New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[DaltonS]

Yes, that is the right starting point. I was worried a war to get the knowledge was close but since you didn't mention a rival empire I'll assume New Rhodes' competitors are still forging their alliance. This is the point where diplomacy and espionage are still excellent tools with war being something they will try to avoid as long as possible. An excellent setting for adventure.

Dalton “And who are the Secret Masters behind it all?” Spence

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

In 2500 AD, explorers from the Terran Federation penetrated the Horsehead Nebula and found a MB megastructure in a star system hidden from detection by the nebula. With a total mass of 40 Jupiters (SM+54), the MB proved to be quite capable of defending itself, as it disabled the explorer fleet before sending the Terran Federation a warning. The warning was 'Leave us alone, do not journey further into our territory, or we will exterminate you.' The fact that the warning was delivered by a SM+24 spaceship that deposited the explorer fleet in the Sol System was not lost on the Terran Federation government.

What is 'MB' short for in this context?

Also, does the message bother to explain where the limits of their territory are?

[AlexanderHowl]

MB stands for Matrioshka Brain. The message claims that their civilization controls a sphere 250 ly in radius who outer edge abuts the Horsehead Nebula (though the Terran Federation has only detected evidence of MBs around only 1% of the stars). With ~2600 MBs, the civilization is incalculably wealthy, as the energy levels push it into a middle K2 civilization.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

The planet Halia was settled by a lost colony ship that misjumped and blew-out its interstellar drive. Society collapsed soon after the basic terraforming of the planet. The present-day culture of the planet has reached TL4. The continents on this world are divided by long deep gulfs and bays. Often it's easier and far shorter for people on the same continent to sail across the sea to reach each other than travel by land. The planet's climate is overwhelmingly Oceanic Climate or Mediterranian, depending on which side of a given mountain chain you are.

Recently, a university in a major trade entrepot (New Rhodes) has learned how to activate ancient memory banks from the ship. Using the data from the history of technology sections, the city of New Rhodes has transitioned to tech level 5. (Think of the city going from the technology of 1550 to that of 1750) Everyone else is scrambling to catch up. Meanwhile, New Rhodes is focused on going farther faster.
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A few more notes on this setting. Before the collapse of the culture of the First Settlers, many food crops were genetically engineered for the conditions of planet Halia. Thus local agriculture is functioning at TL4+2. Neither canning nor germ theory were lost. So food supplies were always larger and more varied than on medieval Earth.

Along with TLX+Y items on this world, there are TLX-Y items as well. Example: a TL6 technological device that functions very poorly because it was made from TL4 materials. Still, it functions, in this case, TL6-1.

Because the two dominant climate types found on this planet (Oceanic Climate and Mediterranian Climate) are found on the opposite sides of most mountain ranges, there is a lively trade in the special products of each climate. Trade and a money economy are thus far common and pervasive than on 16th century Earth. Thus inns and taverns are far more common and provide more services than would be functional in an economy like that of 16th century Earth.

There are some small tropical areas. These are collectively referred to as the "Spiceriers." This is because these areas grow all the pepper, cinnamon, tea, ginger, cloves, vanilla, coffee, nutmeg, chocolate, and other tropical crops needed by the people of Planet Halia. And yes, pirates prey on the trade.

Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Neo-Paganism, and Baha i are the major faiths of planet Halia. But this is slightly misleading, most people on Halia follow a syncretic mixture of two or more of these faiths. Blends of Christianity and Buddhism are dominant.

The languages of planet Halia are all derived from English. The original settlers all spoke English as a common tongue. Functionally, everybody tends to have at least a Broken level of understanding in most languages. And Accented in many nearby languages, However, there are several languages that have either evolved differently or were different at the origin, and so there is no mutual intelligibility. On the other hand, the written language is much closer to the language spoken by the first settlers. So many people who can't speak to each other can pass notes. The Language Talent means that all those languages that you'd have Broken in, you instead have Accented. But you'd still have to learn the odd languages out. Some languages have strong influences from other languages known to the first settlers, this leads to some interesting misunderstandings.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Try this one...

The planet Halia was settled by a lost colony ship that misjumped and blew-out its interstellar drive. Society collapsed soon after the basic terraforming of the planet. The present-day culture of the planet has reached TL4. The continents on this world are divided by long deep gulfs and bays. Often it's easier and far shorter for people on the same continent to sail across the sea to reach each other than travel by land. The planet's climate is overwhelmingly Oceanic Climate or Mediterranian, depending on which side of a given mountain chain you are.

Recently, a university in a major trade entrepot (New Rhodes) has learned how to activate ancient memory banks from the ship. Using the data from the history of technology sections, the city of New Rhodes has transitioned to tech level 5. (Think of the city going from the technology of 1550 to that of 1750) Everyone else is scrambling to catch up. Meanwhile, New Rhodes is focused on going farther faster.

The city of New Rhodes needs some development.

Like Venice, New Rhodes is set in a series of marshes and lagoons at the delta of a navigatable river. New Rhodes, like Venice, is extremely difficult for either an army or navy to approach. Not invulnerable to attack, but very hard to attack directly. Swamps, sandbars, polders, reefs, and other obstructions make the lagoons around New Rhodes as much of a maze as the lagoons around Venice.

Unlike Venice, New Rhodes is built on a mountainous island about five times the area of Manhattan. As with Venice, the lagoon is a source of fresh seafood. In New Rhodes, as in many if not all port cities of planet Halia, aquaculture is routinely practiced. This aquaculture involves remnant technology and is a TL10-5 technology in New Rhodes and TL10-6 elsewhere. The marshes around New Rhodes provide substantial supplies of grain and other foodstuffs. These crops are genetically engineered crops. Tough, adaptable, Halophytes designed by the Founders for lagoons like that at New Rhodes. Such lagoons and crops are common on planet Halia.

The wealthy of New Rhodes live on the highlands of their island. They get the best breezes and physical security. The Poor live near the waterside on the seaward side of the island, far from the docks and with less protection from storms. The middle classes, the city government buildings, and the University are on the landward side of the island near the harbor. Smelly industries are to the northernmost seaward side of the island as the prevailing winds carry the sink away to sea. Many sailors say their first sign of an approach to New Rhodes is the stink of paper mills and tanneries. There are some dairy farms on the southernmost highlands. These areas may be near the harbor but they're hard to reach.

There are a series of islands between New Rhodes and the mainland that are given over to graveyards, prisons, and monasteries. The graveyard islands are notorious as hideouts for robbers and criminal gangs. Smugglers often hide goods in forgotten mausoleums and abandoned temples and chapels on these islands.

[jason taylor]

By the way, here's a new one (which might be fitted into one of the previous entries).

Along the way to X the explorers or colonists meet an alien race. They are obviously intelligent and obviously civilized by whatever standards the PCs define such: they have cities, technology, art, etc and presumably ways to transfer, distribute, and preserve information.

The only problem is while they are obviously communicating with each other and the party can at least interpret their movements as attempts at communication, they cannot communicate with the party nor vice versa. It whatever method they use it is not manipulation of sound or gesture. Speculation is that they have some means among themselves like gradations of scent, or emission of harmless radioactive waves, or something even more peculiar.

[DaltonS]

If the alien race is "civilized by whatever standards the PCs define such" the patterns it uses must be recognizable to the explorers. Since they have apparently found either the alien's homeworld or one of its colonies there should enough observational data to determine the race's sensory modes. After that it should be a matter of using math and the periodic table to establish common physical concepts. (This assumes the aliens' understanding of science is sufficiently advanced; if not the linguists have a long job ahead of them.) Cultural concepts are an entirely different matter: even on Earth cultural barriers seem to be the most difficult ones to cross.

Dalton “What does this mean?” Spence

[Astromancer]

Try this one...

Steal Star Trek's Vulcans, the Andorians, and Betazeds, then have them discover Earth in the year 2021. They realize this planet needs help and has potential. The three cultures agreed that Earth needs to become more civilized and quickly.

Basically, PCs can either be Aliens seeking to achieve a Civilizing Mission or humans trying to gain the benefits without the normal disasters of a civilizing mission.

[DaltonS]

I'm not comfortable with stealing Star Trek anything. Let's make the racial descriptions a bit more generic: emotional telepaths who appear human, logical scientists who can pass as human with minor concealment and clearly alien humanoids with a warrior background. Three different cultures who agree on one issue: Earth needs help now! Are we talking a major long term three-world project here or the tri-racial crew of a single starship that just wants to help? Will they approach Earth overtly offering aid or do they plan to operate covertly behind the scenes without Earth's knowledge? Are there any restrictions or protocols they are forced to observe? Is the Earth they find recovering from a major pandemic or is it a different timeline entirely? This plot seed seems a bit vague.

Dalton “Who are you guys, and is that a cookbook?” Spence

[Kale]

If they work covertly, then you can have a benevolent alien conspiracy. If the PCs are humans, then it can be a fun shock to have them discover the aliens, assume the usual "pre-invasion" shenanigans, but then finally discover the aliens are only trying to help. The aliens of course don't really "get" humans, so they are having a rough time.