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Old 09-07-2018, 08:57 PM   #24
Johnny1A.2
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Default Re: Space Opera Factions

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phantasm View Post
Been working on something like this for a while, as part of a primer for the space opera genre. (While the following uses GURPS terminology, they can fit any system.) I'm trying to touch upon the usual various factions encountered in space opera settings from the past 40-50 years, but I'm not sure I've got things situated or worded properly. I've also got that nagging feeling I'm forgetting someone.


Space Opera Factions


What am I missing?
The opposite of the primitives. The Advanced:

This can mean a race or group of races with access to technology substantially beyond what is available to the rest of the setting. It can also mean beings so old and advanced that they seem to have personal powers on the same order as (at least) demigods.

Usually, The Advanced are aloof (because they are so powerful that if they aren't, they dominate everything), only communicating with their lessers in special case situations. There may be competing factions of The Advanced, in which case they may not be quite so aloof because they cancel each other out, leaving room for others to play.

There can be degrees of The Advanced, of course, there might be a race that has access to technology a century ahead of the rest, faster ships and stronger defenses and more powerful weapons, richer and longer-lived, but still comprehensible, and beyond them there may be god-like beings higher above them than they are above the rest, too.

Related to but different than The Advanced, The Cosmic Beings: These aren't more advanced races, these are entities that are somehow inherently above the other races, often portrayed as a sapient natural force of some kind, bordering on being true gods.

Along with Empires and Federations, there are the Lone Worlds, or sometimes it might be a Lone System, but the point is that it's a small, independent state limited either to one world or a local star system, but not usually much bigger. Lone Worlds are usually important for story purposes either because they control access to some important resource, or are strategically located. Federation, Empire and others may try to sway them into alliance, conquer them, or undermine their governments. Their capitol cities may be crawling with agents of any or all of the above, as well. A Lone World stays independent either by playing the big boys off against each other, because of some ace in the hole they can use, or the protection of somebody bigger outside the picture.

WARNING: Lone Worlds can sometimes be The Advanced in disguise.

The Machine Race: Just what it says. A race of sapient robots, which may or may not be friendly to biologicals. It's possible for there to be multiple Machine Races.
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