I saw this new forum and so I figured I'd be the first to populate it. This is the dev version of the background story and quests I have been working on for my game. All information contained here will be eventually accessible in game after much exploration. please DO NOT use part or all of this or any story ideas I post here without my expressed permission. I don't normally care about stuff like this, especially with source code, but this story idea is the very heart of my game and copying it would only cheapen all involved. Here we go:
New players will start out on a small colony moon orbiting the major planet of Athrandir, for which the known galaxy is named after. Athrandir Prime is the bureaucratic center of the galaxy, where all races live in a tentative peace planet side so that the governments and economies of the vast galaxy do not go into ruin and anarchy. Hostilities in the universe abound however, as alien races wage wars, pirates on the outer fringes of civilization raid trade routes and unknown terrors await those foolish enough to wander into unknown territory.
Each race has a major Planet that is the "Prime" homeworld for that species. For example, the Majursa, a strong and majestic race of mammalian aliens resembling what we would know a bears, live on the Planet of Ursa Prime. They have a few colonies both in their own solar system and neighboring stars, but this would be the planet of origin. Other planets are run, or nearly overrun by large autonomous corporations and guilds that are comprised of countless alien beings but whose only masters are money and power. One of these examples is the Pipe Builder's Guild, the organization responsible for maintenance of the Trade Pipes and also their toll fees.
Pipe technology is what allows the many races of the galaxy near instantaneous communication and transportation across the galaxy. These Pipes are basically artificial wormholes that have been stabilized using Gate technology. Non-stabilized wormholes are called wild holes and serve as treacherous links between systems when players and NPC’s alike wish to keep below the radar.
Dureaga is one of Athrandir Prime's major moons and serves as a communications hub and experimental terraforming research center. Half of the surface is controlled by top biologists and chemists devising new ways to terraform different environments. Unfortunately because of genetic modification and environmental tampering, several species of local and exotic life have started overpopulating the terraforming experiment. New players will have a chance to test their skills out by helping the scientists cut down the local populations.
In addition to this a rouge scientist has ran off with some major research and the information needs to be found. Several documents have been dropped all over the planet and it is up to the players to find the research, and bring the rouge scientist to justice. He has hidden away in the moon's other half, the part of the satellite given over to a vast communications array that helps keep the flow of information going to Athrandir. Large predatory animals and a few vagrants frequent this place. Player may soon discover that certain transmissions are being intercepted by an automated system that deals with a new civil war on the Majursa home planet. From here the major story arc starts to take shape.
Majursa Prime is controlled by a rigid caste system. There are bureaucrats, military, workers, and theologians. Workers are staging a revolt in many of the Majursa colonies, spurred on by select figures in the military. Workers claim injustice and hardship as the reason for revolt, however the bureaucrats claim no wrong doing and instead point out the tarnished records of the leaders of the military coup.
Players must find out the intricacies of this conflict and pick sides, or be neutral. During the campaign, players notice Skelphann traders on both sides of the conflict profiting massively. Digging deeper reveals that several key figures of the civil war are on both sides have either been bought or blackmailed to start this civil war. The Skelphann hope to use the war as a diversion in order to gain territory from the Majursa that they claim once belonged to them. Players, with the help of the galactic government, will help settle the dispute, either by negotiation or force. With the Majursa/Skelphann conflict somehow resolved, one or both fleets are weakened enough that piracy has dramatically increased in the area.
Piracy has become so rampant that a particularly large group of them have taken the opportunity to invade an entire world on the borders of Majursa space. The world of Pligar had its Pipes severely damaged during the war, and was invaded before reconstruction could take place. Wild holes are the only way to get into and out of the system, and this precludes the Galactic Senate from sending in heavy forces to secure the planet. It is up to the players to do something about this predicament.
While dealing with the pirates, many secrets await discovery. Constant use of the wild holes from both pirates and players has caused some peculiar space-time distortions and new pathways have opened to nearby systems around Pilgar that are rich with untapped resources. Ancient ruins are also discovered, leading to the first time anyone in the known galaxy has found something created during the era the Pipes were supposedly made. Another system nearby holds a large homeworld sized planet inhabited by a previously undiscovered race, which has so many stable and large wild holes it could potentially become a vast hub rivaling Athrandir Prime itself with the flow of traffic possible.
The resource rich system near Pilgar has a very unstable wild hole that must be stabilized soon in order to have it accessible. Large corporations are willing to hand out plenty of money to get this endeavor up and running, so enterprising characters can carve out some good business on this small side story. Collecting raw materials, running Pipe parts for various guilds to stabilize the wormhole, Exploring undiscovered territory, clearing out dangerous predators, many rewarding quests can be offered. There will also surely be pirates to defeat once they get the smell of money. The system containing ancient ruins is the first clue to a bigger understanding of Pipe technology. The aliens who first built these ruins are not the ones who created the pipes, and were not of any critical importance to the “Pipe Builders.” However, they were a slave race to a much grander race that did have contact with the “Pipe Builders.” How easily this information becomes available to the players depends on how long we want to draw out this story arc. Very little actual technology is discovered at these ruins that hasn't already been discovered or invented, however there are very well kept written records of the slaves and their masters which will have buried somewhere co-ordinates to other places where more information can be found. To make these ruins more dangerous, indigenous species on the planets and the ancient defense systems present pose great threat to all who dare try and learn the ancient secrets.
The Large planet with stable wild holes will be the start of a new expansion for the game, hopefully. We can at this point introduce a new player race, a new player class or two, and a new homeworld. I'm not yet sure where the story will lead after this, but there are plenty of opportunities.
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