Logres Cluster Background and History

History of Humanity

It was the late 21st century when the problem of information overload became acute. Science, technology, and information grew so complicated that it became a life's work to simply understand the current knowledge of the tiniest portion of it, much less be able to add to it. With many potential technologies of the early 21st century proving intractable (including artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology), society turned from technological change to technological stasis.

Technology did develop, of course, but much more slowly as time went on in spite of the ever-increasing population. Fusion power became practical in the late 21st century. The first power cells (using superconducting loops) were produced in the 22nd. The 23rd century saw the first interstellar colonies, leading to the first contact with an alien race (the Gnomoi) in the 25th. Holographic production was developed around the 28th century. Super materials sufficient to build beanstalks were first created in the 35th century. Scanner technology was developed in the 45th century. The 28th century proved extremely significant as the first FTL jump drive were produced, with reactionless drives following shortly thereafter in the 68th century. X-Laser weaponry became practical in the 102nd century, with defensive force fields being produced in the 182nd century. Easy antimatter production was achieved in the 253rd century. The 415th century saw the production of the first FTL warp drives. Other technologies improved alongside the listed developments, but by the standards of of the 15th to 21st century, progress was deathly slow.

If technological progress was slow, the same cannot be said for the spread of humanity. Using fusion and antimatter rockets, the first interstellar colonists left the solar system in the 23rd century after humanity had essentially filled the solar system. By fusion and antimatter rocket, jump drive, reactionless engine, and warp drive, humanity expanded from Sol to cover slightly over half the galaxy by the time of the 532nd century. The lack of change proved a boon for social stability, and most planets became members of the Human Commonwealth, with its capitol at Sol. Those culture that did not care to become a part of the Commonwealth fled to the fringes of human expansion, often becoming nomadic or semi-nomadic and raiding the Commonwealth for its wealth and technology.

It was 53,165 ADNS (Anno Domine Numeratio Sola, -335 ASY) when the first tremors of the new age were felt. In that year the secrets of human genome development were unlocked with parallel discoveries being made throughout the Commonwealth for the next 20 years. The first to benefit were the offspring of the scientists involved in the project who were modified to solve the ancient problem of information overload. The engineered were able to learn faster and were also modified to handle to direct neural interface with machines and data systems.

As the engineered became more numerous, development started to quicken. More problems in biotechnology were solved and contragravity and new FTL systems were developed. Unfortunately the increased capability of some of their members, along with the increasing rate of change, pushed social systems into turmoil. Humanity had been stable for so long that its social system were unable to meet the needs of the new age. Decadence became rampant, jealousy against the engineered became endemic, communication became more difficult, and morality, ethics, and religion were challenged. The Commonwealth split into competing faction, and a series of civil wars began in -135 which no one truly won.

With the Commonwealth divided and it's military forces tied up in peacekeeping, the raids by fringers became far more than the nuisance that they had been in the past. Fringer raids became common, then endemic, and finally whole fringer cultures moved en masse into the Commonwealth as an invasion or colonization depending on which historians you listen to.

History of Logres

Logres is an atypical cluster of stars lying outside the normal boundaries of the galaxy. Rich in K to F class stars worlds capable of being terraformed are quite common, and give the cluster an extensive population. The cluster actually consists to two major groups of stars with numerous minor groups intermixed. There are about 10,000 major inhabited systems in the cluster. Major systems have populations of over 100 million and average 550 million. Typically a half of a system's population is on the system oxygen-nitrogen main world, with the other half being distributed throughout the system on planets and space habitats.

The first inhabitants of the cluster were the Dana, who apparatly evolved in its vicinity. Dana artifacts as extremely common in the cluster, and tend to become less common the further a person travels. Robotic terraformers first arrived in the Logres cluster around the 120th century severely muddling the evidence of danaforming on the part of the Dana. The first colonists were fringers fleeing the expansion of the Commonwealth in the 230th century. The first colonists associated with the Commonwealth arrived in the 288th century. The alien picti were contacted in the 402nd century, advancing their technology, but them giving a distaste for dealing with humans. The commonwealth ended up occupying about a quarter of the systems in the cluster, but this included the majority of the most valuable worlds. The remainder of the cluster was occupied by human fringers and picti.

With the military and economic losses associated with Commonwealth Civil War, Commonwealth military forces were withdrawn from the cluster in -67 ASY. This immediate led to raids and invasions into Commonwealth territory by the more warlike fringers and picti. Commonwealth military returned in -27, but left in -20, though they left a trained military cadre. In -12 fringers gained control of the trade routes to Sol and contact was lost with the Commonwealth core.

Logres tried to deal with the invading fringers in several ways. Unused to war and combat, fringers conquered several systems from the cluster even before the cluster was put entirely on its own resources in the year 0. Votex the Unmourned even attempted to offer systems in exchange for an alliance of protection in the year -7, but the peace fell apart in 5 ASY when the invaders slaughtered as many rulers of Commonwealth culture as they could access.

The siblings Rose and Thyrm Pendragon, with the assistance of Maltese the Mage, returned to the cluster in year 7 at the head of an effective military force. Unable to match fringers in numbers, their force was based around a core of the engineered operating mecha and supported by normals in a variety of roles.

As the Pendragons proved their success, more planets joined their alliance. Rose was formally acknowledged Warlord in 25 ASY, and when she was killed in 35, Thrym was acknowledged Warlord in turn. During this period the practice began of assigning systems to specifically support a particular mech warrior and his supporting military forces. The Engineered thus became a new nobility.

Seven "nations" occupy the Cluster in the year 60. The Cymryn Alliance (Caeric language) and the more powerful Coron Federation (Common language) are descended from Commonwealth states. The Picti Alliance (Pic language) was never ruled by the Commonwealth. Ang, Jhu, Arrex, and Verrex (all Gerremn language) were conquered from other states. Each fringer state swear alligance to a different Emperor in the main galaxy.

Society

With the violence of the new age, people have proven willng to give up ancient rights to anyone who proves capable of protecting them. With forces led by nobles almost invariably defeating those not so led, the military has become more and more based around Mecha manned by nobles. (Admittedly this practice becomes less common the further a person gets from the Logres cluster.) In the Logres cluster Cymryn and Corron number one noble per about 500 million population, while the invading fringers are lucky to muster one noble per 10 billion population.

The Logres cluster still remembers the glory days of the Commonwealth, but it is generally acknowledged that those days are over and will not return.

Advances in medical science have pushed age of majority up to 32 in most areas.

Religion

The primary religion of Logres is "Preservation." Dedicated to the preservation of good, Preservationism has strong roots in ecology. Preservationism is spread throughout the remains of the commonwealth, and has begun to be transmitted to the fringers. Though Preservers do not see themselves acting in opposition to older religions they often need to defend themselves from the narrow minded or those who feel threatened.

One of Preservation's primary goals is the preservation and extension of planetary ecosystems. Of course, they offer the usual religious services as well.

Preservers are organized hierachially with a professional priesthood. The lowest rank is Guide (roughly equivalent to a Christian priest). Ranking above Guides in the regular (or public) hierarchy are Over-Guides, Surintendants (Bishops), and Primaries (Arch-Bishops). The private (or monastic) hierarchy runs from Hermit to Abbot to High Abbot to Primary. The monastic hierarchy is responsible for scolas which may perform teaching or isolated research or development.

There are a host of discussions about the issues concerned with Preservation. However, the three main divisions in Preservation are on practical vs. mystic, pro-biotech vs. anti-biotech, and all knowledge is valuable vs. some knowledge is unneeded. Logres tends towards the mystical, neutral biotech, and all knowledge is valuable. The Sol region tends towards the practical, anti-biotech, and neutrality on knowledge. Another area of tension between Logres and Sol is differences in hierarchy with Abbots outranking Surintendants within Logres and the reverse being true in the Sol region.

During the Commonwealth Era, trillions of terraforming probes were released. These probes would enter a system and release whatever organisms were needed to begin developing any potentially inhabitable planets to the next stage of development before proceeding to another star. Probes were restocked and possibly reprogrammed whenever they happened to arrive at an inhabited system. Though few probes are manufactured today, Preservationists have taken responsibility for seeing that probes that arrive at inhabited system and restocked and reprogrammed.

Technology and Knowledge

The technology of the cluster runs from a low of 5 (late 1800's), mostly in those worlds dedicated to psionics, through the TL/8-9 (post-modern) Pic worlds, to the TL/9-10 of the fringers and commonwealth. Being on the outskirts of the Commonwealth, TL/11 sytems were rare to begin with, and since the Civil Wars most have fallen to TL/10. Many worlds are able to manufacture a very few TL/11 products, so TL/11 goods are available, but at ten times standard price in Corron areas and twenty times in Cymric areas. Note that access can be spotty, and Micromeds, Sensa-Skin and Neutralizer, Living Disguise Kinggs, Nanostat clouds, Cannibal Nanokits, and Sensor Webs are not available at all. TL/12 contravity is also available, but is impractical for uses other than bulk surface to orbit transport. Artificial intelligence never developed, and robots remain fairly primitive.

TL/11 force screens do exist as do TL/11 nuclear dampers (normally TL/15). Fusion power is the primary power source, with power cells using small amounts of antimatter.

Bio-medical technology is at TL8-9 (post-modern). Birth-Control Viruses, Cosmetic Viruses, and TL/10 panimmunity exist, and general medical care is at TL/10. The average lifespan of commoners stands at 132, with nobles averaging 182. No-Shock Glands, Nerve Boosting, Hypervision and Damage Control implants, along with chipslots and chipware do not exist. Most areas have a strong bias against biotechnology due to the accidents of the past and the tendency of certain fringer groups to use it as a weapon. Availability of biotechnology is good, except where locally restricted.

Travel in normal space uses the ubiquitous "reactionless thruster," although Picti ships supplement their poor thrusters with Fusion and Antimatter drives.

FTL and Space Travel

There are two forms of FTL travel in current use, and one that is lost. FTL communications are limited to messages carried aboard ships. A few local networks of automated message drones have been established, but they are few in number and extremely localized.

Jump Travel is TL/9 and the first form of FTL travel discovered. Effectively, it opens a wormhole around a vessel which disappears from its starting location and reappears in another location in space-time. Jump only operates in a vacuum and is instantaneous from the viewpoint of the vessel being shifted. It is easiest to jump to a random location subject to speed of light limitations. It is harder to jump to a specified location and hardests to jump FTL. Due to causality being conserved, Jump Travel is always subject to influences which distort its arrival in space-time. Thus, after every jump, a vessel's current location must be calculated or the next jump will be even more distorted.

Jump Travel typically consists of jump out of a stellar system, followed by one or more jumps in relatively "flat" space and a final jump into the destination system. It becomes effectively faster the longer the distance to be covered. Average travel time is ([parsecs] ^ 0.45 ) * 4 days.

Traveling through a jump requires rolls vs. both Will and HT. Unless the Will roll is a critical success, the subject will suffer hallucinations for a number of days equal to the number rolled. On a critical failure the subject must roll on the Fight Check table. The HT roll determines the penalty to DX, Fatigue, and IQ with the margin of failure being subtracted from those attributes. If the HT roll succeeds the hallucinations are merely annoying, not distracting or dangerous. Immunity to Jump Sickness is a 5 point advantage.

Warp Travel is TL/10. It operates by generating a bubble around the vessel that is out of phase with normal reality, and thus can travel effectively faster than light with respect to normal reality. Causality is conserved when using warp travel. Difficulties in conservations result in slower travel from the same amount of "thrust."

There are many variations of Warp Drive, most designed to cope with differing conditions in local space-time. An extreme varient is micro-warp, a TL/11 varient of warp drive. Micro-warp is more energy intensive, doesn't shift as much mass as a standard warp, and is much slower than standard warp. However, the generator is much smaller, and thus useful for small craft, particularly small FTL military craft.

Warp travel typically occurs along mapped "paths." At its fastest it averages 2 parsecs per day (micro-warp averages 1 parsec per day at its fastest). However, since conditions are rarely perfect, warp travel can be very slow, particularly in unmapped areas and areas with a great deal of debris.

Rare individuals suffer from Warp Sickness. Warp Sickness is -3 points per level and give -1 per level to all skills while in warp.

The TL/11 Shipgate system was being developed when the commonwealth collapsed. Similar to Jump Drive, it uses two linked sttions instead of an internal drive. Not much is known about it other than the fact that working stations were produced and then destroyed in the Collapse.

Psionics

Psionics is the only paranatural system in this game. Most psionics are commoners, but it is not unheard of among nobles. There are a wide variety of theories about psionics, but nothing definitive. Psionics is not genetic, but it does run in family lines. It is more common the closer a culture is associated with an unmanipulated ecosystem, and the less violence exists in a culture. Psionic ability typically first shows itself in adolescence, but can also show between the ages of four and six (for humans).

Psionics are very rare, with only about one person in 10,000 possessing any degree of ability (5 points in powers). However, psionics can be extremely powerful and individuals with over 500 points in power are known. (For every population multiple of 10, figure that points in psionic power doubles.) There is evidence that psionics increase in frequency in the past. Astral Projection is the most common power, followed (in order) by ESP, Telepathy, Healing, Psychic Vampirism, Electrokinesis, Psychokinesis, and Teleportation.

Artificial mind shields are available, and other forms of psychotronics, bio-psi, and the like are available after year 54 with an unusual background. Many psionic devices are generally available after the year 100.

Because there is no generally accepted theory to generally explain even the basics of psionics, psionic training is extremely haphazard. Psionics may use "magic" ritual, "spiritual" invocation, "mathematical" analysis, or almost anything that makes sense to the individual involved. Schools for psionics have been universally unsuccessful, and psionics either self-train or find a personal mentor. Psionics who develop their own idiosyncratic system seem to progress further than those who follow a rigid or already developed system. One common development in Logres is to have psionics based "The Lake" which is often considered synonomous with the Astral Plane.

Some cultures base themselves around psionics. While successes in researching and developing psionics have been less than minimal, such cultures do tend to have a greater than average proportion of psionics, often as many as 1 per 100. The best known psionics system in Logres is Glaston Tor.