Prologue: Assumptions & Truths
These are the truths about the world of our Starforged game. They set the groundwork for the adventures that follow.
Assumptions
This is a perilous future. Two centuries ago, your people fled a cataclysm and settled a distant galaxy they call the Forge. This is a chaotic place full of dangers and mysteries.
This is a celestial melting pot future. Humanity shares the universe with various forms of intelligent alien life.
This is a diverse future. There is a vibrant mix of people and cultures among the humans of the Forge.
This is a far-flung future. Settlements lie scattered and often isolated from one another. Your starship can travel at faster-than-light speeds, but it’s ponderously slow at a cosmic scale.
This is an unexplored future. Discoveries await. Even in settled regions, much of the Forge is unknown and uncharted.
This is a wondrous future. The Forge is a galaxy of ancient mysteries, spacefaring creatures, startling phenomenon, and other marvels.
This is an analog-future. Advanced technology is at odds with its analog interfaces. Resources are scarce, and the people of the Forge must cobble together what they can.
This is an unjust future. Those in power hoard resources, control technologies, and impose their will on others through force or cunning. Others must stand against these forces of imperialism and oppression.
This is a hopeful future. Despite these challenges, hope remains. Fulfilling your sworn vows is a realization of that hope.
Truths
Cataclysm
The Sun Plague extinguished the stars in our home galaxy - dyson spheres run amok, pulling more and more power from our suns until they were snuffed out.
Exodus
Mysterious alien gates provided instantaneous one-way passage to the forge. An automated system gave humanity a do over.
Communities
Humanity has tied its remaining ships together into an exodus fleet, and roam the forge looking for a home. The dream of Terra Nova is strong, but as time drags on, splinter factions propose radical new ideas.
Iron
Iron Vows are sworn upon relic iron from earth, carried aboard a single Exodus Fleet ship and given to humans as part of a ritual for adulthood. To the aliens of the Forge, this is Black Iron.
Laws
The Foundation, a government set up by the existing Forge civilizations keeps order and assimilates ‘incoming’ species. Humanity has resisted this assimilation, opting for a continued refugee status.
Religion
The Foundation guarantees freedom of religion, and there are as many religions as races among the members. Some within the Forge worship the mysterious precursors as gods and devils.
Magic
Being pulled to Forge imbued humanity with innate magic but we are still learning how to make the best use of it.
Comms and Data
In the inhabited regions, a mesh network of comms buoys and ground stations keeps up a fairly robust internet, at the cost of tremendous power. Connectivity can be spotty in the outer regions.
Medicine
As magic flowed into the peoples of the Forge, it quickly outpaced scientific medical technology. Even simple band-aids are replaced with disposable packages of medi-dust to sprinkle over a wound, available at all Foundation settlements for a price. In the far reaches of the Forge, rescue for hire is often the only recourse capable of braving the dangers of the void.
AI
AI are ubiquitous within the Forge, complete with their own civil rights. One of the Foundation races was an artificial intelligence, and a point of contention exists with humans not wanting to grant their AIs full citizenship within the Forge.
War
With the strong Foundation government comes a strong collective military composed of the races of all of its members, including newly drawn humans. Service has excellent benefits. The Foundation military frequently deals with pirates, insurrectionists, and resolving civil wars.
On retirement, one option many service members take is a small personal spacecraft, often called “oldtimers”, and they can be seen commonly exploring and trading across the forge.
Lifeforms
Planets of the forge vary wildly in climate and biome, but all are full of life and hospitable to the races of the Foundation. It is rare to find a planet devoid of life.
Precursors
An ancient race constructed the forge and had the wherewithal to develop technology to save dying races by bringing them here, but nobody knows exactly what happened to them.
Horrors
Most insist that horrors aren’t real. Spacers know the truth.