Session 0 - Worldbuilding
The World
Cataclysm
No one really kows what the Cataclysm was and why the next fleets never caught up to or surpassed the first one.
We left a system beset by climate collapse, resource exhaustion, and the creeping tendrils of fascism, according the fleet’s records. Those same records make it seem like they were one scientific breakthrough away from fixing all of that. Like the Fleet would provide a unifying vision to finally spark a golden age.
Guess it never happened.
Exodus
They sent a fleet of generation ships bound for the Forge. Using the latest propulsion systems they were able to move at near-relativistic speeds.
Even at speeds approaching 0.98c, they travelled for hundreds of years. With time passing so rapidly at home, the fleet expected to be overtaken by a second fleet with advanced technology, but it never happened. They arrived a few hundred years ago.
The original Fleet stands as a reminder. A reminder of what, depends on who you ask.
Communities + Laws
The Forge is a dangerous place naturally, but we make it even moreso.
We didn’t leave our nature behind back home. The most hospitable and densely-populated area is governed by the Exodans - an empire and a religion. Outside of that, sectors are controlled by cartels, pirates, warlords, and madmen - Forgers all.
Iron
Exodan Ironsworn take vows on pieces of the Fleet. These pieces are prized by Exodans for their connection to home and by Forgers for their rarity.
Forgesworn tend to swear on a piece of their home or an allied settlement. Or sometimes on pieces of Precursor tech.
Religion
Exodans have significant liturgy around “Home” and the Fleet. Forgers know that they are alone, removed, and changed from all of that. Some treat the Precursors as dead gods, but most just pray to the void and blind chance.
Magic + Horrors
Some say it is Precursor tech, but weird shit definitely goes on in the deeper reaches of the Forge.
The Weave, and especially the underweave, are filled with reports of incomprehensible monsters and people spontaneously developing (and, conveniently, losing) seemingly-magical powers.
Comms + Data
Most major ports have a Weave hub, but transmission range is limited due to the erratic energy in the deeper parts of the Forge. Generally hubs in the same sector can communicate directly, but for long-haul communication, most ships and settlements have been outfitted with relays to federate Weave information.
Medicine
Exodan sectors often have great medical care, using techniques and technology from the Fleet. Forger sectors mostly rely on riggers to do what they can, and replace the rest with metal.
AI
Exodans have access to advanced AI from the Fleet (at least those in power do), but they are unable to replicate it.
Forgers need to rely rudimentary automated systems and their own wits.
War
The Exodans have a standing army of “peacekeepers” that patrol their sectors and prevent internal unrest and external incursion. Forgers are separated into factions which sometimes have little scraps, but probably nothing that could be called war.
Lifeforms
Life is pretty common in most regions. We’re still discovering if it evolved naturally or was genetically engineered by Precursors or a ltitle of both. Guess it doesn’t really matter.
Precursors
A mysterious race of Xenos that used to be widespread here, but now only vestiges of their technology remain in the form of vaults and artifacts.
Their technology is significantly more advanced than anything we can produce now. A dedicated faction of Delvers spend their lives studying their artifacts and ruins and risking their lives in their vaults.
