Space Mercs: Salvagers for hire

Setting

History

The end of the 21st century was a great disappointment to many citizens of the planet we call Earth. By 2100, the world still remained fractured; plagues had killed nearly a billion people across South East Asia and China, the environment existed in ruins almost everywhere save Europe, Australia and parts of Africa while the United States had more or less withdrawn to deal with domestic conerns as opposed to foreign, having lost its place as a superpower to no clearly defined entity. Space exploration had barely moved beyond a few token leads into the asteroid belt. The energy crisis still remained; the advent of fusion power simply being too expensive per capita to get much of a foothold against oil, natural gas and other technologies - especially after the discovery of significant reserves across Siberia, Alaska and Antarctica's western peninsula (which created the First Antarctic War in the early 2040s between the USA, China, the then up-and-coming African Union and Argentina).

Tech had advanced, of course, but the barrier of cheap energy combined with strict monopolies of new technologies in many countries prevented many important advances from being significantly widespread accross regions - especially as conflicts broke out and many regions rescinded back into religious extremism of various kinds. It wouldn't be till 2104, however, that things would begin to change rapidly. This change began with the discovery of a strange compound known as Obitum at the bottom of Ayer's Rock in Australia. Although only five kilograms of the substance exists on Earth, it proved to have incredibly unusual properties - enough that even a milligram of it was exposed to a microgravity environment, it would kick start a fusion reaction easily.

This more or less gave space exploration the one giant leap it needed. Within the next ten years the substance would become the most valuable commodity in orbit as dozens of space stations began to be established, generating and sending power back down to Earth. More importantly, it became a vital part of propulsion systems that allowed a final settlement of mars. Of course, the wars and rivalries on Earth would spread out into space - but things were starting to change everywhere and by 2140, the entire solar system had been colonized and things had settled down on Earth as more of the material was found in the asteroid belt, allowing for the expansion of colonies in space and on other moons. When there looked to be no more frontier reachable, one thing led to another and wormhole travel was achieved in 2155, opening up the galaxy to exploration.

The modern day

Politics

The current date is December 24th, 2254 and the galaxy hosts at least 600 Billion human beings spread across 2000 star systems, six expansive blocs: The Interstellar Federation, the Caliphate, the Empire of Ziora, The Incorporated States of Google, The Alliance of Non-aligned States and finally The Diaspora. The spectrum of governments across star systems contains anything from republics and vassal states to religious monarchies and anarchic bands of pirates. Things change sometimes daily in some places, while others have remained the same since their colonization efforts. Despite some of these blocs being at odds with each other, things are at least somewhat peaceful for the moment, with conflicts being isolated to simple engagements with ships or occasionally feuds between backwater planets.

Technology

Technological levels do vary depending on where you are, but are somewhat similar accross the board. Cybernetics are common, as are cloning techs. Medical technology has grown significant enough that it is possible to achieve immortality by age, while gene-engineering for superior soldiers and crewmen is common. Space travel still relies on wormholes, which while fast limit the flexibility of exit points. Slower drives are available that offer more versatility, especially in hazardous zones. Space combat takes place regularly, though the weapons and techs used varies heavily by the faction and side in question. For game purposes, estimate somewhere a fair bit more advanced than Star Trek in some manners, but a bit more limited in others (no transporters, for instance).

Alien Life

However, even as mankind spreads through the stars and expands the frontiers, the distinct lack of other sentient life is one that is to be noted. To date, most alien life has been either very primitive or sub-sentient at best. At the same time, human attempts to replicate or create life in terms of true Artificial Intelligence has failed significantly; even the longest lived evolving program, MasterVAC 5000, occasionally fails a Turing test and has shown no sign of self-awareness.

There is one notable exception to this, however. On the 1st of February, 2254, rumors began to surface of unknown vessels within the Twilight Nebula, on the furthest reaches of human space. These vessels were not human built and appear to be incredibly advanced - but all attempts to contact or find their source has since failed as they have slipped away multiple times. Given its sheer size and distance from the rest of human civilization, exploring the nebula poses a logistical challenge further crippled by the political indecisiveness and dispute over the validity of these rumors.

Who you are

Perhaps