Shatterzone

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Shatterzone is a Space Opera by West End Games. The game went out of print in 1997 after the company went bankrupt.

The Shatterzone universe shares much in common with the old Star Wars Roleplaying Game produced by the same company and was a repository for original ideas produced for Star Wars but which were turned down by the legal department of Lucasfilm. As such the universe of Shatterzone shares some structural similarities to the Star Wars Expanded Universe including an intergalactic government called the Consortium (like the Republic from Star Wars) run from a central region of space known as the Core Worlds, large megacorps that run galactic affairs (a theme common in the cyberpunk genre of storytelling), and a superindustrialized capital world, called Centaurus but similar to Star Wars' Coruscant. Likewise there is a sentiment of xenophobia in the setting similar to that of the Empire in Star Wars. Humans, Glahns, and Ishantras, the three ruling races of the Consortium and a few others are given full citizen status while other races suffer under prejudice and second-class-citizenship

The namesake feature of the setting is the Shatterzone, an unchartable and mysterious sector of space consisting of dark matter and strange gravitational phenomena as well as strange energy storms and asteroid fields. The Shatterzone is home to cult worshippers, bands of alien exiles called bolters seeking to flee Armagon oppression, and groups of deep space miners looking to make a fortune off the rare minerals to be had in this unusual sector of space.

[edit] Alien Races

In Shatterzone there are three classes of race: Citizens, which only Humans, Glahns, and Ishantras have the right to become; Allied, which consist of races who have signed nonaggression pacts with the Consortium, but which have no rights to representation; and Hostile/Unidentified, which are considered suspicious and are treated with caution.

Glahns- one of the three ruling races in the galaxy, blue skinned humanoids organized into clans

Ishantras- another ruling race, bipedal aliens who lost their homeworld in an ancient cataclysm

Armagons- an incredibly powerful alien empire of various races which rule from beyond the Shatterzone, pillaging and destroying one world after another

Yithras- a violent race whose bodies emanate chill rather than warmth

Kestarians- primitive four-armed matriarchial humanoids

Rednas- reptilian humanoids whose pre-spacefaring civilization is prized for its metalwork.

Veronians- shapeshifters from an unidentified homeworld

Reavers- aggressive humanoids allied with the Armagons as shock troops

[edit] Planets and Regions

Xenos Sector- a little explored region near the Shatterzone,

Planet Haven- torn apart in a civil war, now a staging ground for pirates and mercenaries

Planet Bartonrealm- corporate owned world, home of BartonCorp

Planet Ral Sikkim- desert frontier world claimed by an alliance of pirate organizations

Planet Centaurus- superpopulated capital world, Core World and center of civilization

Planet Delera- home to race of technophobes

Planet Mandamus- mining planet that produces terraforming compounds

Planet Vantage Point- old corporate world overthrown by colonists

Planet Aureus- arid world populated by mystics who disbelieve in space travel

[edit] Timeline

Current era is the 25th Century.

The development of coldsleep technology and mastery of nuclear fusion engines enable easy travel within our solar system, and the possibility of extrasolar colonization. The overwhelming desire to escape the restrictions of life on Earth drive some to establish illegal "black" colonies without the consent of government. The Secessionist Wars insue and the first intergalactic fleets of warships are created.

2276: Humans discover a derelict alien space vessel, and while the science of how its quantum drive (or Q-Drive) functions is beyond to grasp of human science, it is a relatively simple mechanism which researchers are soon able to recreate and mass produce. Using the new alien technology, human ships become capable of reaching speeds 365 times the speed of light. AbundantFTL engines allow a phenomena called the Diaspora, in which the world population drops from 25 billion to 500 million over the next two centuries as extrasolar colony worlds become genuine home worlds to large populations of humans.

2320: First contact with the Glahn

2486: The establishment of the Consortium of Worlds, a joint government of the homeworlds of the Humans, Glahn, and Ishantra.