Copyright © 1986-1998 Andy Slack. All Rights Reserved.
It is the early 24th century, 300 years after World War III -- the Twilight War. Civilisation has climbed back to prewar levels and beyond, but nations still clash. Earth is dominated by the Third French Empire, which maintains a shaky peace amongst its jealous rivals. There are dozens of colonies among the stars, and mankind trades with a handful of alien races.
It is a time of adventure. One alien race, the Kafers, is bent on eradicating humanity. Terrorists struggle to free the colonies from Earth’s rule. Smugglers transport alien products to other worlds, heedless of the consequences. Pirates prey on merchant vessels.
This is a ‘hard SF’ campaign; its overall flavour is similar to that of the movies Aliens, Outland, and Blade Runner, or to C J Cherryh’s Downbelow Station novels. It is set in the French Arm, which contains 12 colonies and numerous outposts, settled mainly by France, Britain, Germany and Azania, but with enclaves of many other nations as well. The language of rule throughout the Arm is French, and almost all officials speak it. However, for historical reasons, most professional spacers speak English.
The campaign’s base world is Beta Canum, and although they often travel to other planets, the players will keep returning to their haunts here. Beta Canum is an Earthlike agricultural world, heavily colonised by Britain, France and Germany; it is notable for the French colony’s Beanstalk -- a super-strong cable connecting the orbital and surface starports, making ground-to-orbit transport cheaper than anywhere else in the Arm.
This diagram shows the inhabited star systems of the French Arm and the main trade routes between them. It distorts actual three-dimensional positions and distances to show routes clearly on a flat page, but the bottom of the page is roughly towards Ursa Major. The 30-40 unexplored systems in the Arm are not shown. Stars are about a week apart in warp.
Earth CN-Gdn
|
Bessieres OL-Fld
|
Inferno ON-Fld
|
Kie Yuma FN-Pre Nibelungen FL-Gdn
| |
Joi FN-Gdn Augereau OL-Des
| |
Crater FL-Gdn Beowulf FN-Gdn
| |
Beta Canum FN-Gdn -------- Kimanjano FN-Pre
| |
Sans Souci ON-Gla Nous Voila FN-Gla
| | |
| Adlerhorst FN-Gdn Dunkelheim FL-Gdn
| |
| Hochbaden FZ-Des
| |
DM +27 28217 OZ-Stn Aurore FL-Gdn
to Pentapod Space |
Arcturus OZ-Stn
to Kafer Space
Settlement Gravity World Type
C = Core H = High Chn = Chunk Hot = Hothouse
F = Frontier N = Normal Des = Desert Ice = Iceball
O = Outpost L = Low Fld = Failed Core Pre = Pre-Garden
Z = Zero Gas = Gas Giant Pst = Post-Garden
Gdn = Garden Roc = Rockball
Gla = Glacier
Kafers are implacable foes of humanity; violent, insect-like humanoids with a large carapace, bristly limbs, and complex vertical mouthparts. Two metres tall, coloured red-brown or grey, they decompose swiftly after death. They are fierce, cunning fighters with a reputation for torture and vivisection; they refer to humans as ‘meat beings’. Humanity has been involved in intermittent fighting with the Kafers since they attacked Arcturus Station in 2295.
Pentapods are five-legged amphibians, one metre high, with a bony bullet-shaped head topped by five eyes on stalks. Pentapods are fascinated by humans and trade bio-engineered products for human technology. They see themselves as machines; each is genetically tailored for its occupation, and those allocated to human contact have pleasing colours and textures. The Pentapods have a trade enclave on Beta Canum, on the western edge of the French continent.