So, I got Genesys! I loved Genesys!
So, I decided to make a setting for it and some stats/races for it!
And now I'm sharing it, so...here!
It's only slightly deranged.
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In 2022, a biometric scanning system put in place in Chicago to detect terrorists and criminals discovered four corpses at a dinner party. This would normally merely make a few clickbait articles...save that the corpses were walking, talking, and later seen on camera leaving the party. Two months later, a man turned into a wolf on a concealed security camera. The shock and paranoia that clans of werewolves and vampires and stranger creatures live among mankind catapulted shadowy vampire hunters and secret organizations into the limelight. In the confusion and terror, the Hunter War began. In 2042, the war ended with the nuclear devastation of North America and Asia. The gathering afterwards of ancient vampires, shapeshifter wisemen (including the garou, the anatsi, the rokea, ect), human mages, industrialists, and diplomats...all decided.
Never again.
From the fires of the Hunter War came the Panhuman Federation. A union of all three races - human, shifter, vampire - with the goal of using the powers of all three to build a better world. By 2098, a scientific understanding of the supernatural had made the world into a paradise. Cloned vampire brain tissue makes up the foundations of anti-gravity, force fields, tractor beams (via replicating vampiric telekenisis), cloaking devices and simulspace technology (replicating vampiric invisibility and hypnosis.) But it was the understanding of lycanthropic physics that really made the biggest changes. Just as werewolves and other shifters draw extra mass from subspace to grow in size, replicators draw mass from subspace to produce physical items, rendering money almost entirely irrelevant.
In 2101, everything changed again when two human physicists - Chedder and Miakowski - made the long theorized Alcubierre drive a reality. Termed the Warp Drive (as it warps space/time to allow faster than light travel via the creation of a field of negative energy), it was used to explore nearby systems and set up new colonies and new worlds for Panhumanity to explore. The first interstellar exploration ship, the PHFS Endeavor under the command of Tobias Katonen, made first contact with a race at first termed the Buffers (Big Ugly Fast Fuckers among the Federation Marines on his ship) and later known as the Kriegfolk. This race of genetically engineered warriors who rose up against their creator-gods and slew them made for a terrible threat against the pacifistic to a fault Federation (their marines were nothing more than "rescue personnel" who happened to be armed with laser cutters that were shaped like rifles for ease of use.)
The Kriegfolk were short – roughly half the size of a human – with four arms, an armadillo like body filled with redundant organs, and went to war armed with fully automatic projectile weapons that fired mass reactive self propelled explosive rockets. In other words, they were not messing around. However, thanks to the daring actions of Captain Katonen and his crew, the Federation met their first ally: The Geodes. A race of crystalline humanoids of deep thought and natural telepathy, the Geodes were able to communicate with the Kriegfolk and learn of why they were at war with panhumanity (seeing their exploration as attacks, not as peaceful exploration.) This prevented the first total war panhumanity would have fought in nearly 70 years.
The Geodes became the first non-human members of the Federation...but they were far from the last. While the Krieg remained a deadly threat up to the present day, the Geodes were joined by the Puazi, the Triune, the Xackdorn, and others. By 2234, the Federation had almost two dozen member races and nearly fifty “core” worlds and hundred of colonies. With a uniformly high level of development, the Federation remains a bastion of peace and civility in a dangerous galaxy. But this peace and civility is stressed by not only hostile powers, but by internal divisions.
The hostile powers include the Krieg Tribes, which remain a constant thorn on the galactic east. Whole tribes will sometimes launch assaults into Federation territory, to gain honor and prestige among their own fractious society. To the galactic south-east are the remaining survivors of the Krieg’s creators, the Provider Imperium. An ancient offshoot of the Geodes, the Providers have two major differences. Firstly, they have biokinetic abilities rather than telepathic ones, and secondly, due to their lack of telepathy, they lack the empathic and peaceful nature of the Geodes. This has made them a secretive and mysterious race. Their technology is on par with the Federation, though it tends to biological lines rather than techno-magical. But most alarmingly is their ability to spawn “monsters.” Some, like dragons, have become semi-regular citizens of the Federation, but not every dragon is friendly...and not every monster is as rebellious as the Krieg. Sometimes, they might even seem like normal Federation citizens until they unleash their true plan. This has forced the Federation to create a buffer zone of uninhabited planets between them, abandoning several colonies that had served as vectors for the Provider's monsters. These ghost towns are now overrun with monsters that have long since ceased acting on Provider orders and merely wander about, waiting for any to fall into their trap.
To the galactic south, there are two warring civilizations whose warfare also creates a constant source of strain for the Federation. The two factions are spun from the same race, though neither would admit it. The Galtor believed in transcending their race’s physical forms via cybernetics and digital uploading of their minds onto computers, while their enemies, the Rektor, believed in keeping their race utterly pure. The two have deployed vast armies – the Galtor using robotic attack vehicles and vast space factories that could strip entire planets of mineral resources to turn into weapons. The Rektor has responded with biotech purchased from the Providors (who are interested in preventing the Galtor from expanding into the outer edges of the galaxy.) The Rektor use clones and bioships alike to battle the Core to a standstill.
This war, though, has created immense waves of refugees as new worlds are found to be fought over. The only thing keeping the two factions from the Federation’s boarder is the Southern Fleet, commanded by Admiral Jeleko Ravenbeak, a wily corvithrope, which has destroyed Galtor and Rektor fleets alike who have tried to bring the war to the Federation’s north. Several neutral worlds that fear for their own destruction have petitioned the Federation to join – and the Federation Council is debating even now as to whether or not they should dare thrust their nose into this war.
To the galactic west is a vast sweep of unexplored space, while the galactic north leads into the halo stars. Rumors abound among the older races that there are godlike beings that dwell further along the galactic edge – further away from the center of the galaxy, more radically advanced technology becomes easier to accomplish due to subtle laws of physics. This has led to scattered reports of Survey and civilian ships running into beings that ape the forms of the Greek Gods, or stranger beings of energy and fog capable of twisting and warping the fabric of reality itself. The only concrete report from the Halo Stars is the tale of the Harrower. A self appointed "warden" of galactic exploration, the Harrower appears as an irreverent human male in his mid thirties, prone to flights of whimsy and cruel games. Any ship that has attempted to explore past a certain point (the Farpoint Line) has played host to the Harrower, and he has earned his name by putting the crews through "moral tests" to see if they are "fit" to explore the far reaches. Some ships are never seen again. Most return, chastised and with traumatized crews. The least lucky gain the Harrower's "favor" and will find him appearing to make their lives "interesting" wherever he can. The only solution for such crews is to remain close to the galactic regions where the Harrower's technology begins to break down and his ability to interfere decreases.
And that’s not even considering the areas of space within the Federation’s boarders that is unexplored – many colony worlds were established in promising systems, leaving systems that seemed to be more barren on long range scanners unexplored. But ruins and habitable planets alike may have slipped through the crack! Furthermore, the confluence of classical physics, magical physics, and psionic physics creates a wide range of exotic phenomenon that confound and alarm Federation scientists to this day.
Magical physics is based on the interactions of three forces: The Wyrm, the Weaver and the Wyld. The Wyrm destroys what has become too old and ossified to be worth keeping. The Weaver preserves and extends things whose time has not yet come. The Wyld creates new life to energize the cycle. Only balance between the three can produce the three forms of magic – the Wyrm is a font of “Divine” magic and its mastery over death and undeath. The Weaver is the font of “Arcane” magic – creating structured, repeatable effects. Finally, the Wyld is the font of “Primal” magic – endless energies being used for raw and chaotic results. Only on a planet where all three forces can be found can magic be found. A world without life (the most common) has very little magic, as the Wyrm has no energy to transform. A world without death (as of yet unfound) would have very little magic as well, as the Wyld would be unable to create anything and thus, not produce power. A world without some measure of law and rules (as of yet unfound) would also have no magic, as there would be no stability to draw upon.
Psionic physics is the basis of vampiric powers, as well as those of Geodes and Providors and others. These reflect the ability of certain biological life forms to impact quantum events in a way distinct from magical physics. These tend to be more stable and considerably less “finnicky.” It doesn’t matter where a vampire is, they can always use vampire powers. However, Psionic powers usually depend on the biological energies of the race in question (vampires are unique in their ability to transform the biological energies of other races via drinking their blood.)
Federation citizens live in a society that embraces the best facets of capitalism and socialism. Replicators allow for production of essentially any physical object that has been “programmed” into the replicator (since it takes a specific computer program to force the lycanthropic field to create matter more complex than werewolf muscle tissue), but there are two huge downsides to replicated objects. The first is that replicators require lunar energy and a biosphere to draw upon (the movement of the moon and the way it influences the Wyrm, Weaver and Wyld is the basis of the subspace manipulations.) Lifeless or moonless worlds have vastly less efficient replicators, or even non-functioning ones.
The second flaw is that if a planet has cyclical lunar features (if the moon isn’t geostationary, or if there aren’t a sufficient number of moons, like on Earth), replicated objects lose cohesion as the cycle changes unless sustained by some other source. This means that replicators on Earth can produce a meal – as the calories that are eaten will be sustained by the inherent magic of the person eating it – but a replicated car might fade from existence after the cycle changes, rendering its user bereft.
This downside has been circumvented in several ways. Worlds with multiple moons – such as Bounty and Cornucopia – are fantastical places where replicated belongings are easily produced, used, discarded, recycled, and replicated again. Meanwhile, worlds without multiple moons – such as Earth or Wolf’s Home – have found nearby worlds that do fit the bill. For example the Jovian Shipyards in the SOL system take advantage of the staggering 69 moons of Jupiter to mass produce millions of tons of items every year (with the ecosystem required being provided by a vast, seeded ecology of gas-bags and microscopic lifeforms that have been released in the upper atmosphere of the great gas giant.) The items that are produced are given two full months to stabilize until their cohesion becomes permanent before being shipped to Earth and beyond.
So, while basic belongings and items released on the Gnet (Galactic Network) are free to anyone with a replicator (and as you can replicate replicators, this isn’t a hard thing to have), the Federation’s strict intellectual property laws ensure that a citizen can profit from an idea they have. This profit is expressed via credits, which can be spent on the three things that still have value: land, panhuman labor and interesting ideas. This has still created a vastly different set of social classes, where the poor are still vastly better off than the poor of previously centuries.
Religion in the Federation is split between the classical faiths (abrahamic, hindu, buddhism, and so on) and the reemergence of worship of the Triad. There is also a significant number of atheists, due to the scientific understanding of what had once been supernatural.
The government of the Federation is a representative democracy, with a President, Parliamentary Senate, and several branches of government. Some important ones include the Judicial and Legislative Branches...but there are also discrete Council of Shifters (for shifter only political dealings, including managing the clans, some of which still have rivalries with one another) and the Antediluvian and their shadowy Undead Management Bureau who oversees who gets to become a vampire (as superhuman powers and immortality are a gift that they wish to bestow to only those who will use it properly.) The most famous branch of the government, though, is undoubtedly the Survey. The Survey is split between the Exofleet and the Endofleet. The Exofleet is primarily comprised of exploration and scout ships that push back the map of the stars and find dangers before they threaten the Federation. Meanwhile, the Endofleet (formed after meeting the Krieg and expanded with every new threat discovered) exists purely to defend the Federation, as mixing exploration and defense into one organization would be a huge waste of resources and be entirely redundant. Not to mention it would put valuable scientific personale on the front lines of combat, while also sending well trained and drilled soldiers into scientific missions that would neither want nor need their involvement. Why anyone would possibly want to combine the two is still a mystery to Federation planners.
But second to the Survey in size is the Federation Orbital and Marine Rescue Service – formed immediately in the aftermath of the Hunter War, the FOMRS (shortened to Marines) was originally entirely a civic rescue organization. But as the Federation became more and more aware of the need for a military, the less and less they tried to maintain the polite fiction the Marines were anything but what they were. The Marines are an extremely competent fighting force, armed with Multipurpose Magic Pistols (MMPs for short) and Multipurpose Magic Rifles (MMRs) that can fire a beam of stunning magical energies that can knock out most enemies without any negative effects – but they can also be modulated to fire a cutting beam, an exceptionally destructive beam, or even a fireball blast! But the technology that makes the Marines most dangerous is the wrist mounted replicator – capable of using lunar energy to create grenades, ropes, restraints, and any number of tools! This makes Marines able to fight far “out of their weight”, with small squads taking on entire enemy companies.
Despite this high standard of living and sterling institutions, the Federation has several internal conflicts that have only grown worse in recent years. A persistent suspicion exists within the shifter and human communities that the Antediluvians – truly ancient vampires that require replicated vampire blood to sustain their wakefulness – are secretly pulling the strings of the Federation through the UMB. Since UMB officers – in their black uniforms and golden skull badges – often stick their noses into situations to ensure no “Rogue Vampires” are operating, this suspicion can be easily stoked. There is also a continual problem with Hunters. Some humans are born with the innate ability to see “monsters” as they “truely are” - provoking psychopathic and homicidal responses on seeing vampires or shifters. While an available drug called Ketramontixate (or KTM for short) can suppress this ability exists, several hunter cells reject the drug and continue their war against the “monsters” who run their world.
Furthermore, while replicators have made poverty easier to bear, they haven’t fixed anti-social tendencies or the fact that some places have uneven access to replicators (due to lunar conditions and levels of development.) This has led to a spate of space piracy, where civilian ships board and attack transports bearing items. Since many of those items are under IP restriction, they have actual value!
There also remain separatist and nationalist movements such as the New German Reich, the Neo-Confederates, the Australis Movement, and other fringe groups who see the Federation as imposing fascistic ideals by refusing to allow them to express themselves or protect their ethnic identities. These almost uniformly hate aliens too. Several of them have claimed worlds off the main routes and still have access to advanced technology...and even a simple starship is a weapon of mass destruction. At least one world has nearly been brought into ecological devastation by a glancing strike from an FTL ship – the Federation’s various technologists are working on magical shields to protect worlds from such a fate.
And thus, the 23 rd century is a time of incredible opportunity...but also more danger than some in the Federation would like to admit. Their century of expansion has provided extra cracks for extremists to grow in, while their incredibly progressive ideals have given room for the worst instincts of the panhuman race to flourish – shifter divisiveness, human paranoia, vampiric manipulations. Their exploration has brought them into contact with multiple hostile nation-states. And the place of the alien (many of whom lack the easy use of magic that the panhuman races have) in the Federation remains worryingly “second class” in terms of representation, as humans have thus far managed to outbreed all races and since shifters and vampires are linked to human populations…
It’s a time where heroes are needed, more than ever. To explore. To fight.
To boldy go where no one – no human, no vampire, and no shifter– has gone before.
And to ensure that no world is left in darkness!
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RACES
Humans: Humans can be any archtype. Duh.
Shifter: Shifters use the Mongrel rules from the Steampunk chapter with one difference. They don't get penalized, stat-wise, for shifting to their animalistic form. However, they also gain the negative trait of Silver Allergy: Any attack using silver ammunition or a silver weapon reduces their crit rating by 3 (to a minimum of 1). This would mean most silver weapons would be highly lethal against werewolves, and even silver objects (improvised weapons) would be extremely dangerous.
Vampires: Vampires use the Psionic rules from the Space Opera setting, with the addition of a two powers: Telekenisis and Undead. Essentially, they can make a diff 1 Discipline check to move an object equal to 1 encumberance, with +1 diff per encumberance moved. Using this to attack would use the same rules as Mind BReaker (the difference would all be thematic.) Objects moved can be moved between the Engaged range band to Short range band. Undead nets them an immunity to most horrible things (on par with robots.) However, vampires also gain this extremely potent weakness: Sun-Burn. For every combat round spent in direct sunlight, they take a critical wound, with any critical effects reflecting the burning effect of the sun on their bodies.
Alien races to be statted later
TECH
MMP – Multipurpose Magic Pistol
Damage: 7 (Crit 3) | Range: Medium
Stun Setting: Can deal strain or wound damage.
Charge: Can, with a maneuver, grant the pistol one of the following. If it gains two (via multiple maneuvers,) move one step down the damaged track.
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Blast (4): With 2 advantage, can hit 4 targets in engaged range for base damage. With 3 advantage, can deal 4 damage on a miss.
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Reduce critical value by 1.
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Pierce (2): Ignore 2 soak.
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Give auto-fire.
Enc: 2
MMR – Multipurpose Magic Rifle
Damage: 9 (Crit 3) | Range: Long
Stun Setting: Can deal strain or wound damage.
Charge: Can, with a maneuver, grant the pistol one of the following. If it gains two (via multiple maneuvers,) move one step down the damaged track.
Auto-fire: Can increase diff by 1 to gain the ability to hit an additional time for 2 advantage.
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Blast (6): With 2 advantage, can hit 4 targets in engaged range for base damage. With 3 advantage, can deal 6 damage on a miss.
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Reduce critical value by 1.
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Pierce (4): Ignore 2 soak.
Enc: 4
Wrist Mounted Replicator (counts as magical implement)
Magic Damage: 5 (Crit -) | Range: Short
Summoning Buff: No diff increase for Medium summons. Summons exist until Lunar cycle shifts or until concentration ends.
Enc: 1
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SHIPS
To be statted later.
And that's all the stuff I've made up so far.