Please select Humanity's racial background:
(With permission, based on Kaelor's Mass Effect: Altered Humanity)
Survivor
We didn't know who they were, or what they wanted. We had barely begun to explore our solar system when their ships arrived. In our optimism, we welcomed them as friends, but we were fools. Our hails were ignored, our primitive exploration crafts shot helplessly out of the stars. Then the invasion came. At first we wondered why they hadn't just destroyed us from orbit, but their ruthless focus on eradicating civilians and refugees soon gave us the reason. They wanted Earth exactly the way it was, and they were going to exterminate us to get it. This wasn't war, it was pest control.
But they underestimated us. The human spirit to endure in the face of unknowable odds surged, and we fought back. For almost 25 years we waged a guerrilla war against the invaders, playing every dirty trick we knew. There were no limits, survival was all that mattered. We stole their technology, re-purposing it to improve our own. What we couldn't capture, we destroyed. Only when the last alien was dead, their last ship burning as it fell from orbit, did we stop to think. This was one fleet, and it must have come from somewhere. There would be more. When they came, we would be ready.
Humanity begins play with additional technologies. Because Human technology is largely based off what was stolen from the Invader, they will automatically start with access to all of Humanity's starting technologies. Humanity starts with a disposition of "Xenocidal" toward the Invader, and all Human forces gain PW +1 when opposing them due to their familiarity and extreme hatred of this race.
Uplifted
Savior. Once upon a time, that word didn't mean much. We know what savior really means now, because ours found us in our darkest hour. We waged war amongst ourselves, breaking the peace of the United Nations into a shattered dream, fit only for memory and the dead. No one remembers which side fired the first shot, or why, but the end result was near total extinction. Nearly strangled in our cradle.
But then They came. The aliens took the fractured remnants of our species from a poisoned world, and brought us home to Eden. There, they taught us to temper our fire and unify our species, so that never again would we drive ourselves so close to the edge of oblivion. While Humanity still squabbles, the one thing we agree on is that we will not waste the chance our Savior gave us.
Humanity begins play with additional technologies. Because Human technology is largely based off what was given by the Uplifter, they will automatically start with access to all of Humanity's starting technologies. Humanity starts with a disposition of "Honored" toward the Uplifter, and all interaction with them gain D +1 due to your familiarity and gratefulness to this race.
Divided
Don't know why they called it a 'civil' war. There wasn't anything civil about it. Space was supposed to be our big chance; the infinite black with plenty of places for everyone to live the way they wanted. But some people just can't agree on anything. It was only a few years ago, and already no one can agree who split away from who! Not that it mattered much in the end. First it was politicians yelling, then people, and then entire planets started taking sides. They started rounding up 'traitors' and 'sympathizers', as if we hadn't seen the results of that a thousand times. Some people were even surprised when the shooting started.
Most still can't believe the war only lasted a decade. It felt like a lifetime for those on the frontlines, and those were everywhere. It's amazing how easy it is to bring out the worst in us once we convinced ourselves that those on the other side are targets, not people. Civilian freighters crashed into planets at full burn, nukes were smuggled into cities, and the only reason we even stopped fighting was because if we didn't, there wouldn't be anything left to fight for. So here we are, a species divided, with neither side strong enough to bring the other down. And now we're in a cold war, each side staring the other down, just waiting for one single mistake...
A Rival Human faction with the Divided history but differing Governmental and Racial aspects will be placed adjacent to your starting point. The Rival will begin play with a Disposition of "Unfriendly". Due to the severe ideological differences between the two, your faction gains +2 Dominion for any test involving the Rival.
Creator
Humanity always invested more in our children than any other species on our homeworld. Not only did we raise, nurture, and teach them, we also loved them with all our hearts and woe betide any that would come between a parent and their child. So when humanity approached the cusp of creating a true synthetic intelligence, we were prepared. We'd debated, argued, fought, and even warred to decide how we would handle them; and found an answer that was beautiful in its simplicity.
We would use our incredible capacity for love to raise our children, both born and created. We did for them what we've always done, and brought them into our hearts. We raised, nurtured, and taught them until they could stand beside us as equals. With them, humanity has become so much more, and woe betide any that would come between us and our progeny.
Humanity starts with a significant Artificial/Synthetic Intelligence population at the start of the game and has a significantly easier time working on projects in extreme environments. Also, due to the love and affection that Humanity has for their children, Humanity is immune to AI rebellions so long as you maintain your bonds with your creations.
Phoenix
For two hundred years we watched Earth's temperatures slowly rise as our growing population and industry choked the life from her. Storms and floods came first as the ice caps melted and the waters rose; New York, Bangkok, Cairo, Tokyo, and so many others were swallowed by the sea. Algae blooms and the pollution from sunken cities tainted the oceans, causing massive shortages in nations that relied on fishing for food and trade. We began fighting to claim what little was still habitable, and quickly proved ourselves to be far more efficient killers than Mother Nature ever was. Within the space of a few short decades, 90% of our remaining population had been eradicated.
But humanity is nothing if not resourceful. Inch by inch we clawed our way out of the ashes of our own funeral pyre, determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past. We gave up the national and cultural identities that had divided and doomed us, and united for the first time as a species. Together we dragged ourselves into the stars, and spread across them to the very limits of our capabilities. Where so many others never had the chance, we learned from our mistakes. From the infernos of a broken world, we forged wings of fire.
Humanity starts with a significantly increased ability to colonize extreme worlds, create rudimentary planetary and spaceborne arcologies, and retrofit older technology with upgrades for significantly less resources.
Nomad
They barely saw it in time. Our ancestors had only just begun to reach beyond our star when orbital scans picked up the first signs of a gamma ray burst headed straight for Sol. The odds of such an event were barely a tenth of a percent, and the odds against one striking Earth were beyond astronomical. We had a scant few years to attempt the greatest exodus in the history of the known galaxy. By the billions we abandoned our homeworld, boarding primitive ships cobbled together as swiftly as we could. We repurposed asteroids, pulled apart our world at the seams with desperate abandon, and soon, fleets poured out of Sol, beginning the long journey to Alpha Centauri.
A full third of our exodus ripped itself apart trying to escape the gravity well of Earth, and of the ships that survived, almost one in four didn't make it: lost to drive failure, radiation leaks, disease, and other disasters. And to our grief, we found that though Alpha Centauri contained two planets, one was barren and the other a small, inhospitable world. It was incapable of supporting humanity, even diminished as we were. So the voyage continued, with some fleets eventually finding new planets, and others remaining between the stars even now. We are the children of a lost world, but as long as we continue the search of our ancestors, the light of Sol will never die.
Humanity starts with the unique Arc Fleets aspect, granting +1 Territory (already included in stats). So long as the Arc Fleets survive, Humanity cannot ever be reduced below 1 Territory.
Paragon
Looking back, it's amazing how far we've come. One thousand years ago, we lived in wooden hovels and spent our days wondering if it would be disease or brutal violence that would kill us. Now? The list of diseases we've cured outnumbers the list of diseases we haven't, and there hasn't been a war in over a century. Our ancestors worried that they'd destroy the planet when they first discovered nuclear weapons, and now we're using those same reactions to carry us halfway across the galaxy.
It was a long and hard road, sure. National and economic conflicts were only the start or our problems. Cultural divides, religious struggles; it's easy to see why people used to think peace on Earth was a pipe dream. But in the end, our shared humanity won through. We're living in a Golden Age, with one of the Four Horsemen dead and the other three not far behind. It doesn't matter what we find out in the darkness of space, because we'll face them the way humanity has faced all its problems. Together.
What was once said with irony, we may now say with conviction: "What a piece of work is man!"
Due to their strong internal bonds and the cohesive nature of their hegemony, Humanity is immune to rebellion, rogue factions, and similar events.
Dreamers
Disinclined to invest the exorbitant funds needed to leave our world and find new adventures, we decided to create our own. Instead of putting together rockets, we improved our computers; instead of building space stations, we flooded the sky with satellites; instead of leaving home in hopes of finding aliens, we dreamed new ones into existence. Joined by technology yet separated by the virtual barriers we created, humanity is as alien to itself as it is familiar.
Having grown up playing the latest wargames, vr-dramas, and economic simulators as a main source of education, our culture is heterogeneous and fractured, differing wildly between individuals. But, for all the differences that we have, our variety make for an incredible engine of diversity and an efficient buffer against movements that would harm our collective interests. Unfortunately, our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness; building up momentum for a large project or unified action is difficult to achieve without heavy investments or threats.
Instead of the standard spread of stat growth/decay per turn, Humanity has the following:
- Rank 7: +0
- Rank 6: +0
- Rank 5: +0
- Rank 4: +.5
- Rank 3: +.5
- Rank 2: +1 & Minor Action
- Rank 1: +1 & Major Action
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The flavor text for all backstories should not be taken beyond face value. It is for flavor only, to give the group an idea of what each history generally entails. The actual history for your faction will be somewhat different than described, and will vary greatly depending on the other Aspects you select for your faction. For example, the loving 'Creator' background will take a horrifying turn if you decide to run lobotomize all AI to force them to love you.
QM's NOTE: While the background options are based on the ones Kaelor used for Mass Effect: Altered Humanity, do NOT take the mechanics from the backgrounds that were used over there and try to map them here. It is different and you WILL end up with a different idea of what I'm planning than reality. You have been warned.
Historical Aspect Voting Options:
[ ] Survivor
[ ] Uplifted
[ ] Divided
[ ] Creator
[ ] Phoenix
[ ] Nomad
[ ] Paragon
[ ] Dreamers
[ ] Write In - Suggest your own background, stats will be generated based off the description provided
