To please a certain audience...

[S W Dickson]

Presenting - Infernus Astrum (working title in actual latin)

It is the far future - the human race has lost earth (at the culmination of the story arc of "Earthshock"?) to an alien species. Enslaving them for millennia as an expendable workforce - sending them to the far reaches of the galaxy and using the earth as its own primary location for that region of space. Some humans have escaped slavery and begun colonies on far off worlds, attempting to exert their right to independence, and ultimately win back the prize of Earth from the hands of aliens.

The galaxy is not as quiet as once thought however, and battle cries and screams of terror echo throughout the stars. A multitude of predatory and menacing alien cultures are abound, feeding from other life, pursuing their own goals, or just expanding empires. To declare war is one thing, but to fight and survive against insurmountable odds is another.

A galaxy of heroes, villains and billions of lives in the balance. It is not a question of whether you die, it is how much it costs your enemy to win your death.



Key points - Set in a far future "tied" to real-world and "...here be dragons" projects. Terra Obscura, Earth (and any other we make up) will have a place here - yet in a future context. The "Pantheons" will be featured - bring back Horus, Osiris, Mars, Zeus, Thor, Loki et al - cast them in the roles of the Shadelords - a species of superbeing capable of shaping lives and land. Monotheism is still around, yet it is generally an aspect of one of the Shadelords that is worshipped. Shadelords are immortal and powerful, and they in-fight, bicker, and generally fight each other as much as assist. Like any good soap opera. They may be seen a good, or evil, or anywhere in between. They are none of these as we are less than ants to them, our lives winking in and out like the twinkling of stars.

I'm also sure all our hard work on different species will find a place also. The tech level will have elements of anything in it - humans have developed little from their twentyfirst century roots as they have been a slave race since then. They will have picked up the understandings of alien tech and adapted it however, so interstellar space travel and megalasers are okay here. There will be space enough for all.

Plus, it'd be easy enough to make "proxy" army lists for other commonly used universes and excuse them. No need to collect a whole bunch of new models to find a way to play with "Grimoire of War" - it's not as if we are making anything to sell models on the back of. So yeah - Power Armoured guys, check - Killer Robots, check - Insectoid Hordes, check.

[sucramreverse]

Haha, the thread title makes it sounds like you don't like the future setting. I like the idea of having it tied to the post-modern setting, though keeping the transition obscure would probably serve best.

You mention Terra Obscura as well, but how do you plan on putting that in the universe?

As for the shadelords, if we base them off of common mythology then they'd be easy enough to fill out, but would we be bastardizing the myths to make them fit, or just using the names? And what about the pantheons that are clearly related? ie greek and roman.

A random thought about Loki, he was supposed to have been punished by the other gods for being a dick by being tied up in a cave under the earth and tortured, but is said to escape and cause the end of the world, ragnarok etc. What if Loki is actually on Earth and the events taking place in Earthshock eventually lead to his escape/revival and he effectively ends the world by attracting said aliens to Earth and cause our enslavement.
Like I said, random thought...

There's also plenty of other races in Norse mythology, but they are the basis for the common fantasy races, dwarves, elves, giants, etc. But if the far future is tied somehow to the fantasy and post-modern, then whose to say dwarves aren't still around somewhere? Hopefully better adapted to the future than quilted leather and laserguns...

[S W Dickson]

Oh hell, dwarfs are to be found in the far future. They live so bloody long.

Terra Obscura would tie-in nicely I reckon as a possible Spacefaring dwarf homeworld - no mention as to how or when they finally took to space, but I reckon it'd be nice to have a "second earth" for a start - something we know more than just a little about - not just "desert planet", "ice planet" etc.

I've mocked up my concept for the Shadelords. They are one and all and none at the same time. You want Loki - use him! You wanna change them? Why not.

I do like future setting (my attic has thousands of grim future warriors in it), I just wanted it to be obvious enough what this particular one is - it's dark, its the future, its got a multitude of anti-human aliens and I'm struggling to get something "unique" for it. Terra Obscura was Dwarfs - and a big frickin hole where land should be - I need something epic about it, whilst keeping it in the realms of gritty believableness. Something symbolic to make you think "not generic sci-fi" whilst being able to be used as "generic sci-fi". That's why I want to get the Shadelords fleshed out - give me some imagery or even some occult goings on to pervert the course of standard "Trek-like" overtones - s'weird how I like it gritty - must be the Govan in me. Definitely the Judge Dredd feel over the Roy Rogers.

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