Introduction

Everyone knows that the Caal destroyed the Federation 20 years after the 3^rd Civil War...
Everyone knows that the Empire came soon after, leading to a millennium of repression...
Everyone knows how the story ends...

Everyone is wrong.

In 2251, seven years after the 3^rd Civil War, a race called the Vin Shriak, thought to have been destroyed in an earlier encounter, came back in force. System after system fell before the fanaticism of the VS holy warriors -- the Terran fleet was unprepared for the world ships that punched through the weakened defenses of the Federation. In their most desperate hour, they called on help from their enemies, knowing that only together could they keep the Vin Shriak from overrunning the galaxy. The Eastern Bloc, Enoch, K'Nes Tor, and the Jurvain allied together and over the course of five years, eventually destroyed the Vin Shriak and ended their menace once and for all. However, the Eastern Bloc was destroyed, and the other nations were weakened by the invasion.

That's how it actually happened. But what if two men, powerful by themselves, decided to join together and offered their services to the Emperor of the Eastern Bloc. He accepted...and together they formed a new triumvirate. Instead of Arthur Clarke establishing the alliance that saved the galaxy, it was Andrea Treschi and Vin Dane who created a union that isolated the Federation, leaving them alone to fight the Vin Shriak. The Federation fought fiercely, but in the end, they fell under the VS juggernaut. Only when the last task forces were falling under the world ships did this union of allied nations come in and save the world. Between the nations, they divided up the Federation between them.

Then the Eastern Bloc struck. The majority of casualties fell on the backs of their neighbors -- by design -- leaving their fleet intact and able to push back the other nations and take the lion's share of the Federation's planets. With the triumvirate firmly in control, the Bloc became the Middle Kingdom, and rebuilt the known worlds, leaving a small ring of weakened nations on their border.

The present day -- the year is 2271, the Emperor Chiang Jae-Young Nguyen reigns supreme over the bulk of the galaxy. Asian Humans are the ruling class, a feudal system divides the Middle Kingdom, keeping possible rivals weak, but allowing a strong support base to stop outside invasion. However, not everyone is happy with this new balance of power. A new resistance was born calling itself the Tech Infantry, led by the Federation's greatest warrior, Arthur Clarke. The Jurvain and K'Nes are looking for revenge, the new border states are looking to expand...and an unseen menace is emerging in the streets. Emperor Chiang is dying, and a power vaccum is about to open up -- with everyone scrambling to fill it.

Now a new group of souls surface in this sea of chaos -- their light will change the universe. Will you join them?

The Basic Concept

The character's universe is a dark, cold, heartless creation set over 250 years into the future. It was born in pain. Humanity is ripped from its comfortable existence into realizing that aliens, magic, werewolves, vampires, and all sorts of strangeness exist. On the verge of this realization, humanity is again snatched into firm control by a partial world government, and all mages and werewolves are drafted into a powerful military force called the "Tech Infantry."

The Earth Federation was a military dictatorship, lightly covered with veneer of democracy. It was not born out of revolution; no goals of uniting humanity to greater freedom. It was born out of desperation; Earth was threatened by alien invasion, a vampiric armageddon, and the whole world awakened and spiraling out of control. The Technocracy, a group of powerful mages, seized power, and made sure that a new awakened humanity was still under a firm leash. Only the East Asian nations remained independent, but they were eventually persuaded to evacuate the earth and cede their earthly territory to the Federation in exchange for several planets on the rim, where they founded the Eastern Bloc. Under their leadership, the problems were solved one by one, but they never released their control over the people.

Then they were bombarded with a series of invasions from outside and civil wars from within. This weakened the Federation to the point where it had difficulty defending itself or providing for its citizens. When the Vin Shriak came, they called for help from their neighbors. In a carefully planned move, they refused to help, and allowed the destruction of the Federation. Then the Eastern Bloc returned in force and took over the ruins of what had been the bastion of humanity, founding the Middle Kingdom.

History of the Game

As with many things, the concept of Tech Infantry, or more affectionately known as "TI" or "Tech", came out of pure boredom. We can blame two people...Nathan Bax for starting it all...and Marcus Johnston for keeping it alive.

Season 1 (1997): While stuck in Morrison, Illinois during his summer break from ISU, Nathan Bax was bored out of his mind. Looking forward to the new Starship Troopers movie, he thought of playing a White Wolf game set in the Starship Troopers universe. He told a couple of his friends about it, including Marcus Johnston, Chris Yarwood, and Martin Hohner. Jennifer Simmons (Bax's girlfriend...later wife) also joined in. Together they braved the worst the Bug War could offer. Not a lot of political backstory...just a lot of missions, dying, and good roleplaying. Lwan Eddington, Fialla Spencer, and Arthur Clarke make their first appearances as player characters.

Season 2 (1998): Well, we had to say goodbye to Martin, but we added Penny Horwitz and Joel Ruggaber (who were a couple and later married each other). For the 86^th Platoon, it was no longer just about the Bug War. Bax added in a political element and the 1st Civil War was changed by the player's actions. With the Triumvirate destroyed and all well with the universe, Bax got bored and decided to end it. Richard Fox and Maeve Harrington made memorable first appearances as player characters.

Season 3 -- Part 1 (1998): Penny ran the show now, 15 years ahead, and the players played the kids of their previous characters, as they're on the run from the TI draft. Hilarity ensues as we keep running into our old characters, Penny gets more and more power hungry, and we all start getting bored.

"Ring of Fire" Movie (1998): Bax comes back down for Halloween and runs a session. The characters are taken through history to find out about the Orb and the Caal invasion that's being affected by it. Finally the Caal are stopped by taking the Orb out of existence altogether (thanks to "the grey man") and everything's back to normal.

Season 3 -- Part 2 (1998): Or is it? Well, Bax didn't like the way Penny had messed up his creation, so he basically destroyed a lot of what Penny was trying to set up. Penny solves this problem by creating an alternate universe, where many of our old and present character's situations were changed, and we had to figure out how this meshed. At first, it was a cool idea, but then it devolved into playing our old characters in weird ways. Personality conflict between Marcus (stressed out from student teaching) and Penny (stressed out from wedding plans) finally ended the game with little resolution.

Season 4.1 (1999): After a hiatus, Bax wanted to start an e-mail game in the Tech Infantry Universe. Martin, Marcus, and Chris got in to play, but then Bax got busy with work, and it was disbanded after only one or two turns. Dr. Zebulon Carter makes his first brief appearance in the story.

Season 4.2 (1999): Marcus tried to use the e-mail game idea as well and started it again. This actually went on for a couple months before it got stopped by Marcus' heavy workload in Korea and player disinterest. Erich Von Shrakenberg made his first appearance as a player Character. The Fearless Jackals, a gang of ruthless criminals that will eventually include Andrea Treschi and Lord Cornelius, make their first appearance in the story.

Season 5 (2000): This was Bax's game that he played in the normal tabletop way down in St. Louis. Again, political intrigues abound, deception, lies, and good storyteller. What actually happened is a mystery because none of the veteran players were involved since they were hours away by car.

Season 4.3 (2000-1): Marcus, back in the midwest but bored to tears due to his job at State Farm Insurance, revived the TI e-mail game in order to fill the time. This actually worked and had 8 characters running through the ins and outs of the 3^rd Civil War. Finally ended after 9 months of play...about a month or two too long. Andrea Treschi makes his first appearance as a Player Character.

Season 6 (2001): Bax again...with a lack of players in the St. Louis area, he called upon his old veterans to play once a month, in marathon sessions for TI. This is the Y3K concept...sending TI a thousand years in the future in order to throw us off completely. Rise of the Holy Terran Empire, yadda, yadda. Very good storyline, but it was hard for all of us to be there every month. Eventually, the game disintegrated.

Season 7 (2001): Bax's second attempt to do the marathon session game, this time taking the same plotline, and setting it five years later. By this time, Bax really wanted to do something else other than TI, so he systematically killed every single legend he could from the TI universe. Fun but sad.

"A Place Called Earth" Miniseries (2002): An attempt by one of the former players of Season 4.3 (Andy Hutchinson) in order to restart the TI universe. This was set at the very beginning of the universe..once vamps and werewolves came out of the woodwork. Interesting concept...but this e-mail game lasted for three turns before falling apart...one assumes because of bad writing.

"Exodus" project (2002-2003): An abortive attempt at a TI revival that never got off the ground. Marcus was the instigator again, with lukewarm support from Martin, Chris, Bax, and a couple other former players. The idea was to set this new season in the year 4097, a thousand years after the galaxy was destroyed at the end of the Y3K (Seasons 6 and 7) game epoch. A handful of survivors from that cataclysm had managed to colonize a lone planet on the edge of another galaxy, but their colony had disintegrated into a dozen petty states all warring with each other, and technology had retrogressed to a hodgepodge of primitive and even medieval devices alongside a handful of surviving high-tech islands. It was an intriguing concept, but world-building proved more fun than actually writing a story or creating characters, and most of the players wandered off from sheer boredom while waiting for Martin and Marcus to finish drawing maps and writing out timelines.

Season 8 (2004): This was the second time someone had seriously come up with a way to restart TI yet again. After the "Exodus" idea flopped, there was always somebody trying to come up with something. Finally, over Christmas 2003, the idea of changing the timeline to allow the Eastern Bloc take over everything was rather intriguing. So here we are again...

Background Info:
Imperial Culture, 2271 A.D.

INTRODUCING YOURSELF --

When your character emerges out of its electronic shell, he or she is destined to run into somebody. When they do, there are a couple things you need to know if you don't want to get punched. All of this only applies if you're actually in the Middle Kingdom...the rest may or not be followed in the Border Nations.

• I. Refer to anyone by their title. It doesn't matter if it's a title of nobility, military rank, household rank, business position, or the imperial office they hold. Your title is important; it instantly identifies to others who should bow to whom. Now if you don't know their title, or they don't have one, use the gender-neutral term "M." then add last name. If you wish to insult, refer to them by a lower title (if you want to be subtle) or by their name only (if you don't).
• II. Bow at the proper depth and length. If a subordinate comes up to you, you may get away with a short nod. However, if the person you address is slightly higher in rank, bow lower than him. If they are really higher, bow low. If they're really important, can kill you brutally, or both; kow-tow. If it's the emperor, prostrate yourself until he gives you leave.
• III. Face is everything. You cannot be last. You must prove your superiority at all times to your subordinates or they will conspire to destroy you. If you are given a plate of treats, pick up the one most difficult to grab with your chopsticks, in order to prove your dexterity. When starting with polite conversation, do not be the first to talk about business, in order to prove your superior breeding.

RACE--

Like it or not, how you were born affects how people will treat you. To explain:

• Asian Humans -- Top of the food chain. You are guaranteed to be at the top of the employer's list, get into the best schools, and always be treated with respect.
• Other Humans -- If you're not of Asian descent, too bad for you. No matter how high you rise, no matter how much wealth you will acquire, or friends you get, you will always be inferior to an Asian. Many humans do well in the Middle Kingdom, but they will always be second-class.
• Vampires -- Actively hunted and shunned in the MK. Why the Kingdom of Enoch still exists is a mystery to the Imperial Court, considering the Emperor's firm stance against vampires.
• Ghouls -- Virtually undetectable from normal humans; only a detailed ethereal scan can tell them apart from mages. If discovered, they can expect to be tortured until they find his master.
• Magi -- Highly prized for the skills, but although they are treated with respect, they are often feared and hated in the same bow.
• Horadrim -- Treated with a mystical awe by the imperial court, but are also heavily watched if they reveal themselves.
• K'Nes -- The source of most jokes in the MK. These fantastic traders may be respected as having a shrewd eye for business, and amazing acrobats, but otherwise everyone snickers quietly as they go by.
• Jurvain -- Generally not trusted within the MK; people will always look at them like they're up to something. Very few of them ever leave their commonality because of it.
• Werewolves -- If revealed, they are generally outcasts, because of their unpredictable rages.
• Hybrids -- Their obvious oddness makes them outcasts...good for cannon fodder and servitude.

MONEY --

Many currencies are used on the fringes of known space, but in the heart of it all is the Imperial Crown. It is the most stable and is often used as the international currency of trade. For an idea of value, 1 C[rown] equals the buying power of a 1985 U.S. dollar; a candy bar or a soda costs a half-crown.

LANGUAGE --

The official language of the Middle Kingdom is pi-yin, Mandarin Chinese written in a Latin alphabet. However, you will find that even though it's supposed to be Chinese, the simple necessity of working together with other Asian nations in order to survive on the rim of known space, has changed it. They've added many phrases and words from Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Thai, and even Malay. The traditional Chinese alphabet is still used, but only for ceremonial purposes.

The unofficial language is yan-giz, former Federation English, which is the main trade language. Because of the whole range of cultures involved in the Fed, it often includes some phrases in a multitude of other, slowly-dying, languages.

Everyone knows both languages in the Empire, swearing is usually done in the language that the person is not speaking in...the polite listener will not betray his knowledge of the words, in order to preserve the speaker's and his own face.

NOBILITY --

The Middle Kingdom did not evolve overnight...it was the careful result of years of social change, which was then inflicted upon on unsuspecting Federation. When the Eastern Bloc was expelled from Earth, shortly before the "Big One" hit the home world, they were driven to a small planet on the rim of known space. All the Asians who migrated to Showa had to work together to survive. However, once they had established the colony, the old hatreds began to come back to the surface. The Communist Party tried to resurge and seize power. In the five years that followed, the anti-communist forces combined under one leader, General Chiang. When the communists were finally defeated, the Bloc was reestablished, although this time under a constitutional monarchy, with Chiang as emperor. He immediately solved the bickering forces of his alliance by marrying into the Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese leading families (four wives), integrating them all equally into the new aristocracy, and brutally crushing any resistance among the remaining factions.

With this united front, the nobles of the Bloc quickly expanded out from Showa and were able to colonize several neighboring systems with great ease. Those that helped in the development were also granted patents of nobility. Although it was not necessary in the Bloc to be noble to hold political power under their constitution, it helped considerably. When the Bloc became the Kingdom, the government expanded exponentially, but the aristocracy expanded along with it, as rewards for services rendered after the restoration. After two decades of imperial rule, the mandarins (non-nobles) are once again gaining sway over the political system, but the nobles are not completely out of the picture.

BORDER NATIONS --

To understand the Middle Kingdom, you also need to understand the nations that surround it, so that when you cross a border, you don't leave in a vacuum box. Some of these are the shells of ancient races; others have only existed since after the Vin Shriak War.

• Jurvain Commonality: One of the original allies of the MK that helped defeat the VS, then had their territories seized, including several of their home systems, leaving them rather weakened. They have a decent sized fleet, don't take kindly to strangers, and are becoming more isolationist.
• K'Nes Tor: Another of the older races that were humiliated after the VS War. The K'Nes have a pitifully small navy, although their merchant marine has expanded many times over. They are very welcoming and believe strongly in free trade.
• Kingdom of Enoch: This government has existed for many years on the borders of Federation, then Imperial space. It is run by vampires and their ghoul servants. Unauthorized visitors tend to be either eaten or enslaved into their nation, however, trade is possible.
• Horadrim Empire: Although older than any of the other nations, the empire has only achieved territory in the past decade. Due to the diligence of Horadrim at the court of Emperor Chiang, they were granted several systems on the rim of known space. They are incredibly isolationist, have a powerful fleet, and don't particularly like visitors.
• Arachnid Quarantine Zone: Despite the eradication of the Bugs from most of their worlds, the MK has left these systems alone, allowing the wild Bug strain to continue. Some suggest this has been done as a check on Horadrim and Jurvain expansion, although there is no official explanation. Visitors tend to be eaten.
• New Israel: After the destruction of the Christian Federation after the 3rd Civil War, many of these Jewish settlers migrated to these three systems, and expanded their colonial base. With the fall of the Federation, these colonies asserted their independence, and became allies of the MK. They have a rather violent fundamentalist Christian minority, which after being shut out of the government and a great part of the economy, have begun attacking their overlords.
• Kalintos Republic: When the K'Nes Tor and the Jurvain Commonality were crushed after the VS War, these border systems between the two nations were about to be absorbed into the Middle Kingdom. The inhabitants of these worlds joined forces and revolted against this rule. With imperial resources stretched thin already, they were granted their independence, on the condition that they could not return their original nations. As a result, the republic was born, and although they welcome all races in their borders, they are two strong unification movements, which brings instability.
• Western Reserve: A united confederation of colonies created on the former Bug worlds, they claim never to declared independence, since they were never colonies of the Middle Kingdom. Therefore, they have a rather dubious political status which the Imperial Court has deliberately not commented on. They have very little fleet, but a strong army, and are made up of all non-Asian pure humans. They believe that magic ability & werecreatures are stigmas and weakened the human race -- they are deliberately ostracized from their communities.
• Elysian Free State: When the Vin Shriak overran these colonies, the MK overlooked them, finding them wrecked with few survivors. As a result, former Federation leaders, refugees, and exiles from the MK have found a home here. In stark contrast to the Western Reserve, this area is made up of a majority of mages & werecreatures, with a smattering of everything else. They welcome everyone.

Rules (C)2004 Marcus Johnston.  All Rights Reserved.