General setting of science-fiction and A1-0
Now one of the first questions that might pop up, is what exactly is science-fiction? What is the core of the genre? The utmost core is that unlike myths, legends and fantasies, the main characters are mostly above average and are able to overcome their quests through different means. Often this is due to the heavy use of science, commonly science that doesn’t yet exist and is fictional in nature. There are no gods, demigods and magical creatures which shape the world. Instead the focus lays with normal and above average people who face problems in a typically futuristic setting. In tales of old, tragedies signify the doom of a character and science-fiction goes against the predetermined destiny where one couldn’t change his/her fate. This is a universal element in all genres of sci-fi, but there are many distinguishable subgenres.
To keep this guide to the point I’ll focus on he setting in A1-0, our sci-fi canon. It takes place roughly 10.000 years into the future where there is no clarity into what happened to humanity. They still roam the stars, but the exact fate of Earth/Pacifica (human homeworld) and the original human nations remain shrouded in mystery. In this time new and old star nations emerge again in the sector of A1-0 of the Lampshade Galaxy. Either to explore, to trade or outright conquer bring order to the sector. You heard that right, that means that borders can be subject to change with the necessary consent of course. A new era of exploration (nations still are initiating first contacts) is currently partaking and whether or not it will result in a consequent era of war or peace yet remains to be seen…
The primary aspect that makes this possible is Faster Than Light travel (FTL-travel) and should be taken for granted when RP’ing here. A reference to what I would suggest is similar to our canon is Star Trek, though technologies from different subgenres co-exist here (Star Wars, Mass Effect, Warhammer 40K,…). This means that there is a wide variety from where you can get inspiration from and generally a lot of freedom. This doesn’t mean that there aren’t limitations. More on that in another post. To those of you who are unfamiliar with those canons, don’t worry. Sci-fi has many perspectives, both dystopian and utopian, but in many ways is a reflection of our own society. Racism may not be against other humans, but against aliens, corrupt justice systems and politicians who play with the fate of citizens still are part of the A1-0 canon. The A1-0 canon is quite similar to modern nation RP, the same problems and points of conflict are still there, but just in a futuristic setting dominated by fictional technologies.
Of course one could say that sci-fi is split into hard sci-fi (which heavily emphasizes on realistic sciences) and science fantasy (where technologies often have some sort of “magical” proportions). A good example of hard sci-fi is the Expanse, where Earth, Mars and Belters fight against each other in our Solar System for dominance. Here technology is very close to what we currently understand and consider to be feasible for us given enough time. This works well in smaller settings, but for a large setting like our own, it might not be the most interesting approach. Science fantasy has a more “magical” approach in that the science behind each technology isn’t really that important. What is important is the implications of that technology and how it changes society and becomes an important tool to the story. Like the lightsabers in Star Wars or the massive hulk ships in Warhammer 40K. Both of these don’t really work in our real world with our laws of physics, but they work in their respective universes because they help drive the plot and story. Typically FTL-travel is seen as “magical” in itself due to Einstein’s work. You shouldn’t be too scared about going to deep into science, you DON’T have to figure out every detail for your RP.
Our approach is a sort of mixture between these two takes. Not one is enforced, but an overall liberty is considered when choosing the basics of your nation. You can even mix both of them if you wish. What is important is that it is within the boundaries of our rules (see next post) and subject to balancing between our star nations. We choose this mixture to attract the most players and that as many people have fun, because that is our goal here. Always remember to have fun here.
If you have questions of any sort, members on our discord server are more than happy to help get you started. Don’t be afraid to ask questions! 