Union

You are a lancer, an exceptional mech pilot among already exceptional peers, and you live in a time where the future hangs as a spinning coin at the apex of its toss – the fall is coming, and how the coin lands is yet to be determined. Far now from our humble beginnings, humanity has spread out among and between the stars for thou‐ sands of years. We have set empty worlds and barren moons alight with civilization, tamed asteroids and gas giants – even built lives in the hard vacuum of space itself. We have taken root in our arm of the Milky Way; life – in its infinite diversity – thrives and expands. The vast mass of humanity is administered by a single sprawling government: Union, the galactic hegemony. Luna and Mars, Mercury and Venus. Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, and Uranus. Phobos and Deimos. Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Titan and Enceladus. These worlds strung in their orbit around Sol are the diadem atop which Cradle rests, the seat of Union’s power and humanity’s ancient heart. From Cradle, Union controls the three levers of the galaxy: the blink gates, the omninet, and manna. Without these levers, and without Union, the galaxy would fall into chaos. Union is a new kind of utopia. A new state – communal and post-capital – for a New Humanity. Union was born from the ashes and ice of the Fall: the collapse that felled Old Humanity, boiling Cradle and withering her colonies entirely. Though it has been thousands of years since Union was founded – and thousands more since the Fall – New Humanity knows only one truth among ten thousand unknowns: if we are to survive, then we must come together in solidarity and mutual aid. The galaxy remains a dangerous place outside the Core. Rebellions, insurrections, piracy, wars – civil and interplanetary – continue to flare and burn their way through space, though only the most desperate conflicts require Union’s intervention. Disputes between Union’s subject states are common enough that there is still a need for militaries, militias, and mercenaries. Five major suppliers offer arms and armor to states and entities outside the Core that desire them. These manufacturers exist in delicate balance with Union: though the administrators regulate and the suppliers comply, these two philo‐ sophies – one of post-capital utopia and the other of permanent and wild growth – rush toward an irrecon‐ cilable end. You are one person, alive in this time of tumult and peace – a time of promise that was built on the sacri‐ fice of those who came before and is threatened still by the heirs of old adversaries. You are one whose life is lived in the great river, where lives cross stars and time; where one person in the right place at the right time can divert the course of history; where the collective action of comrades can save worlds, lives, and better define Union’s utopian dream. You are a mech pilot – one of the best, a lancer – and yours is the story of this spinning coin at the apex of its toss. At this pivotal moment in history, what will you and your comrades do when fate, foresight, and luck – good or bad – puts you in the right place at the right time? On which side will you fall?