Looking for interested peoples for a very specific homebrew setting...
BEYOND THE KNOWN
Present Day
3210. A small human civilisation carved out a relatively peaceful niche for themselves in the Ceph System. A number of clans were spread over a handful of planets, moons, small orbital platforms and a few humble fleets of roaming frigates.
An industrious peoples, the Clans of Ceph survived the silence thanks to their ingenious methods for xeno-agriculture, mining & refinery, manufacturing, and healthy support of scientific research. Each Clan specialised in a particular trade, or focus; generation after generation following the footsteps of the fore-family.
Some inter-Clan conflict would arise from time to time, but would be soon ironed out either by trade sanctions set in the Cephillian Council, or as a last resort, by way of law enforcement by the Inter-Clan Keepers, colloquially referred to as the ‘Ix’. As was a strong tradition for the Clans, their strongest & smartest were sent to the Ix academy, and spent anywhere from three to fifteen years serving the Clans. Aside from occasional law enforcement missions, the Ix were the extra pair of hands every Clan needed for their special projects. Whether a large infrastructure project, scientific endeavour, establishment of a new base, or destroying wayward meteors. In this way, the Ix were respected by most - but deeply hated by a small, but growing, separatist movement.
The Cephillian Council met monthly, and orchestrated their clan’s activities to ensure the collective needs were met. Unbeknownst to most, a smaller conclave of Clan Elders would often meet in hiding, to discuss matters of dissent, unwanted maltech research & development, and other strange matters that threatened the cohesiveness and wellbeing of the Clans of Ceph. A fragment of the Ix, sworn to secrecy, often conducted investigations and subfertuge on behalf of the Elders.
Ceph’s History
The Ceph System was originally colonised by one of three psitech spike drive GenShips. Having travelled to the ends of the vast jump gate network, the psitech spike drive, with it’s small choir of messes, went further than any known frontier explorers had ever gone before. The three GenShips were originally intended to settle across numerous systems in an uncharted sector, to give humanity a better chance of survival. However, upon arrival at Ceph, only one GenShip was present. To this day, the fate of the other two GenShips is unknown.
The vast core of the psitech spike drive was used as the colony’s first power plant. However, the Scream put an end to that. The ailing colony soon fragmented into clans, returning to the skies in the limited number of starships available. Only one frigate transported to Ceph contained a regular spike drive. This solitary ship was sent to explore the sector, in the hope of finding the other two GenShips. The clans never heard back from the explorer, presumed dead.
Order of the Expanse
With a choir of elite messes at the heart of this colony’s journey to beyond the known frontier, an institute was created to help teach young messes to hone their psionic abilities. Several expert systems, or bots, falling short of true AI, set within android hulls, had maintained vast stores of knowledge & information for masters to use to teach their pupils, sometimes even assisting the masters. However, the masters of the institute was decimated during the Scream.
As new messes were identified, they were brought to the Order of the Expanse to learn how to survive with their affliction. The hulls had become the masters for the first few generations. Eventually some messes surpassed their artificial masters, albeit after many years later than they normally would have under human teachers. However, the new human masters possessed but a fraction of the skill & capacity of their progenitors. Over the centuries, the masters of each generation improved their command over their talents. To the extent that many clans began to feel fearful of their psionic brethren… eventually leading the Order of the Expanse to go into hiding.
Playing in this game
- All player characters are in an Ixian taskforce, having known each other for years.
- All player classes available.
- Players will start at level 5.
Thematic influences
- The Belters from The Expanse
- Roamers from the Saga of the Seven Suns (Kevin J. Crawford)
- Post-apocalyptic, Lovecraftian, and survival flavours
