MEFAQ version 1.0

Didn't it used to be called something else?

Is this an official White Wolf project?

How do I play it? Do I need Trinity?

What's happened in the galaxy since Trinity's time?

WHAT?!?!? You destroyed Earth? Why?!?!?

What happened to the Psi Orders and the Proxies?

Well, couldn't a couple of the Proxies have survived somehow? How about my favorite Order, surely they could have gone on!

So without the Prometheus Chambers, what are the player characters going to be?

Okay, I can live with that. So, what's Æon been up to?

Hold it, back up! You mean Mercer's still alive?

Wait a minute, you said you were sweeping away the remnants of Trinity. So why is Mercer still kicking?

Ahhh, you're being cryptic. I see. Go on.

You mean Æon actually left humanity to its own devices during its time of worst destruction and suffering? Why?

They couldn't just tell people what was coming, or otherwise prevent the destruction of Earth?

...for the greater good of humanity, yeah yeah, I know. Typical paternalistic Æon attitude; I shouldn't be surprised. So, do player characters have to be members of Æon?

What are these other player-character groups? And what are their agendas?

• In the area surrounding the capital of Khantze Lu Ge, the remnants of the Confederation of Worlds maintains its tenuous grip on just under two thousand planets. Though the worlds under its purview are more or less autonomous, they still consider themselves Confederation members, observe Confederation law and trade freely among themselves. This is the area of the Three Million that saw the worst destruction of the Fourth Aberrant War, but most of its worlds escaped serious damage, and thanks to its many old, rich and populous colonies, technology and civilization suffered the least here. It is currently sending independent envoys out into the Three Million to re-establish contact with outlying regions in hopes of reuniting the galaxy.
• The remnants of the Confederation are guarded by the First Fleet, one of eight remaining wings of Spacefleet. After the Confederation collapsed and outlying worlds stopped sending taxes to KLG, the Confederation Assembly turned Spacefleet loose, granting it authority to collect its own fees for protecting the worlds under its purview. While the First -- which protects the core of the old Confed -- has remained loyal, the eight Fleets that patrol the outlying octants of the Three Million range from mercenary outfits to protection rackets to out-and-out criminals. The Second and the Seventh combined forces to destroy the Sixth Fleet after finding evidence they were committing atrocities such as slave trading and mass murder by orbital bombardment. Since then, the other Fleets -- even the criminal Fifth and Ninth -- know not to step too far over that line.
• In the populous, wealthy worlds near the center of the Three Million, a number of corporate CEOs and wealthy plutocrats saw the destruction and unrest that followed the Fourth Aberrant War in the outer worlds, and did not want to see that happen in their part of the galaxy. After a number of secret communications between them, these corporate moguls divided up the richest territories between them into regions they called Domains. Each approached the worlds in their Domains and offered to take over government functions such as education, corrections, human services and defense and run them for profit. Many of the governments, strapped for resources due to the collapse of interstellar trading and overtaxing from the Confederation, were more than happy to do so; others came on board later. Before long, though, the plutocrats' companies were the de facto governments of their regions of space, and the first Autox -- plural for Autoc, a shortened form of autocracy -- were formed. Since then, dozens of similar Domains, pocket empires ranging from a few worlds to a few thousand, have formed. Though many of these Domains were formed by different means, ranging from diplomacy to military conquest to religious conversion, the governments that run them are all today referred to as Autox. Each Domain is a microcosm to itself, with its own government, military, social organizations and culture. We plan on detailing a dozen or so, and leaving others up to the Storyteller.
• The Æon Institute is not the only group seeking to preserve knowledge in the face of chaos and barbarism. The Interstellar Scientific Organization, or ISO, is a cooperative between the remaining major universities of the Three Million. Formerly the interstellar exploration and research arm of the Confederation (the Interplanetary Survey Agency), the ISO disbanded rather than be used as a weapons development group during the Fourth Interstellar War. It reformed during the Civil War with a very different mission, that of sharing data, staff and resources between universities hit hard by shrinking enrollments and budget cuts from the government. During the Interregnum, the ISO's focus shifted slightly, to the rediscovery and preservation of knowledge against the encroaching darkness.
• Other groups are also doing their best to preserve civilization. Lle-junin, or the House of the Orange Star, is an interstellar aid and rescue agency on the order of the Red Cross. Though it was originally a Qin organization, it absorbed the remnants of the Æsculapian Order (which had itself earlier absorbed the Red Cross, Red Crescent, Salvation Army and several other similar organizations) after the destruction of the Psi Orders, giving it members of many different species all across the Three Million.
• The Order of All-Space is a recent development which is gaining adherents all across the Three Million. An ascetic, mystical movement borrowing from such diverse influences as Baha'i, Xiaolin Buddhism, animism and late-25th century Chromatic existentialist philosophy, the group preaches peace, self-reliance, tolerance, introspection and personal betterment. Its nomadic adherents eschew weapons and most material possessions, but rely on passive techniques and martial arts to defend themselves. A group this small and disorganized would normally not merit mention here, but the movement has attracted an unusually large proportion of psys, especially clairsentients.
• CIPAC is the largest commercial cooperative in the Three Million. Though it grew from the Earth-based interstellar transport consortium whose R&D department discovered the first hardtech FTL drive, CIPAC is no longer a single company. Instead, CIPAC is more of a clearinghouse for inter-company cooperation, trade regulation and resource allocation, all in the name of maximizing profits. Member agencies range from huge human-style corporations to Qin trade houses and Coalition manufacturing cooperatives. Though CIPAC cut its losses during the Civil War by withdrawing from the fringe (starving many not yet self-sufficient worlds), the consortium is expanding again, sending out independently contracted trade representatives to re-establish shipping routes and trade pacts. Psy members are likely to serve as these envoys, since they have more abilities and resources to draw upon during extended forays into unknown and potentially dangerous territories.
• On the fringe where there is no central authority, survival is at a premium, and interstellar transportation even more so. Though life there is both difficult and dangerous, a group who can lay hands on a working Tesser- or Starfall-capable ship can write its own ticket. These precious crafts become family treasures, passed down generation to generation in extended clans. Some use them for trading, some for piracy, some for mercenary work, some for still other purposes. But where interstellar capability and a family heritage of Psy members converge are the nomadic groups that Æon has dubbed the Tribes. These Tribes are as diverse in backgrounds, goals, resources and philosophies as are their members; Æon has documented more than 70 such groups, and suspects more are out there. Though most of the Tribes are primarily human, some have "adopted" alien members, and yet others are composed primarily of nonhuman members. We plan to list a dozen or so, and leave others up to the Storyteller.

What aliens are out there? Are any of them our friends?

So I get to play a Qin or a Chromatic if I want? Cool. What else?

Any new alien races?

You didn't mention the Doyen or the Zeps. Are they still around?

You keep bringing up the Aberrants. Are they supposed to be the main villains of the game?

You mentioned the Novas. What are they up to?

But I really wanna play a Nova. Can I please? Pleeeease? Pleeeeeeeeeaaaase?

Sorry.

Ummm, what's it like in various parts of the galaxy in 2997?

Surrounding the core lie the Domains, including the regions controlled by alien races. They suffered less damage in the last big war, but were hit hard in the rebellion that followed. No two Autox, and no two Domains, are alike, but the lower population on their younger colonies generally means that more resources must go into survival and growth rather than cultural or technological development. Technology levels vary more widely in the Domains, ranging from close to the Confederation's level to pre-spaceflight levels. In some Domains, only the ruling Autoc retains FTL technology (FTL is a prerequisite to the existence of a Domain). Despite this, many Domains have the feeling of vital, young, expanding empires. Some of them actually are expanding, through diplomatic, economic or military conquest of neighboring unaffiliated systems.

Out beyond the Domains lie the vast majority of the Three Million Worlds, newer, smaller colonies that were neglected, abandoned, cut off or simply forgotten after the rebellion. The rapid expansion that took place in the middle of the millennium meant that few of these worlds were prepared to become self-sufficient on such short notice. CIPAC's embargo of systems in rebellion isolated tens of thousands of worlds which had until then relied solely on the trade consortium for all interstellar traffic. While some colonies fared relatively well and others simply starved and vanished, the majority scraped by. Research, culture, education, and in many cases even law and order were neglected or abandoned in favor of survival. Over generations of isolation, centuries of knowledge were discarded as useless luxury or simply, tragically, forgotten. On some of these worlds, technology has become understandable only to a few, who have taken on the characteristics of a priest-class; others have regressed to quasi-feudal, agrarian societies. Some worlds, though, have maintained a semblance of civilization by banding together in small mutual aid or defense societies. There are as many different situations as there are worlds in the fringe.

Okay, enough sociology lessons. This is a far-future game. Tell me about the tech!

What kind of FTL travel is there? Do we still have to rely on psions?

• Teleporters: Despite the increased prevalence of psychomorphs in the galaxy, psionic teleporters are about as rare as they were in Trinity's time. Ones capable of moving an entire spaceship are even rarer. Æon itself has only 17 in its employ throughout the galaxy.
• Tessers: These are bulky biotech devices that simulate the teleporters' talents. Though early models required a psionic Clairsentient to guide them, later ones relied on biotech artificial intelligence and advanced biotech sensors to plot the next jump. Though they have advantages over later teleportation technology -- such as the ability to jump anywhere, anytime -- they are quite rare in 2997, due to their size and expense compared with those later methods.
• Singularity drive: Colloquially named for its power source, not its method of FTL travel. It is also called the "realspace drive," because unlike other methods, the ship equipped with a singularity drive actually passes through the space between point A and point B rather than teleporting directly from A to B. It surpasses the lightspeed barrier by compressing the space between the origin and destination. Humans got this technology from the Coalition, who used it to power their giant space-arks before the Phyle Wars. It is most useful in-system, since traveling interstellar distances still takes a long time compared to the various teleportation methods, and the drive does not protect the ship's crew from the effects of relativistic time distortion.
• Starfall drive: Also called "folders," hardtech starfall drives are small, cheap and efficient in comparison to biotech tessers. They work by folding space and dimensionally hopping from one point of space to another. Despite this method's economy, it too has limitations -- particularly, in where it can take you. The drive can only fold space at certain places in a star system's gravity well. These "starfall points," also known as "jump points" or "fold points," can only be located by precise calculations of the system's gravity well. Each point is unique, leads only to one unique point in a nearby system (almost always less than 50 light-years away), and can occur anywhere in the system. To make matters worse, the points shift as the systems' planetary components move in their orbits, requiring recalculation for every jump. So if tesser ships are like helicopters, hopping wherever their pilots want to go, and realspace ships are like all-terrain vehicles, starfall ships are like trains, for whom traveling from point A to point B requires traversing fixed routes and passing through all stations in between. Despite their drawbacks, folders remain the most prevalent type of jump ship in the galaxy.

How about the weapons? Tell me you've got BFG-9000s! And plasma sabers! And big giant robot suits! And... and... [drool, froth]...

Thanks. [wipe wipe] OK, I'm better now. Um, how about communications? Is there any method of FTL communication between the worlds?

How are you handling psi in the game?

Do I have to use the freeform psi system? I've avoided it up to now because it looks so complicated.

What about alien powers and synth abilities?

When are you going to FINISH this damn thing so I can play?

How can I contribute?