Today\'s update is all about one of the other species we\'ve found in Antarean space - the Pansimians, or sims for short.
PANSIMIANS - SIMS
When Humans spread out into the galaxy in ages past they did not go alone. They took with them domesticated species, wild animals, plants and entire bio-systems from Old Earth. Worlds were terra-formed or built anew in the form of orbital rings or hollow artificial worlds called spheres. The bio-systems of Old Earth were replicated and adapted throughout the galaxy. By the time that humans had spread, multiplied and diversified into the untold Panhuman species that exist today, another group of intelligent creatures from Old Earth had also joined them. These were the descendants of Old Earth apes. Like Panhumans, their evolution had been transgenically enhanced to some extent, boosting their intelligence considerably as well as adapting them to many different environments. Maybe by the time this happened apes had already gained parallel status to humans as fellow sentient creatures, or possibly they were deliberately engineered to undertake tasks felt too dangerous or too difficult for humans. This all happened in the far distant past, and it is impossible to guess at the motives of those long-dead pioneers of Antarean space. Either way, the Spill encompassed not only human and Panhuman societies but societies of Pansimians – commonly called Sims - the descendants of bio-engineered apes.
Today there are numerous Sim worlds throughout the Spill as well as Sim enclaves on human worlds. Sims make excellent fighting troops and can be found amongst even the Concord’s armed forces. As with the various kinds of humans, most Sims would think of themselves of belonging to a particular species or coming from a particular world. For example, K’b Ngo is one such world, whose inhabitant belong to two distinct Pansimian populations: the huge warrior K’bir and the smaller but more intelligent Ngora. Like most Sim worlds K’b Ngo is an independent world that has loose associations with the Free World Determinate. Unlike most Sim civilisations, K’b Ngo has settled other worlds and established its own colonies, The K’b Ngoran Utopica.
The appearance of Sims is – if anything – even more diverse than that of the myriad human species, but few would be recognisable to their primitive ape ancestors of Old Earth. Some are human enough in appearance they can pass as Panhumans, whilst others are savage and monstrous, creatures whose transgenic DNA has mutated unexpectedly. A few are hyper-intelligent, but none are able to exploit the Concord’s IMTel technology in the way of NuHumans. This alone makes it difficult for Sim worlds to integrate with either the Concord or Isorian Shard, and most are independent ExCon planets associated with the Free World Determinate. This does not mean they are technologically backward though. Sim worlds vary a great deal in their development, much as do Panhuman worlds throughout the spill.
Individual spare faring Sims mix fairly freely with humans and can be found throughout Antarean space. They are numerous amongst the ExCon Freebooters, where they often form entire mercenary companies. They also fight as part of the Concord Combined Command (CoCom), the Isorian Shard, Shard Freebooters, and Determinate forces. They are mostly stronger and more robust than practically any human species, and include some of the most accomplished warriors in the whole Spill.
We have lots of ideas about what these chaps look like, but we\'d really like to hear your thoughts so head over to the forums if you fancy talking about them or even posting a possible concept for them.
Und nochmal Rick zu den Fraktionen:
We\'ll I\'ve called the different basic groups ‘factions’ - and remember Rik is from the video games industry where the term gained its currency. I think of them as essentially a point of entry for the player collecting a force - an army list even - and I\'ve worked them around these big political structures to flesh out a backstory. So, though I have six factions set out to begin with, they don\'t all fit into the backstory the same way.
Concord and Isorian Shard are two big monolithic structures - overbearing - utopias or dystopias depending on your point of view - where humans are freed from all burdens of responsibility and work. Within these huge structures the combat forces are partly machine and partly human - but the human elements are by definition outsiders and fringe members of the society. The faction represents the military arms of those structures - in the case of the Concord the Concord Combined Command - which I usually abbreviate to CoCom - though I\'m also using CCC as it\'s more distinctive on the page - perhaps C3 - anyway - the \'faction\' in this case is the Concord Combined Command which identifies threats and opportunities to the Concord within Antarean space and assembles forces to act accordingly.
The Vorl Orde are a classic single-species militaristic alien race - and I included these as an example of the many alien races that exist in Antarean space - some hostile, others less so - I wanted to show form the start that the game and background have aliens. The Vorl are also powerful enough to be a threat to the Concord/Isorian ambitions - competing for new worlds, exploration, and colonies. In this case the faction is the Vorl race – although even the Vorl are prone to internal division during times when the Prime Orde falls or is challenged for supremacy.
The Determinate is a cover-all description for a huge swathe of independent worlds and small empires populated by humans of various kinds - it is not a united poitical entry - in fact the only thing that unites it is each world\'s/empire\'s desire to retain its independence. The Concord/Isorians are not necessarily aggressive conquerors - but their technology is such that other human worlds they come into contact with become absorbed within the Concord\'s/Isorian\'s Integrated Machine Technology network (IMTel). This isn\'t deliberate or planned - it\'s just the way the Concord/Isorian societies function - they are like a virus that spreads by integrating the technological basis of other societies they touch. Their separateness arises from a basic incompatibility resulting from a period of Isorian isolation and contact with technologically advanced alien societies whose technology they absorbed in this way. The Determinate faction could easily be any number of factions, but to begin with I wanted to sketch out the broad idea. The backstory also allows for the concept of mixed forces, with different worlds getting together, or single species forces of highly isolationist, zenophobic species.
Freebooters is a coverall description for bands of individuals of all kinds who exist beyond the immediate control of any planetary or larger scale of government. They are not all the same, and they are not all mercenaries as such, some would be traders, explorers and merchantmen plying the gates and turning their hand to whatever opportunities arise. That might include fighting as mercenaries on behalf of the other factions, or banding together with other Freebooters to mount a big raid. I don’t imagine them as in any way forming an organised political body as a whole – they are the glue and the facilitators that ensure trade and technology can move between the Concord/Isorian Shard and worlds within the Determinate. Most of them are ordinary humans, and therefore able to work without the aid of the IMTel that permeates Concord/Isorian societies, so they can move between the nano-sterilizers that act as barriers between IMTel enabled forces and worlds within the Determinate. The faction represents these free agents – in all their forms – and I identify it as a faction because technology and information is traded freely within it. I initially had these as two separate factions (based out of the Concord/Determinate) but I\'m increasingly thinking there isn\'t sufficient difference to make a clear distinction - so one faction works better.
Of course – some of these touch upon or potentially touch upon archetypes which have proven popular subjects for models and games – I make no apologies for that – I would sooner make models that people want to buy and design games that folks want to play – and if that means making provision for the familiar alongside the innovative and outlandish I don’t see that as a bad thing. Not everyone likes exactly the same thing – and the success in any miniatures range and game often rests upon providing a variety of experience both in the model ranges and gameplay.
That\'s my take on it anyway!
Rick
