Hello, this is an unofficial scrap book for Miniwargamings Dark Potential.

None of this is mine, but I thought a compilation of what we have so far would be helpful, to see what we need next. Most of the art is from user of Miniwargamings forums

TIME LINE2100 - 2200 AD -technology continues to evolve -Haussman gene invented -genetics used more and more to cure diseases -dark matter and dark potential energy discovered -humans develop space travel -colonization of mars, moon, and Venus -resources found in asteroid belt and other planets -corporations created to mine and exploit resources 2300 - 2400 AD -scientists discover the first "Interstellar Highway" -uses certain dark potential fields to detect and travel through highways -first probes sent through -habitable planet discovered in another system through highway -first manned flight through highway -more highways discovered -each leads to a system with a habitable planet -no intelligent life on any of the planets 2400 - 2500 AD -first outer colony established -rapid expansion to other colonies -ancient architecture found on most colonies -dated at least 2000 - 3000 years old 2500 - 3500 AD -50 other systems colonized in total -humans develop as normal -wars over resources -companies grow and fall -technology expands -etc. etc. 3504 AD -alien race identified only as the X'Lanthos attack a colony -their tech matches that of the ancient structures -all attempts at communication fail -Hundred Years War commences 3504 AD - 3605 AD -Hundred Years War -both sides devastated by war -X'Lanthos discover earth part way through war, war expands to Solar System 3605 AD -X'Lanthos launch a genetic virus into Earth's atmosphere, wiping out over 99% of the population -in the same year the X'Lanthos lose the war -Earth loses contact with other colonies as it degrades into survival mode

3606 AD - 3700 AD -humans on earth struggle for survival as virus continues to destroy -eventually virus stops killing as those who survived had natural immunities (nobody knows why), and passed these on to their children -population of earth at this point: roughly 10 million 3700 AD - 4100 AD -humans slowly build up again, forming into groups to survive 4100s AD -Dark Potential The Game begins...

Basic notes on the Reclaimers: -they are survivors of the Hundred Years War -they are not immune to the virus, so they live mainly on the moon and in space ships and space stations -artificial gravity is too energy-consuming, so they don't use it -however, the moon has minor gravity -without the same amount of gravity the human body deteriorates (bone loss, blood loss, muscles atrophy, etc.) -with the help of advanced genetics, scientists make slight modifications to the DNA of Reclaimers to help them "evolve" to living in zero-g environments -these modifications reduce bone and blood loss -they still need to do muscle training to be ready for earth travel -combined with natural micro-evolution, Reclaimers evolve to the zero-g environment, becoming taller and slimmer, but weaker physically -in order to visit earth either: -they must wear exo-suits to allow them to function; these also function as environmental suits to prevent infection from the virus OR -they must do significant muscle training -the military mainly do the muscle training, but most others (e.g. scientists) don't do this, so they rely on the exo-suits -they must salvage technology from earth to keep their ships and stations in working order -they are working on a cure, but after 500 years have had no success

Origins of the Salvagers -salvaging/recycling program made pre-Hundred Years War -after the War it was abandoned and fell into disrepair and ceased to operate due to lack of power -the Reclaimers reactivated the central plant to use it to help to salvage more tech -they integrated a Haussman gene program into the Central Salvaging Unit (CSU) to help with the fact that they didn't fully understand the operation -sends out robots to find more scrap elsewhere -encounters humans/animals, who don't react well to the tech being stolen from them, so fight back and destroy robots -CSU doesn't know how to respond, so instead avoids other humans -the CSU falls into disrepair as the Reclaimers don't know how to fix it, abandoned by Reclaimers as no longer functions properly -CSU eventually finds a military base -some computer parts from base are used to repair the CSU, learns how to defend itself -now will fight back if calculations prove that it is worthwhile -Reclaimers attempt to take control again, but fail to reach the CSU as too well protected Flavor -unlike the Borg, when hardware is "assimilated" not all of the robots (including the original CSU) learn its functions -only the robot that the parts are integrated into really learns those functions -most of the robots don't have Haussman gene in them, so only follow commands -field CSUs (i.e. commanding robots) usually made from scavenged parts that contain Haussman gene, so they can act slightly more intelligent, although still under directives from main CSU -things will look slapped together as tech becomes less and less available

Notes on the faction known as the Animals (name change will occur) -species from one of the colonies has evolved to a high intelligence "nature-wise" (i.e. they don't have a developed language, but have new natural abilities) -when humans colonized their world, they fought them at first, but then realizing they were no match, fell back and started to observe instead (even becoming domesticated to some degree) -some brought to Earth and other colonies for study -war happens, X'Lanthos virus injected into Earth atmosphere -virus infects this species (as well as many other animal species), and gets incorporated into their DNA -can now produce a "venom" which incorporates some of the virus -species can gain some control over other animals by injecting them with this virus -maybe will be able to gain control of humans as well, but I'll have to be careful with this idea as I don't want it getting too crazy and out of hand -form packs and families, dominating other animals with their natural abilities -are even be smart enough to "farm" other animals (maybe even humans too) -this race might actually become more scary if they have a high enough intelligence, but only use it to expand territory and hunt prey Why do they fight against humans / other animals? -evolved to the point where they will actually kill (and die) to acquire/defend territory

This is the least flushed out faction, the bandits (name change likely) -started shortly after the War by a man named [NAME], whose philosophy you can read all about right here -basically, he believed that the strong should rule the weak, and that the reason we lost the War was because the weak ruled the strong -forms the first bandit group, believing they should rule others -nomadic -prey off of established survivors -enslave those they capture -formed into smaller groups, almost tribe-like, each with their own "king," but all kings are under the greater king (or whatever he is called)

X'lanthos Faction Summary (By far the most flushed out faction)
Origins -remnants of the X'Lanthos Collective extermination fleet that invaded the 50 systems in search of the Changers. Flavour -absolutely hate humans, and desire to wipe them all out -high tech (higher than anything humans have), but limited due to the fact that the only tech they kept was what was in the ships that crashed -some subjugated species still remain with X'Lanthos, others have left and banded with humans (several generations later of course) -genius-level biotech -telepathy, via bio-transmission of electromagnetic waves (EM spectrum going from gamma and into high-energy-end of X-ray, same as some kinds of dangerous nuclear radiation) -bad at programming -never developed internet, because telepathy is a sort of equivalent -terrified of AI -thinks humans are suicidal idiot-savants for making Haussman genes

Possible Background -evolved telepathic communication, cannot speak (can hear sound, but words are total gibberish). -make idiotic "noises" to gesture, same as we wave our hands while we talk -telepathic abilities are "line of sight", like a flashlight (of gamma rays) -it can pass through solids to a modest extent, as gamma rays can -can speak and listen to many "voices" at the same time. Fast, efficient communication -this is due to their tri-lobed brain, and the economy of electromagnetic grammar -they have plenty of weaknesses though, they're not universally smarter -have squabbles and power bickering, like social animals everywhere -some of their ancestor species got part of their food from farming radiation-feeding lichen, they built comb-farms similar to ants -hence the evolution of the gamma-radiation "ear" -they build these Comb Caves wherever they find enough radioactive isotopes -in modernity, it's <1% of their food, but important to their culture, the closest they have to a religion -they bury their dead in the deepest of these sacred Comb Caves -Comb-Lichen is a ritualistic food. -visiting the Comb Cave is to be bathed in gamma static - everything is "silent" -comb farming is approached with Shinto-style monasticism -being bathed in the comb static is, in a poetic sense, to be in the silent "ghost world" of the dead +++++ -their sun is a Class A star with a bluish flicker, named Lanth by humans, after the Chinese word for blue: Ln -X'lanthos do not have a sound-based name for anything, including themselves -their words, names and grammer are sequences and flickers of color, in a light spectrum we cannot even see -our use of sound for names is just as alien to them, as light-bursts is to us -they're all called X'lanthos by humans, because that's what humans call them. It means "from Lanth" -X'Lanthos evolved in Lanth system with 3 habitable planets

-these are named Lanth II, Lanth III, and Lanth IV by humans -X'lanthos evolved on Lanth II, spread to the others during their technological age -X'lanthos discovered the System Highways early in their development, sent probes, discovered uninhabitable planets +++++

-as they flourish, their unstable sun has a massive solar mass ejection -the homeworld Lanth II is almost totally irradiated -several billion X'Lanthos killed -1/3 of the X'Lanthenes lose their telepathic abilities and are severed from the collective, because of nuclear radiation everywhere creating "static" -radioactive material gets absorbed into their bodies, messing with their "ear" -can only speak, and they wail despair into the static -X'lanthene society in much disrepair -these "silenced ones" go a bit nuts, get reputation for being violent and creepy -they feed unfortunately into the symbolism of the "ghost world", silenced ones are associated with being walking "ghosts" out of place -it is felt by some Silenced Ones that they belong back in the world of the dead, mass suicides ensue -the inability to communicate makes reproduction very difficult for those affected -strife, misery, upheaval -this is also the first evolution of formal writing (in stead of pictures), similar to our evolving sign language for the deaf -technological development continues -a powerful bioengineer exploits the chaos, secretly making copies of himself to assist in his genetics work -he knows that they would be killed if discovered -Engineer stages a coup with his copies, ensures that noone will kill him -Engineer becomes a sort of "caste" -other great individuals with rare talents are similarly immortalized as "castes" -they can be born and drawn upon when needed -most of population in the new "Collective" is still normal -work is being done by the bioengineers to help the "silenced ones", but it's not looking good -X'lanthos Collective starts to become unpleasant, overpopulated, autocratic -a secretive society of foresightful bioengineers, foreseeing the trouble to come, begin sending terraforming craft throughout the highway -many of the Silenced Ones believe that the castes are secretly messing with their reproduction, in a silent genocide -and maybe they are -silenced ones and offspring becoming an involuntary "caste" at the bottom

+++++ -Prosperity from technological effort, mainly due to the castes, begins a technological golden age of many thousands of years -X'Lanthos sent off in mass transports to colonize nearby systems - silenced ones, normals, and castes -great expansion across several hundred systems -population pressure is relieved, new semi-sapient species discovered -taking "slave" races fits naturally into X'lanthos caste divisions -X'Lanthos life expectancy reaches hundreds of years due to medicine, genetic modifications, and other technology -yet social structure is largely unchanged, extremely oppressive and unjust -"elections" etc never occurred in X'lanthos history, in the past it was just wait until the leader dies -leadership of X'lanthos isn't dying -leadership of X'lanthos isn't voluntarily stepping down either -genetic self-improvement is outlawed, because anything too different might stage another coup -it's like a corporation where noone ever gets promoted, and improvements are punished -"silenced ones" desperately want to change and improve themselves -as do naturally ambitious and progressive normals -especially in Engineer caste, it's just in their personality -those with this desire are called "Changers", an accusation which carries the weight of "heretic" or "witch" -those with farsight can see where this is going -secretly send out automated terraformers to uninhabited planets on the highways -pressures spill over, civil war breaks out Step One: -First arrives the terraformer group, the Changers. -They're X'lanthos fugitives from the main X'lanthos Collective, because they want to "break off" and do their own thing (they want to do genetic engineering on themselves, to break free). The Changers actually made the terraformed worlds - which they call "Cocoon Worlds" - to have a place to flee to, when they try to get away from the Collective. A place where they could hide. Step Two: -Hot on their heels comes the X'lanthos Collective exterminator fleet. -The Changers tried to escape in secret, but the Collective saw them escape, and they want them exterminated. That's why the X'lanthos first contact with humans was an extermination fleet: it wasn't originally meant for the humans, but for the Changers! Who were fleeing to their Cocoon worlds. Step Three: -Both factions are pretty surprised to find a human infestation on all the Cocoon Worlds! -The exterminator fleet decides that the humans are probably a creation of the Changers, using their genetic engineering to breed a warrior slave-race (the humans are even infesting the Changers own terraformers, that's proof enough). And even if they aren't, the Changers might be hiding amongst the humans. Nuke them from orbit, it's the only way to be sure. -The Changers fade into the background, watching things burn. During the 100 year war, they spend their time hiding, doing the genetic engineering they had planned to do on themselves. After all that time spent meditating and engineering in the shadows, they occasionally emerge as enigmatic, bizarre, unpredictable figures, even to the other X'lanthos. Some of them are fairly sympathetic to the humans and slave races. Others are still seriously pissed at the humans for taking the Cocoon Worlds.

Step Four: -The main X'lanthos civilization back home still doesn't know about the human infestation! They're happily getting on with their civil war, who knows how that's working out. +++++ A few clarifications: -there's no longer any X'lanthenes, Focus, or huge hive mind/mindreading. -telepathy is just another way to talk: words going back and forth. Not the Borg, not the Zerg, not psychic, no "sending mental energy" -the Changers are really a tiny group, it's just a small fraction of guys who made it out, million-toone, infinitely smaller than the Collective -Changers are mainly silenced ones and Engineers, with other castes and normals thrown in - they're not united by birth, but by their ideas, their ambition to self-modify -or rather, by all being branded for extermination by the Collective -often rightly so, many are mega-selfish, extremely dangerous, and use their persecution and victimhood as an excuse to be huge dicks to other beings -vast majority of silenced ones are still in subjugation in the Collective when the civil war breaks out -maybe they win the civil war, maybe they lose...

Special thanks to Wiouds, spehktre, tengu13, MaxSol, and everybody else who suggested awesome ideas for the Corporation. History (idea by spehktre) 1) A group of humans discover an old underground building basement by chance in an overgrown jungle-city. 2) Therein lies a huge metal wall with a door. With a logo and the word "Syndicorp" on it. (or whatever the Corp's name is). 3) A skeletal body in a suit sits near the door. There is a glass screen with the words *Air Filtration Complete.* (or something) printed upon them. 4) They method to open the door is on the body. (pin code, key etc). 5) The inside is a habitable, secure facility. It has used prototype potential energy generators to remain powered all this time. 6) The place is populated by basic Haussman-gene robots. They are programmed to maintain the facility and each other. They simply ignore the humans. 7) Syndicorp was a leading Potential Energy technology research firm. The facility becomes a base of operations for the group who become known as "Syndicorp". 9) The facility has many resources and provides great security. 10) Syndicorp attracts and recruits many more people over time. 11) They eventually grow too populous for the facility, and spill out into the area around it. 12) Eventually a computer is accessed and maps are found and interpreted within the facility. It is believed these are the locations of similar facilities. 13) Syndicorp is governed by a council. They decide to find and populate the other facilities. Only the council knows the original access code. It is otherwise kept secret. 14) Syndicorp gathers up and sends out groups to locate and gain access to the other facilities. This often puts them in conflict with other groups. Overview The Corporations philosophy that a good reputation means good business allowed it to grow to be the largest PMC in the region. This good reputation comes from both strict bylaws and ruthless enforcing of said bylaws. The Corporation is made up of two main parts: the central offices and the branches. The central offices enforces the bylaws, find contracts, provides: training, equipment and tactical knowledge, and other services. The branches deal with contracts. All personal are expected to follow the bylaws or else The bylaws are to ensure that the good reputation of the Corporation is maintain and to proper action involving the branches are taken. As long as a branch follows the bylaws, they are conduct their business as they see fit The way a branch conduct their business will be outlined in their own corporate charter. The corporate charter contains a mission statement, a description of their logo, the departments

the branch is broken up into and their mandate. A branch mandate is the basic rules in which they are to follow. It outlines what each department duties are, how they will deal with contracts, and a general code of conduct. Thanks to the training that the central office gives, most branches use mutual support as a key part of the battle tactics.

And last of all come the rules (these are not even in alpha form yet)
Basic squad: Number in squad: 3-6 Movement: 6" Shooting Skill: 2 Armour: 5 Experience: 7 (i.e. Leadership) Defense: 10 Weapon: Pistol RoF: 2 Strength: 1 Basic Turn 1. Roll to see who goes first. 2. Each player takes turn activating one squad. A squad can only activate once per turn. Shooting 1. Shooters roll 2d6 + Shooting Skill + # of men in squad 2. Subtract target Defense. 3. Result is number of hits. This can't be greater than the number in the squad. 4. Roll a # of d6 = # of hits times RoF of weapon. 5. Target number is Armour of Target - Strength of gun. E.g. Squad of 5 fires. Rolls 7. Total roll is 7 + 2 + 5 = 14. Compare to Defense of target of 10. Scored 14 - 10 = 4. Rolls 4 x 2 (RoF) = 8 dice. Needs to get Armour 5 - Strength 1, so 4 or higher to kill. Cover Light Cover (shrubs, fence, etc.) = +3 Defense Heavy Cove (wall, building) = +6 Defense Experience Test 1. Roll 2d6. 2. Must roll equal to or lower than Experience. Suppressing Fire 1. Roll as for shooting, but ignore cover bonus. 2. Wounds inflicted don't count, but instead are a negative modifier to an Experience test. 3. If target fails Experience test, loses next activation. Overwatch 1. Squad forfeits movement and shooting. 2. Chooses direction to face. Has 90 degree arc for Line of Sight.

3. During an opposing squads activation, if they move or shoot in the LoS of the overwatching squad, the overwatching squad can interrupt and shoot at them (as normal). They can interrupt at any point of the movement

Sample Units Soldier Squad size: 4-6 Movement: 6" Shooting Skill: 2 Defense: 10 Armour: 5 Hit Points: 1 Gun Strength: 1 Gun Range: 18" Rate of Fire: 2 Command: 7 Commander Squad size: 1 Movement: 6" Shooting Skill: 5 Defense: 12 Armour: 6 Hit Points: 5 Gun Strength: 2 Gun Range: 24" Command: 10 Command Points: 5 (Command points are used to make rerolls within 12 (I believe) Sniper Squad size: 1 Movement: 6" Shooting Skill: 6 Defense: 12 Armour: 4 Hit Points: 3 Gun Strength: 5 Gun Range: 36" Command: 9 Notes: Auto-suppression (2) - whether the sniper suppresses or not it will cause suppression with an additional -2 to command check