You are the Crisis [SciFi Nation Quest, Original Setting similar to Stellaris]

The Galactic Federation, once the mightiest of civilizations, has fallen due to the Burn. The effects of the Burn were brutal, detonating the Gateways that were trojan horses intended to be weapons of mass destruction.

With the detonations of the gateways, entire systems were destroyed, and surviving civilizations were crippled. Their spaceships are gone, and much of their high technology was destroyed, with only submerged and underground shelters surviving intact.

They are now known as the precursors, and the only evidence of their civilization is the hardened precursor reliquaries designed to enable civilization's rebuilding after an apocalyptic event. Unfortunately, even these were badly damaged by the Burn and largely rendered inoperable.

The masterminds behind the Burn are still out there. Whoever they are, all that is known is they were not part of the Galatic Federation at the time of its destruction.

You are the leader of a new civilization who has discovered an alternative means of interstellar travel. The jump drive. Your people, perhaps remnants of the Galatic Federation or something new, now reach out to the stars as part of a golden age of exploration and wonder.

However, the stars are not uninhabited.

Ancient machines known as the Men of Iron have claimed vast swathes of territory. Some believe the Men of Iron are responsible for the Burn. Others believe their creators were the first to recover, then lost control of the machines that served once them.

The Men of Iron are not unified in purpose or nation. They are a thousand warring factions with their unique agendas. Some will go to war with you for just existing, while others will negotiate a peace that might last for eternity. The only consistency is their advanced technology and the fact they are a race of intelligent androids that resemble the fabled race known as humans.

As you scramble for the stars with many other star nations, the masterminds behind the Burn lurk and plot your destruction. These monsters believe that any other civilization possessing interstellar travel is an unacceptable threat to be eliminated by any means possible.

As the game progresses, the following chain of events is orchestrated by various hostile parties:

1. Infiltration by strange biological creations known as Broodmothers. They shapeshift and reproduce by infecting the child or egg-bearing partner with their unique physiology. These Broodmothers form cults that are the vanguard of a biological race known as the Swarm.
   1. These Broodmother cults disrupt the stability of their civilizations as they hide in the shadows and prepare for the coming invasion.
   2. The Swarm may eventually cause a galactic crisis where they invade the galaxy from afar in fleets commanded by vast super-capitals known as Hiveships led by a Hive Queen.
2. Infiltration by agents of the Dark Powers that form the Black Cults. These cults disrupt the stability of your nation while preparing the way for their demonic masters to take material form and wage war against you.
   1. The Black Cults may eventually metastasize into a galaxy-wide threat that involves the summoning of vast fleets of ships and armies of these hellish creatures to invade your worlds.
3. The Masterminds behind the Burn have agents in every civilization. People who serve them in return for highly advanced technology that enables their servants' ambitions. Little is known about them beyond the fact they are centuries ahead of even the most advanced galactic civilizations.
   1. If the Black Cults and the Swarm do not get you, the Masterminds will send an Extermination fleet to eliminate you. It might be less subtle than their past actions, but no one is stupid enough to trust mysterious Gateway-like technology after the Burn.

Which Crisis are you?

[] Broodmother

Advantages
- Your people can assume the form of any biological creature of similar mass, allowing you to infiltrate anyone except the venerable Men of Iron and similar android species.
- You reproduce using the local population and create servants/soldiers with similar physical stats yet also possess your psionic powers due to their minds being part of the Swarm.
- You have strong psionic powers, Broodmothers are comparable to a company of ordinary soldiers, and even your servant/soldiers are worth several such soldiers.
- You begin play having infiltrated and taken over a dictatorship by replacing the dictator.
- You have a strong cult on this race's homeworld as they reach out to the stars.
- You have extremely strong espionage capabilities when deploying new Broodmothers but Broodmothers are a limited resource.

Disadvantages
- You are the weakest of the 3 Crises when the Crisis arrives. Only your superior psionic and espionage capabilities will give you a chance at victory.
- In line with the above, you need the highest overall infiltration of the local races to convince the Swarm to risk a Hive Fleet to invade the galaxy. Failure to do so will find you competing with another Crisis and rallying the native population to resist such a thing will cost you precious time/resources.
- You are limited to normal means of reproduction, limiting your numbers on each new world.

[] Black Cultist

Advantages
- You spread through religious dogma and providing powerful bribes, making infiltration of local populations quite effective and your cults are filled with the native born. You do not need to directly "arrive" on a world either as you can communicate through dreams and other means. However, your common servants/soldiers are just that...common members of their race.
- Your cults can summon powerful demons to aid them but lose their anonymity. This should only be used for the final push to conquer a world or government when other infiltration methods have failed. These demons are each equal to a company of common soldiers and can be summoned by the score. It is possible even for a small cult, if left to fester, to summon enough of these beings to conquer a world.
- You begin play having infiltrated and taken over a democratic government that is basically theocratic in nature. Whoever is in charge, it is really you pulling the strings but be warned...too many failures might lead some to question your divine mandate. This makes you look like a "good guy" in the eyes of the galaxy.
- You have a strong cult on your race's homeworld as they reach out to the stars.
- If you need to reveal your hand early, you can summon demons the size of proper warships with powers greater than even the most advanced races in the galaxy. But be warned, this reveals to the wider galaxy that this crisis is active.

Disadvantages
- Many star nations and species are hostile to strange, new religions that promise power to the chosen few. Only democracies will be tolerant enough of a new faith to allow it to survive in the open and metastasize to take over a government. Dictatorships, theocracies will require the tipping of your hand and the summoning of demons en masse to conquer such places by force. Or require your puppet government to invade using democratically acceptable casus belli.
- You cannot conceal the presence of this crisis if you have to use force. Your mainline troops are clearly demonic servants of the Dark Powers and will warn the other star nations something is amiss when they are deployed. Expect star nations where you overtly use force to be quarantined and/or invaded by other powers.
- You are an espionage-oriented crisis with no natural advantages to espionage other than subverting the weak-willed and the foolish. Expect half your infiltrations to either become overt assaults by demonic forces or to be stopped by internal security services. Both will create problems for your long term plans.

[] The Masterminds behind the Burn

Advantages
- Technologically, you are centuries ahead of the other galactic powers although revealing this too quickly or unexpectedly will result in people suspecting you of being a potential Crisis and ganging up on you. (Doubles research speed, quickly adapts precursor tech, basically act as a technology-focused faction that is the best tech faction. You will be the strongest faction in the galaxy because you will also have the natural advantages of your faction.)
- You have very strong bribes you can offer, highly valuable technologies and wealth that easily allow you to infiltrate capitalist economies where such things sway people. However, other economic forms will be more resistant to such things as they cannot easily use/spend such wealth on personal pleasures.
- You have strong espionage capabilities granted by advanced technology used in the shadows. This is important since you start off as an infiltrator, performing projects to delay the other Crises until the Extermination Fleet is ready. You are on a fixed timer that is a victory clock, if you play your cards right. The Extermination fleet is the strongest of the 3 crisis threats and has very high odds of victory but is the hardest to trigger.
- Can begin play with any capitalist economic system (the most efficient economic system, even if many things about it result in questionable moral choices such as letting the poor die since they can't afford food/healthcare) which means you choose the government type. Dictatorship, Democracy, Theocracy. There will be options here.

Disadvantages
- You have a very long clock for the Extermination fleet to be built and arrive. In many ways, the Broodmother Swarm and the Dark Powers are comparable to you in power if they are given time to entrench themselves. You must delay their victories until a very expensive, highly advanced fleet can be built and cross intergalactic distances to eliminate all non-client states.
- Your methods for infiltration revolves leading to you taking over a star nation is limited to capitalist economic systems. Economic systems built on socialism, communism, and other stranger ideas will not accept bribes on a scale that will allow you to properly take over. You can still subvert individual actors to fight and eliminate other Crisis infiltrations. It's just not an interstellar revolt scale of popular support.

Note:
This is to flesh out the setting and options/ideas for a Phase 2 of my grand strategy game. So working on that will take priority, so posts may sometimes be slow.

This is not going to be a plan quest in the traditional sense. Options will be much more limited and more in line with a Grand Strategy game than one of those quests. You'll still need to write up a turning plan of action. They'll be a lot simpler mechanically/order-wise and won't involve a ton of rolls, but they are more deterministic. (i.e. Masterminds beats the other Crisis factions if the Black Cultist doesn't use overt demon summoning means in all confrontations. Infrastructure is just a question of do you have the resources to build them. Tech is just a question of using your R&D slots and waiting the number of turns.)

The second stage is going to be the nation purchase. Character creation is going to be a bit longer than most games due to me not wanting to create too many options.

If you are interested in observing/lurking in the Phase 1 Grand Strategy game, please DM me for the discord.

This is 100% separate from the other identical Quest as I'm trying to gather ideas with these things for my Phase 2 game which moves the Crisis from a GM-led faction into the player's hands.

Ah, Democracy. The most beloved and fickle of political systems. You enjoy strong popular support as you rule from the shadows a the leader of the Church of Solaria rather than as a common politician. The faith is strong, and politicians vie for your support, but you must be cautious. Back the wrong party too often in these disputes, and the common man may question your divine mandate.

What little contact you have with other star nations through the Galactic Market shows that the view of your people and government are also favorable internationally. Democracy is the most common and popular form of government. The fact you have a strong religion that pushes the governance towards theocracy is not so rare as to be a problem politically or diplomatically. At least as no one realizes you are pushing cults summoning demons.

That is the main weakness of your strategy. You will have to cut support and disavow any of your groups that go "loud and overt" with demon summoning to push back against hostile governments and internal security services. They will be quarantined or wiped out by interstellar governments, even conquered by 3rd parties if needed. However, the more you weaken the other interstellar powers, the stronger your hand will be, and the sooner your demonic masters will launch the Grand Crusade to conquer the galaxy.

However, there are three basic forms of Democracy in the Galaxy. Which are you?

[ ][Economy] Brutal Capitalism with an emphasis on Individual Liberty

Advantages
The best passive growth in economic and technological progress. Your private sector (comparing those with 0 policies applied) will grow roughly twice as fast as will your private sector research activity.

Strongest popular support of the democratic options. People like freedom.

Disadvantages
Difficult to reign in oligarchs who control the private sector and 3 of your 6 policy slots. They can start wars of aggression and other policies you disagree with, and there is little you can do due to their lobbying corrupt politicians. This sort of corruption is, unfortunately, entirely legal.

An underclass of migrants, androids, and other poor folk exist and are exploited to maximize economic efficiency. The situation is ripe for hostile espionage.

[ ][Economy] Enlightened Socialism with an emphasis on Collective Good

Advantages
Strong morality among the people and government reduces corruption to low levels. Hostile espionage will be extremely difficult to engage in at the scale required to topple your government. The people are also willing to suffer for the greater good and consider such behavior a moral virtue, enhancing policies that work for the greater good of the domestic population.

Public sector policy is powerful which gives you control of 5 of your 6 policy slots. This still creates an opportunity for an oligarch to push your people into a war you don't want but it'll be a hard road.

Disadvantages
Amoral or immoral choices that run counter to the collective good but are pragmatic will cost you public support. People need to believe they are the good guys for your society to function well.

[ ][Economy] State Capitalism

Advantages
You have full control of the government and economy which not only grants you control of 6 policy slots but makes them easier to change, allowing you to change 2 per turn instead of just 1.

Disadvantages
This has the least popular support and is fundamentally inefficient. Individual actors are more efficient than government bureaucrats in many portions of the economy.

[][Defining Characteristic] Mecca of Technology

Advantages
You have an extra R&D slot without needing to use policy as well as faster growth from public policy and passively for R&D purposes.
You have the Autowar advantage allowing you to customize military forces to a degree to face threats on a per-conflict basis and reduced losses due to the heavy use of automation.

[][Defining Characteristic] Mecca of Engineering

Advantages
Your fortifications and fleets are upgraded due to the engineering quality, allowing you to outcompete most of the galaxy in direct confrontation on an even technological and quantity level.
You have an extra Megaproject slot and build megaprojects at reduced cost.
You can reverse engineer captured technology, speeding up research significantly but only for technologies your enemies or rivals already have.

[][Defining Characterstic] Mecca of Magic

Advantages
You have 2 hero unit slots for High Priests that can turn the tide in any conflict. Espionage, war, diplomacy, or even economically.
You have the Sacrifical Power advantage, the more enemies your units kill the faster their advance in quality. With enough violence, your fleets and armies will be stronger than even a Mecca of Engineering or Technology faction.
You can counteract enemy magic wth ease, bypassing most magic-based threats and defenses without cost.

Disadvantages
It gets out pretty quickly you need bloodshed to empower your nation. A number of nations will quarantine you and cut diplomatic ties.