Gundam - Centennial of a dream

Created by

Twisty
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Scope

The motivation behind building Gundam - Centennial of a dream

This world will be the setting of a heroic, epic, space-opera RPG featuring mecha action and anime tropes. The world and it´s timeline will be a alternative Gundam universe, featuring a lot of the common elements that the many Gundam stories share. I will not be afraid of stealing material from Gundam, because they copy themselves all-the-time, and because my players and I just want to have a fun time.  This does not need to be the most original sci-fi universe of all time, it just needs to feel cool.

The goal of the project

I need a setting that is compelling to explore, but not overlly-complex or large. The setting is the size of the solar system, but should focus on a handfull of key locations and characters to not become overwelming for either me or my players.   Places should be diverse, and have a different feel from each other to be easily remembered.

Gundam - Centennial of a dream's Unique Selling point

This world is the world of Gundam, but more importantly, it´s my version of Gundam. It should be a setting that I can take all my favorite tropes, characters and locations from a wide range of shows, books and stories and mash them together to make something new. It should not feel like a Multiverse of Insert Show, but like a retelling of a old tale.  Maybe this world´s story is a different timeline, or maybe it´s just someone else telling the same story around a different campfire.

Theme

Genre

Mecha anime, with a sprinkeling of realistic Sci-Fi and a ton of epic adventure.

Reader Experience

The world should feel tense, like everyone can feel another war coming, and that there are political powers moving that no-one fully understands, but at the same time, that there´s a glimmer of hope. Something untangible like freedom and the great expanse of the solar system and the dream that humanity can live in peace among the stars. The players should feel that even though the old world is bitter, hatefull and warlike, there´s a chance for them to not just stop another conflict, but better yet build something better.   The players should not be questing to stop the bad guys, but to change the world for the better.

Reader Tone

Somewhere in the middle, the overall situation of the entire solar system is dire, but on individual stations, on streets and in homes, not everyone knows (or cares) about the political tensions that may bring war in the near future.    People live good lives, celebrate birthdays and dream about the future, others remember the bad old days and fear that it may happen again. Others are in-between, knowing that not all is well, but choosing to focus on the moment, their job or their families.

Recurring Themes

  1. Power hungry, arrogant and ruthless individuals, those far removed from the actual hurt and misery that they cause to futher their own climb to power. These individuals ususally only see the faults in their morals in the moments before their defeat.
  2. The ruins of humanity, populated by the young and optimistic. Humanitys optimism to continue living and making the best of whatever situation they find themselves in.
  3. The fusion of science and human emotion saving the day. Whilst sciencetific progress on its own often brings ruin eventually, human empathy and the willingess to experience those emotions will bring out the best in both people and technology. Gundam technology is a mirror or focusing device for the humanity of the pilot, and in this world, optimism and empathy will allways triumph over hate, arrogance and negativity.

Character Agency

The players are and should be treated as main characters, they have a lot of agency and will (for the most part) be the deciding factor in how the story plays out. There are powers that have more control, like the Federation Goverment or the Alliance of Zeon. But they are not singular enteties with the same level will, power and special circumstances as the player characters have.   Over centuries, the goverments of humanity will move mountains, conquer planets and shift cultures, but here in this moment, no-one is as uniqly situated to change the fate of humanity as the main characters are.

Focus

Class - Origin relations:
  • There should be common and obviuse differences between those born and living on Earth, Mars and in space.
  • Mars is the new economic and govermental hub of humanity. Marsians are high status, high influence members of society.
  • Earth is the old economic and cultural home of humanity, but lost the most off all in the cataclysmic Earth-Mars war. It is now a divided place with both ruins, slums and wealthy mega cities. An Earther in space is assumed to be rich and powerful, and many spacers don´t think of Earth as a place with slums and homless people.
  • Space stations vary from slums to wealthy garden cities, but none of them are indepent or have real representation in the politics of the solar system. Space stations close to Earth and Mars are respected and seen as good places to live, while stations in the asteroid belt and beyond are seen as backwaters, only as good as their industrial output.
Political Scheming:
  • Although on a surface level it appears that humanity has moved forward into the Dream Century in relative peace, the world never properly recovered from the Earth-Mars war.
  • The unified governments of Earth and Mars after the Treaty of Luna actually had good intentions for humanity, and had a very real possibility to create a bright future for all. But it was sabotaged by the greed of a small number of greedy and bitter politicians and military.
  • The current Earth-Mars Federation is built on the lies of these conspirators who grabbed power almost a century ago and is maintained by their ancestors in an almost monarcial way.
  • The original intentions of the Dream Century as laid out in the Treaty of Luna almost brought a shining future to humanity, but was intentionally forgotten by the conspirators.
  • The world right now is in a "high-energy state" where the conspirators hold on humanity is under pressure by yet another rebellion in Zeon and the base of their entire government rests on one lie. All it will take to light the fires of change is a single spark. The Federation is likely to fall once this happens, the only questions are: who will take control after them, and how much fighting will there be before the people in power surrender their control to someone new?
Humanity:
  • A very important part of the story is the humanity (or in-humanity) of the main characters and the people they encounter.
  • No antagonist is Evil, but many of them have lost their humanity. They no longer see any point in goodness, in mercy or love, because they have been burned before or have simply never experienced it first hand.
  • The main characters strongest asset is their empathy. Once they lose hope or give in to hatred they lose both themselves and their power. A character can be angry, sad or in despair, and it can drive them to great deeds. But if they let hate, bitterness and nihilism control them, they are often no better than the antagonists.
  • Likewise, enemies can be convinced to see the light and find hope again. A hateful enemy might be your opponent now because they only see the color of your uniform and associate it with the ones that killed their family, but if they can be brought out of their shell of anger and given another chance at life, they won´t have any other reason to fight you, and may even join your cause for a chance at redemption.
  • The path to a brighter future for humanity lies not in destroying the corruption in humanity with weapons of war, but in redeeming those who lost their way and breaking the cycle of violence at it´s core.
Different perspectives:
  • Through the story, the characters should come across people with many different views of the world and it´s history. They should be from all sides of the conflict and from without and give the characters something to think about.
  • The characters should be able to, after experiencing the diversity of humanity, realise that they cannot end war with another war and that humanity finally has the chance for true peace.

Drama

Zeon rise once more

The Alliance of Zeon is on the move again, after years of laying low in the outer solar system. They say they represent the downtrodden and oppressed people of space and their goal seems to be the complete destruction of the Federation and the establishment of a new, space-based government. The Federation is ready to defend their control over the system, but rumors say that the Federations military is outdated and understaffed, and that Zeon has developed a new kind of weapon, more powerful than anything ever seen before.

100 years of Peace /100 years of Inequality

In just a few weeks the world will celebrate the 100 anniversary of the Treaty of Luna and the founding of the Earth-Mars Federation, as well as the first century of the new timekeeping.
And while the upper crust of Mars and Earth prepare parades, monuments and massive celebrations to ring in new century, the poor and downtrodden in space and in the slums of Earth grow more bitter over the lost dream, the promise of a great new age for all of humanity that was almost realized after the Calamity war. Few realize just how close humankind came to that dream, but most have lost hope that the status quo will ever change. Tensions are high as the celebrations come close and many see it as the rich´s celebration of their victory over the poor.

The Earth and the wounds of the Calamity

Federation officials working hard to prevent poverty in Earth's slums are being hindered at every step by extremist groups using the slums for cover. The groups are old remnants from the Calamity war or newer groupings loosely allied with Zeon. To the already exposed people of the slums their message and motives seem noble and just, and some of the rebel factions are indeed that, but just as many are driven more by hatred towards the Federation then their desire for equality.
Federation and independent agencies working for a more equal society are also being sabotaged from higher up, as the leadership cuts funding or responds to crime and rebel action with military action that destroy the hard work that outreach organisations have built up.

The ladder of success

Status in society is closely connected to political power and economic power can purchase a way in to that political power and status. As such there is much infighting in both politics and corporate life, with power players seeking any advantage they can get and getting more ruthless as they climb to the top.
This hierarchy reaches all the way to the bottom of society and it is not uncommon for parents to hope for their child to escape a life of poverty by sending them to a corporate school. These corporate own schools can be very expensive and competitive, with each student quickly learning to fend for themselves or a small group of allies to make it to the top of their class.

A New/type of human

The predicted coming of a new sub-species of human (the Newtype Human) is a moral and ethical debate with no right answer. Philosophers and artists interpret it as a great shift in our humanity, either as the devils that will destroy us or the angels that will bring enlighten to the rest of humanity. Scientist predict that this will be a minor shift in our psyche and intelligence that will eventually replace all of humanity, just as any other evolutionary step. Military strategists try to work up plans on how a psychic soldier or pilot could affect the future battlefield and how they can be fought if the enemy would have them. Politicians and the news under their influence work up emotions in the common people fear or be careful of the Newtype,claiming that they could unbalance all of humanity with their psychic influence.
What none of them know is that humanity already has Newtypes living amongst them and even more strange, that not all of them are created naturally..

And in local news

Below are a few local rumors that apply more specifically to you, the player!
  • Class Y02 has just begun their second year at Nadeshiko Technical High School and already tensions are high. Hirotaka Nifuji, the student that was top of the class last year was granted a scholarship and has transferred to an elite school on Mars, leaving the top position open.
  • Mackenzie Reed, the second oldest daughter of the CEO of RedCo spent the entire winter holiday skiing in the himalayas on Earth, and won't stop bragging about it. While normally just annoying, now she's running for Class President and promising to take anyone who votes for her with her on the next trip.
  • In a few weeks the whole human sphere will celebrate the centennial of the Earth-Mars Federation and the whole school is brimming with activity and excitement. A special festival will be held at Nadeshiko High and the second and third years have just started planning for food stalls, shows and fireworks.
  • The entire colony is buzzing about the arrival of a brand new Federation battleship, the Catmando. No one knows for sure why it's here, but everyone assumes it has something to do with the top secret research going on at the colony. Everyone in the colony knows someone that works in the military or the research that goes on at the colony, but the military is very strict and so far no one outside the military knows what´s being developed in the lower levels of the colony.

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For the amazing images. His Titanship Christopher Dravus of Ironrise Games, Our Revered Deity Basic Dragon / Rin & His Majesty Caeora