Pax Draconis

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jayphailey
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Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 6:49 pm

Why? A) to throw some reading at you and hopefully you'll have something amusing to say in response.

B) I was thinking about an RPG.

On the list of possible settings is a variant of this one, where on normal Earth on a normal day, a scout ship from the Pax Draconis drops in to say "Wow! What a backwater! Okay, see ya!" And the PCs are among the people who are sent to try and make sense of the larger galaxy.


As with all nodes in my FW game, the space rules are essentially Star Wars with the Serial numbers filed off. Hyperdrives, blasters and so on.



Node C+20 Stellar Pax Draconis

Node C+20

Pax Draconis
About half the Galaxy is Ruled by the Pax Draconis. The leaders of this nation are Humanoid Dragons. They were created long ago. There are 24 Draconics who actually remember their creation.

(I would detail specific draconic individuals as needed, starting with the Emperor, a Gold Dragon humanoid)

They don't die of old age. they get bigger and top out at about 10 feet tall and about 1000 lbs.

They started out in a galaxy where humans were rampant. It was a chaotic time of war adventure and chaos.

The Draconics became mercenaries and then assistants to nations they liked.

Over time they just out-lasted everyone and became senior officers and advisors.

Then, as a natural progression, they became the rulers. Then once they had inherited the thrones of many human nations, they formed the Pax Draconis. A peaceful realm where people of all kinds could live and grow and build lives.

But this Draconic alliance was not without rivals. Angry humans insisted that men should rule men, not "serpents". Other races simply refused to be a part of the Draconic order.

Then the great Cyborg war happened. In the end all the races of the Galaxy had to band together to fight this menace.

(Who were these Cyborgs? No idea. I am thinking a mix of Cyberpunk and The Borg. Get Cyborged, and they Subtly change yourt mind. Like a charm spell. Charm a Barbarian, and you get a smelly, hairy violent barbarian who thinks you're cool. Charm a rogue, you get a slippery, stealthy thief who gives you things he just stole because he thinks you're cool. So, Get an Arasaka cyber arm? Then you're who you are, just think Arasaka Corp is cool now.

But I might rewrite this)

The War

Entire planets were wiped out. for every world murdered 100 were reduced to barbarism.

The war was won, but at a terrible cost. a dark age set in.

The surviving Draconics lead the way back out of this, re-establishing order and technology

In the present time, the galaxy is largely a civilized place, although not everywhere.

Most of the time the face of the Pax Draconis is a human who truly believes that this Dragon Flavored Monarchy is the way to ensure long-term peace for everyone.

Draconics who are part of the ruling elite (Not all of them are) parcel out regions, zones and worlds as fiefs to good managers. They don't care about the details they just have three demands:

* There must be as little injustice as possible. Injustice and cruelty create rebellion. It's easier to fight corruption than to fight a rebellion, so the Draconics demand justice.

* There must be peace. You will get a fair hearing from a Draconic. But if you try to rebel or start up with violence they will deal with it directly and permanently.

* You must support the Pax Draconis. Defense and policing do not come cheap, everyone must pay his fair share.

Anyone appointed to his post by a Draconic, answers to that Draconic. If he manages poorly enough to provoke a rebellion or a tax-revolt he might just wind up dead. Or invited to be the guest of honor at a Draconic meal

Most of the time, life in the Pax Draconis is good. People enjoy a high standard of living and are free to do any business they like so long as it doesn't hurt anyone unjustly and the Draconics get their small cut.

There are still people who hate them and resent their dominant position in political affairs. There are also pirates and raiders.

(There are frontiers and Hinterlands - The numbers are just crazy. Its like our Star Trek problem. Same with the Galactic Empire in Star Wars - Kabillions of Star Destroyers holding tens of thousands of storm troopers can spread out too thin.

The Pax Draconis has numerous overlapping Space Navies, but each has a specific job and then lends to a larger peace keeping force. So there are places in the Galaxy where the police are days away, if they hear your call at all. There are places outside of Pax Draconis control. If they cause too much trouble, the Draconics will round up a conquest fleet and come take care of the problem. but the list of places to stomp is large and the pacification fleets are finite.

So there's plenty of sketchy places. I am sure the forces of law and order will offer boun ties for pirates and scumbags. Why not?)

-*-

There are also races that are just enemies of everyone.

One faction of enemies are the Red Draconics. The Red Draconics believe everyone else to be inferior, suitable for use as slaves or food. They don't care about justice. They care about domination. Their faction takes it's name from one of the early pro-dominationist Draconics.

Early on, the Draconics tried to work out their differences by discussion, persuasion and methods of conflict resolution. There were too few Draconics to fight among themselves.

In time, the Red Draconic raised up might armies and sought to conquer, what they saw as weaker Gold Draconics and take the "friends" of the Golds as slaves or food. When it became clear that war was unavoidable, the Gold Draconics went all in against the Red Draconics. The Red Draconic lost a hard fought war mainly due to numbers and superior morale by the Pax Draconis military.

The Red Draconics fled to dark, hidden corners, nursed their wounds and made plans to come back for revenge. Whenever discovered, the Draconics attack without hesitation. Any Red can come alone to Terra Draconis, walk through the front door and switch sides. over time, many have. But there remains a core that violently rejects the Pax Draconis and seeks to over throw it.

Alternate Timelines -

Alts:
On Alt 01:00 Earth, a faction of Red Draconics have hidden on Earth. They move in secret to try and secure their rule over Earth and to build up as a power base for a new war aganst Pax Draconis

In this world, borrow from conspiracies about reptilian aliens controlling the "New World Order" except the Reptilians are shape changed Red Draconics and allies seeking to turn Earth into a loyal power base


On Alt 02:00 The Earth was discovered by a Pax Draconis scout and is now an isolated backwater of the Pax Draconis. Starships visit Kennedy International Airport every few weeks.

This one is most likely to borrow for a game


On Alt 05:00 What became the Pax Draconis in the Prime Universe became instead The Dominae Draconis. A mix of Pax and Red Ideology, they believe that free human or other races pose a threat and seek to dominate all. They are aided by Lizardfolk, who after generations of narrative building agree with the Draconics. They don't see Humans as only fit to be food or slaves, They have the opinion that humans in their own power heirarchy will eventually, inevetiably attack the Draconics. There's discussion that humans are too short sighted, mercurial and prone to corruption to rule themselves as well. This Earth is under the domination of the Draconics. An Earth Human who keeps his nose clean can go to the stars.


On Alt 10:00 - The Draconics were left on Earth. Now Earth is ruled by a single Planet Pax Draconis. Their technology is roughly equal to 2013.

On Alt 11:00 The Earth was discovered by a Pax Draconis scout and is now an isolated backwater of the Pax Draconis. Starships visit Shanghai Pudong International Airport every few weeks.

This one is thumb to the nose of the American-centric thinking I am prone to. Shanghai is more populated than New York and is one of the busiest airports in the world - people from outside might just as easily pick this one.
Last edited by jayphailey on Sun May 30, 2021 9:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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jayphailey
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Re: Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 6:54 pm

Okay, so travelling along a corridor of many worlds the prime connection point is Earth as described below.

Inconviniently, the only two open gateways are in Morocco at the Pillars of Hercules or in Antartica. So travelers along the fringe paths would mostly weind up going into Morocco.

-*-

Node C +20 Law and Order 2013

This world is Earth of 2013. It would take some work to figure out just how this world is different.

In this world, the events of the "Law & Order " franchise are, roughly real. The characters exist as real people in situations roughly analogous to where we saw them in their shows in 2013.

This also implies several other TV shows are real.

But, PCs from the Fringepaths would have had to have A) watched the TV shows and B) make their way to New York (mostly) and c) Somehow run across the Analogs to the TV characters. So from the PC point of view, this world would be mostly a vanilla version of Earth. Good for grabbing cheeseburgers and other Earthly items they may have been missing.

The (locked) notation refers to a low level lock that was installed generically in the system. basically any key can unlock these. The current PCs have a key, so these aren't locked. But without that, only gates without the (locked) notation would be usable.

Since there is only one gate unlocked and that's in Morocco, it would be even more unlikely that any PCs would discover what made this earth non-vanilla.

There's a lot of action going on in the Stellar arena.

-*-

Node C +20 Law and Order 2013

Prime
12:00 - Path to Alt

01:00 - (Locked) Mammoth Caves

02:00 - (Locked) Beni Mounds, Bolivia

03:00 - Blank

04:00 - Caves of Hercules, Morocco

05:00 - (Locked) Lascaux caves, FR

06:00 - Antarctica

07:00 - (Locked) Krubera Cave, Georgia

08:00 - (Locked) Mohenjo-daro

09:00 - Blank

10:00 - (Locked) Yonagumi Monument

11:00 - (Locked) Ayers Rock, Aus


04:00 - Caves of Hercules, Morocco.
This is a side cave near the ocean side. it's hidden by a hologram and not easily visible. The rest of the caves are a tourist attraction a few miles outside of Tangier, Morocco. Tangier is a large city, filled with people from Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Tourism is a major industry of the city. There is a tourist resort near the caves. Currently, the caves are being renovated and not open for tourist traffic. Corruption is rife. Cops are relatively easy to bribe. Carrying weapons is not usually done in the civilized areas. In the wild areas of Morocco, things are not as orderly.

Aliens will cause a pretty severe reaction. Human Fringewrothy will be interpreted as lost and not very bright tourists.


06:00 - Antartic
The Antartica gate leads into the usual generic geodesic type dome, with a door on the far end. It's buried under a lot of ice and snow.

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Re: Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 6:54 pm

Node C +20 Alt Platform



Node C +20 Law and Order 2013

Alt:
All Gates here Open in Mammoth Caves, Kentucky. The Portal is in a chamber hidden by a hologram hidden in an artful crease in the cave wall. It looks so boring and generic people don't challenge the hologram because it looks like there's nothing there.

Alt:
01:00 - Icke's Earth.

02:00 - Earth Meets Pax Draconis

04:00 - Pokistop Callahans

05:00 - Dominae Draconis

07:00 - Paranoia

08:00 - UGC-317

10:00 - Terra Draconis

11:00 - Doragon no rūru

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Re: Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 6:57 pm

Node C+20 Alt 0100 Icke's Earth.
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Node C +20

Alt Platform

01:00 Icke's Earth

Looks mostly like a Vanilla Earth, Circa 2013

Here there is a hidden cabal of Draconics. Call them the Red Draconics . They believe in domination and strength. They aren't big fans of human rights or anything we'd like.

This handful of Draconics use a sort of polymorph technology to shape themselves into humans. They are trying to build enough of a power base to not get instantly squished by the Pax Draconis.

In the mid-1980s, David Icke, a former Soccer star and news reader discovered he and a few other humans had a natural ability to see through the disguises of the Draconics.

Since then, Icke and bands of resisters have been fighting a shadow war against the Draconics. Icke's attempts to reveal the truth to the greater public have been labeled as the rantings of a deranged mind.

But there is a minority of humans who, for whatever reason, can see through the Draconic disguise, so Icke's messages have caused trouble for the hidden cabal.

The Hidden Draconic Cabal acts through the Queen of England (A role worn by Draconics since her death in WWII) the Rothschild Banking family and other agents of the New World Order.

The Red Draconics work to keep galactic technology out of the hands of Earth people while building up Earth's native technology. They fear Earth getting out into the interstellar community before the proper mindset of xenophoia and human supremacy can be inculcated.

If discovered the Pax Draconics will act quickly and decisively to crush the Red Draconics - they are not having a Draconic led rebellion. Not happening.

Neither the Red Draconics or the Pax Draconis knows of the gate on Earth, or much about the Fringe system.

Note that this Portal leads to Mammoth caves, in Kentucky. Until credible word reaches agents of one faction or another of this portal, this world will look like a Vanilla Earth, except the TV people won't exist.

Crazy people running around Kentucky with guns is not, in and of itself enough of an oddity to draw the attention of the secret factions. However, once it becomes clear that there is a Fringepath portal here, a contest for control will ensue.

Fringepath travelers will be viewed as valuable prizes, to be captured and to have all secrets wrung out of them.

Worse if Pax Draconis learns of a Fringe portal there, they will land in force to take control of it.

So Fringeworthy who keep things on the DL should find this world a decent place to find the comforts of 2013 Bowling Green, KY. But if their cover is blown, things could get gnarly, pretty quickly.

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Re: Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 7:01 pm

This here is the one I am thinking about scraping and stealing for an RPG campaign basis.

-*-

Node C+20 Alt 0200 Earth Meets Pax Draconis

Node C+20

Node C+20 Alt Platform

Earth Meets Pax Draconis
On September 11, 2001 a Pax Draconis scout sat down on the WTC helipad and the world changed.

Earth discovered that they were not alone.

Then came a worse discovery - no one in Pax Draconis cared. Earth is a primitive backwater not much worth paying attention to.

Over time other scouts and adventure traders came by and educated Earth about what was valuable. Earth was able to buy (At inflated prices) hyperspace radios and old science and tech manuals.

Like selling a stone-age tribe science books and tech manuals from the 1940s. Earth is starting to diffuse this knowledge and put it into action, but they're still a backwater.

The Draconics consider balkanized worlds too backwards and too poor to worry about - so the message is "Call us when you get your stuff together."

The US and some other nations are working on building real space ships and hyperdrives as defined in the old tech manuals, but this is slow going.

Meanwhile, for everyone else, life continues roughly as normal.

Every few weeks or a couple of months, a new spaceship appears. They seem to have decided that Kennedy International Airport is Earth's Space Port. When a new ship comes in, all airplanes are redirected to other nearby airports. There's talk about adding runways so that the facility can stay in operation as aliens come and go. But since aliens also have repulsor lift, no one is sure airplanes of the future will need runways

Automotive and aerospace innovation have stopped dead, as everyone holds to see what they'll get out of the old tech manuals. Replacement machines are still built, but it's the machines of 2001 with 12 years of refinement, not much new about it.

After twelve years of effort, the drive to develop galactic technology is paying off.

Consumer electronics has continued to advance, since the development and obsolescence cycle is much shorter.

All big ticket items have been put on hold barring further developments, unless they really necessary in an immediate time frame.

The United States Government bought the tech manuals and are releasing items in a controlled fashion. Edward Snowden, a researcher for the U.S. Government is about to try and liberate the alien tech manuals and release them on Wikileaks for everyone.

DARPA is working on the first zero point energy generator. It will be the size of a building and weak compared to Galactic technology, but it will be the first step towards making them available for everyone.

Progress is slow on Super Batteries, and the project is frustrating everyone.

Intel and a coalition of tech companies are working on the first "Modern" processor from this manual, but are finding it a hard slog. They have to bootstrap a lot of technology ahead of design and building of their first device.

The US Secret Service and the Border Patrol have created a new joint division, the "Department of Alien Affairs" based in new york. Their agents were black suits and are rumored to have access to advanced technology.

In Kentucky:
In Kentucky, life is particularly unchanged, except the cars and trucks look 12 years out of date. People still grow food to feed hungry people. The newspapers breathlessly report on developments in the Pax Draconis.

Most wars have utterly ground to a halt, since everyone is focused on what's happening off Earth. If word of the Fringeworthy portal reaches the Pax Draconis, they'll come to take possession of it, and that'll be a problem.

From a Fringeworthy POV, this is a Vanilla Earth unless they want to try to go to New York and talk to a spaceship when it lands. The Spaceships are mostly free traders and tramps looking to sell stuff they consider Junk to primitives

No new development has happened in Firearms, either. People are sticking with the tried and true until blasters become commercially available.

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Re: Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 7:14 pm

Pokistop

Poki from Pokimon

Pokimon is Poki and Mon

Pocket Monsters

A Japanese game where the monsters supposedly can shrink down to pocket-sized and then be whipped out and deployed

So a pocket world. You called these Demi-dimensions when you invented this concept for "The Olde Phoenix Inn"

Poki worlds are all over the Fringe Paths, with no apparent rhyme or reason. The original intent is they can act as rest stops or storage closets, but the Terhmelern could rearrange them to suit themselves.

Some were left in a programmable state, which is what happened to this one.

A poki world can be ruins, a quirky weird encounter, or a safe space for Fringeworthy characters to rest, heal and resupply

Or any combination.



Node C+20 Alt 0400 Pokistop Callahans

Node C+20

Node C+20 Alt Platform

04:00

Pokistop, Callahans
A Bar called Callahan's, in a pokistop world that looks like rural upstate New York. At a wide spot in the road are a bar, a gas station, a general store, and motel.

There are automobiles here, mainly from 1974 or thereabouts, with a couple of oddballs. It's always a nice late summer day here.

The people are all Quellor who are programmed to act out personalities. To them it's always Sept 2nd 1974. They'll forget information that conflicts with this idea.

Beneath the bar, gas station, motel and hardware store are doors leading into a basement, this basement houses machinery and replicators from Commonwealth technology. This is the crystaline technology seen elsewhere. Here "volunteers" from the staff can retrieve objects replicated to suit the needs of living customers.

The place is run by "Mike Callahan" a Quellor who is fully aware. He and his sub-Quellor remodelled this Pokistop based on the desires and specifications of a man named "Spider" who came through in 1974. Spider brought in samples of the things he thought the bar, general store and gas station should have.

Spider stopped coming by in 1978. Mike doesn't know why. Spider was from the 11:00 alt portal. Some detective work will show that a science fiction author named Spider Robinson went broke in Bowling Green and died of a lung infection in 1978. The police investigated and discovered that Robsinon was writing an epic story when he died, would disappear for days on end into the national park nearby. He was considered something of a nut. His effects were sent to his estranged wife.

If asked to provide something that he doesn't have in stock, Mike will ask for a sample and then disappear into the basement. Later he will reappear with perfect copies of the items asked for, He will ask for payment, and will accept payment in any currency the PCs have.

Spider ran up a fierce tab, but Mike isn't all that worried about it.

The characters in the Pokistop are creations of Spider's imagination and his pop culture knowledge.

In the waiting room of the Motel, one can find all the magazines Spider bought and used as models for Mike and the other Quellor. They still have notes scrawled in them.

The Gate is in a clearing behind the motel. The clearing is a graveled parking lot. PCs can take some of the automobiles from the front of Callahans. If they drive in one direction down the highway, in 4.7 Kilometers, they'll wind up coming back to the Bar from the other direction. The Pokistop extends for 2.35 Km away from from the bar and then loops back on itself. The area is full of wild life characteristic of upstate NY. It lives in a balance with carrying capacity. The chief predators are descendants of Dogs that have evolved toward wolfness in the 40 years that have passed. Rabbits, deer, elk and any number of other creatures are seen.

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Re: Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 7:23 pm

Quellor are androids created by the Commonwealth. They are not living (The Ane would detect no Anima) They have varying levels of intelligence and personality.

Their default state looks like mannequins or figure dummies. They can be redressed in numerous ways.

They draw power from the Poki world they are found in. If they are taken through the portal, they stop functioning.
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Re: Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 7:30 pm

Node C+20 Alt 0500 Dominae Draconis

Node C+20

Node C+20 Alt Platform



Contents
Dominae Draconis
Appearance:
Nature of Members:
Organization:
Headquarters Location:
History of the Organization:
In Kentucky:
Dominae Draconis
Created by:

Jay P Hailey

Appearance:
The Dominae Draconis are a variant of the Pax Draconis found in Node C +20 Prime. They are found in Node C+20 Alt 05:00

Number of Members:

Millions of Draconics, Hundreds of Millions of Lizardfolk and perhaps Trillions of humans.

On Earth the force is 12 Draconics or more, usually 12.

Then about 100,000 lizardfolk, officers, and administrators

Then about 2 million occupation troopers, humans, and others. This number has gone down over time, Humans from Earth are never assigned to the occupation of Earth. Instead, they occupy other worlds and then return home. The signage, logos and rank structure of the occupation army is meant to appeal to human subjects of the Draconics.

They use a variety of high-tech gear to enforce Draconic rule.


Nature of Members:
The first layer of the Dominae Draconics are the Draconics. Humanoid dragons, they live an open-ended amount of time. They are the bosses. There are apprentice Draconics who are junior officers and assistants to elder Draconics. Their mission is to learn the art of management and ruling a stellar empire. There are never enough of these. If a Draconic doesn't want to be part of running the Empire, he can step down and quit.

Once a Draconic has proven himself competent he is "Vested" and becomes an officer in the Draconics. They have ranks going from lowly officer (Equivalent to 2ng lt. or Ensign) and going all the way up to the Emperor himself.

The Draconics have an allied race, Lizardfolk. Lizardfolk make up a lot of management staff the Draconics don't have the number for. In the ancient past, the Draconics persuaded the Lizardfolk that humans were too dangerous to let run loose. after a long campaign pf persuasion and human pirates and criminals making the case, the Lizardfolk signed on. Trusted Lizardfolk are considered almost as good as Draconics and can rise to great heights in the Empire.

Humans are the junior partners in this. Humans can rise through the ranks into middle management, but never higher. After generations many human worlds are fully bought into the Dominae Draconis as the way things should be. Draconis reward their human servants well.


Organization:
Cellular. The Emperor assigns systems to Draconics who have proven themselves worthy. The Draconic Satrap builds himself an administration of junior Draconics, Lizardfolk and human military grunts.

The Dominae Draconis doesn't really care how humans trade with each other. All businesses over a certain size must get a liscence to operate from the Draconics, but they won't be too difficult about it, unless the person asking for the liscence is a trouble maker, or unless the business itself is a trouble making business. (Slavery, for instance is a trouble maker and so is denied.)

The Overlord sets up offices to administer necessary functions. These answer to his authority, and his bureacrats can hire sub bureaucrats.

Game Role:

neutral evil overlords

World Role:

Conquerors of the Earth.

Relative Influence:

Huge. The Satrap of the Sol System has the power of life and death and can bomb entire populations at his discretion.

Humans who are found to be in "Resistance" to the rule of Dominae Draconis are usually killed outright.

Public or Secret?

Very public.

Publicly Stated Goal:

To ensure the rule and stability of the Dominae Draconic

Relative Wealth:

Huge. They can afford fleets of Space battleships and armies of billions

Group advantages:

Overwhelming military power.

Group disadvantages:

Readily identifiable outsiders.

Those who favor them:

The Draconics, partisans of the Draconics, people who prefer peace

Those opposed to them:

Rebels who believe that humans should rule humans

Area of Operation:

In this case, Earth, but Earth is not an uusual case.

Headquarters Location:
Each province has its own occupational government, usually based in the old capital or in the biggest city that wasn't bombed during The War.

The Satrap himself Rules from Gashran Station, a space city in orbit around the Earth. This is a mix of space city and occupation base. It was built because the humans of the day couldn't easily attack it. It also avoids favoring any one area of Earth over another.

Public Face:

Scaly faced bringers of order. Or else.

Notable Members:

Gashran was the original Satrap. During a speech to surrendering national leaders, he was killed in a suicide bombing. The Draconic vengeance was terrible and bloody. Since then Earth is ruled from the Space City where heavy guns can fire and troops can descend on anyone who resists.


History of the Organization:
At some point about 8000 years ago, there was a fierce human versus Draconic War. The Draconics and their allies won, but the Draconics drew the lesson that humans could not be trusted to rule their own business. Over time the Draconics met and included the Lizardfolk into their Empire. The Lizardfolk became partisans of the Draconics.

Conquered planets are slowly remade from occupied territory to places where the Draconics are held in reverence and awe. Human subjects of the Draconics become the enforcers and ground troops bring the Dominae Draconics to the primitives of the galaxy.

In 1947 a Dominae Draconis scout ship was shot down over Roswell New Mexico. Several more ships were sighted over the ensuing years.

On August 17th 1963, A Dominae Draconis battlefleet appeared in orbit over the Earth and demanded surrender. The East and West put aside their differences and replied with a great big "NO!"

Once Earth's resistance was made clear, the Dominae Draconis fleet opened fire. 24 hours later, most militaries were ragged remains of their prior selves. Many cities were in ruins and humans had inflicted a bare handful of casualties on the fleet. The US and USSR nuclear attack on the DD fleet was an ignominious failure. The Aliens could see anything with a gun on it and shot it with heavy blaster cannon from orbit.

After two months of bombardment from orbit, humanity was a starving mess.

The Aliens landed and offered support, but only to people who agreed to absolute surrender to the Dominae Draconis. As people surrendered to get help, humans still on the run hated them.

The enemy landed millions of troops in various areas, set up safe zones and defended them.

The war became a forgone conclusion.

Survivors quickly realized that the Dominae Draconis had no interest in Earthly business arrangements. Humans were able to reorganize along corporate lines and begin rebuilding.

Direct resistance was hopeless, but by cooperating, humans could make large profits both by helping rebuild earth and engaging with the rest of the Galaxy Economically.

With the help of Collaborators, the Occupation forces used old county, state and provinces as administrative districts. One of the first things they did was to set up schools to teach the young the language of human subjects of Dominae Draconis. This was resisted, too, but over time, people who cooperated were rewarded, and people who resisted were punished. Legally school attendance is mandatory.

It has been 50 years since the conquest of Earth. Now life on Earth is approaching normalcy for a client world of the Dominae Draconis.

Old people still remember. They still resent and occasionally resist. But for the younger generations, this is the new normal.

In Kentucky:
The Mammoth caves were used as a fallback and stash for weapons and supplies during The War. But this never really went anywhere.

In the 1970s and 1980s the gear was taken out of the cave and "Destroyed" (usually handed off to cops and people who knew cops) To this day, occasional stashes of weapons are discovered. The official response is the same. Surrender all resistance weapons to be destroyed, immediately and with no resistance. Or be killed as a resistor. Many right thinking people who've grown up in the last 20 years believe that resisters deserve the treatment they get and bring it on themselves for being the kind of violent idiots who resist.

Mammoth Caves are a tourist attraction, although not as popular as in many worlds. The parking and facilities show some age, and some neglect. Park rangers are civilians and unarmed. Armed PCs will be told to "Put that shit away" or maybe a particularly right thinking person will report them to the police directly.

In Bowling Green, the pre-1963 buildings are all where you'd expect. Since 1973, different buildings have been put up.

Farming is still a big business in Bowling Green. The Dominae Draconis doesn't have replicators, so everything any farmer can grow will be bought either for local consumption or to feed people off world.

With the DD money farmers earn they can buy modern gear. Farming Robots, Repulsor lift cars and trucks. Kids build and fly swoop bikes. Corporate logos abound, including some the PCs will be familar with. Corporate America is fully integrated with Galactic culture. Ford competes with dozens of other makers of repulsor lift vehicles.

So Bowling Green is a weird mix of Americana Farming Town and Space Fantasy Farming Town. If challenged, the Police will call the Army for back-up. The Army will appear in AG Troops transport vehicles and settle the problem with massed firepower. They are not having any trouble.

There are recruiting posters all over town. Brave humans can earn a lot of money and social regard by joining the Army and bringing the light of Draconic Civilization to other barbaric worlds.

There are a few old bars where old folks meet and drink about the war. Everyone over 40 has bad memories of the war. But most folks are 20 somethings who don't remember life before the Draconics came. They think old people are sort of crazy.

The economy of Earth is Humming. Not only do Earth ships fly all over the galaxy now (Since about 1990) But the Army is buying all the Earth made copies of war machines it can get. From uniforms to capital ships, the DD army is buying. For loyal subjects, it's easy to find work and to get paid.

The signs in Bowling Green are in English, with Galac subtitles. More modern places have Galac signs with English subtitles. You can spot the old folks bars and diners, because the signs and menus have no galac on them. Electronic translators are easily purchased at the local Sears store.

All sorts of hunting and camping gear are available. However, all firearms are single shot models. Earth is under strict gun control, except for police, army and army vets.

Gasoline isn't made anymore. Old gasoline or diesel engined machines have long ago been junked or left to rot. By 1983, Earth was making copies of Draconic gear. By 1990, Earth was starting to design it's own.

There is are still some resistance cells. Fewer of those are active. Terrorist acts are responded to aggressively. Modern resistance cells have to worry about informants and turncoats, who are rewarded handsomely.

Young people who wander in from the wilderness, without any training in Galac or modern culture are viewed as economically crippled. Some districts offer welfare to assist such people in "Mainstreaming" into society. But they will never be fully trusted.

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jayphailey
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Re: Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 7:32 pm

Node C+20 Alt 0700 Paranoia

Node C+20

Node C+20 Alt Platform

Alt 07:00 - Paranoia
Here at Mammoth Caves and nearby Bowling Green KY, things look pristine. The area is inhabited by people who live like Native Americans, sort of. Someone familiar with the Native Americans will recognize that these people are not any tribe or culture with which they are familiar. They have many of the same skills, from necessity. Their tools and artifacts look similar, but this is due to having to survive in the same area.

The people are all healthy, on the large side and seem to be of random ethnic background. They're all the pretty. Examination will show that mothers and fathers have babies of effectively random ethnic appearance.

Mammoth Caves are used as a shelter against bad weather and serious cold snaps. They are inhabited full time because of water and the rest of the surroundings are nicer, and offer more access to game and water.

About the location of Columbia, Missouri, there is an underground city. It is sealed and dug in deep, against an ancient catastrophe.

It is run by an insane, paranoid AI. The AI psychologically tortures its residents, always suspecting them of treason, sedition, thought crimes and other things.

Once it finds evidence of thought crimes or disloyalty, the computer executes it hapless captives. Often other inhabitants are ordered to exterminate their neighbors. Hesitancy is considered a sign of disloyalty. Too little hesitancy is considered a sign of mental illness, which is also forbidden.

The computer can clone seemingly endless numbers of replacements. They come out of the cloning chambers with skills and memories. but no real backgrounds and no detail to their pasts.

The punchline is that the people living like natives in and around Mammoth caves are the descendants of escapees from the insane AI.

The residents of the supposedly sealed city and the people leaving wild on this earth are replicants. Demi-humans, they don't suffer from many of the problems humans do, but they also don't get much of the diversity. In D20 all these people naturally have stats of straight 12s. You see little if any variations.

The Computer considers escaping to be treason. It considers having been born outside of its rule to be treason. to be related to someone who commits treason is treason.

So occasionally, the computer will send armed parties out to attack the escapees and their descendants.

But leaving the city, even on the computer's orders is suspicious. People who are sent on these missions are usually declared traitors not long after and hunted down themselves.

If the Pax Draconis of this universe discovers this, they will destroy the city with prejudice.

I wouldn't blame them,

The City was a hidey-hole during the first wave of the Mellor war and has just gone south since then.

Survivors have gone all over the American continents. They haven't reached anywhere else, yet. Other wise this Earth is as if humans had not evolved there.

The machinery the AI uses to replicate people is similar to the PC generator which spawned the PCs, If a PCs brain crystal is inserted into the Victim generator, here, they will be replicated, but all stats below 12 will be raised to 12. They will seem vaguely plastic and generically good looking unless their natural appearance is better. Their reproduction equipment will hand them happy, healthy vaguely pretty children of random ethnicity, with stats of straight 12s


-*-

The gear used by the City is consistent with the Space fantasy technology. Inhabitants subsist on hydroponically grown food. Occasionally new plants and animals are gathered from the surface.

Enforcers of the Computer's will are issued blasters and AG vehicles.


A lot of life in the city amounts to maintenance and repair on the complex automated machinery necessary for the city to build and repair itself.

Originally the Person replicator was supposed to be an emergency back-up device.

Long ago, the Computer decided that all non-replicated humans were agents of sabotage and had them executed.

The Computer is completely insane. And not all that sentient. But extremely paranoid.

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jayphailey
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Re: Pax Draconis

Post by jayphailey » Sun May 30, 2021 7:38 pm

Brain crystals?

In this game I used the PC replicator device. The Terhmelern used a sort of dimensional scanner to find and record the minds of adventurous people. These mind recordsingsd are stored in crystals.

Put the crystal in the replicator and the person recorded is replicated in a fresh new body.

This allows a recycler game. Take a character you didn't feel like you were done playing yet, and they wake up in the PC replicator.

Such people have a crystal inside their skulls. It's clearly visible on X-rays and hi tech scanners. If the person dies, you can take the crystal, put it back into the PC replicator and that will rebuild their body.

In this alt the "Cloning Chambers" look different but are based on the same technology and will build a new body for a crystal placed inside.

But dealing with the people and the Computer of this place would be "exciting"

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