Dune/Fading Suns-inspired Space Opera | M/F/NB LF Any

[SaintSicaire]

General Information

Hello there, delicious friends!

After watching some retrospectives on a lot of the Sci-Fi shows I watched growing up, I was hit by a mighty craving for some space-faring adventures!
Below you'll find a general pitch and some character ideas, but as I enjoy collaborative plotting and world-building, I'm more than happy to tweak that idea or come up with something new in a similar vein!

Instead of a rambling introduction, I'd just point to my main request-thread and the O/Os linked in my signature, which should cover all the essentials.
(Fair warning though, the latter one is in dire need of an overhaul)

Now, on to the idea!

After watching Dune: Prophecy and falling down a little bit of a rabbithole with the TTRPG Fading Suns, I've been struck by a craving for something with a slightly similar vibe.
Some grand Space-Opera with a very feudal spin. Spaceships, Swordfights, Psychic Space-Witches, Noble Lords and Knights scheming for power...That kind of thing.

While I'd be tentatively open for something set in the Fading Suns-setting, I'm mainly looking for something original, that hits some similar beats.

As for the plot, I'm pretty open: Courtly intrigues, feuds between noble houses, Seven Samurai-esque tales or scrappy merchants swashbuckling through space are all on the table.

I admit, that this is a rather vague pitch, but if you're familiar with any of the settings mentioned above, or if "Game of Thrones, but in Spaaaaaace!" sounds like something up your alley, feel free to drop me a message!

 Character-Concepts 

• A young noblewoman, getting her first taste of the wonderful world of courtly politics
• A young nobleman, who stumbles into the dirty world of political intrigue
• A freshly widowed lady, who has some scores to settle
• A former mercenary, who was knighted for doing some very dirty work....and now finds himself one of those fancy people, who have to worry about their "honour"
• A current mercenary, who was decidedly not knighted...maybe because of her moral fibre?
• A slick merchant, devoid of any moral fibre, who ran afoul of the wrong people...
• A (possibly enslaved) courtesan, who had been sold by their parents on behalf of their gender being not as clear-cut as they had hoped...
• A macchiavellian cleric, who's less interested in saving souls, than in controlling them
• An ambitious young inquisitor, who might have a little bit of a sadomasochistic streak
• A common mechanic, with little love or understanding for the highborn folks and their schemes
• A soft-hearted young nun, juggling her piety and very lustful (and very gay) thoughts
• A scheming and ambitious count, trying to charme, plot and stab his way up
• A young tribeswoman, from the edge of the empire, getting a taste of the galaxy
• A former starship-captain, who, after years of dutiful service, has been shuffled into retirement...much to his displeasure
• A freshly (if not voluntarily) married heiress
• A (recently recovered) ancient android, who might have a bit more of a personality than everyone thinks...and his not happy with how the galaxy turned out...
• A young woman with psychic powers, desperately looking for a planet without witch-hunters
• The emperor's oldest daughter, trying to protect her father's throne (and maybe have some fun while doing it)

Old, Less Dune-y Idea

The Premise

In the distant future, mankind has spread among the stars, colonized countless other planets, encounter alien species and build an interstellar society.

Overall, life in the Human Federation was pretty decent. Not quite a shining utopia, but despite all issues quite livable.

A few years ago though, mankind got dragged into a lengthy, costly and ugly war with an alien empire. And while the war ended with a decently fair peace treaty, human society has taken a noticeable turn for the worst over the course of it.
Interstellar Mega-Corporations and their bought politicians gain more and more influence and under guise of "saving tax-payer's credits" the old fleet and military is slowly replaced by morally dubious Private Military Contractors and their sketchy mercenaries. Slowly, but surely, mankind is turning into a corporate-run, militaristic evil space empire...

Something not everybody is very happy with.
The story focuses on the crew of a spaceship, who is not terribly happy with the state of affairs. And finally decides to quit and live a life as "Robin Hood in Space"-kind of honourable outlaws...At least that's the plan.

That general premise, the characters themselves and what direction we want to take them is obviously open for tweaking, plotting and discussion!

The Crew
A (non-exhaustive) list of character-concepts I'd be interested to play here. Feel free to mix-and-match and throw in your own ideas!

• Alexander (M) ~ A Silver Fox, Officer and Gentleman, who is not thrilled with the direction his beloved fleet is taking
• Katel (F) ~ The snarky, cynical ship's doctor (who may or may not have a slight drinking problem)
• Eve (F) ~ The Chief Engineer, who rejoined after a rather ugly divorce and tries to keep in touch with her estranging daughter
• Ffion (F) ~ A charmingly rogue-ish pilot with a heart of gold and disciplinary issues
• Alara (MtF) ~ The ship's navigator and general space-science-gal, fresh off the academy and in over her head
• Erin (F) ~ The daughter of someone important, who wanted to piss off her parents by joining the fleet
• Thea (F) ~ An idealistic young soldier
• Skye (F) ~ A much less idealistic mercenary from some backwater colony

[SaintSicaire]

Giving this a little bump

[SaintSicaire]

Let's dust off this ol' thing again

[SaintSicaire]

Updated for a new specific craving.

[SaintSicaire]

Archived the old pitch with my latest craving

Now with 100% more space!

[SaintSicaire]

Updated for my current hyper-obsession and semi-retired the old pitch