This is the setting I've been using for my TNE campaign, beginning
with some history, a summary of their first two adventures,
and an outline of their upcoming journey.
History of the Bard Refuge (all dates are approximate ;-) ):
The Bard Refuge, as Arrival Vengance and Brilliant Lances fans may know,
is a 60,000 ton Azhanti High Lightning class Frontier Cruiser originally
laid down around 1003. Insert Standard AHL history here. It served honorably
in the Fifth Frontier War, helping to bring the war with the Sword Worlds
to an early close (see BL). It was later refitted at the Trin
Shipyard to serve with the Aslan crewed patrol, and went into service in
1126 or 27 (see Arrival Vengence).
Fast forward to 1139. The Bard Refuge is attacked by a Vampire Fleet,
is heavily damaged, and manages to jump away battered but alive. She
limps back to Trin (over a period of several weeks), and docks for repair
and refit.
A week later, the leaker virus stikes. As the predominantly Aslan repair
crew tries to move the ship to aid whatever survivors there may be, the ship
starts to act on its own, and attacks the shipyard facility. The Virus kills
off the bridge crew. The surviving repair crew, largely composed of female
Aslan, manages to force a misjump hoping to destroy the ship.
The Aslan have a running battle with the ship, trying to disable or destroy
it by forcing misjumps and sabotage. They finally manage to hole the
fuel tanks before a jump. They stay in jumpspace for 15 days, and after
running low on supplies put themselves into low-berths that they believe
they've disconnected from the shipboard computer.
A few years pass. The remnants of the Imperial Navy in the expanded
Solomani Sphere, now reduced to Piracy against the few remanants of the
Solomani, discover the ship, totally exhausted of fuel. Their tests
indicate that the ship is virus free. Led by Capt. Mark Drake, the
"Privateers" (made up of a mixed crew of mostly Vegans, Humans, and Dolphins)
slowly make basic repairs to the ship, and head it back towards the
Vegan Polity, the pocket empire that occupies the space once occupied by the
Vegan Autonomous Region. They leave the Aslan frozen because of a combination
of uncertainty about 1) whether they can trust them and 2) why they're frozen.
Once in Vegan Space, the virus re-emerges and wrecks havoc in the Vegan
Systems. Again, the crew engages in a lengthy fight for the ship.
After defrosting the Aslan Commander (A female executive officer),
they take the same track to combat the virus, with the same results.
It is now 1192. The crew of the Bard Refuge have been frozen for approximately
50 years. The ship misjumped into the Spica Sector (0720) five decades
ago, and had not been able to refuel.
The Current Situation:
As luck would have it ;-) three groups stumble over the Bard at the
same time.
First, the Far Trader Razor's Edge, composed of a piratical, heartless
crew, traces rumors of the Bard to this system. They plan to slowly
mine it for it's treasures and make themselves rich. Unfortunately
(for them), they picked up an 8 year old girl a few months back. They
thought they were rescuing her from the Droyne she was living with, and
when the Droyne (and the girl) resisted giving her up, they gunned the
Droyne down and snatched the girl. Since she came aboard, though, strange
things began to happen. Odd parts of the ship would overheat and melt,
the anti-grav would act up and send stuff flying around the cabin. Sometimes,
a whole day would go by when they couldn't find the girl on the ship, no
matter how hard they tried. As the Merchant's luck went sour, they began
to take their frustration out on the girl.
Starting about a month before they found the Bard, one of the more abusive
Merchants was found dead in his cabin, nary a mark on his body. This happened
a couple more times before they reached the Bard. They had the girl suit
up in a Droyne space suit (it was only big enough for her) and brought
her aboard the Bard, not trusting her enough to leave her alone with
the ship. She dissappeared almost as soon as they entered the ship.
Second, a Hiver Embassy Ship which also misjumped into the system docked with
the Bard a few hours later. The only sentient aboard was a Star Patterns
Trading Human Interface Robot. It entered the ship through a different lock.
he shortly ran into the Merchants, who panicked and started firing at the
robot. It retreated.
Third, a Hiver Explorer, charting the system, located the Bard and
also docked. Two Hivers, Steve and Bob, entered the ship to take a look
around. They encountered the Robot. The Robot told them the Embassey
ship was his. He claimed that the Hivers who had been on the ship
had put down at a hospitable planet, and that he was attempting to
get to the Federation to collect a rescue party. Had the Hivers
checked their records (they didn't), they would have seen that the ship
had been listed as missing for 60 years. The Hivers were sceptical, however.
At this point, emergency lighting came on as the merchants managed to jump
start the emergency systems. The robot warned the Hivers of the Merchants.
He then attempted to connect to the central computer. The robot sees the
girl (althought the Hivers don't). The hivers begin to wonder about the
Robot. The Robot (and the Hiver Explorer Ship) are actually Virus.
This Virus, though, had been changed by it's encounter with the Hiver
Embassy Ship, and is curious, non-violent, and had a parental instinct.
The Robot was attempting to plug into the ship so that he could infect the
ship. The central computer, infected by another virus, now awake because of
the Merchant's activities, tries to defend itself. The Robot's virus is far
more insidious (I used the Unarmed Combat rules to simulate Virus combat),
and begins to make headway. The Bard Virus panics and wakes up some of
the frozen crew. It tells them if they destroy the Robot, it will
set them free.
He frees Captain Drake, the Aslan Exec, and a Vegan Security Officer.
They arm themselves and try to work their way down to the last surviving
main computer bay so that they can destroy it. They meet the Robot
(the Hivers fled when the Merchants began broadcasting threating
messages to the little girl), and the Robot distracts the Bard Virus
while they all work their way down to the last Computer Core.
The computer kills the Merchants thinking that they are part of Robot party.
The Virus tries to stop them (leaking hydrogen gas into a deck they're
on and attacking them with a Cargo Robot, a few attacks by
makeshift security robots, evacuating the Coputer Core, and finally
threatening the defrost their crewmates in a fatal way. The computer
tries everything, but the trio the Virus woke up don't believe that
the Virus can kill their friends. They blow the core, but not before the
Virus manages to fatally defrost a fifth of the 200ish frozen ones.
Then (much to my surprise) a spirited debate broke out about WHO owned the
ship. The Aslan exec was willing to obey the Captain, as was the Vegan.
The Hivers contended that THEY owned the ship. Then they tried to convince
the Captian that the Imperium was history, and that he could Captain the
ship for the Hive Federation. He didn't believe them. He convinces them that
his goal (exploration to see what remains if the Imperium) matches theirs.
They eventually arrive at a bargain (even though the Hivers didn't have
diplomatic access) where they Federation will repair the ship if 1) the
remnant crew shares their knowledge with the local Federation Technical
Schools and 2) they attach themselves to the Federation navy for four years.
They agree if 1) they can keep the ship and 2) be able to build a crew
to pilot the ship (about 400-700 people). They later
find out that the ship will take at least two years to repair. The
remnants are itching to go home, no matter how home might be now.
Serious denial ;-)
The next adventure was an exploration (on the long trip to the Hiver
Naval base after they had left the Bard) of the mystery of the little
girl, which I may detail later.
Here's the setup for the long campaign (once the ship is ready, I figure
3-4 episodes and four years from the first epsode):
Bard Refuge refitted, takes on self appointed mission to explore wilds.
Hivers also want them to deliver "Know Blocks" along the way, 400 one ton
volume self-contained computers which will progessivly dole out lost tech
know-how (and subtly encourage it's users to have a more Hiver-like approach).
Captain Drake has already agreed to return to Federation Space to report
his findings of the Wilds.
During the journey accross the wilds, they'll have to make contact with
planets, decide who is the most deserving, and leave them with the
know block. They'll also encounter the usual and unusal wilds and
pocket empire hazards as they attempt to discover the state of the
destroyed Imperium.
The officer corps of the ship is drawn from the Remnants: Human, Dolphin,
Vegan, Aslan, with a smattering of other races. The crew is green Federation
citizens, hoping to sharpen their skills in the wilds and return to the
Federation.
The PCs:
Capt. Mark Drake, native Terran but fiercely loyal to the Imperium... even
if his ship IS the Imperium. Skilled negotiator and Ship Tactician.
Think Capt. Kirk, but MUCH smarter and "not as goofy". Also, only
"normal" human PC.
Executive Officer Commander Kyatu (with much longer "real" Aslan name),
Aslan female, making the best of a bad situation, and trying to hold
together what she considers her Aslan Pride (in both senses). Has come really
close to swatting:
Hiver Steve, Chief Science Officer. Explorer and owner aboard of the
Bard Refuge. Trying to pull off the manipulation of a lifetime.
VERY blunt, preoccupied with other species interaction, especially
reproductive habits. Too curious ;-)
Ahkillyees, Troop Commander. Vegan Imperial Marine,
Special and Undercover Ops, and Privateer. Shunned by other Vegans
(Social Level 0) because of uniformly loathed Tuhir (much like a open
Kali Cultist would be in Victorian Times). One of very few Remnants
with extensive combat skills.
Kiki: Small human girl. Raised by Droyne, seems to exhibit odd abilities.
She wants to stay with "shiney metal man" whom she's befriended.
Crew keeps her out of loyalty. Really! I didn't force her on them.
Also secretly STRONGLY psionic. Learned invisibility and other psi skills
from Droyne. Looking forward to casting later in life.
Convinced she's Droyne. "They look different until the ceremony". Also
priceless: before the players knew about the Droyne connection,
the Chief Medical Officer asked her (during an exam) to draw her parents
after she insisted she had wings. Seeing the drawing, the players
immediately assumed she had been raised by Star Spawn of Cthulhu. Sigh.
Robot Joe: Contact Assistant, nanny of Kiki. Star Patterns Trading
Human Interface Robot. Humanoid, mostly man shaped, shiney. Actuallty
Virus. Wants to spread kinder, gentler Virus through wilds (and to know
blocks). Thinks Bard would be perfect ship to do it with.
Major NPCs:
Bob the Hiver. Explorer, Pilot, Surveyor. Advisor/Assistant to
Steve, owner aboard.
[email removed]: Cheif Medical Officer. Dolphin, Patriot. Secretly Psionic,
senses talent in Kiki, may try to bring it out later.
This is getting long, so I'll stop now. One last note, though. Capt.
Drake wants to change the name of the ship. I suggested this was
against Naval Tradition, and he said: "Does everyone that this ship
has attacked [while it was a Virus] know it's name?" I suggested that
this might be a possibility, and then he said "Oh yeah, Andrea Doria,
that's a good name, let's keep it. Or let's raise the Titanic, put
it back into service, and call it... hmmmm... the TITANIC! That'll
inspire confidence in the people we meet..."
He wants to call it the "Resilient". Robot Joe suggested "The Virus Free".
Matt "Hmmmmm... tell me if this was too long" Goodman