March Upon Sol
You have been called home.
The most ancient histories declare that humanity has been spacefaring for twenty-eight millennia, reaching the innermost folds and furthest reaches of the galaxy. They have been traders, conquerors, guides and slaves. Since a precipitous fall ten thousand years ago, no united human polity has existed. All imaginable governments have been tried, all evolutionary paths pursued. The human species is one with untold children. To some races, man is a reviled parasite, a despoiler, a slaver, to others a beloved friend and sworn ally. As many races have been shepherded to enlightenment and prosperity as were sent to oblivion through conquest and genocide.
That is the galaxy you left behind, still smouldering in this longest of nights.
The perilous journey towards a forgotten star, the long-dreamed of Urheimat of Mankind, has come to an end. Now the galaxy writhes in warp storms, and you are marooned in boneyards of humanity's rise to prominence. The system is strange, crowded with the detritus of thirty-six thousand years of history, aliens, technobarbarians and stranger things still hidden amid the ruins. The voice that called you to Sol has grown only stronger still, radiating out from the ruined third planet of the system.
The prize awaits.
March Upon Sol
March Upon Sol is a nation game that uses modified Nexus rules for nation creation.
The players take the roles of spacefaring fleets that have returned to a long-forgotten Sol, in a galaxy where FTL travel has become dangerous and unreliable.
Game Themes:
- Technobarbarians: Lots
- Space Magic: Some and Dangerous
- Deep Lore/Metaplot
- Imperialism
- Madness: Max
Setting Details
Races
Sol: What Was and Shall Be
Sol
The star burns brightly, yet undimmed. The ruins of various attempts to farm antimatter or weaponize solar light glitter in the heliosphere, slowly disintegrated by heat, radiation and the passage of time. The solar atmosphere brims with the sweet, sorrowful tones of whalesong.
Sol-1
Ancient Names:
- E-NK
- Naboo
- Elmes
- Mrcvrivs
- Budha
Sol-1 was terraformed some time ago, but these efforts have been undone by a lack of maintenance and the solar shade that makes it livable is in a one-thousand year decaying orbit that will eventually end the experiment of life here. The planet is presently in a state of sustained desertfication, and is covered by long strip-mining channels. The locals are landlocked by vast orbital debris and likely fighting over diminishing water resources.
Sol-2
Ancient Names:
- I-NNA
- Ishter
- Afrodite
- Vinvs
- Sukra
Sol-2 was successfully terraformed, but the various artificial ecosystems appear to have gone into overdrive. The borders between exotic engineered biomes are literal warzones, and there are signs this evolution is beginning to outpace human ability to adapt to respond to it. Technic ruins here are lavish and well-maintained, but besides a few very prominent cities civilization as a whole appears to be unsophisticated and a mix of hunter-gatherers and scavengers. Orbital debris are light and navigable.
Sol-3
Ancient Names:
- Land
- Gaya
- Terameter
- Prithvi
Sol-3 is currently in a long period of recovery after a nuclear winter, with competing introduced biomes and ecological devastation so severe it's impossible to tell what the planet's original biosphere was like. Vast technic ruins dot the surface, with entire continental cities in ruins stretching miles above and beneath the surface. Signs of warfare are continuous, with extremely well-armed locals. Orbital debris are severe but can be breached carefully.
Sol-3's moon is dotted in the ruins of massive cities, some of which appear to be occupied.
The signal came from here.
Sol-4
Ancient Names:
- G-LANE
- Nergal
- Ars
- Mars
- Mangala
A minimally terraformed world, cold, rocky and unpleasant, but covered in vast industrial works. The atmosphere is breathable and provides tolerable pressure but is mostly composed of industrial pollution. Appears to be in a continuous state of warfare between various polities. Orbital debris are severe, but the locals appear to have the capability to clear it themselves.
The Belt
A variety of polities thrive out here, surviving through the processing of the asteroid belts, comet capture as well as trade between the inner and outer system.
Sol-5
Ancient Names:
- N-LLL
- Marduk
- Zos
- Dispater
- Brhaspati
The system's largest gas giant is a tempestuous ball of hard radiation, but its orbits are resource-rich and show generations of attempts to harvest fuel from the atmosphere. The moons are almost all inhabited by a variety of human and alien polities.
Sol-6
Ancient Names:
- N-NRTA
- Korone
- Cistvrn
- Sani
The beautiful ringed gas giant is home to more sustainable fuel mining operations. The moons are all inhabited to one degree or another.
Sol-7
Ancient Names:
- Ur-Novo
- Caelvs
- Mrtyu
Several potent alien polities have settled around Sol-7 for unknown purposes, scavenging the vast shipyards and fuel works built here. The moons are heavily settled and many of them have been terraformed to host alien ecologies.
Sol-8
Ancient Names:
- Neptvn
- Poseidal
- Varuna
The cold, icy gas giant at the edge of the system is isolated by distance and shows little to no sign of habitation, though an abundance of technic ruins dot the orbits.
The Outer Leviathan
HAZARD WARNING
Scholars debate whether there was ever ninth planet in Sol, believed to have been named Hades, King Yama or JOKER if such histories were true. No sign of that planet exists now, after twenty-eight thousand years. In its place is the Leviathan, a segmented serpentine creature neither living nor dead, composed of stone and chitin and endless fields of churning, bubbling viscera, sustained by an unknown source of power- a biomechanical terror beyond comprehension. On an irregular orbit at the outer edge of the system, it occupies the path the lost ninth planet is believed to have one followed. Nose to tail it is around 140000 KM-long (nearly half a light second), and 6000 KM in diameter, writhing in legions of skittering horrors birthed from the dark crevices of its world-body.
The Leviathan is disinterested in anything beyond continuing its steady orbit, and the organisms it hosts lack the means to trouble the rest of the solar system.
So far, no expeditions have returned from the Outer Leviathan.