Lore Primer

Starpath Industries, a pioneering corporation in interstellar travel led by the charismatic Alexandra, has embarked on a new venture: planet terraforming and colonization.

Despite the CEO's assurances about the project's safety, the Calicosa Colonization Project (CCP) was highly controversial. The project was deemed infeasible and reckless due to the planet’s location being too distant from Union space, coupled with it’s uninhabitable atmosphere; toxic to most carbon-based lifeforms.

Undeterred by the naysayers and motivated by the promise of the planet's rich helium resources, Alexandra decided to fund the terraforming of Calicosa. Small settlements such as New Nevada, Silverdune, and Whispering Gulch, were established under massive protective domes equipped with state-of-the-art air filtration systems. These domes were also referred to as Sectors. The construction took about a decade of relentless effort, not to mention an obscene amount of funding and manpower. Once the initial domes were completed and terraformed to sustainable levels, settlers, support personnel, and a private police force were dispatched to Calicosa, marking the next phase of this ambitious undertaking.

This new world was advertised as an opportunity for a fresh start, away from the Union's strict laws and regulations. This unfortunately attracted an abundance of shady characters along with those who genuinely sought a new beginning or a modest career in helium farming.

Despite this, the colony thrived… for eight years.

A mysterious anomaly had suddenly appeared - a beautiful iridescent wormhole-like phenomenon that cast a colorful glow over the entire planet, wreaking havoc on certain critical technologies. It grounded spaceships and rendered advanced weaponry useless.

The day the Sky Worm appeared, communication with their distant Starpath headquarters on Earth was severed, along with Starpath's interplanetary shipment lane which regularly delivered essential supplies: food, medicine, fuel, construction materials, clothing, and more. The settlers, now stranded on this hostile planet, had to make do with whatever resources they had left, as they collectively race towards self-sustainability.

As the anomaly persisted, a year of isolation took its toll on the settlers, leading to a critical juncture. Over the initial six months, unity waned, giving rise to three distinct factions:

Starpath Industries These stalwarts remained steadfast in their commitment to repair the severed communication lines, reestablish connection to Union space and the rest of the cosmos… and retain their role as the governing authority.
Steinites A group of rebels, driven by the promise of freedom originally marketed by Starpath, embarked on a quest to liberate themselves from the corporation's grasp and form a new governing body; of and for the people.
Corporate Crushers Coalition In an intriguing twist, this faction, devoid of humans, shared the same quest for autonomy as the Steinites. However, their rationale was a stark assertion that humanity, in their perspective, "SUUUUCK”. They are also referred to by many as “HERFFs”, or “human exclusionary radical freedom fighters”.