Crashing Skies

It is the year 2638, and humanity has spread across the stars. We are, of course, not alone, but this is not what defines us. We are, of course, still divided into countless nations and criminal organizations, but this is not what defines us. Humanity's true struggle is its own advancement. Science and technology are advancing faster than most can keep up with, and it is how we respond to this that determines the future of humanity.   Faster-than-light travel, mass-cloning, compact energy storage and fusion reactors, along with many other technologies, have allowed humans to become the dominant species in the galaxy. They allow for massive interstellar empires, but also for pirates and terrorists to avoid capture and live independently for decades. Many people are born and die, never setting foot planetside.   There are, as there have always been, great powers who dominate the world and exert their influence upon the hundreds of insignificant states around them. The Terran Federation, centred around Earth, is the largest such nation, and is both the home of humanity and yet built around tolerance and acceptance of inhuman life. The Sovereign Kingdom of New Terra is quite the opposite. It lacks not only the vast size and uncountable numbers of its longtime rival, but also the tolerance and democratic representation. It seeks to ensure humanity remains dominant, even if it means destroying all other intelligent life in the galaxy.   The Silver-Sky Raiders are in many ways more an idea than a single faction. They are a collection of mercenaries, criminals, refugees, and simple settlers, hoping either to make a new life away from nations and governments, or to bring them down and liberate their fellow man. The Corporations of Isollis, while technically subservient to the Federation, deserve their own mention. They seem hellbent on controlling the galaxy and extorting it for absolute maximum profit, no matter immaterial frivolities like human rights. The Tallon Empire considers itself the only true hope for the future of humanity, through leaving behind its limitations and attempting to create a perfect nation led by perfect beings, or at least the closest possible.