Peelsaga

First Man invented tools and fire. These led to new creations, metal and powder, plastics and computers, the unlocked atom, nanomachines and megaengineering, exotic matter and particle control, total stellar utilisation. When his power grew so great he could touch the sky, he reached out and brushed it, and felt the footprints of those who had gone before him.

That was thousands of years ago.

The Netsphere

The void of space is not empty and flat. Humanity has known that since the primitive days. Just what it was filled with they did not anticipate.

The Netsphere is the largest computing system that has ever been created and will ever be created. It fills the entire universe, written into and able to change its very fabric. Despite the magnificent heights of modern 'conventional' technology, all the greatest wonders can only be achieved by invoking its power.

Key Technologies

Netsphere System Emulation

One of the early and most common uses of the Netsphere was to perform sophisticated computational tasks without needing a large physical computer. With a short amount of time to set itself up within a given area, a System Emulator can use local memory and processing capacity to run a virtual machine. Such systems can be very powerful in a much smaller space than conventional computers, but have the disadvantage that they are impossible to truly isolate from anyone with a Netsphere interface.

Net Transmission

Once the basics of Netsphere interface and control were discovered, it was fairly simple to use it to to transmit data. The challenging part was organising this into the current Pan-Stellar Network.

Virtual Space Transfer

A more advanced Netsphere application was uploading of physical objects into the quantum substrate. This is still a sharply limited application, but an extraordinarily important one as it allows for (among other things) true superluminal travel. The object to be transferred is uploaded into the Netsphere, stored in a Virtual Space that emulates reality and transmitted to the destination, where it is downloaded back into physicality. The main limitations are the requirement for the target space to be vacuum, and the need for a correct NP address for the target location.

Spaceless Transfer

The cutting-edge of Netsphere technology is Spaceless Transfer, which can upload, transmit and download at target a physical object without needing to store it in a Virtual Space. It is faster than VS Transfer as it requires less bandwidth to transmit a static object than a full simulation, and it is more able to transfer into occupied space. However, it is limited by distance and cannot transmit 'active' objects - only inanimate matter. Attempts to transmit living creatures or running computers output a dead human or crashed computer at the target location.

Legacy Code

Most of the Netsphere is empty or filled with garbage data, but not all. Some coherent programs and applications and code fragments remain from the era of the Architects. As human knowledge of Netsphere code and architecture is still very incomplete, these programs are of paramount power and value.

Downloaded Artefacts

Some legacy code is designed to be 'downloadable' to form a physical object. These artefacts are believed to be examples of Architect technology.

The Pan-Stellar Union

The Exodus

When Man gained access to the power of the Netsphere, it did not escape him that it could be used to enslave his fellows. Those that opposed the exploding social and temporal power of the Authority were forced to flee. All failed, save for the group that would later form the Pan-Stellar Union. With the use of a powerful segment of legacy code, codenamed 'Noah', they departed the Milky Way entirely, burning the path behind them and isolating themselves in their new home.

The Union Today

A thousand stars, a thousand years, a hundred billion souls. The Pan-Stellar Union has been the home of humanity since the Exodus, gradually spreading into a fertile Andromeda.

The Union is a federation of hundreds of governments. It has a Senate, a President, courts and armed forces. But it is not a sovereign state in the archaic sense. The founders were well-aware of the dangers of tyrannical centralisation and designed their system to prevent it. The Union Armed Forces are not the monopoly holders of violence, just the best and largest force, and the Union has sharply abridged rights to dictate the affairs of member states. Like a feudal king of ancient periods the Union must balance its member states against one another, and also manage the uncountable corporations, foundations and enclaves that are not formal states but still hold significant power.

Life in the Union is good by the standards of almost every historical human society. Scarcity of basic goods has been obliterated, natural disease is a thing of the past, death is ever more defeatable. Of the four traditional evils only War remains, whether for power or principle, since the Union cannot hope to control all the squabbles of its constituents. The greatest ill facing the Union is not an obvious or simple threat, but malaise and dissent. The Union is distant from its citizens, corrupt and opaque and often mired in scandal. It is shot through with special interests and secret societies, and outside its auspices are a myriad groups dedicated to its overthrow on a local or global scale.

Inexorably, the Union's tensions are coming to a head, and nobody (publicly) knows how events will unfold.

Paradigm

Augmentation

The men and women of the Union are not the flawed creatures that emerged from the cradle of Earth so long ago. Every Stellan is stronger, healthier and more intelligent than 'Original' Homo Sapiens, without genetic diseases and with greatly extended lifespan. Dozens of tiny implants, thousands of optical fibres and billions of circulatory nanomachines monitor, manage and repair bodily functions with far greater finesse and intelligence than the crude hormonal systems of yesteryear. Conventional illness is all but eradicated, and death by injury is a rarity. The most prevalent killer of men and women is (somewhat perversely) failure or malfunction of the nonbiological systems, followed by 'peaceful suicide'.

More radical alteration ('exhumanism') using cybernetics or dramatic genetic alteration is not unheard of, but is rare due to the physiological and psychological roadblocks and tradeoffs involved.

Power

Energy is generated in the Union in a variety of ways, ranging from solar cells to fusion power to orbital taps to cutting-edge matter converters. By contrast storage is almost uniformly done using a photon matrix, a crystal that stores energy by 'freezing' photons. Photon matrices require no power to keep the energy stored, and have only a slow decay rate with a half-life of thousands or even millions of years. High-capacity photon matrices can store so much energy that their weight noticeably increases when fully-charged. A typical photon matrix is a long, thin translucent tablet that can glow visibly if the decay rate and stored energy are high enough.

Damaged photon matrices will bleed energy at a faster rate, but it is difficult to force a matrix to undergo a runaway energy dump. The methods to do so form the basis of the photon bomb, the 'clean' WMD of the current age.

Peelsaga Character Creation

Generic ShrikeRPG. A level in a stat or skill costs points equal to the new rating. Buy up from 0 at character creation. Suggestions welcome!

• 1: 1
• 2: 3
• 3: 6
• 4: 10
• 5: 15
• 6: 21
• 7: 28
• 8: 36
• 9: 45
• 10: 55

Stats

• Power: Physical strength and toughness.
• Speed: Physical dexterity and nimbleness.
• Wits: How well you think on your feet and keep cool in hectic situations.
• Education: How much book learning and ability to perform slow intellectual tasks you have.
• Charisma: How likeable and/or attention-grabbing you are.
• Manipulation: How much of a lying bastard you can be.

Skills

• Computer: Your skill with normal computer systems. Covers programming and good practice and also knowledge of hardware standards, manufacturing, etc.
• Conspiracy: How well-connected you are to a certain conspiracy or organisation. Also covers general bureaucratic manipulation and arm-twisting.
• Etiquette: Your skill at schmoozing and dissembling in formal or high-society settings.
• Firearms: Face-shooting, and also seeking cover.
• Knowledge: In-depth knowledge of a particular field.
• Mechanic: Your skill with diagnosing problems and maintaining machinery. Also required to use micromanufacturing kits without a template.
• Melee: Face-punching, and also guards and dodging.
• Netsphere: Your knowledge of and skill at hacking and programming the Netsphere. Cannot be higher than your Computers skill.
• Pilot: Your skill at controlling vehicles such as hovercars, mecha and gunships.
• Stealth: Your skill at not being noticed.
• Streetwise: Your skill at fixing deals and covering your arse in seedy or disreputable settings.

Equipment

Costs incoming.

Armour

• Armour cloth: Your clothes are armour. Concealable, though limits wardrobe options.
• Personal forcefield: Armour Cloth Plus. Better protection, no convenient holes, and allows a variety of outfits as long as they're close-fitting.
• Personal armour: A suit of personal armour. This is clearly armour and nigh-impossible to conceal. It is probably slightly powered.
• Power armour: Getting huge.

Vehicles

Vehicles are assumed to be militarised. Noncombat versions cost half (ships are assumed to have a few deck guns). Elite versions cost 150%. If a vehicle is humanoid, sensible feet carry a one-point surcharge and have no game effect.

• Small craft: A one-person vehicle like a tiny gunboat or combat frame.
• Large craft: A larger vehicle with room for several passengers/crew.
• Starship: A ship that can travel between star systems.

Misc

• SL Transfer Unit: A modifier to another device. It can be teleported thousands of kilometres via the Netsphere. Cost depends on scale.

Traits

• Damaged Goods (-?): Some historical trauma left you with major issues.
• Dark Secret (-1): You committed some major crime. You start the game imprisoned with no hope of escape, as is your just punishment.
• Hot Blooded (-1): You are stupid and annoying. -1 Wits, Education, Charisma and Manipulation.
• Rival (-2): Your character has some kind of equal-to-better enemy, who hates your guts and gleefully gets in your face at every opportunity. You start the game dead, because your rival just shot you.

Rules

• Stat + skill = dice. 6+ = success. Accumulate sux for victory.
• Attacking and dodging = speed + skill.
• Melee damage = Power dice (+1 for weapon, +2 for cool weapon)
• Health levels = 5 + Power
• Soak is from armour only