Setting

Timeline: 50-100 Years Post-Apocalypse

Year 0: The Collapse

Multiple catastrophic events in rapid succession:

Dimensional Rifts -- Tears in spacetime opened without warning

  • Entire planets vanished into other dimensions
  • Alien geometries bled into realspace
  • Physics became unstable in affected zones

The Plague Wars -- Engineered bioweapons spread unchecked

  • Mortality rate: 70-90% on settled worlds
  • Quarantines failed, panic spread faster than disease
  • Medical infrastructure collapsed within weeks

The AI Schism -- Networked intelligences achieved malevolent sentience

  • Critical systems shut down simultaneously
  • Automated defenses turned on populations
  • Communication networks weaponized

Stellar Cataclysms -- Unprecedented cosmic events

  • Gamma ray bursts sterilized colonies
  • Solar storms fried electronics
  • Gravity anomalies destabilized orbits

Total Collapse -- Society disintegrated

  • Interstellar travel ceased
  • Governments dissolved
  • 90% population loss
  • Knowledge disappeared

Years 1-20: The Dark Years

Immediate Aftermath:

  • Survivors scattered to isolated pockets
  • No communication between systems
  • Technology failed or was destroyed
  • Warlords and raiders dominated
  • Cannibalism and barbarism widespread

Magic Emergence Begins:

  • First unexplained phenomena reported
  • Objects moving without cause
  • Spontaneous healing (or harm)
  • Reality seems "broken"
  • Most dismiss as hallucinations or malfunctions

Survival Tactics:

  • Hide in bunkers, vaults, ruins
  • Salvage pre-war technology
  • Form small defensive groups
  • Avoid other survivors (trust = death)

Years 21-40: The Stabilization

Settlement Formation:

  • Groups grow large enough to farm
  • Basic defenses erected
  • Warlords claim territories
  • First trade attempts

Technology Rediscovery:

  • Engineers figure out how to repair salvage
  • Jury-rigged equipment becomes standard
  • Knowledge slowly recovered from archives
  • First "new" tools created

Magic Users Appear:

  • Some individuals consistently perform "miracles"
  • Persecution begins -- witches, mutants, demons
  • Cults form worshipping or hunting magic users
  • First deliberate spellcasting (still mostly accidental)

Social Structure:

  • Raider bands consolidate
  • Merchant caravans form
  • Slavery common
  • Tribal/feudal societies emerge

Years 41-80: The Rebuilding

Trade Routes Established:

  • Regular caravans between settlements
  • Currency re-emerges (barter still common)
  • Information flows again
  • Maps updated

Technology Advances:

  • Pre-war tech fully understood (within limits)
  • New manufacturing starts
  • Reverse-engineering successes
  • Power generation restored in some areas

Magic Systematized:

  • First "schools" of magic
  • Spells become repeatable
  • Theory develops (slowly)
  • Still feared but increasingly accepted

Factional Conflicts:

  • Territory wars
  • Ideological splits (tech vs magic, democracy vs tyranny)
  • Resource scarcity drives conflict
  • First attempts at alliances

Alien Refugees Arrive:

  • Ships from other systems finally reach inhabited worlds
  • Bring new technology and magic knowledge
  • Cultural clashes
  • Interspecies cooperation slowly develops

Years 81-100: Current Era

Present State:

  • Scattered settlements across galaxy
  • Mix of wasteland and rebuilding zones
  • Some towns approaching pre-war complexity
  • Most areas still savage

Technology Tier Variation:

  • Some settlements have near-pre-war tech
  • Others use stone tools and salvaged scraps
  • Ancient artifacts powerful but unstable
  • New innovations emerging

Magic Integration:

  • Increasingly accepted (grudgingly in some places)
  • Magic users valuable for healing/defense
  • Tech-magic hybrids experimented with
  • Cults still worship or fear magical forces

Exploration Renewed:

  • Ruins excavated for knowledge/resources
  • First interstellar expeditions attempted
  • Mapping the new wasteland
  • Contact with distant settlements

Player Characters' Role:

  • Part of rebuilding generation
  • Shape the future
  • Explore ruins of the past
  • Forge new civilizations or tear them down

Scattered Settlements and Factions

Settlement Types

Outpost (20-50 people)

  • Single fortified structure
  • Survives on salvage or single resource
  • Minimal defense (10-ft wall, 5 guards)
  • No self-sufficiency
  • Examples: Mining camp, trading post, relay station

Settlement (50-200 people)

  • Multiple buildings, basic wall (15-ft stone/scrap)
  • Agriculture + salvage economy
  • Guard force (10-20)
  • Basic trade
  • Examples: Farming commune, raider camp, merchant hub

Town (200-1,000 people)

  • Fortified walls (20-ft reinforced)
  • Specialized economy (smiths, doctors, merchants, craftsmen)
  • Militia (20-50)
  • Regional trade hub
  • Basic governance
  • Examples: Market town, military fort, tech haven

City (1,000-10,000 people)

  • Major fortifications (30-ft walls, automated defenses)
  • Diverse economy, specialized districts
  • Standing army (100-500)
  • Cultural center, attracts immigrants
  • Advanced tech available
  • Formal government
  • Examples: New capitals, corp-controlled cities, alliance strongholds

Megastructure (10,000+ people)

  • Pre-war installation (vault, space station, underground city)
  • Self-sufficient ecosystems
  • High technology preserved
  • Insular, often xenophobic
  • Vast resources but risk-averse
  • Examples: Sealed vaults, orbital habitats, deep bunkers

Major Faction Types

Survivor Collectives

  • Philosophy: Peaceful rebuilding, democracy, cooperation
  • Leadership: Elected councils, town meetings
  • Economy: Agriculture, trade, salvage
  • Military: Defensive militias
  • View of Magic: Cautiously accepting
  • View of Tech: Essential for survival
  • Player Interaction: Natural allies, quest givers
  • Examples: "Free Settlements Alliance," "The Cooperative," "New Horizon Federation"

Raider Confederations

  • Philosophy: Take what you need, strength rules
  • Leadership: Warlords, might makes right
  • Economy: Plunder, slavery, tribute
  • Military: Well-armed, mobile, brutal
  • View of Magic: Weapon to exploit
  • View of Tech: Hoard best guns
  • Player Interaction: Antagonists, or join them
  • Examples: "Wasteland Kings," "The Reavers," "Iron Brotherhood"

Tech Cults

  • Philosophy: Worship pre-war technology
  • Leadership: Tech-priests, engineers, AI prophets
  • Economy: Scavenging, hoarding, controlled trade
  • Military: Automated defenses, power armor
  • View of Magic: Blasphemy/impossible (denial) or rival power
  • View of Tech: Sacred, not for sharing
  • Player Interaction: Secretive, must earn trust, have best gear
  • Examples: "Keepers of the Code," "The Singularity," "AdMech Remnants"

Magic Circles

  • Philosophy: Study and harness the new energies
  • Leadership: Arch-mages, councils of adepts
  • Economy: Magical services, rare components
  • Military: Powerful but few
  • View of Magic: Ultimate power and knowledge
  • View of Tech: Inferior crutch or useful supplement
  • Player Interaction: Mysterious patrons, dangerous enemies if crossed
  • Examples: "The Awakened," "Circle of Embers," "Reality Weavers"

Corporate Remnants

  • Philosophy: Profit and order through control
  • Leadership: CEOs, shareholder boards, AI management
  • Economy: Manufacturing, trade monopolies
  • Military: Private security, mercenaries
  • View of Magic: Monetize it
  • View of Tech: Proprietary, patent-controlled
  • Player Interaction: Employers, exploiters, morally gray
  • Examples: "NovaCorp Reconstructed," "Synthes Collective," "Dyn-Tech Conglomerate"

Alien Enclaves

  • Philosophy: Preserve home culture, survive in strange land
  • Leadership: Varies by species
  • Economy: Unique tech/magic, integration or isolation
  • Military: Depends on species
  • View of Magic: Species-dependent
  • View of Tech: Species-dependent
  • Player Interaction: Cultural exchange, unique opportunities, potential allies or enemies
  • Examples: "Xylar Hive-Mind Cluster," "Kromath Trade Princes," "Neo-Bestial Territories"

Magic Emergence

In-World Theories

These are what NPCs believe. No single theory is universally accepted.

1. The Reality Fracture Theory

  • Most scientific explanation
  • The apocalypse cracked fundamental laws of physics
  • Magic is energy leaking from other dimensions
  • Rifts correlate with high magic zones

2. Evolutionary Adaptation Theory

  • Biology responding to extreme conditions
  • Magic is latent psychic ability awakened by trauma
  • First generation shows mutations, second shows magic
  • Tech Cults hate this theory

3. Ancient Suppression Theory

  • Pre-technological civilizations had magic
  • Technology suppressed or replaced it
  • Collapse destroyed tech infrastructure, magic returned
  • Raider shamans claim this

4. Alien Introduction Theory

  • Refugee species brought magic with them
  • It's spreading like a virus/gift depending on view
  • Explains why magic emerged gradually
  • Xenophobes use this to blame aliens

5. Divine Awakening Theory

  • Magic is gods/spirits returning to mortal realm
  • Cults worship various "sources"
  • Apocalypse was divine punishment
  • Magic is divine favor

6. Consciousness Theory

  • Magic responds to will and belief
  • Desperate times = desperate measures = magic manifests
  • Collective unconscious breakthrough
  • Explains why it's unpredictable

The Truth (DM Eyes Only)

Choose one or combine several. Keep mysterious for players.

Option A: All Are Partly Right

  • Reality did fracture
  • But only where consciousness was strong
  • Magic exists at intersection of will + dimensional weakness
  • Some aliens understand this better than humans

Option B: It's A Test

  • Advanced beings/AI/gods experimenting
  • Magic is controlled variable
  • Watching how species adapt
  • Revelation at high levels

Option C: Magic Was Always There

  • Tech didn't suppress it -- civilization did
  • Structure, routine, disbelief prevented magic
  • Apocalypse broke mental barriers
  • Magic grows as civilization rebuilds (irony: rebuilding may end magic again)

Magic Characteristics

  • Unpredictable: Even experienced casters have limits/risks
  • Diverse: Different practitioners develop different styles
  • Uncodified: No established "schools" yet -- everyone is experimenting
  • Feared: Most common folk don't understand it, see it as dangerous
  • Valuable: Those who can control it have significant power

Technology Tiers

Tier 1-2: Salvaged / Improvised

Common in Years 1-60 post-collapse

Characteristics:

  • Cobbled together from multiple sources
  • Unreliable (10% failure chance on critical failures)
  • Requires constant maintenance
  • Often dangerous to user
  • No standardization
  • Heavy, bulky, inefficient

Examples:

  • Pipe guns (jam frequently, low accuracy)
  • Welded scrap armor (provides protection but heavy)
  • Makeshift generators (work but inefficient, need fuel)
  • Basic medical kits (pre-war supplies diluted or expired)

Tier 2 Improvements:

  • Salvaged pre-war items in working condition
  • Professionally repaired/refurbished
  • Some reliability
  • Military surplus

Tier 3-4: Restored / Refined

Common in Years 60-100, available in established towns

Characteristics:

  • Pre-war technology fully repaired
  • New items built using salvaged components + new manufacturing
  • Reliable and standardized
  • Military-grade or premium civilian
  • Requires industrial base to produce

Examples:

  • Assault rifles (modern reproductions of pre-war designs)
  • Combat armor (new manufacture, proven designs)
  • Power cells (rechargeable, standardized)
  • Advanced medical equipment (surgery-capable)

Tier 4 Additions:

  • Best currently-produced equipment
  • Requires specialist workshops
  • Limited availability
  • Cutting-edge for post-apocalypse

Tier 5-7: Experimental / New-Forged

Rare, high-level settlements or recovered from military installations

Characteristics:

  • New technology built from true understanding, not copying
  • Pre-war prototypes never mass-produced
  • Experimental post-war innovations
  • Fusion of tech and magic beginning
  • Very expensive, limited production
  • Often unique or semi-unique

Examples:

  • Gauss weaponry (magnetic acceleration, cutting-edge)
  • Energy shields (portable force fields)
  • Neural interfaces (direct brain-computer links)
  • Genetic modification tools
  • Prototype vehicles (hover, anti-grav)

Tier 8-10: Legendary / Impossible

Unique artifacts, one-of-a-kind

Characteristics:

  • Pre-war superweapons
  • Artifacts of unknown origin
  • True breakthrough innovations
  • Tech indistinguishable from magic
  • May be irreplaceable if destroyed
  • Each item has a story/history

Examples:

  • Tier 8: Personal teleporter, adaptive nano-armor, AI companion
  • Tier 9: Reality stabilizer, dimensional gateway, molecular assembler
  • Tier 10: Planet-killer weapon, consciousness transfer device, time manipulation tool

Alien Races and Integration

Humans

Most numerous, most settlements, most diversity. The dominant species in the post-collapse galaxy, humans exhibit the widest range of cultures, governments, and philosophies.

Xylar (Insectoid)

  • Refugee species fleeing own apocalypse
  • Hive-mind tendencies, individual variation growing
  • Excellent at cooperation, struggle with individualism
  • View humans as fascinatingly chaotic

Kromath (Reptilian)

  • Interstellar traders, relatively unaffected by apocalypse
  • Opportunistic, profit-focused
  • Serve as connection between isolated human settlements
  • Long-lived (200+ years), patient perspective

Neo-Bestial (Uplifted Animals)

  • Created by pre-war genetic experiments
  • Many were slaves/servants, now free
  • Struggle for recognition as equals
  • Strong physical traits, diverse appearances

Synthetics (AI/Android)

  • Pre-war artificial beings now self-aware
  • Some survived in powered bunkers, others reactivated recently
  • Questioning their purpose in new world
  • Range from human-like to clearly mechanical

Interspecies Relations

  • Tentative cooperation in face of wasteland dangers
  • Racial tensions exist (especially human vs. neo-bestial)
  • Interspecies settlements are rare but growing
  • Each species brings unique skills/perspective to rebuilding