Imagine a star system with one planet at one AU and another at 1.52AU. Let's call them Prime and Seconde. Between them is a dense asteroid field rich in various resources.
Prime is the homeworld of mankind. It's had it's troubled past as we'd expect, but has since become unified and reached out to the stars. Though they have not had manned extra-solar flight (or even manned flight to most of their outer planets), the Primians had successfully colonized a home-like planet on the other side of a major asteroid belt - Seconde. A dry and dead planet, Seconde's saving grace was it's room for settlement, it's near-earth gravity (1.189G) and it's rich deposits of a few important minerals.
After a turn of a few decades most of the heavy industry of Prime was either orbital or moved to Seconde, as Environmental laws on Prime was bringing mining and industry to an impossibility. All that remained by this point was agricultural pursuits and swaths of land being reclaimed by the Regeneration project.
But only shortly past this, political feelings on Seconde began to turn against their overlords on Prime, much as industrial slave nations have in the past. Most of the population of Seconde was poor, working refining jobs cheaper and more potently than even robots, integrating mass production and human ingenuity into a complex factory system. The rich, a creative and educated class taxed heavily for their success by the government of Prime, instigated a coup, arming the massive shipment barges for war. Unprepared for an opponent with such a massive industrial system and the first (sort of) space warships, Prime had no choice but to cede control of Seconde in what was called the Bloodless War.
The industry captains of Seconde, backed popularly by the lower classes, tightened their control over the planet, increasing their wealth by shipping much needed materials to Prime at a premium. But, for all their Capitalistic intent, they were not fools; they looked first to the people, insuring that the lower classes were contented with distractions that they might not disrupt the vital flow of minerals out and food in.
For twenty or thirty years this went on, as Prime built their space fleet and increased their mining technologies to find ways around paying ludicrous feeds for vital minerals and finished goods from Seconde. As their orbital industries expanded, so too did the Primian need for raw materials, and their eyes turned towards asteroid mining. As they began their first, slow, foray into harvesting these lumps of rock, Primian spies uncovered the undoing of their precarious position: The Seconden had discovered a method of mass producing purely synthetic food. Being as their precious exchange was minerals for food, the Primian economy could not withstand being cut off from their vital supplies.
The result was the First Interplanetary War, in which the new Primian fleet struck a surprise assault against Seconden orbital and ground installations, completely bypassing their now outdated and undermanned fleet. The Primians quickly landed soldiers, armored units and atmospheric craft to dominate Seconden holdings. They almost won, had it not been for a state secrets that Seconden had hidden safely away from Primian spies.
First was the Seconden Marines. Hidden secretly on the upgunned shipping barges were some of the best fighting men history had ever seen, and they were not at all too happy to let their dead world fall on them. The ships, still hidden as shipping devices, swiftly engaged the superior Primian ships at close range, rapidly landing cargo shuttles full of Marines into their holds by force. Without Marines of their own, the unarmed ship crews fell victim to a method of warfare unremembered from the dusty tomes of history - the boarding action.
These captured ships were set into collision courses with their cousins in orbit, had their guns seized and turned on their former allies or were whisked away to the far side of the planet to save them from further harm.
Stripped of orbital superiority, the Primian ground forces now fell victim to equally well trained ground forces fighting on their home soil with the second state secret - the Magers.
Yes, magic had long been known in the history of man, from hexing witches to sorcerers who could torch a building with a word, but as they were hunted those who could bring magic to bear were rare indeed. As the world modernized they were forgotten, and pushed into the dark alley ways and crumbling forgotten cities of man's memory. Until now.
The chief man behind the push for Seconden independence was himself a Mager. He kept this a close secret, communicating with other Magi covertly and founding the first school for Magi as a secret government project. Hundreds of candidates were taken in through an obscure screening process and trained into loyalty to the new planetary government. To the people, this man (A Rodger Greene) was only two steps short of a god. To the common people, he freed them from taxation and oppression (as Primian taxes eased on the wealthy elites and those controlling businesses and shipping, taxes on the lower classes actually fell as wages for increased performance bribery increased). To the new Magi, he was all BUT a god, awakening in them latent powers no longer triggered by the conveniences of the modern world.
On the ground, dedicated kill teams using magic and firepower together scored major morale victories and soon crushed the invading forces. Most were killed or captured, with the rest taking their own lives lest they fall prey to such a heinous foe.
And that was the First Interplanetary War. It lasted all but a few days from first shot to last, but was decided within the first hours of the first day. The following decade was a cold one, as both sides increased their fleets and honed their military for proper war. The Magi were exposed to the Seconden people, eased into popularity via propaganda both true and false. Seconden fleets were bulked out with real ships of war based on Primian designs, and Primian industry was at last sated with asteroid miners.
But two old enemies cannot remain at peace; it is impossible. The Second Interplanetary War began with a double strike. First, a small Seconden fleet engaged the tightly guarded Primian asteroid mining operations all along the Belt. Second, a larger fleet made a bee line for Prime's fleet, catching it off guard and surprising it "at port". The combat was a stalemate, with many heroes being born and coming unto death that day, but the package - what they really came there for - was delivered to the surface of Prime.
The package was Blight, and it began to spread across the surface slowly and unstoppably. It did not perform as well as expected; it was designed by Alfred Manning to spread quickly and kill off most plant life on the surface within only a few months, but as the war drags on into it's third year a mere 30% has been affected. No end, however, is in sight - and unfortunately for the Seconden Alfred Manning killed himself and destroyed all his work in a lab explosion only a few hours after the package was reported to have landed.
So now the factions stand at an impasse. One dying world against a dead one for survival and a place from which to escape their own destructions. A stalemate amongst the stars, with each newly born hero bringing about the death of another, each dead ship from one destroying one from the other. Three years of drenching and constant bloodshed over vengeance, vindication and the justification of exile - as the Seconden now know themselves to be.
These are the Cold Stars.
M.
Wow, that's grim - a dead world and a dying one slugging it out in an endless orgy of interplanetary mayhem. Cool.
You've got magic, do you have demons/elementals/golems/what-have-you? Techno-magic cyborgs? Artificially cultured mage-minds? Basically, are there magical beings, or is magic purely spell-based? We've got a self-styled god, but it's a bit unclear quite how divine he really is (I like that it's unclear, though!).
In a similar vein, do you have plans to introduce aliens/pan-dimensional beings, or are you keeping it strictly human? So far the technology seems mostly military or mining-based. Is there artificial intelligence? Genetic engineering? Nanotechnology? Cloning? Mind-uploading? Is the human lifespan still roughly a century, or has it been extended, through magic and/or technology? Has human disease (as opposed to the Blight) been conquered, or do the folk of Prime huddle in their rust-belt ruins wracked with plagues? Are there conventional nuclear weapons as well as biological ones (magi-nukes?)?
I'd like to hear more about the political tendencies of the two major factions. I get the feeling that Prime is a kind of capitalist dystopia, while Seconde seems to have developed an almost Stalinist socialist dictatorship, with Rodger Greene (who reminds me a bit of L. Ron Hubbard somehow) taking control of the world, supposedly in the name of the people, but those're just my best guesses.
Sorry for the density of the questions!
I wasn't aware that I had posted this here at some point. I came by to check one of the other settings I was sort-of following and was surprised to discover I had posted it.
No matter though, as everything above is crap and got rewritten. It wouldn't be very nice for me to ignore what you posted though Steerpike, so I'll try and answer your stuff in the spirit of the original post.
Do I have demons/elementals/golems/etc?
Yes and no. Demons are right out on this setting (demonology was supposed to have been something big in an unshared GURPS setting where the players were demonhunters). Elementals and other magical doodads though I would be willing to employ. Not on either of the two planets mind you, perhaps on one of the moons or other "strange" planets (see the new write up). Most certainly something of that kind would be present on the New World, which I will explain below before showing you the new write up.
Aliens/pan-dimensional beings?
I decided against that. I rarely deal much with sci fi aliens, but when I do they're always of the Starfish Alien trope. Simply put, I am not educated enough in Chemistry and Biology to create a believable, interesting alien race. So I don't.
The technology seems mostly military or mining based. Is there AI? Genetic Engineering? nanotech? Cloning? Mind uploading?
The tech I've talked about is military and mining oriented as that's what's important to the story. There's all the usual trappings of modern stuff (PDAs, Internet, etc), though nothing like cars (mass transit took over). There's no AI, as in this setting "AI doesn't work." A thinking mind is too complex/haphazard to recreate with a machine in the spirit of this setting. Genetic engineering exists for plants and food animals, but not for people because I will it so. Let's just say that the last few engineered humans ended badly. Nanotech exists in limited applications, but nothing like the self replicating cure-all machines that hardcore sci-fi fankids get wet over. Just not what I want for this setting, as unrealistic as that might be. Mind uploading falls under AI. All this holds true for both the old and the new version.
Human lifespan? Disease?
Just like we would expect; some sicknesses we know have been conquered (as well as fictional ones that didn't evolve on what was then called Prime), but new ones have evolved, etc. Medical tech stays on top of it, if it can be taken care of.
Conventional nukes, bio weapons and magi-nukes?
Considered making magi-nukes a secret project that had to be dealt with, but that was dropped as I made mages part of the player backstory. There are nuclear weapons and biological weapons (Blight, f.e.). I tend to prefer the latter (in the kin of the Man Behind the Sun; yes I have a dark side) over the former.
Political tendencies of the two major factions
Here's where I think I failed to communicate. In the original post above, Prime was supposed to be a socialist near welfare state. Seconde was supposed to be the capitalist industrial state, akin to the US/UK/Developed world c. the mid 19th to early 20th centuries. While it's neat that Rodger Greene reminds you of L. Ron, I don't think that'll hold in the revision :/
Remember, every revolutionary takes control in the name of the people. They never, ever live up to it.
Sorry for the density of the questions!
The only way a setting gets refined is when people question it. I think you've consistently been the most inquisitive, which I like.
Below this post I will put up the new version, to which there will be no edits I can think of until questions are posed (for consistency).
M.
Here's the new version, which is a bit more time expansive and I'm hoping more interesting (and believable) to read.
Revised Brief:
The war now enters its 12th year. Both sides have become far superior combatants than they were in the early ages, but a stalemate rules the stars. Neither side is willing to force all of its fleet into a single war-ending campaign less their homeworld be exposed to ruinous counter assault. A dead world fights a fierce campaign against the assaults of a dying one, and blood flows for the squabbles of self-styled kings. Mages trade spells with Riflemen boasting powerful rifles and deadly close quarter capabilities, and spacecraft large and small endure intense hand to hand battles for their vital internal systems. These are the Cold, Primordial Stars.
In Full (too long for post; 9 pages): http://www.mediafire.com/?e3g6t1mcix666iw
Basically, I started with some kind of sci fi thing because I've never really done one before. But I wanted a Final Fantasy-esque feel as a few of the people I know who were interested in playing were FF fans. But I've only had experience with a few Final Fantasy games, so I took from what I knew. I tossed this in with some space ship battles and some age of sail feel (which I think wasn't well done in this because there's little of the whole "go to new world X" going on).
Combat on ships is fought with single shot TASERS and swords, like in the days of old. Reason for this (based in rule of cool) is that a firearm would damage vital ship systems in the walls if not depressurize the thing. Thus, you want to stun/kill your enemy then finish him with something controllable like a knife or longer blade, or something like that. Capturing a ship is much better than destroying it.
Realistically we'd probably never fight in space at all, and if we had space ships, moving around them in dispersed methods to target their ground population (civ or mil depending on how your moral compass goes in fiction) from high orbit would probably be the smartest method of fighting.
Now, the direction this setting is going is actually going to abandon all that lovely fluff that nobody ever reads :p I am jerking them off to a "Lost World" kind of place, wherein they will be cut off and alone and forced to either create a new settlement (with civis hauled along - secret project PC's don't know about) or die in orbit as supplies run out. It'll be survivalist / exploratory in nature for much of it. They get there by this experimental warp tech; in this universe, warp drives don't work. Instead this "drive" actually trans-locates you to a specific, known point. In this case, the Uusan leader is a Mage who can astral project. This world, alive as it was, called out to him and thus he could find the "point". How it works is gristly and will remind some of you of Dune.
[note]Warp drives aren't warp drives; in this case a "warp drive" that doesn't work is one of those faster than light move through space things. The ones that "work" here are not really all that well developed but are not FTL in nature.[/note]
So there's that fluff and the basis of the setting. Modern style guns (because I like them), TASERS (old age of sail flint lock feel), swords, knives and fireballs. Players are members of a 4 man Marine team - 3 riflemen and 1 mage. They will be sent on a few normal tasks before being assigned to the Great Task. If you read all 9 pages of the fluff (which is familiar I am sure), congrats! Feel free to critique it here. If not, well 9 pages is rather long for something you're not playing in. Let me know how you feel about the brief, concepts or any tips you'd like to provide for DMing, books to grab, plots to try, etc.
Hopefully this is more interesting than the earlier draft.
M.
The Uusan Academy for the Magimannanicly Awakened
The Uusan Academy for the Magimannanicly Awakened (UAMA) is the Uusan governmental branch and educational facility for those with the ability to work magic.
Establish covertly under the regieme of Cyrus IV, the then-called mage school [find better name] was created by Xavier Crowley. Xavier was one of the last mages known to mankind, as their number had been kept reduced by persecution stretching back thousands of years. Using his friendship with Cyrus IV of Uus, his dream to Awaken the latent magical population to serve the Uusan independence was given form. After the school became publicly known (in the wake of the First Interplanetary War), it has had to deal with controversy and protests by those undeserving of entrance.
The Academy selectively takes on students. One in every hundred people are weakly magical, but only one in a thousand qualify to train at the Academy's facilities. Any person 13 and over may apply or be applies. Accepted people move to be Awakened.
Students are educated in the theory of magical mechanics and how they are intertwined with Inert physics. They further this with traditional knowledge and physical conditioning. Successful students are then Awakened by CLASSIFIED. Unsuccessful students are CLASSIFIED.
Students are also educated in some of the classics, and taught to fight with the elegant smallsword. Gentlemanly conduct was heavily stressed by Xavier - we're a cut above the proles for sure. Poetry and literature are just as important as vaporizing people in magical fires.
However, as the Second Interplanetary War has stretched on, emphasis has declined from culture to a more focused approach on producing combat-ready Magers; a fact lamented upon by many of the Academy's higher-ups. They figure the military, no the Academy, should churn out the crude, mindless killers. A tight interest remains on culturing students. Ranking members point out a surplus of Army-issued Magers and a lessened need overall give the majority of the war is fought in space.
Significant Loyalty Education is undertaken, and students constantly reminded of the importance of major figures like Xavier Crowley and Cyrus IV. Graduates wear a well designed uniform to distinguish them and may wear their sword in public. Most end up in the military, with others retained as some form of staff. Some are hired by private entities.
Tactically, a Mager is shock and awe. Many known powerful spells that can negate body armor or severely damage many forms of wargear. They are a highly symbolic and potent image of Uusan supremacy - Educated, Cultured and trained in the use of the Supernatural.
While a secular organization, the Academy does foster one unproven belief - that of the Srift - the font from which all magical energy originates (or originated - debate continues). To find this font is theoretically the highest command, but it is quite secondary when war is on your doorstep. Debate and discussion continues regarding the nature of the Srift, but it is purely academic and the order based off some philosophy noes left by Xavier.
Socially, Academy students recieve mixed welcome. They are educated and cultured in a society composed mostly of poor working class. This alone resultes in mutual resentment, but when you add in their conduct requirements, air of superiority, high pay and magical - supernatural - ability, few will think of them highly. On the other hand, it is widely known that Academy students saved Uus in the First War, meaning few Inerts are willing to throw the first punch.
Beliefs
In addition to the Srift - the font of all power magical, the Academy does have it's own philosophy it bestows on students. In an Atheistic society, it's a rare thing that there is any system of belief in anything - Xavier thought it was important to focus the mind.
As discussed before, a Mager of the Academy should be a Gentleman. Well spoken, reserved and orderly as well as cultured, kind and generous. They rise when a woman enters or stands, hold doors, assist the elderly and all manner of much more important things. Ideally.
Xavier is regarded as the Great Messenger, who delivered the message that Awakened those who would become students at the Academy. Without Xavier, many of them would be working class proles, ignorant of their latent abilities. Cyrus IV is also received as the Great Facilitator, without whom the project would ever have gotten off the ground due to long standing persecution against mages (long thought stamped out but never recovered).
They also believe in the Liim, a scientific principal not yet understood that formulates the basic, quantum levels of magical power.
There is also a simple list of things a Mager should do, based on some notes left behind by Xavier in the early days of the Academy. Debate continues regarding a more refined and polished edition. This is a general secret, only really cared about by Academy students (if even then).
A Mager Should...
...seek above all the Srift.
...keep secret the Rites of the Academy.
...be loyal first to the Academy.
...never use his powers for ill.
...never be haughty above the Inerts; a Mager should pitty them.
...endevor to master his Rites.
...keep clean the name of the Messenger.
...keep clean the name of the Academy.
...keep clean his own name.
...never slay an Awakened.
...seek to further knowledge of Magic, seekling the "Liim" that holds the greater system together.
M.