New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2

Okay, a sci-fi setting ... a twisted version of an old novel I read many years ago ...

In the 15th century, a bunch of aliens kidnapped thousands of assorted humans from across the world, enough to set up a breeding population. They were taught a common language so they could communicate and the rudiments of science. Then they were given a planet, basic supplies, and a deadline to produce a fighting force.

The aliens of the galaxy were forbidden by treaty from going to war directly, as their technology was too powerful. At the same time, they really did not like or trust each other. So they took primitive races and used them as janissaries, colonist-soldiers. While they would start out primitive, their education in basics meant the janissaries would advance quickly, and since it would be their own advancements, no one could say that their alien patrons were giving them advanced help.

So the humans bred and evolved on their new planet, sending out mercenaries to alien worlds. They developed their own culture, their language evolved, and Earth faded into the realm of myth and legend.

Then, surprisingly, one of the janissary-races surpased their patrons and established a Galactic Empire. The empire forbade war - period. The janissary-colonies, whose only export was military forces, were out of a job.

The new Empire offered reparation to the janissaries. About ten percent of the human colony accepted, so they were transported back to earth to an uninhabited land mass.

Or they thought it was uninhabited. Their servey records were centuries old and of low quality to begin with. New Zealand had plenty of inhabitants. Fortunately the space-humans had a cultural inclination to building arcologies on easily-defended mountaintops, so there is little in the way of land conflict. The colonists also brought their own tech base, which is a bit in advance of earth's.

So now there is a TL9 militaristic human culture colonizing New Zealand. But what era should they colonize? As they left earth in the 15th century, any time from the 18th century onwards is good. And their culture and economy is geared to offering mercenary services ...

Lovely bit of chaos. Suitible for a whole campaign and I could really see it as a part of a supers campaign too. The returned humans could be a great source of supers or the explanation for exotic weapons or martial arts. Also the returning humans might have learned psionics or even magic while in deep space exile.