| Culture and world | Description of culture | Physical form, environment and adaptations |
|---|---|---|
| Spacers Between all worlds |
Extended families of those who chose the long lonely life of space over walking planetside. Over the decades of space flight, before cold sleep technologies and the relatively recent invention of gravity plating, the spacer became a life long choice. Once the children of spacers were born and raised in low gravity, there was no returning to the bottom of the Well. The division was repeated on world after world, sometimes creating enormous conflict; sometimes the relationship became symbiotic, sometimes it became a rift that led to mutual destruction. |
Spacers are unplayable in this game. Spacers had to adapt to low gravity, low pressure, high radiation, and usually low temperatures. Spacers are tall, thin, and long limbed. They have darker eyes and skin than Terrans to deal with the prolonged contact with radiation. They are very dexterous, and somewhat fragile. |
| Terrans Earth and Mars The Solarian League |
Earth normal people. Less recognizable cultural identity, as a world culture has existed for the last couple of centuries. Prevailing language is Terra Galactica. There are many vaguely derivative dialects spoken around the world: Cantonese, Indian, Spanglish, European, and "Aussie Empire". In 3518 the earth is much like it is today, but cleaner. After centuries of colonists leaving (both voluntarily and forcibly), wars, cultural upheavals, environmental work projects, and disease, the Earth has stabilized at about 4 billion people. Population is controlled by the central government. Extra or unplanned children can be and often are exiled, genetic modification is not permitted, and fetuses with severe birth defects are usually aborted. Longevity is normally 200+ years. Terrans accept bio-enhancement and cybernetics when medically necessary, though most of the population has ID chips and wireless computer links installed. Most Terrans despise genetic modification, though many groups that splinter off from the planet learn to accept genies. Solarian policy has been to attempt to terraform worlds to as close to earth norms as possible, and to return any league populations to Terran genetic norms. They are willing to invest the centuries it takes to achieve these goals. |
Earth normal. Usually no adaptations. Internal PDAs, wireless computer jacks, comlinks, and ID chips are ubiquitous. |
| Arctusians Arctus AAS - Associated Arctusian Systems |
Scandinavian / Slavic; speak derivations of Russian, Finnish, Norwegian. Early colonized world, never lost space-faring origins. Arctus was the only marginally habitable world in a cold system with many moons and asteroids, one gas giant, and very little free oxygen. Voluntary colonists, a joining of Russian mobsters and Scandinavian scientists. Currently a corrupt democracy. High tech world. The government controls the central computers. The adaptations to cold and thin air made the Arctusians strong spacers, and they developed strong techniques to create gravity and resolved the usual spacer / grounder division that effected, and in some cases destroyed cultures. |
Coldworlders Arctus is a cold world with a thin atmosphere and roughly Terran gravity, but fortunately has a lot of frozen water. The Terran seeds and animals took to the environment after minimal genetic modification, and humans were modified and adapted over a few generations. Arctusians are heavily modified. They have black skin and eyes, thick white hair over most of the body, and are tall and broad shouldered. They gain or lose fat remarkably fast based on temperature trends. Arctusians accept genetic modification and bio-enhancement, but have a strong disdain for cybernetics. |
| The Packers New Sheboygan |
American / Germanic. Speak a derivation of English and German. Early colonized world; the ship left early while conditions were so bad that the colonists quickly lost space travel. For many centuries after adaptations and modification began the death rates were very high, and it is a wonder that humans survived on this world. Involuntary exiles from Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers and their families were caught up in the sweep. They, and their coaches, formed the core of the new government, which is still based on the somewhat corrupt "rule through strength" mentality of most football teams. Over their history there have been many warlords and revolutions, and conflict is really at the core of their belief system. The one thing that as helped them survive the fighting is that they have always settled their differences through unarmed combat. Moderate technology. A few hyper-sailing ships traveling the space lanes. Like many colonies, medical technology is very strong. Exports are based on heavily modified dairy cow products that are resilient to spoiling but vaguely poisonous to most human breeds. Sheboygan leather is both indestructible and beautiful, and is prized throughout the known worlds. |
Heavy worlders, heavy metal toxic world. New Sheboygan is a Very High G world, close to 2.5 G, and is heavily contaminated with metals and other toxins. Birth defects and mutation were once common, though today they are much better. Packers are heavily modified through adaptation and genetic modification. Short, squat, and broad. Very dense, thick skin, and protective membranes. Bred for strength, burst speed, and strong will. Grayed skin and dark eyes, and otherwise dark pigments. Many variations in hair color and texture, as a leftover from some early genetic mistakes. Packer blood is incompatible with any other breed. Packers are subject to blood diseases, and require much higher pressures. They cannot enter Spacer compartments without protection, and often wear encounter suits when spending prolonged periods in anything less than Terran pressures and gravities. Their senses of smell and touch are nearly non-existent, but their hearing is stunted out of the high pressure environment.. |
| Dolphins and Mer-folk | Any world with a significant enough body of water to establish un undersea city in. Originally from Earth, both species used to be exiled as they were captured. |
Dolphins were "uplifted" during the Eugenics Wars; the Mer-folk were geneered at the same time. |
| Dogs | Terrans "uplifted" Dogs before the Eugenics Wars, and are one of the few geneered species to survive after the Wars. | Still look like dogs, but they can talk and have much better manipulation skills than modern dogs. They maintain the fierce loyalty to humans who treat them well. They were uplifted from huskies, German shepherds, and Australian shepherds. Dogs do not technically have a culture of their own. Good choice for a follower. Some Dogs have of course been adapted to the odd planets humans live upon. |
| Mechanoids throughout human space |
Since the Machine Wars, there are no worlds or societies composed of cyborgs. Some cultures fear or mistrust highy-cyborged persons. | Most Mechanoids are born into one of the "non-mech" cultures, but are driven by circumstances or philosophical urges to replace much of their flesh with machinery. Thus a mechanoid may have been born and raised on New Sheboygan, and share some of that culture's traditions and habits, etc. A common interstellar concept is that of "mechanoid rogues", wandering the spacelanes in ancient ships, attacking human ships for parts. |