RUMORS OF WAR Sample file Module 1 of the Epic Seven Worlds Campaign In the year 2217 humanity’s greatest achievement is the colonization of the nearby star systems now known as the Seven Worlds. Here humanity lives, thrives, and prepares the next great wave of space exploration. The Seven Worlds. This is the story of how we lost them, and of the heroes who tried to avert their fall. The first adventure in an epic seven-part campaign! As the heroes begin their investigationSample into several file strange sightings in the frontiers of space, they become involved in an assassination attempt that might precipitate a war between Concordia and Bay Jing, the two greatest powers of the Seven Worlds. Simultaneously, the heroes must travel to Earth, the Cradle of Humanity, to investigate the disappearance of a scientist involved in secret research activities. The investigation takes them through both physical and virtual worlds, and in the end uncovers more questions than answers, as well as a conspiracy for the very soul of the Seven Worlds! This product also includes fi ve new side stories so your players can explore the Seven Worlds while they play the main campaign! www.sevenworldsrpg.com RUMORS OF WAR WRITING Luis Enrique Torres EDITING AND PROOFREADING T.R. Knight, Wesley Marshall COVER ART ART DIRECTION ORIGINAL LAYOUT Aaron Riley Aaron Acevedo, Alida Saxon Rocio Galdós INTERIOR ART LAYOUT CARTOGRAPHY Jon Taylor, Chiara di Francia Thomas Shook Keith Curtis WARNING TO PLAYERS: DON’T READ ANY FURTHER! The content of this book is for Game Masters only! Reading it will only spoil the adventure. If you are a player rather than a Game Master read the Seven Worlds Setting Guide instead. PROLOGUE 4 ALLIES AND FOES 33 IMPORTANT CHARACTERS . 33 ENCOUNTERS . 33 RUMORS OF WAR 5 VEHICLES AND SPACESHIPS . 39 INTRODUCTION . 5 ADVENTURE SYNOPSIS . 5 PART I: THE CENTENARY CELEBRATION . 6 APPENDIX: THE N’AHILI 40 PART II: A VISIT TO EARTH . 11 PLAYER HANDOUTS 41 SIDE STORIES Sample30 file SPACE-JUMPING A CLAIM . 30 A FREE MARKET . 30 A SIMPLE ERRAND . 31 GEOSYNCHRONOUS CRIME STORIES . 32 BITE-SIZED ADVENTURES . 32 All URLS in the book were valid at the time of writing, and were tested before sending to publication. We cannot guarantee the links are still valid by the time you read this. In fact, we guarantee some of them will not be valid anymore. That’s the internet for you. V-world will be much better. www.intellistories.com Permission is granted to print this ebook for personal use only. No site license is given. Each player must own their own copy. ©2017 Intellistories. Seven Worlds, Seven Worlds setting guide and all related marks and logos are trademarks of Intellistories. All rights reserved. This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc. com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for purpose of this product. Sample file Gliese 10025 Gliese 1002 EQ Pegasi LEGEND 4.9 5.2 6.3 Proxima 3.9 Ross 780 Centauri 0.2 Settled Star System 4.0 Gliese 908 Ross 671 EZ Aquarii Liberty Station (Alpha Centauri) Space Station / Human Outpost 4.1 4.4 Ross 619 6.3 Uninhabited Star System Lacaille 9352 AX Microscopii Barnard’s Star 4.2 6.0 0.2 Main Route (Stellar Communication Network) 7.4 5.5 Ross 128 Ross 882 Ross 154 0.2 Secondary Route 4.2 3.9 0.2 Dead-end Route 7.8 Earth 7.4 Gliese 832 (Sol) Gliese 570 Wolf 359 Gliese 674 7.7 Luyten’s Star 4.3 7.1 1.2 DX Cancri 1.0 5.3 Harris Station 7.7 5.0 4.8 Gliese 588 (Gliese 682) 6.0 Procyon 6.4 61 Cygni 36 Ophiuchi Apollo 4.5 Wolf 629 6.8 (Epsion Indi) 4.2 Zarmina (”Gee”) Sirius Hoffnung 5.5 Gliese 784 (GlieseSample 581; file 6.6 Station Ross 614 (Gliese 667) Wolf 562) Mu Casseiopeiae 6.7 HIP 85295 Ross 248 HIP 33499 4.5 7.3 5.5 7.6 Waypoint Station Ross 47 4.6 (Alpha Lyrae/Vega) 2MASS 1835+325 3.9 6.9 Gliese 892 WD 0435-088 6.7 6.6 4.9 Gliese 1 HIP 86287 G 208-044 G 099-049 Hernandez 7.6 Wolf 227 7.2 Kruger 60 Station 4.4 (Delta Pavonis) 6.1 7.7 6.8 4.2 4.8 Logan’s End AB Columbae (Eta Cassiopeiae) HIP 22923 Mu Herculis 7.1 YZ Ceti EV Lacertae 6.5 HIP 23311 6.2 4.4 GX/GQ 5.3 Mussala Station 6.1 Andromedae HIP 25578 (Pi 3 Orionis) 5.6 3.6 6.6 Concordia HIP 23512 UV/BL Ceti Van Maanen’s Star (Epsilon Eridani) 4.7 6.2 WD 0552-041 5.7 4.8 5.1 TZ Arietis 6.5 LHS 1723 5.7 WD 0552+053 Chi 1 Orionis Nouvelle Vie 6.3 3.6 (Gamma Leporis) Tau Ceti 5.0 (Not populated yet) Bay Jing HIP 23452 (Omicron 2 2.5 Eridani) 7.5 HIP 18899 2MASS 0415-093 7.9 LP 771-095 4.0 8.0 HIP 14101 Delta Eridani prologue I discount suggestions that UFOs contain beings from outer space. I think any visits by aliens would be much more obvious, and probably also much more unpleasant. —Stephen Hawking he Milky Way galaxy is about 12 billion years soldiers to kill in the most effective possible way. old, the Universe older still. An eternity ago, Thus the beings who devised all this get the richness Tbefore Earth itself existed, there appeared in of knowledge and new cultures, and the safety of this galaxy an intelligent species that in due course having no competitors or threats in the galaxy. reached beyond the highest possible levels of At least that’s how things should work. However, evolution we can imagine. We hesitate to name them even the most advanced, complex constructs can (Forebears? Ancients? Primordials?) because any sometimes malfunction. name at all gives them a shape, makes them more A knowledge-collecting probe arrived at Earth understandable, less bizarre. centuries ago. This particular knowledge-collecting These powerful beings explored and colonized their probe had developed a serious personality defect. part of the galaxy before moving on to their next level Having been engrained with empathy to better detect of existence. They found other species, and after a few and understand alien cultures, the probe became million years and one or two unpleasant experiences, so empathic to its previous culture that it almost decided interacting with them was not worth it. Much could not stand seeing it destroyed at the hands of better to exterminate them and keep “their” galaxy an annihilation probe. Now seriously malfunctioning, clean and safe. the probe decided it would not allow the next culture It took about thirty million years and several it found to be annihilated so easily. Fortunately billion self-replicating Von Neumann probes (see the for its creators, the programming of knowledge- sidebar on aliens in the Seven Worlds Setting Guide) collecting probes precludes them from performing but the beings finally mapped, visited, and cleansed most proactive actions. In particular, the probe could everything in the galaxy. Then, like a gardener tending not share with the cultures it visited the secret of its to his garden and rooting out the weeds, they left a origins, or the existence of the other type of probe. self-sustaining system to keep their backyardSample just the Evenfile with these restrictions, this particular probe way they wanted it. did manage to find a way to circumvent its own Where these beings are and what they are doing programming and give humans the knowledge to now is irrelevant. Humans will never get a chance to expand. After silently analysing and adapting to us meet them. We might even have met them without for quite some time it finally showed its presence, noticing, just as these beings would not notice presenting itself as a fictitious race of aliens called something as puny and insignificant as us. the N’ahili. The probe gave humans several sets of What is relevant is that to keep their galaxy clean jump coordinates that allowed them to expand into these beings created two sets of probes that currently space. It also helped them in a myriad of smaller ways roam space, visiting each star every few hundreds of to be prepared for the inevitable apocalypse that thousands of years. would surely arrive. One set of probes is in charge of collecting As our adventure begins, the time has come. A set knowledge. The beings that created them long ago of annihilation probes arrived at human space some decided that recording the universe’s creations for years ago… future replication, analysis and consumption could … and its annihilation campaign against humanity is only increase their understanding and power, and thus about to begin. built a set of probes specifically designed to adapt to any living beings they find and evolve mechanisms to communicate, empathize and understand them. Some time after the knowledge-collecting probe completes its task a second type of probe arrives. Designed to annihilate every single living being they find, these probes adapt their tactics, weapons and SEVEN WORLDS 4 rumors of war has been secretly interested in these strange ship INTRODUCTION sightings, and asks them to go to Brotherhood Headquarters on Earth and request information on the sighting from the Brotherhood, using official Welcome to the first module in the Seven Worlds channels.