Planetfall

Game Description

Introduction

Mission Year 2100

Dwindling fossil fuel supplies, water shortages, and the resulting famine drove Earth to the brink. In 2040, leaders of the handful of nations that remained stable agreed that the last hope for humanity was among the stars. Under the auspices of the United Nations, Earths first and last starship, the UNS Unity, was commissioned. The best and the brightest were chosen to board the ship, bound for a habitable planet orbiting the Alpha Centauri binary star system. The ship set out in 2060, and those aboard said their final farewell to the planet all of humanity had called home until then.

10,000 crew and colonists spent the next 40 years in cryosleep, traveling at 11% of light speed toward their new home. At speeds that great, even just four days from arrival, the planet could not be seen by the naked eye. And at speeds that great, there is no margin for error.

The plan was that a skeleton crew would bring the ship in for a landing by flipping the ship over, using the fusion drive as a retrorocket, and making a deorbit burn powerful enough to melt a crater several miles across. The crew, along with robotic assistants, would build the first base facilities. Several weeks after planetfall, you would be roused from cryosleep to watch the suns rise on your new home. You had been briefed on this procedure many times as the selection committee attempted to put everyones' minds at ease before the mission. There was a plan, and very skilled people would be executing that plan.

So, you find it exceedingly odd that you awake from cryosleep before planetfall.



Characters Creation

Start by answering this:
Why was your character chosen to board the UNS Unity?

It's VERY open-ended. You could be anything from a Nobel Prize winning biology professor who specialized in non-Earth theoretical biology, to a wealthy investor who "bought" a seat on the ship by funding a major component's development, or a college drop-out poet that was lucky enough to have their poem read at the wedding of the head of the Selection Committee's child's wedding.

The things to keep in mind are that with few exceptions, everyone is above average somehow. These are the best humanity has to offer and all are fit and capable for space travel (define this as you will). Most are under age 40. Maximum genetic diversity won against arguments in favor of eugenics-related exclusions. The worst part of the trip will be spent in cryostasis anyway, so beyond meeting the minimum mission specs for physical endurance, the characters can have the full range of human potential. Disabilities and disorders are fine, it just means you demonstrated to the selection committee that whatever it is is reasonably manageable. There are exceptions to the normally high standards for those who have extraordinary talents (such as Prokhor Zakharov, the lead propulsion scientist who is in his 60s) or outright nepotism (like a certain conflict diamonds trader). Due to the multinational nature of it, active military personnel aren't a large plurality. Civilian police and heavy rescue are more common. (I know this is a lot to say about this but it's often taken for granted in scenarios like this that only the hazily-defined "perfect paragons" would get selected, which is really just back door eugenics and screw that. The point of this is that there's no real upper limit on your character's excellence in their field, not that folks with disabilities are being actively shut out.)

On the top bar of the site is the "Sheets" tab. Create a new Eclipse Phase sheet in the new (Alpha) system. Save it, then click on the character name. This will take you to a fillable form. When you finish, save. Then add it to the game by choosing "edit" and then "Add to Game".

Follow the character creation guide here:
http://eclipse-phase.wikispaces.com/...nd+Advancement

• Morph is Flat (0s across the board in the "Morph" attributes)
• Ignore reputations for now
• Ignore Muses for now
• Don't worry about gear (you're just out of cryo)
• Everyone has 10,000 credits

Leave Faction blank for now. Background is "Earth". In their place, you gain the following from pre-flight mission training:

• English skill at 70 + INT
• Your native tongue (or a second language if it's English) at 70+INT
• Bonus +30 to Free Fall skill (moving in low/zero-G)
• Bonus +20 to Protocol skill (policies and procedures, determining who's in charge and what the rules say)
• Bonus +10 to Freerunning skill (parokour. getting around dangerous obstacles)

Final notes:

• Don't take any Psi-related abilities. Humans haven't discovered this yet, but will soon.
• Many traits don't exist in this setting. Anything dealing with AGIs, Asyncs, Uplifts, resleeving, genetic enhancement, biomods and the like don't exist yet, but will soon. If you have a question, feel free to ask.
• Administrative, Military, and Religious rank are available. If your concept calls for it, let me know.
• When choosing skills, keep in mind that rolls are based on d100 and you are trying to aim UNDER your skill.
• If you can't find a specific skill, Profession/Academic/Interest skills will probably cover a great deal of your character's background. (e.g. a physics prof would probably have Academic:Physics 75 and find all sorts of creative ways to apply that)