The house of Eximus is one of the most diverse extended families in existence. In the early years of the Empire one of the most pressing problems for the fledgling monarch was the issue of a competent heir. Ever a student of history he was painfully aware that the traditional method of progression was a trap that would doom his legacy within a few short generations, even if he was lucky, (In the beginning he had no notion of the lengths Companion would pursue to ensure his survival.) And in the aftermath of the Shaloi War he became aware of the danger anyone he took as his wife would face from his enemies. In time it was decided he would take no wife but would scatter his seed both through personal liaisons and through contributions to reproductive projects as a genetic donor.
Despite of his resulting reputation of loose personal morals he endowed all of his resulting offspring with trusts to allow them to pursue whatever destiny they chose. But this had a catch. The trust was simply seed money for a greater prize. Left to themselves they had prove themselves worthy of "recognition" and inclusion within the House of Eximus. Inclusion means that their heirs will automatically be members of the house with only intervention of an Imperial Censure changing that status. Further once recognized the new member has the possibility of earning a place on the List of Succession otherwise known as the list of heirs.
The List has varied over the centuries as heirs have distinguished or disgraced themselves or simply failed to outlive their Imperial sire. The present list numbers six individuals, of which, only three are publicly known. The public heirs are, in order, Titus Mantus(Warlord at Large), Barla Eximus-Brekker, and her sister Warlord Selina Eximus. The remaining members of the List are open to speculation but the most likely person to be on it is the Emperor's daughter by the Torakian Empress, Ki-Shan-Di Cryshana. Other persons speculated on include the daughter of Titus, Shrike and the son of Barla and Johan Brekker, Jonathon. These are in direct linage but since they are second generation members of the house they are not seriously considered as the Emperor has traditionally only named his direct offspring to the succession.
This aristocracy of talent has proved beneficial to the house with the Emperor only having to use the Censure seven times in recorded history. Because of this criteria of inclusion the list of the house members almost reads like a who's who of influential and pivotal persons within the Empire.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Imperial clasification of governments
There
are three basic types of governments within the Imperial borders classified by the level of their participation in the life of the empire
itself.
The Allied states are those entities who, while they wish to enjoy the benefits of commerce with the empire, retain their independence. These states are served within the imperial government by the Council of Ambassadors. This body acts to communicate the collective concerns and desires of the allied states to the Emperor and to reduce friction between the allies themselves. While wielding no actual power within the empire this body does exercise a great deal of influence in the imperial court.
The Imperial Protectorates are those planets who, because of technological differentials or political instabilities are not ready for full membership in the imperial order. These worlds are overseen by imperial governors who are tasked with their development into fully contributing members of the Empire. At such time as a protectorate has become technologically advanced and politically stable enough to elect their own representatives it is advanced to the status of Member state.
The Member state is a full part of the Empire electing their own representatives to the Imperial Senate. The Senate is the Vox Popoli, the voice of the people, or so it is held by tradition. Each senator represents one political member state, whatever form the local government takes. There are some who represent only one inhabited planet in a star system while others speak for governments that span several star systems. The Emperor does not mandate what form the local government will take as long as they recognize the authority of the imperial throne and don't engage in wars using atomic weapons of mass destruction. In fact the senate membership includes representatives from each of the star spanning mega-corps. The Senate, like the Council of Ambassadors, wields little actual authority but they do propose new legislation to the Emperor for consideration. By tradition each senator may request a direct audience with the Emperor once in any given term and expect it to be granted.
The violation of the ban on nuclear weapons is the only offense on the books that can cause the empire to degrade the status of a member state to a protectorate.
The Allied states are those entities who, while they wish to enjoy the benefits of commerce with the empire, retain their independence. These states are served within the imperial government by the Council of Ambassadors. This body acts to communicate the collective concerns and desires of the allied states to the Emperor and to reduce friction between the allies themselves. While wielding no actual power within the empire this body does exercise a great deal of influence in the imperial court.
The Imperial Protectorates are those planets who, because of technological differentials or political instabilities are not ready for full membership in the imperial order. These worlds are overseen by imperial governors who are tasked with their development into fully contributing members of the Empire. At such time as a protectorate has become technologically advanced and politically stable enough to elect their own representatives it is advanced to the status of Member state.
The Member state is a full part of the Empire electing their own representatives to the Imperial Senate. The Senate is the Vox Popoli, the voice of the people, or so it is held by tradition. Each senator represents one political member state, whatever form the local government takes. There are some who represent only one inhabited planet in a star system while others speak for governments that span several star systems. The Emperor does not mandate what form the local government will take as long as they recognize the authority of the imperial throne and don't engage in wars using atomic weapons of mass destruction. In fact the senate membership includes representatives from each of the star spanning mega-corps. The Senate, like the Council of Ambassadors, wields little actual authority but they do propose new legislation to the Emperor for consideration. By tradition each senator may request a direct audience with the Emperor once in any given term and expect it to be granted.
The violation of the ban on nuclear weapons is the only offense on the books that can cause the empire to degrade the status of a member state to a protectorate.
Citizenship
The inhabitants of the empire are divided into two distinct groups, citizens and rezidenzi.
The rezidenzi, who make up the majority of the core world populations, live most of their lives on their home of birth rarely traveling off world for anything other than vacation opportunities. The rezidenzi are cared for by the government with their basic needs assured by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Under this system each rezidenzi is provided a basic living space with a food dispenser and terminal. This space is very minimal measuring 2m x 6m including the hygienic unit. In addition the citizen has no say as to where his unit is located. In addition the rezidenzi have access to community cafeterias and common spaces. Larger unit are available for rent so if a rezidenzi wishes to improve his living conditions he has but to find a way to earn credits. The philosophy behind this arrangement is that luxuries belong to those who put forth the effort to acquire them. Industry is rewarded by this system and the core worlds are rich with artistic and creative endeavors.
Education is free through the terminal and classes range from traditional subject of history, mathmatics and literature to programming and art. Classes in skills such as martial arts or painting are available from instructors though these usually involve payment of some sort for the instructor.
Another side of this system is not commonly known to the general populous, the food provided by the dispenser units are laced with a mild contraceptive. The gradual buildup of the drug in those who do not supplement their diet with outside sources of nutrition prevents them from conceiving. So the lazy are well cared for but are not adding to the future burden of the system. As a result only a small percentage of rezidenzi are in this self created dead end.
The majority of the rezidenzi pursue some sort of craft or activity that fills their day and earns them credits ranging from traditional jobs to competing in sporting events for prize money and performing in various theater venues. Almost any constructive endeavor can be a means for earning spending money.
Communities also exist in rural areas primarily for those willing to tend community farm lots providing fresh produce both for themselves and for sale to the urban centers. Members of these communities earn a percentage of the profits of the sales for their efforts. There are also people who elect to devote themselves to preserving a cultural heritage in dedicated communities for the edification of humanity. A good example are the restored native American tribal villages that are scattered throughout the former United States that preserve the customs and rituals of their respective tribes.
While travel off world requires visas for rezidenzi on world travel is unrestricted and 25- 50 credits will get one anywhere he might want to go.
All in all life for the rezidenzi is comfortable and rewarding but there are those who want more. For these individuals there is the option of citizenship.
With citizenship comes the right to own property and hold positions of responsibility within the government and mega corps. The right to travel freely from planet to planet is also a major motivator to pursue citizenship.
The roads to citizenship are many and varied.
The “simplest” method is to pay a 1 million credit filing fee and apply for citizenship. Baring any major hurdles, such as a secret life as an axe murderer, the application is approved and citizenship is granted. While this route does make for a number of dilettantes the number of families able or willing to pay the fee keeps this to a very small minority of the population. The other methods take a bit longer but are more accessible to motivated individuals.
One of the most common and well known paths to citizenship is military service. An eight year tour grants citizenship to everyone who serves in any capacity.
Homesteading, that is emigrating to a colony world and living there ten year grants not only citizenship to the individual but his offspring also become citizens on their tenth birthday regardless of whether they were born on the colony or not. In fact all inhabitants of a colony world become citizens on their tenth birthday until such time as the world goes from being a colony and is raised to full member status and their economy reaches the point where the ratio of population to jobs requires the shift to the rezidenzi system to remain stable.
Serving on a merchant vessel or working on a space station builds what are known as bankable hours towards citizenship. 50,000 hours are needed to qualify for this path and the more risky the job the higher percentage of bankable hours it earns. Working maintenance on a station usually has a 50% bankable ratio meaning it would take 100,000 hours to bank the 50,000 needed. On a merchant vessel every hour spent off-world is bankable so it has a 100% ratio. Orbital construction and other highly skilled professions actually carry ratings higher than 100%.
Citizenship has also been granted for exceptional achievements and contributions to the empire or the general good.
Some megacorps will offer to sponsor one’s citizenship as an incentive to attract people with special or particularly desired talents.
One thing that should be noted is that if a citizen resides on a rezidenzi world their children are rezidenzi when they come of age. The only exceptions to this rule are the members of the imperial house. The “recognized” imperial offspring pass citizenship automatically to their next generation and those who are fully entered into the house of Eximus pass their franchise on into perpetuity.
From the past
This is actually my second attempt to record the material on the Empire. The following entries were originally publish in 2006 and I am adding them now to consolidate my material. This assumes you are working your way backward from the present.
From the Ashes-The New York Megaplex-part one
More than any other event in Imperial history the destruction of New York City stands out as the singular point of change for Earth and the Empire as a whole. In a week of fire and destruction, the Eastern seaboard of the United States from Boston to Philadelphia ceased to exist.
The war with the Shaloi Hegemony had ground down to a stalemate with both sides doing little more than trading the same systems back and forth along the two fronts. In a bold move, the Matriarch committed all of her reserves into a desperate attempt to cross the Great Barrier and strike into the heart of the Empire. In retrospect, the failure of both sides to understand the underlying cultural differences ensured both the success and ultimate failure of the Shaloi assault.
The Shaloi fleet drove straight through to Earth intending to break the Imperial fleet by destroying the location of its capital and by their world view the only sane place for the true leaders of the Empire to have their nest. Within the Hegemony, all social identity derives from the egg-group into which one is born with the various nest mothers owing allegiance to the egg-group they originated from all the way up to the Matriarch. The Matriarch resides in absolute security on the Homeworld. The idea that she would ever place herself in danger by leaving her fortress on Homeworld was incomprehensible. By extension, it stood to reason that the Imperial Matriarch must reside at the center of our government. The mission of the fleet was simple, to destroy the stronghold of our Matriarch thereby causing us to be absorbed into their Hegemony the same as they would have done if the roles were reversed.
With the bulk of our fleet committed to the fronts, almost no one stood between the invaders and Earth. In a matter of hours after the Shaloi fleet materialized out of jump-space, they had eliminated most of the planetary defenses and began an orbital bombardment of New York City.
After the third day most of Long Island was underwater and the fleet began expanding the perimeter of the bombardment. By the time the Imperial Fleets arrived from the front seven days later everything within 50 miles of the Atlantic seaboard from New York to Boston was devastated and the shoreline had been driven almost 20 miles inland causing both of the cities and most of Rhode Island to cease to exist. As the fleet arrived the invaders played their final card. In a final act of destruction, the invaders set their reactors to overload and crashed them into every metropolitan area within the zone of destruction causing shock waves that were felt as far inland as Chicago. and rendering the zone totally uninhabitable for years to come.
Due to the massive scale of the devastation, an accurate accounting of the casualties was never possible, though the estimates placed the count at around 200 million people.
The outrage at the massacre unified humanity firmly behind the Emperor in a way all his humanitarian acts had never been able to do. The Imperial fleet had always had more ships than crews needed to man them. This was no longer true. From every corner of the globe, every adult who was able swarmed the enlistment offices demanding a place in the fleet. The fleet sent only enough ships back to the fronts to hold the line while the rest of the ships became massive training platforms for the swelling number of recruits. It was a green but enthusiastic fleet that set out 4 years later in the Emperor's response to the "New York Genocide". Driving straight through to the Great Barrier the fleet began to carve a passage through the ancient deathtrap. It took the fleet close to a year to blast a passage but in the end, they poured through the breach like water through a ruptured dam. Taking time only to neutralize the fleets in between the Imperial fleet made a straight path to Homeworld. Once there, the Emperor made his one gesture at a "humane" resolution by calling for the surrender of the Matriarch to answer for the slaughter of New York. When this was refused he proceeded to deliver his response in unmistakable directness. Every stronghold of every egg-mother residing on Homeworld was turned into a crater and the fortress of the Matriarch was subjected to such a massive barrage of fusion charges that the resulting cloud of vaporized matter darkened the skies for three months before dissipating. Within a few short months news of the fall of Homeworld spread throughout the Shaloi fleet bringing an end to the war and the inclusion of the Shaloi Hegemony into the Empire.
Immediately following the end of the war construction began on the ISS Atlancia, the first Imperial Capital ship. From that point on the Imperial center of government would never again be planetary. In the following years the seat of government would change two more times with commissions of the ISS Equestria and later the ISS Utopia.
The war with the Shaloi Hegemony had ground down to a stalemate with both sides doing little more than trading the same systems back and forth along the two fronts. In a bold move, the Matriarch committed all of her reserves into a desperate attempt to cross the Great Barrier and strike into the heart of the Empire. In retrospect, the failure of both sides to understand the underlying cultural differences ensured both the success and ultimate failure of the Shaloi assault.
The Shaloi fleet drove straight through to Earth intending to break the Imperial fleet by destroying the location of its capital and by their world view the only sane place for the true leaders of the Empire to have their nest. Within the Hegemony, all social identity derives from the egg-group into which one is born with the various nest mothers owing allegiance to the egg-group they originated from all the way up to the Matriarch. The Matriarch resides in absolute security on the Homeworld. The idea that she would ever place herself in danger by leaving her fortress on Homeworld was incomprehensible. By extension, it stood to reason that the Imperial Matriarch must reside at the center of our government. The mission of the fleet was simple, to destroy the stronghold of our Matriarch thereby causing us to be absorbed into their Hegemony the same as they would have done if the roles were reversed.
With the bulk of our fleet committed to the fronts, almost no one stood between the invaders and Earth. In a matter of hours after the Shaloi fleet materialized out of jump-space, they had eliminated most of the planetary defenses and began an orbital bombardment of New York City.
After the third day most of Long Island was underwater and the fleet began expanding the perimeter of the bombardment. By the time the Imperial Fleets arrived from the front seven days later everything within 50 miles of the Atlantic seaboard from New York to Boston was devastated and the shoreline had been driven almost 20 miles inland causing both of the cities and most of Rhode Island to cease to exist. As the fleet arrived the invaders played their final card. In a final act of destruction, the invaders set their reactors to overload and crashed them into every metropolitan area within the zone of destruction causing shock waves that were felt as far inland as Chicago. and rendering the zone totally uninhabitable for years to come.
Due to the massive scale of the devastation, an accurate accounting of the casualties was never possible, though the estimates placed the count at around 200 million people.
The outrage at the massacre unified humanity firmly behind the Emperor in a way all his humanitarian acts had never been able to do. The Imperial fleet had always had more ships than crews needed to man them. This was no longer true. From every corner of the globe, every adult who was able swarmed the enlistment offices demanding a place in the fleet. The fleet sent only enough ships back to the fronts to hold the line while the rest of the ships became massive training platforms for the swelling number of recruits. It was a green but enthusiastic fleet that set out 4 years later in the Emperor's response to the "New York Genocide". Driving straight through to the Great Barrier the fleet began to carve a passage through the ancient deathtrap. It took the fleet close to a year to blast a passage but in the end, they poured through the breach like water through a ruptured dam. Taking time only to neutralize the fleets in between the Imperial fleet made a straight path to Homeworld. Once there, the Emperor made his one gesture at a "humane" resolution by calling for the surrender of the Matriarch to answer for the slaughter of New York. When this was refused he proceeded to deliver his response in unmistakable directness. Every stronghold of every egg-mother residing on Homeworld was turned into a crater and the fortress of the Matriarch was subjected to such a massive barrage of fusion charges that the resulting cloud of vaporized matter darkened the skies for three months before dissipating. Within a few short months news of the fall of Homeworld spread throughout the Shaloi fleet bringing an end to the war and the inclusion of the Shaloi Hegemony into the Empire.
Immediately following the end of the war construction began on the ISS Atlancia, the first Imperial Capital ship. From that point on the Imperial center of government would never again be planetary. In the following years the seat of government would change two more times with commissions of the ISS Equestria and later the ISS Utopia.
Monday, July 4, 2011
A Brief Chronology of Imperial Space Part 1
Dates given in Terran Reckoning
The Ancients
750,000 to 450,000 B.C. Milky Way Galaxy visited by at least two highly advanced races collectively known as the Ancients. These races are theorized to have engaged in projects of planetary and stellar scope increasing the number of stellar bodies with planets with life sustaining conditions. They are also suspected to have seeded many of the worlds so positioned with pre-sentient life.
450,000 to 200.000 B.C. Height of Ancient civilization. Ancients inhabit much of the galaxy creating multiple artifacts of stellar size. Surviving examples include the Centari Rosettes and the Shaloi—Mintak Stargate.
200,000 to 150,000 B.C. War of the Ancients. Galaxy wide conflict devastates Ancient civilization(s). By the end of the period all remnants of the ancients are either destroyed or fled the galaxy.
Rise of Life
120,000 B.C. The first of the sentient species discover hyperspacial jump technology and begin to explore space.
110,000 B.C. Multiple empires rise and then fall as they grow too large to be managed centrally.
95,000 B.C Deep space explorer Shanta’s Hope is lost and presumed destroyed. Seven year later the ship returns to Talosia refitted with previously unknown star drive.
94,950 B.C. Rise of the House of Eximus. With the secret of the new Warp drive the mercantile house of Eximus rises to prominence.
94,850 B.C. Discovery of faster than light communications by House Eximus escalates the tactical position of the house.
94,790 to 94,775 B.C. Domination of interstellar trade by House Eximus causes unrest among competing houses. A series of conflicts escalate into full fledged interstellar war as House Eximus defends then defeats the aggressors.
94,774 B.C. House Eximus, tired of the ongoing external threats goes on the offence and begins the Consolidation Wars. Other houses are given a choice of allying with House Eximus or being conquered and assimilated into the house.
94,710 B.C. After defeating the last dissenting house, Largus Eximus declares himself First Emperor of the Talosian Empire.
First Empire
94,700 to 50,000 B.C. Massive expansion and consolidation of the empire into noble houses centered on key technologies. Designations of House Major Status are initially assigned to houses that supported House Eximus during the wars. Additional Minor House designations are granted for development of new vital technologies and for exceptional service to the Throne.
50,000 to 20,000 B.C. The empire reaches its largest size and enters its Golden Age. Advancements in technology allow for the majority of the Imperium to pursue academic and cultural endeavors free of the need to provide sustenance or shelter. Development of non-organic sentience provides a workforce that requires only power and repairs to sustain it.
20,000 B.C. Several Minor Houses, dissatisfied with the calcification of the house system (it had been over 6,000 years since the last minor house had been elevated to House Major Status) form the Reformation League. The League begins petitioning the Throne for a review of five key Houses Minor for elevation.
19,950 B.C. After repeated attempts to get the Emperor to review the house system the League begins to grow as more of the minor houses join. The League’s planning begins to move away from reforming the system from within to exploring the possibility of unseating the Emperor and replacing him with a representative government.
19,940 to 19,245 B.C. League grows in support, though it is agreed that unseating the Emperor without first acquiring the secrets of the FTL communications is unworkable the end goal of the League remains the establishment of a representative government.
19,244 B.C. After a failed attempt to seize a ComNet station fails, House Darlen is declared a renegade house and its holding declared forfeit. The nobles of the house flee into uncharted space along with all the house technology they could transport.
18,953 B.C. After increased attempts on Imperial research and manufacturing facilities by the minor houses, the Emperor declares that every minor house will be overseen by a major house in close proximity to their holdings. The League is also ordered to disband and further membership in that body punishable by being declared a renegade house.
18,934 B.C. Using agents within the Imperial scout service the League reclassifies an undeveloped system as having an unstable sun and begins establishing a base of operations beneath its prime habitable world.
18,900 B.C. The League begins building the “Graveyard Fleet” of ships reported as destroyed in battle or dismantled for scrap. Ships are repaired to operation status then mothballed in the oort cloud of Prime Base.
17,255 B.C. The Graveyard Fleet reaches 10,000 ships.
16,964 B.C. Accident by researchers at Prime Base causes one of the system’s gas giants to ignite. Incident is written off by Imperial government as proof of the instability of the star and the stellar classification is raised from hazardous to banned.
16,352 B.C Researcher’s at Prime Base develop the StarKiller device, a weapon capable of inducing a nova-like eruption of a stellar body.
15,990 B.C. Construction begins on a weapon platform capable of powering the StarKiller.
15,850 B.C. StarKiller completed, Graveyard Fleet reaches 100,000 ships. The League gains the support of House Carlion, a major house built on android production. Recruitment of crews for the Fleet begins.
15,545 B.C. A scout vessel belonging to a loyalist merchant house mis-jumps into Prime Base system undetected. After recording the StarKiller in orbit around Prime Base the ship limps back to Imperial space with its discovery. The League begins activation of the Fleet.
15,544 B.C. House Carlion convinces the League that they can capture one of the ComNet hubs intact using a strike force of advanced androids. The League begins its offensive into Imperial space. The Fleet is joined by the combined fleets of the minor houses as it pushes through the Empire towards the Imperial home world of Talosia.
15,540 B.C. The Graveyard Fleet reaches Talosia. As The Imperial Fleet engages the League buying time for the Imperial House to launch the Seed, a vessel designed to carry the Imperial heir and vital house secrets out of the hands of the rebels. Once the Seed is reported clear of the League the Emperor engages his own counterstroke and shuts down the ComNet by ordering all the hubs to self destruct. The League begins the siege of Talosia. The siege lasts 127 days and finishes with the death of Largo Eximus XXXIV.
15,538 B.C Seed passes out of Imperial space after 18 months of evasive maneuvers designed to avoid contact with League forces. With the departure of the Imperial heir the secret source of the warp power systems dries up and the Empire begins a slow decent into a new dark age.
To be continued
Friday, July 1, 2011
Setting the stage
Every story has a setting, every event has history that explains how it was that things came to that point and demonstrate its importance. So it is with the Empire.
Called the Talosian Empire, The New Empire, or simply The Imperium it is home to hundreds of races, mostly humanoid, and is a place of marvels and deep secrets.
The posts here will be in two forms:
The first, like this one, will be looks behind the curtain and will discuss the development of the setting and why some things were ordered as they are and how the setting evolved over time.
The second, which I plan to make up the bulk of the work, will be written from the point of view of someone writing within the setting. Some will be common knowledge, but much of it will be peeks into the dark corners of the Empire giving you an idea of what is really going on.
The history of the Empire spans over 500,000 years as it's origins lay far in our own past and extends almost 600 years into our future.
The Empire was the brainchild of three minds, L. Ken Layton(He did not like his first name and no, I am not sharing it with you.), Chris Elliot,(no not the star) and myself. We served together for a time in the navy and became inseparable until the Navy sent us to the four winds. Over the years we lost touch with one another but the setting sat in my head and grew. We had originally developed and adventured in the Empire using a free-form style of role-playing where we basically told the story together and rolled where we felt it was appropriate. Together we discovered the basis of what I am going to share with you in these posts.
These early sessions combined elements of a multitude of material we had watched, read, and imagined. There was no attempt to write most of this down as we were creating this for the shear joy of it with no thought of the fact we would eventually go our separate ways.
I give credit to Ken for the original seed we built from. He had a passion for drawing ships and cars and had built a rough background history to explain them. As he shared this with Chris and I we decided it would be fun to take it further. Chris and I were already roleplayers and we taught D&D to Ken. We took the basic concepts and used them to build our first characters and then took off. Ken ran the majority of the sessions but looking back I can see that most of where our characters went and what happened to them did not exist until we sat down and pushed in that direction. Those adventures were pure space opera fairly rough by today's standards.
After we parted I tried to take what I had, mostly notes we had written down to keep track of things as we went along, and went in search of a set of published rules I could use to share the setting with the gamers I played with afterwards. Every system seemed to be too dedicated to the vision of its creator and would require extensive re-writes to adapt to our setting.(Yes, you can read into this that I had no desire to write a set of rules from scratch.)
The three closest matches I found for the longest time were "Traveller" by GDW, "Space Opera" by Fantasy Games Unlimited(major geek points if you remember it), and "Spacemaster" from Iron Crown Enterprises. The only problem with the first was that there were elements of the setting that had no existence in Marc Miller's Traveller, my main problem with the other two at the time, was their complicated rules for character generation and combat resolution. It was not until TSR/Wizards of the Coast published Alternity in 1998 that I found a home for the setting and started a regular campaign in the Empire. (a late revision is required as I ended up abandoning Alternity for a number of reasons mostly financial. I have since returned to Traveller realizing after all this time that the revisions needed to run the setting were neither as vast as I had originally considered them.)
All the time I was searching I was also reworking and expanding the setting in my head. Some items got swept away because we had pulled them whole cloth from other work and in retrospect made the whole look like just patchwork of other people's work. I began to flesh out things we had glossed over and began to look for logical reasons for some of the things we had encountered. I looked at this with both the eye of a storyteller and as well as that of a gamemaster. I decided much of what I was coming up with would be unknown by the population as a whole and a few parts would only be known by someone standing outside looking in because no one in the setting was in a position to see the whole picture. What I ended up with was a setting where the the secrets are as dangerous as any physical menace.
One of my favorite authors once said that a writer writes because he has no choice, what he has inside him has to be expressed or else. I understand what he meant, I find myself explaining elements of the setting out loud as if speaking to an audience when I am alone doing things like laundry or the dishes. When I am at rest my mind turns to explaining things and events in the setting. It has always been my desire to share my worlds with others so perhaps they can find their own adventures in this thing that lives in my head.
Called the Talosian Empire, The New Empire, or simply The Imperium it is home to hundreds of races, mostly humanoid, and is a place of marvels and deep secrets.
The posts here will be in two forms:
The first, like this one, will be looks behind the curtain and will discuss the development of the setting and why some things were ordered as they are and how the setting evolved over time.
The second, which I plan to make up the bulk of the work, will be written from the point of view of someone writing within the setting. Some will be common knowledge, but much of it will be peeks into the dark corners of the Empire giving you an idea of what is really going on.
The history of the Empire spans over 500,000 years as it's origins lay far in our own past and extends almost 600 years into our future.
The Empire was the brainchild of three minds, L. Ken Layton(He did not like his first name and no, I am not sharing it with you.), Chris Elliot,(no not the star) and myself. We served together for a time in the navy and became inseparable until the Navy sent us to the four winds. Over the years we lost touch with one another but the setting sat in my head and grew. We had originally developed and adventured in the Empire using a free-form style of role-playing where we basically told the story together and rolled where we felt it was appropriate. Together we discovered the basis of what I am going to share with you in these posts.
These early sessions combined elements of a multitude of material we had watched, read, and imagined. There was no attempt to write most of this down as we were creating this for the shear joy of it with no thought of the fact we would eventually go our separate ways.
I give credit to Ken for the original seed we built from. He had a passion for drawing ships and cars and had built a rough background history to explain them. As he shared this with Chris and I we decided it would be fun to take it further. Chris and I were already roleplayers and we taught D&D to Ken. We took the basic concepts and used them to build our first characters and then took off. Ken ran the majority of the sessions but looking back I can see that most of where our characters went and what happened to them did not exist until we sat down and pushed in that direction. Those adventures were pure space opera fairly rough by today's standards.
After we parted I tried to take what I had, mostly notes we had written down to keep track of things as we went along, and went in search of a set of published rules I could use to share the setting with the gamers I played with afterwards. Every system seemed to be too dedicated to the vision of its creator and would require extensive re-writes to adapt to our setting.(Yes, you can read into this that I had no desire to write a set of rules from scratch.)
The three closest matches I found for the longest time were "Traveller" by GDW, "Space Opera" by Fantasy Games Unlimited(major geek points if you remember it), and "Spacemaster" from Iron Crown Enterprises. The only problem with the first was that there were elements of the setting that had no existence in Marc Miller's Traveller, my main problem with the other two at the time, was their complicated rules for character generation and combat resolution. It was not until TSR/Wizards of the Coast published Alternity in 1998 that I found a home for the setting and started a regular campaign in the Empire. (a late revision is required as I ended up abandoning Alternity for a number of reasons mostly financial. I have since returned to Traveller realizing after all this time that the revisions needed to run the setting were neither as vast as I had originally considered them.)
All the time I was searching I was also reworking and expanding the setting in my head. Some items got swept away because we had pulled them whole cloth from other work and in retrospect made the whole look like just patchwork of other people's work. I began to flesh out things we had glossed over and began to look for logical reasons for some of the things we had encountered. I looked at this with both the eye of a storyteller and as well as that of a gamemaster. I decided much of what I was coming up with would be unknown by the population as a whole and a few parts would only be known by someone standing outside looking in because no one in the setting was in a position to see the whole picture. What I ended up with was a setting where the the secrets are as dangerous as any physical menace.
One of my favorite authors once said that a writer writes because he has no choice, what he has inside him has to be expressed or else. I understand what he meant, I find myself explaining elements of the setting out loud as if speaking to an audience when I am alone doing things like laundry or the dishes. When I am at rest my mind turns to explaining things and events in the setting. It has always been my desire to share my worlds with others so perhaps they can find their own adventures in this thing that lives in my head.
Welcome to the dawn of the 27th century. The Empire awaits you.
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