Friday, 3 February 2017

The Story So Far....

Travelling the Labyrinth, one finds a whole subculture of undesirables, the credit-less Corvo, the unsubmitting Iz'kal, the peaceful Raag.

Some of these folk do odd jobs, stealing, smuggling and moving people and cargo around Known Space.

And here our story begins, with a loose collection of folk, abord an old Corvo light freighter, The Gypsy. Folk with different abilities and knowledge, just working for some coin.

On the first aventure (the Intro), a simple scouting trip found a deserted planet, populated by some very nasty Beetleboars, and a faint energy signature showed to be an old Korian power cell. Where it had come, no one could tell.

On the second adventure (based on Burning Games' intro adventure), the mission was to track down The Purple Thunderous a Corvo heavy freighter that had gone missing. Upon tracking an almost invisible trail of paint flecks through the Labyrinth, the players emerged onto Normal Space to find the ship adrift. Inside, the truth was heartstopping, the freighter had been hit by a Ravager scout and hadd been boarded. The characters fought dearly for their lives, and managed to escape the ship with some salvage, a human survivor, and a keycard they found  in the captains' quarters, revealing the ship was the property of Nation's Solution, one of the Corvosphere's biggest corps....


...who will never stop tracking their own....


Life and where to find it.

Life: What's out there? We don't know.

Although the space occupied by both the Corvosphere and The State (with the addition of any space currently occupied by any Raag Ice Fortress) is vast is individual terms, it is the proverbial drop in the galactic ocean. Most star systems will have planets/planetoids. About 10% of these will have some form of basic/lower life. This can mean simply a primordial soup, and all the way to lower animals/plants. And then 0.1% of these planets will have some form of sentient life. These will vary wildly, from slightly intelligent animals all the way to civilisations. Some of these will have found the Labyrinth. And then, on the top of that very local pyramid, we have the Corvo and the Iz'kal.


But exploration and scouting missions go off all the time in every direction. There's bound to be more stuff out there....




Oh what's in a name?

Star Systems, Planets and Stations:

There are billions of planets around stars in Known Space, and more are discovered daily. As there are - apparently - no limits to the extension of the Labyrinth, Known Space is just that, the bubble of space around the Corvosphere and The State that has been explored. Most stars and/or planets will have a code in their respective races' catalogues, although some leaked Coalition starmaps have combined both referentials. If the planet has been visited or is inhabited, a more informal name is usually used. 

Examples are:
XT-22-94, Dirtball, Sigma Delta 4, Evraoh, Bral, Umaets, Slui'i, The Bazaar, Xin's Fortune, Ahhma Falls, Procyon III, KD - 329, 1889 - Gamma, Draconis 27, Odin's Eye, The Anvil, Night's Sword


Names: 
Names are as varied as the number of stars in the heavens. Traditionally Corvo names are made of 3 units, denoting proper name, family and bloodline. Raag names are more varied in structure and do not follow a recognisable pattern, as they evolved from a non-written language. Iz'kal names are simple, and harmonious.
All of this said, most sentients will sometimes prefer to be called by a nickname or callsign.

Examples:

Corvo:
Kai'Xi'Chu, Ko'Fai'Jy, Sio'Hu'Wua, Hao'Gui'Dde

Iz'kal:
Faatin Hassen, Izzat Baksh , Widd Abby, Tayy Zaddi

Raag:
Shoan Ronn , Montyl Javik, Airal Pavan, Hela Berav

Human:
Rutland Evans, Silas Campbell, Evelyn Roberts, Selina Shaw


Ruling over all.

Governments:

The Corvo: Each colony of the Corvo is nominally fairly independent. Communication is slow in Known Space, so a centralised administration would be difficult. If an issue affects more than one such colonies, councils are generated, with independent observers are moderators. The collection of all these interests are colectively refered to as the Corvosphere.

The Iz'kal: All Iz'kal are part of the same network, called The State. The species does have a number of colonies, but these are always considered to be part of the whole. Even with the slowness of Known Space communications, they strive for The Greater Good.


The Raag: The species is split into 4 or 5 major clans and a myriad smaller ones. Each travels around in modified comets and frozen asteroids, called the Ice Fortresses. Periodically, these travel back to their homeworld with resources and information. There is constant warfare between them.

The Humans: No centralised government, considered to be associate race of the Corvosphere.


The Ravagers: Monarchy, insomuch as there are Queens, in the same way of Terran bees or ants. Details are unknown.

Other Players and Places

The Bazaar. Originally Iz'kal resupply station Blue-448, located in N-Space, inside a decent sized chamber of the Labyrinth. Sold to a consortium of investors after the Reticulum Agreements, and the stabilisation of the Coreawards border. Now nicknamed 'The Bazaar', or even 'The Bizarre', it serves as an unofficial trading post. The main races allow its presence and operation due to the money generated by smuggling and information that filters from everywhere. If you visit, try The Lucky Star bar on level 4, section 8. You'll never drink a smoother T'inn Woo


The Coalition: an alliance of Iz'Kal and Corvo military forces, focused on the Ravager threat. They have been given unprecedented freedom of movement and resources, becoming effectively a new, independent player in Known Space. They have total authority to operate and manage areas of space (including while systems), that show Ravager activity.



The Lucky Star: prime watering hole of The Bazaar. You can see elements of all major races dealing, drinking and gambling in this place. Come for the business or the booze and you won't be disappointed. Weapons are recommended, at pretty much all times.



The Races of Faith

The Corvo: Rampaging capitalists. Lovers of profit and technology. The most outspread of all the races, as they need to expand quickly to feed the unstoppable machine that is their dominions, the Corvosphere. If you have money, your quality of life will be without equal. If you don't, you'll be the lowest of the low. Corvo-tech is the most advanced in Known Space.

The Iz'kal. Mildly telepathic humanoids, evolved from marine mammals. A civilisation with virtually no lying and very little crime. Their culture, called The State, is very eco-aware, and expands keeping a balance between technology and nature. Masters of genetic manipulation, embryos are changed to perform their future jobs whilst still in uterus. If you don't conform, you'll have your whole race against you.


The Humans: Mankind self destructed in the fires of WWIII. When the Corvo arrived, they had very little effort annexing Earth. Humans would never again have a big civilisation, but through the Corvo, they moved out into Known Space as elite mercenaries. Most Corvo ships have one or two humans in cryo, for defence. Their services are highly sought by all races. Most humans are genetically sterilised by the Corvo, as a condition of contract off-Earth, to avoid having a highly trained growing population within their borders.

The Raag: Small but strong humanoids. Their homeworld is a frozen wasteland. After centuries of slavery, they rose up and wiped out their former masters, keeping huge amounts of their tech. The Raag now roam Known Space in their Ice Fortresses, looking for resources, as their Enginseers study their former slavers' tech. Ruthless towards enemies, most clans exist in a state of perpetual warfare. Rare is the Raag that perishes of natural causes. The biggest clans are the Kimora, the Eferi, the Velada, the Noteri and the Jino.


Ravagers. Origin: unknown. Purpose: unknown. A hive mind of countless organic obscenities intent on absorbing all living matter. 2 know planets dead, countless smaller incursions into Known Space. Never forget: the Queens never spend calories without a purpose.





Once upon a time....

‘I doubt this is the future your forefathers imagined, child. I’ve been told of you humans. You evolved on a planet in a distant sector, now part of the Corvosphere.

Your achievements were many, but war ended up destroying you. When the Corvo came out of the network of wormholes called the Labyrinth over your planet, there was little left, just roaming clans of savages. In the blink of an eye, your Earth was part of the Corvo dominions, the Corvosphere.

Funny bunch, the Corvo. Vaguely insectoid, a civilization obsessed by technology, and ran by Mega Corps. They are, however, masters at finding value in things. And you humans were so adaptable; you became elite mercenaries for the Corvo. And they needed all the help they could find, the Labyrinth isn’t empty.


As a sort of cosmic counterbalance to the Corvo, we have the Iz’kal. Descendent from marine mammals, they have a latent telepathy that allows them to link together. Their species is all about sharing, and the greater good, but don’t think them weak. Their combined civilization, The State, might not be as advanced as the Corvo, but they take an attack on one as an attack on all.


Then you have my kind, child, the Raag. Not much to say, really. We were enslaved for centuries by another race, the Korian. There were mean and cruel. Then the Uprising happened and we killed them instead. All of them. We then converted ice asteroids into our Ice Fortressed and with them we roam the Galaxy looking for resources. Humans and Raag were simply clinging on to the Iz’kal-Corvo cold war.

The two species wouldn’t – couldn’t – see eye to eye, but after a couple of engagements, they quickly saw that an all out conflict would wipe them both out. There was, and is, tension, with both sides doing shadow-y ops, trying to bring the other down from the inside, damaging resource collection, destroying facilities, and so on.


And then, 20 of your years ago, another player joined the field. Izuan Tai, Persaius, planets that no longer are, so we could know the Harvesters. What they are, where they come from are questions we still ask. They are as varied as pebbles in a stream, with towering beasts, humanoids indistinguishable from you or I, and everything else in between. All they want is to consume all organic material and preserve their Hive and their Queens. The Corvo and Iz’kal created the Coalition, a joint army, answerable to none, with total authority over Harvester infected systems.

So here we are, little one. 5 races, as many as the fingers in your hand.

Each of them wanting to survive and
thrive, even if it has to go over all the other 4.
All travelling the stars
using the Labyrinth. And all slowly encroaching on each others’ territory.

We live in interesting times, young one….’


Kwoonshy ‘Onshy’ Treeg, Clan Taber, Raag Soryteller.