[OCC] Strange Neighbors

[ericthered]

Welcome to Strange Neighbors, a space campaign.
Yes, we are still recruiting!

Strange Neighbors will follow humanity's first FTL vessel to leave the solar system, as it embarks on its voyage of discovery.

Players in Strange Neighbors do not play only one character: They play two main characters. This is because the commanders of ships shouldn't be part of landing parties, and because scientists usually make terrible soldiers. The characters should be separated in three ways:

one is 200 points, the other is 150.
one is a leader and decision maker, while the other is on "the front lines". This could simply mean they are the ship's drive actual engineer, and have no time to boss idiots around.
they should be in two different departments. Don't be the Military chief and one of the soldiers.

additional minor characters may be assumed.
the disadvantage cap is functionality on the ship. Thats my call. You need to be reasonably able-bodied and sane. Of course, Scientists and diplomats can push able-bodied, and soldiers can push sane.

I am making the following promises:

The campaign should have the following:

• Moderate TL9/10. Somewhat safetech: cybernetics and genetic manipulation are a big deal, and nanotech requires sensitive conditions. There is no AI, and hooking your brain to electronics is beyond a career choice.
• Aliens are promised! These will be quite alien, and will require both diplomacy and combat.
• No psionics, nor magic other than a FTL warp drive. sorry. there is one other aspect of "superscience" out there, but its not game-changing or magical.
• Lots of time in space. Teams will only rarely land on planets, though astroid and comet landings may be common
• Lots of Space Junk: this version of space is full of stuff we can't see. There will be a lot of that.

While I own UltraTech and BioTech, these are not primary sources for the campaign, and not necessary (We'll be using tech with finer detail in one spot). Space is nice, and some characters ought to have spaceships, but all that is really needed is The basic set.

Players can be any Character that would be found on the ship. The following are suggestions and character that will exist, PC or not:

Chief Navigator
Military Chief (they have one separate from the captain, fluff him as you will)
Outpost director (leads those who will be establishing a post at alpha centari)
Chief of Mining (associated with the outpost)
Resident Full Cyborg (essentially no body, can use drones to "act" and can quickly acquire temporary skills. Only a few on board).
Head FTL Scientist.

List of Characters:
samd6: Von Galbiso, Hydroponics Boss
samd6: Kendal Ojeda, Pilot
Poonbahbah: Dewey C. Howe,Head Mechanic
Poonbahbah: Lieutenant Qwendolyn "Qwen" McKay,Space Infantry
Dorin Thera: Captain Nathanael Crewey
Dorin Thera: Linguist Dr. Abigail Crewey
Lamech: Andrew Blackwing, Warp drive engineer
momothefiddler: Charles Henry Adair, Outpost directory
momothefiddler: Dmitri Khaslik, Ice prospector

Lamech has promised me a doctor.

[ericthered]

Basic Setting: History

In 2098, Robert Wood either invented or stole the engine that the world would come to know as the "Wood Drive". It was essentially a primitive Alcubierre drive. While the technique technically allowed FTL travel, the wood drive was limited to about .01c. Which while not practical to travel the stars, turned the world of humanity on its head. Wood managed to keep the drive secrete for long enough to build an economic empire by "happening" to discover blacked out asteroid after blacked out asteroid. By the time the rest of the world figured out what Wood had, he could sustain himself in space without assistance from earth.

When The governments on earth (the big ones today are still around) discovered what Wood had, they declared it state property in the name of national defense. Wood, who was prepared for this, demonstrated his absolute tactical superiority in space and denied the governments of earth the plans to his drive. He seized the orbital stations and their valuable nanofactories (which only work in free fall). And proceeded to blackmail earth into some very one-sided trade agreements. Immigration was one way only, and a very intentional brain drain on earth.

By the time earth finally figured out how the drive worked, Wood had built a civilization on the asteroids and comets of Sol. He had programs piloting cybernetics and human genetic engineering. If the nations had come at him with only the drive, they would have failed. Instead, they had a variant on the drive that forced conventional engines to be used, but was much slower itself. They began a bloody war, and in the end Wood was dead, and his empire scattered. Many of the "spacers" had maintained fairly earthly lifestyles, and where welcomed into the fold of humanity.

The military machine of Robert Wood had made heavy use of genetically engineered soldiers and cybernetics. They where all hooked up to a network from birth, and could be taken over by the heads of their divisions at any time. As IAH forces uncovered labs where the breakthroughs were achieved, they became more and more convinced their opponents where no longer human. The title of "Humanity" made as a gesture to invite Robert and his followers to join, became a mark of rejection, of what they were not.

The others migrated out, gained many of the weapons used against them, and became much more miltary in outlook, surviving to fight the IAH to a stand still.

The IAH is no longer as strong as it once was. The enemy has been driven back to areas that were unobservable a hundred years ago. The great nations have been kept from space, unable to expand, as many of the habitats and colonies joined as allies. Earth his crowded, and despite the unlimited energy offered by Hydrogen Fusion, crowded and facing social issues. Their best and brightest are on habitats in space, or at worst, no longer human.

[ericthered]

The Ship

The Honor of the Earth

The Honor of the Earth is the first full size FTL vessel built by humanity. It is over 2,000 feet long, though it is also quite thin in most places. Its SM is +14

There are 15,000 passengers who intend to stake an outpost on the star, a military force of around 1,500 who are sent to protect them, and a crew of around 1,000. You are the Leaders and heroes of this crew.

The Honor of the Earth Belongs to the IAH, and is crewed by its agents. Loyalty to your home nationality is expected. Official Languages of the Ship include English, Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi, and French. Unofficially, everyone but the French speak English. Military Units are attached to specific nations, rather than the IAH, and use their local language.

The purpose of The Honor of the Earth's mission is to reestablish space superiority in the eyes of its members, by being the first to explore and establish an outpost on another colony.

[Dorin Thorha]

I'm thinking of making both a linguist/diplomat type and a grizzled military type. However, I'm not sure which of these should be my front-liner. A few questions:

Is the front-liner the 150 point character, while the leader is the 200-point character? Or the other way around? Or do we get to choose?

What cinematic advantages are available? Daredevil? Wild Talent? Danger Sense?

What does IAH stand for?

[Poonbahbah]

I've decided I'm interested and have the working of a pretty darn good chief engineer up and running at 150

Could you please give us a better idea of what tech is at what TL, as well as main TL. I assume 9 with 10 in a few areas but would like more description please.

Also what kind of gear should frontline troops expect to have? I was kind of hoping to make a battlesuit trooper/space marine.

Edit: I'm going to guess it means something like interstellar alliance of humans.

[Talosian]

Thinking full cyborg so far.

Following Dorin Thorha's questions, are Wildcard! skills kosher? (I'm fond of using them to avoid ridiculously long skill lists.)