A distant world of mysteries and precarious futures.
Forty lightyears from Earth, human colonists have landed on a mysterious alien superstructure: the Arcturus Swarm, countless artificial satellites and contained environments orbiting a red giant.
The Swarm’s builders are nowhere to be found, but they left behind the mechafauna: gigantic, autonomous, animal-like robots. They are potential friends, allies, obstacles… or weapons of mass destruction.
Stories coming soon!
About the Author
Brandon Perdue is a game writer and designer currently inhabiting Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has worked on board games like Descent: Legends of the Dark, Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall, Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth, and Heroes of Terrinoth, and roleplaying games like Genesys, Arkham Horror, Transformers, and Legend in the Mist. He once ambushed his partner with a Haropla and now their house is full of mobile suits. He can be found at bperduegames.com.
Mechafauna
The largest inhabitants of the Arcturus swarm are the mechafauna. These mechanical entities, found “wild” across the swarm, come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, all resembling animals. Whether they were constructed by the swarm builders or evolved by some means is unknown.
Humans have utilized the mechafauna in their quest to make a home on the swarm, modifying them with addition equipment to aid in crucial tasks and even weaponry.
The smallest mechafauna tower above humans. And, strangely, all seem to incorporate the necessary interfaces for use by a human-sized pilot, even prior to modification…
Biots
The swarm’s mechanical “ecosystem” consists of more than just the mechafauna. Smaller entities called “biots” can be found across the various habitable regions, filling other niches. The role of biots is not well understood by the human inhabitants of the swarm. Most are smaller than a human, but like the mechafauna, they range in size and apparent environmental role.
The Blooms
The habitable structures of the swarm are the blooms, massive space stations made up of numerous “petals.” Each petal typically contains a different environment and “biosphere” of biots and mechafauna.
Most blooms have proven highly resistant to human settlement, but thriving communities have taken root on several of the blooms.
Humans Arrivals
Humans are newcomers to the swarm. Having travelled to Arcturus in massive, one-way colony vessels, the first human settlers have built their lives from the remnants of those massive craft. Ingenuity and resourcefulness have allowed humans to sustain themselves on several blooms. But the situation is always tenuous. Pressures from new waves of arrivals and unexplained shifts within the swarmworld itself weigh down upon those who call Arcturus home.