Here’s some short history of my campaign setting. Left basic so we can fill in the blanks:
It’s been over 500 years since the first colony ships arrived. The location of the Sol System, of Old Earth–it’s been lost. No one knows the way back. Legends tell that when we left, the planet was choking on the fumes of our forebearer’s ancient dirty industry. Don’t think anyone really wants to go back, place is probably a hot stinky swamp still.
The Sector started off with growth and colonization. People spread out, finding dozens of habitable planets. Corporations set up shop, churning out profits. These were the good days, the simple days. People cooperated, for the most part. When things didn’t cut into their pockets.
But, that didn’t last long. The corporations grew greedy–as they have done since the first idea of a corporation was ever thought up–somewhere back on Old Earth. They began to fight and squabble.
That is until the Black Fleet came along, out of nowhere.
Their tech was like nothing we seen. They were from some other sector, a place where other groups of humans set out. They laid siege to countless worlds, burning those them to the ground. We realized–they weren’t here to conquer. They were here for a mass slaughter.
The corporations joined up, they formed the Panstellar Consortium. The combined military might of the entire Sector became a thing to bear witness. They fought back against the Black Fleet–and they suffered for it. It was a long arduous campaign, but they sent the fleet crawling back to the depths of space. Not that there was much left of their own after that.
The Sector licked its wounds. People began to question their place. Survivors of the ransacked worlds started to look at the big picture. Mankind was going to fight itself into nothingness. There had to be a better future, a better version of humanity.
Thus the Human Preservation Society was formed. The keenest minds started to dream this huge project. They cloned humans, improved on their flaws. They created colonies where people didn’t fight and compete. Where they served their purpose. They grew in power too, soon rivaling even the Consortium.
Other people looked for a way out. Suffering was a thing they accepted. But, not something they wanted to revel in. They looked to the old books, the religions of Old Earth. There were no answers, not ones that brought any comfort. Just stories. The idea of heaven, of transcending suffering and death it became a thing that took over minds. The sharpest of those minds began working on the Nexus. A way for people to leave behind their broken bodies and live forever. A way to exist, virtually, for eons–in peace and happiness. A manufactured heaven. They grew a cult following too, a new quasi-religion was born. They called themselves The Ascendancy. Their influence spread like a wildfire. So did their wealth. So much that they could rival the Consortium, even as they lived among it.
Now-a-days the Consortium, the HPS, and the Ascendency butt-heads against each other in the shadows, for control over the people. Most of us don’t see it. We live in our ramshackle houses, our rusted up ships, and we work. We just try to get by. Like we always have.
Welcome to the Sector–Avalon Omega. Welcome to hell.