I wish to start an RPG with a premise that has been cooking in the farthest recesses of that which I shall call my mind, for quite some time. It's an over-arching story covering many aspects of civilisation, what we value in it, and what sacrifices may be made in order to preserve and/or improve it. It'll involve some chronological jumps during which I shall ask my co-writers not to post, but on average these should be few and far in between. Given, that is, that there are enough people interested.
I realise I'm still a very new member and have, as far as you know, zero RP experience, but I've done it in the past and I find extreme pleasure in the process of writing, and the development of stories, so, and though this is by no means the full scope of the situation, here's where I'd like to start.
In the space-faring age of one civilisation, it's relatively peaceful among the many races inhabiting a particular galactic sector. Large Leviathan-like ships coast through the blackness as though Nature intended them to, and there are the usual hierarchies amongst the population. Think Star Trek, only as a product of our own imaginations. Here your characters could be any of the following:
- Part of a ship's crew
- Soldier in some army or other
- Mere civilian, aspiring one day to travel the heavens just like more privileged kin
- Gruffy pirate captain tired of leading his band of thugs from one felony to the next
(etc...)
(I'm just throwing out ideas into the wild here, hoping to whet your appetite)
Naturally, it would be awesome if you came up with something completely original, so long as it's nothing too far up (No princes, kings, queens, admirals), and the characters should, at a given point, converge to form a party to progress through the story in a coherent manner. Some basic principles would be:
- Science is quite advanced
- ^ Has found explanations for most phenomena
- There is such a thing as the soul, and every person has one
- ^ Does not magically leave the body when death occurs, that remains unknown, (though you're very welcome to think up religious ideals for your character)
- Ships tend not to leave the Galaxy, nor cross it within reasonable stretches of time. Wormholes and 'portals' are extremely rare
- Characters do hold some power over elemental forces, but nothing too grand or unreasonable for a footsoldier to wield
- Galactic races were originally divided by their 'kinds', (Avians, Reptiles, Mammals and others originated from different planets/regions) but aeons of emi/immigration, have caused them to become quite mixed, though at the core of each civilisation the primary species is often still dominant)
The story will start out with a (Avian) prison ship the size of a large city, slowly making its from one prison colony to another, the Rijakti and Hafagnor prison facilities. It is escorted by a small fleet of (relatively underpowered) cruisers and smallcraft not quite suited to cover a ship so large but, due to budget constraints, there are higher priorities. At a bustling trading hub the small fleet goes to refuel (and a small contingent of freighters makes trips back and forth from the prison ship to the station to supply it in its needs (the journey is a long one).) Whilst there, a prominent battleship from another civilisation arrives, (the Lupines, originally) makes contact with the trading station, and starts to resupply. The governments of the two ships convene and decide it best to let the battleship escort the prison ship through the last leg of the journey, the mostly abandoned Hilfer-Deathstrait, notorious for criminal activity.
Moods on the two ships are slightly tense, though the species have long-standing diplomatic relations, whispers of organised crime puts everybody on edge.
It kind of starts here. So here your character is on board either of the two ships, performing whatever role you'd like, or perhaps lying in ambush in the asteroid field ahead. I shall introduce my character(s) in the first post, which, if this topic garners enough interest, should be soon. I hope I've caught your fancy somehow, and if you have any questions, or would like something changed, I'm open to everything.