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

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

• Ur
• 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 them themselves and are actively harvesting them for war materiel.

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.

Nation Creation

Nation creation is slightly more complex than regular Nexus due to the smaller scope and need to break up statlines into more discrete units. Do not fret, it's all neatly laid out in a step by step guide.

Step 1: Basic Information and Traits

Players are asked to fill out basic information providing the answers to basic questions like who their state is, where they came from, what kind of government they have, etc. Additionally every player begins with 2 Trait Points to spend on Positive Traits. Additional Trait Points may be acquired by taking on Negative Traits, to a maximum of 2.

Basic Information

• Faction Name: The name of your group.
• Type: Are you a pirate band, an expeditionary group sent by a far-flung polity, the last exiles of dying race?
• Emergence Point: Where did your fleet leave FTL? It can be any location on the system atlas, except for Sol-3 for unknown reasons. Note this is also where reinforcements will arrive.

Positive Traits

• Companions: Your leader's bodyguard unit are truly exceptional special forces, providing a layer of plot armor against assassinations and a tool for special missions.
• Chosen One: Your group is led by/are the custodians of a paranormally gifted human being who led you to Sol, heeding the call to gather from Earth. This individual has plot armor and is a powerful exemplar of your strengths and weaknesses. The rest of your faction can be aliens, but the individual in question must be human.
• Far Traders: Your path to Sol led you across the galaxy, allowing you to build more better maps of both the stars and galactic history. Once per budget turn, discover a 'secret' in your archives (i.e.: the GM will answer a lore question).
• Navigators: Freely assign your starting forces between any location on the solar atlas. Furthermore, your future reinforcements can arrive at any location you have eyes on, not just your initial emergence point.
• Recall Point: You retain limited FTL capability even with the disruptions to travel, and are able to jump back to the last system on your trip to Sol. An empty red dwarf system with a small debris field, it provides a safe place to keep assets and for reinforcements to arrive.
• Warrior Cult: Despite being a spacefaring polity, you have superb ground units due to preserving the institutions of ground warfare one way or another.

Negative Traits

• Blood Vendetta: Anyone who kills even a single one of your units or manages to tarnish your reputation becomes an enemy for life. Blood must be paid with blood.
• Brannigan's Wake: Initial intel reports will always lie, suggesting the enemy is always much weaker than it really is. If you cooperate with other players, this penalty affects them so long as you work together.
• Intolerant: You cannot meaningfully cooperate with factions that do not share 50% or more of your Traits and exact Rankings (no higher or lower), except for Intolerant which counts as an unlike Trait.
• Just Miners: None of your initial ships are armed beyond point-defense, and the technobarbarians will not respect you until you start earning some serious victories. If you have to fight a war, you'll have a lot of work to do.
• Lonesome Road: You never developed FTL, and arrived via slower-than-light relativistic ship, so-called 'lighthuggers'. Reinforcements always arrive via the outer system and may pass through the path of the Outer Leviathan.
• Scattering: Your emergence location is random and a percentage of your initial force will be sent to a second location. Worse, so is the emergence location of any potential reinforcements.
• On Strange Shores: The journey to Sol had few detours and you are displaced in time from the other arrivals. Start without translation protocols, a star chart of Sol or any 'common sense' regarding the Urheimat. Other players attempting to remedy your issues must commit considerable resources to do so.
• Warpburned: FTL, psychic phenomenon and other effects are anathema to you. You may still develop the relevant competencies but do so at your own peril.

Step 2: Rankings

General Advancement

Divergent Advancement

Unique Technology