Terms

The Amicrest A treaty signed by the High Houses of a warring star system.

The Amity Systems The coalition of solar systems where you reside, and the last bastion of humanity. This coalition was settled in what used to be known as the Capricornus constellation; while there were originally only five stars with habitable planets, over lightyears other small planets, exoplanets, and planetary mass objects formed. Also, some humans straight up created planets--typically these were corporation owned, and were nicknamed corplanets, or disparagingly, corpseplanets. The Amity Systems are Deneb, Dabih, Algunda, Nashi, Yan, Qin, Baten, Yue, Alprima, Dai, Kastra, Tsin, and Bos.

The Ruling Planets Each of the Ruling Planets orbiting the star of their given system is as follows: orbiting Deneb is Lukaros, orbiting Dabih is Vulces, orbiting Algunda is Algunda Prime, orbiting Nashi is Ira, orbiting Yan is Marakk, orbiting Qin is Dorsum, orbiting Baten is Algiedi, orbiting Yue is Pazhan, orbiting Alprima is Ealdor, orbiting Dai is Tae, orbiting Kastra is Casmin, orbiting Tsin is Alsha, and orbiting Bos is Armus.

The High Houses Houses Invictus (Deneb System), Vikare (Dabih System), Verity (Algunda System), Alexion (Nashi System), Lyra (Yan System), Ceris (Qin System), Petrichor (Baten System), Eudokia (Yue System), Kaplan (Alprima System), Antares (Dai System), Apollyon (Kastra System), Galatea (Tsin System), and Orion (Bos System). One for each of the thirteen ruling planets (or in one case, an unusually large planetary mass object capable of sustaining life) of the thirteen solar systems contained within the Amity Systems.

The Council of Amity The ruling council of the Amity Systems. The Council is made up of a representative from each House, representatives from the local and intersystem militaries, and citizens of each planet in each system. The Houses rule the council, with their votes having overwhelming weight (though equal weight to one another).

The Invasion Three hundred years ago, sentient beings of an unknown species invaded every system settled by humanity and wiped them out one by one. The Amity System is the only system out of seven that actually banded together to fight instead of using the invasion as a chance to wipe out their human enemies.

The Amicrest Trials Trials that take place every year to commemorate the signing of the Amicrest, and to allow the High Houses to vent their grudges on one another.

Gifts Each of the High Houses is known for a gift; House Invictus has the ability to slowly regenerate from any wound; House Vikare can fly unassisted, though they are bound by the amount of oxygen at a given height and pressure and such; House Verity can cause others who are speaking to them to speak the truth—this ability grows more undetectable with age; House of Alexion can take the wounds of another person onto their own body while fighting (more as a one off than active healing); House Lyra can play any instrument (this includes whistling or singing) and produce a given emotion in listeners, and the effect lasts more time with more practice; House Ceris can manipulate the ground, causing deep fissures to swallow up an enemy or localized quakes to knock an enemy off their feet; House Petrichor can generate bolts of lightning and clouds of rain; House Eudokia can read surface thoughts (of everyone around them, and they cannot turn it off, though they can focus on one voice); House Kaplan has inhuman strength and speed comparable to its name sake; House Antares can convince anyone to lay down their weapons and stop fighting with just a few words; House Apollyon can summon flying venomous insects that swarm and sting and bite—non fatal but very troublesome in a fight; House Galatea can transform their skin to invulnerable stone and back—however in that state they are immobile; and finally House Orion are able to strike true with any weapon (that does not mean every hit is fatal, just that it lands somewhere on the target—this too improves with age and practice). Any time someone with a gift has a child with somebody who has a different gift, it is up to random chance (i.e. player choice) whose gift the child receives.

Object of the Game

Another invasion force is scoping out the last settled system, as the High Houses prepare to branch out into the ruins of humanity’s golden age. Your character may or may not have heard rumors of this, but whether they’ll believe the rumors is another story entirely; after all, there have been rumors of another invasion ever since the first ended. You can play different roles in the story; the main role to play is as an heir to one of the thirteen High Houses. In that role, you’ll need to meet up on Invictus for the Amicrest Trials, a war game for the scions of the Houses in order to commemorate the end of the Warring Systems period, a trial which takes place every year on the anniversary of the Amicrest signing. This is meant to be a way for the High Houses to settle grudges; after all now death is not permitted.

The trials are different every year, but one thing remains the same; only one heir can win. This year though, it seems like no matter who wins, the entire alliance might rip itself apart. So who are you, and what will you do at this year’s Amicrest Trials?