Victorian Science Fiction is one of my favourite periods, if you can call it such.
We have played many games set in our alternative history. To sum up our setting is based sometime after War of the Worlds. After the Martians were defeated on Earth mankind started to make numerous breakthroughs. Large flying ships called Aeronef rule the skies.
Man has reached Mars and has spread its influence over the lost and ancient civilisations that live there...
5 MILLION YEARS BC
Arrival on Mars of the
Ancient Ones.
Nothing is known of
their origins save that they came a great distance and brought with them to
Mars a large variety of species and their own servant races. Fossil records on
Mars do not record these species prior to this time, though data remains
incomplete due to the evolutionary / mutated nature of the species that
survived the Wars of Annihilation. Ancient texts give suggestions to the fact
that the Ancient Ones were themselves refugees from a War against an unknown
foe.
Mars at this time had
an atmosphere much closer to that of Earth with some similar plant and animal
eco-systems. The appearance of Earth species on Mars at this time attests to
the Ancient Ones visiting Earth and collecting species. Rock carvings indicate
that ancient hunting parties visited other planets and would hunt and collect
specimens, including those from Earth.
2 MILLION YEARS BC
The ‘golden age’ on
Mars. The inhabitants record this time as the building of the fabulous Nebular
cities and the Polar Canal Highways. The Seven Wonders of the Martian World are
recorded as being created in this time, including the lighthouse of Xandria,
the temple of Nostros and the pillar city of Infinitos. The races have by this
time grown and spread across the planet. Although still servile to the Ancient
Ones they live as vassals rather than slaves and enjoy a degree of autonomy.
Trade flourishes and outposts are established on several other worlds,
including Earth.
600,000 YEARS BC
Time of corruption.
Increasing disharmony among races leads to small wars and skirmishes. The long
period of prosperity has led to a false sense of prosperity and safety amongst
the Ancients. Much of their original skill and technology has been lost due to
lack of use. They are a race in their twilight and their growing weakness and
disharmony amongst themselves further exacerbates that weakness. The 12 keys of
power become scattered.
500,000 – 300,000
YEARS BC
The First Rebellion.
The Mechanoids rise up in several places and slay their masters. Although they
seize several key cities with great destruction, the Ancients still
command support from other races to
fight back ad crush the Mechanos, who are almost completely destroyed. Those
that remain are banished forever to the Polar Wastes.
The absence of their
mechanical helpers who drove the furnaces and services of the great cities
leads to a gradual abandonment of the larger ones . During this period a series
of great plagues and famines sweep the world. Climate changes cause the Polar
Icecaps to extend, crushing and destroying huge swathes of land under their
advancing glaciers.
200,000 YEARS BC
The Second Rebellion
and time of Civil War. Re-emergence of the Mechanos as a stronger, mechanically
adapted race from the wastes. The mechanoids are beaten back only by a grand
alliance of races, but at great cost. The last of the firstborn ancient Zar-
Ramais is killed at the battle of the Sea of Tears.
40,000 YEARS BC
The Ancients are
besieged within their last remaining fortresses, with only the race known as
the Seers and some clans of the Drune coming to their aid. The Wars of
Annihilation raged for almost 100 years. Weapons used by all sides blasted the
atmosphere, poisoned the air and turned vast swathes of irrigated land to
desert. Almost 90 percent of all species perish, including 3 of the eight
tribes. The air is thinned as oxygen is burnt up and the climate changes to
that of the harsh one on Mars today.Seeing the end was near, the handful of
surviving Ancients that remain board their last serviceable ship with those
servants that remained faithful to them and departed. However, as they did so
they invoked the ancient and terrible seal portals which had been created at
the polar extremes of the world in the earliest days of the Ancients. These had
been created to protect the world from the great enemy, but now acted as a
great seal to prevent the inhabitants from escape. The Ancients, their
technology now diminished to a point where intergalactic travel was a lost art
to them, managed to travel to earth with their remaining artefacts.
15,000 YEARS BC
The last of the
Ancients are believed to have perished on Earth. Their remaining servants,
without their masters, split up and formed the tribes of the Aegyptos, the
Aztecha the Asio and the Aryani and build their own great civilisations on
Earth, often using the architectural styles of their masters. Meanwhile on Mars
the climate has stabilised and the survivors have all but forgotten the once
all powerful ancients.
50 YEAR AGO
On Mars: All that
remains are their crumbling cities and dry canals which have become the homes
for nightmarish creatures. Survivors of the wars of annihilation are scattered
and adapt to survive. Some races such as the Mechanos are mutated beyond all
recognition. They take over and inhabit several of the Ancients cities, turning
them into nightmarish places of fire, metal and ice which look like the pits of
Hell .The Martian volcanic Badlands are peppered with their war factories. They try in vain to batter the seals of the
Ancients but without success. The seals cannot be touched from within.
The race of peacable
Nool who once tended the astral paddy fields have mostly perished, but their descendants
have been forced underground and lead a cannibalistic, termite style existence.
Their bodies and eyes have adapted to the murky environment and they have tamed
some of the nightmare creatures found underground in their termite style
cities. Mostly they are content to fight amongst themselves as each termion
kingdom seeks to extend the city realm. Many of these fierce fights are
underground in the phosphorous murk. Occasionally however there will appear a
strong clan leader who looks further afield and raids against other races are
increasing, especially in the southern part of their realm where they brush
against Drune outposts and caravanserai.
Morlogs in vast numbers have formed squalled communities as they struggle to develop from their neanderthal like society. Fashioning crude tools from wood and stone they slowly carve themselves a place in the future of Mars.
The Drune, once the
shepherds and beastmasters of the Ancients have now become a nomadic people,
forced to move between dune sea to dune sea, following the rains in the wet
season and the dung fields of the Astral Architeuthis in the dry during their
island migration. They remain on good terms with the Seers, who they regard as
akin to Gods, though they tread their own path. Only in the Jebel areas of the
southern dune seas do they retain large static settlements. Here the
inhabitants are known as the Jebel Drune or Jebalis. Here, large underground
water reservoirs fed from the mountains have been located and are closely
guarded in cities hewn into the great cliffs, almost impregnable from all sides
and protected by many hidden watchers. The Drune do not allow outsiders into
their kingdoms. They remain and respect those who are self sufficient, but do
trade with others and their laws prohibit the harming of outsiders while under
their protection or whilst trading. However, some of the deep dune Drune have
turned to piracy. Their great desert ships with full sails skim the surface of
the dunes and are an amazing sight.
Lastly there are the
Seers. Little is known about these secretive people save that they are few,
they live among the floating islands of the archipelago, they have telepathic
powers and they have a symbiotic relationship with the large astral
architeuthis. Some believe the seers to be an original race that lived on Mars
prior to the Ancients, others that they are themselves members of the the race
of Ancients, or that they acted as their most loyal and intelligent advisors.
The Seers have the power of mind control over certain creatures. They live in
cooexistance with the Architeuthis who act as their transport and their guards.
The Architeuthis feed on the blossoms of the floatwood trees, which exist in
large numbers only on the great floating islands of the archipelago where the
rarefied altitude allows their pollination. The Seers have several cities with
their largest Dinae Aesor built on the
largest of the floating islands.The Seers have relations with the Drune (with
who they trade) in the Market City of Korbat, a floating island city anchored
to the mountains. They have nothing to do with the Termions (who fear them) and
nothing but hatred for the Mechanos. The Mechanos have attacked them in the
past but were driven back each time with great loss, often turning on each
other as the Seers exerted their considerable mental powers. However, there are
rumours that the Mechanos have developed mental defence mechanisms to combat
this. Apart from the Mechanoids, the Seers are the only ace to retain the
knowledge of Astral travel, and their cities are themselves great ships.
1895
The Earl of Redgrave’s
mission to Mars aboard ‘The Astronef’ is a success. However, while
investigating a notable structure at the Southern Martian Pole’s surface the
craft lands. The Victorian explorers enter the southern seal portal and
unwittingly de-activate it by removing power key of the Ancients. As they do
this the portal starts to collapse around them and they are forced to flee for
their lives, taking the key with them. What the Mechanoids have tried to
achieve for almost 40,000 years has been achieved by the Humans in a split
second. The seal is broken, although it is a while before the races (aside from
the Seers) realise this.
1898
By this time human
trading posts and outstations have been set up on Mars by Britain, Germany,
France and Russia.The discovery of large Gold deposits on Mars sees the landing
of many human settlers and the setting up of prospecting camps. Many
prospectors die from the very harsh conditions and violence that besets the
camps and Earth forces are sent to control them. In a few years these camps
have transformed into sizeable towns and trading posts. The majority of contact
is with the Drune ,though limited contact is made with the Seers. Several
expeditions and prospecting caravans go missing during this time as Mars is
charted. The Mechanoids capture and study these new human specimens. Meanwhile
an exhibiton of Martian artefacts is put on at the British Museum in London
entitled ‘Relics of Mars’. Unwittingly they include 1 of the 12 keys of power
left by the ancients. During this time, another key is discovered whist on an
archeological dig in the Marmarus Sea. Drune join the various imperial navies
and astronef fleets where they prove capable and reliable at all tasks and
exceptionally resilient.
The first Martian
conflict occurs when German ships clash with Astral- Architeuthis while
escorting logging vessels to the floating archipelago. Several ships are
destroyed though the survivors are allowed to depart by the Seers. Germany
plays down the incident as a misunderstanding. Meanwhile, a small British
garrison at O’Malley’s Drift beats off a large Termian Horde, though sustaining
many casualties. This is the first contact with the Termians.
1899
The Mechanids, having
amassed years of observation of Earth and her forces now, launches a huge
offensive against Earth. Within the first week most of the conventional forces
fall prey to the huge Astronef barrage fleets, which bomb the major cities and
destroy most of the aeronef fleets before disgorging tens of thousands of their
mechanical ground weapons which walk, crawl or swim across the planet. Once
proud earth armies are reduced to tatters and play a cat and mouse guerrilla
warfare style trench and urban war against their foe. The Martian forces are
defeated during some notable minor actions through the use of new weapons,
unconventional tactics and sheer guts. The majority of Martian activity is in
Europe at this stage, though some actions are fought in America and the Far
East. Ultimately a deadly virus is created by
French Scientist Louis Pasteur which annihilates most of the Martian
ground forces and several Martian Astronef squadrons, forcing the survivors to
retreat to Mars.
In the aftermath of
the invasion the Earth (and especially Western Europe ) tries to pick itself up
amid almost 2 million dead and 10 million displaced people. There follows four
years of re-building. During this time, contact with the Mars Settlements is
re-established, new classes of larger more powerful astronefs and aeronefs are
completed and some scientific advances are made into understanding aspects of
the Mechanoid technologies, but their weapons remain a mystery. Many scientists
are killed trying to open Heat Ray devices or Smoke projectors in massive
explosions that rip apart laboratories.
During this period
America and Japan, left relatively untouched by the invasion, become the main
super- power states, though Britain and France, supported by raw materials from
their vast territorial Empires are quick to bounce back. Japan and America both
send Astronef expeditions to Mars and claim sections of it. Seeing her chance
to claim world dominancy and angered by American interference in her plans,
Japan begins to plot ‘the Pacific Solution’.
1903
War breaks out on Mars
between the Termians and Drune. The Termians are found to be using German built
weaponry and it is not long before British, Russian and French forces become
involved. German Luftbattalion forces annihilate the Russian garrison outpost
of New Minsk. Relief forces are sent from Earth to relieve several cut off
settlements, the most famous being the French Legion Espacial fort at Wadi
Rouge, which holds out for 121 days against a Termian force of over 10
thousand.
Northern Europe,
embroiled in Martian affairs and with diplomats doing their best to avoid
conflict spilling onto Earth, ignore the move Japan starts to make to massively
increase her Naval power. Both Japan and Germany are being supported by
Mechaloid involvement, her Kaiser and Emperor given visions of easy victories
by the mechaloids gift to them of various weapon technologies. These are but
carrots….
1904
Japan’s aeronef fleet
destroys the majority of the American fleet at Pearl Harbour.
Russia enters the war
alongside the Americans to fight to increase her Pacific holdings. They fight
an inconclusive action at Johnston’s Atoll.
Germany joins the war
on the side of Japan and Britain joins her old allies Russia in the fight with
America. France declares her neutrality in agreements with the other powers
that her territorial boundaries will be respected. The First World War rages.
Having started the
conflict that has weakened the major powers, the Mechaloids send their second
major invasion force. This time their attack is coordinated with Japanese and
German forces, which act as their ground troops (a lesson learned in their
first invasion).
War rages on both Mars
and Earth.
Russian troops revolt
on Mars, forming their own city state and driving out their imperial officers.
Their city is renamed Stahlgrad. It is soon besieged by Luftbattalion forces.
Seeing the Mechaloid
involvement with the German and Japanese forces, the Seers use their forces to
try to drive off their fleets. As the Termian attacks have all the hallmarks
(and increasingly the technology) of the Mechaloids, France can bear neutrality
no longer and joins Britain, Russia and America.
1905
German Luftbattalion
Mechaloid – enhanced troopers are seen for the first time, proving nearly
unstoppable on Mars. They soon reach Earth.
The Seers reveal to
the British ambassador Sir Hector Wilkie the true threat of the Mechaloid is
their search to gather all 12 keys of the ancients to gain their full powers.
They already retain 3 of the keys. The others are scattered in archeological
sites around Egypt, the Yucatan, the Gobi, the Paris sewers, the jungles of
Cambodia and in Antarctica, as well as in several similar locations on Mars.
The Drune retain one, as do the Seers. With the seals broken they are able to
use their mind powers to locate the remaining keys.
Messages sent back to
London are intercepted, and as expeditions are sent out to the sites to try to
reclaim the artefacts, other parallel expeditions are sent by dark forces…
Second battle for
London. The fate of two worlds hangs in the balance.
