New Sci Fi Setting Seeds

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

I might play in this one, but I'd definitely want a long talk with the GM about the type of campaign he or she wants to run.

I meant it to be a post-apocalyptic setting with distinctive opportunities. Mainly, society, at least in most of North America, has survived. It's brutal, but not necessarily the Dark Ages.

[PTTG]

Alternatively, a mad geneticist may decide that killing off humans would be unethical, or at least hard to control, but killing off cattle and pigs a fine compromise. Either they want to save the amazon from ranchers or maybe they work for a faction that wants to stagger food supplies, but only in wealthy countries.

They may also attempt to introduce a prion to wild fish stocks making them leathal for humans to consume but not harming the fish.

Doing all of that circa 2030 (perhaps thanks to secret bioweapons research) would make for an unusual kind of disaster situation.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Alternatively, a mad geneticist may decide that killing off humans would be unethical, or at least hard to control, but killing off cattle and pigs a fine compromise. Either they want to save the amazon from ranchers or maybe they work for a faction that wants to stagger food supplies, but only in wealthy countries.

They may also attempt to introduce a prion to wild fish stocks making them leathal for humans to consume but not harming the fish.

Doing all of that circa 2030 (perhaps thanks to secret bioweapons research) would make for an unusual kind of disaster situation.

Just closing down fisheries would lead to international crisis. Many Asian nations get a very high percentage of their protein from fish. Malnutrition would get serious fast. It would lead to wars.

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Just closing down fisheries would lead to international crisis. Many Asian nations get a very high percentage of their protein from fish.

Not to mention Melanesia, Polynesia, and Micronesia.

If it's coastal, and it's part of the (Global) South, things locally are probably rather stuffed.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Astromancer

Crocus

Some notes on this setting. Unlike a normal post-apocalyptic setting where society has collapsed society and the US/Canadian governments have held on and stayed functional. Society is brutally poor, but Society does exist. Hunger is present, but their are coordinated programs to fight food insecurity. The schools are open, supplies are low, teacher pay is lousy, and new books hard to come by, but kids are being educated and teachers get respect. People trust the public health service and the doctors and nurses are paid by the state, Private medical services do exist, but only in places like New York and other large cities. Medical services have to be rationed, but people accept that fact.

That said, society is under great stress, raising a new generation and educating them is never easy and there's a Birth Dearth. society needs the average couple to have at least four children both to replace the present population and to grow quickly enough to pay for needed services and maintenance. The average woman has around 2.5 children. Given the mess the world is in, 2.2 is merely replacement. Also, institutions need to run well to heal the society, merely running isn't enough.

The society runs on electricity. Fusion power plants supply the electric power. So they're a high priority. In the late 2030's large sections of the US rail system were electrified. This means that anything on these rail lines are connected to everything else on the line. Gasoline is rare and expensive and as global warming is causing real problems, fewer people use it than could use it. If it's off an electrified rail line, and you don't have a one of the few available electric cars, it's ride a horse or walk.

Material goods, if new, tend to be plain and standardized. Most clothing is tan, grey, or black. The food in the markets is basic, it's sound and healthy, that's generally it. There are exceptions. New Orleans still has a lively culinary tradition, wine is available in California. New York's bookstores are large and lavish. But exceptions are rare.

(more later)

[David Johnston2]

Rules Change In the Reaches: Humanity, and the aliens who learned space travel from humanity have spread far. Far enough that they've reached the Lower Reach, the "bottom" of Orion's Arm. where stars give way to intergalactic space. And there are things out there in the dark. The Lower Reach plays host to most if not all of what you'll find in Creatures of The Night. Plus the stuff Northwest Smith ran into. Honestly the genetically engineered vampires and the nanotech zombies are the least of it.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Rules Change In the Reaches: Humanity, and the aliens who learned space travel from humanity have spread far. Far enough that they've reached the Lower Reach, the "bottom" of Orion's Arm. where stars give way to intergalactic space. And there are things out there in the dark. The Lower Reach plays host to most if not of what you'll find in Creatures of The Night. Plus the stuff Northwest Smith ran into. Honestly the genetically engineered vampires and the nanotech zombies are the least of it.

KWEL! Lovecraft was always Sci Fi at heart.

[Astromancer]

Serapis

The planet Serapis was inhabited by humans long before it was "discovered" by humans. Basically, on certain popular jump routes, some misjumps, under odd circumstances, could land you with badly damaged engines in the star system Poimandres, with only two habitable worlds, the double planet Serapis and Harpocrates. Harpocrates is on the edge of habitability because it's both small and very dry, but Serapis is fairly Earthlike. So many desperate lost starfarers settled as castaways on Serapis.

Lucky for the castaways, Serapis has no diseases that humans can catch, well none other than "Lechery Fever." But old LF only makes you silly ( if you have GURPS: Celtic Myth use Capricious and Lercherous) and lecherous for a couple of weeks. Otherwise the planet is safe. Many native foods are edible and some of the animals could be domesticated easily. Later on, a ship bringing supplies, seeds, and livestock, to be distributed to colonies, misjumped and brought the colonists most Earth agricultural plants and livestock.

There were other people on Serapis. The Cercopes are flightless avian-forms. Looking like beautifully feathered Velociraptors with humanoid heads. These creatures are strong (St+3, HT+4) and fast(DX+3, Move+2), the real problem is that they are territorial, which is also their limit since they can't work together, The Cercopes (the word is both singular and plural) are substantially smarter than a normal human (IQ+3) but not nearly as smart as they assume they are. The Cercopes tend to try to catch humans as slaves, as Cercopes society can't function stably at the tribal level for very long, they normally live in bands, the threat, though real, is limited.

Many Cercopes join human society. They learn to accept limitations (they are smart) and they do surprisingly well. Although outside Cercopes are hostile to humans those that join human societies tend to love human culture and are deeply fond of humans. They tend to disapprove of certain things though, like clothing or regular job schedules. They put up with the latter and accept the former only for pragmatic safety reasons. They regularly campaign against excessive human use of clothing. They also feel humans need to get over ideas like chastity and sexual fidelity. Some human societies have partially come over to the the Cercopes' way of thinking after long indoctrination. Those Cercops living in human comunities passionately want all humans to become pansexual polyamorists nudist Aesthetites.

The Machlyes are very human looking except for their long prehensile tails and pointed ears. They're born seemingly genderless but at first maturation (normally about 23 Earth years old) they become female. After about forty Earth years they reach second maturation and become males, living for about forty to fifty years longer. Certain Maychlyes fail to achieve either first or second generation, these people become a priestly caste that watches over graveyards.

The Machlyes have about human stats accept for their tails and a high incidence of psi powers. They are interfertile with humans (this is a Space Opera/Planetary Romance setting, of course aliens and humans can have kids) but if the child is born with a gender ( about a tenth of them) they stay that way and about four out of five of those born without apparent gender fail to achieve First Maturation. Although if first maturation is achieved they always achieve second maturation. Perminantly "genderless" Human-Machlye hybreds are almost always very powerful psions. Many people have an interest in making sure there are plenty of hybrids around.

The Machlyes were often slaves of the Cercopes but also had independent kingdoms. The coming of humans has led to the adoption of many human ideas and social forms. Buddhism has spread like wildfire over the planet. Synthetic mixtures of Buddhism the native faiths (often seeming Shamanistic to Earth folk) with Christianity and/or Islam, are common. The Bible, the Koran, The Theogony, the Vedas, the Lebor Gabála Érenn, the Poetic Edda, and the Simarillion are all embraced as holy books.

(More Later)

[PTTG]

Are all the sapients on the planet castaways?

And what sort of people live on Harpocrates? My players would be bound to say something like "That green world is probably crawling with bandits and cannibal castaways. I bet we can survive someplace a little barren more easily than someplace overcrowded..."

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by PTTG

Are all the sapients on the planet castaways?

And what sort of people live on Harpocrates? My players would be bound to say something like "That green world is probably crawling with bandits and cannibal castaways. I bet we can survive someplace a little barren more easily than someplace overcrowded..."

It's assumed that both the Cercopes and the Machlyes evolved on Serapis. I'll give more details soon. I'm going for an Edgar Rice Burroughs mixed with Heinlein and Ashton Smith world. If I get a good inspiration I'll try to add a Le Guin element too.