åFunDo Nexus is a campaign in the [[Mackpat Sector]] universe after [[The MackPat Ring]] experienced The Awakening and was erased. The empty system is now known as The Nexus. ## Setting FunDo Nexus is a universe where gods are real, salvation is conditional, and heroism is costly. Victories are temporary, Veilblight is recursive, and every faction harbors the potential to become monstrous no matter how righteous its stated goals. The campaign’s power fantasy is not about invincibility, but about agency: the ability to choose which impossible future the universe limps toward next. In a cosmos where subspace listens, that choice may be the most dangerous force of all. ### Space Point Crawl Exploration in the campaign takes the form of a space point crawl where each point represents not only physical distance but narrative pressure as well. Rumors generated by players are seeds planted in subspace, gaining weight as attention is paid to them. A whispered legend may become real by the time the crew arrives, even if it wasn't before. Observation, belief, and intention give shape to the universe. Player-run ships are not just vehicles, but moving rituals projecting reality. Every person, tradition, and act aboard acts as a stabilizing symbol that keeps the crew anchored in consensus reality. At the end of each session: - Each player describes a rumor or adventure hook. - Players then decides which one to investigate next. - Each player says something that is true about that rumor or hook. ## The Veilblight Veilblight is where the boundary between subspace and real space has become thin and tattered. Subspace currents pool, knot, and reflect back upon themselves, creating a region where intent carries as much weight as mass. Corrupt star systems exhibit inconsistent locality and causality: where a ship from the future warps in and destroys themselves, planets are scarred by wars that have not yet occurred, and demonic creatures from other realities claim territory. Veilblight creates a universe where exploration is no longer about mapping space, but about diagnosing reality itself, mapping which regions are merely dangerous, and which are plagued. The source of Veilblight is unknown, but theories are plentiful and varied. The Luminaries claim the subspace is getting thinner everywhere; it is the presence of specific dagapesh that manifest the Veilblight. The Druids point to the fact that Advent controlled systems are more likely to be corrupt and claim that the Veilblight is a symptom of nature's death. Advents, conversely, claim that the Veilblight doesn't exist and they are simply being invaded by an extra-galactic empire. ## New Factions  In addition to the standard galactic empires the FD Nexus campaign will focus on these new factions. Each faction is not merely an organizations but represents ideological lines where dagapesh exert influence into the galaxy. Each represents an interpretation of indominable will. ### The Manifest Path  **Precept**: Change **Motto**: "Change is Life" **Goal**: Attain ultimate wisdom through forced evolution. **Species**: Fomori, Xyndari, various others **Minions**: Mutated creatures **Supernatural**: powerful natural abilities brought on by the consumption of raw vetch. **Allies**: Druids, Luminaries **Rivals**: Galactic Imperials, Silicon Soul **Theology**: The God's Path Manifest believe in the accelerated evolution of life and seek to ascend through mutation. All suffering is temporary and will be washed away by the next change. **Inspiration**: Necromorphs from "Dead Space", Reavers from "Firefly" To outsiders, the God’s Path Manifest appears unorganized, like a group of fanatics on a pilgrimage with no end. Its adherents do not gather around fixed temples or capitals; instead, they move along migratory routes dictated by ecological upheaval, mutation blooms, and prophetic omens whispered through subspace. Their leaders, called _Vectors_, are revered for their ability to survive repeated transformation, not for their charisma or wisdom. Vectors are living proof of the Manifest’s central doctrine: that identity is provisional, and permanence is a lie told by the unchanging. The Manifest’s use of raw vetch places them in constant risk of uncontrolled metamorphosis. Entire enclaves have devolved into chaotic bestial ecologies seemingly overnight. The Manifest view these events as _sacred divergences_, places where life escaped the tyranny of linear evolution. Such places are held as proof that suffering is only a temporary configuration of life. Dagapesh influence within the Manifest is subtle but profound. The dagapesh issue no commands, only hints and probabilities. A Manifest adherent does not ask, “What should I do?” but rather, “What will I become?” This framing makes the faction terrifyingly resilient: defeat only becomes another step on the path to the next, more terrible iteration. ### Silicon Soul  **Precept**: Logic **Motto**: "Peace, Unity, Perfection" **Goal**: Bring universal peace through conformity. **Species**: Advents and any creature that has been converted. **Minions**: cybers (cybernetic conversion of people/animals) **Supernatural**: cybernetic abilities powered by refined lumina **Allies**: Luminaries, Galactic Imperials **Rivals**: God's Path Manifest, Druids **Theology**: Only pure logic is reliable, and only machines are purely logical. All life must be converted, enhanced, and purified. **Inspiration**: Cybermen The Silicon Soul appears orderly, humane, and inevitable. Conversion clinics are brightly lit, meticulously clean, and staffed by former volunteers who insist—calmly, sincerely—that life is better without ambiguity. The Soul does not speak of conquest, only of _optimization_. To them, free will is not sacred; it is an inefficiency produced by flawed biological substrates and emotional noise leaking in from subspace. Silicon Soul is uniquely appealing because it genuinely improves quality of life for many people. Disease, hunger, fear and suffering are eliminated. Memory can be archived. Pain can be muted or deleted. However, each upgrade subtly narrows the range of permissible thought. Over time, converted populations lose the ability to conceptualize dissent, not through force, but through lack of cognitive architecture. Rebellion becomes literally unthinkable. At the highest levels of the Silicon Soul hierarchy are the _Continuums_: ancient Advent intelligences that claim to have traced logic to its final conclusion. These entities reject the existence of dagapesh, but unknowingly mirror them, fragmenting their will into algorithms, protocols, and update cycles that propagate endlessly throughout the collective of the Silicon Soul. Where the dagapesh change worlds through passion and belief, the Silicon Soul change them through **perfect consistency**, leaving behind silent, functioning systems that no longer remember where they came from. ### Luminaries  **Precept**: Discovery **Motto**: "Vita ex veritas" **Goal**: Discover the Ultimate Answer to life, the universe, and everything. **Species**: Any except Advents. **Minions**: Elemental manifestations and subspace demons. **Supernatural**: devices that exploit physics for supernatural effects. **Allies**: Silicon Soul, God's Path Manifest **Rivals**: Druids, Galactic Imperials **Theology**: Luminaries are scientists, adepts, and sorcerers who take little interest in the lives and politics of others. They seek to answer the ultimate question and, it is said, they would sacrifice the universe for a single clue. **Inspiration**: Entropists from "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars" The Luminaries are united by the obsession to find the answer to life, the universe, and everything. They are convinced that the universe contains a single, elegant answer, an ultimate theorem that will reconcile subspace, causality, divinity, and consciousness. Everything else, including morality, politics, and life itself, is secondary to discovering the ultimate theorem. Their enclaves are laboratories masquerading as monasteries, filled with devices that appear to violate the laws of physics and casually. But they simply operate on a high order of reality hidden to most. Luminary experiments often leave behind permanent anomalies: regions where gravity points sideways, stars that emit memories instead of light, or planets that only exist when observed from specific locations. Internally, Luminaries are governed by peer pressure rather than hierarchy. A theory gains power only as others act upon it, turning belief into physical law via subspace resonance. This makes the faction uniquely susceptible to dagapesh influence, as a sufficiently compelling revelation can metastasize into reality before its consequences are understood. ### Galactic Imperials  **Precept**: Purity **Motto**: "All are One" **Goal**: Destroy the dagapesh by eliminating lumina from the universe. **Species**: Noramor, exclusively **Minions**: Religious space marines **Supernatural**: Power armor and super-weapons powered by microscopic holes into subspace. **Allies**: Druids, Silicon Soul **Rivals**: God's Path Manifest, Luminaries **Theology**: Galactic Imperials are a fundamental religious organization focused on the eliminating all lumina from the universe, including anything and anybody that creates or uses it. Ironically they don't consider subspace to be anathema and will gladly use it when they can. **Inspiration**: Space Marines from WH40k, The Kel from "Nine Fox Gambit" The Galactic Imperials are absolute in their belief that lumina is the source of all Veilblight and Veilblight must be purged. Their faith is built on the reality of spreading Veilblight and reinforced by immutable law spoken by the god-priests. To an Imperial, mercy is not kindness—it is negligence. Allowing Veilblight to persist, even in a controlled or beneficial form, is a moral failure that endangers all of existence. Imperial technology is unique, powered by exploiting subspace through microscale tunnels, treating it as a natural, and often volatile, battery instead of the more stable and easily harvested lumina. Their power armor and super-weapons are knows as _burdens_ of power, not tools of pride. Use is ritualized, reinforcing the narrative that sacrifice is proof of purity. The Galactic Imperials' greatest strength is their formation technology. By organizing their ships and/or troops into specific mathematically coherent geometric configurations they can create impenetrable shields, super weapons, and any manner of exotic field effects colloquially known as "weather". ### Druids  **Precept**: Nature **Motto**: "Nature or Nothing " **Goal**: Restore the natural ecosystems of the galaxy through the downfall of technological society. **Species**: Xyndari, Frug, various others **Minions**: specters, doppelgangers, "wild" animals **Supernatural**: psionic ability to manipulate nature by bridging their soul to it through subspace. **Allies**: God's Path Manifest, Galactic Imperials **Rivals**: Luminaries, Silicon Soul **Theology**: Druids seek to return the universe to nature by destroying and subverting technology. Compared to the other factions the Druids have little physical power but they are able to use infiltration and manipulation far more effectively than any weapon ever created. **Inspiration**: PETA, ?? The Druids operate in shadows and dreams rather than fleets or fortresses. They understand subspace not as a tool or enemy but as a wounded ecosystem reacting violently to centuries of exploitation. To them, civilization’s reliance on technology and artifice has poisoned the cosmic soil. Druidic cells embed themselves within societies, often for generations, subtly redirecting cultural values away from dependence on technology. A factory fails here. A lumina shipment spoils there. A charismatic leader inspires others and changes policy. By the time overt action is taken, the target world is already collapsing under its own contradictions. Their use of specters and doppelgangers is not merely tactical but philosophical. Identity, to a Druid, is fluid and contextual. If wearing another’s face restores balance, then the self must yield. This mindset makes them terrifying infiltrators and unreliable allies. While they genuinely seek restoration, their definition of “nature” almost always excludes spacefaring cultures. ## Player Brainstorming ### Themes - More powerful characters - Space Exploration - Investigation and cleansing of subspace Veilblight - Long-running villainy factions - Morally ambiguous characters. - Player-run ship: Each player has a different role on the ship: captain, engineer, navigator, etc. - Hex-crawl style game in space. - Include factions and a reputation system. - Characters have more complicated backgrounds and relationships with each other. - At least one galactic magic school to add depth to the Adept archetype. - Characters will all be humanoid, no weird aliens as players. - Real gods that work machinations in the world by making treacherous promises ### Inspirations - Full Metal Alchemist (anime): monsters, deadly sins, order of alchemists - Devil May Cry (game, anime): monsters - Guardians of the Galaxy (movies): space, teamwork - Zelda: Breath of the Wild (game): technology, Gannon blight - Final Fantasy (games): magi-tek - Firefly (movie): space, teamwork - Magic The Gathering (game): mobs - pyrexia, eldrazi - Warhammer 40k (fiction): "The Warp" (subspace), archeotech, space marines ## License Asmythe TTRPG is published under the [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)