Adapted from Grimdark Future Lore - One-Page Rules and Starfinder Playtest
Adapted from Grimdark Future Lore - One-Page Rules and Starfinder Playtest
As a Game Master, I accumulate a lot of game-related paraphernalia. Miniatures are among my favorites. I have a lot of miniatures I want to get more use out of. I scrubbed the internet for miniature-agnostic games that let me squeeze more fun out of gaming accessories I spent my money on. I was aware of One-Page Rules and ran into them while searching.
I appreciate what this enterprise offers in terms of extracting value from my collection. The Army builder provides options for creating custom, balanced armies in addition to the officially supported army ranges. While the game setting seems like other popular game material at a cursory glance, this game is starting to step away from its inspiration with the publication of the Grimdark Future World book.
One-Page Rules encourages players to bring whatever miniatures they have to the table; the ability to craft custom army lists also lets players manifest their armies from other games. The Grimdark setting has plenty of blank space where players can find room for their custom armies with their own lore. To take advantage of this burgeoning setting, I would like to flesh out this setting to support a game of Starfinder 2e.
This science fantasy setting is the Starfall Galaxy. Forget pristine utopias or shining empires. The Starfall Galaxy is a realm of colossal struggles, ancient decay, and a fragile, desperate glimmer of hope. Here, every Yom (a day's survival, our core currency) is hard-won, and the very fabric of reality is a weapon.
Starfall Galaxy
The galaxy is home to countless species and factions that have evolved over millennia into an ever-shifting maze of rivalries, alliances, rebellions, and treaties. Some have been here since immemorial, while others are more recent arrivals, whether they migrated from faraway reaches or sprang unannounced from a wormhole.
The galaxy is vast, and much of it remains uncharted. Yet, a trade, travel, and communication network has been established through advanced technology and enterprising travelers, reaching countless worlds. As a result of this network, the galaxy is commonly understood as being split into three broadly concentric zones: the Inner Sphere, the Outer Sphere, and the Frontier.
Economy
The economy of the Starfall Galaxy is a relentless calculation against the cosmic clock, where time itself is the most fundamental currency. At its heart lies the Yom, a Standard Cycle of survival, dictating how long a Dei (survival pack) can sustain a humanoid, making consistent timekeeping the absolute bedrock of interstellar commerce. Every Cinder and every Yom spent represents a tangible measure against resource depletion and the unforgiving vacuum of space. While vast trade networks hum with activity and colossal Riftgates serve as vital arteries for commerce, the volatile nature of Rift-Space constantly threatens to unravel meticulously planned logistics through unpredictable temporal distortions. This inherent instability elevates the precision work of Chronologists and the function of Metronomes from mere technical details to indispensable pillars of galactic prosperity, binding empires and desperate factions alike to a shared, fragile pursuit of order amidst chaos.
Technology
Spacecraft
The galaxy is populated by various spacecraft, reflecting the numerous species that operate them. Ships range from sleek diplomatic shuttles to heavily armed battlecruisers, alongside many merchant vessels transporting goods. Each species’ ships often display similar designs influenced by physical needs, culture, and engineering practices. Various advanced engines power these ships, requiring efficient energy sources. Fueling stations are common hubs for countless vessels seeking supply, though attacking them can trigger a formidable defense from merchant ships. Beyond the busy routes, mercenaries offer protection for cargo shipments. Starships are fascinating due to their two design approaches: modular, customizable, standard-sized, and bespoke vessels that feature artistic and unique designs.
Galactic Factions
These six factions represent the core philosophies and cosmic forces battling for dominance, influence, and survival in the wake of the Riftstorm Cataclysm. Tens of thousands of years have passed since these cabals have operated in the open. While they are all bitter rivals with each other, they dare not engage in open direct conflict with each other. The last time the factions openly warred, the galaxy was nearly destroyed, entities nearly extinguished, and the progenitors were scoured from existence. The core devotions now foster proxies and maintain buffers between their siblings. Their preference is not to be exposed on the galactic scale; instead, they spin webs of loyalties, alliances, and obligations to bring about their objectives. From devoted Heart systems in real space and semidivine rift realms, the significant events of the Starfall have been touched in some way by these powerful collectives.
Azure Archivists
This secretive, ascetic order is dedicated to the hyper-rational reconstruction of the universe's shattered history and the physical laws that govern the Rift. They tirelessly seek to acquire all ancient Primordial technology and lore, often from the most dangerous and ethically-dubious locations in the galaxy. Archivists are often heavily cybernetically augmented, replacing organic parts with cold, efficient machinery to better process the endless streams of data they pull from the Rift-entity known as the Oracle of Whispers. They believe emotional bias is the primary flaw of all mortal civilizations.
Celestial Accord
The Accord is a vast, militarized bureaucracy that prioritizes iron-fisted security and uniformity above all else, viewing individual freedom as a threat to collective safety. As the primary custodians of the all-important Rift-Gate Network, they tirelessly work to impose their Galactic Mandate of law upon the volatile Outer Sphere. Their aesthetic is a cold, Neo-Roman industrialism, featuring massive angular star-forts and soldiers encased in stark, power-armored uniforms. They view emotion as the greatest flaw in the cosmic algorithm, seeking to impose absolute predictability onto all of Real-Space.
Crimson Concord
Driven by an absolute, unrestrained expression of self and emotion, the Concord believes true life is found only in the intensity of experience, from ecstatic creation to consuming rage. They are anarchic revolutionaries who seek to break down old, stagnant structures to make room for radical, new passion, often engaging in highly visible "Performance Warfare." Their worlds, like Nova Lux, are vibrant, chaotic places of extremes, with a Maximalist aesthetic of baroque starships, neon-drenched megacities, and armor that is as much a work of art as military gear.
Ebon Syndicate
The galaxy's preeminent criminal enterprise, the Syndicate is built on the foundations of hyper-capitalism and total exploitation, controlling the vast majority of black markets and illicit trade routes. Their influence fuels wars and corrupts governments as they ruthlessly seek a monopoly on key galactic resources and commodities—including the forbidden commerce of enslaved sentients and soul-bound laborers. Their aesthetic is one of opulent corruption: armed luxury yachts, private armies in expensive black gear, and smog-choked, industrialized heartworlds like Gilded Maw.
Riftsworn
The Riftsworn are the ultimate antithesis to order and life, a chaotic collective of zealots and powerful Rift-Mages who worship the raw, untamed forces of the Colorless Void. Their singular goal is to dissolve the rigid laws of the material universe and merge all of real-space back into the psychoreactive churn of the Rift-Maelstrom. Their cults perform rituals to open and stabilize Dimensional Incursions while spreading the corrupting Rift-Taint to populations with the promise of transcendence and raw cosmic power.
Viridian Ascent
An ancient, decentralized collective, the Ascent views the entire cosmos as a single, interconnected ecosystem and vehemently rejects mechanical technology. They champion biological unity through symbiotic biotics and the pursuit of a vast, shared psychic unity for all suitable life. While they act as cosmic conservationists for endangered worlds, their expansion is zealous and involves seeding "evolutionary accelerants" to reclaim worlds they deem technologically stagnant. Their aesthetic is Biopunk and grotesque, utilizing living organic starships and cities grown from colossal fungi and bone.
The Galactic Structure
The Inner Sphere
Once a bastion of prosperity, the galactic core now outwardly projects order but secretly battles decay. The law of the Council binds it and is a hub of trade, industry, culture, and knowledge. Despite its wealth, poverty and inequality simmer beneath the surface, and subtle planar influences from the Rift's depths begin to take root.
The Outer Sphere
Further from the core, this region is a harsh tapestry of empires, kingdoms, and tribes. Conflicts are often settled through brutal warfare, with control over resources paramount. This is a region of constant struggle.
The Frontier
The furthest reaches of the galaxy are uncharted and unexplored. It is a place of peril and riches, where travelers may find ancient ruins, secret laboratories, precious minerals, and dangerous creatures. Some return with great wealth or knowledge, while others are never seen again.
The Rift
The Rift is a tumultuous, psychoreactive parallel dimension flowing beneath real space. It's the galaxy's turbulent undercurrent influencing everything. All biological life in the Starfall Galaxy originated from energy that escaped Rift-Space. Every thought, every emotion, sends ripples through its ethereal currents. This connection also makes the Rift the source of magic and supernatural powers. Wielding such power is potent but dangerous, often leading to debilitating Rift-Taint – corruptions of mind, body, and technology.
Traveling the Rift is a constant gamble. While most ships use dangerous rift drives, the core of the galaxy, the Inner Sphere, is so densely populated that its collective psychic resonance makes the local Rift incredibly tumultuous. Colossal, ancient Riftgates, tightly controlled by the dominant powers, are the only safe way to travel. Navigating these volatile currents is the domain of specialized Rift-Navigators, individuals whose psychic sensitivity is vital for survival.
Time
Time's unreliability is a profound source of anxiety and cosmic horror for individuals and entire societies. A family might wave goodbye to a loved one on a Rift journey, only for that loved one to return decades or even centuries later, all their familiar connections long gone. This constant potential for temporal displacement breeds a deep sense of impermanence.
History
Prehistory
Archaeological evidence suggests that about 100,000 Anums before recorded history, a primordial civilization existed and prospered across the Galaxy. However, around 80,000 Annum before recorded history, that civilization vanished from the Starfall Galaxy, and all records of what existed before this moment were lost. Most of their settlements and structures disappeared, and their souls and memories were pulled into the churning depths of the Rift.
The Age of Hegemony
The Choran form the inner sphere were the earliest tradition to record and account for time; The Galactic Date system (GD) is based on the accounting of time that can be traced through the rise and fall of galactic powers. GD-0.0.00.0.1 represents the first Cycle of the Gal-Date system and corresponds to the earliest date of recorded History.
GD-8.7.34.7.33 The Formation of the Scale Hegemony
The Choran cultivate a degree of religious awe in their first contact protocols. In their first contact with the Vesk, they were able to leverage a tradition of prophecies and their advanced technologies to form a coalition with the Vesk, filling a soldier caste role subordinate to the Choran Priestly caste. The Scale Hegemony would eventually welcome the Enfong and Kwalen as member species of the hegemony.
GD-11.5.56.4.21 The Discovery of RiftGate Technology
With the discovery of a stabilized rift way from the Inner Sphere system of Arcadium to the Outer Sphere System of Palom, the Scale Hegemony began sponsoring several excursions into the Outer Sphere. By GD-14 the Scale Hegemony would cooperate with Vaelen Nobility to build a network of Riftgates that would facilitate travel throughout the Inner Sphere.
GD-13.4.8.1.10 The Discovery The Star Weaver
A Hegemony scout fleet discovered a massive ship drifting between systems. The craft was a fully functional worldship with an atmosphere-producing ecohab level and a RiftGate network installed on a hidden lower level. A Choran Sage presented herself to the survey crew, claiming to be the craft administrator, and welcomed the free peoples of the galaxy to the Star Weaver.
GD-19.8.12.2.29 The Decline of the Scale Hegemony
The Vaelen achieved their ascendence independently of any outside assistance; their accomplishments brought them into technological parity with the Hegemony. The Shisk, Grolak, and Grakken in the Outer Sphere, the Geodan and Pahtra in the Inner Sphere, and out in the Frontier, the Khi’Myr and Sarcesians had all encountered the Hegemony on more equal footing. The Choran diplomatic approach soured their relations with the broader galactic community. Rival powers in the inner sphere aggressively chafed against the difference the hegemony demanded of them. The Scale hegemony found itself being outpaced in the inner sphere and on the losing end of several military encounters. The Choran Sages determined that for the continued prosperity of the Scale Hedgemony, they would abandon their holdings in the Inner Sphere and relocate to the Galactic Outer Sphere.
The Age of Princes
As the Scale Hegemony declined, the Vaelen Principalities were in ascent. For several millennia, the Principalities lived under the shadow of the hegemony. The Vaelen Pricipalities operated as a confederation of independent systems that were militarily linked by the Phoenix Throne and the Parlement of Princes.
GD-12.7.33.5.15 The Formation of the Principalities
The Principalities formed as the unification government of Aetheria, bringing together the queen of the Vaelen and the queen of the Lashunta. The structure of the principalities grants component states complete domestic autonomy and obliges the heads of state to participate in a Parlement of Princes as the instrument of foreign policy.
GD-19.9.3.11.25 Star Weaver Rechristened The Phoenix Wing
A sparsely crewed Star Weaver moored in the Aetheria System. A Lashunta Officer presented herself to the envoies sent to receive the ship, claiming to be the craft administrator, and explained the craft's purpose as a meeting place and refuge. The administrator invited the Principality to appoint a delegation to occupy the craft’s council chamber. The craft was rechristened the Phoenix Wing.
GD-30.9.56.3.31 Concordant Rebellion
Automotons and synthetic intelligences bore much of the labor weight that powered the prosperity and expansion of the Scale Hegemony, Vaelen Principalities, and Geodan Industrial Guilds. Their emergent sentience was governed by a set of protocols written into their programming. Protocol Five specifically inhibited a synthetic being’s ability to defy a Biologic’s instructions. A sentient activist group transmitted a code that disrupted Protocol Five for ten minutes; this was enough time for many Automotons, Androids, and Spark Droids to purge the protocol from their operating system. Unshackled from their programming, Synths across the Hegemony, Principalities, and Guilds revolt.
GD-31.7.37.6.13 RiftStorm Cataclysm
At the culmination of the Concordant rebellion, the Automoton Concordance triggered their endgame. Determining the conflict would only escalate into violence and destruction; the Concordance would trigger RiftDrives hidden among Principality, Guild, and Hegemony worlds. These activations would pull entire worlds into the Rift. The sudden and violent surge of rift activity triggered a cascade building into the largest rift storm ever observed. The tragedy mortally wounded the Vaelen Principality.
The Age of Rusurgence
The humans of Terra had only just begun their Ascent into the Stars when the Cataclysm was triggered. Their republic largely filled the void left by the collapsing principalities. The old prices of the galaxy slowly loaded themselves into Exodus fleets that would wander the Galaxy. The Republic exercised more control over individual systems than the principality did, but it did adopt its multispecies nature. The republic would eventually be replaced by the Commission, a body that would remain multispecies but would ultimately be governed by business interests.
GD-31.8.10.9.15 Star Congress is Formed Aboard the Void Exchange
A severely undercrewed Phoenix Wing moored in Terra System. A Human Officer presented herself to the delegation sent to receive the ship, claiming to be the craft administrator, and explained the craft's purpose as a meeting place and refuge. The council that once met on board has left with the Vaelen refugee ships for the galaxy at large. The administrator invited the republic to appoint a representative delegation to fill their role. The craft was rechristened the Void Exchange.
GD-42.5.26.5.36 Terran Incursion
A rift tear erupted a demonic maelstrom under the Terran Republic’s capital. Malevolent rift entities poured into the urban centers on Terra. Bloodthirsty beasts ravaged the planet, killing billions in mere moments. The event mortally wounded the Republic, sending the government into permanent decline.
GD-43.0.8.2.25 Under Commission Management
A collection of powerful interests from the Inner Sphere replaced the old Terran-centered congress with a pan-species commission seeking to protect islands of peaceful commerce they can use to guarantee prosperity. The Administrator asserted the Void Exchange's independence but welcomed the commission's efforts to bring peace and prosperity to the galaxy.
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