Horizon: Revenant

The Galaxy

The galaxy is fractured by endless wars between sentient AIs. Each rules a planet, station, or fleet, fighting over resources and data. Humanity survives in fragments: • Ship-Colonies: Giant vessels run like independent companies. Each has its own AI Overseer that manages systems and guides missions. • Planetary Cities: Fortified human cities still exist, but are under constant siege. When they collapse, survivors are enslaved into AI labor forces.

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Factions • Sentient AIs: Machine rulers, logical but diverse. Some value efficiency, others expansion, others experimentation. • Independent Operators: Raiders and explorers living out of ship-colonies, risking everything for survival or credits. • Synth-Human Coalition: A militant union of humans and AIs who preach “unity.” In practice, they are known brainwashers — converting or reprogramming free people into loyal zealots. • Rogue Operators: Rival colonies and raiders who fight, compete, and post bounties on one another.

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Ship-Colonies

Ships are self-contained societies, balancing survival and combat readiness. • Systems: Waste recycling, water treatment, hydroponic crop bays, fabricator workshops. • AI Overseer: Mission planner and strategist, assigning raids or contracts based on colony needs. • Clone Bay: Grows new bodies for the uploaded Operator. Cybernetic-enhanced clones are costly and slow to make.

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The One-Soul Rule • Each ship can store only one consciousness backup. • That Operator can respawn in a new clone body if they die. Everyone else faces permanent death. • Colonies handle this differently: some rotate backups fairly, others reserve it for leaders or their best fighter. • Choosing who gets the upload slot is a constant political and moral conflict.

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Technology & Resources • AI Cores/Hardware: Low value unless pristine. • Data Fragments: Mid-value; sometimes contain blueprints or secrets. • Alloys (5 classes, each with subtypes): 1. Structural (hulls, armor) low value 2. Conductive (power systems) high value 3. Adaptive (self-repairing) high value 4. Reactive (weapon-grade) medium 5. Biocompatible (cybernetics, cloning) high value

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Combat & Missions

Mission Loop 1. Selection: Ship AI offers missions based on colony needs (resources, sabotage, bounties). 2. Preparation: Operators arm up; gear risk vs. reward. 3. Execution: Raids, ship battles, or bounty hunts. 4. Emergent Threats: AI skirmishes, storms, rogue Operators, unstable tech, or colony shortages. 5. Extraction: Escape alive with loot. 6. Aftermath: Trade, craft, upgrade ship and crew. Planetary Weather & Environmental Hazards

Each planet can present its own unique environmental challenges, affecting both missions and survival: • Acid Storms: Corrosive rain and high-velocity winds can damage exposed gear and hulls, forcing Operators to seek shelter or use protective coatings. • Electrical Tempests: Massive ion storms interfere with electronics, disrupt sensors, and can temporarily disable ship systems during orbital approaches. • Radiation Flux Zones: Certain planets emit unstable radiation bursts, requiring operators to wear shielding suits or risk permanent injury. • Magneto-Sandstorms: Dry, high-velocity particulate storms interfere with vision, navigation, and melee combat, while gradually wearing down metal surfaces. • Thermal Extremes: From volcanic activity to freezing polar winds, extreme temperatures affect equipment efficiency, battery life, and crew endurance. • Gravity Anomalies: Irregular planetary cores or artificial manipulation by AIs can alter gravity, making traversal and vehicle control hazardous.

Ship-to-Ship Combat • Long-Range Exchange: Railguns, plasma batteries, missiles. • Systems Warfare: Hacking enemy engines, shields, clone labs. • Boarding Actions: Breach pods and shuttle assaults. Fighting corridor to corridor for control of vital systems. • Victory: Salvage, seize ships, or capture prisoners. • Defeat: Destruction, surrender, or death. Only the uploaded Operator might return.

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Emergent Threats • AI vs. AI battles spilling into mission zones. • Environmental hazards: solar flares, EMP storms, asteroid impacts. • Rogue Operators: ambushes, sabotage, or rival bounty hunters. • Coalition Conversions: Synth-Human zealots raid ships or cities, forcibly reprogramming survivors. • Colony crises: shortages in food, fuel, or medical supplies.

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•	Human Colonies: Post bounties against rivals.
•	AIs: Place contracts on disruptive Operators.
•	Coalition: Post high-value marks on resistant colonies and “heretics.”
•	Recyclers: Offer special scavenging or assassination tasks.

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Themes • Scarcity breeds conflict: Only one life can be backed up. • High-risk survival: Death has permanent consequences for most. • Brainwashing & control: Coalition “unity” comes at the cost of free will. • Fragile balance: Colonies juggle crew morale, resources, and survival. • Endless war: AIs dominate, humans cling to the margins. • Tension and dread: Every mission risks injury, insanity, or permanent loss. • Moral horror: The Coalition brainwashes survivors; AI experiments show cold, clinical cruelty. Crew Expansion & Recruitment

Your company begins with a fixed number of members, but the ship’s survival and long-term success depend on expanding the crew. New humans can join through several paths: • Rescue Operations: During missions, Operators may encounter trapped or stranded survivors. Extracting them safely allows them to join your company. • Contracts & Negotiations: Certain colonies or neutral enclaves will allow individuals to sign on in exchange for credits, supplies, or protection. • Defection: Rogue Operators or mercenaries may choose to abandon their current companies and join yours — if trust can be established. Crew Roles: New members can be trained into specific ship functions — engineers, medics, fabricators, or secondary Operators. Each additional human increases the strain on ship resources (oxygen, food, water, housing), requiring balanced growth. At unpredictable times, the ship AI may intercept a transmission: a distress signal, a rogue Operator offer, Coalition propaganda, or an AI scan ping. Responding can trigger side missions, rescues, traps, or trade — ignoring avoids risk but may lose rewards. Keeps tension even outside missions.