Beginning Lore

Welcome to the Human's Guide To The Galaxy. This short, helpful page will provide you with the very basics that you need to know about life in 2311 from the perspective of a human being.

Don't forget to bring a towel.

The Current Map: SEV Torch

• The current map, the SEV Torch is an SCG vessel on a deep space exploration mission. It is controlled by the Expeditionary Corps and has a number of SCG Fleet personnel aboard who have all volunteered to be there. There is also a sizeable contingent of employees from a variety of organizations, jointly bundled under the name Expeditionary Corps Organization, commonly referred to by its abbreviation, EXO, as well as an array of contractors from all walks of life, who may be employees of other Corporations.
• The Torch was launched at the beginning of 2307.
• The Torch regularly goes into deep space on a variety of survey missions. Sometimes it is asked to undertake other duties.
• A survey mission lasts several months and the Torch returns to a port in the Sol system at the conclusion. It heads back out again after a refit, refill and crew vacation.
• Passengers have paid for a ticket and are aboard for at least the duration of the current survey mission. The tickets are expensive, but passengers are not necessarily rich.
• All crew who are not from the Expeditionary Corps (Fleet, Contractors, etc.) volunteered for their position.

Humanity

• Humans have spread far from Earth, and exist over many nearby stars.
• Earth itself is still home to a sizeable human population, though the planet is effectively a large nature reserve with the remaining population living in large, focused population centers and arcologies. Great pains are taken to care for the environment and native fauna and flora. Nation states as they once were have long ceased to exist.
• Humanity exists in two main forms, the Sol Central Government (SCG) and the Gilgamesh Colonial Confederation (GCC) which are two competing, local superpowers currently engaged in a cold war.
• The current leader of the Sol Central Government is the Secretary-General, Amaya Barros.
• Many of the political institutions of the SCG are based in Olympus, Mars.
• Only humans can become citizens of the Sol Central Government or any of its members. Aliens are, however, able to acquire residency rights.
• The largest corporations are based on Luna.
• Humanity exists in other places, though in a far more rustic, colonial and disorganized state, as well as on stations and other habitats in the void between worlds.
• Humanity is currently enjoying a terse, frosty peace between the two superpowers following the Gaia Conflict.
• Most Humans are still from Sol itself, with Mars being the political hub of the SCG, Luna being the corporate hub and Venus, Pluto and Ceres also being of interest.
• The two other largest population centers in the SCG are Tau Ceti and Helios. There are many more colonies.
• The GCC is home to the second largest human population, and is ideologically divergent from the SCG. Despite this, many humans from the more libertarian and militaristic GCC work in SCG space. "Indies" as they are known, are often viewed with suspicion, derision and outright hostility by SCG citizens as a result of numerous war crimes and expansionism during the Gaia Conflict.
• There is still a large class divide which varies from planet to planet.
• The Expeditionary Corps is a Uniformed Service of the Sol Central Government, concerned with non-military objectives such as exploration, surveying and the discovery of new life and alien technology.
• The Fleet is the primary military force of the SCG, and is concerned with military objectives such as the defence of SCG Space, dealing with piracy and cracking down on rebellions and insurrectionists. It also occasionally engages in search and rescue and humanitarian aid.
• Members of the Fleet and the EC must give up their planetary affiliations and adopt SCG Citizenship when they join.
• The agents of the Sol Federal Police (SFP) are also found on the Torch, and are a federal-level law enforcement agency concerned with dealing with cross-planetary and cross-system crime, interstellar organised crime and crime in the void between worlds.
• Aliens serving in the EC are exchange personnel from their own planets, and not permanent, full members of the corps.
• The Expeditionary Corps is headquartered in the SCGECO or 'The Observatory' for short, a large orbital installation between the Sun and Mars.
• The Fleet is headquartered in Olympus, on Mars, and has a myriad over bases and installations across human space.
• Corporations have large amounts of political influence and economic power throughout the SCG, and some dominate or directly control a star system or planet.
• One of if not the largest corporation is arguably NanoTrasen, which is extremely diverse in its portfolio and assets. Primarily concerned with bluespace, phoron and biomedical research. It also maintains a large, private security force and effectively controls the Nyx system. NanoTrasen is unscrupulous and aggressive in its business practices, often favouring profit above other considerations. Most of its management are extremely competitive and are known for their backstabbing and back room deals.
• Humanity has only rare encounters with Vox within human space, and they are usually long gone before the Fleet intervenes in their hostile actions. It is exceptionally rare for anyone to have entered combat with them prior to the Torch mission.

The Variants

• Space-Adapted humans are genetically modified humans and those that exist today are the descendent of the originally modified humans. Originally made for work in the rigours of space, they are small in number and are viewed with an "uncanny valley" mindset by normal humans as a result of their somewhat strange modifications. A number of them remain in the Helios system, where a distinct subculture has formed.
• Grav-Adapted humans are much like Space adapted, though they are greater in number and are found all across human space. Originally made for work in high-pressure environments. Many are close knit within their families, though fiercely independent, hardy and hard working.
• Tritonians are another gene-mod variant of humanity, and by far the most divergent, adapted to exist in an amphibious lifestyle in locations such as Triton and other ocean moons or planets, they are bulky and covered in a layer of blubber.
• Vat-Grown humans are humans grown through purely artificial means in growth pods. They are not grown in this manner to maturity, but instead for a regular gestation period. Such humans can end up in a myriad of situations.
  • Many are expensively grown designer babies, children of the rich, the powerful, the well connected. They usually see themselves as superior others, mostly as a result of their rich upbringing, and lack many of the issues naturally born humans may have.
• Boosters are a subculture of self-modifying biohackers who experiment on themselves in new and exciting ways, much to the chagrin of baseline humanity.
• Mules are the physically deformed, psionically-tainted edge-dwellers of human space, exposed to the interstellar abyss for long enough to be fundamentally changed.

Other Life

There are a myriad of other alien species that humanity has made contact with and enjoy usually cordial and amicable relations with.

• The Skrell are the first alien species humanity made contact with, and are a somewhat largely unknown factor for most humans outside of any personal meetings they may have with individual Skrell. Many Skrell enjoy friendly relations with humanity.
• The Dionaea are an amalgamation of nymphs traveling across the universe in search of knowledge.
• The Unathi are honor-bound and highly religious reptilians from a backwater world with a splintered society. They are somewhat friendly with humanity.
• The Adherent are siliconoid machine-servitors of a now-extinct culture to whom they are devoted.
• The IPC or Independent Positronic Chassis' are quantum-powered computers in a robotic chassis produced en-mass by humanity. They are found all over human space and some are even within the Defence Forces.
• The Giant Armoured Serpentids are massive insectoid predators with snake-like movement, owned by a corporation and contracted to do labor for the Torch and other organisations.
• The Vox are strange reptilian servitors from a decaying culture, hell-bent on stripping humanity of everything of value it holds. They are not friendly with humans.

Technology

• The main source of power in human space is nuclear fusion.
• Supermatter engines are extremely rare aboard vessels, and are mainly used by NanoTrasen.
• Phoron is a rare gas with odd and somewhat difficult to determine properties that is mined almost exclusively in the Nyx system, though deposits of it are found across the galaxy in smaller quantities.
• Healthcare is advanced and free in the SCG, though availability and wait times can vary massively depending on where you are. In some places, it is faster and of arguably better quality (though more expensive) to pay for private, corporate healthcare.
• Bluespace is the dimension which humanity crosses into in order to engage in FTL travel. Time spent in bluespace is short, and vessels are shielded from it while passing through.
• Rarely, bluespace is known to inflict odd changes on humans who are subjected to it without proper shielding leading to events that defy the physics of our universe. Such events are extremely rare and the subjects usually die quickly. Such events are usually only known in academic circles.
• FTL travel is costly and expensive. Most humans travel via gateways which connect human systems. Gateway installations are massive toruses with a number of smaller installations built around them, and are often orbital cities unto themselves. Huge, costly, and well defended, humanity is reliant on them to remain connected.
• Bluespace drives mounted on ships are rare for humans, only being seen on a few, expensive Fleet vessels, some corporate ships, and the rare trillionaire's private yacht.
• FTL travel without either relies on finding unstable bluespace 'tears' that naturally occur. The use of these unstable portals is risky and relies on luck and expert piloting to exit safely. Such tears have a fixed entry and exit point.
• Full Body Prosthetics are somewhat common across human space, and are primarily used to replace an entire human body in the event of catastrophic injury, housing only the brain of the original person. The process is traumatic and many FBP's are emotionally scarred. The First commercially available FBP technology is only two decades old, and being able to acquire one is a relatively recent thing.
• Artificial intelligence is common, though ship-bound artificial intelligence is expensive to install and integrate, and thus is considerably rarer. Individual synthetic units are far more common and are seen across the galaxy in a variety of roles.
• Terraforming is somewhat common, but is usually limited to small, dense worlds. It is only partially successful for large planets.
• Within the SCG, cloning an adult human is an expensive and time-consuming process, and after gestation the new vat-grown human must be raised normally.

Paracausality

• In 2300, an Expeditionary Corps outpost far on the frontier picked up a set of irregular radio waves on one of its radio telescope arrays from far into the void. What the outpost received was not expected. The howling dark, terrifying whispers in a thousand languages, and something else. Since this time, scientists and conspiracy theorists alike have puzzled over the nature of it.
• Further attempts to pick up this signal by the ECO have failed. Vessels have been sent to investigate. Further attempts to pick up this signal have only been possible from the edges of known space.
• Since its discovery, a small number of persons have shown to exhibit paracausal abilities. Though these abilities are typically weak and can best be described as 'party tricks,' most often manifested as the ability to levitate small objects off the ground, or guess what colour or number someone is thinking.
• The Cuchulain Foundation is a non-profit body based out of Neptune orbit. They perform niche research on behalf of private parties, the SGC, and their own interests. Conspiracy theorists and some academics claim their primary interest is in paracausal matters.
• Those who have been altered or impacted by these transmissions typically exhibit fatalistic tendencies and a subdued demeanour, if not more excessive moods. They also typically avoid making themselves known and attempt to blend in with normal society once again.
• The drug, Three-Eye, is a highly potent, highly addictive substance from the frontier of human space, and is heavily restricted within the SCG. Possession alone is worth mandatory jailtime.

Crime

• Piracy is rampant within Sol Space, as is illegal smuggling. Border worlds, colonies and stations in the void are often the victims of pirate raids.
• Organised crime exists on many planets, and there is a strong black market across the Sol System for illegal goods.
• Some criminal elements have developed and deploy highly advanced technology to accomplish their goals. Such technology is often unknown or considered highly experimental by academics, and is not an expected or common sight to the average person.