The year is 381 PE (Post Exodus). Once humanity was a unified force of exploration and advancement in the galaxy under the banner of the Solar Union. For nearly two centuries, the children of Terra spread throughout the stars, colonizing worlds, and Terraforming others for future generations. And for a time, things were good. War, crime, and poverty were things of humanity's ignoble past. Dozens of worlds became thriving new Earths, and the potential of the future seemed unlimited.
But paradise was not to last.
No one knows what caused Vile Calamity. Some say it was a rogue AI deciding to exterminate humanity. Some say it was a secretive terrorist organization who wished to return humanity to a less technologically advanced state. Some say it was the wrath of God, punishing the hubris of mankind for daring to tread His domain. Whatever the truth was, it has been lost to the tumultuous pages of an unrecorded history. While the cause was unknown, the effects were anything but. A strange, adaptive computer virus infected the inter-planetary network, and caused any system linked up to it to either shut down, or overload. Uncountable ships were lost. Entire cities went up in explosions that scar their worlds to this day, as their power centers went critical. All communication in the galaxy was cut off, for years in many cases. All records were completely wiped off any connected systems, and much of humanity's past was lost, as well as all of its identification, census, and economic information.
The death toll was horrific.
But humanity is a resourceful lot, and it only took a few chaotic decades for galactic contact to be reestablished in the former Solar Union. Any chance of the old unified galaxy to recover was but a dead dream. More than a hundred worlds had struggled mightily to recover cut off from their neighbors, and in that isolation many things had changed. It wasn't long before the first wars fought in space took place, as dozens of would-be star powers tried to assert themselves. More than fifty years of warfare took place, before several powers finally asserted themselves over all others, and humanity collectively decided it had suffered enough war. Finally, a peace began, and humanity began rebuilding, and trying to reconstruct it's lost history. This began the Formation Era, where mankind caught its breath, and began to build their empires anew.
It has been nearly three centuries since that tumultuous era. But the modern galaxy is finally one of a fragile peace, and technology has been advanced and rediscovered to the point that humanity is once again roughly on foot with their Solar Union roots.
But it is still a galaxy of dangers. Pirates. Renegades. Terrorists. Inter-planetary mega-corporations. Nobles. Would-be utopias. Irate colonists. Post-human fanatics. Legions of free AI. And ASTBN reports that Zhēnxiàng Media Network is thinking of remaking Star Wars Episode LXXVII for the eighth time. Truly a dark future.
And it is to this future that you find yourself. You are all crew of the independent transport ship The Plowhorse. You answer to no masters, save yourselves. However, at the moment all that freedom gets you is a busted down old ship and a nearly empty Banking Realm. You could continue to be a legitimate transport ship. You could decide to increase your profits by going smuggler. You could even go pirate, should you acquire the necessary graviton field generator to stop other ships from Jumping away. Or you could sell the old junker and try to make a go of it as a farmer on a frontier world, should space no longer call to you. Still, with endless possibilities before you, will you rise up and make your fortune, or simply be lost in the void...?
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Hey y'all. I've had this setting idea growing in my head for a while (literally started writing in 2019), and now I think it's time to populate it with fun and interesting people! But I am also DESPERATELY looking for some Co-GMs. With my particular combination of depression, ADHD, and working in a medical field, I can disappear for days at a time, and I don't want to do that to people. So if you know anyone, or are interested yourself, don't hesitate to ask!
This will be a very sandbox game, as the setting is so open I wouldn't want to restrict your choices! I'm just starting you at the bottom of the rung for dramatic purposes. ;)
This game is rated Adult, because it is a wild galaxy, and all manner of things can happen, so players best be prepared.
Hope to see you among the stars!
