A Pre-Apocalypse War Setting for Mutant Future

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Malcadon
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A Pre-Apocalypse War Setting for Mutant Future Dec 18, 2014 9:46:05 GMT Admin likes this

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Post by Malcadon on Dec 18, 2014 9:46:05 GMT

I have been thinking about a Mutant Future compatible setting that takes place before "The Big One", "The Final War", "Armageddon", etc. It would be akin to Star Frontiers, where players play futuristic adventures with access to credits and advanced gear. Much like the events in leading up to Armageddon in Gamma World, the conflict revolves around political ideology after a long span of peace and prosperity. Characters can be normal Humans, Androids or Metahumans (people who alter themselves with genetic enchantments and cybernetics). The setting is limited to advanced technology, as modern equipment are too archaic and would look too anachronistic to the esthetic of the setting — a retro sci-fi look with the technology (think Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon), where people have a '70s glam sci-fi look about them (with the colorful tights like in Space 1999, and all that Farrah Hair), with a bit of an old-school anime (a fair number of odd hair colors, and that is about it with that). I could have used any number of old-school sci-fi systems to build this setting on (Humanspace Empires, Space Ryft, Stars Without Number, Terminal Space, etc.), but I like Mutant Future, and the game needs more love.

If you guys know me, than you would know that what this project would lack in grammar, it would make-up for in kickass illustrations... if it should ever come out at all!

This is a work in progress. Hell, I don't even have a name for it yet!

THE BACKGROUND
In the setting's past, wars and pollution threaten humanity and the planet. When the dust cleared, it became apparent that humanity would have to take to the stars, but it would take time to get everything ready. There was a whole generation motivated to head out to lay the ground work for colonization to new words, and a strong desire mend the broken Earth.

Notions of traditional nations have been dying over the more popular nomadic lifestyle. At one time, travailing abroad was a prerequisite for heading out into the space colonies — it was expected that people of all sorts would be leaving Earth and bumping shoulders on a daily basis, so they all had to know how to deal with new people, and to know how to deal with unusual situations — but over time, the world become more cosmopolitan and people embraced the nomadic lifestyle as a way of life. This formed three major camps within the Earth Sphere:

The Establishment Society believe in the preservation of old nations, individual standards to reflect the history and traditions of a country (like establishment of laws to force everyone to speak the old language or reestablishing Standard Imperial measurements in U.S. communities) and the formation of unique customs and identities in space colonies. Their views reflect the desire for people to settle down to build national identities, at the cost of one's ease of travel. They feel that a transient lifestyle should only be a phase in one's life, where you move around to eventually settle down — most Globizens would disagree. The more extreme members are isolationists, who want to close off their respective community from outside influences and transients. Above all else, they believe in tradition and social stability.

The Nations of Globizens are perpetual travelers — modern Nomads, if you will — who embrace the world as one big road with countless points of interests. Although the movement grew form a desire to head out into space, they were too restless to take roots in a space colony, so head back to the earth to kept up their lifestyle. They believe that the Earth Sphere should be culturally uniformed and open to make it easier for them to travel and not get bogged down by rules and regulations that plagued the movement in the early years. The more extreme members are social anarchists who see government as an archaic system to control people. Above all else, they believe in freedom and adventure.

The New Worlders are people who believe that humanity has hurt to the Earth long enough, and the Earth should be abandoned no it could heal on its own. They mostly live in space colonies, with members on Earth advocating mass-exodus of the planet. They are at odds with the Establishment Society for being too attached to the Earth, and with the Nations of Globizens for not wanting to stay in space. The more extreme members want space travel a one-way fare, so that no one could ever return! Above all else, they believe in exploration and manifest destiny.

Within one or more groups, there are a number of outliers, sub-groups, fundamentalists, extremists, and special-interests groups. A number of these groups deal with post/trans-humanist ideologies. They are called Cadres. (I will address them later.)

People on Earth live in giant arcologies, on floating domed cities in the sky, or zipping along in flying vehicles. The arcologies are massive self-contained cities built into the ground — on land or under the sea — covered over by dirt so support the growth of a natural biome. They connect to each other by long spanning transit tunnels that work like pneumatic tubes. They were developed to help recover the earth, which faced near-catastrophe because of past wars and pollution, and to assure the health and safety of their citizenry by giving them a self-contained environment. They normally have large openings for flying vehicles to enter and leave. They are named after the cities that used to occupy the land. For the most part, they have replaced normal surface cities. Establishment Society members usually come form cities like these. While most cities are open and friendly towards Globizens, there are a growing number of cities that are becoming more and more hostile towards transient people. Floating domed cities are adrift in the open sky. They normally occupy a set aerial route so travelers can find them. Of all the types of communities on Earth, they are the most accepting of the Nations of Globizens, to the point that most people who live in such a city are transients. They connect to each other, along with ground cities, by airbuses and air-freighters. Members of the Globizen nation who are not at a layover in some city are traveling in some form of flying vehicle or submersible (or both). A young person would travel by aircar (his own or as a passenger), living between hostels. A more established traveler with a family in toe would likely own a mobile home in the form of a flying yacht or RV.

In space, people live in one of the many orbiting colony station, in a surface arcology on the Moon, Mars, etc., or as asteroid miners. Orbiting colony stations take on many shapes and sizes, as well as take on a number of roles: residence, research, entertainment, and so on. On any given planet, there would be a station that serve as a way station for movement (transit and supplies) between stations and planets. They are called "Hubs." Hubs tend to favor Globizens then Establishment or New Worlder members. Surface arcologies are like earthbound cites, including the power struggle between ideologies, but most people are indifferent. Asteroid miners are the roughest sort of folks. They live far beyond the civilized Earth Sphere in the Asteroid Belt, Jupiter's Greek/Trojan Belt, or the planetary rings of one of the gas giants. Most miners came form the New Worlders movement, and they have a strong sense of personal freedom.

THE CONFLICT
Tension between the three communities have boiled over into conflict, with each side blaming the others. Establishment Society forces fight to establish strong communities and to keep them safe form outside influences. Globizen fight to liberate communities and allow free mobility between them. New Worlder forces fight to free the Earth of a human presence. And the Cadres fight for their own fringe goals. Since few people are willing to risk life and limb to fight in this age, people who are dedicated to a cause made use of advancements in technology that allows them to duplicate themselves as expendable combat clones or replicants. If one of them is killed and their brains are intact, their thoughts and experiences can be downloaded into a new generation of fighters. The use of clones and replicants had the effect of fielding troops that have no regard to other people or themselves, as they treat their own existence as video game characters, with each new generation of fighters.

In this chaos, once great cities are ether urban warzones, closed fortress or cast in ruins. Underwater cities flooded, floating cities blown out of the skies, colony stations ripped open, and other cities in ruins. The skies are also no longer safe for casual travel. And countless civilians were caught in the crossfire. This is the reality of the Earth Sphere!

As characters, you play as free agents who can preform a wide range of unusual or clandestine missions. Given their agency, they do not have the luxury of maintaining a strong partisan stance, although, it could make for good character backstory.

As military forces seldom fight with unprotected infantry forces, human and human-like troop fight in combat armor. Combat armor are also enhanced by vehicle-like modules called S.L.A.V.E. (Servo-Linked Actuated Vehicular Engine) units that allows the wearer to control them through their suit's neural-link. There are also combat robots of all sorts, and military vehicles ranging form fighters to warships that can freely move freely between underwater, the air and outer space!

"They'll say: 'You can't joke about rape! Rape is not funny!' I say, fuck you! I think it's hilarious, how do you like that? I can prove to you that rape is funny. Picture Porky Pig... raping Elmer Fudd! Well, why do you think they call him 'Porky'?"

— George Carlin

Malcadon
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Posts: 951

A Pre-Apocalypse War Setting for Mutant Future Feb 5, 2015 5:29:00 GMT

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Post by Malcadon on Feb 5, 2015 5:29:00 GMT

Note: Everything here is subject to change!

Cadres

Additional factions within the setting.

The Naturalists are people who desire a "return to nature," by returning to a primitive state (but with the support of an advanced technological infrastructure). They are a naïve movement who believe that nature is a paradise, free of illness and suffering. They base their opinion from watching old videos of fictional characters living comfortably in forests and jungles. The problem is that humanity is so unaccustomed to actual wilderness, that they see man-made parks and gardens as untamed wilderness. As a result, they tend to shed their off all their clothing, cover their skin in war-paint, and camp out in parks and hydroponic bays. They can be a nuisance, as they see robots and normal people as intruders to their jungle paradise, and would attack the robots responsible for the care and maintenance of the vegetation and supporting systems. If any of them happens to find their way into actual wilderness, they would not last long, and would likely die form exposure or an infection. For the most part, they are seen as a minor nuisance in the conflict, as they keep to themselves and they are looked on like weirdos by all sides.

The Splicers see the human body as a blank canvas to which they alter and redesign. In the past, they would be apart of the "Body Mod" culture, but in a time where cybernetics and genetic alteration are well understood sciences and widely available, they are able to change their bodies in extreme ways. This movement is full of subgroups, with most who like to appear in exotic colors and forms. For example, the Furrie Folk are people who alter themselves to look like anthropomorphic animals (cute mammalian animals are the most popular). The Shakaitetsuo (Society of Iron Men) and Junkers are people who replace all their living parts with inorganic parts in a mismatched way, usually form common scrap. The Guided Ones make themselves look chiseled with metallic skin and hair coloring. The Aphroditus look like highly attractive women, but are hermaphrodites. And there are countless others. The common philosophy of the movement is man-made immortality and the ability to create new forms of gender and biology. While they (used to) have no issue with the HGPH and BBC movements (see below), they were forced to become adversaries when members of the HGPH attacked Splicer members, and the BBS have been pushing members into neuro-matrix conversions. If this movement had any real faults, it would be that they have children who also serve as a canvas for their genetic artistic masterpieces, and they have a tendency to induce or suppress the physical development of their children do to peer pressure. This tends to foster resentment with children who have to grew up looking weird or different. They also like to make animals intelligent, which creates ethical issues, as they are not always provided them with the means to act as a self-sufficient, intelligent beings — namely, human-like hands or speech.

The Blue Brain Collective (BBC) see physical bodies as limited compared to the greater possibilities that come with downloading one's brain into a neuro-matrix; a brain computer. This possess allows one to grow cognitively, over time, beyond what is possible with a normal human brain. They do interact with the physical world, but only though robotic proxies called "dolls." Their one true goal is to convert humanity to a cybernetic state of mind. One of their major faults is that their minds tend to form into massive hive minds — Collectives — were once individual minds merge into components to the greater whole. That, and they have been using biological terrorist attacks to make the world less habitable to living people, so they would be forced to retreat to the safety of a neuro-matrix. Above all else, they believe in knowledge and the potential of the mind.

The Human Genetic Preservation Front (HGPH) believe that the human body is perfect as it is, and reject all forms of genetic alteration (although, cybernetics and cosmetic alterations are considered more or less fine, and as long as they do not augment a person too much). One major hiccup with this movement is that most people tend to overlook that years ago, humanity used genetic alteration to treat congenital disorders, as well as to increase the standard of "average appearance" to that of modern super models, but the current standards of health and beauty are so normalized, people think that is natural. Moderates within the movement are more seasonable with genetic alteration, seeing its importance to maintain genetic health and longevity, but they are a minority to the larger extreme philosophy of genetic purity and limited mortality. The moderates are also quiet about their opinions out of fear of the majority. They see the Splicers and the BBC as an affronts to nature, and would take extreme actions to eliminate them. Above all else, they believe in genetic uniformity, without any natural deviations.

The Sons of Entropy are a cult of extreme nihilists who see humanity as a terrible evil that needs to be undone. Their one overall goal is to eradicate all intelligent life, and to cast all human creations in ruins so nature can consume it over time. They would covertly work within other groups to fulfill their deadly agenda. Their methods make use of the most deadly or effective attacks with little or no effort.

Character Options

Unless the party has been established as members of a group, characters in this setting are mercenaries by default. Free agents have no allegiance, and will fight for anyone who pays the most, or provides the best benefits.

Races

At first, few people (the first four races on the list) participated physically in the conflicts. Instead, they built an army of machines and synthetic troops (the last three races on the list) to fight for them. As things escalated, and everyday life become a constant conflict, more people become active within the political movements.

Pure Humans are normal, unaltered people. This is a rare one as they have no real benefit beyond greater rights and authority than the last four races on this list. The two major weaknesses of this races is that they have no augmentations (with no benefits to balance this out) and their lives are finite, in that they only have one life to give to their cause. Pure Humans can be converted to Altered Humans by genetic alteration or cybernetic implants. Their minds and DNA maybe donated to create an army of Replicates.

The lack of normal racial benefits (greater abilities and better hit dice) makes it easier to have them convert into Altered Humans, Cybernetic Minds and Replicates.

Altered Humans are people altered by genetic or cybernetic alteration. They are much like Pure Humans, but they have the benefit of enhancements (mutation-like abilities). Like Pure Humans, their minds and DNA maybe donated to create an army of Replicates.

Cybernetic Minds are people who downloaded their minds into a neuro-matrix and fully realized AIs. They have no physical bodies and their minds move freely on the cyber network, which is a whole enviroment into itself. They are able to manipulate the outside world though robotic proxies called "dolls." With this, they can control automatic systems, robots, and vehicle control systems. In an adventure, they acts as a disembodied helper who remotely deals with problems like a Hollywood super-hacker. Despite the remoteness of their forms, they are just as much in danger of attack as everybody else, as security systems and enemy Cybernetic Minds can damage or capture them.

Cybernetic minds can have mental mutation-like abilities to reflect their ability to control the physical world by overwriting hardware, while physical mutation-like abilities are limited to what they can do in cyberspace. Cyberspace is treated like physical space, save for a lack of gravity. Within cyberspace, one's Willpower score serve as Strength. While Charisma, with it luck and ego, acts as Constitution (including hit points).

Altered Animals are normal animals altered by genetic alteration. They have the basic stats of a stock animal, but they have enhancements to make them both fictional and powerful in some way. Their minds and DNA maybe donated to create an army of Replicates. They do not gravitate to political affiliations like people do, but they would support a movement more out of loyalty of a person then the ideology.

Androids are human- or animal-like robots with AIs or Cybernetic Minds. They are not seen as equal to people. They have the benefit of robotic enhancements (mutation-like abilities). Since they backup their minds in case of catastrophic damage, they can came back to life if a new body is available, but only with the memories up to the time the backup was made (much like a Save Point in a video game).

Synthetics are life-like androids. They are like Pure or Altered Humans or Animals, but like Androids, they can backup their minds.

Replicates are synthetic clones with a copy of a mind of a loyalist. They are like Pure or Altered Humans or Animals, but as a group, they have more lives to give to their cause. They only live for a few years (around four), but their experiences maybe recorded for the next generation of their stock.

Last Edit: Nov 21, 2015 2:46:20 GMT by Malcadon

— George Carlin