Introduction

Welcome To The Disco Space-Age Future — Platform-Soled Space Boots and Extra-Long Luxury Star Yachts

Oh, glorious day! Sol's Light Shines Bright! You have had the great fortune to have been born into the Radiant Solar Imperium. The Emperor of Sol Most Luminous has gently guided the 33k worlds of the Solar Empire for a thousand generations since the discovery of the Hyperlite. Shine On!

How It Started

The Hyperlite is the colloquial name for a collection of energy currents that flow through our galaxy and theoretically the other galaxies of the Local Group. Discovery of this new, unlimited energy source led to an entire range of incredible technologies built to capture, harness and direct it, and a very long period of Utopian existence on Earth.

The most revolutionary of the capture technologies was the Dirty Light Matrix (DLM), which led directly to the invention of the Lasersail. It is this radical invention that allows Hyperlite currents and eddies to be caught and harnessed like wind. Within a few hundred years, the far reaches of the Solar System and a bit beyond were easily within Humanity's reach. But the Light Barrier remained. The discovery of the super-alloy Vancinium provided the means to break that barrier.

These discoveries radically changed humanity's path, causing massive social upheavals and accumulations of individual wealth and power never imagined. Speculation, prospecting, and good old-fashioned greed over Vancinium deposits led to the Frontier War. This brutal and bloody colonial expansion and contraction never really ended and has lingered in détente for hundreds of years. The Frontier itself is the galactic wedge at the far end of Sol's control. It became and has remained a wild and lawless zone of dangerous pirates, rogue spacer and legionnaire units, exiles, revolutionaries, radicals, and the absolute wildest parties, of course.

How It's Going

Sol's Light indeed shines bright where it falls, but not all corners of the Empire are well-lit. The Explorer's Society charts the Hyperlite currents that stretch through the vast dark reaches of space and they answer to no one. The Syndicate runs what the official Imperial services won't touch, with the Emperor's connivance if not outright condonation. Beyond the Frontier at around 10,000 light years off the galactic rim is the dark matter-clogged space known as Shadow.

There are worlds that exist off any Hyperlite tributary. Expeditions to these worlds can be time-consuming, costly, and dangerous. However, Vancinium deposits are known to accumulate away from Hyperlite currents and if you happen to get lucky, you might strike it rich beyond the dreams of Avarice. Your adventurer cache alone would keep you in SECs for quite a while. Guild megacorps and so called "adventure capitalists" will pay big money for charted routes and prospecting studies showing Vancinium deposits in quantity, but discovery of a new Vancinium deposit will be worth even more on the illegal market.

What's Next

The primary unit of exchange in the Imperium is the Solar Exchange Credit. The SEC is also known as creds or sols, but most often as SECs or "secs". SECs come in many forms, from paper notes to banking tattoos, but it is always popular to wear them in the form of jewelry, marked discretely (or not so discretely!) with an official Imperium token certifying its exchange value. Denominations of 100 SECs are often referred to as "sexies" and 1000s as "big sexies" in reference to one's jewelry.

Here among the 33,000 worlds of the Imperium, the party never ends as long as you're buying! Intergalactic casinos offer a path to fast riches. Discotheques and Nightclubs provide a galaxy of entertainment and indulgence options to entertain your companions, build your reputation and relieve stress. Join an exclusive club, build your status in the Imperium, and then leverage it for perks and special privileges -- like a noble title and retinue, access to a staryacht, secret handshakes, or maybe just the number of a good attorney in the sector.