The Pitch
Ever since humanity could detect hospitable planets Earth has sent slow ships with advanced drives to travel at .25c to get to them. Slow ships are self-contained behemoths, travelling at 25% of the speed of light to reach their destination.
ECS (Earth Colony Ship) Infinity (ECS-607L) was launched in 2299 to reach a class M planet -- the fourth in the Alden system, 100 light years away.
This is their journey.
Players play as members of the ships crews, which are stored in a suspended animation called Deepsleep. Crews are woken up for one of three reasons:
- Deepsleep only works for a century or so. After that, crews are woken to shake off the negative effects of Deepsleep (a process lasting a week or so), and then go back to sleep
- Arrival at the colony world, Alden IV
- If there is a situation on the ship the ships AI, SAINT cannot handle.
There are multiple crews on a ship, and are groups of 4-6 people.
Colonists
The bulk of the colonists on the ICS Infinity are frozen genetic material. When the ICS Infinity reaches Alden IV, the crews become the first colonists, who establish a colony site and also start growing the first generation of 'native' colonists in incubation vats.
The Scope
Tone: Semi-realistic, Mostly serious
Period: Near Future, advanced cloning technology.
Extent: Galactic
Plausibility: Current preference is medium to high plausibility -- Clone tech is advanced, and the primary method of colonization. Artificial gravity is through spin only, so people get around in a huge ship with magnetic boots. Communication is through radio, by Earth using the Sun as a powerful amplifier.
Big Issues
Getting to the colony planet and seeding the colony successfully.
Setting Elements
Earth has not detected extraterrestrial life.
The Ship was built by a Mega-Conglomerate of Mega-Corporations.
Colonists have many reasons for being colonists -- some running to things, some running from things.
The ship is optimized for colonization. It does not have weapons. Shields do not exist as a technology, however the ship's hull is layered and ablative to protect against radiation and micrometeorites.
Game Options
- Reality Checks
- Cold Equations