Difference between revisions of "Nephon Sector"

Revision as of 13:30, 1 March 2007

The Nephon sector, as far as its inhabitants know, is a relatively isolated section of space, describing a crescent that descends obliquely into the galactic plane. Through the sector there runs a major space-lane, converging from two separate outlets of the Hoked Nebula to the Toko system, and from there branching minus-X and plus X towards the Nago system at the extreme minus-X of the coordinate system, and a short terminus to the Newton system on the plus-X.

The Toko system is the only way in or out of the sector, as it is the only place with the sort of long-distance jump docks that inter-sector travel requires.

Life in the Nephon sector is difficult for most. The Toko government claims dominion over the entire sector, but has not the military might nor the unity to enforce it. In the inner systems, close to Toko, life is strictly regulated. On the outer systems, such as in Nago, or close to the Hoked Nebula, or in the remote tributary Rukku system, residents scrape together what life they can. Residents of the more remote systems are dependent upon the Ronin (literally: "wave person" thank you wikipedia), a class of person liberated by their owning/crewing a ship, for neccesities such as food, trade goods, and news.

Nephon Sector characters

Space Travel

The following is technobabble, and relates in no real way to enjoyment of the game:

Long-distance travel is done over the course of several weeks along "space lanes": corridors of active gases that act as conduits for charged particles. By deploying a "Noble Sail", a ship can harness these particles to enable tremedous acceleration. Travel between systems is a matter of days through a space lane, but could take weeks or months with conventional drives.

Though few in the Nephon Sector make use of them, Jump Docks enable much longer-distance travel, by creating a stabilized wormhole between two points.

Navigation

Astronavigation is essentially a very difficult and complex physics problem; as such, navigators are well-versed, formally or otherwise, in both classical and quantum mechanics, mathematics, etc.

Ships

There's a large range of ships in common use throughout the Nephon Sector. Many of them are quite old, and while ship technology hasn't advanced radically in some time, human ingenuity cannot be contained, and as such modifications ranging from silly (hong pipe, rear wing) to life-saving (irradiated gas engine boost) are common. Those who own ships or regularly travel on them are often posessed of a certain enthusiasm to talk shop, which almost always bores the snot out of others in the immediate vicinity.

Example Ships:

Bishamon

Lady Murasaki

Ace in the Hole

Law Enforcement

The Toko government makes an attempt to spread its culture and the "rule of law" to the outer systems, which, through greed and distance, see little of the prosperity that Toko's jump gates bring to the central systems. As such, 'lawmen' are dispatched to patrol the reaches, to see that those upholding the law and Toko culture are rewarded, and that those who flaunt them are punished. Their role is analagous to the Ronin, but from more of a state-sponsored angle. They are not always welcome, however.

Ronin

The counterpart to the Lawman, the Ronin is a "private" (though many are funded by regional governments) citizen who has a ship capable of inter-system travel. Distinct from professional cargo crews or militias, the Ronin is ostensibly a privateer, beholden to no particular system, government, or corporate interest.

Ronin are often relied upon to assist outlying systems in critical tasks, such as obtaining food or medicine, too critical to trust to the Toko central authority. They are also often called upon to complete illegal or dangerous acts. Since the life of a Ronin is one of constant struggle to upkeep their ship and maintain their tenuous freedom, many Ronin will take whatever job comes across their bow.

Topography

poorly-drawn map to come.

Systems

These are the major systems in the Nephon Sector

The Core

Toko Cluster

• Perrisport - said to be the major port for the Core before the Jump Gates were moved to Toko
• Newton
• Spectrum - a new, crowded, settlement that many describe as 'prefab'
• Darkriver - a part of the Core
• Toko - the seat of the central authority

Koto Cluster

• Mamba
• Koto
• Nago
• Kansei

The Frontier

• Kite
• Bath
• Sephore - Famous for its alcoholic beverages, this system lies next to the Hoked Nebula
• Hero
• Hermit
• Toro - an old settlement with respected agriculture
• Edge - munitions and armament factories

The Unknown

• Hoked Nebula - a mysterious and largely unexplored place

History

Nephon Sector History

Tech

The tech level of the Nephon Sector is relatively low; especially out on the Frontier, where the latest advances in out-system technology haven't reached. While the Toko government holds incredibly advanced tech, it hoards it, rightly thinking that advanced out-system technology is a threat to its authority.

Weapons

Projectile weapons are the most common, given the fact that they're still lethal enough. Energy weapons of all sorts are rumored by rarely if ever seen.

Ship to ship combat on the frontier is rare, but when it happens, it's mostly with kinetic (read: non-explosive) guided missiles, since their range is long enough to end most conflicts before they close to more dangerous ranges. For those without missiles, mass drivers are sometimes used, or thrusters themselves are employed as improvised weapons.

The bulk of free ships are unarmed, as it's illegal to carry weaponry unless permitted by government grant. The punishment can be severe: weaponry on a non-military/non-government craft constitutes a threat to the safety of lawful citizens and the government operatives themselves; they are authorized to arrest, impound, or destroy any ship that so breaks the law.

Military ships are known to have arsenals of surpassing firepower, encompassing magnetic pulse, plasma, beam, and perhaps other, more deadly technologies.

Prosthetics

Medical technology is advanced enough to supply replacement limbs of all calibers, from vat-grown tissue to military-grade reinforced prosthetics.

One-shot

Look here: Nephon Sector One-Shot

System

White Wolf

I'm leaning towards using White Wolf, maybe the Adventure system minus all the special powers. You'd get Inspiration, which you can use for crazy stuff (I'm thinking up a system for using this, where you state what you want and then negotiate with the group as a whole) like altering actions that have already happened, or superhuman efforts, or plot twists, those kinds of things.

I'd like to incorporate some kind of "traits"; I'm not sure how I'd do it yet.

Nephon Sector Character Sheet

Traits

Instead of having advantages or disadvantages, I think I'm going to take another page from DitV, but messed up to better suit our group. You may choose a number of Traits ( you get one for free; taking more costs freebies ) to describe your character's unique strengths and personality. These Traits can be rated from 1 to 5 dice. In circumstances where the Trait plays in your favor, you may add those dice to your pool. In situations where the Trait plays against your favor, though, I take the dice and they either roll to subtract successes or add to the enemy's dice pool. The Trait's definition must account for this; there's no "I'm a good shot every time it's in my favor 5 dice" traits. As such, your Traits must meet with GM approval.

"Ferocious fighter" would, for instance, be an appropriate trait; it would come into play against you when you're trying to fight without harming someone, for instance, or trying to snipe the one guy but not hit his prisoner.

A Trait may also be brought into play by spending an Inspiration point, or you may spend an Inspiration point to negate the negative effects of a Trait for one scene.