Time limitations, writers block and general RL issues have been getting in my way a lot lately... so, in typical Kitikat logic, I've decided to start a new game
It's not as irrational as it sounds... there's nothing like the inspiration flood of a new game and setting to fire up the old posting juices
Anyway, this is a game intended to perhaps start/beta test as a one-on-one (depending on responses to this thread) and then grow into a multiplayer game as soon as things are stabilised. Before I ramble too ramblingly... onto the setting.
It's the fairly far future. Humanity has formed an empire in all but name, to the point that the current 'president' is generally referred to as the White Empress (as both hair and skin are normally depicted as very pale in pictures... nobody in a position to admit it has actually seen her in person, or even a video, for several hundred years). Humanity's spread amongst the starts the moment the 'Farlink' was discovered was startlingly rapid... as such, many colonies broke away from the 'Federation' and had to be forcibly reintegrated... and thus, the 'Union Marine Corps' was formed.
It was at this point of our species' gradual fragmentation that the aliens first appeared. Rabidly xeno-phobic, but fortunately somewhat behind us in terms of technology, they attacked without warning in waves of vicious, relentless swarms. The UMC, originally used to dealing with badly-armed colonists and broken-down ships, were nearly overwhelmed. Technology, especially that dealing with offensive applications, advanced rapidly (as it tends to do in warlike situations), and many colonies scrambled to rejoin the Union. Finally, a large section of space was 'secured' and declared the union, and since that point has grown slowly, with the regular, gory death of many a marine.
Our story begins when a frontline UMC ship discovered a huge, ancient mining ship. Designed to swallow an asteroid whole and then dissasemble it, the craft is the size of a small moon (although mostly hollow inside). It was identified as a ship that vanished around the time that the alien invasion had reached it's peak.
Closing to an incautious distance, the military ship came under weak fire from the surface of the huge vessel. Shielding and armor were enough to shrug off the fire, but an unusually lucky shot disabled the Farlink capability of the ship in a completely freak incident. Jumping back to controlled space was now impossible, and the nearest communications beacon is years away at light-speed communications. Supplies on the ship won't last that long.
The Marines have had to land on the vessel and hope to assemble enough ancient bits to set up a crude Farlink communicator. As the aliens have no-doubt infested the ship, this is likely to be a bloody and vicious conflict.
***
Current playable characters are of course the UMC detachment, and perhaps any civilians that might end up on the vessel in some way.
One Captain, three Sergeants, nine grunts and a limited UMC flight crew (the ship itself is also intelligent). At least one of the marines is an 'artificial lifeform'.
Tech level indicators: Energy weapons, AI, androids, mental 'uploads', extensive and pervasive robotics, the 'Farlink', and limited nanotechnology.
The aliens are insect-based, intelligent and as complicated as humans. I'd prefer to get the setting established before I let players be aliens.
Kinks: I will of course respect player limitations and wants. However, this is a Kitikat game, and so might even end up in 'Extreme', although individual threads will necessarily have their own limitations to keep the potential player base as wide as possible :)
The individual marine personalities will be closer to Aliens or Starship Troopers than say Warhammer40K. The Union demands a certain level of blind patriotism, but is not quite at the level of fanaticism. Otherwise, they're fairly normal people, whatever that means :)
Questions, comments, interest... post, PM or IM as you wish
