Hyperspace RP
From Egs Mayhem
Stolen from the desk of Piebunny:
Contents |
Backstory
BACKGROUND: The year is 2150, and things have changed a great deal since the early 21st century. The century that had begun with bright dreams for the future was shattered by a nuclear disaster in the year 2054 that left the Northern Hemisphere uninhabitable and the nations of the Southern Hemisphere reeling. After careful discussion, they realised that their only hope of survival was to band together into a single World Government, which first convened in 2100, at the beginning of the 22nd century. "This," proclaimed the first President of the Earth, Jack Nolan, in his inauguration speech on the 1st of January, 2100, outside Earth Parliament House in Sydney, Australia, "is the beginning not only of a new century, but a new era for the planet Earth and humanity." He was right. Just twenty years later, scientists working in a Johannesburg laboratory announced an astonishing discovery. The Universe, they said, was not flat. It was the skin of a massive cosmic sphere, inside was complete nothingness. The scientists dubbed this nothingness the "Intravoid", though it was coloquially called "hyperspace". "But," people cried, "how come none of our spaceships have ever penetrated the Intravoid? Surely travelling towards the interior would eventually take you there!" The answer was simple. One cannot reach the Intravoid by travelling through the conventional four dimensions. Or, to quote Douglas Adams, one cannot travel "at right-angles to reality". It required a special method. One that the scientists eventually came up with five years later. It involved cutting a hole in the fabric of space-time and sealing it with gates that could open and close. These gates were made of a special material called "Continuonium" which was actually partly made up of the fabric. When sets of gates were set in a line, one could move through the first gates, then after they closed, through the second and into hyperspace. However, one required a special vehicle to safely travel through hyperspace or else they would die in the void. To this end, the same scientists constructed the TRAnsport via INtravoid machine, or TRAIN. The TRAINS were also constructed of Continuonium, and could thus safely navigate the Intravoid, cutting normal travel time through regular space-time drastically. In 2135, a massive space station was put in geostationary orbit above Sydney. This was Earth's Grand Central TRAIN Station, and all across the universe, at every human outpost, similar satellites were going up. This was the beginning of the era of the TRAIN as the standard for interstellar travel. The gates had to be placed on space stations because if placed on a planet's surface there was a very slight chance that the gravity would muck up the process and send said planet spinning into the Intravoid. A very slight chance, true, but the scientists weren't willing to take any. And so, we come to today. All across the universe, humans are travelling from star to star via hyperspace. From Earth to Alpha Centauri to Betelgeuse, TRAIN stations link outposts together. And who knows what the next day will bring?
Setting
Various TRAIN stations scattered across the universe. Ultra-modern space stations with artificial gravity. The largest are similar to major airports.
Notes
- 'The plot I haven't entirely decided on yet. I'm figuring we just see how it goes, maybe throw in an evil conspiracy.' -Piebunny.
- One can not travel through time with a TRAIN, and nobody has yet figured out how to travel through time at all. If they could, then they might just go back and stop the Cataclysm from happening, now wouldn't they?
- We have found alien life, but unfortunately not much of it is particularly bright.
- Genetic engineering has progressed to the point where most genetic diseases have been wiped out. No super-soldiers yet.
- People can and do have implants such as flexible wrist-panels for watching television and the like. Everybody has an ID chip under the nail of their right index finger which contains details about them and their money. Nobody uses cash anymore.
- People were uncomfortable with the idea of androids, so most robots are just small roverbots that run around on caterpillar treads cleaning up garbage and the like, and hoverbots that use repulsion fields to levitate off the ground and clean windows and what-have-you.
- Artificial intelligence has progressed somewhat, but has not yet reached human intelligence.
- I'd prefer no animal parts, genome technology hasn't advanced that far yet.
- Mars has been terraformed, yes. Hell, it was the first planet to be terraformed.
- Your character can have small detachable cybernetic wings which flap when the brain tells them to. Nifty for cosmetic effect, but otherwise pretty much useless.
- There is one administrative subgovernment per continent, however Antarctica remains unsettled.
- Same-sex marriage is now legal worldwide, and homo/bisexuality has grown slightly more accepted.
- Teens now have the same legal rights as adults, however they still need to finish high school and/or uni to get a good job.
