39,327
edits
Fading Suns: Difference between revisions
update links
Derivative (talk | contribs) m (→top: Fixing links to disambiguation pages) |
(update links) |
||
Line 2:
{{quote|''It is the dawn of the sixth millennium and the skies are darkening, for the suns themselves are fading. Humans reached the stars long ago, building a Republic of high technology and universal emancipation — and then squandered it, fought over it, and finally lost it. A new Dark Age has descended on humanity, for the greatest of civilizations has fallen and even the stars die. Now, feudal lords rule the Known Worlds, vying for power with fanatic priests and scheming guilds.''}}
A science-fiction role-playing game by Holistic Design company, designed by Bill Bridges and Andrew Greenberg, known also for their work on ''[[The World of Darkness]]'' games.
In [[Exty Years From Now|the near future]], Earth unifies politically under the aegis of [[Mega Corp|international megacorporations]]. Corporate rule quickly turned oppressive, yet the First Republic also saw exploration and economic development of Solar System. Then, in the 24th Century, humans discovered the Stargate, a first proof (excluding several dubious findings on Mars) of extraterrestrial civilisation. What's more important, the huge artifact opened the door to the [[Portal Network|Jumpweb]] left by [[Precursors|the ancient race]], dubbed Ur or Anunnaki.
The corporations seized the opportunity; quickly, though, they discovered their inability to exert control over the colonists, who, one community after another, declared themselves independent from Earth. Thus the Diaspora was born. Many of these communities were led by charismatic people, often forming ruling clans. These clans, for added splendor, often traced their lineages to [[Royal Blood|royalty and aristocracy]] of pre-Space Earth, becoming [[Blue Blood|noble houses]].
Line 10:
The discovery of alien civilisations was a blow to already weak organised religions, and various sects, Anunnaki cults and others sprang up. Among them, the most notorious (and most hunted, due to its dangerousness to corporate and social order) was the Sathra cult, popular among starship pilots. In the 28th Century, Zebulon, a Christian - either Catholic or Orthodox - priest took to the stars, hoping for some kind of sign. The illumination he found was beyond his dreams. He became the Prophet of a new, ultimate faith, preaching to humans and aliens of the Diaspora, performing miracles and gathering Apostles and followers, who after his death wrote the Omega Gospels and started the [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Church of Celestial Sun]].
In the early to mid-fourth millenium, inspired by the Church and ideas of free trade and philosophies of human rights, the people of the Diaspora united again, forming the mighty Second Republic. It was a period of unparallelled progress; people settled countless worlds, scientists were on track to prove anything was possible, illnesses and hunger belonged to legends, and medical care made even the most suicidal of extreme sports safe. But all things come to an end.
Closing to the turn of millenium, cheap robotic and alien labour left many jobless, scientific experiments began to [[For Science!|turn Frankensteinian]], the man-on-the-street linked the Republic with heavy taxes and political squabbles. And above all, [[It Got Worse|stars began to fade]]. While one by one, border worlds were leaving the republic, at its heart people turned to noble houses preaching the ideals of ''noblesse oblige''. The ten most powerful of these took up arms to fight the separatists, but to save the Republic was not their intention. Finally, the Ten conquered the capital world and Second Republic came to an end.
Line 18:
Vladimir, however, did leave an apparatus of administration - and a precedent. In the 50th Century, one Imperial claim unleashed an avalanche, plunging the Known Worlds into a five-way (as five of the original Ten perished or lost their influence in the meantime) war, with the Church and Merchant League eyeing the situation in case of a possibility to establish a theocracy or another republic. But one man - Alexius Hawkwood - managed to gather the support of the Church and League, forged an alliance with Houses al-Malik and Li Halan, defeated his opponents, and crowned himself as Emperor Alexius the First.
The new Emperor took swiftly to rebuilding the Known Worlds after the war. Instead of imposing his rule by force of his army, Alexius opted for a more charismatic and peaceful lead, by inspiring others to join him and stirring the old power structures to release the eager young. Thus he started a period of opportunity and hope - a perfect time for those who want to forge their own destiny.
...And this is when the Player Characters appear.
A great strength of the game is its versatility - do you like court intrigues? It's here. War stories? At least three fronts at the moment. Hard SF or space opera? We've got the ships, we've got the weapons. Guilds and fleets await. Soft SF, fantasy elements? Psionic powers, Ur ruins, Church demonology in the countryside. Lovecraftian horror? Daemons and Void Krakens. Cyberpunk? Guild affairs at the lowest levels of megacities. Dungeon crawl? Ur ruins and forgotten Republican complexes still here. Even D&D-style heroic fantasy, if you try.
Line 26:
The creators' idea for a game is ''Passion Play'', that is, [[Central Theme|to view the adventures of the Player Characters as a saga of Mankind's redemption.]]
Fading Suns has a game system of its own (expanded tri-stat) and official [[D20 Modern|d20]] conversion (there's also at least one fan-made - into [[
* ''The Sinful Stars: Tales of the Fading Suns'' (short-story anthology) and ''My Time Among the Stars: The Collected Alustro’s Journals'' ([[Fictional Document|the journals of Guissepe Alustro, a traveling priest]]) books by Bill Bridges.
* ''Noble Armada'' - "A starship miniatures combat game of broadsides and boarding actions in space. All supplements are approved for use with ''[[Traveller]]''".
Line 52:
* [[Deadly Decadent Court]]: in particular, House Decados has scheming as favourite pastime, also obviously the Imperial Court.
* [[Deflector Shields]]: somewhat Dune-like. You can slip your blade "under" the activating force threshold (as in Dune), or try to overwhelm it with raw strength. One notable difference from Dune is that energy weapons won't cause any [[Mutual Kill|mutually destructive]] reactions with shields, though plasma and fire damage has a small chance of leaking through a shield.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]] - It's kind of between [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] and [[Warhammer
** Superficial similarities to [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] are just that: superficial. This setting has a real sense of humanity struggling to survive, to hold on to what it's got. Warhammer is just far too 'big picture' to have anything but a passing resmblance. If you have doubts, simply recall that the Imperium is perfectly willing to sacrifice planets to save sectors, and sectors to save even larger regions.
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The Void Krakens, natch. They dwell in the darkness between stars, making [[Hyperspace Is a Scary Place|hyperspace the less scary (and lethal) alternative to interstellar travel]] in the setting.
Line 79:
* [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]]: the Jumpgates are ancient artifacts. A lot of crucial technologies (anti-gravity, for example) are reverse-engineered versions of Vau tech.
* [[Lost Technology]]: plenty of, due to the fall of the Republic. There is a major guild making quite a profit by digging it up. The Ur artifacts may also count (particularly to [[Fish People|Oro'ym]] who appear to have been once a star-faring species), but given how they work, it's probably closer to Lost Magical Artifacts than to Lost Technology.
* [[Mega Corp]]: the Guilds (at least the biggest ones) are descendants of such and may share some traits.
* [[Medieval Stasis|Neo-Medieval Stasis]]: [[Justified Trope|justified]] by the Church declaring [[Science Is Bad|tech evil]] for everyone except the rich, the noble and the ordained and everyone else in a state of shock after the fall of Republic. The game is set in a period when the stasis is ending.
* [[Mohs Scale of Sci Fi Hardness]]: the system tries to act tough once in a while, but is a big softie.
* [[Multi Armed And Dangerous]]: Vorox.
Line 97:
* [[Soulsaving Crusader]]: Played straight sometimes, subverted at other times. The "extreme penance" required of psychics ''does'' work and ''is'' helpful to reduce [[The Dark Side|Urge]], and some psychics and theurges can literally see people's sins and know the means to correct them. On the other hand, the Church doesn't always get it right; for example, the [[God|Pancreator]] does ''not'' agree that Invention is a sin, and [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul]] is more or less incorrect.
** That is of course assuming the Pancreator is as humans believe 'him' to be. The religious angle is a very subtle dig at how mythologies erupt around people. The Prophet may (as in probably) actually have been just another man, who simply had a group of companions later venerated as saints ('Saint Paulus' was actually a pilot called Paul Deveroux).
** The Church's reasoning is beginning to fall apart because they preached that the Fading Suns (which began a thousand years earlier, but had happened in earlier times) were being caused by humanity's technological hubris (that science and technology were the source of the sin that was letting the demons fade the suns). Unfortunately a ''thousand'' years of penance has resulted in exactly nothing changing.
* [[Space Opera]]
* [[Space Is an Ocean]]: the starships are very expensive to produce and repair so it's in nobody's interest to blow them to smithereens during battle: this means that after a few shots to disable the enemy's main weapons, the ship is boarded by marines who, using bladed weapons, make their way to the bridge (get the Charioteer) and the drive section (get the Engineer) and generally try to take over the ship with as minimal damage to the ship as possible. Also, the weapons are very short range (for distances in space) and thus any exchange of fire happens at distances of kilometers or less. According to [[Word of God]], Fading Suns spacefaring is supposed to emulate the age of sail.
* [[The Stars Are Going Out]]: [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|as in the title]], for reasons unknown. {{spoiler|According to one legend that may or may not be true, inverted. A star supposedly blazed to new life at the moment Alexius Hawkwood took the throne.}}
* [[Sword Fight]]: the nobility likes to solve their issues by duelling, thus sword fights abound.
** Most of the nobility does that with [[Royal Rapier|rapiers]]. House Hazat prefers larger, heavier swords, which could be read as anything from a longsword to [[BFS|a two-handed claymore]]. The more rustic among Hawkwood can sometimes be seen with swords and shields.
** [[Vibroweapon|Vibro Weapons]]
** [[Razor Floss]]: swords [[Sharpened to a Single Atom|of monofilament]] (wireblades) are often prized [[Ancestral Weapon]]s.
* [[Used Future]]: the areas with higher tech levels tend to be full of slums, [[Back-Alley Doctor|Back Alley Doctors]] offering used cybernetics, rust and dirt, while the high-tech stuff itself (like starships) tends to be centuries old and dilapidated.
Line 121:
[[Category:Science Fiction Tabletop Games]]
[[Category:Tabletop Games]]
[[Category:Fading Suns]]▼
[[Category:Tabletop Games]]
| |||