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Strange Stars Setting Overview
The Strange Stars is the sphere of the human phyle in the far future, a
time millennia after the first human expansion and the rise (and fall)
of builders of the hyperspace nodes, the Archaic Oikumene. In the current era, the Strange Stars are fragmented into smaller cultures and civilizations.
The former cradle of the Archaic Oikumene is a depopulated area without a
central authority known as The Zuran Expanse. The Expanse is home to
dangers like the inhuman Ssraad (in three colors), and ruined worlds that entice treasure-seekers like Tenebrae and the Library of Atoz-Theln. It’s also home to unusual cultures like the invertebrate Zhmun of Aygo and the self-improvement cult of Aurogov.
Spinward from the Expanse is the Alliance , a union of species allied for
protection and trade. Members of the Alliance include the green-skinned
psionicists of Smaragdoz, the privacy obsessed Neshekk of Kuznuh, the avian-humanoid splice Hyehoon of Omu, the human-alien blended cyborg Blesh, the Gnomes of Dzrrn and the angel-like Deva of Altair.
Bordering the Alliance is the expansionistic and theocratic Instrumentality of Aom.
On the other side of the Expanse is The Vokun Empire. Besides the decadent vokun, the empire contains several client species. The cybernetic crustacean-like Engineers build much of Vokun technology. The yellow-skinned Ibglibdishpan are
their biologic computers. The Kuath are bioarmored child-soldiers.
There are a number of other interesting cultures and worlds: the oneirochemist Phantasist, the ancient mind excavators of Deshret, and the warrior-poet Moravecs of
Eridanus, among others. The major galactic powers are at least
openingly cordial (whatever may go on behind the scenes) and trade takes
place between the two “civilized” portions of the galaxy that must pass
through hyperspace nodes in the “wilder” areas (not just the Expanse,
but the Rim and Coreward Reach, as well). New cultures, lost since the
Great Collapse are discovered from time to time, and their are number of
ruined worlds with treasures to loot.
Strange Stars Setting Assumptions
There are a set of underlying premises to the Strange Stars setting which might affect the play of the game.
Post-Apocalyptic. The technology level of civilization in the
past was higher than today. This provides the rationale for some
“sufficiently advanced” Clark level technology, the “points of light”
nature of civilization, and also for lost world exploration and space
scavenging.
Big But Bounded, and Subdivided. Strange Stars exists within one
galaxy--and only a relatively small part of that one, but still there’s
plenty of room for new clades, cultures, even minor empires to be
introduced without much disruption. The use of hyperspace means that
there are “clusters” that can serve as smaller sandboxes if the whole
area is too daunting. The game can be as focused as a single world or
station.
Harder than Average. While Strange Stars is in no sense a
“hard science fiction setting,” there are a number of details I tried to
keep “semi-hard” and realistic. Earthlike worlds are most often the
result of engineering and there are seldom multiple earth-like planets
in a system. Most people will live in orbital habitats. FTL exists but
works in such a way that it couldn’t violate causality. There are very
few “single biome” planets, and those there are tend to have an
explanation for why they exist. The aliens aren't very alien, but that’s
because they’re most likely the descendants of humans or human
creations.
Intersystem, Fast. Intrasystem, Slow. Related to the last point
is the way FTL works. Hyperspace nodes tend to go to one place in a
system (and may well dump out somewhere other than directly at the
planet of interest). In system travel is most likely non-FTL and takes a
while. This allows both zipping around the galaxy (at least a part of
it) and “realistic” distribution of clades, but with a hard science
fiction scale to a solar system, allowing the full array of grizzled
asteroid prospectors, fringe religious communities on gas giant moons,
or isolated research bases. The planets highlighted in the setting book
are just the “major feature” of their respective systems, not the whole
story. Of course, the way space travel works also has implications for
how and where space battles are fought.
A Post-Internet Conception. Most classic space opera doesn’t take
into account the internet in general, much less ubiquitous social
media, but these things are present in Strange Stars. As a rule of thumb, imagining “how would that work in the Strange Stars?” involves more extrapolation from the present that looking back to how it was done in Star Wars or Star Trek.
There’s Always Belief. The future doesn’t mean belief systems go
away. The best of space opera (Dune, for instance) deals with this, but
it was something I didn’t want to leave out or to portray
one-dimensionally. From the arbitrary taboos of the Kosmoniks to the
realpolitik theocracy of the Instrumentality, it’s an important part of
what makes cultures in the setting distinct.
Technology In The Strange Stars
The level of technology is more advanced in the Strange Stars setting than the default assumptions of Stars Without Number or most old school science fiction roleplaying games. A Game Master may choose to ignore some or all of these elements to make the setting more in keeping with the preferences of their group. For those wishing to use the setting as written, here is a brief discussion of the basic technologies of the setting, with suggestions on how to implement them. Remember that the tech level varies across worlds and habitats: some places are at a Stone Age level, while others border on post-scarcity.
METASCAPEMost people experience the world through an augmented reality overlay referred to as the metascape. Each world (or world plus its satellites) contains useful information for travel, social media messages, and lots and lots of spam. Nobody walks through a public square without their filters on, lest they be bombarded by all sorts of unsolicited virtual messages. Clothing is enhanced — or even sometimes completely generated — in the metascape. Some jurisdictions make it a crime to view the world unfiltered by the metascape, as this is seen as an unwarranted invasion of privacy.
The metascape primarily comes into play in how the GM describes the world and how the players approach it; it doesn’t require a lot of rules changes. When entering a new location, the GM will need to describe both the physical (people, equipment, structures) and the virtual (animations, signage, notes/tags, etc.) elements that the characters will see. Characters can leave messages for other specific people in locations or call up publicly available building floorplans. They can also hack or falsify the metascape using the standard Hacking rules.
The noosphere is essentially the cyberspace of the far future, encompassing traditional internet activities, the metascape, and the living environment of Infosophonts. Think of it as the nervous system of a civilization. In gameplay, again, this is more a matter of presentation. GMs and players should just keep in mind the availability of information in the real world, via a standard smartphone, and use this as a model to extrapolate from rather than looking to most cinematic space opera.
Noospheric messages or queries that must travel between worlds or between star systems do so no faster than the speed of light or the Hyperspace Network, if available. The noosphere isn’t real-time or continuous; it’s like a collection of networks between which information can be passed.
IMPLANTED CYBERWAREIn the Strange Stars, brain-computer interfaces are as common as smartphones are today and are used for similar purposes. The typical pre-programmed software package allows metascape interface, noospheric connectivity, communication
(where messages can either be read or heard as read by an avatar or the sender or anyone else), chronometry, basic calculation, and interface with most modern devices. Most individuals don’t navigate their own apps, but use a daemon or “mook” (a nonsophont artificial intelligence) as a personal assistant and answering service. Some cultures (like the Vokun) find implanted devices distasteful, as do some individuals. These groups use wearable devices instead, for the most part.
The only mechanical impact of this sort of cyberware is in the (dis)use of the SWN Computer skill. Like on Star Trek, most characters will simply ask their personal assistants for things and never need to make a Computer skill check. Hacking or deep searches of ancient or restricted data records will be the only time these skills come into play — unless characters are on a pre-noosphere world.
A fabber is a nanofabrication unit (essentially an advanced 3D printer) that assembles finished products from raw materials at a molecular level. These aren’t easily portable, but they are near ubiquitous household and shipboard items, and public units can be used for a fee, generally figured on total mass of the item(s) fabricated. For portable items this can be approximated via encumbrance: Every unit of encumbrance fabricated after 1 carries an additional 5% charge to the standard price based on item cost per fabber user per day. (Example: Faizura Deyr fabbers lowlight goggles, a pressure tent, and 6 days rations on a public fabber. This will cost her 200 credits for the goggles, 120 for the pressure tent, and 5.25 for the rations). Anything from food-stuffs (though this would only be done on long space voyages) to starship parts can be made given enough substrate and the necessary “blueprints.” Commercially available models can be “jailbroken” to make illicit drugs or weapons, but it’s generally easier just to buy or steal such common items.
In rules terms, these function like the personal matter compilers described in Mandate Archive: Transhuman Tech. There are also larger units like the stationary matter compilers found on polities or the largest vessels, as well. As a rule of thumb, making one item will cost about the same as the list price in the Stars Without Number core book given the matter required, licensing fees for software, etc. Additional items will only cost half the listed price.
Programmable matter is able to change its properties or functions on the basis of user input or trigger stimuli. Programmable matter (or smart matter) is used to make exoskins (vacc suits that form around the wearer as they pass through a membrane aperture on an airlock) and smart-tools (similar to Unknown, but with multiple uses, able to become any tool that would part of a toolkit).
The above describes the technologies of the most advanced civilizations of the Strange Stars, but some societies have more specialized areas of expertise, and there is remnant technology of the Archaic Oikumene that falls into the category of Clarke’s Third Law. The most common example of the latter is the Hyperspace Node Network discussed in the next chapter, but there are the other, more classically Space Opera technological aspects of the setting: the sky city of Eidolon, the Circus megastructure, and mysterious things like the Tenebrae Labyrinths and the Apotheosis Maze. Any examples of Pretech given in SWN books not already present in basic Strange Stars technology would be appropriate as examples of Archaitech.
The Smaragdines are the only culture described in the SSGSB that makes a concerted effort to develop psitech, and they do not tend to exploit it for military purposes. The psitech items described in the SWN core rules would be within their ability to create, however.
RECENTLY MODIFIED ARTICLES
Random Sophont Races
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As fearsome as the Ssraad are, there is one species that at least lone ssraad seem to fear: A race of bone pale monsters, the accursed and implacable enemies of The Zurrr. These monsters who monsters fear are known as the xann.
The xann [ksahn] claim to have been a peaceful species in The Zuran Expanse (before it had that name) whose habitats were destroyed by the zurr. Millions were killed, but refugees escaped. Taking shelter among other species, the xann refugees remained a people apart. They nursed their hate--and plotted revenge.
Despite historical consensus that the zurr are an extinct culture, the xann believe that a few of their enemies have passed their minds down through the ages, downloading them into new bodies.
The xann of today are chalk white-skinned, slim, almost delicate-appearing humans. They are never seen in groups larger than 3 or four. Often their children are abandoned to be raised by other sophonts. Xann hide their identities, to avoid being shunned by other species. No one who has heard the stories wants to be near a xann when the transformation occurs.
Despite historical consensus that the zurr are an extinct culture, the xann believe that a few of their enemies have passed their minds down through the ages, downloading them into new bodies.
The xann believe they have the ability to detect them. They are a driven people, hunting the stars for these hidden zurr. When a xann finds a target (be it one of their secret zurr or a ssraad), he or she transforms into a hunter form, a monstrous, bioengineered killing machine.
The single-mindedness of the xann and their propensity for sudden violence have given them a negative reputation among other sophonts, but they aren't barred from any major ports or habitats. Most choose to keep a low profile, if only to better stalk their prey. Even when they don't die by violence, the xann tend to have shorter lifespans than other near human sophonts. The metabolic stress of their transformation takes a toll.
The voidgliders are a clade once found in several systems in the Vokun Empire, but now confined to one. They are a people adapted to living much of their life in the vacuum of space.
Appearance & Biology: Voidgliders are sleek, elongated humanoids, like the melding of an ocean-adapted person with one raised in zero-g. Their black, solar radiation absorbing skin resembles the hide of a cetacean, and it has markings that glow and reflect ultraviolet light. From their backs they can unfurl giant, black dragonfly wings veined with silver--actually symbiotic "living" solar panels. From these wings, they are able to generate plasma sails, allowing them the locomotion through space that gives them their name.
Sunlight, food, and water are all that voidgliders need for extended stays in space. Radiation exposure is the only hazard that drives them to periodically take haven in cave homes they build in asteroids or dwarf planets. Their nostrils and throat have membranes which can seal them off. Their eyes likewise have a nictitating membrane for protection.
Their chemical, acoustic, and tactile senses are human-equivalent. They have slightly better visual acuity and can see a wide area of the spectrum from microwaves to ultraviolet. They have specialized apparatus for communication with radio and UV lasers. Radio is used for general communication, particularly with non-voidgliders. They also sing via radio, songs like ancient spirituals, in sounds like a mixture of overtone singing and paleo-electronic music.
Place in the Empire: The voidgliders were initially primitives of little use to the Empire. While they thrived in zero-g, they were indifferent workers for the most part; they flew off as soon as they got the chance and did not deal well with confinement. When it was determined they had an ability to find hyperspace nodes they became much more useful.
The vokun continue to let the voidgliders live in their clan groups, but they have confined all they could find to a reservation within the asteroid belt of one system. They take volunteers to serve as scouts for their star navy.
Stats: Voidgliders have a minimum Constitution of 9, but otherwise have abilities in the human range. They also naturally have the equivalent of vacc skin and are able to fly in zero-g and outside a strong magnetic field at 120' per round.
a cybernetic species and citizens of Vokun Space, responsible for much of the Empire’s technology. Though they are essential to the Empire’s function, the Vokun keep them under close control due to their fear of artificial intelligence.
Physical Characteristics: Engineers vaguely resemble isopods of ancient Earth, but with more human faces. The average 1.2 m tall and have eight limbs, but typically ambulate bipedally. Either of their upper pairs of limbs may be used as manipulators, though the first pair is shorter and more dexterous. Though they have an internal skeleton, they also possess thick plates of carapace that extend the length of their bodies. This carapace has an iridescent sheen as it has a coating of metalofullerene. The integument of Engineers comes in several different colors that may denoted their caste.
Engineers as a species have integrated with their technology. All adult Engineers have metaganglia providing conscious control of many aspects of their bodies' functioning and linking them to their spimes and noosphere. If an Engineer’s body is badly damaged, they can download their minds into another from a remote backup.
Psychological Characteristics: Engineers are somewhat literal-minded and pedantic, though they're fairly gregarious when their is a topic of conversation that interests them. They are adverse physical confrontation and danger, often to the point of cowardice from the perspective of other species. When they feel endangered they attempt to roll themselves up as much as possible. They make poor fighters, but their aptitude for technology makes them excellent technicians and (of course) engineers.
Examples: Aznat, Enek, Inaat, Ikatik, Mnazek, Ndzat, Omnak, Tlek
Backgrounds: Engine Crew, Technician.
Classes: Expert only.
Attributes: Minimum Constitution of 11.
Special
Additional Limbs: As many as four of an Engineer’s limbs can be used to manipulate objects with standard manual dexterity, but they gain no additional attacks.
Bodyswapping: Should an Engineer’s body become irrevocably damaged, its mind may be downloaded into a new body from a remote backup. The process of mind-reintegrating takes 2d12 hours. If the Engineer dies before she can personally log her reembodiment request, she will be at the mercy of her fellows.
Without a particular need, the routine re-embodiment queue may run 2d20 days.
Carapace: Engineers have a base Armor Class of 4 against weapons Tech Level 3 or lower.
Cyberware: All Engineers have the equivalent of a Direct Neural Interface (Level Two), an Integral Biostatus Monitor, and an Integral Commlink.
Random Planets, Megastructures, and other Habitats
The red-skinned humanoids of Zyanthion are known throughout the galaxy for their pursuit of pleasure and their peculiar, anarchic society. Popular media depicts them as passionate to a fault; as likely to be heedlessly pursuing a new romantic conquest as to be fighting a duel with archaic (but deadly) graphene-edged rapiers--and they do either in a very public way.
To visitors from other cultures, Zyann seem obsessed with status and celebrity. Virtually all their activities are public recorded in their noosphere [planet-wide internet and grid]. They live or die socially by the praise or disapproval they receive for their actions. Zyanthion operates on a reputation economy. There is no money; goods and services are given to others in hopes of enhancing one’s own prestige. This “currency” (awarded and tracked in the noosphere) is known as éclat. Zyann who have accumulated high éclat (whether from artistry, craftsmanship, bravery, or skill as a lover) can become a powerful in their society, able to occupy manors and estates, and assume self-chosen titles of nobility--as long as their éclat remains sufficiently high.
Current fashion is important to Zyann in all facets of their society. Religions and belief systems appear, flourish, and fall from favor almost as quickly as clothing fads. Only a few Zyann have cultivated the “right” sort of name to avoid having to chase styles to maintain their position.
Because of the supremacy of reputation, Zyann honor is easily offended. Off-world visitors can easily find themselves challenged to a duel. Consultation of a lawyer of at least moderate éclat is advised in such situations, as there are face-saving ways of avoiding the deadly art of Zyann swordsmanship in many cases. Of course, visitors have to be mindful of their own graciously gifted éclat in such situations.
The Coreward Reach is on the frontier of known space in the current era, but in ages past it was second only to the Archaic Oikumene's core as a center of human civilization. The region’s ancient and eclectic cultures are currently under threat from the advance of the Locusts, a spaceborne swarm of alien von Neumann machines that devour any habitats they encounter, and expansionist states like the Instrumentality of Aom and the The Vokun Empire.
A lonely type M red dwarf star with only a single planetary body, a dwarf planet,the Library of Atoz-Theln, that was hollowed out and converted to a massive station in the time of the Archaic Oikumene.
Random Organizatons
A lot of cargo is shipped around the Strange Stars. While multi-purpose freighter/transport ships care smaller and specialized cargo, specialized container craft handle the bulk of interplanetary trade, making the routine system and hyperspace runs. These craft are called haulers.
Haulers are stripped down vessels designed to carry standardized shipping containers. They're basically a bridge, a slender body for the attachment of containers and engines. Haulers have minimal crews; often just one pilot and a low sentient support ai. Shorter runs may be completely automated.
Perhaps due to the extended periods of isolation, hauler pilots are an eccentric lot, even compared to other spacers. Most haulers have simple sim equipment, and many pilots engage in a thriving trade in low res bootleg sims. Haulers use special data protocols to stay in contact with each other over their official communication channels. Underground hauler chatter is a good source of information about special custom checks or gossip on other hyperspace travelers, if one has a good translation program for their argot.
Aurogov is a movement or polity based in the Zuran Expanse. It has been described as a quasi-religious voluntary tyranny (though its leaders consitently deny its religious character). Participants advance through levels ("The Protocol") wherein Aurogov teachings take greater and greater control of their lives. Adherents typically begin with a download of Aurogov’s open license self-help software, distributed by parties unknown in the noosphere of most civilized worlds. The seed software slowly evolves into a nonsapient ai mind emulation of the (perhaps mythical) founder of the group ("The Prime"). Its progressive audits and critiques of the thought processes and behavior of the user lead to progressive behavior modification of susceptible individuals. "Advanced" members without public relations duties tend to dress in the same grey uniform like garments and use frequent aphorisms from Aurogov teachings in their speech.
Aurogov is thought to have its origins on Old Earth and is a multi-geneline--even mutli-species--organization, but its primary functionaries are a clade of gray-skinned, long-chinned humanoids who call themselves "Technicians" but are known to those outside the organization as Aurogovans. Defectors from the organization report the Technicians' habitat within the Expanse is also the home of the Ascended Masters of Aurogov: Individuals who have obtained superhuman powers by mastering all stages laid out in their central texts. There are always three Ascended Masters and they always hide their faces behind masks like giant eyes. They are either posthuman masterminds or a bit of theater to provide cover for the real leaders, depending on what defector you ask.
There are allegations or rumors that Aurogov and its Ascended Masters have a hidden agenda: they are actually engaged in a secret, psionic distributed computing project. Every new participant in the Protocol--every new mind they can access--brings them closer to their goal.
The vokun have a distrust of disembodied minds, so they employ “humanoid computers” in the form of Ibglibdishpan savants. Their neural structure and training makes them logical, dispassionate--and ideal accountants, administrators, and archivists. Some are trained in reading the emotions of other humanoids, while the ibglibdishpan themselves always have serene expressions. Their mental structure does make them prone to “halting states” and other sorts of madness.
The Kuath are the fanatically conditioned shock troops of the empire. They are seldom seen outside of their 2.5 m tall bio-armor suits, but they are humanoids rarely older than their teens. The humanoids have a symbiotic relationship with ocean-dwelling god monsters they call the Dragon Mothers, who supply their biotechnology and battle drugs. The Dragon Mothers gave the service of the kuath to the vokun in exchange for sparing their world from bombardment with mass drivers.
The Engineers of the empire are a humanoid species with crustacean like characteristics, including metallic carapace. All the engineers have cybernetic enhancements and host groups of nanites in their bodies.