite popular on the planet, and almost entirely incomprehensible to anyone else (like talking to an American about cricket or quidditch to someone who's never heard of JK Rowling). She played the sport throughout school (the military often recruits players for their reflexes) and follows several leagues religiously. If you like the same teams she does, you have made a friend for life.

• Aspect: TwinBall is my life
• Aspect: Loyal to her planet
• Aspect: Of Course You Want to Hear this

1. Tactics, Profession:Twinball Player, Stamina
2. Gunnery, Unknown
3. Athletics

Computer Jockey Diane Hendav

• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)

1. Unknown, Unknown, Unknown
2. Computer, Unknown
3. Unknown

Chief Engineer Ruce Colee

Ruce is a large, gentle, quiet man who keeps to himself. He adequately performs his duties to insure that nobody suspects anything. Indeed, everything should work out just fine with Ruce on the mission... just as long as nobody finds out...

• Aspect: “Machines make better lovers”
• Aspect: Just a touch psychotic
• Aspect: (open)

1. Stamina, Arts, Unknown
2. Engineer (space), Repair
3. Brawling (combat)

Cryptographer Athleel Kataka

• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)

1. Unknown, Unknown, Unknown
2. Electronic Warfare, Unknown
3. Unknown

Project Origins personnel

Archaeobiologist Jose Johnson

Jose has been around the block. He's earned a reputation as a solid performer in his field willing to risk his safety when needed, but with a reputation for following the rules.

• Aspect: "We do it by the book"
• Aspect: "This reminds me of that time on Coreleum IV"
• Aspect: "(Sigh.) I'm getting too old for this."

1. Survival, Alertness, Resolve
2. Archaeology, Slug Thrower
3. Science

Urban Archaeologist Sice Gonzal

The fact Sice is a competent urban arcahelogist is almost besides the point. It's really his ability to win over people on several worlds, deal with obstinate corporations, and understanding of how people work that make him successful. Make no mistake though, it's all about the money for Sice.

• Aspect: Looking out for #1
• Aspect: Eye for quality
• Aspect: oily charisma

1. Oratory, Bureaucracy, Slug Thrower
2. Culture (X and Y), Archaelogy
3. Charm

Particle physicist Deby Baily

• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)

1. Unknown, Unknown, Unknown
2. Science (Physics), Unknown
3. Unknown

Organic chemist Eugel Walkell

• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)

1. Unknown, Unknown, Unknown
2. Science (Chemistry), Unknown
3. Unknown

Linguist twins Lissa Henders and Kamal Donner

Corelum's most prominent linguist twin team Henders and Donner have collaborated against each other since their first twin meeting at age 20. Both exceptionally intelligent, they constantly pushed the envelope in order to one-up each other. They are head and shoulders above their field, and lacking other peers of the same caliber, they have started working together quite productively, with some remaining undercurrents of rivalry. Together, they pioneered Convergent Language Theory while other linguists in the cluster were still scratching their heads upon discovering all connected systems spoke mutually comprehensible dialects of basically the same language. If they set their exceptional minds on a common goal, there is not much that can stop them.

• Aspect: Unstoppable mind if united
• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)

1. Resolve, Unknown, Unknown
2. Academics (Linguistics), Unknown
3. Unknown

Surveyor Anis Mithy

• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)
• Aspect: (open)

1. Unknown, Unknown, Unknown
2. Profession: Surveyor, Unknown
3. Unknown

Contacts

Stuart "Daddy Fats" Wilson

"Remember that time on Alku, when that administrator didn't want to approve the permit you required for your excavation? Took a lot of talking to get that through. Yes, jolly times. What, he had to resign because of unsavory imagery found on his personal communicator? Gosh, that's horrible! I just knew his successor was a bit more open to reasonable discussion, I had a very pleasant lunch with her the other week."

• Aspect: Can get you to places
• Aspect: Schemes within schemes
• Aspect: Ruthless, but always remembers a kindness

1. Bureaucracy, Resolve, Intimidation
2. Brokerage, Charm
3. Assets