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Arrhan is a world more or less between Mars and Venus in diameter, and is fourth of ten planets from its sun. Its gravity is three-quarters that of Earth. It has a thirty-hour rotation, and orbits its sun in 377 days.
During the European Renaissance period on Earth, Arrhan became globally an imperial system. At that time, their technology level was equal to turn-of-the-21st-century on Earth. The Imperial calendar began about that time, as well.
The Arrhan imperial government is a blend of Byzantine and early twentieth century Western imperialist structure.
By the time the American colonies were established, interstellar travel was a matter of routine, and the first colonies had become self-sufficient subject states of the Empire.
In the year 1999, the first Arrhan spacecraft to make definite and irrefutable contact with the Earth was recorded.
The Empire had two main incentives for bringing Earth under its influence. First, humans breed like rabbits, and were regarded as an inexpensive source of labor. Second, for what it considered a fairly minor investment, especially as Earth was more or less developed and self-sufficient, huge profits could be realized through a new exchange market and tariffs.
To make that as easy and favourable as possible for the Empire, they began putting Earth through a stabilizing and unification mechanism. By only dealing with the United Nations, and media manipulation, they coaxed Earth into forming a true world government and economic system.
By the late 22nd century, several thousand hospitable or terraformed worlds across 15,000 light years had been colonized by the Empire. The fringe and outer edges of this vast area is referred to as the Rim.
This rim, sometimes called the Crust, has several types of societies and worlds. Quite a few systems here are still uninhabited.
The Reach is the stretch of space occupied by the human diaspora from Earth. There is little or no Imperial presence here; the worlds are not generally the choicest selections. Some are colonies that were abandoned. The Whelm is the police/military extension of human government in this space. Most of the Reach worlds are loosely allied in a federation, and technology is not as good or as commonplace in the Empire.
The Beyond, or the stretch of occupied planets that thumb their nose at Imperial law or other worlds with law. Pirate worlds, usually with little or no terraforming.
Starmenters are space pirates. They live and work mainly in the Beyond, with some forays in the fringes of the Reach and Imperial space.
The Imperial Planetary Control Commission is the undercover police agency that does the small stuff, including going Beyond to enforce the law.
No other sentient race has yet been discovered.
Arrhans have culture and arts all their own, that have had some influence on humanity. But there are diverse personalities among them. Some are even intolerant and regard humans as an inferior race.
The main language is Arrhan, which resembles Swahili. It has three dialects: Low, Middle and High. Low is the use of communication nearly entirely telepathic, Middle is equal telepathy and spoken, High is nearly entirely speech.
Mbali is current empress. She is ninety years old, and has reigned forty years. It is Imperial Year 849.
Arrhans are similar in appearance to African pygmies; a short race ranging in heights from 122 to 142 centimetres (4 foot to 4 foot, 8 inches). Their skin colour varies from a pale yellow-orange to a fiery red-orange. Only their scalp is covered by hair, which is short and stiff, much as the bristles of a toothbrush. This hair may be rust-coloured, ebony or ivory. It does not change colour or thin with age. Eye sclera is always a dark blue for young Arrhans, and it grows lighter as they become older -- the very elderly have nearly white sclera in their eyes. Arrhan eyes may be any of the colours human eyes have, as well as gold or white.
From cradle to cremation, most Arrhans easily enjoy life spans of 150 years, rarely becoming infirm with age. Sexual maturity is reached at 20 years old for either male or female.
Arrhan females are only sexually receptive for one month out of every two years; the males are not aroused unless they come upon a woman who is ready. Pregnancy is an eight month term.
Most Arrhans find the people of Earth to have very little sexual attraction. Humans and Arrhans may have intercourse, but they cannot interbreed.
As they reach maturity, Arrhans develop abilities that seem like genuine magic to humans, but is natural to the race. These abilities vary from individual to individual, much as talents do among humans. All Arrhans have at least two, but very rarely does one develop with more then three or all five powers. Even if they do, it is unheard of for someone to have all five powers developed to the limits of the possible.
The strength of each of these abilities is measured as Light, Medium and Heavy, as used in boxing jargon. In all cases, the Arrhan must be within a few feet of target for the ability in question to have an effect, except for Shield.
This ability may be either heal or wound, but not both. Lights can heal cuts, bruises, scratches or create them. Mediums may heal or cause moderate injuries. A Heavy can heal or cause serious, even life threatening injuries. But if a limb or organ is cut off or completely destroyed, healing cannot regrow it; organ cloning or prosthesis is required.
How strong this ability is determines how much mass one can lift. Lights can do up to 100 pounds, Mediums up to 200 and Heavys up to 300. The more heavy, the less time and more effort one has. Someone levitating a load that's light for them can sustain for twenty minutes, every pound afterwards decreases this time -- heaviest objects can only be held up a few seconds.
A light teleporter can move up to 10 miles, medium ones up to 20 and heavy up to 30. The greater the distance, the more energy and effort. Some people who only have this as an ability can travel much greater distances. Since any load being teleported consumes energy, if you're carrying stuff, it will affect how far you can go, depending on the mass. You must go with what you teleport, you cannot move it alone, unless it remains in the same area you're moving around or occupying.
The ability to build a powerful energy shield to protect someone or something. The larger it is, the thinner and weaker it grows. A heavy shielder can protect himself from hard radiation, vacuum and small projectiles, but only for a short time. Obviously, lesser shielders handle lesser dangers.
The ability to convert energy to matter and matter to energy. The stronger this is, the more you can convert. The only matter you can create however, are atomic, subatomic and photon particles. Given time, you could create enough raw stuff to use in some fabricator to create actual objects.
Using these powers always consumes energy, the same way doing physical labor would. In normal telepathic exchange, if any two Arrhans are more then a hundred yards apart, they will not be able to detect thoughts. Walls of energy or metal will obscure or contain thoughts to a room, so privacy is possible even in close quarters on a ship.
While they cannot communicate telepathically with humans, Arrhans can more often than not sense a human's psychic presence within 100 foot circle. However, physical obstacles usually can effectively block the psychic emanations unless they are separated by only mere inches, even between Arrhans.
Arrhans always broadcast a psychic presence and telepathic emissions, like a radio beacon. They cannot entirely suppress them, except with a helmet or other physical barrier, but distance is also a factor. Beyond 3,750 meters, nothing can be detected, and up to that range, the emanations gradually begin fading. At ranges of 0-1000 meters, suppression conceals 25-50% of mental activity; 1001-2500 meters it'll be 50-75%, after 2500 meters, 75-100%. Suppression consumes energy, the amount depending on strength and duration. Physical barriers will partly or wholly act as suppressors without requiring any effort. Arrhans cannot telepath through barriers, but don't require eye contact to use it.
The opposite of suppression is emanation, and this is normally undetected beyond 3,750 meters. Energy can be applied to increase distance up to 15,000 meters, but thoughts will become progressively more indistinct and incomplete the farther they go.
The smallest unit of currency within the Empire and on colonies under its control CreCent, sometimes called a credit cent. On every CreCent, the head has either the current or a past emperor illustrated, depending on the time minted. The tail shows a jeweled crown.
Coins are made of a special metallic plastic and are round, unless otherwise described. The Empire mints the following crecent coins:
A hundred crecent is equal to one credit. Credits are narrow, rectangular strips of varying lengths. The higher the face value, the longer the strip. On the front is a holograph of the current or past emperor, depending on year issued. The imperial crown is to one side of the emperor's image. The back side is a painting of the Imperial Palace, and the Flag of the Empire.
The following credit bills are issued:
The Imperial credit is the value-equivalent of one tenth of the daily wage of the average unskilled labourer. A credit can buy, for example, a cheap meal, one fourth of a cheap room, a good book, a movie ticket, two to three beers in a bar, a six-pack in a store. Enough fuel to drive a hundred miles.
Rarely are either crecent or credit seen or used in the Empire, but is more commonplace in the External Territories. Generally, people just use bank cards and electronic fund transfer. As a result, new currency is circulated only once or twice every century or so. Most worlds claiming to be independent or only loosely under Imperial control have rejected Imperial currency and create their own.
Hard currency is in most cases used by worlds the Empire has little or no control over.
The currency of these worlds may be exchanged for that of another without restriction. Sometimes referred to as convertible currency. Hard currency planets typically have sizeable exchange reserves and surpluses in their balance of payments.
Soft currency is what flows through Imperial-controlled space.
Exchange may be made only with difficulty. There typically are minimal exchange reserves and deficits in their balance of payments.
Each subject world must pay a tax, and their governors are responsible to collect and deliver it every five years. Failure to do so brings an investigation on by the Imperial Revenue Administration.
Poor people have an income of 10,000 credits or less per year. Low income ranges from 10,000 to 25,000. Middle class go from 25,000 to 40,000.. Upper class do 40,000 to 55,000. Wealthy are 55,000 to 65,000. Rich are 65,000 and over.
There are three main types of vehicle. These are further divided into four subtypes: Surfacers, Submergibles, Hoverers, and Spaceship. Pilots must qualify and be licensed for each of them.
Surfacers travel over the surface of land and water, replacing the automobile and motorboat.
Submergibles travel underwater, and also replace the submarine. There are some vehicles that combine surfacer-submergible capabilities, called amphibians.
Hoverers replace the airplane and helicopter, being versatile enough to function in either role.
Spaceships travel the interstellar void, but depending on size and model, can double as hoverers. Four seaters or larger have gravity generation as standard.
Personal. These are not normally outfitted with weapons, or the capability to add them. They have two to eight seating capacity, and range from 10,000 to 1,000,000 credits.
Commercial. Generally refers to passenger liners, freighters, government vessels and the like. Some models allow the owner to install certain types of weapons. Range from 40,000 to 50,000,000 credits.
Police and Military. The majority are either equipped with weapons or the capability to install them. Police use lasers, smart bombs and machine guns. The military has lasers, antimatter cannons and torpedoes. Range from 70,000 to 1,000,000,000 credits.
There are four basic types of interstellar drives. Speed is measured by how many parsecs a ship travels. A parsec is 3.26 light years, and the more parsecs you want to cross in a given amount of time, the higher the fuel consumption and expense. Below are listed top speeds for each drive. Regardless of drive, except for vortex, each ship can carry a maximum of fuel sufficient to last a week at half the drive's top speed.
Sublight drives are standard on all spacecraft, and allow for travel up to three-quarters the speed of light. Special relativity is in effect: the closer to light speed a ship gets, the more profound the results once it comes to rest.
Superlight drives are found on most personal and commercial, as well as smaller to medium or older military ships. At top speed, Generation I drives can do 76 parsecs a day. Generation II models will go 153 parsecs a day, and Generation III max at 230 parsecs a day.
Ultralight drives are a fairly recent development, and mainly installed on high-end personal, commercial and medium or larger military craft. Type I drives can do 306 parsecs a day, and Type II will do 383 parsecs a day.
The superlight and ultralight drives generate an altered space-time field around the ship, so that light travels faster.
Vortex drives are an experimental new thing, and create a whirlpool effect in the fabric of space, allowing them to wormhole through it, and travel 800 parsecs in one jump. These are massive and complex enough to require the space, power and crew of the Empire's largest military craft. A vortex-capable ship has enough fuel for two vortex jumps.
To minimize causality violations and prevent unsolvable paradoxes, Stephen Hawking's chronological prosection theory, where quantum mechanics disallows some events, will be in effect.
Gravity field generation requires a fair amount of energy. The power plant to generate the field must be at least as large as these used in four-passenger interstellar craft. The larger the object to be affected, the bigger the power plant and field must be.
Typically, interstellar craft can selectively neutralize or adjust part of their field to allow null, weaker or stronger gravity. Nullifying or weakening a portion or all of the field will reduce energy drain; strengthening it increases power drain. The maximum gravity setting on the most powerful and largest models simulates twice Earth normal force and are only found on military space stations. Ships equipped with gravity fields have Earth normal as their strongest setting, Arrhan normal is the default usually selected and equal to three-quarter Earth standard.
Antigravity is a by-product of force field technology, and unavailable at this time.
Although stations and ships are made fro damage-resisting materials, nobody wants to make holes. Firearms, lasers and explosives capable of more than stunning or disabling aren't allowed on most non-military stations and ships. Civilians with licenses may transport personal weapons of any power they are licensed to use aboard their own ships, but are responsible for their use.
The damage-resistant material is produced in various grades of quality; the better the material, the more expensive it gets. Following is a list of the grades. This material is called starplate. Its thickness is also a factor in cost and durability, while it is never invulnerable, the more layers of it one has, the less likely a complete penetration will be. Starplate ranges from one to five layers, but is used mostly in two layer form, regardless of grade.
Starplate should ideally be repaired or replaced where it is found to be weakened or complete layer penetration has occurred.
Grade A: Generally only found on larger military craft and stations, and used to some degree by governments. Withstands a good battering from most things.
Grade B: Many military, government stations and ships, a few high-end private vessels.
Grade C: Most civilian stations, larger craft.
Grade D: The cheapest, most commonly used. Good enough to meet basic requirements.
Computer technology ranges from conventional early 21st century to modern molecular level biocomputers. Genuine artificial intelligence and cyberneural interfaces are outlawed, but cybernetic replacements are available for various organs and limbs. Synthesizers and limited replication technologies are available.
Communications is possible at ultralight speed, but many places don't have that capability. If an ultralight station receives no acknowledgement, it will cycle down until it gets a signal or times out. Superlight stations have an identical procedure, as there are three generations of them.
Personal weaponry falls into three basic categories: edged or blade weapons, projectile and energy weapons. Depending on the weapon, settings of stun, disable and destroy are available. Some have all three, some two, or just the one they are designed for. The more advanced the weapon, the greater the price.
Edged and blade weapons include daggers, knives, axes, swords, monomolecular and vibro-blades.
Projectile weapons include revolvers, pistols, shotguns, rifles, dart guns and needlers.
Energy weapons are either laser or plasma, and are available either as hand weapons or rifles.
Medical science can provide organ and tissue cloning, and do genetic reprogramming, if the money and resources are available. This is very expensive and not common, but not rare, either. In general, the quality of life and health has improved for humanity. Human life span is not greatly increased, but growing old no longer causes as much enfeeblement in body or mind. A middle-age human can feel and appear ten to fifteen years younger.
The hospital has more or less become extinct. Modern medical tools and products allow competent medical professionals to work in offices or most types of settings.
Venus blood is an exotic and fairly rare recreational drug made with ingredients from various Rim worlds. Though the recipe is a well-guarded secret, the known symptoms include a demanding, unceasing urge for erotic satisfaction and intense pain with each release, enhanced acuteness of perception, alteration in pigmentation and body structure, recession to animal mentality, increased muscle strength. The degree of each varies from person to person, and one or more of these may be permanent changes. The drug is extremely expensive and prohibited.
Earth and the sun are in a spiral arm that leads from the centre of the galaxy to its edge. The galaxy has a diameter of approximately 100,000 light years, so the spiral arm, which winds once around, is roughly:
100,000 x 3.14 = 314,000 light years 314,000 / 3.26 = 96,000 parsecs
The Sun is two-thirds the distance from the centre out, or 60,000 parsecs along the arm. This arm is known as the Orion arm, and the sun is located on its inner edge. In the direction of the galactic centre is the Sagittarius arm and to the opposite side, the Perseus arm.
The sun is also about 24,000 light years or 8,000 parsecs from the galactic centre, and the galaxy is about 2,000 light years thick.
The Emperor is the ultimate authority in the chain of command. There is no difference in ranks for the various specialized branches, like that between the U.S. Army and Navy.
The Imperial General is the appointed head of the Imperial Military Service. After that, the chain of command is as follows:
Sun-General
Prince-General
Lord-General
Sun-Colonel
Colonel-Imperial
Major-Imperial
Lord-Commander
Sun-Lieutenant
Planet-Lieutenant
Moon-Lieutenant
Chief Sun Sergeant
Sun-Sergeant
Moon-Sergeant
Upper-Sergeant
Lower-Sergeant
Sergeant-Imperial
Chief Pilot
Upper Pilot
Pilot
I would like to express my gratitude and thanks to Michael Durant, Nicki Jett and Skorpyon for inspiring this player's guide and their wonderful feedback. I am also grateful to Tim Hall for agreeing to help run Venus Blood Survivors and lend his experience and skills to the game.
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© Howard Miller, edited by Tim Hall
