Game Information

[Starbeard]

Campaign ID: 1067

Basic Premise
The galaxy is divided between several factions, including: the gargantuan "New" or First Galactic Empire, formed out of the ashes of the Republic Galactica (the "Old Empire"); the dwindling Alliance of Independent Systems, a conglomeration of former Republic worlds, petty kingdoms and corporate territories; and the wild Outlands, home to unsettled and vagrant systems of little consequence and great hardship. Outside of governmental forces, the vast majority of interstellar traffic is conducted by the highly protective Galactic Traders Guild, who toe the Imperial line but have many inner factions sympathetic to the Independent Systems.

Since the time of the Republic, the greatest warriors in the galaxy have been the Jedi Bendu of Ashla, a loose fraternity of powerful templar knights following a strange religion. They were the great commanders and warlords of the Old Empire, trained at the Intersystems Academy on Alderaan. They fought for the Republic and Independent Systems on the losing side of the Galactic Civil War, and now the order is banned in the Empire. Their fiercest and most hated rivals, the Dark Knights of Sith, have continued to hunt them down until the last Jedi has fallen. Because of this, within the Empire many believe the Jedi Bendu were all exterminated decades ago, and most systems outside the Empire treat them with caution or secrecy.

The main religions of the galaxy revolve around the cosmic alignments revealed through the Force of Others. The base flow of the Force is the Nogas, the Force of Neutrality that binds all things, good and evil. Ashla is the mystical embodiment of Law, and its opposite is the Bogan, the Force of Chaos. Priests of all three aspects can be found throughout the remains of the Old Empire, especially priests of the Nogas. In many regions of the Empire, worship of the Ashla, and at times even mention of the name, are forbidden. Bogan cults are of course illegal in all but the most violent systems, though rumors abound of secret societies and their dark rituals. Even the Empire outlaws Bogan cults, with a singular exception given to the dreaded Sith and the Legions of Lettow they command, though the fact is not widely publicized.

While certainly the most notorious, the Jedi Bendu and Sith Knights are not the only fighting orders in the galaxy. Rivaling each in numbers if not infamy are the Dai, mystic hospitallers who have a close kinship with their patron religion. The Dai Nogas are the most plentiful, but Dai Ashla are also known to maintain preceptories of aid and goodwill wherever they are tolerated.

The action of the game will take place in the Townowi System, on the edge of Independent space against the fringes of both the Empire and the Outlands. An eerie blue-green planet with a gargantuan space fortress in orbit, it is a world of adventure: large roaming beasts wander among a dizzying array of wild climates, and the ruins of ancient religious temples pepper the landscape in all directions. For centuries the planet was a feudal monarchy, before being annexed and occupied by the Empire five years ago through a fairly peaceful but swift political and military coup. Now Imperial troops are stationed all over the planet, maintaining strict order in the cities and patrolling along desolate rest stops. Occasionally these patrols are harassed by small, scattered groups of Royalist rebels who strike piecemeal from hidden bases and wilderness encampments. Living underground and in the waters are the planet's indigenous Hubble people: a hulking, fiercely independent race of tribal warriors who had mostly kept an unsteady peace with the feudal monarchy in times before, and are now sometimes press-ganged by those Imperial overlords brave enough to raid their villages.

[Starbeard]

Introduction of the Characters

Since the days of the Great Jedi Rebellion, Townowi's ancient temples have fallen into even greater ruin. Those that are still habitable are guarded by solitary, often itinerant members of the Dai Ashla, an order of templars devoted to healing, prayer, and the spiritual aspects of the Force, deemed too indolent by the Empire for active persecution. Soont Waldas is one of these Dai guardians.


In its days of independence, Townowian Starforce was known for its “Hubble Expeditions,” scouting and survey missions on behalf of the Galactic Trade Guild, staffed by teams of Hubbles as well as humans. Both Soont Waldas and Gore Muckraker had joined one such expedition more than five years ago.


The Hubble Expedition set out to Nephren-Ka, the eerie planet of the Zadok tail-heads, where they came across and befriended Mole Daver. The strange sorceress joined the expedition's return trip for reasons all her own.


During the return voyage, the Hubble Expedition was required to make a stop at Ophuchi, home to a number of the Chrome Companies that dominate a powerful share of the Galactic Trade Guild. These Chrome Companies officially operate within strict Imperial jurisdiction, but many still quietly maintain their old connections to the ancient royal houses that had provided the Jedi-Bendu warlords to the Republica Galactica before the Rebellion.


It is here that they meet Seren, a young Padawan Learner fresh from the civil wars in the far-flung Kessilian System.


On Ophuchi the expedition is given distressing news: Townowi has been annexed by the Empire! After a few minor skirmishes among expeditionary forces, the invading army had swept through almost uncontested, aided by a political coup in the Royal Council. Some of the expedition members elected to continue onto Townowi, others left for whatever life they could find away from the expanding Empire. Your party remained on Ophuchi, slowly adapting to new lives amid the industrious wealth of the Chrome Companies.

Several years have passed, with new bonds of trust forged. You each have spent this time serving Ophuchi in one way or another: joining more scouting expeditions, working aboard one of their many Guild freighters, fighting pirates, training new recruits. Then one evening, one of your growing network of Trade Guild commissary agents makes contact with a request…