- The End of the End -
Main | Campaign Info | The Confederation
"Welcome to the arms of your new mother, to the Confederation that will aid you and raise you to the heights war prevents."
- Traditional greeting to any race entering the Confederation of Worlds
"The Confederation isn't a cradle. It's what we live in when we leave our cradles and seek a larger world. And it's [censored] falling apart. Whats that say about those who made it? about our chances to survive? about us, for believing in its dream?"
- Dwarf-strain Human on Outpost 1
"Nothing lasts forever."
- Grek reply on being asked why they killed the Illeri
"Welcome to the Confederation of Worlds. It's a pity your stay may well be a short one."
- Proposed new greeting to any race entering the Confederation of Worlds
The Confederation of Worlds is a galaxy-wide alliance of worlds and species under a nominal rulership most people never ever hear or meet. It has existed for a very, very long time but like all things, it eventually runs down. The rulers of the Confederation are never met -- some claim they don't even have physical bodies any longer -- so no one knows when they vanished or if they have or what the hell is going on. What is known is this:
- The laws of the Confederation are no longer enforced by the higher authorities;
- The Hingari have invaded from Outside; and
- The Portals have been broken.
Its not enough to comfort many, but its all anyone can say with relative certainty. To Clarify somewhat:
The Laws of the Confederation of Worlds are simply: Kill no Lesser Race and Live and Let Live. These laws were enforced for billenia by very powerful forces in the Confederation: Break them and you, your family and quite possibly your race was eradicated. By the time humanity was admitted into the Confederation (about 12 000 years ago) lapses were already being noted . . . then 300 years ago, the Grek people wiped out an entire planentary system. With no known reprisials. Since then, the Confederation has been literally coming apart at the seams. Wars begin almost daily and old laws and traditions are being broken daily. Religionists say the end of the universe is at hand. Lately, there has been little evidence to challenge this claim with.
The Hingari are a mystery. They come from Outside the galaxy - perhaps even the universe - and come in an astonishing variety of shapes, sizes, colours and forms. Almost all of them have 2 arms, 2 or more) eyes, a mouth and legs. Vagely humaniod. When they feel like it. Their crafs are almost always black, but other than that no single feature seems to be present in any of the vessels. What is known is that, apparently without weapons, an unarmed Hingari can take out 10 trained Security Enforcement Officers of the Confederation. Their vesssels are powered by unknown sources and if half the rumours abouit them are true, their technology is advanced enough to verge on magic.
The Portals are simply large gateways built by the more advanced races of the Confederation that permit interstellar travel anywhere in the Confederation almost instantaneously. Duration within the Portals occupies anywhere from 50 to 170 hours (2 to 7 days, by human reckoning) but is considered instantaneous to those at the Portal of arrival and exit. Somehow, the Hingari have shut down or disabled the co-ordinates to most Portals and rendered practical star travel almost impossible. Perhaps more than anything else, this is slowly cripping the Confederation.
Confederation History (A very quick look)
Classified :)
Seriously, no one even knows how old it is. The higher ups people meet -- the ones who wipe races out and enforce laws -- are only the state/provincial level of goverment . . and whatever is above them has either died or something happened. The way of living people know has fallen apart and no one has a clue as to why. Its as if one day the rulers just left and the lower downs have hidden it -- no one knows for how long -- but with the Hingari invasion its literally fallen apart.
300 years Before Present - The Grek race wipe out the Illeri people with no retaliation by the Confederation for over 80 yaers.
280 BP - The Hingari are first spotted.
279 BP - Portal malfunctions begin.
250 BP - Construction of Outpost one stops, officially.
199 BP - The First Hingari War (won by luck, according to many.)
098 BP - The Hingari come back for seconds. Only the intervention of the higher level races ends the war.
090 BP - Portals begin shutting down or moving, not just malfunctioning co-ordinates.
040 BP - A symbol - found to be Hingari - appears in portals. 80% of them shut down.
020 BP - Outpost co-ordinates fixed by Special Ops Confederation officials. Details are never released.
005 BP - Commander-General Kris Relsis, a human, comes to Outpost 1 to replace the last commander, who some claim suicided.
Player information can be found in the campaign section, but as a word of warning: this is going to be a free form game. You are also encouraged to be creative -- make up your race and what you do and I'll add it into the Confederation. As long as you don't violate any of its rules, you're laughing. If you do, then unfortunately even as broken down as the Confederation is becoming, your life span will still be very short.
Note: Because this game isn't strictly free form (there ARE character sheets with aproximate stats) its not a true free form game. Oh well. Also, this game is experimental at present, being an attempt at diceless role play. Here's hoping it succeeds :)
Main | Campaign Info | The Confederation