OFF-WORLD: System

INTRODUCTION

This is a Sci-fi Setting, designed for Role-Playing in a Free From Story Telling Style.

The parameters of futuristic settings have to be defined or else one would have writers mixing various genres which will inevitably clash. 'Off-World' can best be described as being a combination of DUNE, Pitch Black (The Chronicles of Riddick), Aliens and Starship Troopers. This scenario is designed specifically for Sci-Fi writers who are knowledgeable in the various genre of 'futuristic space stories' and to participate you must realize that Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica are light years apart.

The Dune series really is the best way to envision the setting. If you are familiar with it, many of what people could perceive as 'aliens' were Humans that had evolved after thousands of years on different planets. Off-World is not hundred of thousand of years into the future, which would attribute to the drastic changed, but genetic manipulation has sped up the Human Race's evolution.

There are no aliens in this scenario, other than the hint that an ancient Martian Civilization once existed and that they were somehow connected with the Egyptian and Mayan peoples of Earth. In truth, unless an alien species has a relation to the Human race, the odds that there would be any similarities between the two would be astronomical. There are no pointy eared, macro-headed, blue-skinned, antennae sprouting, Human looking aliens. Basically, if an entity (mammalian, reptile or raptor) has two eyes, one nose, one mouth and is bipedal it is terrestrial to Earth, end of story. What does exist are genetically modified people who have over the centuries evolved into what Star Trek passes off for aliens. They have been modified to survive in harsh environments and this man-made adaptation has sped up the amount of mutations the Human body will undergo to survive and so many can no longer be considered Human and are considered sub-species. Some still appear to be Human while others have developed physical markers that distinguish them from Earthlings since they can no longer successfully cross-breed to produce offspring.

You can be inventive and create other races if you wish. Perhaps a sub-species which are a Human-Reptile combination that were created to survive on a specific deep space military installation. Blending Human DNA with other species, is not uncommon.

The Solar System is regulated by the Inter-System Police, simply known as the INTER-SYS (Some use the slang term 'Sister' as opposed to saying 'Big Brother'). They have jurisdiction every where and are highly trained, often utilizing Simulacrums to assist Agents in their investigations. There are many other security forces through-out the system which are needed because pirates and mercenaries are rampant. The people who once feared space travel now fear being hijacked more, as the new frontier is becoming more like the wild west of old.

BACKGROUND

At the dawn of the 25th century, 50 years since the Great Solar War that created new system corporations struggle to maintain their hold on their dwindling assets. Military forces now obsolete take desperate measure to perpetuate their existence, becoming security forces, mercenaries or even pirates. This marks the end of what the human race would look back on as the golden years of their civilization, for the 25th century was the beginning of Earth's demise.

By the 26th century Earth had been decimated by Human greed. Despite all of their inventions they could not rule out the common denominator that always equated to destruction — the Human Factor. Poisoned by the environment they created the Humans that remained on Earth perished along with all other forms of life, leaving the world to their inorganic creations — robots, androids and synthetic people.

It is now the year, 3272. Over 700 years has passed and the Earth has healed. Vegetation has been restored and new creatures walk the planet, but all this is unknown to its caretakers. For centuries the androids watched over Earth, but three hundred years after the last Human died, those machines that ruled forbid any knowledge of the outside world. All that they knew, was of the other cities, and the perpetuation of their own 'robot' society. Those in power fear to once more be under the thumb of 'Man-kind', but time it seems had finally brought them home. Humans are returning, curious why their android servants continue to report that the surface of the planet remain uninhabitable after centuries of specialized terra-forming.

The Androids now ponder what the return of the ones who made them means. Some believe that they should embrace them, some fear their rule, and others still believe they should prepare to defend what is theirs.

A BRIEF HISTORY

In the years 2025 and 2027 two of the Human races' greatest inventions occurred, magenetospheric-electro-transference and the hydro-atmem.

In the year 2025, Magnetospheric-electro-transference (M.E.T.) was invented allowing power stations to tap into the solar winds known as the aura borealis and transfer it into electricity to power all cities for a fraction of the cost of all other energy sources. It is an endless supply of energy and the days of unscrupulous people profiting off that basic human need are ended. A few years later, man learns how to make water through a process of molecular metamorphosis It is due to these break throughs that Earth continues to prosper, leaving only the problem of a growing population.

Earth's population has dwindled since the 22nd century since a Global Immigration Law was issued in 2089 to force people to immigrate to the new off-world colonies. The planet is now mainly inhabited by the wealthy and those possessed of the specific skills that are required to perpetuate society and benefit the planet.

People now require several licenses to become an Earthling and many people from the off-world colonies work toward that goal, but very few ever qualify. Colonists which are Citizens and not Civilians may be granted passports to visit Earth but the do so knowing that illegal immigrants are killed on sight with no chance of declaring refugee status.

SPACE TRAVEL

The Graviton Drive and Gravity Shields

Gravitons are currently only a theory, but in this scenario their existence is considered a truth. One has to imagine that if in fact scientists proved that gravity was indeed the result of these particles and learned to manipulate them that a whole new era in transportation and travel would arise. Floating cars would become a reality and shields would be able to be developed that could use the force of gravity to repel objects.

In the year 2066 Graviton technology is born, a revolutionary way to utilize the force of gravity to fly, repel objects and generate artificial gravity. It is quickly implemented to modify current shuttles and space ships, creating a whole new generation of terrestrial and off-world vehicles. Several years later in 2080, the Graviton Drive has passed all of it's trials successfully and ships are made using the new technology.

The Graviton Drive generates a 'slip stream' utilizing existing gravity fields to propel ships at near light speed, after which it produces it's own anti-gravity field to force it through space. Protected by Gravity Shields generated by the Graviton Drive, new space ships can hurdle through space without fear of being destroyed by a tiny spec of debris in their path.

Powering the Graviton Drive requires a new type of fusion reactor that utilizes Graviton Fields to produce a renewable energy source capable of out putting tremendous amounts of energy. The Neutron Reactor, as it will be later called, produces energy without heat and in fact generates temperatures so cold that normal metal disintegrates on contact with the core. The only way to contain the energy is through a series of gravity shields oscillating at specific frequencies in a flux that will perpetuate itself after established. It would take a tremendous amount of force to penetrate the shield and disrupt the core, but if something did, the sudden surge will generate a black hole that would cause the ship to implode onto itself then cease to exist.

Gravity Shields are not only used to protect ships during space travel, but are also boosted by the use of additional energy cells that store 'graviton energy' in order to repel attacks from hostile ships during times of war.

White Holes - Folding Space

In 2179 a scientist creates and harnesses the power of a 'Black Hole' in order to fold space. This is a revolutionary break through allowing deep space expeditions to reach further into the galaxy than ever before. A single ship can be projected through what is referred to as 'White Hole' (named for the scientist, Gerald White and not because the hole has a neutron star within it.) Utilizing the Pauli Exclusion Principle, White modified the formula to create the Pauli-White Principle allowing him to use the gravity of a black hole to regulate the energy of the neutron star to produce a gateway that can project a primed vessel to a specific coordinate of known space.

A white hole is created by collapsing a specific type of star to produce a neutron star. Above and below it are the space stations that are able generate a field not only able to collapse a star but contain the neutron and produce around it a black hole that draws it's energy in order to fold space. This allows a vessel to be instantly moved to any known coordinates within 56.6 Light Years, unfortunately they cannot be brought back.

It is still a decade after this break though that the technology is used. The entire process requires a ship that built to a specific code and it must be primed by orbiting the 'white hole' for several hours. Before the priming people are placed into stasis, because the human mind cannot tolerate the shock of the travel without developing dangerous cognitive side effects then when the ship is ready it is allowed to drift into the middle of the 'white hole'. Coordinates are entered and once the vessel in the middle, space is folded and the ship and it's occupants are stretched across the galaxy to their destination, where they are reconstituted as they are re-aligned with time and space.

Space Craft and Transports

The types of craft that are used for this scenario will adhere mainly to those portrayed in such movies as Aliens and the Chronicles of Riddick.

WEAPONRY

The majority of weapons still rely on projectiles, but they are now propelled by either magnetic or graviton technology, allowing them to move much faster than combustive force. The move so quickly that when they are fired the projectile burns the air, creating a beam in it's wake.

There also weapons that produce energy blasts, simply called 'Energy Blasters'. They shoot a pulse of energy contained by a gravity field that explodes on contact with a dense enough objects. The damage from these weapons is proportional with the amount of power in the form of power cells they have, but regardless certain types of guns do have their limits.