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SIDEREAL MONOMYTH SETTING PRIMER (April 15, 2019) OVERVIEW

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SIDEREAL MONOMYTH SETTING PRIMER (April 15, 2019) OVERVIEW SIDEREAL MONOMYTH SETTING PRIMER (April 15, 2019) OVERVIEW This setting was created with a variable scale in mind – in one game the characters may be bound to a single planet, but in another they may travel across the galaxy. The setting might look like a kitchen sink, but I believe that a setting of this scope cannot be anything but a kitchen sink. While I am fond of hard science fiction, this setting is “soft sci-fi”, as this creates more possibilities for adventures, diverse characters, and fun in general. Nonetheless, “soft sci-fi” does not mean “anything goes” – I have thoroughly read GURPS Ultra-Tech, GURPS Psi-Tech, and GURPS Bio- Tech to find what technologies or pieces of gear might be inappropriate for the tone, have questionable balance. Some adjustments were made, and in the case of GURPS Psi-Tech, each piece of equipment was assigned a TL value. Not all superscience items are available, and most of them require some special rare material. Thus, control of the material will grant some species/factions access to specific superscience technologies, and sources of such materials will grant the characters opportunities for adventures. Supernatural abilities can be gained through psionics or some other esoteric powers. In- universe, powered people are quite rare (at least among humans), but definitely not unknown. The abilities are inborn, but under certain conditions, new or latent powers may be unlocked. Some psionic powers were excluded to preserve a more scientific feel. Aliens are abundant in the setting. Some of them are truly alien, but some of them are the so-called “rubber foreheads”. Of course, genetic engineering and cybernetics allows for creation of new subraces, uplifts, cyborgs, and artificial life forms. One of the most difficult decisions was the TL. TL 10 looks like a good average, but I feel like limiting myself to a single TL I will miss out on many fun things of lower/higher TLs. Thus, I decided to try to make TL variable among the civilizations to cover a larger amount of possible scenarios, but use TL 10 as a baseline. For example, a player might have a character of a "low TL" species that has discovered space flight not long ago (late TL 8), a character for an advanced TL 12 species, or anything in between. This will make traits such as Low TL and High TL and TL- based skill penalties relevant, but will create an imbalance in combat. However, number tests and some adjustments make this imbalance much less severe, as even TL 9 weapons with specialized ammunition will have a chance to penetrate TL 12 armor, while "low TL" protection will not be completely useless against high TL guns. Why haven’t high-TL races wiped out all the low-TL ones? Because there is no need to do that. Mundane resources are abundant, there is enough living space for everyone. In the real world, we coexist with more primitive cultures – sometimes helping them out, sometimes leaving them to their own business, and sometimes exploiting them. Same applies to this setting – high-TL aliens might occasionally help their more primitive comrades, exploit them, but very rarely they will actively exterminate them. Of course, if a TL 12 faction mobilizes its fleet, TL 10 enemies stand no chance, but this difference is less glaring in low-scale combat. There is no Galactic Federation or any other central government of any sort, and there is no common law. The High Three – a loose alliance of three TL 12 alien civilizations – does not extend its influence on other species in this way. There is no common currency – all interspecies and interfaction trade is barter. Between species of the same TL it is usually made as an exchange of precious metals, but barter between species of different TLs becomes a bigger problem because it is typically difficult to find something interesting and valuable to a high-TL species that they cannot find themselves. This makes it difficult to acquire TL 11-12 equipment is you come from a TL 10 species, for example. Moreover, if you manage to acquire it, you have to modify it, because alien equipment usually badly fits other species. An important concept for a setting of such scale is FTL travel. To make interstellar empires possible, it must exists along with FTL radio. To make things more fun and to have worlds in the setting be more self-reliant, I decided to make FTL radio "slow" and require robust installations to send/receive. Thus, most of the messages will be carried by FTL messenger spaceships, and FTL radio will only be used on planets and huge starships, and still will be slower than sending the message with a ship. Also, I want to have multiple FTL travel methods be possible, but the exact speed, advantages/disadvantages will be provided later. AIs are heavily featured in most sci-fi settings. Will true AI exist? Are mind uploads equivalent to an AI? I think they should exist in the setting, but not be ubiquitous. Thus, a Complexity-based skill level limit for AIs will be imposed. AI is a software in the setting, not hardware. The setting is “human-based” in regards to some disadvantages. Unusual Biochemistry is required for all non-water-based life. Restricted Diet implies differences from human diet. Increased Life Support assumes non-human habitable conditions. On the other hand, Dependencies that represent different atmospheres usually are not taken, unless a character spends most of his time in a hostile atmosphere (see GURPS Space, page 221 for details). There is no “Common” language. This makes translation software crucial, especially for species with wildly different communication methods. The current year on Earth is 2419. MAP OF THE GALAXY This is by no means a precise map – its purpose is to show the relative positions of major factions. Stellar bodies are always in motion, space is three-dimensional, and the map is not to scale. The availability of faster-than-light travel makes is possible to find, for example, an Ofrian colony within Fessamid space, and this colony might even be independent from the Ofrian Sphere and have a different TL. FACTIONS AND RACES This chapter lists the major factions and races of the galaxy. The descriptions provided are very general – the galaxy is huge, and a faction can consist of thousands of star systems. Each system, even a world, or a country that is a part of it, may have its own unique traits, culture, language, currency, laws, racial composition, religion, technology. Thus, it is possible to find a human colony that has degraded to TL 9 or even late TL 8 on the outskirts of the USA, a world where multiple species live together, etc. – there is no homogeneousness. It is impossible to describe every single faction, subfaction, and alien species. The characters can encounter a variety of lesser-known aliens, rogue groups, organizations, and even come up with their own to enrich their backstories and the general experience. There enough space to fit even the weirdest concept. 1. United Solar Alliance Capital World: Sol V-III (Ganymede). Major Species: Humans. Languages: English, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish, other. Culture Groups: Lunar, Martian, Jovian, Titanean, Outer Solar Colonies, other. TL: 10. When humans resolved most of their internal conflicts and united under the tyrannical rule of the United Earth Hegemony in the year 2120, the space travel technologies started developing more quickly. Humans built colonies on the Moon and Mars, built habitable stations on Jupiter’s moons, and started asteroid mining. In the year 2176, an asteroid fell on Earth and decreased its population by 70%. This catastrophe caused the hegemon Carl IV to evacuate, but lunar rebels shot down his ship. The survivors were transferred to extraterrestrial colonies, as Earth became uninhabitable without life support systems. This caused most of the colonies to revolt. Panlunar Consortium, Martian Republic and Jovian Federation became the most powerful factions of the Sol system. In the year 2190, a probe sent by the Jovian Federation found an artificial structure on one of Neptune’s moons – Proteus. After a more thorough investigation, it became clear that this was a disabled by the passage of time robotic mining station of some unknown civilization. This station was built for mining of a previously unknown mineral (later named “proteanium”), that had some perplexing properties. This mining station, dubbed by the scientists as FOSCS – First One-Sided Contact Station (and the creators of FOSCS were named by the scientists as FOSCSO – First One- Sided Contact Station Owners, later this acronym became a normal term “foscso” used to refer to these unknown aliens), had a derelict alien cargo spaceship. After some research of this new mineral and reverse engineering of some of the alien spaceship’s systems, the scientists managed to construct the first human-made artificial gravity generator powered by proteanium. This breakthrough made possible the manufacturing of the first reactionless drive (“Proteus drive”) and made space travel more safe and available. Later a relatively large deposit of proteanium was found on Enceladus. Thus, the Jovian Federation became the dominant power in Sol system, because it controlled the only known sources of proteanium in the whole system. All the major factions later united under the name of the United Solar Alliance (or USA for short) with the seat of power on Ganymede. It took twenty-three years for the first interstellar colony ship to reach the nearby Alpha system. Thus, Colony Alpha was founded in the year 2223, and USA became an interstellar faction.
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