It is a time of opportunity…
The galaxy is bereft of stability and wracked by conflict. In the Galactic Domain, human culture and influence is pervasive, and vast military autocracies are the most obvious symbols of power. Along the Periphery, lawlessness and violence make any sort of commercial enterprise reliant upon bribery, graft, and a small legion of mercenaries.
Every part of the galaxy is divided, and subdivided, by warring factions or cultural friction. Vast cults disseminate and proselytise the “true word” of their religion in the face of vilification, prosecution, opposing doctrines or even schisms from within their own ranks.
Similarly, corporate entities compete to win monopolies and swallow up one another’s market share. Financial markets ebb and flow under an ever-increasing pressure for greater profits and to stave off what many consider to be imminent economic collapse.
Even under the supposed cooperation of cohesive banners, ambitious admirals control vast arrays of military hardware, and claim devotion and obedience from their troops. Many become far more powerful than the bureaucrats or even the petty aristocracy whose wealth once engineered the fleets with which they have sowed their destruction.
Firebrands and political extremists operate across all factions, spreading ideological propaganda in support of their various causes, without heed to the division and conflict they sow within whole cultures. Many are the brutal tyrants who simply crush all resistance under foot as they march ceaselessly across the barren landscape of conquered worlds they turned to ash.
War is frequent, brutal, and expensive. Where the great powers rub against one another, or are competing to control some cluster of planets, this war is endless and in many cases has been raging for centuries without respite. Some desperate factions have invested every available resource multiple generations have had to offer, into some cause or another—and simply cannot comprehend giving up that sacrifice for anything less than total victory.
The future, lit only by neon lights and underwritten with the security of firepower and ammunition, is not the beacon of hope some overlords may wish their subjects to believe it to be.
Vast fiefdoms stretch across whole sectors of the galaxy, ruled by emperors, messiahs, grand princes, or simply shareholders. The machines of war which grind entire planets into worthless dust drive entire economies, and lure mercenaries and zealots of all stripes from across the stars.
Overview
The following overviews detail, simplistically, how the game operates and its various components. Initially some of these concepts may seem strange, especially to players used to structured or tactical games which derived from wargaming (ie. Dungeons & Dragons and most “old-school” role-playing games).
The galaxy has, for as long as history itself, been kept firmly in the clutches of various factions of vast power, themselves constituted of competing fiefdoms all proffering or pretending fealty to some throne or other. Many factions cooperate simply to dominate others, yet always seeking to enhance their own position in the hierarchy.
Regions
The known galaxy is dominated by a human hegemony, from whose perspective all else is determined. Therefore, the primary regions of the galaxy are named according to a human understanding of galactic geography.
Human culture considers a large swathe of known space to be the Galactic Domain; that is, an expansive region of systems which fall squarely within human cultural hegemony. Any area without this zone is usually thought of as backward, undeveloped, or outright hostile.
The Domain Interior is a region of often overlapping spheres of influence controlled by a number of colossal bureaucratic, political, or military, entities. It is completely dominated by human culture. Many of the galaxy’s mightiest powers have established their seat of power in this region, and it is where the vast majority of galactic wealth is concentrated.
The Domain Exterior is considered to be any part of the ‘known’ galaxy which is developed and dominated by human civilisation but is not within the control of a great power. This includes areas which border or flank such powers, various contested regions, or are beyond their direct control. Occasionally, parts of the exterior may include worlds where humans are a numerical minority but remain culturally dominant.
The Periphery extends to space beyond the reach of the great powers, which is largely known and charted, but either not yet fully settled, and certainly not reliably controlled by any humanocentric force. The worlds of this region are considered by most to be wild and untamed, lawless, and filthy. However, in truth many of them are more technologically developed and culturally sophisticated than those even in the interior.
Finally, the Dark Expanse lies beyond even the periphery, largely unknown, uncharted, and mysterious. What exists in this area of space might be unknown to the human hegemony, but often contains entire civilisations and cultures of extraordinary complexity. It is called ‘dark’ only because it is unknown to human culture.
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Overviews
General — Characters — Skills — The Ship — Dice — Rolls — Xenos.