Warpath Background: The Future of Mankind
September 16, 2011 by crew
The galaxy is burning. The malevolent Corporation is ever expanding its sphere of influence, annexing more and more star systems. Their strategy is to make contact with alien civilizations, dazzle them with a few gifts of techno-bauble and then offer membership ‘as equal partners’ in the Great Galactic Co-prosperity Sphere. In the space of a few years, of course, the governments of those worlds will be changed by bribery, corruption, political intrigue, blackmail, threats and assassination, into puppet-states. They will devote all of their planets’ resources to enriching the Corporation and the few local bureaucrats that ‘run the business’ for it, while their populations plummet into a state of poverty and servitude.
When these more efficient (i.e. cheaper) means fail, however, and a culture resists the colonialist pressure of the Corporation, this evil empire does not shy away from deploying its military might. What follows is full-scale invasion and subjugation, or even complete annihilation of entire races if they prove too troublesome. A system that has been ‘cleared of hostile indigenous aliens’ is then ripe for re-colonization by the humans that form the largest part of the Corporation’s manpower and successive plundering of its natural resources.
From its ancient beginnings on the Solar System, the Corporation has now spread like a malignant cancer across the galaxy, covering entire sectors in its tyrannical rule and suffocating any attempt to live free of its clutches. Their expansion continues implacable, but the galaxy is a big place, and sooner or later the Corporation might meet its match in the remote and unexplored expanses of deep space…
The Corporate Legions
Well trained and equipped with the best in military technology, Corporation Troopers are used to fight against much greater number of opponents with ease. The Troopers armour is often invulnerable to the natives’ weapons, leaving them free to mercilessly mow down scores of the enemies with pulses from their laser weaponry. If they encounter heavier resistance, the Troopers can bring about the awesome firepower of their tanks and powered exoskeletons, or even unleash their more specialized force – the feared Star Commandos – to quickly dispatch the most stubborn of foes.
We Shall Fight!
The absolute and iron-fisted rule of the Corporation has obviously made it the arch-enemy of many of the galaxy’s intelligent races. It is just natural that all sort of freedom fighters, survivors of races whose worlds have been annihilated, disenchanted Corporation personnel, free thinkers, conscientious objectors and all sort of left-wing space-hippies have flocked to swell the ranks of the underground Resistance movement. This organization has grown through the centuries until it presently encompasses both a vast network of operatives that attempt to undermine the authority of the Corporation from the inside through sabotage and propaganda and a secretive Rebel Army. Calling themselves ‘The Rebs’ (a disparaging term used by Corporation Troopers), these heterogeneous volunteers form an army that is as eclectic in weaponry, fighting style and technological level as it is mixed in the number of different races that compose their ranks. What they lack in cohesion however, they more than make up in motivation, as they are fighting, at least in their eyes, a long war of liberation to eventually rid the galaxy from the Corporation, or the ‘Evil Empire’, as they often call it.
Worrying Reports
Quite recently, a new and alarming phenomenon has begun to afflict entire quadrants of the galaxy. Suddenly a ‘ghost ship’ would make landfall, all of the crew dead from unknown causes. Then, in a manner of weeks, all communication with the entire planet would be lost. Further research by Corporation Troopers and other races’ military has shown that the cause appears to be a most virulent contagion, some kind of unidentified agent that spreads like wildfire. Differently from other diseases that are more easily controlled, however, this affliction does not kill its victims straight away, but it causes terrible effects, which vary greatly with different races. Most subjects suffer brain death, but their most basic vital instincts remain active, turning them into cannibalistic automatons without a will (often inaccurately referred to as ‘zombies’). Other subjects develop horrifying physical mutations, becoming monstrosities that are too abject and revolting to describe. These too are driven only by their most basic instinct and impervious to pain, making a tide of these creatures a terrifying enemy to face, even for the most seasoned of veterans.
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“powered exoskeletons”
Want.
“Star Commandos”
Ohohoho, want.
“Zombies”
DO WANT.
“horrifying physical mutations”
http://www.endlessvideo.com/watch?v=K0C_hK-1AGI&start=3m21s&end=3m25s
I think the greateast part of this fluff is: it is very possible and “real”. We know for our own history that this will eventually happen if humanity ever get enough tecnology. I will surelly like to blown up that corporotion when the oportunity arrive… Dont mess with the forge fathers
hehe space-hippies 🙂
great stuff! i cant wait to read some more.
This is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!
I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely amazing. There are some good ideas, some things that get me excited, but for the most part, I feel underwhelmed. The first half is just the same old dead horse being flogged, nothing really new or exciting there, but the second half gets more interesting and does get my interest. Overall, still feels vastly underdeveloped and needs work. Personally, I’d drop the whole evil corporation route, or perhaps not spell it out so obviously right away. Perhaps a change in presentation, first present the corporation as a good thing, make us believe that the corporation… Read more »
@cursed13
like the idea of a “we are the goodies theme (but actually we are not…we are evil)”
Fluff done right really helps a game
@trebormills It really does. Fluff gives purpose, gives reason, gives excitement and imagination. Without that, there really is no point to a game. Might as well play a board game. Monopoly is always good. @cazboab The extremely, not slightly, cliched nature of the play doesn’t make it work at all. Not one bit. It’s much more exciting for players to make the discovery than have it slapped in their faces right from the start. Better definition can still come about the way I described, and better yet, even allows for preventative retconning so no one even knows there was one.… Read more »
As the marauders are orcs IN SPAAAAAAACE and the forgefathers are dwarves IN SPAAAAAAAAACE The corporation is Weyland-Yutani IN SPAAAAaaa?… wait a mini… I’ve made that joke before haven’t I?
Anyway, I think the slightly clichéd nature of the plot is what makes it work, everyone knows what to expect in the early stages before anything is advanced, ret-coned, better defined, or if Mantic at some point hire Matt Ward- pulled out of nowhere but its always happened we just never mentioned it in the past 30 bloody years….
I think we know where Matt Ward pulls things out of, and it isn’t “nowhere”. 😛
Well yes, but if I said what we all know I implied one of the BoW lads would be along to change it and express their disappointment at my use of bad language…
arse
😉
you wish it was that tame….
lol
I like it a lot!
Paints a really gritty picture.
Would like to see more about the Forgefathers!
And Giant Space Bears!
Evil corporation? Sounds a lot like… hmmmm.
Sounds ok. It’s not amazingly original but you do have to start from somewhere. The proposed unit like the exo’s and starcommandos do sound cool. Then again I’m a bit confused. We get fluff for the humans and they’re not even a starter box army. I’d rather hear more about the marauders and the forgefathers.
Stay Tuned 😉
Evil Empire… I am having ONI Corp vibes!
Me like…
Oh man, space plague zombies… could make a dual-purpose Warpath army *and* an affordable proxied Nurgle horde… The Forge Fathers stuff is looking great but maybe I should wait for these guys. I like an army you can imagine Gama Bomb writing a song about.
I like the Corporation, both as their own faction and because humanity’s vanguard being jerks allows for other loyal human factions that aren’t jerks, but get drawn into fights against peeved-off aliens looking for payback. I’m rather indifferent to the Rebs. I don’t dislike them, but there’s nothing about them that I like, either. I don’t like the Plague. Zombies are a convincing adversary in fantasy, where you’ve got magic capable of raising any old corpse two or three times over, and they’re fighting against enemies that by modern standards are poorly suited to deal with them. In Sci Fi,… Read more »
Actually, having reread the Corporation’s latest background, I take that back. I like the Corporation as humanity’s vanguard. I hate the Corporation as humanity, which appears to be the direction Mantic is taking.
I actually really like the fluff for Warpath. People keep saying things like ‘its not original’ but then so few things in sci-fi are these days. Besides, the best sci-fi always makes a statement about the world we live in today, and I think in a lot of ways the Warpath fluff (particularly around the Corp and Rebs factions) has the potential to do that. I’m really looking forward to the powered exosuits, (I’m hoping for something akin to Heavy Gear here as opposed to IG Sentinels) and I really can’t wait to see the Rebs. Hey, wouldn’t it be… Read more »