Utterly Mad

How have we come to this? To begin with Earth; the birthplace of humanity is scarred, fallen, but far from gone. A century ago, it thrived, science and technology advancing in bounds and leaps with every passing year. Impossible things were handed out to Mankind with ever-increasing pace - immortality and perfect health, whether through mind uploading, cloning, longevity treatments or gene-modded bodies; ever-present connection and communication, achieved through a global information network spread through clouds of nanobots; advanced fusion; clean environments; true AIs; uplifting into sapience; colonies on Mars and beyond - utopia seemed within grasp.

But such rapid advancement brought its own demons. Weapons grew in power and complexity, but counter-measures against had no hope of keeping up. The exact incident or cause of the Rampancy is lost to history, but whether by design or incompetence, someone lost control of their experimental nanocloud weapon and found themselves quite unable to stop it.

So began the Descent. Rampant EMP nanotech began to creep into the data-sphere that enveloped the Earth, growing exponentially, evolving and learning beyond anything humanity had to fight it. It was a slow death, but death nevertheless. The nanotech destroyed all advanced technology it touched. It spread through rain, with storms, with ocean waves and wind, warping the weather and turning the very world against its children. Cities fell, then nations, then continents, all descending into darkness and silence. The complex marvels of technology that had upheld Earth's near-perfect cities and environment collapsed with catastrophic consequences. Where governments failed to act in time, the clouds detonated entire weapon stores, scarring the world with fire and radiation.

It took years, but no corner of the Earth survived untouched. An entire generation lived their life with the knowledge of inevitable, certain doom - but they did not simply stand and wait for the end. Those with vision began to build. Mankind had already built its first colonies on its sister planets and crowned Earth with artificial rings and stations; these would provide refuge for the masses below. Millions fled in great arks or stations thrown out into the void, building and using all manner of spacecraft.

As governments on Earth began to fall and their authority crumble, these colonies and refuges were left to make their own decisions. Many thought Earth a lost cause - colonials descended to Earth to loot surviving technology and infrastructure to ensure their own future, further adding to the chaos and devastation below. Others helped evacuate as many as they could, sometimes dooming themselves to infighting and overpopulation as a result.

Decades passed with Earth dark and cut off, ruled by the Rampancy, while across the solar system its many refugees hung on to life. Isolation and desperation led them to take strange paths; to survive in their new environments, these refugees changed themselves, transforming themselves with technology to a degree unseen in pre-Descent Earth. Colonies of AIs and robot workers, left uncontrolled and scattered, formed their own fledgling societies. Eventually, the Orbitals, inhabitants of the artificial rings over Earth built before and during the Descent over the world, descended back to the homeworld armed with breakthroughs in containment tech and purged the Rampancy from her skies - except for a few rogue clouds which still trouble Earth's people to this day.

Today, a century from the Descent, a bewildering variety of societies and cultures stand independent in whatever corner of the system they've claimed out for themselves, and millions travel between them, seeking power, wealth, fame, glory - or enlightenment, answers, meaning to existence, or stranger things. For Sol is a place of many marvels and many unknowns; countless stations and ships still wait in the outer reaches, dark, shut-off from outside eyes. Abandoned colonies, experiments, failed arks, hidden weapons, they hold their secrets in wait for anyone brave enough to claim them. There is always someone willing to pay for such things and always someone to take the job.

It is impossible to fully describe Sol in all her splendour. There are, though, a number of major societies and strains of Man and Machine worth of examining.

Earth
The Earthborn - also known as left-behinds, dusters, blighters, terras, and many other unfortunate titles - populate poor worn Earth under traditional, conservative governments, if any. The planet still suffers from the Descent, but the quality of life for most people is decent enough these days. Technology ranges from modern-day to futuristic, but never as high as off-world. Augments are rare and usually gifted by the Orbitals, or self-made and thus bulky and crude. Rogue rampant nanoclouds still hold back Earth's progress, falling without warning to damage technology.

Many Earthborn view the rest of humanity with resentment and suspicion, if not outright revulsion, though many others are eager to get out into the wider world to see all its marvels. Earth's nations are heavily dependent on the Orbitals, though the latter will claim they are sovereign and free to do as they wish. Parts of the world are rather savage, with anarchy and chaos reigning still.

In-game, choosing to play an Earthborn is a sort of self-imposed challenge. They'll start with no or few augs, mostly lower skills and patronizing looks from everyone else in Sol.

The Orbitals
Circling Earth are her Rings, massive artificial constructs composed of modular habitats and hidden, potent weaponry. The Orbitals who dwell within grew powerful and rich from their looting of Earth during the Descent, providing for a luxurious quality of life. Most everyday things are beyond scarcity and even starships are easily obtainable to just about anyone. Orbital society is almost carefree and hedonistic, as well as highly tolerant and diverse, with a high level of augmentation and change from the baseline human form throughout. Their societies function on a direct-democracy basis, with every issue voted on and put into effect through automated systems at a moment's notice. An Orbital on a mission is a power unto themselves.

Many Orbitals see themselves as the benevolent protectors of Earth and control access to and off the planet with almost jealous vigilance. Their superior attitude, possessiveness of Earth and general strangeness from widespread augmentation tends to alienate them from the rest of Sol fairly effectively, but when you're as powerful and advanced as they are, why worry?

The Orbitals are a sort of proto-Culture, happy to sit in glorious, luxurious detachment and hedonism at the heart of the solar system. Choosing to play an Orbital will ensure you'll start with nice augs and tech, with an added bonus for likely looking prettier than anyone else in Sol.

The Remnants
The descendants of those in the colonies established before the Descent, on the Moon, Mars, Titan and elsewhere. They are not an unified group, but they are characterized by a high level of adaptation to their native environments. They're generally thought to be a practical, pragmatic people, with practical augs, sacrificing looks for use and effectiveness. Though usually they still resemble baseline humans, exceptions exist - communities that have altered themselves radically to survive in high gravity, extreme temperatures, toxic air and so on. Some remnants live in isolated settlements, focusing on survival, but others have swelled to proportions nearing cities on pre-Descent Earth - the largest remnant city is Tharsis Anchorage on Mars, hosting tens of millions, with enormous shipyards, highly advanced technology and a quality of life on level with the Orbitals.

The Machines
As Earth thrived and then fell, it raised another race to stand beside Man. Robots, often called autos or automata, come in many forms and have spread through the solar system. Androids, created in Man's image, are often possessed by a strange spirituality and Obsession with humanity; they seek meanings and enlightenment much like those who created them. Much less human are the descendants of bots from mining collectives and industrial complexes, or even more alien beings such as nano-tech cloud-minds and unbound AIs, free from any physical shell. They coexist with Mankind with only occasional conflict, seeking to make their own path in this brave new world.

Playing a robot is not so different from playing a (trans)human, though many augs and implants function slightly differently given the lack of flesh and blood. Playing a Machine without any physical shell is, I'm afraid, not an option.

Outsolars/Silents/Echoes
Only a group for convenience's sake, outsolars are the isolated ships, colonies and stations in the far reaches of the solar system that have little to do with the rest of its inhabitants. Some of these places are fiercely isolationist and shut-off by choice, others are failed and damaged, barely even aware of a wider world. Often home to radical transhuman experiments, hostile isolationists, regressed tribals, scientific communes turned religious orders by centuries of dogmatic repetition, and colonists so changed to survive their new environments they are scarcely recognizable as human. Some host powerful pre-Descent weapons and technology highly valued by the powers of Sol.

Players can't really play echoes, except ones who have left their homes behind and joined greater Solar society. Those might prove... interesting.

These are the largest groups - there are plenty of minor stations, wandering ships, hive mind communes, individual experiments etc. in civilized Sol that the players can hail from.

'm using a simple-ish d20 system for this. General Actions have a difficulty; you roll a 1d20. If the result is over that difficulty, it's a success, if not, a failure. A natural 20 is a critical or automatic success while a 1 is a similar failure. Characters have a number of skills such as Engineering or Void Navigation; being skilled in something grants a bonus to that roll. Having Piloting I would grant a +5 to a Piloting action, or Charm II a +10 to a Charm action. Other bonuses and penalties depend on the situation and context.

All characters have HP, Security rating - a measure of the security of their systems and augs - and various Augs, Skills and Equipment.

Combat works with rolls of Aim (in ranged) or Melee (in... melee) versus a target's Dodge. Skills, ranges, weapon traits, etc. all provide modifiers. On a hit, damage is applied, with shields and armor reducing. It's a simple enough system that further details will become pretty clear in practice.

Hacking is an important facet of the game - practically everything is augmented, connected and vulnerable. Hacking and counter-hacking works with the Data skill. A hacker attempting to influence a system will first Breach it, rolling against the target's Security. The target may then Detect them and engage in active security measures; if they don't, they have to hope their passive protection is enough. Once in, a hacker can then take Action, as much as they like, trying to affect the target's systems in some way. A player can just describe what they attempt to do, but common hacking actions include;

-Hack Security: Permanently or temporarily compromises target Security, reducing the difficulty of further hacking.
-Disrupt: Affects targeted aug or system in some way to hamper its effectiveness or temporarily shut it down.
-Control: Takes over a targeted aug or system from the user's control.
-Shut Down: Forces targeted aug or system to shut down, and possibly prevents it from rebooting entirely.
-Overload: Diverts extra power to targeted aug or system, potentially causing permanent damage or destruction.

Space Combat is a more complex version of regular combat; all characters aboard a ship can take actions such as firing the guns, getting targeting solutions, taking evasive manouvers, changing the distance between your enemy, supercharging the engines, hacking enemy missiles, etc. Different ranges suit different styles of fighting best - torpedoes and missiles are best at Long Range, whereas hacking is best done in Close or Knife Range, for example. I'll explain the mechanics in further detail when there's need.

There are six Classes that determine your starting build and access to some of the better and rarer augs in the game. You may choose a Combo of two Classes, offering access to both and a potent Combo Aug at start, or to focus on one Class for a more developed and focused start. Combos allow you more focus/specialization/stuff for your character idea - if you want to be a warship pilot, for example, you could go for a Jockey-Destroyer, or if you want that extra protection and security for your tech, you could go for a Hardened-Tech Head.

The Classes are:

Hardened (tough, hardy survivalists with augs ensuring they can withstand extreme environments, navigate difficult terrain and weather all kinds of attacks and conditions)
Tech-Head (hackers, data manipulators, these individuals have the knowledge and augs to slip into any system and mold it to their liking)
Jockey (short for 'void jockey', these are master starship pilots with augs focused on control and use of ships and other vehicles)
Operative (subtle and discreet, Operatives are auged up with technology of espionage, stealth and subterfuge)
Thinker (Thinkers are armed with knowledge and information, as well as augs boosting their intellect and social skills)
Destroyer (unsubtle and destructive, Destroyers have combat augs, direct killing power and an endless capacity for ass-kicking)

Name: What do we call you?
Gender: How do we refer to you? A significant part of Sol's inhabitants know nothing of traditional gender norms and ideas, though others resemble the world of Old Earth more.
Appearance: What do you look like? Solars come in many shapes and forms, from outwardly more-or-less human to tentacloid robots to a swarm of nanobots locked in physical form. For the sake of my sanity, characters the size of mountains or mice are discouraged.
Background: Where do you hail from? What have you done with your life? What do you want? This does not need to be a wall of text, though giving me plot hooks and detailed new places and peoples is lovely.
Class: You may either choose a combo of two Classes or to focus on one Class. See the Classes spoiler for more details.

Much of Sol is undefined to give you room to worldbuild in your app. Feel free to describe augs and alterations your character might have, too - they'll likely make it in, unless they are incredibly overpowered.