bluegargantua

Hi,

So I've been making up all this stuff for Diaspora. I'm also planning on using it to run a game at Dreamation in mid-February.

So I'd like to run a playtest.

The game slot is 4-hours long and I'd need 4-6 people. The basic blurb for the game is:

The Fairhaven Heresy -- The crew of the Turquoise Jubilee is a motley bunch drawn from all the systems in the cluster. The Captain wants to open up some lucrative new trade deals with Sabrael in the Fairhaven system. The only problem is that Eigen Inc. won't appreciate freelancers interfering with their economic domination of Fairhaven. It's a high-risk proposition, but with a huge payday (and the freedom of an oppressed people) on the line, the Turquoise Jubilee stands ready to take a shot.

The game will have a focus on trying out every major sub-system of the game so you can expect starship battles, gun-fights, social conflicts, and even a spin of the mass-combat system. I'm hoping people can give the system a good shakedown and have fun doing it.

I'd probably want to do this in late December or early January. If you're interested, leave a comment.

Thanks
Tom

Hi,

And finally, the player's ship:

( the Turquoise Jubilee )

later
Tom

Hi,

Last of the Diaspora characters...

( Cleric )

later
Tom

Hi,

Another Diaspora character:

( The Captain )

later
Tom

Hi,

Another Diaspora character.

( Doctor )

later
Tom

Hi,

Another Diaspora character for my con game. This one seems the weakest of the bunch. OK, I haven't actually made up the other characters yet, but I have clear ideas for their role in the game. This guy...kinda generic. So if you have ideas to punch up this guy, let me know.

( Spacer )

later
Tom

Hi,

The next character I statted up...
( Guardian )

later
Tom

Hi,

So now that I finished creating planets, I'm going to try creating a person from each world. Here's the character from Apex. Since I think I'll use this set-up for a gaming convention one-shot, I'm providing both male/female names for the character and trying to be pronoun neutral.

( The Scientist )

later
Tom

Fairhaven T-2 E3 R1

The legends of Fairhaven speak of a time in the ancient past when Lord sent his two angels out to people the two worlds. Now, depending on who's telling the story, it was Orphamiel who rebelled against god and sought dominion over all of Fairhaven or it was Sabrael who was the traitor. In any event, the followers of each angel marched out into the sky to do battle and after a long and terrible war, the right side one and the other side was left utterly devastated and defeated.

It's been a long, slow climb out of the darkness and even now Fairhaven relies on coal and natural gas for most of it's energy needs. The sophisticated and cosmopolitan members of the larger cities are fully aware of the distorted history their religions are based on and pay it only minor lip service, but the mass of people still follow the church. Everyone still believes their side was in the right.

When St. Eigen brought his sky ships into the world, the rich and powerful shielded him from the more literal-minded members of the Clergy until a number of mutually beneficial agreements could be worked out. Eigen ships freely move through the system extracting the rich resources of the system, the aristocracy of Freehaven get lots of high-tech toys to play with and the Church gains powerful "signs and portents" to hold over the masses. The system was far from perfect, but Fairhaven was in no position to bargain and the offer was really quite generous.

Now that the slipstreams have reconfigured and Confederation ships from Apex (via Bellweather) have been appearing in the skies, the facade has been cracking and crumbling at a faster pace. Some see this as a chance for Freehaven to free itself from Eigen control, others see it as the chance to free the people from the crushing boot of the aristocracy or the Church or both. A select few see this as an opportunity to finally put an end to the heretics who started the war that drove them all to this pitiful condition.

Aspects:

• The war is not yet over between us
  
• Church and State are only united against the people
  
• "Angels" travel between the worlds [Angels being a biological creature that moves through interplanetary space. Think space-borne algae -- occasionally they "bloom" in the upper atmosphere of the habitable worlds causing an impressive lightshow]
  

later
Tom

Eigen Inc. T2 E-1 R1

The scatter of humanity across the galaxy has allowed for a wide range of social experiments, some intentional, most accidental. Eigen was a little of both. Certainly, an aggressive belief in free market capitalism was encouraged by the original settlers. The planet was basically ruled through an intricate web of corporate partnerships providing services to the employee-stockholders of one another. Life for many of these employee-stockholders on the bottom rung was pretty rough, but food and shelter was almost always available. The rush to gain a competitive edge brought about ecological disaster, but that was always offset by technical advancement. Even today, the people of Eigen live within climate-controlled domes or arcologies. If life was measured in dollars and cents, you got a lot for your money.

All of this changed when Friedrich Eigen, a researcher working out among the large asteroid belt within the system re-discovered the process of slipstream travel. Working on his designs in secret, he built a prototype slipstream module, installed it into the small survey vessel he lived in and lit out for the slipknot. Luckily, his first manned trial was a success and he returned to Eigen several months later with a complete map of the cluster and a batch of completely unique items.

Eigen's employer sought to claim all rights to his inventions and trade goods, but Eigen was smart enough to play off his employer's rivals against one another. Everyone was anxious to obtain slipstream ships, but only Eigen knew how to make them. In the end, he was allowed to start a small company of his own, the sole manufacturer of slipstream units. He charged a fortune and soon Eigen Inc's profits outpaced everyone else. In the end, Eigen wrested controlling interest of several other large corporations and became the primary employer of the system. Such unabashed ambition and daring (and enormous economic clout) was enough to get the home world renamed to Eigen in honor of the corporation that based itself there.

Although Eigen had a stranglehold on the system, it was clever enough to allow a blossoming of smaller, independent companies. None of them have the direct clout to take on Eigen directly, but they can pursue risky strategies or novel ideas and if they pay off, Eigen can swoop in to take advantage. It's worked fairly well and no one has been able to duplicate Eigen's technical leap and gain an edge (though Eigen always watches).

So things proceeded fairly well for a century or two and then Eigen and Fairhaven were both wrenched away from their cluster and attached to this new one. Eigen is anxious to expand into the new territories and the thousands of independent traders are rushing out to form what deals they can. Eigen is disappointed at the relative poverty of the new systems it finds in this cluster, but hopes to take advantage of Eigen and Fairhaven's abundance to leverage themselves into a position of control. If they could just capture one of Apex's advanced starcraft and reverse engineer it, they'd easily be able to overtake Apex and rule the cluster.

Aspects:

• Unbridled Ambition
  
• Domed cities in the wastelands
  
• Large merchant fleet
  

later
Tom