Ok I spent quite some time deciding where to post this. While this is certainly a homebrew, it doesn't have anything to with any existing wargame. So if this is in the wrong place, please forgive me. I am by no means trying to say my current project deserves as much recognition as already established games.

I already have fluff and rules (that need playtesting) samples to post and while this wargame probably won't be taking off the ground any time soon (I hope that by at least 4 to 5 years I can start production) having the written stuff and art done ahead of time will greatly help me out.

Also I want the community's opinion as early as possible since I wouldn't want to make a game others won't be interested in. It's incredibly important to communicate with the customer base and I'm hoping that as I post more stuff including art I'll win you guys over.

Side note: the fandex project I have going on over at the 40k general discussion is still ongoing. It might take a while to finish but I'm pulling through with that one.

Astral Conquest: Fluff Primer

Introduction

The setting of Conquest takes place 100,000 years into the future. Humanity in the modern sense does not exist anymore. Over long millennia genetic manipulation, bionic augmentation, and synthetic technologies has fractured the human nation thoroughly. Roughly 10,000 years before the start of the AC timeline, a fleet of humans undertook an enormous exodus away from their homeworld, Earth. Most of humanity had become attached to robotics and began to embrace the idea of leaving behind their human bodies. Naturally only the rich and powerful could do this. The poor and even middle class could not hope to afford such an endeavor. As common systems of society became available only to those with significant bionic implants, the divide became ever wider until the non-augmented were being slowly phased out. In an effort to start over, since much of humanity had already been transformed, a journey was planned to another part of the galaxy. A place where humans as humans could continue to progress and thrive.

Fast track to the present and the New Human Republic is a gleaming jewel of perseverance and innovation. But as with anything in life, nothing is perfect. The NHR is not without internal disagreements and conflicts. From the original 70 billion fugitives bloomed a nation of over 1 trillion humans all strewn throughout Republic space. To further complicate matters, humanity is not alone in the universe. Multiple races of all kinds are striking out into the cold void.

The Races of the Astral Conquest Universe

*The Lopari nation, that has only been space faring for a little under 2,000 years, are descended from modern day canine equivalents. While they lack the sophisticated technology like that of humans, they are fiercer and incredibly loyal to their overall government. What they cannot defeat through martial skill or gun mastery, they defeat through the sheer numbers of their packs. Human relations with them are tenuous at best, since the Lopari view us as natural rivals when it comes to expanding across the galaxy.

Their lives are short (relative to a human lifespan which can reach 170 years at best) and the members of a family always live to further the pack’s goals. A pack can be anything from a family unit to a government body or even a military unit. The pack means almost everything to the Lopari, because even though they are faster than humans, overall they are not much stronger. So they must work together to overcome difficult tasks. The galaxy leaves little room for error, but there is no perfect formula and many packs develop different approaches. Some more violent than others….

*Even more dangerous are the An’torik. A long time ago they fled their homeworld just like humanity did their's. But that’s where the similarities and all possibility for empathy end. They are a race who could never abandon their hunter like traditions. Even when multiple clans and eventually nations developed, the An’torik prided themselves in competitions of strength. By the time they developed technology, grudges and rivalries ran blood deep. Multiple nations wanted control over one another and nuclear war was the final outcome.

With their world on the verge of literally exploding, a much smaller band (compared to the human exodus) flung themselves out into space in much less advanced ships. The An’torik are not about to become extinct just yet, but the harsh lessons they learned out in the galaxy reflects in their cruel technology and fierce determination to never give up.

*Pretorans are an eon old race with incredibly advanced technology. But this advancement came at a huge cost to their species. They are driven with an insatiable need to be as perfect as a living being can be. They ruled out long ago that bionics should be the answer to that question. Through genetics they have conquered far more diseases than humanity has and can live up to 400 years. The Pretorans as a result are left with a lot of time to pursue other endeavors. But each one is different to the other when it comes to the approaches used. While not ruthless like the An’torik or fierce like the Lopari, the Pretorans are methodical and precise. And once they strike on the battlefield, they bring a force to shatter the enemy with.

200,000 years of technological advancement didn’t come peacefully either. Due to their need to be perfect, many wars have been fought over ideas alone. The most important one being “what direction should our race go in?” Some of the more outspoken members of the Pretoran councils took it upon themselves and the nation they represented to “enlighten” their contemporaries to their final solutions. The end result each time was a hard learned lesson throughout 5 great wars. But there is a darker secret buried deep in the genetic code of the Pretorans. One that has created an enemy bent on vengeance….

*And what of the humans left behind all those thousands of years ago? Those who chose to become more machine than human continued on their path towards the technological singularity. After the exodus of the noncompliant humans, the bionic humans decided to fully give up their flesh and uploaded their minds into the “Collective”. That is their name now. They live in cyberspace where they can shape the reality around them to whatever they want. Some pursue “regular” lives without the burden of disease and strife. Their worlds in cyberspace are exactly as they would be in reality. Still there are other minds that live in weird realities, where nothing makes sense and everything imaginable exists. To host these realities, worlds already inhabited have been turned into massive server worlds. Each one can host billions of minds and travel between server worlds is nearly instantaneous, but the amount of power needed is enormous. So all the energy is drawn directly from the sun of the host solar system. They aren’t flesh anymore, so they don’t need the sunlight.

Out in the real world, the Collective uses drone bodies to interact with reality. Not everyone does this as many operations can be safely done from within a server rather than risk mind dispersal (dying). Still most minds would rather supervise their drones in person. Should their body be destroyed, their consciousness is ported to the nearest terminal center. If they are too far away then they will die permanently. But the range of the terminals is incredibly long. Also the porting system has a disconcerting effect on the psyche of the mind. For a moment they don’t fully exist and are aware of it. When they come back, they still remember the feeling. It is as close to death as they can get without actually dying. During a battle, massive server ships will host hundreds of thousands of minds that direct their battle drones either from the ship or personally on the field.

The galaxy has many more races just waiting to show their stuff on the tabletop. As the game progresses more will be added. There already are 2 more races on the backburner with 1 more in the concept stages. Rest and be assured, humanity has their hands full and everyone will have a lot of choices to pick from.

I'll add more fluff for each race soon enough, especially more on the humans along with some concept art for every race. Rules will also be posted soon.