Tjf
CHYOA Guru
Setting Background (Blatant 40K rip off):
Thousands of years ago, humanity left the old ruin of Earth behind them, and spread forth into the stars. How exactly they did so is a matter of some debate, in the modern age. The Holy Mother Church assures its faithful that the gods of humanity blessed their chosen people with the strength and will needed to spread across the galaxy. The mysterious Order of Sorcerers claim that of course, only their magics were powerful enough to save the inhabitants of Earth and protect them from the dangers of the void. The Research Institute, the last bastion of science and reason in the backwards territories of humanity, claim that it was technological progress that led to the rise of the Terrans. The mighty trade guild argues that it was an intrepid class of rogue traders who led humanity outward in the pursuit of profit.In secret bases and hidden temples, xenophiles and demon worshippers whisper that humanity was uplifted by a benevolent ancient race of aliens, or by dark gods far older than those upstarts worshiped by the Holy Church, words that of course would be considered heresy by the faithful.
However humanity first came to the stars may never be known, but what happened next is beyond dispute. Humankind spread from the Sol system, ships devoted to research, colonisation, exploration, trade, proselytism and war traveled from star system to star system, building a great federation and ushering in the Golden Age of Humanity. It couldn't last forever, however. In the same way that no one knows how the Federation rose, no one truly knows how it fell, but fall it did. Government and trade collapsed in a matter of decades, millennia worth of technology and knowledge was lost and humans died in the hundreds of billions at the hands of starvation, demonic and alien attacks, and infighting.
Nonetheless, some element of order did recover, in a savage sense. As the religion of the Human Pantheon began to spread from planet to planet, becoming the species' dominant faith, strong warlords created order through strength and brutality, over centuries taking the titles and arms of noble families. These noble families would unite through violence and political marriage into three empires that would dominate the most of . In the smallest, and weakest, of these Empires, your characters emerge.
The Terran Empire:
The Terran Empire is so named because it includes the human homeworld within its borders (though Earth at this point is a barren, worthless rock, and inhabited almost entirely by church figures, who name it Holy Terra). Despite the honour of owning the cradle of humanity, the Terran Empire has the least amount of planets and the weakest military of the great human empires. Still, though, it consists of hundreds of inhabited worlds, and thousands of star systems. Like the other empires, the Terran Empire is feudal, with a strong noble class.
The old Terran Emperor, Agammenon II, recently died on campaign with most of his sons, when the imperial flaship exploded. His youngest son, Carius I, has just taken the throne.
Carius I
Carius is well regarded as being intelligent, but being the youngest of his family, he was given little training on how to rule, and is rather shy to boot. Many wonder if the young man, only 19, will be able to fill the shoes of an emperor, or if he'll just end up as someone's puppet.
Factions of the Empire:
The Church: The Holy Mother Church is the supreme religion of humanity, with its influence spread across all three human empires. Though the church doesn't officially involve itself in politics or take sides, its influence can be felt through the way it gives or denies support to various figures, based on their interests. The church has no army, officially, but its inquisition, the body charged with finding and exterminating demon worshippers, is powerful indeed. They have little physical presence through the Terran Empire as a whole, but Terra itself is indisputably their planet, the barren landscape covered in churches and monasteries. The Church implements restrictions on what technologies can be used and researched, naming those that they disallow as 'heretical', threatening any that disobey their restrictions with excommunication and a visit from the Inquisition..
The Nobility: The nobility are the rulers of planets and star systems within the Empire. They've sworn oaths of loyalty and service to the emperor, but they all seek personal advancement, no matter how patriotic they are.
The Terran Order of Sorcerers: As humans expanded into the stars, they quickly came across a mutated power called psionics. Psionics allow certain humans to influence the world in different, seemingly supernatural, ways. Nowadays, much of the science behind psionic powers has been lost, and most people believe that those with the ability are sorcerers. They're a highly feared and ostracised group, but their powers make them too useful to ignore. Sorcerers specialise in different paths, the main being:
- Telekinesis (the ability to move things with the mind)
- Telepathy (The ability to read, or even control, minds)
- Bionics (The ability to alter the human body, granting the power of healing, and even changing a person's appearance and shape)
- Combat Sorcery (The ability to use fire, water, lightning, air etc, as powerful weapons)
The Terran Research Institute:
Charged with rediscovering, and on rare and highly monitored occasions even inventing technology, the Institute is a highly progressive organisation, more so than any other in the Terran Empire, equipped with better technology than any other humans in Terran Space. They have a rivalry with the church, who consider them little better than heretics, and who constantly try to restrict what the Institute researches.
The Terran Trader's Guild:
The traders are the backbone of the Empire's economy, and they know it. Shipping goods from one planet to another, they constantly pursue wealth. Their politics tend to be quite simple: Make them money, and they're on your side. Get in the way of their profits, and they'll work against you. Despite this, however, the merchants are all competing against each other, so what makes money for one could hurt the profits of another.
Aliens:
In Human space, there are two kinds of aliens:
- Humanoid aliens, who are human descendants mutated by generations on different planets. These 'aliens' might be blue, green etc, or have racial abilities like pheromones or the ability to breathe underwater, but nonetheless they're human in most respects, and treated as such by most.
- True Aliens, members of non-human descended races, often species from empires beyond human borders, or from planets that swore oaths of vassalship to the human empires. These aliens tend to be distrusted, but it's not unheard of for them to find positions in human court. Biologically, due to being from all over the galaxy, true aliens come in all shapes and sizes.
