In the 22nd century, humanity spread across the stars using celestial paths known as star lanes, and rapidly established scores of colonies administered by the League of Spacefaring Nations. However, none of these colonized systems possessed habitable worlds, and the colonies were dependent on support from Earth and the developed infrastructure of the Sol system. When Earth was destroyed by an unknown disaster, believed to be a scientific experiment gone calamitously awry, that also shrouded Sol in devastating electromagnetic storms, the extrasolar colonies were instantly cut off from each other and found themselves facing dire resource shortages. The Collapse ensued, an interstellar dark age that lasted generations. Eventually, those colonies that survived the chaos stabilized under a feudal system and began recharting the star lanes.
It is now the year 2500. The colonies are a patchwork of fiefdoms ruled by noble houses that rely on centuries-old technologies that they do not fully understand. The player controls the head of a house that leads a faction of multiple stars. It is up to the player to guide their house to supremacy over all others through conquest or diplomacy, and reunite the colonies under a single banner.
Tropes
- Arranged Marriage: You can arrange the marriages of all members of your family. But there's no time for love: it has to be done with political reasons in mind, to increase the reach and influence of the family.
- Earth That Was: Earth is no more. The colonies must look after themselves to survive.
- Lost Technology: Many technological advances of the past are now lost, or kept being used by people who no longer understand them. For example, humanity no longer knows how to build new colony installations, and must make do with what was built before the Collapse. Damaged or abandoned colonies can be restored to a habitable state, but this is a significant expense for even large noble houses.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can do evil and dishonest things, but you may lose honor by doing so.
