## Universe

## Default Assumptions

Much of this world is kept brief or vague to help you shape your own version of it. Below are some baselines that guided our vision; use, expand, or ignore them as you see fit.

`SPACE KILLS` Debris, radiation, gravity, vacuum; any of it can kill a crew. Ships crawl slowly across the black. Wherever you are, the odds of something going wrong are absolute.

`WEIGHT IS SYNTHETIC` Spin or ship thrust gives pull, but kill the power and everything starts to drift. Anything not buckled down becomes a bullet, including corpses.

`TRAVELING IS SLOW OR RISKY` Sublight burns devour fuel, so most ships drift on Cruise, taking weeks to go from A to B. As for FTL travel, you either need to get your hands on an expensive drive powered by fluid mined from nightmares, or risk passage through the UNSF-controlled Bell Gates.

`NECESSITIES ARE SCARCE` Air tastes like rust and mold. Filters choke, water turns sour, and food comes in blocks grown from algae or fungi. Every breath has a price, and when systems fail, you have hours, not days.

`HUMANITY IS NOW A WIDE SPECTRUM` The line between flesh and machine is gone. Limbs, organs, and minds are replaced piece by piece. No one asks who’s what; everyone just is.

`CORPORATIONS ARE ETERNAL` Megacorps own the stations, ships, and lives within them. Debt is permanent by design. Workers sign contracts because there’s no other way to live.

`PLACES HAVE A PURPOSE` Every planet, moon, station, and outpost exists to serve a function: mine, refine, research, tax, etc. They’re built for profit, not people.

`THE UNKNOWN WAITS` Derelicts drift with wiped logs. Ghost signals beckon from nowhere. Parasites learn and grow. The farther you drift into the void, the less sense it makes.

`TECHNOLOGY FAILS` Everything is patched, welded, or dying. Medkits and augments keep bodies moving until they don’t.

`IT ALWAYS ENDS` People die cheap. Bodies are stripped for biomass or cast out. Contracts budget for casualties, so luck and prep decide who’ll still be breathing the next day.