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House Rules |
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Criminal
Government
Military
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Are there magical symbols
hidden in the pattern of the canals on Mars? Do its
deserts hide unmentionable terrors? And what is the
horrid truth behind the "gods" worshipped by the bestial High
Martian?
What dark
secrets are hidden in the murky swamps of Venus? What
unnamable horrors terrorize the savage amphibian natives and
frighten even the monstrous dinosaurs?
What terrors do the oppressive caverns of Luna conceal?
- Everything Edgar Allan Poe
could have
written.
- Everything Bram Stoker
should
have written.
- Everything H. P. Lovecraft
thought of
but never published — because it was too horrific.
- Everything you need for the fright of
the century.
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Background
Dark Æther is a campaign set at the turn of the 20th
century. Humanity has spread to inner worlds and the inhabitants of those
worlds have migrated to Earth. The AE revolution has led to unimagined
engineering marvels, and the worlds' teeming cities tower high into the
atmosphere and deep into the Earth. Aerial liners ply the trade lanes
between these metropolises, occasionally falling prey to aerial pirates
operating out of the hinterlands.
In the cities themselves, the wealthy occupy the upper strata
of both society and architecture. Private landing fields on the roofs of
skyscrapers and aerial walkways connecting the upper stories of those
skyscrapers mean that those of means seldom have to venture down to street
level.
In the U.S., the population has become increasingly
concentrated along the Eastern and Western seaboards. Major cities, such
as Atlanta, are still found within the interior, connected to other metropolises
by rail, air and subterranean transportation systems. The wide-open spaces
in the mid-west are nominally under U.S. control, but are largely ignored by
authorities higher than the county level. These regions are peppered with
small towns (mostly located along the rail lines), bandits, renegade Indians,
and the ranches of cattle barons who are laws unto themselves. The vast
open spaces have also become home to "things man was not meant to
know..."
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Magic
The Edwardian mind was fascinated by
the concept of magic. Most "practitioners" of magic in this period
were, however, frauds and charlatans. Real magical power was
possessed by few, who tended to keep their Empathy secret for fear of
the reactions of their fellow citizens Most rational individuals
scoff at the mere notion that magic may be more than simply parlor
tricks.
Magical abilities follow four
"schools" of development: sorcery, mysticism, neuropathy and
psionics. Three of these, sorcery, mysticism and psionics, require
rigorous study. The fourth, neuropathy, consists of those who have
awakened to their Empathy without benefit of training. Many
neuropaths have been rendered insane (or at least a little eccentric) by
this awakening.
Trained practitioners can learn from
more than one school of discipline. However, as mysticism and
psionics represent opposite approaches to magic (mysticism being more
emotional, and psionics being more clinical) those skilled in either
discipline may not train in the other. The result is that there
may be sorcerer-mystics and sorcerer-psionics, but never mystic-psionics.
Practitioners of magic often band
together into secret societies for training, protection, or to achieve
some goal.
Extra-terrestrial races also practice
magic. The Martians have a highly-developed magical system (having
perfected the craft over 350 centuries). Canal Martians have a
tendency to lean toward sorcerer-psionics and Hill Martians toward
sorcerer-mystics. High Martians, as befitting their nature, lean
toward mysticism. Neuropaths are found among all three races.
Much like their terrestrial brethren, Martian practitioners have a
tendency to keep their powers secret, though some Martian princes are
known to employ Empathic individuals as court wizards. The state
of Martian magic is such that terrestrial practitioners have been known
to seek out Martian instructors in an effort to refine their
Empathy.
The more "modern" and "progressive" Martian, like their terrestrial
counterparts, dismiss the notion of magic as "primitive."
Lizard-men, in keeping with their
bestial nature, produce mainly neuropaths and mystics. While it
may be possible to train the reptilians in the finer arts of sorcery,
they are not temperamentally suited for the rigors of psionics.
The
Vulcanians were masters of mental powers, and it was this that led
to their downfall. They leaned heavily toward sorcery and psionics,
as befitted their logical and analytical natures. However,
following the final war and the destruction of Vulcan, Empathy fell into
disfavor. The descendents of the Vulcanians, the Moon Men, do not
openly practice the arts, and those having such Empathic talents will
keep them secret for fear of reprisal.
Game Notes: These
disciplines and their application are drawn directly from
Dark
Conspiracy's Empathic Sourcebook (copyright 1993, GDW,
Inc.). Additional material, including expanded power levels
and skills have been drawn from Traveller: The New Era (copyright
1993, GDW, Inc.).
Canal Martian characters who have any
Empathic abilities and who have trained in any of the disciplines,
should receive a +2 to their Empathy scores. Terrestrial
practitioners training under a Canal Martian adept for a period of time
may make an Empathic task roll. The difficulty level is based upon
the actual time spent studying (and not adventuring): one year =
Formidable, two years = Difficult, three years = Average and four years
= Easy. If successful, the student may add 1 to his Empathy
attribute. On a Outstanding Success, add 2. Only one such
roll may be made in a person's lifetime.
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Super Science
Science was even more captivating to
the Edwardian mind than magic, if simply because its fruits were more
readily apparent. Not only were terrestrial inventors turning out
new wonders daily, the vast knowledge of the ancient races of Mars and
Vulcan were also being probed with startling results.
Aerial Flyers
Flyers are a mainstay of the Dark Æther universe, with
history going back decades. The computing revolution brought on by
Babbage's Analytical Engines in the 1830s allowed the for the design and
building of increasingly larger and more powerful dirigibles, as well as
bringing about the early introduction of gliders. Both of these devices
were put to work during the Crimean War, the War Between the States and the
Franco-Prussian War.
With the advent, first of
liftwood, and then later, artificial liftwood, flyers became
ubiquitous. And, while they have not completely replaced other
modes of transportation, they comprise an increasing percentage of
traffic. Flyers do have their drawbacks, however. They
are highly-susceptible to weather conditions, and cannot operate in
high winds.
Edison's Ether Propeller
Thomas Edison (1847 - 1931) did not invent his
ether propeller from whole cloth. His prototype ether propeller was based
upon a Vulcanian design recovered from an ancient tomb in Egypt. Edison's
genius lay in his ability to discern not only the workings of the device, but
its actual purpose. With Etienne Moreau's theoretical work as a basis,
Edison was able to recreate, albeit primitively, the Vulcanian device.
However, Edison's work (and the subsequent
ether propeller designs by such luminaries as Armstrong and Zeppelin) was based
on a jury-rigged propeller design used by the descendents of the group of
Vulcanians marooned on Earth thousands of years ago. The device made use
of the inferior materials and substandard machining available to the
castaways. The Vulcanians on Earth lacked the ability to seal their
vessels effectively, making trips outside the atmosphere impossible; however
they used their ether propellers for rapid atmospheric travel across the
globe. When their civilization was destroyed, all knowledge of how to
build such devices was lost until Edison unraveled the mystery.
Tesla's Ether Propeller
Nikola Tesla (1856 to 1943) was one of those
enigmatic geniuses that come along every few centuries. His greatest
insights often followed blindingly-disabling headaches — and it was following
such an episode that Tesla created the design for his ether propeller. The
Tesla propeller was actually closer in design to the original Vulcanian
devices. It produced thrust orders of magnitude greater than the Edison
propeller, could operate deep within an atmosphere, and did not cavitate at high
speeds. Indeed, the Tesla propeller reduced the trip to Mars from months
to mere days and opened up the outer Solar System.
Tesla filed a patent application for his
propeller design in 1890, but lawsuits brought by Edison's company prevented
Tesla from marketing his propeller for nearly five years. During this time
Tesla did build a number of prototype ether ships, and while prevented from
actually selling or renting these vessels, the injunction did not prevent him
from loaning them to others for commercial purposes. Tesla used the
proceeds from his investments in these commercial enterprises to fight the
lawsuits and build his company. When the last of the lawsuits was
dismissed in 1895, Tesla-patent ether flyers became commonplace nearly
overnight.
Editor's Notes:
Use the rules in
Using the Stutterwarp Design Sequence for Æther Propellers for
pre-Tesla ether ships. Tesla-era vessels use the Dean Drive design sequence. In combat, both vessels are treated as
Newtonian-movement ships; however pre-Tesla vessels may not have a
vector longer than twice their efficiency (rounded to the nearest
whole number) in 30,000-km hexes per turn.
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Plot Hooks
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A famous scientist has fallen to his death
from the 20th floor tramway. Authorities believe it to be a suicide,
but the scientist's daughter is convinced her father was murdered and
hires the adventurers to bring the culprit to justice.
-
The characters are hired by cattle rancher
to augment his private army. The ranch has been raided recently by
renegade Indians and aerial pirates so the rancher has begun raising a
force of gunmen to hit back.
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