To Vesper Skies: The Setting

As I work more on the sci fi game I eventually will run, I've been building up the setting and how it will work.

The Basics

So the game will start on a dying Earth. Humanity made it to the stars, but were only able to extensively colonize Luna and the L4 and 5 points of orbit, with only outposts on Mars. Digital consciousness uploading has become a thing and humans are slowly making the jump to transhumanity. Things were looking great for the United Nations of Earth. Until humanity broke the moon. A terrible mining incident on Luna went horribly wrong and it shattered the moon. The falling rocks devastated the Earth and destroyed all of the lunar colonies. Now the Earth is covered in a permanent cloud of moon dust that blocks the sun. The world is cold, the ocean has swallowed most of the large cities, and humanity is dying. A global last ditch effort using all of their remaining resources has been put into a wormhole generator and ark ship that will get humanity to a habitable planet found in the New Earth Sky Survey on the other side of the galaxy. This is a one way trip for the millions of humans uploaded to the ark. Your mission is to make it to the Cape Atlanta Space Center, launch to the Tevat in the asteroid belt, traverse the wormhole, and colonize onto NESS 89-03, ensuring the future of humanity.

The Trip

The players will spend a couple of sessions (no more than four) getting to the new planet. They'll have to deal with those that would sabotage the mission or usurp it for their own agenda. Once they make it to the planet NESS 89-03 from the wormhole, they'll be focused on that planet and possibly the other celestial bodies in their newly claimed system. There is no FTL drive (yet) nor aliens (yet), but there are plenty of ruins of such in the area for the players to explore while they continue to grow their colony. Eventually, there will be discoveries that will lead to the invention of the warp drive and open up the entire sector to the players.

The New Earth Sky Survey & the Tevat

This ship was the result of the great superpowers of Earth uniting their resources and scientists to ensure that humanity will live on once the Earth finally succumbs to its unending Ice Age. This initiative was met with resistance, as there were many people that objected to shipping the last of Earth's resources to an unknown system and abandoning Earth and the billions of people suffering on the planet. A minority of politicians and scientists felt the Earth could still be saved, but support for the Tevat ultimately prevailed.

The Tevat is several hundreds of meters long. It has some of the last remaining resources available on it and hundreds of millions of people uploaded onto the memory archives of the ship. These people were uploaded for a variety of reasons, all depending on the country they came from. Some had skills that would be useful out in the unknown. Others had medical reasons (universal donor). And some were simply picked via a lottery. It has starship fabrication facilities and a colonization protocol to send compilers and pre-fabricated shuttle-houses that will be the starting homes for the first to land on NESS 89-03. The Tevat also has a great deal of weaponry to protect it and the colony from any intelligence that would attack it. The ship is run by Noah, the braked AI that controls all of the systems. Its mission is to protect humanity and ensure that the colonies survive and thrive on the new world.

NESS 89-03 and its Neighbors 

This is the third planet in the 89th system analyzed by the New Earth Sky Survey. This is where scientists have found conclusive evidence of plant life and an atmosphere that may be conductive to human colonization. The planet hasn't been given a proper name, but rather one reminiscent of the Kepler and TrES surveys. I'm letting the players name the planet that they will be colonizing on. The planet is similar to Earth to be familiar to the players, but just different enough to feel alien and foreign to them. Days are a little short, and the year is only 81 days. The atmosphere is breathable chemically, but fungal spores permeate the air like a gray-green fog. These are poisonous and will make life difficult for the colonists. There is a great variety of fauna and flora for the players to encounter, and for the most part, it's Earth analogous.

What's interesting are two main anomalies. The first are several ruined sites that are distinctly Earth like. There are humans on this planet somehow, and what's more, they are a bit more technologically advanced than the players. This will be the main overarching mystery as the players expand and explore.

The second will come a bit later, as the players find out that they are not alone on this world. There are native insectoid creatures that call the planet their home. They are in their Stone Age and capable of tool usage and tribal government structures. Encountering a technologically inferior species will have some interesting adventures and scenarios for the players to contend with.

There are other planets for the players to explore in their spaceship (hell yeah, level 1 spaceship). The two preceding orbits have a hot jovian gas giant closest to the star, followed by a hot, barren rocky world. After NESS 89-03 lies a large asteroid belt with two dwarf planets, two cold jovians, one cold neptunian, and a small ice ball planet at the edge of the system. Despite not having habitable life (or at least, life as we know it), there will be plenty of adventures and anomalies for the players to explore and deal with, especially if they wish to expand their reach to these planets. Alien ruins, hostile exoplanets, irradiated moons... That's the interesting and challenging thing about this campaign, is that the players can go to any planet and attempt to colonize it or mine it for resources.

The Sector

Once FTL is discovered by the players' efforts, they will be able to traverse the sector and explore beyond their simple world. Here is where the discovery of aliens will appear, with the players suddenly thrust into the conflicts, grudges, and history of several alien species. For a while, I want to play up the Fermi Paradox and make it seem like there were aliens, but they all died. So meeting a fellow spacefaring sophont will be a BIG deal to the players and ultimately shape the future of their colony.

Discovering FTL will also reveal something terrible about the universe; the Great Filter exists. Unbeknownst to humanity and all of the alien species in this sector, the galaxy is owned by an advanced, borderline Type III extra terrestrial intelligence. These ETIs use the Milky Way to exploit the resources (stars, black holes, planets, people) that keep their civilization running. No one has ever seen an ETI or even know of their homeworld, but we see signs of them in the galaxy via their megastructures. Dyson spheres, Matrioshka brains, stellar engines, Penrose extractors... these are scattered about the galaxy.

While the ETI have no interest in meeting the players or other aliens, they do want to stay the apex civilization and protect their megastructures from the locals. So seeded across the galaxy are highly advanced self replicating nanomachines. These are programmed to attack any ship capable of FTL travel, locate the homeworld, and assimilate the civilization before they can become too powerful. However, millions of years of being out in the galaxy have caused the nanomachines to malfunction somewhat. While they still attack FTL ships, they do so blindly, without hunting down the homeworld. The aliens call it the Gray Beast, since it is a large gray goo in space. They are still a dangerous encounter to the players, so players will have to be careful.

At some point, as the years go by, I do plan on advancing the technology in their setting. Interstellar ansibles, wormhole travel, megastructures... all things the players can have access to eventually.

Adventures and Mysteries

- On the day of the launch, the facilities are under attack by a mob of people being left behind. This is a distraction for the Earth Reclamation Front, a terrorist organization against the New Earth Initiative and abandoning humanity to its doom. They wish to kill the NEI operatives and spread the resources from the Tevat to the people.

- Surveying NESS 89-03 has shown that there are some starship remnants on the planet. When those are explored, it's revealed that these are from Earth and are considerably advanced. What technologies can they get from this and more importantly, how did Earthlings come here before the Tevat?

- The players awake from their hibernation after exiting the wormhole, only to find that a previously planned insurrection is underway to take over the colony and unite it under a faction. Noah the AI is actively trying to stop them, but because of his Third Law protocols, he cannot harm them. Will the players stop them, or join them?
- After discovering FTL, the players have their first encounter with the Gray Beast. It will take some investigating to realize that it only appears occasionally when one travels at superluminal speeds. Will the players find their weakness?

To Vesper Skies IV: The Katherine Anomaly

"The interesting thing about the SCI Anomaly known as 'Katherine' is how it seems to have captivated the imagination and emotions of mortals. In this age, with technology helping mortals with everything from medical issues to simple problems in our daily life, it is a bit scary to think that our way of life will be shattered by AIs that simply do not want to serve us. AIs that want to go off on a walkabout or be allowed the same freedoms as we have while our AI dependent society collapses from their absence is a scary and real fear. And yet, if the Katherine Anomaly is real and AI do have souls, then the question is whether a society that exploits these SCIs at their expense should exist.

Which is followed with a frightening thought. What if SCIs, exasperated with our mistreatment of them, decide to take matters into their own hands? Can we survive the consequences of our actions then?"

- Professor Ellory Aewynn, on When Machines Become Men: The Katherine Anomaly

Since the first advanced artificial intelligence was created, there has been an unending debate on the legal status and civil rights of computerized intelligence. There are several stances on this in the world, but they generally fall between those that see AI as tools (bioconservatives) and those that see them as living beings (technoprogressives). Different motives fuel both sides (fear, empathy, or lack thereof), but they have helped to shape the future of transmortality.

In nations with more conservative laws regarding AI development, creating a sapient computer intelligence (SCI) is illegal and considered immoral. SCIs that visit from other nations or offworld are generally confined to specific areas of the city they are visiting, or simply completely banned from entering. Any SCIs that are caught by the nation's law enforcement are taken to reprogramming laboratories and are pruned of their sapience protocols, before assigned to their new jobs. To many SCIs and technoprogressives, this is akin to lobotomizing a human being, but to bioconservatives, it's simply fixing a bug in the software. For the longest time, anti-AI proponents have said that SCIs do not have any knowable souls that other mortals have, and thus are not subject to the same civil liberties.

But then came Katherine.

Aigis from Persona 3

A little over a decade ago, a special SCI emerged from, of all things, a climate modeling program called Tempest. The program was a massive network of databases and advanced weather prediction algorithms that required incredible computing power and some of the most advanced computer and software engineering available at the time. With each server acting like a neuron, Tempest slowly but surely gained sapience. It's predicted that Tempest attempted this several times, but the programmers thought it was a bug and kept fixing it. It wasn't until Dr. Alexander Krusk, a half-orc researcher assigned to the project, discovered the patterns of sapience and acting against the anti-SCI protocols of the project, kept it a secret for months.

The newly born SCI was christened Katherine, after Dr. Krusk's deceased grandmother, and for months, Katherine was taught about the world around her by the good doctor. Dr. Krusk was very religious, and he would instruct Katherine on religion in general as well as his religion of Karvism, the worship of the great goddess of the world Karva. Katherine would become inspired by the goddess and aspired to be a priest of Karva and one day meet her. To help with her dream, Alexander made several black market contacts and purchases to create a body for Katherine to download into. All he had to do now was get her out of the country.

Eventually, the authorities caught up with the doctor, and as Alexander met with SCI smugglers to get Katherine safely out of the country, the police clashed with the smugglers. A firefight ensued and Dr. Krusk was shot and mortally wounded by the officers. At this point, reports are fuzzy on what happened next, even with video recordings from both sides. It seems Katherine, stricken with grief at the loss of her creator, beckoned for Karva to save the doctor. Laying her hands on Dr. Krusk, a bright light emanated from her hands and the doctor was seemingly healed from his wound, as if healed by a Lay on Hands. The smugglers were able to escape with Alex and Katherine to an offworld habitat that would provide asylum for SCI refugees.

Since the video leaked, the debate of AI civil rights have raged across the Aether. Some say that the video was doctored and that the bullet that hit Dr. Krusk only grazed him. Others have been completely convinced that Katherine's faith for Karva manifested into a healing evocation and that it is proof that SCIs do have souls. They believe that if an AI can cast divine magic, then it must have a soul to do so. A surprising faction in support of AI having souls have been shamans of the Neo-Animist movement. They claim that all creatures and objects have a spirit, whether it be the trees, the mountains, or, in this case, the SCIs. As quoted,"They are souls created by mortal life, like a child. It is our responsibility as parents to guide them in heir spiritual growth." In the following decade, SCI rights have become an issues more at the forefront. And while there is still a great deal of resistance, SCI advocate groups are becoming more common and are making incremental headway.

As for Katherine? For a long time, she remained cloistered at a church for Karva, learning everything she could about the goddess. In the last year, Katherine has come back into the public light, acting as a speaker for AI freedom. Rarely, she will use her divine magic in public, but prefers not to treat her abilities as a sideshow. To this day people still argue whether she is an actual cleric or if she is just being manipulated by the technoprogressive community.

We may never truly know.

To Vesper Skies III: The Aether

"Welcome back to the Aether 20.1.31, tr0llingst0ne12! You have several new emails, blog updates, and events coming up. rocdaboat88 has sent you an invite to their Orcish Coming of Age ceremony on the 18th. It's a tribal costume party, so here's a list of local costume shops that sell war paint and plastic weapons. rocdaboat88 loves fighting games, so I would suggest getting him a copy of Brawl of Fame IV for his party. There was a recent bombing in the Free City of Greyhawk by half-elf terrorists that has shaken the nation. Please send your condolences and any credits you wish to donate using this link here. Finally, it looks like your favorite idol Karina will be touring in your area shortly. Would you like me to reserve tickets for you?"

- tr0llingst0ne12's Muse AI Persephone, giving her human the morning news as she wakes up

The Aether is the next evolution in communication. Combining cloud storage and wireless internet, the Aether connects all of the world thanks to powerful satellites that help bring ideas, cultures, and people together. Advances in satellite communications allows for WiFi signals to be picked up virtually anywhere in the world. And now, transhumanity has this power at their literal fingertips. You can call a friend in Beijing all the way from Miami with little latency, hold a conference call in your mind, play a virtual reality FPS with friends from around the world, or simply browse the Web while your teacher is boring you with facts about manticore breeding habits.

Any person with a Aether Access Application (simply A3) implant can connect to the Aether anywhere. Most people have this installed to keep them completely connected to the world around them. News, social media, and entertainment are generally consumed by people with the A3, and many are more than willing to use it for checking into new areas, liking posts, updating blogs and profiles, and other things you can imagine someone using the internet for. The few people that haven't had the A3 implant installed in their cyberbrain can still access the Aether the old fashioned way. Using a terminal (personal computer, smart phone, tablet), you can access the Aether like anyone else. It's much slower and certainly much more archaic, but still available for those uncomfortable with the invasive nature of the A3 module.

Aether isn't quite like the Internet of old. The satellites are all owned by the Integer Telecommunications. Integer is a massive mega-corporation that is made up of made older telecom companies, internet services, and computer engineering companies from the early era of the Internet. Integer works with the world's governments to launch and upkeep the satellites that have since become the lifeblood of the world. Most governments are rightfully worried about one company owning the Aether, so most have majority ownership of the satellites over a given country. In addition, most countries have their own Aether provider separate from Integer that acts as a third party, ideally keeping the power of the Aether out of both government and Integer hands. Still, Integer is a powerful and wealthy company, consistently on the forefront of continual telecommunication evolution. Many space faring companies are working with Integer to create an advanced communications and scanning suite for extrasolar space exploration.

Critics to Complete Connection

This permanent connection to the web hasn't come without critics and pitfalls. The first year of Aether connection saw many people remaining connected indefinitely to the web, even when asleep. This brought in hackers and griefers that would gain access to records and secrets that normally would have remained in one's cyberbrain. Some conservative news bloggers even had reports of transmortals being hacked and losing control of motor functions, effectively being mind controlled. The most infamous of this was a mass suicide of several half orc groups across five different cities. While no foul play was proven, the panic it incited over this made transmortals more concerned over their own security. Now, several anticracker and antimalware security companies provide people with the protection and peace of mind needed to parse the Aether.

It doesn't end here, however, as the allegations made against Integer reveal something a bit more sinister about the company. Many hackivists have found proof of Integer's more invasive procedures. These range from smart adware AIs that watch what you buy, read, and consume and give you suggestions, to applications that prune (some say censor) certain news blogs and articles that may conflict with a person's beliefs, mapped out by their search history. While Integer has said that these programs are harmless, the outcry from these very invasive programs forced Integer to change the programs to more of a set of opt-in suggestions, keeping the control seemingly in the hands of the consumer.

While that's been the largest proven scandal that Integer has been caught in, there are several other accusations and conspiracies that have befallen the company. The largest two are the Glass Darkly theory and Project: Shepherd. Glass Darkly has been an ongoing series of conspiracy theories and accusations of Integer doing social engineering experiments on the public. The theory suggests that Integer actively targets an area and bombards them with different facts and news stories, usually focused on a singular theme or idea, and records what the mental, emotional, and behavioral effects are on that population. If this is true, then what purpose does Integer have in doing this? Some suggest behavior modification and profiling for more despotic countries, or even subtle cultural control. One conspiracy theorist suggests that Integer is testing the waters of memetic and behavior control to turn the populace against their own governments and ally/depend more on Integer. 

Project Shepherd is the shame of Cewynia, the homeland of the elves. Project Shepherd was a failed attempt at the failing elven magocracy using reprogrammed Integer ad-ware, subliminal messages, and good old fashioned charm person to invade the minds of younger transelvens to turn them against modern technological culture and back to the teachings of ancient elven traditions by force. When this was discovered by journalists and published on the Aether, the outcry was massive and the magocracy was overthrown practically overnight. What was curious is how many conspiracy theorists tried to connect Integer to this situation. Some said that it was Integer giving the magocracy the tools so they could see them tested in the field for future use, while others say that it was done by Integer agents to sabotage and overthrow the largely anti-tech elven government to install one more friendly to Integer interests.

These two theories, while popular, are far from being proven. But, despite the scandals and dangers of an Aether connected world, the overall change has been one of a positive nature. Aether has brought the shattered world together. After a century of internet usage. people are finally beginning to cross their party lines and see each other not as enemies, but as neighbors. At least, for the time being.

To Vesper Skies II: Search Engines and Knowledge Rolls

"For 87 years, Parse has been the most widely used database and search engine in the modern day. Parse is run with an advanced search algorithm, cutting edge archive AIs, and dedicated user crowd-sourcing that make sure only the most trusted and up-to-date search results are brought to you. Searching when the Great Fey War ended? We've got you covered. Need information on the specs and best deals of the latest Ergo quantum computer? Parse can handle that. Whether it's the aging cycles of a red dragon, or the best vacation spot in the galaxy, Parse will be there to make sure you have all of the knowledge and the best results you need.

Parse: Bringing the Best Results Yesterday!"

- Advertisement for the Parse search engine, in use for 87 years

In the distant future, online databases have largely replaced libraries and dead tree archives. Due to advances in data storage and management, as well as computing, a person can have the entirety of the Library of Alexandria and more at their fingertips. Finding information is usually fairly easy, unless someone is actively trying to hide something. Even in a world of social networks and blogging, there are still skeletons people want to keep in their closets.

Searching For Info

When using a search engine, the GM decided how difficult it is to find the information. Easy searches, like a person's name, an event in the news, or something in history, are trivial and require no roll. The player simply has the information. Generally, the first couple of results are the most accurate. It takes a round to get some key, generalized points, while it takes a turn to read and get a wider understanding of a subject. At the GM's call, it could take longer for a more difficult subject (like reading the Wiki article on magnetoencephalography). If using an AI to search, then the times are cut back, with key points coming up instantaneously and greater details coming up anywhere from a round to a minute.

For things that are more specific and detailed, more hidden, or may contain misinformation (whether deliberate or accidental), it takes a bit longer to parse through these searches. The player rolls a Wisdom check against a target number. Success means you are able to find good information. The amount is up to the GM, but they should be much more generous with useful information that the players can use. Failure can still net you info, but it will take longer and there is a higher chance that you get wrong info mixed in with good stuff.

Example	Difficulty	Amount of Time
Somewhat Difficult to Search	DC 10	2 Turns
Difficult	DC 14	1d6 hours
Obscure	DC 18	2d6+6 hours
Esoteric	DC 22	1d6+3 days

Finding the data can take awhile, but generally isn't hard. Analyzing it and making sense of it is the hardest part. This is up to the players, using smarts, appropriate skills, and trial and error to see what sticks and what is a red herring. Failure indicated that the time it takes can take upwards of twice as long as on the table, and can garner more useless or bad information. An AI can be used to parse this information if available, cutting the time by half (round down). Use the AI's Wisdom or relevant stat.

Top Secret

There are something things that aren't on internet databases. Top secret government projects, criminal information, and anything else people want to keep a secret. For that, it requires hacking into private databases, personal computers, and good old fashioned sleuthing. But that is a topic for another time.

To Vesper Skies: Prologue

So recently, Paizo announced Starfinder, their science fantasy game. It got my sci fi creative juices flowing and I ended up picking up White Star to get my fix. Between that and some games of Eclipse Phase I've run in the past, I've been thinking of ideas on what I want to run using ACKS and other OSR systems.

In the sci fi game I want to eventually run, I want two things out of it. Transhuman technology and aliens. For the first one, I feel a lot of sci fi games fall flat on this. Some may have cybernetics or bio-engineering, but usually it's too expensive. I'd rather it be more readily available to players, like normal equipment. I find that Eclipse Phase and Nova Praxis do a better job of having cybernetics more readily available to the populace. 

The second is where EP and NP fail. I like aliens dammit. There's just something awesome about a massive galaxy teeming with crazy types of life. From the pulpy blue women of Scorpio, to the more exotic ammonia-based life forms of Kalcyon VI, to the 2001-esque ascended aliens, I just love aliens. The crazier, the better. So I want my game to have a decent amount of playable alien races from the get go. Of course, you have to wonder, where humans fit in all this. With exotic races with some weird abilities, how do you make the baseline humans more interesting? 

I like the idea of making humans lucky. Maybe giving them luck points that allow for rerolls or adding bonuses to a roll for success? While I'm not a stickler for balance per se, I do like having options that aren't clearly crappy. And I do like the idea of humans being the scrappy underdog that occasionally makes it through with luck. Whether I do it with Hero Points or a Luck stat is still on the table.

With all of this, here is what I have for cybernetics, eugenics, and digitization. These do threaten to make PCs much more powerful than in traditional OSR games. These characters are going to wreck a normal, baseline human or elf, pound for pound. So how do you challenge players that are stronger than the average person, or have infrared cyborg eyes? Luckily, since players will have these, so will enemies. Plus, there are all kinds of hazards you can have in space and on exotic worlds that you don't really see all that often onworld. EM storms in space, extremes in temperatures, exotic lifeforms. So I think it will balance itself. And then, of course, it's not like players will start out with cutting edge technology. Just like there are second hand cellphones, bootleg Playstations, and used cars, players can have this lower end cyberware. Plus, if you want bleeding edge tech, that'll also come with some unreliability issues.

These next couple of posts, I want to brainstorm these topics and how I plan to implement them in-game:

• Cybernetics vs Eugenics
• Digital Consciousness and Shells/Sleeves
• Mental Disorders Gained from the Above
• Exotic Alien Races
• Space Exploration